Sergio Zyman : League of Extraordinary Minds Expert Panelist

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Sergio Zyman Sergio Zyman is the Chairman and founder of Zyman Group and the former Chief Marketing Officer of The Coca-Cola Company. Over the course of 30+ years of hands-on marketing experience, Zyman has conceived a revolutionary set of principles that are proven to translate marketing strategies into positive business results. He rejects the old rules of the industry that conceptualized marketing as an art form with vague commercials and awareness messages. Instead, Zyman passionately advocates a vision of scientific, process-based marketing as the driver of sales and profits and the centerpiece of business. The only definition of marketing success he upholds is “selling more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently.”

From major food and beverage companies to industrial manufacturers to popular retailers to global telecommunications powers, a diverse group of clients has sought out and received Zyman’s marketing expertise. As the driving force behind Zyman Group, he is able to reach even more diverse businesses in need of marketing guidance. Zyman Group has helped businesses ranging from the largest of the Global 1000 to high-tech growth companies improve their marketing results by providing the guidance they need to move their marketing efforts from hoping to planning, from art to science, from guessing to knowing, and from random success to planned success.

Zyman’s unparalleled marketing career also includes tenures with Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. He is best known for his bold actions as the outspoken CMO of Coca-Cola, where he re-conceptualized the company’s marketing strategy and boosted worldwide annual sales volume from nine to 15 billion cases–the most explosive growth period in the company’s history. This success led TIME magazine to name him one of the three key pitchmen of the 20th century.

His passion and knowledge have been transformed into texts that constitute the core curriculum of results-driven marketing. His best selling book, The End Of Marketing As We Know It, clearly lays out Zyman’s ground rules for marketing success. In his second book, Building Brandwidth: Closing the Sale Online, Zyman turns his expert eye to the e-marketing revolution, and explains the futility of Internet marketing that fails to close online sales. His third book, The End of Advertising As We Know It, examines the one segment of marketing where the most mistakes are made and where the most money is spent, and wasted–advertising–and provides actionable recommendations for improving return on advertising investment. Sergio’s latest book, Renovate Before You Innovate, details time-tested principles for accelerating sustainable organic growth.

As a highly-experienced marketing professional and an extremely charismatic communicator, Sergio Zyman is sought after as a speaker by companies and organizations throughout the world. He energizes audiences with his creativity and dynamic, unpredictable style. In addition, his acute insights have been featured in every major business publication, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Fortune.

Zyman launched a consulting firm called the Zyman Group that he sold to MDC Partners Inc., a Canadian investment company, for around $ 60 million.( 3) He was replaced there as Chairman by Scott Miller, formerly with McCann Erickson and the Sawyer/Miller Group and is no longer part of the Zyman Group’s management team – though he is listed as the founder of the company. He is currently listed as the Vice Chairman of Broad choice ( 4) a marketing firm focused on behavioral analytics and can be seen in a video-clip on Youtube promoting the firm. He has written 4 books to date on his experiences in marketing and advertising. He is also a professional public speaker charging rates of around $ 25,000 to $ 30,000 for an appearance. He can be booked through Leading Authorities, Inc., Premiere Speakers Bureau, Washington Speakers Bureau, and Speakers.com (5)

Sergio Zyman is a native of Mexico City. He holds an Executive MBA from Harvard University and has attended graduate schools in London, Paris and Jerusalem. When he is not immersed in the world of marketing, he expends his spare energy as an enthusiastic runner and an avid reader. He also enjoys golf, skiing and cycling.

His other titles include The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be, The New Father: A Dad’s Guide to the First Year, and A Dad’s Guide to the Toddler Years. He lives with his family in Oakland, California.