Charlene Zappa

LPA builds its global Brand-Building prowess with the addition of Charlene Patten Zappa

Charlene Zappa

LPA builds its global Brand-Building prowess with the addition of Charlene Patten Zappa

Leonora Polonsky & Associates (LPA) is pleased to welcome Charlene Patten Zappa, Executive Brand Artist, to the team. Charlene brings 25+ years of experience directly influencing the success, equity and growth of billion-dollar brands, turnarounds, and acquired businesses. Instead of becoming a Chief Marketing Officer elsewhere, Charlene decided to join the gig economy serving as a “CMO-for-hire” to help multiple companies compete vs. just one. “I can efficiently and effectively bring deep expertise to help strengthen Brands in an enduring way then move on to the next challenge.”

Why Charlene & What has she done?

Charlene was most recently the Brand-Building Officer, VP and GM of P&G Global Hair Care charged with transforming Hair Care into a digitally-driven business. She is also a proven transformational leader who drove multiple Brand rebirths:

The complete turnaround of Herbal Essences in 2017 which IRI Pacesetters ranked #3 in Top 10 non-food intiatives
For Gillette Venus, the highest-ever dollar share growth in a growing category and leading equity scores globally
The Marketing integration and turnaround of the Clairol retail hair color business. Through insight-driven brand-building, Clairol nice ‘n easy propelled to market leader from a distant second in the category, more than doubling share and becoming the most awarded hair color brand for 2 years (CEW, Allure’s Best in Beauty Editor’s and Readers’ Choice, etc)

Other significant experiences include:

Managing the complexity of multi-brand portfolios
Leading P&G’s Surprisingly Obvious Idea framework to differentiate breakthrough technologies
Integrating Sustainability strategies into brand-building tools and
Leading Beauty’s trend identification and adoption team
Prior to joining P&G, Zappa spent 5 years in various management positions at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company giving her a strong service-oriented leadership style and passion for luxury.

This combination of broad Brand excellence, global and turnaround leadership, and digital fluency sets up Charlene to bring a unique perspective to LPA’s clients to help solve their wicked brand problems.

It Starts with Soul

Driving awareness and trial is so often a key challenge brands face. If only more consumers knew about us…. “What is often overlooked in the quest to drive a Brand, however, is why should people care?,” says Charlene. “No longer are “whiter whites”, “tastier taste” or “healthier health” enough because consumers have endless choice, and today, functional advantage is rarely discernable. “Can one really tell if one Brand cleans/tastes/improves/performs significantly better than the next in today’s proliferation of options?”, Charlene asks. “To breakthrough, Brands today need to go well beyond product performance.” Charlene believes getting crystal clear on the Soul of a brand is an essential step to driving not only awareness and trial but loyalty beyond reason.

“Think about the Brands in your life that you love. It’s likely not just that they do their job well, but that they make you feel something. To feel something, Brands have to stand for something and to do that, it starts with Soul.” Further, in today’s highly digital world, how a Brand is visually expressed is one of the best ways to convey that soul, Charlene believes. Words alone can rarely evoke the emotion that visuals can. A Brand with a clear sense of who it is, who it serves and how it is consistently visualized is a Brand that will cut through with profund distinction.

If your organization is ready to find its Soul to drive its Brands, reach out to LPA today at charlene@leonorapolonsky.com or 513-543-3449.