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Virginia has an innate understanding of discerning a consumer's core values and how a brand can be developed to offer perceived value. She has extensive brand management, new product development, and product marketing experience in the consumer products, food, and education industries. In her own consulting business, and in previous fulltime positions with brands such as Land O' Lakes, Pillsbury, and Lever, Virginia has proven that she can achieve goals and deliver improved financial returns with a balance of strategic vision, analytical thinking, pragmatic decision-making, and multi-functional team leadership. Through opportunity analysis, market research, and Virginia's thought leadership, her clients are able to reach untapped markets, elevate underdeveloped areas of their business, improve margins, realign cost structures, capitalize on strengths, and reach consumers in new ways with relevant messaging that improves brand recognition.
Virginia's specialties include product management, product development, brand management, product marketing, strategy development, financial results, and analytical thinking. Her strategy improves top and bottom lines through product design, development, and launch. She takes a pragmatic approach to making business decisions, and accounts for financial constraints and manufacturing capabilities (and everything in between). She is experienced in planning and execution of online and traditional marketing techniques, and also embraces leveraging "talk leaders": early-adopters who talk about the brands and products that they buy, by getting samples and coupons into their hands.
Her experience in marketing is built upon a strong background in product and brand development. When Lever recruited her out of MBA school, Virginia's responsibilities included product line extensions and forecasting; through two promotions, she became responsible for brand launches (after assessing global and domestic brand play), and new product development (product, formulation, positioning, packaging) within global brand standards. At Pillsbury, in addition to successful new product launches, Virginia led a highly successful effort to increase sales by involving the customer (grocery retailers) in the category planning process, by listening to their needs and ideas. When Land O'Lakes decided to enter the premium deli cheese category (and thus compete with private label brands), they brought Virginia on board to help them improve brand awareness among grocery store shoppers, by refocusing their advertising and promotions on the end consumer. Capella University also hired her to assist them in understanding their core brand values and customer perception, and to redevelop their brand when they took the company public.
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