George Smetzer Email & Phone Number

Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida Area

At Kobie Marketing, my name is EARL*, an acronym for my role in creating loyal "raving" fans of my clients' brands. Through strategic marketing campaigns, our best customers advance through these customer experience (CX) levels: • E - Engagement• A - Acquisition• R - Retention• L - LoyaltyI consult with credit card vendors to encourage shoppers to reward themselves with maximum loyalty points. Together, we customize persuasive retail therapy offers that are designed to curb attrition, increase trip frequency, stretch basket sizes, and make that plastic card "top-of-wallet".My Mission: "Timely surprise-and-delight intervention to retain VIP loyalty members by influencing their spend in a desired direction."

St. Petersburg, Fl

I worked for "Big Brother"​... No, not the NSA, but a company with far more power to know and influence the shopping behavior of nearly every American (+ Europeans and Japanese). With more data than Google, Catalina delivers highly targeted CPG offers in national grocery chains and other large retailers, i.e. Target, Kmart, & Walgreens.Based on client specifications, I helped drive lift and loyalty for major brands through end-to-end program management of Catalina's automated coupon distribution system. Throughout the process, I continuously harnessed Catalina's "Big Data"​ analytical insights to report performance metrics, and to identify growth opportunities and make in-flight adjustments.Catalina - "Where the art of marketing meets the science of personalization"

Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida Area

As an insatiable Marketing Explorer seeking new ventures, I made it my mission to chart the right course for our clients' marketing plans with (3M) Memorable, Meaningful & Measurable content and campaigns. I established myself as a curator & sharer of marketing gems and a collector of invaluable partnerships.As a key player for Sparx marketing consultancy, my responsibilities included marketing strategy for start-ups and small businesses, social media marketing, contagious content development, graphic design, group tips & trends presentations, and 1:1 new business development.

Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida Area

I "shopped for a living" at Motivano. My job was to develop marketing strategy, build and organize virtual shopping malls similar to Amazon. Our marketplaces consisted of thousands of discounts and exclusive specials from retailers and service providers such as HP, Macy’s and Wyndham, selling everything from shoes to new cars. For me, it was like Black Friday everyday.The product I managed was a free benefit given to national professional associations and employer groups such as Citi, UPS, and 5th/3rd Bank. Although free to our users, we made a substantial profit by sharing revenues on the Millions of dollars in sales we generated for our merchants. As Ecommerce Marketing Manager, my challenge was to keep members shopping our site by strategically refreshing our portfolio of appealing merchants and compelling offers and aggressively marketing the program.

St. Petersburg, Fl

I marketed insurance to the most invincible group in the world: Students.While with UnitedHealthcare, I mastered the art of giving life to an otherwise boring necessity, using a variety of traditional and digital/social channels to creatively communicate the risks of “going bare” – a great term for breaking the ice. Students were a great audience at tradeshows where I showcased our products in fun and memorable ways, and consistently increased enrollments.Behind all the fun, I developed marketing strategy, created content, executed product marketing plans for multiple product lines with specific strategies per business unit. I was a critical contributor to record setting growth for K12 and College Association programs in each of the two years of managing them.

Clearwater, Fl

For 7 years, you might say my career was in the toilet.Technically, the StallMall program from Strategic Media was ingenious advertising placed in public restrooms where patrons were forced to stare at ads I created -- without distractions, practically memorizing them. When pitching this service to clients, I always said, “When nature calls, your phone rings.”I also led Strategic Media’s programs in other less delicate venues. Among the most successful was a cooperative direct mail postcard packet filled with upscale offers for affluent homeowners. As I launched and managed the City Publications product, we mailed more than 5 million pieces of my work monthly to Central Florida’s most prestigious neighborhoods.