Best-selling author Dan Heath to speak Feb. 8 at Wake Forest’s Marketing Summit

Get a date. Get a job. Change the world.

If any of these goals are on your to-do list, you won’t want to miss New York Times best-selling author Dan Heath’s keynote address at the 18th annual Wake Forest Marketing Summit on Feb. 7-9.

“These are three clear cases where you need a sticky idea, and I’m going to tell you how to be more effective in all three,” Heath promises.

He is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m., Friday, Feb. 8, in Brendle Recital Hall, Scales Fine Arts Center, on the Wake Forest Reynolda Campus. Afterward, Heath will sign copies of “Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die,” the 2007 Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestseller he co-wrote with his brother, Chip Heath, which describes the traits that link sticky ideas ranging from advertisements to urban legends.

Who should read the Heath brothers’ book? Anyone who wants to make their ideas count, Dan Heath says.

“Everyone has ideas about how they want to make a difference whether they are a teacher, a writer, a budding politician or a manager. We’ve even had parents and ministers writing to us about making ideas stick with kids or parishioners. There’s something in your head that you want to share, but we’re not trained to do that.”

Heath is currently a consultant to the policy programs for The Aspen Institute. A columnist for Fast Company magazine, his client list includes Microsoft, Nestle, Nissan, Macy’s and the American Heart Association.

Some of the nation’s top business schools will be participating in the student-run summit’s 36-hour case competition: Brigham Young University (Marriott), Duke University (Fuqua), Northwestern University (Kellogg), Pennsylvania State University (Smeal), University of Virginia (Darden), University of Washington (Foster), University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wake Forest University (Babcock). Teams competing in the undergraduate challenge are the University of Florida, Vanderbilt University, the University of Maryland and Wake Forest.

In the case competition, teams consisting of four to seven MBA students must develop a marketing plan to solve a real-world challenge faced by the sponsor. Last year, Motorola challenged MBA students to develop a plan to market its new Q handset to small- and medium-sized U.S. companies.

While this year’s corporate sponsor will not be revealed until the summit’s kickoff, past participating sponsors have included Coca-Cola, Yahoo!, Wachovia and Sara Lee. In addition to getting exposure to some of the world’s best companies, the top three MBA teams take home cash prizes: $5,000 for first place; $3,000 for second place; and $2,000 for third place. The weekend’s events also include several interactive professional development and networking events.

Related articles and information

• Register to attend Dan Heath’s lecture
• Locate the Scales Fine Arts Center (building #35) on a campus map. Shuttle service available from Parking Lot A, First Assembly of God Church, Polo and Wingate Roads.
• Read Five Questions with Dan Heath.
• Visit the Marketing Summit Website.
• View a picture gallery from the 2007 Marketing Summit.
• Read about the Babcock Marketing Summit on Wikipedia.