Quantum² : InfoStars : Chris Brune

Chris Brune

Bates Worldwide's Chris Brune

When Bates Worldwide, a leading global advertising and marketing communications network, decided to develop a Knowledge Management Practice, they hired Chris Brune, who is now VP Knowledge Manager. Although this is uncommon in advertising, Bates is one of about 12 advertising agencies that have adopted knowledge management initiatives in an effort to become stronger. Chris believes, "Knowledge management will be the glue that makes this network into a true network." Because there are so many new acquisitions in the advertising industry, knowledge management will knit many services together.

Since he has been at Bates, Chris has worked with Dialog to develop an intranet site called BIG BRAIN. The site offers a marketing plan, a business plan, appealing graphics, and contains various links to chat rooms, electronic requests to the library and internal client lists. He believes that BIG BRAIN can be a significant part of the company, the one place people come for information, to communicate and share ideas. BIG BRAIN was rolled out in December 2001, and one of the greatest challenges that Chris faces is introducing people to BIG BRAIN and getting them to use it frequently. "I figure it will take 2 to 3 years to change the way they think and change the way they work."

Introducing approximately 10,000 employees at Bates Worldwide to BIG BRAIN is no easy task, but Chris has a plan: teleconference training sessions. During the sessions Chris and his staff walk the users through the services that are offered on BIG BRAIN. He says, "They [the users] have to be seated at their own computer doing it on their own…I don't even want them in a conference room." He and his staff conduct three training sessions a week, with six users at a time. At this rate, they hope to have 720 users trained by the end of the year, and Chris hopes to reach one major office on each continent. "I love this challenge. Whenever you have to change people's minds, it is a challenge. That's what knowledge management is."

As a knowledge manager, Chris says that his job is "coming through for people." Chris claims, "My success comes when our people look like a million dollars in front of their clients…I like the tasks of librarianship and cataloging, and when I apply those things on behalf of people, it gives me a greater joy." Chris relies heavily upon Dialog and claims, "Dialog has been tremendous." Web designers are currently working to make the website look more dynamic. "At an ad agency, people are visual, it [the website] has to look beautiful." Chris believes "The Dialog Toolkit is going to be a traffic builder to Big Brain" because of the content it will contain.

Chris explains what motivates him in his pursuit of information dissemination. "Who can say what ideas, insights, connections, or inspirations will emerge when the right person is exposed to the right information, whether it comes from a written document or a conversation with a colleague? But we know they do emerge because we have seen it with our own eyes. Making this happen is the challenge and the fun of this profession."