Rick Brennan Email & Phone Number

Centreville, Va

I started at CARFAX in a production manager role, working within the PR team to create most of the corporate identity items used at CARFAX. But after a few years in that role I moved to Dealer Marketing, where my true talents in the creative and idea side of marketing could be put to use.Have you ever seen the giant CAR FOX on a used car dealership lot? Or ever saw a CARFAX brand mark in a dealer commercial, social media post or print ad (see print is still not dead!) then you saw a bit of what I do at CARFAX as the Dealer Marketing Manager for Brand Programs. In a nutshell, I think up ways and develop the channels that allow CARFAX Used Car Dealers (and now Service Shops too) to engage their shoppers by building confidence through CARFAX.From traditional print Point of Purchase materials and the traveling CAR FOX inflatable program, to customized retargeting banner ads and CARFAX branded social media content campaigns distributed through dealers social channels, I help develop the strategy, the message and the creatives so used car shoppers know to only shop at CARFAX dealers and to always say “Show me the CARFAX!”. A couple CARFAX highlights would be the recent #SoldItWithCARFAX marketing campaign to our dealers and the work I did with our CARFAX NASCAR program. Ask me about the time we decided to sponsor a car just a few hours before the race. It’s a great story, and demonstrates how I can make things happen, even on TIGHT deadlines. And if you ever saw CAR FOX on TMZ you now know the guy that got him there.

During my time here I was heavily involved on the larger, more complex projects with critical deadlines and many with internet components. A couple of these were open corporate open enrollment packages and monthly revenue generating non-profit and association mailings. I considered myself to be the utility infielder of the department. Willing to do whatever it took to make sure the projects were successful. Heck, I even built some of the furniture.

Following my attempt to make it in the dotcom era, my love of print and marketing took me to the web (as in press – not internet) printer Stephenson Printing. Stephenson is a high quality printer of annual reports, magazines, and direct mail and while at Stephenson I functioned as a Customer Service Representative on their larger accounts, always making sure projects were printed right, on time and without drama as often as possible. While there I helped develop their first variable data systems as Stephenson was looking to move from just traditional ink on paper printing to variable toner based systems.

Just like everyone else in the dotcom era, I tried to get on board with a dotcom company at the ground floor. As the production manager for NowDocs.com, an Internet based print and delivery system. (think FedEx for same day printing nationwide) I was responsible for staffing, purchasing, production and delivery of the printed products destined for the DC market. Sadly the good idea couldn’t out brand Kinko’s (big early lesson on the power of branding) and NowDocs became a software only company a year after I started.

Ready for a new challenge, I went to work with the young and energetic team at Global Printing. I managed the production of a wide variety of print projects from start to finish. Ordering materials, scheduling the production, and coordinating with outside finishing resources were daily requirements of this fast paced position.

Newspaper printing is a lot different than conventional printing. The paper, the ink, the lack of heat and that dreaded dot gain could turn the best looking print campaign into a massive disappointment. In this position at USA Today as an Advertising Operations Consultant I worked directly with ad agencies and media buyers to test, refine and develop print files that produced the desired color print quality the USA Today was famous for. Advertisers are the lifeblood of the print media world, and I made sure the advertisers and brands received the campaign results they desired. Print was not dying on my watch at USA Today.

If you’re old enough to remember the famous modem dial tones and the excitement you felt when you heard “You’ve got mail!” then you know AOL. Back before the days of broadband connections, AOL attracted new members by mailing millions and millions of CDs to prospective customers. And you can thank me for a lot of those. I worked with the marketing team of various AOL business units and graphic designers (both internal and external) to develop sign-up mailers to their targets. And then took those finished ideas to our printers (see print is still not dead) and CD vendors to create and mail the famous CD packages.

In 1993, who knew print was a dying media? (though I don’t really believe that) After graduating with a degree in Printing Management from, as my friends call it “The Harvard of Print”, a Production Manager position for USA Today was a great place to start my career. I managed the nightly press runs for local printing and distribution of daily USA Today editions. Checking color quality, ensuring we had the right pages for the right editions and making sure the papers got out to their routes on time were the main responsibilities for me.