Larry Weber
Encyclopedia
Larry Weber 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. W2 Group includes Digital Influence Group, a social media marketing agency, Racepoint Group, a global public relations agency, and Two Martinis.
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).
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. 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.
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, 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 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. 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.
of LinkedIn, George Colony of Forrester Research
, Beth Comstock of General Electric, Rick Wion of McDonald's
, Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company
, Jeffrey Hayzlett, formerly with the Eastman Kodak
Company and Brian Kenny of Harvard Business School
.
In 2001 Weber founded Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a public relations firm.-History:Weber Shandwick is a formation of three previous companies:*The Weber Group - Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1987, leveraging emerging technologies such as the mobile phone and the internet into the world of communications, which made the company a...
, 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
Council on Competitiveness
The Council on Competitiveness is an American non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. The Council’s goal is to increase the United States' economic competitiveness in the global marketplace...
, 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).
Career
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
Interpublic Group of Companies
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. is one of the "big four" global advertising holding companies . Headquartered in New York City, it has 41,000 employees and reported full−year revenues of US$6.5 billion for 2010...
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. 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
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
, SAP AG
SAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
, General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
, Genzyme
Genzyme
Genzyme Corporation is a fully owned subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis. Before its acquisition, Genzyme was an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2010, Genzyme was the world’s third-largest biotechnology company, employing more than 11,000 people around the world...
, Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
, General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, and many more. He has also led the marketing of new and disruptive technologies
Disruptive technology
A disruptive technology or disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually goes on to disrupt an existing market and value network , displacing an earlier technology there...
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.
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, 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
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Babson College 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. 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
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
.
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.
Books
- The Provocateur (2002)
- Marketing to the Social Web (2007)
- Marketing to the Social Web, Second Edition (2009); Foreword by WikipediaWikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
founder Jimmy WalesJimmy WalesJimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
and communications consultant Andrea Weckerle - Sticks & Stones (2009)
- Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era (2011)
Market Edge with Larry Weber
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 HoffmanReid Hoffman
Reid G. Hoffman is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Hoffman is best known as the co-founder of LinkedIn, a social network used primarily for business connections and job searching.-Early education and career:...
of LinkedIn, George Colony of Forrester Research
Forrester Research
Forrester Research is an independent technology and market research company that provides its clients with advice about technology's impact on business and consumers. Forrester Research has five research centers in the US: Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York, New York; San Francisco, California;...
, Beth Comstock of General Electric, Rick Wion of McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
, Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, Jeffrey Hayzlett, formerly with the Eastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
Company and Brian Kenny of Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
.