Rob. Walton
Chicago, Illinois 60657 ■ rob @ robwaltononline.com
CAREER PROFILE
√ Accomplished media manager with more than 15 years in print and web publishing
√ Versatile communicator with proven ability to create and generate effective general interest, professional, academic and marketing copy
√ Impeccable, detail-oriented editor, entrusted with critical and high-priority projects
Marj Halperin Consulting, Chicago, Illinois January 2011-present
PROJECT MANAGER
Work with communications strategist Marj Halperin on a diverse roster of clients, including Kraft Foods, Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, Illinois Finance Authority and Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel’s Arts and Culture transition team. Primary focus is on Kraft Foods; recent projects include researching and writing an 18,000-word Corporate Excellence award application for Points of Light and Kraft Foods Foundation’s portions of the annual corporate responsibility report. Seasonally, manage the planning, physical logistics and website and brochures for a summer-long, four-venue children’s festival with seven program partners including Ravinia Festival, Chicago Park District, Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago Public Library, After School Matters and the Parkways Foundation. Compile clips and Board of Directors books for Illinois Finance Authority. Conduct media research for IFA, Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges; manage contacts and edit internal documents for Mayor-Elect’s arts & culture transition team
Ruthless Films, Chicago, Illinois September 2010-January 2011
PUBLICIST, TONY & JANINA’S AMERICAN WEDDING
Conceived and implemented the PR strategy for an independently produced feature documentary. Secured broadcast segments on NPR and WTTW Public Television and features on the Huffington Post, in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and the Arizona Republic. Total media reach equals more than 4.5 million people before the film’s commercial release
Chicago Metropolis 2020, Chicago, Illinois September 2009-July 2010
COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT, BURNHAM PLAN CENTENNIAL
Coordinated region-wide message for the 1909 Plan of Chicago Centennial to engage educational, civic and cultural programming partners. Populated, maintained and published Centennial website and social media. Wrote, copy-edited and fact-checked press releases and high-visibility documents for publication including policy documents, multimedia Educators Resource Guide and 130-page final report. Cut turnaround time and budget by more than 50% when took over the distribution database and created and sent weekly e-news blasts to 2,200 members and 300 program partners. Organized and catalogued digital files and artifacts for permanent archiving at Art Institute
Playboy Enterprises, Inc., Chicago, Illinois February 2004-May 2009
MANAGING EDITOR, PLAYBOY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP; CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, PLAYBOY MAGAZINE
Managed daily editorial operation and maintained brand identity of Playboy’s non-membership lifestyle website which receives one million unique users per day covering entertainment, arts, business, technology, trends, sports, fashion, politics, cars, relationships and college life
- Synchronized, enforced and consistently met deadlines for editorial, art and layout/design by simplifying and streamlining workflow
- Increased traffic to the website by conceiving high-profile features that earned home page links from AOL and Yahoo! as well as plugs on The Tonight Show, E! and Access Hollywood
- Hired and supervised a dynamic full-time staff of 18 writers, editors, designers and videographers, plus more than 50 freelancers and contributors in a fast-paced, high-energy environment
- Brainstormed with marketing/ad sales to conceive and implement viable branded features and advertorial microsites for clients including HBO, Sony, EA Games, Anheuser-Bush, Warner Bros. and ESPN to bring in more than $600,000 annually, offsetting the staffing and editorial budget
- Coordinated and staffed coverage of annual tentpole marketing events including Super Bowl party, Sundance Film Festival, Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Miami’s Winter Music Conference
- Worked with general counsel and rights & permissions to draft contracts and licensing agreements for all animators, artists and writers; managed discretionary $500,000 editorial budget; vetted and endorsed all accounts payable transmittals
- Populated, published and updated web pages using both SGML-based editing programs and WYSIWYG content management system, with an eye for SEO strategy, successfully ranking articles at the top of Google and Yahoo! searches
- Oversaw the design and content of Playboy’s interactive website for The Girls Next Door, the highest rated series on E! Entertainment Television
Milestones include:
- Managed implementation of company-wide content management system and integrated $4 million Web 2.0 redesign for Playboy magazine, Playboy.com, Playboy TV, Playboy Radio, Playboy Mobile and affiliated divisions. System streamlined operations by cutting legal approvals turnaround by 90% and largely shifting responsibility of layout from designers to editors
- Presented Playboy’s multimedia business model to 24 foreign edition publishers at 2008 International Publishing Conference in Sicily
Playboy Online, Chicago, Illinois September 1998-February 2004
SENIOR EDITOR
Assigned and edited Travel, Technology, Business and Arts sections for the world’s first national magazine to launch on the Web. Adapted the company’s established editorial voice to the digital age for younger male readers. Distinguished the Playboy brand from emerging competitors including Maxim, Blender and FHM by retaining the magazine’s air of “sophisticated authority.” Conceived and implemented franchise features to carry the magazine’s aspirational long-form style to the quick-hit digital age. Developed and nurtured relationships with contributing authors. Managed team of associate editors in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Authored interviews, consumer pieces, reviews and humor pieces
Milestones include:
- Worked personally with company founder and editor-in-chief Hugh M. Hefner to create his biographical microsite including scrapbooks, historical timeline and the Playboy Philosophy
- Managed and implemented the company’s 50th anniversary microsite
- Edited manuscripts for voice, tone, factual accuracy and adherence to Chicago Manual of Style
- Coordinated and staffed coverage of annual tentpole marketing events including Super Bowl party, Sundance Film Festival, Mardi Gras and Miami’s Winter Music Conference
Turner Network Television, Atlanta, Georgia November 1997-September 1998
MANAGING EDITOR, ROUGH CUT ONLINE
Managed a full-time editorial staff of seven writers and editors plus 25 contributors to produce Turner’s on-line movie magazine, a nationally recognized site earning 20,000 page impressions per day
- Oversaw initial website design and migration of code from the developer
- Communications point person between the website, marketing, publicity and the network
- Coordinated the flow of copy from editors to web designers Oversaw, executed and met the annual $500,000 departmental operating budget
- Worked hand-in-hand with TNT marketing to conceive and execute corporate partnerships, sponsorships and other marketing initiatives with advertisers and on-line clients including Yahoo!, Lycos, InterVU, MotivationNet and Amazon.com. Successful special events include live cyberchats and a progressive on-line screenplay.
- Implemented sophisticated 24-hour staffing schedule to seamlessly integrate workflow between daytime and overnight workers
- Researched and wrote film reviews, entertainment industry business stories and news features
- Edited text for style, voice, factual accuracy, grammar, libel and adherence to Turner Entertainment Group’s standards and practices and AP Style
- Editorial liaison between the site and the co-branded, weekly Rough Cut television series on TNT
- Promoted roughcut.com through television, radio and print appearances and interviews in trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter
99X, WNNX 99.7 FM, Atlanta, Georgia April 1993 – September 1998
ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT
Provided live, on-air entertainment news and commentary during “The Morning X,” Billboard’s top-rated, a.m. drive-time radio show. Conducted station promotional appearances
Anunnaki Entertainment, Atlanta, Georgia
MEDIA CONSULTANT
Defined and promoted the identity of a fledgling music production and management company under the creative auspices of acclaimed engineer Phil Tan, whose clients include Elton John, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton and Bobby Brown. Produced artist bios, company press kits, media advisories and website content
Creative Loafing Newspaper, Atlanta, Georgia December 1988-November 1997
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Responsible for scheduling, budgeting, assigning, copy-editing, managing and writing of arts, entertainment, cinema and culture features for a newspaper with a weekly readership of 435,000
- Managed a staff of 12 freelance writers and photographers. Responsibilities included coordinating story assignments, providing creative direction, maintaining daily deadlines, acquiring artwork and editing copy
- Created and maintained an annual and weekly departmental budget by forecasting monthly and yearly trends in advertising. Created and submitted freelance expenses and payroll
- Managed production of the annual 208-page “Best of Atlanta” issue. Categories include: Restaurants, Retail, Sports & Recreation, Arts & Entertainment and People. Responsibilities included the collection of data, management of resources, thematic development, hiring of photographers and artists and supervising creative services to create the look and layout of the issue
- Designed pages for America Online’s Digital City, using Rainman software. Programmed daily updates of cultural events, nightlife, movie reviews and theater showtimes for AOL’s city-specific websites
- Authored the “Talk of Town” celebrity and society column
The Fulton County Daily Report, Atlanta, Georgia June 1988-December 1988
OPINIONS EDITOR
Copy-edited and proofread court opinions for the legal newspaper
EDUCATION
Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania
Bachelor of Arts in Film Theory/Criticism and Film Production. Equivalent to a minor in business. Honor Roll.
Arts & Entertainment Editor, The Daily Collegian
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- 2008-2010 Chase’s Annual Calendar of Events, Contributor
- 2010 Cathy Taylor Public Relations, Publicist
- 2010 Ruthless Films, Publicist
- 2008-2009 Second City Conservatory, Comedy Writing
- 2008 Merv Griffin’s Crosswords, Contestant
- 2005-present Center on Halsted, Volunteer
- 2000 – 2009 Chicago Film Critics Association, Member
- 1997 – 1998 Atlanta Cultural Organization, Member
- 1997 – 1998 Atlanta Arts Network, Member
- 1997 Access America, Contributor
- 1996 – 1998 Host and emcee of the annual AMPAS-endorsed Oscar Night America
fund-raising gala for the Atlanta Arthritis Foundation at Planet Hollywood
- 1995 – 1998 Board Member for IMAGE Film & Video Center, a non-profit media resource
center
- 1992 – present As a freelance writer, work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, People, Time
Out, Out, Chicago Reader, Chicago Social, Chicago and Atlanta magazines
PROFICIENCIES
MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, TextPad Windows text editor, InCopy, InDesign, Quark, CSS, HTML, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, LexisNexis search archive, Fatwire content management software, Drupal, WordPress, Rainman cms, Brightcove video publisher, Telestream FlipFactory web-based media compressor, FeedRoom web video player, Coremetrics web analytics