K.
Robert Hoskins
Gilbert,
AZ 85234
(480) 218-4441 or rhoskins@bbwexchange.com
Career Objective: Find companies that need a seasoned team leader to help them build a portfolio of marketing programs to increase visibility and create brand share awareness for their company’s products and services. I am an expert in implementing fully integrated marketing communications programs that use a mix of public relations (media and community relations), advertising campaigns, event marketing/trade show event management, designing marketing literature and product packaging, website creation, content development, Internet marketing and search engine optimization programs to increase sales and add dollars to the bottom line. My marketing programs typically produce a 300-500% return on investment.
Professional Experience
Editor & Publisher/Broadband Wireless Exchange 1/01 - Present
Broadband Wireless Exchange Magazine (BWE) was a startup
company in 2001 and needed a full web portal and marketing program built
from scratch. Working with a group of leading web developers, database personnel and
news processors, the BWE team has developed the largest information portal of
information on how to build broadband wireless networks in the world.
Our team successfully manages a web presence and marketing machine that
reaches over 1.2 million unique readers per year in 71 different countries
around the world.
BWE's purpose is to educate individuals and businesses
on how to build broadband wireless networks such as wireless Internet Service Providers
(WISPs), WiMAX systems (coming soon), Wi-Fi Hotspots as well as neighborhood wireless networks that can effectively
bring broadband Internet connections to any neighborhood that is currently
underserved by traditional broadband Internet service providers. BWE provides
a complete repository of information that includes everything needed from A-Z
to plan, fund, build and manage a successful broadband wireless network.
See
Building Broadband Wireless Networks for more
information.
BWE began with one publication, but has now grown to a portfolio of 18 online
magazines - all related to the broadband wireless industry. ·
Built a tradeshow marketing program that generated over 200,000 new subscriptions.
·
Built a media relations program that resulted in hundreds of
thousand of dollars in free media exposure and significantly raised the
awareness of wireless ISP, Wi-Fi Hotspots and WiMAX technologies.
·
Built online newsletters, news feeds, and RSS feeds that increased
subscriber base and readership.
·
Developed search engine optimization program for news on Alternative
Energy, Bluetooth, Cable Broadband, DSL Broadband, Free Space Optics, Mesh
Networks, OFDM, RFID, RSS, Satellites, Ultrawideband, VoIP, Wi-Fi
Hotspots, WiMAX, Wireless ISP and related industries.
·
Created and managed all online adverting and banner ad sales
programs.
·
Developed #1 source for broadband wireless business leads
worldwide.
·
Created the world’s largest source of tutorials and training
programs for new wireless ISPs and Wi-Fi Hotspots.
·
Built an online affiliate program and an ecommerce site for
broadband wireless equipment.
·
Established one of the first sources of market research for the
broadband wireless industry.
President/CEO/Front Page Public Relations
8/95 - Present
Front Page Public Relations was a full service public relations firm that
specialized in serving high technology clients in the fields of Internet, data
and telecommunications. The telecom crash hindered the firm's
ability to find new clients.
·
Managed business development, annual budget and P&L
responsibility ·
Drove the launch and sales of new products and services into
marketplace, including planning, competitive evaluations, market research, and
contract negotiations. ·
Managed the public image aspects of clients, including corporate
communications, public relations, and advertising ·
Facilitated the development of collateral materials, market
research, and client presentations ·
Managed 4 high-technology media relations team members Director, Corporate Communications/Sprint Broadband Wireless Group
9/99 - 8/00
Sprint Broadband Wireless Group (BWG) was a new division comprised of
six former companies that owned MMDS wireless spectrum
licenses in 90 markets, reaching over 30 million households across the US,
which were all bought out by Sprint for $1.2 billion.
SpeedChoice, mentioned below, was one of the acquired companies.
Out of the 6 companies, I was named Director of Corp. Communications and
tasked with the responsibility of planning and coordinating the public relations
campaign that introduced Sprint's newest division to the broadband wireless marketplace.
BWG sold a revolutionary two-way, high-speed wireless Internet service
that competed directly with other broadband services such as Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL) and Cable Modems. ·
Created a successful media relations department from scratch.
Secured over $1.4 million worth of positive publicity for Sprint BWG during
the first 6 months of operation in 2000. Sprint decided to suspend operations
and the business unit was slowly phased out. ·
Responsible for product launch and roll outs in 22 markets across
the United States in 2000. ·
Supported Tim Sutton, president of Sprint’s Broadband Wireless
Group, and his direct reports. Director, Media Relations/SpeedChoice (bought out by Sprint)
2/99 - 9/99 SpeedChoice was a high-speed wireless Internet access and
cable television provider. The
company owned MMDS licenses in 10 major metropolitan markets bypassing 11.1
million potential residential and 592,000 business customers. SpeedChoice sold the very first, broadband wireless
Internet service that allowed the company to completely bypass the local
telephone company and provide Internet, data, video and music services
using a 100% broadband wireless network. ·
Built a successful media relations program that gained national
exposure for SpeedChoice. The publicity campaign effectively positioned
SpeedChoice as the first Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) in the
United States to provide high-speed Internet service via broadband wireless
technology. Broadband wireless signals were recognized as the first true
contender for completely bypassing the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). ·
Obtained over $1.2 million worth of credible exposure and gained
32 million gross impressions in less than 5 months on a shoestring budget ·
The media exposure helped the company grow from a market
capitalization of $20 million to over $125 million in less than 2 months and
attracted a major telecom buyer (Sprint) ·
Reported directly to SpeedChoice's CEO and supported all top
SpeedChoice executives Senior Manager Media Relations/Cable & Wireless USA
9/98 - 11/98 Cable & Wireless was a $28 billion public corporation
that sold data and telecommunications products and services on a global basis.
My team managed the media relations for the transition of MCI’s
Internet division into C&W's organization. ·
Supported CW USA's CEO, and the presidents of both the Internet
Consumer and Internet Business Divisions ·
Built a media relations program that successfully introduced
C&W executives to the media and industry analysts ·
Launched C&W's consumer and business Internet offerings Media Relations Manager/MCI Communications Corp.
4/96 - 9/98 MCI was a $22 billion public corporation that sold data
and telecommunications products and services on a global basis.
My team managed the media relations for MCI’s organization of 20,000
engineers in networkMCI Services and MCI Engineering ¾
the divisions that planned, developed, built and managed MCI’s
telecommunications, data communications and Internet networks, including IP,
ATM, Frame Relay and SMDS transport services. ·
Directly supported MCI’s highest-ranking network and information
technology engineering executives, including John Gerdelman, president, and
Lance Boxer, CIO, of networkMCI Services and Fred Briggs, chief technology
officer of MCI Engineering ·
Built a high-tech media relations program that positioned MCI as a
leading provider of leading edge technologies to customers in the
telecommunications and data communications industry.
This program increased the number of MCI feature articles appearing in
run-of-book by 110% in 1996 and 111% in 1997. (1995 - 96, 1996 – 202, 1997 –
494, mid-98 - 187) ·
Secured more than 880 positive technology stories in over 70
leading national and business publications that delivered over 440 million
impressions that equated to over $17.5 million worth of positive, credible
exposure ¾
a 600% return on investment using a budget of $1.5 million ·
Researched, positioned and successfully delivered numerous
high-technology media pitches on sonet rings, optical cross connects, wave
division multiplexing, xDSL, IT, mainframes, data centers, network management,
managed services, application development, data warehousing, fraud detection,
Internet, intranet, Voice-over-IP, call centers and many other technologies ·
Planned, organized and managed numerous successful domestic and
global media events and press conferences including corporate jet press trips to
various MCI facilities around the world Product
Marketing Manager/Optical Data Systems, Inc.
10/94 - 4/96 Optical Data
Systems, Inc. was a $100 million publicly held company that manufactured and
OEMs networking hardware for Ethernet, Token Ring, Fiber Distributed Data
Interface (FDDI) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks.
Primary sales channels were direct in the United States and through
manufacturer’s reps and large integrators in international markets. ·
Responsible for marketing budget of approximately $1 million and a
staff of 5, including a desktop publisher, a copywriter, a trade show
coordinator and an Internet webmaster ·
Supervised the management and coordination of marketing’s
activities with outside OEM marketing partners like Cisco, Fore, IBM, Plaintree,
Xylogics, Zylan and others to plan product rollouts including the production,
printing and dissemination of white papers written in conjunction with
engineering, product spec sheets for our sales force, press releases and media
campaigns for the press, trade show planning, lead tracking and other ROI
information for the CFO, plus post-campaign evaluations to measure our success
or point out any areas for improvement ·
Duties included working with industry analysts to research,
evaluate and position our product lines in the various channels; researching
developing industry trends and technologies; compiling product specs and pricing
information on our competition’s products ·
Other responsibilities included contract supervision for all
vendors involved with advertising creative copy/design, printing, media
planning, public relations, trade show events, direct mail, fax back systems and
other related marketing programs Marketing
Communications Manager/STB Systems, Inc.
10/92 - 10/94 STB
was a $120 million publicly owned manufacturer of video cards for personal
computers. STB sold video
accelerator cards to major OEMs, distributors, VARs, systems integrators and
large retail locations in domestic and international markets. ·
Managed their public relations, advertising campaigns and other
marketing programs. When I joined
STB, the company produced approximately $20 million a year in gross revenue and
had no marketing programs in place. ·
Researched, planned and implemented integrated public relations,
advertising, direct mail and trade show programs to position and promote STB as
a premiere video card company. My
team included a copy writer, a desktop publisher and a marketing engineer. ·
The literature we produced and the distribution system we put
together netted STB a 600% return on STB’s investment.
Our public relations program netted over $315,000 worth of free press
coverage, measured in black & white space; our advertising programs brought
in over 17,000 leads; and, using direct mail campaigns, we were able to increase
our trade show booth traffic over 200%. All
of these programs made big contributions to STB’s bottom line.
In tandem with a highly motivated sales force, STB went from a $20
million company in 1992 to over a $100 million company by 1994, less than two
years. This progress was even more
evident when STB took their company public in February 1995 and raised over $9
million dollars in investment capital. Media
Planner/Temerlin McClain Advertising Agency
10/89 - 10/92 Formerly
Bozell & Jacobs, Temerlin McClain was a $500 million advertising agency with
a long list of high profile clients including American Airlines, NationsBank,
Long John Silvers, The Dial Corporation, etc.
I was a member of the business-to-business, High-Tech Media Planning
Group. ·
Researched, evaluated, planned and purchased media for over 120
advertising campaigns for twenty different high-tech accounts including: Texas
Instruments, Bell Helicopter, Rockwell International, Halliburton, Mobilecomm,
Frito-Lay, Azrock, Magnetek, Nissan trucks and others. ·
Worked closely with top company executives to define target
audiences, determine advertising objectives and strategies, identify the correct
of media mix and help craft the creative message for the correct target
audience. ·
Put together advertising campaigns that effectively reached the
federal government, the department of defense, government contractors,
business-to-business accounts, large integrators and resellers as well as
end-users who bought products from retail locations. Education B.A., Advertising ¾
Texas Tech University ¾
Lubbock, Texas - 1989 Double Minor in
Spanish and Marketing International
studies in Mexican business ¾
Universidad de San Luís Potosí, Mexico – 1988
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