Marketing Guru

“Nothing is stronger than the power of ideas, creativity and entrepreneurship,” says Cliff Sloan, who began his career as the creative director of a well- known entertainment-marketing firm, where he presided over the creative development of programs that included the Rolling Stones/Jovan, Sting/Honda and Michael Jackson/Pepsi.

Cliff then borrowed $10k from his parents and started The Sloan Group, a “take-no-prisoners” creative marketing shop with four people. Within five years, the company grew to employ 50 people and had won over 100 awards for creative excellence, boasting a blue-chip client roster that included MTV, HBO and Pepsi. The Sloan Group was featured in The Wall Street Journal, and Cliff was deemed a “Youth Marketing Guru” by Advertising Age. After 12 years, he sold his agency to a major publicly traded corporation.

Returning to his entrepreneurial roots, Cliff is now the Chief Innovation Officer of Hotsauce, a boutique marketing “hive” focused on brand ideation, creativity and entrepreneurship.