[Annotated from Wikipedia.]
J. G. Sandom, often referred to as the "Father of Interactive
(Internet) Advertising," co-founded the world’s first interactive
advertising agency, Einstein and Sandom Interactive (EASI), in 1984, and is the
author of nine works of fiction, including GOSPEL TRUTHS, THE
HUNTING CLUB, THE WAVE, THE UNRESOLVED and RESURRECTION
MEN.
Early Life
Born in Chicago,
Illinois, to Else Hvingtoft and Zane Joseph Sandom, J.G. Sandom grew up in
Europe where he attended St. George's English School in Italy and Winchester
College in England.
He returned to the United States at the age of fifteen. Following
two years at New Canaan High School in Connecticut, Sandom entered Amherst
College in Massachusetts, where he completed his first novel, THE SEED OF ICARUS.
Sandom took a semester off from college in order to work on a freighter
(''The African Dawn'') which traveled to Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique,
and then returned to graduate from Amherst with honors with a double major in
English and philosophy. While in college, Sandom helped launch a literary
magazine called ''Writing at Amherst'' with Caroline Thompson, won both the
''Corbin'' prize and the ''Academy of American Poets'' prize, and studied under
a variety of visiting writers, including Robert Stone, Julian Symons and the
Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney.
Following graduation, Sandom spent several months traveling
throughout the Sahara, primarily in southern Algeria, while researching his
second novel, THE BLUE MEN. Sandom then moved to New York City
where, for the next five years, he worked as a freelance copy writer, public
relations and advertising executive, and corporate spokesperson trainer for
such companies as Hill & Knowlton and Ketchum Inc.
Internet Pioneer
In 1984, Sandom co-founded
Einstein and Sandom Interactive (EASI), the nation's first interactive
advertising agency. It grew to become the largest digital marketing services
firm when it was purchased by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in 1994. Sandom
continued to manage EASI on behalf of DMB&B through 1996. EASI clients
included: Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Trans World Airlines (TWA), and
Mars Incorporated/Uncle Ben's Rice, among others; plus several non-DMB&B
clients such as Citibank, Fannie Mae, the Government Accountability Office
(GAO), Compaq, McDonnell Douglas, Merck & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Miles
Laboratories, Abbott Laboratories and Upjohn, among others.
From January 1997 through October 1999, Sandom served as Director
of Interactive at OgilvyOne Worldwide, a division of Ogilvy & Mather, where
he grew the company from a loss of $2MM to an estimated $100MM in revenues in
30 months, and from 12 “permalancers” to 650 digital marketing specialists
worldwide. In 1998, OgilvyInteractive was named “Best Interactive Ad Agency” of
the year by Adweek, and won two premier Cyber Lions awards at the
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for Campaign Magazine On-line
and the IBM Olympic Luge Game. OgilvyInteractive's clients included: IBM, GTE, Perrier, Sears, Ameritrade, Ford Motor Company and Jaguar Cars, among others.
From November 1999 through October 2003, Sandom served as
President and CEO, and then Vice Chairman of RappDigital Worldwide, the
interactive arm of direct marketing/direct response agency giant Rapp Collins
Worldwide, an Omnicom Company. Within a year of inception, RappDigital became
one of the nation’s "Top Twenty" interactive ad agencies, according
to Adweek. Sandom built the executive team, purchased equity stakes
in off-shore Web production company Critical Mass (Calgary, Canada) and email
marketing company Innovyx (Seattle), productized cyber-analytics and e-Care
(digital call center) offerings, recruited the first clients, and managed the
business until it was on its feet. He was responsible for executive management
of the company, and its growth to more than $40MM in revenues in the U.S., with
300+ employees worldwide, and offices throughout North America, Europe and
Latin America -- at a time of industry contraction. RappDigital Network clients
included SBC Communications, Mercedes-Benz, Philips Consumer Electronics,
Pfizer, Exelon, Kaiser Permanente and Reuters, among others.
Author
In 1992, Sandom
wrote GOSPEL TRUTHS, published by Bantam/Doubleday/Dell.
Since then, he has written six other novels, including THE HUNTING CLUB (Doubleday/Bantam/Dell), THE
WAVE and THE GOD MACHINE (Doubleday/Bantam/Dell).
Booklist called GOSPEL
TRUTHS, "a splendid, tautly woven thriller...(and) an
intelligent mystery of tremendous spiritual and literary depth." Library
Journal said, "A masterful first novel, based on a true incident,
which spins a complicated web of corruption, greed and deception."
And Mostly Murder characterized it, "A fascinating
mystery ... captivating and engrossing."
Scott Turow, author of ''Presumed Innocent'' and ''Ordinary
Heroes'', called THE HUNTING CLUB, "A gripping story,
well-told...not only a tale of murder and betrayal, but an intelligent
exploration of issues of male identity." Kirkus Reviews termed
the book, "A Big Apple Deliverance, endowing New York culture
with all the corrosively dehumanizing power of Dickey's wild nature...Slickly
entertaining right down to the last, inevitable twist. (Film rights
to Warner Brothers -- and there's no mystery why.)" And Booklist said,
"(Sandom) writes with stunning elegance and nearly poetic beauty...A sure
hit with any suspense reader."
THE HUNTING CLUB was optioned for Warner Bros. by Lee Rich for
theatrical development; screenplay by Ronald Bass, with Joel Schumacher
scheduled to direct.
While known mostly as a writer of thrillers and mysteries, Sandom
is also the author of several Young Adult (YA) novels, written under the pen
name T.K. Welsh, including the award-winning THE UNRESOLVED (August
2006) and RESURRECTION MEN (Spring 2007), both from
Dutton/Penguin.
Publishers Weekly called RESURRECTION MEN, “A
haunting tour of London's underclass during the 1830s...Teens will likely be
both captivated by Victor's harrowing story as well as his ability to prevail
in the face of harsh injustices." The Thrushmetal Review said, "The action and pace is steady
and quick, rarely pausing, and finishes in an unforgettable, movie-quality
fight-to-the-death.” BIG A, little a called the novel, “A moody, evocative
tale...T.K. Welsh is fast becoming one of my favorite writers. His work
transcends genre and audience classification.” VOYA said, "Teen
readers will thoroughly enjoy the hair-raising suspense in this historical
thriller." TeensReadToo termed
it, “an intense, dark work...I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes
historical fiction.” KLIATT said, "Like M.T. Anderson's The
Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, this look at sinister events in history
makes the era come alive and lingers in the memory." Jen Robinson's Book Page called the novel, “Gripping and fast-paced,
filled with intriguing historical details...Highly recommended for fans of
historical fiction." The Miss Rumphius Effect said, “T.K. Welsh, where have you been? I
loved this book!” And School Library Journal said, “Part historical fiction and part
adventure story, the novel brings excitement to Victorian England...Readers
will be on the edge of their seats.”
RESURRECTION MEN has been named a Junior Library Guild selection.
Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of 2006 by the Washington Post, THE UNRESOLVED was nominated
for a Young Adult Library Services Association -- YALSA 2007 Teens' Top Ten, the only book award recommended and awarded solely by
teens. The novel was previously named a 2007 Association of Jewish
Libraries Notable Book for Teens by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee,
which recognized only six works in Jewish teen literature last year. THE
UNRESOLVED was also nominated for the 2006 Cybils literary
awards, and for the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) by the American Library Association. It's
currently featured as one of the Best Teen Books of the Year 2006
at BarnesAndNoble.com.
The Washington Post said, "Welsh writes with a
precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction." School Library Journal said, "THE UNRESOLVED tells a remarkable story in
a remarkable way." Horn Book Magazine called THE
UNRESOLVED, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story ...
(and) a tightly wound novel." Kirkus Reviews termed
it, "A remarkable account." Romantic Times said,
"THE UNRESOLVED is a book you shouldn't pass up." The Edge of the Forest said, "It may be the most beautifully
written novel I've read this year." All About the Book said, "THE UNRESOLVED is
a great one. Mallory is the most well-developed ghostly character I've seen in a
long, long time." Midwest Book Review called THE
UNRESOLVED, "a wonderfully different kind of ghost story." And Bookslut.com said, "THE UNRESOLVED scores on
several levels, most notably as a drama that blows apart all preconceived
notions of how history can be retold."
THE UNRESOLVED was
recently featured in Horn Book’s Halloween Special, "Ghost Stories", and made Horn Book's list
of Recommended American Historical Fiction.
The author's most recent novel, THE GOD MACHINE, is
scheduled for release in April, 2009. He continues to consult in the
world of interactive advertising and digital marketing communications, is the
author of the CyberSibyl blog,
and is currently working on a sequel to THE GOD MACHINE.
Endorsements
“Thanks for all of your help. Your digital branding advice was invaluable.”
John Reed, former Chairman,
Citigroup, and former Chairman, New York Stock Exchange, following
consultancy set up by Esther Dyson
“We'll always be
indebted to you for your work in developing our interactive offering, and wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors.”
Rochelle B. (Shelly) Lazarus, Chairperson and CEO, Ogilvy & Mather
"To
start RappDigital, we sought out the very best digital executive we could
find. J. was that guy. He was
passionate, super intelligent, articulate, creative and a leader. He energized everyone."
Malcolm Speed, Chairman, Rapp Collins Worldwide
Recent Comments