Marketing Veteran Adds New Customer-Centric Role at Fast-Growing Pizza Brand
Marco’s Franchising, LLC., one of the nation’s fastest-growing pizza brands, elevates Steve Seyferth to Senior Vice Present, Chief Experience Officer from his previous post of Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer. In his new role, Seyferth will be responsible for every aspect of the customer journey for the Marco’s brand.
In addition to his continued oversight of all marketing activities, Seyferth’s new role will include working closely with Operations to ensure a customer-centric focus that will explore new sales channels and enhance Marco’s current experiences. All with the goal of growing the Marco’s brand now and into the future in an everchanging restaurant industry landscape.
Seyferth’ s promotion and new title reflects an overall calibration of key leadership aligned to its ‘People First’ cultural belief, hyper focused around its three key audiences – customers, employees and franchisee partners.
“Steve is a strong leader who exudes passion and embraces ‘what’s next’ when it comes to consumer trends and behaviors,” said Tony Libardi, President and COO of Marco’s Pizza. “We’re excited to leverage his marketing and advertising expertise, proven performance, and pursuit of innovative ways to connect with customers. He knows what it takes to deliver a great guest experience which will help grow our great brand.”
Since being named CMO, Seyferth launched Marco’s first national marketing campaign and increased its overall brand awareness, leading to Marco’s being named America’s Most-Loved, Most-Trusted Pizza Brand, according to the 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study. This marketing campaign helped grow same-store sales and boost its national profile.
Seyferth’s background includes more than 30 years of experience working in key executive positions at major advertising and media companies, including support of blue-chip marketers such as Domino’s, General Mills, Kraft, Coors, Gatorade and Ford Motor Company. Plus, he was at the forefront of the digital movement, holding Vice President roles at AOL Time Warner and AT&T AdWorks (Xandr).
While on the agency side, Seyferth led the development of numerous award-winning advertising campaigns, including the renowned “Be Like Mike” campaign for Gatorade, featuring Michael Jordan. This campaign, created in 1991, was named the “Best Sports Commercial” of all time by USA Today in Nov. 2016.
Seyferth holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, where he played Varsity Baseball on two Big Ten Championship teams. He holds a master’s degree in advertising from Michigan State University.
Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco’s Pizza is one of the fastest-growing pizza companies in the United States. Marco’s was founded in 1978 by Italian-born Pasquale (“Pat”) Giammarco and thrives by making authentic Italian quality pizza with fresh ingredients. The company has grown from its roots as a beloved Ohio brand to operate more than 950 stores in over 34 states with locations in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Marco’s was named America’s Most-Loved and Most-Trusted Pizza Brand, according to the 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study. Most recently, Marco’s Pizza was ranked No. 4 in Forbes “Best Franchises to Buy” 2019 Study/Medium Investment, and No. 39 on Entrepreneur’s 2019 Franchise 500 ranking. Other recent accolades include ranking No. 2 on Entrepreneur’s 2018 Top 200 Food and Restaurant Franchises in the pizza segment, and No. 8 on the Military Times Best: Franchises 2018 list.
For more information on Marco’s Pizza franchise opportunities, visit www.marcosfranchising.com or call 866-731-8209.
