Keynotes

Sunday, October 12

Joseph Jaffe, Founder and President, Crayon, a new marketing company

Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing Weary Consumers with the Power of Community, Dialogue and Partnership

One of the most sought-after consultants, speakers and thought leaders on new marketing, Joseph Jaffe is President and Chief Interruptor of crayon, a conversational marketing company, specializing in community, dialogue and partnership.

Prior to launching crayon, Joseph ran jaffe, LLC, where he worked with companies including P&G, The Coca-Cola Company, Dunkin’ Brands, TiVo, Motorola and Fox Interactive Media. Before that, Joseph was Director of Interactive Media at TBWA/Chiat/Day and OMD USA, where he worked on Kmart, ABSOLUT Vodka, Embassy Suites and Samsonite.

His second book titled, “Join the conversation: How to engage marketing-weary consumers with the power of community, dialogue and partnership” was published by Wiley in October 2007. Join the Conversation outlines the birth and rise of “conversational marketing” – a vision of literally what comes next and how marketers can become part of the conversation, instead of constantly disrupting it.

Joseph’s impassioned, straight-shooting and honest perspectives have found their way to every major media outlet, including the likes of CBS Evening News, ABC World News, Bloomberg, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Fortune, Newsweek, Business Week, Ad Age, Adweek and the list continues.

Joseph is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School, as well as the Society for New Communications Research. He also has lecture at NYU's Stern School of Business, Cornell's Johnson School of Business and Syracuse University.

Tuesday, October 14

Christie Hefner, Chairman and CEO, Playboy Enterprises

Playboy’s Growth as a Multichannel Marketer in the Digital Space

Christie Hefner has been Chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises since 1988. Under Christie's leadership, the company evolved into an international media and entertainment company.

Christie led the company onto the Internet in 1994 when Playboy became the first national magazine on the World Wide Web. Playboy.com - which is made up of original content as well as repurposed content from the magazine and television - is a multiple revenue business with e-commerce, subscriptions, advertising and online gaming, and is the company's fastest-growing profit center

Under Christie's leadership, the company has developed its largest profit center, its television business - the first time a magazine successfully leveraged its brand into television. Playboy-style content is also broadcast via Playboy Radio on Sirius 24 hours per day.

Playboy's social networking site geared toward college students, PlayboyU, was launched this year and the company recently partnered with LavaLife to provide content and personals to expand the dating section of its web site. Playboy has shown dramatic digital growth worldwide and is now distributed through online and mobile platforms in more than 35 countries.

For her revolutionary efforts in the digital space, Christie was named to the Media Industry Newsletter's Digital Hall of Fame in 2005. Forbes magazine named Christie to its "100 Most Powerful Women in the World" list in 2005, 2006 and 2007 for overseeing the expansion of the Playboy empire beyond print and building the brand globally.

Christie serves on numerous civic, industry and charitable boards including the Board of Directors of the Magazine Publishers Association and its Executive Committee and Government Affairs Committee. She served on the Board of the Direct Marketing Association from 1987-89.

Wednesday, October 15th

Sara Blakely, Founder & CEO, Spanx

From Consumer to Entrepreneur: A Multichannel Marketer’s Journey to Success

Sara Blakely, wanted footless body shaping pantyhose to wear with her cream-colored pants and open-toed shoes, but she couldn't find them anywhere. Frustrated consumer turned entrepreneur, Sara took $5,000 in savings and began her adventure in the $2 billion male-dominated hosiery industry. Two years later, with her first pair of patented footless pantyhose in hand, Sara cold-called and landed the top retail stores across the country. Selling over 50,000 pair in its first three months from the back of her apartment, Sara Blakely's SPANX revitalized an industry in a 10-year slump. Her SPANX footless pantyhose even captured the attention of Oprah and landed on Oprah's "Favorite Things" list.

If you haven't seen Sara flashing her SPANX on QVC, you may have seen her jumping off of a cliff or sharing tea with Richard Branson 10,000 feet in the sky. Sara appeared weekly on Fox, setting daring world-records, meeting Nelson Mandela, and leading successful business challenges as a cast member on The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best.

Remaining self-funded and profitable ever since Sara used her own savings to start the company, Spanx continues to show increasing profits, celebrating more than $100 million in retail sales in 2006. Spanx are sold in America's finest upscale stores and boutiques in the U.S., including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, and Parisian, as well as upscale boutiques and retailers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

Sara's story and Spanx products have been featured on everything from The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, Forbes, E!, and Glamour - to Vogue, People, InStyle, New York Times, Vanity Fair, WWD and USA Today. Sara has been named Ernst & Young's Southeast Regional Entrepreneur of the Year and "Georgia's Woman of the Year." Sara is a native of Clearwater, Florida, and a graduate of Florida State University.