Global strategy & Marketing executive

Summary

Damian M. Grayson
I am passionate about inspiring people to achieve their potential and leading innovation across the business.  I drive results through a blend of creativity and analytics.
I've always been goal-driven. I have also always been passionate about inspiring people to achieve, optimizing resources, driving analytics, fostering partnerships, and developing cutting-edge strategic plans. 

As a customer-focused Senior Executive Professional, I am well versed in corporate and field operations, B2C and B2B settings, and leading teams nationally and globally.  

Throughout my career, I have been recognized as an enthusiastic leader and builder of high-performance teams.  This has been backed by my superior business acumen, my personal integrity and a strong bias for action.


These are my key competencies:

♦ Strategic Planning and Execution
♦ B2C & B2B Marketing
♦ Mass Media, Guerrilla, Direct, Database, and Content
♦ Digital Marketing: Search, Display, Email, Social, Geo and Mobile
♦ Financial Analysis, P&L Management, Budgeting and Forecasting
♦ Machine Learning (AIM) & Next Best Action (NBA)
♦ Field Operations
♦ Global Demand Generation
♦ Agency & Vendor Management
♦ Team Leadership
♦ Acquisition / Retention Marketing
♦ Marketing Effectiveness: Marketing ROI, Media Mix Optimization, Marketing Analytics
♦ Employee Development
♦ Eloqua, ON24, Allocadia, Microsoft CRM



These are the results of my Clifton Strengths Finder:

♦ Strategic
♦ Achiever
♦ Analytical
♦ Deliberative
♦ Futuristic

Achievements

  • Received multiple awards from peer nominations.
  • Received Leading with 'Data & Analytics' certification from Chicago Booth School of Business.
  • Networked with peers & professional throughout my career progression.
  • Earned MBA from McCombs School of Business & B.S. in Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.
  • Served on a board of directors for an organization.
  • Limited-edition achievement recognizing early members of Workfolio.
  • Considered an authority in customer subscription services & customer lifecycle management.
  • Considerable experience using technology, including Machine Learning and NBA platforms.
  • Received one or more promotions within an organization.
  • Generated $20M+ incremental revenue through customer ARPU and churn initiatives.
  • Endorsed by co-workers or clients.
  • Spoken in multiple leadership rallies encompassing sales, ops & marketing audiences.
  • Managed teams up to 30 team members; in-office, virtual, nationally and internationally.
  • Donates time to philanthropic causes & organizations - currently serving on Lone Tree Rec Committee.

Timeline

  1. -
    Head of Lifecycle Marketing & Consumer Retention, Sling TV

    Lead all Sling (vMVPD) and Freestream (FAST) domestic and international customer marketing strategies, focusing on increasing CLVs through onboarding, upsell & lead conversion, retention, and winback initiatives, delivering $2B+ in annual revenue. Drive customer engagement, education, and ROI through communication channels of email, in-app messaging, SMS, mobile push messaging, digital retargeting, and streaming TV ads. Lead a team of 10 marketers and report directly to the CMO of Marketing for Sling.

    ✔ Increased annual revenue by $12M through the development of new automated lifecycle campaigns that targeted existing customers and churn-prone viewers with personalized messaging and MarTech stack.

    ✔ Grew Freestream annual revenue $96M by developing and executing early life, upsell, and retention programs; Used A/B testing to optimize messaging, creative, and CTAs across app, email, and web.

    ✔ Delivered $1M incremental annual revenue through the creation of targeted upsell campaigns based on behavioral insight for D2C add-ons (Showtime, Starz, MGM+, Discovery+, etc.).

  2. -
    Director of Base Management & Customer Retention, Comcast

    Managed all customer marketing, sales account management strategy, and retention initiatives for Comcast Business. Responsible for the development of base management initiatives for Small-Medium Business (SMB), Mid-Market, and Enterprise customer bases to drive LTV. Leveraged data analytics and customer insights targeting opportunities to grow revenue through upsell, cross-sell, and renewal activities. Designed and deployed retention and customer lifecycle churn strategies utilizing DM, email, web, and retargeting.


    ✔ Drove 72% YoY growth in marketing response by orchestrating innovative, format-optimized, cross-channel campaigns (email, digital, eCommerce, DM); including the introduction of digital marketing, segmentation, and targeted messaging for hardware, software, and product solutions.

    ✔ Generated $3M in annual incremental revenue and increased sales units by 245% by leading account management teams (center and field) in developing and executing targeted contact strategies (targeting, lifecycle, frequency) aligned with marketing initiatives (collateral, digital, social media, LinkedIn, Twitter, and thought leadership campaigns).

    ✔ Retained 50k customers by leading Comcast Business Assistance Program (CBAP) for pandemic and natural disaster assistance in partnership with cross-functional business partners (Retention, Care, Collections, Product, Marketing, Finance).

  3. -
    Director, Base & Lifecycle Marketing and Analytics, Sprint

    Led the base marketing strategy and execution for Boost Mobile. Provided oversight of customer base lifecycle communication, base management, retention strategy and execution, churn forecasting, business case inputs, market level analyses, channel analyses, customer surveys, and save desk strategy.

    Proactively evaluated the prepaid customer base trends to provide real time insights to drive the business strategy and marketing programs to drive results. Partnered with the Marketing, Sales and Care teams to drive cross-functional awareness of base engagement programs and driving multi-channel execution program to improve customer engagement.

    ✔ Improved churn 95 bp year-over-year by establishing key strategic pillars and executing through base messaging, in-store collateral, digital targeting, and field leadership, resulting in 90%+ iPhone growth, 100%+ family plan growth, and 20%+ improvement in acquisition quality.

    ✔ Sparked annual incremental $2.5M revenue and 100k customer saves through artificial intelligence marketing (machine learning) initiatives focused on driving revenue, retention and ARPU upsell.

    ✔ Pioneered 30% offer cost reduction & 15% save improvement rate through creating, leading, and implementing NBA (next best action) decision marketing in general care and save desk channels.

  4. Boost Mobile Sales Leadership Conference

    I had the pleasure of speaking to 600+ top sales and operational leaders for Boost Mobile.  I shared the strategy and vision for all customer base initiatives.

  5. -
    Director, Marketing, Field Marketing, Sprint

    Direct local field marketing strategic plans and activities for the 14-state, $9B+ Central area of operation. Responsible for allocation of media budget and results, execution of national strategies, and master plan for targeted promotions to engage customers and support sales activities.

    Act as area expert for media, sponsorship and community outreach and provide oversight for local field marketing teams within five regions (including cities: Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Detroit, and Indianapolis). Serve as advisor and consultant for Chief Marketing Officer and Area President on all marketing, GTM initiatives and PR matters; works directly with national sales and marketing teams on a daily basis.

    ✔ Delivered 74% (22k) lift in sales and incremental $10.9M in revenue by heading seven regional ‘Sprint Says Thanks’ promotions by providing localized media, training and collateral to corporate and indirect sales channels.

    ✔ Led field development of artificial intelligence marketing (AIM) tool to target prospects and base customers through email and SMS offers, resulting in 18%+ open rates (vs. 16.3% benchmark), 4.5k incremental sales (vs. control group), and 2.3k incremental accessory sales for 2H16.

    ✔ Drove 12.6% YOY increase in sales and 20% improvement in SOGA for the area in 2016 through tactical execution of $18M marketing budget by implementing localized media messaging, promos and events.

  6. -
    Director of Global Marketing, Integrated Campaigns, IHS Markit

    Led global demand-marketing strategy that drove direction / development of worldwide integrated-marketing programs, including market research and insights, offer and content development and performance tracking (ROMI).

    Provided comprehensive, global tactical-marketing strategies that were deployed across all geographic regions (Americas, EMEA, APAC). Architected strategic planning, development, project management and implementation of integrated marketing campaigns, including awareness, demand generation, nurturing, pipeline building and sales acceleration. Extensively collaborated with Product, Regional & Corporate Marketing, Agencies, Tele-qualification vendors and Sales in a highly matrix organization.

    ✔ Directly led and managed the global Financial & Capital Market campaign marketing team and APAC (Singapore, China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia) country field marketing team.

    ✔ Achieved 105% of 2015 revenue target for Financial & Capital Markets (FCM) industry by creating / executing $120M+ global marketing strategy and managing annual marketing global-sales pipeline of $300M for Financial and Asset Management, Banking, Insurance and Commodities Trading segments.

    ✔ Produced $330K in monthly pipeline by designing and implementing strategic, lead-nurturing campaign for investors (private equity, venture capital, I-banking) focused on unconventional plays within energy segment.

    ✔ Delivered $1.9M in new pipeline net revenue, $480K in closed business and 4K+ inquiries by creating global-audience, integrated-marketing campaign for engineering personas in discrete manufacturing, geared toward design / development of new products, technologies and processes for Auto, Aerospace, Defense and Security, Maritime and Telecom industries.

    ✔ Generated $8M in event-marketing revenue by directly managing APAC marketing team across all industries.

  7. -
    Director of Marketing, Field Marketing, T-Mobile

    Directed consumer field-marketing organization for 13-state, $1.5B region, driving local insights and competitive response into corporate strategy, aligning vision between corporate and regional leadership. Guided marketing P&L performance and developed market plans that drove localized approach to marketing, product offerings and promotional offers that drove performance metrics (ROMI, ARPU, Revenue Share Growth).

    Created media strategy for campaigns, sponsorships, events and store openings with multi-faceted tactics that span PR, guerrilla and grassroots efforts, social media and mass media. Fostered relationships with local community, OEM and Agency partners to maximize regional performance.

    ✔ Drove 30%+ improvement in brand metrics (Awareness, Choice) and 40% improvement in flow share (Share of Gross Adds) throughout Mountain Plains region by focusing on localized, strategic marketing plans that earned #1 ranking in overall performance for 3Q13 and 4Q13.

    ✔ Generated incremental 18% lift in gross adds, and annualized $13.2M in revenue, by developing multi-media postpaid acquisition campaign throughout region, including radio, OOH, DM, digital, mobile and print.

    ✔ Delivered <$100 cost per gross add performance, below industry average of $250, by guiding 100+ local events annually, utilizing traditional media, social media, and guerrilla marketing tactics.

    ✔ Directly managed the Mountain Plains regional marketing team, and led the retail, branded and B2B sales rep ‘marketing ambassadors’ across the 13 state $1.5B revenue region.

    ✔ Secured Denver Post “Top Workplaces” award, driving local initiative with Denver Post, human resources partners, regional leadership, and field sales teams.

    ✔ Increased marketing visibility by creating / increasing communication standards for field correspondence, including marketing ambassador teams, regional focus groups, newsletters and flow-share summaries utilized by field senior leadership.

  8. -
    Marketing Strategy & Analytics, Qwest Communications (acquired by CenturyLink)

    Spearheaded marketing strategy with accountability of media planning recommendations, performance reporting, and ROMI analytics. Led marketing effectiveness campaign performance evaluation across marketing channels for marketing offers, creative and multivariate testing.

    Managed staff of five and collaborated cross-functionally with field marketing, finance, corporate strategy and agency partners.

    ✔ Improved cost per gross add (CPGA) 20% in top tier DMAs, by developing marketing mix model and optimizing $160M marketing spend allocation and efficiency across geographies and media tactics, including Direct Response TV, Spot TV, FSI, Radio, OOH, Direct Mail, and Digital.

    ✔ Grew ROMI 20%, via faster evaluation of marketing performance and creative rotation, by championing new go-to-market strategy and analytic reporting for direct response tactics.

    ✔ Advanced planning through linking of marketing investment to financial objectives, and adapting consumer strategy via identification of potential shortfalls by developing financial budgeting process for $215M marketing budget.

    ✔ Increased social media traffic 25% through local marketing events and community involvement by collaborating with regional marketing teams, evaluating market opportunities, sizing, and trends.

    ✔ Made reporting communications and data-driven decision-making better across organization by creating standardized marketing metric reports, including customer profiles, response / conversion rates, campaign results and channel effectiveness.

  9. -
    Customer Loyalty, Retention & Churn, Cricket Communications (acquired by AT&T)

    Led the process of developing, modeling and executing multi-channel strategies for all customer retention initiatives. Managed all aspects of the Direct Mail program including prospect selection, segmentation, targeting, creative development, and performance reporting. Developed deactivation model, forecasting key company metrics (churn and net adds) providing the financial impact of retention campaigns and churn reporting to executive level management.

    Managed the proposal process for reactivation projects throughout all phases of the project life cycle. Acted as the corporate lead for field operation and sales managers to maximize market specific retention initiatives and implement regional specific campaigns.

    ✔ Spearheaded customer retention campaign yields within 5% margin of error by establishing strict timelines, coordinating cross-functional logistics and deliverables of advertising agency, mail house, IVR, and outbound call centers.

    ✔ Reduced company churn 1% and provided incremental 10% lift in sales within specific markets by retaining >20K of quarterly subs via development of promotional advertising with local and regional marketing teams.

    ✔ Generated cost savings of $4.8M annually, and reduced direct mail go-to-market time by 4 weeks by streamlining marketing processes across organization.

  10. -
    MBA - Finance & Marketing, University of Texas at Austin - McCombs School of Business

Skills

  • Marketing
  • Digital marketing
  • machine learning
  • Financial & analytical acumen
  • team development
  • leadership
  • media
  • agency management
  • Brand

Results

  • $2.5M
    Incremental revenue via artificial intel marketing
  • 95bp
    churn improvement year over year
  • 30%
    Offer cost reduction from next best action (NBA)
  • 100k
    Customer saves from machine learning initiatives
  • 20%
    improvement in sales (share of gross adds)
  • $5B
    annual revenue for managed customer base

Questions & Answers

Why do you love marketing?
I love marketing because it is truly an interdisciplinary field that encompasses many strategic disciplines, which includes strategy, finance, psychology, statistics and economics. Marketing is a complex intertwining of predicting and driving desired outcomes based on customer behavior, buyer perceptions, competitive pressures and media influence.
Why did you choose your profession?
I started my professional career in engineering working on solar cell and photovoltaic R&D. I worked at a start-up and gained exposure to the entire scope of the business (financials, operations, etc.); of which I became increasingly curious about. 

I decided to fulfill my passion for business and pursue an MBA in Finance and Marketing.  My focus has always been to integrate my business education with my engineering (logic and analytical) training.  

I love driving strategy, fueled by data driven insight.  In the marketing world I get to leverage my strengths and build relationships, improve customer experience and drive sales performance.
What attributes describe you?
You could say I'm pretty BRASIC. :)

Bias for Action
Reliable
Analytical
Strategic
Integrity
Collaborative
What is something surprising about you?
Sit down, you may not believe this, but I don't drink any caffeine or soda. It started as a friendly challenge in 1998 to go 12 months without any soda (remember Surge?).  It's amazing what a glass of water will do for you first thing in the morning!

Experience Highlights

  • B2C & B2B Expertise
  • Corporate & Field
  • Acquisition & Retention
  • Quantitative & Qualitative
  • Start-Up & Large Corporation
  • Guerrilla & Mass Media
  • National & International

Education Highlights

  • Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Finance & Marketing
    the university of Texas at austin - the red mccombs school of business
  • Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)
    Rsm erasmus university
  • Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Engineering with Electrical Specialty
    colorado school of mines
  • Leading with Data & Analytics
    Executive Education, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Causes

  • Stomp Out Bullying
    national nonprofit dedicated to reducing and Preventing bullying.
  • Hope on the Slopes
    Org to provide support for cancer patients & American Cancer Society through local activities.

Interests

  • Marketing
    Digital, social, mass media, GUERRILLA, branding, database, analytics, strategy, etc.
  • Learning
    I love learning.  I love consuming information, insights, and expertise to continually grow.
  • Music
    I play guitar and enjoy writing and composing original music.  I've played Red rocks!
  • Wine
    i love great wine.  I have some napa favorites that are stunning year after year.
  • Investing
    it's fun to dig through financials & interviews and uncover great companies with great leadership.