Proven Growth. Across Different Businesses.

For your business, the lesson is simple: know what your audience values, make your offer relevant to their lives, and create experiences that turn first-time customers into loyal ones.

When I joined FC Dallas, average attendance was about 3,500 per match, with just one sellout per season. In a North Texas market dominated by high school, college, and professional football, simply selling the beautiful game wasn't enough. We needed to make FC Dallas relevant to local families.  Growth meant reaching beyond existing soccer fans, then delivering an experience worth returning for.

I quickly built a marketing and media plan focused on three priorities: build awareness, spark interest, and make matchday a memorable family experience. That thinking opened the door to new experiences, including introducing drone shows after FC Dallas games. The spectacle gave people another reason to attend, stay, and share their experience—and broadened the club’s appeal to audiences who might not have considered a soccer match before. The strategy also addressed a central challenge in sports: results on the field are unpredictable. By building a connection rooted in entertainment, belonging, and the overall match-day experience, we treated attendance not as a one-time ticket transaction, but as an opportunity to create lasting affinity for the club...no matter what the outcome could be.

What this means for you: Growth doesn't always come from selling what you think customers should want. It comes from understanding what matters to them—and creating an experience that gives them a compelling reason to show up, return, and become loyal customers.

After a scandal damaged the Dallas Mavericks’ reputation, the challenge was to rebuild trust, deepen fan engagement, and bring the focus back to the joy of basketball. That work began inside the organization.

Leading a 35-person marketing team across media, social, creative, video, merchandising, and game-day experiences, I helped build a culture where every voice could be heard and people felt safe contributing ideas. That foundation gave the team room to create, collaborate, and bring renewed energy and fun to the fan experience. We also broadened how—and where—the Mavericks connected with Dallas. We built relationships with diverse cultural communities, creating meaningful connections during games and beyond the arena. A mobile merchandise and Mavericks experience bus brought the brand directly to people at the State Fair and other community gatherings, creating opportunities to participate, connect, and feel part of the team. Together, these efforts helped turn renewed connection into deeper engagement and measurable business growth.

What this means for you: You get senior marketing leadership who understands building trust starts with how people experience your organization—from employees to customers to the communities you serve. Giving people a voice, meeting them where they are, and creating meaningful reasons to connect (or reconnect) can lay the foundation for lasting growth.  At the same time being focused on the outcomes that matter to your business—revenue growth, customer loyalty, and a stronger brand.

For your business, the lesson is simple: solve a real customer and business problem, prove the economics, and build a compelling case to scale the idea with the bottom line constantly in view.

The challenge started with a franchisee who had invested approximately $250,000 in a restaurant remodel—only to see a new QuikTrip open nearby on I-40 and draw customers away. Known for beverages and offering the convenience of gasoline, QuikTrip gave people compelling reasons to stop. We needed to give them a reason to choose McDonald’s. The insight was simple: we couldn’t compete on gasoline, but we could compete on beverage value. An irresistible soft-drink offer could bring guests through the door, where additional food purchases could turn that traffic into stronger sales and cash flow. I helped the franchisee evaluate the economics of a loss-leader strategy. The initial offer—42-ounce soft drinks for 42 cents—delivered double-digit percentage increases in guest counts, sales, and cash flow. We monitored performance and used price-sensitivity analysis to refine the price, helping develop what became the $1 Any Size Soft Drink platform. That local success also addressed a broader business problem. Across co-ops and regions, individual monthly promotions had fragmented the value message. Eight, ten, or twelve different offers competed for attention, each requiring separate investments in media and creative. We brought multiple co-ops together around one clear, consistent value proposition. That alignment reduced duplication, created efficiencies in media and creative, and gave customers a memorable reason to visit. The platform expanded from the Amarillo and Lubbock co-ops across the Greater Southwest Region, then the West Division. The business case ultimately helped take it national. What began as a solution for one restaurant became one of McDonald’s most recognizable value offers, with the beverage-value concept reaching international markets.

The initial offer—42-ounce soft drinks for 42 cents—delivered double-digit percentage increases in guest counts, sales, and cash flow. From there, we continued to monitor the results and eventually increased the price through a price sensitivity analysis. The idea expanded from the Amarillo and Lubbock co-ops to the rest of the Greater Southwest Region, then the West Division. The business case ultimately helped take the platform national.

What this means for you: A powerful growth strategy doesn't always start with a big campaign or a major investment. Sometimes it starts by recognizing a local business challenge, testing a smart idea, and building the case to scale what works.

For your business, the takeaway: align marketing with sales and operational priorities, focus on the audiences that influence and make buying decisions, and measure success by its contribution to revenue.

For the first time in its 50-year history, I helped this company develop and execute a comprehensive B2B marketing strategy designed to build brand awareness, generate qualified leads across market groups, and grow revenue.

I partnered with teams across sales, product, manufacturing, leadership, and finance to align marketing with business objectives. Together, we created the company's first media plan to reach untapped markets and developed a creative campaign for both specifiers and end users.

The campaign extended across social media, email newsletters, blogs, and other channels—creating a consistent, relevant presence throughout the customer journey.

What this means for your business: An established reputation can provide a strong foundation, but reaching new markets requires deliberate choices about whom to influence and how to reach them. Align marketing with sales and operational priorities, connect with everyone who shapes the buying decision, and measure progress through qualified opportunities and revenue.