Archive for January, 2010
No Atheists In This Foxhole
Posted by Bob Kumagai in Music, That's Life on January 29th, 2010
Patty Griffin's Downtown Church
Patty Griffin has built a fascinating body of work over the past 15 years. Her music has held the torch for traditional folk, brushed up against punk, and been recorded by some of Country’s biggest stars (The Dixie Chicks and Reba McEntire) although she is almost never played on popular mainstream radio. She may be this country’s finest singer-songwriter, consistently recording thoughtful and original music infused with a wide variety of American musical influences. Among the strongest recent influences in her last several albums has been the gospel and soul music of the American church.
Last year’s gospel collection “Oh Happy Day!” featured Griffin’s duet with the legendary Mavis Staples on “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” and proved to be a harbinger of the musical things to come. Griffin lists The Beatles, Aretha Franklin and the Staple Singers as the primary musical influences of her childhood in a recent NY Times review of the new album. Although she has dipped her toe into gospel music recently, the new release is a full-out cannonball into the deep end of the gospel musical pool. The album is a mix of traditional favorites (“Wade In The Water”, “Move Up”, and the utterly breath-taking “All Creatures of Our God and King”) and originals performed by Griffin and an ensemble of folk and gospel artists that include Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, and Regina McCrary. Produced by Buddy Miller (best known for his association with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant’s Grammy winner “Raising Sand”) the music stays true to its roots. Alternately meditative and foot-stomping, Downtown Church is Griffin’s vehicle to exposing the pop and folk audiences to what she believes is an under-represented and misunderstood piece of our musical heritage. Through it all, Griffin’s magnificent voice soothes, shouts, growls, trembles and inspires.
Whether you are in the Christopher Hitchens/Richard Dawkins camp or a regular attendee on Sundays, the music here is pretty transcendental of your philosophical grounding. Art may be inspired by faith or grow from its rejection – either way Griffin delivers a vibrant tribute to this part of America’s musical family tree.
Growing Big Fast
Posted by Bob Kumagai in Parenting, That's Life on January 27th, 2010
There is something shocking about turning around to face your 12 year old and finding that you are looking directly into his eyes – while you are standing up. This happens quite often these days as my gangly son seems to be growing at a rather astonishing rate. A quick glance at the pencil marks on the door frame indicate that he’s grown something like 2 inches in the past 90 days. At that rate he should be as tall as Yao Ming by age 15 – unlikely, yet it seems quite possible. There are other signs of impending young adulthood, e.g., startlingly large feet that outgrow his shoes rapidly, the cracking “man voice” and appearance of peach fuzz on the upper lip. It seems to be happening right in front of me.
His buddy is becoming a Bar Mitzvah this weekend and Sam will be wearing, wait for it, my old suit and pants. He’ll need to cinch-up his belt (a lot) and the jacket could stand to be taken in (also a lot) but the fact is, they come close to fitting. It should be noted that my shoes don’t fit him well as his feet are bigger than my own.
This is both comical and a little bittersweet as my youngest is growing into a young man.
Streaming Shakespeare & Tina Fey
Posted by Bob Kumagai in Technology, That's Life on January 14th, 2010
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful...
While the debacle that is NBC’s programming department trying to pick up the pieces of the Conan/Leno train wreck for months will have some entertainment value, it’s pretty clear that there isn’t much worth watching on that new flat panel. There are, of course, a few notable exceptions: Chuck, 30 Rock, Mad Men… I’m told that Dexter and House are worth watching but I haven’t invested the time to find out. So on the occasional evening when free time and curiosity collide – what to do?
When the last cheap DVD player died I picked up a Blu-ray player that also connected to Netflix. I hadn’t had a subscription with the mail-in DVD giant for years – while the model is great (and really, isn’t anything that stomps Blockbuster into the ground?) I just didn’t plan ahead well enough to have the right movie in hand at the right time. Somehow the $14.99/month unlimited movie subscription turned into a $5/movie ongoing expense. Fast forward 8 years and Netflix is rapidly evolving the mail-in model to a content streaming model, i.e., now there is a growing library of content that can be accessed on an “instant” basis – through a variety of devices made by Blu-ray manufacturers like Samsung and Sony as well as stand-alone Netflix devices. Suffice it to say that I have bought into this hybrid rental/streaming model enough to have given a Roku device and a Netflix subscription as a Christmas gift to my inlaws. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’m only a Netflix subscriber and have no affiliate interest)
The majority of the content is back catalog, but there is a growing number of newer titles, particularly TV series. What this means is that one can sample a few episodes of Dexter, Friday Night Lights, etc., without having to cough-up the freight for a 22 episode season on DVD. It also means that some nuggets from the past can be easily unearthed – Ken Burns’ series on Jazz, Saturday Night Live from the beginning to Tina Fey’s deconstruction of Sarah Palin, the Addams Family, Bogart & Bacall, the original Star Trek, Bergman, Kurosawa; from the ridiculous to the classic the list goes on.
For the past several evenings I’ve indulged my geekness for Shakespeare by watching the four part series “In Search of Shakespeare”, a PBS series that originally aired in 2004. I had never seen it – frankly, I hadn’t heard of it. This series, presented by the delightful Michael Wood, explores the religious turmoil of Elizabethan England, the evolution of the theater and how the country boy born in the same year that Michelangelo died would grow to become the greatest writer in the English language. The ability to browse the online instant catalog, find something like this, sample it and then watch it at the time of my choosing is really compelling. No trip to the store or even the mailbox, no incremental pay-per-view or on-demand fees.
These are exciting times for consumers – the choices of content and media platforms have never been greater. The service described starts at about $125 for a basic Netflix device and $9/month. Now the challenge is to find the time to enjoy the treasure trove of entertainment. Will Ferrell or Rashomon?
Bob Kumagai – Resume
Posted by Bob Kumagai in Business on January 10th, 2010
Bob Kumagai
Email: bkumagai@gmail.com
SUMMARY
A seasoned executive and proven leader for strategic marketing and online advertising activities that excels in fast-paced, innovative environments, developing profitable products and effective digital marketing initiatives. A strong team-builder with expertise in driving revenue, lead generation and profitable channel development.
Skill Sets:
E-Commerce Planning and Development |
Database / Segmentation Marketing |
Email Marketing Strategy |
Product Development |
Website Analytics & Business Intelligence |
Affiliate Marketing |
Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing |
Social Media Strategy |
Media Planning and Budgeting |
Website Design and Content Management |
Strategic Partnership Development |
Public Relations and Corporate Communications |
Brand and Product Management |
Information Architecture |
SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Developed product roadmaps and multi-year strategic marketing plans for digital e-commerce platform driving over $450 million annual sales.
- Built a comprehensive marketing team driving double-digit growth in the digital products vertical.
- Manage major website redesign and information architecture processes to support $28 million EBITDA.
- Implemented marketing automation processes integrating enterprise email systems and CRM system.
- Initiated a tradeshow and event marketing program generating over $35 million in new account sales.
- Developed and managed global marketing programs generating more than $46 million in incremental sales.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ClickBank 2010 – Present
Global e-commerce platform for digital products
Vice President of Marketing
Responsible for all operational and strategic marketing activities, including product development, marketing communications, pricing, social media, content development, website design, media and public relations, tradeshows and events, lead generation, training and knowledge transfer, brand and creative development and awareness, and promotional initiatives that establish ClickBank as the most trusted and profitable platform for online entrepreneurs to promote and sell digital products around the world. Lead a team of marketing and product development professionals and establish the go-to-market strategy for a $450 million e-commerce platform, payment processing and affiliate/performance marketing network. Also has responsibility for the global initiatives of supporting e-commerce transaction growth in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Manage and lead strategy for the language translation processes that support the business worldwide. Drive incremental net revenue through advertising sales programs and strategic partnerships that directly impact $2 million EBITDA. Act as the primary sponsoring executive for all product development and maintenance projects to the IT teams. A key member of the executive team reporting to the CEO and COO.
onTargetjobs 2006 – 2009
The web’s largest portfolio of niche job boards
Vice President of Strategic Marketing
Lead the product development and strategic planning for the Niche Job Board group. Responsible for new product development, product lifecycle, and annual marketing plans for the healthcare, biomedical/pharma, medical device, and restaurant/hospitality job board properties. Manage and develop a team of product directors and managers, P&L accountability for site technology, content and functionality. Lead collaborative product feedback and development teams with sales and account management leadership. Develop and execute on presentation and data layer transitions for legacy business units into enterprise web services products supporting over $68 million in revenue. Act as the primary sponsoring executive for all IT product development and maintenance projects for industry job board sites. Institute website analytics and metrics management tools and processes to monitor traffic levels and website performance. Additional responsibilities included the strategic planning and tactical delivery of all traditional and online marketing programs for the Healthcare division of onTargetjobs. Responsible for online products, marketing services, social media, print media campaign management, direct marketing execution and list acquisition, email acquisition and retention marketing programs, PR, traffic generation, online and offline advertising, association and channel partner management and event/exhibit support.
Avis/Budget Group (Budget Truck Rental) 2006
Nation’s second largest truck rental company, a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group
Head of Internet Marketing & E-Commerce
Direct the online marketing plan and strategy for transitioning the enterprise reservation process off of national call center and local dealer channels toward Internet. Manage in-house and agency teams of marketing associates, analysts, consultants, implementation agencies, IT and project managers to support revenue channel of over $80 million. Plan, develop and support marketing efforts to the consumer, commercial and resale sites. Source and select all third-party agency partners. Manage paid Search Engine Marketing, organic Search Engine Optimization, Paid Inclusion, Customer Support functions and direct all online advertising buys. Support and drive the information architecture and design of new consumer site with a development budget of over $1 million.
Digitally Unique 2005-2006
Online retailer focused on consumer electronics and IT products
Director of E-Commerce
Responsible for developing and managing all third party programs to drive qualified traffic to the site and for acquiring new content to drive conversions to sales. Managed paid search, natural search engine optimization, comparison shopping engines, affiliate sales channel, portal placements, and media planning and buying. Implemented best-of-breed site search functionality to increase sales by 60% over previous solution.
Avenue A | Razorfish Search 2004-2005
Search Engine Management arm of the Internet’s largest independent interactive agency
Director of Account Management & Affiliate Strategy
Responsible for strategic planning and execution of paid search campaigns, training and supervision of a team of senior strategic account managers and analysts. Managed and implemented methodologies for maximizing profitability of advertising campaigns deployed through Google, Yahoo!, MSN and syndication partners. Supported and provided business development for the implementation and program management of clients’ affiliate partner programs. Provided strategy, recommendations and implementation plans for search engine optimization, performance-based display advertising, and site conversion improvement. Deployed client-facing documents, reporting and account manager review processes. Managed key client relationships generating over $2 million in direct agency revenues.
LinkShare Corporation 2000-2004
Largest pay for performance affiliate marketing network on the Internet
Senior Program Manager
General manager of key clients’ online performance marketing and sales agency programs. Strategic management for company clients including Chase, Ford Direct, Disney, Columbia House, Dell, and Carlson Hotels Worldwide. Planned, launched and managed over 30 online marketing programs, generating more than $56 million in direct revenue and lead generation value for clients. Responsible for design, budget, implementation and execution of marketing plans. Coordinated account teams of developers, technical support, copywriting, data analysts and traffic managers to drive client results. Skilled in affiliate performance marketing operations, deploying permission-based e-mail campaigns, and management of paid search placements, paid inclusion, and sponsored display advertising.
Pediatric Web 1999-2000
Healthcare content portal for physicians
Director of Marketing
Developed and implemented strategic marketing and sales plan for start-up healthcare information portal and website design and hosting platform. Implemented online affiliate network and strategic content partnerships with pediatric offices nationwide.
Teknologie Asset Konsultieren 1998-1999
IT and asset management group, Züg Switzerland
Strategic Management Consultant,
Developed and implemented IT-based asset management systems for LawLandee, Inc., a manufacturer/distributor/retailer of children’s apparel in China. Responsible for the specification, selection, and implementation of financial management and inventory control systems. Built the IT supply chain plan leading to securing $5 million of venture capital for operational expansion.
Disky Business, Inc. 1988-1996
Retail music and video store
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Designed and implemented business, marketing, and capital formation plans. Managed site selection and lease negotiations. Supervised all aspects of advertising, financial planning, budgeting, information systems, merchandising design, publishing, joint venture activities, human resource, tax and legal compliance issues. Took start-up from its inception to a market leader position within three years, becoming one of the highest grossing independent music retailers in a five-state area. Introduced electronic IT solutions for both customer and internal activities, including inventory control, point-of-sale, music sampling, in-house publications and special ordering.
EDUCATION
Masters of Business Administration, Daniels School of Business, University of Denver
Bachelor of Science, Marketing, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder