New Executive Search

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Executive Coaching, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine No. 84

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: Entangled Marketing
Career Management
Career Opportunities:
- Director, Advanced Analytics – Influent 50, an AARP company – NEW
- VP, Marketing – B2B Financial Services / Collections
- Dir., Web Product Management – Travel/Hospitality
- Marketing Leader – Northeast Region
- Sr. Mgr., Digital Strategy

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Entangled Marketing

With marketing changing at a faster pace than ever before, we all look to seers and visionaries for predictions about the future.

One of the marketing visionaries we have long admired is Stan Rapp, one of the founding fathers of direct marketing, the founder of Rapp Collins (now Rapp Worldwide) – one of the top 2-3 global direct marketing agencies. After selling Rapp Collins to Omnicom, Stan went on to build McCann Relationship Marketing (“MRM Worldwide”) from scratch as a global direct/CRM network for Interpublic Group. After leaving IPG, at a time when many of his contemporaries were retiring, Stan partnered with Halyard Capital, a private equity firm, and over a 5 year period he built Engauge, a new integrated “agency of the future,” including general advertising, analytics, and digital marketing integrated into a single operating unit under a single P&L. Engauge grew successfully and was acquired by Publicis 2-3 years ago which represented the third holding company for whom Stan had built new age marketing services models and profitable agency businesses.

When engagement is not enough and something more is needed. Stan’s most recent futuristic innovation is Entangled Marketing in collaboration with Sebastian Jespersen, CEO of Vertic, a global digital agency. At a time where digital- and mobile-first marketing has agencies and advertisers focused on reinventing customer engagement and experience, Stan as usual is a step ahead of the rest of us, stating in the October 12, 2015 Advertising Age that “engagement is not enough, something more is needed.” Metaphorically, Stan says what’s needed is what Louisa Guilder writes about in “The Age of Entanglement,” a quantum physics theory about particles, once entangled remain inextricably connected. According to Stan, people worldwide want to be entangled with what Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google can do for them….so the imperative for marketers is to figure out how to create brands that entice customers to become entangled.

Entangling – Brand and Consumer. Stan and Jespersen, together with Laura McLellan of Gartner, have written a book soon to be published titled, Entangling – Brand and Consumer. Their thesis is the march from mass marketing to one-to-one marketing and digital marketing is moving to the new era of entangled marketing. This new business model is as much about the consumer wanting to be entangled with the brand as the other way around.

We have seen a number of newer brands like Amazon Prime and Uber become industry transforming brands which consumers love and want to be part of for reasons of the unique values they provide to customers. It is certainly giving all of us things to think about as we evaluate whether our customers are entangled or what it would take for our customers to want to be more entangled with our brands.

Bottom Line: What changes are you making to enable your brand to become more entangled with customer and new prospects?

Career Management – by Lola White

NOW more than ever, managing your career is critically important!

To respond to this marketplace dynamic, Executive Connections is adding a Career Management column to our monthly e-zine. It is designed to support and guide YOU as you build your personal brand, manage your career path and prepare for career transitions.

Wikipedia describes Career Management as a combination of structured planning and the active management choice of one’s own professional career. Successful outcome includes personal fulfillment, work/life balance (we like to think of it as work/life blending), goal achievement and financial security.

Bottom line: Effective Career Management positively impacts your long-term career success!

Why is MANAGING your Career so important?

It’s simple, if YOU do not manage it, someone or something else will manage it for you!

Career Management needs to be a structured and active process. It takes time and effort to strategically think through what is really important in the short and long term in order to be proactive, not reactive, to career shifts.

With so many companies and executives impacted by a record-setting number of mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations, and increasing competition from other high achievers vying for the same positions, your personal brand may not be setting you up for success in today’s increasingly competitive job market. Nor is it helping you achieve your short- and long-term personal and professional goals.

Or… how about this? You might be the best-kept secret because you are not taking the time and effort to build your own brand with the same focus you would your company’s brand.

Ask yourself, which of the following career managers am I? As it relates to my current career management, is there something I’m not doing?

I have the know-how and skills to take my career to the next level but not a plan to get me there.
I’m comfortable where I am right now, I’ll figure it out when I need to
What’s the rush, I am so busy I’ll actually wait until there is a need
I was an emergency career manager and I paid the price…. now what?
My career is on track and I have a plan to get me where I want to go
I have the connections and resources to raise my career game but could use a little extra support

Knowing the answer to these questions will guide you in taking the critical next steps to map out where, when and how you can successfully achieve your career goals. Be in charge of MANAGING YOUR CAREER PLAN so YOU are focused and always prepared!

Does this make sense to you?

Confidently know where you are going!

You wouldn’t go on a long road trip without your GPS, why would you navigate your career without mapping out a strategic game plan?

Look for more about Managing Your Career next month.

Over the last 15 years, Lola White, Managing Partner at Executive Connections LLC, has worked closely with hundreds of EC’s clients to support and guide them as they proactively manage their careers and build strong, credible personal brands that result in short and long-term career success.

Please let us know what areas of career management you want to focus on so we can support you and help you achieve your career goals. Contact Lola at lwhite@executiveconnectionsllc.com.

Career Opportunities

We have career opportunities at a variety of companies including a Global Data/Direct Marketing Services Company, a Global HR Professional Services firm, one of the largest Global Digital Agencies, a Privately-Owned Direct/Digital Agency, Travel/Hospitality and a Non-Profit Student Loan Collection.

Take a moment to click on these links (below) for the complete position description:

Learn more about our Career Opportunities…

Wishing all our clients and friends a Happy Thanksgiving!
– Jeff & Lola

Filed Under: Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search, Personal Branding, Recommended Books

CONNECTIONS Ezine No. 82

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: “Modern Marketing” Trends
Article and Book Recommendation:
- Mastering The Art of Mobile Persuasion by Jeff Hasen
Career Opportunities:
- VP, Marketing – Financial Services/Collections – NEW
- Global Marketing Manager – Travel/Hospitality – NEW
- Marketing Leader – Northeast Region – NEW
- Managing Director, Digital Marketing as a Service (MaaS)
- Chief Creative Officer
- Digital Strategist – Senior Manager
- Marketplace Marketing Leader
Upcoming Professional Development Events

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

“Modern Marketing” Trends

For quite sometime now, we have been writing about the rapid pace with which Marketing is tilting onto a digital- and mobile-first axis. The underpinnings of this shift are undoubtedly the rapid scaling of tablets and other mobile devices (smart phones and more recently smart watches – even though Apple’s Smart Watch has been less than a resounding success to-date).

Since the launch of the iPad on April 3, 2010, tablets have become the fastest technology adoption in all of history…reaching 50%+ of U.S. households in less than 5 years…more than doubling the adoption rate of all previous technology innovations including the PC, Internet, TV, Cable Radio, VCR, and other technology devices.

As tablets were quickly adopted by consumers, what followed was the rapid scaling of mobile advertising. “Tablets Rising” a global mobile advertising study conducted by Vivaki/Publicis Group confirmed some interesting findings…consumers are spending an average of 90 minutes daily on tablets/mobile devices…and tablets have become the new “first screen” even if consumers are also watching television. Also, the Vivaki study showed over two-thirds of consumers are active in Social Media networks which has become a new source of consumer influence (positive and negative) regarding brands.

But the most profound finding in the Vivaki study was…tablet ads work…and they are even more effective for highly engaged tablet users. Finally, after years of waiting, 2015 has become truly the year of exceptional growth for mobile advertising….as underscored by Facebook’s Q2 2015 revenues exceeding $4B+ (with $2.9B+ or 75% coming from mobile advertising).

As a help to our clients and readers, we are including an article and book recommendation from our friend and CMO, Jeff Hasen, who has recently authored his second book titled, “The Art Of Mobile Persuasion.” With mobile advertising rapidly growing, this is an art and mastery every marketer needs to develop.

What do these “Modern Marketing” trends mean in terms of the shift in talent needs for both advertisers and agencies?

From our perspective, the highest demand positions currently include Chief Data Officers, Heads of Marketing Analytics, Chief Digital Officers, Digital Strategy & Marketing Leaders, and Customer Engagement/Experience Leaders. With consumers shopping through tablets, smart phones, and other mobile devices as a first option, marketers are transforming their businesses to offer relevant omni-channel customer engagement. And the “new relevant” means the right communication, to the right consumer/prospect, at the right time, in the right place.

Successful campaigns are now happening “real-time,” as geo-targeting is enabling brands to identify their best customers and prospects in relation to their proximity to the brand or a competitor’s outlet…and in that moment deliver a compelling offer and incentive to shop/purchase.

While brand advertising still has its place, the growing demand (and higher compensation premium) is for marketers with analytics and data skills, knowledge of newer marketing technology platforms, and digital strategy and marketing skills. Its an exciting time…the next generation of marketing leaders include many with M.S. and PhD. degrees in Mathematics & Statistics, as well as many B.S. Engineering professionals with M.B.A. degrees.

It wasn’t that long ago there was a time when senior marketing officers said we know half (50%) of advertising works…we just don’t know which half. Those days, and those marketers, are in the rear view mirror as new “Modern Marketing” is about KPIs and metrics…to deliver reports back to the CEO and CFO on Marketing ROI.

As always, we welcome your input, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Jeff and Lola

Article and Book Recommendation

by Jeff Hasen

Welcome to the 21^st century love affair.

Long-time adman Hank Wasiak, the former vice chairman of McCann Erickson, says that people don’t have a relationship with a television set or their computer, but they do with a mobile phone.

It is part of them.

The central question for today’s businesses…Can they enhance the relationship or is three a crowd?

In truth, mobile users are like teenagers. They want to be understood. But they will fight to maintain their privacy.

What is a brand to do?

Be of value and non-intrusive.

And don’t be creepy.

For my new book, The Art of Mobile Persuasion, I spent a year talking to some of the most courageous mobile marketers working today. Insights from Expedia, Lowe’s, REI, Google, ESPN, and others are applicable to anyone seeking to create a better kind of consumer engagement on the devices that are never out of reach.

Out of the discussion came a number of relationship turnoffs.

Here are words to describe those businesses that are flailing:

Selfish. In outreach to mobile users, there needs to be a specific need that benefits the customer. Jonathan Stephen, who drove innovative mobile programs at JetBlue, points to the greed of some who seek to needlessly uncover such inconsequential details as how many sugars
wireless owners put in their coffee, and, if they used Splenda or Truvia.
Illogical. If only more mobile marketers would practice common sense. For example, why in the world would a business create an iPhone app if their customers are mostly or completely Android owners? That’s just dumb.

Timid. Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most recognizable, beloved, and successful brands, isn’t being passive. Instead, it is fulfilling its long-established mission of enabling desire in an increasingly-large part through the use of wireless devices.

Impulsive. Sean Lyons, Global Chief Digital Officer at communications agency Havas, chides those who go to such conferences as South By Southwest and unilaterally seek to determine which products and services will matter. Why? The consumer is going to decide.

Inattentive. Google’s Jason Spero refers to consumer actions on mobile devices as signals, rich with information that tells marketers a great deal if they are on the lookout for them. But many regrettably aren’t.

Career Opportunities

Filed Under: Announcements, Branding Yourself Online, Connections E-Zine, Getting Hired in Digital Marketing, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search, Personal Branding

CONNECTIONS Ezine No. 81

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: Rising Stars Are Our Future
Announcements:
- Jon Davis Joins Accenture Interactive as Senior Manager, Digital Strategy
Articles:
- MarketingEDGE Celebrates 2015 “Rising Stars”
Career Opportunities:
- CMO – Customer Interaction – NEW
- Chief Creative Officer – NEW
- Vice President, Marketing – NEW
- Digital Strategist – Senior Manager – NEW
- Marketing Leader, Northeast
- Marketplace Marketing Leader
- Director, Insights and Strategy – Marketing & Sales

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Rising Stars Are Our Future

What an exciting time of the year for new job seekers…graduations are over or just taking place…high school graduates are thinking about the fall as they head off to college and ready to create new beginnings…college graduates are beginning their new jobs and some are thinking about (and so are their parents) where do I begin to jump start my career?

Pro-Bono Introductions

Each year for over 15 years, the team at Executive Connections identifies a talented group of young, high achieving college seniors who possess a demonstrated superior leadership abilities, and a passion and commitment to begin their careers in Marketing.

Once EC makes our pro-bono selections, we choose, coach and strategize with these college seniors to create a career map that matches their skill set and their goals. We polish their resumes, scrub their online Social Media profiles and create a bio that supports their goals through the job search process until they land their first full-time career opportunity in Marketing. Students coming into EC’s “Rising Stars” program are from all parts of the US – New York, Florida, California, and most recently Tennessee, but can be placed anywhere in the world.

This is a “win-win” for both the students and the employers since the majority of our clients have entry- level Marketing roles to fill and are inundated with under qualified resumes without the benefit of any pre-qualification from a trusted source such as EC. EC cuts through this clutter and our “top down” approach can include presenting these new seniors directly to the Chief Marketing Officer level within our target client organizations.

Our experience has shown that once C-level executives meet and review our EC up and coming talent which comes with EC’s endorsement, the selection process moves rapidly to offer. In fact, it is not unusual for EC’s Rising Stars to have 3-4 companies interested in them resulting in multiple job offers.

We believe having a choice is better than just one option. As an example, this year’s EC “Rising Star” had two of the top 100 global marketers interested and two marketing services firms interested in offering her a position. This gave the student an early chance to evaluate and choose between going to work on “the client side” vs. “the agency side.”

We know the Rising Stars are our future, and they are the future Marketing leaders of tomorrow. This
initiative is a way for us to “give back” to the next generation in an industry that has been good to us over the past 25+ years. We do it to provide “talent gifts” to our clients who entrust us to fill senior-level positions.

Do you know a Rising Star that would like to jump start their career and receive support from experts in their field? Who doesn’t?

Look for our Summer and Fall Ezines to hear from past EC Rising Star recipients, details on our selection process, and timetable for the 2016 EC’s “Rising Stars.”

If you have questions and/or feedback about our Rising Stars program, please contact lwhite@executiveconnectionsllc.com

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Jeff and Lola

Announcements

Jon Davis Joins Accenture Interactive as Senior Manager, Digital Strategy

We are delighted to announce Jon Davis has joined our client Accenture Interactive recently in the position of Senior Manager, Digital Strategy, based in AI’s New York office.

Prior to joining AI, Jon was Founder of Katonah Consulting, a digital marketing and strategy consulting firm. Earlier, Jon served as VP, Group Director at eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions, Sr. Partner, Interactive Marketing at Ogilivy Interactive, and Director, Client Services at Razorfish.

We wish Jon every continued success in his digital strategy and marketing career and we will be supporting him with EC’s unique “Accelerated Leadership Transition Program” as he begins this newest chapter in his career.

Articles

Marketing EDGE Celebrates 2015 “Rising Stars”

On Tuesday, June 9th, we attended the Marketing EDGE 2015 “Rising Stars” dinner in NYC where annually they honor the “Best & Brightest” direct and digital marketers under 40YO…plus a Corporate Commitment Award (Return Path) to a game-changing company within the digital/direct marketing ecosystem.

EC extends our congratulations to the 2015 Award winners:

Lewis Cohen – SVP, Digital Marketing – CitiCards
Amina Dilawari – Director, Marketing Strategy – St. Jude Children’s Hospital
Jessica Hawthorne-Castro – CEO, Hawthorne Direct
Lisa Radding – Director, Research & Product Development – Ethnic Technologies
Andrea Steele – Omnichannel Marketing Manager – Unilever

MarketingEDGE is a unique educational non-profit organization with innovative education and placement programs that intersect 3 audiences – college student, educators, and corporations. Jeff Gundersen of EC is a Board Trustee and this year this non-profit served over 6,000+ college students with programs including one day career forums, one week boot camps in Analytics and Digital strategy, collegiate business competitions leading to scholarship awards, and entry level job placement services.

MarketingEDGE is seeking new corporate sponsors for the 2015-16 school year, so please reach out to if you would be interested to learn more about these programs.

Career Opportunities

We have career opportunities at a variety of companies including a Global HR Professional Services firm, a Global Financial Services firm and a Global Digital Consulting firm. Please take a moment to click on a link and see the complete position description:

CMO – Customer Interaction – NEW
Chief Creative Officer – NEW
Vice President, Marketing – NEW
Digital Strategist – Senior Manager – NEW
Marketing Leader, Northeast
Marketplace Marketing Leader
Director, Insights and Strategy – Marketing & Sales

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Branding Yourself Online, Connections E-Zine, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Getting Hired in Digital Marketing, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search, Recommended Articles, Spotlight On

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 80

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: ‘Mad Men’ to Data Geniuses
Invitation REMINDER:
- 2015 Rising Stars Awards Dinner – Tue, June 9, 2015
Announcements:
- Monika Wilczak Joins Accenture Interactive as MD, Customer Advanced Analytics
- NOW 2015 Women of Power & Influence Awards Dinner — June 11, 2015
Articles:
- #MktgFemme – Direct Marketing News’ 2015 Marketing Hall of Femme Awards
Career Opportunities:
- Marketing Leader, Private Exchange – NEW
- Marketing Leader, Northeast – NEW
- Social Media Strategist
- Digital Strategist – Senior Manager
- Digital Strategist – Manager
- Social Senior Manager and Account Lead
- Manager, Social Media
- Director, Insights and Strategy

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

‘Mad Men’ to Data Geniuses

Kudos to AdAge Editor Simon Dumenco and his team in compiling the 2015 Agency Issue (published May 4, 2015). AdAge highlights several trends which underscore while ‘Mad Men’ the TV series is ending this year, there will be plenty of ‘Mad Men’ continuing to dominate the global marketing, media and entertainment sectors for decades to come. Except ‘Mad Men’ are starting to look much different today than the ‘Mad Men’ from the 60’s and 70’s.

With IBM Experience, Deloitte Digital, and Accenture Interactive moving into the list of Top 10 global agencies (and Top 3 global digital agencies), and digital capturing nearly 40% of total advertising spending and rapidly heading to 50%+, it is becoming clear the future of marketing is shifting (as Dumenco and AdAge projects) from Art & Copy ‘Mad Men’ of the past to “Data Geniuses and Technologists” of the future driving targeted digital, mobile and social brand engagements with consumers which are apparent in the revolutionary marketing innovations we are experiencing on a daily basis.

Where and when will the next Uber, AirBnB, or Jet.com appear? Almost every sector is rapidly shifting toward a greater digital focus to assure their business is not rapidly encroached by a new unforeseen digital competitor.

It’s great to see the marketing industry leading U.S. economic growth. In 2014, U.S. agency revenues grew 5.4% to a record $43.6B. Ad-agency employment is climbing, and agency stocks scored all-time highs. It’s indeed a good time to be in the agency business…especially if you’re connected to digital.

One final thought…some ‘Mad Men’ from the 60’s and 70’s who were really revolutionary and predicted the future of marketing…were the pioneers in direct marketing…leaders including Lester Wunderman, Stan Rapp, and others who predicted “mass marketing” was wasteful and would give way to “one-to-one” marketing (or direct marketing). Those who have been around the direct marketing sector for 3-4 decades know digital marketing is “direct marketing on steroids”…so thanks to Lester, Stan and the other direct marketing pioneers who paved the way for the data geniuses and technologists of the future.

As always, we welcome your input and comments.

Jeff and Lola

Announcements

Monika Wilczak Joins Accenture Interactive as Managing Director, Customer Advanced Analytics

We are pleased to announce Monika Wilczak has joined our client, Accenture Digital, as Managing Director, Customer Advanced Analytics.

Prior to Accenture, Monika was Global Head of Customer & Market Intelligence at Bloomberg LP, and earlier, Monika was Head of Decision Management, Commercial & Small Business Banking at Citibank.

In this new marketing era of targeted, relevant two-way communications with customers and prospects, Monika is an analytics executive leader with a proven ability to identify business growth opportunities and translate them into new revenue streams using customer insights. Monika’s expertise includes B2C, B2B, and vertical sectors including media, technology, financial services, and consumer goods/services.

At Accenture Digital, Monika will have both U.S. new business development responsibilities as well as leadership of clients/teams delivering cutting-edge Analytics strategies and program results.

Monika holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Statistics & Operations Research with Honors (from Stern School – NYU).

Executive Connections LLC initiated this executive placement as part of an ongoing senior-level talent acquisition relationship with Accenture Interactive.

We wish Monika well in this exciting new career opportunity!

Upcoming NOW 2015 Women of Power & Influence Awards

Please join me at the NOW 2015 Women of Power & Influence Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 11, 2015 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Three Sixty in New York City.

For more details…

Invitation REMINDER

Join Me At Marketing EDGE 2015 “Rising Stars” Dinner
in NYC on Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Register now and start planning how you’ll take advantage of the networking opportunities at the Rising Stars Awards Dinner – with this year’s Rising Stars and the 400+ industry leaders expected to attend.

Marketing EDGE provides many training and employment programs for college students including Collegiate ECHO Awards, Scholarships, Student Career Forums, One Week Immersion programs (I-MIX – Interactive Marketing Immersion Experience; I-MAX – Interactive Marketing Analytics Experience), Next Generation Leaders, Summer Internships, and Entry-level marketing positions.

Marketing EDGE also provides programs for educators in over 100+ colleges and universities nationwide including Professors’ Academy, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Research Summit, Professor’s Institute, and Collegiate ECHO Challenge.

Marketing EDGE sponsors and corporate partners include Brierley & Partners, Direct TV, Epsilon, Executive Connections LLC, Facebook, Google, Gerber Life, Guthy Renker, IBM, Javelin, KBM Group, Ogilvy & Mather, Merkle, Microsoft and Twitter, among others.

2015 RISING STARS HONOREES —Louis Cohen, Citi Cards | Andrea Steele, Unilever | Lisa Radding, Ethnic Technologies | Amina Dilawari, St. Jude Children’s Hospital | Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Direct

Link to MarketingEdge event…

Article

#MktgFemme – Direct Marketing News’ 2015 Marketing Hall of Fame

By Laura Gigliotti – April 27, 2015

“18 chief marketers who put the ‘excel’ in excellent”
“An elite group of women who are driving marketing today”
“Exceptional leading ladies who have risen to the apex of their profession”

So were the accolades floating around the Grand Hyatt in New York City last Friday during Direct Marketing News’ 2015 Marketing Hall of Femme Awards.

In its third iteration, the annual Award ceremony recognizes the achievements of the most accomplished and influential women in marketing. Over 80 nominees were submitted during the call-for-nominations period, 18 of which were selected for induction. Selection criteria included leadership style, approach to marketing, and career achievements—both past and present.

For complete article…

Career Opportunities

Learn more…

Filed Under: Ask Our Coach, Connections E-Zine, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 79

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: Life Expectancy of CMOs Is Increasing
Spotlight On: Lia Sagerman – 2015 EC Rising Star
Invitation: Marketing EDGE 2015 “Rising Stars” Award Dinner
Career Opportunities:
- Social Media Strategist – NEW
- CMO, Customer & Digital Marketing – NEW
- Digital Strategist – Senior Manager – NEW
- Digital Strategist – Manager – NEW
- Social Senior Manager and Account Lead
- Manager, Social Media
- Director, Insights and Strategy

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Life Expectancy of CMOs Is Increasing

Jane Odell at Chief Marketer magazine just reported “Good news for the CMO: life expectancy in your job continues to climb, according to new data from Spencer Stuart, who analyzed the tenure of CMOs for the top 100 US advertised brands.”

We recall as recently as 3-4 years ago CMO tenure was less than 2 years according to Spencer Stuart. Since that time, CMO tenure has doubled and a recent report from Forrester Research projects this year average CMO tenure would reach 60 months (that’s 5 years).

One key reason according to Odell is CEOs are relying more heavily on CMOs for critical advice in the fast changing world of marketing. We agree, and would add, there is a new crop of digitally-savvy, data-driven marketers who have become the “new breed” of CMOs. With marketing tipping toward a digital- and mobile-first axis, digitally-deficient CMOs need not apply.

If you are a CMO, what’s your current and expected tenure? If you are a CEO, how well advised do you feel by your CMO on the digital marketing transformation path? If you are on a career path trajectory to a CMO role, are you learning the new data, digital, mobile, and social media marketing skills to be relevant in the new digital marketing eco-system?

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Jeff and Lola

Spotlight On

Lia Sagerman – EC 2015 Rising Star

We would like to introduce Lia Sagerman, EC’s 2015 Rising Star. Lia is an exceptional candidate with strong leadership skills. We first spotted Lia in 2013 when she led the Tufts Women’s Varsity Field Hockey team (as Captain) to the NCAA National Championship. Next, while completing her Masters degree in Education over the next two years at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN, Lia worked as a teacher in a highly regarded “Teach for America” program, creating innovative strategies to improve student success.

Lia is now interested to leverage her undergraduate degree (B.A., Psychology from Tufts) and begin her business career in NYC in a marketing or strategy role.

Lia has already been to NYC in March and interviewed with a number of EC clients. Her next visit will be in May 2015…and she will be available for a full-time position in NYC on August 1, 2015.

We highly recommend you meet and speak with Lia on her next visit. You will not be disappointed.

Please contact Jeff Gundersen directly, if you have any questions or would like to meet Lia Sagerman.

Invitation

Join Me At Marketing EDGE 2015 “Rising Stars” Dinner
in NYC on Tuesday, June 8, 2015

As many of you know, I am a Board Trustee of Marketing EDGE, a non-profit organization with the mission to Educate, Develop, Grow, and Employ the next generation of marketing leaders.

Please join 350-400 senior level digital and direct marketers for an exciting evening on June 8, 2015 when we will be honoring 6 of the best and brightest marketing “Rising Stars” under 40YO.

Link to MarketingEdge event…

Career Opportunities

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Talent, Getting Hired in Digital Marketing, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 78

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: Be Positive and Refire
Special Announcements:
- Allison Landers, VP, Digital and Customer Experience – Prudential Financial
Career Opportunities:
- Social Senior Manager and Account Lead – Social – Global Consulting Firm
- Manager, Social Media – Global Consulting Firm
- Director, Insights and Strategy – Marketing & Sales

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Be Positive and Refire

In our conversations with clients and business friends, we are constantly asked how we are seeing economic trends as related to companies hiring. While economic growth slowed significantly in 2014 in certain global markets (Europe, Japan, China), the U.S. economy outperformed expectations and economists including Gary Thayer (Chief Macro Strategist at Wells Fargo) forecast U.S. 2015 economic growth of 2.8%. With consumer confidence rising, and with the benefit of lower energy prices spawning higher consumer spending, 2015 is a market in which to BE POSITIVE AND REFIRE.

Part of the growth and activity we continue to see is related to marketing shifting onto a mobile- and digital-first axis. The top global advertisers are being driven by this rapidly shifting marketing transformation to invest in new marketing technologies, and to create new customer engagement and experience processes, in order to adapt to the needs of serving customers and prospects on a real-time, omni- channel basis. Chief Customer Officer, Chief Digital Officers, and Heads of Digital Customer Experience, are among the new high priority roles being identified and filled by many companies. In this month’s e-zine, we highlight Allison Landers, recently hired by Prudential Financial for this type of new digital experience role.

For many legacy sectors, companies and brands, 2015 is a time to “REFIRE” as Ken Blanchard says in his latest book, “Refire, Don’t Retire!” While Blanchard’s book is aimed at Boomers planning a next career after retiring or leaving full-time employment, his themes are applicable for all of us in this period of rapid marketing transformation. I took part in a recent webinar sponsored by The Ken Blanchard Companies and heard Ken outline four key areas of refiring in 2015:

Refire Intellectually – Be open to learning, take a class, be a reader, a teacher, be courageously persistent.
Refire Emotionally – Love Is key (love what you do, who you are with, love yourself), build relationships.
Refire Physically – Create a healthy body and well-being, improve strength, flexibility, balance, diet/nutrition, sleep.
Refire Spiritually – Move beyond focus on self, be forgiving, grateful, accepting, and humble.

These principles can help us all open new pathways to seeing things differently, learning new skills, driving innovation by thinking outside the box, strengthening our physical core and stamina, and improving our emotional intelligence to enhance our company’s culture and grow/develop everyone’s individual and collective performance.

We trust you are off to a positive start in 2015 and we look forward to hearing from you with stories of how you are personally REFIRING in order to drive POSITIVE outcomes in 2015!

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Jeff and Lola

Special Announcements

Allison Landers, VP, Digital and Customer Experience – Prudential Financial Group

We are delighted to announce that Allison Paine Landers has recently joined Prudential Financial’s Group Insurance division as VP, Digital and Customer Experience, reporting to Michelle Crecca, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer.

In this new role, Allison will design and execute a comprehensive digital strategy for PRU-GI and will partner with corporate centers across the enterprise to implement a common Prudential digital experience. Allison will also be responsible for PRU-GI’s customer experience strategy, and customer experience research and benchmarking, to enable PRU-GI to have a more comprehensive view of customer insights.

Allison has significant experience in digital and omni-channel product marketing, with proven success in leveraging distribution and technology to acquire, retain, and serve customers. She joins PRU-GI from TD Bank, where she most recently served as the head of online and tablet banking. During her tenure with the bank, Allison led a program to move three million U.S. retail and small business customers onto a single digital platform. She also launched a program to provide 700,000 U.S. and Canadian customers with a single online banking experience.

Prior to TD Bank, Allison spent seven years at KeyBank in Cleveland, Ohio, first as VP, Marketing and later as SVP, Online and Mobile channels. Among her many responsibilities there, Allison led efforts to enhance the online banking platform experience, which enabled the bank with its client retention efforts, and to achieve significant revenue and cost savings. She began her career with America Online, where she spent the first 5 years of her career.

Allison earned a BA in Journalism from Indiana University, and an MBA in marketing from Marymount University. In addition to being a frequent industry speaker, she served as the current Chair of the Consumer Bankers Association Digital Channels Committee.

Executive Connections LLC handled this executive search assignment on an exclusive basis for PRU-GI continuing a long-term partnership with Michelle Crecca and Prudential Financial.

Career Opportunities

Two new opportunities in the Global Social Media Practice of a leading digital consulting firm:

Social Senior Manager and Account Lead – Global Consulting Firm – NEW
Manager, Social Media – Global Consulting Firm – NEW

Our third new opportunity is for a global consulting client which is a leader in Talent, Health, Retirement, and Investments.

Director, Insights and Strategy – Marketing & Sales – NEW

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 76

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: 2014 – The Year of Social Enterprise
BLOG Roundup:
- Thanks and Giving Are Good Branding
- Are You A Successful Entrepreneur CEO?
- Mastering The Consumer-Driven Decision Journey
Career Opportunities:
- VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

2014 – The Year of Social Enterprise

We love year-end…it’s a time for reflection on what worked, what didn’t, key accomplishments, new skills developed, as well as disappointments, missed opportunities, and regrets.

It’s also the time of the year when all the major media provide their “Best of 2014” lists…Best Dressed, Best Movies, Best Companies to work for, Person of the Year, Company of the Year, etc.

Not surprising, Inc.’s 2014 “Company of the Year” (AIRBNB) goes beyond the adjectives (audacious, brazen, disruptive, inevitable, unprecedented) used to describe their services. According to Brian Chesky, CEO and Co-Founder, “Airbnb is about so much more than just renting space…it’s about people and experiences. At the end of the day, we are trying to bring the world together.” Airbnb added 10M+ new customers in 2014…doubling their client base…and this rapid scaling digital brand is evidence of the power of social enterprise. On one level, Airbnb is just an innovative global home rental/reservation service. However, on a deeper level, Airbnb is a new, global social community of homeowners looking to monetize their primary or secondary (investment) properties thereby enabling them to pursue additional global travel opportunities. Airbnb is part of a new global “social economy” being enabled by mobile and the forces social media.

Another social enterprise “Company of the Year” is Uber Technologies, Inc. which is rapidly transforming the global taxi and limousine industry. As reported recently by Bloomberg/Business Week, Uber recently raised $1B in capital (in November 2014) at a valuation of $40B (up from a $17B valuation in July 2014). This doubling of company valuation in less than six months truly underscores the rapid effects possible for a social enterprise that has rapidly scaled on a global basis. Uber is another global business where growth is being fueled by the rapid consumer (and business) adoption of mobile technologies…which has been the driving force behind Uber’s quantum leaps in economic growth and wealth creation. Uber’s current $40B valuation makes it 3-4x more valuable than Hertz ($11B valuation) and similar in valuation to Delta Airlines and Kraft Food Group. And some financial analysts are forecasting Uber’s eventual IPO valuation will be in the $80-100B range.

These examples (Airbnb & Uber) of Social Enterprise underscore the assessment by Steve Case (AOL founder) and Peter Diamandis (XPrize CEO) that the future will belong to companies that improve life for billions of people. This is also very much aligned with the new vision being created by Google’s CEO, Larry Page, recently named Fortune’s 2014 “Business Person of the Year.” Google has outgrown its original vision (15 years ago) “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” and the company is now making huge bets in new technologies that could redefine the future in a number of sectors from automotive to healthcare. Page is simply a visionary (think Steve Jobs) who, according to Fortune, “thinks the improbable is a given and the seemingly impossible is likely.”

Where is your organization in terms of pursuing social enterprise and innovations in various industry sectors which can change the lives of millions of people?
Who are the “game changers” and innovators that inspire you?
What are your audacious innovation plans for 2015?

We close by wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season and best wishes for continued success in 2015!

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Lola and Jeff

BLOG Roundup: Did you catch our recent blog posts?

Thanks and Giving Are Good Branding

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” —William James

With the Thanksgiving holidays upon us, we would like to express our personal “thank you” to all of EC’s connections—clients, friends, our business colleagues, and emerging members of our personal and professional network. We’ve been honored to reinvigorate and clarify career and personal brand directions for those we’ve touched this year, especially with those who have experienced the power of our Personal Branding Retreat Center.

Are You A Successful Entrepreneur CEO?

Particularly in this era of marketing technology and ad:tech start-ups related to digital/mobile advertising and marketing, a key question is…do these start-up CEOs have the entrepreneurial “chops” to successfully build and scale their businesses?

The reality is the vast majority of these CEOs do not have what it takes. So what are the key differentiators between the CEOs that make it and the ones that don’t?

We came across an interesting Gallup survey in the September 2014 issue of Inc. magazine’s issue on the 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies. Gallup polled over 2,700 entrepreneur CEOs (including the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies) on ten crucial personality traits. Fully 16% of the Inc. 500 CEOs ranked as exceptional on these personality traits:

Mastering The Consumer Driven Decision Journey

The recent DMA2014 Strategic Summit at the San Diego Convention Center opened with a keynote from Alec Bokman, Principal at McKinsey Digital, who highlighted the shifting marketing paradigms in a digital-first marketing eco-system.

Bokman told attendees the previous direct marketing funnel is dead…”it’s been announced DOA”…and it has been replaced by a new “consumer-driven decision journey”…with 2/3 of consumer decisions based upon their experiences during the journey. “Today’s brands are having intimate, personal conversations with consumers and geo-targeting and mobile devices are enabling targeted, real-time and relevant offers,” cited Bokman.

Career Opportunities

VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

The VP, Individual Digital Experience is a senior level, cross-business leader accountable for collaboratively defining and designing digital experience for Individual constituent types. Constituent types include investors, participants, policyholders, beneficiaries and other individual consumers. The successful candidate will lead diverse, internal, matrix teams, including third-party consultants, to develop competitive web, social and mobile engagement channels across our Client’s portfolio of businesses and corporate functions, including brand, advertising, thought leadership, market research, communications, information technology and digital solutions, ensuring that the Individual’s critical cross channel needs are addressed throughout their customer life cycle.

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search, Personal Branding

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 74

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: CMO-CIO Partnership…Still Early Days
BLOG Roundup:
- What Does It Take To Be A Winning CMO?
- MarketingEDGE Holds Successful 2014 Annual Awards Dinner
- DMA2014 Has A Magic Opening
Special Announcements:
- Helen Nowicka –Managing Director, Business Development – Social & Mobile at MXM
Career Opportunities:
- VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services
- VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance – Global Financial Services

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

CMO-CIO Partnership…Still Early Days

The CMO-CIO partnership is one of the hottest topics today, but is this a marriage made in heaven or a shotgun wedding? It’s clear these two C-suite roles are coming together especially since CMOs are forecasted to have larger future technology budgets than many CIOs. But how is this relatively new partnership working today? What are the opportunities and concerns on both sides? For some of the answers we turned to our client Accenture Digital…who is building marketing technology strategies and bridges between these two important functional areas in many Fortune 100 companies.

Matt Strawn, MD – Alliance Partnerships at Accenture Digital delivered an outstanding presentation at the Strategic Summit at DMA2014…providing results from AD’s 2014 Global CMO-CIO Survey which included over 1,000 senior level marketing and technology executives in 11 countries and 10 industry sectors (automotive, banking, CPG, electronics, insurance, life sciences, media & entertainment, retail, telecommunications, and travel/hospitality). The major takeaways from this 4th annual global CMO-CIO survey included:

CMOs are teaming with CIOs to bring a new digital vision to life in their companies.
Enterprise-wide initiatives are unifying around improving digital customer experience.
Integrating customer-focused skills, and new, real-time data sources, across the enterprise is a major opportunity and challenge.
Realignment of marketing models and budgets with new marketing services is a top priority.

Instead of campaign-based marketing, clients are shifting to real-time, personalized communications with customers and prospects visiting the company’s website or shopping online for specific products and services.

However, the partnership between CMOs and CIOs is relatively new, so these are still early days and there are many challenges still to be solved and overcome including the following:

44% of CMOs cited problems in implementing marketing IT solutions…in other words, marketing in many instances still feels IT is under-delivering;
43% of CIOs feel marketing priorities shift too frequently and 25% of CIOs feel CMOs lack the vision to anticipate new digital channels;
35% said CEOs are driving digital transformation…45% said it is the CTO or CIO…and only 1% said CMOs are driving digital transformation.

Clearly, Accenture Digital’s survey speaks volumes that the majority of legacy CMOs are not leading digital transformation…probably since they come from the earlier era of mass marketing and big brand advertising. Not surprising to see 33% of CIOs control over 75% of marketing IT budgets…until this newest generation of digitally-savvy CMOs, their predecessors lacked the technology and digital skills so essential today.

It is essential for CMOs to raise their game and continue to find ways to collaborate and build bridges with technology partners. Many of the clients we are working with are creating task forces between marketing and technology to develop strategies and plans on improving enterprise and LOB customer experience. 77% of executives surveyed by Accenture Digital ranked this as very important…yet, less than half of CMOs feel they own customer experience…since it it shared between marketing, technology, customer service and operations. Many organizations are creating a Chief Customer Officer position to enable a single C-level executive to lead the enterprise from a product/LOB-centric to a customer-centric approach. This is requiring significant organizational change within large global organizations.

Where does your organization stand in terms the CMO-CIO partnership? Does your CMO have the technology and digital chops to lead omni-channel customer engagement and experience?

We want to know
As always, we invite you to connect with us and welcome your comments and insights.

Lola and Jeff

BLOG Roundup: Did you catch our recent blog posts?

What Does It Take To Be A Winning CMO?

It has been well-publicized that CMO tenure is one of the shortest life spans among C-level executives. With the rate of change accelerating, and many categories reaching a mature, slower growth stage, how do CMOs transition from “survive to thrive” mode. Here are some key insights to consider.

Listening to CMOs recently during Advertising Week NYC XI, it became clear the issues keeping CMOs up at night include (1) keeping up with the pace of (consumers) changing behaviors; (2) the rapid transition of marketing to digital and mobile channels; (3) required investments in new marketing technologies; (4) delivering exceptional customer experience in an omni-channel world; and (5) finding the new (organization) talent required…the needs are significant and expensive.

MarketingEDGE Holds Successful 2014 Annual Awards Dinner

As a Board Trustee, I was proud to attend the MarketingEDGE (www.marketingEDGE.org) 2014 Annual Awards Dinner held Oct. 25th at the US Grant Hotel in San Diego.

The mission of this non-profit organization is to Educate, Develop, Grow and Employ college students in the field of marketing…and as MarketingEDGE approaches its 50th year anniversary (in 2016)…support could not be higher from its 3 constituents…students, educators, and employers.

This year’s annual dinner raised over $600,000 to support EDGE’s ongoing student programs including scholarships, one-day student forums, one-week data-analytics and digital bootcamps, summer internships, and job placements.

DMA2014 Has A Magic Opening

DMA2014 needed a spark to ignite some passion into attendees at the annual conference held this week (Oct. 27-29th) at the San Diego Convention Center. DMA got that and more from keynote speaker Earvin “Magic” Johnson, 5- time NBA champion, NCAA champion, and successful business entrepreneur.

Magic lit up the crowd, much as he did years earlier playing for the LA Lakers at the Forum, with his big smile and warm, winning personality. And Magic’s message went way beyond his sports career and basketball successes. Many were surprised to learn Magic Johnson Enterprises has partnered with over 20 corporations, including Allstate, Delta, Disney, Sony Theaters, Starbucks, and Toyota…building businesses serving Urban American consumers.

Special Announcements

Helen Nowicka, Managing Director, Business Development – Social & Mobile at MXM

We are excited to announce Helen Nowicka has joined Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (“MXM”) as Managing Director, Business Development – Social & Mobile. Helen will be based in MXM’s Alexandria VA office and focus her efforts on developing new business across MXM’s Social and Mobile practice areas. Helen will report directly to Rich Berenson, SVP & Chief Business Development Officer.

Helen has a great diverse background for this role having worked in PR, Digital and Social marketing, most recently as EVP, Digital at Porter Novelli in DC. Helen began her career in London where she started the first Social Media practice within a PR & Communication agency in the UK.

Executive Connections LLC handled this search assignment on an exclusive basis for MXM.

Career Opportunities

VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

Learn more…

VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance Division

This VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance position is located in the NY metro area and we are focusing on identifying qualified candidates with 10+ years of digital experience in the insurance and/or financial services (banking, credit card, brokerage) sectors. B2C and B2B digital strategy and marketing experience are essential and, in addition, this individual will be a digital thought leader able to influence senior leaders and support them to accomplish business goals through development of innovative digital solutions.

As this is a new position within the Group Insurance Division, reporting to the SVP, Strategy & Chief Marketing Officer, this individual will be a team builder and leader of a team focused on designing and executing digital marketing and customer experience strategies and programs. The CMO is a long-term EC client, a terrific marketing and business leader, so this is truly a great career opportunity to partner and work with a high-performing CMO in an exciting business opportunity.

This role will also have considerable matrix interface and coordination with enterprise-wide digital and customer experience initiatives.

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Getting Hired in Digital Marketing, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 73

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: What’s New In Advertising?
Special Announcements:
- Julie Winskie – Global Head of Branding & Communications at Mercer
- Barney Loehnis – Global Head of Digital Marketing at Mercer
Career Opportunities:
- VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services – NEW
- VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance – Global Financial Services

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

What’s New In Advertising?

We just finished up one of the most exciting weeks in NYC, AWXI, the 11th year of Advertising Week NYC where the “who’s who” in advertising, media, marketing and technology collide and deliver over 250 sessions on “What’s Happening In Advertising” to over 90,000 visitors, presenters, and attendees.

It’s virtually impossible to take in everything, but here are three themes I heard resonating most strongly across the four days I was in town:

What keeps CMOs up at night is keeping up with the pace of consumers. According to a panel including Lisa Cochran, CMO of Allstate, consumers have adopted shopping and purchasing on mobile devices (smart phone, tablets) so rapidly brands are challenged to keep up and deliver the seamless, omni-channel customer experience in a multi-screen, mobile-first world. It’s not surprising the next generation of iPhone and other smart phone are larger.

Social replacing search is the most significant shift in the digital ecosystem. According to Susan Lyne, former Chairman & CEO of Gilt Group, President of Martha Stewart Group, and current Partner at BBG Ventures (an AOL early-stage venture fund), this is the biggest shift she has ever experienced in her career. Ellen Stone, EVP at Bravo described how they are giving a show’s top fans the ability to comment (and show comments on the TV screen) and also on reality shows enabling fans to select which judge to go first and which contestant to be targeted…this is real-time social engagement which is, in some cases, building a fan base and buzz before the new season is launched. Rovio also emphasized how they are mobile video first and have been killing banners slowly. Social is creating consumer-generated content and fan buzz that takes a brand or campaign on a viral journey to heights never imagined through traditional media spending. That’s why brands want to engage their loyal fans to provide content and create brand sizzle through social networks.

Branded content is hot and growing rapidly. Martin Sorrell, Chairman, WPP, kicked off the week saying “Content is the priority for agencies and the key to winning.” Karen Kaplan, CEO of HHCC, followed by saying “Content is choice-based; advertising is incidental.” Consumers believe less than 40% of advertising, but trust 75%+ of comments made by friends and colleagues. Branded content involving a celebrity, athlete, media vehicle, or cause (think ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge”) attached to a brand can lift the brand’s core values or have it stand for a larger social purpose. GE’s Linda Boff partnered with NBCU and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon during the launch week by sponsoring a series where child inventors and Jimmy Fallon (himself an inventor) compared their ideas. The GE brand stands for reinvention and NBC was reinventing The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, so this was a perfect match. Prudential Corporation Asia partnered with National Geographic on a special campaign related to Disaster Recovery. PCA recruited Manny Pacquiao (Philippine boxing champion) as brand spokesperson and he delivered a knockout punch for the Prudential brand. Maverick Carter, agent and content producer for LeBron James and other athletes, talked about the keys to success in matching brands like Nike with athletes like LeBron and they include – (1) authenticity – the athlete must use (and like) the product; (2) the brand people must be reasonable to work with; and (3) the brand should be interested in helping tell part of the athlete’s personal story.

It’s clear brands are moving advertising into a digital- and mobile-first mindset with an emphasis on engaging their loyal customer bases in a dialogue providing them preferred access, inside information, behind the scenes or advanced knowledge, and other amenities to secure ongoing loyalty. If you have never attended Advertising Week NYC, we invite you to check out www.AdvertisingWeek.com for more information and so you can access some live feeds from this year’s sessions.

We want to know
As always, we invite you to connect with us and welcome your comments and insights on “what’s new in advertising.”

Lola and Jeff

Special Announcements

Julie Winskie, Global Head of Branding & Communications at Mercer

We are pleased to announce Julie Winskie has joined Mercer as Global Head of Branding & Communications reporting to Michelle Bottomley, Global Chief Marketing & Sales Officer. In this newly created role, Julie will provide strategic direction and management to a talented team of professionals around the world, raising and enhancing Mercer’s profile and impact. This includes developing integrated marketing communications aligned to maximize impact (e.g. PR, events, design), leading B2B and B2B2C branding efforts, and creating a platform that all global marketing teams can access to ensure a more consistent and compelling global brand presence. She’ll also work with the team to initiate global brand tracking and other relevant key performance indicators so Mercer can better monitor return on marketing communications investments globally.

Julie brings extensive marketing and strategy experience, including a real passion for making complex integrated communications simple and disruptive. She spent the majority of her career in executive roles at Porter Novelli, one of the world’s leading public relations agencies. As Global President – Clients, Julie provided strategic counsel to the agency’s top global clients, including P&G, Mercedes Benz, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Timberland, HP and Microsoft. She also served as President for the Americas responsible for managing the P&L for the agency’s largest region.

Executive Connections LLC handled this executive search assignment on an exclusive basis and EC will be providing Julie our unique career transition support to assure her success in this important new role at Mercer.

Barney Loehnis, Global Leader of New Digital Center of Excellence

We are pleased to announce Barney Loehnis has joined Mercer as Global Leader, Digital Center of Excellence (COE) reporting to Michelle Bottomley, Global Chief Marketing & Sales Officer. In this new role, Barney is responsible for driving Mercer’s digital vision, strategy, and implementation around the world. Barney will assume responsibility for all of Mercer’s digital assets and activities, including websites, portals, mobile apps, digital product design, and email. Barney will lead the development and management of an integrated global digital platform that will deliver highly relevant experiences powered by data and enabled by world-class digital analytics.

Barney has spent the past 15+ years immersed in building world-class digital media, e-commerce, e-dialogue, and mobile experiences for the world’s best B2B, B2B2C, and B2C brands with extensive experience in Europe and Asia.

Barney joins Mercer from Ogilvy, where he served as Head of Digital & Mobile for Asia Pacific and Head of Digital Strategy in Greater China. In these roles, he successfully integrated a dedicated digital service offering covering social media, performance marketing, mobile, CRM, and innovation. He also led the digital and social strategy for a number of major clients, including Coca Cola, Rolex, and IBM. Prior to Ogilvy, Barney was with Isobar (Carat) in Asia Pacific — one of the leading digital media agencies with extensive global coverage. Barney started his career with WH Smith building and managing one of the first retail e-commerce sites responsible for profitable revenue generation.

Executive Connections LLC handled this executive search assignment on an exclusive basis for Mercer and EC will be providing Barney our firm’s unique career transition support to assure his success in this important new role at Mercer.

Career Opportunities

VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

Learn more…

VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance Division

This role will also have considerable matrix interface and coordination with enterprise-wide digital and customer experience initiatives.

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Getting Hired in Digital Marketing, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 72

In this issue:

In Our Opinion: “Five Easy Pieces” – Keys to Successful Strategy Implementation
Blog Roundup:
- Blog – Can Business Learn From Sports?
Special Announcements:
- Rob DiGiovanni – Head of Marketing – Asia and IMETA at Mercer
- Kevin White – Account Manager, Digital Services at Epsilon
- Taylor Patchen – Inside Sales & Marketing Executive at Waterfall
Career Opportunities:
- Managing Director, Social & Mobile Business Development
- VP, Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

“Five Easy Pieces” – Keys to Successful Strategy Implementation

As we are approaching the time of year when companies turn their attention to business planning and budgeting for 2015 and beyond (i.e., 3-5 year planning), we felt it timely to discuss the keys to successful strategy development and implementation.

We are attaching an article by John McCreight (McCreight & Company) which highlights the essentials to strategy implementation in simple, straightforward terms. John’s firm recently led a CEO Forum of 45 CT technology companies sponsored by the CT Technology Council. John’s article is entitled “Strategy Implementation Insights” (SII_Chapter 19_August 2014) and our column this month is entitled “Five Easy Pieces” as if the individual pieces of strategy implementation were in fact this easy to achieve.

As McCreight lays out, the five essential pieces to successful strategy implementation are:

– Vision – You need a long-term vision which translates to goals, timelines, key milestones, and specific performance measures. SMART goals (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, with timetables) provide a road map for measuring success.

– Talent – Following the guidance of author Jim Collins (“Good to Great”), CEOs need to get the right people on the bus and exit the wrong people off the bus. I spoke with a CEO recently who successfully implemented a turnaround business strategy and it required replacing over one-half (50%) of a 1,600 person organization. Without the talent changeout, nothing significant would have been accomplished according to the CEO.

– Culture – McCreight calls this “how we do things,” and we see it as the CEO establishing common values and a C-team alignment which encourages collaboration, innovation and risk-taking, personal accountability, and results-orientation. It’s ultimately about getting the C-level geese in your company flying in formation so others at the next level down see this and follow suit.

– Customers – It’s about listening to customers, partnering with customers, solving customer problems quickly, and turning customers into advocates. We are definitely in the “Age of the Customer” who expects a consistent, high-quality, personalized, relevant brand experience at whichever touch point or channel they choose at a particular moment.

– Board – In a time where Boards are often criticized for negligence in oversight, companies have a huge opportunity to reconstitute Boards, and lean on outside Directors for their expertise and connections which can lead companies to growth opportunities or risk avoidance. If your Board isn’t materially helping the CEO, you need to make changes.

All of these five “easy pieces” to strategy implementation seem obvious and straightforward…if only it was this easy to put them into action!

As your business approaches planning its long-term (2015-2020) business strategy, where do you stand in terms of these “Five Easy Pieces” to successful strategy implementation?

We want to know
As always, we value and appreciate your feedback! Connect with us — we want to hear your experiences and opinions.

Lola and Jeff

BLOG Roundup: Did you catch our recent blog posts?

Can Business Learn From Sports?

When the aging San Antonio Spurs basketball team recently defeated LeBron James and the Miami Heat (reigning NBA champions), Greg Popovich (Spurs Coach) and R.C. Buford (Spurs GM) were lauded for their innovative practices in recruiting “role players” and building a “team first”, “non-star” philosophy, which enables them to conserve the energy of their aging veteran players and thoroughly outplay the Miami Heat in a one-sided NBA Finals.

Well, the Spurs have not been resting on their laurels since winning the NBA championship. In another innovative recruiting move, they recently signed Becky Hammon, a soon-to-be retiring WNBA star, as an assistant coach.

What a great example of gender diversity in the selection of Hammon to her new post.

Special Announcements

Rob DiGiovanni – Head of Marketing – Asia and IMETA at Mercer
We are pleased to announce Rob DiGiovanni has recently joined Mercer as Head of Marketing, Asia and IMETA. EC handled this executive search for Mercer on an exclusive basis.

Rob brings to Mercer 20 years’ experience in brand, digital and demand generation marketing. Prior to joining Mercer, Rob spent more than 14 years at Ogilvy & Mather based in the United States. He was hand-picked to come to Asia in 2011 as the Regional Director where he led the strategic development and the regional relationship with key clients such as UPS, IBM and American Express, across Growth Markets.

By driving effective translation of business strategies into well-executed marketing programs through innovation, Rob will partner with Mercer’s Growth Markets Leadership Team and all marketing colleagues to create new ways to deliver positive ROI on marketing investments that contributes to the region’s P&L and develop new levels of brand value for Mercer.

Rob has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on marketing from Franciscan University. Based in Singapore, Rob will have a dual reporting relationship to Michelle Bottomley, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, and Gaurav Garg, President, Growth Markets.

Congratulations Rob and best wishes for continued career success in this new role!

Kevin White – Account Manager, Digital Solutions at Epsilon
EC is giving a “shout out”and a BIG CONGRATS to Kevin White, EC’s 2012 “Rising Star.” Kevin was recently promoted to Account Manager, Digital Solutions at Epsilon, making him one of the youngest Account Managers in Epsilon history. In this role, Kevin will manage the marketing communications for several lines of business of a Fortune 100 company.

Really fabulous, Kevin! You are surely one of our EC Millennial Personal Brands to watch!

Taylor Patchen – Inside Sales & Marketing Executive at Waterfall
We are pleased to announce Taylor Patchen, EC’s 2014 “Rising Star,” began her career recently as an Intern at Waterfall in NYC. Taylor has recently been offered a full-time position as Sales Manager at Waterfall and she is excited to be launching her career in NYC.

GO, Taylor! Your work ethic, follow through, and great attitude will take you great places!

Career Opportunities

Managing Director, Social & Mobile Business Development

We are pleased to announce a career opportunity – MD, Business Development – Social & Mobile – for a Digital/Social/Mobile/CRM/Content/Analytics agency with several offices nationwide.

The position will be based in our client’s Alexandria, VA office and our client prefers not to relocate…so initially we are focusing our efforts intensively in the DC/VA market, but we are always interested in discovering key talent in the NYC area, which is our secondary market location.

We welcome all inquiries, connections and referrals.

VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance Division

This VP, Digital Experience position is located in the NY metro area and we are focusing on identifying qualified candidates with 10+ years of digital experience in the insurance and/or financial services (banking, credit card, brokerage) sectors. B2C and B2B digital strategy and marketing experience are essential and, in addition, this individual will be a digital thought leader able to influence senior leaders and support them to accomplish business goals through development of innovative digital solutions.

This role will also have considerable matrix interface and coordination with enterprise-wide digital and customer experience initiatives.

Learn more…

New Executive Search

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Entangled Marketing

Career Management – by Lola White

Career Opportunities

Wishing all our clients and friends a Happy Thanksgiving! – Jeff & Lola

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

“Modern Marketing” Trends

Article and Book Recommendation

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Rising Stars Are Our Future

Announcements

Jon Davis Joins Accenture Interactive as Senior Manager, Digital Strategy

Articles

Marketing EDGE Celebrates 2015 “Rising Stars”

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

‘Mad Men’ to Data Geniuses

Announcements

Monika Wilczak Joins Accenture Interactive as Managing Director, Customer Advanced Analytics

Upcoming NOW 2015 Women of Power & Influence Awards

Invitation REMINDER

Article

#MktgFemme – Direct Marketing News’ 2015 Marketing Hall of Fame

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Life Expectancy of CMOs Is Increasing

Spotlight On

Lia Sagerman – EC 2015 Rising Star

Invitation

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Be Positive and Refire

Special Announcements

Allison Landers, VP, Digital and Customer Experience – Prudential Financial Group

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

2014 – The Year of Social Enterprise

BLOG Roundup: Did you catch our recent blog posts?

Thanks and Giving Are Good Branding

Are You A Successful Entrepreneur CEO?

Mastering The Consumer Driven Decision Journey

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

CMO-CIO Partnership…Still Early Days

BLOG Roundup: Did you catch our recent blog posts?

What Does It Take To Be A Winning CMO?

MarketingEDGE Holds Successful 2014 Annual Awards Dinner

DMA2014 Has A Magic Opening

Special Announcements

Helen Nowicka, Managing Director, Business Development – Social & Mobile at MXM

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

What’s New In Advertising?

Special Announcements

Julie Winskie, Global Head of Branding & Communications at Mercer

Barney Loehnis, Global Leader of New Digital Center of Excellence

Career Opportunities

In this issue:

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

BLOG Roundup: Did you catch our recent blog posts?

Special Announcements

Career Opportunities

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Connections Briefing

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Let’s Connect!

What’s New

Wishing all our clients and friends a Happy Thanksgiving!
– Jeff & Lola