Jonathan Zilli

Mr. Jonathan Zilli is our classmate Harrison’s father who once worked in the Paramount Pictures. Mr. Zilli concentrated many of his business activities related to licensing and merchandising, which made his entrepreneurial thoughts develop more within film industry. By far, I believe Mr. Zilli has been the best speaker who influenced me in thinking more about certain businesses. Bringing and branding Bubba Gump Shrimp Co from the movie Forest Gump was definitely a brilliant idea that only Mr. Zilli thought of in Paramount Pictures. His marketing strategy of using and merchandising the famous quote “Run forest Run” within the restaurants and the gift shops attached to each restaurants was also fascinating.

Overcoming countless failures and four rejections to restaurant corporates, Mr. Zilli eventually made a rewarding success in franchising more than 45 Bubba Gump Shrimp Co worldwide.

I have a close Korean friend who goes to Agoura High School. Her whole family is recently going through a bad financial struggle due to her father’s company business with the theme park. As Mr. Zilli said, theme park business is a big plan that demands countless resources and endless efforts in preparation. My friend’s father was the designer and manager for the theme park project in Thailand. He invested all of his money and effort into this business, and currently the company bankrupted. During Mr. Zilli’s speech, when he mentioned about how he put zero money but lots of time into this project, it gave me a chill. There exist many variations in between business plans of theme park, but it gave me a strange feeling of how two theme park businesses from America at the same time are so different. Although incomparable, the risks and failures he mentioned about felt so close when my close friend is going through her worst time. This day has been a day that gave me some deep thoughts about the risks of venture and start-ups that can significantly influence my life. Meanwhile, I really hope Mr. Zilli’s project gets an approval from “Uncle Vlad” (Putin) and successfully start his fascinating ideas and plans.

Senior Vice President International Licensing and Merchandising

Paramount Pictures

“Spearheaded all strategic licensing and merchandising business development activities for Paramount film and television properties (including the Paramount logo) for all territories outside of the United States. Managed a multi-tiered professional staff of 15 and a network of 31 agents within sales, marketing and product development. Directed all retail and merchandising support programs. Took a business that did less than $500k in annual royalty revenue to over $50 million in annual royalty revenue. Reported directly to the President.” (www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanzilli)