CASE STUDY
Building a Marketing Powerhouse: The J.H. Cohn Legacy
The Situation
A $200 million top 10 accounting firm needed to:
- Modernize a 100-year-old brand for contemporary markets
- Establish competitive positioning in key industry niches
- Build infrastructure for national growth
- Create the foundation for strategic merger opportunities
The Actions
As Chief Marketing Officer reporting to the CEO, I:
- Transformed a three-person team into a dynamic marketing organization across eight offices
- Developed a comprehensive, integrated marketing strategy starting with an SEO-optimized website
- Created a customer success program to enhance client retention
- Established focused marketing initiatives for Private Equity, Retail, and SEC practices
- Launched a high-impact spokesperson campaign across traditional and out-of-home media
- Built a robust public relations program to enhance market presence
The Result
- Increased annual revenues by over 30% through strategic brand positioning
- Improved client retention and RFP flow by 50% in the first year
- Achieved #1 ranking for marketing execution by a major media buying agency
- Grew from 500 to 1,000 employees across multiple offices
- Successfully positioned firm for merger with Reznick Group, creating CohnReznick ($680M revenue)
