ORIGIN

Our Foundation & Beyond

Once Upon A Time

Masterpiece Advertising was established in 1993 in Atlantic City. Over three decades it has built out from a full-service communications agency into a digitally-savvy, multicultural, and vertically-diverse creative firm. The agency emphasizes high creative standards, deep client relationships, and work across travel/tourism, gaming, healthcare and non-profit sectors.

Major Milestones

1993 — Founding

Founded in 1993 by Phyllis Lacca in Atlantic City, NJ. The company presents itself as a full-service marketing/advertising firm and multiple business listings (LinkedIn, company bio excerpts) cite 1993 as the founding year.

1990s — Early wins and casino/gaming work

In the 1990s Masterpiece won notable gaming accounts that helped build its regional reputation. In an interview Phyllis Lacca cites winning the Charles Town Races & Slots account in the 1990s as a career-defining win, and credits the agency with delivering a creative campaign that significantly increased revenue for that client. This period appears to be when the agency solidified its strength in gaming and tourism marketing.

2000s–2010s — Expansion of services & verticals

Over the 2000s and 2010s the agency broadened its service mix from traditional advertising into branding, digital, website design, and multi-channel marketing, while continuing work in gaming, tourism, hospitality, healthcare and non-profit verticals—consistent with the agency’s present positioning as a full-service shop. (Public profiles and the company website describe this evolution; specific year-by-year milestones are not fully dated on public pages.)

2010 — Agency of Record work for Meet AC and CRDA tourism projects

Masterpiece served as Agency of Record for Meet AC (Atlantic City’s meetings & conventions arm) and has produced tourism/positioning work for Atlantic City stakeholders. The company’s portfolio and client work pages describe tourism campaigns conceived for Meet AC and for the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA). The website highlights these tourism projects as major pieces of the agency practice. (A precise AOR start date for Meet AC was not published on the public work pages I found.)

2024 — Major recognition: New Jersey Tourism Excellence Award (Marketing)

December 2024: Masterpiece Advertising was awarded the 2024 New Jersey Tourism Industry Association (NJTIA) — New Jersey Tourism Excellence Award in the Marketing category for its campaign work on behalf of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA). Local press coverage and trade announcements report the award and quote agency leadership on the campaign’s goals. This is a high-visibility, statewide recognition for the agency’s tourism marketing work.

2024 — Founder’s public pivot & profile stories

April 2024: Local business press profiled founder Phyllis Lacca reporting she was exploring new ventures (for example, a reported interest in cannabis cultivation ventures), underscoring Lacca’s status as a longstanding local business leader and entrepreneur. The piece framed this as a next phase in her career while still noting her multi-decade role at Masterpiece.

2025 — Community & industry engagement

2025: Masterpiece Advertising is listed among community and industry partners (for instance, as part of selection committees or local hospitality award activities), illustrating an ongoing role in the Atlantic City tourism/hospitality ecosystem (e.g., involvement with the Atlantic City Host Awards selection committee).

Pivoting & Adapting

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Going Above & Beyond Imagination

Each unique perspective we encounter fuels our creativity and expands our imagination.

This applies to not only who we are and how we create but what we create and why. Tailoring brand messaging begins with maintaining a diverse team of talent. We translate that into the further inclusion of underserved or underrepresented markets within communities. By going above and beyond to execute inclusive campaigns, we’re not only able to better speak their language in evolving conversations with our clients, but we’re also able to build greater trust between clients and their target market.

33% of our staff is multicultural
with language fluency in Spanish,
Japanese and Italian.

When you keep good company,
great things happen.

We’ve always welcomed the partnerships of a distinct selection of clients and brands. It’s how we grow. It’s how we thrive. It’s how we take everything in front of us beyond imagination.