There's a lot of experimenting going on in the new media world, but so far little improvement to the value delivered to consumers or marketers. "New" media was supposed to create a new order where the cream could rise to the top. But it's fair to say that when all voices are equal, those with integrity aren't necessarily able to breakthrough the chaos and the cream can not rise to the top.
We are veteran marketing & media professionals with both traditional and "new" media and marketing experience. We have witnessed the deterioration in consumer trust in the media and financial institutions which we rely on to facilitate transactions. Both consumers and Business, who rely on these third parties, mutually benefit or suffer when the integrity is compromised.
Our passion is helping to design virtual networks to improve community integrity. We focus on three key drivers of integrity:
- The individuals in a community who can raise the expectations of a community.
- The links in the chain of integrity in a community, which are the weakest, and anticipating how to restore integrity when they break.
- The factors effecting camaraderie in a community, which governs the day-to-day decisions which can imperceptibly erode integrity over time.
Jim & Katherine Warman Kern
Here are some examples of how these three drivers of integrity result in big change to mutually benefit business and consumers:
Semi-pro Opera Singers greet women in grocery stores on the way home from work with a serenade a rose and a coupon - 25% redemption
Aiming to please 12 year old boy's lack of inhibitions in advertising, echoed by a countertop display in convenience stores near elementary schools, tripled market share in one year.
Engaging recent grads in corporate cafeteria about how the new sweetener in Pepsi ONE could help restore a more active guy's figure resulted in a 30% higher market share
Reaching out to US Latino baseball fans in their community generated over half of ticket and merchandise revenues with less than 20% of the budget for Major League Baseball's World Baseball Classic.
Katherine Warman Kern brings over 25 years experience and has been immersed in the internet since 1994 when she was a "creative analyst" for a new media pioneer, more recently as a Huffington Post blogger. Her first career was helping Fortune 50 companies at LEO BURNETT find new ways to grow their businesses despite the dilution of mass marketing value. Her second career has been community organizing, public-private initiatives for non-profit causes, and founder of PLAN B advisors. More recently, she is a partner in CULTIVA Entertainment, focusing on community building for eBeisbol.com. You can reach her at Katherine@comradity.com.
James Kern is an entrepreneur who has developed and sold two companies. One in contract food management (at school, at work, and at entertainment venues) was sold to Fine Host. The other was a trailblazing experiential marketing company specializing in target rich environments, including corporate cafeterias and colleges/universities. Jim brings over 25 years in executive management in businesses where he improved executional performance with customer interface training and monitoring systems. His first career was in the contract food management industry, running a $400 million company with over 1, 000 outlets in corporations, universities, and stadiums. He was the founder of CREATIVE AIM, a trailblazer in experiential marketing, engaging audiences where they work, go to school and play, educating, sampling new products and increasing channel revenues. The company was sold to PUBLICIS. You can reach him at Jim@comradity.com.
© 2008 COMRADITY