Jordan Zimmerman
August 11, 2009 by admin
Filed under Jordan Zimmerman, People & Places
http://www.yousleepwhenyoudie.com/
About Jordan
Who is Jordan Zimmerman? Maverick ad man. Philanthropist. Self-made madman. Visionary. Husband and father. Alpha Dog. Motivator. Teacher. Leader. Huge success. And now, a blogger.
Jordan Zimmerman opened his own advertising agency in 1984 in 400 square feet of office space in a Ft. Lauderdale strip mall. Today, he has over 1,100 employees in 10 states, runs the 14th-largest agency in the nation doing over $2.5 billion in billings per year, is a partner in the Florida Panthers, and endows a teaching program at his alma mater.
Not bad for a guy whose first job was selling greeting cards door-to-door. But, then again, he was eight, and ended up selling his business at age 11 for quite a tidy profit, so maybe the signs were there from the start.
Overnight sensation is for pretty celebrities and supermodels, not men like Jordan Zimmerman. After toiling 80, 90, 100 hours a week leading his agency to bigger and bigger clients, Jordan was approached in 1999 by media behemoth Omnicom. He sold, but in typical Jordan fashion, he couldn’t just sit back and enjoy the fruits of 15 years’ hard labor. Instead, he had a typical Jordan Zimmerman epiphany: We’re doing well, so we’ll commit to doing even better; reaching higher, diversifying and growing significantly. The man never stops, barely sleeps, and is still the first person to arrive at the office every day. Jordans blog is a reflection of his work ethic, his mantra to succeed for his clients, and his no-b.s. way of telling it like it is.
And that office, while considerably bigger than the 400 square feet he started in, is still in Ft. Lauderdale. Take that, Madison Avenue.
Biography
When Jordan entered the MBA program at USF, and he began his thesis work, that he first discovered a missing link between advertising and sales. He instinctively knew that many brands had relevance and awareness but lacked intenders that are needed to drive sales. Jordan’s vision was to create an innovative marketing strategy that would bridge the gap between brand and retail marketing, well known today as “Brandtailing”.
Jordan’s “Brandtailing” strategy consists of relevant, compelling and meaningful communications through advertising mediums – including interactive — that would ignite brands, build long-term equity and drive next day sales. This difference would propel Zimmerman, and with Jordan’s keen business acumen, as well as an eye for a client’s bottom line, fostered a “we grow as you grow” client relationship.
Throughout his career Jordan has been recognized for his many personal accomplishments, including the prestigious 1991 University of South Florida Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2004, he was one of ten people honored with South Florida Business Journal’s Diamond Award. In 2006, South Florida CEO Magazine honored Jordan as their “One Hundred Most Powerful People in South Florida”, and most recently he was named to Nova Southeastern University’s H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship’ s Hall of Fame, and received the University of South Florida’s School of Mass Communications Kappa Tau Alpha Hall of Fame Award.
Jordan is a firm believer in giving back to the community, which led him to develop the Denise and Jordan Zimmerman Family Foundation, Inc., and over the years he has supported and led many local and national non-profit organizations and charities, including: Make a Wish Foundation, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and the Florence Fuller Foundation. He is a member of the board for Take Stock in Children, a trustee for Pine Crest Schools, a board member of the Cleveland Clinic Florida, and sits on the Foundation Board of the University of South Florida.
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