Scott Bedbury

Scott Bedbury
Born	Scott A. Bedbury (1957-10-03) October 3, 1957 Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Oregon
Occupation	Global Branding Consultant
Website	Brandstream

Scott A. Bedbury (born October 3, 1957) is an American branding consultant. He is CEO of Brandstream, a global branding firm with offices in the Seattle, Washington area and Co-Founder and Chairman of Upstream Research, a disruptive analytics startup.^[1] He is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking work as Nike Advertising Director (1987–94) including the launch of the “Just Do It” campaign and for serving as Starbucks' Chief Marketing Officer (1995–98) during its formative years.

Early career and education

In 1980, Bedbury graduated from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. The University of Oregon Alumni Association named him Outstanding Young Alumnus in 1997.^[2]

Nike

Bedbury began his nearly seven-year career with Nike in 1987 as Worldwide Advertising Director. He worked closely with CEO Phil Knight to transform the company from exclusive sports products for elite athletes to an inclusive company catering to everyone’s inner athlete.^[3]

In 1988, Bedbury and Nike agency Wieden & Kennedy launched “Just Do It," a global campaign that helped move the company from distant third to number one.^[4] The “Just Do It” campaign opened up the access point to the brand and made it more ageless, more relevant and more multi-cultural."^[5] In 1989, Bedbury’s work with the Nike-Women’s Fitness Campaign diversified the audience further, "repositioning Nike as a meaningful brand to women."^[6] Nike won the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) Kelly Award for best print ad in 1989, 1991 and 1992.^[7] Nike also won the USA Today Ad Meter award for best commercial with its first ever Super Bowl spot, "Announcers", in 1990.^[8]

Starbucks

When Bedbury joined Starbucks as its Chief Marketing Officer in 1995, it was a regional coffee company based in Seattle, WA.^[3] Bedbury and CEO Howard Schultz worked to transform the company into a global brand where coffee would mean something more than a daily routine.^[3] In his first year, Bedbury helped launch Frappuccino and open Starbucks' first international stores in Japan.^[4] Bedbury worked with former Nike and Starbucks insights director, Jerome Conlon, to create the "Third Place" positioning, which is described as, "not home (1st place) or work (2nd place) it’s somewhere in between, a public hang out."^[9]

Brandstream

Bedbury left Starbucks in 1998 and started his own branding consulting firm, Brandstream.^[10] In his position as CEO, he began work with national and international clients such as P&G, Coca-Cola, Google, Corona, NASA, Facebook, Visa, Starwood Hotels, T-mobile, Volkswagen AG, Mars, the Obama Administration and Airbnb.^[11] As of 2014, Bedbury had helped more than 30 Fortune 500 companies and was working on three startups "one that could be huge."^[12]

Between 2011 and 2013, Bedbury served as advisor to Airbnb CEO, Brian Chesky. Bedbury and his team helped Airbnb define its vision, values, and positioning. In 2011, Airbnb was valued at $1.2 billion. Today, Airbnb is valued at more than $26 billion US with more than one million listings across 191 countries.

Accolades

In addition to his branding clients, Bedbury speaks at conferences, events, and universities and has been represented by speakers bureaus around the world such as Speak Inc,^[13] Keynote Speakers,^[14] Robinson Speakers,^[15] PSFK.^[16] He has been a keynote speaker in more than 20 countries.

In 2012, Advertising Age ranked Bedbury among Steve Jobs, Larry Light, and Andrea Alstrup in the top ten clients bringing “guts and innovation to the business” .^[17]

Bedbury published his first book, A New Brand World, in 2002. It serves as a guideline for those just beginning branding or those whom have been in the industry for decades.^[18]

References