Lee Bush, assistant professor of communications, was invited to be speaker for the Oct. 9 meeting of the Tar Heel Chapter meeting of the Public Relations Society of America. Her topic, “Mass Participation: Engaging your audience in a dialogue with your brand,” invites the audience to learn more about “human exchange” marketing and how organizations can build brand loyalty and relationships by providing a forum for customers to engage in things that matter the most to them. A primary means for doing this is through conversational marketing, — providing a place where customers can exchange ideas and information with you and with each other. This requires a new kind of corporate thinking — thinking from the outside in, rather than from the top down — as well as a willingness to embrace risk.
Bush is former senior vice president and head of the brand marketing group for Ketchum in Chicago, and former senior vice president for Ogilvy PR in Chicago and London.