Harvey Morris

About Harvey Morris

There\'s a messy space between AI innovation and human judgment where most brands get lost. They automate what should be felt. They systematize what should be sensed. They optimize for signals while losing the plot on meaning. That in-between space, where intelligence meets empathy, where data meets instinct, where strategy meets feeling, is exactly where I work. I call it Think With Feeling.™ Empathy isn\'t the opposite of intelligence. It\'s what makes intelligence matter. That\'s the belief behind everything I build: every strategy, every system, every conversation about what AI can and cannot do for a brand trying to earn real belief from real people. For 25+ years I\'ve worked at this intersection, scaling Yesmail to a $523M IPO, creating Chicago Restaurant Week and its $20.9M economic impact, driving 885% revenue growth for a biopharma brand in a single year. Today I lead Marketing Strategy & AI Innovation at StudioNorth, where I help B2B brands navigate AI transformation without losing the human thread that makes their marketing worth reading. I\'m also writing \"AI Thresholds,\" a book about the moment everyone is crossing simultaneously, whether they\'re ready or not. If you\'re a marketing leader trying to figure out how much of your judgment to hand to the machine, and how much to keep. this is the conversation I\'m built for.

Experience

1. CEO & Founder

   Black Pug Media

   May 2012 — Present · Bloomington, IL, US

   Black Pug Media is my independent marketing consultancy, founded in 2012 and built around one belief: find the human truth in a brand, then build everything else around it.Over the years I\'ve served as a fractional marketing leader for founders, associations, and mission-driven organizations navigating growth, change, or both. That has meant helping early-stage ventures find their market story, guiding American Marketing Association Chicago and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (now part of ANA) through community and brand strategy, and stepping in as the senior marketing voice organizations need before they\'re ready for a full-time hire.Several clients advised here have gone on to acquisition.Black Pug Media is also the publishing home of The Johnny Mae Project, my music production and songwriting studio, and \"Simply Decadent Brownies Cookbook\"- an Amazon #1 chocolate dessert cookbook that held the top spot for over nine months.

Education

• Illinois State University

  BS, Mass Communication (Journalism)

• University of Oxford

  Online Executive Learning, AI Foundations for Business Professionals

• Imperial College London

  Online Executive Learning, Creative Thinking Tools for Success and Leadership

• Vanderbilt University

  Online Executive Learning, AI Leadership & Strategy | Agentic AI Design & Deployment

• Northwestern University

  Online Executive Learning, Organizational Leadership

• Illinois State University

  Masters Program in Training and Development

Skills

• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Digital Marketing
• Business Intelligence
• Email Marketing
• Mobile Marketing
• Social Media Measurement
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Social Media Coaching
• Strategy
• E-Commerce
• Consumer Behaviour
• Social Media Marketing
• Advertising
• Online Marketing
• Sponsorship Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• E-Business
• Strategic Partnerships
• Strategic Communications
• Trade Shows
• Sponsorship
• Global Business Development
• Social Media Roi
• Blogging
• Word of Mouth Marketing
• Consumer Behavior
• Marketing
• Brand Management
• Public Relations
• Marketing Strategy
• Start-Ups
• Creative Direction
• International Marketing
• Communications Strategy
• Public Speaking
• Customer Relationship Management (Crm)
• Linkedin
• Crm
• Facebook
• Twitter