Info

Keith Bates has a track record of entrepreneurial efforts and high tech ad agency management spanning more than 30 years. The business model of the ad agency was that of a creative strategy boutique. He is also a collector of wildlife art. During this same period Bates also founded a high tech PR firm, a software company focused on the Ag market, a consumer publication with worldwide distribution, and an international travel information services company. He has been a communications consultant to companies ranging from such industry giants as Arthur Andersen (when they were behaving themselves), Boeing, Chasm Institute, IBM, JD Edwards, KPMG, Lawson, Novarra, SmartForce and Zenith Data Systems to dozens of VC and angel funded startups. In 2000 the agency was restructured as a consulting group to perform as coach-troubleshooters and project managers to corporate management. The mission -- to help senior management drive revenue by accelerating the execution of rapid growth business building strategies. The thrust of Keith's services today lie principally in providing solutions to the challenges of reengineering a company's sales, marketing, and branding processes so as to coordinate all new business activities into a single cohesive communications strategy - one that is based on a powerful differentiating message that speaks to the market with a single voice. Plus the training of sales and marketing to work together effectively. The Bates agency's competitive advantage stems from creative skills, strategic planning expertise, sensitivity to communications issues, and an ability to translate complex ideas and technologies into easily understood and appealing product attributes. Walls full of awards (given for achieving sales levels, not clever aesthetics) testify to their effectiveness. Bates pioneered the development of the Marcom Engine in 1993 bringing to the B2B sales and marketing environment an easily understood and manageable business process to replace the traditionally inconsistent random task approach to Marcom management. The Marcom Engine successfully blends the disciplines of Business Process Reengineering and Integrated Marketing Communications as well as concepts from the Chasm Companion. The strengths he brings to the development of business building strategies include market and product assessment, message development, expertise in the development of positioning strategies, branding experience, and long years of experience with accelerated contagion, exemplified by his 90-Day Blitz.