Andy Marker Email & Phone Number

Over the course of my career, I've been honored to have been employed by some of the very best brands in the Outdoor Recreation space - Specialized, Black Diamond, Nike, The North Face, Patagonia, and prAna. Using this history to help guide me, I now own/run IPA Connect, (www.ipa-connect.com) and am out to make this brand the very best of its kind and re-establish the industry order with The IPA Collective - https://www.ipacollective.com/industry IPA Connect was launched to answer the call from brands that have frustration and confusion with the promotional sales/marketing channel usually referred to as Pro Programs. I despise the 3rd party "pro providers" that are in the Outdoor/Snowsports/Bike industry. I do not believe they are good for the industry or representing their brands as well as their brands should be. IPA stands for Influencers, Pros, and Athletes (IPA's) and are all encompassed here as these people can be counted on for not only strong and predictable revenue and feedback but also for positive word of mouth and sight of eye marketing through their normal professional or athletic endeavors. Current approaches to pro sales and marketing are commonly poor as brands struggle alone not truly understanding the market. Their efforts are poor and internal and external issues abound. 3rd party pro providers exist to create an atmosphere that resembles a Costco like warehouse discount operation. With shared databases, poorly designed websites, questionable qualifying standards, and a lack of brand/product information, these operations are not for brands that care about their business or reputation IPA Connect helps brands operate Pro Programs by utilizing the brands own CRM to create, build, and manage their own database. IPA Connect recruits, qualifies, communicates with your database of IPA’s to help brands achieve a program that is right for them. We work for companies and within companies similar to how many independent rep or PR agencies are used. We are the first pro focused agency and we are setting the industry standard for how pro programs should be run.

Listed skills include Customer Relations, Sports, Merchandising, Brand Development, and 25 others.

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  University Of Utah