Scott Woodward: Marketing Man

Scott Woodward’s career has been a work in progress. First, as a corporate brand marketer for the iconic brands Ray-Ban, Calvin Klein, and Movado Group, pioneering the chief marketing officer role there, then pivoting to becoming an agency founder of his creative brand marketing firm SEW Branded and most recently joining Parsons School of Design as an adjunct professor teaching a 360-degree integrated marketing philosophy to eager students empowered to change the world. All have been wildly different and rewarding, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Out of graduate school with an MBA at 23, he joined and completed Chevron USA in their marketing training program. However, oil wasn’t for him. On a whim, he applied to a Wall Street Journal job posting for an international analyst position at Bausch & Lomb, the parent company of Ray-Ban sunglasses, and got the job.

The games officially had begun for him, as he enjoyed an almost a decade-long stint there, ascending the heights of product management and becoming Ray-Ban’s first global director at just 30, establishing a global marketing team in New York City and meeting his mentor advertising legend, Peter Arnell, with whom he would collaborate for the next decade on the Men-in-Black featuring Ray-Ban integration, globalizing and branding the iconic accessory into a fashion brand and developing its first flagship store to burnish its legend, as part of their Olympic sponsorship. He also collaborated with Aaron Spelling, integrating the sunglasses into his most popular television shows.

He later moved to image icon Calvin Klein as a senior marketing executive on their retail expansion of CK concept stores throughout Europe, opening the Tel Aviv store. He soon moved into a new role that pioneered harnessing consumer insights for the brand to expand into new categories, including luxury designer apparel for children and teens.

While at Calvin Klein, an executive recruiter came calling for a new role at Movado Group to evolve their in-house agency capability and infuse new thinking into their marketing approach. He served as chief marketing officer there, pioneering that role in the industry and managing the image for the company’s portfolio of luxury watch brands, including Movado, Concord, ESQ, Coach, and Tommy Hilfiger. He built marketing momentum for its portfolio with cohesive messaging creating 360° synergy in advertising, media, public relations, retail, visual merchandising, digital, research, and insights, culminating in the campaign re-brand for Concord Watch, “Be Late, Time is a Luxury.”

Later, a B&L mentor became CMO at Office Depot, which led to several years of successful partnerships that created breakthrough and award-winning work, and an early anti-bullying platform aimed at students, parents, and kids in schools throughout America. Woodward did Lady Gaga’s First Kindness Campaign and one year later repeated it with pop sensations One Direction. He wrote it early one morning in an hour, and it went on to be produced and win the Clio Award as best in the Film category. In addition, Woodward was honored with Hetrick Martin’s Emery Award for his inventive work and for raising millions of dollars for anti-bullying alongside activist Chelsea Clinton and author David Mixner.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, he accepted an invitation to teach Marketing, PR, and Branding at Parsons School of Design. He was at the beginning of the third chapter of his career. He taught two semesters and enjoyed sharing his professional experiences with a new generation ready to succeed him and heal the world.

He considered Parsons as a high-schooler but was steered toward a more traditional path at and graduated from Loyola University New Orleans, which he gives credit for igniting his love of cause marketing and giving back as part of the Jesuit tradition. Teaching as an adjunct professor at Parsons, the number one-ranked design school in the nation brings it full circle.

The three career acts of Scott Woodward have been the biggest re-brand he’s undertaken, with the risk, ride, and reward worth it. He is a marketing veteran with the purpose to encourage the brand and bring positive change to make the world a better and kinder place to #livelovemove.

Woodward’s most recent work is on branding and creating the New York International Fashion Film festival with its founder and friend, as well as on a new bio-driven fabric with photosynthesis technology.

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Tags: Fashion, marketing, Scott Woodward

About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.