Visual Executive Officer (VEO)

Who: Kenn Boostrom
Company: Hotwire Inc.
Has held title for: 18 months
Previous title: Creative director, Lukens Boostrom Clark Design

Kenn Boostrom has always been a vision guy. Now Boostrom, 42, is the visual executive officer of his Providence, Rhode Island-based firm, Hotwire Inc. Hotwire specializes in innovation planning, identity branding, and product launching for such clients as ABC Sports and Titleist.

What does a VEO do?

A VEO is a visual translator for the 21st century. I help people see their brand in a cross section of all the media that they use. I spend a lot of time making observations, and then those ideas get transformed into what I call "brand image maps."

Do your optical powers rival Superman's?

Well, I don't have X-ray vision, but I do love to talk about the "synapse." If a client comes to me with a proposal, my mind just starts to go off -- synapses. And once I start doing the research, it's hard for me to stop the idea-generating process.

How do you see success?

The most rewarding part of my job is figuring out what a company's identity is -- and communicating it. As far as I'm concerned, branding is defined as identity communicated. One thing that brand stewards tend to forget is that the brand is owned by the customer, not the company.

So, do you wear glasses?

Nope. I have 20/20 vision.