Resume

Chad Sanborn
5113 W. 67th St.
Prairie Village, KS 66209
913.244.0491
chad_sanborn@yahoo.com

 

Summary

Since helping launch an interactive magazine as a way to remind subscribers to use the online service CompuServe, I’ve been a believer in the power of storytelling to shape audience behavior. I’ve helped companies — from Microsoft, GE and Time Warner to small businesses and start ups —  use stories to inform and influence people’s behavior.

 

Experience

Marketing Consultant  —  2015-Present, 2009-2014, 2003-05
I use my content marketing skills to help companies and organizations create awareness, build trust with their audience, then move them to take action.

  • Most recently, I’ve been using a mixture of blogging, original videos and images on general and niche social networks to build an audience for the documentary The American Artist: The Life & Times of George Caleb Bingham. In just a few months, I’ve grown the subscription list to several hundreds in preparation for the film’s regional premier (Fall 2016) and subsequent national distribution.
  • When Uncommon Supply Co., a fledgling boutique home renovation company, asked me in 2013 to help with its marketing, I created a cost-effective word-of-mouth strategy centered on having it purchase a 99-cent app for new clients that allowed them to easily post pictures of the renovation’s progress to social media networks for all their friends to see. USC continues to thrive today using word-of-mouth strategies.

Creative Director, Kinetic Supply Co.  —  2014-2015
Kinetic Supply Co., a start up marketing agency, hired me to build the creative team, guide creatives and developers, and work with clients. When Kinetic eventually focussed its efforts solely on data technology, I returned to consulting.

  • Working with the founders of Beacon Life Funds, a viatical and life settlement broker, I helped Beacon use dramatic personal stories to connect with people battling terminal illness. Armed with Beacon testimonials and industry data, this audience was able to weigh the advantages of accelerated death benefit settlements for themselves and their families.

Director, Corporate Communications, Kansas City Life Insurance Co.  —  2006–2008
Kansas City Life is a 120-year-old, family-owned life insurance company. I was brought in to coach the communications team and improve the quality of marketing storytelling.

  • In 2008, working with the VP of Marketing, I guided my staff in writing an award-winning keynote speech for the company’s annual insurance brokers meeting. The speech set the tone for reassuring the company’s most important business partners at a time of global financial upheaval.

Account Supervisor, VML  —  2005-2007
VML, a global, full-service marketing agency hired me to handle day-to-day client management activities for Microsoft’s Windows Embedded business. Eventually I would also go on to work with clients such as Accenture, GE Money and Ernest & Julio Gallo, among others.

  • In 2005, when Microsoft’s Windows Embedded team sought to grow the number of engineers using the Windows operation system and applications for industrial robots, I supervised a team of creatives and developers to create a global advertising campaign and online developer sandbox that grew Microsoft’s marketshare among the audience to 21% from 13% within three months of launching the campaign, quickly surpassing Microsoft’s 17% target.

Editor-in-Chief/Communications Manager, Time Warner Cable  —  1999-2003
Time Warner Cable is, by revenue, the second largest cable company in America. The company relocated me to Kansas City to help launch its broadband Internet service, and build a content team to create local multimedia content that drove subscriber growth and strengthened community ties.

  • In 1999, broadband cable modems were an emerging technology poised to change the way consumers use computers in their homes. Using what I learned pioneering content to drive dialup online service usage, I built a team that created award-winning local stories and information, all of which helped drive subscriptions for the now-ubiquitous cable broadband service.

 

Awards

Insurance and Financial Communicators Association  —  2008

  • Award of Excellence in Speechwriting for the speech, Partnerships in Balance, International Association of Business Communicators

Time Out Chicago Crime Writer Contest  —  2008

  • Winner for the short story, The Cutting. Selected by editorial staffs of Time Out Chicago, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, and Michael Harvey, novelist/co-creator of Cold Case Files

 

Education

Kansas State University – B.A., Journalism & Mass Communications