Proudly Presenting: Reed Alexander Media

Marketing, Public Relations, Brand Development & Communications

Visit www.ReedAlexanderMedia.com

Today, marketing your brand is tantamount to marketing yourself and, as any businessperson can attest to, marketing is arguably the most important ingredient in any recipe for success. It's equally as critical — if not more so — as being able to offer your consumer a strong product. Without a solid, long-term marketing campaign that's comprehensively developed and fastidiously executed, there's really no point to selling a stellar product or service — simply because the odds are stacked against you that anyone will know it's there and accessible.

What I'm getting at speaks to one of the fundamentals of commercial reactions between brands and consumers — a building block in a sky high pillar of success. For the past 6+ years, I've seen this principle of smart marketing in action — after all, I have been my own case study.

Let me give you some background. Eight years ago, I joined the cast of one of Nickelodeon's longest running and most highly viewed sitcoms, iCarly. Having collaborated with the network on multiple projects and programs, it was always a delight to see how strongly the show was embraced by our worldwide audience.

About two years after he show debuted, while I was living in Los Angeles, I undertook a new journey, launching a healthy living and cooking-centric website called KewlBites, which was born out of a six month program I developed for myself through lots of trail and error to reconnect with my optimal health and shed some excess weight.

Initially, the site was just a passion-driven project, a platform to share my experiences and discoveries in the kitchen with the aim of helping families to address the ongoing childhood obesity epidemic that has dominated the headlines for so long. Eventually, it recalibrated the arc and trajectory of my life and future career, and brought me in orbit of new vocations and some of the most influential and remarkable people I have ever come across.

Having built site for more than five years, KewlBites became a launchpad that allowed me to develop a regular place in the kitchen of NBC's TODAY Show in Studio 1A, to carve out a role as a contributing correspondent to BBC News Radio, to have recipes featured in People Magazine and more, to partner on an event and the ringing of the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange with the editorial leadership of The New York Times, and to release a cookbook endorsed by President Bill Clinton himself.

I signed on as an Ambassador to the Clinton Foundation's Alliance for a Healthier Generation and joined forces with my healthy living counterparts at the White House — the team behind the Let's Move! campaign, including our First Lady Michelle Obama.

Along the way, I developed countless lasting relationships and learned from some of the best in the business. I saw firsthand the power of smart journalism and storytelling, and how thinking like a media consumer watching TV at home allowed our team to develop emotive stories and content which resonated with our audience, grew my site, sold the cookbook all across this nation, and formed relationships with people who sustained my brand for years.

Six years later, I've decided to start writing a new chapter in this story which has traced the evolution of my life and the careers that have enthralled me.

I'm delighted to announce the creation of my new marketing, brand development, public relations, and communications agency: Reed Alexander Media (www.reedalexandermedia.com). Specializing in uniting the nexuses of entertainment, lifestyle, and the digital world, we work hand-in-hand with influencers across various industries and verticals to connect them with our high profile relationships and help shape and narrate their story.

Headquartered in New York City with satellite offices in Miami and branches reach as far afield as Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, and Beijing, our agency aims to reflect the exciting consumer interactions that define our global economy through cutting-edge approaches which always put one thing first: targeting and reaching our clients' goals. The people we work with want to reach new eyes and ears for a specific purpose: to grow their bottom lines, to attract new consumers or fans, and to get their message out in the most effective ways. Our services are an investment in our clients' futures — we always keep in mind the importance of doing good for their ROI.

For me, on a personal level, I get to work with the best in the business. My agency was born out of the alliance of three partners — myself, with my many years of firsthand experience in front of the camera and in entertainment brand development, along with two others. One, Janet Rokosz, is an extraordinarily experienced IT and software executive who allows our clients access to the digital world in a way few other competitors in our space can offer, and the other, Michele J Ostrow Esq., is one of South Florida's most esteemed and powerful lawyers, guiding our clients in matters of the law and personal brand protection through the knowledge she has accrued in her 25+ year career.

Entertainment. Brand development. Legal consultancy. Mobile marketing. IT solutions. These services and core principles guide our thought process in everything we do. And they are all interconnected through my passions and the strengths of our team. Most importantly, amidst a volatile global economy and a time when many brands are looking for clarity in the best way to reach their audience — through traditional media? Online outlets? A combination thereof? — they are the major areas we believe will illuminate a shadowy road ahead, a road that must be gingerly and intelligently navigated in order to come out stronger on the other side.

On a personal level, the chance to partner with this brilliant team we have assembled and create this new agency has been immensely gratifying. In a story I've never really told, in a way I owe its inspiration to the iconic Olivia Pope and her ingenious Gladiators, a super squadron of highly talented problem-solvers and crisis managers who for, the backbone of the fictitious Olivia Pope & Associates of the hit ABC drama Scandal (one of my personal favorites — you must watch if you don't already!).

Watching Olivia and her Gladiators gave me a realization. With the connections our team has and our proclivity for overcoming challenges, my goal for Reed Alexander Media is to become the go-to place to which our clients turn in order to move mountains on their behalf.

We're ready to rise to the occasion, and I hope to be able to use this column on the Huffington Post as a tool to speak to you along the way. More importantly, I hope it becomes a tool of two-way communication where we can discuss current events in the marketing and branding worlds and beyond. So put on your thinking cap, get ready, get set — because here we go.

To learn more about Reed Alexander Media, please visit our website: www.ReedAlexanderMedia.com