Demand for Customer-Centered Innovation Fuels Cheskin's Growth in 200627 March 2006
For Cheskin, an innovation consulting firm, 2006 is shaping up to be a bellwether year. Following on the success of significant engagements with Microsoft, Dreyer's and the National Council of La Raza, the firm's growth is being fueled by important new engagements with companies including Wal-Mart, Kao Brands and Sony. Additionally, Cheskin's new book, Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences (New Riders Publishing ISBN 0-321-37409-6), was released to strong reviews in January. The firm's focus on customer-centered innovation is resonating within the business community.
Hewlett-Packard One Voice Excellence Award
Global ethnographic work recently completed by Cheskin for the Boise group at Hewlett-Packard has resulted in the group garnering an HP One Voice Excellence Award. The award recognizes internal company efforts to achieve brand excellence.
"Cheskin's awareness of and approach to emerging markets helped us to not only understand basic customer needs and how environmental and cultural factors shape behaviors, but also created a visual description of current and potential customers -- making them come alive for HP employees around the world designing products and solutions for these markets," said Susy Brooks, product marketing manager at HP.
Growth Continues in Technology Innovation, Experience Design and Hispanic Market Expertise
The firm continues to build and expand their East Coast presence:
-- Jim Martin, executive vice president with Cheskin, excels at helping
clients identify meaningful experience-based innovation opportunities
to create competitive advantage. Martin was a co-founder of
Smartworks, a non-traditional marketing think tank within Ammirati
Puris Lintas. As a managing director at DVC Worldwide and a vice
president at Young and Rubicam, Martin focused on new marketing. A
graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Martin
holds a master's in business administration from Thunderbird, the
Garvin School of International Management.
-- Miguel Gomez Winebrenner joins as senior consultant for Cheskin's
Cultural Insights Studio. Having worked across industries, including
financial services, consumer products, telecommunications,
entertainment and healthcare, Gomez secures competitive
advantage for client companies through his expert understanding of US
Latino and Latin American markets. Gomez was formerly with C&R
Research in Chicago, where he established LatinoEyes. He is the
co-author of the book Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations.
Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Gomez graduated with honors
in economics from the University of Iowa.
New West Coast team members include:
-- J. Gabriel Rendon, research manager at Cheskin, specializes in
Hispanic community and health. Previously with the Academy for
Educational Development's Center for Health Communication, Rendon
coordinated Hispanic initiatives under a contract with the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention and provided communications,
marketing and research support to federal, state and community health
projects. Rendon has published numerous articles and has spoken
widely. He holds a master's degree in communication in contemporary
society from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree from
Boston University.
-- Keren Solomon, strategic director in Cheskin's Experience Design
Studio, adds to Cheskin's growing ethnographic capabilities. Prior to
joining Cheskin, Solomon provided qualitative research and consulting
to companies such as Intuit, Adaptive Path, Perception Research and
The Aaronson Group. She was formerly with EnviroSell, a behavioral
research company founded by Paco Underhill, and at Event Zero, an
interactive agency in Boston and New York. She's active in the
Society for Applied Anthropology and the Association for Computing
Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction
(ACM SIGCHI). Solomon has a bachelor's degree in history from the
University of Pennsylvania and a master's in international relations
from Yale University.
-- Cheskin's analytical capabilities are further enhanced with the
addition of Danielle Wayne. Having honed her skills as an actuarial
and merchandising analyst, Wayne will provide senior analytical
talent to Cheskin's Technology Innovation Studio. She holds a degree
in math and Spanish from St. Mary's College.
CEO Darrel Rhea To Discuss Branding, Innovation and Experience Design
Cheskin's CEO Darrel Rhea continues to share insights on innovation, branding, and delivering meaningful customer experiences. Public speaking appearances in spring include:
-- Building Innovation Around the Customer Experience, a conference
produced by 2nd Road and Bain and Company. Sydney, Australia;
March 27 and 28.
-- "Design Research for Product and Brand Innovation," a two-day Design
Management Institute seminar. April 27 and 28 in New York;
June 22 and 23 in Chicago; and November 2 and 3 in San Francisco.
-- "Making Meaning: The Heart and Soul of Innovation," sponsored by the
IIT Institute of Design. April 20 in Chicago.
-- "Should Ethnography Drive Design?," at Business Insights from
Consumer Culture: A Marketing Science Institute Conference. May 3 in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
-- The Business of Brand - Design - Experience: 18th DMI International
Brand Design Conference. Keynote speaker, May 17 in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada.
-- The Commonwealth Club. "Making Meaning for Business Success." May 22
in San Francisco.
For additional information on any of these upcoming presentations, visit http://www.cheskin.com/about_news.php .
About Cheskin
Cheskin is a consulting firm that guides innovation through a deep understanding of people, cultures and change. From a perspective grounded in research, design and marketing, Cheskin helps companies identify new markets, develop new products and services, and enhance brand experience.
Cheskin's clients range from technology and finance to consumer goods and professional services, and include Microsoft, Nokia, AstraZeneca, Gap and Hormel. Cheskin, established in 1946 and based in Redwood Shores, CA, with offices in New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Mexico City, consults in over 20 countries.
Media Contact:
Ingrid Ekstrom
510-848-9678
ingrid_ekstrom@earthlink.net
Source: prnewswire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
Related Computer Hardware Articles
|
