Data Strategy and AI Consulting by mlogics

Synopsis

A distinguished industry thought-leader, innovator, and seasoned practitioner in advanced marketing, media and business data and analyses. Renowned for the ability to excel at all organizational levels, including the Board and C-Suite.

Accomplished data and analytics “hands on” professional with extensive experience driving innovation through AI/machine learning, advanced analytics, unified data assets, and cutting-edge technology solutions.

Recognized expert in building transformative data products and platforms that unlock business value, with a global consulting portfolio serving clients across the United States, Europe, Canada, South America, and Asia.

Deep expertise in a diverse set of industries including CPG, retail, financial services, telecom, automotive, healthcare, pharma, and online services. All told, have spearheaded marketing/media analytics initiatives for over 35% of Fortune 100 brands.

Founder and chief principal Rick Watrall, is an industry leader in marketing/media data, analytics and AI.

Over 40+ years, he's delivered major data and analytic wins for dozens of leading companies—from global Fortune 500 giants to innovative small-sized firms across a diverse set of industries.

Primary Skills

Technology Strengths

Development: Hands-on experience applying machine learning techniques (supervised, unsupervised, neural networks, etc.) to build predictive models and AI solutions for marketing use cases like MMMs, multi-touch attribution, unified measurement, audience intelligence, etc.

Data Strategy & Governance: Defined and implemented enterprise data strategies, governance frameworks, and data management best practices to ensure data quality, security, and compliance as the foundation for data and analytics initiatives.

Product Innovation: Pioneered development of market-leading data products by integrating disparate data sources, AI/ML models, analytics tools, and software engineering into unified solutions driving sustained competitive advantage.

Technology Leadership: Proficient in evaluating and integrating cutting-edge marketing/ad technologies, data platforms, AI/ML tools, and industry-specific data sets to enable intelligent automation and data utilization at scale.

Leader in unifying data, analytics, AI and strategy for business transformation.

Career Highlights

Conceived and architected two landmark AI-powered media platforms (blu. at Horizon, GOES at Goodway), unifying insights, planning, activation, and measurement—driving effectiveness for millions in ad spend across dozens of clients.

Built and led Horizon Media's data/analytics powerhouse from the ground up: managed 150+ professionals in data management and advanced analytics for the world's largest independent media agency.

Pioneered AI, predictive modeling, and MMM: First-mover at Hudson River Group kickstarting the MMM industry; setting the standard for excellence in the measurement space, and ushered the concept of incrementally into optimizing marketing/media.

Partnered in two data/analytics startups ImmediateFX defined "continuous analytics" via integrated platforms/applications and MarketingNPV solidified dashboards/visualizations—as the premier innovator that authored marketing dashboard best practices.

Developed global analytic and insight playbooks for Coca-Cola’s ongoing custom international studies, deployed in 60+ countries for continuous demand/brand tracking (the largest primary research studies ever fielded).

Created the first integrated marketing data/analytics platform for a top global brand (AT&T), predating modern integrated data marts and visualization use cases in sales, customer profitability, brand analyses, competitive analysis, forecasting and pricing.

Founding member of PwC's elite Computer Audit Group a first of its kind to apply computer and data expertise to the auditing of key financial systems, revolutionizing accounting audits with technology expertise and scalable data integrity checks.

Proven track record of turning complexity into clarity — and architecting the future of data-driven growth.

A master of many; bridging data, technology, analytics, AI, and strategy into scalable innovation.

Proved via promotional analysis their model was "Pharmacy + C-Store", shifting focus from front-end marketing spend to core strengths —fundamentally redirecting business strategy.

Evolved a single media test into CEO's "single most important tool"— a 15-year business driver analysis engagement quoted as key to tripling stock price and gaining sustained category leadership.

Balanced brand vs. performance media through CLV-focused analytics, helping them make a household insurance name; groundbreaking work redefining profitable customer acquisition.

Significant Business Transformation

Throughout my career, I have delivered data-driven insights that have shaped C-suite strategies and driven sustained business impact. Across dozens—if not hundreds—of initiatives, my analytics work has produced measurable value and informed key strategic decisions. The following examples illustrate the scale and significance of these results.

Advanced analytics proved free shipping's superior ROI vs. advertising, supporting the pivotal (and contentious) decision that reshaped e-commerce economics forever.

Their first MMM revealed the need for regional differential pricing (different price elasticity levels), overturning the existing national pricing practices and generating billions in incremental profit over the years.

Revealed branded search’s (highest spend media) near-zero incrementality via an initial analysis; which faced internal fallout. Confirmed with a geo-test; reallocated ineffective spend to higher-ROI channels.