Ryan Morgan

About Ryan Morgan

Hi, I\'m Ryan. I’m a writer and strategist, and for the past 12 years I’ve been using my voice to help build the brand of the next great American ice cream company. I believe that words matter—both what you say and how you say it—but most important is what you do, and why. Does it align? The best marketing is often great operations. I believe in doing the emotional work of using your humanity to make a personal connection by being vulnerable. I believe you can feel when it’s real. I believe in people, first. It’s always about the people. How is the relationship? I believe the details build the experience and the experience builds the brand. I believe that business is the ultimate competitive team sport. And that playing alongside good, talented people while doing something that’s never been done before is one of the funnest things you can do—but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Most people don’t have the stomach. I’m an early Jeni’s employee (#6 at HQ). In different iterations of the company—from startup mode through scaling up—I’ve led wholesale, social media, digital, e-commerce, marketing, customer experience, brand partnerships, brand strategy, and communications, flexing when it was needed and moving between roles with ease. I have a way with words that can change how people think and feel, and I can connect dots that other people can’t see. Those are my gifts.

Experience

1. Head of Brand Strategy

   Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

   Mar 2010 — Present · Columbus, OH, US

   My role has evolved continuously in pace with our business as we launched a wholesale channel, opened 40ish new scoop shops, and grew our online shop at jenis.com. I was the first person dedicated to growing our wholesale business, adding over 100 locations in the first 12 months. I led the earliest version of our marketing team through our first website replatform, Jeni’s first national book tour, and the opening of our first shop outside of Ohio. I led the development of a robust, mature, and distributed social media presence, earning coverage from Inc, Internet Retailer, and Ad Age, etc. I built and led the team responsible for integrated digital strategy and execution, and we became known for doing digital well, not just social. I architected the second relaunch of jenis.com—from static desktop site to flexible content delivery system—making it the hub of our online publishing presence with a focus on visual storytelling. I co-led strategy for our first direct mail catalog and our first subscription product, increasing online holiday revenue that year by 50+%. I led our communications response team during a nationwide voluntary product recall in 2015. Our handling of the crisis was written up in Fast Company and lauded by crisis-management experts and PR pros. I took on co-ownership of the brand experience across all customer touch points, so there was always someone speaking on behalf of our customers at the operations table. I led the cross-functional team that reimagined our shipping box experience, and now you see Jeni\'s unboxing content all over IG. I’ve been responsible for making certain we’re telling the best true stories we can about who we are, what we do, and why. And for making sure there was always a line around the block when we opened new shops. Right now, as the head of communications, beyond key messaging and collaborating on PR, I lead brand partnerships, social and influencer strategy, and our customer advocate team.

Education

• Miami University

  Bachelor of Arts, Creative Writing

  1996 — 2000