Eric Weaver

Current

• Vice President, Edelman Digital at Edelman

Past

• President at Brand Dialogue LLC
• Director of Strategic Marketing at GIRVIN
• Senior Director, Marketing Communications at WatchGuard Technologies

• Regional CEO at Kabel New Media AG
• Senior Vice President, Managing Director at Young & Rubicam
• Vice President at Magnet Interactive
• Director of Electronic Media at Bridge Worldwide
• Community Manager at America Online
• MIS Applications Development Project Manager/Systems Analyst at Various Firms

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6 more...

Education

• Xavier University
• Grand Rapids Community College
• Northview High School

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Recommended

12 people have recommended Eric

Connections

280 connections

Industry

Marketing and Advertising

Websites

• Brand Dialogue
• Twitter
• Facebook (primary networking)

Eric Weaver’s Summary

For sixteen years, I've had the great pleasure of working near the intersection of culture, commerce and media as our society has become connected and digital. My career has been largely spent helping US and overseas companies understand this transformation and teaching them how to speak to and engage their audiences using digital tools. Most importantly, I've been helping organizations understand how the practice of marketing can adapt to become more relevant and impactful to customers newly empowered by those same tools.

I'm fortunate to have worn many hats: brand strategist, director of marcom, global account director, agency CEO and creative, gravitating again and again to both the strategic and creative aspects of market communications. I've provided high-level counsel and often-groundbreaking programs for numerous clients, including Brita, BMW, Clorox, Ford, Kraft Foods, Lincoln, Mattel, the Mayo Clinic, Procter & Gamble, the Clinton Administration, and many others. Over the years, I've had fantastic opportunities: webcasting Ford CEO Jac Nasser, successfully pitching CEOs from Yahoo!, Mattel and Taco Bell, and having my work reviewed by Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Jack Welch.

Company and product launches have included Level 3 Communications, the BMW MINI, Ultra Cascade, the Lincoln LS, SumTotal Systems, the FlipStart PC, the Mercury Mountaineer and Sable, several pharma products and even FemStat3!

Consumers are ever more empowered to BYPASS the efforts of marketers. That's where innovative strategies and techniques are crucial. Let me help you understand and leverage this digital transformation, and establish and present your value through these tools.

You'll find me easy to work with, along with other clients who have lauded me on my dedication, extra effort and honest counsel.

Eric Weaver’s Specialties:

Branding, naming, positioning, messaging, corporate identity, market launches, social marketing, social media, social networking, social good, social responsibility, corporate social responsibility, market engagement, content development, commercial podcasting, commercial blogging, competitive research, competitive marketing, market strategy, brand strategy

Eric Weaver’s Experience

• Vice President, Edelman Digital

  Edelman

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  March 2008 — Present (5 months)

  A brand strategist/creative inside a PR firm doing social marketing, I manage the digital and social marketing practices in the Seattle and Portland offices for the world's largest independent PR firm. Specializing in digital branding, digital marketing, social media/networking and corporate communications. Larger clients: Microsoft, UPS, Starbucks.

• President

  Brand Dialogue LLC

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  2002 — 2008 (6 years)

  Brand Dialogue was a marcom consultancy that provided strategy, creative and production for clients around the US. We helped launch laptops, social networks, integration consultancies, luxury spas, Sonoma wineries and educational firms, and promoted sustainability plays, NASDAQ mergers, public software firms, and automotive products.
  
  Our work for SumTotal won three Gold Beacon awards (for Best Brand Identity, Best Print Advertising and Best Integrated Marketing Program) from the Business Marketing Association.

• Director of Strategic Marketing

  GIRVIN

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  2006 — 2007 (1 year)

  Provided brand strategy, naming, and messaging counsel for numerous clients, including Procter & Gamble, Lorenzo Jewelry International, and UnionBay Sportswear.

• Senior Director, Marketing Communications

  WatchGuard Technologies

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; WGRD; Information Technology and Services industry)

  2002 — 2002 (less than a year)

  Responsible for marketing communications at WatchGuard, a Seattle-based internet security firm (hardware firewalls, security software, etc.). My team and I overhauled and localized the 1000-page corporate site, reworked all collateral and packaging, reducing printing costs by $800K, and launched several new products.
  
  This was a difficult position for me. Much time was spent defending my team and fighting political battles. When that started to impact my health, I left to return to my consultancy.

• Regional CEO

  Kabel New Media AG

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; KNW (Neuermarkt); Marketing and Advertising industry)

  2000 — 2001 (1 year)

  Created a JV between my own intellectual capital firm, Forge Partnerships, and Europe's largest CRM agency. Oversaw company's American operations in New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. My team sold $3.5MM in services within 8 weeks of launch, assisting in the US launch of BMW's MINI as well as work for USA Networks, Showtime and Swiss Re Insurance.

• Senior Vice President, Managing Director

  Young & Rubicam

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; WPP.L; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  1998 — 2000 (2 years)

  Managing director for Brand Dialogue, Y&R's interactive agency, and Senior VP within Wunderman, Y&R's direct marketing arm.
  
  Grew revenues from $1MM to $9MM in the first year, and the interactive team from 1 to 30 account, creatives, project managers and technologists.
  
  Acted as client lead and interactive strategist for companies such as Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Taco Bell, Brita and Clorox. I led top Ford execs through their first webcasts. Persuaded Ford management and dealers to completely change their approach to the Internet. Helped launch the Lincoln LS and new Mercury Sable. We also created the first web-enabled database systems, online test drive scheduling, and DB-generated dynamic messaging systems for Ford.

• Vice President

  Magnet Interactive

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  1997 — 1998 (1 year)

  Managed production, then went on to business development. Built relationships and managed large interactive marketing engagements for De Beers, Fedex, Global One, Level 3, Mattel, the Mayo Clinic, MCI, and the US Department of Commerce.

• Director of Electronic Media

  Bridge Worldwide

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  1994 — 1997 (3 years)

  This Cincinnati company, once specializing in marcom and events and now an online marketer owned by WPP, typically keeps their stellar client list under the radar. During the early days of the commercial Internet, we were creating multimedia training and sales CD-ROMs, and our clients (RCA, GE, Lenscrafters, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, et al) started asking for websites.
  
  We were at the absolute cutting edge of interactive development, creating artificially intelligent sales tools, HR intranets, co-marketing partnerships and immersive environments.
  
  I helped many of these firms take their first tentative steps into the online world. Every day we broke new ground...a very exciting time.

• Community Manager

  America Online

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; TWX; Internet industry)

  1991 — 1994 (3 years)

  Founded and hosted online communities for AOL. AFC in the Mac Music & Sound community. Host of the AOL Composers' Coffeehouse, one of the first online venues for composers, songwriters and lyricists. Hosted the AOL MIDI Jam Project, the first collaborative online composition project.

• MIS Applications Development Project Manager/Systems Analyst

  Various Firms

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  1980 — 1992 (12 years)

  Worked my way up from Computer Operator to Programmer, Sr. Systems Analyst and Project Manager for companies like General Motors, Ford, Allnet Communication Services and Compuware. The old-skool platforms: CICS, IMS, DB2, COBOL II.
  
  Besides learning how to navigate the very challenging political waters of large corporations, these positions provided classical training in project management, data flow analyses, business process improvement and needs definition...training that would help me in the marketing career that began in 1994.

Eric Weaver’s Education

• Xavier University

  BA, Communication Arts/Electronic Media, 1992 — 1993

  Graduated summa cum laude.

• Grand Rapids Community College

  AA, Data Processing, 1981 — 1983

  Activities and Societies:

  Student Government, School Newspaper

• Northview High School

Additional Information

Eric Weaver’s Websites:

• Brand Dialogue
• Twitter
• Facebook (primary networking)

Eric Weaver’s Interests:

sustainability, renewable energy, clean-tech, podcasting, blogging, microblogging, Flickr, photography, travel, music composition

Eric Weaver’s Groups:

Ad Club of Seattle,
American Institute for Graphic Arts,
American Marketing Association (chapter VP),
MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest,
Seattle Podcasting Network (http://podcasting.meetup.com/22),
Seattle Flickrites (http://flickrfan.meetup.com/11)

• Forbes.com Personal Technology Forum member
•    Delta JetSetter Club member
•    CPG Branding and Marketing Forum member
•    Sustainable Consumer Packaged Goods member
•    Igniting Innovation member
•    LinkedSeattle member
•    Green Marketing member
•    Speakers and Panelists member
•    Revedia Group - Sr. Level Interactive Digital Media Professionals Only. member
•    Marketing 2.0 member
•    Public Relations and Communications Professionals member
•    Young & Rubicam Alumni in the world member
•    Connected Marketing Networking Group member

Eric Weaver’s Honors:

Awarded three Gold Beacon Awards by the Business Marketing Association,

Appointed to Digital Divide Commission by US Rep Diane Watson, D-CA,

Bronze for Best Brand Website by the Automotive Advertising & Marketing Association for lincolnvehicles.com,

“Cool Corporate Web Site Award” for mercuryvehicles.com,

Automotive Advertising and Marketing Association award for mercuryvehicles.com,

Web Marketing Association “Best of Health Care Industry” award, for mayohealth.org,

Webby Award, “Best Health Care Site” for mayohealth.org,

Yahoo! Internet Life, “One of the 50 Most Useful Websites,” for mayohealth.org,

Yahoo!, “Best Overall Health Site” award, for mayohealth.org,

American Corporate Video Award

Eric Weaver’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch