Biography
I'm a true 21st century marketer who sees the big picture of how SEO, SEM, social media, community building, content, business intelligence/analytics, and user experience design all dovetail.
I began my career as a professional journalist, spinning out bylines for publications as storied as the Boston Globe and All Music Guide (as well as great new media like PopMatters.com) before I was even out of college. I made a sideways move into marketing via retail management (for a really fantastic independent record store chain near Boston) and real estate sales. My weird blend of background in journalism and proven business sense got the attention of iProspect, one of the top search engine marketing firms.
With iProspect, I touched close to 100 different accounts spanning industries as diverse as healthcare, retail, and publishing either as an analyst, conversion optimization specialist, or account manager. I was also part of a small self-directed team that completely designed and built an upsell product based on boosting clients' conversion rates.
After iProspect, I've been responsible for the content side of in-house SEO (for Move.com) and for building/managing the entire SEO program for CBS Interactive's games, sports, and music properties, which include GameSpot.com, Last.fm, Metacritic, and more. In addition to SEO, I was in charge of business intelligence for my entire business unit, so I was the go-to guy anytime executives, product managers, or sales needs to make analytics or data-driven decisions.
Recently, I went back to the agency world with AKQA, the largest completely independent interactive marketing agency in the world. I'm in charge of AKQA's search engine optimization (SEO) program globally, defining our service offering and taking responsibility for project sales/scoping, account management, project delivery, staff training/management, and generally every piece of the puzzle from the RFP to the end of the client's campaign.
I'm also co-founder and editor of Labelscar.com, a site that examines shifts in the trends of brick and mortar retail development in the United States, with a special emphasis on the long, slow decline of enclosed shopping malls. We focus on several angles of the story--in addition to the standard, common "business" angle, we also look at urban planning/renewal and try and hone in on the loss of social space that comes when a mall dies (and the public/private divide between malls and traditional downtowns) as well as the history of these centers. Malls were such a big part of 20th Century American urban development yet were never given much serious consideration by historians, and now they're fading into obsolescence without significant footnotes. We've been covered or mentioned by a variety of mainstream media outlets since our launch in 2006.
I like to be engaged and part of the overall marketing mix and as close to business strategy as possible. I believe brand strategy is best if just a bit bloody and raw, and teamwork is more effective with a sharp sense of humor. I can work equally with data, words, and people, but ultimately it's about creating an awesome brand that the end users absolutely love.