The Advertising Hall of Achievement: 2006 Inductees
Jason Binn, CEO, Niche Media Holdings, LLCJason Binn, CEO, founded Niche Media Holdings, LLC in 1998. Since then, he has successfully built what BusinessWeekcalls "a fast growing empire" of upscale glossies that has cornered the regional publishing market with the country's preeminent local luxury magazines including Aspen Peak, Boston Common, Capitol File, Gotham, Hamptons, Los Angeles Confidential and custom publishing titles such as Tourneau Times. In partnership with the Greenspun Media Group headed up by Michael T. Carr, Niche Media publishes Vegas magazine as well as the custom titles Venetian Style and Wynn. In 1992 Jason co-created Ocean Drive magazine with Jerry Powers.
Through the development of a vertically integrated strategic model, Binn has successfully validated the concept of the controlled-circulation publication as a highly prized commodity in the eyes of consumers and advertisers. His "winning formula" (BusinessWeek) begins with magazines that chronicle and celebrate community leaders and local celebrities. Then, unlike most magazines, which rely solely on newsstand sales and subscriptions for their circulation base, Niche Media works with Experian, one of the most respected data bureaus in the country with a 98 percent accuracy rate, to ensure that the magazines are delivered straight into the hands of the country's most coveted readers, those with the highest disposable income.
Binn was profiled in Forbes magazine's coveted Forbes400 issue, in a piece highlighting his ability to capture an audience of the "rich and powerful," a skill also recognized by Newsweek (May 2005).
Rounding out Binn's strategic model are the events thrown by Niche Media magazines that are chronicled in The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Herald, Hollywood Reporter, Advertising Age, Folio, Mediaweek, Variety, People, OK!, Star, New York Post and U.S. News and World Report,among others, bringing the magazines to life and ultimately creating an intimate connection between the readers, the magazines and the communities they are in.
For his work in the publishing industry, in 2005 Binn was awarded Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year" Award celebrating vision, leadership and the success of the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2006 Binn was the only person within the magazine industry to be inducted into the American Advertising Federation's "Advertising Hall of Achievement," an honor bestowed upon outstanding advertising professionals age 40 and under who make a significant impact through leadership, career, and personal achievements.
Jason Binn graduated from Boston University's College of Communications in 1989. He, his wife, Haley Lieberman Binn, and daughter, Penny, divide their time between their Aspen, Los Angeles, New York and Southampton homes.
Maurice E. Coffey, associate marketing director, Procter & GambleMaurice Coffey is the associate marketing director for home care strategic planning at Procter & Gamble (P&G). In his current role, Coffey is responsible for defining the global strategy for Febreze and Cascade and leading new cross-brand opportunities in home care. Throughout his career, Coffey's innovative ideas have established him as "one of the best up-and-coming marketers at P&G." His influence and strong instincts have resulted in breakthrough marketing for two new-to-the-world fabric and home care consumer brands, revolutionizing the entire household category.
Maurice Coffey received his M.B.A. degree from the William E. Simon School of the University of Rochester in 1996, with a double major in finance and marketing. After graduation he joined P&G in 1995 as a summer intern on Bounce, which later became his first full-time brand marketing assignment. After only a year, he advanced to new business development, where he was part of the team that launched Dryel, a 30-minute, at-home cleaning system for special care and dry clean clothes. In this assignment, Coffey developed an innovative marketing campaign for Dryel that allowed consumers to experience the product through mall demonstrations. This was the first time P&G moved beyond traditional retail stores to connect with consumers in an environment where they purchased clothing.
Early recognition of his work led to his first global assignment with a new, innovative P&G product—Swiffer Wet Jet. While working on this brand, Coffey established QVC and DRTV as viable marketing channels for P&G brands—another first for the company. Based on his deep consumer understanding, creativity and success with Swiffer Wet Jet, he was promoted to brand manager for the entire Swiffer franchise, including Swiffer, Swiffer Wet Jet and Swiffer Duster in 2000. Over the next several years, Coffey broke new ground for P&G by initiating and nurturing connections with the entertainment industry resulting in The Cat in the Hat, Maid in Manhattan and Trading Spaces brand promotions.
Most recently, Coffey has led the development of P&G home care's "Home Made Simple" from a monthly newsletter to a brand. With Coffey's innovative thinking and guidance, the Web site has doubled membership annually and exploded beyond the internet into a television show on Discovery Television's TLC.
Since his move to Cincinnati, Coffey has been highly involved in the community as well. His work with the "Big Brother, Big Sister" program has impacted the lives of many children, including one boy he mentored from the age of seven through his recent graduation from high school. Last year, Coffey accepted a position as leader of the marketing council for Cincinnati's Emanuel Center, a historic children's development and community center located in Cincinnati's inner city district. The center is looking to become a greater change agent in Cincinnati and has sought Coffey's creative vision and passion to take the 134-year-old center to the next level.
Maurice Coffey, 39, is the oldest child of Dr. Maurice and Grace Coffey, and has two sisters, Dr. Shannon Coffey and Courtne Coffey, currently working in brand management at Moet Hennessy for Navan Conqac He was married in 2001 to Lela Coffey, who is also an employee of P&G, working as an associate marketing director on Tampax. They have a four-year-old daughter named Mikaela and a seven-month-old daughter Mikenzi and live in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Beth-Ann Eason, VP, category development, Yahoo! Inc.Beth-Ann Eason joined Yahoo! in December 2001 as a sales strategy consultant. In 2002, she became vice president and currently leads the category development, ad solutions and sales enrichment programs at Yahoo! Prior to joining Yahoo!, Eason spent nearly five years at DoubleClick and Ziff Davis Media in New York, most recently as Ziff Davis Media's senior vice president of business development.
At Yahoo!, Eason is responsible for setting the sales strategy, developing products to meet marketers' needs and actively driving Internet advertising effectiveness. Eason is focused on developing new ways of creating and delivering Yahoo! programs and tools to enhance customer engagement.
Eason created and leads the category development officer program. This team of specialists is charged with leading sales and marketing strategies for individual categories, providing customer and category insights to Yahoo!'s media sales team and developing research and client-specific solutions to drive marketers' businesses. In addition, she is responsible for the sales team enrichment program, as well as managing the horizontal advertising teams for sports, music and Hispanic media.
In her most recent role with Ziff Davis Media, Eason was responsible for the go to market strategy for the full suite of Ziff Davis properties. She also managed the Internet business development team and was responsible for driving joint product strategy, analyzing content profitability and creating and implementing business plans.
Prior to Ziff Davis Media, she served as vice president and general manger at DoubleClick, where she determined the strategic direction of the division to diversify product offerings and led the national sales team. Eason was also an account manager at Family Circle and the Adweek family of magazines, as well as an inside sales representative at The New Yorker.
Eason graduated from Lehigh University of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with a bachelor of science in marketing and minors in speech and social relations.
Sean Finnegan, U.S. director, OMD DigitalAs the leader of OMD Digital, the interactive agency with the highest digital media billings, Sean Finnegan stewards an innovative department of more than 150 new-media experts across the country who concentrate on such top brands as Dell, Bank of America, Nissan/Infiniti, McDonald's, United Airlines, FedEx, Lowe's, GE, J&J and more. For these clients, OMD Digital provides a series of strategic services, ranging from online planning and buying and search-engine marketing to emerging media management and data and analytics support.
During his four-year tenure at OMD Digital, Sean has generated and guided significant growth in terms of staff (beginning with seven), accounts (from 10 to over 60) and billings (from $25MM to $600MM).
Finnegan began his career in the early 1990s at BBDO New York, where he focused on spot TV buying and print planning. When the Web was created, Sean quickly shifted his focus to new media, working at such interactive agencies as Darwin Digital (Zenith), APL Digital and JWT Digital. He even took a shot at a "Dot Com," AllAdvantage.com.
In 2001, Finnegan and his wife, Melody, and their children left for their native Chicago, where he took on the role of media director for TribalDDB Chicago. A year into his stint at TribalDDB, Omnicom formed the full-service OMD (the combined media units of DDB, BBDO, TBWA Chiat Day and Rapp Collins) and Finnegan transitioned to Midwest director of OMD Digital. After two years in this regional position, in 2004, Finnegan was elevated to U.S. director to run the national network of OMD Digital offices.
In the spring of 2006, Finnegan and family relocated back to the East Coast, where he continues to oversee the national digital operation, as well as OMD NEXT, OMD's high-growth media service and tools. He was also recently appointed to the OMD North America Operating Council ("The Board") and named as coordinator of OMD Worldwide's digital offering.
Finnegan's personal and professional contributions revolve around the support of youth. A native of Chicago and the oldest of six children, Sean has spent considerable time mentoring underprivileged inner-city youth. In the '90s, Finnegan was the youth director for Astoria Baptist Church in Queens. There, he and his team of volunteers mentored and supported more than 30 kids from the Queensbridge Housing Projects. The ABC Youth Group met every week and was a safe haven for children looking to break free from the pressures of gangs, drugs and other negative influences.
Currently, Finnegan is involved in ASAP (Azumah Student Assistance Program) with his pal and former Chicago Bears All-Pro Jerry Azumah. ASAP provides private high school scholarships to qualified underprivileged student-athletes, a program Finnegan hosts many fundraising events in the media community to support. In addition, he supports the Chicago Advertising Community's charity, the Off The Street Club (OTSC), a place where four- to 18-year-old kids can go to get off of the streets. Founded in 1898, OTSC is Chicago's oldest boys and girls club and serves more than 3,000 kids in the Garfield Park area. Also, in support of his 18-year-old cousin Tommy Finnegan, who suffers from a rare liver disorder, he has helped organize, work and support the Southside of Chicago's annual "Tourney for Tommy" basketball event. Just completing its 16th year, this tournament raises funds to support Tommy and those at his school in need of medical assistance beyond insurance coverage. Finnegan also serves on the Sponsorship Committee for the Pitch & Hit Club, a professional baseball organization that supports former and prospective Chicagoland based players and scouts.
A continual supporter of the American Advertising Federation, in college, Finnegan was president of the AAF Chapter at Murray State University (District 5) and competed in both the Visa ('92) and Saturn ('93) NSAC campaigns. Additionally, he was selected as a national judge for the NSAC Yahoo! campaign in 2005 and this year returned to the event to speak on a panel about "Split-Second Changes in the Digital Marketing Universe." Sean Finnegan is also proud to report that he has hired several former NSAC presenters and considers this collegiate experience equal to an agency internship.
Courteney Monroe, SVP, consumer marketing, HBOCourteney Monroe is senior vice president, consumer marketing, for Home Box Office, responsible for overseeing brand communication strategies, the development of off-channel consumer advertising and promotion for all HBO programming, as well as the network's licensing and retail division. She was named to this position in June 2006.
Monroe began her career at HBO in 1998 as manager, advertising, overseeing the campaigns for all HBO series and sports programming. She was promoted to director, advertising, in 2000. One year later she was named vice president, advertising, and in 2002 expanded her responsibilities to include overseeing all HBO advertising campaigns. In February 2004, she was named senior vice president, advertising, and assumed a broader role with the addition of licensing and retail in 2006.
During her tenure at HBO, Monroe oversaw the advertising campaigns for many of HBO's highest profile properties such as Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and HBO Films' Angels in America.
Prior to working at HBO, Monroe was manager, customer retention and loyalty marketing, for American Express. In 1994, she was associate, corporate communications, for Salomon Brothers. Previously, she worked as an account executive at BBDO.
Monroe holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Michelle Peluso, president & chief executive officer, Travelocity, and
executive vice president, Sabre HoldingsMichelle Peluso is not the type of leader who lets someone else reply to e-mail she receives from customers. And she expects this adamant devotion to customer service from everyone on the Travelocity team. So committed is she to ensuring that Travelocity's customers have great travel experiences or "customer championship," as it's known throughout the company, that in 2005 she led the rollout of The Travelocity Guarantee, a one-of-a-kind consumer proposition that puts these principles to the test every day.
After joining Travelocity following the acquisition of Site59, a company she launched in 2000, she was named president and chief executive officer in December 2003 and has since led Travelocity's turnaround as well as its global expansion into Europe and Asia-Pacific, spearheading the acquisitions of lastminute.com and ZUJI, respectively.
A distinctive entrepreneurial spirit drives Peluso-whether it's cultivating relationships with Travelocity's supplier and distribution partners or exploring innovation opportunities with employees around the globe. Prior to her appointment as Travelocity's CEO, Peluso served as the company's chief operating officer and senior vice president of product strategy and distribution. She launched the company's innovative net rate hotel program and oversaw the build-out of the company's dynamic packaging engine, TotalTripSM.
The business and media worlds have taken notice. In 2005, Peluso was recognized by the National Italian American Foundation with the Special Achievement Award in Business and Fast Companymagazine named her a "customer-centered leader" in its annual Customer First Awards issue. Additionally, The Wall Street Journalin 2004 ranked Peluso numer four on its "50 Women to Watch" list. Earlier in her career, she was named "Technology Person of the Year" by Travel Agent magazine.
Peluso received her master's degree in economics, philosophy and politics from Pembroke College at Oxford University where she was a Thoroun Scholar and her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
A typical business day includes strategic brainstorming with a variety of Travelocity teams, staying in touch with customers, suppliers and partners, brown bag lunches with employees and staying on top of the latest industry trends. But what Peluso loves most about the business is that there is no typical day.
Favorite travel moment: "Participating in a military full-accounting mission over the jungles of Vietnam; dancing salsa until dawn in Oaxaca…and Barcelona...and Madrid...and Marbella...shall I go on?"
Mark-Hans Richer, director of marketing, Pontiac Division of General MotorsMark-Hans Richer was named director of marketing for Pontiac in April 2004, adding to his previous role as director of advertising and promotion. He was recognized as one of Advertising Age's "Marketing 50" for 2004. In 2005, Pontiac received a Cannes Gold Lion for its marketing efforts, among 19 national and international marketing awards received in that year. Most recently in 2006, Pontiac received another Cannes Gold Lion (Promo), two Gold Effies and the 2006 PMA Super Reggie for Best Promotion Overall. Notable recent accomplishments also include marketing's first-ever use of TV to drive search behavior through Pontiac's recent "Google Pontiac" initiative.
Beginning in 2000 prior to his current assignment, Richer served as advertising director for GMC, where he launched the successful GMC "Professional Grade" campaign that still continues today and resulted in gains of both sales and share. Before that he was advertising manager for Chevy Trucks, where he helped guide the advertising launch efforts of the Chevy Silverado, GM's highest sales and profit brand, and the overall Chevy Truck brand beginning in 1998. In 1997, prior to joining General Motors, his career was spent at DDB Needham Worldwide Advertising in Chicago where he worked on various accounts, including McDonald's, SC Johnson and General Mills Big G cereals brands. His last assignment was as Latin American director on McDonald's International, where he led DDB Needham's initiative to build the McDonald's brand in that region.
Richer is a native of the Chicago area. He received his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan in 2003, and bachelor's degree in history from Northwestern University in 1989. He is currently a member of the Promotion Marketing Association Board of Directors.
In his career, Richer has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Apprentice III and V, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and CNBC. He has been on the cover of Promo magazine and Advertising Age's Point. He and his team's work have been covered by Advertising Age, Ad Week, Brandweek, The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, NPR Radio, The New York Times, Chief Marketer Magazine, Business 2.0 and Fast Company among others.