Kara Darling Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Gatorade Player of the Year

San Diego County, California, United States

Act as a trusted advisor by building authority, credibility and trust with Clients through an understanding of their business (industry, competitors, audiences), goals and obstacles. Build businesses cases, pitch decks and case studies to generate new business opportunities. Responsible for identifying opportunities and establishing short and long-term projects and retainers for Clients across CPG, education, financial and consumer verticals. Set strategic direction and lead cross team and agency collaboration in the development of Quarterly Business Reviews that help identify wins and surface opportunities. Oversee strategy, implementation and finished product of all Client deliverables including website redesigns, search engine optimization, web analytics, email strategy, conversation rate optimization, creative campaign development, campaign messaging, paid media campaigns and website migration and maintenance.

Greater Chicago Area

Client Account Services: Engaged Paragon’s largest and most lucrative client, Gatorade, on a daily basis to develop, execute and manage youth experiential sports programs. Promoted by company leadership to join the Paragon executive staff team. Trusted to provide oversight for up to 39 full-time employees, make new hiring decisions, conduct employee reviews and make strategic decisions to drive the management and direction of the agency.Gatorade Summer Camp Management: Management of the Gatorade Summer Sports Camp Program which includes over 200 universities and 6,400 individual sport camps, an increase of school participation by 315% since taking over management in 2010 by illustrating brand value through long term ROI to client. In addition to the development of a creative solution for a new cost efficient youth sports program activation at small colleges and universities that decreased execution costs on average by 92%.Gatorade National Event Activations: Crafted an onsite digital activation to help client obtain valuable first party data from target consumers. Initiative was so successful that our goal increased by 25x for following year. Piloted successful sales program across 12 markets that resulted in a 17% purchase rate increase and additional revenue gained from schools that have not historically purchased Gatorade.Administrative: Created a Gatorade web application that increased individual employee efficiency by streamlining all day-to-day processes and data entry. Defined requirements, monitored the build, conducted testing, ongoing maintenance and continued future phase development in conjunction with PepsiCo BIT, Gatorade and digital agency. Worked closely with labor attorney and the President of GMP Management, Inc., a subsidiary of Paragon Marketing Group, to establish compensation, draft employee paperwork, hire, onboard and train more than 2,500 seasonal employees.

Gatorade Account Management: Member of client service team that helped increase Gatorade account scope of work by 100% from 2012 to 2013 by initiating contact and presenting the Gatorade Summer Camp Program to 80+ new partners. Built, managed and reconciled a multi-million dollar program budget. Had sole authorization to make purchasing decisions, approve expenses and select service providers as it impacts the budget. Gatorade Summer Sports Camp Program: Supervised Gatorade sponsorship execution of Summer Sports Camp Program at Division 1 universities around the country. Provided oversight for 12 full-time Paragon employees assigned to this program. Organized successful annual two-day training that educates ambassadors from each university on the science and brand who then go on to manage the summer camps in the field. Identified, recommended and implemented a total solution firm to streamline employee screening, on-boarding and compensation functions for over 1,500 seasonal summer camp employees. Gatorade National Event Sponsorship: Fostered relationships with elite running properties and executed on-site at events including, Nike X Nationals and USATF Junior Olympics. Oversaw consumer sampling and integrated grassroots efforts at FanFest during MLB All Star game week. Launched Gatorade sponsorship at IMG Academy, a premier academic and training facility for amateur and professional athletes.