THE CONSUMER UNITY BLUEPRINT:
ALIGNING DATA, PRIVACY & EXPERIENCE WORLDWIDE
How “One‑Consumer Architecture” unified CRM, Consumer Affairs, and privacy into a single global operating model.
Unified 20+ Brands’ consumer digital toolsets
Standardized 65 markets’ Consumer Affairs
$5M savings, reduced spend & more coverage
45,000 Clicks from Email Sent to Only 452 People
“Tim was one of the key business leads in a major IT program to design develop and implement a global consumer service system. Tim quickly picked up the leadership in this programme and through his drive, creativity and engaged style, resulted in becoming a key component of the success of the end-system and supporting business processes, which lasts today as a key legacy of his contribution. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Tim, and his strong interpersonal skills and business process analysis and re-engineering has made quite a mark.”
VARIANCE → GOVERNANCE
The Problem: Global Fragmentation. Mars’ CRM and Consumer Affairs operations ran on region‑by‑region systems, standards, and protocols, creating inconsistent experiences, compliance risk, and no unified view.
STRUCTURE: Built an internal Agency of Record for CRM, Consumer Affairs, and digital engagement, replacing regional inconsistency with a unified global operating backbone and eliminating the “Black Box” of market‑by‑market variance.
VISION: Created a scalable, consumer‑facing digital presence and influenced global markets to invest in Consumer Affairs as a joy‑creating, brand‑building capability rather than a reactive cost center.
CULTURE: Elevated Consumer Affairs into a strategic global function by developing shared standards, aligning privacy interpretations, and training teams across regions on unified protocols and expectations.
“When you unify how a company understands its consumers, you unify how it serves them. The real work wasn’t integration; it was creating shared meaning across the world.”
Brand presence went from 3-4 (flashy but no consumer function) branded web sites to coverage for all 20 brands with Contact Us, FAQs, NLEA, Privacy Office, Product Locator, and other functions.
Privacy went from fragmented and high-risk data retention to having a global privacy office in compliance with global regulations, and in coordination with Counsel and Office of the President.
Quality reporting shifted from local and inconsistent to an integrated view of consumer incidents with cross-market and factory-level insights.
Consumer Experience went from sparse and expensive to unified and with intentional efficiency. (Could make ROI-based decisions on which method to employ based on value to business and consumer.)
Marketing autonomy went from being at the whim and cost of expensive vendors only to having alternatives to allow full coverage and frequent updates without using up the Consumer Franchise Building marketing budgets.
The global Consumer Affairs architecture didn’t just fix fragmentation, it became the system that was relied on for two decades, outlasting reorganizations, leadership changes, and entire waves of technology changes.
“I was working with Tim in one of the biggest Mars Consumer Care projects- with the ambitious goal to harmonize processes, applications, ways of working across the globe. He was brilliant in understanding and translating the technical requirements ( in fact, quite often his experience and knowledge was above the knowledge of our IT department) into a “language” that the business user could follow and understand. The way “Consumer Care at Mars” works today is heavily influenced by Tim`s skill to see : + the bigger picture, + future trends and needs for the business, + how technique can support us (and not the other way round ). His balanced level of perseverance helped to fulfil 100% (not only 80% as it often happens in IT projects) of our expectation during the long period of time that it finally took. Tim is extremely reliable, he always delivered as promised and in time, an open and trustful colleague and it was always a pleasure to work with him.”
Handling Cultural, Systemic, and Visionary Change Globally
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Mars: CRM & Global Consumer Care Transformation
IT Manager CRM leading the creation of the first US Consumer Marketing Database, saving $5M in agency fees, delivering breakthrough email campaigns like SNICKERS® with 45,000 clicks, and spearheading a global SAP CICS rollout with privacy governance that shaped Mars’ consumer care systems for decades.
Tim’s Big Results:
Created the first US Consumer Marketing Database across brands and divisions, saving over $5M by building an internal Agency of Record for smaller brands.
Delivered breakthrough CRM and email campaigns, including a SNICKERS® campaign that drove 45,000 clicks from just 452 emails, while managing dozens of vendors across CRM, data, and IT.
Led a global CRM and Consumer Affairs initiative to align policies, select systems, and implement SAP CICS across multiple markets, establishing a 20‑year legacy of data, systems, and processes, and founding Mars’s Global Privacy Office.
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Drove CRM and email marketing strategies and campaigns for multiple Mars e-commerce businesses. Including designing and executing email campaigns for Canadian and American snack and main meal brands.
Designed and executed an email campaign for SNICKERS® that drove 45,000 clicks on 452 emails sent. Developed and ran an internal ESP using Unity Mail and POP3.
Vendor management, stakeholder management, and contract management across dozens of suppliers in media, market research, CRM, data engineering, software development, and information technology.
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Led global initiative over 3 years at Mars, Inc. to align CRM and Consumer Affairs policies and processes, identify and select systems, and develop a 5-10 year global implementation plan based on successful implementation in the German and Czech markets of SAP CICS across candy, main meal, and pet food. The data, systems, and processes remained intact for 20 years.
Worked closely with general counsel as I managed the creation and execution of the Global Privacy Office.
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Created internal Agency of Record for smaller brands to host brand news, product information, product locator, inbound support, and FAQs that saved business over $5MM in external agency fees.
Designed and implemented the first US Consumer Marketing Database across brands and divisions.
Managed selection and implementation of Consumer Affairs and CRM technologies for all brands.
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Implemented NLP and KT pilots and solutions to pre-screen and look for trends and insights from consumer data. Added regression modeling and full data context to quality defect reporting.
Developed data governance processes and systems to ensure consumer data and preferences were managed, controlled, and usable.
Created new multi-source, multi-variate dashboards and reports providing greater context and clarity around consumer insights.
“Tim is one of the brightest people I know, and uses his intelligence to articulately sell his ideas and persuade his audience. He has an unusual ability to see these things not only from an operational and functional standpoint, but also from a marketing and total business perspective. Tim has a great ability to lead teams through complex businesses processes while simultaneously maintaining a sense of humor. Not an easy task! I would recommend Tim as an addition to any business for his sheer intellectual horsepower, solid leadership skills, and for being an all-around pleasure to work with.”
“Tim was one of the key business leads in a major IT program to design develop and implement a global consumer service system. Tim quickly picked up the leadership in this programme and through his drive, creativity and engaged style, resulted in becoming a key component of the success of the end-system and supporting business processes, which lasts today as a key legacy of his contribution. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Tim, and his strong interpersonal skills and business process analysis and re-engineering has made quite a mark.”
“I was working with Tim in one of the biggest Mars Consumer Care projects- with the ambitious goal to harmonize processes, applications, ways of working across the globe. He was brilliant in understanding and translating the technical requirements ( in fact, quite often his experience and knowledge was above the knowledge of our IT department) into a “language” that the business user could follow and understand. The way “Consumer Care at Mars” works today is heavily influenced by Tim`s skill to see : + the bigger picture, + future trends and needs for the business, + how technique can support us (and not the other way round ). His balanced level of perseverance helped to fulfil 100% (not only 80% as it often happens in IT projects) of our expectation during the long period of time that it finally took. Tim is extremely reliable, he always delivered as promised and in time, an open and trustful colleague and it was always a pleasure to work with him.”