Mayrah Rocafort - Background on BrightFuse

About Me

A knowledgeable, astute and driven senior executive with a flair for building and fostering relationships at all levels, while pursuing and securing incremental and new business opportunities.

A proven results professional with a career growth path marked by progressively assigned management leadership responsibilities in the stewardship of business, human capital and companies’ profitability, with extensive expertise in direct marketing, mass advertising, promotion, public relations and project management, for the general consumer market and the highly specialized U.S. Hispanic marketplace both.

Top-notch experience in the development of “start-up” divisions including securing of new business; budget development/allocation & management; staff hiring & mentoring; managing outside vendors; working cross-organization and handling tight deadlines/multiple projects.

Adept at developing and implementing marketing programs designed to achieve designated metrics with a record of success for driving results and sales; and with superior leadership skills to develop, manage, and strengthen a marketing organization.

Work Experience

Apr 2003 - present

san antonio, TX (US)

Principal - Consultant
Hispanic DM Solutions
Independent contractor for consultative services in the area of Hispanic Market advertising/marketing communications.

* Hispanic “cultural insights” expert. Adept at building and driving the “to-market” strategy and creative messaging to execution and completion.

* Develop and implement end-to-end marketing communications plans. Integrate varied advertising disciplines for delivery against several of media channels/other consumer outlets.

* Services include creative concept development and implementation, English-Spanish/Spanish-English language copy trans-creation and proofreading, management and consulting of mail lists plus traditional & alternate delivery media channels analysis and recommendations.

Clients: CMS Partners (now d. expósito & partners); Donnelley Marketing; Integra Hispanic Relationship Marketing; The Swiss Colony’s Midnight Velvet Catalog; Affinity Mobile; Garcia 360 Advertising; Interlex Advertising; Market Vision and Mercury Mambo Promotions.
Jul 2006 - Jun 2008

san antonio, TX (US)

VP, Marketing & Sales
ADS Direct Media
ADS Direct Media is a Company of ADS Media Group, a publicly traded organization. ADS Direct Media provides national and international direct marketing services in the direct-to-door distribution media, utilizing highly accurate targeting via geo-demographic mapping and verification tools to reach intended constituencies.

* Spearheaded the company's corporate rebranding and directly managed the advertising and media agencies' relationships.

* Reviewed and approved all creative and media recommendations/buys.

* Developed and executed lead generation collateral materials for national sales team.

* Co-built La Canasta de Valores Hispanic co-op program’s business and pricing model and drove the lead generation program’s execution.

* Publisher/Managing Editor of La Buena Vida; a lifestyle magazine included in the Hispanic co-op ensemble.

* Created press releases and worked closely with webmaster to maintain company’s website current.
Apr 2003 - May 2005

san antonio, TX (US)

Director
The Cartel Group
The Cartel Group is 15-year, minority owned solutions-/media-neutral independent advertising agency, offering integrated services to companies targeting the U.S. Hispanic consumer market.

* Directed direct marketing efforts (DRTV, direct mail, online) for the Cartel Contacto division.

* Developed and implemented acquisition direct marketing communications plan for the U.S. Army account and forecasted/analyzed results. Delivered results analysis to U.S. Army civilian and military echelon on a quarterly basis and provided actionable recommendations for next quarter efforts.

* Oversaw qualitative research efforts and presented analysis.

* Liaised with Leo Burnett and Media 8 (an online media organization), to ensure seamless integration of efforts for this client.

* Member of The Cartel’s new business efforts team.

Client: U.S. Army.
Jun 2002 - Apr 2003

new york, NY (US)

Senior Partner
Act-e Marketing Solutions, Inc.
A wholly owned women and minority advertising agency offering public relations, advertising and direct marketing services directed to the U.S. Hispanic consumer audience.

* Co-launched advertising agency practice, co-developed 3-year agency business plan, and formulated agency's services fee rate card.

* Charged with leading the new business development and the account teams. Provided the strategy and planning for the client accounts.

* Managed the development and execution of print advertising and promotional materials; including the development/production of corporate videos.

Clients: Brooklyn Maimonides Hospital; Citicorp/Concilio de la Raza partnership.
Feb 2001 - May 2002

san antonio, TX (US)

Sr. VP, Managing Director
Bromley Communications, Inc.
Bromley Communications is a company Publicis Group and the second-largest Hispanic market advertising agency in the U.S.

* Executive tasked with the development, supervision, management and implementation of direct marketing strategies, programs and tactics for this organization’s direct division.

Clients: Procter & Gamble; Gerber Foods and Western Union CRM products.
Jan 2000 - Feb 2001

new york, NY (US)

VP, Director of Direct Marketing
WPP/Y&R Brands-Mosaica Multicultural Marketing
Mosaica Multicultural Marketing (now MosaicaMD) is a Y&R Brands company formerly dedicated to the Asian-American target audience.

* Repurposed this organization’s business model by changing agency structure from an Asian market target to a Hispanic "business conflict" agency.

* Ideated and implemented the launch of first-time ethnic market effort for national card issuer; including qualitative research, creative development/execution and credit card design.

* Accountable to parent company for division’s new business acquisition and subsequent growth - drove capitalized billings from $0.00 to $1.2MM within first year.

Clients: Metris Companies Inc. and Metris Direct
Dec 1994 - Dec 1999

new york, NY (US)

VP, Director, BravoDirect
WPP/Y&R Brands - The Bravo Group
The Bravo Group is a wholly owned Y&R Brands company targeting the Hispanic consumer audience and the largest Hispanic market agency in the U.S.

* Increased BravoDirect’s billings by 150%; contributed nearly 26% of The Bravo Group’s bottom-line billings on an annual basis.

* Senior contact for all client accounts; the driving force behind the MarCom strategy/execution, and the creative output and its results outcome.

* Accountable for the division’s P&L. Fiduciary responsibility for all Clients’ budgets.

* Charged with the supervision/management/mentoring of the account management and creative groups.

* Garnered first ever "Gold Effie" and “Best of New York ADDY" creative awards for The Bravo Group.

Clients: American Express-Optima; AT&T; Blue Cross Blue Shield; Citicorp; Columbia House; H&R Block; Kraft Foods; New England Business Services (NEBS); Oxford Medicare Advantage; Showtime Networks; United States Postal Service; U.S. Army; Whitehall-Robins.
Jan 1990 - Oct 1994

new york, NY (US)

VP, General Manager-O&MD Hispana
WPP/OgilvyOne
My “brain child,” Ogilvy & Mather Direct Hispana (O&MD Hispana) was the first full service direct marketing to Hispanics agency in the U.S. and a division of the largest direct marketing company in the world.

* Created, developed and launched this division as the first full-service direct marketing company to target the US Hispanic market.

* Sole responsibility for new business development, account management, stewardship of the strategic and creative processes, personnel staffing and division’s P/L.

Clients: American Express-LatAm; AT&T (Consumer & B-to-B); Kraft Foods; and Sears Brand Central-Puerto Rico.
Dec 1985 - Dec 1990

new york, NY (US)

VP, Head of Traffic Systems, Ogilvy & Mather Direct
WPP/OgilvyOne
Acted as agency's Head of Traffic for Ogilvy & Mather Direct 's (O&MD) flagship office, (450+ employees) and steward of the traffic system for all its worldwide companies (52 offices in 48 countries).

* Redefined O&MD's internal communications operations. Upgraded/initiated procedures to maximize the agency's overall internal workflow/client service deliverables.

* Authored O&MD's first agency traffic system manual used by domestic and international offices alike.

* Oversight of broadcast activity – from production and talent estimates, to network and legal clearances, and commercial shoots and editing.

* Managing Editor of Courier, O&MD’s international quarterly newsletter.

Clients: American Express; AT&T; Burpee Seeds Co.; British Royal Mint; Eastern Airlines; Hertz Corporation; House of Seagram’s; Kimberly-Clark; Kraft Foods; New York Futures Exchange(NYFE); Ryder Trucks; Smith Barney; TWA; USGA; and Vanguard Group of Investment Companies.

Education

1965 - 1972
Bachelor's - Political Science
University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus

Courses & Certifications

Industry Awards: Recipient of AMA’s Gold EFFIE; Best of New York ADDY; U.S.P.S. Postal Forum’s Judges Choice, Mailing Excellence Award; Ogilvy & Mather Direct’s Andrew Kershaw Award.

Published Articles:
Do Hispanics Eat Ice Cream? - The DMA Insider.

Languages & Skills:
Bilingual, bicultural and bi-cognizant. Speak, read and write English and Spanish languages with equal fluency.

Experienced in the use of PC and MAC platforms. Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Power Point, Excel and Outlook).

Visit www.linkedin.com/in/rocafortmercado for a review of my professional recommendations.