The Author

Tim Williams leads Ignition (www.ignitiongroup.com), a consultancy devoted to helping marketing communications firms create and capture more value. Tim is a frequent speaker and presenter for major industry associations, agency networks, universities, and business conferences both here and abroad. He is author of the book, “Take a Stand for Your Brand: Building a Great Agency Brand from the Inside Out” ranked by Amazon as one of the top ten books on brand building. His booklet “Defining the Agency Brand” published by the American Association of Advertising Agencies is regarded as the standard in agency brand development. Tim’s newest book, “Positioning for Professionals: How Professional Knowledge Firms Can Differentiate Their Way to Success” will be published this summer by John Wiley & Sons.

As a recognized thought leader in the advertising and marketing business, Tim is a frequent contributor to leading trade and business publications including Advertising Age, Adweek, Communication Arts, Admap, Marketing News, and The Advertiser. He writes the blog Propulsion and authors the quarterly digital magazine Creating Value.

Tim is also a Senior Fellow of the VeraSage Institute, a think tank devoted to revolutionizing the way professional service firms price and value their services. As an adviser in this area, Tim has worked with major agencies, agency holding companies, Fortune 500 companies, and national and international associations. Based on his expertise in the area of building differentiated professional service brands, Tim has been interviewed and quoted by such diverse newsgathering organizations as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bloomberg News, The Guardian, Toronto Globe & Mail, Japan’s Nikkei News, and other business publications ranging from Europe to Australia.

Before forming Ignition, Tim was president of nationally-ranked R&R Partners (creators of the “What happens here, stays here” campaign for Las Vegas) and was co-founder of his own firm, Williams & Rockwood, now known as Richter 7. The agencies under Tim’s leadership have earned recognition in top national and international competitions including The One Show, the Communications Arts Advertising and Design Annuals, the Clio Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and the National Addy’s.

Tim launched his career in New York and Houston working at agencies including Ogilvy & Mather and Marsteller, and has led efforts for a variety of well-known brands such as Compaq, CBS, American Express, IBM, National Public Radio, Hummer, and Novell.