AAR Corp., Defense Systems & Logistics, Wood Dale, Ill.
September 2007–March 2009
AAR Corp. is a multinational aeronautical logistics company serving the commercial aviation and the government and defense industries. Curt was hired, along with a graphic designer whom he managed, to build out their previously one-person defense marketing team.
AAR was a departure from Curt’s years of involvement in association publishing. Curt was placed through a staffing firm as part of a team of two to establish a marketing program for the defense logistics division of this multinational aviation support firm.
His most critical task was to streamline the copy-writing, design, and production of their large industry proposals, and by doing so he helped increase the frequency of proposal submissions from 3-6 per year to 12-18 yearly.
Curt also developed a trade-show program for the division, coordinating graphics, booth logistics, printed materials, lead generation and follow-up at numerous defense industry shows across the country. “One experience I’ll never forget was flying into San Diego to set up the booth for one show, manning the booth for a day, then flying to Las Vegas to set up for another, shorter show, closing that booth down, then flying back to San Diego to close that one down. A show during a show,” Curt recounts. “What a week that was!”
Finally, to support the aviation parts distributorships managed by the division, Curt built a direct mail and catalog program to improve market penetration for those programs. The campaign resulted in a $5 million increase in sales based on $50 million revenue stream.