Brand & Positioning
Value propositions, positioning frameworks and messaging architecture. Took a $20B brand from commodity to purpose-driven category leader.
VP Marketing · Chief Marketing Officer
Brands people trust.
Growth that lasts.
22+ years leading brand strategy, full-funnel media, creative, digital transformation and AI-enabled marketing for iconic consumer brands and a $20B Fortune 500 enterprise.
Marcelo Olvera
Brand, media & AI marketing leader
Brand, media & AI marketing leader
Proof, not promises
Marketing that shows up on the P&L.
$17.6M
NPV of the enterprise AI roadmap, formally adopted by the C-suite
−80%
inbound call volume in two years after a digital-first e-commerce shift
2,000%
lift in user engagement from a single tested navigation change
+12 pts
cross-channel performance after connections planning
200%
more creative output at 40% lower labor cost
$300M
largest initiative budget; $2M–$300M managed
The full marketing stack
One leader across every lever of growth.
Most marketing leaders go deep in two or three disciplines. I’ve run all of these at once, as one integrated function where each makes the others stronger.
Full-Funnel Media
Paid, earned, shared and owned: planning and buying across TV, digital, social and OOH, with connections planning, joint business partnerships and ROAS discipline.
Creative & Packaging
Parsons-trained. Sets the creative bar from insight to brief to finished work, and designed the internationally recognized LG Chocolate packaging.
Digital & E-commerce
Led the first fully online start, change and pay experience in company history, plus UX/UI, Agile product teams and continuous A/B testing.
Operations & Analytics
Workflow design, governance, marketing mix models and attribution that tie every dollar to brand health and commercial growth.
AI-Native Marketing
An AI platform at 100% adoption across 800 users in under a week, governance built with Legal, Security and Compliance, and AI literacy for 1,000+ employees.
Swipe through all six
Case studies
Three brands. Three kinds of hard.
Reinventing a $20B brand, integrating a $7.2B acquisition in a regulated industry, and creating a category from a single consumer insight.
Case 01Flagship
Waste Management → WM
Rebranding America’s largest environmental services company
Regulators had capped acquisitions in the core business, and the name had become a ceiling. Modeled on AT&T’s evolution, Waste Management became WM, anchored in one purpose: “Always Working for a Sustainable Tomorrow.”
- $20Benterprise unified under one purpose-driven brand
- 50,000+employees across the US and Canada aligned to one promise
- Newcategories unlocked: renewable energy, medical services, industrial processing
The approach
WM: familiar enough to keep the equity, abstract enough to contain anything. The purpose had to be true before it could be marketed, so we built from the inside out.
The outcome
The purpose became a rallying point employees felt they’d always been living. Internal tools and playbooks let every federated business unit bring the brand to life locally. WM today is an environmental services platform, not a trash company.
Case 02
Stericycle → WM Healthcare Solutions
Integrating a $7.2B acquisition in a regulated industry
Full ownership of the rebrand: labels, packaging, fleet and medical containers where a single mislabeled asset is a legal liability. For the first time, designers sat with the doctors and nurses using the products.
- $7.2Bacquisition rebranded from the ground up
- 20,000+assets audited, redesigned and transitioned
- Hazardsfound and fixed through direct end-user research that years of surveys had missed
The approach
Three tracks at once: a full audit and sequenced rebrand of 20,000+ assets; legal and compliance integration that trained marketing as the first line of defense; and face-to-face end-user engagement in place of filtered survey feedback.
The outcome
Delivered on time and in compliance, and the redesigned assets were safer than what they replaced.
“We put designers in rooms with the people using the products. Some of what we found was dangerous. All of it made the final product better.”
Case 03
L’Oréal for Men
Launching a category from scratch · McCann Worldwide / Campbell-Mithun
Interviews revealed men were already buying anti-aging cream from women’s brands, in secret. The demand existed; the category didn’t. We recommended a dedicated men’s line, and L’Oréal for Men was born.
- 1insight that unlocked a multi-billion-dollar global category
- Dozensof competitors followed, Nivea first
- 20+ yrsof sustained growth, now as L’Oréal Men Expert
The insight
The stigma wasn’t about the products. It was about packaging and the cultural permission to buy them openly. Men asked for products that looked rugged and didn’t call attention.
The outcome
The line launched with anti-aging cream, eye cream and a skin-firming shaving balm, then expanded into lip care, face wash, deodorant and beyond. A consumer insight hiding in plain sight created an entire industry.
Experience
Agency craft. In-house scale.
Jun 2017 – Mar 2026
Waste Management
VP, Strategic Transformation & Innovation, Brand & AI Marketing
Led brand, media, creative, digital, PR and AI-enabled marketing for North America’s largest environmental services company, with a 30+ person team and a full agency ecosystem.
- Pioneered the digital-first e-commerce shift, part of a $300M initiative that cut inbound calls 80% in two years.
- Managed joint business partnerships, including retail investment commitments with Lowe’s and The Home Depot.
- Led crisis communications that turned a public operational error into restored brand credibility.
- Built MMM, A/B testing and attribution capabilities connecting spend to brand health and growth.
May 2015 – Jun 2017
NRG Energy
Senior Brand & Marketing Consultant, Office of the President
- Ran media, creative and integrated campaigns across four consumer brands at once: NRG, Reliant, Green Mountain and Cirro.
- Co-led an innovation initiative that identified $1B in annual revenue opportunity.
Earlier career
Campbell-Mithun / McCann Erickson
Senior Brand Strategist & Creative Director
- CPG brand work for General Mills (Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Hamburger Helper), L’Oréal, Burger King and Wendy’s.
- Designed the LG Chocolate packaging and conceived the Verizon Wireless Experience Store, the model for its national retail redesign.
- In Seoul, led creative strategy and brand activation for Dior, Chanel and Balenciaga entering South Korea.
Point of view
A brand is a guarantee of quality. Everything else is execution.
LinkedIn · Aug 2026
A Guarantee of Quality
A question asked at the 4A’s in the Chrysler Building, and the answer that became a career-long frame.
LinkedIn · Oct 2026
The Recipe for a Successful Brand
Six steps: unlearn, listen, confirm the promise can be kept, find the USP, build and test, then launch and protect.
Applied research · 2026
Data Governance and Dual-Use AI
A five-layer responsible-AI governance framework for regulated enterprises. Chief AI Officer program, Chicago Booth.
Teaching
Incoming adjunct faculty
Marketing strategy, design thinking, AI-enabled storytelling and futurism for the next generation of marketing leaders.
Education & AI credentials
Design-trained. AI-fluent.
Completing Nov 2026
Chief AI Officer, Executive Program
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
M.S., Global Executive Leadership (2022)
Parsons School of Design, Paris
Executive Leadership Program (2020)
Cornell University
B.S., Advertising (2005)
University of Texas at Austin · Senior Fellow, Communication Honors
Brand Strategy & Positioning
Full-Funnel Media
Connections Planning
Joint Business Partnerships
Creative Direction
Packaging & Shelf Presence
E-commerce & Digital
PR & Crisis Communications
Social, Creators & Influencers
MMM & Analytics
AI-Enabled Marketing
Team Building (1,000+)
VP Marketing · CMO
Let’s talk.
I lead with humility and empathy, build teams that are excited by their work, and set out not just to hit the KPIs but to blow through them.