As Principal and President, Research of AR&D, Jerry's responsibilities include leadership of the research division and work as a brand strategist. Under his leadership, AR&D's research efforts have carved out a particularly distinctive and strong reputation. His work provides clients with the strategic information and models needed to create and execute a winning plan.

Industry Experience

Jerry's accomplishments owe much to the depth of his industry experience. He brings to his work insights gained as a consultant, strategist, and media researcher for over 250 local TV stations, radio stations, broadcast and cable networks, newspapers, foreign media properties, program producers, advertising agencies, and new media companies. He's also had practical experience working on staff at television stations and as a broadcast group VP charged with a variety of responsibilities, from marketing to news to sales to the formulation of business strategies. He's also worked as a media acquisitions analyst and founded and operated three independent businesses. Add in a little experience on-air and newspaper ad sales, and the resume is complete. These experiences, combined with formal training, assure that sophisticated, yet practical, tools and insights are applied to client assignments.

A Drive to Innovate

Jerry's drive to make improvements in research methods and strategic results is constant. He never misses a chance to raise the bar of improvement for himself, his colleagues, or his clients. The result is a drive to innovate new research and development models that provide clients with a difference-making advantage.

Early innovations centered on the development of sophisticated, and highly accurate, sales forecasting models and psychographics-based marketing tools. Current work centers on analytical models that identify valued brands of journalism and help direct communication and marketing of the brand.

A number of his models are currently in use. Branding tools include the Brand Statement Analyst, the L-7 Model of Managing Brand Meaning, and, in collaboration with colleague Bob Kaplitz, AR&D's innovative branding system called Panoramic Branding^TM. Business system tools include his R-3 Planning Model, a simple yet highly effective method for developing a strategic plan.

Along with colleague Mark Petersen, he has developed the industry's strongest talent assessment tools, the Growth Path Analyst and the Talent Cohort Model. Program development models have been applied to such programs as the highly successful Chris Matthews Show. In addition, he has helped clients focus on what really matters by developing powerful concepts such as The Final Five Percent and his papers on Branding Blunders and Branding Blindspots.

Education and Training

Jerry says AR&D researchers are the most qualified and well rounded of any in the business. Every analyst on the research staff has a graduate degree in a relevant field. This reflects Jerry's own dedication to gaining the skills needed to deliver a technically sophisticated, yet clear and meaningful, analysis.

Jerry holds degrees from Eastern Illinois University and The University of Iowa, and undertook specialized studies on a fellowship at The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. Education never really ends, and so he maintains his associations with the American Management Association and The Institute of Management Consultants and he has taken specialized training as an innovation and process facilitator. He's addressed and exchanged ideas with students and faculty at several universities, among them the University of California, Berkeley and Southern Methodist University. He currently serves as member of a Board of Advisors to the School of Radio, Television & Film at the University of North Texas.

Industry Service

An active industry speaker, Jerry has appeared before such groups as the RTNDA, the NAB, PROMAX, the American Medical Association, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a news media think tank or two. He's also addressed a number of corporate events.
Personal

When away from work, Jerry values time spent with his extended family, reads everything he can get his hands on, travels to all corners of the world, works in vain to improve his Spanish, and continues his dogged search for the perfect bottle of wine.

You can reach Jerry Florence at jflorence@ar-d.com or 972.402.8141.