Sasha Strauss Speaking Topics

• Brand Leaders in the New Normal

  Nobody cares if you're a .com, .org, or .net. All they see is an organization of people with common objectives, and a leader. Examine any institution you admire, and quickly the leader becomes the most significant ingredient.

  That leader, you, must consider that human communication has fundamentally changed. If the Gutenberg press, the telegraph, and the phone each restitched the fabric of society, then the Internet did too. And its most significant disruption is in how humans now communicate.

  Success in any realm will depend on thought-provoking brands and their well-defined leaders, built for this new time in the history of communication. This follow-up talk by Prof. Sasha Strauss builds on last year's "Branding in the New Normal" with entirely new subject matter (and doodles) on how brand leaders lead leaders in this 'now normal'.

• NONPROFITS

  While nonprofit branding tends to be the most challenging, it is also the most rewarding. Typically, nonprofits have limited marketing budgets, limited staff and limited resources. While faced with challenges, nonprofits require successful branding in order to be sustainable. The Susan G. Komen Foundation, Share our Strength, Product (RED)— these organizations found their way to fame and funding through strong, creative and consumer-centric branding. This seminar will share proven techniques for defining, articulating and promoting a nonprofit brand. We’ll explore case studies exemplifying how to successfully engage and retain staff, volunteers and donors to ensure longterm success. From volunteers to board members, this session is perfect for all those involved in the nonprofit sector

STARTUPS

Startups can be sexy, but they can also be extremely stressful. While they tend to be the topic everyone wants to discuss and an entrepreneur’s dream to lead, startups require a very calculated and timely brand strategy—too much too soon screams superficial, too little too late is just bad business. The seminar will discuss the development process of all startups, successful strategies for each stage of growth as well as successful case studies where branding helped to build startups into iconic brands. This session is right for any startup leader, entrepreneur, venture capital investor, and anyone else intrigued by the fascinating world of startups.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Your grandmother’s on Facebook. You got a job offer from a friend of your ex-ex-boss through LinkedIn. You stayed up on small town politics through Twitter. There’s no way around it—social media is here to stay. It’s not only the social medium of choice; it’s the connector of global consumers. Product enthusiasts in Japan are sharing how-tos with pen-pals in Italy. Gamers build global clans of fellow players, unified via their digital identities alone. Teachers assign homework via Twitter tweets and big brands have successfully managed a crisis through social media exclusively. This seminar will discuss where brands fit in the wide world of social media culture. We’ll talk about each of the channels, success stories within each one as well as some must-do practices for marketers looking to leverage social media as promotional venue. Facebookers and skeptics alike will enjoy this timely session.

B2B

Branding isn’t just confined to the consumer goods and services industry. Now, more than ever, branding is vital to B2B companies. In fact, some of the strongest brands are in the B2B sector—firms such as Cisco Systems, Intel, Halliburton, SAP, GE, and Texas Instruments have consistently been ranked among the top brands in the world. Such companies are seizing the opportunity to change the perception that B2B companies must be dry in nature. We’ll show you how to use branding to make your firm the easy choice for manager navigating through an infinitely long list of suppliers. This session is for those who are looking to differentiate themselves on more than just price and build long term customer relationships.

NATION BRANDING

As the internet brought the world closer together, governments supported by tourism revenue took a bold stance —they defined how they were to be known and spent money telling travelers worldwide why their land should be a destination. Well, it worked for a little while, but now almost all tourism economies advertise their story. Destination branding isn’t nation branding though. It’s marketing on behalf of a single industry—tourism. Nations deserve an identity that’s unique and inclusive, both for those beyond their borders and for those living within them. National identity brings people together, sets the stage for international discourse, and encourages trade with like-minded nations worldwide. In this session we will discuss how and why to nation brand.