Jonathan Salem Baskin

Jonathan Salem Baskin has 26 years of experience driving consumer purchases and building strong brands, having has led a number of marketing initiatives that crossed both digital and offline domains, such as:

• Served as chief creative officer at a major marketing communications firm in Chicago, where he developed and led digital and offline consumer branding campaigns for GE Appliances and Oce copiers
• Led the launch weekend sellout strategy for Apple’s iMac introduction
• Ran the digital experience design group at Inforte, a major systems integrator, and then developed Enterprise Marketing Management (“EMM”) planning for the Defense Logistics Agency (US Gov)
• Initiated web marketing and customer data management development work at Victoria’s Secret and Blockbuster Video
• Created all retail and brand marketing for the hugely successful SkipDR disc repair device (as VP, Marketing, Digital Innovations LLC)
• Consulted to ConAgra Brands and JPMorganChase on effective branding strategy

He has also held a variety of top marketing communications posts:

• The Limited Inc.: As Director of Communications, Jonathan created and helped deliver brand campaigns for the company’s twelve retail divisions, including Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Bath & Body Works.
• Blockbuster: Jonathan served as SVP, Corporate Relations, and he and his team developed and delivered an integrated brand communications plan to reposition the business with its core customers, while attracting new ones.
• Nissan: Jonathan created Nissan’s first North American corporate branding ad campaign as the top public affairs officer for Nissan North America, and led the development of Nissan’s first integrated marketing launch (for the Altima sedan).

Jonathan began his career at Grey Advertising, where he worked on integrated marketing campaigns for such consumer products as Duncan Hines’ cookies and Joy Dishwashing Liquid. He also ran major public relations programs for Edelman Worldwide, both in New York and Los Angeles. He received a degree in English Literature from Colby College, Waterville, ME, in 1982.

Getting Your Brand to Sell In a Tough Market

Marketers need to get more out of branding than awareness; you need immediate and tangible returns for your expenditure, or you probably shouldn’t spend it, which means:

>> Making branding more relevant to sales

>> Finding resources internally to do more with less

Baskin’s approach is to shatter the old model of branding as image, and replace it with a series of ongoing BEHAVIORS between your business and your consumers. A tough market requires every corporate department help sell, and he can empower everyone in your organization to co-create and deliver the tangible behaviors that matter most to your business: sales.

It’s not enough for marketers to TALK anymore; successful companies DO. Baskin will tell you how.

Ban the "B" Word

Do you have great branding and unsatisfactory sales? Maybe it’s time to rally your organization around a radical, new approach that starts with replacing the word ‘brand’ with:

>> Behaviors that matter to your customers

>> Measures that are relevant to your bottom-line

This has routine-shattering implications for your business, from how individuals and teams contribute to delivering branding, to how they help get and keep your customers. Coming together on this idea requires a collaborative effort to make real the old adage that “you’re only as good as your last sale.”

Baskin facilitates a collaborative session that gets your entire organization working together on shared goals and metrics. And it all starts with banning the “b” word.

"Baskin was insightful about the major issues and trends related to corporate reputation and communications management. His session rated very highly with the attendees, and I look forward to working with him again." — Worldwide Program Director, The Conference Board

"In addition to being an author and a speaker, I've observed over thirty marketing authors speaking in the speaker series I run in New York City. Jonathan is an engaging, effective speaker who is one of the most intelligent marketers on the speaking circuit today." — David Vinjamuri, ThirdWay Brand Trainers, Author, Accidential Branding

"Baskin has something important to say, and he says it well. He provocatively probes and pokes conventional marketing maxims. He urges marketers to eschew image making and to instead facilitate a clear, reality-based engagement with prospective buyers in ways that are important and relevant to them, integrating messaging over time with different prompts to encourage buyer action." — Tom Waller, Commonwealth Club of California