Marisa Schaeffer: Senior Brand Marketing Leader in Costa Mesa, CA

Developed qualitative research plans to gain insights into market trends, consumer behaviors, and the competitive landscape within Gen Z and Millennial segments. Crafted an employer brand marketing plan to enhance the candidate experience and convey brand purpose, values, and culture to prospective and current employees. Led creative strategy sessions with creative director, art director, designers, and copywriters to conceptualize new campaigns and creative platforms, driven by research insights. Generated a targeted B2B marketing plan using an account-based marketing (ABM) approach to engage traditional insurance carriers with the Bestow’s technology solutions. Managed a team of marketers, including social media and creative project managers. Key Achievements: Authored a new brand positioning statement to optimize the brand’s market position as the direct-to-consumer SaaS insurtech leader. Negotiated and reduced research partnership costs by 15% through contract restructuring. Established brand governance and guidelines to ensure consistency and reduce creative revisions. (Position eliminated due to a company-wide reduction in workforce)

Led the strategic planning process, utilizing insights from research, brand audits, and customer analysis for clients in healthcare, cybersecurity, consumer goods, retail, and technology sectors. Spearheaded client presentations, articulating brand narratives and positioning statements, buyer personas, competitive analysis, and proposed research initiatives for accounts across B2B and B2C industries. Collaborated with the creative director for creative conceptualization of creative concepts, defining the strategic insights that informed the recommended creative direction. Created an employer branding strategy and composed a thirty-page Culture Code Manual to define the company's culture and values. Key Achievements: Crafted pitch decks showcasing the agency's strategic capabilities, resulting in the acquisition of eight new clients within a year across B2B and B2C segments. Produced a series of detailed case studies illustrating the agency's successful outcomes and client impact. (Resigned to pursue an opportunity to lead branding initiatives on the client-side, which closely aligned with my long-term career goals)

• Created integrated marketing plan and crafted messaging to support the UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge, an annual fundraising event supporting cancer research • Enhanced donor engagement through storytelling, leveraging patient narratives to inspire philanthropic support. • Led team overseeing marketing communications, event marketing, direct mail campaigns, and content creation. Key Achievements: • Implemented content marketing strategies to support a capital campaign for the new medical campus, securing $50M in donor contributions within two years. • Collaborated with physicians to identify funding needs and authored comprehensive donor proposals to secure $25 million in philanthropic gifts. • Deployed data-driven marketing strategies that increased participant registration for the UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge by 15% and a 30% increase in social media engagement.

Led the development and execution of advertising campaigns, including crafting creative briefs, agency selection, concept evaluation, focus group testing, and production oversight. Managed the media planning process, primarily focused on TV through strategic programming, partnerships, and on-air integrations. Oversaw corporate public relations efforts, writing and issuing press releases, facilitating press outreach, and delivering industry news to leadership daily. Managed social media platforms, creating content for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn. Key Achievements: Boosted brand awareness to 84% through a storytelling approach in creative concept development, while evolving the brand to reach a younger demographic. Negotiated with agency partners, achieving a 12% reduction in advertising costs.

• Led a cross-functional marketing team of 20 peers to execute integrated strategies across creative, retail, advertising, media, events, partnerships, social media, local marketing, and public relations. • Developed the annual brand strategy plan, aligning with consumer behavior trends, competitive analysis, and cultural insights. • Planned primary research projects to evaluate brand perception, messaging strategies, and advertising effectiveness. • Established a brand management system, including comprehensive brand briefs and messaging frameworks to ensure brand consistency and minimize legal revisions. Key Achievements: • Managed a pivotal advertising campaign and all brand initiatives to introduce to new campaign platform, brand identity, and tagline, resulting in a 10% increase in brand awareness within one year. • Guided an advertising team of six direct reports and two agency partners, executing 1-2 productions per year, consistently achieving above-average ad testing recall rates (Millward Brown). • Executed a strategic evolution of the brand positioning statement, leading to a 50% increase in consideration and the acquisition of 2 million new customers.