Steve Rosenbaum
President and CEO
Steve co-founded Pop Art in 1997, and currently serves as President and CEO. Since the company’s inception, he has been the chief visionary behind the Pop Art® brand and has grown the business into one of the fastest growing marketing and technology firms in Oregon. Steve sets Pop Art’s strategic direction, helping to create an organization that is highly creative and consultative, yet also able to get work done reliability, efficiently and with flexibility.
Steve is passionate about the interactive marketing industry and collaborating with Pop Art clients on their marketing strategies. He takes pride in the success and growth of Pop Art’s clients and employees.
Steve is active in the business, technology, political, and non-profit groups. He is also an avid fan of the Portland Trailblazers.
Value is not created until it is communicated.
Education
BA in History, Minor in Economics from Stanford University
Community Involvement
- Chess For Success (Board Member)
- Software Association of Oregon (Board Member; Marketing Chair)
- Tech America: Oregon Council (Executive Committee)
- City Club of Portland (Board of Governors)
- Bus Project (Finance Committee)
- Social Venture Partners
- Portland Advertising Federation
Other Interests
- Hiking
- Camping
- Basketball
- Tennis
- Science Fiction Books & Films
Favorite Movie
Recommended Books
Networks
Posts by Steve Rosenbaum
B2B iPAD Apps: Trends and Tips for Successful Projects
I’ve been impressed with how many CEOs, CMOs and CIOs became early adopters of the iPad. Here are some things I am hearing from the C-Suite: I use the iPad for remote desktop access. It is lighter and has better battery life than a notebook. We are designing product demos on tablet computers for our sales staff to [...]
iPhones are now “Officialy uncool”: Why I bought one, why I love it, predictions on Android v. iOS
Author’s note: I activated my new iPhone4 this week. Why I needed a new iPhone: My Microsoft Windows Smart Phone was over 3 years old, and I desperately needed a new one. I wanted to quickly surf the Net from any location. Lots of girls only date guys with iPhones – the iPhone shows that you are both smart and [...]
The Pepsi Strain: Viral Cause Marketing with Social Media gone Amok:
In Michael Crichton’s 1969 techno-thriller The Andromeda Strain, an extraterrestrial microbe infects humans, spreads rapidly and leads to insanity, suicide and murder. Pepsi’s current viral cause marketing campaign “Refresh Everything” is causing similar problems. No, not really, it is just annoying me a little bit while I simultaneously admire its brilliance. How it works: Six months ago, Pepsi [...]
Trip Reports: Best Practices, including the need for Dual Avatars
I’m sorry it has taken me so long for me to post my photos on Facebook and to create my trip reports from my vacation three weeks ago. The good news is that my personal photos from the trip are now published on Facebook; I have posted some restaurant and hotel reviews on TripAdvisor; [...]
Insights into Consumer Psychology: Help! I Can’t Decide Which Computer To Buy
I want to buy laptop or netbook ASAP. I have been researching for months. I want something lightweight and inexpensive. Here’s my short list: Do nothing. keep using my good old Dell Latitude 410 with the awesome, new 9-cell battery I bought myself for the new year. Go buy an iPad $500 – $1,000. Buy an Acer netbook [...]
What You Can Learn About Sales and Marketing From A Timeshare Presentation
Two weeks ago, I attended my first timeshare presentation while I was vacationing on Maui. I wondered whether the presentation would be like the South Park timeshare episode with low brow salespeople and unending presentations. I didn’t really care. All I knew was that I was going to get hotel points worth $200 in exchange for [...]
The Jargon Problem @ Interactive Agencies
This blog post was originally published as the feature story in the Portland Advertising Federation VOX Newsletter on 11/3/2009. Given the current economy, we took it very seriously when a prospective client accused us last week of using too much marketing jargon in our sales pitch. Given a tough problem, we immediately did what any great agency [...]
Interactive Shopping: Nordstrom’s 2: Macy’s 2
Interactive Shopping, Social Media and Customer Service — these topics are closely related, because the most critical elements of success for a brand are: Relevance: Do you matter to your customers? Can your product or service create superior value for them? Engagement: Do you reach out to your customer? Do you have methods and platforms for marketing, [...]
Use Loyalty Programs to improve your Net Promoter Score
The Net Promoter score is very popular in business and marketing circles these days. Proponents of the Net Promoter scores claim that it is a better metric than customer satisfaction. The thesis is that satisfied customers aren’t good enough. In an increasingly networked world, you need customers who are brand evangelists – customers who refer their [...]
Interactive Shopping: Nordstrom’s 1: Macy’s 0.
At Pop Art, we preach that “Interactive” and “Online” are not synonyms! Companies should invest in making their brands and customer relationships more interactive — this means interacting better with your customers, both online and in-person. Based upon my experiences in the past 24 hours, I think Nordstrom’s gets it, but Macy’s doesn’t. Yesterday, I was [...]
CMO Leadership: Putting your agencies to work for you!
As an interactive agency, Pop Art works with many other agencies. Sometimes we are agency-of-record for a client, but most often, our clients employ 2, 3 or sometimes dozens of marketing agencies and consultants, and we are just some of the actors on the stage. Having multiple agencies can be very expensive because of the necessary [...]
Earning Mindshare for your Brand
Will you recognize me? Call my name or walk on by? One of your biggest problems is earning mindshare from your customers. As I like to remind salespeople, “Billions of potential customers don’t even know that your company and its products exist!” And those that know about you, aren’t necessarily thinking about you, or thinking [...]
Mozilla’s “Ubiquity”: User-Generated Mash-Ups and the Semantic Web
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo. Here is a neat little video on Mozilla’s new Firefox extension: Ubiquity. Some of the future digital trends it highlights, include: User-generated Mash-Ups: Allowing users (not just developers) to quickly combine information and services from multiple sources. The Semantic Web: Allowing machines to understand language to better understand human requests. The value [...]
How Trade Associations Facilitate Innovation
There was a great article called “Innovating Through Design” in the Dec. 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review. The article explored how informal collaboration amongst design professionals in Lombardy, Italy, produces incredible innovation in product design. The Lombardy firms’ R&D operation, for the most part, can be found neither inside the companies nor in interactions [...]
Why Clients and Agencies Need to Take a Holistic Approach to E-Business
The most successful e-business implementations excel, not just by being great in one area, but by being good in all areas and great in some areas. Critical E-Business Success Factors Clear business vision and measurable goals A marketing plan that drives your campaigns and programs Scalable and diversified advertising channels A technology framework that is secure, reliable, [...]
10 Years Ago
Ever since Pop Art’s first year in business (1997-1998), I have held onto a magazine advertising insert published in the March, 1998 version of Wired Magazine. The piece is the “Encyclopedia of the New Economy” written by Browning and Reiss and published by Wired and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). The “encyclopedia” is loaded with exuberant consultant-speak, [...]
Every Blog has a Beginning
I run an interactive marketing consultancy. I have advised our clients on their blog strategies – finally, I am heeding my own advice and doing the blog thing. This blog will house some of my thoughts on business, society, information design and the interactive marketing industry. Recently, we had some great conversations at Pop Art about what [...]
