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2005-2006: Independent Consulting - www.rogertowne.com
Sumitomo Electric (www.sei.co.jp) – Developed go-to market plan for Luneberg multi-beam Ka/Ku band satellite antenna product launching in US; conducted market/competitive analyses on fixed/mobile TV, broadband and enterprise satellite applications. .
iSuppli (www.isuppli.com) – Published DVR report (see abstract) encompassing latest cable, telco and satellite developments with nPVR, storage, multi-room, STBs, push-VOD, alternative content delivery technologies and service provider product strategies. Link to report.
2005: Product Marketing Manager - Digeo Inc - www.digeo.com
Defined new VOD product features by gathering requirements from Comcast, Charter, Adelphia, Bend Broadband, and Sunflower and creating a development plan with program management and engineering. The features included those which fit future MSO requirements as well as new capabilities in search, preference and customization.
Compiled Market Requirements for Moxi VOD user interface to increase short and long term VOD revenue opportunities and operator ARPU. The MRD specified how viewers would interact with On-Demand menus and the organization of content. It also included a comprehensive overview of competitor developments, market trends, issues/challenges, opportunities/threats, strategic recommendations.
Evaluated Interactive Program Guide (IPG) product strategies for cable industry by studying developments with Gemstart TV Guide, Guideworks, Hillcrest Labs, Aptiv Digital, Tribune Media, Gist Communications, Time Warner (post Mystro initiative), Comcast, Cablevision, Charter, TiVo, DirecTV and Echostar; assessing trends including next-gen searching, personalizations (favorites, skins, etc), mosaics, video-rich navigation, OCAP; then developing strategy for Digeo's Moxi UI and IPG.
Conducted market and trend analysis for newly emerging Interactive On-Demand Advertising space. Strategy was based on conclusions that On-Demand, DVR and Internet would continue blurring lines of advertising while technology in each space would continue evolving (all the while the :30 second spot would remain strong for the foreseeable future).
2004-2005: Product Marketing Manager - PrediWave Inc - www.prediwave.com
Developed product requirements for Virtual Digital Broadcast system by conducting competitive analysis, reviewing market activity/trends, defining customer requirements, and determining cost/benefit trade offs. The VDB system is being implemented in the PiTV DTH satellite deployment in Southern CA announced Feb 1, 2005. The VBD system provides operators with a flexible, cost effective solution for content ingest, digital broadcasting and digital program insertion.
Created detailed product DataSheets that articulated complex "one-way, unlimited viewing" concepts, features and value propositions for several of the company's products including VOD, Virtual Shopping, Interactive TV and DVR-Set-Top Boxes. The datasheets incorporated unified product messaging strategies that I designed to be used in collateral as well as the corporate website (www.prediwave.com). Samples of the datasheets can be viewed: Video On Demand; Virtual Shopping Mall, MyTV, DVR-STB
Managed market research initiative for the development of free-to-air (FTA) DVR-STB product strategy for Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific regions. The project encompassed gathering regional market data, sizing markets, costing/BOM, developing go-to market strategies, crafting messaging strategies in preparation for major business initiative.
2004: Senior Business Development Manager - Chaos Media Networks - www.chaosmedianetworks.com
Increased content portfolio 70% by mining industry sources and developing strategic relationships with providers of exclusive special interest VOD programming. The licensed content is an integral piece of of the Chaos Media Networks offerings which have attracted Time Warner Cable and Comcast. Visit the company's website for a complete overview (www.chaosmedianetworks.com), or view the enclosed Overview and Programming/How It works documents.
Defined and documented a step by step "How-It-Works" process used as a baseline in all forms of communication, including presentations, collateral and customer contact sales tools. The process clearly explains the flexible, learning nature of the Chaos technology that's powers it's VOD content into a unique interactive service that exists nowhere else.
2001-03: Product Marketing Manager - Epigraphx
Increased incremental revenue 20%
for channel services by reviewing field data, qualifying key
customer feedback, evaluating competitive options and establishing
customer-focused value-add functionalities which could effectively
track and measure a variety of customer actions including
HTML open rates, clickthrough rates, action rates, etc., and
effectively drill-down deeper for behaviors and activity by
audience, database or demographic attribute. Implementation
involved collaborative planning and project management with
engineering, operations, sales and corporate communications.
Clients who purchased the value-add functionalities included
EDS, Commerce One, Mercury Interactive, Apple and Verisign
among others.
Developed product requirement document
for interactive email analytics platform
for segmentation and modeling by researching competitive
offerings, ascertaining customer requirements, determining
feasibility and evaluating cost/benefit trade offs, stipulations
and contingencies, long term product enhancements, and complete
development plans. The platform gave Epigraphx among the most
advanced in the industry.
Improved product positioning and
competitiveness by developing
a data warehouse and OLAP for client data. This not only provided
clients with business intelligence, but increased scope of
the Epigraphx service offering. The platform was also integrated
with enterprise CRM deployments (Oracle, ePiphany, Siebel,
others) which enabled the system
to extend business to ASPs and clients in a variety of industries.
Set industry service level
standards by developing and instituting eNewletter "bounceback"
program which automated the return mail process
and categorized them into individualized buckets such as change
of address, new DNS, mailbox over quota, etc. Full analytics
and reporting were created for customers which not only increased
satisfaction, but created more revenue opportunities. The
process is among the most advanced in the industry.
1999-2001: Product Manager: Video On Demand / Interactive TV - Seren Innovations - www.astound.net
Successfully developed
and launched Video On Demand cable TV products
in St Cloud, MN (Aug 2000) and Concord, CA (Sept 2000), by
managing the product development and launch processes. Development
deliverables included research and market study; determining
product requirements and feature sets; developing business
plan and financials; managing partner alliances with vendors;
conducting competitive analysis; directing branding, pricing,
packaging and positioning strategies; and evangelizing product
development process across the organization. Launch deliverables
included developing launch plan and forming the cross functional
management team; chairing weekly launch meetings and managing
ongoing deliverables; creating the friendly testing plan;
ensuring the site installation, testing and billing systems
implementation goals are met; developing operational processes
and training front line staff; scheduling and approving timed
press release plans with partner vendors; providing direction
and sign-off for the marketing plan; full reporting and analytic
implementation; and collaborative leadership during all phases.
Vendor partners included nCube, Scientific Atlanta, Convergys
and Demand Video. Astound Broadband was the first Broadband
service provider to launch Video On Demand in the United States.
For greater detail, see link for Video
On Demand product development and launch.
Created roadmap strategy
for developing new Interactive TV product by evaluating
industry Interactive TV platforms, initiating request for
proposal (RFP) process, negotiating vendor proposals, defining
ongoing requirements as it related to industry developments.
Among the ITV platforms reviewed were OpenTV, Liberate, Microsoft
TV, Worldgate, Source Media, PowerTV, Canal+ and ICTV. In
depth discussions were held with Liberate, Worldgate, PowerTV,
Canal+ and ICTV as they had solutions available or could port
solutions to the Scientific Atlanta 2000-3000 Set-top Box
series running the PowerTV 2.2fc Operating System and SARA
1.14.9 interactive program guide. The technical challenge
was implementing a middleware platform that could adapt to
Scientific Atlanta's System Release 1.4 eventually Acadia
2.0. The business challenge was designing a cost effective
ITV model. In Astound Broadband's case, ITV would be used
as a value-add retention tool. For more information, see link
for Interactive TV Product
development.
Developed comprehensive
business case and product requirement document
for Video On Demand, including capital expenditure (CAPEX)
schedules, service level agreements (SLA), vendor contractual
obligations, Convergys billing integration requirements, peak-demand
analysis, revenue projections, stipulations and contingencies,
ROI and payback, competitive analysis and market dynamics,
long term product enhancements, and cost/benefit analyses.
For more information, see link for VOD
Product Requirement Document.
Reviewed DVR and IPG technology in
order to lay out future business plans for advanced Digital
TV services. Discussions and evaluations were conducted with
TiVo, Replay, MetaByte, Keen, Cachevision and iSurfTV.
1995-99: Division Media Coordinator / PPV Regional Marketing Coordinator - Comcast/AT&T Broadband Western Division - www.comcast.com
Maximized consumer
product awareness by planning and implementing effective marketing
campaigns utilizing a $2.3 million annual media
budget. Campaigns included AT&T corporate's first bundled
video/telephony offering called "BOB - Bottom of the
Bill" by teaming with corporate marketing directors and
planners to coordinate media plans and cross channel campaigns;
biannual Digital Cable Free Preview weekend events where participating
premium networks were showcased with aggressive acquisition
offers; custom tailored PPV sales letter acquisition campaign
which netted 2600 new subscribers. Campaign development process
included teaming with marketing directors and coordinating
media plans across organization teams and external agencies.
Extended the marketing reach
of AT&T Broadband by managing partnerships and trade agreements with FOXSports and the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion Arena.
AT&T Broadband would provide cross channel air time and
in exchange would receive branding on broadcast TV ads, stadium
billboards, pre-game TV sponsorships messages and game-time
program guides.
Successfully managed $11
million TV-spot cross channel inventory function for the West
Division by developing comprehensive management
process which entailed guidelines, usage policies, accountability
practices and quality control. The process included accurately
tagging and scheduling all TV spots; supervising the activities
of Media Services sister agency and maintaining strict deadlines
throughout the process. The result was the successful scheduling
and airing of over 7,700 cross channel TV spots spanning 27
head ends and 77 communities.
Increased exposure and drove product
messaging by organizing & managing special events, tie-ins
& sales promotions.
Examples include De La Hoya photo-ops with stand up at San
Jose Cinco De Mayo event; KSJO/Rolling Stones where PPV event
was promoted on radio for free by virtue of co-branding strategy;
Adult PPV (pay-per-view) promotion where two adult stars signed
8x10's for captive audience at the San Jose International
Beer Festival; arranging adult-star appearances on Lamont
and Tonelli KSJO morning radio show to promote PlayboyTV and
PPV products in Bay area; planning additional events with
Turner's Cartoon Network, VH1 Save the Music and San Jose
Live!
Completed 1997 Pay-Per-View product
line revenue and expense goals under budget for
San Jose by aggressively marketing product within confines
of budget. Tactics included coordinating and executing a targeted
PPV Cricket sporting event for South Bay market which grossed
$70,000; utilizing an open channel to institute a Spanish
feed for a large Hispanic audiences that view high profile
PPV boxing events, helping to amass almost $600,000 in sales;
developing segmented direct mail strategies which included
profiling users of specific products and then targeting campaigns
at similar subscribers, yielding a 4.8%, 7.2% and 12.2% response
rate.
·
See more samples of Cable TV marketing at the following links:
.........Media Campaigns
.........Cricket
PPV Event
.........Spice
& SJ Beer Festival Event
.........PPV
Nevers Campaign Test
.........Spice
Free Preview Analysis
.........Tyson
Holyfield Direct Mailer
.........PPV
Private Sales Letter
1993-95: Video On Demand Regional Field Services Coordinator - On Command Corporation - www.oncommand.com
Of five US regions,
ranked as number one for sales and service in 1995
by coordinating daily and weekly activities of 13 Field Service
Engineers; proactively analyzing daily activity reports; effectively
managing crises through rapid resolution tactics; and maintaining
accountability and quality of service throughout the resolution
processes. Service spanned 125 Hilton, Marriott, Ritz Carlton,
Hyatt, etc. hotels across a region that encompassed Southern
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. The results were a
successful completion of over 1000 service issues and a maximum
level of customer satisfaction and service excellence.
Developed a comprehensive
plan to reduce hotel room sales losses by analyzing
regional adjustment (loss) reports; identifying class of top
offenders; creating a coordinated multiple step training and
accountability plan; and refining internal sales training
processes with Regional Manager.
Completed RF, MATV, SMATV
and CATV head-end and distribution training, received
systems level technician certification for On Command's hotel
VOD and Interactive TV in-room entertainment systems.
1991-93: Interactive TV Marketing Programs Analyst / ITV Retail Account Manager - Interactive Network - www.twowaytvus.com (merged w/Two Way TV)
Coordinated the
formation, implementation and operation of a customer based
Advisory Council. The council included a select group of hand picked
customers who would test new products and provide critical
feedback on new services.
Generated market awareness
and new sales revenues by managing sales promotion and luxury
suite operations at Candlestick Park & Oakland Coliseum;
planning and managing special events and sales promotion activities
for South Bay regional territory, including the development,
tracking, and monitoring of event sales; creating sales promotion
materials; supervision of event staff; coordination of logistics;
and results analysis; and by training and mentoring a staff
of four product demonstrators strategically stationed at high
traffic locations.
Exceeded quarterly sales quotas
by training, motivating and effectively mentoring staff of
four product demonstrators and by implementing training procedures,
sales incentive plans, training checklists, feature/benefit
tools and ongoing support for the retail store sales personal
at 21 South Bay locations.
Additional
Samples
Aside from my experiences with the Video
On Demand Launch, Interactive
TV Product Development and Cable
TV Marketing, please note my Skills
and Strengths and Creative
Samples.
Education & Training
· BSBA; Marketing. Western New England College, 1986.
· Certificate; Multivariate Statistical Analysis. American
Marketing Association, 1994.
· CTAM Digital/NCTA/Western Show course work: 1996,
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002.
· RF, MATV, CATV, SMATV distribution & head end
training
· Set-top Box training, hands-on computer hardware
experience.
Professional
Knowledge:
State
of Industry
Video On Demand
High Definition TV
Digital Video Recorders
High Speed Data
Voice Over Internet Protocol
Interactive TV
Satellite
IPTV & Triple Play
Industry Links
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