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A Knowledge Driven Approach
Baxter Group believes in being knowledge-driven, not
assumption-driven. We believe that real information - not
guesswork or the acceptance of statements on face value - spurs real
strategic thinking and positioning. In turn, knowledge sets
the foundation for developing creative and aggressive communications
platforms, which help drive exceptional results.
We embrace primary and secondary research as a means to learn all we
can about our clients, their marketplace and key audiences. We
believe in testing the marketplace – buyers, influencers, channel
partners -- for attitudes, willingness to believe and buy, and
acceptance of our client’s positioning and messages. We research
Wall Street’s views and predictions on industries and sectors.
In short, we understand the importance of obtaining feedback from
the world outside a client’s door and in analyzing what we have
learned to help our clients make strategic business decisions.
Baxter Group Advantages
Baxter Group prides itself on delivering the advantages of a full
service boutique firm, including hands-on executive involvement
through all phases of program planning and execution, while also
offering the same broad communications capabilities as
multi-national public relations firms. Although many public
relations firms lead their clients to believe in the advantages of
scale as it relates to public relations, the stark reality of
off-the-shelf programs is that they fail to deliver measurable
results. This is further compounded in many large agencies by
the relative inexperience of the associates actually working on the
account on a daily basis.
Baxter Group has a markedly different
approach to client service.
Baxter Group executives lead and guide every step of the public
relations process to ensure that in-depth research is conducted and
the correct positioning, strategy and creative programs are
developed to generate high-impact results. We also ensure that the
actual outreach to key audiences - the buying marketplace, media,
analysts, partners, and shareholders - is performed at the highest
professional caliber.
We offer our clients several clear advantages:
· Speed to market for new products, services, campaigns
· Flexibility of approach; ability to quickly assess and switch
tactics
· Responsiveness to client requirements
· Accuracy of message, via a knowledge-driven approach
· Focus on select industries to leverage knowledge base
· Creation of mind and market-share through highly effective campaigns
· Demonstrable return on investment
With our
senior, seasoned people, our clients get premium service.
Baxter Group employees are located in San Francisco, New York, and
Washington DC. For our clients who require international
support, Baxter Group offers a unique advantaged unrivaled amongst
our competitors, and has an ongoing partnership with one of the
country's largest public relations agencies. With access to
resources in their offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Washington DC, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai,
Singapore, Sydney, London, Paris, Tel Aviv, this partnership enables
Baxter Group clients access to an international base of resources
for specific projects that demand global execution.
Baxter Group Management Team
Melissa Toteda - Principal
Melissa has extensive strategy development experience in
multi-national consumer goods as well as business-to-business
technology, including work for Hitachi Consulting, Seagate
Technology, Cisco Systems, MobileSys and Business Engine. She has
been responsible for the development and execution of numerous
award-winning public relations programs including PR Week’s Media
Campaign of the Year (Women.Com), Annual Report Competition
(Seagate Technology), and the coveted CIPRA Award for Technical
Excellence (California Milk Advisory Board). As a former Vice
President, Ruder Finn, and head of the technology public relations
practice in the San Francisco office, Melissa rapidly grew the
technology group to a multi-million dollar practice in under a year.
She has a track record of successful work with client CEOs and
senior executives to formulate positioning, messages, and
communications strategies. Additional client work includes
multi-national consumer goods company, The Clorox Company (The Brita
Products Company, Armor All) Ghirardelli, and Shutterfly.
As
founder of Baxter Group, Melissa Toteda has successfully positioned
the firm on the cutting edge of public relations strategy by working
closely with a small, but diverse group of high profile clients.
Above all, client service of the highest professional caliber
remains the hallmark of the firm's successes.
Lisa Henry - Senior Vice President
Lisa is a results-oriented 20-year communication’s expert
specializing in media relations. She has created award-winning
consumer programs for health, lifestyle, food, restaurant, travel
and hospitality industries. As a former Vice President for Torme &
Company, she has managed large, national multi-million dollar
accounts and small, local non-profits. She has long term
relationships with top editors and publishers of numerous national
magazines and daily newspapers in top media markets. She regularly
generates feature placements in key trade and consumer publications
including, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dallas
Morning News, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. Her experience
includes the Brita Products Company, Ghirardelli, Germ Terminator,
Shutterfly, Pacific Cheese, Walnut Marketing Board, C&H Sugar
Company, California Milk Advisory Board, SocialTech, Boomerangit.com,
and United Way of the Bay Area.
Bill Bennett - Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning
From
positioning and product launches to mergers and acquisitions,
Bill has been a part of the advance guard of marketing in the
Information Age. At the leading edge of commercial
implementation and the second wave of consumer adoption, Bill's
creative skills include traditional media as well as alternative
media such as blogging and pod-casting, leaving no stone
unturned in the quest to deliver client value. Equally at home
with consumer and technology clients, his work helped fuel the
launches of the first Java programming language, and the use of the
Internet as a streaming medium for music. Over his 25 year
career, he has led efforts developing creative solutions to media
and marketing challenges confronting organizations as diverse as
Levi Strauss & Co., Toshiba, The Smithsonian Institution, Bell
Atlantic, Sun Microsystems and Business 2.0. He has created and
implemented marketing and communications strategies for a broad
range of technology (HP, Sprint, AT&T, NCR, Steeplechase Networks)
and consumer goods companies (Levis, Dockers, Brita, Ghirardelli),
including the development and management of advertising, public
relations, investor relations, and market research programs. Bill
began his career as a freelance journalist for The Washington Star.
Catherine Colton - Vice President, Media Relations
With
more than 15 years of experience in public relations, Catherine has
focused on technology clients. She has extensive media contacts
among technology reporters and editors at technology publications,
trade publications in numerous vertical industries and among daily
newspapers and broadcast outlets in key markets. Among technology
clients, Catherine has worked for Hitachi Consulting, A.T. Kearney,
Information Builders and Nortel Networks (London). She was the
international account director for Onstream where she managed the PR
program with staff in The Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK.
Among consumer clients, she has worked with Brita Products Company,
Clorox ReadyMop, and Shutterfly. Catherine holds a Certificate of
Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.
Sasha Bath - Senior Copy Editor
Sasha
has over fifteen years of hands-on experience in writing, editing,
and project management in both the trade and educational publishing
worlds. Sasha has been a copy editor and managing editor at several
major New York publishing houses, including HarperCollins, John
Wiley & Sons, and Pearson Education, where she has managed the
publication of books ranging from high-tech and business to health
and education. She has extensive experience in writing press
releases, educational brochures and other publicity material for
high-impact public relations programs. For over ten years she has
been a freelance editor for Boardroom Publication's hugely
successful Bottom Line Personal and Bottom Line Health newsletters.
John
P. Carroll, Food Consultant
John is a noted baking expert and cookbook author. He consults with
our food clients and numerous Bay Area food companies, providing
assistance with recipe development and testing, and is a longtime
Taster's Choice judge for the San Francisco Chronicle. John also
works for Wine Spectator and Williams-Sonoma.
John is the author of many books, including: Pie Pie Pie: Easy
Homemade Favorites, Breads : At the Academy, Little California
Cookbook, Mayo Clinic Williams Sonoma Cookbook and Outdoor Cooking,
Healthy Cooking, Grilling, Pies and Tarts (Williams Sonoma series).
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