Less Blah, More AHA!
Reid Holmes, Award-winning speaker, best-selling author, and master of transforming brands from ignored to irreplaceable.
Watch Reid Prove Why Boring Is A Bus to Nowheresville
Reid’s the Guy You Need on Stage
Let’s face it: your audience deserves more than just another lecture on marketing. Reid’s humor, insights, and no-fluff advice have won him speaker awards like “most impactful” and “most entertaining.” No wonder. Reid turns stale strategies into unforgettable and immediately implementable brand lessons.
After 30+ years with top brands like Coca-Cola and H&R Block, he’s here to challenge, entertain, inspire and empower.
KEYNOTE TOPICS
The Talks Everyone Will Be Talking About
KEYNOTE
Get Any Brand Off The Plateau of Indifference in the Distraction Economy
The oxygen of marketing is attention. But the interruption model of advertising is more annoying than ever. We each get 10,000 interruptions a day, turning marketing into one of the most reliable sources of annoyance in history.
Reid’s talk explains the new rules of engagement, helping brands inspire more and irritate less. (Irritation may create an ocean pearl, but in marketing today it’s rubbing people the wrong way.)
KEYNOTE
Don’t Shoot Your Brand in the Foot with A.I.
AI comes with a hidden danger: it can erode brand trust in minutes. Reid tackles the nuances of AI-driven creativity, revealing why AI alone can’t replace human insight to inspire connection.
AI may be great for automation, but for creativity it’s by definition “backward-facing.” This talk is a roadmap for brands to harness AI without sacrificing authenticity, intrigue and appreciation. Audiences will learn how to blend AI efficiency with human creativity to keep their brand strong and genuine.
KEYNOTE
The Cost of Boring has a lot of Zeros and Commas These Days.
A single unremarkable campaign can require millions more in ad spend to achieve the same impact as a compelling one. This talk is a wake-up call for brands stuck in a cycle of rational, bullet-point messaging. One other option, skip hiring Reid for this talk and just send him your wasted marketing budget.
(Get ready for the rave reviews.)
9 REASONS TO HIRE REID AS YOUR NEXT SPEAKER
As a consumer, all the distraction and retargeting that you experience online is at an all time high. And as a marketer, you know you're simply adding to the problem and you want a better way.
Reid will show your audience new methods for engaging with consumers and get your brand recognized as a solution, not a problem. Reid’s work for The Mayo Clinic – mayoclinic.com/ connect - was the first digital platform ever created to truly activate 3-way brand conversations. The New York Times heralded it as a new era in digital marketing utility, brand building, and brand activation.
As a marketer, you're forced to drive sales with short-term methods and campaigns because that's how the C-Suite thinks.
In over 30 years as an agency creative executive for America’s biggest brands, Reid speaks from experience when he says short-term thinking drives down marketing performance. His H&R Block campaign (“You Got People”) took the company from 19 million to 23 million returns in just 3 years. Invite your C-Suite and you’ll all walk away immediately understanding how long term thinking leads to more reliable growth.
You don't need another speaker who comes in to talk about "driving digital conversion" and "funnels that convert.”
They’re a dime a dozen. Zoom out for a fresh perspective. Reid will teach you how to get your brand - especially mature brands - off what Reid calls the Plateau of Indifference. Nowadays, products are more commoditized than ever. It’s a values game. Stand for something bigger. Get your customers to care about you again by showing them you care about them.
You think AI is the next thing you must figure out, but don't do it at the expense of real human meaning and brand connection.
Reid sees around corners. He was among the first to caution brands from building their marketing future “on rented land” like Facebook or Instagram – where you don’t control the rules of engagement because the owners can change them whenever they want. The time to attract, not distract, has come. Reid will show you how, whether you use AI, or not.
The interruption model doesn't perform in digital like it originally did in linear content like TV. Marketers can't build brands today with mere interruption and break through.
Unlike the advent of the soap commercials interrupting daytime drama's in the 1950s, categories today have exponential me-too solutions competing. Bullet pointing your product's rational "reason's to believe" is lost in the clutter and noise of this new distraction era. With so many parity options at consumers fingertips, purchase decisions are made on price more than ever. Consumers don't care about brands unless given a bigger reason.
Reporting under-performing sales numbers to the CEO, CFO or Board is not fun. A strong brand ensures greater success.
Reid gets animated when he shows your audience how to increase revenue brand value without increasing your budget. Many people forget it costs 5X more to acquire new customers than it does to get repeat purchases from the ones who appreciate the brand. Reid will teach your audience how to get your brand "Reverse-Targeted."
Great branding keeps your company competitive with hiring, retaining and inspiring employees.
When you ask your employees what they like most about their job, you don’t want the answer to be “leaving at 5.” If all you’re offering your employees is a paycheck, your competitors are likely gonna keep hiring them away. Humans want to feel belonging to a community that shares their values and proves it. They want to be are proud of where they work. And why they work there.
You don't want a boilerplate presentation on "branding." You want one customized to the most pervasive problems brands are facing today and real strategies to solve them.
Over his 30-year career, Reid heard time and time again from his clients one overarching theme: "he asks us the right questions. Then he shuts up, listens to the answers, and helps you solve the problems." And that’s exactly what he’s ready to do for you.
"Purpose-based" marketing is too often interpreted as grand altruism. An Appreciated Branding approach is very different.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts may allow a company to check a box as a brand that "does good." But why can't doing that good be of immediate value to the customers you want to attract? Re-planting the Amazon rain forest is noble and needed. But replanting trees in your customer's neighborhoods also does good, earns immediate appreciation, and builds brand value.
Brands That’ve Been Blown Away
Reid’s insights and energy have ignited audiences worldwide. He’s partnered with legends like Coca-Cola, H&R Block and The Mayo Clinic, proving that great brands aren’t just known—they’re appreciated.
Data That Drops Jaws…
Million
TV commercials written or filmed.
Billion+
In media exposure budgets overseen for clients
Continents where I’ve wowed audiences with a mic and a message.
(Come on, we both know it’s time.)
Book Reid for a Talk They Won’t Forget
Want your audience buzzing with ideas and inspiration?
Reid’s the speaker who brings humor, insight, and real talk for real impact.