Joel Babbit

Joel Babbit
Mother Nature Network co-founders Joel Babbit (left) and Chuck Leavell speak at the 2015 Fortune Brainstorm E in Austin, Texas.
Born11 August 1953 (1953-08-11) (age 71)
Atlanta, GA
Occupation(s)Marketing Executive, Entrepreneur
Websitehttps://narrativecontent.com

Joel Babbit (born August 11, 1953) is an American marketing executive and entrepreneur. He currently serves as CEO of Narrative Content Group,[1][2] which he co-founded in 2009 with Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell.[3][4][5]

Early life and education

Babbit was born in Atlanta, Georgia.[6] He attended the University of Georgia, graduating in 1976 with a degree in advertising.[7] He received the university's John Holliman Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.[8]

Career

The majority of Babbit's career has been spent in the advertising agency business, working with clients including AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, Dell, Home Depot, RJR Nabisco and United Parcel Service.[3][5][9][10]

Babbit began working at McCann Erickson in 1978,[11] and would later serve as executive vice president of Chiat/Day and president of WPP's GCI Group.[9][12] He co-founded Babbit & Reiman Advertising with business partner Joey Reiman,[3] and served as CEO while it became one of the largest advertising agencies in the U.S. Southeast.[9][11] In 1988, it was acquired by London-based Gold Greenlees Trott.[9] Babbit also co-founded 360,[10] a marketing firm later acquired by WPP's Grey Global Group.[13][14]

Babbit has been profiled by a variety of national and international media outlets, including Forbes,[4] Advertising Age,[13] Fortune,[15] The New York Times,[9][16][17] Financial Times,[14] and The Wall Street Journal.[18]

Narrative Content Group

Babbit currently serves as CEO of Narrative Content Group.[1][2][19] Founded in 2009 by Babbit and Leavell, its equity partners include CNN and Discovery Communications.[20] The company creates, publishes and distributes content for brands that have included Aflac, AT&T, Bacardi, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, Georgia-Pacific and Mercedes-Benz.[3][21][22][23]

Narrative owned TreeHugger[23] and Mother Nature Network, the company's flagship property, which was ranked by Alexa Internet as the most visited for-profit website in the world in its environmental category.[24]

Through MNN, and in partnership with Southern Company, Babbit and Leavell also created and produced the White House Correspondents' Jam, which was held annually in Washington, D.C.[25][26]

In February of 2020, Narrative sold Treehugger and Mother Nature Network to digital media company DotDash,[27] an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IAC).

Civic involvement

Following Atlanta’s selection to host the 1996 Summer Olympics, Babbit took a leave of absence from the private sector and was appointed by Mayor Maynard Jackson to be the city’s first chief marketing and communications officer.[17][28] He also served as a member of the mayor's cabinet.[29]

Babbit has done pro bono work for organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, United Way of America, Boys & Girls Club and the United Nations Foundation.[1][30] He wrote and produced a 2015 public service video about road rage starring former professional boxer Evander Holyfield,[31] which has been viewed more than 32 million times on YouTube (as of February 2022).[32]

Babbit has been active in numerous civic and non-profit organizations, including the Young Presidents' Organization, the CDC Foundation, the Atlanta History Center and the United Way. He is currently a director of Primerica (NYSE: PRI) and GreenSky (NASDAQ: GSKY).[1][30][33]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Executive Profile: Joel M. Babbit". Bloomberg. S&P Global Market Intelligence. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Leadership". Narrative Content Group. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Grillo, Jerry (December 1, 2011). "The Ad Man And The Rocker". Georgia Trend. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "O'Malley Greenburg, Zach (January 7, 2014). "Turning Red And Blue States Green, With Some Help From A Rolling Stone". Forbes. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Pearson, Bob (2011). Pre-Commerce: How Companies and Customers are Transforming Business Together. Jossey-Bass. p. 284. ISBN 9781118023037. joel babbit.
  6. ^ "Florio, Elizabeth (July 1, 2010). "Mother Nature's Daddy". Atlanta Magazine. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  7. ^ Moreno, Stephanie (March 9, 2015). "UGA Grady College announces recipients of 2015 Alumni Awards" (Press release). Athens, Georgia: UGA Today. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  8. ^ "UGA's Grady College honors distinguished alumni". Athens Banner-Herald. April 22, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d e Rothenberg, Randall (November 24, 1989). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Advertising; A Regional Star Risks New York". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  10. ^ a b Vaeth, Elizabeth (August 18, 1997). "Chasing Fox is unpleasant exercise for Babbit". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Welch, Mary (November 5, 2003). "Drama and Comedy, Agony and Laughter: The History of Atlanta Advertising, The 1960s to the Early Nineties". Oz Magazine. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  12. ^ Tobin Ramos, Rachel (August 14, 2006). "Ad man Babbit to lead PR giant". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Newman, Andrew Adam (November 22, 2010). "Green Website Finds Sustainable Model in Creating Custom Ads". Advertising Age. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Kompanek, Christopher (August 15, 2014). "How to profit from web ads: Mother Nature Network's Joel Babbit". Financial Times. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  15. ^ "Gimbel, Barney (January 14, 2009). "This green Web site really rocks". Fortune. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  16. ^ Bryant, Adam (July 7, 2012). "Why C.E.O.'s Need a Dose of James Bond". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  17. ^ a b Applebome, Peter (February 9, 1993). "How Atlanta's Adman Pushes the City to Sell Itself". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  18. ^ Debaise, Colleen (January 19, 2011). "An Ad Man's Foray Into 'Green' Media". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  19. ^ "Blau, Max (July 1, 2016). "What is it? An oral history of Izzy, the mascot marketing snafu of Olympic proportions". Atlanta Magazine. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  20. ^ Saporta, Maria (November 15, 2012). "Mother Nature Network to merge with Discovery's treehugger.com; new entity to be based in Atlanta". Saporta Report. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  21. ^ Kempner, Matt (March 27, 2016). "Unofficial Business: Rolling Stones' Georgian shares in historic Cuba concert". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  22. ^ Bondick, Christine (July 15, 2015). "Tales of the Cocktail to Launch the New TalesoftheCocktail.com" (Press release). New Orleans, Louisiana: Tales of the Cocktail. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  23. ^ a b Koch, Wendy (November 14, 2012). "Eco websites Mother Nature Network and TreeHugger merge". USA Today. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  24. ^ "The top 500 sites on the web > Category > Science > Environment". Alexa. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  25. ^ Heil, Emily (April 13, 2016). "Chuck Leavell is bringing a few (famous) friends to play the White House Correspondents' Jam". Washington Post. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  26. ^ "Grinapol, Corinne (April 29, 2016). "WHCD Party Invites: White House Correspondents' Jam II". Ad Week. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  27. ^ "Dotdash Acquires Mother Nature Network and TreeHugger". www.nasdaq.com. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  28. ^ Payne, Michael (2006). Olympic Turnaround: How the Olympic Games Stepped Back from the Brink of Extinction to Become the World's Best Known Brand. Praeger. p. 173. ISBN 9780275990305.
  29. ^ Elliott, Stuart (June 3, 1992). "Babbit Takes Post To Promote Atlanta". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  30. ^ a b "Joel Babbit, CEO and Co-Founder of Mother Nature Network, speaks at Terry Third Thursday" (Press release). UGA Terry College of Business. March 18, 2010. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  31. ^ "Coffee, Patrick (January 30, 2015). "Evander Holyfield Warns Against the Dangers of Road Rage". Ad Week. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  32. ^ Evander Holyfield shows angry driver why road rage is a bad idea. YouTube. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  33. ^ "Company". GreenSky Credit. Retrieved October 21, 2016.