Lauren Boyer is the Chief Executive Officer of Underscore, and she has championed Underscore into a solutions-based media company, exhibits many admirable qualities of leadership, and challenges every one of her employees to do the strongest work they can.
She has been the recipient of multiple awards for entrepreneurialism and leadership: Lauren was recognized by MM+M as a winner of their coveted Women of Distinction gong, and was also honored by PM360 Magazine as the winner of their ELITE100 Mentor award. She is on the board of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), an active KPMG/University of Michigan QuantumShift Fellow, and has been recognized as one of the top 50 female entrepreneurs by Inc. Magazine. Lauren earned her AA in Industrial Design from the Art Institute of Philadelphia and has also attended the State University of New York, New Paltz. She actively mentors budding and established entrepreneurs and encourages an environment of continuous learning and innovation at Underscore.
Lauren’s career in digital and media began in the 90’s, just as digital became a viable marketing channel. An early pioneer, she launched the first ever digital media campaign for SmithKline Beecham, helped develop the first website for Medicare Supplement and Replacement Insurance for Independence Blue Cross, and developed a methodology for a $100MM private publisher to create digital revenue streams incrementally and without cannibalization of the printed base portfolio. Lauren’s focus on ROI and passion for finding the critical details that transform campaigns from good to great include developing a grand scale multivariate test framework using fractional factorial analysis for understanding ROI potential in digital media across Pfizer Rx brands within the Pfizer for Living portfolio, and developing a projection approach for predicting ROI prior to media investment.
Other firsts in Lauren’s career include:
- Collaborating on the digital marketing strategy for the Claritin Rx to OTC switch (where she first met Tom Hespos)
- Launching the media for first Hep C cure, Sovaldi (Gilead)
- Leading e-marketing strategy, execution and media ROI with a test & learn approach that took the company from a skeptical digital mindset to investing over 10% of their marketing dollars over a 2 year period across Wyeth Consumer Brand’s, which included: the Advil franchise, the Centrum franchise, ChapStick, Preparation H, Robitussin Franchise, Dimetapp, FiberCon, Caltrate, and Emergen-C
- Developing a method together with the Underscore team for Twinnings to realize incremental revenue by leveraging e-commerce and digital media
In her career, Lauren has held the titles of Account Supervisor, Strategic Consultant, Vice President of Marketing, Chief Global Strategist, and CEO. Currently, Lauren leads the aggressive growth of Underscore Marketing through focused positioning, operational innovation, and a culture of enrichment and evolution. She believes Underscore is the model for how media and marketing agencies should, and will, evolve in the future. One of her favorites memories of working at Underscore was years ago, when they figured out how to map Nielsen data to Yahoo’s audience base and prove out ROI from digital media to retail purchase. It was these early tests that drove Underscore’s focus on data driven programs and ROI measurement, a fundamental differentiation in the industry.