Aces of Trades: Rich Folk's passion for creative marketing led him to Massey's Pizza job
HEATH – He’s into music, marketing — and pizza.
“As a kid I was really into music,” Rich Folk said. “I would DJ my own radio station in my room (WROK) and read the news and weather from the paper, play commercials I taped from the radio and, of course, play records. I was always intrigued by commercial jingles for different brands on the radio and TV but never dreamed I’d be working for a pizza chain.”
Today, Folk is the chief marketing officer for Massey’s Pizza.
“We’re not big on titles; we all wear many hats,” he said. “Officially I’m the CMO, or my Facebook says I’m the Massey’s marketing guy. I head up the advertising on TV, digital platforms and print. I also do a lot with social media, especially Facebook. I’m also a liaison between our corporate office and our franchisees.”
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“To be clear,” he said, “I work in the corporate office in Reynoldsburg and one of our corporate locations is the Massey’s Sports Bar in the Indian Mound Mall. I spend a lot of time at the Heath location since I live down the road in Buckeye Lake. I’ve lived in Licking County since 2000, first in Alexandria for 13 years and then Granville for 10 years. I recently moved to Buckeye Lake. In addition, my musical partner, Karrie, and I play as an acoustic duo around Newark and Buckeye Lake as Karrie & Rich.”
“We’ve been together as a duo for five years,” he said. “We play around Buckeye Lake, Newark, Granville, etc. I play guitar and sing some, but Karrie is the featured vocalist. We do ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and country stuff. It’s a blast!”
Folk, 53, was born in Florida, lived in Connecticut, then from the age of 8, grew up in Gahanna. He graduated from Gahanna Lincoln High School in 1988, then earned a degree in communications and business at Ohio State University.
“I took several marketing classes in college and was in the American Marketing Association,” he said. “I was always interested in how brands managed their image and navigated hard times.”
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“Before Massey’s,” he said, “I was working with my brother at a consulting company doing Year 2000 compliance. The restaurant angel came when my wife’s family bought Massey’s in 2000. I was between jobs and came on board and started doing marketing and many other things, as we had a small staff. They didn’t even have a website or MasseysPizza.com registered at the time. I created the first Massey’s website.”
Al Tucker is vice president of Advantage Media & Digital in Westerville.
“Rich makes our job as the advertising agency so much easier, and fun,” Tucker said. “He provides creative content for TV and digital ads, brainstorming ideas for innovative marketing strategies, managing the brand consistency for Masseys Pizza, to name a few. Actually, I would say Rich has more talents than there are pieces of pepperoni on a Masseys large pizza — and that’s a lot!”
“I’ve been here 25 years, and I’m passionate about the Massey’s brand and product,” Folk said. “It’s also a family business, as I get to work with my brother-in-law and cousin-in-law, so I love my job, and every day is different. It’s been quite a ride for sure, and I wouldn’t change a thing. That sounds cliché, but you learn so much along the journey.”
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs — whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark Aces of Trades: Rich Folk lives out passion at Massey's Pizza
