Carol Mabe

I was flattered and challenged when Carol Mabe asked me to create a logo, stationery, brochure, flyers and a website for her brand development and strategic planning consultancy. Early in her 30-year corporate career, Carol had been an art director, and during her many years in major-league marketing, she worked with a number of the world’s leading advertising agencies and designers. I consider the writing and design work I did for her among my best.

Services Brochure

Ideas, Insights & Inspirations

Carol Mabe
Brand Development & Strategic Planning

First inside flap

I’ve worked on all kinds of branding campaigns with some of the best marketing companies in the world helping me out, and I’m telling you, nobody can brand better than Carol Mabe. She’s just fabulous, terrific—the best of the best.

David L. Edgell, Sr., Ph.D.
Tourism Professor, Author & Consultant

Carol came in and very quickly grasped concepts that have, for years, been misunderstood. She was able to get buy-in from people who originally thought the branding effort would lead nowhere. She involved people who weren’t used to being asked to articulate what they think and she made them feel valued. The project was about branding, but the process—which seemed amazing to me—was all about leadership. Ultimately, the brand gave us focus. We could finally say what we were about in a way that would be remembered. The work Carol did made it very easy to communicate who we are and why we’re important.

Karla Hughes, Ph.D.
Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs
Morehead State University
Former Dean, College of Human Ecology
East Carolina University

Because of her many years of corporate experience, Carol was able to lead our foundation through the strategic planning process as smoothly and efficiently as anyone I’ve ever seen. The resulting plan gives us a roadmap, complete with mile markers, so we not only know exactly where we’re going, but also exactly where we are along the way.

Bill Clark, President
East Carolina University Foundation

Inside panels

‘A superstar in every respect’

A successful, respected leader in consumer products marketing, Carol Mabe is a proven expert in the art and science of consumer brand marketing, having helped build some of the world’s best-recognized, most successful brands including Hanes, Hanes Her Way, L’eggs, Victoria’s Secret, Lee, Wrangler and Russell Athletic. In a series of top-level executive positions dedicated to business strategy, she also charted the future course of several major multi-national corporations with outstanding results.

‘Bright, creative and fun to work with’

People who have worked with Carol, both as colleagues and clients, are unstinting in their praise of her, both personally and professionally.

As one colleague notes, “Carol’s intellect, her creativity, her people skills, her unassuming manner and her ability to make things happen are only a few of the qualities to talk about.”

A previous employee remembers Carol as “extremely easy to work with and very warm and engaging.”

The owner of a brand Carol helped acquire calls her “sharp, ethical and effective.”

A former boss describes her as “bright, creative and fun to work with.”

A strength that serves Carol’s consulting clients particularly well is her ability to assess circumstances quickly and hone in immediately on essential issues—often identifying previously underestimated or overlooked opportunities for advancement and success.

According to a former co-worker, “When it comes to grasping a situation, figuring out what needs to be done and communicating that, she’s one of the quickest and most effective people I’ve ever been around.”

Clients also appreciate Carol’s gift for finding solutions that are creative as well as realistic. A mergers and acquisitions expert familiar with Carol’s work observes, “Carol is very creative. At the same time, she’s practical in her approach. She appreciates the financial implications of her ideas and recommendations.”

Many who know her best admire Carol’s participatory leadership style and her innate ability to connect with and involve people at all levels of an organization. As a result, the problem-solving solutions Carol helps shape typically are owned and embraced throughout the organization.

‘Truly transformational’

Carol’s proprietary processes for branding and strategic planning are firmly grounded in real-world experience. Her consulting services are designed to produce specific, measurable results across a broad range of circumstances.

In addition to receiving the promised services and deliverables, most who work with Carol find themselves and their organizations renewed and revitalized by the consulting process itself. A colleague observes, “Carol is able to lead groups, to lead individuals, to lead an entire organization’s thinking in ways that are truly transformational.”

Your Brand, Your Plan

Could you and your organization benefit from fresh perspectives and strategies, tailored expressly for you by a proven planning and branding authority? Would you like to see your organization and the people in it empowered by a new clarity of focus and direction?

How might your day, your week, your year be improved if you were following a well-thought-out plan? How much more responsive would your customers or clients be to your products or services if they were effectively branded?

Could you benefit, as so many others have, from Carol Mabe’s services?

Your Next Steps

The best way to find out is to contact Carol for a free, no-obligation assessment of your needs and a frank appraisal of your organization’s potential “fit” with her service offerings.

If you and Carol agree you can benefit from a relationship, she will prepare a proposal in which she outlines issues and opportunities to be addressed, services and deliverables to be provided, project scheduling and fees.

Once the engagement begins and throughout the consultation, Carol manages the process every step of the way, collaborating with you and your colleagues to achieve the results you want efficiently and effectively.

Carol is eager to hear from you. To explore the many ways your organization can benefit from her services, contact her directly.

Back panel

Your Brand. Your Plan.

Carol M. Mabe is an independent consultant offering ideas, insights and inspirations in brand development, strategic planning and leadership development based on her successful 33-year career in management and marketing for a number of the world’s leading retail brands.

A talented speaker and workshop leader, Carol works primarily with clients in business, the not-for-profit sector and higher education. Using her proprietary, step-by-step systems for positioning brands, setting strategic directions and honing leadership skills, she’s ready to help you achieve your most ambitious goals and dreams.

To discuss your brand development and strategic plans, or to book Carol as a speaker, contact her directly.

1403 Napper Drive
Greensboro, NC 27455

Phone 336 286-9908
Fax 336 286-3126
Mobile 336 207-3923

carol@carolmabe.com
www.carolmabe.com

Promotional Flyers

The Power of a Brand

Look in any clothes closet or dresser drawer, and chances are you’ll find a brand Carol Mabe helped build. Through her proprietary brand positioning system, Carol distills three decades of experience as a big-brand insider into a step-by-step process to brand your products and services effectively and, in that process, transform your organization.

Carol has worked directly with such powerhouse brands as Hanes, L’eggs, Donna Karan and Liz Claiborne Hosiery, Hanes and Hanes Her Way Underwear, Victoria’s Secret, Lee and Wrangler Jeans and Russell Athletic. With such masterful brand-building as her legacy, she knows effective branding derived from powerful positioning is key to success in any market, forming the basis of strategic direction, business development, marketing and communications. A strong brand gives you both a competitive advantage and improved earnings.

The Power of Experience

While in various corporate roles, Carol’s creative and strategic branding ideas and brand-building techniques:

• Defined untapped consumer segments
• Created new products and brand extensions
• Expanded synergistic brand portfolios
• Drove brand acquisitions
• Built underdeveloped businesses and revitalized mature brands
• Impacted global brand positioning
• Ultimately grew revenues and market share for a host of venerable brands

The Power of Carol’s Brand Positioning Process

Carol’s brand development system is based on rock-solid, real-world-tested principles, applicable to virtually any product or service in any industry or sector. Using a highly interactive technique involving key thought leaders across your organization, you will:

• Assess your competitive marketplace,
• Address current perceptions of your brand, business or organization,
• Define your target consumers,
• Identify your core values and brand essence,
• Isolate your unique Point of Difference and
• Develop a powerful brand positioning, laying the foundation for future success.

Her most recent consulting and speaking engagements on branding and brand positioning have been to such diverse audiences and organizations as a travel and tourism group, a veterinary practice, a group of university librarians, the sales force of a specialty foods manufacturer and an information products entrepreneur.

The Power of Your Brand

As an independent consultant, Carol Mabe is available to help businesses and organizations master the principles of branding and define their unique and powerful brand positioning as the foundation for all future marketing, communications, and business development efforts. To discuss how your organization can benefit from her proprietary brand development program, contact Carol today.

Testimonials

I’ve worked on all kinds of branding campaigns with some of the best marketing companies in the world helping me out, and I’m telling you, nobody can brand better than Carol Mabe. She’s just fabulous, terrific—the best of the best.

David L. Edgell, Sr., Ph.D.
Tourism Professor, Author & Consultant

Carol’s exposure, at the highest levels, to a variety of organizations, product categories and business situations gives her such a rich background and broad perspective to draw from. Based on that experience, she’s able to zero in on the problem, bring the right people together, motivate them and guide them to actively participate in reaching the best possible solutions.

Roanne Wallace
Director of Marketing
Innovative Brands, LLC

Carol is very creative and is able to articulate that creativity in a way people can understand. At the same time, she’s practical in her approach. She appreciates the financial implications of her ideas and recommendations. That combination of creativity, communication skill and practicality adds a lot of value in any business situation.

Floyd G. Hoffman
Corporate Development Officer, VC South
Former Senior Vice President
Russell Corporation

Carol truly is an expert in the field of branding. She figures out the emotional side of a brand and makes sure any recommendations she makes go very deep into the soul of a brand—not just something that’s surface level. She understands that a brand is a very complex identity, and it has to have buy-in from the organization that owns it so they can then bring that brand to its highest potential with customers and consumers.

Trish Martin, Principal
Mosaic Marketing Group, Inc.

The Power of Strategic Planning

No plan, no future. If you don’t have a roadmap, you don’t know where you’re going or how to get there.

Jerold Panas, Author

Strategic planning is essential to managing and growing any brand, business or organization effectively. Well-formulated strategic direction transforms organizations and serves as an essential catalyst for immediate and lasting success. Clarifying who you are, what you do and where you are going inspires people in your organization to articulate and rally around a common purpose. A sound, expertly-crafted strategic plan can mean the difference between success and failure.

In particular, a strategic plan is vitally important for organizations in transition or facing turmoil. When your organization has…

• Experienced a significant change in leadership,
• Grown too quickly, or has stopped growing at all,
• Become overly complex or fragmented, or
• Lost its focus or a sense of clear direction…

You are in critical need of a clear, sound strategic plan.

The Power of Experience

In addition to a successful record as a brand strategist, Carol has held senior strategic positions in several multi-billion dollar corporations, leveraging her strengths as a strategic thinker. In the process, she:

• Built long-range growth strategies for a myriad of brands and businesses
• Strategically repositioned heritage brands such as Hanes Hosiery and Russell Athletic
• Developed initial strategic plans for newly acquired companies in South Africa for Sara Lee
• Led development of new global brand positioning for Lee and Wrangler jeans
• Crafted acquisition strategies for VF Corporation
• Directed development of a sweeping change in vision, mission and strategy, redefining and redirecting Russell Corporation after 100 years

Carol has proven that strategic planning is energizing and powerful for any organization.

The Power of Carol’s Strategic Planning Process

Carol has distilled her strategic planning savvy into her own proprietary system, applicable for use by anyone who understands the value and necessity of preparing intelligently and effectively to face the future. Through an inclusive and challenging interactive process with your organization’s management and key thought leaders, Carol enables you to:

• Assess strengths and weaknesses
• Identify issues and opportunities
• Examine competitive factors and external perceptions
• Identify and clearly state core values
• Clarify your vision for success
• Articulate your primary mission
• Set key goals and
• Formulate strategies and action plans to realize your vision.

The Power of Your Strategic Plan

As an independent consultant, Carol Mabe is available to help businesses and organizations develop sound, effective strategic plans. To discuss how your organization can benefit from her powerful planning process, contact Carol today.

Testimonial

Because of her many years of corporate experience, Carol Mabe was able to lead our foundation through the strategic planning process as smoothly and efficiently as anyone I’ve ever seen. The resulting plan gives us a roadmap, complete with mile markers, so we not only know exactly where we’re going, but also exactly where we are along the way.

Bill Clark, President
East Carolina
University Foundation

The Softer Side of Leadership

Throughout her many years in management, Carol Mabe has relied heavily on her strengths as an intuitive leader.

She attributes much of her career success to a set of core values underlying what she calls “the softer side of leadership.” Through decades supervising employees for major corporations, as well as in volunteer roles for non-profits and in higher education, Carol has been cited time and again as an effective manager, exceptional motivator and inspirational leader.

Carol believes developing leadership skills to be a lifelong pursuit that requires continuous learning, observation and experience. She particularly enjoys sharing her ideas and insights into just what it takes to be a more effective, more inspiring, more respected leader, not only in the workplace, but in all of life.

Carol’s most recent leadership development presentations include Coles College of Business Lipton Distinguished Speaker Series, Kennesaw State University, a keynote address to the Eastern North Carolina Women Leaders in Business Seminar, the Chancellor’s Leadership Forum at East Carolina University and the 20th Annual Beta Gamma Sigma Distinguished Lecture Series for East Carolina’s College of Business.

Recently described by a client as a “captivating” speaker on leadership development, Carol is availble now to excite, educate and inspire members of your organization or management team to become better leaders.

Testimonial

Carol was an exceedingly popular speaker at our conference. She has a really compelling presence you notice the instant she walks onto the stage. Her presentations are crisp and clear, with just the right amount of humor. She’s also excellent at thinking on her feet and responding to questions. I’ve never known anyone who could say so much in so few words. She has such a wonderful grasp of the right, powerful words to get the message across. And she does it with such ease. She’s just a natural-born speaker.

David L. Edgell, Sr., Ph.D.
Tourism Professor, Author & Consultant

About Carol Mabe

Carol M. Mabe is an exceptionally well-qualified independent consultant offering ideas, insights and inspirations in brand development, strategic planning and leadership development to clients in business, higher education and the non-profit sector.

A successful, respected leader in consumer products marketing, Carol is a proven expert in the art and science of consumer brand marketing, having helped build some of the world’s best-recognized, most successful brands, including Hanes, Hanes Her Way, L’eggs, Victoria’s Secret, Lee, Wrangler and Russell Athletic.

After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree, magna cum laude, from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, Carol began her career as a graphic designer, advancing from art director to manager of marketing communications for a financial services company before making her pivotal move to consumer goods marketing in 1981.

She spent her first 13 years in major-league consumer brand marketing with Sara Lee Corporation, where she advanced through a series of increasingly influential executive positions including vice-president of marketing for Hanes Hosiery, vice-president and general manager of Hanes Her Way Underwear, and senior vice-president of marketing for Hanes and Hanes Her Way Underwear.

From Sara Lee, Columbus, Ohio-based Victoria’s Secret Stores recruited Carol to serve as vice president of marketing, introducing proven consumer branding techniques to an already high-visibility brand. Three years later, she joined VF Corporation, in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she served as vice president of strategic marketing for the company’s $3.5 billion VF Jeanswear division, marketers of Lee, Wrangler, Riders, Rustler and Brittania jeans, focusing on global brand positioning and corporate acquisition strategies.

In 1999, Carol joined Russell Corporation as president of retail for Russell Athletic. Russell Corporation is a $1.4 billion international sporting goods company, based in Atlanta, marketing active wear, athletic wear, team uniforms and sports equipment. In July 2000, she was promoted to president and COO of Russell Athletic and elected a corporate vice president. The next year, she was named president and CEO of Russell Athletic.

Before retiring from corporate life in 2004, Carol spent two years as vice president of strategic development for Russell Corporation, a position leveraging her talent for identifying, evaluating and pursuing growth opportunities and expansion strategies, working with brands including Russell Athletic, Spalding, Jerzees, Mossy Oak, Bike Athletic and Moving Comfort.

While with Russell, Carol served on the Executive Committee of the Kennesaw State University Foundation Board of Trustees in Atlanta, the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association International in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Board of Directors of P.E.4LIFE in Washington, DC, and the Executive Committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She also served as Co-Chair of the Atlanta Local Organizing Committee for the 2003 National NCAA Women’s Final Four Basketball Championship.

Previously, Carol served on the boards of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the United Way of Winston-Salem (NC) and Forsyth County and the Crosby Charity Golf Tournament. She chaired the Forsyth County YWCA’s 1994 Capital Campaign and served as a loaned executive for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County United Way.

Currently, Carol is a member of the East Carolina University Board of Trustees and is vice-chair of the East Carolina University Foundation Board of Directors. She also serves on the Merchandising Advisory Board for the university’s College of Human Ecology. East Carolina honored Carol for her career achievements in 2002 with its Outstanding Alumni Award and again in 2007, when as part of its centennial celebration, the university named her one of “100 Incredible ECU Women.”

Carol Mabe’s Career Highlights

Before establishing her consultancy, Carol Mabe spent more than 30 years gaining real-world experience. These are the highlights of her corporate career.

From 1999 through 2004, Carol worked for Russell Corporation, based in Atlanta, in these positions:

• Vice-President, Strategic Development, and Corporate Vice President
• President, Chief Executive Officer, Russell Athletic
• President, Chief Operating Officer, Russell Athletic, and Corporate Vice-President
  President, Retail, Russell Athletic

From 1997 to 1999, Carol worked for VF Jeanswear, Inc., a division of VF Corporation, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, as Vice-President of Strategic Marketing.

Carol spent three years, from 1994 through 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, working for Victoria’s Secret Stores as Vice President of Marketing.

From 1981 through 1994, Carol advanced through a series of positions for several of Sara Lee Corporation’s key divisions, including:

• For Sara Lee Knit Products, Senior Vice President for Hanes and Hanes Her Way Underwear and Vice President and General Manager for Hanes Her Way Underwear
• For Sara Lee Hosiery, Vice President of Marketing for Hanes Hosiery, Director of Marketing for Hanes Hosiery and Product Manager for L’eggs Products
• For L’erin Cosmetics, Assistant Product Manager and Marketing Assistant

Carol spent the first ten years of her career, from 1971 through 1981, working for Integon Corporation, an insurance and financial services company based in her hometown, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At Integon, Carol held three positions:

• Marketing Communications Manager
• Art Director
• Graphic designer

University Board Service

• Appointed to the East Carolina University Board of Trustees, Greenville, NC, by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, July 2007. Member of the Audit and Facilities and Resources Committees.
• Vice Chairman, East Carolina University Foundation Board of Directors. Member of the Executive and Board Development Committees. Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee.
• Former member, Executive Committee of the Kennesaw State University Foundation Board of Trustees, Atlanta, GA., serving 2001 to 2005. Chair of the Gifts and Grants Committee. Member of the Real Estate Committee.

Industry & Non-Profit Boards & Activities

• Former member, Board of Directors Executive Committee, Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association International (SGMA), West Palm Beach, FL, and Washington, DC, 2001 through 2003. Represented 1,100 members from the $60 billion sporting goods industry.
• Former member, Board of Directors, P.E.4LIFE, Washington, DC, 2001 through 2003. The industry organization, formed in 2001 to promote fitness for children, successfully lobbied Congress for $160 million in federal grant money for local school district educational programs during tenure.
• Former member, Executive Committee, of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors 2003.
• Former Co-Chair, 2003 NCAA Women’s Final Four Basketball Championship, Local Organizing Committee for the city of Atlanta, generating record attendance of 30,000 spectators and $28 million in revenues for metro Atlanta.
• Former Executive Committee Member, Board of Directors, Association of National Advertisers (ANA), New York, NY.
• Former member, Board of Directors, The Fashion Group International, Charlotte, NC, chapter.
• Former Chair, Winston-Salem, NC, YWCA 1994 Capital Campaign to fund new pool facility for physical therapy and cardiac rehab.
• Former member, Board of Directors, and Marketing Committee Chair, The Crosby Celebrity Golf Tournament, raising more than $1 million annually for charity.
• Former Loaned Executive to the United Way.

Awards & Recognition

• Recognized for outstanding leadership as one of 100 Incredible ECU Women honored during East Carolina University’s Centennial Celebration, 2007.
• Beta Gamma Sigma Distinguished Lecture Series Speaker, East Carolina University College of Business, 2007.
• East Carolina University Chancellor’s Leadership Forum Speaker, 2006.
• Outstanding Alumni Award Recipient, East Carolina University, 2002.
• Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series Speaker, Cole School of Business, Kennesaw State University, 2002.
• Erwin Zaban Prize for Entrepreneurial Spirit, Kennesaw State University Foundation, 2003.

Testimonials

Because of her many years of corporate experience, Carol Mabe was able to lead our foundation through the strategic planning process as smoothly and efficiently as anyone I’ve ever seen. The resulting plan gives us a roadmap, complete with mile markers, so we not only know exactly where we’re going, but also exactly where we are along the way.

Bill Clark, President
East Carolina
University Foundation

Carol is able to bring a fresh perspective, to lead groups, to lead individuals, to lead an organization’s thinking in ways that are truly transformational.

Roanne Wallace
Director of Marketing
Innovative Brands, LLC

Carol came in and very quickly grasped concepts that have, for years, been misunderstood. She was able to get buy-in from people who originally thought the effort would lead nowhere. She involved people who weren’t used to being asked to articulate what they think and she made them feel valued. Ultimately, she gave us focus. We could finally say what we were about in a way that would be remembered. The work Carol did made it very easy to communicate who we are and why we’re important.

Karla Hughes, Ph.D.
Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs
Morehead State University
Former Dean, College of Human Ecology
East Carolina University

Carol Mabe’s Website