From an article published Thursday about Chief Marketing Officer Maryam Banikarim in I Am Modern, a magazine for suburban Washington women:
"As our time with Maryam comes to a close, it's hard not to wonder about how Gannett has already benefitted from almost a year's time of all the creative, new ideas she brings to bear since her hiring last March."
Note: The 1,407-word story mentions Gannett exactly seven times. Banikarim's name appears 16 times.
Earlier: The Financial Times on a typical day in Banikarim's life.
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| Banikarim |
Note: The 1,407-word story mentions Gannett exactly seven times. Banikarim's name appears 16 times.
Earlier: The Financial Times on a typical day in Banikarim's life.
It would appear this story was written by a "citizen journalist."
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much time Banikarim spent on this interview?
"You just never know how life is going to turn out."
ReplyDeleteLike a box of chocolates.
The H O R R O R.
ReplyDeleteThe H O R R O R.
What BULLSHIT
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ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the head of Digital, David Payne, is a nobody in the industry. No one even knows this guy. He is irrelevant to people in Silicon Valley and to people in NYC. Mthe only people who know him are Atlanta lawyers.
ReplyDeleteShe's gonna be on the May cover of Narcissists Today.
ReplyDeleteI just have a small staff that I'm responsible for, but when I talk to my boss, other managers or the public - I never say what a great job I do, or what I'm rolling out, or what challenges I face.
ReplyDeleteI'm the leader, but it's the team getting the work done. Yes it's my responsibility in the end, and my head to get lopped off for failure, but when I can't give them raises the best I can do is praise them, both in and out of their earshot. It's putting the focus where it belongs.
I can't imagine being in charge of promoting or praising a company and then spending the majority of that time focusing attention on myself.
Then again, I'm not running Reach ads on MSNBC, either.
What a horribly written story. The dreaded one-source story, nothing verified by anyone. No reaching out to former bosses to get their perspective on this alleged marketing genius who gets job offers for just standing around a movie studio. So if the "writer" interviews just the subject, then everything the subject says must be true. And this, people, is why we need to continue doing our jobs well to make these types of "writers" go into extinction.
ReplyDeleteI am a Gannett critic, and one problem I see in Gannett is the "crabs in the bucket" culture deeply imbedded in the company. As a journalist who pursues excellence, the push-down I've had to take from some editors and colleagues over the years causes me to say at times: "The better I do, the worse it gets."
ReplyDeleteSo I get skeptical when I see all this vitriol directed at Maryam. A person with new ideas who thinks outside the box is going to catch a lot of flak in this company. If anything, Marcia and the bunch ought to consider the culture they've created.
As for Maryam, from my distant perspective, I wish she had a better understanding of what journalists do and what these newspapers, at least in the past, once meant in these communities. I think she might find more there to leverage than she would expect. But we have bigger problems at Gannett than Maryam.
6:52 Calling people "goons" and "losers" gets your comment removed.
ReplyDeleteWell, for a marketing professional, she sure is good at marketing ... herself. I wonder what company will be her next stepping stone?
ReplyDeleteOh, no. No one in journalism is a shameless self-promoter. That never happens, right?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Maryam has learned the lesson of Gannett -- if you're a shameless self promoter, who doesn't bother to do the real work, you can go far by currying favor with the right people.
I don't know whether she is or is not. But if she is, she's learned the culture of the company.
“As our time with Maryam comes to a close, it's hard not to wonder about how Gannett has already benefitted from almost a year's time of all the creative, new ideas she brings to bear since her hiring last March.”
ReplyDeleteLOL as that’s the big question all keep wondering about too.
To date, no one’s shared anything material Banikarim’s done including now as this piece is yet another story about minor work she did elsewhere and zero about what she's accomplished at Gannett.
If her recent epiphany about Gannett's "Hometown Advantage" wasn’t embarrassing enough for Banikarim (one that came through hiring of an agency for her), her comment that Gannett has an “incredible willingness…to accept and be open to ideas that may come from anywhere within the company” certainly is as it shows she truly doesn’t understand how Gannet has long operated in quite an opposite way.
Then again to be fair, building her personal brand as she continues to do obviously requires a lot of her time and energy so perhaps employees should be more patient as it's clear which priorities she puts first, her own.
It's time that ended.
"There is no set road map..."
ReplyDeleteThose six words speak volumes.
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ReplyDeleteBiggest crock of shit. Ever. I have asked the question over and over and no one can answer it. What does she do. Literally. I know what I do. I edit, assign, post to the web, plan news budgets, make out schedules, work w/ reporters, etc. I know what my colleagues do. We put out a daily newspaper. Some days we do better than others, but that website is updated frequently and every night that press runs, producing tangible evidence of what I do. I wish Maryam could show us one thing she has done to move this company forward. One fricken thing.
ReplyDeleteAs in any industry, the more people promote themselves, the sooner it's realized how little good they do for the company.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how bad some of these stories about Mariyam have been. This one was the worst. Golly gee and
ReplyDeleteLazy reporting. As someone said earlier, a crock of shit.
Let's hope some of the legitimate business press stays away from this woman. if they don't, I hope ther is on e reporter out there who does some homework and asks some tough questions. Starting with a central one. What have you actually accomplished in your year at Gannett outside of hiring cronies and running up needless expenses?
Over 20 years as a business journalist and I have yet to see an executive get this much puff piece press based on so little substance.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope MB is networking enough on company time to find a job elsewhere. From a marketing standpoint she who won't be missed.
And who was the "writer" of this puff piece? Why, she runs a marketing and PR company in Dulles. Maybe this was a tryout, as in "do you have an example of your work?"
ReplyDeleteAny sycophant or hagiographer openings at corp?
Have we already covered this one on personal branding?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.personalbrandingblog.com/personal-branding-interview-maryam-banikarim/
Please fire her now
ReplyDeleteSomebody is getting a lot of publicity for not doing any work where's the money and big ideas Maryam you seem to be talking the talk and not walking the walk.
ReplyDeleteGreat new word for the day, thanks! Hagiographer - a writer of the lives of the saints.
ReplyDeleteSo calling a person a goon gets your comment removed but sexually degrading comments are ok? I hope you will pull that comment as well.
ReplyDelete6:54 It's gone.
ReplyDeleteGarcia, could you do everyone a favor and tell MB enough with the interviews untl she accomplishes something that moves Gannetts's bottom line? Tha t should put a long hold on this egomaniac.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about narcissists is they need a steady supply of adulation and praise. They tend to exhaust and frustrate those closest to them with their controlling, in charge behavior. Those who may challenge a narcissist or don't stoke their ever needy egos are quickly discarded or ignored. So the classic narcissist tends to keep looking outward for new people to feed their egos. Speeches, inclusion in high profile events, press clippings all are external feeders of what's known as narcissistic supply.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, the people closest to them realize what the problem is. either they move on, or the narcissist does. Why? Changing this kind of behavior is virtually impossible among those in the know in the therapeutic community.
Maryam ought to etch a sketch away her first year at Gannett. All in all, pretty forgettable in the accomplishment department.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Banikarim is all talk (about herself) and NO ACTION.
ReplyDeleteThis woman is a joke -- plus an egocentric lunatic who treats her staff like shit.
Maryam Banikarim has failed -- so far -- to accomplish the one thing she wanted to do most: boot out Dave Hunke and take his title.
ReplyDeleteIt's now just a question of who is protecting this pathetic Banikarim but also who is protecting the equally pathetic Hunke?
Once when I was interviewed for an article as the new publisher in town, the writer – to my chagrin – omitted all my comments about the team and wrote only about me. I got called on the carpet at corporate for this "self-promotion."
ReplyDeleteOf course, that was at a non-Gannett newspaper company. And it was 20 years ago.
I later worked for Gannett for more than 10 years and self promotion was all I ever saw. Problem was, I was never any good at it.
"It's important to recognize you don't have to have all the answers," Banikarim says. "You can work as a team and you don't have to be the sole person who gets credit. I tell people to do what they think is the right thing and if you have to have 12 people share the credit, then that's what you have to do."
ReplyDeleteThanks for a good laugh. Banikarim has "no team;" only tells her mindless people like Micek, Cronin and Zimmerman to do what she wants done; doesn't know the meaning of "sharing" credit let alone anything else.
This marketing maven/guru/social climber/egomaniac only has one thing on her mind -- her own self promotionand advancement.
The only Maryam Banikarim advice to heed is "STAY OUT OF MY WAY OR I'LL EAT YOU ALIVE."
And like her "on the road speaking engagements," just how much did Banikaruim pocket for granting this piece of rubbish interview?
ReplyDeleteIs it me or does everyone look at her photo and hear her muttering, "am..." "am..." "am..."?
ReplyDeleteBanikarim's biggest claim to fame at NBC Universal: a notebook for employees.
ReplyDeletethe mindful messenger
Maryam Banikarim
SVP and CMO, Gannett
Trust your gut.
"When I was a marketing SVP at NBC Universal, I helped organize a thing called Day One, which was supposed to celebrate the merger with Comcast. [My bosses] were like, 'We need a gift for employees. We can make 30,000 folders with notepads in them.' But I didn't want to give a meaningless tchotchke. So I came up with a purpose line--that NBC Universal is in the idea business--and a new gift to match it. All 30,000 employees got Moleskine notebooks that had sketches of great ideas: the back of a napkin note that became SNL, the cable transponder that became Comcast's business. The letter attached said, 'All great ideas were created by somebody,' and encouraged employees to submit their own. People told me the project wouldn't get approved, that it was way too esoteric. But it was a huge hit."
Our brilliant CMO must have demanded the photographer be fired for this photo. And she's a "40 Under 40" wiz -- I don't think so.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/161/creative-business-people
4/02/2012 12:24 PM Thanks for more me me me me me from MEriyam ABOUTMEkarim.
ReplyDeletePathetic.
MB, just go away. You're not respected, contribute nothing and aer an enormous waste of Gannett dollars on your travels and parties and self-promotion.
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