Spike Jones, Firestarter, Brains on Fire

Spike Jones was born in the belly of a volcanic lair somewhere in the Ukraine near the Sea of Azov. Left to survive on his own, he was soon adopted and raised by a pack of thumbless albino gypsies. When he was old enough to learn the truth, he made his way to his true homeland, Texas, where they brainwash you at an early age to take pride in who you are and where you're from.

After graduating from the “I can’t dance” Baylor University with degrees in Environmental Studies and Journalism (read: tree-hugging writer), he bounced around the country (Colorado, Missouri, back to Texas, Atlanta) and finally landed in the always-friendly Southeast at a place they call the Brains on Fire. He began his career there in 2000 as a storyteller, whittling compelling stories for his clients.

Brands he’s helped strengthen include BMW, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Dagger Kayaks, Don Pablo’s Mexican Restaurants, Fiskars Brands, Yakima, Perception Kayaks and Rage Against the Haze (South Carolina’s youth-led anti-tobacco
movement). And while he still enjoys storytelling, his Zen-like purpose now is to embrace the kindred spirits that approach Brains on Fire looking for help. In other words, he's the Firestarter.

Today, Spike often gets deeply involved in the development of Brains on Fire’s identity and word of mouth strategies from Insight to execution. This includes face-to-face insight to uncover emotional connections, training using Brains onFire’s proprietary curriculum and feet on the ground interaction with participants in each of the movements they’ve developed. Movements of note that he’s been involved in include the oft read and talked about Fiskars’ Fiskateer movement, which has been covered by various publications and blogs, including AdAge, ComputerWorld, PR Week, etc., was a finalist in the ad:tech awards and most recently was written about in Forrester’s Groundswell book. Another bright spot is South Carolina’s youth-led anti-tobacco movement, Rage Against the Haze, which received a WOMMIE in 2006 and most recently, an EFFIE award in 2008.

When he's not around his favorite people in the world (his fellow Brains on Fire- mates), you can find him out for a run flanked by his 100 lb. Chocolate lab, the all-too appropriately named “Mud.” Spike also is the main contributor to the Brains on Fire group blog (which is a topish-ranked marketing blog, depending on your source) and speaks nationally at gigs ranging from private events to AdFederations to the Direct Selling Association to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Steve Knox, CEO, Procter & Gamble Tremor

Steve Knox is the CEO of Tremor, an innovative Word of Mouth marketing service from Procter & Gamble. In this role he leads the development and application of the science of Word of Mouth to meet the needs of marketers inside and outside of P&G. Procter & Gamble Tremor believes that a new kind of understanding about consumers is the key to unlocking this opportunity.

John Porcaro

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington, where he specialized in marketing and customer communications. He is involved in the American Marketing Association, Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and has served on the board of Washington State DECA.

When he’s not spending time on his personal blog, work blog, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, MSN Spaces, Flickr, Twitter, Xbox LIVE, or mobile phone, he’s spending time at home in Monroe, Washington, with his wife and four elementary-age children.

Gary Spangler, Corporate, E-Marketing, DuPont

Gary Spangler has worked for DuPont for 29 years. He holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering Technology and an MBA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Gary leads E-Marketing for DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies. DuPont has global sales of nearly $30 billion in 70 countries.

Gary’s experience at DuPont has covered a variety of assignments in Sales, Marketing and Operations. He has been a Marketing Manager specializing in the Internet for the past 10 years. Gary represents DuPont to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and has served on WOMMA’s Board of Directors. Gary currently leads WOMMA’s Brands Council that provides a forum for brand marketers to collaborate on ethical and effective Word of Mouth and Social Media marketing.

Gary has spoken on Word of Mouth and Social Media marketing to audiences in the United States and Europe including venues sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Online Media, Marketing and Advertising (OMMA) Expo, Ad-Tech, Marketing Sherpa, Cutter Consortium, Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and WOMMA. His opinions have been written in Information Week, NPV Marketing Magazine, Brand Week Magazine, BtoB Magazine and Marketing Sherpa. Gary was nominated for the DMA’s Direct Marketer of Year 2007 and his "DuPont Science Stories" word-of-mouth marketing video campaign was a national finalist for OMMA's Best Campaign in Social Media for 2007.

David Witt, Senior Manager, Brand Public Relations, General Mills

David joined General Mills in 2005 in the brand public relations group. He currently works on the Yoplait team, where he manages all traditional media relations, WOM and social media for the brand. Additionally, David leads word-of-mouth and social media efforts at General Mills, and led the creation of the Pssst' and MyBlogSpark networks for the company. He has also worked on several other General Mills brands including Progresso, Hamburger Helper and Old El Paso.

Before joining General Mills, David worked for eight years as a concert and festival producer and promoter in California, focusing mainly on classical and jazz musical events. He also worked in sports and event marketing for Blue Cross Blue Shield and worked in brand public relations for clients such as Reynolds Consumer Products, Home Depot, Virginia Beach Tourism and Amelia Island, at a public relations agency in Virginia.

Dave Balter (Observer), CEO, BzzAgent

Dave Balter is the founder and CEO of BzzAgent, Inc., one of the advertising industry's most recognized word-of-mouth marketing and media firm. He launched BzzAgent in 2002, and since that time the company has established itself as the leading provider of word-of-mouth services for the world's most esteemed brands, including Anheuser-Busch, Levi Strauss and Ralph Lauren. Under Balter's leadership, BzzAgent has been featured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. In January of 2006, the company closed a groundbreaking $14MM round of institutional financing.

Balter is an international speaker on the topic of word-of-mouth marketing and holds a provisional patent in the process and systems of word-of-mouth marketing and research. He co-authored Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, which has become the industry's seminal business title. Dubbed a "serial entrepreneur" by The Boston Globe, Balter built and sold two promotional agencies prior to forming BzzAgent. Prior to launching his own companies, Balter spent a number of years working in customer loyalty capacities for companies including Kessler Financial Services, where he managed direct marketing and affinity program implementations for Fortune 1000 clients. He 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. Balter earned a B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College.

Pete Blackshaw (Observer), EVP, Digital Strategic Services, Nielsen

Pete is a recognized expert in interactive marketing, word of mouth, and consumer understanding. Before Intelliseek's acquisition by Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Pete served as the Intelliseek's Chief Marketing and Client Satisfaction Officer, responsible for major client engagements and marketing efforts.

He is a co-founder of the 2004 Word of Mouth Marketing Association. He authors a bi-weekly column on digital marketing strategy targeted to CMOs for ClickZ network and several work and personal blogs, including www.consumergeneratedmedia.com, www.hybridbuzz.com, and parenting centered www.dosbebes.com.

In 1999, Pete founded PlanetFeedback.com (later acquired by Intelliseek) after a career in interactive marketing and brand management at Procter & Gamble. He also co-chaired and organized the P&G-sponsored Future of Advertising Stakeholders Summit (FAST-Summit), resulting in P&G being named Advertising Age Magazine's "Interactive Marketer of the Year." Before receiving his master's degree from Harvard Business School in 1995, Blackshaw served as a press secretary and legislative consultant to then-Sen. Art Torres in the California Legislature, where he guided several consumer-focused bills to passage and initiated the nation's first "interactive" legislative hearing.

He has a bachelor of arts degree in politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.