Richard Mendell
Customer Focused, Value Delivered

Richard Mendell - Marketer, Innovator, All Around Nice Guy.

July, 2014 - Colorado, USA

For years, people have told me that I'm an innovator, that I see opportunities where others see obstacles. Truth is, I’ve really never seen it that way.

Instead, I’ve just seen what appears to be an obvious path forward, an obvious need to do right by both the customer and the company and to relentlessly pursue long term ROI. 

I think back to my college years when, to make ends meet, I took my first job in the restaurant industry. I was waiting tables (like thousands of other college students) and sometimes the kitchen just wasn’t on its “A Game”.

One morning, I had a large party that was growing increasingly upset that their food hadn’t yet arrived. I realized that they were on the verge of getting up and leaving, so, thinking fast, I grabbed three fresh baked muffins and gave them to this table of six, on the house. I went to my manager and told him what I’d done and, initially, he was upset. Then I explained my rationale.

I said, look, this is a party of six that we’ve already prepared food for and they were threatening to get up and leave. That’s six meals that we’ve already made that we’re not going to get paid for if they leave, so I gave them three muffins that cost us less than a dollar to make so they’d stay, eat, be happy and pay their tab. I then offered him a dollar out of my own pocket. (He didn’t take it.) I was 19 at the time and although I didn’t know what it was called at the time, I was already doing ROI analysis.

By the way, a year later, I was managing that same restaurant.

Now, with nearly 20 years of experience in directing strategic marketing, communication and branding efforts for world famous consumer brands, my track record of enhancing competitive market positions, multimillion-dollar revenue and margin growth, and surpassing business objectives is real and documented.

That's all great, but I'm also a real person that does all this with a healthy sense of humor and a real desire to make a difference. 

Despite my career successes, consequences of events beyond my control mean that I’m seeking a new opportunity sooner than I might have expected this time last year.

Based on my skills, experience and passions, I’m looking for a marketing leadership role with a small to medium sized company in the consumer products, services, retail or restaurant space. I’m also open to agency side roles servicing clients in these spaces.

Although I'm open to relocation globally for an ideal role, my preference is to remain close to my home in Colorado, or return to either the West Coast or New England.

Titles that are a good fit for my skills and experience might include phrases like: marketing, brand, strategy, innovation, creative services, consumer insights, marketing channels, marketing communications, digital marketing, consumer guru, etc.

Accomplishments:

• Introduced an internal sales building tool for Fazoli's that rewarded stores and employees for growing catering sales volumes.
• Delivered a 20% year over year improvement in sales, paired with a 15% jump in traffic and a net decrease in advertising expenses for a multi-concept operator with a first ever brand strategy and marketing calendar.
• Created Channel Islands Roasting Co. coffee brand for Carl's Jr. as part of a successful project to driving the breakfast day-part.
• Led the Carl's Jr. menu redesign, aligning the chain’s menus with their strategy, optimizing menu mix and driving beverage sales, delivering increased system wide bottom line profits of more than $1,000,000 per year, ongoing.
• Decreased costs for marketing collateral at Sonic by nearly $1 million by engineering changes in process, sizes and materials at the same time that raw material costs were increasing by nearly 20%.

 

Specialties:

• Consumer Marketing
• Marketing & Brand Communications
• Marketing Strategy
• Mobile Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Web Marketing
• National Promotional Strategy
• Marketing Technology
• Local Store Marketing (LSM)
• New Product Launches
• Qualitative Research
• Point of Purchase (POP)
• Creative Development
• Field Activation
• Media Planning
• Database/Direct-Marketing
• Brand Management
• Quantitative Research
• Digital Communications

Some fun things you might like to know about Richard:

I'm a rule breaker that came to marketing from the world of political science. Consumer engagement is my game because I enjoy the Machiavellian aspects of driving and influencing consumer behavior. Yes, I'm the guy that raises his hand and asks about the elephant in the corner, but only after thinking about how to get the forklift into the room without anyone noticing. I'll take the win over the credit, I like to laugh and my personal brand tag is "Making Pigs Fly Since 1996".

So, why hire me?

• 18 years of marketing management experience.

• Awesome people skills (I've led global cross functional teams and hosted pub quizes, so I can manage project teams and drunks.)

• Soup to nuts marketing plans 'r' us. That includes the simple stuff (who's the customer?) to the complicated stuff (how do we activate this on Pinterest and does that even make sense?).

• I'm an EMTJ, which means I lead teams like a rock star (if you're into all that personality testing stuff).

• My mantra is "Don't step over dollars to pick up pennies." If changing something to save a few cents makes sense, do it. If it jeopardizes a significant part of your core business, don't.

• I want the win, not the credit.

• Change for the sake of change is lame. Change that creates value is awesome.

• I like to laugh. When things are tough or frustrating, even more so.

• Hey. What's that elephant doing in the corner? (Yeah, I'm that guy.)

• Yes, I'm a marketing guy. But I know about other stuff. Lots of other stuff...geek stuff, nerd stuff, anorak stuff, hipster stuff, fanboy stuff. Apparently, it helps me see connections and opportunities a lot of people miss.

• I run with scissors. Ask me about it.