Meet John Roush

With over 20 years of experience in strategic planning, promotions and events, John Roush has been both a leader and an active participant in the explosive growth of the promotional marketing and event marketing industry. As Founder and President of Geronimo Promotional Marketing, as well as President of two other Promo 100 agencies, he has created and managed cutting edge programs of almost every type. From traditional tactics such as sweepstakes and sampling to high profile events in Times Square and Rockefeller Center, he has continuously created innovative, new ways to use creative strategies and tactics to generate sales and market share while simultaneously enhancing a brand’s image.

Prior to founding Geronimo Promotions in 1998, he created and managed Griffin Promotions, a division of the ad agency Laughlin / Constable, from 1993 to 1998, and the Sales Promotion Division of DCI Marketing from 1989 to 1993. Both of these agencies were honored as PROMO 100 agencies during his tenure and DCI Marketing was recognized as the largest marketing services company in the U. S. at that time. Prior to 1989, Mr. Roush served in Senior Management positions at Frankel & Company and Flair Communications, both among the largest agencies in the country at the time. He also attended graduate business school at Northwestern University, did strategic planning for the Chairman of the Board of Beatrice Foods and worked at the management consulting firm, Booz, Allen and Hamilton.

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Meet John Roush

With over 20 years of experience in strategic planning, promotions and events, John Roush has been both a leader and an active participant in the explosive growth of the promotional marketing and event marketing industry. As Founder and President of Geronimo Promotional Marketing, as well as President of two other Promo 100 agencies, he has created and managed cutting edge programs of almost every type. From traditional tactics such as sweepstakes and sampling to high profile events in Times Square and Rockefeller Center, he has continuously created innovative, new ways to use creative strategies and tactics to generate sales and market share while simultaneously enhancing a brand’s image.

Prior to founding Geronimo Promotions in 1998, he created and managed Griffin Promotions, a division of the ad agency Laughlin / Constable, from 1993 to 1998, and the Sales Promotion Division of DCI Marketing from 1989 to 1993. Both of these agencies were honored as PROMO 100 agencies during his tenure and DCI Marketing was recognized as the largest marketing services company in the U. S. at that time. Prior to 1989, Mr. Roush served in Senior Management positions at Frankel & Company and Flair Communications, both among the largest agencies in the country at the time. He also attended graduate business school at Northwestern University, did strategic planning for the Chairman of the Board of Beatrice Foods and worked at the management consulting firm, Booz, Allen and Hamilton.

Articles & Posts

As an innovator and leader in the promotional marketing and events industries, John Roush has been called on to produce articles, speeches and blogs throughout his career.

Why do Events

By John Roush

After any discussion about an event marketing campaign or experiential marketing tour, almost inevitably the first question I get asked by anyone who is advertising-centric is: why should we do an event that reaches tens of thousands of people, when I can do an ad for the same amount of money that reaches millions?

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The Other Half of Social Media

By John Roush

One rarely hears the term "sales promotion" any more. Instead, the conversation around the conference table is usually about some aspect of social media. Gamification, user interface, hashtags, big data, engagement marketing, cost-per-click and a host of other digital-centric buzz words often obscure the bottom line of marketing: sales and profits.

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The New Face of Promotional Marketing

By John Roush

It has been a long time since a lion of the advertising industry roundly damned and dismissed sales promotion by saying that it only served to detract from the critical brand image. Sadly, that perspective of the promotional marketing business still resides in vast population.

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Is Sales Promotion Dead?

By John Roush

Someone recently posted the sentiment that sales promotion was dead. However, as Mark Twain put it: "Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated." Not only is promotional marketing alive and kicking, but I guarantee that it will be around as long as there is a need for marketing for one simple reason: it works.

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Creativity is not for Sissies

By John Roush

What did Galileo, Jesus and Elvis have in common? Give up? Each of them broke the rules.....and in doing so, each changed the world. Some call it "out of the box" thinking, some call it "leading edge" thinking.... but I like to think of it as simply breaking the rules.

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Twelve Keys to Management Success in the Agency Biz

By John Roush

The first tip is that almost everyone starts at the bottom, and until you show everyone that can you do the basic stuff well without complaining or dropping a ball, you aren't going anywhere. Then they will start piling stuff on. You still cannot drop a ball.

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