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When Darien-based AEI Corp., a provider of global transport and distribution logistics, saw its 1998 revenues bruised by economic crises abroad, it took a number of steps, including an acquisition, opening a new distribution center and committing funds for both external expansion and internal re tooling.
The company also created a new position, vice president and chief development officer, whose occupant would be charged with sharpening the marketing prowess of an organization that refers to itself as a "stealth company;" that is, one that has never gotten around to tooting its own horn.
It marked a shared beginning of sorts for both AEI (full name: Air Express International Corp.) and the man it tapped to heighten and define its profile.
As AEI embarks on the fast concentrated branding effort in its history, Michael K. a veteran of marketing and expansion campaigns with Pepsi-Cola, Pizza Hut, Playtex and others, joins a company with no history of organized self-promotion.
Can they make it work, starting from scratch?
Lorelli, 48, said the only pressure he feels is selfimposed.
"I wouldn't have come to AEI if I didn't feel that all the ingredients are in place," he said. "Failure is not an option. We are number one in this business and most people don't know that. This is a hungry company."
Lorelli he is comfortable being a pupil in a new field, far from the familiar territory of massmarketed commodities such as pizza, cola and cosmetics.
AEI, which customers use for everything from moving freight to managing inventory to negotiating customs, doesn't own a single plane, ship or truck, and few of its warehouses and distribution centers.
"It's fun to be in a learning situation," Lorelli said. "It's interesting to be at the very bottom of the learning curve - but not for long."
Winning track record
Lorelli has ridden the learning curve before, usually to the top.
He joined Clairol fresh out of New York University's Graduate School of Business, and by the time he was 30, had directed the company's successful response to government questions about some Clairol hair products.
At Playtex in the early 1980s, he managed an ambitious global marketing and expansion program.
From 1986 to 1994 Lorelli was with PepsiCo Inc., where he...