Robbie Thain - President/Founder Makai
From his work with non-profits like the American Heart Association and the Multiple Sclerosis Society, to independent consulting for marketing agencies managing brands including Coca-Cola, AT&T, Snapple, Gatorade, and DirecTV, Robbie Thain has been a leader in the arena of engagement marketing, events and promotions for over 20 years.
Robbie has worked with an extensive number of established and emerging brands to strategize and deliver breakthrough marketing programs that have grown market share, increased ROI and ROE, and built brand equity. From innovative concept development, to logistics, budgeting and staffing, to sourcing and sponsorship negotiation, Robbie's wide range of experiential marketing savvy underlies his commitment to client satisfaction and campaign integrity.
At Makai, the company he launched over 15 years ago, Robbie has developed proprietary, state-of-the-art reporting engines that offer best-of-breed benchmarking - a rare and valuable tool in non-traditional marketing, an area not known for its measurement capabilities.
Under Robbie’s stewardship, Makai has executed guerrilla marketing programs, mobile tours, sponsorship execution, sporting events, concert tours, collegiate marketing campaigns, brand ambassador programs, Hispanic marketing programs, and product sampling and consumer education via event marketing, in-store demonstrations, on-premise programs and street marketing.
To leverage opportunities to deepen engagement before, during and after live experiences, and to significantly extend reach beyond consumers participating in live activations, Robbie has led Makai in building online activations such as micro-sites, landing pages, mobile campaigns and on-site digital elements with social media overlays. His client roster includes Red Bull, Heineken, Balance Bar, Nestle, Little Debbie, Nescafe, Honda, Suzuki, Fox College Sports, T Mobile, Chick-fil-A, Lipton, Mervyn's, Adobe, POMx Iced Coffee, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and many more.
Robbie founded Makai only four years after graduating from Loyola Marymount University, naming his company "by the sea" in Hawaiian in honor of his native state.
After getting Makai off to a successful start, he launched Dos Manos in 1999, a bilingual Hispanic Engagement division that focuses on marketing to the influential and growing Hispanic community. In 2006, Makai Europe opened, based out of Leipzig, Germany. And in 2008, Robbie opened Makai Latin America, based out of Lima, Peru.
Linda Rosenberg - Vice President of Client Services
Linda Rosenberg has a successful track record driving growth for existing brands, introducing new products and services, and penetrating new markets, for Fortune 500 companies, startups and emerging brands. With over 16 years of marketing experience, including 12 on the “client side,” Linda provides strategic direction and develops integrated programs that maximize consumer engagement and deliver business objectives for our clients. She has a marketing degree from Wharton and is fluent in Spanish, with international and domestic Hispanic marketing experience
Linda’s experience includes directly managing brands such as Red Bull Energy Drink, Nestlé Milk Chocolate, Orville Redenbacher’s, Swiss Miss, José Olé Frozen Mexican Food, and STA Travel, consistently driving significant sales and profit increases.
She has consulted to businesses across diverse industries, such as consumer packaged goods, technology, retail, eco-products, food, nutraceuticals, real estate and professional services, building integrated marketing plans and powerful initiatives generating demand and bottom-line growth.
Andrea Rackley - Vice President of Client Services
Andrea Rackley brings over 20 years of client relations, management and program development expertise, with 13 years specifically focused on Field Marketing and CPG in-store promotions. She came to Makai from Campaigners, a division of Advantage Sales and Marketing (ASM). Andrea joined the Advantage team in 2002, to spearhead and launch their very first Event Marketing and Demo division, branded Campaigners and Marketration.
Prior to coming to Makai, Andrea served as Senior Director of Business Development for Campaigners, directly responsible for program development and sales efforts with retailers and CPG brands, and ensuring best in class service to new and existing client accounts. Andrea provided extensive leadership in the development of ASM's CPG division, spanning planning and strategy, client services, account management, team development and operations. She successfully developed, launched and managed a portfolio of client projects, for retailers, manufacturers and service providers such as Walmart, Kroger, Supervalu, Whole Foods, Home Depot, Lowes, Kraft, Colgate, Pepsi, Church & Dwight, and many more. Andrea has a passion for identifying new opportunities for client business growth and best leveraging and developing resources to support them.
Prior to working for Advantage, Andrea worked for various CPG marketing agencies where she built and managed strategic partnerships, successfully leveraged innovative methods for engaging customers and delivered brand building campaigns for brands and retailers alike. She is a hands-on team leader with a history of building and managing high performance teams that drive growth, customer satisfaction, and bottom-line profitability to new levels.
|
