This idea was hatched by Dave Balter at some moment he can’t quite remember. Either way, he tapped John Butman, his recent co-author of Grapevine, to help turn it into a reality.
John Butman started his career with a fine arts degree from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied film directing with Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone. He spent several years writing, producing, and directing short films and theater in the Boston area, then spent the ’80s as a Creative Director for Communications Firms in the U.S. and UK. In 1989 he stared authoring, editing, co-authoring and editing books, mostly about business and social change. Some of his 15 books include “Trading Up, A New American Luxury” and two novels. He remains passionately intrigued about companies of all sizes.
John is spending the next 90 days at a floating desk inside BzzAgent’s offices, where he is real-time documenting its inner workings via this blog.
Dave Balter is the Founder and President of BzzAgent. Dave has over 10 years experience in marketing, previously founding and running two promotional marketing agencies, the most recent being sold in October 2001. He has also spent a number of years working for a variety of corporations, including Kessler Financial Services, where he managed direct marketing and affinity program implementations for Fortune 1000 clients, and Webb & Co., where he analyzed circulation and fulfillment operations, and performed statistical modeling for consumer catalogs. Dave was named to the “40 under 40″ by the Advertising Specialty Institute in 2001, and “Top 7 individuals changing the face of beauty” by Women’s Wear Daily in 2004. Dave holds a provisional patent in the process and systems of Word-of-Mouth marketing and research. He is also a founding member of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), co-chair of WOMMA’s Ethics Council, and a frequent speaker to corporations and universities on the subject of Word-of-Mouth and non-traditional media. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College.
Photo: © 2005 Richard Pasley www.richardpasley.com
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