Harry J. Gold, Speaker

Biography

Harry is the Founder & CEO of Overdrive Interactive, an award-winning, Boston-based digital marketing firm. Under Harry’s leadership, Overdrive Interactive has served top companies such as Harley-Davidson, Samsonite, GE, Topps, IBM, Bazooka Candy Brands, Dow Jones, John Hancock, AXA, AAA, Vistaprint, EMC, and AT&T. Beginning his career in 1996 as the Founder of Interactive Promotions, Harry was a pioneer in shaping how companies market online. After Interactive Promotions was acquired in 1998, Harry served in digital director-level positions at Berenson, Isham & Partners, Wickersham, Hunt, Schwanter and Mullen, providing digital marketing services for clients including Bose, LendingTree, Nextel and General Motors. Harry founded Overdrive Interactive in 2001.

Today, Harry’s primary mission is to create innovative online marketing programs and to share the strategies and tactics behind those programs with Overdrive Interactive’s clients and the world.

Harry is also a frequent lecturer on search engine marketing, social media, and online media for the American Marketing Association (AMA), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA), Search Engine Strategies, Mediabistro, and Harvard University. Harry is also an expert columnist for ClickZ.
Contact Harry

Speaking Sessions and Appearances

Below are five examples of lectures Harry has given in the past. His presentations can range from 50-minute sessions with Q&A, to half- and even full-day seminars. Custom lectures and curricula can be developed upon request.

Adding Social Octane to DM and More!

Using Social Media to Add Reach and Drive ROI

Using real life case studies, Harry J. Gold illustrates where social octane was used in various marketing programs to add reach and drive ROI. He discusses how marketers can leverage the power of social integration to get more bang for their buck with examples from companies you know that blend social, direct mail, catalogs, crowd sourcing, and experiential. Harry explains why companies don’t needs tons of fans and followers to tap into social media success if they leverage the power of social sharing.

Digital + Direct Mail

Turning the Virtual into the Physical with Marketing Automation

In many marketers’ minds, there is a direct conflict between digital marketing and direct mail. In budget discussions, there is often a pressure to choose one or the other. However, smart organizations are seeing how digital can help them to target the right people and trigger direct mail at just the right time. Web behavior can influence what is sent and when it is sent, making direct mail timelier – even anticipated. At the core of this evolution is the exploding category of Marketing Automation and custom print on demand. Join Harry Gold as he gives his keynote session, explaining how the combination of web behavior, lead scoring, marketing automated triggers, and clutter-busting direct mail can transform how companies incorporate direct mail’s modern role in the marketing mix.

You Don’t Need a Million Facebook Fans!

Things you can do with social media marketing that don’t require tons of fans.

Most of us will never have a million Facebook fans or Twitter followers. So social media marketing needs to be about more than collecting fans and followers and then simply posting and tweeting at them. In this session, Harry walks through the practical steps organizations need to take to truly integrate the power of social media into their marketing mix and then measure the results and ROI. His presentation will include real case studies from companies large and small who use social media to weave their brands, offers, and messages into the web to make lasting connections with consumers, encourage engagement, and viral promotion and of course drive results!

End-To-End Digital Marketing

Learn how to visualize, plan, and integrate powerful digital marketing strategies that click, engage, convert, and measure.

A cohesive online strategy has many moving parts that must work together to form a cohesive platform. A good online strategy comes together as a tactical plan and unified set of technologies that funnels users towards a measurable set of marketing and branding objectives. It’s a media plan, a search plan, a social media plan, a website experience, and marketing automation sequence all wrapped into an integrated engagement plan that pulls your target audience into your brand’s embrace. In this presentation, Harry walks through the practical steps organizations need to know so they can visualize a strategy and create a plan that launches a lasting digital marketing platform that truly integrates digital into their marketing mix. His seminar will include real case studies as well as tactics and ideas your company can start using right away.

Social Media Is About Socializing!

Social Media Marketing is not about advertising, it’s about socializing! It is about creating robust, interconnected platforms and channels that engage with your target audience. It’s about listening to your customers and encouraging them to spread the good word about your brand. And of course it’s about weaving high-quality content into the social web so it gets seen in social conversations and search! In this session, Harry walks through the practical steps organizations need to take to plan, launch, maintain, and measure a lasting social media platform and truly integrate that platform into their marketing mix. His seminar will include real case studies as well as tactics and ideas your company can start using right away.

Speaking Session and Workshop List

Below is a partial list of various trade shows, trade associations, educational institutions, and companies who have engaged with Harry for speaking, workshop, and lecture sessions.

Corporate Training

• A. T. Kearney
• ACH Foods
• Akamai Technologies
• ANA National Pork Board
• Anderson Windows
• Association of National Advertisers
• AtheneHolding Ltd.
• Atlas Corporation
• Benjamin Moore
• BNY Mellon Bank
• Boiron
• Bosch
• Carestream Dental
• Carestream Health
• Cargill
• Church’s Chicken
• Cigna
• CITI Bank
• Citrix
• Combe
• Constellation Brand
• Crayola
• CVS
• Dairy Management
• Dana Farber/Jimmy Fund
• Dealer Tire
• Department of Defense
• Diagio Beverage
• Disney
• Dole
• Domtar Company
• DTTC
• E*trade
• Ecolab
• Empire EDU
• Ernst & Young
• ESL Gaming
• Face Reality Skincare
• Fandom
• Ferraro
• Fidelity Investments
• Focus Technology
• Gibraltar Industries
• Global Association of Risk Professional
• Goldman Sachs
• Grainger Industrial Supply
• Great Clips
• Green Mountain Coffee
• Harris Bank
• HD S&P Capital
• Honda
• Hormel
• Humana
• JAFRA Cosmetics
• Jim Beam
• John Muir Health
• Johnson and Johnson
• JP Morgan Chase
• Just Born
• Kearney Global Consulting Firm
• Kings Hawaiian Bakery
• Layered
• Liberty Mutual
• Logitech
• LPGA
• Luxottica
• Macy’s
• Marketing Technology Summit
• Marriott
• Mediabistro
• Mercedes
• MilkPEP
• Mondelez International
• Mutual of Omaha
• National Pork Board
• Nationwide Insurance
• Nelsons
• New Futuro
• NewYork-Presbyterian
• Perfetti
• Pitney Bowes
• Principal Financial Group
• Purina
• Rawlings
• Reed Smith LLP
• Rockettes
• SADA Systems
• Sargento Food Corporation
• Securian Financial
• Segal Group
• SEI
• Shire
• Siemen’s Healthineers
• Social Media Boot Camp
• South Jersey Industries
• SRP Power
• St. Jude
• Subway
• Sun Trust
• T. Marzetti Co.
• TE Connectivity
• Techtronic Industries
• The Wonderful Company
• T-Mobile
• Tyson
• Weight Watchers
• Weiman
• White Castle
• Wonderful
• YMCA

Speaking Gigs

• 2019 Governor’s Conference on Tourism
• Affiliate Marketing Summit
• AllFacebook Conference
• American Chamber of Commerce
• American Council of Engineering Companies
• Arizona Bar Association
• Babson College
• Boston University
• Bridge Conference
• DM Innovations Symposium (Keynote)
• Harvard University
• Insurance Marketing and Communications Association
• Marketing Edge Research Summit (Keynote)
• MarketingProfs
• Mathematical Association of America
• MITX (Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange)
• NEDMA Conference (New England Direct Marketing Association)
• Northwestern University
• Online Marketing Summit
• PR News Social Media Summit
• RRD Marketing Solutions
• SES (Search Engine Strategies)
• Social Media Optimization
• Society of Professional Communicators
• The Ad Club
• The Communicators Club
• University of Massachusetts
• University of Minnesota

Testimonials & Reviews

Below is a sample of comments and responses from event organizers and attendees who have attended Harry’s lively educational sessions.

Your talk “Turning the Virtual into the Physical with Marketing Automation” was informative, entertaining and nothing short of terrific. It may sound corny, but your talks are always pure “Gold”!

“Your presentation on the Ultimate SEO Dashboard for CMOs Using BrightEdge was the most on target session of the whole conference to me. Great takeaways on how to compete and win in the digitized marketplace. Thanks again for your insightful and engaging talk at Share16!”

“Harry Gold transforms complex social media strategies and ROI calculations into bite-size pieces that are easy to understand and execute. He delivers with humor and flair, enticing the audience to want more, more, MORE!”

“I just wanted to say thanks for your presentation at the AllFacebook conference in San Francisco last week. I’ve been to so many conferences that I’ve developed a metrics/KPI for conferences: I call it “IPS” or “Ideas Per Session”. The more ideas I get per session, the more valuable that session for me. Your session had the highest IPS at the conference, so thanks!”

“Harry is a visionary. His material is always fresh and his enthusiasm for the subject makes his presentations exciting. Harry’s sessions are always overbooked, as his reputation as a knowledgeable, charismatic speaker precedes him. His ability to engage the audience and fire them up for the rest of the event makes Harry the perfect keynote speaker. Over the past 25 years, I’ve enlisted the services of hundreds of speakers, regional, national and international. Harry is at the top of my list.”

“Harry Gold has a gift for translating difficult concepts into clear business cases that resonate with audiences.”

“Nobody knows social and digital marketing like Harry Gold. He is at the top of a very short list of true experts in this field. As a speaker, he brings his considerable expertise to life with stories, insights and anecdotes from actual client campaigns, making complex digital marketing concepts both easy to understand and thoroughly entertaining. People who have the opportunity to see Harry speak always experience “Aha!” moments and walk away from his sessions with a new understanding of how to take their digital campaigns to the next level of performance Harry shares practical, use-them-today tips and tactics, as well as the latest best practices. His lectures are not to be missed.”

“Harry is a true thought leader who has developed and crystallized original thinking that helps marketers understand how to view and approach digital and social marketing strategies. He is also dynamic and entertaining in his delivery.”

“Harry’s sessions are consistently among our highest rated workshops. He breaks things down into practical methodologies and illustrates success by analyzing real case studies. Workshop participants walk away from his sessions with strategies and tactics they can start using right away.”

“As usual, your presentation was superb! I’m so happy I was able to sit in, I learned a great deal. You received all fives for an outstanding presentation and some of the comments were laudatory, as well. Here is what people said:

‘Harry was awesome!’

‘Very valuable information from an excellent presenter.’

‘Harry knows his stuff! I have learned a lot.’

‘I can use all of the information he presented in what I do every day. I can start implementing it right away.’

‘Factual, up-to-date, real world, relevant and applicable information was presented. I can use all of this information!’

‘So thank you again for being your inspirational self! We appreciate it so much.”

“Our participants thought Harry Gold and his presentation were outstanding. He really energized the audience and got all of us thinking in new ways about adding the ‘octane’ of social media options to our communications and marketing efforts.”

“Harry Gold’s session at our 2012 IMCA Annual Conference garnered one of the highest audience ratings of the event. The material pulled all the moving parts of social media marketing into an easy-to-understand blueprint and was brought to life with real case studies. Our members were educated and entertained by Harry’s lively presentation. They walked away with strategies and tactics that could be incorporated into their own organizations.”

About His Company

Overdrive Interactive is an award-winning digital marketing agency that helps leading companies compete and win in the online space. Founded in 2001, the agency has developed into a fully integrated digital shop that delivers brand building, customer acquisition, and lead generation programs utilizing search marketing, social media marketing, online advertising, email marketing, analytics, and world class creative services. Overdrive Interactive has served a wide array of top organizations including Harley-Davidson, IBM, GE, Samsonite, EMC, Topps, John Hancock, Bazooka Candy Brands, Progress Software, Dow Jones, AAA, and AT&T.

Contact Harry