User:Rgritsch/sandbox

Ricardo "RIC" Gritsch (born March 29, 1979) is an Austrian/Brazilian award-winning marketing professional, recognized internationally with 19 globally acclaimed Marketing and Packaging Awards, having launched oved 300 products and marketing campaigns in companies like Disney, O Boticario and Philip Morris International in Brazil, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA.

Academics
After graduating from Claymont High School in Dennison, Ohio in 1997, Ricardo Gritsch earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Majoring in Foreign Trade from Positivo University in 2002, one of the global top 25% universities. He did achieve in 2004 his MBA in Marketing from FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas) the 6th best think tank in the world, and in 2010, he completed his second MBA in Strategic Business Management also at FGV. This same passion led him to earn qualifications from Ivy League Schools, attending to the Managing New Products and Services for Strategic Competitive Advantage in Chicago from the Northwestern University/ Kellogg School of Management, the 3rd best global Business School and completed in 2021 his specialization in Digital Marketing at Cornell University.

Early Career
From 1998 to 2002 Ricardo worked for Referencia Rent A Car, one of the largest companies in the segment in Brazil, allowing him to pay for his studies, climbing to the Marketing and Sales Coordinator position. In late 2002 he was selected from an international hiring process to work at Disney in Florida, when this traineeship was over in 2003, he received his first formal performance evaluation as CLEARLY OUTSTANDING.

Cosmetics
From 2004 to 2014 Ricardo Gritsch was part of O Boticário, being instrumental for the companies success in many different categories. O Boticário has an yearly revenue of 2.7 billion USD (2019), and over 13,000 employees. O Boticário is the largest cosmetic franchise in the world and it is ranked in the top 20 cosmetics companies globally. In Brazil, is the most beloved beauty brand, second in Market Share and the 14th most valuable Brazilian brand among all categories. It has 4,070 stores in Brazil (McDonalds has 1,100 stores) and is present in 8 other countries.

There he worked in all cosmetic fields, like Fine Fragrances, Anti-Aging, MakeUp and Personal Care. During his 10 years, he launched and repositioned over 200 products, deployed over 20 marketing campaigns, supported the company to achieve leadership in Fine Fragrance, and led the MakeUp division to achieve the historic mark of 13.3% market share, moving from 3rd to 2nd place in Brazil, surpassing Natura and reaching the leader AVON.

Positions Held

 * CATEGORY MANAGER | SKIN & PERSONAL CARE, BATH, BODY AND HAIR | 2013/14
 * CATEGORY GROUPER | MAKEUP & FRAGRANCES | 2010/2013
 * BRAND MANAGER | SKIN CARE & STRATEGY | 2009/2010
 * JR PRODUCT MANAGER | FRAGRANCES, STRATEGY | 2006/2009
 * SENIOR MARKETING ANALYST | MARKETING STRATEGY | 2004/2006

Philip Morris and International Career
Ricardo Gritsch started his career at Philip Morris Brazil, from 2014 to mid-2016, he was Group Brand Manager leading 5 managers and driving a portfolio of 11 brands and 47 products, representing a yearly gross revenue of USD 306.6 million (89% of total sales). In this role, I have elevated all key performance indicators for the Dallas brand, with a new packaging and a 360-marketing campaign, boosting all results in age brackets and social strata’s, and nearly quadrupled market share from 1.2% in 2014 to 4.3% in 2016, reaching a record of 1.9 billion sticks that year. With an investment of over USD 3 million, he re-launched the L&M brand, developing a 360-communication campaign and an anti-littering initiative. The project increased volume by 6%, reaching 1.8 billion sticks per year, boosted number of consumers by 12% and, for the L&M RED variant, increased volumes by a whopping 226%, resulting in a record high of 3.2% market share. His set of tools developed by him were so impressive that caught the eye of the regional director in New York and the Global Brand Team in Lausanne, which invited him to present those tools in a global meeting held in Fort Lauderdale/FL.

In mid-2016, Ricardo Gritsch was promoted to the Senior Marketing Manager European Union in Philip Morris’ Head Quarters in Switzerland as an expatriate, from there he led and directed 30 countries in Europe for the Chesterfield brand, PMI`s third-largest international brand. He was able to slash asset production costs by 18%, or USD 1.2 million in 2018, transforming Europe into the most efficient region. Ricardo led a team in 5 different countries to create a global campaign to generate leads for a new product (IQOS), this project jumpstarted results from 0.87% to 3.3%, the highest in the business. It also generated more the 120,000 new leads, nearly 10% of the total leads for this product. Lastly, he championed the design of two eco-friendly campaigns, “Ignite Change” to inspire consumers to switch from lighters to matches, and an anti-littering called “A Kick in the Butts”. Ricardo was recognized me with an ABCD Award for going above and beyond the call of duty.

In 2019 Ricardo Gritsch was transferred to London/England to take over the challenging role as Content Development Manager for all consumer facing materials for the United Kingdom and Ireland, directing a team of 12 people and a USD 1.6 million annual budget. With an all-hands-on deck approach, Ric and his team revised the entire Silverstone’s Formula 1 Race activation and generated 230 leads in only three days. He magnified footfall of UK-based shops by 5% by redesigning the storefront and, on the digital front, boosted Google Keywords search trend from an average of 4 to over 992 per month between June 2019 and July 2020, jumpstarted organic search from a nearly inexistent base to an average of 382 per month and massively increased blog views in 222.32%.

Honours, Decorations, Awards and Distinctions
Ricardo has reached a total 19 renowned international awards, including the iF Global Design and Worldstar Packaging Awards, it catapulted him to one of the most coveted and recognized professionals in the country, resulting in formal job offers from AVON for the position of SENIOR REGIONAL MARKETING MANAGER and from L`OREAL for BRAND DIRECTOR Maybelline, Colorama and NYX.

Up to this day, Ricardo Gritsch is the only O Boticário employee that has won, 5 years in a row, the Atualidade Cosmetica Awards for the Make B. products and collections created by him. PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL - TOP GLOBAL TALENT: Ricardo Gritsch was recognized as one of the Global TOP Talent at PMI from a total of more than 77,000 employees across 180 countries, sustaining this coveted spot on the McKINSEY BOX 9 evaluation for the years of 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL - ABCD AWARD: Ricardo Gritsch received in Switzerland his ABCD award for championing the design of two eco-friendly campaigns, “Ignite Change” to inspire consumers to switch from lighters to matches, and an anti-littering called “A Kick in the Butts”.

O BOTICARIO EXCELLENCE AWARD : The most important award delivered by the company, from a total of 13 thousand employees, a small team of 10 people are chosen to receive this recognition. Ricardo Gritsch was awarded in 2011, being recognized as a role model and for the success achieved by his projects.

Early Life and Hobbies
Ricardo Gritsch was always very active in the artistic realm, working as a Radio DJ at Radio Educativa FM 97.1 being the host of the shows Moog Galaxy and TransloveAirways, where he would be play alternative music, he was a resident DJ on a nightclub called VOX BAR, leading the dancefloor on Friday nights playing 80s PopRock. Ricardo had a stint as a male fashion model in his late teens. Ricardo is an amateur Ice Hockey player, having played in Brazil for HoldYager, in Switzerland for Friend`s Bikers and in the United States for Kissimmee`s Ice Factory Red Team.

Personal
The Gritsch family emigrated from the city of WörglWoergl in Austria/District of Kufstein/Tyrol to Brazil.