| Larry Weber | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 7, 1955 Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Occupation | Chairman of W2 Group Digital Influence Group Racepoint Group Two Martinis |
| Notable work(s) |
The Provocateur (2002), Marketing to the Social Web (2007), Sticks & Stones (2009), "Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era" (2011) |
Larry Weber (born July 7, 1955) is an American entrepreneur and globally known expert in public relations and marketing services. He is founder and chairman of W2 Group, a marketing services ecosystem organized to help chief marketing officers in their new role as builders of communities and content aggregators.[1] W2 Group includes Digital Influence Group, a social media marketing agency, Racepoint Group, a global public relations agency, and Two Martinis.[2]
In 2001 Weber founded Weber Shandwick, one of the largest public relations agencies in the world. He also co-founded the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange(MITX), the largest interactive advocacy organization in the world. Weber is Chair of the MITX Board of Directors and serves on the Executive Committee of the Council on Competitiveness, a non-governmental organization working to ensure U.S. economic prosperity.
Weber is the author of four books on business and marketing – The Provocateur: How a New Generation of Leaders are Building Communities, Not Just Companies (2002), Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business (1st ed. 2007, 2nd ed. 2009),Sticks & Stones: How Digital Business Reputations are Built Over Time and Lost in a Click (2009), and Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era (2011).
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Weber started his own public relations company, The Weber Group, in 1987 and shortly after launched Thunder House, one of the first interactive marketing firms. The Weber Group was unique in its focus on technology and its location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an area soon to become the interactive capital of the world. Within ten years, The Weber Group was the world’s largest and most established technology public relations firm.
The Interpublic Group of Companies purchased The Weber Group in late 1996, and in early 2000, Weber was named chairman and CEO of Interpublic’s Advanced Marketing Services group, a $3 billion unit including the company’s public relations, research and analysis, and entertainment holdings. In the summer of 2001, Weber engineered the merger of Weber Shandwick Worldwide and BSMG Worldwide to form the world’s largest public relations firm.[3] In early 2004, he decided to return to his entrepreneurial roots and became chairman and founder of W2 Group, Inc.
Over his thirty year career, Weber has counseled many of the world’s leading brands on marketing and business strategy including AOL, SAP AG, General Electric, Genzyme, Siemens, Pfizer, General Motors, and many more. He has also led the marketing of new and disruptive technologies such as HTML and the XO laptop by One Laptop per Child, a nonprofit whose mission is to bring access to a modern education to children in poor countries.[4]
Weber has served on a number of boards of corporations and non profit organizations. Currently, he is the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX), the largest interactive advocacy organization in the world. He is also on the Executive Committee of the Council on Competitiveness, a non-governmental organization made up of CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders working to ensure U.S. economic prosperity. He also sits on the boards of Vertro, the Social Media Advertising Council,[5] and the Home for Little Wanderers. Weber is heavily involved with academic institutions that are at the forefront of technology, entrepreneurship, and media including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University, Babson College[6] and the University of Southern California. He has spoken at leading industry conferences such as the BIO International Convention and the Online Publishers Association, and at numerous venture conferences and executive summits in a broad range of industries on the future of marketing, the social web and building communities online. Weber also hosts an Internet radio show, Market Edge with Larry Weber on WebmasterRadio.fm in which he discusses with guests the future of marketing, media and technology.[7] His dozens of guests have included Charlie Baker, President and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care; Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer of General Electric; and Steve Bratt, CEO of the World Wide Web Consortium.
Weber’s first book, The Provocateur: How a New Generation of Leaders Are Building Communities, Not Just Companies, was published by Random House/Crown Business in January 2002. His second book, Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business, was first published in June 2007 by Wiley & Sons, with a second edition in February 2009. Weber’s third book, Sticks & Stones: How Digital Reputations are Earned over Time…and Lost in a Click, was published in July 2009. Weber's fourth book, "Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era", was published in March 2011 by Wiley & Sons.
In January 2008, Weber launched Internet radio show Market Edge with Larry Weber on WebmasterRadio.fm. For more than three years, Weber interviewed analysts, entrepreneurs, business leaders and technologists that were making advancements and innovations in marketing. Past guests have included Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn, George Colony of Forrester Research, Beth Comstock of General Electric, Rick Wion of McDonald's, Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company, Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, formerly with the Eastman Kodak Company and Brian Kenny of Harvard Business School.