Romancing Customers: Building Brand "ME"

THURSDAY AUGUST 25 th , 2005.

TIME: 6:15pm to 8:30pm

Location:  Metro Hall, Room 302

55 John Street,Toronto,ON

Meeting Fee: $10 to cover cost of refreshments

Great turn out (34) for this late summer event considering half the world seems to be on vacation!  Lots of new faces joined us as Rei Tanaka shared his story of how he helped Harlequin Books make the leap to an Marketing Driven organization.  Networking was so great after the event, it seemed like no one wanted to leave.  Metro Hall cleaning staff gave us the boot at 9:30pm at which point about 20 people spilled into the corridor and continued “buzzing with talk” like a beehive!  At last, 12 people needed to find a more comfortable place to continue discussions resulting in a short walk to a nearby patio where we chatted until almost midnight over cocktails.  Don't you just love warm summer nights?  Many thanks again to Rei for sahring his time and his story with us!  Need another copy of the workshop handout?

Agenda

1. Welcome. What's New and Business Review (10 minutes)

2. Round-table Introductions (20 minutes)

3. Professional Development Segment (60 minutes)

4. Free-form Networking and Refreshments (30 minutes)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEGMENT:

Making the Leap to a Marketing Driven Business

Speaker: Rei Tanaka , MBA, Former Executive VP, Harlequin Books, North America

Topic:

As a freelance consultant, "Free Agent", entrepreneur or even a huge corporation like Harlequin Books...How do you get the message out there that you exist? How do you brand yourself and your business to attract the right clients? How do you create "buzz" around what you do? This month's meeting & workshop will focus on just this. Rei Tanaka, former President of Harlequin Books tells his story of how he and his team revived a dying business in North America and built a new one on the other side of the world through effective branding and marketing strategies.

Think you are in the business of simply delivering your area expertise? Discover how you must be a strategic marketer as well! Rei's story and some self-discovery exercises are part of this workshop.

Speaker Profile:

Rei Tanaka is an accomplished business leader who has held senior executive positions with numerous icons such as Harlequin Books, Ben & Jerry's, Marvel Entertainment, KPMG and Molson. He has combined 15+ years as a corporate entrepreneur and operating executive with 10+ years as a general management and strategic marketing consultant in the B2B and B2C sectors. Rei specializes in the development, marketing and sale of publishing, entertainment, media and communications related intellectual property and their expansion into new media in Canada, the U.S. and Japan