John Bell

A New Approach to Digital Marketing
My job is to take the latest in digital innovations and apply it to our business. Call it applied innovation. I have been designing solutions in digital marketing and social media for more than 20 years. Lately, my sights are set on evolving how major brands go beyond digital or social as channels or platforms to make them central disciplines to all marketing and communications.

Travelers

I head up Enterprise Digital Marketing at Travelers. Just as Travelers anticipates the needs of personal and business insurance customers in an ever-changing world, we approach marketing differently. The customer journey has changed. To meet these new behaviors, we put data-driven content, digital marketing and social engagement at the heart of marketing.

Social@Ogilvy

Previously, I developed, grew and ran Ogilvy’s global, social media solutions practice – Social@Ogilvy. The world’s largest network of social media and business strategists, the team believes in the power and impact of truly integrated social media business solutions.

I have developed and executed digital marketing and social media strategy for the Ford Motor Company, Nestle, IBM, Coca Cola, and DuPont - including work winning a Silver Lion at Cannes. I launched a single brand Facebook initiative in 20+ countries, helped telcos in Australia and Greece adopt social care and marketing and consulted with consumer goods marketers in Turkey.

Discovery Communications

Discovery Channel was one of the first media properties to really experiment with the Web. I was brought in as Creative Director to transform a single Web site into a network of 14 Web properties known as Discovery.com.

AT&T, Viacom & Media Circus

The first wave of innovation was Interactive Television (iTV) in 1990. I headed up the Visual Design Studio at Downtown Digital, a joint venture between Viacom and AT&T to create the most futuristic vision of interactive television anyone could imagine. I created programming for kids, gamers, and fully interactive applications for Paramount Studios and Entertainment Tonight. This model of set-top box delivered interactivity remains a vision for all iTV innovation.

School

I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in European history and spent a lot of time at the Annenberg School of Communications