Over the past 30 years, Andrew has led Ciceron and our clients through the entire history of the digital world. He’s able to do so by finding and hiring the very best strategy, media and data experts in the field who push each other to be better, faster, smarter — an education delightfully known as the “Ciceron MBA.”

Request Andrew as your speaker by reaching him at andrew@ciceron.com. 

Andrew is obsessed with bringing together the inherent powers of customers and brands to help everyone flourish. He has spearheaded the agency’s commitment to fusing creative, media and data into an interdisciplinary powerhouse. Andrew works with Ciceron’s clients to become more open, more innovative, and more responsive to the world in which they compete. Andrew’s work is to create environments, teams, and leaders who embrace this emerging way of doing business, then empower them with teams who deliver results every day.

Andrew has spoken extensively around the country at industry conferences, including Digiday, MediaPost Summits, the Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Las Vegas, E-Tourism Summit, MarketingSherpa, MobCon, many MIMA events, and many more.

In 2020, Ciceron was named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 as well as the Fast 50 from the Business Journal. In 2019, the firm was listed as one of the Fastest Growing Agencies in the US by AdWeek. In February of 2017, Andrew was named one of Minnesota Business’s “Paragons of Leadership,” a distinction given to business executives who make “a positive impact through service, character, and leadership.” Finally, and perhaps most proudly, Ciceron has been named as one of the “Top Places To Work” on many occasions my numerous publications.

Andrew has served on the boards of MacPhail Center for Music and the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies. In addition, he is an investor in Traction Capital, a VC firm based in the Twin Cities. He’s also one of the original members of The Big Wu and is debatably the world’s biggest Phish fan.

Speaker Biography

It was 1995. Ciceron was born over drinks and dinner at an Italian bistro in San Francisco.

The Web was a wee bit back then. There was no Google. No YouTube. No WiFi. No streaming audio, video or on-demand programming. People hated it when pages had images on them because they would have to wait for them to load.

Fast forward to 2024. The firm Andrew Eklund founded that day is now one of the fastest growing digital agencies as recognized by AdWeek, Inc. 5000, and the Business Journal’s Fast 50, having stuck to its guns that digital consumer experience is still the most significant, game-changing business influence of the past century. Entire markets have emerged as a result of disintermediation and disruption of traditional customer relationships and business models. Power shifts constantly. Simply stated, those who are nimble, open, and adaptive win.

Andrew has keynoted, moderated and served on panels on a whole host of topics related to digital, from the advancement of AI and business intelligence to data-driven marketing performance models.

Request Andrew as your speaker by reaching him at andrew@ciceron.com. 

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• “AI: What You Need to Know.” Midway Chamber of Commerce (St. Paul), 2023
• Twin Cities Startup Week, 2023, “What Business People Need to Know About AI.”
• RetailLoco, Minneapolis, “Data Analytics in Retail,” 2023
• Digiday Programmatic Summit, Palm Springs. “Future of Identity Resolution in a Post-Cookie World,” 2023
• MediaPost Performance Insider Summit, Charleston, 2023 “AI and Performance marketing.”
• MediaPost Brand Insider Summit, Hilton Head, 2023
• ICSMAX Minneapolis, 2022
• MediaPost Retail Summit 2022, Lake Tahoe
• FSC International 2022, “Deep Dive into the Sustainability Minded Consumer”
• MediaPost Forecast 2021, 2021
• Digiday Video Advertising Summit, Palm Springs, 2019
• Brand Marketers Summit, Chicago & Minneapolis, 2019
• MediaPost TV & Video Insider Summits, Lake Tahoe, 2018-19
• MediaPost Brand Marketers Summits, New York; Pinehurst
• MediaPost Data & Programmatic Summits, Captiva Island, FL; Lake Tahoe, CA
• MediaPost OMMA Programmatic
• MMPA Summit & Expo
• MobCon Digital Health
• MobCon
• CorpComm Expo, Chicago,
• CorpComm Expo, Atlanta,
• Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference
• Colorado Springs AAF Conference
• 3M Global Marketing Forum
• MN Council on Non-Profits, Technology Conference
• E-Tourism Summit (New York, San Francisco)
• Governor’s Conference on Tourism (Nevada Office of Tourism; Las Vegas)
• Explore Minnesota Annual Conference, Keynote
• MarketingSherpa Email Summit, (Miami)
• Western Assoc of CVBs, Keynote, (Seattle)
• Guest Lecturer, University of Minnesota
• Guest Lecturer, University of Wisconsin
• Public Radio International Annual Conference, Keynote (San Francisco)
• MIMA Summit

Recent Accomplishments

• Honored to be named to the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies in the US, 2020
• Named a Fast 50 company by the Business Journal, 2020
• Honoree, Reader’s Choice for “Best Ad Agency” by Twin Cities Business, 2020
• Named of the 100 Fastest Growing Agencies by AdWeek, 2019
• Numerous campaign awards from OMMA Awards, 2016-2019
• Winner for “Paragon of Leadership” award, Minnesota Business, 2017
• Selected as one of “The (Real) Power 50 of 2016” by Minnesota Business magazine
• Selected as one of “200 Minnesotans You Should Know” by Twin Cities Business Monthly

Reviews

“Andrew Eklund will blast a hole through your cerebral cortex. Witty, humorous, irreverent and always sharply on point for the target audience you will leave his sessions with the feeling of being challenged and motivated. Attendees always take copious notes because the information Andrew imparts is immediately applicable. Andrew not only uses examples from his own company’s personal experience but pulls in research into a myriad of other relevant industry examples. You’ll leave his sessions feeling like he’s the smartest guy in the room, but not one you want to beat up, more like one you want to have a beer with.”
– Maresa Thompson, VP-Marketing, Albuquerque CVB

“Andrew has been a speaker at several of our tourism conferences, and he has been a HUGE hit. Not only is he well received throughout Minnesota, but Andrew has spoken at travel and tourism events throughout the U.S. It is rare that I would so strongly recommend someone, but you would not go wrong with him.”
– John Edman, Executive Director, Explore Minnesota Tourism

“Andrew does a great job of framing the issues and developing actionable solutions to address goals. His personal style allows for challenging preconceived ideas about current business models and leads to breakthrough insights.”
– Nathanial Opperman, CEO, MSP Communications

“Andrew has long understood the transformative nature of measurable marketing. Andrew was preaching this many years before mainstream media buyers and marketers began shifting more of their spend to the Internet. Andrew is an expert–and he’s been doing it since the pioneering days of the Web.”
– Phil Hotchkiss, Founder & CEO, BigCharts (Acquired by Dow Jones, Inc.)