Brion Roberto, Product Manager in New York, NY, United States
Brion Roberto

Product Manager in New York, NY, United States

Member since May 11, 2020
Brion is a product management, digital transformation, and marketing professional with 20 years of experience. He has bolstered companies such as Diageo, American Express, and The Washington Post, exceeded goals, expanded into new markets, and significantly increased profits. Brion's innovative strategy has garnered awards for exceptional products that deliver. With digital and global insight, he has managed dispersed cross-functional teams to build outstanding products.
Brion is now available for hire

Project Highlights

Expertise

Employment

  • Digital Marketing Product Manager

    2022 - PRESENT
    Trillium Beverages Pvt. Ltd.
    • Created an annual marketing plan for premium hard cider. Shifted budget to focus on high-growth activities to expand the footprint and reach new customer segments.
    • Managed agency and developed a new creative platform and media buying strategy.
    • Set up key partnership and co-branding opportunities to build reputation and affinity marketing.
    • Recommended new marketing stack to improve performance marketing.
    • Create strategic recommendations for the CEO on GTM, market research and personas, and brand development.
  • Expert Brand Consultant

    2022 - 2022
    BCG
    • Created a new brand while collaborating with the executive team, including defining the mission, values, positioning, personality, tone, and archetype.
    • Grew demand generation and organic leads by more than 50%.
    • Created a new brand campaign by developing a strategy and selecting and managing an advertising agency for success.
    • Managed creative and media agencies for primary research, strategy, creative platform development, campaign strategy, and execution. Initiated new interim campaigns, driving demand using paid search and LinkedIn.
    • Invented a new product category, SaaS naming, and pricing tiers.
    • Developed an exhaustive competitive analysis of more than 20 companies to determine differentiation in a crowded space.
    • Conducted interviews with over 25 team members to define sentiment, marketing, and branding baseline to inform an overall strategy.
  • Product Manager | Recruitment Professional Network

    2021 - 2022
    Repoze LLC
    • Developed a new platform to stake a new market niche in recruitment and HR services.
    • Performed competitive analysis and mapped a unique position in the market.
    • Created and defined a new brand, working with the CEO.
    • Strategized on the product roadmap, business model, and GTM to deliver a best-in-class plan.
    • Initiated and performed primary research to drive potential customer insights and product feature lists.
  • Head of Digital Products (Senior Director)

    2021 - 2022
    Scarlet Health
    • Led ten product teams for innovative, mobile, on-demand diagnostics and provider hub and launched three new products in six months.
    • Developed industry-leading product and data management roadmap.
    • Improved velocity of product development and releases by more than 15%.
    • Introduced full-scale Agile methodologies for developing products.
    • Launched a new API Marketplace for providers and payers.
    • Increased NPS by more than 20% and doubled patient retention.
  • Head of Product Management

    2021 - 2022
    Clear Health Inc
    • Worked with the executive team to develop a roadmap for MVP and three additional releases.
    • Identified and defined new market opportunities, regulatory compliance approach, and business model enhancements.
    • Ensured development met best practices for agile development, QA/ testing, and releases.
    • Drove strategy and credential approach to win architecture approval from key clients.
  • Healthcare Product Management Consultant

    2021 - 2021
    Flatiron Health - Main
    • Advised executive team on product strategy, roadmap, and execution for EHR products, process, and approach.
    • Managed development and testing teams to create new products and meet regulatory requirements.
    • Drove digital innovation to support oncology ambulatory private practices.
    • Met HL7 and Government mandated ONC15 compliance requirements.
    • Developed launch plans and product roadmaps with cross-functional internal stakeholders.
  • [Toptal Projects] Product Manager | Marketing Strategist

    2020 - 2021
    Farr Capital LLC
    • Drove the product roadmap and marketing strategy to launch a competitive RV renting marketplace and improve the end-to-end experience for both hosts and guests.
    • Developed new features and functionalities to provide innovation in the market.
    • Refined the business model with the CEO to create a differentiated offering in the market.
    • Created a new, unique brand, working with the CEO and designer.
    • Initiated and conducted primary qualitative research, using 1–1 interviews and a discussion guide.
    • Conceived a pricing model to carve a unique position.
    • Built a marketing plan and strategy to introduce the brand and garner market share with an economical, high ROI model.
  • Head of Product and Marketing

    2018 - 2020
    Urban IQ
    • Co-founded an international adtech start-up, focused on building a marketplace for the digital out-of-home industry.
    • Created trademark and two US patent pending technologies, offering programmatic digital out-of-home buying, data intelligence, and proof-of-play.
    • Built an innovative SaaS platform from brand new and clean code.
    • Established a partner network of 20+ publishers with over 100,000 screens.
    • Led a team of nine, with the headquarters in New York and an office in India.
    • Tested and created a powerful but streamlined, user journey for purchasing advertising and campaign management.
    • Conceived, wrote and pitched press releases, driving coverage from more than 100 media outlets and a potential audience reach of 10,000,000+.
  • Global Head of Digital Products and Multi-channel Marketing Strategy

    2015 - 2018
    Sanofi
    • Raised the digital and multi-channel capability for one of the world's premier life science companies in the pharmaceutical industry with $40 billion in revenue and 120,000 employees.
    • Devised, gained board approval, and implemented a 3-year, $75 million+ digital transformation and an omni-marketing strategy program: strategy, communications and a staffing plan, a stakeholder management approach, and vendor selection criteria.
    • Oversaw a team of more than ten product managers in content marketing, data management, campaign management, mobile, social, webinar, messaging through email, analytics, organic search with SEO, and paid search.
    • Implemented Adobe Campaign Manager with industry-first capabilities to connect with WeChat—1 billion+ users—, Line— a messaging app in Japan with >200 million users—, Veeva—a Salesforce third-party app for the pharmaceutical industry—in under a year.
    • Led the roll-out of the first enterprise-wide omni-campaign management system and digital product management. Developed the communication strategy, training material, and adoption.
    • Recognized as a 2017 Talent Champion: Coached and provided growth opportunities for employees’ development.
    • Proved that omni-channel marketing strategy vs. the traditional sales and marketing approach lifted revenue by >10%.
    • Managed the mobile development team and digital product teams, which delivered more than 20 products.
    • Created global digital asset management (DAM) and a process to re-use images, photos, and content, resulting in 15%+ cost savings and enhanced compliance.
    • Crafted data strategy and architecture, and implemented new data tools, including a data management platform (DMP) using Adobe Audience Manager.
  • Global Digital Marketing and Innovation Director

    2011 - 2015
    Diageo
    • Built a global center of excellence in digital marketing for the world’s largest spirits and beverages company, with more than $15 billion in revenue and 40,000+ employees.
    • Developed a comprehensive enterprise, global digital transformation program including the roadmap, brand architecture, data management, measurement and evaluation, best practice collaboration, and the execution framework.
    • Supervised a team of 20+ based in five continents to deliver more than 1,000 innovative campaigns in web, social, mobile, SEO, and CRM.
    • Delivered an ROI of more than 300% on digital marketing investments.
    • Accomplished a double-digit increase in engagement and sales via loyalty programs for Johnnie Walker, Single Malt Scotches, and Luxury Rums. Owned content-driven emails, events, partners, and special events.
    • Drove thought leadership and more than ten industry social and digital innovations. Developed mobile vouchering, Twitter age verification, Facebook listening studies, personalized QR codes, crowdsourced outlet mapping, and an ROI-based marketing mix.
    • Launched and expanded eCommerce sites to balance the scale with local market relevancy and commercial goals.
    • Expanded the digital footprint in emerging markets such as Turkey and East Africa through an intensive 4-month in-country program.
    • Improved analyst digital brand intelligence rankings of Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, and Crown Royal to the top of their respective categories.
  • Digital Marketing Lead, Americas

    2009 - 2010
    Diageo
    • Promoted as a team manager of eight, based in New York, Miami, Sao Paulo, and Bogota.
    • Coached the team to deliver more than 200 digital campaigns with a value of over $20 million.
    • Managed stakeholders and communications for digital marketing across more than 10 countries, achieving an internal satisfaction rating of 4.2 out of 5, the highest in the world compared to peers.
    • Upskilled the team to create specialties across content marketing, mobile, analytics, social, search, paid advertising, innovation, and architecture.
    • Led an enterprise-wide project to migrate a legacy provider based in South Africa from a limited capability to a distributed global model using best-in-class technology, MDM, and REST API standards.
    • Launched new digital marketing channels and improved the quality of the existing ones, including web, mobile, social, messaging, and video.
  • Global Program Lead for Johnnie Walker + Smirnoff

    2007 - 2009
    Diageo
    • Delivered an award-winning website featured in Adweek to more than 80 countries. Improved vodka SEO ranking to number one on Google.
    • Created a global clone model and playbook and managed teams to deploy.
    • Pioneered an industry-first mobile website, launched on budget and time.
  • Managing Director

    2006 - 2007
    Sage Impact
    • Founded a New York startup marketing and communications consultancy focused on helping organizations maximize opportunities through technology.
    • Attracted clients, managed communications, and navigated complex, matrixed internal organizations of stakeholders.
    • Delivered more than ten digital projects that delivered improved websites, user journeys, and enterprise transformation that resulted in more than $2 million in client estimated value.
    • Analyzed opportunities for increase page visibility and rankings. Employed techniques, both content, tags, and technical, to get Smirnoff ranked #1 for vodka on Google.
    • Optimized a website: Performed heuristic analysis for the American Express Travel site to increase customer satisfaction by 10+% and purchase conversions.
    • Reduced the website bounce rate: Evaluated alcohol industry standards for age gates, set benchmarks, and deployed solutions to reduce bounce by more than 20%.
    • Developed an 80-page training guide for Diageo's new hires.
    • Set up an innovation project to engage American Express customers using emerging technologies, including RSS.
    • Recruited a team to deliver progressive digital solutions to American Express, Diageo, and other travel and financial services clients.
  • Account Director, Marketing

    2005 - 2006
    Digitas
    • Led an American Express interactive account for leading direct, digital marketing. Managed senior client executive communications and devised stakeholder map and strategy.
    • Coached a team of professionals across capabilities to drive 110% increase in year-over-year revenue.
    • Designed and implemented ground breaking credit card dashboard experience for customers. Features included statement of both consumer and business accounts, travel plans, upgrade offers, payment management. Received industry accolades and awards.
    • Created new americanexpress.com consumer experience, resulting in higher site traffic, revenue, and customer acquisition.
    • Innovated new ways for consumers to spend their Membership Rewards Points, including seasonal promotions, RSS feed updates and new parternships.
  • Product Manager

    2003 - 2004
    Gartner
    • Directed global product management for the world’s largest IT research and advisory company, with over 10,000 clients in 60 countries.
    • Managed and devised the strategy for the highest-grossing product, representing one-third of the company’s total revenue—$300 million.
    • Launched new segmented products and grew to a $2.7 million business.
  • Marketing Manager

    2000 - 2003
    Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
    • Improved marketing and product management for a world-leading media site. During my tenure, unique visitors increased by 220%, and the revenue more than doubled.
    • Promoted to people management responsibilities, spearheading a marketing manager, a coordinator, and a graphics team.
    • Developed and launched new franchise products, including WashingtonJobs.com, increasing traffic by 100% and revenue by 150% in 12 months vs. the previous site.
    • Managed advertising agencies and consultants to deliver rebranding and three new media products.
    • Designed, wrote the business case, and launched a new evergreen product—Washington's Best Bets—that became the highest-trafficked local part of washingtonpost.com. Garnered the highest consumer engagement vs. the 100 cities in the CitySearch network.
    • Piloted industry-first usability testing using a statistically significant sample size to improve site experience. Increased page views and time on site by +15%.
    • Wrote and released press releases to gain visibility and share of voice.

Project History

  • Diageo Digital Transformation: "Program of the Year"
    Led a global, enterprise-wide digital transformation program increasing digital marketing effectiveness by >25%.

    Significantly improved the tools and tech stack, migration to AWS cloud management, people re-organization plan, the creation of new roles, lean process definition, new vendor evaluations and selections, and KPIs. Collaborated with a cross-functional team of technical, marketing, sales, finance, and HR to deliver this global transformation project. Interviewed peer CPG companies and bench-marked competitors. Developed and coached remote team members, including more than 30 direct and indirect reports, and achieved the internal "Program of the Year" award from the CIO.

  • Project NEO: Digital Transformation
    Resulted in velocity of CRM campaigns from 2x to 10x per month, increasing internal customer satisfaction, and driving a 3X increase in CRM related revenue.

    Led an enterprise-wide project to migrate from a limited capability, legacy database provider based in South Africa, to a distributed global model using best in class technology and regional service vendors. This was achieved through a data migration plan, common data models, global MDM and REST API standards, and SLAs.

  • American Express: Credit Card Management Experience
    Improved user experience, customer satisfaction, stickiness and increased revenue. Uplift of 10%+ on all measures.

    Designed and implemented ground breaking credit card dashboard experience for customers. Features included statement of both consumer and business accounts, travel plans, upgrade offers, payment management.

    The project received both internal American Express praise as well as industry accolades and awards.

  • Sanofi: Digital Transformation and Omni-channel Capabilities
    Increased Net Promote Score by more than 20%; sales effectiveness and productivity lift of more than 25%; delivered ROI of more than 2x.

    After industry consultants benchmarked Sanofi vs. other pharmaceutical companies, it was clear we were trailing our peers. A digital transformation and full omni-channel marketing strategy were devised, encompassing more than 20 offline and online channels. I spearheaded program development, proposal, and executive approval of the three-year, $80 million+ enterprise-wide digital investment. Authored comprehensive enterprise digital transformation including communication plan, roadmap, technology stack, KPIs/measurement, talent management, and managed the initial roll-out of program and change management to more than 20 countries.

  • Product Architecture: Growth and Extension
    Launched new products, grew overall research revenue, improved profit margins.

    Re-architected Gartner research offerings to segment for high-value customers—differentiated by enterprise value—and devised strategy for the highest-grossing product, representing one-third of the company’s total revenue, $300 million. I researched the market—including the competition and complementary products, worked with the finance team to devise a pricing strategy, and collaborated with cross-functional teams—including analysts, consultants, engineering, sales, customer support, and delivery. I gained executive buy-in and developed go-to-market sales and training materials.

  • Urban IQ: Startup Adtech Product
    Led the launch of an adtech platform that garnered more than $1 million in revenue and attracted premiere ad agencies in two continents as clients.

    Ideated, initiated, built, and launched a SaaS adtech platform focused on location data marketing and digital out-of-home (DOOH) industry. Built from the ground-up with new, "clean" code, its features and functionality customized to DOOH with supply-side platform (SSP) and demand-side platform (DSP) capabilities.

    Mobile and facial recognition data for demographic targeting was also enabled. Established purchasing/ad service capability with a network of 20+ publishers with 100,000+ screens.

  • Captain's Conquest: Mobile Gaming App
    Built one of the most downloaded and used apps in the beverage industry. Broke ground for gamification in the industry and won a Silver Cannes Ad award. Saw more than 500,000 downloads.

    A mobile app built for the Captain Morgan brand. This game featured an interactive brand experience for consumers. The player was a Captain of a fleet (the initial size determined by their influence on social platforms such as Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter) and then was able to engage in battle with other players. The size of a player's ship and "gear" acquired during play influenced their success in battle and, ultimately, their rank. It used GPS and location-based technologies to make it hyper-local.

  • Washington Post Website Relauch
    Led marketing and product development efforts of new site, increasing traffic 100% and revenue by 150% in less than 12 months vs. the previous site.

    WashingtonJobs was the number one employment site for employers and job seekers in the Washington, DC area. The site was built to offer market-leading functionality in job search, resume database, and virtual career fairs. Competitively, it was positioned against Monster.

  • Launched European Luxury eCommerce Site
    Set up and launched the first direct-to-consumer site in the liquor (beverage) space, driving brand growth. Awarded the web award from The Web Marketing Association. and recognized by Luxury Daily as one of the top ten digital projects

    Designed an eCommerce site, balancing scale with local market relevancy and commercial goals. I determined the tech stack, product positioning, product selection, and line extensions. I created staffing and support models and set-up a distribution system with a supply team.

  • Program Portfolio SEO Brand Improvement
    Led the global strategy and renovation of web sites to achieve industry-beating SEO rankings, including number one for Vodka.

    Improved SEO for the world's largest liquor company, lifting visibility, site traffic, and brand reputation. Researched the marketing, competitive bench-marking, led a team of content agencies, technical consultants, and internal teams to deliver the project in less than six months. This increased the Brandwatch digital brand IQ rating for top three product categories, gained executive buy-in for budget, team, and endorsements, and achieved a 15%+ traffic increase.

  • Innovation Labs
    Led the creation of Diageo Labs. Achieved industry firsts and the successful commercialization of a digital marketing technology.

    The concept was to improve our innovation rate and create an internal culture of innovation, experimentation, and drive change. Using decentralizing, I created a program with representatives of 30+ countries and used a collaboration portal, regular newsletter, weekly program calls, and executive updates. I developed personalized QR codes, delivering on two goals, consumer engagement and identifying bottle authenticity. I created a smarter UX that reduced age-gate-related dropoffs by more than 40%. The new content management process saved >20% of the time, including streamlining approvals and timeliness of posting. The technical web and app improvements eliminated security incidents and page defacements.

  • Social Media Breakthrough
    Achieved the number one spirit brand on social media, the reach of 3.2 million people in 120 countries, and 1.8 billion media impressions.

    Smirnoff needed a breakthrough to gain status in the highly competitive Vodka category and, in particular, had to win the war "on trade" (bars and restaurants). The big idea was to host the hottest parties in 14 major cities worldwide on the same night. To support this, a web site, Facebook page, and mobile apps were created, including an "Idea Exchange," where consumers could nominate and vote on the best of their city–music, drinks, fashion, and trends. Cities then swapped their cultural ideas, and items were transported to companion cities in crates and then opened during each party. Social media and digital marketing were integral to the promotion and credited with its success. Smirnoff gained ten million Facebook fans.

  • Re-branding Bulleit Bourbon
    Increased Bulleit Bourbon's sales by more than 200% and grew sales faster than established brands such as Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Four Roses. Bulliet became the fastest growing bourbon brand.

    To take advantage of the growing bourbon market, we took an existing legacy product and rebranded it with a new image, logo, bottle design, digital presence, and social media. We landed on a "Frontier Whiskey" approach to differentiate from competitors and take the bourbon in a new direction.

  • American Express: Accelerate Membership Rewards Points Spend and Depletion
    Led team to devise new ways for customers to spend membership rewards points, accelerating the depletion rate by >25%.

    One of the world's most popular and recognized loyalty programs was extremely successful in getting members to accumulate points; however, points spending was not keeping pace. I led a team of creative and technical individuals to develop new promotions such as seasonal (for example, an auction-style for 12 days of Christmas), promotions with new partners, and exposing limited-time deals (RSS Feeds).

  • Boosting Membership in Loyalty Programs
    Added millions of members and drove higher consumer engagement for key premium brands of Johnnie Walker, Oban, and Zacapa rum.

    Diageo is the biggest spirits company in the world, owning the premium brands of Johnnie Walker, Ketel One, Bulleit Bourbon, Oban, Zacapa, and more. For luxury and super-premium brands, loyalty programs were a key element of the growth strategy. Designed content-driven CRM loyalty programs that featured consistent communication, cultural contextual relevance, and connection to offline experiences.

  • Pricing and Positioning Strategy for a New Gaming and Streaming App
    Developed successful pricing and positioning of a new product category, raising funds and achieving market adoption.

    CMO role for a new product concept to blend live streaming concerts with active gamification and social experience. Worked with the CEO and product development team to develop a clear pricing and positioning strategy. Led, developed, and executed research. Delivered recommended ranges for pricing to achieve desired market penetration and profit margin. Created a go-to-market plan and developed an investor deck.

Education

  • Frontline Leadership Program in Business Administration
    1998 - 1999
    George Washington University - Washington, DC, USA
  • Bachelor's Degree in Political Science
    1993 - 1997
    Oakland University - Rochester, MI, USA

Certifications

  • Google Shopping
    MARCH 2020 - MARCH 2021
    Google
  • Search Ads
    MARCH 2020 - MARCH 2021
    Google
  • Display and Video 360
    MARCH 2020 - MARCH 2021
    Google
  • Google Campaign Manager
    MARCH 2020 - MARCH 2021
    Google
  • Google Analytics Individual Qualification
    MARCH 2020 - MARCH 2021
    Google
  • Adobe Certified Expert - Adobe Campaign Business Practitioner
    SEPTEMBER 2017 - PRESENT
    Adobe
  • Sitecore Certified Marketer
    NOVEMBER 2015 - PRESENT
    SiteCore

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