“I help develop things that are simple and elegant in the way they look and the way they work,” explains Warren Sadow, founder and director of Sadow Marketing Group, LLC, a company he has run since 1991. And though he now helps design marketing and public relations projects for the likes of Stanley Tools, Rubbermaid, and Fisher-Price, Sadow started developing and designing projects of a different nature.
Age: 57
Gig 1: City planner
Gig 2: Boston public school teacherÂ
Gig 3: Marketing consultant at Sadow Marketng Group, LLC (www.sadowmarketing.com )
“I took an undergraduate course [at UMass-Amherst] with the president of the school, who had been a former undersecretary of H.U.D.,” recalls Sadow, who received his master’s in city and regional planning in 1973, “and it compelled me. I liked the idea of it being people-oriented and allowing me to help communities.”
After graduating, Sadow went on to work with the Office of the Mayor in New York City and on community development projects in Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia.Sadow says the disciplines developed as a community planner continue to serve him in his current pursuits.
“It helps me as I map out projects and deal with people,” he says, “especially people in difficult situations.”
In 1979, Sadow became “disenchanted” with the state of the urban planning world. Eager to continue to hone his sales and people skills, he moved into marketing management. For the next 12 years, Sadow worked for such companies as Massachusetts-based Sheaffer Eaton and Ohio companies like Mead Corporation and Globe-Weis, where he served as a product manager for lines with annual sales of over $40 million. Sadow also helped Heinz develop the squeezable ketchup bottle.
“That was a fun project,” he recalls.
In 1991, Sadow went out on his own, opening Sadow Marketing Group. As the head of the company, Sadow has been able to “foster meaningful and successful products” while remaining true to his commitment to social justice and environmental protection.
“I have this nice little hidden agenda that I call ‘social enterprise,'” Sadow says. “Basically, I try not to work with companies who are so anti-environmentalism that they allow or encourage non-sustainable activities. But if a company sees the advantages of such practices, I will work with them.”
During a period when finding such clients proved difficult, Sadow changed gears again, becoming certified in elementary education. In 1997, Sadow went to work in the Boston public school system.
“Many people had told me that they felt I’d be a good teacher because of my patience and my ability to explain things clearly,” says the guest lecturer and adjunct professor at Babson College, Bentley College, and Harvard University. “That experience also helps me with my current work because it helps me be creative in how I express myself and explain the options and alternatives to clients and potential clients.”
From start-ups to fully realized companies, Sadow Marketing Group helps individuals and businesses at every level reach their professional, personal, and ethical goals while Sadow continues to do the same.
“I call my company Sadow Marketing Group,” Sadow explains, “because I work and form strategic alliances with people in other fields in order to give my clients what they need.”
A member of the North Shore Business Forum, Sadow now runs his company from a Lynn loft in what was once a shoe factory that goes back to 1853.
“It works for me because I am very much into pride of craftsmanship,” he says, “just as the shoemakers were.”
Perhaps harking back to his days as a city planner, Sadow is also a big proponent of the revitalization of Lynn and its surrounding communities.
“As I am a bit older and a non-Yuppie, I am an atypical member of the ‘New Lynn,'” Sadow admits, “but I am still a big urban supporter.”
Whether it involves cleaning oil spills, dispensing condiments or helping youth at risk, Sadow does what he can to help bring people together and to support individuals, companies, and communities.
“I like adventure and a bit of reasonable danger, and that has allowed me to develop business plans that are different,” Sadow says. “It has been a struggle, but I put my money where my mouth is and stick to my ideals while trying to be a realist at the same time.”