Tag: CEO
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| Mary Yedlin |
| Learning from the Pros in a Challenging Economy |
| 04.06.2009 23:31:27 | |
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The morning of April 21, small business owners and executives gathered at SLCC’s Miller Campus for Thriving in Today’s Economy and left with practical ideas for running their businesses is this tough economy. MarketStar Chairman and Entrepreneur of the Year Alan E. Hall kicked off the morning with thoughts about the critical elements of building a solid organization. In general presentations and breakout sessions, Jim Bennett and Laura Guthrie of NOW Advisors addressed financial and risk management techniques; Jeff Jones of Durham Jones Pinegar reviewed a wide array legal risks and opportunities for these times, and Sprout Marketing’s Bruce Law presented multiple ideas about making big marketing impacts in focused ways.
Join us at our next seminar on June 24, which will cover new topics. Check out the details at utahbusinessbuilders.com. Tags: Marketing | Utah | CEO | Utah CEO | Random Acts of Marketing | small business | startups | Alan E. Hall | Jim Bennett | Jeff Jones | Bruce Law | Business Builders Series | Free Seminar | Finance | Legal Affairs Hits: 633 | Read more... |
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| Jed Morley |
| Who wants to be a pirate when you can be Captain Jack Sparrow? |
| 25.11.2008 04:25:51 | |
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One of our Sproutians’ kids was a pirate for Halloween this year. But he wasn’t just any pirate; he was “Cap’n Jack Sparrow!” He insisted on getting pirate boots and a sword to complete the costume his mom had bought for him. “Thanks, Mom. Now, all we need is some boots and a sword!”
 This theatrical three year-old loves watching “Pirates of the Caribbean” and got into character trick or treating door to door. For his trick, he attacked any bowls of candy that had creepy motion sensor mechanical hands in them with his sword. At one house, he went back and forth endlessly attacking a talking scare crow and a creepy mechanical hand. The owner of the house got a kick out of it and his dad couldn’t have been prouder—“That’s my pirate!” You know something’s a brand when the generic version just won’t do. As another case in point, I have a friend named Brick Bergeson who dressed up (or down as the case may be) as Michael Phelps for his work’s Halloween costume party. Brick happens to have been a four-minute miler in college not too long ago, so he still has the physique to look believable in nothing but, well, a Speedo.
 With remnants of Summer Olympics imagery still cycling across our collective screen saver, everyone immediately recognized Brick’s costume not just as someone who swims, but as Michael Phelps, proud owner of eight—albeit homemade in this case—gold medals draped around his neck. This is a good thing, because you don’t want to have to do a lot of explaining when you’re walking around the office in a Speedo. Mimicking Phelps’ signature pre-race arm swings and assuming diving position on a lowly office chair was all it took for Brick to take home the top prize in his company’s Halloween costume contest. Let’s hope the free movie tickets were worth the annotation human resources made in his personal file.  Apparently, there have already been some fringe benefits for Brick. He says that a lot more people around the office recognize him and say ‘hello’ to him. The only question now is what Brick will do with his new-found brand recognition. I remember dressing up as Nu Skin’s president and CEO, Truman Hunt, one Halloween when I worked there. It was an easy costume: white Sunday dress shirt, dark suit and tie—with some gray highlights and that was all it took to look the part. I was part of a group talent show later that day and we won first prize for parodying a company-wide speech Truman had made recently, in which he referenced his love of Beetles music.  Ironically, he happened to have been wearing a (generic) pirate costume that day and I can remember him brandishing his pretend, but symbolic pistol at me from the front row of the audience as if to say, “Watch it, kid.” I was branded by some from that point on as “Truman,” which was fine as long as he wasn’t there when they made the reference. Like Tina Fey and Sarah Palin, you have to be careful who you imitate because the comparison might just stick to your own brand. Tags: CEO | Halloween | Brand | Branding Hits: 929 | Read more... |
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 Brandon Carter
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| Stiff Social Networking |
| 20.06.2008 02:06:27 | |
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There was one major problem: his profile was crap. Instead of making something personable yet professional to enhance his own brand, he made the page into one big advertisement for his company's product. The profile was under his name, but no traces of him were to be found. Instead, it was pictures of and sales pitches for his wares. Why would anyone connect to that? It'd be like volunteering yourself for spam. "Wow, I want to be friends with this person who is apparently a screen shot of a hosted accounting compliance application!" There are valuable business opportunities to be found on sites like MySpace and Facebook but you can't be a used car salesman. Create a profile or group for your business and pimp your products there. Your personal profile needs to be just that: personal. Let them buy into you first, then show them what you do. And no, the picture of you looking like a stiff in the suit and tie doesn't need to be there either. Show a little personality! Some good examples of Utah CEOs with friendly, personal profiles:
Tags: web 2.0 | Web | PR | CEO | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Utah CEO | Web Marketing Hits: 1272 | Read more... |
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| Alex Koritz |
| All Public Relations people are liars! |
| 07.06.2008 16:47:36 | |
 The public relations industry has been in a furry over CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen's commentary challenging the integrity of the PR profession. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) immediately responded, refuting Cohen’s condemnations through positive affirmation of the industry, and reinforcing the fundamental role of the PRSA Code of Ethics. PRSA’s latest counterpunch is a video hosted on their website featuring the organization’s Chair & CEO, Jeffrey Julin. link to the video: Traditionally crisis situations, particularly in the political world, have been ripe for unethical PR practices. This is where “Spin” was born. However, in today’s information-driven environment, this no longer works. Especially during a crisis, it’s vital for organizations to present information that is timely and accurate. Mark Twain said, "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." Simply put, the truth is the easiest thing to remember. Sprout’s crisis communications mantra:
Tags: PR | Public Relations | CEO | PRSA | Sprout | Crisis Hits: 1229 | Read more... |
