Julie Fussner

· Set continually winning brand strategy, marketing & media plan to keep winning in a crowded, flat/contracting industry; deliver year after year records in sales, experience, and profit growth

· Organized & inspired group of 6 agencies and internal team leveraging Culver’s differentiation to deliver outstanding integrated marketing plans and breakthrough creative

· Optimized $125MM Ad Fund spend to reach and motivate guests in 94 DMAs across all marketing channels

· Hired Associate Director of Delivery to launch 3PD across system, delivering $150MM in revenue year 1 and expected $220MM in 2025

· Continued growing digital capabilities continuously optimizing app and web order ahead to achieve 6% of sales in digital channels; important channel given high average check at $24.00+ and higher profitability

· Acted as a key leader in all franchisee activites e.g. market meetings and franchise advisory council meetings; continue to maintain very strong relationships with operators

· Right hand to CEO to create 2025 priorities and lead SLT in creation of business plan and content for Reunion aligning franchisees on direction of the organization

· Created vision for Digital Hospitality to begin with the launch of a rewards program in 2025 and longer-term to differentiate on hospitality through the use of technology that does not exist today in the QSR space

· Partner with Finance and Business Intelligence and RMS to optimize pricing strategy and implementation

· Delivered company high team engagement scores year after year at 74% in 2024

· Drove strategic agency review for media buying leading through 9-month RFP process resulting in $10MM media savings through scale buying & lower commissions while driving +18% in ROI

· Added Director of communications to team, absorbing responsibility for internal and crisis communications effectively protecting brand reputation

· Formed and resourced a Digital Experience team to transform Culver’s digital guest experience; continue to effectively partner with IT to deliver against aggressive digital goals

· Led the reframe of the Welcome to Delicious campaign to include From Wisconsin with Love; extremely strong results across system in AUV, Brand Health, Media ROI, creative testing continues to show strong results

· Worked on Culver’s Foundation board ensuring clear mission and impact in our community; specifically moving to a more strategic approach of outreach

• Led Brand Compass work to codify key brand elements important across the entire company; mission, vision, brand positioning, core values, brand nature

· Introduced Marketing Mix Modelling tool to measure return on investment of marketing spend, every year since introduction have improved ROI of franchisee media investment

· Absorbed culinary and events functions, strengthened menu process and results and delivered outstanding annual reunion satisfaction scores with franchisees

· Joined United States Farmers & Ranchers in Action (USFRA) executive board driving for sustainability results in the food value chain

• Responsible for setting brand foundations, brand strategy and delivering breakthrough-marketing campaigns that drive increased brand health and annual sales results
• Lead a team of 43 AFI employees and 4 primary agencies
• Partnered with creative, media, digital, and multi-cultural agencies to launch an integrated brand and product marketing campaign in April '16
• Result: Delivered flat marketing-driven sales with 2% share of voice and 20% reduced marketing spend
• Launched first-ever digital-only long form brand content 'Dad Insurance' with zero TV budget
• Result: Garnered over 6,200,000M YouTube Views to date, awarded with YouTube Top 10 video of the month in June and named #1 in the Top 10 best insurance commercials of all time by lifehealthpro.com
• Launched 'Brand Ambassador' campaign (8/29) with JJ Watt, Kevin Durant, and Derek Jeter
• Result: Achieved over 50,000,000 earned media impressions day 1 of the campaign prior to influencer or Brand Ambassador social support
• Optimized agency partnerships to deliver better work at a more efficient cost
• Result: Saved $3,000,000 plus in agency fees with improvement in consumer facing work effectiveness

• Responsible for elevating product marketing strategies and plans and improving independent agency field force execution of product marketing plans
• Led a team of 18
• Collaborated with Product Management and Brand & Consumer Marketing team to create effective growth marketing plans for Auto, Home, Life and Commercial product lines
• Result: Drove significantly enhanced alignment between the national brand plan and the profit and growth plan developed within Product Management
• Deepened understanding within marketing of the total business goals and results
• Transformed the process for how the sales force of 3,000+ independent agents executed their local marketing plans by skillfully communicating the brand meaning and creative direction, creating impactful local marketing collateral, and training on and evangelizing the power of social media and a strong digital presence
• Result: 1,400 agents (41%) actively engaged in social within 6 months of program launch and a 14% increase in usage of corporately-created agent marketing materials over prior year

• Responsible for setting the strategic direction and accelerating growth of the largest Kraft Foods category at $1,800,000,000
• Led a team of 9
• Developed plan to strengthen the core of the Cold Cuts business by renovating the largest segment, Deli Fresh, at $800,000,000 including consumer insight driven quality improvements, innovation launches, packaging upgrades, graphics redesign and a new marketing campaign
• Result: Delivered $70,000,000 in revenue growth on the segment alone and drove total Cold Cuts share growth after 20+ months of decline
• Led with 4 agencies utilizing a $60,000,000+ budget - traditional advertising, digital, PR and media - to contemporize the Oscar Mayer brand under the brand idea 'Feed the Good Side of Life.' Result: Revamped social strategy to focus on relevant quick wins, executed the Wienermobile Tweet to Lease program prior to the Superbowl which garnered over 2,000,000 You Tube views, and launched a TV/Video campaign that generated significant buzz on Twitter

• Responsible for turning around the underperforming $800,000,000 Bacon business
• Led a team of 3
• Revamped the strategic direction for the Bacon business to focus on optimizing procurement and conversion to drive out cost, optimize price gaps and reinvest in brand equity
• Result: Delivered $98,200,000 in revenue growth over the prior year with a 58% improvement in bottom line profit while returning to market share growth
• Launched two digital marketing campaigns; 'Bacon Barter' and 'Say It With Bacon.' Result: 'Say It With Bacon' had 1,400,000 YouTube views, was covered on all major network nightly news casts and won an Effie in June 2014

• Responsible for accelerating growth of the Cold Cuts business
• Accountable for setting the 3-year Strategic Plan, 1-year Business Plan and delivering on financial commitments
• Led the turnaround of the Lunchables business
• Led teams of up to 5
• Developed strategic plan for Cold Cuts that clarified portfolio roles, detailed a 3-year innovation pipeline framework and decreased costs
• Result: Delivered $150,000,000 in revenue growth over the 3-year strategic plan timeframe with 13% growth in profits
• Redesigned the Packaging Brand Architecture of 140+ Oscar Mayer SKUs based on insight of consumers heightened concerns around highly processed foods
• Result: Consumers evaluated the new architecture as more contemporary, fresher and less processed
• Established a new advertising direction from the Kid insight 'Feed to Succeed'
• Launched 3 new print ads, 1 TV spot and changed direction on digital from a Lunchables brand website to branded digital partnerships with key Kid web sites like Nickelodeon.com
• Result: Delivered an increase in household penetration of nearly 2 pts among target

• Responsible for leading the creation and execution of New Products across two categories: South Beach Diet and Lunchables
• Accountable for accelerating the growth of a new platform in Year 2 of its lifecycle
• Led a team of 1
• Identified whitespace within the low carb trend to create new products that consumers could customize to their tastes
• Result: Launched South Beach Diet Chicken Salads and delivered $6,000,000 in revenue
• Optimized creative around better explaining the key benefits of the new product platform
• Developed a revised 3-year plan that detailed innovation and cost reduction to ensure top and bottom line delivery
• Result: Over-delivered revenue by $4,000,000 and over-delivered margin by 4 points

• Progressed through 3 different assignments - Lunchables base (trade, pricing, forecasting, product repositioning), Lunchables equity (promotions management) and Boca base/equity
• Repositioned Lunchables 'Mega' platform to 'Maxed Out' based on Tween insights
• Result: Grew volume 14% and exceeded the financial commitment of the segment by $6,000,000
• Managed agency relationships within promotion plan
• Result: MMA results showed campaign results to be 30-50% more effective than historical Lunchables promotions