Word Up - Canada’s Word of Mouth Conference

Speakers

Speakers:

• Ted Graham - Hill & Knowlton

• Andy Sernovitz - WOMMA

• Rick Murray - Edelman

• Pinny Gniwisch - Ice.com

• Brent Hill - FeedBurner

• Douglas Walker - TBWA\Toronto

• Andrea Wojnicki - The Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

• Matthew Stradiotto - Matchstick

Ted Graham is Worldwide Director of Knowledge Management Services at Hill & Knowlton, Mr. Graham has specific responsibility for directing the activities of the firm’s global knowledge management initiative.Mr. Graham has more than 10 years of experience in journalism and communications. He has worked directly for internationally recognized firms in newspaper and magazine publishing. Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton Canada, Mr. Graham was Director of Research with a national communications agency, with responsibilities for blue chip clients in finance, consumer products, technology and pharmaceuticals.Mr. Graham’s work has included establishing systems to monitor current events and issues on the Internet, competitive intelligence gathering, media analysis, information counseling, and identifying target publics and understanding their perceptions. He is also involved in making strategic recommendations regarding knowledge management systems and processes to a variety of clients.
Mr. Graham has published his own national sports magazine and worked as a freelance journalist for The Globe and Mail and The Halifax Chronicle-Herald.Mr. Graham studied philosophy at the University of Toronto and received his Master of Business Administration degree from the School of Business at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. His master’s thesis was entitled “Business Models on the World Wide Web”.Mr. Graham is also a member of the advisory group to Queen’s Management Research Center for Knowledge-Based Enterprises; the advisory board for Royal Roads University’s new Master’s of Knowledge Management program, and he speaks frequently to the media and business audiences on the topic of knowledge management.

Andy Sernovitz, is a fourteen-year veteran of the interactive marketing business, was a Visiting Scholar at the Wharton School of Business (where he taught Internet Entrepreneurship), and is the Founder and President Emeritus of the Association for Interactive Marketing (AIM).Prior to WOMMA, Andy was CEO of GasPedal, a strategy consulting firm that helps companies focus their Internet operations to be more efficient and effective, working with CEOs on the role of ecommerce in their companies, and specializing in email marketing best practices. Clients included TiVo, Sprint, AIG, Polo, ClearChannel, and Kimberly-Clark.In 1993, Andy began pulling the Internet industry together under AIM, which grew to represent more Internet companies than any other organization. As the de facto Washington representative for the Internet industry, Andy was involved in the formative policy debates surrounding privacy, spam, and other key Internet issues. In 1999 AIM was acquired by the Direct Marketing Association. Andy holds degrees in Marketing from the Wharton School of Business and in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Rick Murray was promoted to head up the me2revoluion in April 2006. This new, global group is Edelman’s media lab, and exclusively dedicated to identifying, testing, incubating and championing new forms of communications that get people talking across new platforms and channels. In this new role, he will continue to serve as client relationship manager on Unilever’s AXE brand marketing business.Prior to taking the helm of me2, Rick directed the Edelman’s various creative business units (design, production, interactive services and brand experiences), while also spearheading the development of its word of mouth marketing offering.His principal areas of expertise include: brand identity, positioning and strategy; integrated marketing communications; and non-traditional marketing in both traditional and emerging channels. Today, he provides strategic and creative counsel to many of Edelman’s accounts including Microsoft, Nissan, Johnson & Johnson and Burger King.

Before joining Edelman in 2001, he served as executive vice president of Golin/Harris International, and worldwide managing director of its CrossMedia division, an integrated marketing communications business he founded in 1996. At G/H, his acquisitions of Creative Event Marketing and Ovation Studios broadened the group’s geographic scope and enabled CrossMedia to credibly service larger opportunities with Nortel Networks, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, TimeWarner and Samsung.

Prior to joining G/H, Rick was chief operating officer for Motivation Media, an experiential marketing company that focused on helping clients align employees and channel partners with their respective brand and business objectives. Its clientele included Citibank, Amoco, Ameritech, Allstate Insurance and Federated Stores.

He has also served as the president of The Promotion Network, a leading sales promotion agency, and as vice president, marketing for Pepsi-Cola’s $1B Canadian business, where he directed that market’s response to new Coke and led his team to soft drink category leadership.

Rick ensured that Edelman was a founding member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and co-chaired its ethics committee during WOMMA’s first year. He holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Vermont. An endurance cyclist and aspiring chef, he and his wife Lea live in Northfield, Illinois with their three daughters.

Pinny Gniwisch started his adult life in Rabbinical College of Canada and graduated from Sydney University with a masters in Jewish law. Always appreciating a challenge, in 1995 he moved into his family jewelry business and spearheaded sales in the United States by securing business engagements with leading retailers such as Macys and Sears.

In 1999 he went on to found ice.com where he has taken the reins of marketing and been responsible for developing strategic alliances with a variety of distinguished Internet companies. Since it’s inception, ice.com has risen in the ranks of successful online retailers, quickly reaching into the top 200 most profitable online retailers and the top xxx for jewelry alone. Ice.com has grown over the past year by a solid 45%. And this year, 70% in the first quarter alone by focusing on creative ways to drive online traffic and sales. Names like Yahoo, AOL, MSN, MyPoints, Modern Bride — to name a few — have all entered into agreements with ice.com because of their belief in the product line and knowledge of the jewelry business, as well as Pinny’s track record of successful endeavors.

Pinny has consulted for such distinguished companies as Best Buy, Target and Victoria Secret on cutting edge internet marketing and merchandising. He has spoken for shop.org, etail, internet retailer and other major Internet industry events on vital online retailing topics ranging from search marketing, email marketing, personas, affiliate marketing, fraud, site design, blogs and customer retention.

He has also been quoted in Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Redherring, New York Times, ClickZ, Internet Retailer, Forrester, Gartner group and many other trusted quality publications, and is currently working on a book entitled “Being Present”, a guidebook on “need to know” issues regarding all aspects of Internet related marketing

A fun loving, athletic person Pinny was inspired to use his extensive experience and education to become a dedicated chaplain in the Boy Scouts of America. He has traveled to annual scouting Jamborees to help promote a meaningful and memorable experience that instills lasting values and the traditions of Scouting in America. Displaying not only tireless efforts for Jewish Scouts, Pinny is also an inspiration to scouts of a multitude of religious denominations, who turn to him time and again for guidance and counsel.

Brent Hill is Vice President of Advertising Services at FeedBurner, the market-leading feed management provider, where he cultivates relationships with both traditional and interactive marketing agencies and corporate marketers. Prior to FeedBurner, Brent was President of Classic Kids, a national children’s portrait studio and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at OCA Ventures. Prior to OCA, Brent held the position of Executive Vice President at Styleclick, a unit of Interactive Corp., where he launched and operated the multi-channel retail businesses for the NBA, NHL, PGA Tour and NASCAR. Prior to that, he served various executive roles including Board Member at MVP.com and Big Edge, both Internet and catalog retailers. Brent also worked in the Technology Practice at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). He is a frequent speaker on the topic of feed advertising and his insights have been published in a variety of publications including Advertising Age, Adotas, Direct and DMNews. Brent received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Bradley University and a MBA from the University of Chicago.

Douglas Walker has been working in the interactive advertising industry since 1995 and currently is in charge of the interactive practice at TBWA\Toronto. Prior to joining TBWA\Toronto he spent the last ten years developing and implementing online strategy for some of Canada’s highest profile brands including General Motors, Molson Breweries, IBM, Microsoft, Rogers AT&T and Scotiabank. In his spare time Doug has conducted a unique viral experiment to become the world’s leading authority on the subject of Rock Paper Scissors. In his role as the Managing Director of the World RPS Society, he wrote The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide (Simon & Schuster ) in 2004 and is the feature subject of a feature film documentary to be released in 2006. He also runs the annual World Championships of Rock Paper Scissors in Toronto.

Professor Andrea Wojnicki is a member of the Marketing faculty at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and on the advisory board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). She earned her doctorate in Marketing from Harvard Business School and her MBA from York University. Most of her current research focuses on consumers’ word-of-mouth behaviors, particularly the conditions under which consumers talk – or don’t talk. Prior to her academic career, Professor Wojnicki worked in brand management at Kraft Foods. She also worked in advertising and retail management. She has consulted to firms in the automotive, banking, communications, and other industries.