Personal Backgroud

Aaron is an accomplished marketer with an entrepreneurial spirit, a passion for creativity and a track record of success. Known for his insightful and strategic thought leadership, Aaron is a champion of corporate social responsibility, and continuously pushes the boundaries within the marketing industry. Aaron is a team leader dedicated to coaching other marketers, and has spearheaded recruiting efforts for both his current and previous employers.   Aaron graduated from the Richard Ivey School of Business HBA program in 2007 with distinction, specializing in Marketing and earning a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. Starting his career with Campbell Canada, he was promoted to Brand Manager in 2009 and has been a Senior Brand Manager at Kraft Foods since 2013. Aaron consistently elevates the vision and strategy for the brands he works on, inspires fresh thinking and provokes bold plans from product innovation to original communications campaigns. He has been recognized through industry events and competitions, and is widely considered someone to watch.   On a personal level, Aaron is passionate about filmmaking, music, food, camping and travel.

Business Success

Aaron consistently over-delivers against ambitious growth targets - the following highlights demonstrate success achieved during his tenure on a number of high profile businesses.

• Kraft Peanut Butter, Senior Brand Manager, on track to deliver record year for Kraft’s largest grocery business. Launched Stick Together campaign, the most significant marketing communications effort in the brands history, elevating the emotional equity of the brand and it’s beloved iconic bears with a renewed sense of purpose. Launched PB with Chocolate, the largest single product launch in the last 10 years.
• Kraft Dinner, Senior Brand Manager reset brand foundations and communications strategy with Let Your Fun Out campaign. Launched KD Shapes, KD Spicy Cheddar and a new Costco pack - a record innovation year for this mature business.
• Pepperidge Farm / Goldfish, Brand Manager delivered unprecedented double-digit sales growth for Goldfish crackers (+20% sales, +30% profit) to assert category dominance, driven by new product launches including Goldfish Pretzels, Goldfish Colours (now the brand‚ #2 best-selling variety) and the first-ever Goldfish Halloween pack (the company’s most successful limited edition product to date). Launched new Cracker Chips to expand into adult cracker category.
• Campbell’s Cause Marketing, Brand Manager - established strategic direction for Campbell’s social responsibility. Developed self-funding business model for Nourish, a first-of-its-kind complete meal in a can with all net profits funding hunger relief efforts. Launched Help Hunger Disappear, the company‚ longest running integrated portfolio shopper marketing program now in its 8th year driving purchase and donations at retail.
• Campbell’s Chunky, Brand Manager Re-launched Fork vs. Spoon campaign delivering sales increase of +10% during campaign. Developed multi-year Chunky MVC: Most Valuable Coach integrated campaign with TSN, delivering best-in-class online engagement (30,000 users registered) and increased sales (+24% in retail displays, +71% purchase intent). Re-launched Canada’s#1 ready-to-eat soup, doubling purchase intent and boosting sales dramatically.
• Campbell’s soup portfolio, Assistant Brand Manager led microwaveable soup launch and gravity-fed racks, revitalizing the soup section and driving new away-from-home eating occasions

Marketing Innovation

Aaron recently commercialized Kraft Peanut Butter plush teddy bears for sale online and in grocery stores across the country, monetizing his brand beyond food. He has introduced breakthrough merchandising tools to grow retail display volume and established a strong digital/social media presence for Kraft and Campbell’s brands on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, building sustainable online communities and meaningful consumer engagement through various promotions and crowd-sourced content.

Aaron’s cause marketing efforts at Campbell’s maximized social impact while building corporate brand equity pushing the company’s rank to #7 ranking on Marketing Magazine’s in 2012 Corporate Reputation consumer survey, placing for the first time within the top 100.   He developed an unconventional concept and product launch strategy for Nourish, garnering significant industry accolades including the 2012 Global SIAL d'Or innovation award for Canada, Canadian Grocer in 2011 ‚ Greatest Moment in Grocery‚ and Food Banks Canada‚ 2011 Food Innovator of the Year, and generating over 60 million earned and social impressions. His leadership on Campbell‚ Help Hunger Disappear program resulted in a Gold win at the ACA‚, s 2009 SMCC Awards. This success was largely driven by a remarkable level of collaboration that Aaron was able to cultivate from suppliers, agencies and retailers to support the greater good.

Aaron also developed the award-winning Chunky MVC: Most Valuable Coach campaign, recognized by IABC Gold Quill Award of Excellence for Marketing Communications (top award), ACE Brand Development Campaign of the Year, Silver Leaf Award of Merit in Marketing Communications, and SABRE Awards North America Canadian Campaign of the Year (top nomination).

Accolades or Acknowledgements

In addition to award-winning work mentioned above, Aaron has gained significant personal recognition through competitions, and actively contributes to industry associations

• Winner - Canada Young Marketers competition (2012)
• Bronze - Cannes Lions Young Marketers (2012)
• Bronze, National Advertising Awards, Young Media Category (2013)
• Advisory Board, National Advertising Awards (2013-2014)
• Jury Member, Canada Young Marketers (2014)
• Marketing Hall of Legends Mentor Exchange (2013-2014)

Philanthropy

Aaron has a passion for hunger relief and is a strong supporter of food banks in Canada. Since 2008, he has spent countless hours volunteering and makes regular financial contributions to support Food Banks Canada, Daily Bread Food Bank & World Food Programme.   Aaron is also very active in student engagement efforts and has been a speaker and a judge at including:

• Queen's Marketing Association Conference - speaker and judge (2009-2012)
• Advancing Canadian Entrepreurship National Student Entrepreneur Competition Judge (2011-2012)
• UofT/Meal Exchange Cooking for a Cause Judge (2012)
• Guelph Food Technology Centre, Speaker (2012)
• Queens Conference on Philanthropy - speaker & judge (2010-2011)
• Centennial College CSR Speaker (2011)
• Schulich MBA Marketing Speaker (2009)
• In 2007, Aaron spent two months volunteering at a cooperative in Argentina, helping to launch a government-funded micro-enterprise program & create a business plan for the organization.