The Age of Conversation
You are looking at the Marketing Book of the Year. One of the greatest collaborative efforts witnessed in the blogosphere.
Advertising Age says:
Traveling through the “Age of Conversation” is an odd and ironic experience. Readers are essentially bombarded with 103 polemics scolding their resistance to interweb engagement. All this via a medium that only allows you to shut up and take it!
Over 100 influential bloggers from around the world unite in a world driven by new media to create a conversation on Conversation.
103 authors. From marketing gurus, social media experts and advertising professionals to t-shirt freaks, harley moms, art enthusiasts, storytellers, philosophers and what not.
Can you feel the excitement in the air? Are you wondering about the possibilities offered by this conversation to a larger community of marketing professionals & social media conversationalists?
Read the backgrounder on this path-breaking project. How did a ‘dare’ lead to magic?
Besides the aim of each author lending two cents about today’s marketing-communications landscape, this conversation is all about caring and sharing. It’s dedicated to the memory of ace blogger CK’s mum, Sandra Johnson Kerley. It’s a humble tribute to a beautiful life.
And all proceeds from book sales go to Variety, a children’s charity committed to have more tiny tots smiling.
Beginning, Monday, 16 July 2007, The Age of Conversation is available in hardback (US$29.99), paperback (US$16.95), & e-book (US$9.99) formats from a dedicated e-store.
If you are serious about this whole ‘social media business’, go ahead and get your copy here!
This page features a quick profile* of the 100 plus conversationalists who made ‘The Age of Conversation’ possible.
Many thanks to editors Drew McLellan & Gavin Heaton who spearheaded the AOC project & made it a reality.
‘The Age of Conversation’ is also on Facebook. Click here to join AOC authors & their friends and get the conversation going. You can even hop on to the official Age of Conversation Blog.
103 authors made ‘The Age of Conversation’ a reality. Are you interested in knowing more about them?
Click on the names of the following authors to read a short profile and get a quick link to their blogs / websites.
*If you are an AOC author interested in updating / amending your profile, please feel free to shoot me a mail – arunjoboy at yahoo dot com – and I shall do the needful.
Thanks for joining in the conversation!
Cheers!
Arun Rajagopal
Proud to be part of ‘The Age of Conversation’
HERE’S TO THE AUTHORS OF THE AGE OF CONVERSATION – 2007
AJ James
AJ James
Amy Jussel’s blog Shaping Youth is all about media & marketing’s influence on kids. She is the Founder & Executive Director of Shaping Youth, a non-profit concerned with media & marketing’s impact on kids. Her chapter in the Age of Conversation is titled “Mommy, why is that lady licking a beer bottle? Ethics & Accountability in Advertising.”
Here’s someone who blogs about SURPRISES, what he calls POWS! Andy Nulman’s one-line bio is “I am charmingly devious. And I will never be limited to one sentence.” He was the co-founder and CEO of Just For Laughs Festival which has launched talent like Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey and Dave Chappelle. Other avatars include motivational speaker, mobile media guru, author, inventive stage director, half-decent snowboarder, hot-and-cold hockey goalie, and controversial pop artist. Check out the POWS! in his blog.
Ann Handley is is the Queen of all Things Content (also refers to Chief Content Officer) on the MarketingProfs website and newsletter and the Primary Caregiver to the MarketingProfsDaily Fix blog. Prior to that, she was the co-founder of ClickZ.com. As a longtime freelance journalist, Ann has written regularly for the Boston Globe as well as a million (give or take) mainstream and trade publications. Ann lives near Boston with her family and four dogs. She loves cooking, sweet potato chips and sitting on a beach with a really good book. She hates writing about herself in the third person and aspires to write for the New Yorker someday.
Podcaster-Blogger-Coach Anna Farmery qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, joined the printing industry as a Financial Controller before being made Managing Director at the ripe old age of 25. She continued in industry with a growing reputation for motivating people, working for FMCG companies. After 20 years of being a Corporate Director – and latterly as a Group HR/Finance Director for a major worldwide brand she decided to establish her own company – The Engaging Brand. The Engaging Brand works with companies both small and major corporations on how to boost profits through motivating their people. She is a regular speaker on areas such as personal and employer branding, motivation and social media. She produces The Engaging Brand podcast and also coaches individuals on how to improve their leadership capabilities. Anna lives every moment like her last & can be the ultimate brand ambassador for iPod.
Arun Rajagopal is Content Strategist at UMS Interactive, a leading web solutions company in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. He finds digital conversations and social media fascinating and is equally in awe with trains, travel and blogging.
Customers rock for Becky Carroll. Someone who is passionate about the customer experience, Becky runs Petra Consulting Group, a strategic consultancy helping companies grow through lengthening and strengthening customer relationships. She loves to sing in her church choir and has a pet bunny named Bugs.
At his blog ‘One Reader at a Time’, Bob Glaza asks: Why not bite off more than you can chew? Bob’s blog is about blogging and building community – learning and growing. He says: I hope one person at a time will find a bit of value. My wanderings stumble onto worthwhile blogs and sites. The reflections and posts focus broadly on imagination, marketing, print media, building community…and
baseball. This blog expresses my opinions only. In addition, it expresses opinions of the people behind the links. Any similarity to real life just might be true! Bob has been in the newspaper business for over 20 years.
Brian Reich is the Director of New Media for Cone, Inc, a brand strategy and communications agency in Boston. His blog Thinking About Media examines how people consume, process, and share information. He is a regular writer and speaker on the issues involving the impact of the internet and
technology on politics, society, and the media. He is also on the Board of the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and the Humanities and works with the Ad Club of Boston and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston on public relations and marketing. Brian served as Vice President Gore’s Briefing Director, both in the White House and during his 2000 presidential campaign. Brian has spent much of his life working in and around politics, including helping to direct dozens of campaigns across the country.
Hip, hippie & happenin’ marketing guru CK, short for Christina Kerley, is one of the most powerful ‘human brands’ in the blogosphere. With her expertise in strategy, planning, social media and program development coupled to her passion for writing, CK excels in working with: (1) Ideas + (2) Programs + (3) People. Since 1999, CK & her consultancy, ckEpiphany have been working with businesses in varied industries helping them listen to customers & create epiphanies that energizes marketing through fresh, new ideas. CK covers a lot of marketing topics through articles, speaking events and blogging – and tries to make learning fun. Here’s some fun stuff on CK: She digs reading, film, friends, live theatre, traveling, animals (zoos make her sad), outdoor concerts, cooking, good clean debates and dirty martinis. She finds sunrise to be the sky’s most spectacular moment and is a big fan of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. After she was born, she went 5 days without a name, because her folks were expecting a boy!!!
C.B. Whittemore is Director, In-Store Innovation for Solutia’s Wear-Dated carpet fiber. She loves tracking consumer trends and is fascinatedwith digital and brick/mortar retailers who are passionate about meeting the needs of their consumers. Her educational background includes a BA in Art History from Smith College, an MBA in Marketing from Columbia Business School, and is constantly studying the world around her. Flooring The Consumer is a marketing blog about improving the consumer experience, particularly in flooring.
At ChaosScenario, Cam Beck (aka Cameron Beck), along with a motley crew of online media specialists, provides information, insight and commentary on the chaos that marketers are facing as the forces of technology, consumer apathy and marketing integration shape our world. Cam has spent his career looking for easier ways of doing things. As an information architect and content specialist for Click Here, the interactive unit of The Richards Group, Cam takes full advantage of troubleshooting skills developed over 14 years in to create an easily understandable, highly usable interactive land of milk and honey. He’s got a personal blog here (comes with some powerful commentary on US Government, politics and military), and let me share some insider dope: Cam is an ex-Marine, having worked as a Electronic Switching Equipment Technician with the US Marine Corps for over 8 years, and is the Webmaster for and Chief Operating Officer of OO-RAH.com, a unique company dedicated to helping United States Marines and their families flourish.
Carolyn Manningblogs about Business Thoughts & Business Philosophies and is from Pennsylvania, USA. Her main interest is writing and one of her cherished goals is ‘to facilitate better personal understanding by building global relationships’.
Cedric Giorgi blogs in French! He thinks it’s better to be useful than famous. Such an interesting thought. May be Ryan Barrett can check out his blog and tell us a little more about Cedric. Merci beaucoup.
Chris Corrigan is ‘a facilitator of conversation in the service of emergence’. His blog is titled ‘Parking Lot’ and has a good collection of poetry. His other blog Bowen Island Journal is a journal on life at Bowen Island, Canada. In his words, “home to 3000 people, three mountains, two valleys, four lakes, about 15
beaches, two species of salmon, one village and me and my family.” One look at the blog and you know that this place is paradise on Earth for him.
Chris Newlan is the director of Lighthouse Communications Group, a strategic and creative public relations and communications agency based in Sydney, Australia. Chris blogs on public relations and media issues. His chapter in ‘The Age of Conversation’ deals with the future of journalism.
Colin McKay’s blog Canuckflack is all about public relations, marketing, retail quirks, government communications and oddities. He works in a communications position for the Government of Canada at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Connie Reece champions conversation through everydotconnects.com, a social media consortium that brings together a group of independent media practitioners who use new technologies to bridge gaps between people and ideas and causes. A total Texan, she also co-authors the humor blog Blogabillies & looks cool in a pink feather boa!
Cord Silverstein is the quintessential online marketing hipster with over 15 years of working in the marketing industry, both on the agency side as well as client side. Check out his no-nonsense, cut-out-the-chase bio. Cord is presently Director of Engagement Marketing at Capstrat, a strategic marketing & communications firm in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Craig Wilson is is top honcho at Sticky Advertising, a young Newcastle-based agency with a long history. As Managing Director, his aim is to… create Sticky Advertising in Australia. Craig is passionate about both the Hunter Region, his home region and the media. He combines the two on his blog to provide valuable resources for marketers in the area. Media Hunter disseminates the available information about the Hunter’s media landscape, presenting facts, some opinions and alerts to the latest news.
“Stop calling yourself a blogger,” proclaims David Armano. VP of Experience Design with Critical Mass, a multi-channel services firm with a sweet spot for creating outstanding consumer experiences, David Armano’s personal blog Logic+Emotion exists at the intersection of Marketing,
Brand Engagement + Experience Design – where passive consumers become active participants. In his 100th post, Roger von Oech chose to interview David. His post ‘What makes David Armano tick?’ is the probably the finest piece on the David Armano story. David Armano has also designed the cover of ‘The Age of Conversation’.
Through his marketing blog ‘Marketers Studio’, marketer, columnist, speaker, and strategist David Berkowitz delivers key interactive marketing insights and trends. He is Director of Emerging Media for 360i, a search-focused marketing agency and a regular columnist for MediaPost’s Search Insider.
David Brazeal’s blog Journamarketing is about how great advocacy journalism can be used to your advantage to sell your ideas, your organization and even yourself. David is a communications and marketing consultant who helps clients use new media tools to sell their ideas and their organization.
David Koopmans’s blog ‘Business of Marketing and Branding’ attempts to make sense of Marketing and Branding in the Information Age. He’s a professional marketer and Director of Mokum Marketing, a firm specialising in B2B Marketing. Born in Amsterdam (hence the name of his business, Mokum, which is the colloquial name for Amsterdam) and David is a resident of Melbourne, Australia since 1991. David says that his reason to blog is simple – it connects him to people and their thoughts on marketing and branding and stimulates his thinking.
The Advertising Age has called David Pollinchock’s Brand Experience Lab (BEL) “a playroom for marketers and agencies”. BEL builds on knowledge of the future of ‘interaction’ marketing, and the embedding of emerging technology into retail and marketing experiences to create engaging brand experiences for 21st century audiences. David has over 20 years of experience in event marketing and strategic ideation. David is also an Adjunct Professor at the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU.
At ‘My 2Cents’, P.R. veteran David Reich muses on marketing, media, public relations… and life. David says: After 30+ years in this business, I still look forward to going to work. Rarely are two days the same, and the challenges are varied and stimulating. Before founding his own business, Reich Communications, Inc. in 1990, David worked in senior roles at Manning, Selvage & Lee and The Rowland Company. David lives in southern Westchester, 15 miles north of midtown Manhattan, in the same town where he grew up. “Money-earnin’ Mount Vernon” is how the town is now known, as a center of hip-hop culture, but it also claims as native sons Denzel Washington, Dick Clark, author e.b. White, Art Carney, Art Buchwald and Sean “P-Diddy” Combs. David plays an active role in his community’s civic and school affairs and has served as a pro-bono public relations consultant to two mayors and the city comptroller. If he were not a P.R. man, David would have been an all-night Jazz DJ. (After all, he’s co-hosted a jazz show with the master horror filmmaker Wes Craven for a semester at college.)
Drew McLellan gets branding and marketing and he desperately wants you to get it too. So he tells stories, asks questions, and milks sacred cows. All to help clients discover their brand so they can create authentic love affairs with their customers. Drew has not only survived 20 years in the advertising and marketing arena, he’s thrived in it. After working for several other agencies, including Young and Rubicam’s CMF&Z, Drew created McLellan Marketing Group in 1995. Considered a national branding expert in the USA, Drew is a highly sought after speaker and has given about a zillion presentations at national conferences, key note addresses, training for his peers in the profession, college students and even his daughter’s eighth grade class. When he’s not out preaching the good word of marketing & branding at work and on his blog Drew’s Marketing Minute, Drew spends time with his family and pondering why the Dodgers can’t seem to get back to the World Series.
Through his blog ‘Shake Gently’, Dustin Jacobsen, a Technical Director at a Kansas City based advertising agency gives a technologist’s view of the world of advertising. Dustin says: Creativity and technology are two powerful words that when mixed properly, like Apple has done many a times,
can create revolutionary results. Areas that when thrown together and shaken can give you good results. Shake too hard and things go awry. Don’t shake them at all and you are missing out on some good opportunities.
Ed Cotton has spent the last 10 years of his agency career as an account planner. He has a background of working with youth brands: first at McCann-Erickson Europe with Levi’s. A founder of McCann’s European youth arm – Magic Hat, Ed is one of the principals of Influx Strategic Consulting, a strategic arm of Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners based in Sausalito, California.
In her blog ‘Library Revolution’, Emily Clasper states that the Library Status Quo must go. Emily is a librarian, computer geek, and library gadfly currently working as System Operations Manager for a large public library consortium in Suffolk County, NY. She digs gardening, the New York Mets, and spending time with her family (husband Chris, son Robert, and Jack Russell Terrier, Peanut). Buzzwords on her blog include: Library Administration, Library Marketing, Library Service, Library Technology & Social Networking.
She is a trained private investigator. She does stand-up comedy in her spare time. She takes time out to meditate. She’s also been a planner at Goodby Silverstein and M&C Saatchi Sydney and a copywriter at Mad Dogs and Englishmen. She blogs at www.conformistsunite.com. Originally from Oregon, she loves hummus & coffee. She is also the Sydney-based partner of Open Intelligence Agency, an international consultancy operating from four global hubs – Sydney, Amsterdam, London & New York. OIA is an ideal gobal small business, bereft of hierarchies and bureaucracy, collaborating with all sorts of people 24/7 to deliver brand and communications thinking and creative ideas for top global brands. Meet Emily Reed. And here’s her page on PlannerSphere.
Faris Yakob. Strategist. Geek. Works at Naked Communications, London. Writes on brands, media, communications & technology for print and online media. Believes that ‘talent imitates, genius steals’. Bingo!
In a rapidly changing world, the African influence is often overlooked. From Sydney to Sao Paulo there are individuals who are helping shape a new image of Africa. Kofi Annan’s Annansi Chronicles reports on the styles and trends which are ushering in a contemporary definition of Africa. He also profiles Africans who are making an impact in the world we live in. A Ghanaian fashion designer and strategist(cultural trends, marketing, branding) who specializes in the emerging African market, Kofi is the principal of Annansi LLC, a consultancy which produces both Annansi Chronicles and Annansi Clothing Co., a premium streetwear clothing line. Annansi LLC’s goal is Makin’ AfricaPop(ular)!. Read Kofi’s Interview on “Bling is Dead”. Here’s to Kofi’s mission – Afrique C’est Chic” (Africa is Cool).
Gareth Kay is an advertising planner pretty new to the USA. He works for a Boston-based advertising agency Modernista. His blog ‘Brand New’ features his thoughts on ‘brands and communications and some occasional random stuff’.
Author, educator and small business advocate Gary Schoeniger blogs about insights, ideas and inspiration on innovation & entrepreneurship for small businesses as well as personal and professional development. He is the founder and CEO of Schoeniger Growth Consultants, Inc., a Cleveland, Ohio based consulting firm and is the author of Starting From Scratch – How To Start A Business When You Don’t Have Money.
Based in Mumbai, India, Gaurav Mishra is a marketer by profession and poet by heart. Gauravonomics Diary features his thoughts on love, life and popular culture while Gauravonomics Blog is all about his thoughts on blogging, marketing and personal development. His chapter in ‘The Age of Conversation’ is titled ‘Create Conversations, Not Clutter’. He’s got a cool About Us page with visuals of his various avatars.
Born on a boat on the Indian Ocean, Gavin Heaton was about three months early and nearly did not survive. As a newborn he was so small that his mother wrapped him in face cloths rather than nappies, and dressed him in doll’s clothes as nothing else would fit. OK … so only some of that is true. But which parts are fiction and which parts fact? What comes first the brand or the story? What is authentic and what is fable? For answers, you have to check out Gavin’s blog ‘Servant of Chaos’ which is his personal rant on the world of branding and storytelling. Gavin has held book editor and publishing roles at Butterworths, tutored and lectured in performance and postmodernism at University of Western Sydney, written technical documentation, marketed technology solutions, established a “knowledge factory” and run innovation teams for IBM, created comprehensive marketing and branding strategies, launched new services and run communications campaigns for Fujistu Consulting and now heads the Interactive division for a global marketing and promotions agency. (Btw, only the part of Gavin being born on a boat on the Indian Ocean is untrue!)
Brandopia is an interesting title for a blog that’s got musings on marketing, communication and technology. Geert Desager is originally from Brussels, has lived in South Africa and France and is now back in Belgium, working as Trade Marketing Manager for Microsoft. He’s studied applied linguistics, did a Master in E-business at the University of Brussels and an MBA at the University of Liverpool. Click here to read his post on ‘How to How to get 9 million views on Youtube?’Geert’s best known for being the man behind the popular Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions commercial ‘The Break-up’ that explores the shaky relationship between today’s advertiser and consumer.
Gia Facchini‘s chapter is titled ‘About Conversation’. Based in Rome, this veteran advertising / media man & restaurateur is into cooking, wine, contemporary art (He’s attended Introduction to Contemporary Art’ from Sotheby’s Institute of Art), mountain biking, Jimi Hendrix, rock, jazz and counts Anatomy of Restlessness by Bruce Chatwin as his favorite book. Gia says: Without a conversation there is no engagement, no share of information, no transfer of knowledge. Without a conversation, we cannot learn to listen, to give words their own meaning and not the one we would like them to have. Click
here to read his post on Benedetta Craveri’s book ‘The Age of Conversation’.
Dr. Graham Hill is a principal at CACI Sophron, a London and Cologne, Germany-based customer value management consultancy. He has more than 20 years of experience in customer-driven change programs in automotive, telecom, financial services and aviation industries and in the public sector. Graham developed and piloted the Lean CRM concept with Toyota in Europe and is implementing it in a number of European markets. Want to know why Toyota is ‘kickassing’ Detroit automakers today? Click here to read Graham’s ‘The Lean CRM Toyota Story’.
A consummate marketing & new media blogger, Greg Verdino is Vice President / Director of Emerging Channels at Digitas LLC, where he provides clients with thought leadership on engaging consumers and creating brand experiences through emerging platforms such as digital video, mobile, social media and gaming. A recognized expert on emerging media channels, Web 2.0 and convergence, Greg rides on an illustrious career that has seen him work for big names in advertising (Wunderman and Saatchi & Saatchi) as well as new media (ROO, Arbitron NewMedia, Akamai Technologies, Loudeye and Globix Corporation).
Jamey Shiel’s blog ‘Walk On’ is a trip to interactive branding, new marketing and social media in the new world. Jamy is an Account Manager in the Interactive Branding department for Laughlin/Constable and brings over ten years of experience managing internet development, marketing and public relations projects for Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations and everything in between. And when he’s got spare time, he enjoys reading, playing basketball and trying to figure out how to be a better father to his kids.
You would like to visit Janet Green’s Small Business Marketing Ideas – Marketing Idea Blog to discuss and share small business marketing, advertising and publicity ideas with small- and home-based business owners. Janet is a 20-year veteran marketing and communications professional, having begun her career in the field of corporate video and broadcast television production. She’s even hosted her own radio shows, worked in retail, and been a DJ in a roller skating rink. Andd there’s this totally other side to Janet, and you can get it at bikerchicknews.com – where you can see photos, news and rants from a woman who rides motorcycles – JG herself… she calls herself RBM (Rebel Biker Mom) and her bike is a 2000 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 named PB (Picky Bitch)!
On her blog ‘Indexed’, Jessica Hagy analyzes modern life with charts, graphs and Venn diagrams neatly arranged on 3×5 index cards. She says: This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math’. And if you ever want to buy an ndexed T-Shirt, click here. She is an advertising copywriter, and here’s a rare interview of this elusive hack. (P.S: Indexed is ranked 174 on Technorati).
Jim Kukral (Marketing | Ideas | Online) is a veteran online marketing consultant and award-winning blogger who focuses on helping businesses make money online through creative marketing ideas and strategies. His chapter for the ‘Age of Conversation’ is titled “Can I Have Your Attention Please?” and is about how social marketing tools such as YouTube, Twitter and Flickr are changing the marketing game and how brands today need to embrace them if they want to be noticed in an ever-growing world of noise. He digs Pizzas and the Cleveland Browns.
Joe Raasch is an organizational development practitioner with over 20 years of professional experience, specializing in performance management, corporate strategy, and employee engagement. He was “consultant of the year” at General Electric Commercial Finance in 2001. He blogs on Leadership, Employee Engagement, Performance Management, Life, Change Management and Innovation at ‘The Happy Burro’. His chapter “No Limit Conversation” promises to be a great tool to stimulate, reinvigorate and engage in the lost art of conversation.
John La Grou is President, Founder, Producer & Engineer at Millennia Music & Media Systems. He and his wife Cynthia formed Millennia Media in 1989 to pursue their interest in fine and applied arts. Millennia’s mission is to produce the world’s finest audio recording gear. John’s passion for audio was sparked when his dad brought home the first stereo reel-to-reel home tape recorder, a 1/4″ half-track machine made by the Voice of Music Company. From managing Acer America’s OEM division to setting up Millennia which has shipped over 25,000 channels of HV-3 mic preamps to orchestras and musical performers worldwide, John remains committed to absolute sonic and musical purity. Let the music play, John!
Jordan Behan’s blog is about Marketing 2.0, Web 2.0, new media, social media, blogosphere and occasionally on Vancouver Canucks. Jordan’s first media job was at the age of 16, when he started as weekend reporter for the local newspaper. His first assignment? A front page scoop and photo when
teachers walked off the job on strike at his high school. He has now over a decade of experience and education in media; working in television, newspaper, radio and online marketing. He is Founder / President of Tell Ten Friends, a small-business marketing firm in Vancouver.
Julie Fleischer blogs about new ideas in innovation, with a focus on inspirational branding, business models, media and design. Julie is the blogger-in-chief / Director of Innovation for Egg Strategy (a Chicago-based brand strategy firm that aims to bring the magic of insight to brand strategy, innovation and communication). She has been CMO of a dotcom aimed at making the world a better place for moms, launched a specialty retail chocolate business, ran a national auto care franchise and is a trained qualitative researcher. Her listed occupation is ‘Innovation Catalyst’.
Karl Long is the Web / Social Media Integration Manager for the video game group at Nokia. In his blog ExperienceCurve, he talks a lot about the intersection of marketing, social media and remarkable customer experience. He also contributes to the blog vcritic.com that explores the social video revolution and ‘watches youtube and vlogs because we’ve got better things to do’. He also rules the roost at tcritic.com, a daily T-Shirt blog that’s obsessed with cool, thought provoking, funny, and geeky t-shirts. (If you want your t-shirt reviewed, email him a snap of your T-shirt at karl.long@gmail.com or better, click here to check out his review guidelines.) Another of his pet projects is Customers On Fire – The Co-Creative Business Show – a weekly podcast on the topic of co-creation, co-creative business, technology and social media. Karl is also a contributor to blog.futurelab.net – Marketing Strategy & Innovation & blog.marketingprofs.com.
On her blog ‘Get Shouty’, Katie Chatfield blogs about digital strategy and well, blogging itself. She’s recently moved over from Sydney to Chicago. Katie says that blogging makes her hungry for her day, helps her to simplify, allows her to listen and lets her know that there is no one right way, there is only
conversation. She’s hilarious & knows to speak her mind. And, she’s totally into swimming & reading.
Kim Klaver is a marketing author / sales trainer who has been selling things she loves since she was eight. The little Dutch girl with broken English sold more Christmas cards door-to-door in her neighborhood than all her friends. After a stint in academia, which ended with a degree from Harvard, she wrote academic textbooks and articles, and slowly moved into sales – from real estate to direct sales and network marketing. In her last company, Kim achieved the highest position in the shortest time in their 25 year history. She teaches thousands of women in direct sales how they can become more successful too, through her books, audio tapes and classes.
“Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method.” Kimberly Dawn Wells from Medford, Wisconsin is an individual with many qualities and who’s into – everything! She is the Editor of the SquidU Review for Squidoo.com, the Topic Editor for Suite101.com and current Resources for Writers Topic Editor, and currently owns a variety of CafePress shops. She “retired” from her 8 year career as a web designer in March 2005 and has been writing full-time ever since. She currently has a contract out for three non-fiction (real life) books and is working on about 20 different fiction (made up) books. She’s enjoys fighting flames… she joined the Medford Area Fire Department in August, 2004 and says it’s a blast to be a firefighter. She’s musical – she’s been playing the piano since she was 5, violin since she was 8, drums since she was 14 and many more instruments. She’s also an ‘unnatural’ redhead, born on June 23rd, draws cartoons, collects snowmen, digs the color red and abstract art, roots for the Detroit Red Wings, and is 24 years old. Touché. And this is how her brain works.
Kris Hoet is EMEA Marketing Manager at Microsoft Online Services Group, Belgium. Kris studied Communications Management in Antwerp, Belgium. After a 7 year online marketing stint at Kinepolis.com, he joined Microsoft MSN where he was Consumer Marketing Manager for MSN/Windows Live in Belgium for 1½ years. Click here to know more about his interesting blog project on owning a 1965 Mustang some day!
Kristin Gorski is a freelance writer, editor, copyeditor and proofreader who blogs about anything and everything to do with the written word. Join her on her wordy quest through life at her blog ‘Write now is good’. Back in the days, Kristin was a college-radio disc jockey and music director. Apart from her recent contribution to “The Age of Conversation”, she’s presently working a journalism endeavor called “Assignment Zero: Adventures in Pro-Am Journalism”, which is supported by Wired Magazine; researching “crowdsourced novels”; blogging on occasion for PSFK, an inspiring blog about ideas, trends, and culture; and finished her second novel’s first draft, apart from regular freelance writing and editing assignments.
Lewis Green is the Founder and Managing Principal of L&G Business Solutions, LLC, and has over three decades of business management experience. In addition to his business experiences, Lewis is a published author and a former journalist, sports writer and travel writer. His feature articles have appeared in books, magazines and newspapers throughout North America. He has taught in public schools; lobbied for organizations both in state capitols and in Washington, D.C.; delivered workshops, seminars, and training programs; and made presentations to audiences in colleges, businesses and professional organizations. Lewis also has served as a book editor with a large publisher, the Executive Editor overseeing four magazines, and a newspaper department editor. Lewis served eight years in the U.S. Air Force, where he received the Air Force Commendation Medal. At his blog bizsolutionsplus, Lewis features business tips, ideas and innovative thinking to grow your business. What makes a prolific writer & blogger? Click here to know his secret!
Lori Magno describes herself as an Audi driving, Mac using, doppio drinking (mostly) Red Sox loving liberal. Based in Boston, her interests include jewelry design, precious metal, clay, gemstones, 60s California pop music & Noir films. Lori is an accomplished fashion designer / jeweler who sells ‘accessories for stylish living’. Visit her shop Moda di Magno. She’s the livewire at Moda di Magno, a blog started with a simple goal of presenting her take on handmade jewelry, metal arts and design. And along the way it has wandered into politics, the Boston Red Sox, a category called WTF and lots of marketing news. She also blogs at The Digital Hive, the “official blog” of Digitas, Boston, that brings the world of marketing, advertising, social media and active branding to life in one place. Her chapter in the ‘Age of Conversation’ book is entitled “Speak to me TJX” where she ponders on what has happened to the deep and abiding relationship she’s had with TJX, the largest apparel and home fashions off-price retailer in the U.S. and worldwide.
Luc Debaisieux is a man who wears many hats – marketing communication specialist and film producer, head of TV for an international advertising agency, managing director of small size company and so on. He is always on the lookout for: new challenges (!) – strategic planning – innovation – technology – state-of-the-art – cutting edge – pioneering processes – project research and development. The title of his chapter in the ‘Age of Conversation’ e-book is : “The Dawn of Shared Consciousness” and it floats
around evolution and revolution.
Mack Collier is a Social-Media Consultant / Community-Evangelist, helping big and small companies develop a social-media strategy that helps them reach, and excite their community of customers. His blog, The Viral Garden, is ranked in the top 0.01% of all blogs on the internet, according to Technorati. He is also a regular contributor for Daily Fix. Mack also has over 10 years experience working with major retail clients, helping them solve their online and offline marketing and production problems, as well as both a BBA and MBA in Marketing. Any additional free time he has is spent collecting antique toys, watching the Tide Roll, reading business periodicals, reading the latest marketing and branding news on the web.
Mario Vellandi shares his latest thoughts on the world of business and design at Melodies in Marketing. Mario says about his work: I do graphic and interactive design for small businesses, on some days. Basic marketing consulting and giving referrals on other days. Lastly I’m on a self-study personal MBA program. Mario is also involved in Volunteer OC, as the Community Manager for a local nonprofit group. His topic for ‘The Conversation Age’ is Collective Intelligence. And I think The Spirit of Paris is his best snap in his Flickr album. Wait, I like the Sacre Coeur too.
Mark Blair is a coffee guzzling, web-developing sociologist from Sonoma County, California. He’s been following the growth of social media since the late 80’s and obtained his degree in Sociology from Sonoma State University in the early 90’s. From there, he went on to co-found Pacific Web, a web development company with a special emphasis on building community-oriented websites. Mark’s SMO Blog is an exciting safari into the jungles of Social Media Optimization and Marketing. He continues to do consulting, development and marketing for select clients under the banner of Blairworks. You might also be interested in his website optimization blog, where he shares valuable tips on how to better optimize your website.
Mark Earls leads the ‘Herd’ – a journey that aims to expose the hidden truth about who we are. He is a proponent of the Herd theory – an alternative view of human nature that suggests we do what we do largely because of the influence of other people. Mark has worked for most of his working life in advertising and communications as an account planner – at agencies like St Luke’s, BMP and Ogilvy. Mark says: My only intent is to make things better by making our thinking about things better – a lot of the time our thinking is quite lazy. I don’t have all the answers – never would pretend to – but by engaging folk in thinking about our assumptions has always helped my thinking (and I hope theirs) be better, clearer and more effective… I’ve now written my third book or second-and-a-half. I’m passionate about many things. And I’ve given up the day job to make more time for Herd and these other things. Because frankly life is too short. His interests are: Creativity, Music, Marketing, Advertising, Psychology, Econophysics, Neuroscience, Sociology, Art, Cooking, Cricket, Fishing, Diving, Spirituality & Changing the world.
Mark Goren worked for 10 years in marketing as a copywriter at several traditional advertising agencies, before learning one sure thing: the traditional advertising model is broken. Mark’s now into new marketing consulting, freelance copywriting, social media advocacy, and anything else that’ll pay for a family of four to see the Habs in person. His marketing consultancy Transmission Content + Creative is designed to help ‘open-minded clients reach their targets in non-conventional, financially friendly ways by cutting out waste and targeting qualified prospects’. Openly. Honestly. Authentically.
Matt Dickman (Mattanium) is the quintessential technomarketer as well as an interactive marketing strategist, speaker and technology evangelist working at DigiKnow, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio. Click here for his seminal video tour on ‘Web2.0 for marketers: what it means for you’. Though he describes himself as ‘an amateur photographer finding the balance between work and photos’, I recommend a visit to his Flickr Travel snap collection.
Michael Morton brings in oodles of energy and professionalism not only into his office, but also into his blog – Marketing Monster. He believes that knowledge is power, that leadership trumps management, that customers are more influential than advertisements, that content is king, that two heads are better than one, and that he’s a darn good marketer. He says that Marketing is fun as you must always learn new tactics and technologies to make marketing worthwhile to your company. Currently, he’s a marketing associate for Inventory Locator Service, a Memphis-based business-to-business Internet company while pursuing a Masters degree in PR. He enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and swimming.
Mike Sansone from Des Moines, Iowa has got probably one of the most interesting domains on the World Wide Web – www.converstations.com. Nope, it’s not conversations, but ‘converStations’ – a coined word obviously, but one with a lot of meaning. And Mike calls him a ‘conversation conductor’. Mike is an independent business consultant specializing in business blogs and conversational copywriting. His experience in public speaking, sales and marketing, writing, and real-time online communication are strengths Mike relies upon in his role as a Conversation Conductor. Mike’s passion is to build communities – offline and online. He’s taken on many avatars do that – property management, online community programming, volunteerism, and – for a short time – as an assistant pastor at a Baptist church in Maryland.
Nathan Snell blogs on Giddlebits. Originally from CA, Nathan lives in NC. He started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 11 when he began doing web design. Nathan’s currently a senior in the entrepreneurship & business development program at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. He’s been involved in internet marketing, design, web development, CRM implementation for small business, training for said implementation, mutual fund analysis, game design, I.T. work, lead event media & more. And he likes long walks… on the beach…
Nick Rice is an accomplished marketing consultant based at Lexington, Kentucky having rendered marketing and advertising advice to global businesses and small organizations over a decade. In his present avatar, he is responsible for Account Strategy and New Business Development at Cre8tive
Group, an organization that creates ‘cause communication for social innovators’. Cre8tive Group works with cause-driven organizations that struggle with awareness and stakeholder commitments. Here are two things that differentiate CG from a typical marketing communications firm – they only work with eight clients at a time and donate 10% of profits to a non-profit foundation that tells the stories of cause-driven firms who cannot afford their services. In addition to writing Strategic Design, a Top 150 Marketing blog, he is an Expert Blogger for the Fast Company magazine and writes for SmallBusinessBranding.com. His chapter in the ‘Age of Conversation’ book is entitled, “Authenticity-based Branding”. Click here to read Nick’s article – 5 Steps to Join the Conversation Economy.
Nick Wright is a Freelance Research Consultant from London who blogs about Vir(tu)al Marketing and Media – How is social media affecting the world of advertising?. He says: I blog because I enjoy it and can’t hear enough about the latest Web 2.0 marketing trends. I’m always trying to find the best, most creative solutions for the problems clients face in regards to Social Media today. His blog is loaded with rich nuggets of knowledge on Web 2.0, viral marketing, user-generated advertising, social media & mobile video.
Patrick Schaber is a Marketing Manager at Transition Networks, B2B manufacturer of networking hardware products in Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area. His blog is titled ‘The Lonely Marketer – a discussion for the small business marketing manager’ and serves all those with great marketing ideas, limited time and budget, and only a small crowd to hear you present your thoughts. Patrick believes that a ‘small company Marketing Manager’ has an exciting position – maintaining a consistent marketing plan while expanding boundaries into new and unchartered territories. And the Lonely Marketer serves his purpose of writing about and generating discussions on a variety of current marketing trends for such marketing professionals.
Paul McEnany is a new media marketing strategist at a Dallas agency, and writes for Beyond Madison Avenue and The Madison Avenue Journal. He is also the greatest advertising human alive today.
Pete Deutschman is the Chief Buddy and Founder at the Buddy Group, an interactive creative agency based in Lake Forest, California that uses the ‘Buddy Up!’ spirit to bring in trust, camaraderie, heat, energy and fun while creating compelling online brand communciations for clients such as eBay, Washington Mutual, AOL, Reebok, Hansen Beverage Company and Warner Brothers. Pete’s interests are: Youth and Entertainment, Viral Marketing, Rich Media, Interactive, Online Creative, Application Development, Promotions, Live Entertainment & Interactive Video. He has worked in commercial theater and earnt his MFA in Theater Management from Columbia University School of the Arts.
Peter Corbett blogs on ‘Advercation = Advertising + Education’ and is Manager, Marketing Services at Blattner Brunner, a leading full-service ad agency with offices in Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Washington D.C . Pete’s interests include interactive advertising, interactive guerrilla marketing, integrated marketing, international content licensing and social media. He received an ‘Excellence in Volunteer Service Award’ (2003) from Former President Jimmy Carter in 2003.
Phil Gerbyshak is a writer, motivational speaker, helpful guy, blogger, and lifelong learner. He is the president of the Professional Help Desk Association, works as a Help Desk Manager at a financial services firm in Milwaukee, WI, a prolific blogger, and an overall great guy who enjoys spending time with his wife and his friends, and is willing to help you Make it Great! He is also the author of the book ‘10 Ways to Make It Great!’
Richard Huntington is a planner by trade and the former planning director of both HHCL and United London. Over the years he has made rodeo sexy, produced food porn for Diet Tango, helped men confront their fear of the phone, got the frozen retailer Iceland to care about food issues and had his last Tango ad banned for encouraging bullying. More recently he was busy making Sky more appealing to digital refusniks and doing serious harm to the ad industry by popularising their DVR, Sky+. He is on the management committee of the Account Planning Group in the UK and the Chair of Judges for the APG Creative Strategy Awards as well as a member of the IPA Strategy Group. He blogs at adliterate where
he provides radical thinking for the brand advice business. It aims to be deliberately provocative with radical views and sets itself against orthodoxy in any form. The modern-day agent provocateur. Neat.
Design and Management student at Parsons School of Design, New York, Rishi Desai’s blog ‘Gumptious Design’ is a simple, austere yet intense intersection of design and society. Rishi is the Founder and Chairperson of the Parsons Sustainable Design Review that aims to foster and encourage awareness of the social, artistic, and design-based sustainable solutions to the dynamic challenges presented to students at Parsons University.
A native of Houston, he has worked (among other things) as a Fuller Brush salesman, carpenter’s helper, piping designer, Y2K consultant, management consultant, and a mechanical engineer. These days, he is enjoying his current job as a project manager for a large engineering firm. He’s moved at least 60 times since marriage and took over 20 years to complete his first degree, but then went on to complete his Master’s in Engineering Management and a Doctorate in Business Administration to round-off things. His blog Middle Zone Musings is where you go to have a good time and participate in the occasional literary contest that brings bloggers from the world together. Three cheers for Robert Hruzek.
‘The Copywriting Maven’ is the ultimate online repository of direct response marketing & SEO copywriting tips, techniques and reviews of incredibly useful resources for professional and aspiring marketing copywriters. And that just about makes Roberta Rosenberg the ultimate copywriting diva on the blogosphere. Click here to read her “elevator speech” about who she is and her experience.
If you were looking for the magician with the key to a box full of fun ideas to stimulate your creativity, look no further. Roger von Oech is an author, inventor, and consultant. He started his company, Creative Think, in 1977 to stimulate creativity in business. He’s probably best known as the author of A
Whack on the Side of the Head and the Creative Whack Pack, and, most recently, as the creator of the Ball of Whacks (a set of 30 magnetic design blocks that act as a creative stimulant and mind freshener). Roger has a Ph.D. from Stanford in “History of Ideas;” and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Ohio State. Read his post ‘Think Like a Fool’.
Roger Anderson is a Scientist, Entrepreneur, Evangelist, CEO, Consultant, and Author. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Caltech in 1996, he has been on the business side of science. He has experience in three previous start-ups, twice serving as CEO a combined 6 years. Dr. Anderson has also served as a consultant to dozens of companies in the laboratory reagents and diagnostics markets.
Ron Shevlin is VP of Marketing at Epsilon in Wakefield, MA. Prior to joining Epsilon in April 2006, he spent nine years at Forrester Research where he was a Research Director and Principal Analyst of the Financial Services team, and led Forrester’s consumer research efforts in financial services. He has set 3 objectives for his blog: 1) Help marketers succeed. 2) Make marketers smile. 3) Enter into new conversations. To achieve any or all three of the above objectives, please visit his blog! Read his post How To Give A Great Presentation (In Nine Words).
Ryan Barrett is a copywriter at Digitas, Boston. She graduated from Boston University in 2005, where she received a BS in Communications and a BA in French Language and Literature. During her senior year, she co-found an online nightlife guide, which she then worked on for 2 years after graduating from school. Agency-side, Ryan has dabbled in New Business and Project Management, but her true passion lies in writing. In her free time, Ryan loves to dance the night away, throw dinner and cocktail parties, make daring fashion choices and read memoirs.
Based in Chicago, Ryan Rasmussen is Director of Social Media Engagement and Research at Levenger, a company that manufactures high-quality planning and organizer materials including stationery. As a part of his job, Ryan researches emergent social communication networks and engages communities to elicit co-creation of new products and services. In addition to speaking with customers in blogs and community forums, he uses services like Flickr, Twitter, Blip.Tv, and interactive virtual environments, like Second Life, to cooperatively redefine brand experiences. Collaborative Ideation is a tumblelog he uses to synthesize voice and perspective for the various social networks within which he experiments. Ryan-speak: I’m here to listen, learn, and participate in discussions about organization and creativity.
S. Neil Vineberg muses on Life, Spirit & Technology on his blog. Neil is a seasoned PR practitioner and strategist, having held management and partner positions with leading communication firms including Middleberg Euro and Golin/Harris. He is presently President of Vineberg Communications, a PR consultancy based at Westhampton, New York. His successes, which span the technology, entertainment and consumer industries, include work for: Sprint, Texas Instruments, Procter & Gamble, Hershey Foods, CVS.com, CBS Marketwatch, Bausch and Lomb, United Airlines, IBM and Sony.
Marcus Brown aka Sacrum is a warm, wonderful person with an aura of mystique. He introduces himself as: I am European man with skills in advertising. I should be in advertising yes? Yes! But I am not and this is a shame. Shame is worry, shame is darkness. I must have light! So I must get in to funky advertising agency. I have my own pencils. Click here to watch Sacrum on YouTube.
Sandy Renshaw lives in Iowa and has a business named ‘Purple Wren’ (a play on her name, of course) that provides communications solutions to businesses. Her experience in graphic design, business communications, event planning, and web development are strengths she relies upon in her role as a communications consultant. Prior to launching PurpleWren, she served as an independent blog writer and virtual assistant for small businesses. Before that she worked with companies like Kemin Industries, Stanford University News Service, Wellmark and the Iowa League of Cities. She is an active member of the Iowa Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the Des Moines alliance of The Association for Women in Communications where she co-edits the local website, and she recently joined the board at Digital Arts Group (DAG).
The Social Media Marketing Blog is where you find Scott Monty’s perspectives on B2B implications of social media – the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web – for marketers, agencies and companies. Scott is currently Relationship Director & Consigliere at crayon, LLC plus Writer/Content Developer/Strategist at The Social Media Marketing Blog & The Baker Street Blog. He has also served time as Account Director at PJA Advertising & Marketing. A ‘benevolent idealist’ according to his DNA type, Scott is one of the most passionate online canons of Sherlock Holmes.
Sean Howard’s blog is titled… CrapHammer. Prone to addiction of coffee, gadgets, software, cats, ideas and exploration, Sean’s currently a partner in spinglobe inc., a word of mouth, viral and social networking digital communications firm in Canada. His interests include ultimate frisbee, philosophy, gadgets, cats, and anything resembling ultimate frisbee. Sean blogs on Social Media, Social Networking, Viral / Word of Mouth & Web 2. His LinkedIn summary reads: Hacker turned Juggler; Brief foray into 3D special effects and Animation; Web Developer in the early standard war years; VP at a dying CD shop; Partner in an Interactive Agency; on to a Senior Strategist at ICE; finally Head Banana at spinglobe inc.
Writer, editor and marketing consultant Simon Payn is the go-to guy if you want to discover how powerful customer newsletters can benefit your business. Simon believes that newsletters are so powerful that every business should have one. That’s one reason he gives one free away at Ready to Go Newsletters. With 13 years of experience at all levels in magazines and newspapers, and a successful 7 years developing and managing the content of continental Europe’s leading online English-language publisher, Simon can help you achieve your editorial and marketing aims – in print and on the web.
Copywriter Spike Jones is also the ‘Firestarter’, the official ‘voice’ and the ‘New Business Hound’ of Brains on Fire, a national naming and identity company based in Greenville, South Carolina. Spike holds a double major in Environmental Studies & Journalism and is also an experienced cattle ranch hand. Spike comes from the Lone Star state, where he was born and raised. Spike considers BMW the ultimate driving machine (he writes copy for BMW Manufacturing), and here’s hoping that BMW pays heed to his roundel request.
At Brand DNA, Stanley Johnson aka Stan Lee takes us to the weird and wonderful world of brands and communication. He is employed in the media / communications industry as a ‘creative problem solver’. You will love his short blog posts & pithy commentary on the latest brandcom buzz.
Steve Bannister is a speaker, coach and educator from Canada who uses high-energy customized programs to empower people and organizations to get results. A ‘positive change catalyst’, Steve motivates people and organizations on how to get from planning to performance. An expert communicator and motivator for 20 years, Steve has a Masters in Education specializing in Teaching & Learning and is certified as a Professional Speaker with the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). Click here to read his article ‘The Secrets of Effective Decision-Making’.
Steve Roesler is the guy behind ‘All Things Workplace’, a blog on ‘Life at the intersection of people and work… for executives, leaders, employees, and their consultants’. Married to “B”, Steve and his better half live 20 miles from Philadelphia in a tranquil, wooded area surrounded by lakes. Steve incorporated the Organization Effectiveness firm Roesler Group in 1977, specializing in communication training and development with an emphasis on improving systems, relationships, and large-scale change. He has spent lengths of time developing up-and-coming managers in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He has also served as a Drill Instructor in the Army, musician and singer, and has been involved in broadcasting for more than 30 years. He has attended various institutes for the study of human behavior, but believes that none of them equals a single day’s education watching people at an airport check-in line.
Steve Woodruff is Founder of StickyFigure, a consultancy that provides ‘sticky’ creative branding, identity, and market strategy services. Steve is a complusive lover of effective communications and can’t help thinking about more impactful logos, taglines, and market strategies. Steve led sales, marketing, and business development efforts for two decades in the healthcare field before launching StickyFigure and a consulting business on pharma sales training. Steve describes himself as ‘an unusual hybrid of conceptualizer, strategist, analyst, wordsmith, semi-techie, and all-around nice guy.’ Except when there’s bad coffee or lousy wine. Steve is a contributor at the Small Business Branding blog, has been interviewed as an industry expert by TheStreet.com, recently launched the Marketing Bloggers Portal, and is working with other marketing bloggers on some new collaborative initiatives. Steve’s chapter in the ‘ The Age of Conversation’ is titled ‘The Lowered Fence of Collaboration’.
Susan Bird is a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders. A Stanford lawyer, she is Founder of MainEvent(TM), the annual global interactive business forum, and the author of The ABC’s of Authentic Conversation. Her blog’s named BIRD’S EYE-VIEW.
Tim Jackson is a ‘life-long, dyed in the wool jersey bicycle geek’ who is now living out a dream as the Brand Manager of the bike he lusted after since he was 12 years old; Masi Bicycles. In Jim’s own words: If you ever saw the movie ‘Breaking Away’, then you probably recognize the name Masi as the bike ridden by the movie’s hero Dave. Since seeing that movie in 1982, I have been a compulsive bike geek with little hope of salvation. Tim’s blog is the ultimate journey to a bike geek land. Tim’s daughter Katie is on the blogosphere too… she’s a bright creative genius, philosopher & kindergartner whose blog you must visit.
Here’s the scoop on social media marketing expert Toby Bloomberg. A native of Boston who found her way to to Atlanta. Over 15-years experience in marketing. Hooked on potential of the Internet in ‘97. Always reseach-based. National speaker and facilitator of Social Media Marketing and traditional marketing topics for organizations like the American Marketing Association, the Olympic Organizing Committee and SCORE. “Other life” includes serving on boards of the American Marketing Association, the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association. Has most fun chairing the American Marketing Association’s online communities and being moderator of Internet/eCom SIG. Blogspeak: Diva Marketing is a state of mind. It’s an approach to marketing that’s fun, bold and savvy … but always strategically aligned with your brand’s objective.
At ‘Todd And – The Power To Connect’, Todd Andrlik blogs at the very serious yet often comical crossroads of marketing and media. Todd says that the power to connect is vital in today’s global economy and broadband society. In addition to ‘Todd And’, he’s also a contributor to Forward, a blog providing career development and professional perspective for students and young PR professionals. Todd has spent several years working for global PR firms, including a four-year term at Weber Shandwick, before taking up his current position as director of marketing and PR for one of the largest construction firms in the US. Tony and his wife are parents to an eight-pound Silky Terrier, Wrigley. He enjoys European travel and improvisational comedy. In 2004, Todd retired from his improv troupe after 14 years of performing.
Architect of possibilities and story catalyst, Tom Clifford is a multi-award-winning corporate documentary filmmaker. He helps companies communicate meaningful messages by producing emotional, engaging and authentic videos. Click here to watch some of his corporate videos.
Tony D. Clark is at home at ‘Success from the Nest’, a resourceful yet entertaining blog that offers inspiration, tips and advice for the home-based entrepreneur and those aspiring to be one – laced with humor and cartoons. Being a work-from-home parent himself, Tony has given advice, shared resources, and helped others who are interested in working from home. When it comes to work, he is an entrepreneur, artist, writer, and designer. He is also the founder and partner of EfficiencyLab, LLC – a software and Website renovation company and a regular contributor to lifehack.org - a productivity and personal development blog. And the cartoonist for Implementing Scrum - a site designed to help software teams with the methodology. Tony lives in North Carolina with his wife, 3 daughters, and a dog.
Troy Worman is a writer geek and Process Improvement Director from Jacksonville, Florida. His blog says: Orbit Now is personal development from a slightly different perspective. Don’t wait for permission to succeed! Be you. Don’t settle for someone else’s dreams. Define success on your own terms. Orbit Now!
Uwe Hook is Director, Interactive Marketing Strategy at Genex, a full-service digital agency in California. Uwe has over 15 years of creative advertising, marketing, strategic planning and client experience, coupled with 10 years of online media experience. His blog’s where ‘Real Life 1.0 meets Web 2.0’. His Interests: Anything. Except Professional Darts. Click here to check out his profile at AdGabber. Or click here to read his articles on imediaconnection.
Ms. Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni connects people & ideas on her blog ‘Conversation Agent’ and explores how talk can change our lives. In Italy, Valeria moved into communications while studying linguistics at the University of Bologna. A passionate marketer, she has since worked on the agency, consulting and corporate sides of communications. Since May 2000, she has been the chair of a Philadelphia professionals organization tied to Fast Company magazine. Her passion and drive to learn from, understand and practice in the fields of communications and marketing takes the form of engaging conversations where content, product and service providers come together with audiences, customers and publics to create meaning. Click here to read her Blogger Story.
Wow! This is quite a list. Thanks so much for putting it all together in such a remarkable way!
Thanks, Arun. Great list.
I wouldn’t mind if you’d update my place of employment, though – I’m now at the much hipper crayon.
Thank you Phil!
Thanks for the shout-out Scott! Sorry I missed out Crayon… fixed that! Hoping you’re doing well
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[...] The Age of Conversation jump to navigation [...]
Shame on you for creating another terrific post! Awesome stuff, keep up the good work. I see a lot of potential! I wonder if you are an active user with any social networking sites like Digg or Stumble Upon?