David Berkowitz (@dberkowitz) is Vice President of Emerging Media for 360i, the digital marketing agency labeled one of the Best Places to Work by Advertising Age (2011) and Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Advertising Companies. David is partially responsible for these accolades. His weekly breakfast brainstorms, fondly referred to as “Bagels with Berky,” provide common ground for employees to collaborate and discuss the latest trends. David, like 360i, is committed to staying a step ahead of the digital era and helping leading brands gain competitive edge through social media and mobile marketing programs.
Not only does he inspire colleagues to search for the latest and greatest, he openly shares his knowledge through regular contributions to 360i’s own blog Digital Connections and Advertising Age’s DigitalNext. His personal marketing blog, Marketers Studio, is filled with witty observations and cutting opinions, serving up a refreshingly honest take on all things digital, trending, and social. David’s writings are respected, mentioned frequently in places like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and Mashable. With numerous published columns in MediaPost’s Social Media Insider and speaking engagements at places like SXSW, Web 2.0 Expo, Blog World Expo, ThinkMobile, MIT Sloan School of Business, and the Yale School of Management, we had to ask David how it’s done.
You are so busy! What is your secret to keeping it together?
I read a ton, travel when I can, and work out with the Kinect.
What do you love most about your work?
It may sound hokey, but I learn so much from the clients I get to work with. I love being able to converse with them to make sense of all the changes unleashed by digital media.
What do you read for inspiration?
I like reading books relating to places I’m about to travel. For instance, when I went to Africa this year, I read about thirty books relating to the continent, including a number focused on South Africa and Zanzibar, both areas I visited. [You can find his complete reading list here.] Topics ranged from Nelson Mandela’s autobiography to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s dark modern fiction “Petals of Blood.” I read relatively few business books, but I have recently discovered some classics like “Good to Great” and “Influence.”
You can invite one person to coffee. Who is it?
Assemble a Dream Panel. Any topic. Go.
Topic: “What excites you today?”
Panelists: NYT’s David Pogue, Kraft SVP Marketing Dana Anderson, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Colicchio
Moderator: James Earl Jones
Suddenly you find yourself with an extra $1 million in the bank. How do you spend it?
Donate part of it. Save a chunk. Travel the world. And finally buy davidberkowitz.com from that squatter.