Marketing Transformation
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Marketing Transformation *
Brand Planning Transformation
adidas North America
Building the Brand Health Function
adidas North America
Building Global GTM Frameworks & Scaling Originals Business
Global adidas Originals
This section includes just a few representative case studies; I’m glad to share additional examples and deeper detail as needed
Case Study 1: Brand Planning Transformation – adidas North America
Approach/Role:
As Director of Brand Strategy, Planning & Health, I redesigned the end-to-end brand planning operating model, creating a unified framework that linked long-term brand strategy to seasonal execution — and built the connective tissue between teams that had historically operated in silos.
Built the Brand Planning Operating Rhythm: Established a quarterly cadence integrating Strategy, Creative, and Finance to align ambition, budgets, and activation plans.
Designed Governance Frameworks: Introduced tiered decision forums (“Brand Leadership Reviews,” “Campaign Steering Committee”) to drive focus and faster go/no-go calls.
Defined Roles & Responsibilities: Clarified ownership across Global, NAM, and cross-functional partners to eliminate duplication and create accountability.
Unlocked Collaboration: Enabled deeper partnership between Merchandising and Marketing — a critical unlock that allowed product flow, marketing storytelling, and investment strategies to move in sync and maximize commercial return.
Formalized Toolkits & Templates: Created briefing tools, playbooks, and campaign roadmaps to ensure teams could seamlessly translate strategy into action.
Marketing Challenge:
adidas’ seasonal brand planning process had become siloed across functions, with teams working in parallel rather than in flow. Planning lacked clarity, speed, and accountability — slowing decision-making and fragmenting execution.
Business Results:
Widely recognized by executive leadership (global and local) as a best practice for accelerating alignment and consistency across the brand.
Reduced planning cycle time by 30%, freeing teams to focus on creativity and execution.
Increased cross-functional satisfaction and clarity (+22pts internal pulse survey).
Established new collaboration programs that bridged Merchandising, Finance, and Marketing, driving higher ROI on marketing investments.
Adopted globally as a best practice framework for regional brand planning alignment.
“Jess brings systems thinking to brand leadership. She connects the dots between creativity and operational excellence in a way that truly changes how teams work.”
-Lilian Barnette, Director Marketing Operations, adidas
Case Study 2: Building the Brand Health Function – adidas North America
Approach/Role:
As Director of Brand Strategy, Planning & Health, I built and operationalized the Brand Health function — a first-of-its-kind capability for the brand connecting data, insight, and storytelling to inform brand strategy, planning, and executive decision-making.
Defined Brand Health Framework: Mapped the leading and lagging indicators of brand equity (awareness, consideration, differentiation, positioning).
Built Measurement System: Partnered with Strategy, Analytics, and Finance to integrate social, survey, MMM and market data into a unified scorecard.
Operationalized Insights: Created a monthly Brand Health Review for the President and exec team, synthesizing data into narratives that guided investment, messaging, and prioritization.
Enabled Storytelling: Translated data into visual, narrative-driven storytelling that elevated the role of insight in brand and business decisions.
Activated Across Teams: Embedded Brand Health data directly into category and campaign planning — ensuring that insights guided strategic direction and informed in-season optimization across teams.
Marketing Challenge:
While adidas tracked performance KPIs, there was no unified view of brand health — making it difficult to connect creative ambition to measurable outcomes.
Business Results:
Brand Health improved across all tracked metrics, reversing stagnation post-pandemic.
Adopted globally as a model for data-led brand decision making.
Enabled transparency, education, and data fluency across marketing and commercial teams — driving smarter investment decisions.
Institutionalized insight-driven planning within category marketing, ensuring Brand Health data informed both strategic planning and in-season quick pivots.
“Jess redefined how we connect data to creativity. She turned insights into direction — helping every team tell smarter, sharper stories that move the business forward.”
-VP Brand Insights and Planning, adidas
Case Study 3: Global GTM Framework & Scaling Originals
Approach/Role:
In my role leading Global Originals CtC - Consumer Experience I built and institutionalized the first Global Seasonal GTM Framework, aligning >100 global stakeholders.
Built and institutionalized the first Global Seasonal GTM Framework, aligning 100+ global stakeholders around one consumer-centric roadmap.
Designed an 18-month planning cycle connecting design, product creation, brand strategy, franchise lifecycle, and commercial execution.
Unified Marketing, Merch, Product, Sales, and Channel teams to deliver globally consistent, locally resonant consumer-facing plans.
Delivered globally adopted toolkits, franchise playbooks, and alignment milestones that elevated execution quality.
This unified GTM model unlocked stronger cultural storytelling, more visibility, and significantly higher cut-through for Originals globally.
Marketing Challenge:
Early trend and buzz data showed strong organic cultural relevance, but adidas lacked a global GTM system to translate momentum into scalable growth.
Markets executed inconsistently; disconnected product, merchandising, and marketing plans weakened consumer-facing impact.
Without a cohesive global framework, Originals was losing cultural traction and diluting brand clarity across regions.
Business Results:
Scaled Originals from 3x fold globally through clear, consistent, high-impact GTM execution.
Enabled +60% increase in global market adoption, improving regional consistency and strengthening global brand impact.
Unified GTM approach amplified brand awareness, cultural heat, and consumer recognition through cohesive global storytelling.
Framework became the global standard for GTM across adidas categories, accelerating speed, alignment, and cultural relevance.
“Jessica built the first GTM framework that finally aligned Product, Merch, Marketing, and Sales under one global plan.
It completely transformed how we show up to consumers worldwide.”
Thibault Durand, Senior Vice President & GM - adidas South East Asia (formerly Senior Director Originals - Market Europe)
Bonus: 54 Charles Street Sell-in Experience - Reinventing Go-To-Market
Approach/Role:
I spearheaded a new sell-in model built on immersive, design-led sell-in experiences. Partnering with design, marketing, and sales, I transformed a New York brownstone into 54 Charles Street, a storytelling hub where each room embodied a sneaker franchise. My role:
Reframed the problem: Pushed the team beyond presentations to experiential storytelling.
Concept development: Briefed and partnered with a world-class agency to create the space.
Cross-functional orchestration: Ensured every detail integrated product, brand, and commercial readiness.
Customer engagement: Guided top accounts (Foot Locker, Kith, JD, etc.) through immersive journeys tied to business terms.
Marketing Challenge:
adidas’ wholesale-driven U.S. business was struggling to excite retailers.
Traditional sell-in meetings: PowerPoint decks and product walk-throughs failed to inspire or differentiate. Without a breakthrough, multiple new franchises risked lackluster adoption in the most competitive market.
Business Results:
Widely recognized by wholesale partners as a best-in-class sell-in experience, raising adidas’ credibility in the U.S. market.
Strengthened relationships with key global accounts, many citing it as “the best sell-in in the industry.”
Enabled successful adoption of 6 new franchises at launch, building early momentum in a hyper-competitive environment.
Created a new blueprint for GTM at adidas, proving the value of immersive storytelling in wholesale and influencing how future launches were sold in globally.
“This was by far the best sell-in I’ve ever attended. Industry-leading example.”
James Whitner, Owner - Whittaker Group
