Tracy Landau, Founder and President of MarketPlace, has 30+ years of experience in the food and beverage industry. Tracy spent 8 years in various marketing and leadership roles for a global food and beverage manufacturing and merchandising company before investing a decade leading marketing strategy and product innovation for Givaudan, the global leader in flavor and ingredient systems. She and husband Phil Landau, identifying an opportunity to serve as business and brand consultants to B2B companies in need of consumer-informed strategies, ventured out and created MarketPlace.
Since founding MarketPlace in 2002, Tracy has grown the company, beginning in the B2B and B2C food + beverage industries and then, building upon that foundation, expanding into synergistic markets: pet/animal and health and wellness (vitamins/minerals/supplements, sports nutrition, medical foods, etc.).
Informed by decades of experience working with hundreds of leading food and beverage industry brands, Tracy has a gift for getting to the heart of what MarketPlace’s partners need to grow. She has successfully developed businesses and award-winning brands and marketing programs for companies of all shapes and sizes, from entrepreneurs to global corporations. MarketPlace is directly responsible for helping companies, including those that are investor-owned, grow and sell businesses for higher than expected multiple. MarketPlace also consults with, and advises, private-equity firms on acquisitions. These successes inspired MarketPlace to develop its own consumer brands, including those in partnership with ingredient companies and manufacturers.
Tracy is frequently asked to serve as an educator and speaker at food and beverage and health and wellness industry events. Many of Tracy’s achievements can be attributed to her unique approach in applying tested consumer marketing insights and principles to B2B programs, as well as helping consumer goods companies strengthen their B2B programs. Tracy developed MarketPlace’s innovative strategy to help B2B companies sell direct to consumers.
Tracy graduated with Cum Laude University Honors from the University of Missouri St. Louis with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with emphasis in Management and Organizational Behavior and Marketing. Tracy also graduated with Summa Cum Laude University Honors from Webster University with a Master of Arts in Communication with emphasis in Marketing, Advertising, Media, and Public Relations. And despite her extensive experience and industry knowledge, she always presses on for more, as evidenced by her current enrollment in Missouri State University’s Design Thinking Certification Program.
