CONSUMER MARKETING
CMOQ&A
He’s with the Band
Elliot Baldini amps up School of Rock
BY KERRY PIPES
A
s senior vice president of marketing
for School of Rock, Elliot Baldini
is a perfect fit. A self-professed
lifelong musician with a passion for performance, he also sports wicked marketing chops. He’s been “with the band” at
School of Rock since last June, when he
was brought in to take charge of their
marketing programs including digital,
local, events, and franchise development.
Music is in his blood. Before joining
School of Rock, his previous “band” was
Guitar Center, where he played multiple
roles: director of strategy and CRM, director of strategic marketing initiatives,
and director of merchandising—and also
was responsible for the development and
execution of top priority, high-impact marketing strategy and CRM initiatives for
Guitar Center’s online brands. Before that,
he played a gig at Sears Holding Corp. as
director of financial services, marketing
manager, and senior marketing analyst.
Though still new to the School of Rock,
Baldini has already faced some challenges
and opportunities. “We needed to modify
a number of long-held approaches to
marketing, and change can be difficult for
owners and other stakeholders,” he says.
“However, we are working to provide a
number of communication channels to
help ease this transition.”
He says the brand is already seeing results. “We’re just now at the point where
we’re starting to see huge improvements
from the changes we made. New student
interest in School of Rock is at an all-time
high, enrollment is growing by double
digits, and more people than ever are
submitting requests to buy a franchise. It’s
exciting to see not only these results, but
also a sense of understanding and adoption of the new programs and processes
we’re implementing as a marketing group.”
Baldini’s passion for the brand—especially its students—is palpable. “It’s
personally rewarding to work every day
in a company that aims to help our students transform into the best versions
of themselves,” he says. “In my opinion,
there’s nothing else like it in the market.
Because of this, I believe we have so much
potential for fu \