Robert Pifke...
DRIVING GROWTH AND PROFIT WITH INNOVATIVE MARKETING LEADERSHIP
964 E. Bridges Court, Salt Lake City, UT 84121 • C: 650-520-1415 • bob@pifke.org
Highly accomplished Marketing Executive with a unique breadth of leadership in marketing and
advertising spanning agency, client side, marketing business and consumer products within a variety of
industries. Motivational leader and intuitive strategist, expert at identifying inflection points, organic
growth, and strategic opportunities that gain critical market share drive revenue. Ability to identify and
embrace new technologies and adopt where necessary to improve sales or operational efficiencies.
Select Accomplishments
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Building data driven marketing organization at Real Property Management that has motivated franchisees to
increase marketing by 26% and has increased traffic and leads by 70%.
Developed and grew Visa’s Marketing Services department from a 6 member to over 100 team member full
service marketing organization with over $125M budget.
Grew Visa Debit Card sales volume from $25B to $450B over seven years. Plan included development of
custom marketing programs for member banks that generated new accounts, activations, increased usage,
and card retention.
Created Visa Marketing Consulting (VMC) division that developed custom marketing programs for largest 20
financial institutions. Secured highest customer satisfaction ratings among all Visa divisions.
Built Ogilvy & Mather Direct/Houston into a multimillion dollar agency within 18 months – third largest agency
in Houston. Recruited highly successful creative and account team.
Competencies that Facilitate Growth, Margin Improvement, and Market Penetration
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Search Engine Marketing (SEM), email, and CRM
Database Marketing, Activation, Usage, and Loyalty
Best in Class Operations Start-ups and Expansions
Performance Measurement and Predictive Modeling
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New Technology Innovation, Design, and Launch
Continuous Process Improvement and Redesign
Multi-Variant Analysis and Key Metric Modeling
Brand Management
Executive Experience
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, LLC, Salt Lake City, UT
Operating as the brand Real Property Management, the franchise is the largest residential property management organization in
North America, managing over $7 billion in assets and thousands of properties for individuals, investors and institution throughout
the US and Canada.
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER (2013 – present)
Member of the executive management team. Delivering world class sales and marketing strategies that drive
growth and profitability for corporate office and individual franchises’ businesses. Redesigned and launched new
mobile optimized corporate and individual franchisee websites with improved content and enhanced SEO. Added
social media marketing and franchise social media training. During tenure the company was named a Top Ten
Franchises for $150K Investment by Forbes magazine, Entrepreneur’s Top 500 in 2014 and Top in Category for 2015,
Franchise Business Review Top 50 Franchise for Veterans, and Utah Best of State in 2014.
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Increased marketing activity and spending by franchisees by 26% and average marketing spend as a
percentage of revenue was up 23% over 2013
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Created improved marketing techniques to attract higher quality franchisees and improved conversion rates.
Increased new franchisee sales in 2014 to 35.
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Developed innovative process for individualized marketing plans for each of the 250+ offices for 2015
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Brought sophisticated testing processes to evaluate PPC, print, direct mail and TV advertising.
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Acquired national database of property owners to develop data driven marketing program.
Robert Pifke
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CCA GLOBAL PARTNERS, St. Louis, MO
$2B privately held corporation that helps independent business owners reach a higher level of success.
VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND SALES, FRANCHISE DIVISION (2006 – 2013)
Developed new marketing and sales strategies that delivered 20% revenue growth and increased profits for division.
Redesigned brand management practices increasing brand awareness of ProSource Wholesale Floor Coverings,
Lighting One and The Floor Trader brands, achieved through franchisee adoption of new national marketing multichannel campaigns and quadrupled franchisee participation in customized marketing programs. Established
metrics and systems to monitor and measure campaign performance. Created and maintained CRM Systems,
websites and planned national conventions.
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Developed an innovative CRM system integrated with marketing programs and increased functionality for
ProSource franchisees.
Doubled new prospect sales success rate by enhancing ProSource Wholesale Floor coverings database to
include two million business prospects, 250,000 members, and richer demographic and sales data.
Gained Senior Leadership consensus for development of a multimillion dollar eCommerce initiative for ProSource
including new website, PPC advertising, SEO program, and Online Shopping test. Sevenfold increase in website
traffic and tenfold increase in online leads over four years.
Launched on-going customer satisfaction research that led to new focus on satisfaction and price leadership
affecting national buying processes and showroom merchandising, price labeling, and sales techniques.
VISA, INC., Foster City, CA
Multinational financial services corporation operating the world’s largest electronic payment network with 6,800 employees.
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING SERVICES (1989 – 2005)
Created and managed Product Marketing Services, National Promotions, Visa Marketing Consulting, Visa Online,
and Merchant Marketing departments supporting 6,000 member financial institutions that issued Visa cards and 3.5
million merchants that accepted Visa cards. Managed Visa brand standards and all sponsorship related branding
efforts including the USOC, NFL, NASCAR, and other Visa sponsorship properties. Determined staffing levels, gaps in
expertise, and agency support levels. Participated in multiple Visa leadership committees including International
Marketing Committee, US Pricing Committee, Systems Planning Committee, and US Business and Budget Steering
Committee.
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Gained funding and rebuilt Visa.com/USA with new architecture, user interface, and content. Tripled page
views, doubled site visits, and increased new account referrals to member banks tenfold.
Conceptualized, created, and managed Visa Online, USA’s member financial institution intranet. Tripled number
of member bank staff reached by Visa communications. Reduced costs more than $1.2M annually.
Initiated Bill Pay marketing campaign that doubled volume and share of payments in targeted merchant
categories.
Won co-branded card programs such as United Mileage Plus and Disney for Visa – 65% co-branding decision
success rate.
Lead participant in building new acceptance for Visa cards in key industries such as healthcare, supermarkets,
bill payment, and quick service restaurants with integrated marketing and sales programs. Doubled
supermarket volume from $1B per year to $2B per month.
Leveraged sponsorship properties including the Olympics, NFL, Triple Crown, and NASCAR in marketing
programs. Achieved higher sponsorship awareness than other sponsors that had higher marketing budgets.
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Created national cause marketing program with Reading is Fundamental generating $1M contribution to RIF,
encouraged over a million books to be read to children. Improved brand image and won several awards.
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Increased productivity 15% despite significant reduction in staff in 2003 due to economic conditions and to
achieve corporate goals.
Prior tenures included:
OGILVY & MATHER DIRECT/OGILVY & MATHER ADVERTISING , Houston, TX
Vice President/General Manager – Ogilvy Direct
Vice President/Management Supervisor – Ogilvy Advertising Serving Shell Oil Company and Compaq Computer
Robert Pifke
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Education
Master of Business Administration, Marketing, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Bachelor of Science, Communications, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Decision Making, Harvard University Education Program
Professional Affiliations and Activities
Member, National Association of Real Property Managers (2013 – present)
Member, American Marketing Association and Direct Marketing Association (2005 – 2013)
Board Member, Promotional Marketing Association (2000 – 2005)
Chairman, Promotion/Merchandising Committee, Association of National Advertisers (1995 – 2000)
Frequent presenter at marketing conferences sponsored by the ANA, PMA, DMA and others
Awards
American Marketing Association Crystal and Spire Awards
American Advertising Federation Addy Awards
Visa - Reading Is Fundamental Program Recognition:
Promotion Marketing Association Reggie and Super Reggie Awards
Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Award
Publication
Authored “Promotional Marketing” chapter for Marketing by America’s Leading Corporations. Editor, Anthony
Bennett. BluSkyz: 2002 Second Edition 2009