Speaker:
Mark Bradford and Rob Lambert
Co-Founders
ChirpUp.com, an interactive marketing & social media agency, Chicago

With every tweet, poke and link, social media gains a bigger share of the B-2-B marketer's radar and strategic efforts.  Regardless of how innovative, clever or creative a social marketing campaign may seem, the bottom line is always going to be whether or not it had a good ROI.  Mark Bradford and Rob Lambert, founders of ChirpUp.com, will discuss how marketers can determine ROI and evaluate if the social marketing campaigns they undertake are worth the money, time and sweat required to develop and launch them.  

Mark Bradford helps entrepreneurs establish a digital voice with a combination of branding, word-of-mouth marketing, PR, SEO and social media technologies.  Mark has led commercial software strategy, design and development activities since 1998.  His experience includes the conception, sales and production of custom solutions and brand management software for CPGs, pharmaceuticals and financial services.  Mark led start-up application services practices for a technology consultancy and a boutique interactive services provider back in the dot-com era.

Rob Lambert is a creative Chicago-area software developer and entrepreneur. Rob is active in the Ruby and Java community and is a big open source software supporter. After 10 years as the key architect of a flagship enterprise brand management software, Rob recently hit the entrepreneurial road with his own company.

Speaker:
Ed Russ
Partner and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer
Grant Thornton, one of the largest accounting firms in the United States

Imagine taking on an exciting CMO position at a large accounting and consulting firm only to find out it is virtually unknown to the vast majority of its potential clients.  Hear how Ed Russ of Grant Thornton LLP handled that very challenge through marketing strategies that helped the company raise its unaided awareness level and increase revenues.  In 2008 Grant Thornton LLP's unaided awareness was 39%. Since 2002 the firm has grown at a compound annual rate of 20%, and net revenues have increased from $359 million to more than $1 billion.

As Partner and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer for Grant Thornton LLP, Ed is responsible for strategic marketing, brand building, and managing the marketing and sales resources of the firm in the U.S.  Since 2001, his firm has enjoyed a net revenue increase from $359 million to over $1 billion.  Ed won CPA Marketing Forum's "Accounting Marketer of the Year" award in 2005.  

Before 2001, Ed was National Director of Marketing for PricewaterhouseCoopers' $400-million middle-market practice.  Seven years earlier, he was Director of Marketing for a global valuation services firm.  

Prior to marketing professional services, Ed served as VP-Marketing for a series of four start-up businesses, and created successful new brands in industrial services, consumer services, and B2B electronic funds transfer.  All four start-ups were subsequently sold to strategic buyers, and at his last start-up, Ed was interim CEO and raised over $5 million in venture capital.