In a small organization, communications and marketing might be the same person or team. As a company grows marketing and advertising might reside under one leader, while communications reside under another leader. Communications might prioritize public policy, issue management, earned media and brand reputation. Marketing and advertising might be focused on brand awareness, sales revenue, customer relationship management, and conquest sales. How do you stay integrated when you’re matrixed differently and reside in different locations?

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About Nathan's Guest:

Whitney Drake, Senior Manager of GM Brand & Story Bureau at General Motors

Teaches IMC 610 - Introduction to IMC

Whitney Drake has created compelling activations around some of the world’s largest events, including the Super Bowl, American Idol, SXSW and Warriors in Pink.

Whitney Drake currently manages the story bureau and analytics team within communications at General Motors. Prior to this role, Drake oversaw enterprise-wide customer experience strategy and operations for GM’s Global Social Media Center of Expertise.

Before GM, Drake led digital and social media efforts for several agencies and her clients included Pure Michigan, T-Mobile, Children’s Place, and Budweiser among others. She also worked for Procter & Gamble and Ford Motor Company.

Drake has 20 years of experience counseling clients in public relations, social media, and integrated communications, both inside and outside the automotive industry, and has created unique and compelling activations around some of the world’s largest events, including the Super Bowl, American Idol, SXSW and Warriors in Pink.

She has also shared her insights at notable conferences such as Social Media Marketing World 2016, Oracle Open World and the Incite Customer Care summit.

Drake teaches IMC 610 at West Virginia University and is an adjunct instructor of social media in the department of communication at Wayne State University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in communication from Michigan State University and a Master of Science in integrated marketing communications from West Virginia University.

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WVU Marketing Communications Today is hosted by Michael Lynch from West Virginia University which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.