Marketer-in-Residence with Brains on Fire

Brains on Fire, a marketing agency in Greenville (South Carolina), has offered me a unique opportunity to become a Marketer-in-Residence with them. I gladly accepted. So, throughout this year, I’ll be working with Brains on Fire to help influence how they turn innovative ideas into actionable tactics for their clients.

Brains on Fire positions itself as an “Identity Company.” Meaning, they help businesses better communicate their brand to customers. But really, they work with businesses to better understand their unique personality and then better express that unique personality to customers. The result is creating movements that fascinate, inspire, reward, and engage people to spread their passion for the brand (or cause) via a variety of word-of-mouth marketing ways.

I’ve been an admirer of their work on the South Carolina anti-teen smoking movement (Rage Against the Haze) and their more recent work with Fiskars, the scissors company. The Fiskateers brand ambassador program created by Brains on Fire is one of the most genuine and meaningful word-of-mouth marketing programs I’ve seen in action.

I’m thrilled to have been asked to become a Marketer-in-Residence with Brains on Fire. As such, I'll serve a short residency working as a full-time BOF employee, followed by monthly office visits, and on-going communication. Brains on Fire has some interesting projects on the docket for 2008 that I can’t wait to help them make marketing magic happen.

Comments

[Scott White]

Is Marketer-in-Residence a fancy name for consultant?

[jay hardwick]

john,

you are going to love their offices and love downtown greenville. i just moved away from greenville, but it will always be one of my favorite downtowns.

if you meet trey rollins, tell him hey from jay. his "title" is conversationalist and he is a great one! he's been with b.o.f. for about a year or so, i guess.

best of luck in the new role.

[linkerjpatrick]

Congrats! You might be interested in know that my office is just a short walking distance from Brains of Fire. If you haven't heard of it you will soon discover Falls Park which is between my office and Brains on Fire. Look me up sometime when in town. It would be great to meet with a fellow blogger and someone who works at helping other companies succeed.

[Josh Hallett]

This sounds really cool....I might need to make a road-trip to Greenville.

I assume you'll post some updates on your 'progress'.

[Exurban Jon]

Make sure to go to Henry's Smokehouse for the best BBQ in town. It shouldn't be far from your office, so I recommend lunching there daily. And congrats -- BoF is a great outfit!

[Carrie]

Very excited you will be joining us!

[Sonia Simone]

Congratulations! I am looking for a similar gig, so that gives me a nice little optimistic jolt.

[Shama Hyder]

Congratulations! Sounds fantastic.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Splendid opportunity, congratulations Brains on Fire ;-)

[Jake McKee]

Very cool! Congrats!

[Steve Liberati]

Congratulations John. You deserve it.
Steve

http://www.stevesclub.org

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Scott … you can choose to look at this as a fanciful word for “consultant.” I choose to view it differently.

This “Marketer-in-Residence” program with Brains on Fire is not a rock star consultant love’em and leave’em approach. Instead, I will be a limited part-time employee of Brains on Fire working on a wide range of projects. I will have a @brainsonfire email address and a business card—which will symbolically and meaningfully signify me as one of the team.

Much of the consultant work I do is of of the “love’em and leave’em” variety. It’s one quick project and I’m off to the next assignment with a different company. My relationship with Brains on Fire in 2008 will be different. It’ll be on-going throughout the year with me learning as much (or more) from them, than they from me.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

@ everyone ... thanks for the support. This is a unique opportunity with a unique company. As I mentioned in my response to Scott, this is a different assignment. It's like an "Adult Internship Program" turned upside down.

[Scott White]

Well John I have much respect for you and wish you the best. I truly feel that you are one of the FEW "word of mouth" guys that actually get's it. And you know how I feel about my friend Spike, that said they are VERY lucky to be getting an allstar such as yourself.

We've been doing the “Marketer-in-Residence” program at BIG for almost 10 years. I just didn't think about giving it a fancy, shinny name....damn it to hell!

Best wishes to you on your new adventure.

[Paul Chaney]

It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance yesterday at Got Social Media. Congratulations, John, on this "new fangled" form of consulting. From what I tell via a brief romp through their Web site, this company is everything is says it is.

[Marianne Richmond]

Sounds like a blast! Congratulations to you and to Brains on Fire.

[Suzanne from Fiskars]

I am positively thrilled to be working with you on the Fiskateer program. Can't wait to connect!