/Nike NFL, Team Sports
Global Brand Marketing, Retail Brand Marketing — Senior Director (Sep 2012 - Aug 2013)
Led the development of Global Retail Marketing seasonal campaigns and omnichannel resources & assets for NFL, Men's Training, and US Team Sports. Collaborated with Global Sales, Merchandising, Marketing, and Geo teams to develop go-to-market sell-in tools, resources, concepts, and events for new product launches and franchise developments.
Throughout my career at Nike, we were obsessed with understanding the consumer.
"Know them to Serve them."
No matter the marketing meeting, Nancy Monsarrat, former Nike VP, Global Brand Marketing and Advertising Director, would often ask the team calmly, somewhat apologetically, "Please remind me. Why are we here? What was the insight?"
After several meetings where I felt fortunate to sit in the same room as Nancy, I realized she hadn't been asking these questions for her benefit but ours. She wanted to ensure we knew the answers. If we didn't, we had better figure them out quickly, and ensuring everyone on the team was entrusted and empowered with them.
As with alchemy, insights are the base metal that leads to dynamic brand experiences. Just as an alchemist refines its materials, marketers refine their approaches based on insights to ensure their campaigns resonate with the audience's ever-changing needs.
Across every milestone and throughout the matrix, my marketing partners and I were responsible for cultivating and protecting the insights across the various functions to ensure that what we delivered to the market was unique while uniquely serving consumer demands.
When I joined the Global NFL, Training, and Team Sports category (FBAT) under the leadership of GM Kris Aman and VP of Global Brand Marketing Mike Kelly, consumer insights were vital. Nike's category offense enabled them to push our team to dig deep into the athlete's motivations.
My FBAT marketing partners Jabari Hearn, Jim Beeman, Mel Lenzy, and I worked alongside our category partners to obsess the consumer and their journey to ensure we delivered the right product and experiences to the right markets to serve our consumers in reaching their fullest potential.
Had the opportunity to work for Mike Kelly when he led NikeGolf Marketing. There, he was affectionately referred to as either the Professor or Turbo, traits carried on in his new category role.
Turbo, because Mike has one speed: go faster, to be faster. Speed was the result of how much you trained. Every meeting or offsite felt like we were going back to school.
The Professor would guide us in asking questions similar to Nancy's: who are we serving —the fitness athlete to professional, and how do we serve them throughout their journey to greatness —from the training day, game day, and every day?
