SELECT THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & PUBLISHED WORKS

End-to-end thought leadership systems that turned abstract expertise into structured editorial pipelines, defensible keyword territories, and market-moving narratives. These programs show Stylograph’s ability to blend strategic clarity with measurable audience growth.

Excerpt from a blog post, The EX-CX Relationship: Synergistic or Symptomatic? by Dr. Nita Rollins. Featuring a male customer and female at the counter smiling.

Design Firm “Branded CX” Initiative | 2024

Conceived and executed editorial strategy to position firm in customer experience consulting market. Identified "Branded CX" as defensible keyword territory and developed 4-part thought leadership series connecting cultural intelligence to experience design methodology.

Strategic contribution:

  • SEO keyword strategy for competitive differentiation

  • Editorial pipeline development (concept → content → CEO buy-in)

  • Brand positioning pivot (product design → experience strategy)

  • Framework translation (made abstract cultural insights actionable)

Sample article: The EX-CX Relationship: Synergistic or Symptomatic?

Impact: Established CX thought leadership positioning, demonstrated cultural intelligence application to experience design

Conceived, named, and produced white paper series that served as foundation for annual content system—from CEO keynotes to marketing copy to client strategy deliverables

Cover page of a white paper titled 'Cashing In On Everywhere Commerce' by Dr. Nita Rollins, featuring abstract overlapping colored shapes in green, yellow, brown, and blue.
A woman with blonde hair holding a smartphone in an exhibition or technology event, with a green overlay and digital graphics in the background, and the text "BUY IT TO TRY IT" along with her name and title.
White paper by Dr. Nita Rollins entitled 'Risks and Rewards of the New Financial World Order' featuring green background, binary code, and a partially visible calculator.
The first page of a white paper about web technology and internet applications. Entitled "The Tipping Point for RIAs: Rich Internet Applications: Information at the Speed of Life." Written by Nita Rollins, Ph.D.
First page of "LITMUS" white paper series. The issue focuses on gender and e-commerce, specifically how men and women shop differently online. By Nita Rollins, Ph.D.

Intellectual Platform Architecture: Multi-Year Thought Leadership System

Conceived and directed annual thought leadership client symposium featuring prominent authors, entrepreneurs, and Fortune 500 executives—establishing client organization as intellectual authority and generating sustained business development pipeline.

Strategic outcome: Platform positioned agency as category leader, contributing to market recognition as top-tier consultancy.

Website for the 2011 Resource Interactive Agency annual iCitizen symposium on Everywhere Commerce, conceptualized by Dr. Nita Rollins. Background image is slightly pixilated, and features a woman in sunglasses amidst skyscrapers.
A client symposium program conceived and written by Dr. Nita Rollins for RESOURCE INTERACTIVE.
A graphic featuring the theme of an iCitizen Client Symposium, "Go with the Flow," by agency Resource/Ammirati, later acquired by IBM iX.

Strategic Content Ecosystem Development | 2025

  • Created targeted thought leadership strategy achieving #1 Google ranking for 'CX prototyping' among 1M+ competing results

  • Content strategy generated highest traffic among all landing pages, validating strategic keyword selection in competitive innovation consulting space

  • Content architecture drove 285% increase in search visibility, 40.1% engagement rates, and 39.8% sustained audience growth

People observing an interactive display in a room with wooden walls, during a presentation or workshop.

LinkedIn content strategy achieved double-digit across thought leadership posts, case studies, and framework presentations, achieving engagement rates 4-16x the typical B2B benchmark range of 1-4%

Website user engagement strategies achieved engagement session growth rate more than double the user acquisition rate (79.5% vs 37%)

Email Campaign optimization strategies achieved over 90-day period:

  • 293% increase in email sends

  • 33% improvement in open rates (35%)

  • 289% surge in click rates (18%)

  • 54% reduction unsubscribe rates

World-building for brands through cultural intelligence, narrative framing, and strategic IP development. This work showcases how Stylograph transforms abstract brand purpose into compelling, ownable platforms with organizational staying power.

Group of young adults dancing and having fun on a beach during sunset.
Cover image of a Brand Belonging Category Highlights Report done by Dr. Nita Rollins for IBM iX.
A cover image of a concert crowd for the cover of a study, 'HUMAN + BRAND BELONGING, GLOBAL QUALITATIVE HIGHLIGHTS', by 'Dr. Nita Rollins for IBM iX.

Thought Leadership & Intellectual Property

Co-directed 2-year, $1M Global Brand Belonging Study & Index that propelled the launch of IBM iX, the world's second largest digital agency. Collaborated with IBM Watson's team to translate strategic frameworks into industry indices, brand diagnostics, and predictive analytics tools.

Thought leadership strategy secured newly formed IBM iX a top spot in Gartner's global digital marketing agencies ranking.

Cover of the book titled "The Open Brand" by Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins, Ph.D., with the subtitle "When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World."
Cover page for a presentation titled 'The O.P.E.N. Brand Imperative' by Dr. Nita Rollins for the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.
Cover page for Holiday O.P.E.N. Watch, 13th edition, by Dr. Nita Rollins, featuring a white gift box with a green ribbon and bow.

Thought Leadership & Intellectual Property

Co-authored The Open Brand, pioneering framework and guide for brand strategy in social media era—selected as 1-800-CEO-READ top business recommendation, translated into eleven languages, and adopted in business programs at Harvard, Stanford, and Ohio State University.

Directed decade-long evolution of comprehensive agency thought leadership platform, driving tenfold client revenue growth and establishing market positioning that influenced multimillion-dollar agency acquisition.

Cover page of a report titled "Approaches to Customer Experience Transformation" by Sabrina Jetton and Nita Rollins, Ph.D., with an abstract, colorful, abstract design in shades of blue, purple, and green.

Framework Development & Strategic Positioning | 2024

  • Authored thought leadership white paper establishing new category positioning (customer experience transformation)

  • Created keyword-optimized content strategy that achieved #1 Google ranking among 2M+ results in competitive CX design field, including Google AI Overview feature placement alongside McKinsey and industry leaders

  • Drove 43% of total organic traffic through thought leadership content, with authored articles representing 3 of top 7 landing pages for two years after publication

Cultural analysis and strategic foresight that decode evolving meanings, market signals, and consumer motivations. These studies demonstrate how Stylograph translates cultural intelligence into strategic clarity for brands, agencies, and executive teams.

Group of diverse people at a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside a building for Credit Union Civic, with a woman in a floral dress and a man in a checkered suit hold scissors.

Cultural and Category Analysis Applied to Client Success:

  • Based on ethnographic research and cultural analysis, authored case study achieving 67.9% engagement rate (3-6x industry average of 10-20%)

  • Strategic content catalyzed 1256.5% spike in client engagement (highest over one-year period when only 21.8% was expected)

Book cover titled "What Mass Personalization Means in a Privacy-Sensitized World," with a digital padlock symbol in a glowing, high-tech style, featuring circuits and blue neon lights, and a person's finger touching the lock.
Robotic arm welding a red component in an industrial manufacturing setting with a person monitoring via tablet.

Cultural Analysis Applied to RFP and Retainer Success:

  • Authored white papers to meet specific RRP domain expertise requirements and to fulfill client retainer requirements.

Cultural Analysis Applied to Agency Thought Leadership Refresh Strategy:

  • Authored report based on cultural research and analysis

  • Converted findings into actionable guidelines

Cover of a publication titled 'Five Timely Traits of Challenger Brands' with a blue background. The image features a large, white lightbulb launching upward, creating a cloud of smoke among several other lightbulbs scattered around.
Cover page of a publication titled 'Ziba Visioneering: A Proven Framework for Breakthrough Innovation' with a blue circular logo and text discussing design thinking and its contributions to businesses.

Cultural Analysis Applied to Agency Framework | 2024

  • Helped revive and refine proprietary innovation methodology for established design firm seeking to differentiate beyond commodified design thinking

    • Created 19-page methodology documentation

    • Developed supporting thought leadership series

    • Positioned framework competitively in market

Developed all consumer journey models for leading agency that became industry models.

Diagram illustrating the customer journey from funnel to fish, including stages: stimulate, engage, purchase, empower & re-engage. The funnel shows steps: filtering & discovering, expecting on-demand info & services, seeking immediate gratification, with ongoing influence and sharing, creating, and validating inside the fish, and feeling a sense of belonging.
Diagram illustrating the resource cycle of new consumer journey. It shows the stages: Search, Assess, Buy, and Consume, with interconnected concepts like continuous partial shopping, network effects, everywhere commerce, and co-creation. Green circles represent key stages or concepts, yellow lines indicate flow, and labels highlight different aspects of consumer behavior and commerce.

Developed all trends intellligence for leading creative services agency, later IBM iX.

'Experience Trends Framework' that categorizes macro experience trends, relevant technologies, issues, developments, IBM services, and their application to various sectors such as distribution, communications, financial services, industrial, healthcare, and public sector.
A timeline infographic showing the evolution of demassing technology from 1960 to 2030, with details on how production, consumption, communication, product, service, experience, company, and cultural values have changed over time.

Codified new cultural semiotics competency for IBM iX, utilizing Greimasian theory + cultural analysis.

A semiotic mapping framework showing the paradigmatic and syntagmatic relationships of meaning enveloping a brand, category, or brand attribute. By Dr. Nita Rollins of Stylograph.

High-stakes ghostwriting that translates executive vision into influential public narratives. This work demonstrates Stylograph’s ability to elevate leaders’ credibility through rhetoric-driven storytelling and strategic positioning.

An executive byline ghosted by Dr. Nita Rollins for Ad Age about a brand belonging study & index created by IBM iX.
An executive byline ghosted by Dr. Nita Rollins, entitled "The Dual Imperatives of Brand Belonging."

Researched and wrote CEO syndicated bylines for trade journals.

Executive producer of CEO podcast series featuring business and cultural leaders.

Thumbnail image of Doug Ulman, a smiling man with short brown hair, wearing a light blue collared shirt.
Thumbnail image of a smiling man with dark hair, wearing a checkered shirt, with a logo of John Gargiulo and a play button overlay.
Thumbnail image of Michael Glimcher smiling, with text overlay 'Michael Glimcher' and a play button icon, appearing on a podcast episode page.

Authorship, Frameworks & Field-Defining Ideas

Scholarly and strategic contributions that formed the backbone of Stylograph’s approach—integrating research, narrative architecture, and cultural intelligence. This work reflects decades of building ideas that outlast campaigns, reshape categories, and advance critical thinking across diverse disciplines.

Cover page of a Design Management Journal featuring 'Mixing It Up: Maytag and Fitch Innovate Kitchen Products and Best Practices' by Dr. Nita Rollins. Magazine of Design Management Institute.
Cover page of an article in the Design Management Institute journal titled 'OPEN Digital Experience Design: A Strategic, Trends-Based Approach' by Nita Rollins.
Cover of a summer 2003 issue of a magazine titled "Innovation" by IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) showing medical and design tools. Includes article by Dr. Nita Rollins.
A magazine cover of 'New Design' (UK) with headlines about technology companies Sony and Ericsson, music albums, and kitchen appliance design by Nita Rollins, Ph.D. The cover is dated July-August 2008.
The cover of a magazine titled 'DISPOSITIF' with a colorful rainbow projector beam from a film reel, dated September-October 1988, in French.
Overlay of a vintage film reel on a yellow background is cover of "ROLLING RORSCHACH," a film periodical by the OSU Photography & Cinema Department. Articles on Montgomery Clift by Nita Rollins, Hitchcock, and film symbolism.
Cover of Cinema Journal magazine, 1995, featuring Joan Crawford. Articles include "Greenaway-Gaultier: Old Masters, Fashion Slaves," by Nita Rollins, Ph.D.
Cover of a publication titled 'Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Revue Canadienne d'Études Irlandaise, Contemporary Irish Short Stories, Vol. 42, 2019'. The background shows a scenic coastal landscape with green grass, a body of water, and cloudy skies. In the foreground, a person is resting with their legs crossed, wearing black, muddy boots.
A magazine page featuring an article titled "Cloud Culture" with an image of a sunset sky over Cannes, France, showing an angelic cloud formation. Written by Dr. Nita Rollins for Stylographer Magazine.
A magazine article about South Beach by Nita Rollins, PhD.
A magazine article by Nita Rollins titled 'Madcap Movie Marriages' with images of wedding scenes.
Cover of a magazine titled Wide Angle: 'A Quarterly Journal of Film History, Theory & Criticism, Volume 13, Number 2. Nineteenth century wedding couple image refers to the article, Something Borrowed, Something Taped," by Nita Rollins, Ph.D.
Cover page of a Trends Study for Bob Evans Frozen Foods on "The Fast-Forwarded Future of Grocery Shopping" by Dr. Nita Rollins
The cover of a presentation titled 'Unconsumption' with a vintage black car parked on a cobblestone street, a potted plant, and a white building in the background. The presenter is Dr. Nita Rollins, a Futurist at Resource Interactive, dated Friday, April 9, 2010.
'Deconstructing Caitlyn: The Cultural Significance of an American Icon.' A cultural semiotics study by Dr. Nita Rollins.
Cover slide of a keynote presentation by Dr. Nita Rollins entitled 'Big Data's Big Paradox: How Data & Advanced Analytics Humanize Consumer Experiences'. The background shows a mall overlaid with digital data streams. For Starwood Retail Conference.
Cover image featuring a worried mom and a shopping teen. Keynote presentation entitled Recession-Rewired researched by Dr. Nita Rollins.
Book cover titled 'Cartocracy' featuring a close-up of a person's face with green eyes. The face is painted with images of green moss and earth. Author's name 'Dr. Nita Rollins' and the subtitle 'Futurist' are displayed in the bottom left corner.