Founder / CEO / Coach - John Haydock

John founded Sight Casting Consulting in 2017 to provide fractional leadership, consulting, and executive coaching to ventures ranging from start-ups to mid-cap companies. He brings a unique perspective that includes classical brand management at premier CPG companies (Unilever, Cadbury Schweppes, Mott’s), direct marketing and ecommerce experience at multi-channel retailers (Plow & Hearth, Crutchfield), and leadership roles with entrepreneurial ventures (Varnish Lane, Card Isle).

In addition to multiple C-suite operational roles, John has extensive strategy, policy, and governance experience through service on corporate, trade, and non-profit boards. He has served on the American Catalog Mailers Association and Natural Products Association boards and recently retired from the American Rivers Board of Directors, where he was Board Chair for three years and Vice Chair for two.

John currently serves as an advisor and/or board member for multiple corporate ventures and has acted as a facilitator and executive coach for dozens of owners, founders, and CEOs across industries ranging from consumer products and services to industrial, agricultural, and construction. He has a passion and proven ability for building strong teams, delivering results, and leading in the midst of adversity and ambiguity. John is an honest leader who believes “actions speak louder than words” and who personifies accountability and ownership.

John launched several ventures during his college years. With an eye for identifying trends, he and a partner were the first to establish a North Carolina distributorship for RollerBlades. In his senior year, he assumed co-ownership of a struggling local promotions business (Helium Highs, Inc.).

John learned to “bootstrap” as he cut expenses, sold assets, and hit the streets to speak with customers. Thanks to the loyalty and trust of clients, he stemmed the losses, hired multiple employees and contractors, and returned the business to profitability.

During this period, John also learned an important lesson about environmental responsibility. In 1989, one of the company’s largest revenue sources—helium balloon releases at football games—was criticized in the local paper as a risk to marine life. Dr. Frank Schwartz (UNC Department of Marine Biology) explained that balloons were traveling to the Atlantic Ocean, where they were mistaken for jellyfish and consumed by sea turtles.

John called Dr. Schwartz to learn more, and, after careful consideration, Helium Highs stopped supplying balloons for such events. Despite a significant and immediate hit to sales, local media praised the decision. The coverage was so positive that a well-established event promoter reached out and ultimately awarded Helium Highs its largest contract ever.

John learned that “doing the right thing” and “building a profitable brand” are not mutually exclusive. Over the following years, he gained exposure to a wide range of industries, wrote several business plans, consulted for small businesses, and earned an MBA. He sold his promotions business, used the proceeds to help fund school expenses, and headed to Park Avenue in New York City.  

 John spent the next 13 years with Unilever and Mott’s (Cadbury Schweppes) in various brand management and regional sales roles. He applied portfolio management principles to cut costs and harvest less-advantaged brands while leveraging inherent strengths to grow high-potential brands. He drove growth by identifying trends and launching line extensions (e.g., Snuggle Fresh Rain, Mott’s Healthy Harvest).

With deep consumer immersion and insight, he repositioned brands such as Clamato, stemming multi-year declines and returning the brand to double-digit growth. John also experienced one of his greatest professional failures during this period. Consumer testing showed strong interest in a new product concept, but the product ultimately did not deliver on the promise. The team proceeded with launch, distribution and trial were strong, but repeat rates were poor. John learned a lasting lesson about the importance of relying on both data and instinct.

During his tenure at large, respected companies, he received formal training across a range of disciplines. He applied skills in equity development, advertising, consumer insight, stage-gate innovation management, and leadership. He learned valuable resource allocation and strategic planning skills from experienced teachers, mentors, and managers. As his teams grew, he applied goal-based performance management techniques. In 2000, John was named VP of Marketing at Mott’s and eventually led a six-brand portfolio with over $1B in sales.

In 2005, John joined specialty retailer Crutchfield Electronics as VP of Marketing & Creative, where he gained exposure to ecommerce and direct marketing while refining brand messaging and celebrating a customer-focused culture. In 2007, Crutchfield won the MCM Merchant of the Year Award.

In 2009, John joined Burt’s Bees, widely considered one of the “greenest” brands in the country. Facing aggressive sales targets while maintaining an environmentally responsible culture, the Burt’s team leveraged a mission-based culture and grassroots marketing to celebrate the natural products consumers loved. They built a marketing strategy focused on new product innovation, international expansion, authentic content, and social media. The brand was soon recognized on Facebook as one of the top 10 branded pages (with over 1 million fans). His team also won Ad Age “Campaign of the Year” with agency partner Baldwin&.

In 2011, John joined Plow & Hearth as President. The portfolio consisted of six national brands, including HearthSong, Magic Cabin, Plow & Hearth, and Wind & Weather. John established a values-based culture focused on consumer insight, leadership, exceeding expectations, assuming positive intent, and responsibility. Under his leadership, the team clarified brand essence, lowered marketing spend as a percentage of sales while driving growth, expanded distribution, built new partnerships, acquired brands, and increased proprietary product offerings.

Since 2016, John has been consulting and serving in fractional executive roles with consumer service brands and retailers such as Varnish Lane, Poppy Flowers, Culinary Concepts AB, and other respected brands throughout Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic.