radium

A deep understanding of Consumer Psychology, Retail, and Custom Research

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Providing you with actionable consumer insight to drive competitive advantage

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​​​ACADEMIC.EXECUTIVE.CREATIVE

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/ ACADEMIC

Paul spent a lot of time in school. You might even say an inordinate amount of time. He did this because he loves psychology. Paul has a doctorate in Developmental Psychology - a scientific approach which aims to explain growth, change and consistency though the lifespan and how thinking, feeling, and behavior change throughout a person's life. This is important because Paul applies that same dynamic lens to brands and consumers' relationship with brands - they both have life stages as well.

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His doctorate is from Loyola University Chicago.  He was also a Lecturer in Psychology for seven years. He published academic peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and got research grants. And for two years, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Prevention Research Center at UIC. He was also broke. Well, not broke - but he wanted to start a family.

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/ EXECUTIVE

You should know that, well before Paul ever started doing marketing research professionally, no one ever wanted to go grocery shopping with him. And to this day, his wife still isn't happy about it. He takes way too long. Quite simply, it's because consumer research and the psychology of the consumer is so intrinsically interesting to him. He has an uncontrollable habit of lingering at seemingly random categories and POS displays, making comments about the first moment of truth, plannograms, shopability, and flow or what is or isn't highlighted, muttering about velocities, packaging, and private label. And don't get him started about packaging or what makes a great innovation.

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Paul's official career in Marketing Research started at Nielsen. During his 4-year tenure on the Kraft team there, he first worked as a client-facing Analytic - running marketing mix, price elasticities, assortment analysis, etc. He then created numerous award-winning segmentations and novel applications of panel and retail store data while managing a team.  He'd also fill in for months at a time at Kraft if a planner was on leave and then ultimately had an onsite position, helping Kraft develop their then nascent Shopper Insights group. This experience provided the bedrock of Paul's experience -- iconic brands, client empathy, world-class data and insights.

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Working with the Nielsen panel data piqued Paul's interest in the consumer side of research so Paul moved to custom (primary) consumer research. Over the course of his 13-year stint at Ipsos Marketing, Paul managed global clients and a client service team, led COEs and Training for Innovation and Shopper, and presented at conferences like TMRE and IIR. Under a skunkworks environment, he created many industry-first tools including overnight early-stage screening (Ideas*Overnight) and DUEL (a Sys1/Sys2 approach that captures rational and emotional response). By the end of his tenure at Ipsos, Paul was a member of the Executive Leadership Team, managing and growing a $33MM portfolio of Innovation-focused products (front end to STM).

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But all the professional accolades and accomplishments are less important than his client experience during this period. Over the years, he has worked closely with hundreds of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients to bring actionable consumer and retail insights that achieve growth, gain share, and drive sustainable innovation. The chances that you interact with a product or service that Paul has helped are almost 100%.

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/ CREATIVE

A talented multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and performer, Paul's been making music since he's been 14 years-old. He recorded his first album at 19, has played on 13 albums, and has written hundreds of songs (but most of them under two minutes long). He's played a lot of jazz, including years with the Loyola University Jazz Band, but prefers punk and hard rock.

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For the past 10 years, Paul has led the Boogers - a national-touring, award-winning, and critically-acclaimed punk rock band for children. Now, punk rock for kids might seem like an oddball idea. But with over 10,000 physical unit sales, 250K streams and downloads, and thousands of fans the Boogers are clearly onto something. 

 

Paul loves that the Boogers provide him a creative/expressive outlet that brings together his knowledge of Developmental Psychology and Marketing. He also loves the DIY ethos of punk rock and the musical connection with his bandmates.  But what he loves most about the Boogers is seeing the joy of parents and children connecting through his music.

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