John Pohl Email & Phone Number

Lake Forest, IL, US

• CEO, chief strategist and copywriter for marketing agency focused on the healthcare, consumer, industrial and financial markets.
• Employ a special blend of strategic analysis and creative thinking - called StrategiCreativity - to ensure that our clients get noticed and get results.
• Have elevated the businesses of well over 50 clients to date, from startups to multi-billion dollar international market leaders and everything in-between.

Norman, Oklahoma, US

• Help raise capital from large institutional and individual investors.
• Oversee due diligence process for evaluating innovative Life Sciences, HealthTech, Fintech and Infrastructure Tech companies for possible investment. 16 companies in current portfolio.
• Create messaging focused on unique strategy of investing in "under-the-radar" companies to generate "above-the-crowd" returns for investors.
• Responsible for all communications: website, social media, email outreach, pitch deck, PR and literature.

• Created and managed Amazon store for Livia Menstrual Pain Relief device and develop retail and distributor relationships globally.
• Played a key role in obtaining FDA 510(k) Class II clearance.
• Submitted application that helpedL ivia win the Gold for Women's Well-Being at the prestigious Edison Awards. (Silver went to a little company called Procter & Gamble.)

Chicago, IL, US

• Recruited to bring the strategic and creative skills I had developed in the consumer products industry to a company and industry that had previously not been marketing-driven.
• Resulting increase in product innovation and marketing savvy helped drive company to record sales and profits every year, with sales growing at over twice the industry average.
• Led over 60 people in Product Management, Marketing Services, Engineering, Customer Service and School Sales departments for the world's largest manufacturer of dental instruments.
• Served as chief copywriter and trademark developer at home in the evenings due to a lack of suitable talent for hire.
• In-house ads were named the most effective in the industry for four consecutive years, beating out competitors such as Proctor & Gamble, 3M, Colgate-Palmolive and Philips.
• Experience ultimately inspired me to start my own marketing agency, with Hu-Friedy serving as my first client.

Greenwich, Connecticut, US

• Played a key role in turning around company (since acquired by Monomoy Capital Partners) that had lost money for seven straight years.
• Oversaw product management team and created small in-house advertising agency. Handled all copywriting and trademark development.
• Increase in product innovation and marketing efficacy led being named one of the "Top 200 Small U.S. Companies" by Forbes and "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young.
• Greatly expanded Cobra's leadership of the CB radio market and grew its share of the radar detector market from #5 to #1.
• Largely responsible for gaining distribution for all product categories at such major retailers as Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Kmart.
• Served as the company's on-air spokesman on QVC every 6-to-8 weeks.

New York, NY, US

• Led marketing and licensing for Western Publishing, the publisher of Golden Books and manufacturer of board games such as "Pictionary" and a line of children's crafts.
• Responsible for reviewing hundreds of children-oriented movie and television scripts and determining which ones to pursue.
• Negotiated licenses with Disney, Warner Bros., DC Comics, Saban Entertainment (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), and Children's Television Network (Sesame Street).
• Left the company after helping to negotiate its sale.

Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, DE

• Led Marketing Department for the Personal Care Division of Dial Corp (since acquired by Henkel).
• Helped Dial surpass Ivory to become the #1 bar soap and Liquid Dial surpass Liquid Ivory to become the #1 liquid soap in the U.S.
• Led a program that made Dial the Soap Category Manager for dozens of leading retailers, including Walmart, Sam's Club, Kroger and Walgreens, and generated incremental 15% growth.

• Repositioned Nalley's canned meats, pickle and chips and snacks businesses under the "Flavor of the Great Northwest" banner and increased revenues by over 20%.
• Led marketing launch that made Nalley's new line of microwave meals #1 in its market.
• Developed trademark and led marketing for successful launch of Bernstein's Light Fantastic line of low-calorie salad dressings.

Battle Creek, Michigan, US

• Responsible for marketing of 10 brands, including Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran, Special K, All Bran and Cracklin' Oat Bran.
• Leveraged marketing campaign targeting adults and oversaw a "Tony on Tour" program that combined to make Frosted Flakes the #1 cereal in the U.S.
• Helped develop "Keep the Muscle. Lose the Fat." ad campaign that reversed a five-year sales decline and made Special K the fastest-growing brand in the industry.

• Met on a weekly basis with company owner/founder and industry legend Ernest Gallo.
• Helped make E&J Brandy the fastest-growing distilled spirit in U.S. history by positioning the brand as surprisingly mixable.
• Helped influence the company to pursue the highly unusual campaign for Bartles & Jaymes Wine Coolers, which went on to dominate the category for over 10 years.

Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, DE

• Promoted from Assistant Product Manager, Tone Soap to Product Manager, Dial Soap to Group Product Manager, New Products over a three-year period.
• Successfully launched new improved Dial Soap line.
• Conceived and managed highly successful summer-long promotion tying in with Walt Disney's first animated movie in over five years, "The Fox and the Hound."

Master Of Business Administration - Mba, Marketing & Finance

B.A., Economics

High School Diploma