<p>Dr. Marcus Collins is an award-winning marketer and cultural translator with one foot in the world of practice—formerly serving as the Head of Strategy at Wieden+Kennedy, New York—and one foot in the world of academia—as a marketing professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.</p><p>His deep understanding of brand strategy and consumer behavior has helped him bridge the academic-practitioner gap for blue-chip brands and startups alike. He is a recipient of <em>Advertising Age’s 40 Under 40 </em>award and <em>Crain’s Business’</em> 40 Under 40 award, and an inductee into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement. Most recently, he was recognized by <em>Thinkers50 </em>with the Radar Distinguished Achievement Award for the idea most likely to shape the future of business management. He has also served as a jury for the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity.</p><p>Before joining Wieden+Kennedy, he served as the Chief Consumer Connections Officer at Doner Advertising and led Social Engagement at Steve Stoute’s advertising agency, Translation. Over the course of his career, Marcus has developed a practice for creating culturally contagious ideas that inspire people to take action. His strategies and creative contributions have led to the launch and success of Google’s “Real Tone” technology, the “Made In America” music festival, the Brooklyn Nets, and State Farm’s “Cliff Paul” campaign – among others.</p><p>Prior to his advertising tenure, Marcus began his career in music and tech with a startup he co-founded before working on iTunes + Nike sport music initiatives at Apple and running digital strategy for Beyoncé.</p><p>Marcus’ work centers squarely on the impact of culture and the power that comes from having great cultural proximity. His best-selling book<em>, For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be</em>, examines the influence of culture on consumption and unpacks how everyone from marketers to activists can leverage culture to get people to take action. Throughout the book, he relies on literature, case studies, his work with brands, and academic data to illustrate the “whys” and the “hows” so that readers will be empowered to successfully apply these learnings in their own pursuits.</p><p>Marcus holds a doctorate in marketing from Temple University where he studied cultural contagion and meaning-making. He received an MBA with an emphasis on strategic brand marketing from the University of Michigan, where he also earned his undergraduate degree in Material Science Engineering. He is a <em>Forbes </em>columnist and a trusted voice among CMOs and business leaders. But most importantly, he is a proud Detroit native, a devoted husband, and a loving father to Georgia and Ivy.</p>
Leading Cultural Scholar, Award-winning Marketer and Coach, University of Michigan Professor
<ul><li><strong>For the Culture: the Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be</strong></li><li>There is no external force more influential to human behavior than culture—full stop. This makes culture a cheat code for anyone with a vested interest in getting people to adopt the behavior, whether you are a brand marketer, manager, leader, or politician. Those who understand the dynamics of culture are more likely to have influence, while those who do not are almost always influenced by those who do. In this talk, Marcus pulls from both theory and practice—using learnings from his work spearheading digital strategy for Beyoncé to working with Fortune 500 companies like Apple, McDonald’s, and Google—to break down the ways in which culture influences behavior and unpacks how to leverage its power to get people to move.</li><li><strong>Eat Your Breakfast: How to Drive Sustainable Organizational Change</strong></li><li>They say, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” because a good strategy is only as effective as it is informed by the external customer who we want to move (consumers, voters, donors, etc.) and executable by the internal customer (staff, teammates, crew, etc.) who is tasked with implementation. Therefore, it is imperative that leaders intimately understand the inner workings of their internal culture—just as much as the external—if they are to fully leverage its sway and successfully achieve their collective ambitions. No matter what your organization aspires may be—more creativity, more inclusivity, more productivity—your success is 100% dependent on the culture that you create within the organization at large. This talk explores the extant scholarship of organizational theory and organizational culture, applying real case studies to reveal how leaders not only influence but also scale the internal culture of their teams.</li><li><strong>Putting the Humanity Back Into Customer Centricity</strong></li><li>In today’s competitive business landscape, it’s more important than ever to put the customer at the center of all business decisions. While this truth might be widely held, our ability to build organizations that are readily capable of implementing a customer-centric approach is not as accessible as we might desire. This talk uncovers a new perspective on customer-centricity and provides actionable strategies for adopting this approach within your organization that will demonstratively drive greater consumer engagement.</li></ul>