Justin Foster is a Brand Strategist based in Boise, ID. Over the past 20 years, he has co-founded two marketing/branding firms, plus worked in sales and marketing for both small businesses and large corporations.  He has conducted over 300 workshops and seminars - including as far away as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  In addition to his expertise in strategic branding, Justin consults, speaks, and writes on the impact of generational and cultural shifts - especially related to the influence of Gen Y, social media, and technology.  His first book, “Oatmeal v Bacon: How to Differentiate in a Generic World” was published in May 2011. Outside of work, Justin is a husband, father, football geek, Texas music aficionado, a shrinking former fat guy, and an avid student of everything.

EXPERTISE

As a Brand Strategist, Justin works with high integrity organizations that want to create or maintain a meaningful, relevant presence in the marketplace. His work focuses on internal culture, differentiation, messaging, and business development planning. While his work is quite broad, he specializes in helping established brands regenerate by attracting younger audiences.

Justin typically works with organizations that are:

•  Aging brands that need a fresh re-introduction to the marketplace.
•  Established brands dealing with disrupted business models or industries.
•  Start-ups trying to take that next step in brand maturity.

In every case, his purpose is to help brands reach their highest potential by being simple, believable, and disruptive.  By serving at the strategic level, Justin also brings in-depth knowledge and expertise to both modern and traditional marketing methodologies. 

 

EXPERIENCE

Tricycle Branding – Founder & President     01/08 – 01/11

Justin and his worked with high integrity organizations to leverage their true differentiators to create a relevant, meaningful presence in the marketplace. Working directly with ownership/executive teams, Justin developed strategies for: over-all branding, go-to-market, brand evangelism, internal audiences, and much more.

BlueLine Grassroots Marketing – Co-Founder/CMO     04/04 – 12/07

BlueLine was one of the first grassroots marketing consultancies in the Western US.  An early advocate of social media, our firm focused on growing brands through non-traditional marketing methods.  Justin’s primary role was marketing the firm while providing strategic council to BlueLine’s clients.

Bandag/QDS – VP of Software Sales     10/01 – 12/03

Justin served as VP of Sales for Bandag’s software division, QDS.  This involved managing a team over 20 sales people, while also managing a sales territory.  This role involved closing multi-million dollar, complex deals with tech-adverse audiences.

SKILLS

Brand Strategy Consulting

Develop end-to-end branding strategies that connect your audience with your strategic purpose, determine the right communication tools and establish measurable results. This process ensures discipline, focus and accountability in the branding process.

Brand Assessments

An extensive collection benchmarking tools covering over 30 areas of your brand – including a “Bacon Assessment”.  Along with an action plan, the assessment will review your brand as it really is while providing an action plan to move into the future.

Keynotes and Speaking

Justin’s extensive knowledge of branding, social media and business development is available via speaking and workshops.  His entertaining and thought-provoking style blends his knowledge with real stories and audience engagement – and actionable ideas.

Brand Ownership Manual™

The Brand Ownership Manual™-is everything you need to know about your brand in one place; in one system. Comprised of 8 sections, the Brand Ownership Manual™ contains over 50 exercises, templates, and tools that become the foundation for owning your own brand.

Internal Branding

Work with you to create a focused, collaborative culture within your organization to build a community within your internal team.  This creates unified messaging, passionate storytellers, and makes everyone accountable for first impressions.

Social Media Consulting

Develop a “social” culture that encourages 1:1 engagement between you and your audience.  Help implement the tools, process, and training to effectively use social media as a branding and customer engagement tool.

Contact Info

Contact Justin at 208-841-3497 or justin@fosterthinking.com

Web site:  http://www.fosterthinking.com/

Twitter: @fosterthinking

Facebook: /justinfoster

LinkedIN: /fosterjustin

Book Site:  www.oatmealvbacon.com

For more information on Justin’s experience, philosophies, and references, please visit any of the links provided in his contact info.  DISC™ and EQ™ profiles are available upon request.