John Willard

Experience

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  Rutgers University

  Sept 1977 - Jun 1987

  Visiting Lecturer/Instructor

  Courses taught: Scientific and Technical Writing, Detective Fiction, Modern Fiction, Survey of British Literature, Expository Writing.

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  Publicis

  Dec 1983 - Jul 1989

  Senior Research & Planning Executive

  Worked at DMB&B before agency was absorbed into Publicis.- Helped to introduce account planning to the agency; won Creative Excellence award for work on Marine Midland bank.- Pioneered the development of pharmaceutical DTC advertising with work on Merrell-Dow's Seldane.

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  American Express

  Jan 1989 - Jan 1996

  Senior Director, Market Research

  Led team that provided all market research support to the Establishment Services Division, the unit responsible for building and maintaining relationships with merchants who accept Amex.- Leveraged objective market research to support the selling process to gain new accounts and retain existing accounts.- Applied state-of-the-art satisfaction research system to identify key factors that drove positive business outcomes and to monitor progress in improving performance on those factors. Show less

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  Bayer

  Aug 1999 - May 2015

  Director, Market Research & Consumer Relations

  Inspired a culture of excellence to deliver insightful, comprehensive, and reliable understanding of the consumer/shopper/marketplace to drive business growth that consistently outpaced the category.- Maximized value achieved on investments of $15 - $20MM/year, including custom research, syndicated research, and external call-center services. - Established/improved standards for segmentation, copy testing, strategy testing, concept optimization, new product concept testing, path-to-purchase research, pricing research, and packaging studies.- Redesigned mix modeling approach to improve real-time division-level marketing investment decisions.- Insightful use of market research resulted in two Gold ARF Ogilvy Awards for Aleve brand (2001 - Packaged Goods & 2007 - Healthcare). Show less

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  Willard Enterprises LLC

  Jun 2015 - now

  President

  My father called his handyman business Willard Enterprises. I took the same name for my consulting business because it captures a fix-it mentality and a commitment to smart, practical solutions. Services include:- Strategic consulting grounded in thorough analytics to enhance your understanding of key marketplace dynamics and potential new growth opportunities.- Study design, implementation, and analysis to uncover insights that will improve your understanding of how to better meet the needs of external or internal stakeholders.- Writing services, including report and article writing and editing.- Customized training sessions that will improve your organization’s skills and understanding of a range of subjects, including marketing best practices, insight development, market research, and business writing. Show less

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  C3Research

  Jul 2017 - now

  Senior Advisor

  C3Research is an advanced marketing research company specializing in brand and digital media strategy, customer value measurement, and analytical modeling of media & markets. C3Research’s unique WebLab has pioneered advanced lab-based experimental research methods to study web and digital media, web branding, interactive advertising effectiveness studies, and prototype testing for web and digital media applications.As Senior Advisor, I provide strategic consulting and business development support to assist the C3Research team in delivering innovative, agile solutions to help solve our clients’ toughest business and marketing challenges. (Previously VP-NY: 2017 - 2019) Show less

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  Hurley Write, Inc.

  Apr 2019 - Oct 2021

  Executive Trainer/Consultant

  Consulted with Hurley Write to help others improve their professional writing skills. Combined my years of practical business experience (Bayer, Amex) along with my writing and teaching skills (BA/MA in English, numerous college writing courses taught) to provide unique insights into effective business writing. Led writing workshops for a range of corporate and government organizations across multiple disciplines.

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  Futures Fellowship

  Sept 2022 - now

  Mentor

  The Fellowship’s mission is to mentor young adults (18-25) whose innate leadership skills are exceptional and have a demonstrated interest in social change, but have barriers to success and lack the role models, guidance and opportunities needed to achieve their full potential as leaders for social change. I leverage my professional and personal experience and network to help the Fellowship achieve its mission.