Awards & Press

Ovative Hires Veteran Marketer Annie Zipfel As Next EVP

Minneapolis, MN, October 12, 2022– Ovative Group, an independent media and measurement firm, named their newest Executive Vice President of Media, Annie Zipfel, out of their Minneapolis Headquarters. Zipfel will oversee client delivery and growth across paid and owned media (digital, traditional, retail media) and creative services. She will lead a team of over 240 media experts. Zipfel will bring her deep expertise in marketing and leading teams to scale the impact Ovative is having for current clients and expand its services to new, top-national brands.  

 Zipfel has 30 years of marketing experience for retail and consumer product brands. As former Chief Marketing Officer of Andersen Windows & Doors, Vice President of Marketing, Loyalty Innovation, and Personalization at Starbucks, and leadership roles at REI, Target Corporation, and General Mills, Zipfel understands how to develop marketing strategies that connect consumers with brands to drive success. She will report to Dale Nitschke, CEO and Founder of Ovative Group. 

“Annie is an exciting addition to our amazing leadership team. She brings B2C and B2B marketing expertise and has served in leadership roles, including CMO, for several great brands and companies,” said Nitschke. “Annie’s energy, expertise, and growth mindset will enable us to continue to elevate our great work for our clients.” 

Zipfel’s role will help Ovative transform the measure of marketing success. Ovative has created a new approach to measure and optimize marketing investment, called Enterprise Marketing Return (EMR), replacing ROAS as the media metric of the past. When moving from ROAS to EMR, client’s 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 EVP of Media to be able to bring to the market. Ovative helps changemakers like Coach, Kate Spade, Sleep Number, General Mills, Domino’s, and CVS Pharmacy, to name a few, drive measurable performance. Under Zipfel’s leadership, this list will only continue to grow.  

I’m excited to bring my marketing experience to help drive growth for Ovative’s clients,” said Zipfel. “It is my honor to join this incredible group of leaders, including a significant presence of female leaders.”  

At Ovative, over 62% of the VP+ Leadership team is female compared to the corporate average of 35%. The strength of Ovative’s leadership team reflects the inclusive culture that is intentionally built each day and continued dedication to elevating new perspectives. Ovative is proud to welcome Annie Zipfel’s perspective to the organization. 

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About Ovative Group 

Ovative Group is an independent media and measurement firm that helps clients drive and deliver measurable marketing performance. Founded in 2009 by Dale 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, visit ovative.com or follow Ovative on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. 


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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