About me

Letter of reference

Re: Phil Pietrasiak Recommendation

I hired Mr. Pietrasiak as Creative Director for Iovate Health Sciences in May 2011 to drive the distinct brand images for Iovate's Super Brands: MuscleTech, Six Star, and Hydroxycut, as well as the development of 2-5 new supplement brands per year. As CD for our in-house agency, Phil was responsible for all packaging, advertising, digital and location-based messaging.

Phil successfully built and managed a 30-person team to support this enormous effort and meet the day-to-day deadlines for several Brand Management teams. Our culture is one of relentless drive and deadlines, and during this period, we increased top line sales revenue 25-28% per year, reversing years of stagnant or decreasing revenue.

Phil dramatically re-invigorated our mature Super Brands to drive increased acceptance with consumers and retailers. Hydroxycut's revitalized packaging and "Lose Weight Your Way" creative package (television, print, digital) drove a 33% increase in annual revenue when launched in January 2013.

Six Star - a mass market sports supplement brand available at Walmart and FDM - became a massive success under Phil's creative leadership. We signed a quartet of household name athletes (Rob Gronkowski, Russell Westbrook, Giancarlo Stanton, and Danica Patrick) which Phil and his team successfully employed on packaging, in-store materials, and advertising to drive 3 consecutive years of +15% growth at Walmart, making Six Star the dominant mass sports brand in the category.

Phil acted as a "master conductor" of Iovate's creative efforts, managing substantial budgets and human resources. I believe Phil delivered outstanding results while aggressively managing the bottom line. Phil delivered big results on budget every year.

An example of Phil's ability to drive lower costs while improving results is with Hydroxycut television advertising. Prior to Phil's arrival, Iovate had been spending $3M annually on TV production. Phil drove a new production mentality to improve production quality while cutting expenditures to $600K per year. This was a major success in driving profitability for the Hydroxycut brand.

Phil consistently created a "can do" atmosphere and harnessed his team's talents to drive substantial results in a very demanding environment. Phil's natural instinct is to identify a brand's single most prescient selling point and to drive it home with stellar messaging. He possesses a very entrepreneurial bent that is an asset to any company seeking profitable growth and mature, seasoned leadership abilities.

I fully support Phil Pietrasiak for any critical Creative Director role.

Sincerely,

Vito Sanzone

Chief International Officer

Iovate Health Sciences, Inc.