Allen Adamson
“The number one reason for organizational success or failure is the ability to stay relevant. Having the wherewithal to strategically shift ahead of accelerating marketplace changes is the single most critical skillset an organization can possess.”
Allen Adamson, a noted industry expert in all disciplines of branding and author of BrandSimple, BrandDigital and The Edge: 50 Tips from Brands That Lead, has worked with a broad spectrum of consumer and corporate industries ranging from packaged goods and technology, to health care and financial services, to hospitality and entertainment, as well as brands in the non-profit sector. Given his perspective and depth of experience, Allen is able to help clients not simply see how accelerating disruptive marketplace changes in technology, globalization and Mother Nature will affect their brands, but, more critically, put into play the strategies that enable them to shift ahead of both the resulting consumer needs and competitive threats.
As a result of his most recent work with organizations challenged by how to maintain relevance in an era of unrelenting change, Allen not only wrote a book on the topic – Shift Ahead – he also launched Metaforce, a firm dedicated to helping businesses diagnose growth strategies and nimbly execute programs in the face of market evolution. Allen and his Metaforce partners help clients identify what truly matters to the audiences they serve – what is relevant to these audiences – and to brilliantly deliver on it.
Prior to co-founding Metaforce, Allen was Chairman, North America of Landor Associates, a global branding firm. Under his leadership, the company partnered with a wide array of iconic brands, including Accenture, GE, Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, HBO, Marriott, MetLife, P&G, Sony, and Verizon. Additionally, he provided guidance for non-profit organizations including the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Central Park Conservancy, the Council on Foreign Relations, Planet World, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
Before joining Landor, Allen worked on both the agency and the “client side” of the industry. At Unilever, he was responsible for leading the branding efforts for a number of major packaged-goods brands. He held senior management positions at Ogilvy & Mather and DMB&B.
A sought-after industry commentator, Allen has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, ABC News Nightline, CNBC’s Squawk Box and Closing Bell, and Fox Business Network. He is often quoted in publications including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal Advertising Age, USA Today, the Washington Post, and Forbes, for which he also regularly writes a column on current branding topics. He is a frequent guest lecturer at New York University’s Stern School of Business, the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, and the Harvard School of Continuing Education. He is a member of the American Management Association and speaks on branding for a range of professional organizations, corporate events, and at industry conferences.
Allen received his BS from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Joel Steckel
Professor Joel Steckel has been with New York University’s Stern School of Business for more than 20 years. His primary research areas of interest include marketing research, marketing and branding strategy, approaches for one-to-one marketing, managerial decision processes and methodologies for measuring consumer performance and behavior. Joel has published numerous articles in publications including Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing, Marketing Science, Interfaces, and Journal of Consumer Research.He was the founding president of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science. Before joining NYU Stern, Professor Steckel held professorial positions at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, he is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Marketing Letters.
At NYU Stern, Professor Steckel is the Vice Dean for Doctoral Education. Previously he served at chair of the Marketing Department.
Professor Steckel received his bachelor of arts in mathematics from Columbia University and his master of business administration in management science and his doctor of philosophy in marketing/statistics from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton.