Joining Forces
"We are tied to the ocean... when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came." (John F Kennedy)
Brian and Jason first met and worked together in the development of a nationwide media program during the 1992 International America’s Cup Sailing Regatta. This marketing and social responsibility program supported youth journalism nationwide to showcase AT&T technologies and services, support education, develop a relationship with high schools across the country, all while creating a legacy for AT&T based on its overall sponsorship of the America’s Cup program. The conference was designed by Brian with AT&T and Times Mirror Magazines, and later grew into the aegis for an annual series of such programs for AT&T that included a focus on Baseball Spring Training with Nike, the X Games with ESPN, and the US Political Party Convention process with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Farmers Insurance. Later, through their respective ties and work with UCSD, Jason and Brian connected to create an ‘innovation and start-up' program that exposed college students from across the globe to telecom companies. As recently as 2021, the two once again joined forces in work with Swarco I McCain, an Austrian-based Swarovski-owned pioneer of advanced traffic control products and equipment. Their diverse education, vast experience, and multitude of talents provide customers with the contextual understanding, critical reasoning, and decision-making that lead founders through early-stage product/business exploration to product extensions, market expansions, and new directions. Brian and Jason are complemented with additional team members with noteworthy experience that extend the consultancy's offerings.
About Us
Brian Hawkins
Brian has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of San Diego in International Relations & Business with a double minor in French and Italian, he earned an MBA focused on Advertising, Media & Branding from ASU Thunderbird. His educational formation includes studies in Paris France at the Sciences Po and the University of Florence in Italy. At the age of 22, Brian founded an agency initially focused on sports marketing and special events, as the agency evolved, Brian added international clients and projects, expanding focus to media and special events, as well as corporate social responsibility. Over the years, he worked with clients including American Express (Centurion Card Services), American Red Cross, AT&T, Bank of America US Trust Private Wealth Management, BMW, California State Parks, Cubic, Farmers Insurance, General Motors (Cadillac and Chevrolet), Hyundai, Kellogg’s, Kimberly-Clark, Monsanto, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Nordstrom, SAIC, SBC, Times Mirror Magazines, Wells Fargo. Brian was a founding partner in the fashion tech company StyleSeek (exit 2015). He designed, Kickstarted and launched a co-working space for maker’s PreFAB Space, and most recently is an executive board member in LashLive a live action shopping platform. Brian also enjoys designing products through his “BootHunter” brand on Instagram, working with US and overseas makers from Nicks Handmade of Spokane Washington to Ortodoux in Indonesia. (Many of these can be seen on the Wire + Wonder page under Portfolio of past customers, clients and partners). Brian has lived, studied and worked in Italy, France, Denmark, and South Africa; he speaks 5 languages. He divides his time between homes in the mountains and desert of San Diego California and Saratoga Wyoming. He is an avid car collector, off-road and wilderness explorer, and has a passion for home and interior, and product design in addition to business and marketing consultant services.
Jason Ellis
Jason has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego, studied Strategic Management & International Finance at the University of Oxford, England, and has 8 issued patents and others pending for inventions in wireless communications, automotive safety, renewable energy, wireless health & fitness, and content distribution. He has worked as an engineer, led global business and marketing initiatives, established strategic collaborations and formulated multi-faceted partnership programs, successfully evangelized technology, and operated cross-functional teams and medium-sized businesses with responsibility for hundreds of millions of dollars and over 650 employees. His tasks have included helping turn-around existing businesses, though more so, bringing emerging technologies to market, oftentimes where the new market was either nascent or immensely entrenched with legacy products and processes. His tenure includes Fortune-500 companies, privately owned entities, government, early employee at a VC-funded start-up company, and in meaningful industry organizations including 5GAA, IEEE, Smart Cities Council, Continua Health Alliance, and the World Economic Forum. Jason speaks globally and is a business and marketing consultant as a thought leader in a variety of technologies such as Cellular, WiFi, V2X, Bluetooth, UWB, along with embedded software, cloud and on-premise central solutions with domain expertise in numerous vertical markets. He has worked meaningfully with major entities in specific vertical markets and with horizontal platforms, some of whom are indicated on the Wire + Wonder page under Portfolio of past customers, clients and partners.
Modus Condito - Client Cases Across The Globe
Maurice de Mauriac - Zurich, Switzerland
US Market Strategy Development • Customer Target Profile • Collaborative Branding Campaign • Partnership Formation • Lifestyle Marketing & Media • Influence Marketing Initiative
Beckett Simonon - Bogota, Columbia
Corporate Social Responsibility • Storytelling Development • Social Media Influence & Engagement • Customer Communications & Engagement • Customer Relationship Management
Ortodoux - Bandung, Indonesia
Product Marketing • Product Design • Branding • Social Responsibility • Influence Marketing, Messaging & Media • Targeted Promotion via BootHunter