Stan NjuguMarketing and Brand Strategist
Available for new roles
Marketing and Brand Strategist

StanNjugu

Senior strategist with a track record at VML, Hawkeye, and maslansky + partners. Campaigns for T-Mobile, FedEx, and Nike. I turn consumer insight into campaigns that retain, convert, and resonate.

0M+
Customers Reached
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Campaigns Concurrent
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FedEx Playbook
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Team Members Led
Stan Njugu
Marketing Strategist
Stan Njugu
The Thesis

The best campaigns do not
begin with a brief.
They begin with a better question.

Stan Njugu

Most marketing teams open with the brief and close with the budget. I start one step earlier: what does this audience actually believe, and why does that belief create an opening? Data surfaces the pattern. Insight explains it. The brief just writes the rest. That sequence is what separates campaigns that perform from campaigns that merely run.

Marketing and Brand Strategist - Sacramento, CA
About

I translate insight into action and data into decisions brands actually use.

My career started in public policy research at Cornell, where I learned that the most important skill in any room is understanding your audience before you speak. That instinct carried into every agency I joined.

At VML, I served as the lead strategy contact for T-Mobile and Metro, orchestrating multichannel retention campaigns across 18M+ customers. At Hawkeye, I built strategy for the FedEx small business ecosystem. At maslansky + partners, I analyzed how language itself shapes brand perception for Nike, Pfizer, and Bank of America.

I work at the intersection of brand strategy, lifecycle marketing, and storytelling. I lead with curiosity, back every recommendation with research, and build campaigns that connect.

Let's Connect
Location
Sacramento, CA - Remote-preferred, open to hybrid
Education
Cornell University - MPA, Government and Policy
UC Santa Barbara - BA History and Black Studies
Languages
English (native) and Swahili
Focus Areas
Marketing Strategy - Brand Positioning - Retention - Lifecycle Marketing - Consumer Insights
Off the Clock
Collecting vintage R&B records - Basketball - Tennis - Weightlifting
Selected Work

Two wins that defined the approach

VML for Metro by T-Mobile
Go-to-Market Strategy for the Apple Watch Launch
18M+
Existing customers targeted
Campaign Strategy - Retention - Multichannel

Coordinating a major product launch across every customer touchpoint

Metro needed to activate its entire existing subscriber base for the Apple Watch launch without triggering opt-out fatigue. I led the cross-channel messaging strategy, coordinating art directors, copywriters, data analysts, and account leads simultaneously. The brief was tight, the timeline tighter, and the audience enormous. We exceeded the previous open rate benchmark by 2%.

+2%
Open rate vs prior benchmark
18M
Customers in scope
6+
Channels coordinated
Hawkeye for FedEx
E-Commerce Playbooks for Small Business
40pp
Published, publicly live
Content Strategy - B2B - Brand Positioning

Building the resource FedEx's small business clients had always needed

FedEx wanted to own the small business e-commerce conversation outright. I led the research, framing, and authorship of a 40-page playbook series that gave small business owners a practical, authoritative guide to logistics and growth. The playbooks are publicly available and remain live on FedEx's platform. The first project I led fully end to end, and the one that proved the model.

40pp
Published playbook
Public
Live on FedEx platform
B2B
Small business audience
Experience

A record built across strategy, story, and scale

Sep 2023 - Mar 2025
VML
Creative Agency - Seattle, WA
Senior Marketing Strategist
T-MobileMetro by T-Mobile
  • Served as primary strategy contact for T-Mobile and Metro, leading weekly status calls, QBRs, and ad-hoc client engagements across brand, retention, and loyalty workstreams.
  • Orchestrated the go-to-market strategy for the Metro Apple Watch launch, coordinating cross-channel messaging and retention offers for over 18M existing customers, exceeding open rate benchmarks by 2%.
  • Led the Metro Flex Plan onboarding initiative, analyzing 18 months of SMS and email data to retime messaging windows, increasing open rates 1.5% and reducing opt-outs within 90 days.
  • Managed 6+ simultaneous multichannel campaigns spanning communications journeys, creative briefs, A/B testing plans, and persona development.
  • Conceptualized and pitched retention programs including the "Metro Golden Ticket" sweepstakes and coffee-card loyalty for T-Mobile AutoPay, with two concepts approved for 2025 testing.
  • Mentored junior strategists on brief writing, client presentation skills, and data analytics; trained incoming team leads on running strategy functions.
Aug 2022 - Jul 2023
Hawkeye
Creative Agency - Dallas, TX
Strategist
FedExUSAAWalmart
  • Delivered integrated strategy across creative briefs, audience segmentation, journey mapping, channel mapping, and experience design for Fortune 500 B2B and B2C clients.
  • Authored the FedEx E-Commerce Playbooks, a publicly available 40-page resource for small business owners navigating e-commerce logistics and growth.
  • Researched credit card gamification models and presented a strategic POV that directly influenced USAA's 2023 credit card loyalty strategy.
Aug 2021 - Jul 2022
maslansky + partners
Market Research Firm - New York, NY
Language Strategist
NikePfizerBank of AmericaCoca-Cola
  • Developed consumer insights into brand positioning for major B2C and DTC brands through qualitative and quantitative market research.
  • Conducted and analyzed international qualitative research interviewing doctors and patients in the US, Brazil, and Germany; recommendations remain visible in the firm's current marketing.
  • Analyzed global consumer research for Nike to support development of new sustainability messaging in 2021.
Aug 2019 - Apr 2020
1492 Consulting Group
Strategic Management - Ithaca, NY
Consultant
  • Led a four-state community assessment of the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, surveying healthcare and legal stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions.
  • Authored a policy memo that persuaded the Tompkins County District Attorney to decline punitive charges in opioid-related cases.
My Approach

The Strategy Canvas

How I move from brief to breakthrough - explore each stage

Stage 01 of 05
Research
Every strategy starts before the brief arrives. I mine proprietary and third-party data, study behavioral signals, and listen to what customers are actually saying across channels. Good research does not confirm what you already believe; it surfaces what you have not thought to ask.
Real-World Example
18 Months of SMS and Email Data - VML for Metro
Analyzed a year and a half of engagement data across Metro subscriber base to identify optimal send windows and messaging fatigue patterns. The findings drove a full restructuring of the Flex Plan onboarding sequence.
Skills and Tools

What I bring to the table

I
Strategy and Planning
Integrated CampaignsBrand PositioningCreative BriefsGo-to-MarketJourney MappingThought Leadership
II
Research and Insights
Consumer SegmentationQualitative ResearchA/B TestingMRI/SimmonsMintelStata
III
Lifecycle and CRM
Triggered MessagingEmail StrategySMS StrategyRetention ProgramsLoyalty DesignHubSpot
IV
Copy and Messaging
CopywritingLanguage StrategyProofreadingContent StrategyChannel Mapping
V
Leadership
Cross-functional TeamsMentoringStakeholder MgmtClient PresentationsQBRs
VI
Tools and Platforms
Google AdsFacebook AdsCanvaFigmaMonday.comNotionSmartsheet
Education

Academic foundations

Cornell University - Ithaca, NY
Master of Public Administration
Concentration: Government, Politics and Policy Studies
CIPA FellowCornell Policy Review Editor
UC Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara, CA
Bachelor of Arts
History and Black Studies - Double Major
Double Major
Stan Njugu
Stan B. Njugu
Senior Marketing and Brand Strategist
Cornell MPA - UCSB BA - English and Swahili - Sacramento, CA
Contact

Let's build something worth remembering.

Open to Senior Marketing Strategist, Brand Strategist, and Strategic Communications roles. Remote-preferred, open to hybrid in the Bay Area or Sacramento.