Wvu Marketing Communications Today

Public Relations Student Society of America National Committee members and undergraduate PR student, Zane Landin, will discuss how young professionals are breaking into the marketing communications industry and adapting during these times. Zane will be discussing how young pros can stand out, contribute to the evolution of traditional ideas of marketing, and overcome obstacles in professional development in the face of COVID-19. WVU Marketing Communications Today is hosted by Matthew Cummings from West Virginia University which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.      About Matthew's guest: Zane David Landin, PRSSA 2020–2021 vice president of career services, is a non-graduating senior from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He will graduate in December 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. He has a strong passion for academics, design, social issues, creative writing, and learning new things all the time. Upon graduation, he hopes

  COVID-19 has forced marketing teams to rapidly adapt their communication and operational strategies to a work from home environment. With these highly collaborative teams forced to adapt to virtual methods how do they preserve productivity and inspire creativity? Join special guest Xenia Muntean, CEO of Planable, for a discussion about how effective teams are overcoming obstacles and achieving great success in a world of forced innovation and adaption. ----more---- About Cyndi's guest: Xenia is the CEO and Co-Founder of Planable, a content review and marketing collaboration platform used by over 5,000 teams behind brands such as Hyundai, Christian Louboutin, Viber, and the United Nations. Prior to launching Planable, at 20 y.o. she built a digital marketing agency and led social for clients such as Coca-Cola. Xenia has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and she spoke on the Innovation Stage at Cannes Lions in 2018. Xenia graduated Tim Draper's startup academy in Silicon Valley and took Pla

The ability to integrate different viewpoints enhances creativity or brings a creative solution to a problem. But why is it more relevant today? The world is way more diverse today, and the need to gauge the various groups’ dynamics is by building a team that has a better understanding of the mindsets. Crafting messages and setting a tone that resonates with these groups are no more an option. ----more---- WVU Marketing Communications Today is hosted by Michael Lynch from West Virginia University which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.     

In the immortal words of Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Covid-19 is challenging businesses and careers at an unprecedented rate. Organizations are transforming to meet previously unfathomable needs of their stakeholders. New skillsets are required to deliver experiences in a virtual world. How are you responding to all these changes? Whether you are a seasoned professional or early in your career, what your business and personal brand project will determine if this is the best or worst of times for you. ----more---- About Whitney's Guest: Jacelyn Swenson leads Strategic Partnerships and Events for IBM Corporate Communications, working with senior leaders across the business to drive IBM thought leadership. Previously she led global brand programs on the IBM Corporate Marketing team where she created social, digital, and immersive experiences to make the IBM brand more relevant and engaging with its stakeholders. Prior to these roles, she developed community-based

Katie Gilstrap is the founder of The Barre Boutique, a studio fitness center (recently sold to the Richmond Ballet), is a faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University and serves as an adjunct instructor at the University of Richmond at the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels as well as at The College of William and Mary in the Online MBA program. Her teaching areas include marketing principles, marketing strategy, marketing research, services marketing, retailing and communications; and she regularly advises MBA thesis projects aimed at solving strategic dilemmas for locally headquartered companies. ----more---- In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she has developed and led new programs for VCU. More specifically, she designed the new Business Foundations course for the Office of Undergraduate Studies and has designed, led, and secured grant funding for study abroad programs focused on international business in Greece, Spain, Prague and Scotland. She also represents VCU as a part o

Lindsay Tjepkema is a 2016 alum of the WVU IMC master's program and has spent nearly twenty years in B2B marketing. In 2018, as the VP of Brand and Content at a global enterprise SaaS company, she launched a podcast as part of the brand's integrated marketing strategy. That podcast would not only make a big impact on the brand, but would forever change the trajectory of Lindsay's career. ----more---- In launching that podcast, Lindsay saw both a shocking gap in the market and a massive opportunity for brands, which led her to start a software company, Casted, that would empower marketers to harness podcasts - and the conversations within them - as foundational parts of their integrated marketing strategies. In this podcast, Lindsay will talk about the transition from marketing leader to CEO of a venture-backed tech company. She'll also dig into the important role podcasts play in the next generation of brand strategy. About Cyndi's guest: Lindsay Tjepkema is the CEO and co-founder of Casted, the first

Due to the current global health crisis and concerns around the spread of COVID-19, events, both large and small have been canceled across the United States. Where does the industry go from here? How has event planning changed and adapted? In this podcast, Deidre West, director of special events and celebrity relations at the Children’s Health Fund, will discuss her experience navigating this new reality. ----more---- Deidre West DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EVENTS AND CELEBRITY RELATIONS FOR CHILDREN’S HEALTH FUND M.A. (New York University) Deidre West's experience in event planning includes a wide range from luncheons, dinner and conferences to high-profile events for celebrities and professional athletes, product launches, consumer brands in fashion, food and beverages industries, galas, retail stores, and a hotel grand reopening. West is a native Ohioan and has always had an interest in conceptualizing an idea and bringing it to life. At Ohio University she created a multidisciplinary Bachelor of Specializ

Social media is free right? Surely it can solve all my sales and marketing goals. Wrong! Digital Marketing in 2020 requires a strong brand messaging architecture and paid media strategy to supplement an organic social media strategy. In this podcast, we will learn how brands need to evolve their social media thinking and approach in order to stay relevant and achieve KPIs that matter. ----more---- About Susan's guest: During my 15+ year career, I’ve become accustomed to working with big brands and iconic organizations. My journey began in college athletics as a sports information director with stops at SMU, the Missouri Valley Conference, and Conference USA. While I’ve made a strong impact within college athletics, I’ve also created relationships with professional organizations in the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. My experiences are diverse when it comes to branding and advertising, with stints at boutique agencies such as Verge Pipe Media and MM2 PR, as well as working client-sid

Rex Repass, a native West Virginian, is President of Research America Inc. In this podcast, Rex will tell us about his life-long interest in the effects of media and marketing on consumer decision making – from the cars they drive to the candidates they support. He has an interesting story to share from his first market research venture in the early 1980s to now leading a Top 50 research firm in the U.S. ----more---- About Matthew's guest: Rex Repass is President of Research America Inc. The company has 250 employees in the U.S., with locations in Philadelphia, metro New York, Cincinnati, Detroit, Orlando, and Sacramento. The Research America teams have designed and led market research and consumer insights projects for some of the leading corporations in the world including Walgreens, Pfizer, Honda, Facebook, and Hilton Hotels. In addition, over the years Rex and his teams have conducted public opinion and user experience research for more than 40 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, and the Reuters News

Crisis management expert, consultant, and author Edward Segal talks about the publication of his new book on crisis management — Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies (Nicholas Brealey). ----more---- About Susan's Guest: Edward Segal has more than 30 years' experience as a crisis management expert. He managed crisis situations as the CEO of two trade associations; advised and helped organizations survive disasters, scandals, and emergencies including the arrest and firing of corporate officers, hate crimes, and sexual harassment; and conducted crisis management and communication training for hundreds of executives and their staffs. Segal is the former marketing strategies columnist for The Wall Street Journal's StartUpJournal.com and senior media relations consultant for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. He has provided expert PR advice and counsel to more than 500 corporations and organizations. For more information, visit EdwardSegal.com.

A Crisis is sometimes defined as anything that interrupts normal business operations … something Webster says that brings about a turning point or decisive moment when difficult decisions must be made. Many if not most organizations, companies, and leaders understand the need to put a crisis plan in place before the next crisis hits, no matter how unpredictable the actual event might be.   ----more---- My next guest argues that even those entities that carefully prepare crisis plans fail spectacularly when tested because they forget about one key feature of a successful crisis response: COMMUNICATING through it. Without a Crisis Communications strategy she says, your reputation and your very viability might be in jeopardy. About Susan's guest: Aileen Pincus launched The Pincus Group after more than two decades of communications experience. Aileen worked as a local and national television reporter in Portland, Tampa, and Washington DC, before leading communications for a U.S. Senator, and then joining a

Marketing and communications during a crisis demand flexibility and adaptability. For the West Virginia University Foundation, that was never more apparent than during the height of COVID-19. The Foundation’s IMC team of 4 had to quickly put together two campaigns in less than a month to help raise emergency funding for students hurt by the pandemic. ----more---- Learn how this small staff was able to create two compelling campaigns while working remotely and amidst other job responsibilities. Find out what worked and what didn’t, and how under budget constraints, powerful messages were delivered to move donors to donate more than a half-million dollars in one day. About Susan's guest: Bill Nevin is assistant vice president for communications for the West Virginia University Foundation, the private fundraising arm of West Virginia University. In his role at the Foundation, Nevin oversees all areas of internal and external communication and marketing. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2007, he spent si

Diversity is no longer a nice to have, but a business imperative, especially for the communications industry. Now more than ever, advertising, PR and marketing firms need to be as diverse as the consumers they want to reach. In this podcast, we will explore why diversity is critical to the industry and what agencies are doing to address the challenge. ----more---- About Whitney's guest: Michele Lanza leads Global Talent Acquisition for Ketchum. She has a keen interest in innovative strategies, such as the creation of LaunchPad, Ketchum’s blind selection process for entry-level talent, that was featured in Fast Company.  Michele is passionate about deploying recruiting processes that foster diversity and inclusion because she has experienced firsthand the value it creates for teams and businesses. In addition to her role at Ketchum, Michele is the founder of Work Wider, a career and recruitment social platform for all underrepresented communities. WVU Marketing Communications Today is hosted by Whitney

Content marketing is based on research and data management, of course, but then what? Where do our Big Ideas come from? ----more---- About Cyndi's guest: Larry Stultz, Ph.D., has been on the IMC faculty since 2007. He served as department chair for the Bachelor of Arts in Advertising program at The Art Institute of Atlanta, where he taught courses in conceptual thinking and campaign development for twenty years. He also taught creative campaigns at Atlanta’s Portfolio Center. Prior to entering the teaching phase of his life, he operated design and advertising firms in New Orleans and Atlanta with clients in hospitality and tourism, commercial real estate, corporate communications, health care, and social services. He has served on the board of directors of the Atlanta Ad Club and provides ideation facilitation and consulting services to clients in the southeast. Stultz holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Visual Design from Purdue University, and he earned his Ph.D. in Educational Polic

Buyer centricity has long been the war cry for marketers and sellers alike, but the recent Global pandemic, economic crisis, and even civil unrest has proven that the reality falls desperately short of the promise. The root of the issue resides in the fact that marketing and selling, at least under ‘business as usual guidelines’, feel trite. The traditional go-to-market motions that many organizations have built come with a dependence on some degree of sleight of hand. ----more---- The promise of “results” is propped up by practices that neither understand the true needs of Buyers nor feel any ownership in achieving them. We’re living through events that have the potential to finally force true change. The only organizations surviving and in many cases thriving in the current environment are those that both had formed true relationships with their buyers and were agile enough to respond to how the market was affecting those individuals and others like them. About Mike's guest: Justin Gray Founder & C

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, every business is soul searching and wondering how to move forward with their marketing communications. Some common themes have emerged as to how businesses are trying to further humanize their brand, generate empathy from the public, and simply “do the right thing.” ----more---- In parallel, many businesses have pulled the plug, at least temporarily, on advertising programs, many of which include influencer marketing. Is this the right approach, though? Is there a hidden value of influencer marketing that most businesses have yet to grasp? In this podcast, we will learn how brands need to become re-educated on how they define digital influence and influencer marketing, why a long-term approach based on brand affinity – not mere influence – will yield better results, and why the trends that favor influencer marketing’s continued growth do not change because of the COVID-19 pandemic. About Matthew's guest: Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through t

Remaining Virtually Relevant: When you’re in the business of producing large scale public gatherings, how do you take everything online? On March 15 the CDC issued guidance related to large events and mass gatherings which specifically included examples like festivals, parades, concerts, and sporting events. That guidance was basically the beginning of the widespread cancellation or postponement of events around the country due to concerns around the spread of the highly infectious COVID-19 virus. ----more---- In addition to all of the economic, cultural, and psychological impact that this global pandemic is having across the world, it is no less landmark and potentially devastating for the live event industry and its related businesses. So where does that industry go next? What has been the response and the initial impact and where do we go from here? In this podcast, we will discuss how one 65-year-old nonprofit organization that produces live events and is connected to the largest attended single-day sp

After 20+ year career in communications that included positions in public relations, advertising, media, and marketing, Lisa Sands stepped into the role of publisher for Edible Cleveland magazine, a local independently-owned publication that is part of a network of roughly 80 other “edibles” across the U.S. and Canada. After one year, Lisa’s has had to analyze all aspects of the magazine’s operations and face many realities about the role media plays in our lives, how we’re using it, where we get our information, and what we are willing to pay for as media consumers and as marketers. We’ll discuss the holistic media landscape from the viewpoint of journalists and also marketers including: Is the traditional media landscape all doom and gloom? Is there still a place for print media in the marketing mix? Do we want to live in a world where everything we consume is online? If the answer is no, then where do we go from here? About Mike's guest: After 20+ year career in communications that included positions

Graduating seniors in communications and marketing are facing the daunting prospect of trying to enter the job market during the COVID-19 pandemic. This will not be an easy task. Nearly 4 million students in the US are set to graduate this year in spring 2020. With the world in crisis and uncertainty ahead, the environment continues to be dynamic and fluid. While we can’t predict what the future holds for students and graduates in the short-term, we can help prepare and equip students with information and tips for their upcoming employment journey. ----more---- About Karen's guest: Brandi Boatner Social and Influencer Communications Lead, Global Markets Brand Communications Manager, IBM Corporate Communications Brandi Boatner is an award-winning digital communications professional and prolific public speaker based in New York City. Currently, she serves as the social and influencer communications lead for Global Markets in IBM corporate communications, a newly created position. Her responsibilities incl

National Geographic was founded in 1888. When its magazine editor first introduced photographs in its monthly publication, 2 board members resigned in protest, saying photos essentially dumbed down the content. But today, National Geographic is the #1 media brand in followers on Instagram. And while magazines are shuttered almost every month, National Geographic’s print version remains on newsstands and is published worldwide in nearly 40 languages. ----more---- National Geographic has come out of its association with Rupert Murdoch and 21 st Century Fox, and now is part of Disney + and the family of ESPN and ABC News. How does this work inside the yellow border? About Cyndi's guest: Jeff Hertrick is Director, Digital Video Operations, National Geographic Partners/The Walt Disney Company. Jeff has over 30 years of award-winning video production experience, including the last 19 years at National Geographic. (2015-2019, under 21 st Century Fox, and for the past year, The Walt Disney Company) He has been