Awards & Press

Ovative Hires VP Eric Gohs to Raise the Bar with First-Party Data 

Eric Gohs

Minneapolis, MN, February 8, 2023 Ovative Group, an independent media and measurement firm, named their newest Vice President of Consulting, Eric Gohs, out of Columbus, Ohio. Gohs will lead Ovative clients through innovative problem-solving to help them understand, analyze, and activate their first-party data and create more seamless customer experiences.

Gohs has 25 years of experience creating and leading high-performing teams at top brands, including Lands’ End, Express, Ann Taylor, LOFT, CDW, and Lane Bryant. He has spearheaded digital transformations across these organizations including e-commerce and mobile strategy, customer segmentation and personalization, advanced measurement, media activation, and more. He will report to Jo Hamburge, SVP of Consulting at Ovative. 

“One of the biggest opportunities facing our clients is the ability to harness first-party data – to determine customer and audience segments, develop marketing and activation strategies, and ultimately, grow customer engagement and enterprise revenue. I am very excited for the expertise Eric brings to our strong team, and I am confident our clients and team will benefit greatly from his leadership.” – Jo Hamburge, SVP of Consulting  

Gohs’ role will help Ovative transform the measure of marketing success. Ovative created a new approach to measure and optimize marketing investment, called Enterprise Marketing Return, replacing ROAS as the gold standard media metric. When moving from ROAS to EMR, clients remix between 25-40% of their marketing spend, and within the first 12 months experience a 25% increase in return. This is a powerful unlock for Ovative’s new VP of Consulting, as Gohs will work to diagnose and solve business problems and marketing challenges that prevent clients from accelerating enterprise growth.   

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Ovative at this time of amazing growth for the team. As a former client for six years, I know firsthand how working with Ovative can unlock value for an organization. I’m eager to build on that foundation and help our clients evolve and transform their digital IQ while realizing greater potential in their businesses.” – Eric Gohs, VP of Consulting 

Ovative is home to a national team of industry experts. Gohs is no exception, having spoken nationally at SXSW, Shop.org, and many other industry conferences and currently serves on the advisory board of CommerceNext. We are proud to welcome Eric Gohs’ perspective to Ovative. 


About Ovative Group 

Ovative Group is an independent media and measurement firm that helps clients drive and deliver measurable marketing performance. Founded in 2009 byDale Nitschke, Ovative brings media, measurement, and consulting together under one roof to measure the holistic impact of marketing on clients’ total business using its proprietary metric, Enterprise Marketing Return (EMR). Ovative’s team of marketing experts serves as a trusted partner for its national world-class client base of marketing leaders across many industries. Ovative is recognized as an industry leader and has received awards including Star Tribune’s Top Workplaces, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Fast 50, and Inc. 5000. For more information about Ovative, visitovative.comor follow Ovative onFacebook,Instagram,LinkedIn, andTwitter.  


Lillian Smith

Senior Analyst, Paid Social

About the Author

Lillian is a Senior Analyst on the Paid Social team at Ovative.

Dale Nitschke

Dale Nitschke

CEO & Founder

About the Author

Dale is the Founder and CEO of Ovative. After years of operating a large omni-channel business and leading a customer data initiative, Dale knew there was an opportunity to create a marketing firm that helped clients become more customer centric and drove better performance outcomes. A gap existed between business consultancies and advertising agencies that modern marketing approaches demand. He also believed that a strong, healthy culture could attract and develop smart, talented team members. In 2009, he formed Ovative to bring media, measurement, and consulting together under one roof to enable an enterprise approach that drives more revenue and grows clients’ customer base.

Prior to founding Ovative in 2009, Dale spent 23 years at Target Corporation where he served as President of Target.com and grew the ecommerce business from start-up stage to a $1 billion+ business and established the foundation of Target’s Guest database capabilities. Previously he served as SVP Merchandising at the Department Store Division of Dayton Hudson. Dale has advised retailers and brands globally on business, growth, marketing, and measurement transformation strategies.

Outside of Ovative, Dale is a leader on topics including business strategy, change management, and team leadership. He serves on the board of Allergy Amulet and on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison.  He enjoys spending time with his family, up north in northern Wisconsin, playing golf, and cheering on Wisconsin sport teams.

Seth Brand

Senior Manager, Consulting

About the Author

Seth is a Senior Manager on the Consulting team at Ovative.

Amanda McCann

Senior Manager, Consulting

About the Author

Amanda is a Senior Manager on the Consulting team at Ovative, specializing in Retail Media Networks.

Jenny Reinke

Senior Analyst, Measurement Solutions

About the Author

Jenny is a Senior Analyst on the Measurement Solutions team at Ovative.

Annie Zipfel

Executive Vice President, Media

About the Author

Annie is the Executive Vice President of Media at Ovative. She oversees delivery and growth across paid and owned media (digital, traditional, and retail media) and creative services.

Annie has more than 30 years of experience in media, brand management, insights/analytics, marketing, and product. She has also developed large, high-performing teams and built new measurement capabilities. Annie led the marketing team at Andersen Windows & Doors, leading the digital, social, content, customer insights, and creative functions. Prior to that, Annie served in multiple marketing leadership roles at Starbucks, REI, Target, and General Mills, with a keen focus on brand, media, insights, analytics, and measurement.

Annie is an industry leader in brand management, customer insights, e-commerce, social media, and analytics. She enjoys hiking, traveling, cooking, fishing, and spending time with her sweet dog and two sons.

Bonnie Gross

Executive Vice President, Talent Services

About the Author

Bonnie is the Executive Vice President of Talent Services at Ovative. She is responsible for attracting and retaining top talent and creating a culture in which our team thrives personally and professionally. Under Bonnie’s leadership, Ovative has defined an industry leading leadership and development program and transformed our approach to talent recruitment with a focus on diversity, equality and inclusion. Prior to her current role, Bonnie led Ovative’s Client and Business Development team overseeing client satisfaction and new growth opportunities.

Before joining Ovative in 2014, Bonnie spent 13 years at Target Corporate as the VP of digital and Digital Marketing where she led the launch of Cartwheel, an industry-leading social shopping application. Bonnie was the VP of Marketing for Fingerhut for 15 years prior to joining Target.

Leander Cohen

Analyst, Consulting

About the Author

Leander Cohen is an Analyst on the Consulting team at Ovative.

Will Silva

Analyst, Measurement Solutions

About the Author

Will is an Analyst on the Measurement Solutions team at Ovative.

Sarah Chang

Sarah Chang

Analyst, Consulting

About the Author

Sarah Chang is an Analyst on the Consulting team at Ovative.

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