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General Mills Chief Brand Officer On What A Marketers Job Really Is - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
[0]
The role of marketer has changed so much
[1]
as consumer behavior has changed
[3]
and the way that consumers
consume media has changed,
[6]
so how, what are the biggest
changes that you've seen?
[9]
Wow yeah, there's
so many great changes
[11]
that are happening and so much disruption
[13]
and I think some of the
bigger ones that we've seen,
[16]
you know, General Mills
being in the food industry
[17]
and being in the food industry
for a long time, 150 years.
[20]
I think the amount of change
[21]
that's happened within
food trends the last decade
[24]
have been pretty monumental.
[25]
So natural organic has obviously
started as a niche trend
[28]
and now that's a mainstream thing,
[30]
that's a huge part of our business now
[31]
and a decade ago it was a very small part.
[34]
I think on the other end of the spectrum
[35]
you have value brands that, you know,
[37]
private label was kind of a nonentity
[39]
in terms of what it stands for,
[40]
now private-label brands
are becoming large.
[42]
So those are two things
that are really, I think,
[43]
changing the dynamic
[44]
of how we think about
our brands and shoppers
[47]
and then technology of
course is a huge shift.
[50]
And so just how people
are getting their food.
[53]
You know through things
like Amazon and Walmart
[54]
and the push that people
are wanting their food
[57]
like not a week ahead,
[58]
but like right when I want it immediately
[59]
and so we're having to think about
[60]
how to set up to take
advantage of that new behavior.
[64]
And how,
[65]
it seems so much more
integrated than it used to be,
[67]
how did those initiatives come?
[68]
Do they come from marketing?
[69]
Do they come from
conversations with the consumer
[71]
and then get prioritized in
other parts of the company,
[73]
has that relationship changed?
[75]
Yeah, you know,
so with our company
[76]
and being in the CPG space for a long time
[78]
it's always really been marketing driven,
[79]
and the consumer is at the heart of that,
[81]
so we try to stay as far ahead as we can
[83]
with consumers and understand those trends
[84]
and bring them back in and then
really relying on marketing
[87]
to figure out like where
are the markets going to be
[89]
and how they're going to exist.
[90]
And so marketing kind of plays the hub
[92]
and then the other functions
really cue off that
[93]
to be able to support it.
[94]
So what kind of products we
need to be making with R&D,
[97]
how we need to set up our relationships
[99]
with customers and sales,
[100]
and then my group which leads
all like the brand experience,
[102]
how do we set up soap,
[103]
every interaction the consumer has with us
[105]
is additive and solving a problem.
[107]
So it really is kind of pushing us into,
[109]
like where are gonna go next?
[111]
Marketers have to lead that
because they're really,
[113]
in our company at least,
and I think many others,
[114]
like seeing where the future is
[116]
and also having to make it happen
[117]
like in the current, present
day to drive results.
[120]
And how do you look forward
[122]
and what are you looking to do,
[123]
you are the head of
marketing for a very
[126]
established older company.
[127]
How do you keep it
young and fresh
[129]
for the next generation?
[130]
Well, I think it's things
like coming to Cannes
[132]
and being able to get
inspired by other people
[136]
and things that other companies are doing.
[138]
You know it's easy for us
to look in our own industry
[139]
and say, okay, great other competitors
[141]
are doing these things,
[142]
or customers are doing those things,
[144]
but I like to look at other industries
[145]
so technology is really great.
[146]
So we spend time in the
Bay Area quite a bit
[149]
to understand what are new
start-ups in technology,
[151]
what are new start-ups in food,
[152]
why are they existing,
what's happening there?
[154]
Coming to places like this
which is all about creativity,
[157]
or going to CES that's about technology.
[159]
And so I think getting
out to different places
[161]
and bringing leadership
out to experience it
[163]
is really important.
[164]
And so you know on this trip we brought
[166]
a couple pretty senior leaders
[167]
so they can experience it too,
[168]
because when they see the
changes that are happening,
[170]
getting them back into building,
[172]
it allows us to just
like use their momentum
[174]
to create that kind of change.
[176]
And then the other thing I would say,
[177]
the last thing I would say,
[178]
is we're also trying to
really cross pollinate
[180]
different levels of people
within our own company.
[182]
So if you've been around
a company for 20 years
[183]
you're gonna have one perspective,
[185]
but then having people that
are just out of college
[187]
coming in and talking
about how they use media,
[189]
how they're connected with their networks,
[190]
what things they're passionate about,
[191]
it just creates a lot of different ideas
[193]
about where you should be doing marketing.
[194]
And for somebody
[195]
that's interesting in marketing
[196]
I presume that this skills
that you're looking for
[198]
in people that you're hiring today,
[199]
is different than the skills
that you were looking for
[201]
when you first started?
[202]
Totally.
[203]
And so what is
the best advice
[204]
you could give somebody who's looking
[206]
to get into marketing?
[207]
So I had a marketing
mentor that told me this quote,
[210]
and I think it's always stuck with me
[211]
it's like marketing is
about creating markets.
[213]
And so, I think that's exactly true
[215]
and a lot of times it can be seen as,
[217]
oh, I'm just creating advertising,
[219]
but marketing is much broader then that.
[220]
So there's so many places
[221]
that you can show up as a marketer.
[223]
I think that there's two
things to really focus on.
[226]
I think one side you wanna understand
[228]
what drives a business
[229]
and that's kind of the fundamentals of –
[230]
understand how P&L works,
[232]
understand how forecasting works,
[233]
those are basic things.
[235]
But then, I also think you
need to think about creativity
[237]
and imagining what things,
products and brands, can solve.
[241]
And really think about the bigger picture
[242]
kind of put together with the smaller
[243]
kind of more every day
tactical executional ones
[246]
I think makes the best marketers.
[248]
We call them "and" people, at General Mills,
[249]
that can do the big and the small,
[250]
can think right brain and left brain,
[252]
and those people I think
[253]
are really adept at any
situation in presenting
[255]
a clear picture of the future,
[256]
but also making it really attainable
[257]
for their current employees.
[259]
And from a tangible perspective
[259]
And from a tangible perspective
[260]
what is the goal that you're working on
[263]
right now at General Mills?
[265]
Yeah, it was funny,
[266]
I was going to answer that differently,
[267]
because you said tangible,
[267]
and this feels a little broader.
[268]
So I think one of the big
things that we're working on now
[272]
is a five-year facing plan
of how we're gonna grow
[274]
our North American business
[275]
which is about 70% of our current,
[277]
kind of mix, 70% of
current sales at General Mills.
[280]
For me that is really
focus on the trajectory
[283]
of where the food industry,
[284]
where our businesses
and brands are gonna go,
[287]
and really thinking about our brands
[289]
and all the great things they do.
[290]
You know we have Cheerios,
Yoplait, and Nature Valley,
[292]
individually they're awesome,
[294]
but we haven't necessarily thought about
[295]
how to create portfolio
solutions at a level
[298]
that can really make people lives better
[300]
and solve bigger problems
[301]
using the whole portfolio in new ways.
[303]
And so I'm really focused on that
[304]
because that's gonna probably require
[306]
different organization structures,
[307]
different incentives, different culture,
[309]
and our brands are always gonna be
[310]
like the most important asset,
[311]
but I think how we serve them up,
[313]
based off technology and consumer changes,
[315]
it's gonna look different
[316]
and so I'm really, really focused on that.
[318]
That's so interesting
[318]
because I was just gonna ask,
does it matter if Cheerios,
[322]
the branding for that is in line
[324]
with the other brands messaging?
[326]
And how do you do what you just said,
[328]
how do you make it serve the consumer
[329]
to be loyal to all of your brands?
[331]
Yeah, and it's hard because –
[332]
Two totally different questions.
[333]
No that's really good,
[334]
no it's awesome.
[335]
I think it's actually
a really great question
[336]
because we, as a company at General Mills,
[339]
haven't really, we don't market
General Mills as a company
[341]
it's kind of more of a broad umbrella
[343]
across many different food brands.
[345]
And if you think about a couple brands,
[346]
just for example, like in our portfolio
[348]
you have like Pillsbury on one side,
[350]
which has been around forever,
[351]
is about kind of Americana,
about coming home
[354]
and has these great products
[355]
that are in the refrigerated dough section
[357]
which is seen as kind of like
old fashioned a little bit
[359]
and that's a brand that's really based on
[360]
like traditional American values,
[362]
it was really strong in
the Midwest and the South.
[365]
And then we have other branks like Annie's
[366]
which is an amazing newer brand
[368]
that's born out of Berkeley, California,
[370]
and has, you know, different
kind of views on the world.
[373]
And so as a marketer
you might have to work
[375]
on both those brands and they're
in different life stages,
[377]
they have different points of view,
[379]
they're purposes are way different
[380]
and so it's really important
I think, first and foremost,
[383]
is to know that brand and
where's it's coming from
[385]
and know the consumer.
[386]
And we have to be adept
at doing different things.
[388]
I mean working for one
brand, and one company,
[391]
sometimes I'm like, oh,
[392]
I wish I could just work for one brand,
[392]
it's so much easier.
[394]
But then you just get a lot
more creativity and excitement
[396]
by moving people around
at different challenges
[397]
and so I like it a lot.
[398]
It keeps I think a lot more agile
[400]
in terms of being able to respond
[402]
to different opportunities
as they present themselves.
[405]
And you have to take risks
[406]
in marketing it seems to
really make waves sometimes.
[408]
Is there a risk that you've taken
[410]
that totally paid off?
[412]
Yeah, well this
one quote that I love
[415]
that we say in our company,
[416]
is like if you've got an idea
[417]
that you think you might get fired for
[419]
it's probably like a really good one.
[421]
And one that comes to
mind a couple years ago
[423]
that was pretty against what I think
[425]
we'd be comfortable doing
at General Mills is,
[427]
and this is before where we are today,
[429]
but Denver had just,
[430]
Colorado had just legalized marijuana
[432]
and we thought, you know what,
[433]
our Totino's Pizza Roll business
[435]
is super compatible with
that particular product
[439]
and so we didn't obviously wanna like
[442]
encourage people to take
part in marijuana,
[444]
but it was such a
newsworthy thing in Denver
[446]
that we did a really smart,
specific marketing plan,
[449]
that was very strategically targeted
[451]
towards people of the
appropriate age and disposition,
[453]
and it was outdoor, and it
was social, and experiential,
[456]
a very different kind
of plan that we'd made.
[458]
And we had this idea that was
about, live free couch hard,
[461]
which is what Totino's is about,
[462]
and the specific idea was
[464]
called, better when baked.
[465]
And it was about baking the pizza rolls
[466]
so that they're better in the oven
[468]
than the microwave
[470]
and we launched that.
[471]
And that was a big risk for our leaders to take
[472]
to do something like that at the time
[474]
but they leaned into it
[475]
because we kind of had done
[476]
the work ahead of time
[476]
and the market results were
[478]
that we grew that market
in Denver about 20%
[480]
on a shoestring marketing budget.
[483]
And so it's things like that
[484]
when you know they're
right for the consumer,
[485]
and they're right for the brand,
[486]
that they're worth the risk
[488]
because they can kind of
payoff with business results
[489]
and it's propelled that brand
[491]
to be kind of a cool lifestyle brand
[493]
that it was not before.
[494]
And is there a risk
you can think of
[495]
And is there a risk
you can think of
[495]
that didn't pay off quite as much
[497]
that you learned something from?
[498]
Yeah, you know, I would say,
[500]
similarly on that business,
[501]
one of the brands that we
have is also Totino's Pizza
[504]
and it's been around forever.
[505]
It's like literally a value
pizza for a dollar
[507]
which is a huge great value.
[509]
We changed the packaging of that
[511]
to not actually come in a box,
[513]
but actually come in more of a sleeve.
[515]
And we did all of this consumer testing,
[516]
we thought we got it totally right,
[518]
and when we launched it
[520]
the sales like fell pretty precipitously
[522]
for the first couple months.
[523]
And there was some very
obvious like things
[525]
that we hadn't done
[526]
that as a human empathy type of thing
[528]
we should've done
[529]
because we were doing more
kind of standard research
[531]
and it taught me the research
and the data is important,
[533]
but also the consumer gut.
[534]
We're selling consumer food products
[536]
like trust your gut.
[537]
And so that for me was like a step back.
[539]
Like that was not a great plan,
[540]
but we quickly then
adjusted and figured out
[542]
what did we miss and
relaunched it that way
[544]
and the business has gotten
back actually to growth,
[546]
but it was a good lesson
in humility and like,
[548]
really like we're here
for the consumer first
[549]
if we're going to change
something they value
[550]
like we better have a good reason for it.
[552]
There's been a big
shift to privacy
[554]
in the tech space and
I don't know how much
[556]
this affects your business,
but I am interested,
[558]
how do you think that that will affect
[560]
the advertising as we move forward?
[562]
I think it's huge.
[563]
I mean we work with
all the major platforms
[565]
and so we have a really high standard
[568]
for our brands and our consumers
[569]
and making sure that they're always,
[571]
our advertising shows
up in safe environments,
[574]
that our consumers information
is treated really fairly
[579]
and in the right kinds of ways.
[581]
And so I think our kind of
expectation of those partners
[584]
is they make sure that they're doing
[586]
what they need to solve problems
[587]
to make sure that their consumer data
[588]
is handled the right
way for their platforms.
[590]
And so we've really expressed that.
[592]
We meet with them a lot
[593]
because we are a big spender with them
[594]
and I think we're gonna be, obviously,
[595]
staying close to that to make sure
[596]
that their expectations keep up with ours.
[599]
And so I think it's
important for us to know too.
[602]
You know we rely on
working through customers
[604]
to like learn about our consumers
[606]
and so it's not necessarily
as front and center for us,
[608]
but because of our partners it's an issue
[610]
that we have to like stay on top of.
[611]
And I'm asking everybody this.
[613]
Is there a campaign that
somebody else created
[616]
that when you saw it, it was so brilliant
[618]
that you felt like, man, I wish
I had created that campaign?
[620]
It doesn't have to be this year.
[621]
Wow, there's lots of
stuff that I love.
[623]
Wow, there's lots of
stuff that I love.
[623]
I mean this year's one
that I'll say first,
[625]
and then I'll give you a followup answer.
[626]
Is I think every marketer here
[627]
will probably say the
same thing around Nike,
[629]
and I'm a huge fan of Nike.
[630]
And so the way that they did the Kaepernick,
[632]
kind of as a spokesperson
and really taking chances.
[636]
Like just represented
[637]
like I think a pretty
crucial moment in marketing
[640]
for brands taking a stand.
[641]
Because I think all brands
want to take a stand,
[643]
but when push comes to shove
[644]
it's easy to kind of
fall back into the middle.
[647]
And so, I admire the courage for that
[649]
and I'm glad that the brand
[650]
and the business results
have really paid off.
[652]
I would say from a broader perspective
[654]
a brand that I have
like a marketer crush on
[656]
and have for a long time, is Red Bull.
[659]
I love Red Bull's marketing
[660]
because it's not about
campaigns specifically,
[663]
but it's about how they take a brand,
[665]
and passion points,
[666]
and create new things around it
[668]
in a way that's about like
giving you the courage
[670]
to do whatever you want.
[671]
And starting as like a energy drink
[674]
and moving into basically being like
[675]
a media creative
entertainment entity
[679]
is like a total reframe of the market.
[681]
And I think brands have the ability
[682]
to play in a small box, or a big one,
[684]
and they've said,
[685]
we're gonna play in the
biggest box possible.
[686]
And so as a marketer
like that's super cool
[687]
to see how that they've blown that out
[689]
to a total new level.
[690]
Your portfolio of brands
[691]
has been around for a long time,
[692]
many of them have existed
for a very long time,
[695]
how do you modernize some of those brands?
[697]
What campaigns are you working on?
[698]
You know it's funny
because a lot of folks
[700]
that now are in positions in companies
[702]
and around different
industries Iike grew up with,
[704]
like a lot of the brands
in their houses.
[705]
So there is a strong affinity
[707]
that we're really tapping into people
[708]
who are highly influential
in different industries.
[710]
And so, you know, we've been
actually starting to work
[713]
with the entertainment
industry a little bit
[715]
and in the fall of last year
we came out to Hollywood
[717]
with a couple of our brands and said,
[719]
do you wanna work with
Franken Berry or Lucky Charms?
[721]
And it was amazing to see
people come out of the woodwork
[722]
and say like, I grew up with
those brands, I love them,
[725]
like I would want to do a
movie with Count Chocula.
[728]
And so we have the opportunity
[729]
to work with partners in new ways
[731]
and I think it's probably
showed up the best way,
[733]
over the last couple years,
[734]
in the partnership that we've created
[736]
with Ellen Degeneres and with Cheerios.
[738]
And so Cheerios has been this brand
[739]
And so Cheerios has been this brand
[739]
that's been around for a long
time, built on positivity,
[741]
and it's like, oats give you
great energy in the morning
[743]
so they're good for you,
they make you feel good,
[746]
they make you do good things
[747]
and they create this
virtual cycle of goodness.
[749]
And so we really tapped into that
[750]
and found partners like Ellen
[751]
who also believe in
kindness and positivity
[753]
and try to combine our ecosystems together
[756]
to do bigger things.
[756]
And when we came to her the
first thing she said is,
[758]
I think we should do One Million
Acts of Good together,
[760]
and we're like, that's
exactly what we want to do.
[762]
And so we took our brand
[763]
and polled it in all
these different places
[765]
and so people would come on her show,
[767]
or people would show
up with our customers,
[769]
and we would have little micro campaigns
[771]
that would do acts of good.
[772]
One of the families
that she brought to us
[774]
was a family that was
struggling financially.
[776]
They had three boys,
[777]
but they would always do
good things for other people,
[779]
so we decided to give them a
million dollars from Cheerios.
[782]
$500,000 went to them for themselves
[785]
and $500,000 was for them
to give to other people.
[788]
And to capture the
things, and the moments,
[790]
and the experience that people have
[792]
when they are able to give something
[793]
back, is like the true
definition of, good goes around.
[796]
And so it's been really cool to see.
[798]
And partnerships with the
right kinds of people,
[800]
and the right kinds of other companies,
[802]
I think are how brands
are modernizing themselves
[805]
and so I only see us doing more of that
[806]
and Cheerios has been
an amazing example
[808]
because people see the
brand and they're happy
[810]
and we wanna translate
that into something bigger,
[813]
especially with the
context of the current world
[815]
and so it's fun to work on
a brand that's doing that.
[817]
And Cheerios is one
of the brands
[818]
that I associate
[819]
with diversity and using diversity early
[821]
with diversity and using diversity early
[822]
and I don't know if that's true.
[823]
Again, I'm not a marketing expert,
[826]
but it certainly for
me is one of the brands
[828]
that has been dealing with that early.
[829]
Do you think other,
that any of the brands,
[832]
or anyone who is doing enough in diversity
[834]
and how we show people in media?
[836]
I think some brands
are getting started on it
[838]
and I think there's a ton of opportunity.
[840]
I think part of that is how brands
[843]
show up in the market place with,
[845]
with things like advertising
[846]
and casting has been like
a good starting point
[848]
over the years for brands
that showed different people,
[850]
over the years for brands
that showed different people,
[850]
over the years for brands
that showed different people,
[851]
but it actually starts at the insight
[852]
on different cultures
and what people believe.
[854]
And if you do that the right way
[856]
and then that carries
through to the end point,
[858]
then that actually will make
[859]
something that's really
useful for people.
[860]
What also happens is that we hire
[861]
more diversity and inclusion
whether it's gender,
[864]
or sex, or gender, or affinity,
[867]
or demographics of any
sort at General Mills.
[870]
When people see themselves
represented in creative work
[872]
it makes them feel more
proud about the company
[874]
and we actually use their
insights to build our brands
[876]
and build our business.
[878]
And so I think it's a flywheel
[879]
that is actually really important,
[882]
not because only it's
the right thing to do,
[883]
but also because it's good for business
[884]
and good for the employees.
[885]
And so we're doing a lot of that stuff.
[887]
I know other people are
starting to do more of it,
[889]
but there's a lot of opportunity
to do even more in the future.
[891]
If and how should brands
[893]
get involved in political
and social conversations?
[895]
Yeah, I think the brand,
[896]
this goes back to the brand
really knowing what it's for
[898]
and what it's about.
[899]
And I think sometimes
brands can make the mistake
[901]
of trying to take a stance on
a bunch of different things
[903]
that, you know, at some point you're like,
[905]
well, do I really care
[906]
what a toilet paper brand
thinks about, you know,
[907]
this specific issue, maybe
I do, but maybe I don't.
[910]
But I think are certain things that brands
[912]
have to fundamentally believe in
[913]
and they have to take a stand on it
[915]
if it's important for them.
[916]
You know we have a brand, Betty Crocker,
[918]
that's been around for
almost a hundred years
[920]
and was built in a totally different time,
[922]
but it's a brand about
[924]
creating — all being equal
and helpful for all families,
[926]
and so a few years ago it took a stance on
[929]
gay marriage,
[930]
and for us that was a huge deal
[931]
because that was like a big thing to say,
[932]
but it was the right thing
for that brand at the moment
[934]
and the right thing for our consumers
[936]
and so we leaned in more on an issue
[937]
than we might have in other places.
[939]
And so brands can have a huge impact
[941]
when they do it the right way.
[942]
And that's the Nike example again,
[943]
I think that's really great
to see a big brand do that,
[945]
but I also think they have to decide
[948]
where they wanna play
and where not to,
[949]
and also be careful not to play in a place
[951]
where they get caught up in a swirl
[952]
where they're not actually
running their business either.
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