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 From
the time he was just a kid, Todd Townsend wanted to be a dentist.
Enrolling in the marketing education program at Durant High School
changed those career goals forever. As a marketing education
student, he entered an advertising contest at the state DECA
conference. DECA is the career and technology student organization
associated with marketing education.
He placed first in the state and second at nationals. "DECA
is the primary reason I'm in marketing today," Townsend
said. "It was the first exposure I had in marketing and
was a wonderful experience."
That is why he's being recognized as one of Oklahoma's CareerTech
champion.
CareerTech Champions are alumni of programs or student
organizations of Oklahoma's Career and Technology system (formerly
Oklahoma's Vo-Tech system), who have found success in a career
and attribute much of that success to their career and technology
experience.
Townsend credits the wealth of training
in his high school classroom, under the direction of teacher,
Lon Dillard. There he focused on sales presentations and advertising,
the creative side of business.
"At both the state and national competitions that
I participated in, the judges asked if I would consider advertising
as a career," Townsend said.
Townsend began to re-think his career goal.
Today, he is the director of Small Business Marketing for Sprint
in Dallas, TX. "Marketing education and DECA helped instill
the importance of always looking for new ways to keep learning,"
Townsend said.
 In high school,
as part of the marketing education program, Townsend worked at
the Winn-Dixie store in Durant as a stocker and carry-out person,
applying the lessons he learned in the classroom to real life.
"As stocker, I learned first-hand, how consumer products
get to market and are displayed in stores."
"There's an art to packaging and displaying merchandise.
There are packages that are easy for consumers to use and those
not so easy," he said.
Townsend majored in advertising at Oklahoma State University
and earned a master's degree from Northwestern University in
Evanston, Ill. Following graduation, he went to work for Leo
Burnett Advertising in Chicago, rising to vice-president of account
management.
"I helped re-launch the Pillsbury Doughboy, who had
been developed in the 50's by Pillsbury," he said. "However,
over time, the Doughboy had lost stature and focus." Townsend
said the new campaign led to substantial increase in sales of
refrigerated dough products.
Other clients he served were Miller Lite, Kellogg's, and Maytag.
Today, Townsend manages a team of 25 people at Sprint, who develop
marketing and strategies for acquiring and retaining small businesses.
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