Dave Kroencke

Backstory:

From his first advertising class at Miami University in Ohio, it was love at first sight. So, it was natural that his first job was with NYC agency Needham Harper and Steers. After a few years, he was drawn back to Ohio for a chance to work client side at Wendy’s International. Then in 1989, he went back to the agency side and took a job at The Richards Group in Dallas, where he would build his career over the next 32 years.

In his decades there, Dave worked on clients of all types including retail, restaurant, luxury and healthcare. His client pedigree includes Central Market, Sub-Zero Refrigeration, Wolf Cooking, Red Lobster, Patron Tequila, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Sewell Automotive Dealerships, Pergo Laminate Flooring, GameStop and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, among many others.

Dave has always pushed to understand his clients’ entire marketing mix and believes in a balance between art and science or ideas and data. Despite that last sentence, he prides himself on being a simplifier, not a complicator in an already-too-complicated marketing world.

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Professional Not-So-Humble Brags:

Dave has won two Effies (aka “Account Guy Oscars”) for Pergo Laminate Flooring and Wolf Cooking Appliances. He contributed to Patron Tequila’s skyrocketing rise in the 2000’s while also managing a complete turnaround for the Red Lobster brand. He also helped make GameStop the leader in physical video games (when they were a thing), maintained Sub-Zero as an iconic brand for almost 20 years, and launched Wolf Cooking as the immediate leader in the highly competitive luxury cooking category.

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Interesting Cocktail Party Tidbits:

Attended Rock N’ Roll Fantasy Camp, where he received one-on-one instruction from rock legends including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.

Plays guitar passably in an arena rock cover band called The Vinyl Countdown.

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Best plot twist (so far):

It was definitely leaving TRG after 32 years to help start Plot Twist. Oh, and he did marry the same woman twice, but that’s a long story.

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