For 27 years, Jim Crimmins worked as a professional persuader with the international marketing communications firm of DDB.  For the last several of those years Jim served as a Worldwide Brand Planning Director and the Chief Strategic Officer of DDB Chicago.  In that capacity, Jim led strategic planning for a wide array of marketers from Budweiser to Betty Crocker, from McDonald’s to Home Depot, and from Frito-Lay to JCPenny.  He developed strategic tools for DDB that were taught to DDB personnel around the world.  Jim headed up the team that won 44 EFFIEs--the American Marketing Association’s award for proven advertising effectiveness.

 

As Chief Strategic Officer, Jim was responsible for persuasion strategy development in the agency’s successful pursuit of new clients including: Ameritech, Bud Light, Busch Gardens, Budweiser, Chicago Tribune, Country Pride Chicken, Dell, Discover Card, Energizer Batteries, Illinois Lottery, JCPenny, L’eggs, Maybeline, Midas, National Dairy Board, Office Depot, Pep Boys, Philips Electronics, Shasta Beverages, Walgreens, Westin, and Windex.

 

Jim prepared for his career in persuasion with a broad background in consumer behavior and communication.  He has been a door-to-door magazine salesman, cab driver, railroad fireman, monk, and math teacher.  Jim honed his skills at the University of Chicago where he received a Masters in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Sociology and he served as Assistant Director of the Community and Family Study Center, an organization specializing in the use of mass communications for social development.

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Since leaving DDB Jim taught marketing at Northwestern University, has developed an online ad review site evaluating over 240 public marketing communications (Persuade the Lizard), has written 7 Secrets of Persuasion: Leading-Edge Neuromarketing Techniques to Influence Anyone, and has been a frequent source of advice on persuasion in the media.