Prior to founding Buzzmarketing, Mark was vice president of marketing for eBay's Half.com (the #1 Internet retailer of used books, music, and movies). Hughes grew eBay's Half.com from zero to 8 million registered users in less than three years.

Hughes marketed the start-up and literally put Half.com on the map by convincing Halfway, Oregon to rename itself to Half.com, Oregon...creating the first dot-com city in America. The buzz generating event was dubbed by Time magazine as "one of the greatest publicity coups" in history.

Within weeks of launching, Half.com was featured on the Today Show, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and received over 40 million print impressions from the Half.com Oregon idea. 19 days after his Half.com Oregon event, eBay contacted Half.com and later acquired the company for over $300 million.

Now, eBay's Half.com ranks as one of the ten most visited shopping sites on the Internet, regularly getting more traffic than established brands like Barnes & Noble.com with a fraction of the media budget.

Hughes brings a wealth of creative and quantitative experience in consumer marketing from PepsiCo's Pizza Hut Division, Pep Boys, and American Mobile Satellite. Hughes spent five years at PepsiCo's Pizza Hut division, working on new concept development and analyzing new store penetration. Hughes was a member of the team developing and launching Lunch Buffet for Pizza Hut.

Hughes was the youngest person to become a company officer with Pep Boys, a big-box retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, accessories, tires and service. He served as Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Advertising, managing a $42 Million marketing budget focused on TV, Radio, and direct mail. While running its advertising, Pep Boys received Media Week's Media Plan of The Year, for Best Use of Radio in 1999.

Hughes has also spent time in the Telecommunications Industry, as Product Manager for American Mobile Satellite which spawned XM Satellite Radio. In satellite telephony, he developed international pricing strategies, and managed both maritime and mobile briefcase telephony products.

Mr. Hughes holds his MBA from Columbia Business School in Marketing & International Business. His Buzzmarketing has won two Icon Awards in radio as well as alternative media. Hughes is a guest lecturer on creative marketing at NYU, and Univ. of Penn, and serves on the Board of Advisors for several companies with John Thompson and Newt Gingrich.

Hughes is the son of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, John Hughes and is a contributing columnist for the magazine of international advertising knowledge, Admap. Hughes is also the son of ten-time biographer, Libby Hughes.

Hughes’ book, Buzzmarketing is in its fifth printing, and in its first year of release was heralded by Fast Company as one of  "The Ten Best Business Reads of 2005" along with authors Marcus Buckingham and Barbara Ehrenreich; and named by The Financial Times of London  as one of the Best Business Books of the Year with Freakonomics.

Hughes' book, "Buzzmarketing" incorporates the Six Secrets of Buzzmarketing, and is now available in bookstores from Penguin/Portfolio.

Learn more about the Top Ten Business Book, Buzzmarketing.