Walter Baric

Consumer Insight and Market Research Leadership

www.linkedin.com/in/walterbaric - Los Angeles - 650-***-**** - ac8eht@r.postjobfree.com

Experienced in the management and mentoring of consumer information teams and programs, producing insights for management decisions and “CEO ready” marketing solutions from the perspective of a corporate, research supplier and ad agency background

Known for managing (and training others to) the translator/interpreter role – transforming technical results into recommendations addressing the strategic needs of non-technical clients

Serve as the lead “insight and odds” consultant to the risk-takers in marketing and management for new products, new clients, new market or new campaign development

When the “market info” team member for advertising agency new client pitch efforts, helped achieve 50%+ success rate for account acquisition

Effectively team with widely differing groups – from top management, marketing and sales personnel to product developers, creatives, programmers and analysts

Consistently satisfying needs for consumer research efforts that produce "value-added" insight ... having designed them, demanded them, managed them, sold and mentored them

Senior Vice President 2004-Current

Pelegrin Research Group, Los Angeles, CA

On-going client contact and marketing/research consulting and programs for a wide range of Fortune 500 and other CPG clients, from the U.S. Beef Council and business product companies to a leading multi-national pet care company and consumer health companies. Efforts for clients have included:

Launching a national beef industry semi-annual tracking program that ran for 22 waves and gave insight for public relations, long-range planning and consumer profile analyses.

Segment analyses guiding beef communications and product positioning among Millennials, Hispanics, and regions.

Determining which reasons for using less beef could be approached and which could not, leading to a slowing in core market shrinkage.

Creating and maintaining the pet owner food use and brand image PetLink tracking for Mars Petcare.

Guiding the insights that established a program lowering the rate of college drop-out for an on-line university.

Public sector research programs for L.A. County and Orange County Departments of Public Works.

Prior Research Leadership Experience

Visto Corporation Manager of Market Analysis Mountain View, CA (corporate)

Reporting to President and SVP Marketing, guided competitive/market tracking, ROI/TCO evaluations and operations research efforts as part of first Market Analysis program for corporate remote access start-up company.

INTEL Corporation Senior Analyst Santa Clara CA (corporate)

Driver of International Segmentation of both Consumer & Business PC Markets, which was used to prioritize marketing targets across divisions, and leader of cross-functional team establishing a new research program for long-term Mobile Market New Product design & development.

InterActive Research Senior Vice President Atlanta, GA (research agency)

Startup principal for full-service research firm, establishing initial positioning and capabilities program while expanding sales among both established and new client account partnerships.

The Marketing Workshop Senior Vice President Atlanta, GA (research agency)

Directly reporting to President, drove strategic development for company, setting the new product and growth direction (doubling size in 5 years) for full-service research firm with 50+ professional staff. Managed on-going and new business programs of over a million dollars annually, including:

Guiding a major insurance group post-merger segmentation, resulting in expanded cross-sell programs and dramatic restructuring of a 100,000+ agent force.

Creating a multi-divisional ‘central information warehouse’ for a major food company to leverage new cross-industry trends, saving 30% on annual budgeting.

Iterative product concept and positioning programs leading to a successful new line launch for Bush’s Beans as part of the winning team for an American Marketing Association Edison Gold Award for New Product introduction.

U.S. Global Strategy Council Consultant Washington, D.C. (think tank)

Integrated marketing/research aspects for proposed national Policy on Non-Lethal Warfare, an 18 month pro-bono effort, resulting in Non-Lethal Warfare becoming a required consideration factor for U.S. military effort.

Hasbro/Milton Bradley/Playskool Director of Marketing Research Pawtucket, RI (corporate)

With department head responsibility, daily interaction through to Divisional Presidents and Chairman for competitive activity, consumer trends, advertising evaluation and new product programs across all divisions, building the department from 6 to 18 professionals while holding budgets to 50% of industry standard for research cost per $100 million in sales.

Achieved Market Research acceptance as insight partner on the line review boards of all divisions -- guiding the strategies, marketing programs and information/research needs for the annual roll-out of over 300 products.

Full management accountability ($2 million+ budget, staffing, program design) for competitive activity database, consumer trend analysis, advertising evaluation and new product programs across domestic divisions – with oversight of international research efforts - for five years.

Education

Master of Science in Advertising – University of Illinois

James Webb Young Fellow, Research Assistant

Bachelor of Science in Advertising – Florida State University School of Business

Math and Communication minors, founding President of FSU Ad Club

Technical and Soft Skills

Program design, management, selling, analysis & presentation of Quantitative (primary, secondary, syndicated and custom/ad hoc) and Qualitative (focus groups, one-on-ones or ideation/brainstorming) market research methodologies regarding:

Tracking programs and new product, segmentation, communication/advertising, packaging, strategic planning, product/company positioning and multivariate analyses for…

B2B or entertainment/toys, food/beverages and other CPG industries from the client-side, advertising agency, research supplier and consultant perspectives.

Soft skills include leadership, management (of teams, programs, budgets), new business development, presentations/speaker, team building (hiring, mentoring, training), long-term client relationships and cross-functional teaming.

Walter Baric – Page 2

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