360DigitalInfluence

Brian is an award-winning, founding member of Ogilvy’s 360 Degree Digital Influence group and passionate word of mouth marketing practioner.

Brian speaks regularly on the state of social media in Australia and Asia Pacific, and has appeared at AdKnowledge, Frocomm, AdTech Sydney, Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), Future of Influence. In addition, Brian has conducted Webinars as part of an “Executive’s Guide to Social Media” partnership with the Wall Street Journal Asia which routinely receive more than 2,000 attendees each.

Since receiving the blessing of the Australian Department of Immigration & Citizenship to enter the country, Brian has developed and lead the 360° Digital Influence team at Ogilvy PR Sydney. Brian’s team of Digital Influence Strategists use the power of personal media, technology, and public relations to create comprehensive digtial and word of mouth strategies for clients - including IBM, Fosters, Tourism Australia, Australian Private Hospitals Association, Engineers Australia, TED Prize, Lance Armstrong Foundation and more.

Prior to moving to Sydney, Brian pioneered Ogilvy PR’s internal social media training program which, trained the majority of the agency’s North American staff directly, and helped develop a suite of training programs for clients - ranging from “Digital Influence 101″ to full day bootcamps.

Brian’s previous roles at Ogilvy PR give him unusually strong perspective of the total digital landscape. As interactive marketing manager, Brian developed a deep expertise and passion in search marketing, interactive advertising, email marketing and digital PR programmes.

Prior to joining Ogilvy PR, Brian was a legislative aide for U.S. Representative Jay W. Johnson where he advised on issues of technology, education and telecommunications. It was here that he first witnessed the power of the Internet, helping lead an effort to connect rural Wisconsin schools and libraries to the Internet.

Brian’s main blog is http://www.asiadigitalmap.com, and you can track all of his social media activities from Foursquare to LinkedIn at http://www.briandgiesen.com.

Brian holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.