The GameChanger Story
GameChanger was founded by Larry Popelka, former VP of marketing at Clorox and Sandy Brawley, former Clorox National sales manager. From 2002-07 Popelka and Brawley established and led a corporate innovation and ventures team for Clorox CEO Jerry Johnston.
Over the course of 5 years, with less than 10% of the company’s innovation budget, Popelka and Brawley’s team generated approximately 70% of the company’s growth from innovation, including Green Works cleaners, Clorox Toilet Wand, Clorox Anywhere and others.
In 2004, Monitor Consulting called our ventures program at Clorox “The Best Approach we’ve seen to corporate ventures in consumer products.”
GameChanger was established in 2007 to make Popelka and Brawley’s approaches available broadly. The GameChanger process is unique in that it combines fast and flexible entrepreneurial techniques with big company skills and knowledge to drive more impactful, cost-effective growth and innovation.
The GameChanger Team
GameChanger is comprised of leading packaged goods industry executives who have also been involved with successful start-ups. Our team has a full set of skills and is capable of developing and incubating products from concept to launch, with expertise in Marketing, Consumer Research, Design, Sales, General Management and Shopper Insights.
Larry Popelka
Larry, former VP of Marketing, Global Development and New Ventures at Clorox is CEO of GameChanger. Larry led corporate innovation, strategy and acquisitions for Clorox. Successes include: Green Works Cleaners, Clorox Toilet Wand, Armor All and the $2B Glad acquisition.
Sandy Brawley
Sandy, former Clorox Co. National Sales Manager, is President of GameChanger. Sandy managed Clorox’s top level relationships with Wal-Mart, Target and other major retailers. At GameChanger, Sandy helps manufacturers build strong partnerships with leading retailers and test products through our retail Learning Lab™.
Cindy Bath
Cindy spent over 20 years at P&G and Clorox as Market Research Director, Marketing Director and Sam’s Club team leader. She developed and launched Clorox Wipes, a $300M brand, and co-founded Master Replicas, a $50M company. Cindy manages the GameChanger consumer panel.
Bob Hill
Bob is a former executive of Nestle USA and Quaker Oats, and was recently President of Kern’s Beverages, reversing negative business trends to post +25% growth. He has successfully consulted for a variety of small to mid-sized food companies as well as consumer technology companies such as Hewlett-Packard.
Jonathan Tofel
Jonathan has been a marketing leader at P&G and Orange Glo International, with efforts on Olay, Pert Plus, Physique, Oxi-Clean and Kaboom. He has also helped Clorox, Whitewave Foods and others create breakthrough new brands.
Anne French
Anne, former P&G marketer, was instrumental in the successful growth of Bare Escentuals cosmetics line. She also founded the innovation consulting firm French & Skelton, and led the transformation of Johnson & Johnson’s KY Brand, which has more than doubled.
Frank Pisciotto
Frank, former Consumer Insights Director at Clorox, is a partner at GameChanger. Frank has over 20 years of consumer research experience and led research efforts across Clorox’s Laundry, Cleaning, Automotive, Food and Pet Care product categories. Frank also led Clorox’s Shopper Insights research program with retailers.
Wilmer Fong
Wilmer has 30 years of package and graphic design experience, with awards from Print, Graphic Design USA and HOW magazines. Prior work includes: Hidden Valley Ranch, Armor All, Dreyer’s, Clorox, Nestle. Wilmer incorporates strategic marketing insights with attractive, purposeful graphics that sell.