September Session – Chris Vary of Weber Shandwick

Come join us for the relaunch meeting of the Social Media Club Dallas. We are excited to bring folks together to hear best practices from agencies, corporate marketers, and professional consultants.

Agenda:

Kickoff
Leadership Intros
Mission of the Club
What it takes to be a good Social Media Club member
Guest Speaker : Chris Vary @chrisvary

About our Speaker

Chris-Vary

Chris Vary
Vice President
Weber Shandwick Digital Group
Dallas, Texas

Chris possesses over 16 years of experience in the creative and interactive space. Currently, Chris leads the Weber Shandwick Dallas digital and social media practice, overseeing programs that leverage new media technologies. Clients currently include American Airlines, General Motors, Verizon, Pepsico and Honeywell.

Chris leads teams that have created and syndicated over 300 digital stories for brands like American Airlines, GM-brand, Prestone, Autolite, Chevrolet, Saturn, Cadillac, and Saab. Many of these videos have earned tens, and in some cases hundreds, of thousands of views on video-sharing platforms like YouTube.

With General Motors, Chris created GM’s first iPhone application and carried a leadership role in the development and creative execution of the IGotShotgun Video Entertainment site and Chevy Aveo5 Livin’ Large College Cab social media promotion. For Prestone, he developed a social media program to engage bloggers and generate awareness in the social media space for the brand’s “Get Road Ready” campaign.

Chris currently oversees leadership direction for American Airlines’ social media programs, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. He leads a team of both American Airlines and Weber Shandwick employees that make up American Airlines Social Media.

Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Chris was the director of the Ford account at ChannelNet where he managed Dealer Connection Web sites for 6,500 Ford dealers. Before joining Channel Net, Chris worked at RouteOne where he oversaw design of the company’s application systems.

Prior to joining ChannelNet, Chris was an interactive strategy manager at Young & Rubicam where he oversaw the development of Web sites for clients, including Ford Motor Company, Visteon and MGM Grand. Chris made his initial foray into marketing as a print designer at BBDO where his design and technical expertise was in high demand as the field of interactive marketing first emerged.

Chris’ client expertise is vast, having served the digital needs of companies like Chrysler, Kmart and Heineken. His work has been recognized through national and regional communications awards presented by PR Week, the Public Relations Society of America, the Holmes Report, and the Detroit Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Chris considers himself a “vidiot,” someone with an obsession for all things video gaming. He is proud to note that he owns just about every console system—even harking back to the days of the Commodore64—and many PC rigs to support his love for gaming. Chris also maintains a personal blog at varycreative.com. He earned his bachelor’s degree in graphic design and marketing from the University of Michigan. GO BLUE!

After work, you’re most likely to find me …

… designing Web sites

… playing video games and exploring web technologies

… spending time with my wife and two children

Years in PR: 16

Years with Weber Shandwick: 4