SCOTT BEDBURY
Scott Bedbury established himself by helping direct two of the world’s iconic brands, Nike and
Starbucks, to global leadership positions when they were at key growth inflection points . Since
leaving the corporate establish his own consultancy, Brandstream, he has advised dozens of Fortune
500 brands and startups, published A New Brand World, and spoken in more than 20 countries on
brand repositioning, creativity, leadership, corporate culture, consumer insights, business strategy,
human resource development, and experiential marketing.
Bedbury joined Nike in 1987 as it Worldwide Advertising Director. While there he helped reposition
Nike beyond an elite, aspirational sports brand for young American male athletes to a more inclusive,
inspirational sports and fitness brand for men, women and children everywhere. As part of that
repositioning Scott directed Nike’s agency in the creation of the “Just Do It” campaign, one of the
world’s most recognized global advertising efforts.
In three years Nike moved from a distant #3 to world leader, developing a broad consumer base and
setting new standards for brand positioning, communication, promotion and product innovation.
Today, Nike is one of the most respected and valued brands with a market cap of more than $40
billion US.
In 1995 Bedbury left Nike to join Starbucks Coffee Company as Chief Marketing Officer, at the time
a small but promising American brand with only a few hundred stores in 14 US Markets and revenues
of $450 million. Armed with only a $2.5 million dollar marketing budget, he and CEO Howard Schultz
set out to redefine and reshape one of the oldest commodities on earth as an experience, rather than
product.
Without the help of traditional advertising, Starbucks built a strong global brand a different way -- one
person, one cup, one store, one community at a time. Starbucks pioneered what has become the
consummate business case study for “experiential marketing,” and has become a global leader for its
responsible treatment of employees, coffee growers, the communities it serves and the environment.
In three years store openings increased from two stores per week to three stores per day. Currently,
Starbucks has 17,000 stores across 40 countries and serves ten million customers each day while
maintaining an unusually strong brand culture. Starbucks current market cap is over $30 billion US.
In 1998 Bedbury left Starbucks to establish Brandstream, an international brand development firm.
Bedbury has been recruited to help a broad range of clients including P&G, Coca-Cola, Google,
Corona, NASA, Facebook, Microsoft, Russian Standard, Visa, Kaiser Permanente, Tellme Networks,
GM, South Africa Breweries, the US Navy, Starwood Hotels, Nokia, T-mobile, UniCredit, Groupo
Modelo, Volkswagen AG, Mars, Mattel and the Obama Administration.
Bedbury is a graduate of the University or Oregon School of Journalism and Communication (SJAC)
where he has received the Distinguished Alumni and Hall of Achievement awards. He currently serves
on the SJAC Advancement Council. Scott is also a recipient of the American Advertising Federation
Hall of Achievement. He currently lives near Seattle Washington where he is working on his next
book.