Soon Yu
Soon Yu (born August 5, 1965) is a Taiwanese-American speaker, author and an adjunct professor at The New School's Parsons School of Design.[1] Yu is an expert in innovation and design[2] and is the author of the book, 'Iconic Advantage' (February 6, 2018, distributed by Simon & Schuster).[3][4] He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal,[5] Washington Post,[6] Entrepreneur Magazine,[7] and New York Times,[8] and is a Forbes and CMO Council contributor.[9]
Soon Yu | |
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Occupation | Author, public speaker, consultant |
Alma mater | Stanford University |
Genre | Branding, marketing, business |
Early life
Yu was born in Taiwan and moved to Davis, California, at age 3, where his father was an agricultural geneticist.[10] Soon received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 1988[11] and his MBA from Stanford University in 1993.[12]
Career
Soon has served as the global VP of innovation and as a corporate officer for VF Corporation from 2010 to 2016.[13] Prior to working at VF Corporation, he has also worked at The Clorox Company[14] as brand manager, customer marketing group manager, and general manager; Advanced Micro Devices as an engineer; and Bain & Company, as an associate consultant.[15] Other positions held were CEO and founder of Gazoontite.com,[16] general manager at Chiquita Brands International,[17] and chief marketing advisor at SafeWeb.[18]
In 1997, Yu left his management position at Clorox to pursue a sales associate position at Crate & Barrel, taking an 85% pay cut and earring $5/hour to gain retail experience.[19]
In 1998, Yu founded Gazoontite, a multi-channel e-tailer offering products, services, and information to “help people breathe happier and healthier”.[20] The launch included a comprehensive e-commerce site, a mail-order catalog, and several retail stores.[21] The now forgotten retail establishment was one of the first retail/eCommerce companies to promote and build an entire model around the multi-channel shopping environment.[22] Two years after its launch, Gazoontite was known as the “poster child of Web-era excess and stupidity”,[23] however, in the process Yu set the tone for what is now referred to as omni-channel retailing.[24]
He has received the Webby Award,[25] Favorite Website Award,[26] Dope Award and Northern California finalist for the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award.[27][28] His book, Iconic Advantage, won the 2019 Axiom Business Book Award in Advertising / Marketing / PR / Event Planning.[29]
Writings
Books
- Soon Yu, Dave Birss (February 6, 2018). Iconic Advantage: Don't chase the new, innovate the old. Savio Republic. ISBN 978-1682615409
Articles
- Soon Yu (July 29, 2020). The CMO's New M.O.—How Henkel's Patrick Davis Is Helping The Snuggle Bear Shelter In Place. Forbes. Forbes.com[30]
- Soon Yu (July 14, 2020). How One Fintech Unicorn Became A Fashion Destination. Forbes. Forbes.com[31]
- Soon Yu (June 29, 2020). The CMO's New M.O.—How Salesforce's Stephanie Buscemi Is Leading Through ‘Listening’. Forbes. Forbes.com[32]
- Soon Yu (May 13, 2020). The CMO's New M.O.—Catching Up With SAP's Alicia Tillman. Forbes. Forbes.com[33]
- Soon Yu (March 26, 2020). It's Not Always The Fittest Who Survive, It's Often The Nimblest. Forbes. Forbes.com[34]
- Soon Yu (January 31, 2020). KISS Your NPS Good-Bye. Forbes. Forbes.com[35]
- Soon Yu (October 31, 2019). Lessons from An American Icon. CMO Council Marketing Magnified. Marketingmagnified.com
- Soon Yu (September 4, 2019). Does The Company Stink From The Top? Forbes. Forbes.com[36]
- Soon Yu (August 7, 2019). A Masterclass In Iconicity (With A Side Of Fries). Forbes. Forbes.com[37]
- Soon Yu (June 6, 2019). The Inauthentics—Ignoring The Value of Values. Forbes. Forbes.com [38]
- Soon Yu (June 5, 2019). Unleash Innovation: Speak Softly and Carry a Sledgehammer. CMO Council's digital magazine, PeerSphere.
- Soon Yu, Dave Birss (March 29, 2019). 5 Reasons Why A Gym Is Better Than An Office. CMO Council Marketing Magnified. Marketingmagnified.com
- Soon Yu (July 2, 2018). Who Really Owns Your Brand? Chief Executive. ChiefExecutive.com
- Soon Yu (May 19, 2018). Start-ups take note: Iconic brands bank on compelling story-telling in their quest for glory. First Post. Firstpost.com
- Soon Yu (April 2, 2018). Keep Your Sole Forever Young. Bulldog Drummond. Bulldogdrumond.com
- Soon Yu (March 28, 2018). 'Don't Chase the New, Innovate the Old': Four Lessons From Nike. Marketing Profs. marketingprofs.com
References
- "Soon-Chart Yu - Parsons School of Design". www.newschool.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- "Event: Bryant Park HSBC Business & Finance: Iconic Advantage at Reading Room in Bryant Park". NYC Parks. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- "Rave Reviews: Soon Yu's best-selling book "Iconic Advantage"". outspoken. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- Yu, Soon (2018-02-06). Iconic Advantage®. ISBN 9781682615409.
- Nishi, Dennis (2014-12-07). "How to Break Your Bad Work Habits". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- "How removing fear can be your innovation trump card". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- Alter, Heather (2000-04-01). "Bay Of Gigs". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- Donovan, Aaron (2000-04-02). "IN BRIEF; Can blessyou.com Be Far Behind?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- Yu, Soon. "Soon Yu". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
- "A Nose for Business / Entrepreneur molds his startup dreams into allergy-products specialty store". SFGate. 1999-03-31. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- "UC Davis Magazine on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- "The Secrets of Staying Power". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- "Art and Science Leads to Iconic Products". www.vfc.com. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
- Eu, Geoffrey (2017-08-12). "Soon Yu". The Business Times. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
- Sinton, Peter; Writer, Chronicle Senior (1999-03-31). "A Nose for Business / Entrepreneur molds his startup dreams into allergy-products specialty store". SFGate. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
- Sinton, Peter; Writer, Chronicle Senior (2001-01-11). "Gazoontite Gets Fresh Start". SFGate. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
- "Chiquita Brands International, Inc in Franklin Park, IL 60131 - ChamberofCommerce.com". www.chamberofcommerce.com. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
- Rubin, James Peter (May 14, 2001). "No Surrender". The Wall Street Journal.
- Sinton, Peter (March 31, 1999). "A Nose for Business / Entrepreneur molds his startup dreams into allergy-products specialty store". SFGate.
- "New Page 1". www.1stventure.com. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- "The Hybrid Company: Reach All Your Customers Through Multi-Channels Anytime, Anywhere - PDF Free Download". epdf.tips. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- "Gazoontite!".
- Rubin, James Peter. "No Surrender". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- "Gazoontite!".
- "Chiquita Brands International | The Webby Awards". webbyawards.com. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- "Eat A Chiquita". The FWA. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- "Soon Yu". outspoken. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- "Dopeawards blog » EAT A CHIQUITA". blog.dopeawards.com. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- "AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2019 RESULTS".
- Yu, Soon. "The CMO's New M.O.—How Henkel's Patrick Davis Is Helping The Snuggle Bear Shelter In Place". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- Yu, Soon. "How One Fintech Unicorn Became A Fashion Destination". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- Yu, Soon. "The CMO's New M.O.—How Salesforce's Stephanie Buscemi Is Leading Through 'Listening'". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
- Yu, Soon. "The CMO's New M.O.—Catching Up With SAP's Alicia Tillman". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
- Yu, Soon. "It's Not Always The Fittest Who Survive, It's Often The Nimblest". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- Yu, Soon. "KISS Your NPS Good-Bye". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- Yu, Soon. "Does The Company Stink From The Top?". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
- Yu, Soon. "A Masterclass In Iconicity (With A Side Of Fries)". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
- Yu, Soon. "The Inauthentics -- Ignoring The Value Of Values". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-01-07.