What We Do

• Online Research Social media audit, landscape report, brand visibility study, ongoing monitoring.
• Communications and Engagement Press and analyst relations, influencer outreach, events, new online customer experiences
• Workshops and Strategy Workshops, ideation, on-call advice and consultation.
• API Catalyst Program Supporting the formation and growth of developer communities.

Who We Are

• Mark Adams

  Mark has spent nearly 20 years in technology marketing and 10 in corporate finance. He co-founded the global technology PR firm, Text 100, which grew to become Next Fifteen Communications, owner of other marketing communications operations such as Bite and OutCast Communications, and which is listed on London's AIM stock market. He is now a Partner with Pembridge Partners LLP, a UK-based finance and investment firm specialising in the media, internet and creative sector where he has served as non-Executive Director and advises on M&A and MBO transactions.

• Peter Hirshberg

  Peter has spent 30 years in high tech and luxury product marketing and most recently has served as Chief Marketing Officer and Chairman of the Executive Committe for Technorati. Peter was a key member of Apple's marketing team for nine years, including at the time of the Macintosh introduction in the early 1980s. Peter went on to develop and sell Elemental Software to Macromedia and then became the CEO of Gloss, a multi-brand ecommerce business co-owned by Estee Lauder Companies, Chanel and Clarins.

• Orlando Plunket Greene

  Orlando has spent 15 years working in the field of Internet communications. After a period at PR Week and Marketing Magazine, he joined web agency Corsellis-Montford in the mid 1990s and founded sister agency Zero Degrees where he developed some of the earliest viral marketing campaigns for clients, including Sony PlayStation and Levi Strauss. In 1997 he co-founded Infonic Ltd, which pioneered Internet research, monitoring and analysis. During his time at Infonic, he worked with a myriad of blue-chip multinational clients such as Unilever, Shell, Bayer and DaimlerChrysler, advising on issue, crisis and reputation management in the online environment.

• Giovanni Rodriguez

  Giovanni has spent 25 years working in corporate communications. Recently he served as a principal at Eastwick Communications, a leading Silicon Valley PR agency. Giovanni left Eastwick in 2006 in order to found Hubbub, a communications consultancy focused on the integration of PR and participatory media into the traditional marketing mix. Giovanni has merged Hubbub into The Conversation Group. Known for his work in positioning and introducing new technologies, he has consulted for a broad range of technology leaders including Fujitsu, SAP, HP, Business Objects, and VMware.

• Haydn Shaughnessy

  Haydn has spent twenty years at the forefront of innovation in communications. From the first electronic newsrooms for television, to social software development, citizen media projects, and a spell as a programme manager supervising EU investments in broadband apps, satellite communications, 3G, and audio-visual search engines, he has initiated, planned and managed multi-million dollar innovations in all forms of media for the public and private sectors. His clients have included the EU, Alcatel, Lufthansa, Volvo, The European Institute for the Media, and many more. One of the first journalists to blog, Haydn has written and produced for major press and TV channels (The Wall St Journal, The Times, The Irish Times, Channel 4, and the BBC) latterly interviewing and writing on global leaders in design and innovation as part of a global project documenting best practice innovation models.

• Ted Shelton

  Ted has spent the past 20 years working in the high tech industry, in product development, marketing and as a senior executive for both public and privately held companies. Before co-founding The Conversation Group, Shelton developed a new participatory media platform called The Personal Bee, which was acquired by Technorati in early 2007. Prior roles include Chief Strategy Officer of Borland Software and Senior VP of Sales and Marketing for early Internet pioneer, WhoWhere (acquired by Lycos).

• Chris Thomas

  Chris has spent over 10 years working in the field of communications research. Previous positions include founding consultant at Observer Group's global offerings division, and Head of Research at online intelligence pioneer Infonic. Chris' core expertise is the design and implementation of custom research programs, optimized for their contribution to effective strategic communications. He has deployed research projects to the benefit of a wide range of commercial and public sector organizations, across a spread of market sectors.

• Dr. Andreas S. Weigend

  Andreas is one of today's leading thinkers in consumer behavior and data strategy. As the former Chief Scientist of Amazon.com, he oversaw the development of an extensive customer information system that powers Amazon's recommendation engine and informs Amazon's corporate decision making. Andreas now teaches at Stanford (Data Mining and E-Business) and UC Berkeley (Marketing in Web 2.0 and The Social Data Revolution) and advises companies in his role as a partner at The Conversation Group. His experience with the world's largest firms and with most innovative startups provides him with unique and relevant perspectives on people and the data they create. Andreas lives in San Francisco, Shanghai, and on weigend.com.

• Denise Vardakas

  Denise has spent five years working in communications and marketing. Prior to joining The Conversation Group, she managed PR and new media campaigns for telecom, video, wireless and enterprise networking companies at Eastwick Communications, a leading Silicon Valley high-tech PR agency. Prior to that, Denise developed and managed regional marketing campaigns for businesses in the automotive, legal, and real estate industries.