ABOUT PETER C. LOCASCIO

Peter LoCascio has been helping companies successfully market and sell products for over 40 years. These companies comprise a mix of Fortune 500 firms and venture-backed start-ups in such diverse markets as:

One of Peter’s key strengths is his ability to assess and seize market opportunities — to help small companies grow quickly and to ensure large corporations retain and increase market share. For example, OrCAD Systems Corporation, under Peter’s guidance, capitalized on the market need for inexpensive computer-aided engineering software.

As VP of Marketing and Sales, he directed all advertising, public relations, marketing and worldwide distribution for this self-funded start-up firm. To ensure an effective sales organization, he created a contingent of exclusive stocking representative distributors, which became one of the most successful distribution networks in the electronics industry.

To stimulate sales, he developed effective pull-through advertising programs such as the “Advertorial” series, which combined advertising and public relations in one piece. Under Peter’s guidance, OrCAD adopted other successful sales techniques — free product demonstration disks, 30-day money-back guarantees, no hardware protection, credit card purchases, one-year free warranties, telemarketing, and effective trade show participation. As a result, OrCAD quickly dominated the electronics industry CAE category in sales, name recognition, product awareness, and perceived value. In three years, over 27,000 software packages were sold and the company saw a meteoric rise in sales to nearly $8 million. During that period, OrCAD was named by the Portland Chamber of Commerce one of Oregon’s Top 10 Fastest Growing Corporations.

OrCAD was a blank slate, an opportunity for Peter to apply the many marketing and sales skills he had gained through years of experience. He had learned sales and marketing techniques from some of the best at world class companies such as Memorex, Beckman Instruments, Kawasaki Motors, and Tektronix. At the same time, he developed his own style, bringing his own contributions and innovations to each organization. For example, as an effective member of the marketing team that developed the famed “Is it Live or is it Memorex” promotion, Peter helped Memorex Corporation increase market share with the successful introduction of a new audio tape. His contribution was to direct the first Consumer Electronics Show for this product and manage the central literature lead processing center that ensured its success. Kawasaki Motors, USA, furthered Peter’s consumer marketing career. At Kawasaki, he managed a $12 million advertising/sales promotion budget that included print and broadcast media as well as direct mail and event sponsorship. Part of his responsibilities entailed keeping over 1500 dealerships nationwide supplied with the latest strategic direction and marketing materials in the frenetic motorcycle, jet ski and snowmobile markets. To help with this effort, he created a monthly sales publication, “The Science of Selling,” written expressly for dealers and containing a wealth of sales information and helpful tips. Prior to his experience at Kawasaki, Peter spent seven years at Beckman Instruments, supporting seven product lines on the cutting edge of the scientific and biomedical instrument market. Here, There, he helped implement the first TASK marketing communications program. The TASK program was Beckman’s initial effort at management by objectives (MBO), then considered an innovative approach. The result was superior communications and exact control and management of marketing communications budgets.

Moving to the Pacific Northwest in 1984, Peter became the marketing communications manager for the portable oscilloscope product line at Tektronix, a company in need of a fresh new approach to marketing. He helped provide the needed innovation by creating comprehensive advertising and public relations support for an innovative telemarketing direct sales program. The program was a success, increasing sales at a significantly reduced sales cost. It is still in place today. While at Tek, Peter also introduced the concept of worldwide new product introductions. Tek, for the first time, saw simultaneous international and national introductions of a new scope product, including sales training, literature and advertising support materials in each country’s native language.