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Who: Tom Gerace, Founder and CEO of Gather.com and Skyword Inc.
What He Did:
Before founding Gather.com and Skyword Inc., Gerace was Founder and CEO of Be Free, a successful online marketing services company and was awarded two US patents for profiling web users and creating targeted advertising around that data. Previous to leading Be Free, Gerace was a senior business analyst at Harvard Business School, having graduated from Harvard University in 1993.
What He Said:
“Today, brands are increasingly focused on providing the information their customers need in brand-aligned areas (for example, P&G’s Pampers brand provides content on baby names, breast feeding, fertility, etc). This information allows them to reach their customers via natural search, build trust relationships with them, and engage them over time.”
“Brands are paying significant attention to what topics customers are searching for, what specific topics are trending within that information set and what specific questions people have regarding the information they are seeking.”
“In the 1950s, brands created the content directly for consumers (like P&G’s Ivory Soap created the soap opera). Since then, the model shifted to network-created content and brands reaching consumers solely through advertising. The pendulum is now shifting back to brands actually creating the content.”
What His Company Does:
“Skyword Inc. provides; demand forecasting for information in any topical area, author recruitment and management for writers with specific domain expertise and an authoring and editing platform that makes content creation efficient. Skyword Inc. also provides a seamless process for placing that content on a brand’s site, tracking and analyzing it’s performance, and optimizing content creation over time”.
Clients include major retail brands such as Pamper’s and leading media companies like Daily Glow. Gather.com, owned by Skyword Inc., is a demand-driven news site reaching 6 million readers per month. Skyword Inc. creates content that aligns with consumer searches, giving top brands access to already engaged consumers.
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