Eric Frenchman

Why have we asked Eric to keynote?

Eric was heavily involved in the 2008 US Presidential campaign as online consultant for John McCain 2008 and, despite being on the 'losing' side, scored many online victories (e.g. in search marketing, see WSJ article) and is widely recognised as a leading practitioner and thought leader in the field of political marketing online. 

Eric has never spoken in the UK or Europe before so we were delighted when Econsultancy's New York office managed to persuade him to come over to the UK to talk to us all about his vision for (political) marketing online, how things are changing, his analysis and learnings from the US presidential campaign, and how we should embrace social media.

Despite his more recent political focus we believe there are lessons for us all here in terms of cause-related marketing and the use of progressive marketing techniques. We've got a lot to learn from Eric.

About Eric:

Eric Frenchman is an online marketing and advertising consultant located in New Jersey and Chief Internet Strategist for the online political agency Connell Donatelli Inc.  Eric also founded the online marketing consulting company Eric Frenchman LLC aka PardonMyFrench with current and past clients of The Bank of Montreal, Diageo NA, and Genworth Financial.

Since 1998, Eric has managed multi-million dollar online advertising and CRM campaigns for AT&T, DLJdirect, Harrisdirect, and BMO Investorline and is a recognized expert in online marketing and advertising techniques. In 2005, Harrisdirect was ranked as the 17th largest online advertiser in the US and in 2003 was recognized as Best Financial Advertiser. Eric is also a member of the Internet One Hundred Club and the Internet Oldtimer's List.

Besides writing for this blog, Eric is also a regular blogger for Marketing Prof's Daily Fix website and when not spending most of the day online, Eric lives in New Jersey with his wife Mary, two children, and a cat named Trixie.

Find out more about Eric:

• Read an interview with Eric on the Econsultancy blog
• Eric's blog PardonMyFrench
• Eric's LinkedIn profile with details of previous roles (including Managing Director, Channel Marketing, Harrisdirect; Division Manager eMarketing and Strategy, AT&T etc.)

Ian Jindal

Why have we asked Ian to keynote?

Ian works often with Econsultancy. And he has spoken at this event in previous years. So why have we asked him back again? Because he is always so well received, scoring so highly in all delegate feedback, and always comes up with great insights and opinions on where digital marketing and ecommerce are going based on his wealth of contacts, experience and knowledge. All delivered in Ian's inimitable style!

About Ian:

Ian creates and transforms digital businesses in retail and publishing. Ian works to create sizeable and demanding businesses from initial idea, or to effect a step-change within complex, multi-stakeholder enterprises: working with the board and either directly leading teams or mentoring senior internal leaders.

Ian has been responsible for P&Ls from £5m to £400m within organisations of up to £3.3bn turnover. Since 1991 Ian has operated at Board level, either as director, CEO or investor.

Ian now works as an executive (leading business transformation at Board level), non-executive (working with Board and CEOs to build businesses) and investor (founding and growing early-stage companies). Consulting clients include House of Fraser, Austin Reed, Reiss, Couturelab, Otto UK, The British Council, IPC Media, Westfield Shopping Towns and David Morris.

Ian is committed to skills and peer development within industry sector. Ian founded InternetRetailing (with Mark Pigou), the European eCommerce Forum (with Joris Beckers), the UK’s first Post-Graduate Diploma in Internet Retailing (with Econsultancy.com, accredited by Manchester Metropolitan University) and RetailGreen.eu. Ian is a course assessor for the Masters in Digital Marketing and a tutor on the Post-Graduate Diploma in Digital Publishing.

Ian is a regular keynote speaker and conference chair, providing insight and stimulus on ecommerce, the attention economy, open standards, future developments and today’s demanding digital customers. Recent engagements include e-consultancy, Adobe/Scene 7, Bazaarvoice, Sky, London College of Fashion, the International Association of Department Stores and Google UK.

Previously he was Group E-commerce Director for Littlewoods Shop Direct Group where he grew online revenues to £400m per annum. Before that Ian was Head of Online Operations at the BBC, establishing the team that built over 400 BBC websites. Ian was also Business Development Director for Thomson Science & Professional, is a non-executive Director of Business Link for London, and founder of the European eCommerce Forum.

Find out more about Ian:

• Ian's personal site and profile
• Ian's blog "In No Particular Order"
• Ian's LinkedIn profile

David Kelly

David is Chief Executive Officer, mydeco.com. David was previously Vice President of European Business Operations at eBay Inc, where he lead a cross-functional team of over 2,000 people. Prior to joining eBay, David was Chief Operating Officer at lastminute.com where he worked closely with Brent and Martha, and Operations Director at Amazon.co.uk. 

More about David:

• About Us page on mydeco.com
• David's LinkedIn profile

Kieron Smith

Kieron Smith is Managing Director of The Book Depository. He has worked in the book trade for over twelve years, starting out with WHSmith, setting up Ottakars.co.uk in 1999, heading up the web offering at BCA and operations at Methven's, followed by three years at Europe's leading video games web site GAME.co.uk. He was enticed back to bookselling (his real passion) in 2006 by the challenge of setting up Waterstones.com and removing the business from Amazon’s operations.

More about Kieron:

• The Book Depository site
• Kieron's LinkedIn profile

Simon Joseph

Currently Head of eCommerce at Jessops Plc, Simon has formerly held positions as eCommerce Director at eXpansys Plc, Head of Sales and Marketing at Mobile Fun Ltd, Operations Director at electricshop.com, Business Development Manager at Jungle.com (Argos Retail Group), and BDM at jungle.com. Simon is an accomplished Retail and Contact Centre professional with significant experience operating direct and eCommerce trading channels acquired through senior management positions held in Plc, SME and OMB businesses.

More about Simon:

• Simon's LinkedIn profile
• Jessops website

Guy Hipwell

Guy is Managing Director of Online and Director of Supply Chain at Liberty PLC London. Previously Guy has held positions as Director of Home Shopping (E Commerce and Mail Order) at Harrods Ltd, Managing Director at Atomic Solutions, Trading Manager at zoom.co.uk and Merchandiser at Arcadia and BHS. Guy is a very experienced General Manager with solid track record of delivery within both standard commercial retail environments and e-commerce having broad experience of luxury and high street sectors.

More about Guy:

• Guy's LinkedIn profile
• Liberty website

Matt Reid

Matt is Head of eMarketing at Abbey. Matt has many years of experience within financial services and online having held previous positions as Head of Advertiser Development at Commission Junction and various roles at HFC Bank, including as marketing and E-commerce manager. Prior to this, he was senior account manager at TransNational Financial Services Ltd., the affinity marketing arm of HBoS. 

More about Matt:

• Matt's Econsultancy Member profile

Hitesh Bhatt

Hitesh Bhatt is Head of Digital Marketing, RBS Insurance. Hitesh has had many years experience in digital marketing and financial services including positions as Senior Manager, Marketing and E-Commerce at Alliance & Leicester and various roles at HSBC (Regional Manager, Digital Marketing at HSBC Bank Middle East, Head of E-Marketing Communications, Institutional Sales Manager (E-Commerce) etc.)

More about Hitesh:

• Hitesh's LinkedIn profile

Christophe Langlois

Christophe Langlois is Founder of Visible Banking and a Social Media Evangelist. Prior to his recent Senior Innovation Manager role at Lloyds TSB, Christophe worked in business development, in both telecommunications and banking. In these roles he helped drive significant new business in both the payments straight through processing, and anti-money laundering space. Christophe is an active blogger and business networker. His main blog, Visible-Banking.com, is the leading independent blog 100% focused on social media in banking and financial services. Christophe is an experienced presenter, thought leader, and advocate for Web 2.0, and he is a regularly requested speaker at conferences. In 2008, Christophe founded his consultancy firm to help financial institutions better understand and leverage social media. Christophe holds an Msc in IT and an MBA, both of which were obtained in his homeland France.

More about Christophe:

• Visible Banking site
• Christophe's LinkedIn profile

Jason Bacon

Jason is currently Head of Digital Marketing - Consumer Banking at Lloyds TSB Bank plc. He has seen the evolution of the internet as a channel at Lloyds having held previous positions as Head Of Marketing Planning & Effectiveness and Head of Internet New Business & Customer Devlopment goin g back over seven years. 

More about Jason:

• Jason's LinkedIn profile

Marko Balabanovic

Marko's is Head of Innovation at lastminute.com, managing the lastminute.com labs innovation team focused on developing new web experiences for travel and entertainment. Previously he created personalisation, recommendation and SEO systems for the lastminute.com and Travelocity sites across Europe. He led the development team at Cellectivity and led product design and worked on development as the 8th employee at flutter.com / betfair.com, the first person-to-person betting exchange and now a £multi-billion business. Marko's impeccable internet credentials began just as impressively as he was an intern at Xerox EuroPARC following a PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University and a BA in Computer Science at Cambrigde.

Most impressive of all the lastminute.com team, led by Marko, won Econsultancy's Innovation Award for multi-channel marketing in 2008!

More about Marko:

• lastminute.com labs site
• Marko's LinkedIn profile

Mirko Behnert

Mirko is Director Marketing, Analytics and Corporate Development at Venere.com, part of Expedia, which provides online hotel reservation services in Italy, Europe and the rest of the world. This follows other roles within Expedia including Head of Strategy EMEA and Head of Marketing - Hotels.com. Mirko has many years experience in the travel industry having been E-commerce Manager EMEA at Avis Europe plc, Strategy Manager at ebookers plc and Marketing Manager at Travel Information Software Systems GmbH.

More about Mirko:

• Mirko's LinkedIn profile
• Venere.com website

Barry Smith

Barry is Co-Founder & Director, Business Development at flight search site Skyscanner.net. Skyscanner was highly commended in Econsultancy's 2008 Innovation Awards in the User Experience category having developed some outstanding tools, applications and user interfaces to help users find the best possible flights. Barry has built up Skyscanner over the last 8 years and is also member of numerous travel-focused associations including the Travel 2.0 network for Interactive Travel Industry Professionals.

More about Barry:

• Barry's LinkedIn profile
• Skyscanner.net website

Nic Ray

Nic is Quirk UK's Managing Director. We first came across Nic when he picked up Quirk's Econsultancy Innovation Award which they won in the Innovation in SEO & Natural Search category for some outstanding work for a travel client. Nic began his career working at Ogilvy Cape Town in 2001 and quickly moved up the ranks working on brands like Old Mutual, BP, SAB, Audi and Castrol. His success at running this piece of business saw him headhunted by Ogilvy London to work as a business director on Ford of Europe before making the move to head up Quirk in the UK. Nic is passionate about building brands online, the power of video, creativity, new technologies and design. 

More about Nic:

• Nic's personal profile on Quirk site

Graham Ruddick

Graham is Digital Marketing Director at EMAP Inform Digital. Graham has enormous experience both in publishing, media and events, as well as in digital. Prior to EMAP he was Managing Director at recruitment specialist Gaapweb.com (owned by Trinity Mirror). Before that he was E-business Director at Reed Exhibitions and Online Manager at Centaur Communications where he moved having worked agency-side as an Account Director. This followed a career in the British Army. 

More about Graham:

• Graham's Econsultancy member profile

Louise White

Louise is Group Marketing Director at Incisive Media. She is part of the management team that has seen the company grow from 200 people to over 2000 in less than 4 years. She has risen to this position having been Group Head of Marketing, Head of Product Marketing and Head of Subscription Marketing (then at Risk Waters Group bought by Incisive Media in 2003). Prior to her Incisive Media career, Louise was Product Marketing Manager at Pearson. Louise has extensive experience in acquisitions, change management and business integration as well as digital and direct marketing.

More about Louise:

• Louise's LinkedIn profile

Mark Kelleher

Mark is Head of CRM and Head of Marketing Technology at BBC. He is busy introducing a new CRM enterprise platform and a new approach for the BBC's audience interactions and Head of Marketing Technology for the BBC responsible for operations and development of all technology supporting a £80m division, with particular focus on technology for hybrid linear and on demand media. Mark has held various positions previously at the BBC and was Head of Communications at BT Europe, leading communications campaigns across seven geographies. Mark is a frequent public speaker, presenter and radio interviewee.

More about Mark:

• Mark's LinkedIn Profile

Jonathan MacDonald

Jonathan is MD of global agency Jonathan MacDonald Associates. He also founded and is the founder of a communications movement called EverySingleOneOfUs. In his early career Jonathan was Commercial Director at Ministry of Sound, then Sales Director at Blyk, before moving to become Senior Consultant at OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Now consulting for Ogilvy, JMA works with the Chairman and CEO, creating the Global Mobile Strategy along with running workshops for BP, Unilever and Kodak,as well the new media strategy for American Express, Motorola, IBM, Vodafone and Nestle. Other clients include Mobixell, AdMarvel, Alcatel Lucent, QuickTV and Mixcloud.

Jonathan's knowledge, experience and passion in evangelising new forms of communication mean he is a much-in-demand speaker so we at Econsultancy are thrilled to have him take the stage for the first time at one of our events.

More about Jonathan MacDonald:

• Jonathan MacDonald Associates website
• EverySingleOneofUs site
• Jonathan's LinkedIn profile