Brad Burlingame

Brad Burlingame is the President and CEO of the West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau. He is a board member of the Visit California Marketing Advisory Committee, LA Stage Alliance, Sunset Strip Business Association, The Avenues- Fashion, Art & Design District, and the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Brad is Chair of the Cal Travel PAC and is a Past Chair of the Western Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau and the California Travel Industry Association. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Diane and their two daughters.

Q. As one of the smallest cities in California, a total of 1.9 square miles, what are the special characteristics of West Hollywood that warrant its own Marketing and Visitors Bureau?

A. Approximately 1.2 million visitors come to West Hollywood annually, the economic impact to the city in spending is more than $750 million dollars. The bed tax collected from hotel guests is the city’s single largest revenue source. So it is imperative, in the incredibly competitive travel industry, to have a dynamic destination marketing program to sustain this positive economic impact.

Q. Your Bureau’s mission statement states that it promotes the city as a destination for both business and leisure travelers. Could you briefly describe some of the programs for each?

A. The WH Marketing Bureau has a diversified strategy to attract business and leisure travelers. Our business travelers are concentrated in the entertainment industries of music, film, and television. We engage with those industries in our key feeder markets of New York, London, and Australia to ensure when they come to California, they know West Hollywood is the best location to do business. For leisure travelers the bureau works collaboratively with community partners to highlight unique luxury shopping, renowned dining experiences, legendary nightlife on the Sunset Strip, a vibrant LGBT community, and incredible events such as the Sunset Strip Music Festival and the Halloween Costume Carnival.

Q. West Hollywood has been a magnet for the film industry, attracting Oscar parties, celebrity residents and the shooting of both — films and TV shows. Is the City of West Hollywood Film Division a part of the Bureau or is it a separate entity? Is there a specific outreach strategy/plan for continuing to attract that industry, and if so, could you briefly describe those promotional initiatives?

A. The City operates a Film Department which manages the permitting of productions and works with those companies to ensure a successful shoot in West Hollywood. The West Hollywood Marketing Bureau manages Film West Hollywood and promotes the city to producers and locations managers. The FilmWestHollywood website showcases the many businesses in the City which could be used for location shoots or production wrap parties. FilmWestHollywood also participates in industry tradeshows to market West Hollywood and hosts location managers for quarterly familiarization tours of the city. The City Film Department and FilmWestHollywood work collaboratively to attract film, television, music, and other commercial productions.

Q. The City is well-known for its active residents. To what, in particular, do you attribute that spirit evolving from the sleepy days of early 20′s when West Hollywood was first so named?

A.West Hollywood has always had a certain rebellious attitude. In the 1920′s, despite prohibition, gambling and drinking were “overlooked” by authorities. It is how the Sunset Strip got its name- the unincorporated strip of Sunset Boulevard between Hollywood and Beverly Hills that was not policed. Notorious Sunset Strip nightlife originated from those days and has evolved over the decades. West Hollywood has always been a city that welcomes everyone. When the City finally incorporated in November 1984, the gay community was a strong voice in determining what the newly created City would be. Today, that same active spirit is embraced by the leadership in the City.

The West Hollywood Marketing Bureau developed a brand manifesto that also perpetuates that spirit. “We’re free to be different. We walk and think to a different rhythm. We’re fearless. We never aspire to fit in. Our streets are the new roads to art, music, food, fashion, architecture and new thinking. Dreams become our business plans. Our style becomes the trends that influence and inspire. From the refined to the radical. From the elegant to the outrageous. We think change is a necessary ingredient for planning, and standing out is part of showing up. We celebrate individuality and champion the unexpected. We are a combination of all the things that make one interesting and hopefully better. We are progressive, creative, open and diverse.”

Q.And finally, traditionally, the “Village” area of New York City was the most famous for its Halloween party that weaved through it. But now, I believe that West Hollywood has wrested that position away from New York and become the largest Halloween Street Party in the world. Did this just “happen” or were some planning steps taken to reach this peak? Does your Bureau market the City as a special destination place around Halloween every year on a national scale?

A. Each year the City of West Hollywood produces the annual Halloween Costume Carnaval. Years ago, the WH Marketing Bureau was directed to enhance marketing efforts for the event. Media strategies and corporate partnerships contributed to successfully increasing the carnaval’s popularity. The event has grown to attract approximately 500,000 guests on October 31st and it is by far the largest celebration of Halloween in the world. Carnaval’s long term development plans continue to evolve but our primary goal remains the same – continuing to brand West Hollywood as “the destination” one thinks of when they think of Halloween.

Jennifer Adams

Jennifer Adams is a Product Marketing Manager for B2B Enterprise and Unified Communications products at Plantronics, a world leader in personal audio communications. She has been with Plantronics since 2006 and focuses her efforts on launching and marketing products inside the Plantronics Unified Communications Portfolio. Jennifer has worked in product marketing for over a decade, her past companies include American Apparel, a leading basics brand with both wholesale and retail divisions globally, and Celestron, a leading manufacturer of high-quality optical products including computerized and non-computerized telescopes.

Q. Plantronics is globally recognized for its many breakthroughs in technology. As marketing manager for this public company, please describe briefly your team’s niche responsibilities for the company.

A. My team manages product marketing efforts including product launch, messaging, competitive marketing and demand generation for a growing segment of our enterprise (B2B) business that is focused on new technologies in the area of Unified Communications (UC). A quick definition of UC for those who may be unfamiliar with the term: by UC we mean software products, endpoints (soft phones, IP hardphones, and mobile phones), and associated devices (headsets, handsets, speakerphones, webcams, etc.) that specifically enhance communications effectiveness by integrating applications such as IM with presence, VoIP, conferencing (audio, web, video), desktop sharing, collaboration technologies, mobile communication technologies, and more. UC solutions include Microsoft Lync, IBM Lotus SameTime, Avaya one-X, and Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, among others.

My portfolio is made up of 4 product families: Corded USB headsets, Bluetooth USB headsets, DECT Wireless USB headsets and USB phones (handsets, desk phones and speakerphones). Our products in this segment offer rich features and functionality integrated into the leading unified communications applications from our strategic partners including Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya and IBM. The basis of what our products are providing is a rich audio experience for managing calls from various devices with the PC as the underlying point of contact in all of our UC products. Unified Communications represents the future of business communication and Plantronics is poised on the leading edge – which as a marketer is an exciting place to be.

Q.Does your team work hand in hand with the global communications team or is the company structured in separate silos?

A. Technology product marketing as a function requires a certain level of what I affectionately call “geek factor”. We have to know (and care about) the details of how these products work and that in-depth knowledge needs to be synthesized into the high level positioning and messaging that is appropriate for our various external audiences including the press/analyst community. Though our reporting structures are separate within the marketing organization, we work very closely with the global communications team. We serve as the liaisons between the development teams and the rest of the sales and marketing organization, so we end up working very closely with the global communications team leading up to product launches (and post-launch). We work to create messaging and collateral that they can use to inform press/analysts on new products, we review product press release drafts, we provide the actual sample units they send out for product reviews, and we often participate in press or analyst briefings.

Q. Plantronics has a great reputation for both community involvement and its pioneering efforts toward environmental stewardship. Whether or not your team carries any responsibilities in either of these categories, could you briefly discuss specifics of Plantronics’ involvement in these aspects?

A. We understand that many aspects of our business impact the environment and the communities in which we live and work. From the materials used during the manufacturing process to the food provided in our company cafés, everything affects the health of our local and global ecosystems. We’ve instituted a formal environmental assessment early in the design phase as an essential part of our product development process. From the smart irrigation system and solar panel installation at our Santa Cruz campus to the strict recycling program at our Mexico manufacturing facility and our Smarter Working program in Europe, we’re determined to minimize our impact on the environment.

When it comes to community involvement, as one of the largest companies in Santa Cruz County, we know that our support is vital to area nonprofits. Each year we donate headsets to local nonprofits. Since 2001, our donation committee, staffed by employee volunteers, has supported over 125 local groups, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Ecology Action, Walnut Ave. Women’s Center, Santa Cruz County Symphony, UCSC scholarships, Homeless Services Center and the Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center. Our relationship with Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County goes back to 1997, and in the past 14 years we have donated the equivalent of 2.5 million pounds of food for local families in need. In addition, we have been a proud supporter of the United Way for more than two decades, matching all employee contributions. Our offices located in other regions of the world also practice local community support and involvement.

Q. Plantronics is celebrating its 50th anniversary, certainly a milestone for any company. Please describe briefly any celebratory activities that have taken place or are still to take place.

A. Yes, 50 years is a huge milestone for any company and is extremely rare among technology companies, so we are very proud of that accomplishment. It’s been a whirlwind year of 50th anniversary celebrations that kicked off on January 26 with a huge launch event that not only launched a new branding effort for our company but also launched some exciting and innovative products at the same time. This live webcast event featured Plantronics CEO Ken Kannappan who hosted famed astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, along with key IT thought leaders from Avaya, Cisco and Microsoft, to celebrate our first 50 years of innovation and share a vision for the future − a vision of Simply Smarter Communications™.

Just a few months later, on May 18 we continued our 50th year celebrations by hosting another live webcast from the floor of the NY Stock Exchange where CEO Ken Kannappan and a select group of Plantronics’ Executives rang the opening bell and then led a discussion with IT Thought Leaders on the ever-changing world of business communications and how another wave of new and innovative Plantronics products were rising to meet the new challenges.

Then on May 26 we hosted a 50th anniversary celebration with hundreds of people from our local community at our headquarters in Santa Cruz, California. The party was a great way for Plantronics to share in our 50 year accomplishment with the community who supported our business over the years. Speakers at the event included CEO Ken Kannappan, California State Senator Joe Simitian and the Mayor of Santa Cruz among others.

It’s been a great year of celebration and we are looking forward to the next 50!

Q. Plantronics products are used by diverse customers including pilots, astronauts and 911 emergency workers as well as 100% of the Fortune 100 companies. Most exciting to many of our readers, is company’s history of supplying astronauts its products. Can you tell us more top line specifics on each of these?

A. In 1961 two pilots, Courtney Graham and Keith Larkin formed the company in a small garage in Santa Cruz with the goal to create lightweight aviation headsets. In 1962 Plantronics was the first headset in outer space, when astronaut Wally Schirra chose to use our MS50 for the Mercury mission, adapting the lightweight model to fit inside his helmet. Of course, the most famous use of a Plantronics headset was in 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. As Armstrong stepped from the lunar module onto the Moon, he said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” What would become one of the most famous sentences in the history of man was spoken over a Plantronics headset. I think that’s pretty cool! It’s also ironic to me as my most recent job prior to Plantronics was for a telescope manufacturer, so the space theme seems to be following me!

Since that time our lightweight headsets have been chosen as the brand of choice for call center agents around the world and are used daily by the FAA, 911 emergency workers, NY Stock Exchange workers and more. Plantronics headsets are now used by 100% of the Fortune 100 companies – quite an accomplishment for a company that started out in a California Garage. Though I can think of a few other technology companies (Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard) that got this same start – and they seem to be doing ok too!

Brendan Flynn

Brendan Flynn heads all communication efforts for the LA Auto Show including overall messaging, media outreach, partnerships, social media programs, content development, sponsorships and special event planning. He is the primary spokesperson for the show and also acts as the key liaison for automakers helping to coordinate their product launch efforts. He has been in the communications business for 19 years and previously held senior positions at Fleishman Hillard International, The Rogers Group and Golin/Harris International.

Q. The 104 year-old LA Auto Show attracts more than a million people annually and, most notably, debuts concept and “green” cars. In your position as Director of Communications, how do you manage the global media relations needs of the show? Please describe briefly the structure of this.

A. The LA Show is two events in one – an industry trade show/media preview and a major consumer event. Because of the dual role, we need to first garner as much global media attention for our exhibitors and sponsors as possible. Each is treated as an individual client and we support their PR efforts accordingly. To attract international attention we focus on the global relevance of the show and use agency support in Europe and Asia. We also begin our campaign up to 5 months out in order to allow time for travel and budget decisions to be made by overseas media.

Secondly, we must create local buzz with traditional, digital and social media to drive ticket sales. Social media plays a significant role as we have a very engaged customer base. Multicultural outreach to the diverse communities that make up the greater LA basin is also critical. As the show approaches and debut details are revealed, we have the challenging task of making sense of and creating organization to the hundreds of possible news stories stemming from press days. It’s all about gathering, packaging and disseminating information. Come show time, with the help of our local PR agency, Rogers Ruder-Finn, we manage the media much like a major sporting event as we have nearly 4,000 credentialed members of the press on site.

Q. The LA Auto Show serves several audiences besides car manufacturers. They include aftermarket product manufacturers, limited production vehicle manufacturers, motor sports and concept cars, including “green” concept cars and more. Do you plan your communication strategies for each audience as “silos” or is it simply that the 102-year history of the LA Auto show itself is the draw across the board?

A. It’s true that the Auto Show is such an institution that media often know how and what to cover. However, we plan our communications strategies based on the strengths of the show and how we want to be differentiated in the marketplace. For example, we’ve long been regarded as a luxury and design focused show and recently we’ve solidified our position as the show to make important green announcements. Now we are focused on being a leader in the auto tech space as well as increasing our role as a show where auto business stories happen. However, because the 45-50 major auto brands are also conducting aggressive media outreach, they play a major role in shaping the show’s identity. Part of our strategy is to recognize where the show grows organically and then leverage that growth.

Q. I understand that there is public access for those interested in browsing and then purchasing. Does this mainly attract dealerships or individuals as well? Do the manufacturers or the LA Auto Show itself create special promotions to spur purchase? Also, is onsite selling a goal of the exhibitors or is it the media and industry exposure?

A. For 10 days the auto show becomes the biggest consumer event at the Convention Center and has become a family tradition for many Angelinos. It is about attracting the individual car buyer not dealers. You can’t actually purchase vehicles at the show but it’s a great low-pressure, cross-shopping opportunity. Honestly, I think a lot of attendees come to dream and catch a glimpse of what the future of mobility holds. The special promotions offered at the show primarily come from the factory level but they work with their local dealers to fulfill the offers. Ultimately the auto manufacturers’ goals are two-fold just like ours – garner media attention globally and allow consumers, at least part of the way down the purchase funnel, to experience and physically touch the product.

Q. With the LA Auto Show, your career has veered from that of a longtime public relations executive at several agencies to an in-house Director. What triggered this change?

A. The diversity of knowledge gained and the creative environment in agency life can’t be matched in-house, but to fully understand a business and have the ability to influence decisions as the highest level happens best internally. When you can devote 100 percent of your energy to a single cause you can better integrate consistent messaging across all marketing and promotion channels and really help shape the subtleties of the brand personality. Plus, the Auto Show was at such a turning point in its history that it was too exciting of an opportunity to pass up. In the past five years I have been able to help bring it from an important regional show to a truly global automotive industry stage.

Q. Is your “Green Cars/LA Auto Show Ride & Drive” — for journalists only, a major incentive for them to attend, cover and write about the Show? Is there one particular exhibitor sector that attracts the media more than others, such as the Celebrity Car Showcase?

A. The Ride and Drive is one element to enhancing the shows overall reputation as the main stage for important green vehicle introductions. Because of California’s long history as an environmental leader, the LA Show naturally became the place to make such important announcements. To help manufacturers extend that green message we have certain show elements, like the ride and drive, that highlight OE environmental innovation. The biggest draw to the show are the big global premieres that get promoted not only by us but by mainstream media. It’s ultimately the product that makes a company like Hyundai become the fastest growing or Ford become one of the most profitable, and its that product that creates the most excitement for the show among our attendees.

Lindsey Kozberg

Lindsey Kozberg is Vice President for External Affairs at the RAND Corporation – a nonprofit research institution that helps improve policy and decision making. A former attorney, Kozberg was director of public affairs for the U.S. Department of Education and a special assistant to the president at the White House.

Q. At RAND, you oversee a multitude of functions including philanthropic contributions, media relations, congressional relations, community relations, RAND’s Web presence, and the RAND brand. Is your position responsible for developing strategies for all of these functions? How do you structure the implementation and execution within each category of responsibilities?

A. I’ve got a terrific team that includes experts in each of these areas of communication, so I spend my time making sure we are thinking strategically within the groups that make up external affairs at RAND, and fostering collaboration across the groups to maximize the impact of our people and our work. Our own website, RAND.org, search engines, and “push” mechanisms such as email, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have transformed some of our key audiences into channels of communication. That makes collaboration more important than ever before: we need to be using the same key messages, mapping our audience across silos, and collecting feedback on how our work has had an impact.

I’m always looking for “high impact” research in the pipeline – these are reports that will particularly benefit from having a collaborative and coordinated rollout strategy. I also spend my time making sure we are balancing the objectives of our many research units with the needs of the institution as a whole. I’m trying to highlight for our team the work or messages that may be a positive with one key audience but foster confusion or negative impressions within other audiences. And I work hard to be sure that our powerful legacy of work on national security and international relations doesn’t overshadow the important work we are doing on health care, K-12 education, corporate governance, natural resources planning and more.

Q. RAND’s research often ties in with current events such as the upcoming tenth anniversary of 9/11. Does your department, External Affairs, make decisions as to who, when, where and how to include RAND professionals in print or broadcast media interviews or do you have selected experts listed as spokespeople on an ongoing basis? Is it about forming and maintaining individual media relationships?

A. Our team of 13 is organized geographically. We focus on the top 8 European donor countries. We have government relations, finance and communications strategies for each of those countries tailored to achieve specific objectives we’ve set. We also have approximately 200 grantees across Europe, and so our team works with many of these organizations to support their success.

Q. In your position, you clearly work with multilateral organizations including governments in an effort to implement global change as to hunger, poverty and education. Does your position include the actual project and grantee selection or is that the responsibility of your partners?

A. When our research or expertise can help shed light upon or suggest solutions for breaking news issues, we work hard to be accessible to journalists, policy makers and our donors. The 10th anniversary of 9/11 is something we can plan for well in advance. In late July we released a collection of essays (The Long Shadow of 9/11: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1107.html) with perspectives from 18 RAND researchers on the military, political, fiscal, social, cultural, psychological, and moral implications of U.S. policy making since 9/11. We built an “experts guide” for media to help them find RAND researchers with knowledge that’s relevant to 9/11 coverage. We are hosting events featuring the essay authors. We’ve developed commentary to be placed in the days leading up to the anniversary. And we are using RAND.org as well as email, Facebook and Twitter to disseminate print, audio and video commentary with our experts.

Other events don’t allow us quite as much time to plan, in which case we are relying on relationships with reporters and outlets, putting out media advisories that link our experts to the news of the day, and sending out alerts to policy makers with particular interest in the area. We work hard to ensure that reporters and producers know that RAND is a responsive organization with experts who are articulate and thoughtful. We also work hard on “push” messages to help journalists connect the dots between their coverage and our expertise, and help policy makers lay hands on the information we have to offer.

Q. Even though trained as a lawyer, you have an impressive background in public affairs, including playing a major role in the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. What was the lure to move to RAND a few years ago?

A. When I made the move to RAND I was looking to have a greater connection to the public policy issues that were central to my government service, and that were also a part of my work as an attorney, helping clients forge agreement with government at the local and state levels. RAND offers me a remarkable opportunity to make a difference at all levels of government and in private decision making as well – and to do that from Los Angeles, a community that I know well and care about deeply.

Q.RAND remains a nonpartisan organization, yet focuses on issues at hand that are critical to this country such as national security, international affairs, business and the environment. It would seem that the political climate today is making this difficult to maintain, while still focused on improving policy and decision making through research and analysis. Can you briefly comment on this?

A. Our nonprofit and nonpartisan nature could be characterized as a challenge and as an opportunity. There are certainly some passionately partisan audiences who will have a hard time engaging with RAND because they want validation rather than objective analysis and evidence-based solutions. But, using the U.S. as an example, only about one third of the U.S. population today is identified with one of the two major political parties. We are trying to reach decision makers in the U.S. and around the world and in the public, private and philanthropic sectors. And we think the kind of evidence-based research we have to offer has a meaningful audience among the majority of people who are looking for solutions to the issues of the day. You could say that work like ours is more important than ever before because we find the facts in a sea of opinion and make them known to policy makers and the public.

Joe Cerrell

Joe Cerrell is the director of the foundation’s Europe office. In this new role, Joe will oversee the Gates Foundation’s policy, advocacy, and communications activities in Europe. His team will expand the foundation’s partnerships with European non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments, multilateral organizations, and other groups, and manage a portfolio of policy and advocacy grants.

Q. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is today so broad that it addresses multilevel global humanitarian needs. As the new director of its European office, what particular aspects will you be overseeing?

A. Ironically, a lot of what we’re doing is fundraising — not for the foundation but for the issues we care about. A lot of people ask why a foundation of our size would need others to contribute funding to the areas we work in but when you consider the challenges in global development, we’re a drop in the bucket. So it’s crucial for us to get other governments to increase the amount and quality of their foreign aid giving.

Q. Assuming that you have a large staff of managers that focus on diverse projects, could you briefly describe how this is structured and what their responsibilities entail in the overall?

A. Our team of 13 is organized geographically. We focus on the top 8 European donor countries. We have government relations, finance and communications strategies for each of those countries tailored to achieve specific objectives we’ve set. We also have approximately 200 grantees across Europe, and so our team works with many of these organizations to support their success.

Q. In your position, you clearly work with multilateral organizations including governments in an effort to implement global change as to hunger, poverty and education. Does your position include the actual project and grantee selection or is that the responsibility of your partners?

A. While we manage a portfolio of grants across Europe, nearly all of these are policy and advocacy grants to organizations like ONE, Oxfam, and Save the Children that are trying to rally governments to do more to curb global poverty. Most of the programmatic grantmaking — like the development of a new vaccine — happens in Seattle. However, we measure our success in terms of whether our work is helping our teams back in Seattle to reach their goals more quickly by attracting more support and more funding.

Q. It was recently announced that the Foundation has added a focus on helping to “bring safe, clean sanitation to billions of people in the developing world,” or in more common language, launching the project coined, “Reinventing the Toilet Challenge” aimed at helping those whose sanitation is clearly a health threat. As the European Director, do you work cooperatively with the Foundation’s Global Development Department in seeking partners and donors for third world needs or is that a separate entity?

A. Sanitation has indeed become a bigger part of our international strategy. There are a lot of organizations working on water but sanitation is really a neglected area that has a huge impact on health, education and other areas. In fact, four out of ten people worldwide don’t have a safe way to poop. I hope people will watch a great video that our communications team produced called Reinventing the Toilet (http://bit.ly/mTsaOK)

Q. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, you held several prestigious positions including as press secretary to former Vice President Al Gore and communications support for various presidential campaigns. What was one of the toughest PR challenges you had in your past positions?

A. Working for Al Gore was one of the best experiences of my life. While President Clinton had a communications staff of about 75, our press office was about 5 people, so we had to be prepared for almost anything. One day the news would be dominated by a foreign policy priority the Vice President was working on and the next could be a breaking domestic environmental issue. One of the projects I’m actually most proud of happened after I left the White House. I was working for a progressive agency called Pyramid Communications in Seattle, and we were asked by a Native American tribe called the Washoe who live near Lake Tahoe to work with the U.S. government to try and have some of their ancestral land returned to the tribe. Coincidentally, there was a conference that President Clinton planned to attend in Lake Tahoe a few months later, and we used that opportunity as a forcing mechanism to get the Administration to deed a large parcel of lakefront land back to the Washoe Tribe.

Caryn Eaves

Caryn Eaves oversees and provides strategic direction to the Tournament President and Executive Committee, in-house public relations department and its agency-of-record for public relations counsel. She has been instrumental in launching marketing and promotional events designed to heighten the Tournament of Roses worldwide interest including an award-winning website and the lively media announcements that have become a key aspect of the Rose Parade. Eaves also oversees the writing and publication of all media materials and serves as an official media spokesperson for the Tournament of Roses. In addition, she is the staff liaison for many of the Tournament’s volunteer committees that incorporate public relations aspects including Queen and Court and Television & Radio.

Q. What role does PR play in the shaping of the Tournament of Roses Parade brand?

A. Public Relations has everything to do with the Tournament of Roses brand. The festival actually began in 1890 as a public relations tool to lure visitors from the mid-West to visit Pasadena and purchase property. The newly settled Midwestern transplants used the parade as a means to show the world that they had roses blooming in January while their friends were frozen in their homes.

Today, the brand has taken on a life of its own. It is a world-renowned festival known as the largest New Year’s Day parade. Watching it has become an annual tradition for many American families. The main public relations tactics used today are focused on protecting the brand and working to keep it evolving and remain relevant to today’s audiences.

Q.  The Rose Parade has developed a sizeable international following over the past few decades, what are some key differences in the role that PR plays when dealing with the influx of international media interested in sharing the the New Year’s Day tradition with an international audience?

A. Aside from language and geographical barriers, working with international media is not much different than working with the domestic media. As most outlets are, international media outlets are interested in their local angle. Members of the media from Asian countries generally like to focus on entries with Asian angles just as Latin-American media focus on the entries with a Latin-American angle. We do our best to accommodate every request, but sometimes the best tactic is to provide our list of entries with press contacts and let the media choose what is most interesting to them.

Q. While the Parade has always been a social experience, the rise of social media has added a new layer to the experience. How has the Tournament of Roses leveraged social media to improve the viewer experience?

A. The Tournament of Roses has many moving arms. The association is made up of 935 volunteer members divided in 31 committees each responsible for a certain piece of the festival. We have a small support staff, which the PR department is a part of. An organization with so many moving arms is difficult to mobilize into one joint effort, but we have managed to create a social presence for both the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game. We’ve found that fans of the Rose Parade and Game use the social media venues as a place to create a community and share memories. Social media helps create dialog between our fans and brings out the brand’s evangelists.

We are definitely looking further into additional social media offerings and looking to our audiences to see what they prefer. If no one is
interested in watching a live webstream with no commentary, we won’t put effort into producing an additional broadcast when the ones provided by KTLA and our other broadcasters make our audiences perfectly happy.

Q. The Rose Parade began as a promotional effort by Pasadena’s distinguished Valley Hunt Club to promote Southern California’s mild climate at a time of the year when a large portion of the country is experiencing winter weather. Nearly 123 years later, what message does the Rose Parade communicate today?

A. The Rose Parade is annually seen as message of hope and new beginnings. Even through difficult times of war and economic crisis, when it was questioned whether the Rose Parade would be seen as a waste of roses and flowers, the parade was never cancelled. Instead of being seen as a frivolity, the public sees the Rose Parade as a symbol of hope and community.

Adam Carolla, recapped it nicely for us… “When you watch the Rose Parade, it really makes you think all is good in the world. There are different cultures, different colors, different religions, different ethnicities, different EVERYTHIHNGS, but everyone is just marching together to celebrate. The jets are flying overhead, the bands are playing, and everyone is decked out and looks good. It’s always a spectacular day. The streets are clean, there’s no graffiti and you think, ‘Yes! The Rose Parade! This is our country. This is what we do.’”

The Rose Parade is a major, world-wide festival organized by volunteers. Each float is decorated by volunteers. Communities get together to raise money for their floats or to send their bands to Pasadena. It is truly a symbol of people working together for a common cause.

From a commercial standpoint, the Rose Parade provides corporate sponsors a united and positive message to align their brand to.

Q. The 2012 Rose Parade is scheduled for January 2nd, due to The Tournament of Roses policy of never holding the Parade on a Sunday. Are there any challenges in terms of keeping interest in the Rose Parade in those years when it does not occur on New Year’s Day?

A. Most businesses also close on the second when January first is on a Sunday. It isn’t as difficult to move the Parade over as one would
think. From a positive standpoint, viewers are not as likely to be up late celebrating the New Year the night before and we may have a larger early morning audience. The extra day also provides more time for decorating floats.

Ron Hartwig

Ron Hartwig is responsible for the communications group at the J. Paul Getty Trust and serves as a member of the Getty senior management team. Hartwig joined the Getty in 2005 from Hill & Knowlton, Inc., where he spent 24 years in several senior executive positions. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1967. In 2007 he was named Professional of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America.

Q. I assume that your responsibilities at the Getty include its four Getty programs—the Museum, Research Institute, Conservation Institute, and Foundation. If so, does each program have its own communications structures, including its own programming and strategies– all under your supervision?

A. As Vice President of Communications for the J. Paul Getty Trust, my team has responsibility for serving the communication needs of the Trust, and each of the Getty’s four programs. The Communications Department handles all external and most internal communications, but we coordinate closely with the Assistant Director for Public Affairs at the Getty Museum, who is responsible for Sponsorship Development and for working with the Museum’s senior staff on specific programs that relate to the Museum’s work, as well as with coordinators at the other Getty Programs to gather information, and when appropriate, maximize opportunities that involve collaboration between the four programs.

Q. Is the time you apportion for each, a planned strategy or on a need/opportunity basis?

A. I work closely with the Getty’s senior management and the Directors of the Getty’s four programs on strategic issues and projects. The Department works against a set of specific communications objectives, so in that sense what we do is carefully planned, but as with most communications operations, all of us, including myself, are constantly looking for opportunities and challenges that can’t always be planned in advance.

Q. Your responsibilities at such an international cultural and philanthropic institution as the Getty, seem all encompassing. Would you please describe briefly the scope of your position?

A. The Getty is fortunate to have the resources to have a robust Communications Department. We develop our plans and strategies based on research, and I rely on a Manager of Market Research for both internal and external research. We have a very strong Web Group that is responsible for our external website, www.Getty.edu, and our internal site, which provides a wealth of information for Getty employees. The Web Group also works with our media and other staff on a very active Social Media effort that includes Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the “Iris,” the Getty’s popular blog. We also have responsibility for Marketing and Advertising, Creative Services, Internal Communications and Media Relations.

Q. Does the Getty communication department work with international public relations agencies to manage the day-to-day communication tasks globally?

A. We work with media around the world on a regular basis given the range of projects undertaken by the Getty’s four programs on every continent. When we think it’s necessary we have engaged public relations agency support in countries outside the U.S. The Getty Foundation, for example, has a program that is helping to train the next generation of expert panel painting conservators and we used an agency in Italy to launch that program with great results.

Q. During your first almost six years years at the Getty, the Trust relied on your leadership to deal with several challenges, the most recent being the issue of the Getty Bronze. What are some future challenges that you foresee?

A. There is always something going on at the Getty — a new acquisition at the Museum or Getty Research Institute; the launch a Getty Foundation initiative, or a Conservation Institute program, usually in some distant part of the world. We continue to deal with challenging situations when they arise, but the excitement of working at the Getty is having the chance to deal with opportunities to expand awareness of the great institution’s important work on a daily basis. We are looking forward over the next few months to introducing the Getty’s newly appointed President and CEO, Jim Cuno, formerly the head of the Art Institute of Chicago, who will bring new ideas and energy to the Getty, creating new communications opportunities.

Mason Cole

Mason Cole directs public relations for Oversee.net and its operating divisions and is responsible for Oversee’s relationships with ICANN, trade associations, and partner companies. He directs the company’s intellectual property efforts and has secured seventeen patents in the United States, Canada, and China. He joined SnapNames in 2001 as Vice President of Marketing and was editor and publisher of the respected State of the Domain industry analysis newsletter. His previous experience includes marketing and public relations responsibilities in agency and corporate roles. He lives in Oregon with his family and enjoys traveling, aviation, and competitive swimming.

Q. Noting that you first joined Oversee’s subsidiary, SnapNames, in 2001, this year then marks your 10th anniversary with Oversee.net. Can you briefly describe the ten-year evolution of the company from a startup pioneer in a fledging industry to its position today as the leader in monetizing, registering, selling and developing domain names, coined by Oversee, as Internet Real Estate(tm)?

A. I started with SnapNames at a time when very few recognized the inherent value of domain names as assets. Those that did have turned some of those names into formidable properties and businesses on the Internet.

SnapNames’ role was to help those people (and lots of others) acquire the domain names they were interested in. Oversee, which purchased SnapNames in 2007, began not long after SnapNames, and was founded by two men who very clearly understood the concept of online real estate. They had formed a very successful “monetization” service where domain name holders could provide relevant information and links tothose searching for specific data by using the domain name itself as the navigation tool.

By the end of 2008, when Oversee had put together a complete collection of domain name-related functions, the marketplace fully understood how valuable brandable words are in domain names, and the marketplace for these names was growing quickly. We had evidence of this, naturally. Oversee has sold or brokered single names for million-dollar figures. So we started talking about our capabilities and were attracting some business media attention.

The online real estate comparison was just an easy way for us to make a sometimes arcane concept understandable to consumers and businesses. In our relationships with the media, it let us describe what we did and why it was relevant in a way that got head nods from editors. Since then, we’ve talked about that concept very broadly, and it always helps bear fruit in our discussions, no matter who we’re talking to.

Today, Oversee is widely recognized as the industry’s thought leader. Our brands include DomainSponsor(r) (domain name monetization), SnapNames.com(r) (daily auctions of useful domain names), Moniker.com(r) (domain name registration and security), and the DOMAINfest(r) series of conferences in the U.S. and Europe. Those companies help customers buy, sell, broker, auction and monetize domain names. We also own and operate several vertical market-focused businesses, including LowFares.com(r) (travel), CreditCards.org (consumer finance) and ShopWiki.com(r) (comparison shopping).

Q. Can you discuss the many positions/responsibilities that you have held at Oversee over these ten years and how your view on marketing has evolved over time?

A. I joined SnapNames to handle communications and PR, and to edit and distribute an industry newsletter titled State of the Domain. The newsletter became popular beyond our expectations. At that time, it was the only tool anyone had for monitoring the growth and development of the domain name industry. I spent a ridiculous amount of time getting the statistics together, verified and ready for publication, never mind also writing and editing the articles. Once we published, which was monthly, I was on the phone for another solid week talking about the numbers with the investment analysts trying to understand what they meant for the markets, and with reporters, trying to understand what they meant for this burgeoning industry. It was great credibility for SnapNames and it attracted both customers and partners, as we were the only company speaking with any industry-wide authority status.

I was simultaneously handling PR for our products and services. By 2004, SnapNames had endured a layoff and some management changes, and we were preparing to update our service offering to meet some challenges from competitors. State of the Domain was taking a disproportionate amount of my time as well as of a few of my colleagues, so we elected to stop publication. It was the right move. We had established our credibility (not just through that publication), and others were getting into the stats game. We needed to focus on managing the company.

I continued handling communications and PR, but our management team was running lean. In a previous life, I worked for a Congressman in Washington, and industry regulatory issues were moving to the fore, so I began monitoring legislation and establishing relationships in Washington. Our company testified before both, the House and Senate, on Internet governance issues. Our industry is closely coordinated by a quasi-government non-profit (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers-ICANN) that meets three times yearly, and I have attended those meetings since 2003, addressing the non-government side of industry regulation.

Also, SnapNames had filed for patent protection for its products, but for whatever reason, no one was shepherding the applications along. I’m not a patent lawyer, but I gave it a try and, with help from our firm, we have since secured 18 patents from the US, Canada and China.

We grew the business nicely for the next couple of years and then in 2007 were acquired by Oversee.net, a Los Angeles-based company with operations in all parts of a domain name’s life cycle-registration, buying, selling, auctioning, brokerage, lead gen, and monetization. I moved into the VP Communications and Industry Relations role for the parent company, managing the company-wide PR and government relations efforts, and have been there for the past four years. I also now serve as chair of the Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG, in ICANN lingo) within ICANN, a group that represents about 1,000 domain name registrars worldwide in the Internet policymaking arenas.

My view on marketing hasn’t changed very much, honestly. The tools of marketing have changed in the past ten years, to be sure, but the premise of marketing hasn’t. In my experience, authenticity is the key to success. If you have an outstanding product or service, it usually “speaks” louder than anything you can spin. To successfully market and communicate, you need to understand your market exceedingly well before you sell into it. When I was in agencies, I used to ask clients to talk only about what they understood about marketplace pain for the first hour of our initial meetings, then tell me what they had created to alleviate that pain.

Q. As today’s Vice President of Communications and Industry Relations for Oversee.net, how is your department structured in order to encompass the company’s many subsidiaries as well as the gamut of communication disciplines that include public affairs and also intellectual property (patents) interests?

A. We still run pretty lean. The PR team is my very talented colleague in Los Angeles, Corinne Forti and me (I’m in Oversee’s Portland, Ore. Office). We have an agency in Washington DC that is highly specialized in this industry and handles PR support, while also advising us on industry governance. Oversee has a very strong marketing team led by the highly capable Aaron Kvitek, and our departments work to support each others’ efforts and make sure messages are always in agreement.

Anyone managing a function like this one, would always like to have additional resources. Since I don’t for now, Corinne and I frequently consult with the business leaders to make sure we have good information flowing to us. We also make it a point to talk to the sales teams, resources which I believe PR practitioners should use far more often to understand what’s happening in customers’ minds. So even if we’re sometimes stretched thin, we have a great network inside the company that helps make things efficient

Q. In what way does your position interact/collaborate with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)?

A. I interact with ICANN very frequently. Even if I didn’t chair the RrSG, ICANN’s role has grown so large that it’s hard to imagine it could be ignored. The hurdle for participation at ICANN is very low, and the organization attracts all kinds of people, so it’s growing all the time and taking on more and more policy work-more — than it can thoughtfully manage, really. Even governments are understanding how valuable domain name assets are. They’re portals for economic growth, intellectual property protection, education, and other functions. They have significantly increased their participation in ICANN. So has law enforcement, as they’ve looked to the ICANN and the domain name system to help combat crime.

Increasingly, all kinds of varied interests are looking to ICANN to help satisfy their agendas, at least partly through the domain name system, that includes ours. So on Oversee’s behalf, we interact with ICANN in a way that sorts through those agendas and identifies ways to work inside the ICANN policymaking process to take advantage of opportunities and deal with threats.

Q. Since Oversee’s competition can come from many sources, how do you market against so many fragmented messages and voices in the marketplace?

A. It’s a good question. Actually, I think the fact that the marketplace is so full of fragmented messages, gave us an opportunity to speak clearly when others didn’t always. As the Internet ramped up, online commerce was a scattershot of providers, each one trying to get a message across.

When we understood we had a pretty complete collection of services, we stayed mostly out of the tactical “buy my e-mail service” or “our domain name registrar is better” kinds of messages and, in PR, talked more about where the industry was headed in a macro sense, and what it meant for businesses and consumers. It was clearer, less cluttered and easy for everyone to understand, and it made us stand out against the other guys.

Also, our operations and marketing teams are extremely diligent in what we learn from customers. We have a very good set of data from opt-in customers, and we’ve worked really hard to give them the information they’re looking for. So by executing very well across all our product lines, we not only have a good reputation with our customers, we deliver what’s extremely relevant to them at the right moment. We always try to validate a customer’s reason for doing business with us every chance we get. Talking about yourself is one kind of marketing. Doing something particularly valuable is the better kind.

Brian O'Connor

Brian O’Connor serves as director of marketing & public relations for Cunard Line, the iconic British ocean liner company that operates QUEEN MARY 2, QUEEN VICTORIA and the new QUEEN ELIZABETH. He joined the company in 2006 as director, public relations.

In his current role he is responsible for directing strategic brand marketing which includes: advertising, direct mail, SEM, web content management, public relations, media relations, social media, promotions, protocol and special events throughout North America.

In 2011 he is serving as President of PRSA-LA the Los Angeles Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (5th largest in the country) having served on the Board of Directors for four years. For the past two years he has served as Co-Chair of the annual PRism Awards.

He is a member of PDI-POA, Protocol and Diplomacy International, Protocol Officers Association and is a graduate of The Protocol School of Washington®, Protocol Officer Training. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Telecommunication from Michigan State University.

Q. Cunard Line continues to have a special romantic aura, which is likely attributable to its legendary history with its famed Atlantic-crossing voyages. But the impressive thing is that it has sustained this aura over all these many years. What were some of the steps taken to ensure this?

A. As a 171 year-old cruise brand, Cunard is in the midst of a renaissance in that we have brought three luxury ships into service in seven years thanks to our parent company Carnival Corporation. The first was Queen Mary 2 which, when launched in 2004, was the first Trans-Atlantic liner built in 35 years, she was followed by Queen Victoria in 2007 and new Queen Elizabeth (not QE3) launched in October 2010.

During the golden age of ocean travel, Cunard was considered “the only way to cross” the Atlantic and was the choice Line of the well-heeled, entertainment’s biggest stars, dignitaries and political figures alike. We honor and celebrate our ocean liner legacy and today offer a modern interpretation of that experience in what we call “The New Golden Age of Ocean Travel” aboard our fleet.

The steps we’ve taken to ensure the aura (or cachet) of our brand is maintained is most visibly seen through the design of our ships, specifically the interiors which are designed in the spirit of the floating palaces of the past – with rich wood veneers, marble floors, grand double and triple height spaces, plush carpets and elegant draperies such that your surroundings look and feel an ocean liner, not a cruise ship.

We remain committed to excellence through our famed White Star Service. Our crew is always and forever being trained on the tenants of WSS for which we take pride in attentive, anticipatory but unobtrusive service ideals and integrate them into everything we do. This gives us a unique spirit to serve which ensures that our guests are at the center of our world.

Additionally, we celebrate the civility of ocean travel by maintaining formal nights (on average three per seven night voyage). We consider dressing for dinner an event to be savored – like going out on the town – making a grand entrance down the staircase into one of our two-story restaurants, attending a West-end style musical production show and ballroom dancing in the Queens Room to a live orchestra during our Royal Nights Themed Balls

Q. Cunard participated in the Tournament of Roses Parade in 2011 for the first time ever, winning the coveted Queen’s Trophy. Did the company see value in this, and if so, what did that participation impact the most, locally regionally or globally?

A. As a niche British luxury brand, Cunard is very publicity-driven in our efforts to increase awareness here in the very competitive North America cruise industry. We did measure notable value from our participation in the Rose Parade not only through media impressions but in our efforts to raise awareness for the brand, our newest ship and the new west coast presence by Queen Victoria, a deployment which we will repeat in January 2012. The New Years day parade fit perfectly in between two other major tent-pole events by bridging our PR drum-beat which started in early 2010 before the launch of our new Queen Elizabeth and continued after the parade with a Cunard Royal Rendezvous on 13 January 2011 in New York.

Our impact resonated most locally with great local news coverage and nationally through our promoting our appearance to our vast travel agent network. We were absolutely thrilled to have won the Queen’s Trophy (for best use of roses)…how perfectly fitting for our brand. It was actually quite unexpected because we hadn’t focused on that aspect of the parade but clearly our float builder did and this team achievement is a testament to the professionals at Fiesta Parade Floats, our builder Tim Estes, designer Raul Rodriguez and floral designer Jim Hynd. They simply are the best in the business. Our success further confirms that we made the right choice to work with them.

Q. One of the very clever PR tactics that Cunard employs is a meeting of the “Queens,” as happened in major port cities around the U.S. — be it two or all three ships. In essence this seems to be a marketing of the “family of Queens.” Is this a global theme that the company markets? Notwithstanding, does each ship have its own separate and individual PR/marketing plan?

A. Since joining the company I have been amazed at the attention our ships attract – whether calling on a port solo or with one of her sister-ships. We’ve caused traffic jams in San Francisco, Sydney and Hamburg with hundreds of thousands of onlookers coming to see the arrival/departure of a Cunard Queen (in the case of Hamburg nearly one million people line the shore each time Queen Mary 2 calls – no exaggeration).

Cunard Royal Rendezvous’ events began back in 2005 when Queen Mary 2 sailed into Long Beach Harbor and met her predecessor Queen Mary. A campaign platform was born and since then our global PR teams have leveraged major press events and news coverage each and every time two or more of our QUEENS call on a port on the same day. I had the privilege of being in Sydney when Queen Mary 2 made her maiden call with QE2. We dominated the news for two days and as a result city leaders were tasked to review the traffic congestion issues that our ships caused for “Sydneysiders” that day.

On 13 January 2011, on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s maiden call to New York we promoted another Royal Rendezvous – only the second-time in Cunard’s history that all three Queens have called on New York together (the first on the exact same date back in 2008). It was a spectacular day that culminated with a Grucci fireworks display at the Statue of Liberty which was later referenced by a New York Times reporter as having “rivaled the 4th of July.” Three days later, on 16 January, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth called on Ft. Lauderdale together and then on 5 May, on the occasion of her final west coast call of the season, Queen Victoria pulled into Long Beach Harbor and guests, waving union jack flags (both onboard QV and Queen Mary) were surprised with a pyrotechnics show and whistle exchange between the two ships.

One Plan or Three?

One of the challenges we face in North America is that our QUEEN ship names have stronger top of mind recall than our brand name, so we spend a great deal of effort and brand management rigor linking the two. We market the fleet under a master brand umbrella and when appropriate we highlight certain deployments by ship and enrichment or special entertainment programming (for example, back in 2008 we hosted James Taylor and his band on a Queen Mary 2 Trans-Atlantic Crossing – they gave two performances in the Royal Court Theatre) and James did an interview with our Entertainment Director in front of a live audience. During the voyage (in between rehearsals) James signed autographs and took photos with our guests for nearly 2.5 hours. Before we reached Southampton he did the same with our crew members during a visit below deck to their galley.

Q. When Cunard launches a new ship as with the Queen Elizabeth in 2010, there is always an excitement that goes well beyond anything that happens in the cruise industry. How long in advance are events planned around a launch? Can you outline some timelines for a launch?

A. Industry executives and members of the media (especially cruise industry journalists) tell me repeatedly that no cruise line stages a ship launch like Cunard. This is due in part to the fact that a senior member of the British Royal Family has attended our ship launches consistently over the past 77 years dating back to Her Majesty Queen Mary in 1934.

We started planning the Queen Elizabeth ship launch 18-months prior to her scheduled delivery. Given that this ship was not going to hold any superlative distinctions like “longest” “tallest” “widest” and would not include an ice rink or rock climbing wall we were tasked with developing a PR campaign that would be relevant and meaningful for the brand and still capture the media’s attention.

Q. Clearly, the Cunard legacy is unlike any other cruise line. Do you feel that this defines present PR marketing initiatives?

A. In my role directing an integrated marketing and PR department – publicity is always a key component to our marketing plans and in some instance it is most effective for making a small three ship British cruise brand occur GRAND in the minds of North America consumers.

My team and I consider ourselves very fortunate in that our senior executives here and at our Head Office in Southampton, England recognize the power of PR for our brand and empower us to leverage every opportunity possible – whether it’s a major press event in New York, sailing James Taylor and his band or one of our most popular weekly themed Facebook posts “Today in Cunard History.”

Our community – specifically “Cunarders” (a distinction you earn after your first voyage with us) are very passionate about the brand and they won’t hesitate to tell us if they believe we aren’t delivering on our brand promise.

Peter Arvai is Founder and CEO of Prezi. Before joining Prezi he established omvard.se, a company that pushes transparency in healthcare by comparing the treatment outcomes of clinics based on performance data. omvard.se was voted Best Website in Sweden 2009. Before the iphone arrived, Peter helped secure an IPO and acquire companies as VP of Product Management at a mobile internet start-up, Mobispine.

Peter Arvai

Q. Prezi’s concept of using zooming navigation, first used by architects in 2001, is the first bold change in presentation formats in the last 50 years. How did you first market such a complete game changer and to what audience?

A. We launched Prezi on the Next Web conference in Amsterdam. We do not spend any resources on advertising Prezi, for it is our users who promote Prezi to their colleagues and friends. Today we have 3M users and we added several hundred thousand users last month.

Q. With Prezi’s free version, one can create 100MB worth of presentations, but they’ll all be public.  Is this a hindrance for adoption? Is price a hindrance for adoption of the pro versions?

A. In Prezi you can create presentation for free as long as you are willing to make the presentations public. To be able to make secret presentation you have to start paying. For people who are not willing to pay for Prezi and are in need of creating secret presentations our business model will be hindrance. Our fast growth both in terms of free and revenues indicates however that people who need to make secret presentations are willing to pay. Prezi has been cash flow positive since nine months after starting its operations (this is highly unusual in the internet sector).

Q. What plans are there for Prezi to expand awareness of this brand concept and further develop the bandwidth of the software’s capability?

A. Prezi recently launched PreziMeeting where people can collaborate in real time and our iPadViewer which allows people to show their Prezis on the iPad.

At Prezi we believe that sharing ideas is not confined to projectors/laptops. Idea sharing happens in diverse settings, using different type technologies so we’ll be working to adopt Prezi for more and more presentation situations using any type of technology that our users use.

Q. Prezi’s founder is Hungarian, the architects that first used this technology are from Spain and you are Swedish, yet Prezi is an American company.  What market has been the quickest to adopt this technology for presentations and why do you think that is?

A. We have three founders (none of them Spanish). Me (Swedish/Hungarian), Peter Halacsy (Hungarian) and Adam Somlai-Fischer (Hungarian). We launched Prezi at a Dutch web conference and Holland has been a very active Prezi community since then. Today there are six books around the world on how to make great Prezis, but Holland was first out. We’re also seeing extreme fast growths in countries like Korea. This is probably due to fact they have some of the highest broadband penetration in the world and because they do a lot of presentations. I spoke to university students in Seoul who told me that they do up to 15 presentations per semester.

Q. Prezi appears to have resonated with students at universities before the corporate world began to notice.  What triggered this? How do you look to engage more ‘market-share’ (usage/absorption) in the business world?

A. Only about 20% of our users use the educational license, probably because people still make more presentations at work. Corporate users may be restricted because of the IT policies of the companies, but I believe this is changing thanks to the many  cloud services that are providing innovative solutions for common business problems. Prezi can be a great service to enforce that trend. Our success in the classrooms are probably connected to high internet maturity and our ability to integrate things like youtube videos.

Richard Block

Richard Block is Vice President of Marketing for Haier America. In that capacity he leads all marketing initiatives, as well as company and product promotions, through a variety of marketing platforms. He also directs the company’s relationship with the National Basketball Association, in which Haier is named the Official HDTV of the NBA. With 30 years of experience as a marketing veteran, Mr. Block joined Haier America in June of 2006.

Q: Given that Haier has so many different product categories, how does product marketing work at Haier – does the company form different silos for the marketing of each brand, with different goals, strategies and tactics or does it all fall under one company umbrella? Does each category work with its own team, whether in house or outsourced?

A: What it really comes down to is as follows: there are many different factories, all with their own teams; marketing, product merchandising and otherwise and, everyone runs their own individual company. It’s pretty much that simple… Once the product comes to market, I work with the product marketing groups that are responsible for each individual product and discuss strategy with them. Then, based on what they (in the factory) want, I execute that strategy. As such, I don’t own that strategy, they do. I do own the Haier brand, so when it comes strictly to branding, that’s something that I can execute outside of their realm.

When you look at the NBA official partnership relationship with Haier, that’s something that I execute and do for the entire Haier brand.

When I first started here five years ago, Haier had an “unaided” awareness of about 7%; it’s tripled to almost 20%; “aided” awareness is now up to almost 40%. The truth of the matter is that I believe the NBA partnership is great for the television factory. For example, I chose to use the designation of the NBA, as an official marketing partner, for nine categories because it just sounds better, works better, looks better and feels better. Most think that it’s a very strong vehicle for the TV division, but I think the whole company benefits as well.

Q: Are all your products/product categories branded under the Haier name globally or does it differ according to regions?

A: Most of what we do is branded as Haier; however, there are sub-brands. There are many companies we’ve done business with, and even here, we have sub-brands. The only part that is a bit disappointing is that because of this, we don’t have 100% of the effort going in the same direction. When you’re doing sales for a sub-brand, you cannot really market under that brand, so the investment goes to the overall pie, and gets taken down by a notch because all the monies are not going toward one goal.

Q: Haier was recently ranked by Euromonitor International, the world’s leading independent provider of business intelligence on industries, as the number one brand of major appliances in the world. What overall strategies does your company employ to retain that position, most specifically, in the US? Does social media play an important role in connecting to your customers?

A: We are very proud of that designation. Especially so, when you take into account that Haier America is a fairly young player in the United States (almost 12 years old), and that this designation is worldwide.

As to social media, the NBA partnership was key in growing our overall branding effort on that platform. We use other advertising and marketing vehicles that also impact the social media component. Just take a look at what was accomplished at the recently finished NBA All Star Weekend with our production of a 20-25 minute international infomercial; sponsorships of shooting stars for the 5th year before the 3-point and the Sprite Slam Dunk – all of which netted literally 1,000s of tweets and re-tweets! When I get a new analytics report following the All-Star Weekend and it shows that our onsite traffic for that weekend (or month) was the highest of the whole year — then you tell me how successful that is!

Certainly, our commitment within the digital/social media arena will continue to grow and we are already exploring and testing new programs.

Q: As a Chinese headquartered company, what are the cultural challenges that you encounter, if any, as to marketing operations?

A: Well, look there’s no question that there are challenges, but I don’t really think it’s because we are a Chinese company, rather because we are a foreign company, with people separated by social barriers and 12,000 miles. Often they just have different ways of looking at business aspects. In China, while they manufacture for a certain price, we actually have to buy it at a higher cost because we’re their customer and it costs a fortune when you consider freight, gasoline, time, energy/effort — whatever, to get it over here. So right away that’s a disadvantage. The other issue is in terms of distribution. China believes in a localized strategy. In China, there are hundreds of Haier kiosks and stores. As such, they have a built in customer distribution base, which is a tremendous advantage, especially when you consider that in the West we deal with the Best Buys, the Lowes, the Targets, the Wal-Mart’s or wherever in the world we sell. In the book, The Higher Way, it clearly delineates the Chinese localized strategy. This also works in our favor, since China believes that their partners here in the US, certainly know and understand the social ways of this country best, and while offering help/guidance/support, they do allow us to run the business from New York, as opposed to China.

Q: Haier’s partnerships with the NBA offer a great tie-in opportunity with a key target audience. Based on that, is Haier planning to expend its partnership program beyond sports?

A: We are always looking for new partnerships. I literally take hundreds of calls and emails about new opportunities every day. I can’t even begin to fathom how many people want to do business with us. Often I feel much like Michael Douglas’s character in Wall Street, when he said, “I look at hundreds of deals and I say yes to one of them.” We need to be very discerning. I don’t necessarily think that sports are the best value, nor the right targeted demographics across the board. For, at the end of the day, although we want to see our television and electronics businesses continue to grow, we also want to continue to do business as a leading air conditioner manufacturer in the United States and the number one compact refrigerator manufacturer in the United States. Really, we see the thrust, the focal point, of our growth, in major appliances. It’s no secret that we want to continue to grow as the number one appliance brand in the world and continue that strength here on the shores of the US.

Chris Hosford

Hosford began his career in journalism where he worked as a newspaper and magazine editor for more than 10 years. He then was “seduced by the dark side”, as his former auto journalist colleagues teased him, and joined Hill and Knowlton to provide support and counsel to his first client, Mazda. Now, with more than 25 years in public relations, including stints at two top ten PR agencies and two automakers, he couldn’t be happier working for Hyundai. He says that taking a brand from one that was the butt of late night comics jokes to one that today is frequently mentioned in the same breath with other top auto makers has been the most fun job he’s ever had. Exhausting, but fun.

Q: The past two years have been challenging times for the automotive industry, to say the least. Can you point to new strategies that were implemented during that time that impacted Hyundai to stay above board during these years of turmoil?

A: Our strong move into digital media has been critical in our success. While it has increased the workload, it has been vital not just in our efforts to reach more journalists and, ultimately, consumers but it has been and continues to be a great learning lab for all our staff. And, it is not just a great way to speak to the media and consumers, but also a great way to listen. However, with all that is new in our business, we can never forget that the basics — great writing, great relationships and great vision. These remain the keystones of everything we do.

While also not a new strategy, the close collaboration with our AOR Ketchum continues to be a source of strength for our overall efforts. And, let’s not forget — a VERY good sense of humor!

Q: Hyundai’s Super Bowl ad was funny and quirky. Considering that social media did much to extend the impact of many Super Bowl ads pre-, during- and post- game, did Hyundai’s corporate communications strategies create programs to tie in with the ad or was it designed as a stand alone one-time exposure?

A: At Hyundai we can’t imagine an effort today that would “stand alone.” Everything we do has to operate on multiple levels over weeks, months, sometimes years. In the case of advertising PR, our efforts soon will be further enhanced as we move into a new building where all the PR and Marketing team members will be on the same floor and, literally, right next to each other. We believe collaboration, not antagonism, with marketing is a must for success today.

In regards to speaking with the media about our advertising, a very important part of our communications efforts is to demonstrate how Hyundai in the U.S. has turned into a leader in the auto industry. We utilize some of our advertising efforts, such as those in the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards to demonstrate how dynamic the brand is becoming. Be it an eye-catching ad on the Super Bowl or selling more 40 mpg vehicles than anyone else in the industry, everything we do is designed to help consumers see Hyundai as a great brand to do business with.

Q: Hyundai has been a big player in the “hybrid” car space, and in particular, its Sonata Hybrid is significantly different from other hybrids. Is the adoption rate of such cars in general changing in pace and if so, what factors can you point to that are significant?

A: The leadership that Hyundai is beginning to assert in the auto industry can clearly be seen in the Sonata Hybrid and our company’s approach to hybrid vehicles. We were the first in the hybrid market with lithium-ion polymer batteries, where the light weight and small size of these batteries is critical to improving performance while reducing weight.

We were the first company to optimize a hybrid for highway, not city, driving. Why? Because research, including that from the federal government, showed that the average driver spends 57% of her time on the highway. We wanted the hybrid benefit to be available to the consumer on roads where they spent the majority of their time.

The question we ask in designing, engineering and selling every vehicle is: what does the customer want? It is that point of view that informs our actions and approaches in PR, just as in all other parts of the company.

Q: Hyundai has several well-established niche audiences for its products. Can you briefly discuss their separate influencers and program ideas that have attracted those influencers over and above product media relations? For example: is social media being tapped as an engagement platform and, if so, can you briefly describe tactics used to trigger conversations?

A: While Hyundai does work in several niches, it has grown into the 6th largest automaker in the U.S. and the 5th largest car company in the world. Like every major vehicle manufacturer, niche products are an important part of our portfolio of products. What we’ve observed is that no matter the niche, people want to buy a vehicle from a company they trust and respect, one that they know will stand behind their products.

Our PR efforts are always focused in helping the media and consumers see various aspects of those characteristics. Whether it is protecting an owner’s investment by providing a luxury car like the Hyundai Equus that has an unsurpassed residual value in its class or a sports car like the race-winning Genesis Coupe, the overt messages may be different but underlying those we always come back to trust, respect and safety and security. We’re still smaller than some of our competitors, so we have to be sure every messages ties back to simple key values all our customers understand and want, regardless of the niche the vehicle may occupy.

That said, we do spent significant time preparing for every product launch focusing on the most appropriate audiences and seeking the best media outlets to reach them. In that regard, we view social media as simply another branch of media and target it from that aspect. Not so long ago, media such as Facebook and Twitter were called “new media.” Today, that is old thinking. Social media are an integral part of the media and are always part of every launch plan we write and execute. The question is never “if” it is “which.”

Q: As a longtime corporate communications automotive expert, what would you have done differently, given the recall exposure that Toyota received last year? What counsel would you have given their PR department?

A: In a crisis no one bats 100%. That fact is part of the nature of a crisis. So, it is easy to criticize from the outside and Toyota has taken a lot of hits in terms of its communications regarding the crisis over the last year.

Unlike others, I think that on balance they did a superb job. They got their message points down early and stuck to those. They didn’t blame the customer, which would have been easy to do so. They didn’t expect the problem would disappear in a few days and dug in for the long haul. They put up with brutal and unfair criticism in Congress and stayed calm, if not completely unshaken. They let an appropriate amount of time pass and then used all communications channels to remind their customers that Toyota had always been a brand they could trust and that they still were.

Could they have used a more dynamic, sympathetic top spokesperson? I think so, but you work with the cards you are dealt. Last month their sales rose 45% and they remain one of the toughest competitors in the auto space. Given the severity of the crisis and the enormous amount of unavoidable negative coverage, such a rapid recovery is remarkable.

Jeanie Buss

Entering her twelfth season as the Lakers Executive Vice President of Business Operations, Jeanie Buss is responsible for overseeing all of the Lakers business operations including relationships with the team’s broadcast partners, sponsors and season ticket holders. She serves as alternate Governor for the Lakers and is currently a member of the NBA Labor and Planning committees and is active with several charitable causes including the Lakers Youth Foundation.

Q: The NBA has embraced social media as a tool for engaging its fans, but, as someone that is very active in the social media sphere, just how is Social Media an important factor in the growth of the NBA’s popularity?

A: David Stern has been the commissioner of the NBA since the mid-80’s. He has always recognized the concept of growing the game of basketball through marketing and it happens that social media is the next level of marketing. Because of that leadership philosophy there are currently 7.6 million Facebook users who “like” the NBA compared to just 2.6 million who “like” the NFL. The younger demographic utilizes and values social media and because the NBA adapted and created specific content for those medium it will only assist in growing NBA popularity in an authentic way.

The Lakers organization chose to use social media early on as a way to connect our Lakers fans without a “middleman” who might not deliver our message the way we wanted to be heard. Controlling our brand has been an important criteria when choosing sponsorship and broadcast partners.

Q: You are among a handful of NBA executives that utilize social media platforms as an avenue for communicating with both personal and professional audiences. What made you decide to utilize social media and how important do you think it is for team executives to be active in the space?

A: Team officials must realize that your fan base is not just your season ticket holders. We have found that the Lakers popularity is not only in Southern California but exists worldwide. The Lakers have 1.8 million followers on Twitter, most for any professional team. Our home arena, STAPLES Center, has a capacity of about 19,000 so it doesn’t take long to realize that the majority of Lakers fans have never had the opportunity to attend a game in person. As a team executive if we can show that we can deliver those kind of number allows us to maximize our radio and television broadcast rights fees because that translates into ratings points.

Personally, I have over 36,000 followers with the goal of connecting with fans that isn’t about the X’s and O’s of basketball. I tweet about which celebrities are in attendance that night or what has become a tradition for my Twitter followers, I’ll post a photo of Coach Jackson as we are driving to a home game. Just one more way to engage and grow our Lakers fan base.

Q: Perhaps like no other team in the NBA, or any other professional sports league for that matter, Lakers games are known for their celebrity support. A regular season game at Staples Center offers plenty of excitement both on and off the court. What role has this intermingling of celebrity and team played in developing the Laker brand into what it is today?

A: The celebrity factor at Lakers games was first introduced by former owner, Jack Kent Cooke, when the Lakers arrived from Minneapolis in 1960. He invited then America’s Girl Next Door, Doris Day, to sit on the floor creating a mystic for the VIP seats. Jack Nicholson bought his courtside seats (yes, he pays for them) in 1972 way before Magic Johnson created the Showtime era. Jack and other Lakers celebrities are not just making an appearance, they are true fans of the game. We have worked to create a celebrity friendly atmosphere so A-listers feel welcome and secure in what I believe is the safest facility in the country. My dad (Dr. Jerry Buss) once told me that when an LA resident has friends visiting and “wants to see a celebrity in person” where are you going to take them to guarantee they will see a real life celebrity? A LAKERS HOME GAME!

Q: Can you comment on the new deal with Time Warner and its expected impact on not just its existing sports broadcast outlets, but on fans as well as any other challenges that this might present?

A: The new broadcast agreement with Time Warner Cable allows the Lakers to connect more closely with our fans because we will have more input into the messaging and branding but in game and with shoulder programming which we feel is crucial to future growth. What we are most proud of is the fact we are starting two channels, one in English and the other in Spanish. The Spanish language channel will not be just an overlay but actual original programming for the audience. One of the drawbacks of the new deal is that the Lakers will no longer be carried on over the air broadcast partner, KCAL. However, the Lakers were one of the last NBA teams to be carried on an over the air channel and this has been the migration in sports the last few years. Even Monday Night Football is now on ESPN.

Q: The Lakers Youth Foundation has actively sought to encourage education. But besides the Foundation, Lakers is heavily involved in charity work,. As an example, its swift reaction, together with the NBA, to the devastating earthquake in Haiti of a few years ago. What is the overall criteria for involvement and do you play a direct role in this process?

A: The Lakers Youth Foundation is another aspect of Lakers philosophy of connection with our fans and community. My sister, Janie Drexel, is head of our foundation and has created a mission statement to assist the youth of Southern California as well as promote the game of basketball. She has done an excellent job working with schools and after school programs to refurbish basketball courts as well as build reading centers dedicated to the memory of our beloved announcer, Chick Hearn. We have several fundraisers during the season including a golf tournament, a Basketball 101 event and silent auctions during our home games.

Tomi Holt

Tomi Holt has been director of communications for Jelly Belly Candy Company since last year. She ran a boutique agency in the Bay Area specializing in food and health for two decades and also worked in advertising for Young & Rubicam and Glamour magazine.

Q: With a very high level of brand awareness among consumers already in place, how does Jelly Belly continue to build brand relationships with its consumers in today’s competitive candy marketplace?

A: Our position is that style and good taste are eternal. Delivering on the promise of a surprisingly authentic flavor of Jelly Belly is our primary mission. We receive thousands of suggestions for new flavors from consumers, whether through post, email and social media and we welcome them all. However it’s not only the enjoyment of the eating experience. We are in the business of putting smiles on the faces of our consumers. The memories of pleasurable times, the creativity in flavor innovation, the brilliant colors are all areas that inspire participation and celebration.

We also look for new ways for consumers to have fun with Jelly Belly beans. We offer public tours and develop new ideas to use our product. Currently the marketing department is running a cupcake decorating promotion, which we announced through the trade and blogosphere. Also, we are out in the marketplace with a mobile tour and a series of sponsorships.  While we enjoy wonderful brand awareness, we are not content leaving it at that. We are still a small company, although we enjoy a large image. That means we leave no stone unturned. We actively reach out through the media, web, events, retail promotions and social media. By keeping the strategy squarely focused on what we do best, and having responsive media relations, we generate a good deal of buzz.

Q: Much like Kleenex has become synonymous for any brand of tissue, the Jelly Belly brand name has become synonymous with “Jelly Belly Beans” candy. How has PR/Marketing strategy adjusted to keep the Jelly Belly brand name from becoming “genericized?”

A: Our trademark attorneys just got a shiver down their backs with this question. We actively protect the brand name, even to the point of notifying media outlets when they have it wrong. Beyond that, a key PR strategy is to focus on innovation in flavor development. If you’re the first or only candy maker to figure out how to make an acai berry flavor, for example, then it’s an opportunity to position the brand as innovative and trend setting. We have a steady stream of new flavors that provides fodder for publicity.

Keeping the brand name at the forefront is also organic to everything we do. We print the Jelly Belly name on every bean–that’s about 15 billion beans – so consumers are assured they have an authentic Jelly Belly bean in hand. We use every avenue at our disposal to tell the story. We have produced a trade newsletter for more than two decades to share knowledge on quality candy making, point-of-purchase tips and retailing. For consumers our public tours are important environments for key messaging. When 700,000 visitors a year leave our facilities, they know it takes 7 to 21 days to make a Jelly Belly bean, a surprising fact to many.

Q: From a PR perspective, what factors are key drivers of consumer demand for Jelly Belly candy?

A: We hope it is love at first bite. When those of us who work for the company mention Jelly Belly, a common thing happens. People will smile and tell us what their favorite flavor is, and/or which one they don’t like. Sometimes they suggest a flavor they would like us to try, or one they wish we would ditch. We are dedicated to the largest variety of flavors in the world, and each is developed to deliver a unique taste. We play on the natural curiosity about “what will they think of next.”

Jelly Belly is not your average bag of beans. It is our mission to make the highest quality confection and maintain the highest quality standards in our business practices. That translates to stellar customer service and timely response to consumers.  We believe every interaction is an opportunity to make a new fan, even if they start out being upset. We are charged with a simple philosophy: “if there’s an issue or a problem, don’t just fix the problem, but make it better than before the issue arose.”

Q: Jelly Belly has “hung its hat” on its palate pleasing variety of natural flavors.  What is Jelly Belly’s approach to building brand loyalty in instances where consumers have not, or are not immediately able to sample the product?

A: The company is committed to active media outreach, responsiveness and high value media relations. From this office, we issue news on everything new, and not only Jelly Belly beans. Recently we launched a mellocreme candy called Peas & Carrots that brought us excellent coverage. At the very least, media want to try something new, whether they report on it or not each time.

The advent of tours opened whole new vistas for travel media outlets, which are excellent environments for telling our story in a full and interesting way. I also believe in collaborating with others who have a mutual interest and can carry our message further. That may take the form of building good relations with trade associations, working with PR teams assigned to trade shows, and supporting creative retailers with their own local media efforts. I agree with President Reagan when he said, “There’s no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

Q: How did the connection between President Reagan and Jelly Belly come about? How did Jelly Belly maximize this stellar endorsement?

A: Our company began shipping mini jelly beans to Governor Reagan, around 1967 when he was in Sacramento. We learned from a colleague in the candy business that he was trying to give up pipe smoking and was eating the Jelly Belly beans we made. The company was very small then, and never attempted to seek an “endorsement” or to advertise the connection. Insiders in Sacramento knew about the Jelly Belly beans and the Governor sent a letter of thanks to the company saying he could hardly start a meeting without passing around the Jelly Belly beans.

It wasn’t until Ronald Reagan’s second attempt at the presidential race that the media noticed he was eating our Jelly Belly beans on the campaign trail. The San Jose Mercury News broke the story that those jelly beans came from a small Bay Area manufacturer, and the next thing Herm Rowland, our owner, knew was that Ronald Reagan won the election and was headed for his first inauguration. Suddenly the media wanted to know more about our company. The story went wildfire through the media with virtually every major outlet, including international media, reporting on the president and his affinity for Jelly Belly beans. The company made exclusive White House jars for the president to give as gifts.

While Herm Rowland agreed to comment on the news stories, the company did not advertise or promote the connection with the White House. The media coverage did more for the brand than any of those efforts would have done, and President Reagan’s personal charm and diplomacy were apparently extended through his gifts of Jelly Belly beans.

When I wrote my first press release for the company about three years into the Reagan presidency, I was told you can’t mention the president or the White House.  That was an interesting challenge. The company’s primary goal was to be respectful of the Office of the President, which sounds quaint in today’s world. The secondary goal was for consumers to love Jelly Belly beans for their good taste, not because they were a novelty preferred by a famous person. Another quaint notion that has stood the test of time, is that we now make more than fifteen times the number of Jelly Belly beans that were consumed during the early years of the Reagan administration.

By the reelection campaign for his second term we commissioned a portrait of the president made from thousands of Jelly Belly beans and that portrait went on display at our tour center in California in 1989. Again we did not advertise it, but allowed word of mouth to take a natural course. Some years later we donated a similar Jelly Belly portrait to the Reagan Library where it hangs today.

When President Reagan passed away we were amazed to see average Americans spontaneously leaving bags of Jelly Belly beans at memorial sites. Several major news outlets called wanting to know how we intended to capitalize on this, and we were appalled. Very quickly we managed to get our message across that our respect for the person, his legacy, his family and his memory meant we would not be issuing a special package or promote our brand in this way. The decision not to claim an endorsement on the basis of the connection to the president allowed us to side step what could have been very negative and crass coverage in the media.

This year, some forty-five years later, we have placed the first advertisement honoring the Reagan Centennial Celebration and Reagan Foundation. The company sponsored the kick off to the Centennial year with the entry of a float in the 2011 Rose Parade, which was awarded the National Trophy by the Tournament of Roses. Throughout this Centennial year we expect to give away a half million Jelly Belly samples with information attached about the life of the president. If there’s a lesson for all of us in this, it’s that good taste and style are eternal.

Jim Barry

Jim Barry, “The Digital Answer Man” is media spokesperson for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). He has appeared on countless radio and television programs and webcasts educating people about consumer electronics technology and products. He is the former editor of Video magazine and a 30-year veteran of consumer, trade and custom magazine publishing. During that time he has been an award-winning editor, writer and reporter, the president and CEO of a multi-million dollar corporate division, and the publisher of several consumer and business magazines.

Q: Having attended the recent 2011 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) as spokesperson for its producer, the Consumer Electronic Association’s (CEA), can you comment on whether there is optimism in the air or any anticipated increased consumer confidence in the overall economy?

A: Yes, there was tremendous optimism in the air at the 2011 International CES – a positive aura that had been missing in recent years, making it for me one of the best shows in my 30-plus years attending.

The optimism was reflected in the attendance — over 140,000 including more than 30,000 international visitors — but even more telling, I think, it was in the energy and buzz – the positive vibe emanating from exhibitors and attendees alike.

CES is all about Innovation, and 2010’s sales were led by innovative new product categories, including tablet computers, e-books, and smartphones. These and other electronic products led the way to an estimated six percent sales increase last year, a tremendous turnaround from 2009’s six percent drop.

To be sure there are still significant issues with the overall economy, but if CES is any barometer the innovation on display may well represent the leading edge of an overall economic recovery.

Q: Can you point to any one innovation in the next generation of consumer technology innovations seen at CES, maybe in their infancy, that you think will impact both the economy and consumer lifestyles?

A: As always there were some 20,000 new products introduced at this year’s CES – new technologies that will soon impact everyone’s life were everywhere, so it’s difficult to choose one. Nevertheless, one nascent technology that’s been germinating at the last few shows and started to bloom this year is what I call “no-touch screens.”  The success of the Microsoft Xbox Kinect’s motion, video and sound sensor is a precursor of more “gesture controllers” for TVs and other devices. Stay tuned.

Q: You spend much time talking to the media in order to educate on consumer electronic technologies.  What are the top tech news or trends that consumers should look for in 2011?

A: This year should be the year of the touch-screen tablet computer. After the spectacular debut of the iPad last year, as many as 80 competitors will be on the market in 2011 for consumers to choose from.

But will they embrace tablets other than iPad? That’s the big question. Touch-screen tablets have been around for a decade or so and went nowhere as a consumer product pre iPad. Now there are many choices at a variety of prices for the space between smartphones and netbooks. Gentlemen start your tablets!

Q: Can you comment on what is imminent in the 3D-TV market? Is rapid consumer adoption an issue?

A: By some measures 3D has a spectacular debut year in 2010 with over a million sets sold, but the hype at last year’s CES and inflated projections from some quarters led to the perception that 3D hadn’t done very well. But if you look at the decade-long adoption curves of other major video advances — including color TV and HDTV — you’ll see that 3D is off to a pretty good start. Nevertheless it has challenges those other technologies didn’t including the glasses which currently are expensive and non-compatible among brands. At this year’s CES we saw two solutions: inexpensive “passive” glasses and even some “glasses-less” 3D.  When the latter gets perfected, watch for 3D to take off.

Q:  The CEA 2010 Sustainability Report highlighted the tremendous progress the consumer electronic industry has made in its green initiatives.   Is there a star among these?

A: CES isn’t just the biggest trade show in North America; it’s the “greenest” having been voted that by Trade Show Executive Magazine in 2009. This award is a mirrors a consumer electronics industry that has embraced green technology and good environmental practices. Manufacturers, retailers and CEA alike are working to educate consumers (www.mygreenelectronics.org) and to make products more readily recyclable and dramatically more energy efficient across the board.

One terrific example is TV. The now ubiquitous flat-panel displays are much more energy efficient than the old CRTs, and the typical 42-inch set uses no more electricity in a year than two standard light bulbs.

Don Spetner

Don Spetner is Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, for Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY).  He oversees strategic corporate initiatives including the formation of new products and solutions, the monetization of Korn/Ferry’s intellectual property and the integration of additional investments.  Mr. Spetner also serves as a search consultant in Korn/Ferry’s Corporate Affairs practice.  He joined Korn/Ferry in 2000 as SVP, Chief Marketing Officer.

Q: The proverbial “PR seat at the table” has remained aspirational for the most part to date.  What progress do you see in 2011 for that to move toward a norm?

A: There has never been a better time in history than right now for PR to gain a seat in the boardroom.  As the power of advertising and traditional marketing recedes, there is a growing demand for the ability to distill, package and distribute information – and these are all core skills of the public relations profession.

The dramatic change in the way information is distributed and accessed plays right in to the sweet spot of communications professionals.  Smart PR people are leading this charge in major organizations, and that trend should continue.

Q: You have been recently chosen by PRSA-LA as the “PR Professional of the Year.”  Considering that you have been on both, the corporate side of public relations and the agency side, are there any major differences that your dual experiences have given you that impact considerations for selecting executive leaders for each category?  Any particular character traits that play a role?

A: We love candidates that have experience on both the agency and corporate side.  My own personal bias is toward candidates that grow up on the agency side for a number of reasons.  First, they learn to work quickly and under tight deadline pressure.  Second, they must learn a variety of tools, approaches and even different industries – this teaches versatility, flexibility and breadth of knowledge.  The best candidates then translate that training in to a corporate job where they master the dynamics of getting things done in a large, corporate organization.  This requires patience, strategy and superb people skills.

Q: There seems to have been a significant decline in confidence in corporate leaders, particularly at the CEO & Board of Directors level.  Can the economy be faulted for it, or are there other factors or examples in particular that can be attributed to this decline?

A: I think the core reason behind the loss of confidence in our leaders is the length and depth of the recent recession juxtaposed against the dramatic rise in CEO compensation.  When unemployment is  hovering near 10% and underemployment is rampant, it is difficult and disillusioning to contend with CEO pay packages in the tens of millions of dollars.

Q: Recently, we have seen the emergence of a new title in the corporate structure, that of Chief Technology Marketing Officer.  Can you comment on this?

A: It’s kind of ironic, but the phrase that best explains this phenomenon was coined in 1964 by Marshall McLuhan when he said “The medium is the message.”  The point is that technology has completely reshaped the media business and created strange and powerful new channels for communicating.  This has disrupted the traditional marketing process, and thus it makes sense for technology and marketing to be closely aligned in a job function today.

Q: What are the traits that you find necessary to become an influential thought leader?  Are leaders formed by nature or nurture?

A: Good thought leadership is all about vision and strategy, coupled with the ability to communicate clearly and concisely.  There are reams of data supporting both sides of the nature or nurture argument, but my own belief is that leaders are born and that it’s very difficult to coach or develop the innate skills that are required to step up into a leadership role.