About the Authors

Irving Rein, Ph.D. is a Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University's School of Communication. He is an internationally known expert in public communication and popular culture. He is a communication advisor to numerous highly visible places, organizations, and individuals. He has authored twelve books, including High Visibility, a groundbreaking study of image making. He also serves on Major League Baseball's Commissioner's Initiative for the 21st Century and is a member of the Advisory Board for Northwestern University’s Master of Arts in Sports Administration.

Philip Kotler, Ph.D. is the S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management. He has been honored as one of the world’s leading marketing thinkers and has received honorary degrees from ten foreign universities. He is the author of 35 books, including Marketing Management, the most widely used marketing book in graduate business schools worldwide, and over one hundred articles. He has been a consultant to IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Bank of America, Merck, Motorola, Ford, and other global corporations and places.

Ben Shields has done consulting work for a number of organizations on communication issues. His expertise is in sports and technology, and he is a frequent media commentator and speaker on the sports marketing industry. He is the host of The Elusive Fan Podcast, which offers bi-weekly analysis of sports fan connection strategies.  He is  currently completing his Ph.D. in communication studies at Northwestern University.