Creator of AFLAC Duck ads kicks off speakers series

Creator of the famous jingle “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up; I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us Kid” Linda Kaplan Thaler will deliver a talk on Wednesday, October 17, at the Bill Bordy Auditorium and Theater from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Thaler’s talk, “Bang! Getting Your Message Heard in a Noisy World,” will launch the Department of Marketing Communication’s new series, Trending Topics.

Thaler, who also worked on the Kodak Moments and AFLAC Duck campaigns, founded her own advertising agency—the Kaplan Thaler Group—in 1997 (it recently merged with Publicis). In 2005, Thaler hosted the Oxygen TV series, Making It Big, in which young professionals competed for their dream job. She is also the author of several best-selling books, including The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference.

The Trending Topics series will feature a number of marketing communication professionals, who will share their viewpoints on current industry issues. Supporting this new series is the Emerson Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and EMComm, a student–run digital marketing agency.

Other speakers include Peter Rojas of Gizmodo; acclaimed blogger and TV host Shira Lazar ’04; and Chuck Murphy, CEO and founder of Boston Interactive.