Rod Brooks
In preparation for MarketMix I have set out to explore what professional marketers are up to these days, and to get to know some of Seattle’s industry leaders. In this first interview, I met with Rod Brooks, VP and CMO at PEMCO Insurance.
Since Rod is one of the keynote speakers at MarketMix, he was an easy choice, but I did wonder, “How does one go about asking a senior executive at a large corporation for an interview?”
Well, you ask on Twitter of course! Surprised? You shouldn’t be with Rod – I got a reply within the hour! And it set the tone for a very interesting conversation.
In fact the conversation got so interesting I have split the interview up into several parts to make it more digestible. This first article focuses on Rod’s background and shares an outline of his career.
Information: Rod Brooks, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company
- Graduated from Washington State University 1975
- Family: wife and seven children (4+3)
- Blog: http://www.rodbrooks.com
- Twitter: @NW_Mktg_Guy
- Board President: Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association
- Past President, MCEI, Seattle
- Board member and Award of Excellence recipient: Washington DECA
1. Building your Network and Your Career
I arrive at the PEMCO offices in downtown Seattle on a February morning. It is mid-week and since traffic is unpredictable, I arrive early, too early, which means I get to enjoy a hot drink at Cafe Vivace on Yale Ave, a local coffee shop supplying thick frothy lattes. As I later learn from Rod’s executive assistant Jill Mansfield, it also doubles as an unofficial PEMCO meeting room. Convenient!
Meeting Rod is like slugging a double espresso – as Jill shows me into his office, I am met by a whirlwind of energy and a big smile. Rod makes me feel instantly welcome and as we chat about the weather (his office overlooks the Cascade neighborhood and the emerging vibrancy of South Lake Union with a gorgeous view of the Olympic Mountains on an uncannily sunny February day) we start out on common ground. Since it is my prerogative, as the interviewer, I soon ask Rod to share a bit about his early career.
Rod Brooks (right) with Cougar mascot friend Butch (left)
Rod has traveled a long way through his marketing career. After graduating with a communications degree from Washington State University in ’75, he first moved from one junior job to another. The early network he built through those positions allowed him to be among the first to hear that Al’s Auto Supply in Everett was about to hire a new advertising manager. With that early insight he landed the job that would be the first important step in a remarkable career.
Once firmly established as a professional marketer for a small company, his inventiveness and hard work became noticed outside the company. As Rod expresses it:
“Just when you believe you’re the most happy doing what you’re doing – someone calls and makes you an offer that screws it all up.”
Rod earned the interest from Ron Weinstein, then the Executive Vice President at Schuck’s Auto Supply, which resulted in an offer and a relationship that lasts to this day. The early trust that was built between Ron and Rod evolved into a mentorship that has guided Rod through many of his career changes. In fact, Ron was instrumental in Rod’s next assignments as Vice President of Marketing at QFC, at Egghead Software and later at Coinstar. It is clear that Rod was able to enlist a sponsor to help his career. In Rod’s own words:
“The important story is: don’t burn your bridges, and make sure you hitch yourself to a wagon that is going in the right direction”
The impact Ron has had on the way Rod approaches the world, and business, is illustrated in one of Rod’s blog posts: The Edge which explains why he chose to name his blog “Seeing the Edge”.
Rod has many fun and insightful stories to share about his career. After Coinstar, he realized he didn’t know how to interview for a job, having been head hunted through most of his career – including being called three times by Ron about new career adventures. His friends gave him some good advice “You need to practice interviewing, use any opportunity you can!” The first opportunity to practice turned out to be with PEMCO, which had an open position for the Director of Marketing. Rod thought it would be a good interview practice opportunity, since he had already decided that he didn’t want to a) wear a tie to work, b) drive across the bridge and c) work in the financial services or insurance business. However, as so many times in Rod’s past, his career took on a life of its own.
In an industry that is known for a conservative and traditional approach, it turned out that Rod hit the company at exactly the right time when CEO Stan W. McNaughton was looking for a leader with great customer connections that could help take the company into the new millennium. Rod got hired, but it wasn’t an easy hiring process. As Rod describes it:
“[They] gave me a lot of opportunity [to practice], because I went through interview after interview after interview after interview”.
If somewhat unexpected, making a cross industry move and landing with PEMCO turned into a fantastic experience for Rod.
“It has been the most rewarding transformation and campaign that I’ve ever been involved in. The alignment of what PEMCO was trying to accomplish, the skill sets that I had, and the opportunity to make a difference, all kind of came together at the right time in my life and my career.”
I can tell that Rod really enjoys his marketing role in the insurance business. He describes how it is both challenging and rewarding. Rod calls it the Rubik’s Cube of marketing:
“The more hands that touch it, the more the colors change. The real job is getting as many of the correct colors aligned as possible. Insurance is one of the only products people purchase but hope they never use. Think about it: Insurance is a product most people don’t understand, don’t want to buy and when they own it they don’t want to use it. People frequently feel that they can only win by losing!”
[End of part 1]
That wraps up the first article. In the second article, you’ll hear about the career skills Rod considers most valuable.
Continue to part 2 of the interview here.
