Sales Manager

MICHAEL CASSAR

**** ******** abj4eq@r.postjobfree.com

Lexington, KY 40513 Home: 859-***-****

Mobile: 859-***-****

Driven marketing professional with proven communications, advertising staff

management skills. Experience across Fortune and small cap brands. Known

for building brand equity and achieving unprecedented customer loyalty and

trust.

Specialties:

. Brand Strategy . Consumer Insight Analysis . New Product Launches

. Advertising & Creative Direction . CRM and Loyalty Building .

Customer Acquisition

. eCommerce Development . Staff and Vendor Management . P&L

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Ashland Consumer Markets, Lexington, KY 6/2009 - Current

Fortune 500 global products and services company. Retail products include

Valvoline, Zerex and Eagle One.

Director of Brand Marketing, Valvoline Instant Oil Change

Direct and manage strategic planning and operational staff responsible for

Customer Experience, sales promotion and NPD for corporate and franchise

store operations.

. Introduced an industry first "Engine Guarantee" that has increased

sales 23% and customer satisfaction three points to a ten year high.

. Aligned and drove a stage-gate process that will bring to market an

industry-first; an environmentally friendly "Green" oil within four

months. Estimates peg the potential result to be a new customer

acquisition of 5%-10%.

. Achieved "America's Most Trusted Brand" status by Equitrend for 2010

through trust-building ad campaign and focus on customer satisfaction.

Sears Holdings Corporation, Hoffman Estates, IL 2006 - 2009

Fortune 50 retailer and brand holding company. Proprietary brands include

Craftsman, Kenmore, Lands End and DieHard.

Executive (Group) Brand Manager, Craftsman

Managed the retail brand business strategy, promotional plan, insight

analysis and new product development across all categories of the $4B brand

including DIY products, apparel, electronics and consumables. Co-manage

Brand Business Unit P&L and work closely with retail partners to drive in-

store presence, merchandising and co-operative advertising.

. Developed and executed a large-scale integrated brand relaunch across

all channels that stemmed a five year market share decline of 1-1.5

percentage points/year.

. Manage the Craftsman Club catalogs including page count, product

selection and frequency. Catalogs have generated a 12% increase in

incremental sales YTD 2009 despite decrease in brick & mortar traffic.

. Led out-of-the-box promotions with Anhueser Busch, P&G and Sony

successfully exceeding ROMI goals on every occasion and setting

internal benchmarks for new customer acquisitions and sales.

. Introduced cutting edge partnerships with Yahoo! Answers, NASCAR,

DIY Network, ESPN and The Learning Channel leading to 47% increase in

ecommerce traffic and a 15% increase in purchase consideration from

'08-'09.

. Re-launched the award-winning Craftsman website increasing retail

"click-thru-rate" 37% and driving unique visitor traffic an

unprecedented +212% during key consumer purchase occasions.

. Led matrix team in the complete redesign of Craftsman's packaging

(5000 SKUs), incorporating bi-lingual copy, new logo introduction and

a new third party packaging system that decreased costs 45%.

. Received national recognition for building Craftsman into "America's

Most Trusted Brand" ('07-'08) and the "Brand with highest

expectations" in 2007. Brand was awarded "Highest consumer perception

of value" in 2008 by Ad Week.

. Selected into Sears Holdings' LEAD program of most promotable

executives (top 1% of all associates).

Delphi Corporation, Troy, MI 2005 - 2006

Fortune 100 World leader in mobile electronics and maker of XM Satellite

Radio products.

Sr. Brand & Communications Director (Contract assignment)

Managed marketing operations for XM Satellite's retail product unit.

Oversaw the P&L, media plans, promotional support activities, research and

PR/Marcom in preparation for Chapter 11 filing.

. Developed and documented transferable processes to be used across and

within all areas of marketing operations during period of heavy

turnover and transition.

. Blueprinted the Delphi XM Satellite Radio turnaround strategy,

focusing on building partnership streams to compensate for declining

B2C sales. Plan resulted in 63% topline growth and a business

partnership with Sirius.

. Promotionally leveraged sponsorship of the Hendricks Motor sports team

featuring 2005 NASCAR Rookie of the Year; Kyle Busch. Programs drove

incremental units upward 128% exceeding ROI goals.

. Led global marketing team of 10 FT and 5 PT staffers in the redesign

and launch of branded products across the UK, Asia, North and South

America leading to +33% YOY increase in retail commitments.

Michelin USA, Troy, MI 2003 - 2005

Global Fortune 100 Company that markets mobility solutions, maps & guides

and digital services

Director, Strategic Marketing (2004 - 2005)

Reported to COO as part of the leadership team and functionally to the VP

of Marketing & Sales. Directed partnership marketing and strategic planning

functions for North American operations, representing Michelin, BF Goodrich

and Uniroyal brands. Managed staff of six marketing professionals.

. Drove a strategic change in brand identity from safety to performance to

capture a growing higher margin segment. Move led to a global transition

of the 30 year old campaign "A lot is riding on your tires" to "A Better

Way Forward."

. Identified and secured reciprocal strategic business partnerships with

BMW and Mercedes responsible for an estimated 20%-30% downstream retail

sales in luxury/performance category.

Director, Market Intelligence (2003 - 2004)

Planned and directed global consumer insight initiatives to support

Michelin's premium brand position. Identified and prioritized necessary

research projects relating to consumer insights, customer satisfaction and

target segments. Developed internal market evaluation processes for

maintaining consistent quality in reporting and determining ROI. Managed

staff of five marketing and research professionals.

. Challenged and overturned a JD Power study claiming that Michelin

products were not highest in consumer value.

. Championed a corporate-wide shift toward "Value Modeling" focusing on

distinct customer value propositions for each product category.

Successful since inception in securing regular pass-thru price increases

to B2B partners.

. Developed and drove the corporate-wide introduction of the "Optimist"

capacity planning model to prioritize and balance sales between growth

channels based upon brand loyalty and revenue impact.

. Promoted to Director, Strategic Marketing within one year.

American Racing Equipment, Rancho Dominguez, CA 2000 - 2002

Global leading retail accessory manufacturer

Sr. Brand Manager

Ultimate responsibility for P&L, brand positioning and product planning for

$400MM flagship brand through B2C and B2B channels. Responsible for

marketing mix allocation, agency supervision, pricing and new product

development.

. Utilized quantitative shopper insights to map purchase drivers for core

product lines resulting in changes to pricing, marketing mix and

packaging.

. Launched three new product lines including the first ever Teflon-coated

"DUB" products exploiting the popularity of growing "super-premium"

segment. New products reached overall margin contribution levels of 10%

in just under 2 years.

. Leveraged existing and introduced new licensing agreements with Dale

Earnhardt Jr, Mattel and NHRA.

Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI 1993 - 2000

Fortune 10 Automotive solutions company with non-vehicle brand holdings

that include MotorCraft, Hertz, QualityCare & Quicklane

Brand Manager, Retail Products (1998 - 2000)

Managed the marketing and sales activity for the retail and fast-moving

consumer products portfolio including MotorCraft, The Ford Collection and

Ford's retail service brands. Developed sales & marketing plans designed to

maximize brand recognition and sustainable market penetration. Managed

agency relationships and matrixed brand team.

. Developed unique visual brand language and messaging for MotorCraft brand

across 20+ categories.

. Brought to life an integrated brand campaign targeting the "Proud DIY"

segment driving consideration +2.3pts YOY.

. Realized portfolio top and botton line growth of over 22% through product

introductions and channel expansion.

Sr. Retail Marketing Manager, Parts and Service Division (1996 -

1998)

Created and executed regional franchise marketing plans for

East Coast sales operations. Oversaw all aspects of direct to market

strategy including short/long term business planning, competitive analysis,

promotional creation and inventory / sales tracking.

. Named 1997 Marketing Manager of the Year, based on double digit year over

year bottom line sales increases.

Assistant Brand Manager, Mustang (1995 - 1996)

Developed and secured approval for the 1996MY Mustang Market Equation

(Pricing, Volume, Variable Marketing) for each major product development

milestone. Product and pricing actions led to $73M in profit improvement.

Developed and secured approval for key Brand Development initiatives:

Target Customer, Brand Positioning and Brand Essence.

Finance Analyst (1993 - 1995)

As part of Central Accounting Services reporting to the Executive Finance

Board, responsible for internal communications of policy changes.

EDUCATION

The University Of Michigan MBA: Marketing

The University Of Michigan BA: Business and Communications

Published Research Author; "Small Business Owner's Formal Marketing

Assessments," JSBM & Harvard Business Journal

Contact this candidate