CHICAGO - (Business Wire)
Pepper (www.pepperglobal.com) – an integrated, international marketing and communications services agency – today announced a pair of senior management appointments designed to manage recent growth in client programs and staff in North America. Pepper’s Chicago office has grown dramatically since opening in 2004, with revenue up almost 290 percent in 2007 compared to its first year in the market. The agency saw revenue rise 37 percent last year, and projects a 130 percent increase for 2008, based upon actual results for the first eight months of the fiscal year ending June 30 and company estimates for the remaining months.
The agency attributes its success to building customer value for clients through the efficient and effective use of end-to-end strategic, analytical and creative services. Pepper is a single source for successful customer acquisition, retention and growth programs, and provides the proven impact of measurable results and strong ROI.
To help facilitate continued growth, the agency has promoted Brennen Roberts and Christian von Vietinghoff to the newly created position of co-directors, where they will share duties in leading Pepper client business and operations in North America. Both have been closely involved in the agency’s growth during the last several years through large-scale integrated marketing programs for blue-chip clients such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) and others.
Brennen Roberts, in his new role as director, client services, will oversee all strategic and operational aspects of client programs. Previously serving as account director, Roberts was on the ground floor of Pepper’s success as the first hire for the Chicago office, and has been responsible for managing the office’s largest client, HP. He has managed projects including HP’s award-winning Technology at Work business-to-business email newsletter, large channel sales programs, integrated one-to-one direct marketing programs and several collateral projects.
Roberts is a creative marketing professional with a wide range of both agency and client-side experience in interactive and direct marketing. He joined the agency from parent company Computershare, where he worked on the client side as global Web marketing manager across Australia, Europe and the U.S. He began his career at Electronic Data Systems (EDS) as product marketing manager before switching to the marketing agency world at OgilvyOne, where he was senior interactive producer for clients such as Ameritrade, Sears, Dynergy and others.
Christian von Vietinghoff is a five-year veteran of Pepper, first serving as a manager and team leader in the consulting unit of the agency’s Munich office before coming to the company’s Chicago office in 2007 as program director overseeing the global HP Technology at Work business-to-business email newsletter program with teams in Chicago, Munich and Singapore. Before joining Pepper, he spent three years at a start-up marketing and process consultancy in Germany, including one he co-founded.
von Vietinghoff has extensive strategic and operational experience in integrated marketing and CRM consulting projects, and is experienced in both developing and implementing concepts for customer value models, channel programs, marketing process optimization and program development. In his new role as director, operations, he will oversee the agency’s consulting, program management, business development, human resources and financial functions.
SERVICES
Pepper services including marketing audits, data and target group analysis (customer segmentation, profiling), marketing and communications strategies (loyalty and partner programs, CRM), program management (campaigns, events, localization, printing), marketing process optimization, performance management (reporting, testing, analysis), campaigns (direct mail, relationship marketing, cross-media initiatives), digital marketing (email marketing, web site development, multi-media production) and marketing literature (customer magazines, POS materials, brochures, sales materials).
PEPPER’S STRENGTHS
Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Pepper was founded in 1998 and since 2004 has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Computershare Ltd. – a leading financial service and communications provider with 10,000 employees in 90 offices across 17 countries. With nearly 300 employees in Chicago, New York, London, Munich and Singapore, Pepper has the reach and capabilities to provide timely, integrated marketing solutions on both national and international levels.
At the same time, the firm’s flat structure and small teams make it a nimble, faster and more effective alternative to the typical slow, expensive, multi-layered global agency networks. This structure enables Pepper to be the best of both worlds for clients: an efficient, cost-effective provider of small, stand-alone projects in local markets which can, as needed, also leverage the fully integrated, around-the-clock global resources needed to deliver large-scale, synchronized, multi-national campaigns in numerous languages – on time and on budget.
On behalf of HP, Pepper manages the client’s highly successful Technology at Work (TAW) integrated marketing program involving more than five million subscribers across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific who receive one of 120 different versions of the email newsletter each month. The program received a prestigious Stevie Award from American Business Awards for excellence in business communications and has been the subject of an extensive email marketing best practices case study by Forrester Research. In addition to implementing TAW and more than a dozen other programs for HP, Pepper’s international client experience during the past decade includes work for leading brands such as British Telecom, Ford Motors, BMW, BP, Intel, Reuters, Deutsche Telekom and others.
Photos of Mr. Roberts and Mr. von Vietinghoff can be downloaded from:
http://customer.pepperglobal.com/attachments/NA_Management/NA_Mana
gement.zip (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)
About Pepper:
Pepper (www.pepperglobal.com) is an integrated marketing and communications services agency that builds customer value through the efficient and effective use of end-to-end strategic, analytical and creative services. The agency also provides clients with the proven impact of measurable results and strong ROI. To increase efficiency, the agency can take on complete marketing projects for its clients or, if necessary, transfer these to its global locations. Founded in 1998, Pepper has nearly 300 employees and is part of the Computershare Group, a global leading provider of financial services as well as shareholder and internal communications. Through offices in Chicago, New York, Munich (worldwide headquarters), London and Singapore, Pepper operates across borders and serves international clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Symantec, British Telecom, BP and the Linde Group.
Pepper Media Contacts:
Jason Sherman (Chicago), 708-445-8598
jason@shermancm.com
www.shermancm.com
or
Jack Mello (New York), 201-981-5617
jack.mello@gmail.com
or
Pepper Business Development Contact:
Luis Monje, Pepper (Chicago), 312-768-5481
luis.monje@pepperglobal.com
