New CEO Blog From M/A/R/C
09/13/2006
A long over due "welcome to the blogosphere" to Merrill Dubrow, CEO & President of M/A/R/C Research. M/A/R/C Research, a part of Omni com Group Inc., is one of the top marketing research firms in the U.S. Merrill joins an elite group of senior-level researchers who are blogging: Laurent Flores, Jim Nail, Max Karloff to name a few.
Sidebar: You may know Omni Group, Inc. through some of its other portfolio companies such as global advertising brands BBDO Worldwide, DDB Worldwide or TBWA Worldwide.
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Merrill Dubrow Blog holds a special bloggy place in the blogs that I helped launched. You just never know where your friends will land as they forge their career paths. Merrill and I were AMA Chapter presidents at the same time. He was in Boston and I was in Atlanta. In one of his first blog posts Merrill tries to bring past AMA presidents together. A nice use of social media.
Last March I had the pleasure of spending the day with Merrill and his team in Dallas discussing social media. Some people just intuitively "get" blogs and social media. The M/A/R/C team including Joan Treistman (NYC past AMA president), Randall A. Wahl and Kevin Robertson were spinning ideas as fast as we could write them down.
And Merrill. As I told Merrill, some people are born to blog and Merrill is one. Sure he's still finding his blog "voice" .. so I ask you to cut him some slack. What will you find on The Merrill Dubrow Blog? A mixture of personal, opinion, thought leadership and teachings about an industry he clearly loves .. marketing research. And the Red Sox. What would you expect from a guy from Boston?
I was able to catch-up with Merrill for a mini interview where he explains the back-story of why M/A/R/C launched a CEO blog.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why did M/A/R/C decide to blog?
Merrill Dubrow: A few reasons – need to communicate in lots of different ways these days. Blogs are just another way. Wanted to get postings out there to try and stimulate dialog with industry contacts and frankly I think I can learn a great deal in the process. As I mentioned I am NOT sure where they are headed but I wanted to make sure we were on the wave and lets see where it takes us.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Many CEOs are fearful of the blogosphere. They think the competition will discover their company's trade secrets, they think that negative comments will harm the brand and they feel they don't have the time to blog. How would you respond?
Merrill Dubrow: Clearly I am not going to talk about company revenues and profit BUT pretty much everything else is fair game. I believe in the more you put into things the more you get out. When I present at conference I am very open – just ask anyone who has heard me. In fact most times I am the highest rated speaker because one of the main reasons is because I am honest.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Level with me Merrill. You're among friends. Are you really writing the blog yourself?
Merrill Dubrow: I write like I talk and present – I have been told I will be a good blogger ... I HAVE WRITTEN ALL OF THE POSTINGS SO FAR AND DOUBT THAT WILL EVER CHANGE ... If I didn’t they would all be about research.
Debbie Weil .. here's a CEO blog to add to your next book about c-level blogging!
