Steve Rivkin has been a sought-after marketing and communications expert & consultant since 1989. He has a diverse background in marketing, advertising, naming, corporate communications, public affairs and journalism.

Mr. Rivkin is the co‑author of several best-selling books with marketing strategist Jack Trout: The New Positioning, the sequel to the international best‑selling book that introduced the concept of positioning; The Power of Simplicity, a guide to overcoming the complexity of management, leadership and people issues; and Differentiate or Die, on finding & exploiting your unique selling proposition. The latest, Repositioning: The New Battle for Your Mind, explains how readers can evolve their original positioning to manage these changes in terms of marketplace perception of their products.

His book, The Making of a Name, is a comprehensive study of the strategic, creative, linguistic and legal aspects of brand names. In addition, he co-authored, IdeaWise: How to Transform Your Ideas into Tomorrow’s Innovations, which blew the lid off the so-called “idea gurus” by demystifying the creation of great new innovations with his easy-to-implement method of looking at a company’s existing products and services and transforming them into new ideas. He has since become known as…“The IdeaWise Guy.”

Prior to forming his own firm, Mr. Rivkin spent 15 years with Trout & Ries Inc., the prestigious marketing strategy firm known for its pioneering work in “positioning” and “marketing warfare.” As executive vice president at Trout & Ries, Mr. Rivkin supervised campaigns and strategy projects for such clients as Harrah's Hotels, Ingersoll‑Rand, Leica Cameras, Magnavox, Playtex, Stop & Shop Supermarkets, United Jersey Banks and Western Union.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Rivkin worked at International Utilities Corp., a Philadelphia‑based conglomerate, in advertising, public relations and corporate identity. A journalism graduate from the University of Missouri, he began his career as an associate editor of Iron Age magazine, a weekly trade publication. Later, he was co‑founder and editor of Financial Marketing Abstracts, a monthly newsletter. 

Mr. Rivkin is a frequent speaker on marketing and communications topics. For 10 years, he has been on the faculty of the Estes Park Institute, a leading healthcare education organization. He has appeared at hundreds of other seminars, conferences and retreats in the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia.  

Steve Rivkin’s consultancy firm also created The Naming Workshop. It is a concentrated, one-day program that takes you through a dozen proven ideational techniques, all designed to generate hundreds of naming possibilities for your product, service, company or division. The workshop also includes an overview of types of names, criteria for the ideal name, and legal considerations. Steve has handled naming assignments for more than 100 companies, including Chanel, Kraft Foods, Loctite, Monsanto, Pfizer, Quantra Corp., Seagram and Tiffany & Co.

He has spoken on the subject of naming at more than 200 seminars and conferences. His firm produces a biennial survey of how American companies develop names. He is widely quoted in magazine and newspaper articles on the subject and has been profiled in such publications as Marketing News, United States Banker, Business Marketing, Nation's Business, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Bergen (New Jersey) Record, and The Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Star.