Bree Nguyen, Marketing Professional and Entrepreneur

About Bree Nguyen

bree — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:48:40 +0000

Internet Marketing Professional building product and personal brands from inception to fruition. Generating meaningful web traffic through brand building, advertising and social marketing which drives sales.

I have been on the Internet since as long as I can remember. I moved to Los Angeles from San Diego when I was 16 and 3 months later I was contracting my services out to the entertainment industry building communities around artists and brands and creating an active audience online (so much for that college thing).

I helped artists define their brand, establish that brand and ultimately promote their brand through fan/consumer engagement before there were any engagement tools available. In my past, I have worked at record labels like Maverick Records, Hollywood Records (Disney) and Warner Bros. Records developing artist brands online and building communities around artists to drive sales and demand. Results in sales is what defines my campaigns.

I have also worked at technology companies and startups like Rent.com in Business Development managing traffic acquisition through partners and SEM. Rent.com was purchased by eBay for $433m in 2005. Currently, I have joined my former colleagues and friends from Rent.com at a technology start up called CampusExplorer.com which is a complete directory of schools in post secondary education. CampusExplorer.com is backed by Jim Andelman, OCA Ventures and Vicente Capital. CampusExplorer.com specializes in recruitment services for schools and I manage all traffic acquisition strategies including business development, search marketing and display advertising and I’m also the only one that knows how to connect the wireless printer to Windows computers (those lovable Ubuntu/Linux loving tech guys have nothing up on me!;).

I am most interested in consumer engagement online, building communities online, startups, venture capital and technology companies in general. I always have several projects at once happening and this site recounts my past projects and provides updates on my current projects. Hopefully we get to work together one day!

-Bree

You can read more about my current and past projects here on this site. Below is just a snapshot of some of the things I have done and what I am working on now.

Check out my LinkedIn Profile here if you want to see my full resume. You can contact me at bree [at] onetwobree.com

Current Projects:

CampusExplorer.com

Senior Director of Marketing at CampusExplorer.com where I am responsible for traffic acquisition including managing all search engine marketing efforts, affiliate marketing and partner development.

Some of My Past Projects Include:

Ashley Tisdale

One of the stars of High School Musical, I led the charge for all of Ashley’s online marketing and community building around her record release in 2007. Ashley’s album debuted in the Billboard Charts in the Top 5 with no mainstream media support (No television or radio). Ashley is a Warner Bros. Records artist.

The Veronicas

The Veronicas, hailing from Brisbane, Australia, are now international superstars. When I started this project in 2005, they were unknown and still in the studio finishing their first album. I led the charge in a long term grassroots marketing and branding campaign building an online fan base worldwide of hundreds of thousands. Their single “Hook Me Up” recently went Platinum (1,000,000 sold) in the US with limited mainstream media support. The Veronicas are a Warner Bros. Records artist.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

I was part of the team that created and executed the Red Hot Chili Peppers re-branding and marketing campaign for the “Stadium Arcadium” album release. Some of the goals included creating “buzz” and excitement around the album well in advance of release and introducing the band to a teen audience during a tween, pop, “High School Musical” era, and most of whom had never been exposed to the band before.

Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight Release

Talib Kweli - Eardrum

Michelle Branch

I started working with Michelle while she was completing her first studio album in 2001. We built a community online together from scratch during a time when pop groups like Britney Spears and *NSYNC ruled the charts. We branded her as the rebel with a guitar. We developed custom software applications for her community, experimented with new technologies and new marketing ideas, re-branded her 2 or 3 times during her still illustrious career, and has sold over 6 million records. I worked with Michelle for over 7 years at Maverick Records and later at Warner Bros. Records and will always be one of the most personal and passionate projects I’ve ever worked on. I still run into fans that I met during my time running Michelle’s community marketing who are some of the nicest and most dedicated people I’ve ever met.

Mariah Carey

I worked with Mariah in 1999 and 2000 for her “Rainbow” album. The goal was to start establishing her brand online (she had a one page website and that is it) and to build a community to help support her singles on MTV’s Total Request Live and Radio which in turn (back in those days) supported sales. I worked directly with Mariah and Columbia Records to develop a plan to round up the community and market TRL support. The first single I worked on was called “Can’t Take That Away” and it was Mariah’s first ever TRL video debut, debuting at #5.

Other Artists and Tours Include:

BBMak – “Into Your Head” release
Madonna – “American Life” and “Confessions On A Dance Floor”
Paris Hilton – “Paris” album release
Warped Tour
Jessi Malay
The Spill Canvas
Armor For Sleep
justincase
HIM – “Dark Light” and “Venus Doom”
Neil Young – “Living With War”
Alanis Morissette
E-40 – “My Ghetto Report Card”
Fort Minor
Idina Menzel
Taking Back Sunday
Tyler Hilton
*NSYNC – “No Strings Attached”
Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC

Current Projects: CampusExplorer.com

bree — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:47:34 +0000

As Senior Director of Marketing for CampusExplorer.com I am acquiring traffic and generating education leads through search, advertising and partnerships. The challenge and CampusExplorer’s success is direct marketing in a competitive industry with a valuable brand and positive messaging. I’ve had the incredible opportunity to be part of the original team of Campus Explorer and experience the challenges and successes of raising three rounds of financing and growing with exponential speed.

The education vertical is a giant industry and is growing and changing every day. The opportunities to work with schools of all kinds to reach potential students is ever growing. CampusExplorer.com is tackling the challenge of creating a college resource brand and helping students find the right education choices.

Past Projects: Ashley Tisdale, 500k+ sold

bree — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:48:27 +0000

What makes the Ashley Tisdale so special is that we achieved 500,000+ in record sales without any mainstream media support and outsold Ashley’s direct competition, her High School Musical counterpart, Vanessa Hudgens, who did have massive mainstream media support within the same period. This was a New Media win, and a small group of people, including myself, who made it happen.

Details to come…

Past Projects: The Veronicas: International Pop Stars

bree — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:00:29 +0000

I met The Veronicas just as they had completed recording their first album and worked very closely with them for three and a half years. For a pop act, their marketing campaign was extremely new media infused and we broke barriers with mobile video content, mobile content, and fan to fan interaction using the web.

The Veronicas are international superstars now in Australia (their home country), Asia and Europe. In the U.S. they have gold singles and many licensing deals.

Past Projects: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Google Dani California

bree — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 12:00:59 +0000

I led the teaser campaign for the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium release. The band was still finishing recording their record, but they wanted to start the marketing immediately. The band and management wanted to “restart” all of the band’s imaging fearing that teenagers and younger had never heard or known of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We knew the first single was going to be “Dani California”, but we hadn’t heard it yet, the band was still putting the final touches on it. All we got was a half finished lyric sheet. Lacking ideas, we Googled “Dani California” to see if we could find something that might spark some ideas, and sure enough the #1 result was a Wikipedia entry for Dani who happened to be a character Anthony Kiedis and the band had introduced in songs before. We decided to build the entire campaign around the story of the character, and we began the whole campaign simply with “Google Dani California”.

More details to come…

Past Projects: Rent.com acquired by eBay

bree — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:59:07 +0000

I was fortunate enough to join the Rent.com in 2003 as the 2nd person in Internet Marketing. Rent.com was still small but growing fast when I joined. I was tasked with taking over the affiliate marketing program and expanding it in addition to taking on Search Engine Marketing and traffic acquisition. By late 2004, Rent.com had grown to over $40 million in revenues and was acquired by eBay in 2005 (announced in Dec. 2004). It was eBay’s 2nd largest acquisition next to PayPal.

My experience there gave me a first hand account of rapid growth and the effect it has not just on Internet Marketing expansion, but also on the company and the personnel as a whole.

Past Projects: Linkin Park: Mobile Connection

bree — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:43:36 +0000

I worked closely with Linkin Park and their team to set up a mobile campaign to build a massive mobile phone number list. This is before Twitter existed, the year was late 2006, early 2007. We had the band sending out text message updates to build up the list, tied it in with a tour and let fans text back to a number where the band would send individual replies.

Later, we widgetized the communications and let fans place these text message feeds on their MySpace page or websites. We bought Nokia N70s from overseas to give the band video phones so that the band could send video updates and post it to fans through the widgets.

Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight album debuted at #1 in the U.S. and in 15 other countries.

Past Projects: Michelle Branch: Grassroots Marketing 101

bree — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:09:43 +0000

I worked on Michelle Branch’s “The Spirit Room” and “Hotel Paper” since day one with Jeremy Welt of Maverick Records and Warner Bros. Records.

Detail to come…

2011 Research: Venture Capital Growth in Southern California

bree — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:57:09 +0000

2011 Research: Venture Capital Growth In Southern California
by Bree Nguyen
Advised by Dr. Tayyeb Shabbir, California State University Dominguez Hills

I presented an overview of my research and a preview of my results at Research Day on Feb. 24, 2011 at California State University Dominguez Hills and again at the 25th Annual Statewide CSU Research Competition.

My research took top honors at the CSUDH Research Day and at the Statewide Competition. My research was recognized by the CSU System and the City of Carson where CSUDH is located.

I am currently working on continuing my research.

You can download the presentation here:

Some of the questions brought up by the panel, I will be sure to include in my paper forthcoming:
- Identify growth patterns in different technology sectors
- Highlight the implications positive or negative of having more venture capital in Southern California
- Identify any policies on the demand side that we might be able to implement in our universities to help connect students and research with venture capitalists.

Here is my abstract:

Title: Venture Capital Growth in Southern California: The New “Silicon Valley”?
During the last 15 years, venture capital and private equity funds have grown to become an important driver of U.S. technology innovation and entrepreneurial success. The U.S. venture industry is a relatively young industry and is typically associated with Northern California’s Silicon Valley which represents over 40% of all U.S. venture capital funding today. However, within the last ten years, Southern California has emerged as a new leader in technology and has attracted venture capital funding at a faster pace than any other region in the U.S. This study analyzes the rapid growth of venture capital finance in Southern California and provides an analysis of the economic factors that have contributed to that growth. The analysis focuses on the ten-year growth rate of Southern California venture funded companies across 23 technology sectors and highlights trends based on the total number of companies funded, the round of funding, and the size of the investment. Regional economic and market factors are highlighted and investigated where Southern California venture funding trends differ from other regions. It compares this analysis with that of venture capital activity on a national level and offers a forecast of Southern California venture capital funding.