Petfood & Animal Nutrition 2.0 Conference

This week I am in Chicago attending the Petfood & Animal Nutrition 2.0 Conference at the Hilton Chicago. My firm Zarhill Partners Group is featured for several sessions at this year's pet industry event. As a 19 year veteran of the pet industry and a 27 year career professional I am frequently featured as a public speaker at conferences, webinars and business podcast events. My background as a subject matter expert extends to topics around brand strategies, retail channel strategies, the natural products industry, luxury consumer goods, dog and cat products, and the pet specialty retail channel. Through my Hong Kong office, we regularly host Brand Summits, Leadership Luncheons and Breakfast Networking Meet Ups for key business leaders and brand executives across Hong Kong and mainland China. These past few months my international travel schedule has been hectic, so it is nice to be in Chicago this week, not too far from home.

The pet industry has long been near and dear to my heart, so it is with great pleasure that I will be seeing so many familiar faces this week in Chicago. In advance of my two sessions, I wanted to share two teaser quotes regarding brands:

"Your brand strategy brings your competitive positioning to life, and positions you in the mind of consumers."

"A brand must always be protected through a disciplined strategy."

If you are attending the Petfood 2.0 Event, my presentations are as follows:

• Tuesday 10/20 "Developing a Brand Identity & Strategy" (Main Stage) 
• Wednesday 10/21 "Launching a New Brand" (Meet Up Sessions, by Advance Registration only).

Attendees can submit any brand questions to me prior to Tuesday's sessions via Twitter @RickRockhill

Rick's Roadshow: Chicago- Final Day

Rick's Roadshow isn't especially exciting today, but I thought I'd write a quick post to let you know how much I've enjoyed being back in Chicago. The majority of my trip was spent on the south side of Chicago attending business meetings, but last night I went downtown for dinner at the famous Shaw's Crab House. This is the only photo I took all evening- it is of course the Chicago Theatre marquis, taken from within my taxi cab on State Street. Anyway back to Shaw's. It's the sort of place that people go for all kinds of fresh shellfish, oysters and sushi. It has a fun, comfortable atmosphere and offers delicious food. Since I am allergic to shell fish, I grazed on some calimari and had a nice salad. For my entree I went with a blue cheese encrusted filet, which was cooked to perfection. We had a dessert sampler, of which I had exactly one fork-full since I was so full. It was a fun evening, but I didn't stay out late as I had an early flight to catch to Providence, where Rick's Roadshow will continue. I'm taking today off work as a "personal day" so my travels will hopefully yield some fun photos to share. Hope you have a great Friday too!

-Rick Rockhill

Rick's Roadshow: Chicago- Fannie May Pilgrimage

More from Rick's Roadshow: Chicago. The weather in Chicago today was quite perfect! The sun was shining and it was so pleasant to be out and about. I had booked myself in meetings virtually all day, but I had a short window in the early morning to make my faithful pilgrimage to the local Fannie May Candy Shop. Whenever I am back "home" in Chicago I make a trip to a Fannie May store- it's almost a religious experience for me. Anyway, as it turned out they had a huge sale on, so naturally I stocked up on some essentials, such as Colonial Assortments, Dark Vanilla Buttercreams,  Marshmallow with walnuts drenched in chocolate, some white chocolate for my brother, and some 70% dark chocolate squares for John. The kiddies will get some milk chocolate crayons and gummy fruit slices! Let's just say they will all be glad to see me this weekend! It was worth the trip, and I sure am happy now. Today I'm in meetings all day long, so don't expect much from me!

-Rick Rockhill

Rick's Roadshow: Chicago

Rick's Roadshow continues from Chicago, Illinois. I left Orlando amid heavy downpours mixed with loud thunder and scary lightning bolts crashing everywhere. I seriously wondered if our plane would be able to take off, but the pilot wasn't even phased. I arrived in Chicago quite late, to somewhat chilly temperatures (60's) but compared to the crazyhot humid weather in Orlando, Chicago felt cold to me. In fact once in my hotel room I cranked up the heat! I seriously doubt I'll have much to report from Chicago, as I'm completely tied up in meetings and won't get out at all. But rest assured- if I do, you'll find out right here. Hope you have a great Wednesday, I know I will.

-Rick Rockhill

Pet Food Forum in Chicago

I've been especially busy these past few days and have had no time to update the blog. I'm attending the Pet Food Forum in Chicago, where I gave an address to the pet food industry representing my company. As you know, I avoid discussing specific work stuff on my personal blog, but I wanted to share a few thoughts about the experience these past few days. Having worked in the pet industry for over 12 years, I've accumulated a fair amount of experience and perspective on the business. The Forum is attended by manufacturers, nutritionists, marketing folks, brand managers, and various other pet industry professionals. It was a privilege and honor to address the entire industry at this highly respected annual conference. I had a presentation that ran the full hour- I'm never short on words. As you may have gathered by now, I'm not exactly a shy person when it comes to public speaking. My schedule at the forum has been full; I booked virtually all of my time with an aggressive schedule of meetings, starting at 7:30 am each day right through dinner. At the end of each day I am exhausted from talking but in general I have found it to be fulfilling and mentally stimulating.

A Few Quick Views of Chicago

Few of you know that I called Chicago home for many years, so being back in the windy city is very reassuring. However, I honestly have not had any time to go out and enjoy the city or see any old friends (which I regret). I had dinner downtown one evening and snapped these three photos. I like the angle of these three very different structures.

above: A few of the famed Water Tower Place Mall, right on Michigan Avenue. How I love this city...

above: The actual Water Tower itself...I love this architecture.

Thanks for stopping by today.

-Rick Rockhill

The Pet Food Forum & Jesse Jackson...huh???

I'm in Chicago for a few days attending the Pet Food Forum, which is billed as a premier event for the pet food industry. It is a combination of informative seminars, technical presentations, a mini-trade show floor with suppliers, and plenty of networking opportunities (aka "schmoozing") with the main players in the pet industry.

Now that I've nearly put you to sleep, let me say that it's an interesting time to be here, with all the buzz about the continuing pet food recall. Plenty of sidebar conversations, hallway gossip, and theories abound.

My journey here yesterday was relatively uneventful, although once again, I could not understand who all those tacky people were crammed on my personal plane. I guess my private jet wasn't so private after all.

One interesting note was that on my not-so-private jet, the Reverend Jesse Jackson sat in the same row as me, across the aisle. Now I've never been impressed by Rev. Jackson, and I certainly don't agree with his politics but I must say, I was even less impressed with him after observing him in flight for nearly four hours. He seemed somewhat of an elitist, barking out orders to the flight attendants during the flight. Oddly enough, when I finally got my bag from luggage claim hell and made my way to the hotel, who did I run into at the hotel front desk? The Reverend Jesse Jackson! One of his people was checking him in while he waited off to the side. He seemed a little tired by this point, and I can't blame him after a long late night flight, even if it was all the free cocktails that were slowing him down. I didn't bother saying hello. I figured he wouldn't be much interested if he knew I am a fiscally conservative, log-cabin republican from Palm Springs with a fictitious British housekeeper named Mrs Danvers anyway.
-Rick Rockhill