What is Trashfire?
Trashfire.com is the personal site of David Ingram.
David J. Ingram - Biography (Abridged)
David Ingram is a marketing communications producer and project manager. David has helmed marketing communications operations and provided marketing project and program consulting to top companies in diverse industries, and has been fortunate to be able to specialize in disciplines about which he is particularly passionate - science and music. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
David grew up near Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. After emigrating to the midwestern U.S. with his family in his teen years, he attended Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), graduating in 1992 with degrees in Chemistry and Political Science. He found approximately 50% of those degrees to be immediately marketable, and soon found work in the scientific industry as an international sales representative. It was a great job, with ample opportunity to travel abroad and grow professionally. But the job was in Indiana - a fine state, but still squarely in the midwest, where he had been for almost a decade. He was ready for something different. The Pacific Northwest was calling, and a trip to Seattle in June, 1995 confirmed what David had long suspected - that he was currently living 2,200 miles too far to the East.
After relocating to Portland, Oregon, David took a post with a scientific components manufacturer. The work he was to be doing was not thoroughly defined at the time of his hiring, but the president of the company trusted he would make himself useful. One of the first things David realized upon joining the company was that inadequate attention was being paid to marketing communications, and that sorely needed projects were either not getting done, or not getting done effectively. He jumped in with both feet, and found a new love for marketing communications. He was soon leading the company's graphic design team and functioning as writer/editor and manager on a wide range of projects - full color product catalogs, product packaging and documentation, interactive web sites, and more. During his time at the company, he presided over two successful new product introductions, and was instrumental in re-branding the company as a credible provider of cutting-edge solutions for biotech/proteomics, rather than simply a maker of spare parts for lab equipment.
By 2003, David was ready for a new challenge. He opted to continue his career in marketing communications, but as an independent consultant/freelancer. He opened 'VHE' (Very Heavy Enterprises) in May of that year. VHE specialized in digital and interactive marketing. David handled business development, strategic planning and project management, along with writing and some design and programming work. He also outsourced work to a pool of trusted and talented friends in the Portland freelance community. Looking back, he would refer to this business structure as the "micro-agency" model, and while it was highly fulfilling, fast-paced and very exciting, he wouldn't recommend it for anyone hoping to achieve a healthy work-life balance.
Also in 2003, David formed a second company. It began with a simple request from a friend to act as agent in the consignment of a high quality acoustic guitar. David applied his photography and design skills to the task, and composed a distinctive and compelling eBay listing featuring detailed images of the instrument. This listing caught the attention of the Breedlove Guitar Company, the makers of the guitar in question, who were impressed with David's approach. This led to an offer to become an authorized Breedlove dealer, selling exclusively on-line. In May of 2003, Imagine Guitars opened its doors for e-business. From the outset, David envisioned that imagineguitars.com would be more than just an on-line retail site - it should be a celebration of guitar-building as an art form. It should also be the next best thing to shopping for and viewing an instrument in person. He developed techniques for obtaining consistent, high quality photographs of musical instruments, and wrote accurate, compelling descriptions for each. In addition, he developed extensive resources for his customers, including articles on instrument maintenance, market observations, manufacturer profiles, and more. A passionate community of musical instrument aficionados grew around the site, and David established a reputation for incredible instrument photography and unassailable business integrity. In his first year of operation, he was recognized as Breedlove's #3 dealer, despite being in business for only half of that year. The following year, he was Breedlove's #1 worldwide dealer. After four successful years as a dealer of high-end and vintage musical instruments, David sold Imagine Guitars to a new owner in order to clear the way for a full-time marketing communications role with the Breedlove Guitar Company.
To be continued...
View David's LinkedIn Profile here.
