P2PIQ_06-07-21

JUNE/JULY 2021

Path Purchase

pathtopurchaseiq.com

TO

E N D - TO - E N D S T R AT E G I E S F O R D R I V I N G C O N S U M E R D E M A N D

INSIDE RESEARCH SPECIAL REPORT: STRUCTURING SHOPPER TEAMS

INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS: OUR ANNUAL WHO’S WHO LIST

STORE SPOTLIGHT: GROCER HARVEST MARKET

ACTIVATION GALLERY: SUSTAINABILITY MESSAGES

INDUSTRY INNOVATORS

Our new awards program recognizes Kroger and four individuals who more than met the challenges of a year like no other.

POWERED BY

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THE PATH TO PURCHASE INSTITUTE is the only community that connects commerce and marketing professionals to the intelligence, innovation, and influence needed to navigate the complexity of today’s consumer retail landscape and drive growth.

JOIN THE LEADERS WHO ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF COMMERCE!

THE INTELLIGENCE: Expert and editorial insights covering in-store, digital, retail marketing, actionable insights to drive shopper engagement and sales. Highly relevant and content-rich professional development and training courses designed to provide the know-how for tomorrow.

THE INNOVATION: Amplify your thought leadership, competitive edge, and be part of the elite consumer goods executive community.

THE INFLUENCE: A community that unites brand manufacturers, retailers, agencies, and solution providers through world-class events and peer-to-peer partnerships.

BECOM E A M E M BE R TO DAY !

To learn more about membership packages that align with your goals, please contact your sales representative or visit p2pi.org/membership.

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Contents E N D -TO - E N D ST R AT E G I E S F O R D R I V I N G C O NS U M E R D E M A N D

E-COMMERCE MARKETING Mobile Social Search

Digital Shelf Product Detail Pages Retailer Apps

SHOPPER

SALES Feature

MEDIA Retail Media

Coupons Display

Digital Advertising

Influencers

32

Who’s Who in Insights & Analytics Our annual report spotlights more than 160 executives who are leading the insights and analytics functions at their companies.

24

SPECIAL REPORTS

Special Report: Organizational Alignment The Institute’s latest proprietary research finds that the ideal structure for shopper marketing teams is still a work in progress.

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14

Industry Innovator Awards 2021

The Institute’s new program recognizes excellence in innovation across five critical areas of the industry: retail, shopper marketing, merchandising, e-commerce and insights.

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VO LU M E 3 4 | ISS U E 4

June/July 2021

DEPARTMENTS 6

Making Introductions

8

9

12

Connects with Shoppers

P2PI Member Perspective:

Organizing to Win in a Dynamic Marketplace

NEWS

12 Kraft Heinz

Editor’s Note:

P2PI Member Spotlight:

Vista Grande

44

The Lunchables brand’s very first rewards program targeted socially driven Millennial moms during the post-holiday return-to-school season.

Activation Gallery:

Sustainablilty

48

P2P Toolkit:

Spotlight: AR/VR

56 Outstanding

52

Merchandising Achievement

Store Spotlight:

Harvest Market

We showcase best-in-class winners from 2021 OMA Awards competition in three categories: Display of the Year, Budget and Creative.

62 Retail Intel:

Petco’s Reinvention

Now a health and wellness company, Petco is rebranding in a way that reflects a corporate philosophy focused on improving pet well-being.

56

59

NEW Horizons

60

Solution Provider News

61

Personnel Appointments/ Editorial Index

52

62 Path to Purchase IQ (USPS 4568, ISSN 2688-4984 ) is published monthly, except Feb, April, July, Aug. , by EnsembleIQ, 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60631. Subscription rate for the U.S.: $90 one year; $166 two year; $14 single issue copy (pre- paid only); Canada and Mexico: $108 one year; $194 two year; $16 single issue copy (pre- paid only);Foreign: $122 one year; $233 two year; $16 single issue copy (pre- paid only); $60 one year digital; $95 two year digital. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, IL 60631 Copyright 2021 by EnsembleIQ. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Reprints, permissions and licensing, please contact Wright’s Media at ensembleiq@wrightsmedia.com or (877) 652-5295. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Path to Purchase IQ, 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60631.

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Connect with your shoppers... wherever they are.

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And while the possibilities to connect with shoppers may be limitless, your budget is not.

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© 2021 HMT Associates, Inc.

Editor’s Note

Editor-in-Chief Peter Breen, pbreen@ensembleiq.com

Introductions Are in Order

Introducing the OmniShoper Awards.

We’re going to continue our efforts to celebrate innovation this year by launching the OmniShopper Awards, the first and only recognition program designed to honor excellence in shopper engagement across the entire path to purchase, and conducted by the only business intelligence source that actually covers the entire path to purchase.

The OmniShopper Awards will, naturally, shine a spotlight on in-store marketing in all its forms, much like the Institute’s Design of the Times Awards has done for the last 26 years. (We will, however, be retiring the DOTs as a stand-alone program.)

But the program will also reward effective activation across all other shopper touchpoints, both separately as distinct tactical executions and as part of more comprehensive campaigns that were designed to reach shoppers at multiple stages of their purchase journeys.

To that end, awards categories will cover everything from in-store displays and on-shelf signage to social media and retail media networks. And while we’ll single out the critically important need for strong brandretailer collaboration – still the foundation of most best-practice shopper marketing – we’ll enter new territory by covering efforts driving direct-to-consumer sales for brands as well.

Visit OmniShopperAwards.com/2021 for more information.

And what’s even more exciting about the first-ever OmniShopper Awards is that we’ll be announcing the winners at …

Introducing Path to Purchase Live. … the first-ever Path to Purchase Live event, which will be held Nov. 1-3 in Orlando, Florida.

Yes, that does say “in” Orlando. Based on the supportive feedback we’ve received from numerous members of the Institute community, and given the overall reopening of public venues across the U.S., we’re going to host our first post-pandemic in-person event this fall.

We’re currently working on the agenda, but the plan is to build a schedule that not only will give attendees all the conferencestyle learning they’ve come to expect from our events over the years, but also to offer a wealth of opportunities to meet face-to-face with industry leaders, potential business partners, and each other to further the education in personal ways that aren’t so easily replicated through virtual experiences.

You’ll be hearing plenty about the OmniShopper Awards and Path to Purchase Live over the next few months. Visit P2PI.org and PathtoPurchaseIQ.com to stay up to date. We’ve got a lot more introductions to make this summer.

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Managing Editor Charlie Menchaca, cmenchaca@ensembleiq.com Associate Director/Content Patrycja Malinowska, pmalinowska@ensembleiq.com

PETER BREEN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

We devote a lot of space in this issue to introduce noteworthy industry practitioners, including the 164 members of our Who’s Who in Insights & Analytics list for 2021, a group of executives that effectively – and impressively – kept their organizations informed during a particularly challenging year for tracking shopper behavior (see page 32).

We also introduce you to 13 must-know practitioners whose efforts in helping their companies respond to the pandemic of 2020 made them worthy of recognition as the Institute’s first-ever Industry Innovators (page 14). We also recognize Kroger as our first Retail Innovator of the Year – but you already know the nation’s largest grocer.

Elsewhere, we introduce you to our latest proprietary research, a deep dive into the current state of the shopper marketing function within manufacturer organizations (page 24), a few pretty unique shopperfacing augmented reality activations (page 48), and one particularly experiential supermarket (page 52).

But I’d like to use some space here to introduce everyone to a couple of new initiatives that the Path to Purchase Institute will be rolling out this month. We hope you’ll be as excited about participating in them as we are about bringing them to our industry.

Executive Editor Tim Binder, tbinder@ensembleiq.com

Associate Editor/Content Cyndi Loza, cloza@ensembleiq.com Associate Editor/Content Jacqueline Barba, jbarba@ensembleiq.com Editor Emeritus Bill Schober, bschober@ensembleiq.com Director – Production Ed Ward, eward@ensembleiq.com Creative Director Colette Magliaro, cmagliaro@ensembleiq.com Art Director Michael Escobedo, mescobedo@ensembleiq.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Erika Flynn, Ed Finkel, Michael Applebaum, Chris Gelbach, Dawn Klingensmith, April Miller, Samantha Nelson

SALES & P2PI MEMBER DEVELOPMENT Managing Director Tanner Van Dusen, 312.518.5000, tvandusen@ensembleiq.com Brand Director Eric Savitch, esavitch@ensembleiq.com Associate Director, Brand Partnerships Arlene Schusteff, 773.992.4414, aschusteff@ensembleiq.com Senior Director/Member Development Patrick Hare, phare@ensembleiq.com Senior Account Executive Katrina Lopez, 813.732.5281, klopez@ensembleiq.com Director/Member/New Business Development Todd Turner, tturner@ensembleiq.com

AUDIENCE

List Rental MeritDirect Marie Briganti, 914.309.3378 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES/CUSTOMER CARE TOLL-FREE: 1.877.687.7321 FAX: 1.888.520.3608 contact@p2pi.org

ENSEMBLEIQ LEADERSHIP TEAM

Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Litterick Chief Financial Officer Jane Volland Chief Innovation Officer Tanner Van Dusen Chief Human Resources Officer Ann Jadown Executive Vice President, Events & Conferences Ed Several Senior Vice President, Content Joe Territo

EDITORIAL AND EXECUTIVE OFFICES 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 200 Chicago, IL 60631 Phone: 773.992.4450 | Fax: 773.992.4455

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Member Perspective

Organizing to Win in a Dynamic Marketplace

BY K E L LY D O W N E Y, OX F O R D S M

Dynamic as a marketplace descriptor is an understatement as we look at 2020 in the rearview mirror, and it likely will continue to be as we navigate the unpredictable roads ahead.

The pandemic spotlighted the need for companies to reevaluate their work, how it gets done, their employee skills and current organizational design. Clearly, what worked in the past isn’t necessarily going to work in the future.

While the desired outcome of organizing and enabling teams to win is obvious (delivering/exceeding your business objectives and strategies), the route to get there can be complex.

Organizations need to adapt, evolve, and plot their own course – depending on where they are along their individual journeys.

Here are three important actions to take: 1. Define the work your teams need to get done (output and outcomes).

2. Assess the skills and capabilities of your team: Are they sufficient to deliver the outcome?

3. Build structures/ways of working to support No. 1 and No. 2.

1. Define the work: In our fluid, complex and uber-connected world, it’s not only the work we do that’s evolving; how the work is done and by who also requires flexibility and adaptability for organizations to thrive.

A hybrid of technology and human needs (those of our customers/consumers and our teams) is at the intersection of our efforts.

They cannot be mutually exclusive.

For example, as demand for digital and analytic work underpinned by consumer insights surges, we must reshape our workflows, outputs and outcomes to be more holistic and inclusive than they have been in the former siloed/functional ways of working. Organizing work to accommodate the dichotomy of demands between data and humans is imperative. Our work and our organizations need to embrace this duality to effectively compete in the datadriven, purpose-driven and consumer-led marketplace.

2. Assess the talent: Having mapped the work, we need to assess if we have the right talent to get the job done. Talent gaps are accelerating. For example, there continues to be an unfilled gap in the marketplace for “in-house” data and digital specialists.

Companies may have to step outside of their comfort zone to address this problem. Those that traditionally “promote from within” may have to go outside and “buy” or “borrow” talent to accelerate capabilities with a longerterm goal of building these competencies and upskilling their current team members.

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The talent challenge goes beyond just “functional” skills; it includes “human skills.” In the future, engaging people – real, human people – will be at the heart of talent management (finding what they’re good at, passionate about and motivated by, and how adaptable they are).

Widening the lens to this hybrid approach of technology and human needs ensures organizations have the right people with the right skills working against defined goals and outcomes.

3. Build the structure/ways of working: The task of achieving inspired organizational “design” and ways of working becomes clearer when we organize around the new work/ capabilities needs vs. force-fitting new tasks and ways of working into rigid hierarchical structures. For example, as the need for data and digital specialists escalates, companies are challenged to resource this work in a headcountneutral environment full of generalists rigidly aligned to functions and brands.

The “out of the box” solution might be creating collaborative, “virtual” hubs where specialists support multiple teams or brands and flow as needed to the work to be done.

Exploring non-traditional structures and career paths produces flexible, empowered teams that enable individuals to explore their passions while tapping into human skills. Following these signs and staying alert to the inevitable bumps in the road will ready you for the new traffic patterns ahead. IQ

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelly Downey “grew up” in CPG at companies such as Kraft, Unilever and Philips. She now helps OxfordSM’s clients thrive by combining capability and strategy to delight customers and deliver profitable growth.

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Member Spotlight

Vista Grande A Q&A with Russ Onish, president of the insights-driven consultancy

Why do you use a ‘Choice Architecture’ theme for your strategic solutions?

ONISH: The architecture theme in our solution branding evokes collaboration with our clients toward building something useful. We pair that term with “choice” since that is ultimately what our clients must influence to gain market share or competitive advantage with their products.

Practically speaking, we approach traditional spaces of CPG market research with broad, holistic solutions that often reframe the competitive landscape and the opportunity spaces for our clients. For example, Category Choice Architecture takes the traditional decision tree research space and adds much more value to encompass the omnichannel shopper journey with elements of attitudinal segmentation, category need states, retail choice rationale, attribute saliency, shopper navigation, and product loyalty and affinities. We include all these elements in a unified framework.

We’ve demonstrated the efficacy of this technique in dozens of categories, including broad-based studies of alcoholic beverages, frozen foods, household cleaning and fresh meat.

How does your company plan to use its P2PI membership resources?

ONISH: Although I’ve personally been involved in your conferences in the past, Vista Grande is new to P2PI. We are tremendously impressed with the content library, both in its breadth of retailers and categories and in its depth of topics. We want to be active members who participate

In a category hard to understand through traditional data sources, Vista Grande’s Category Choice Architecture addressed critical blind spots. Its shopper insights expertise has helped us make favorable business decisions and recommendations to our retail partners. The process was smooth and the deliverables were comprehensive. We will get a lot of value from this study across functions at Tyson and with our customers.

– KATHY RIETSCHEL, DIRECTOR, SHOPPER INSIGHTS & CATEGORY LEADERSHIP, TYSON FOODS

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in the leading conversations in our industry. We have a unique and authentic voice that I believe will be of interest to some of your membership whether they might initially agree with us or not. We also want to hear from others and think through the evolution of our own services based on what your members need to compete effectively in the future.

What is your current view of the CPG industry, and how can you help brands during this time?

ONISH: I’ve been steeped and entrenched in the CPG industry for a long time. I think it’s a fascinating space where shifting winds and tides can cause incredible disruption, turmoil and opportunity. Nobody should get too comfortable and fall out of touch with the consumer and the shopper.

Finance and procurement departments have important jobs to do, but they are not going to keep CPG companies aligned with emerging trends. Although companies often default to the marketing function to drive strategy, I’ve always seen big opportunities for partnership and programs with leading retailers coming from the sales, category management and shopper marketing teams working collaboratively to improve the shopper experience. That’s where Vista Grande can help our clients succeed. IQ

MEMBER UPDATE Path to Purchase Institute is delighted to welcome the following new members to our community: BBDO Minneapolis, Boston Beer Co., Coinstar, Duran Marketing Consulting, Freeosk, GE Appliances, Godin Productions, Hello Bello, Sam’s Club, T&G Global NAM, The Trade Desk and VSBLTY. Join the hundreds of companies that benefit from P2PI every day with strategies and best practices on succeeding in today’s chaotic omnicommerce environment. For more information, contact Katrina Lopez at klopez@ensembleiq.com.

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FLASH, POW, CHA-CHING You may already know Ibotta as an industrypioneering cash-back payments app that rewards customers for everyday purchases.

The name is a creative play on “I bought a —” and retailers and brands have bought in big as well. With a massive, loyal userbase, Ibotta is a top shopper rewards platform for driving new customers, incremental sales and store trips.

So what’s the next step for building up a successful, growing shopper app?

ENTER IBOTTA MEDIA GROUP (IMG) Digital ad effectiveness is both widely oversold and increasingly hard to measure. IMG was formed to solve these problems by pulling back the curtain and answering the question, “How does digital media really impact in-store and online sales?”

Ibotta Media Group is a performance media solution that gives brands the tools to tie digital advertising impressions to Ibotta redemptions and brand sales. Targeted digital ads are deployed via Ibotta’s partnership with The Trade Desk and reach consumers that have the highest propensity to purchase the advertised product on their next trip to the store. IMG, OMG.

SUPER CHARGING YOUR MEDIA SPEND To celebrate the launch, IMG created a whiz-bang-uber-fun quiz to help you identify and harness your marketing superpowers.

Does your X-Ray vision let you see through the smoke and mirrors that can obscure consumer behavior analytics? Do you have Perfect Aim, letting you hit your target audience with hyper-relevant content at just the right moment? Or maybe you’re a Mastermind and succeed by making daily micro-adjustments to your campaign?

Whichever type of superpower elevates your marketing, IMG is poised to help you get even more out of your digital media spend via a three-pronged, A-game approach.

• Aim: set the strategy and execute the plan • Activate: reach relevant consumers with personalized ads • Attribute: measure the 1:1 sales impact of the campaign

Discover your marketing superpower and unlock your brand’s full potential with Ibotta Media Group. Visit pathtopurchaseiq.com/ ibottasuperquiz for insights and a super-secret special offer to unleash your powers today!

Digital Marketing

Lunchables Amplifies Rewards Program Content

BY S A M A N T H A N E L S O N

Kraft Heinz’s Lunchables wanted to reach socially driven Millennial moms with their 2021 return to school campaign, “Leave It to Lunchables.”

The brand’s first-ever rewards program awarded points that could be redeemed for cash or Amazon gift cards to shoppers who uploaded receipts on the campaign website.

Lunchables wanted to make sure shoppers were learning about the effort in the most relevant way possible. “You want to try to really zoom in and get the consumer where they’re shopping and make that connection with them,” says Desiree Casey, senior shopper marketing manager for Kraft Heinz.

That meant not just running a national campaign or working with the biggest CPG retailers but also finding a way to reach the loyal shoppers of independent, neighborhood supermarkets. “It’s a priority for us to try to reach as many of our consumers as possible,” Casey says. “It’s easier with the larger guys because they may sell this media.”

That challenge led the manufacturer to partner with Williamsville, New Yorkbased ShoptoCook to utilize its Adsta digital platform, which powers the websites, mobile marketing and digital circulars of 3,250 indie stores across nearly 50 banners. “Kraft felt this was a market of about 40 million eyeballs that they really weren’t getting to with a lot of their marketing initiatives,” says Al Jones, ShoptoCook’s vice president of advertising sales and marketing.

“This was a new opportunity.”

From Jan. 4 through Feb. 6, the partners promoted the Leave It to Lunchables program across Adsta’s touchpoints, with

strategically placed display ads running on recipe pages and digital circulars linking to LunchablesRewards.com. The ads amplified content within the circulars, such as sales pricing on Kraft Heinz’s Oscar Mayer products.

They also ran on in-store coupon kiosks, from which shoppers could print information about the program.

“It’s just a great way for us to reach those independent customers and to be able to

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provide equity in advertising against our brands, amplifying what we already have going on in the circular and bringing it to life online. [That] has been so incredibly important, especially during this past year with the huge increase in consumers going onto websites and doing online shopping,” Casey says.

The ads earned more than 3.6 million web and mobile impressions and gained 503,000 more from email newsletters.

Approximately 12,000 consumers clicked on the ads while 9,397 printed information from the kiosks. “We actually were pleasantly surprised with the kiosk usage during the pandemic,” Jones says. “Once people were carrying around their personal sanitation, it was no different than wiping the handle of a cart.”

Kraft Heinz measured sales lift and was so satisfied with the program that it has already contracted with ShoptoCook on two additional efforts.

“My wholesale teams are extremely happy that they’re able to service their customers and provide some of this digital activation on certain dry periods that we’ve deemed as very strategic for us this year,” Casey says.

“What I’ve learned is that you can expand our channels and service our customers on a much higher level.”

Adsta ads promoted the March launch of Colliders, a packaged dessert produced through a licensing deal with Hershey Co. They also are supporting Kraft Heinz’s biggest promotion of the year, “Art of the Burger,” a summer grilling sweepstakes awarding $25,000 and the opportunity to have the winner’s burger framed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Casey says the marketing efforts are especially relevant right now to help the CPG retain consumers who increasingly looked to packaged foods for home cooking solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s exciting that we’re able to reach as many consumers as possible, make them aware of this opportunity, create excitement around our condiments and fresh meat, and continue to drive that in-home consumption, especially as we continue to open up,” Casey says. IQ

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INNOVATION REDEFINED Last year’s pandemic inspired marketers to reach new heights – and the Institute to honor their efforts MERCHANDISING Elisa Gurevich

SHOPPER MARKETING Daniel Ingram

INSIGHTS

Natalie Kinney

I

n the world of shopper commerce, it’s always been important for brand marketers and retailers to maintain a steady pace of innovation that can keep them ahead of evolving consumer needs and drive ongoing product demand.

Truth be told, however, the term “innovation” has been diluted somewhat over the years, and recently often has been used in reference to anything “new” or “different” that’s introduced into the marketplace to drive incremental sales or category share.

But like so many other trends, that one changed in 2020, when the pandemic’s disruption escalated the need for innovation with objectives far beyond achieving sales goals to encompass more critical issues like responding to massive changes in consumer behavior, completely rethinking execution strategies, or even helping to keep channel partners in business.

It was such an impressive year for innovation, in fact, that it inspired the Path to Purchase Institute to launch a new awards program that would recognize some of the people and companies that brought it to life. Over the next eight pages, we will introduce you to individuals across four key areas of the industry – Shopper Marketing, Merchandising, E-commerce and Insights – whose innovative thinking led to exceptional business success in 2020, as well as one retailer whose ongoing excellence made it fully equipped to meet the challenges of a year like no other. Welcome to the Industry Innovators 2021.

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RETAILER

E-COMMERCE

Greg Yeadon

INDUSTRY INNOVATORS 2021 Retailer: Kroger (page 15) Shopper Marketing: Daniel Ingram, Anheuser-Busch InBev (page 18) Merchandising: Elisa Gurevich, Bic (page 19) E-Commerce: Greg Yeadon, Clif Bar & Co. (page 20) Insights: Natalie Kinney, Butterball (page 21) Finalists (pages 22-23)

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INNOVATION REDEFINED

Retail Innovator of the Year:

Kroger

BY P E T E R B R E E N

T

he editorial team selected Kroger as the Path to Purchase Institute’s first-ever Retail Innovator of the Year. But the selection was based almost entirely on feedback we received from the CPG marketers in our community who, among other accolades, lauded Kroger as “best collaborative partner during the pandemic” and second-best (tied with Amazon behind Target) in “readiness for the shift to online shopping” in the Institute’s Trends Report 2021.

Brands praised the nation’s largest grocer for being willing to “work with our teams to improve the shopper experience for our products, the category and the overall basket” and ready to “lean in and discuss topics in the spirit of making progress together.”

A number of CPGs also cited the ways in which Kroger “proactively shared insights on their shopper behavior and category performance during the pandemic” by providing studies, holding webinars and revising promotional activity to align with the dramatic changes taking place. “They had a broad range of programs that were available to support our business when we needed to shift our promotional strategy,” said one.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the team and how they showed up for our customers, our associates and each other when – literally, overnight – everything changed,” says Jody Kalmbach, Kroger’s group vice president of product experience, who was interviewed by the Institute in May. “The business doubled. Our ways of working changed. Everyone had to move to remote work from home versus being in the office.”

Fortunately, several years of intensive development of its e-commerce capabilities had Kroger ready for the disruption.

“We’d had the foresight previously to make technology investments that actually – unknowingly at the time – prepared us for that moment,” Kalmbach says. “So when the business doubled, we didn’t miss a beat. We were able to be there for our customers.”

In addition to having the right tools in place, Kroger’s efficient product development methodologies “allowed us to operate at a pace that mattered,” Kalmbach adds. “So when we had solves that we had to put in place that normally might take a quarter or two to get done, we made it happen in two weeks because we had set up the organization for success to get things in play much more rapidly and support those incredibly important customer needs that were coming up.”

A REAL ‘OMNI-PRESENCE’ As a result of the behavioral shifts, Kroger’s website engagement

is at an all-time high. The retailer’s 23 million unique monthly shoppers make it the leading retailer in the food and grocery category, according to comScore. And fueled by 116% year-overyear growth in 2020, its $10 billion-plus in e-commerce sales makes it one of the 10 largest online retailers of any type.

“To be number 8 on the list is a pretty massive accomplishment when you think that, about five years or so ago, we didn’t have an e-commerce business,” says Kalmbach. “The customers evolved, we met them, and now this is very much a part of what we believe the future will be. It’s been very exciting for the company but also humbling that we were able to show up in that way.”

To that end, Kroger finished 2020 with roughly 2,225 e-commerce pickup sites and about 2,500 delivery locations, which means that 98% of its shopper households now can utilize at least one of those options. Elsewhere, the first of 19 automated customer fulfillment centers that will roll out in conjunction with supply chain partner Ocado opened in April 2021. That partnership also boasts proprietary software in stores that will help employees pick and assemble online orders more efficiently for the shoppers using pickup services.

“A general guiding principle for us is [that] we want to own the relationship with the customer. We want to be able to build the solution and deliver that experience to them,” says Kalmbach, when asked about Kroger’s strategy for striking external partnerships. “But where we can feed in really unique, differentiated capabilities to better serve them, we’re all in.”

Innovation doesn’t begin and end with order fulfillment, of course, and Kroger is looking for ways to help customers solve their meal planning needs as well. Among recent activity is a partnership with Whisk, part of the Samsung Next food technology platform, in which Kroger customers can turn recipes from a variety of publishers, brands and apps into a smart shopping list for instant purchase from their local store.

Another is an internally developed Twitterbased tool called Chefbot that gives Jody Kalmbach

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INNOVATION REDEFINED

customers recommendations based on snapshots from their fridges or pantries.

“At Kroger, we really embrace the culture of testing and learning. So there are very few things that we’re not willing to put in play in a pilot so that we can test and learn and continue to innovate,” says Kalmbach, pointing to the drone service currently being tested near Dayton, Ohio, that will deliver products anywhere the customer needs them. (“Imagine you’re at the park, you’re having an awesome barbecue, and you forgot your s’mores kit.”)

“It’s about having the mindset of being willing to … try things, knowing that many will fail,” she says. “But when you hit that experience that really resonates with the customer, then you have the ability to bring it to life.”

EXCELLENCE, OLD & NEW Of course, omnichannel innovation isn’t complete without upgrades to the brick-and-mortar store environment, such as ongoing efforts with tech partner Microsoft to trial digital signage, cloud-supported in-stock management, and other enhancements. In another recent test, Kroger introduced KroGo, a smart cart (from New York-based Caper) that lets shoppers weigh produce, scan and bag items as they walk the store, then pay using on-cart technology and exit through the selfcheckout area.

“I think there’s an expectation increasingly growing among customers – and we certainly saw this during the

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pandemic – of having digitally engaging experiences,” says Kalmbach. As far as “online vs. in-store” goes, “From a customer point of view, it’s one experience. … So, whether they’re in-store or online, how can we help simplify the experience for customers to have data and inspiration at their fingertips … using digital to drive the experience forward.”

Beyond technology, “there’s tremendous innovation happening from an assortment and a food and grocery perspective,” she says.

“Think about meal solutions and how grocery is evolving to not just be the ingredients that you want to purchase, but everything through the spectrum of ready to prep, ready to heat, ready to eat – to that real restaurant-quality level of food. I think we’re going to continue to see massive innovation on that front because, again, the customer is expecting it.”

“The lines are already blurring with the in-store experience,” says Cara Pratt, senior vice president of Kroger Precision Marketing, before listing off such omnichannel tools as Kroger’s mobile app, digital shopping lists and offers, augmented reality, and digital screens. “Ultimately, we’re looking to help our shoppers get food on the table. And we can do that in really meaningful ways to Cara Pratt make the experience even more fun, more engaging, and more helpful.”

Kroger’s thoroughbred entry into the retail media network race, KPM has been earning the same high praise for data expertise that its parent operation, in-house data shop 84.51, has enjoyed for years. In the Institute’s Trends Report, KPM received the highest scores of any retail media platform for targeting effectiveness, measurement capabilities, data sharing, ROI and sales growth.

“While the portfolio has evolved substantially over our first three and a half years in market, the reality is that our commitments have remained the same,” says Pratt. “We have commitments that are anchored in business outcomes, around the performant nature of media, accountability, transparency and brand safety – and also in consumer outcomes, which are really around inspiration and shoppable moments.

“We had over 500 billion personalized experiences that we exposed our shoppers to last year alone, and that’s sitting behind the power of all of the customer intelligence that we have,” explains Pratt. “Customers are more empowered than ever to make new decisions about how they shop, where they shop and when they shop, and we know that we need to continue to use that same intelligence to create the best experience for them – whether they’re walking in our stores or shopping online.”

And where shoppers go, Kroger’s innovation is sure to follow.

To view the Institute’s full interview with Jody Kalmbach and Cara Pratt, visit P2PI.org.

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Welcome to the New Reality INTRODUCING THE PATH TO PURCHASE IQ SHOPPER ENGAGEMENT PARTNER SHOWCASE

Explore our all-new, highly-interactive digital experience of product marketing solutions and agencies in an environment unlike anything experienced before on PathtoPurchaseIQ.com.

The Shopper Engagement Partner Showcase provides 24/7, year-round access to insights, trends, and valuable tools and services. Not virtual reality, this is the new reality, engaging marketers directly with solution providers and agencies when you can’t meet face-to-face.

THE SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN Participants can spotlight new products, portfolios, and unique capabilities.

Information is seamlessly displayed in a digital environment where visitors can easily click-to-connect.

G E T YO UR TOUR TO DAY !

Contact Joe Territo, Brand Leader (jterrito@ensembleiq.com, 973.727.7338), or your sales representative for a tour of the Shopper Engagement Partner Showcase.

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INDUSTRY INNOVATOR AWARD: SHOPPER MARKETING

Daniel Ingram

Global Director, BEES Customer Experience Anheuser-Busch InBev

DANIEL INGRAM

BY JACQ U E LI N E BAR BA

Why: Devised a hyper-localized social media strategy to drive sales while helping to keep local partners afloat during the pandemic.

W

hen the COVID-19 pandemic flipped life as we knew it upside down in 2020, Anheuser-Busch had to decide what to do with an advertising strategy that was built to drive foot traffic to the manufacturer’s global partner network of bars, restaurants and retailers. That task specifically fell to Daniel Ingram, global director of the BEES customer experience at AB InBev, and his team.

The pandemic made Ingram completely rethink his role at AB InBev. Pre-pandemic, he worked with collaborative social advertising platform Tiger Pistol to publish brand-funded social ads leveraging AB InBev’s creative assets as well as dynamically localized messaging to direct consumers to their local tavern, restaurant or convenience store.

Ingram’s social plan had been so good that it delivered 350 million impressions over a two-month period at a cost 60% lower than AB InBev’s national campaigns. But, in his words, given his new array of challenges, “We knew that our original project objective … would not work anymore.”

“With the pandemic severely impacting Bud Light used small and medium businesses around the social media to world, we needed a solution to help them invite consumers to find local bars and sustain consumer sales in the new reality,” restaurants open for Ingram says. “In-person sales and foot traffic takeout or delivery. became irrelevant overnight, and we needed a way to help our partners reach their consumers.”

With each geographic region affected differently, Ingram and Tiger Pistol worked closely with AB InBev’s global markets to create a series of programs in more than 20 countries to support those small businesses during the crisis and help them recover. They used social ads promoting community building, gift card sales, home delivery and no-contact curbside pickup in impacted communities, or foot-traffic drivers to reopen locations. Campaigns continue to be rapidly updated to align with changing local regulations.

Stella Artois, for example, launched “Rally for Restaurants” around the world, inviting consumers to purchase discount vouchers to help sustain local restaurants during the crisis. Among the many localized campaigns, #ApoieUmRestaurante (which translates to “#SupportARestaurant”) in Brazil sold more than 180,000 vouchers, while in Canada the brand added an additional $10 to the value of every gift card purchased.

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Years in current position: 2 Previous work experience: Prior to AB InBev, spent four years working at Deloitte Consulting in strategy and operations. Also served as a volunteer consultant in London at Teach First, the UK sisterorganization of Teach for America, focused on technology transformation.

Education: Bachelor’s in Economics, Political Science, Entrepreneurship & Management at Johns Hopkins University; Master’s in Business Administration, Operations & Marketing Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In the U.S., Bud Light launched “Open For Takeout,” inviting consumers to find local bars and restaurants open for takeout or delivery in their area by entering their ZIP code on a special microsite.

“We identified markets that were both most in need of this solution and ready to execute at speed,” Ingram says, adding that acting quickly and rallying colleagues and partners to execute was one of his biggest challenges. “Our European markets, especially Belgium and the UK, immediately put the plan in motion, onboarding new customers and launching hyper-localized, consumer-facing campaigns to drive sales.”

The work demanded a close collaboration between global sales, local trade marketing teams, front-line sales teams and the CPG giant’s agency partners.

But the results justified Ingram’s efforts and hard work. “We saw higher sales for our [partners], especially in curbside pickup, delivery and online sales,” Ingram says. AB InBev also measured positive ROI for the campaigns, giving it the confidence boost it needed to continue expanding the programs through 2020 and into 2021.

Building on this success, Ingram worked to incorporate the Tiger Pistol platform into the BEES application. BEES (so named to align with AB’s bees-themed B2B operations) is AB InBev’s e-commerce platform for its small and medium-sized retailers and is designed to revolutionize their sales capabilities while making AB InBev’s business with them more profitable.

Ingram’s recent work has also had a lasting effect on the way AB InBev and his team operate. The new hyper-local social marketing strategy has become a standard way of working in many markets, Ingram says. And his team is much more flexible on campaign objectives and design “as markets experience different stages of the pandemic and post-pandemic realities.”

Ingram takes an active role in understanding the platform technology to ensure the success of campaign launches. Before his strategic input, AB InBev had been using national TV spots and on-site print collateral to drive performance for their beer brands. Through Ingram’s vision, the company can now connect the last mile between national campaigns and points of consumption.

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INDUSTRY INNOVATOR AWARD: MERCHANDISING

Elisa Gurevich

Director, Global Shaver Portfolio Bic

ELISA GUREVICH

BY TI M B I N D E R

Why: Launched a category-busting new brand at retail as the pandemic raged.

W

hen Bic set out to understand the tension points among its consumers, the company identified a yearning for brands that weren’t positioned as “for men” or “for women” but rather focused on the end benefit, no matter the gender.

Bic-commissioned research found that 69% of consumers 18-34 years old believed that companies should create more unisex personal care products, and 75% of consumers under 34 were interested in using a razor marketed for both men and women.

With that knowledge, Bic launched Us., a unisex grooming line.

Elisa Gurevich, then senior brand manager, led the line’s creation and strategy, from its inception to launch. “We started with a brand name and, from there, created a positioning with a brand manifesto that inspired the pack design, which led to the communication campaign and to the assets we executed,” she says.

Bic was agile as a company in seeing the need and then creating a solution. Gurevich says the approach was “basically undoing the rules” that had been in place.

“We wrote our manifesto from the voice of the consumer not the manufacturer,” she says. “The packaging was designed to be no-frills because the story was in the product, not in an overly fancy design. We also knew we needed to partner with customers who shared the same values of inclusivity and authenticity.”

To reach the shopper target (“Genzennials” ages 18-34), Bic partnered with Inspira Marketing Group for brand strategy work, hero creative development and omnichannel planning focused on key retailers.

“We knew it was essential to show our customer partners how we would disrupt shoppers and educate on the role this innovative category and product would play in their lives,” Gurevich says. “We created a ‘push-pull-repeat’ shopper journey to design the omnichannel execution.

Push was focused on driving to the store with digital advertising and co-op radio depending on the market; pull from the shelf with breakthrough merchandising and compelling offers; and repeat driven by the Bic used “breakthrough great product performance coupled with merchandising,” like this incentives to come back.” endcap display, to get shoppers The result: The brand is changing to purchase Us. products.

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Years in current position: Spent 3½ years as senior brand manager for Shavers in North America. Promoted in March to marketing director for the Global Shaver portfolio.

Previous work experience: Prior to joining Bic, worked at Sun Products then Henkel, holding multiple roles in marketing, starting as associate brand manager in 2003 and evolving to marketing director in 2016. Began career in marketing at Unilever in 2003 after initially starting there two years earlier in logistics.

Education: Bachelor’s in Logistics from the University of Maryland

the category paradigms, leading the future for a more inclusive grooming category, according to Gurevich. Us. is building trial and growing market share every week, reaching an all-time share high of 60% and becoming the No. 2 razor system at Dollar General, she says.

Furthermore, Us. brought new shoppers into the shaver category, with key customers posting 62% category growth and 30% in incremental sales. And by offering the utility of two SKUs (male and female) in one package, the razors help retailers manage limited space as well.

“From a consumer perspective, purchase intent has remained high at 87% among the target audience,” Gurevich says. “And consumers love the product. More than 1,000 online reviews gave Us. a 4.6 out of 5 star rating.”

Given the June 2020 launch of Us., the pandemic created a major challenge as much of the activation was in-store and around-the-store.

“We had to pivot our plans,” Gurevich says. “Luckily, our customer partners, agencies and internal teams were agile and quick to respond. We also recognized how challenging it was for the store employees – going to work during the pandemic. So, for one of our major Us. customers, we offered free coupons for the brand to all employees and publicly thanked them on their employee intranet.”

Gurevich says a team of top internal members and “world-class agencies” helped bring the launch to life, led by Inspira Marketing.

She also credits Merkley + Partners (for advertising) and MWW (PR).

“I like to say ‘Us. couldn’t have been Us. without You’ because it was truly the best team working on this launch,” Gurevich adds.

Gurevich has moved on from the senior brand manager role and is now director of the Global Shaver Portfolio. She’s responsible for developing global strategy, innovation roadmap, brand positioning, brand architecture and global communication for shavers around the world.

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INDUSTRY INNOVATOR AWARD: E-COMMERCE

Greg Yeadon

Senior Manager, Innovation Clif Bar & Co.

GREG YEADON

B Y PAT R YC J A M A L I N O W S K A

Why: Arrived just in time to bring order to the chaos of an exploding e-commerce channel.

C

Years in current position: Promoted in April to senior manager of innovation after two years as head of e-commerce marketing.

Previous work experience: Led consumer goods management for more than a decade, with stints in brand management and innovation at Central Garden & Pet, Edgewell Personal Care and 3M. Education: Master’s in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management; bachelor’s from the University of Richmond.

lif Bar leaned in to the changes in shopper behavior driven by the COVID-19 pandemic to holistically grow e-commerce traffic, conversion and – ultimately – sales, a success made possible by the e-commerce leadership of Greg Yeadon.

Yeadon joined Clif as head of e-commerce marketing in 2019.

One of his primary responsibilities was to develop and execute innovative marketing programs to grow the brand’s online. He says there were two keys to the brand’s ultimate prosperity: internal preparation and leading with consistent communication. team better understand the impact of the brand’s visual content Yeadon’s knack for organization helped the company develop across the digital shelf, giving them the power to measure and a straightforward method of approaching e-commerce that cut optimize their images. Populating product pages with the highest through what was previously viewed internally as a busy, chaotic performing carousel images led to elevated page traffic for key channel. “I knew I had to create something to help the teams get a products and resulted in more than a 100% increase in conversion better grip on how to run an e-commerce business,” Yeadon says. rates during the test period. The insights were subsequently carried That manifested in the form of a pyramid loosely based off of out across the brand’s portfolio.

Maslow’s classic Hierarchy of Needs. The base of the pyramid, “We expanded, populating our retailer platforms with what we product availability, represents the first step toward winning in call our ‘Gold Standard’ content so everybody had the best stuff,” e-commerce, followed by content; ratings & reviews; product Yeadon says. placement and search marketing; price promotion; and, finally, Clif Bar also expanded retargeting efforts using Amazon paid media at the top.

Advertising from search to programmatic, upper funnel media, In application, brand teams move up the pyramid only when and evolved its retailer advertising strategy to an “always on” they feel confident that they’ve hit a minimum viable threshold approach. The moves led to significant growth, driving sales not on the prior step. “We’d have goals for content, ratings and only on Amazon but across the whole retail network, with a recent reviews, search marketing, price promotion – and if we had campaign driving cross-channel return on average spend that everything lined up and we had budget with our company was 10 times higher than previous results. and our brand teams, we’d get in paid media where it made “We did a follow-up marketing mix analysis and it was clear sense,” he explains. that this advertising was really strong and drove a ton of Yeadon’s “Educate and Inspire” presentations provided results. So that was a really good add-on to things we an active approach to bring core colleagues in brand, wanted to do and had the data for – really proved the sales, finance, operations and innovation up to speed case there,” Yeadon says. with the Clif Bar’s efforts in e-commerce, and to Additional improvements included the start and share with them best practices to online success. expansion of search marketing campaigns and “We built a mental model in 2019, but did programmatic advertising across various retail a lot of evangelizing of it in 2020, to the platforms with the help of another partner, point where many colleagues across the Flywheel. New software tools also enabled company fully understood and internalized the brand’s consumer affairs team to With a nod to Maslow, Yeadon’s the message,” he says. “I think that really helped initiative monitoring and response to online pyramid helped Clif Bar organize its people focus – and focus was kind of missing.” reviews across most major retailers. e-commerce strategy.

One major improvement realized under Yeadon’s “There is so much we did, and so many leadership last year was heightened visual engagement across small wins that ladder up to large and substantial changes to the retail platforms. Yeadon pioneered the use of AI technology from organization and its performance,” Yeadon says.

Vizit to assess and improve the brand’s e-commerce product After two years as head of Clif’s e-commerce marketing, Yeadon detail page content. The visual intelligence insights helped his in April was promoted to senior manager of innovation.

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INDUSTRY INNOVATOR AWARD: INSIGHTS

Natalie Kinney

Director of Insights and New Product Concepts Butterball

NATALIE KINNEY

BY CYN D I LOZ A

Why: With holiday plans in question, helped ensure the brand was the go-to source for Thanksgiving info (and turkeys).

A

s the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, shoppers, brands and retailers alike had to adapt to evolving restrictions, mandates and needs. At Butterball, the largest U.S. producer of turkey products, executives were tasked with the challenge of understanding what Thanksgiving 2020 would look like for both holiday hosts and retail partners, and what role the manufacturer could play in delivering a much-needed day of respite.

“It was important for us that, as things evolved, we evolved to continue to meet the hosts’ needs and really be their resource for making sure they could have that special turkey no matter the size of the gathering – no matter if they ever prepared a turkey before,” says Natalie Kinney, director of insights and new product concepts at Butterball.

In her role, Kinney is responsible for commissioning and synthesizing syndicated and primary research for Butterball.

The learning is used by sales and marketing teams for line extensions, innovation, monitoring brand health and creating retail sales strategy and tactics. Recognizing that Thanksgiving 2020 would be unique, Kinney commissioned three waves of omnibus surveys (via Ipsos). The first wave surveyed consumers in the summer asking them, for example, how they were feeling about the holiday and if it was even on their mind. The second wave launched after the back-to-school season in September, and the third and final survey was conducted before Thanksgiving to understand consumers’ ultimate plans.

The survey results revealed that consumers were still planning to celebrate and: • the number of celebrations were expected to increase as more shoppers were planning to host only immediate family, resulting in smaller gatherings.

• there would be a demand for more turkeys, especially smaller turkeys and alternate forms, such as boneless breasts and cook-in-bag options, to accommodate smaller gatherings or less-experienced hosts. (However, consumers overwhelmingly stated that their desire for turkey Butterball ads directed consumers to its website, where the brand provides what Kinney calls “best-in-class information.”

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Years in current position: Became director of insights in December 2017, and then director of insights and new product concepts in December 2020.

Previous work experience: Prior to joining Butterball, worked at Kao Brands in brand management and AC Nielsen BASES as a senior market research analyst.

Education: Communications degree from DePauw University

outweighed their size preference, indicating they’d purchase a larger turkey if a smaller size wasn’t available.)

• consumers would shop earlier in the season, make fewer trips to their regular retailer (with an increase in online purchasing), and spend less time in the store. “[Shoppers] still wanted to have Thanksgiving,” Kinney says.

“They recognized it was going to look different, but ... they were very committed to the fact that, no matter what all the other elements looked like, there was going to be a meal and that meal was going to include turkey.”

The company rounded out its insights with ongoing COVID-19 tracking – looking at cases, closures and consumer sentiment – and mining point-of-sale data. For example, it looked at Fourth of July frozen burger sales in 2020 compared to 2019, and turkey and ham sales in Easter 2020 compared to the year prior.

Armed with that information, Butterball adjusted how it approached the holiday, from marketing and messaging to anticipating questions and preparing the right content for the brand’s “Turkey Talk-Line” operators. (Many questions last year, for example, centered on how to cook smaller birds and breast items, Kinney says.)

The company also shifted production in anticipation of changing demands and worked with its retail partners to provide them information and help ensure there was optimal assortment in-store.

“Everyone had to pivot, and that was really why we wanted to have this best-in-class information … whether it was shoppers or retail partners, we wanted to have the answers,” Kinney says.

Butterball’s efforts last year yielded the most successful earned media campaign in company history, says Kinney, adding it was a team effort. The Turkey Talk-Line also answered 40% more calls Thanksgiving week and more than double the number of calls on Thanksgiving Day in 2020 compared to the prior year.

While it’s still uncertain what the new normal will be, Butterball is focused on being a Thanksgiving leader and resource – from a product and communication standpoint – for its retail partners, shoppers and holiday hosts. “We’re continuing to think and understand, ‘What does Thanksgiving 2021 look like?’” she says.

“So, it’s less about [us making] permanent changes and more about continuing to still learn at this point.”

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INDUSTRY INNOVATOR AWARDS: FINALISTS

SHOPPER MARKETING

MERCHANDISING

Laura Dickey

Debbie Brooks

Senior Shopper Marketing Manager Avocados from Mexico (LALA U.S. in 2020)

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the shopper marketing team at LALA U.S. was readying the launch of new packaging via customer-specific promotions across a handful of retailers, including a Cinco de Mayo retailtainment event at Walmart. With a late April 2020 launch date, the promotion had to be completely revised to align with the sudden changes in shopper behavior and store operations that occurred in March. Then LALA’s senior shopper marketing manager, Dickey and her team shifted to a print and digital activation. Scrapping the original plan, LALA partnered with SKUlocal and Ibotta on a direct mail campaign with social influencer overlays. A campaign for LALA Yogurt Smoothie at Walmart was structured to drive trial and repeat purchases through a bonus offer for in-store or online purchases. The overhauled campaign drove a 28% lift, with 33.9% of redemptions coming from users completely new to the category. Since then, Dickey has moved on to Avocados of Mexico, where she wants to expand on her innovative work with a company and brand she believes is already an industry innovator.

Tony Fung

Senior Shopper Marketing Manager Bob Evans Farms

Shopper marketing is still relatively new for Bob Evans Farms. Fung hit the ground running after joining the company in early 2020, developing and conceptualizing the brand’s shopper marketing capabilities and retail strategy.

Even more impressively, Fung is a team of one, leading shopper marketing strategy and execution across mass and grocery channels as well as e-commerce and omnichannel capabilities. In his first year, Fung was able to help Bob Evans strengthen its relationship with customer teams and retail media platforms (such as Quotient and H-E-B’s newly formed retail media offering) and launch the brand’s first-ever integrated shopper marketing campaign to spotlight refrigerated dinner side dishes for the holidays. The campaign illustrated the importance of reaching shoppers using an omnichannel approach through multiple touchpoints. Fung also tapped The Mars Agency to audit the digital shelf, update outdated images and improve above-the-fold and below-thefold content on retailer websites. The brand’s next integrated shopper marketing campaign with the USO is slated for this summer.

Lauren Wright

Customer Director, Shopper Marketing Mondelez International

Wright, who leads Mondelez’s omni-commerce/shopper marketing activities at Walmart and Sam’s Club, was at the helm of the CPG giant’s first-ever omnicommerce program at Walmart. Dubbed “Create. Share. Give,” the effort launched in November 2020 with a holiday theme after Walmart asked Mondelez to rethink its programs for the remainder of 2020 and pivot programming to help give back to the community. The 360-degree campaign invited shoppers to create and share their own Nabisco recipes, which were compiled in a custom Walmart.com showcase and then voted on. Each vote earned an additional donation from Mondelez, with the top vote-getter turned into a BuzzFeed Tasty video that has racked up more than 1 million views and nearly 109 million impressions. Mondelez worked with the snacks buyer and vice president of snacks at Walmart to co-develop the platform. Agency partner MOjO Marketing developed a custom Walmart.com page, in-store signage and displays, and digital and social media activity.

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Associate Sales Promotion Manager Brown-Forman

Brooks leads creative in-store design, development and logistics for the national accounts team in the grocery channel across Brown- Forman’s portfolio of brands. With COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions in place last year, the company shifted to developing tools and resources that retailers, restaurants/bars and shoppers needed. “Merchandising became more solution-focused and required a great deal of flexibility,” Brooks says. “We developed social distancing and directional signage for retailers, cocktail kits and to-go cups for restaurants/bars, and online alcohol delivery options in participating states.”

B-F also evaluated existing in-store materials and adjusted its planned programming to ensure that it was being sensitive to the situation. Many program themes changed from large gatherings to “at-home” everyday occasions. “Consumers altered many of their routines and traditions,” Brooks says.

“Spending and shopping habits have also changed. These are behaviors that will likely remain in place post-pandemic. Our goal is to remain customer-focused and to provide relevant retail solutions that meet shopper needs.”

Jana Gabe Masone On-Premise Channel Marketing Manager Diageo North America

As the COVID-19 pandemic devastated restaurants and bars across the U.S. in 2020, Diageo took the opportunity to rethink the way to win with customers.

The big but simple idea it hatched was to shift from creating assets for passive menus to creating profit-driving menu playbooks for the future – including experiential menus that utilize motion, video and new technologies – across 50,000 on-premise accounts. Masone worked to build the foundational elements of the menu strategy and challenged Diageo’s “status quo” use of tools and resources. She developed a suite of tools that allowed Diageo to be better positioned with customers and take a consultative position to growing their businesses.

She led the development and implementation of an innovative, downloadable digital menu engineering tool that was made accessible to Diageo’s sales, distributors and key account managers. Her leadership provided valuable resources to Diageo’s on-premise customers, revolutionized merchandising/ menus, improved the experience for consumers and increased profits for partnering restaurants and bars.

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INDUSTRY INNOVATOR AWARDS: FINALISTS

EE-COMMERCE

INSIGHTS

Cathy Lauro

Susan Lambert

Lauro leads omnichannel shopper marketing for the entire Unilever portfolio at Kroger, including targeted digital and e-commerce marketing efforts via Kroger Precision Marketing. She was quick to shift Unilever’s creative and targeting strategy in concert with the new shopping trends that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lauro canceled traditional in-store tactics and moved Unilever’s approach down the purchase funnel to digital communication, increasing investment in product listing ads, on-site display ads and search marketing. With the goal of engaging and retaining new shoppers that were buying categories in grocery that they previously would have purchased elsewhere, she developed a phased strategy that correlated with how Unilever thought the U.S. would recover from the pandemic’s impact, keeping shoppers engaged with situation-relevant creative. These tactics delivered a ROAS (return on ad spend) five times greater than benchmarks. Subsequent retargeting of both loyal and new households drove repeat trips, bigger baskets and increased household penetration, generating share gains across more than 70% of Unilever’s categories and laying the groundwork for the company’s entire grocery channel strategy.

As Massimo Zanetti’s coffee brands gained buyers due to increases in work-from-home policies last year, it was critically important for Lambert and her team to drive relevant content and conversion tactics to this new buyer base. With a limited budget, she found digital targeting/media to be the best solution. Targeted digital marketing, she explains, allows the manufacturer to speak only to the shopper it knows will find Massimo’s content compelling and relevant. Lambert’s team also successfully identified a path forward for retaining these new buyers by partnering with brand and shopper agencies. The company also went “all in” with IRI, from panel and consumption data to assortment optimization and custom research, in order to inform portions of Massimo’s brand-level shopper marketing strategy. Massimo also tapped The Mars Agency’s expertise. The company is in the process of monitoring retention, Lambert says, but its brands have a stronger buyer base this year than they did pre-pandemic.

And it continues to evolve its approach to using data to inform brand strategy as well as shopper marketing plans, she says.

Shopper Marketing Manager Unilever

Abishake Subramanian

Krista Kempski

Senior Director, Head of Advertising & Media Partnerships Sam’s Club Media Group

Sam’s Club Media Group has more than doubled business each year since Subramanian took on responsibility for ad sales, account delivery & management, product marketing, ad tech and media partnerships in 2016.

By acquiring the agency that had represented Walmart and Sam’s Club, Triad, Subramanian and his teams played a critical role in bringing retail media in-house, building an omnichannel platform on IRI’s Liquid Data technology and customizing it to the Sam’s Club’s environment, the Member Connect Insights Solution. Today, closed-loop targeting and measurement capabilities let brands evaluate media performance and optimize creative, frequency and placement decisions while campaigns are running, based on independent measurement from IRI, which provides incremental sales across subcampaign elements. In addition, ad-exposed audiences are available for ongoing analysis in the platform, enabling retargeting as well as basket affinity and switching behavior monitoring. Diving deeper into core metrics and analytics, the retailer is starting to share data beyond media reporting and ROI, such as membership-based metrics, converted new buyers, and conversion within curbside, home delivery or in-club channels. Going forward, Subramanian will continue enabling media optimization. “A lot of focus is going to shift into creative automation, enabling self-served display and search platforms for suppliers,” he says.

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Director, Shopper Marketing and Customer Insights Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA

Director, Consumer and Business Insights and Analytics, U.S. Pain Relief, Digestive Health and Switch GlaxoSmithKline

GSK launched two successful innovations last year during the height of the pandemic. In May, the manufacturer launched Voltaren Arthritis Pain, the first OTC prescription-strength, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory topical gel. In July, it rolled out Advil Dual Action, the first FDA-approved OTC combination of ibuprofen and acetaminophen in the U.S. Recognizing that there was no formula to follow during the pandemic, Kempski says it was critical to both launches to keep up with and even anticipate consumer behavior shifts so that her team could quickly adapt plans accordingly. To that end, GSK had to re-evaluate its marketing strategy, communications and activations to ensure they aligned with how consumers were receiving information during the period. Voltaren Arthritis Pain accounted for 79% of category growth in the adult topical pain relief segment in the U.S. in 2020. Advil Dual Action has also enjoyed success and leads all pain innovation benchmarks on repeat rate (36%), which is an indicator of long-term potential and consumer satisfaction, Kempski explains.

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E-COMMERCE MARKETING Mobile Social Search

Digital Shelf Product Detail Pages Retailer Apps

SHOPPER

SALES Feature

Retail Media

Coupons

Digital Advertising

Display

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MEDIA

Influencers

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SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Shopper Marketing Organizations

A WORK IN PROGRESS Growing responsibilities are making it even harder to identify ideal structures for shopper success

BY P E T E R B R E E N

F

or a relatively mature discipline, shopper marketing still seems to be working through a lot of growing pains – if, that is, it’s even possible to clearly define “shopper marketing” anymore.

While there certainly are numerous commonalities evident in functions, roles and responsibilities across companies, a survey conducted by the Path to Purchase Institute in April found that – almost literally – no two shopper marketing organizations are structured in exactly the same way.

And the emergence of retail media networks has, like e-commerce before it, only made attainment of an ideal organizational structure even more complex by adding additional responsibilities to the shopper marketing playbook that typically would be covered by a different function within the organization.

If there is anything that is crystal clear across companies, it’s that few (if any) shopper teams are satisfied with their current org chart (especially when it comes to body count), and that the discipline has become such a “jack of all trades” in terms of scope that an ideal structure is an increasingly tough task.

That’s why many industry veterans are advocating for a different approach to organizational alignment that seeks to clearly identify effective work streams rather than

1. NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES WITH SHOPPER MARKETING RESPONSIBILITY <5 5-10 11-15 16-25 26-50 >50

61% 17% 9% 8% 3% 3%

< 5 years

34%

5-10 years

38%

> 10 years

29%

Note: Total greater than 100% due to rounding.

Note: Total greater than 100% due to rounding.

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

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2. AGE OF SHOPPER MARKETING FUNCTION

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SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Shopper Marketing Organizations worrying about who reports where and who “owns” the budget.

“Shopper can’t be siloed and be successful,” says Kelly Marsh, director of industry affairs and capabilities at Nestle Coffee Partners. “You have to flow to the work. Having shared goals is the key.”

Marsh this spring joined with other industry leaders from a variety of companies to examine and identify best practices in organizational alignment as part of a work group being coordinated through the Institute’s new Commerce Executive Network. Formerly known as the League of Leaders, CEN was developed exclusively for senior commerce executives from retailers, brands, agencies and solution providers to work together to establish best practices and set standards around key business issues affecting shopper commerce. The work group on org alignment ultimately hopes to share some of its conclusions with the industry at large later this year.

For now, the following report examines the industry’s current thinking, as

3. WHERE SHOPPER MARKETING SITS Stand-Alone Function

8%

Other

Sales

7%

Marketing

33%

53%

Other: Commercial team Commercial Intelligence Center Dotted lines to the business unit PRGM Shared between Sales & Marketing Q: What function does shopper report into at your organization?

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

4. SHOPPER MARKETING RESPONSIBILITIES 90%

In-store marketing/merchandising

84%

Retail-related digital marketing/media

82%

Agency management 73%

Performance measurement 65%

E-commerce/digital shelf 48%

Insights/analytics Digital marketing (non-retail)

34%

Digital media (non-retail)

33%

Other 6% Other: Consumer promotions Experiential/Trade shows Digital packaging optimization Search (retailer.com) Some e-commerce support

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Q: Which of the following are areas of responsibility within your shopper team?

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

reflected in results from the Institute’s survey. The data represents responses from 77 professionals from consumer product manufacturers (67) and marketing agencies (10, answering with their closest client in mind).

STILL GROWING?

FAST FACT 34% of shopper marketing functions are less than five years old.

Among the more surprising results from the survey was the substantial number of “new” shopper teams across the industry.

In fact, fewer than one-third of the organizations captured in the survey have had formal shopper teams for more than 10 years, and just about one-third added the function within the last five years (see Chart 1).

Somewhat less surprising (although surely more disappointing) is the fact that shopper teams at a majority of organizations (61%) have fewer than five dedicated members (Chart 2). Even more to the point, “I’m just one person, so I do it all” was a comment made liberally throughout the survey. Generally speaking, larger organizations are more likely to have larger (and older) shopper teams, although that certainly isn’t always the case.

Shopper can be a small, yet distinct, formal function because “it often was formed organically from a hybrid of brand-facing and retail-facing responsibilities” that were largely handled elsewhere (like consumer promotion), suggests Kelly Downey, a former CPG marketing leader and executive consultant at management consultancy OxfordSM, which is guiding the work of the CEN group (see the Member Perspective on page 8 for more from Downey).

“It’s hard to give you an exact head count because there are people who are shared assets. We have assets defined as e-com and assets defined as shopper, but even the e-com assets are aligned to specific retailers,” explained one industry executive.

Perhaps the longest-running debate around shopper marketing, whether the practice should reside within the marketing department or the sales function, seems to have been won: 53% of respondents report into marketing (Chart 3).

This is particularly true for smaller companies, which are less likely to have the extensive customer or trade marketing operations of larger organizations. It also might reflect the

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97%

Traditional shopper/customer marketing

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SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Shopper Marketing Organizations evolving role that shopper is playing at many companies, which has been moving the function away from its “trade support” origins.

JACKS OF ALL TRADES As already implied, the size of shopper teams belies the scope of responsibilities the function now covers. In addition to the traditional chores of customerspecific marketing, in-store marketing and agency management, the majority of teams are also responsible for retailerrelated digital media and e-commerce/ digital shelf activity (Chart 4). What’s more, one-third of respondents are also involved in digital marketing and media that isn’t related to their work with retailers.

Why has shopper become the go-to 53% of shopper destination for marketing teams so much activity? report into the “It’s because marketing; 33% of where we into sales. typically sit within the organization: the intersection of understanding brand plans and needing to translate them through the shopper lens. We need to understand all the spokes coming from that hub,” says Marsh.

Despite these new responsibilities, the backgrounds of most members of current shopper teams suggest more “old school” skill sets such as customer marketing, brand and consumer promotion experience than knowledge around any of the newer duties in the digital/ecommerce space (Chart 5). That illustrates the difficulty many organizations face in building up the capabilities needed for the “modern” shopper function – which, of course, is compounded by the general shortage of dedicated personnel.

“There are new responsibilities to understand, like digital and now retail media. And then, how do we integrate brick-and-mortar to make it all omnichannel,” says Marsh, who recommends internal investments in

FAST FACT

5. BACKGROUND OF SHOPPER MARKETING TEAM 55%

Brand

53%

Consumer promotion/Integrated marketing 47%

Shopper marketing only (brand side)

44%

Shopper agency

40%

Sales 30%

Marketing services 22%

Insights/Research Other 1% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Q: What is the background/experience of your shopper marketing team?

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

6. DEDICATED FOCUS ON SHOPPER TEAMS 66%

Shopper marketing only Brand

64%

E-commerce

64% 61%

Sales

56%

Insights/Research

53%

Customer /Trade marketing 44%

Consumer promotion /Integrated marketing

43%

Digital marketing

40%

Social media marketing

36%

IT Marketing services

25%

Other 1% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Q: For which tactics/functions do you have dedicated team members?

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

training but also tapping into external industry resources. “We’re all going through this together. We have to make sure we’re staying ahead of the learning curve.”

“You need to be open-minded about the variety of talent that needs to come in,” says Downey. “And remember that the learning works both ways, because the fundamental stuff doesn’t go away.”

For the teams large (and lucky) enough to have dedicated “specialists,” e-commerce is the most common responsibility beyond the traditional functions of shopper, brand and sales/trade (Chart 6). That often reflects the need for someone “new” on the team to handle Amazon and other pure-play e-commerce accounts, and increasingly to work with third-party delivery services like Instacart. Dedicated assets for digital

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65%

Customer/Trade marketing

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SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Shopper Marketing Organizations

7. PROGRAMMING FOCUS Simultaneously brand- / customer-facing

8. SHOPPER MARKETING ALLOCATIONS 46%

25%

Customer-focused

14%

Brand-focused

19.2%

7%

Channel-focused

9.1%

3%

Tactic-focused

0%

of gross sales

of total marketing spend

Other 5% 10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Q: What is your shopper marketing spend at your organization?

Q: How is the shopper team structured in your organization?

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

marketing and social media are also becoming fairly common.

“There is a lot of different, nuanced subject matter expertise that plays into the role now,” said one industry executive. “We’re still trying to navigate the level of expertise that’s needed in some of these areas.”

As far as programming focus, the most common strategy is for team members to handle activity at specific retailers across all brands, or “simultaneously brand-/ customer-facing” as nearly half of all respondents said (Chart 7).

Here’s one area where there is some general consensus about ideal organizational structures. At recent Institute events, a number of shopper marketers have suggested that establishing single points of contact for each key retailer – account directors, if you will – would make both planning and execution a lot easier than current practices, which often have multiple stakeholders across functions managing their own domains.

shopper activity (Chart 8). The survey specifically directed respondents to included related e-commerce and retail media spending.

That’s a significantly higher percentage than other recent industry surveys, although those reports generally classify 65% of shopper “digital marketing” as something entirely distinct from marketing teams are shopper without considering (or at least discussing) the responsible for significant shift in the discipline’s focus toward online activity e-commerce in their in recent years. organizations.

And that’s a very important consideration, given the fact that

FAST FACT

9. SOURCE OF SHOPPER MARKETING BUDGET 72%

29%

28% 8%

POSITIVE SPENDING SIGNS? Perhaps the most positive data point from the survey is 19.2%, which represents the average percentage of total marketing spending dedicated to

Brand

Dedicated Shopper Budget

Customer Teams/Trade

E-Commerce

Q: Where does the shopper budget come from in your organization?

Note: Respondents were allowed to choose more than one option.

4%

4%

Category Management Teams/ Trade

Media

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

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SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Shopper Marketing Organizations

10. RELATIONSHIPS WITH AGENCIES Digital marketing 3%

68%

Creative 3%

66%

Media planning/buying 3%

51%

Multiple shopper agencies/AOR 1%

31%

9%

31%

4%

42%

43%

7%

Strategy Only

51%

Strategy + Execution

Q: Which types of agency relationships do you have? *N/A = don’t have this relationship Note: Totals greater than 100% due to rounding.

22%

12% 55%

Single shopper agency/AOR 3%

20%

9%

56%

5%

20%

10%

66%

Retail marketing/In-store 1% Social

10%

Execution Only

n/a*

Other: E-commerce-specific (Strategy + Execution) Paid search management (Strategy only) P-O-P (Execution only)

Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute March 2021)

only 29% of organizations have dedicated shopper marketing budgets And given the prior discussion and the rest are still drawing mostly from brand coffers – far and about the need for new skill away the most common source – or trade funds to pay for their sets, it’s also not surprising to activity (Chart 9). see digital marketing as the Shopper marketing From her perspective, “I think absolute budgets are probably the most commonly “outsourced” has a dedicated same, but the buckets that they’re coming from are changing – as activity – although the more budget at 29% they should be,” says Marsh. Indeed, 8% of shoppers are now getting traditional chores of marketing of organizations. some help from e-commerce budgets and 4% from the media till. creative, media planning/buying [Editor’s note: The Institute will be conducting a detailed study of spending and in-store marketing follow practices across the industry this fall.] close behind.

“Agencies are great for helping to fill some of the gaps you might have,” says AGENCY ASSETS OxfordSM consultant Sarah Gleason, Given the aforementioned internal issues, it’s not surprising to find that nearly two-thirds who with Downey is guiding the of CPGs are utilizing agency partners for help with both strategy and execution across a aforementioned CEN work group. “But number of critical needs (Chart 10).

FAST FACT

11. PANDEMIC’S IMPACT ON SHOPPER ACTIVITY 65%

Internal work shifted from traditional to digital tactics 57%

Added more digital expertise 52%

Programming reduced due to inventory challenges Programming significantly reduced due to media pauses

31%

Work shifted between traditional brand/media agencies to shopper/retail agencies

26% 20%

Added media expertise Other No change

3% 2%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Q: What impact has the Covid-19 pandemic had on your shopper team, both in term of structure/organization and strategic/tactical responsibilities?

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

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SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Shopper Marketing Organizations

12. WHAT DO YOU CALL YOUR you’ve got to make sure that someone in-house has enough expertise to make SHOPPER MARKETING FUNCTION? sure they’re staying on track with 44% of shopper you. They can do a lot of the heavy Shopper Marketing 70% lifting, but you still need to be the marketing teams have conductor.” personnel with agency Customer Marketing 8% For the most part, the pandemic of backgrounds.

2020 impacted the shopper function Retail Marketing 8% in one of two ways: by temporarily reducing planned programming due either to Omnichannel Marketing 3% inventory issues or media pauses; or more permanently by expediting the shift to omnichannel. In the latter case, nearly Connected Commerce/ two-thirds of companies moved more of their activity to digital 6% Omnicommerce/ Commerce Marketing channels, more than half were able to add more “digital expertise,” and one-fifth picked up some further media capabilities (Chart 11).

5% Other “The pandemic definitely sped things up and created an emphasis on the skill of testing and learning in real time – making 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% quick decisions with courage and adjusting as you go,” says Marsh Other: 360 Retail Activation at Nestle Coffee. “The pace of the market is warp speed now, and I Field Marketing Integrated Marketing don’t see it slowing down. You need quick, critical thinking.”

FAST FACT

Communications Trade Marketing

THE NAME GAME

Source: “The Structure of Shopper Marketing Organizations” (Path to Purchase Institute, May 2021)

The function’s ongoing evolution, the continuous expansion of its scope, and the fact that – as illustrated fairly well through the Institute’s survey – its importance to the CPG organization might still be undervalued, has led more than a few practitioners to suggest that a name change might be in order to move “shopper marketing” beyond its roots as a retailer-driven, sales-driving exercise focused largely on the store environment.

At the moment, however, “shopper marketing” is still the name of choice for more than two-thirds of companies (Chart 12). And while almost one in 10 respondents have moved to a name that reflects their increased omnichannel focus, nearly twice as many still treat shopper as a subset of even more old school functions like “customer marketing” or even “trade marketing.”

“What used to be defined as ‘shopper’ has become unclear.

Who owns it now and what does it entail?” asks Downey at OxfordSM, noting that the answer can still vary significantly from one organization to the next.

One telling fact might be that “shopper marketing” is much more commonly used by the younger teams (less than 5 years old), which means that the larger, more established functions

“What used to be defined as ‘shopper’ has become unclear.

Who owns it now and what does it entail?”

—Kelly Downey, OxfordSM

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24-31-P2PIQ_ORG feature.indd 31

across the industry, which more likely have a wider scope of responsibilities, are also more likely to be thinking strategically about their name.

“We’ve tried to move everything to ‘omnichannel’ because that’s kind of what the retailers are talking to,” said another CEN member. “But we try very hard not to keep them separated – you’ve got to think about it holistically as in-store and online at the same time. It’s not exactly an easy process yet.”

So … what’s the ideal structure for organizational success with “shopper marketing” — or whatever it needs to be called?

“I don’t think there is a magic bullet,” said one executive during a recent discussion. “If there is, I will spend a lot to find it. Anything we can learn to give us any step ahead is always a win.”

“It doesn’t have to be the structure that’s the obstacle, it’s often the mindset. If the cultural norm is collaboration, then the structure is less important,” says Marsh. “If you’re siloed in your thinking, that’s when the structure will have an impact.”

The trick is to “provide a little more flexibility in the structure so it can morph to the way organizations need to work – and the ways of working need to flex, too. The pandemic helped teach us that,” says Downey. “Instead of identifying structures to get the job done, we need to create paths to get the job done.”

An industry focused on the path to purchase should be able to accomplish that, right? IQ

More at P2PI.org

Institute members have access to complete results from the survey, which features more than 25 charts and accompanying analysis.

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WHO’S WHO I N I N S I G HT S & A N A LY TI C S

Despite a vast array of methodologies and a wide variety of job titles, this elite group of more than 160 marketers shares the common goal of understanding what motivates shoppers so their brands and retailers can deliver better solutions more efficiently.

PEPSICO FOODS NORTH AMERICA

EVAN SHAVER VP of Revenue Growth Management Evan Shaver has spent the majority of his career at PepsiCo in various functions. After college, he had roles in finance and marketing before leaving the company to pursue an MBA. He spent almost three years at McKinsey & Co., focusing on CPG and retail clients before returning to PepsiCo. The early years of his return to the company were spent in various strategy positions before he moved into a shopper analytics and insights role. He took on his revenue growth management assignment in January of this year.

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Q

Please describe your current role.

SHAVER: PepsiCo is investing across many capabilities to take a more strategic view of revenue management. In addition to planning and executing our traditional lifecycle pricing actions and promotional guidance, we’re exploring strategies from other industries and taking a more consumercentric and shopper-centric approach to our actions. We’re charged with identifying the tools and technologies we need to advance our capabilities.

Finally, we’re tasked with making our organization smarter on revenue management. We’ll build content and educate various internal stakeholders to ensure they have the right mindset and knowledge to make the right revenue managementrelated decisions in their areas.

Q

How do shopper analytics and insights fit into your organization?

SHAVER: I’m admittedly biased because of my prior role leading that team, but I think we have advantaged capabilities in this space. Our retailers clearly agree, as PepsiCo was [recently] ranked the number-one manufacturer in the Kantar Retail PoweRankings for the fifth year in a row in the U.S. We earned similarly strong customer feedback in many countries around the world.

We’re actively exploring how

those insights can better inform our revenue management strategy and push those insights beyond assortment or marketing.

Q

What are some of the techniques and technology that your team leverages at PepsiCo Foods North America?

SHAVER: PepsiCo has a wealth of resources that already inform so many other decisions in the business, and we’re now using those same resources to inform our revenue management decisions. For example, to understand our ability to deliver the right value to consumers by brand, we can tap into our proprietary shopper research, brand equity scores and POS/ panel data.

We’re also investing heavily in tools to plan, execute and analyze the performance of our promotional events. We’re seeking to understand the elasticity of our brands in a more geographically localized way instead of one national average.

As you’d expect, artificial intelligence is a major enabler of that work. Finally, we’re experimenting with different offer variants to understand which ones resonate most with shoppers.

Q

What are some of the biggest challenges facing retailers these

SHAVER: The shift from away-from-home to at-home consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly been a short-term boon for retailers. These channels are starting to open up, so the next 12 months for retailers should be about retaining the loyalty they’ve built during the pandemic. It’s about encouraging as much of that consumption to be fulfilled by them instead of other retailers or away-from-home. Our revenue growth management team helps retailers ensure that they are offering the right pack sizes and prices to their unique shopper base so that they can profitably deliver on whatever their brand promises are.

Q

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?

SHAVER: I love any area that’s at the intersection of the retailer, the shopper, and our company. We’re in an industry where we’re not going to get it right every transaction, but we don’t have many chances to get it wrong before we lose that loyalty. There are so many tradeoffs and hurdles to overcome before an item ever gets on a shelf, so it’s always rewarding when you find a winning proposition.

— Charlie Menchaca

RECENT ACHIEVEMENT SHAVER: The past year has forced us to rethink our entire price-pack architecture and our promotional strategies. We’re really proud of the way that we migrated price in the marketplace amid the pandemic.

When we reduced our promotional depth and frequency across the portfolio, we did it in a data-driven way to minimize the impact to our consumers and our retailers. We were able to gain share in many categories across many channels while delivering strong financial results.

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ICON KEY

days? How does your team provide aid with solutions?

Institute member

7-Eleven BEN TIENOR, Director, Brand and Customer Insights

Abbott Laboratories SARAH RUST, Senior Manager, Shopper Insights & Analytics Rust is a solutions-oriented leader with more than 15 years of experience in CPG, e-commerce and retail. Known for her high energy and ability to handle ambiguity in a rapidly changing retail environment, she is energized by building infrastructure from the ground up through delivery. She has led teams to achieve material results in market, and is recognized by external customers for best-inclass research, insights strategy and activations that drive success.

Ahold Delhaize STEPHEN BETTENCOURT, Lead, Consumer Insights, Peapod Digital Labs Bettencourt and his team continue to evolve Stop & Shop as a brand by ensuring consumer insights are a key part of the decisions being made across the company. Consumer insights are important for solidifying the emotional connections and strengthening the company’s bonds with the communities it serves. Bettencourt’s favorite part of the job is the ongoing interaction with and feedback from shoppers. This collaboration is very important for Stop & Shop to anticipate and identify what consumers will need in the future, so the company can evolve with its shoppers and meet their rational and emotional needs.

MIKE BUTTON, Manager, Consumer Insights, Peapod Digital Labs See profile on page 39

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALY TICS JASON THOMAS, Manager of Shopper Insights, Retail Business Services

Albertsons PAULINE BERRY, Senior Director, Consumer & Shopper Insights Berry leverages deep understanding of the customer and how shopping decisions are made to help the organization make insights-informed decisions. Specific areas of focus include insights for advertising, marketing mix, loyalty programs, health and wellness, and competitive landscape analysis.

DEB FIFLES, Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights Fifles is responsible for primary research at Albertsons and leads her team in providing deep knowledge of the shopper. The team identifies strengths to leverage, gaps to narrow and opportunities to differentiate to improve the shopper experience, grow loyalty and increase ROI. She is proud of how creative and agile her small team was in delivering actionable insights across the organization throughout the disruption of the pandemic.

FLAVIA NARDI, Director, Consumer and Shopper Insights

American Greetings TODD FRASER, Director, Central Analytics, Inference & Optimization

B

Bacardi CATY GRZYMAJLO, Brand Insights Director

Bayer HealthCare RICHARD KLOENNE, Senior Manager, Shopper Insights Kloenne leads the transformation of data and shopper research into action-

able insights across multiple OTC categories at key retail partners.

He integrates trends and evolving shopper dynamics to understand the shopper of tomorrow. He is most proud of helping the organization understand the long-term changes in shopping behavior caused by COVID-19.

Beam Suntory ANNE FRITSCHE, Senior Director, Consumer and Marketplace Insights

Bic MELISSA ZWEIG, Shopper Insights Manager

Bigelow Tea MICHELE PENAKE, Category and Shopper Insights Manager

Bimbo Bakeries ALLISON LAJEUNESSE, Assistant Manager, Shopper Marketing CARL WERMERS, Director of Marketing Research Wermers had more than 20 years of brand management experience with a heavy emphasis on new product development before he moved into category management and insights. He was appointed to his new post in 2020, and now oversees all category and brand research for Bimbo Bakeries.

The Bountiful Co. (Nature’s Bounty) ABE ADLER, Director, DTC E-Commerce & Digital Analytics Adler leads the team that focuses on using analytics to build and nurture customer relationships. By utilizing customer segmentation and targeting, the team has have flipped the emphasis from a product-first approach to a customer-first approach. And by making data and analytics usable and understandable, the team is able to intelligently strategize across the enterprise.

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CHUCK MEYERHANOVER, Director, Shopper & Category Insights Meyer-Hanover’s experience in both consumer and shopper insights gives him a better understanding of the needs of his internal and external clients. Having spent many years working in insights for OTC brands that consumers needed to take in response to a health issues (coughs, headaches, heartburn) he says it’s rewarding to now be on the wellness side with vitamins, minerals and supplements.

ROBERT SCHWARTZ, Senior Director, Portfolio Management

Brown-Forman LORI OLES, Shopper Insights Team Leader Oles leads the insights function for on- and off-premise. Her team is focused on the development and delivery of insights to drive category and brand growth.

SARAH SMITH, Shopper Insights Lead

Bush Brothers TIM WILSON, Category Manager and Sales Data Expert Wilson has spent his career in sales and category management in the CPG industry. He started at Nabisco and has had roles ranging from regional account sales to national account management, regional planner and category manager. Wilson currently manages all sales data sources for the company. He is proud of the fact that category management now has a level of engagement, respect and appreciation that is both greater and more broadly felt than ever before.

C

Campbell Soup

MARIA MACUARE, Vice President, Data & Analytics Macuare has more than 20 years of experience in the analytics field. She began her career with P&G in 1999, and had a number of international assignments including in Venezuela, Japan, China, Panama and the U.S. She joined Campbell Soup in 2018.

Macuare has an extensive skill set in the field, including analytical strategy and vision, predictive analytics, optimization, visualizations and storytelling.

Clorox

KAREN CHEN, Director, Human Insights – Corporate Sustainability & Macro Trends, Center of Excellence BRIAN HOFFSTEDDER, Director, Human Insights – Shopping Experience & Category Leadership Hoffstedder is a 20-year veteran of the CPG industry. His thinking and work in human insights and the shopper journey have influenced some of the world’s best-known retailers. He is a member of Clorox’s global sales leadership team and is responsible for the company’s shopper insights and category leadership capability efforts.

CAROLINE KLOMPMAKER, Director of Global Insights, Clorox-NutraNext Division PHILIP LARDNER, Global Strategic Pricing/Revenue anagement Lardner is charged with driving revenue growth management – a group he started up and continues to lead. He considers the equation for revenue growth to be the intersection of consumers’ willing-ness to pay and the benefits that Clorox brands deliver.

LINDSAY FANKHAUSER, Marketing, Retail Strategy & Insights – Snacks Portfolio

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALY TICS AMY STEVENS, Associate Director, Insights Stevens leads the category vision work on the company’s cleaning and laundry business. The most enjoyable part of the job for her is the ability to build experiences based on key human needs that drive trips and loyalty.

CHRISTOPHER BENNINGTON, Manager, Space Strategy Solutions Bennington is a data, process and technology leader with 16 years of experience in the CPG industry. He is responsible for the development and support of CocaCola’s category space framework.

Church & Dwight

DONNA BLIZZARD, Senior Manager, Category Leadership Blizzard has more than 20 years in the CPG industry. She started in retail sales and quickly moved to account sales and regional planning at Kraft. Her enthusiasm for category leadership grew at Acosta and then Coca-Cola.

Blizzard’s achievements include piloting Coca-Cola’s collaborative business planning process and tool development. She thrives on learning, having recently become a certified specialist in predictive analytics, and has a passion for helping others.

ANGELI SAMIDE, Senior Manager, National Category & Shopper Insights Samide leads a team of insights managers across the company’s full portfolio encompassing fabric care, home care, beauty, health and well being and personal care, as well as all channels including e-commerce. The team is responsible for defining category and shopper fundamentals, developing category leadership stories, and communicating actionable insights to internal and retail partners to drive company and category growth.

Coca-Cola JULIA ABRAM, Director, North America – Human, Category & Analytic Insights Abram leads a team focused on amplifying the voice of the consumer across Coca-Cola’s hydration, tea and coffee organizations. She inspires curiosity, collaboration and a growth mindset. As a thought leader, she links insights from North America to insight leaders across the globe.

LIZ BANDA, Manager, Brand/Category Insights, Nutrition Banda is supporting nutrition categories in better understanding consumers, executing quantitative and qualitative research, and identifying insights and opportunities to improve branding, marketing, innovation and in-market performance.

JUSTIN CARBONELLA, Human Insights Director: Nutrition, Emerging & Trends Carbonella brings 13 years of experience to CocaCola. Prior to joining Coke in 2020, he worked in global insights at AB InBev, managing the global brand tracking program along with digital and media research. Carbonella spent the first 10 years of his career at Kantar.

TIFFANY CHAN, Senior Manager, Brand/ Category Insights Chan leads strategic consulting, marketing research, and consumer and marketplace analytics for the hydration and sports categories. She brought nearly 15 years of experience from Land O’Lakes, Schwan Food Co.. and a boutique agency when she joined the company in 2019, and previously led insights for tea and coffee. Chan believes infusing the voice of consumers is fundamental to marketing.

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CARLOS HERRERA, Chief Economist, CocaCola North America The main thrust of Herrera’s work is to increase the visibility of “what’s to come” through a deeper understanding of the foodservice industry from an economic perspective.

Herrera regularly shares his insights with executive leadership, boards of directors, and franchisees of leading foodservice companies around the world.

KRISTI KOLEK, Senior Manager, Brand/Category Insights In her role, Kolek supports the nutrition category as well as emerging categories and trends at the company.

She previously spent 18 years in the oil and gas/automotive industry with companies like Shell and The NPD Group helping brands incorporate consumer insights into their organizations and drive data-based decision-making.

BETH MANNARINO; ANGELA ANTHONY, Senior Managers, Category Insights Mannarino and Anthony deliver businessdriving category insights and analytics as one of the industry’s only job-share partnerships. Enabled by a strong sense of teamwork and collaboration, they are responsible for seamlessly supporting Coca-Cola’s chilled and dairy portfolio at Kroger.

LEANNE MORING, Manager, Category Leadership – Central/ West Zones Moring is responsible for stewarding objective, actionable insights that help build category strategies and drive growth. She has worked with customers in grocery, mass, natural, and e-commerce channels over her nine years at Coca-Cola. A career highlight

in 2020 was a stretch assignment assisting the e-commerce team with category insights and analytics during the COVID-19 surge.

CHADD MURPHY, Senior Manager, Category Leadership, Coca-Cola Sam’s Club Customer Team Murphy has more than a decade of experience in finance and category management, bringing innovative solutions and tools to his customers. He enjoys uncovering trends and delivering actionable insights through analytics, as well as building long-term partnerships that lead to strong sustained business growth.

LEVAR PARKINSON, Human Insights Manager Parkinson manages insights and analytics for the sparkling business, ensuring that all marketing decisions are truly consumer-centric. His work leverages primary and secondary research to empower Coke brands with the human truth. Some key accomplishments include impactful influences on the company’s approach to brand architecture and flavor innovation strategy.

PENNY SECKLER, Senior Category Leadership With more than 20 years at Coca-Cola, Seckler has a progressive track record of success with her retailers.

She has been a strategic thought leader, contributing to cross-functional teams by delivering engaging presentations to a diverse audience.

With an uncompromising commitment to the business, she translates consumer insights into actionable recommendations that drive category growth. She has led several center store projects that expanded space across beverages categories.

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALY TICS DEBBY SMITH, Senior Manager, Category Leadership Smith is responsible for demonstrating superior thought leadership, along with providing leading-edge analytics and insights to help 7-Eleven and Coca-Cola win in the North American marketplace. Smith strives to be her customer’s most valued business partner by taking an objective approach to the business.

Colgate-Palmolive CHERIE LEONARD, Associate Director, Foresight and Sustainability Insights, North America Leonard seeks out emerging data sources to gain a deeper understanding of target audiences to identify innovation, communication and brand activation ideas. She’s a champion for sustainability, keeping teams up to date on cultural and category trends and embedding a sustainable mindset throughout the organization. Leonard likes to find weak signals and fringe behaviors that cue cultural shifts in values and behaviors. Then she connects the dots to uncover foresight and offer tangible business opportunities.

KALINDI MEHTA, Head of Insights and Analytics, North America Mehta’s team is focused on building deep empathy with consumers and helping translate that human empathy and cultural understanding into business plans, brand strategies and innovation. She is driving new and different capabilities in foresight and predictive analytics.

Mehta also leverages advanced AI-driven social listening and segmentation, and saw an accelerated digital transformation of insights in the last year. It marks the beginning of the insights organization bringing data, technology and insights together to build powerful, future-forward narratives to identify growth opportunities.

ELISE OSENBAUGH, Retail Category Development Manager Osenbaugh is responsible for developing a strategic partnership with Target by using data-driven analysis to provide actionable insights toward category growth and retailer market share. She works closely with cross-functional teams across Colgate in North America to identify internal strategies that drive growth for the company and the category.

MARILYN RICE, Shopper Insights Lead

Conagra Brands BRIAN ARCHEY, Senior Director, Data Science & Analytics

Constellation Brands CHRISTINE MAHAFFY, Manager, Shopper Insights Mahaffy has 20 years of experience transforming insights for wine and spirits through consumer and shopper research while leading the advancement of the field through the growing sophistication of retailer loyalty tools. She has been proud to be able to use the company’s most robust capabilities and vendor partners to catch the evolutionary wave of changing shopping behaviors during the pandemic by understanding omnichannel transformation and consumer adaptability.

VANESSA RODDAM, Director, Shopper Insights & Analytics Roddam has spent more than 10 years in CPG leading shopper and retailer insights, brand and innovation research, exploratory methods, consumer research for global brand development, conjoint analysis, and pricing and promotion models. Her work has informed market development as well as brand and retailer strategies within large food and adult beverage companies. She is passionate about in-context re-

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search that fosters empathy for the consumer and reveals the “why” behind the “what” to deliver highly actionable insights.

KATIE SURVANCE, Senior Director, Emerging Opportunities & Innovation Insights Survance and her team are consumer-obsessed and future-focused with a vision to be the catalysts of change to create exceptional experiences. She is a passionate storyteller who’s always asking, “What if?” and prides herself on turning insights into action through ideation, innovation and asking many tough questions to meet consumers’ future needs.

CVS Health BOB DARIN, Senior Vice President, Chief Data Officer and Chief Analytics Officer, CVS Pharmacy PATRICK LAO, Senior Manager, Enterprise Insights

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Del Monte Foods DIANA GORSHE, Senior Director of Category Insights Gorshe focuses on retailer engagements to discover how shopper trends impact categories. She works with retailers to influence the way they market and merchandise Del Monte’s products to shoppers. Gorshe has spent her career in sales, retail buying, marketing and category management in managerial and executive roles with Procter & Gamble, Ralphs (now part of Kroger), Kraft, PepsiCo, Acosta and Dean Foods.

She specializes in creating partnerships that deliver mutually beneficial business growth. Gorshe was recognized as a “Woman of Influence” in the food industry in 2018 and also is active in the Network of Executive Women, an organization for which her husband is a founder.

DAWN THOMAS, Senior Director of Insights Thomas’ first job at IRI launched a career in insights that has included positions with Clorox, Pillsbury and Del Monte. A brief but energizing 2009 dot-com adventure solidified an enduring commitment to embracing new learning opportunities and an appreciation for pragmatism. She passionate believes that the insights profession, done well, offers unlimited opportunities for strategic thinking, problem-solving and creativity.

Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits LINDSAY SMALLWOOD, Senior Manager, Business Intelligence

Duracell LOU FERNOUS, Category Insights Manager

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E. & J. Gallo JAYCE TREIBLE, Senior Manager, Brand Insights & Strategy Treible has been involved in insights his entire career, working first in small research houses and then crossing over to the client side by joining Albertsons/Safeway. There, he focused on consumer insights for digital product, e-commerce and the own brands portfolio.

He joined E. & J. Gallo in 2020 and now focuses on brand strategy and insights for the premium/luxury wine portfolio.

Edgewell Personal Care ADAM DINIHANIAN, Senior Manager, Category Development Dinihanian has been with Edgewell for more than nine years. He has held a number of positions, including category and shopper insights, strategy and field category development. He has worked across various channels including drug, grocery and club.

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS

SANOFI CONSUMER HEALTHCARE

CARA KAHALY Shopper Insights Lead, Rx to OTC Switch Cara Kahaly started her career at Unilever, working for 15 years across shopper marketing and integrated marketing within the beauty, personal care and food spaces. From there, she went on to Novartis and GSK, leading teams as the director of U.S. shopper marketing and the North American Shopper Science Lab to deliver insights-driven plans together with retailers, including CVS, Kroger, Target, Walgreens and Walmart.

After working together for many years, a former colleague reached out to ask if Kahaly was interested in joining Sanofi. She talked with the team, learned about the vision to improve millions of shoppers’ lives, and started soon after in January 2021.

Q

Please describe your current responsibilities.

KAHALY: My job is to deeply understand the shopper. I am curious about what shoppers think, how they feel and how they act. It is incredibly interesting, since tapping into the minds of consumers within the men’s health and flu categories is leading to empathy-rich understanding. We are rounding out the research plan with a focus on attitudes and behaviors to unfold insights.

These insights will drive the omnichannel activation plan

and provide an opportunity for deeper retailer collaboration.

Q

How do shopper insights and analytics fit into your organization?

KAHALY: The creation of the Sanofi shopper insights function is rather new and has contributed to elevating the strategic conversation with internal and external partners.

Our national and custom research approach enables growth and will inform our plans to drive conversion, shifting shoppers from browsers into buyers. We have two different streams within the shopper insights organization, one over the broad portfolio and the other dedicated to Rx to OTC Switch. We are fully embedded as a cohesive team and work collaboratively across functions, including digital, brand, medical and regulatory.

Q

What are some of the techniques and technology that your team leverages at Sanofi?

KAHALY: Since the team and I work on further-out Rx to OTC Switch launches, we look at capabilities that will transform the way we connect with shoppers, evolving the omnichannel path to purchase.

Together with the broader organization, we are focusing on the holistic martech space,

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including e-commerce, content creation, social and relationships.

Q

What are some of the biggest challenges facing CPGs these days related to insights and analytics?

KAHALY: Data and analytics can be a wildly complex space. The key to navigating it all seems to be: remember to keep it simple.

Be choiceful in approach, and distill the full body of insights and analytics work into one meaningful, powerful insight.

Then bring it through as inspiration that touches every part of the plan.

Q

How can retail media networks enhance CPGretailer partnerships?

KAHALY: Collaborating to move from transactional to transformational partnerships starts with identifying a mutual vision that puts the benefit of the shopper at the forefront.

By working with retail media networks, we can provide

the shopper with a more connected and consistent message throughout the path to purchase. With third-party cookies being phased out, firstparty data being offered through retail media networks is rising as a champion with increased value to the omnichannel shopper journey. Whether partnering with Roundel, Walmart Connect, Kroger Precision Marketing or others, the integrated approach allows us to walk in lockstep as a CPG-retailer partnership, enabling a connected online and in-store experience.

Q

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?

KAHALY: It’s the people. I love to collaborate around a strategic challenge together with the team, all while delivering on our broader vision of “empowering life.” I find joy in embracing diverse thinking and in building on momentum to achieve great things.

— Charlie Menchaca

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALY TICS JENNIFER GRANT, Senior Category Development Manager, Feminine Care – Grocery West, Value & Club

ANDREA REISINGER, Senior Category Development Manager, Walmart

GSK Consumer Healthcare

JENNIFER CAMPBELL, Senior Category Development Manager, Feminine Care SBU Category Team Lead – Total U.S. Campbell has more than 25 years of experience in the CPG and apparel industries. Her work has focused on advanced analytics, sales, category management, shopper marketing, and qualitative and quantitative consumer and shopper research.

TARA SUNDERLAND, Senior Global Consumer Insights Manager – Sun Care

MATT HILLER, Senior Category Development Manager, Grocery, Value and Club

F

LITTHYA BURGIN, Shopper Insights Manager, Upper Respiratory Burgin is an insights and strategy professional with more than 20 years of CPG, OTC and pharmaceutical experience in various marketing, sales and analytics roles in companies like Unilever, RB, PepsiCo, Mondelez and Merck. She has a category-growth mindset, an action bias, and a fascination for being the voice of the consumer/ shopper and seeing insights brought to life through activations at key customers. She joined GSK in 2018 and has been paving the way for category growth through awardwinning leadership platforms and driving understanding of abovecategory shopper behavior.

DAVE HYLAND, Senior Director, Global Consumer Insights BRETT KROEZE, Senior Category Development Manager, Drug Channel LINDA LIEBERMAN, Director, Category Development & Strategy Lieberman leads a team of dynamic category development professionals who focus on wet shave, feminine care and sun/skin care. The team partners to drive win-win-win solutions for shoppers, retailers and the company by bringing actionable solutions that can be executed in-market. She is most proud of delivering actionable omnichannel insights across all of Edgewell’s lines of businesses that have delivered growth for both retail partners and the company.

WENDY LO, Senior Category Strategy Manager, Sun & Hygiene Lo leads category and shopper-focused business analysis and strategy development for the sun care and hygiene categories. She applies and integrates insights to deepen the company’s understanding of the shopper and category through various analytical and insights tools in addition to custom research.

KELLY VAN ROY, Senior Category Development Manager – Sun Care DAVE WILCOX, Senior Category Development Manager, Target MELISSA ZAGOZAN, Senior Manager, Category Strategy, Wet Shave & Men’s Grooming

Ferrero USA PHIL DECONTO, Vice President, Category Management & Shopper Insights DeConto has spent more than 20 years in the CPG industry, including time with FritoLay, Conagra and Ferrero USA. His experience includes sales, sales operations, category management and trade marketing.

FIFCO USA (North American Breweries) MARY JO HARDY, Associate Vice President, Marketing & Commercial Strategy

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GE Lighting STACEY RIECKS, Market Intelligence Leader See profile on page 41

General Mills SARA ASHMAN, Global Consumer Insights Senior Manager

Georgia-Pacific JOHN PFALZGRAF, Director, Consumer Knowledge

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U.S. SHOPPER INSIGHTS TEAM

CARLY DOMINIK, Shopper Insights Manager, Pain Relief Dominik brought more than 10 years of consumer research experience across multiple industries to the shopper insights team when she joined GSK in 2019. She has developed her first category leadership platform, which identifies key strategies to drive holistic pain management and enhance shopper engagement.

KIMBERLY HUNTER, Shopper Insights Manager, Oral Health Hunter has been able to leverage her more than 10 years of CPG industry experience in category development, customer strategy and sales to bring a unique lens to her current role. She has primarily supported the oral health category since joining in 2017, leading custom research projects and development of the denture category leadership platform. She recently has expanded focus to include all things e-commerce and digital.

STEVE LORD, Shopper Insights Manager, Smokers’ Health and Digestive Health Lord’s 20-plus years of CPG industry experience includes work in shopper insights, customer strategy, category development and sales. He joined the company in 2015 and has been primarily supporting the smokers’ health business. Lord has conducted several research studies on the smoker’s “quit journey” and e-commerce behaviors. He also published category leadership platforms on smoking cessation, allergy, and digestive health and wellness that are transforming retailer activation.

DEB MONAHAN, Director, Shopper Insights & Capabilities Monahan has been studying consumer and shopper behavior in the U.S. and across global markets for more than 20 years, and she currently leads the U.S. shopper insights team. She joined GSK in 2015 and has built a top-performing team and driven organizational capability, helping GSK to become known as an industry leader in delivering thought-provoking insights and clear activation strategies that result in category growth for its retailer partners.

MIKE PISHVANOV, Shopper Insights Manager, Vitamins & Supplements Pishvanov has more than 20 years of CPG experience and 15-plus years working in pharmaceuticals/OTC. He has a background in shopper insights, market research, category development and customer strategy, and joined the company in 2019 following the joint venture with Pfizer. Pishvanov has conducted research studies across various businesses, leading to retail activation in the areas of category leadership stories, aisle reinvention, e-commerce and digital optimization, product innovation, health and wellness redesign, and shelf and assortment optimization.

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS

PEAPOD DIGITAL LABS (AHOLD DELHAIZE) MIKE BUTTON Manager, Consumer Insights Mike Button is working more closely than ever with different staff members across Ahold Delhaize. That’s because consumer insights groups from the retailer’s various chains were centralized in May into one team within Peapod Digital Labs. Button still supports The Giant Co., but now has a greater opportunity to share techniques while leveraging the strengths and experience of a larger group of researchers.

Prior to coming to Giant, Button worked at Hershey for a number of years in consumer insights, supporting a wide variety of brands and new product initiatives in the U.S. and internationally. It’s likely that, if you’ve tried a new candy bar in the last 20 years, Button helped develop it. Before that, he started his career at a research supplier in Chicago.

Q

Please describe your current role.

BUTTON: I manage a team that provides consumer insights for The Giant Co., leading

quantitative and qualitative projects and brand health and CX tracking. Prior to the reorganization, I also was responsible for business insights and analytics. Now I am solely focused on consumer insights, which is my true passion.

Q

How do consumer insights and analytics fit into your organization?

BUTTON: We provide an unbiased link between the shopper and business leaders so that her voice is heard in key decisions. We measure behaviors and attitudes in order to uncover insights, working closely with the strategy team, merchandising, marketing and operations to ensure that decisions are data-driven.

Q

modeling, copy testing, tracking studies, price perception, conjoint [analysis], and many surveys with our web community.

Qualitatively, we’re heavy users of intercept interviews and shop-alongs. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’ve had to add mobile shop-alongs to our repertoire in order to avoid faceto-face contact.

BUTTON: We use a variety of techniques, but some of the more common quant methodologies are segmentation, market mix

What are some of the biggest opportunities facing retailers these days as it relates to insights and analytics?

What are some of the techniques and technology that your team leverages?

Q

RECENT ACHIEVEMENT BUTTON: We developed a community of consumers that we call the “Dinner Ninjas” for a year-long cocreation initiative. The same group of Ninjas were with us throughout the process, from initial exploratory and problem framing, all the way through to ideation and concept refinement. We had originally planned on sitting in the same room with our Ninjas to co-create the concepts but were forced to pivot and do everything virtually. I applaud our research partner, Leap, for adapting and providing tools that allowed us to replicate the innovation process in a remote environment. As someone who has been doing the oldschool innovation process for a long time, I have to say it exceeded my expectations. Plus, the results are having a major impact on a key initiative.

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BUTTON: We have never had so much access to so much data about our consumers. The trick will be to pull out the insights and connect the dots. We have to do this in an environment that is becoming increasingly concerned about privacy and the protection of personally identifiable information.

Q

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?

BUTTON: Three things: 1) seeing the growth in newer members of my team; 2) the “aha” moment when you’ve been banging your head against a wall on a difficult problem and you suddenly see the answer; and 3) for anyone who’s ever worked on innovation, there’s nothing quite like the moment when a project you’ve been working on for a long time shows up in the store.

— Charlie Menchaca

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALY TICS CONSUMER BUSINESS INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS TEAM SAPAN AMIN, Director, Performance Management – Americas Amin is the company’s business insights and analytics leader, with 20 years of experience in the CPG industry. He has a passion for providing insights to help grow sales, increase ROI, develop product innovation and drive brand strategies. His industry experience spans both the consumer healthcare and food and beverage industries.

COLLEEN BAHR, Manager, Consumer Insights U.S. – Smokers’ Health Bahr joined GSK in 2019, bringing more than 20 years of consumer, business and shopper insights experience to the role, as well as advanced analytics expertise.

She previously led consumer insights for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare’s U.S. dietary supplements category, where she won several industry awards for repositioning work that drove significant growth for Emergen-C. EVA DAPON, Manager, Consumer Insights U.S. – Dietary Supplements Dapon has extensive consumer insights and brand management experience in consumer healthcare, CPG and pharmaceutical gained from both the client and supplier sides of the business. She has been with GSK Consumer Health for the past eight years in various consumer insights roles. Dapon has worked for Kimberly-Clark, Nielsen and Six Degrees LLC. Highly regarded as a trusted, collaborative and results-oriented business partner, she enjoys leveraging the voice of consumers to influence key stakeholders.

DANNY GARDNER, Social Intelligence Analyst – U.S. Digital Analytics

Gardner oversees GSK’s in-house social intelligence capability. He is responsible for uncovering social media insights at scale for the company’s 20-plus U.S. consumer healthcare brands, leveraging expertise in analytics, social networks and data storytelling. He is an active member of the social media community and has more than five years of social intelligence experience across a variety of Rx and OTC categories.

KRISTA KEMPSKI, Director, U.S. Consumer Insights – Pain Relief, Digestive Health & Switch Over the past 18 years at GSK, Pfizer and Wyeth, Kempski has held numerous leadership roles in consumer insights, business analytics and category management. Prior to these roles in consumer healthcare, she worked in new business development and client insights at Nielsen.

For more about Kempski as an “Industry Innovator,” see page 23.

TINA TONIELLI, Lead, Consumer Business Insights and Analytics – Americas Tonielli leads the team tasked with uncovering insights and leveraging analytics to help optimize GSK’s competitive position in the Americas region. Her prior role was global consumer experience lead for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, where she led insights and analytics as well as the stewardship of the global design team. Before joining Pfizer, she had an extensive career at Johnson & Johnson, where for more than 20 years she held a variety of leadership roles in marketing, insights and analytics.

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MACK HOOPES, Senior Manager, Category Development Hoopes leads category management and development at Albertsons for Henkel.

He is driven by using the retailer’s loyalty data to uncover new shopper insights.

Hershey TONY MARDEGAIN, Director, Retail Snacking Experience Team DAVID NOLEN, Vice President of Category Management and Shopper Insights GINA PETERSON, Senior Manager, Retail Experience Peterson is responsible for leading a team that creates partnerships with retailers to drive strategic growth recommendations, optimizing the path from insight to activation. Her experience also includes category management, shopper insights and retail sales management.

Hormel Foods HEATHER VOSSLER, Director of Innovation & Insights

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J.M. Smucker PATRICIA BELCZYNSKI, Senior Manager, Insights/Marketing Optimization Lead VALLI ELLIS, Director, Insights JANE MCCLELLAN, Senior Manager, Shopper Insights

Johnson & Johnson

Henkel North America < DEEP BHANDARI, Vice President, Consumer Insights & Strategy, North America

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JENNIFER FOWLER, Director, Shopper Solutions

TROY AULT, U.S. Lead, Category & Shopper Intelligence Ault leads strategic direction for shopper

insights and category management across the internal business units and customer teams. He is passionate about evolving data into insights and making insights actionable with retailers. He also is curating category solutions that drive a fluid omnichannel shopping experience.

LINDA DEVROY, Shopper Insights Manager – Target Team Devroy is the shopper insight and reporting manager for the Target team. She works across J&J businesses to ensure that the team has data and insights to keep the needs of Target guests as a central focus for initiatives.

JENNIFER FERRAZZA, Director, Shopper Insights and Category Design – Skin Health SUZANNE HOCK, Customer Marketing Manager DEBORAH WEARN, Senior Manager, Skin Health HCP Sales Strategy

Johnsonville Sausage DAN BALTUS, Customer Insights Manager JOE BOURLAND, Director, Strategic Insights & Analytics

K

Kellogg JULIA OSWALD, Vice President, Global Decision Science and Analytics TERAH PUTMAN, Director, Next Generation Insights

Kimberly-Clark JOY JENTES, Senior Leader, Field Shopper Insights MICHELLE MACK, Family Care Lead, Shopper Insights

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS

GE LIGHTING, A SAVANT CO.

STACEY RIECKS Market Intelligence Leader Stacey Riecks has built her career on what she likes to call her “building blocks,” where each role provided unique experiences that she brings to her current role.

Starting in sales with The Quaker Oats Co., Riecks developed skills in identifying opportunities and implementing actionable solutions to drive sales and profit. She later took on roles in trade, shopper and commercial marketing, developing skills in bringing products and programs to market that make an impact.

Category management and shopper insights roles with Conagra Foods, PepsiCo and Keurig Green Mountain rounded out her experiences and further influenced the bias for action that guides her today. Insights without action are just “interesting,” she says.

Q

Please describe your current work duties.

RIECKS: My responsibilities focus on three distinct pillars: Data analytics (understanding what and where), consumer and shopper insights (understanding who, how and why), and category management (bringing it all together). The work my team and I conduct influences corporate strategy, product innovation and retailer activation.

Q

How does the Market Intelligence team fit into your larger organization?

RIECKS: Market Intelligence is part of the marketing organization, reporting to

our CMO. My team plays a critical role across almost every function within the organization, from influencing corporate strategy to new product development. We also predict supply chain/demand planning changes, optimize commercial activations, elevate execution via e-commerce and measure brand health. The category managers/ advisors have a vital function with their respective retailer’s crossfunctional teams for optimizing their sales and margin.

Q

What emerging technology and techniques does your team leverage at GE Lighting?

RIECKS: We are in a unique position, as much of our sales are in non-measured channels – unlike consumable manufacturers. This requires partnerships with multiple data suppliers, industry associations and consultative groups to inform our proprietary look at the market, trends and outlook informing our actions. We employ a variety of methods including online, in-person, AR/VR and other traditional methodologies to gain a comprehensive understanding of our business and consumers.

Q

We have seen smart home products really expand in the last few years.

What are some of the key consumer insights related to this category?

RIECKS: Home automation

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adoption has grown significantly this past year for a variety of reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic and spending more time at home were certainly a factor.

Consumers used this time to finish home improvement projects to create more functional spaces and upgrade to a smart home. More affordable technology has allowed more households to enter the market and reach an expanded demographic. Users want simplification and are frustrated by having multiple apps to control their smart home devices.

GE Lighting is leveraging this insight with our upcoming Cync App launch, which we believe will be a game changer.

Q

What’s the biggest challenge facing CPG companies related to insights and analytics?

RIECKS: Data is becoming and/ or has become a commodity.

The cost of data acquisition is increasing from a cost-tosale perspective. Syndicated data providers, e-commerce

insights suppliers, retailers and consultative groups are vying for those critical dollars. This puts pressure on manufacturers to identify non-duplicative methods to show value and maximize return on investment.

Q

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?

I thrive on building diverse teams, developing talent and making an impact on the business. My team has a healthy blend of lighting industry experts (20plus years with GE Lighting) and category management superstars with a variety of retailer and manufacturer work experience.

Each person brings unique talents to the team, which helps to elevate the whole. Capitalizing on their hip-pocket strengths allows each subject matter expert to own a critical function within the team. I am rewarded by seeing their work product influence the strategic direction of the company and deliver growth results for our retailers.

— Charlie Menchaca

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALY TICS REGINA MAYZUM, Senior Shopper Insights Manager With 20 years of research experience, Mayzum leads insights and strategic development, driving shopper understanding into activation at grocery retailers across all K-C categories. She recently ran an e-commerce segmentation study to understand how shoppers plan to use digital fulfillment methods for grocery and household needs moving forward.

AICI LI, Director, Shopper and Retail Lab Li leads Mars Inc.’s Shopper and Retail Lab, which is focused on innovation and invention to improve business decisions and actions, and bring simplicity and joy to the art of shopping. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Li is devoted to consumer engagement and new technologies in all parts of the business and looks to build community and apply levity to her team, company and the marketing industry at large.

AMY PACIFICO, Lead, Consumer Insights & Analytics, North America Baby & Childcare

UJJWAL SEHGAL, Computational Science & Advance Analytics Leader

LAURA PLAUKOVICH, Senior Manager, Shopper Insights, Walmart & Sam’s Club Plaukovich is a passionate researcher with more than 18 years of experience in both the CPG and financial services industries. Focusing on understanding shopper behavior, her natural curiosity leads her to innovative methodologies to better dissect the subconscious decisions many shoppers make. This past year, she led research to better understand how shoppers make tradeoffs between in-store and digital fulfillment methods, and how those tradeoffs can influence retailer selection.

AMELIA STROBEL, Global Strategic Insights & Innovation Leader Strobel is responsible for driving consumer insights and market strategy for the company’s global portfolio of key dog brands.

This primarily includes portfolio strategy, global communication and global innovation. She joined Mars seven years ago to lead its global Specialty Pet Nutrition Consumer and Market Insights organization based in the U.S. Since that time, she has led the global Innovation Center of Expertise, and she currently manages global insights and strategy for the largest dog brands.

NICOLE THAYER, Senior Shopper Insights Manager

Mars Wrigley Confectionery

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LG Electronics DOUG LORETUCCI, Senior Director, Consumer Insights

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Mars Inc. ELLEN GOODEN, Senior Manager, Category & Shopper Insights

KATE HOPKINS, Senior Manager, Customer & Shopper Insights NIC UMANA, Global Agile Innovation Human Intelligence Leader Umana is an expert at bringing structure, divergent thinking and convergent action to the ever-changing retail landscape.

She is an innovative and passionate leader who focuses her time on using human insights to connect the dots and experiment on solutions fit for the future. Her strengths include curiosity,

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collaboration and commitment to the connection of people and ideas. She is most proud of last year’s launch of the company’s future innovation territories to help her team focus its efforts and synergize its learnings.

CAROL VAN DEN HENDE, Digital Acceleration Leader Van Den Hende is an innovative marketing and strategy executive as well as a speaker, climate reality leader, nonprofit board member and awardwinning author. She is proud to work for a purpose-led organization that creates positive societal impact. She has helped Mars drive speed and agility through digital transformation and sustainability for the future.

Massimo Zanetti SUSAN LAMBERT, Director of Shopper Marketing and Customer Insights Lambert oversees shopper marketing strategy and execution for all of the organization’s customers, brands and private brands. She also oversees consumption analytics and market research. For more about Lambert, see page 23.

Mattel MEREDITH JANG, Senior Director, Global Insights & Analytics Jang translates research, data and analytics into actionable insights to fuel strategies, mitigate risks and execute new business opportunities for Mattel’s portfolio of brands.

McCormick and Co. LYDIA POOLE, Senior Manager, Consumer & Market Insights

Meijer JEFF NAULT, Director, Merchandising and Marketing Analytics Center of Excellence

Meredith NANCY KUNZ-MERRY, Vice President, Innovation & Retail Analytics

Mission Foods STEVE KLINGELE, Director, Insights & Analytics Klingele leads the team responsible for infusing consumer perspectives into the organization’s planning. This includes consumer and innovation research, as well as market and digital analytics, for all retail brands and categories.

Moet Hennessy USA STUART BARKER, Director, Category Leadership & Shopper Insights – Business Intelligence Group A front-line commercial sales solutions and advanced analytics specialist, Barker is focused on the development and integration of consumer- and shopper-centric, valuebuilding strategies and tactics.

MolsonCoors ALEXANDREA DAVIS, Senior Manager, Marketing Insights

Mondelez International ROBIN ALEX, Group Head of Commercial Insights & Strategy Alex enjoys transforming insights functions to be externally focused, consumerand shopper-driven, and empathetic to retailers’ growth aspirations. He has a background in engineering and marketing research, coupled with CPG experience from Tyson, Hershey and Newell.

NICK GRAHAM, Global Head of Insights & Analytics Graham started his career with The Interpublic Group before moving into brand and innovation consulting with Big Green Door and Clear M&C Saatchi. In 2013, he joined PepsiCo, where he led insights for the global beverages category before moving to lead insights and analytics for the U.S. business unit. He assumed his current post at Mondelez earlier this year.

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WHO’S WHO IN INSIGHTS & ANALY TICS

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PepsiCo EVAN SHAVER, VP of Revenue Growth Management See profile on page 32

Pernod Ricard USA < SCOT HENDERSON, Director, Customer/Shopper Insights & Commercial Projects

Philips Consumer Lifestyle DALE GATLING, Senior Manager, Shopper Insights During his seven-year tenure, Gatling has partnered with category management, marketing and field-based teams to capture specific retailer/category insights and develop compelling shopper-based strategies. In partnership with one of the company’s key retailers, he recently conducted a study that used a unique blend of digital ethnographic methods and social listening to educate the retail partner on diverse haircare needs in the Black community.

DAVE HARVEY, Director of Category Management & Consumer Insights

Post Consumer Brands KEITH ALBRIGHT, Associate Director, Insights & Analytics Albright leads consumer and shopper insights and analytics for the adult/all family business unit, which includes brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats, Great Grains, Grape Nuts and more.

ANNA ALDERINK, Senior Manager, Consumer Insights

Prestige Brands RICH HOLZKOPF, Director of Sales BRIAN MENDEL, Senior Director of Customer Development and E-Commerce Sales ROCCO RACAMATO, Director, Customer Development and Category Management

KYLE REYNOLDS, Category Business Manager

Reynolds Consumer Products

Procter & Gamble

NANCY BEDWELL, Senior Vice President, Category Management

LORI AULFINGER, Brand Services Leader Aulfinger delivers media analytics, brand asset management optimization and consumer listening solutions and services to brand leaders.

STEPHEN BUCHANAN, Global Analytics & Insights Leader, P&G Professional Buchanan discovers and applies breakthrough insights to fuel profitable top-line growth and more end users, leading opportunity identification for $1 billion-plus in global business.

KIRK WALDA, Director, Category Management – Grooming

Promotion In Motion PERI MENDELSON, Director, Insights & Analytics Mendelson directs a high-performing strategy team that helps the organization and its customers identify opportunities through consumer and shopper insights, category management and analytics, bringing insights-driven thought leadership to the forefront.

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Reckitt YELENA IDELCHIK, Shopper Insights Director Idelchik leads the company’s hygiene shopper insights and category management teams.

RACHEL STRAIGHT, Shopper Insights Manager Straight is motivated by seeing the research and insights that she’s led come to life with the company’s retail partners.

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Rite Aid ROB GEORGE, Director of Market Research George analyzes both current and potential customers to determine the best locations for the company’s pharmacies. His team also uses customer behavioral data to determine the best use of its space for the customers who live near the location.

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Samsung Electronics KYLE RHODES, Director, Mobile hopper Insights Rhodes oversees a team focused on understanding how consumers shop and why they buy smartphones, smartwatches and mobile accessories.

The team follows shoppers throughout the purchase journey, studying interactions with key touchpoints.

ANNE VILLARREAL, Shopper Marketing and E-Commerce Manager Rounding out five years with Scotts MiracleGro, Villarreal is a strategic, awardwinning and results-driven business leader with more than 20 years of progressive experience in shopper marketing and commerce strategy.

She is most proud of seeing her team using data and insights to correctly predict shopper behavior and deliver higher-than-average results.

Spin Master RHONA BERGIN, Global Consumer Insights Specialist MICHELLE PROWSE, Head of Insights and Consumer Trends

Stonyfield MEGHAN BURKE, Associate Category Manager

CARA KAHALY, Shopper Insights Lead – Rx to OTC Switch See profile on page 37

AMY DUSLING, Senior Manager, Category Strategy, Lactalis U.S. Yogurt Dusling is responsible for managing the company’s analytical toolbox and is a key contributor to its selling stories and go-to-market strategy. She works closely with both the sales and marketing teams to ensure they are leveraging all of the company’s tools to understand the consumer, the category and the competitive landscape.

SC Johnson & Son

MELISSA MARTIN, Associate Manager, Category Strategy

LISA PANCHAL, Director, Category & Shopper Leadership – Center of Excellence & Shopper Insights

Tyson Foods

Sanofi Consumer Health FRANK FAY, Senior Manager, Shopper Insights

SARAH DANIELS, Global Consumer Insights Manager – Pest Control

Scotts Miracle-Gro SARAH BADER, Director of Insights and Analytics TARIQ MAHMOOD, Director of Shared Services, Insights & Acquisitions Integration

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ERIC BARTLING, Senior Manager, Shopper Insights Bartling’s current role focuses on creating and translating research to inform category and department growth strategies that Tyson shares with its key customers across refrigerated packaged meats, fresh meats and alternative proteins. IQ

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ActivationGallery

Sustainability “Making a difference” … “Green” … “Recyclable.” These are the messages brands and retailers are increasingly delivering as they market and merchandise sustainable products both in-store and online. While Earth Month (April) and Earth Day (April 22) drive increased focus every spring, these products are ubiquitous year-round. That’s what Institute editors have found as they monitor activity at major retailers in various channels, including grocery, mass, drug and pet. Here’s a sampling of recent activity they’ve found.

Many more sustainability-related activations are showcased in the image vault at P2PI.org.

Pet food brand Weruva touted its recycling partnership with TerraCycle at Petco this spring. An endcap stocking the brand’s cat products packaged in pouches was outfitted with a co-branded sign instructing shoppers about the three-step recycling process: “rinse and dry pouch; collect your pouches; pack TerraCycle pouch full and mail back.” The sign directed shoppers to TerraCycle’s website for more information.

Unilever’s Axe touted the sustainable qualities of its products in a Walmart.com brand showcase. Spotted as early as February, the showcase boasts that the brand is “keeping it green” with body spray cans that are infinitely recyclable, stick packs that contain 50% recycled plastic, and body wash and hair care bottles made from 100% recycled plastic. The showcase also plugged the brand’s body wash products as free of parabens and its deodorants as formulated without aluminum.

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Procter & Gamble sent members of its P&G Good Everyday consumer rewards program to Amazon in honor of Earth Day. The manufacturer promised to plant a tree (up to 10,000) via the Arbor Day Foundation for every order screenshot of a P&G purchase on Amazon uploaded to the P&G Good Everyday community website between April 1 and May 22. A supporting email blast delivered on Earth Day directed members to an Amazon.com landing page to shop planet-friendly P&G products.

The sustainability-themed shop details the cause effort and lets visitors browse products across home, baby care and personal care categories while spotlighting brands Cascade, Pampers (specifically the Pure Protection line), Tide (in an ecobox), Charmin, Tampax (its 100% organic Pure line) and Hair Food on a shoppable leaderboard ad.

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Target is carrying an exclusive vegan bath and body collection from Unilever’s Love Beauty and Planet. The “Beloved” line gets the spotlight in stores via racks outfitted with headers and table displays communicating that the product is made with ethically sourced extracts and oils and packaged in bottles and jars made from recycled plastic bottles.

Petco says it has upcycled 1.5 million plastic bottles into pet accessories through its “Started as a Bottle” program.

In stores, a dedicated rack positioned upfront merchandises the collection of products, with a header card and side panel proclaiming: “We believe in second chances.”

On Petco.com, a home page carousel ad spotted on April 29 linked to a dedicated “Started as a Bottle” shop. The recycled items are part of Petco private labels, including Bond & Co. and recently launched Youly.

Procter & Gamble for Earth Month drew attention to sustainable packaging available exclusively at Costco with plenty of promotional support, including a full-page “Earth Day Every Day” feature in Costco’s monthly member savings mailer. Communicating that the retailer and manufacturer are “working together to deliver new recyclable packaging,” the feature emphasized P&G’s partnership with recycling company TerraCycle, which “keeps razors out of landfills” and ensures Pantene “bottles are made from 25% recycled materials.”

It also highlighted savings on select Gillette Venus and Pantene SKUs.

Target is carrying plush toys from ThreeSixty Group’s FAO Schwarz that are made from recycled water bottles and 100% recycled faux fur. The FAO Schwarz “Planet Love” plush toys enjoy secondary merchandising space via multiple shelf trays positioned on endcaps in the toy department. The displays depict images of a plastic bottle and explain that “2 out of 3 plastic bottles aren’t recycled in the U.S.’’ and “by turning plastic bottles into loveable pals, we’re showing the planet love.”

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ActivationGallery

Compostable cleaning wipes from Clorox Co. recently received the spotlight on Target’s website through a home page display ad positioning the SKUs as new at the retailer and “safe to use around kids, pets & food.” The ad directed shoppers to a page listing the Clorox SKUs, which are available scent-free (“Free & Clear”) or in a “Simply Lemon” scent.

Clorox launched compostable cleaning wipes in January 2020, but production had to be halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic as products that could be manufactured more quickly received greater priority, Clorox chief executive officer Linda Rendle told CNBC.

BJ’s Wholesale Club promoted sustainability during Earth Month by showing support for Keurig Dr Pepper’s national incentive program for recyclable K-Cup pods, which ran from March 14 through May 15 and promised $12 in coffee coupons and a free reusable tote from Keurig Green Mountain with purchase of $15 worth of recyclable pods. In addition to some online support, in-store pallet displays outfitted in promotional skirts plugged the offer and invited shoppers to “buy recyclable” and “get rewarded.” On-pack stickers promoting the incentive were also affixed to individual packaging.

Target is stocking an exclusive, sustainable personal care line of deodorant, body lotion, body wash and toothpaste SKUs created by actress and talk-show host Jada Pinkett Smith and beauty incubator Maesa. Hey Humans enjoyed secondary merchandising space in stores at launch earlier this year via endcap displays positioning the brand as only available at Target and using 99% plastic-free packaging.

Most Ahold Delhaize USA chains leveraged a national Earth Month campaign from General Mills that dangled a free reusable snack bag with purchase of $15 in participating products. Support included multiple circular features and display ads within chain websites as well as a home page carousel ad on Hannaford. com that linked to a dedicated web page spotlighting “Brands that make a difference,” including Annie’s, Oui yogurt and Nature Valley snacks.

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P&G’s Gillette rolled out a line of shaving products at Target earlier this year that come in recyclable blue packaging and are made with 85% recycled paper, 85% recycled plastic or infinitely recyclable aluminum. The line includes shaving cream, moisturizer and face wash “with cucumber and vitamin E” as well as a kit encompassing two razor blade cartridges and a razor handle made from 60% recycled plastic (the equivalent of one recycled water bottle).

In stores, account-specific endcap displays served to drum up support for the products, which are also available through direct-to-consumer site PlanetKindByGillette.com.

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Colgate-Palmolive’s Irish Spring amplified its reforestation efforts across the U.S. with an Ibotta offer intended to help educate Walmart shoppers about the importance of protecting and restoring forests.

Pledging $100,000 to support the reforestation efforts of nonprofit The Nature Conservancy, the brand promised cash back and a plantable Colorado Blue Spruce tree card with purchase of three bottles of Irish Spring body wash at Walmart throughout September and October 2020. A side panel affixed to a four-way sporting a QR code intended to facilitate redemption was still spotted at the retailer as late as February of this year.

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Publix in January elevated plantbased products by dangling various coupons and promoting “tasty recipes” in its latest Extra Savings circular. Multiple full-page features highlighted deals and print coupons for relevant products from brands including Nestle’s Natural Bliss, Impossible Foods, PepsiCo’s Quaker and Unilever’s Seventh Generation. One feature plugged “the power of plants” above a recipe for “meatball” skewers calling for Smithfield Foods’ Pure Farmland, while another directed shoppers to find recipes on a Publix-branded web page operated by PromoPoint Marketing that listed exclusive deals and plant-based recipes.

In recent months, CVS Pharmacy has been merchandising independent skincare brands that are marketed as sustainable using an in-line display complete with dedicated shelf units and account-specific signage for each brand. A header carried a “Beauty [products] inspired by nature” message while boasting that the products showcased were “free from parabens, phthalates and formaldehyde donors.”

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Technology Innovation

P2P Toolkit

A roundup of technology-driven tools that drive consumer understanding, engagement and conversion on every step of the path to purchase.

Atlanta-based Bakkt Holdings recently launched a consumer app that acts like a digital wallet filled with various assets, including bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, gift-card balances, frequent-flyer miles and loyalty-reward points.

After beta testing with more than 500,000 users, the app is available via the Apple app and Google Play stores. It can already be used, the company says, at participating Starbucks, Best Buy and GolfNow locations as well as retailers who use Fiserv’s payment-acceptance service.

Bakkt says that loyalty cards from more than 200 brands are currently supported by the app, and that the “crypto curious” can also use it to buy bitcoin without transaction or trading fees.

In April, Trader Joe’s said it was the first grocery store to partner with Buffalo, New Yorkbased MagnusMode, a life skills library that provides digital guides to daily activities for people with cognitive disabilities such as autism. MagnusCards is a digital app that combines instruction, visual cues and interactive audio guides to everyday experiences such as dealing with rapid transit systems, airports, museums and banks.

Step-by-step instructions have been provided by companies ranging from ColgatePalmolive (oral care tips), Kraft Heinz (lunch tips) and A&W (stress-free restaurant dining).

The Trader Joe’s card deck covers topics like “checking out your items” and “sensory experiences in the store.” The MagnusCards app covers 12 categories of life skills learning, including social, travel, personal care and shopping. Once downloaded, the card decks don’t require Wi-Fi so they can be used easily anywhere.

Bill Schober is Editor Emeritus of Path to Purchase IQ. He’s been associated with the Institute since 1994, covering all aspects of consumer marketing with a special emphasis on the shopping experience. He welcomes any questions, comments, requests or pitches about P2P Toolkit, and can be reached at bschober@ensembleiq.com.

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Austin, Texas-based FreeWater Inc. launched in May, declaring itself “The World’s First Free Beverage Company.” It’s a philanthropic marketing startup that aims to be underwritten by selling ads on aluminum water bottles and cartons. The founders assert that this form of advertising gets 10 times the impressions of direct mail. The short-term goal is to become “a prominent advertising channel that doesn’t annoy or harass its audience; the bigger plan is to “evolve into the world’s first free supermarket and to disrupt the food and beverage industry.”

The hope is to generate 10 cents per package, which will then be donated to charities that build water wells in Africa.

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P2P Toolkit

SPOTLIGHT: Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality

In May, Ferrero launched an augmented reality app called “Applaydu” for use with its Kinder Joy candy/toy eggs. The AR features are activated in the app by scanning a leaflet included in the Kinder Joy egg. Animated 3-D characters, avatar costumes and personalized adventure books are awarded for completing achievements within the app.

Parsippany, New Jersey-based Ferrero (now the world’s third-largest confectionery company) developed the AR app with educational guidance from Oxford University. It has parental controls, including a pin-protected feature that lets parents follow their child’s progress through activity reports.

In late April, San Francisco-based Afterpay, considered a leader in the “Buy Now, Pay Later” payments business, launched The Dropshop, a global platform that offers access to limited-edition merchandise, offers and experiences. The unveiling event, or “first drop,” was done in partnership with Finish Line and gave Afterpay consumers early access to a limited-edition Nike AIR MAX 90 in black, orange and silver. During the launch window, April 27-May 2, Snapchatting consumers could try the sneakers on virtually using Snapchat’s AR Lens, then use Afterpay to take them in a few clicks over to checkout on FinishLine.com.

As business got back to business in 2021, a recurring theme inside the AR arena has been lowering barriers to entry. Consider Beerscans, for example, an AR platform that its boosters claim will enable even small craft brewers to offer virtual experiences.

The platform is said to enable a brewer’s marketing team to upload content in simple formats, automatically convert them for use in AR, and then use its intuitive reporting system to track results. It’s all being pitched by an Australian company, Third Aurora, for rollout later in 2021 (possibly as early as July) in an initial release to just 50 U.S. brands. “Forget QR codes,” says Beerscans’ marketing materials, arguing that since today’s smartphones have better imagerecognition technology that can analyze detail on cans and bottles, there’s only one label to upload for the system to learn. That means every identical label, even if it’s on an old bottle that’s been in the fridge for a while, will be usable for an AR activation.

Beerscans has a sister application called “Winerytale” that already is in use around the world.

Snap Inc. made a splash on May 20 by introducing AR eyeglasses called “Spectacles.” They aren’t for sale however, at least to civilians. About 1,000 pairs will be given to successful applicants from the “creator community,” basically AR platform developers who use Lens Studio, Snap’s desktop application, to generate virtual images.

You may recall that Snap first released eyeglasses called Spectacles back in 2016, but those were camera glasses, not AR glasses. These new AR Spectacles are powered by the Snap Spatial Engine, allowing for “six degrees of hand, marker and surface tracking” that will enable creators to wirelessly push their AR creations onto Spectacles for rapid testing, in real time.

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P2P Toolkit

SPOTLIGHT: Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality

In April, Chicago-based Threekit, a 3-D and AR platform, launched “Shop Threekit,” dubbed the world’s first multi-brand 3-D marketplace. The company says that by using technology developed through 15 years of creating visual effects for films, its site lets shoppers “visit” more than 20 e-commerce stores and create photorealistic 2-D and 3-D visuals as well as AR experiences. For example, shoppers can configure and view a TaylorMade SIM2 driver, view a Crate & Barrel sofa in the materials they want, or as I did at the Bamford watch site, assemble what might be the ugliest $560 watch in human history (pictured). Other brands featured at launch on the site include Lovesac, Duluth Trading Co. and Shark Tank winner PRx Performance.

In April, Kellogg Co. announced the nationwide debut of its latest cereal, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes with Crispy Cinnamon Basketballs (quite a mouthful).

The product rollout marks the first time that mascot Tony the Tiger has had to share the front of the box, in this case with Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. “It’s no secret [that] having my own Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal has been a lifelong dream,” Shaq was quoted as saying.

Folks sitting at their kitchen table will be able to scan a QR code on the back of the box and, through augmented reality, watch Tony and Shaq compete in a dunk contest. Before the cereal hit retail shelves, Kellogg’s gave fans a chance to win one of 25 autographed boxes by commenting on Shaq’s Instagram post.

Norwalk, Connecticut-based Pepperidge Farm announced that, starting in May, it was pairing its Goldfish crackers with McCormick & Company’s Frank’s RedHot hot-sauce brand in a limited-edition snack. At a two-day preview event designed to give an early alert to its fanbase, Goldfish directed consumers to Instagram to unlock and use a custom AR filter (tagged “@GoldfishSmiles”) in their stories and post it with the hashtag #Sweepstakes. Winners received a direct message from the Goldfish Instagram account informing them that they’d won preview bags of the product.

If you need motivation as a do-it-yourselfer, well ... there’s an app for that. In May, the Richburg, South Carolinabased Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety launched an augmented-reality mobile “experience” called Wildfire Ready Virtual. It’s an interactive tool that guides homeowners through some basic, D-I-Y wildfiremitigation actions with scary, virtual-reality simulations of embers showering your neighborhood that even alarmed my dog Olive. The app opens with a short survey about your home’s vulnerabilities and then the AR really kicks in: It zooms into a home’s “ignition zones” – the roof, decks and vents. If discovering that your patio is a fire trap doesn’t send you running to Home Depot, nothing will.

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DECEMBER 2021 ISSUE CLOSES ON NOVEMBER 4

An official publication of

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StoreSpotlight

Harvest Market

BY C Y N D I L O Z A

One of the most unique aspects of Harvest Market is the Farmhouse restaurant, where shoppers can purchase made-to-order food items for carry-out or dine-in. The retailer also has a sushi station, coffee bar and an upstairs mezzanine bar and “Nook” space for food demonstrations and cooking instructions (although the COVID-19 pandemic canceled in-person classes until further notice).

Niemann Foods’ Harvest Market has made shopping for groceries less about pantry-filling and more about connecting shoppers with the food they buy and consume. Quincy, Illinois-based Niemann operates more than 100 grocery, pet and hardware stores, pharmacies and gas stations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri. In 2016 in Champaign, Illinois, the company opened Harvest Market, a farm-to-table concept grocery store aimed at connecting shoppers with the farmers and producers who make the food by highlighting their stories and sharing knowledge about the production. Roughly four years later, Harvest Market expanded to a second location in Springfield, Illinois, and continues to spotlight its store-made and specially sourced items with a focus on delivering entertainment and inspiration within the aisles.

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Beyond the restaurant, the retailer also touts freshly squeezed and created juices, its own churned butter and in-house made deli meats and baked goods.

Consistent with the retailer’s “farmhouse” theme and aesthetic, wooden displays are often found within the store. Hint, for example, has enjoyed secondary merchandising space for more than a year now at the Champaign location via this unique floorstand. The display is made of wood (or at least a very convincing composite).

True to its mission, the retailer often spotlights locally sourced products. The wooden floorstand at far left, for example, stocks locally grown basil from Tuscola, Illinois. During the winter holidays, these nearleft refrigerators topped with TV screens showcased eggnog from Greenville, Illinois-based Rolling Lawns Farm.

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StoreSpotlight

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Multiple TV screens throughout the Champaign store play videos depicting Harvest Market dietitian Emily preparing various meals to inspire shoppers. One screen is positioned near the checkout lane above a refrigerator that merchandises weekly meal kits. The retailer also makes recipes and videos from Emily available on its Facebook page.

Shoppers regularly find spectaculars and creative displays within the retailer’s liquor, beer and wine department. In this case, importer/distributor Proximo Spirits deployed a spectacular containing a larger-than-life margarita in the leadup to this year’s Cinco de Mayo.

That Harvest Market is located in a college town (Champaign) is not lost on the grocer. The store tied in to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament by creating this display to show support for the University of Illinois team. The display employed oranges and plums to depict the school’s orange and blue colors and crossmerchandised beer from local brewery Riggs Beer Co.

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OMA Award Winners Each year, Shop! recognizes best-in-class retail displays through its Outstanding Merchandising Achievement (OMA) Awards competition. Showcased here are the 2021 Display of the Year, Budget Award and Creative Award winners.

Display of the Year Award

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Entrant: WestRock, Atlanta Client: Bayer U.S., Whippany, New Jersey Comments: This connected display was positioned as being at the forefront of physical, digital and mobile innovation.

It was designed to be a category “allergy center” sponsored by Claritin that educates shoppers with real-time localized content such as the daily pollen count, making it easy for allergy sufferers to know exactly when it’s time to buy helpful products.

Entrant: Bish Creative, Lake Zurich, Illinois Client: Davos Brands, New York Comments: The assignment was to develop an impactful merchandising tool supporting Aviation Gin, which has experienced double-digit growth in the last few years. The story needed to relate to today’s consumer yet capture the nostalgia of America’s gin. It was designed to be portable, require minimal floor space, and hold an ample amount of product.

Entrant: Bish Creative Client: Castle Brands, New York Comments: The objective was to develop an iconic mass display piece that allowed Jefferson’s Ocean to become the dominant brand within the category.

The display was created to secure a large amount of retail space, with the ability to be adjustable like bookends so that it could be altered to fit the product offerings in each individual store.

Bayer Digital CVS Endcap

Aviation Gin Air Stair Display

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Jefferson’s Ocean Replica Ship Bookend Display

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OMA AWARD WINNERS

Budget Award

PERMANENT

SEMI-PERMANENT

TEMPORARY

Entrant: Bish Creative Client: Gerard Bertrand, Narbonne, France Comments: The assignment was to develop an attractive counter display that promotes this iconic brand in its bouquet of roses bottle on a global platform.

This display needed to work at retail in the U.S. and all of Europe with a target demographic of women ages 25-54.

Entrant: WestRock Client: Coty, New York Comments: This display was designed to attract shoppers with a sense of celebration and excitement during a challenging holiday season of limited and socially distanced parties. The bold print effects echo the brand’s message to “Be Bold & Brilliant” this holiday season.

The secondary display location captured seasonal shoppers’ attention and drove conversion off-shelf.

Entrant: Menasha, Neenah, Wisconsin and Eastwest Marketing Group, New York Client: Mondelez International, East Hanover, New Jersey Comments: The display needed to clearly leverage key distinctive assets of the Oreo brand, including the iconic blue color, while specifically celebrating Oreo all its creme varieties. The goal was to drive shopper participation in a digital debate about which variety was best, as well as enter a $100,000 giveaway by vote for their favorite Stuf. The target audience included Millennial moms and Oreo lovers of all ages.

Gerard Bertrand Cotes Des Roses Counter Top Display

CoverGirl Holiday Counter Unit

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Oreo ‘What’s Your Stuf’ Family

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OMA AWARD WINNERS

Creative Award

PERMANENT

SEMI-PERMANENT

TEMPORARY

Entrant: WestRock, Atlanta Client: Bayer U.S., Whippany, New Jersey Comments: An animated character, Claire, was created to be an educational category ambassador to help drive engagement and navigate consumers through the endcap’s digital content via the unit’s touchpad and QR code. The result is an educational and engaging shopping experience that delivers key measurement metrics for conversion and continuous optimization at retail.

Entrant: Bish Creative, Lake Zurich, Illinois Client: Proximo Spirits, Jersey City, New Jersey Comments: The objective was to secure valuable counter space at premium, chain and mom and pop spirits stores. Since the young professional target audience might not invest in an entire bottle, the 50-milliliter trial size at the counter was the perfect opportunity to entice trial purchase.

Entrant: Rapid Displays, Chicago Client: AB InBev, St. Louis Comments: Stella kicked off the “Summer Like You’re On Vacation” campaign by giving New Yorkers a taste of the Riviera on the East River to illustrate that vacation isn’t about where you are but about how you see things. The beer brand wanted to leverage that out-of-home activation and media buzz about the East River Riviera with a custom display that expanded the French Riviera experience to retail stores across the U.S.

Bayer Digital CVS Endcap

Pendleton Counter Cowboy Boot Display

Stella Artois Riva Boat Display

Shop! is the global trade organization dedicated to enhancing retail environments and experiences. The association represents more than 1,400 member companies and affiliates globally. Shop! engages its members with education, insights and events that enable them to co-create innovation that evolves retail worldwide.

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NEW Horizons

DEI Efforts Start With You

BY S A R A H A LT E R

Sarah Alter is president and CEO of the Network of Executive Women, a nonprofit learning, leadership and gender equality advocacy organization of 13,500 members (representing nearly 900 organizations), 300plus national and regional corporate partners, and 22 regional groups in the United States and Canada.

Any right-thinking person can acknowledge that individuals deserve equity in all parts of life, including in our workplaces. Employees deserve to feel they can bring their full selves to work, and no one should be discriminated against or experience bias in the workplace. Acknowledging that truth, though, is just the first step.

STARTING AT THE TOP Whether your organization has employees around the globe or just a few in your hometown, a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) matters to the people who work for you. At the Network of Executive Women, we strive daily to provide solutions for our corporate partners that help them build a workplace where everyone gets a fair shake. That can’t happen without complete buy-in and confidence from those at the top of the leadership ladder. You must walk the walk for DEI efforts to reach their full potential.

Stated DEI goals and transparent reporting are a great way to hold everyone accountable to workplace progress. While it can be hard at first, being honest about where you are earns the trust of your employees – and

customers. Be transparent about where you are now to show you’re doing the hard work.

CHANGING THE GAME Accountability breeds confidence and ensures everyone is on board with making strides toward equity. Then it’s time to change the game.

Acknowledging privilege is a great place to start. For example, we know that women, particularly women of color, are underrepresented in corporate leadership positions. Removing names and identifying information from resumes corrects for the possibility that unconscious bias – and the tendency for human beings to identify with those that most resemble themselves – is creating a homogenous workforce that isn’t inclusive. That’s one small change that could make all the difference.

A BETTER FUTURE DEI efforts may start small, but they have an outsized impact on your employees. When you build equity

Educating yourself is a powerful step. Dozens of articles have been written listing the resources those with privilege can leverage to educate themselves. Take a look at a few.

Educating yourself is another powerful step. Dozens of articles have been written listing the resources those with privilege can leverage to educate themselves. Take a look at a few and set yourself a reading list. It’s not the responsibility of marginalized groups to educate others. It’s the responsibility of those who want to do right by others to educate themselves.

NO TOLERANCE FOR INTOLERANCE One of the strongest steps you can take is something every employee, from the most junior to a CEO, can put into practice:

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speaking up. There is no more powerful show of support than backing up a colleague when you witness bias and intolerance. Show your employees by example that they work in an environment where all are welcome.

Embrace awkward conversations.

While it’s important to speak up, be willing to listen to others when something you yourself have said is brought to your attention. React with openness to criticism and a willingness to listen, and you will continue to set a model of trust and safety for those around you.

into your business model, you’ll be rewarded with a happier workplace, improved retention, and the trust and confidence of your employees and customers. At NEW, “advancing all women” is what we do every day. But any organization can make DEI a key tenet of their business, and reap the rewards that come with it. IQ

More at P2PI.org

Members can access dozens of profiles of female executives on the Institute’s website.

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Solution Provider News

The Mars Agency Receives Equity to Spur Growth The Mars Agency, a Southfield, MIbased global commerce marketing organization, is receiving a substantial equity investment from Denver-based middle market private equity firm Mountaingate Capital. With a growing team of more than 500 employees spread across three continents, The Mars Agency is partnering with Mountaingate to accelerate growth organically as well as through selective strategic acquisitions to better serve its clients. The agency will continue to operate independently with the same level of agility and clientcentricity. This new equity funding will allow Mars to build out capabilities, strengthen its offering and further the development of its proprietary commerce technology platform, Marilyn.

NielsenIQ Acquires Label Insight NielsenIQ has acquired Chicago-based Label Insight, a source of product attribute data and the largest product metadata platform globally. The acquisition brings best-in-class product attribute data to NielsenIQ that covers roughly 99% of all online consumer queries across more than 80% of U.S. food, pet and personal care products. With a database of more than 200,000 product nutrients, 400,000 product ingredients, and 9 million product attributes, Label Insight’s platform enables brands and retailers to help shoppers find the products that meet their individual health, wellness, and lifestyle needs.

Epsilon, Publicis Sapient, Adobe Work on Personalized Customer Experiences

Cannabis Retailer Deploys Kiosks from Frank Mayer Consume Cannabis Company, a cannabis retailer that operates seven dispensaries throughout Illinois and Michigan, partnered with kiosk designer and manufacturer Frank Mayer and Associates, Grafton, Wisconsin, to produce self-service kiosks for the retailer’s many locations.

The kiosks allow customers to browse the store menu and place orders while learning more about available products.

Consume Cannabis says it has saved on costs and improved the customer experience since implementation, with return shoppers appreciating the faster transaction time.

Fueled by the power of 250 million privacyprotected consumer IDs, Epsilon and Publicis Sapient expanded Publicis Groupe’s longstanding relationship with Adobe to help enterprise brands deliver one-to-one personalization at scale. Epsilon’s Core ID, an accurate, stable and scalable identity solution, is now integrated with Adobe Experience Platform through Epsilon’s CDP Essentials, its latest offering to augment customer data platforms.

Using the Real-time Customer Profiles that are available in the Adobe Experience Platform, enterprise brands can now enhance their firstparty data with Epsilon’s Core ID to create more robust customer profiles, with Epsilon becoming one of Adobe’s key strategic partners.

Mars Taps Microsoft for Digital Transformation Work Product manufacturer Mars, Inc. is accelerating its digital transformation by

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leveraging the Microsoft Azure platform to optimize operational speed and intelligent manufacturing supply chains. The companies are working together to integrate transparent and responsible data, artificial intelligence and digital technologies into Mars’ global portfolio of confectionery, petcare, pet services and food businesses.

The work positions Mars to further embrace market-leading digital technologies and capabilities, intelligent manufacturing and personalized customer engagement, and improved digital skills training for its employees.

Quotient Aids Advertising Around Vaccine Locations Digital media and promotions technology company Quotient launched a vaccination dashboard. Ad buyers can use this tool to monitor shifts in foot traffic and identify opportunities to reach consumers at COVID-19 vaccination distribution locations, including grocery stores, pharmacies and doctors’ offices across the U.S. According to CDC recommendations, vaccination distribution locations should hold patients for 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine. Quotient claims this waiting period creates an opportunity for advertisers and retailers to engage with consumers during a time of high purchase intent, while the dashboard provides insight into consumer movement in and around specific vaccination locations. IQ

Send your solution provider news – new products, projects, programs and technologies – to Charlie Menchaca at cmenchaca@ensembleiq.com.

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Personnel Appointments BRAND MARKETERS AB InBev, St. Louis Michel Doukeris, president of the company’s North America zone, will succeed Carlos Brito as CEO on July 1.

Brito is stepping down after 15 years as top leader and 32 years at the company.

Prior to leading the North America zone, Doukeris was AB InBev’s global chief sales officer.

Post Consumer Brands, Lakeville, Minnesota Claudine Patel, former general manager of marketing for Reckitt, was named CMO. She leads the strategy, integration and execution of brand marketing across paid, owned, earned and shared channels, as well as innovation for the company’s portfolio of cereal brands. Patel reports to chief growth officer Tom Dixon.

RETAILERS BJ’s Wholesale Club, Westborough, Massachusetts Bob Eddy was promoted to president and CEO following a stint as interim leader after the sudden passing of Lee Delaney in April. Former SVP and controller Laura Felice succeeds Eddy as EVP, chief financial officer. Paul Cichocki, former EVP, membership, analytics and business transformation, was named EVP,

TAMMY BRUMFIELD

MICHEL DOUKERIS

chief commercial officer. Bill Werner was named EVP, strategy and development after previously serving as SVP, strategic planning and investor relations.

CVS Health, Woonsocket, Rhode Island Kathryn Metcalfe was appointed to the role of SVP and chief communications officer. She will be responsible for all internal, external, crisis and reputation communications across the organization. Metcalfe joined Aetna in 2016 as the chief communications officer, two years before CVS acquired the healthcare provider.

SOLUTION PROVIDERS Aki Technologies, San Francisco Nicole Ferrera was named to a newly created head of product marketing position.

Ferrara has been at the forefront of digital technology her whole career and will help to steer the product roadmap for Aki’s inherently privacy-compliant probabilistic moments methodology. She was most recently

BOB EDDY

CLAUDINE PATEL

director of ad solutions, innovation and partnerships at ViacomCBS. Joining Ferrera at Aki is former Ion Media consultant Angela DiLemme as RVP of sales for the Eastern region.

Her years of sales leadership, acumen and consultative customer-centric approach will benefit Aki’s clients as she collaborates with them to find innovative solutions to today’s biggest marketing challenges.

Foresight ROI, Chicago Former Coca-Cola and Conagra Brands executive Tammy Brumfield was named SVP of business development. She is a strategic visionary and innovative executive with a track record of success leading high-impact shopper and omnicommerce organizations for some of the world’s most visible brands. Brumfield was named to the Path to Purchase Institute’s “Who’s Who in Shopper Marketing” six times between 2012 and 2020. IQ

Editorial Index A&W........................................................................48 Adobe ....................................................................60 Afterpay ................................................................49 Ahold Delhaize USA...................................39, 46 Amazon .................................................................44 American Pet Products Association ..........................................................62 Anheuser-Busch InBev .............................18, 58 ASPCA ....................................................................62 Avocados from Mexico ....................................22 Bakkt Holdings ...................................................48 Bayer ...............................................................56, 58 Best Buy ................................................................48 Bic............................................................................19 Bish Creative ..........................................56, 57, 58 BJ’s Wholesale Club...........................................46 Bob Evans Farms ................................................22 Brown-Forman....................................................22 Butterball ..............................................................21 Castle Brands.......................................................56 CitrusAd ................................................................62 Clif Bar & Co. ........................................................20 Clorox Co., The ....................................................46 Colgate-Palmolive ...............................47, 48, 62

Consume Cannabis ...........................................60 Costco ....................................................................45 Coty ........................................................................57 CVS Pharmacy.....................................................47 Davos Brands ......................................................56 Diageo North America.....................................22 Eastwest Marketing Group ............................57 Epsilon ...................................................................60 Ferrero ...................................................................49 Finish Line ............................................................49 Fiserv ......................................................................48 Frank Mayer and Associate Inc. ...................60 FreeWater Inc. .....................................................48 GE Lighting ..........................................................41 General Mills.................................................46, 62 Gerard Bertrand .................................................57 GolfNow ................................................................48 GSK Consumer Healthcare .............................23 Harvest Market ...................................................52 Hey Humans ........................................................46 Honest Kitchen, The..........................................62 Ibotta .....................................................................47 Impossible Foods ..............................................47 Insurance Institute for Business

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& Home Safety ....................................................50 Kellogg Co. ...........................................................50 Keurig Dr Pepper ...............................................46 Kraft Heinz ....................................................12, 48 Kroger ....................................................................15 Label Insight ........................................................60 Magnus Mode.....................................................48 Mars Agency, The ..............................................60 Mars Inc. ................................................................60 Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA ...................23 McCormick & Co.................................................50 Menasha ...............................................................57 Microsoft...............................................................60 Mondelez International............................22, 57 Nestle .....................................................................47 Nestle Coffee Partners .....................................26 NielsenIQ ..............................................................60 OxfordSM......................................................... 8, 26 Pepperidge Farm ...............................................50 PepsiCo...........................................................32, 47 Petco ........................................................44, 45, 62 Procter & Gamble ................................44, 45, 47 Proximo Spirits ............................................54, 58 Publicis Sapient ..................................................60

Publix .....................................................................47 Quotient................................................................60 Rapid Displays ....................................................58 Riggs Beer Co. .....................................................54 Rolling Lawns Farm...........................................53 Sam’s Club ............................................................23 Sanofi Consumer Healthcare ........................37 ShoptoCook.........................................................12 Skechers ................................................................62 Smithfield Foods ................................................47 Snap Inc. ...............................................................49 Starbucks ..............................................................48 Target .......................................................45, 46, 47 TerraCycle ......................................................44, 45 Threekit .................................................................50 ThreeSixtyGroup................................................45 Third Aurora ........................................................49 Trader Joe’s .........................................................48 Unilever ............................................23, 44, 45, 47 Vista Grande ..........................................................9 Walmart..........................................................44, 47 Weruva ..................................................................44 WestRock ................................................56, 57, 58

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Retail Intel

Petco Advances Well-Being of Pets

BY PAT RYC J A M A L I N O W S K A

great relationship and collaboration across our teams, we built a custom campaign for the [brand] launch and also are proud to feature The Honest Kitchen in our new health & wellness [marketing] campaign that launched at the end of March.”

IF WE WERE PETS …

As the COVID-19 pandemic drove unprecedented pet adoptions and sales, Petco was busy laying the groundwork for a major reinvention. The result is a rebranding that reflects a new corporate philosophy focused on improving pets’ well-being.

“We set out to evolve from a pet retailer and redefine the category by becoming the leader in pet health and wellness,” says Tariq Hassan, chief marketing officer at Petco, “[beginning] with the understanding that pet parents see pets as part of their family and were seeking ways to take better care of them.”

Emboldened to advocate for these consumers, Petco made a series of product assortment changes while also expanding key service and resource offerings, including removing dog and cat food and treats with artificial ingredients in 2019, shock collars in 2020, and difficultto-digest rawhide this year.

WHOLE HEALTH The retailer’s new “Petco, The Health + Wellness Co.” rebranding boldly asserts the changes and goes hand in hand with a refined “Whole Health” approach. The retailer provides a clear framework for consumers to act in the best interest of their pets by offering products and services that meet needs across five

interconnected dimensions of health: physical, mental, social, home and accessible – the last focused on in-store services including recently launched Vital Care, an annual subscription plan that covers pets’ routine wellness needs for $19 per month.

“Ultimately, this new platform showcases our dedication to taking a 360-degree approach to pet health and inspiring everything from future product and services innovation to brand experiences and communication,” Hassan says.

HONEST KITCHEN One of the newest brands that has found a home at the reimagined Petco is a San Diego neighbor, The Honest Kitchen. The brand’s human-grade dog products are now sold on Petco.com and in Petco stores, where they command one entire side of an upfront aisle.

“Our visions and values were perfectly aligned to form a partnership … one that would allow us to bring human-grade [pet food] to a whole new, expanded audience,” says The Honest Kitchen founder and chief integrity officer Lucy Postins.

“We created a front-of-store presence to drive awareness and really get our [employees] excited about the launch … with signage and messaging homing in on the brand’s high-quality recipes,” says Petco chief marketing officer Nick Konat. “Through our

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Running under an overarching “It’s what we’d want if we were pets” message, the retailer’s new marketing campaign is a multichannel effort comprising TV spots, online videos, digital ads, public relations outreach, social media activity, P-O-P signage and email blasts.

Petco is also making advancements on the tech front, becoming the first pet retailer to join the retail media technology boom to offer marketers targeted digital advertising opportunities through a new partnership with CitrusAd. And the retailer’s commitment to improving the lives of pets extends to its renamed nonprofit arm, Petco Love, which has launched the firstever national database designed to be the go-to free resource for missing and found pets. Dubbed Love Lost, the searchable database uses facial recognition technology to help reunite lost pets with their families and already has commitments from industry partners including the American Pet Products Association, Bobs from Skechers, General Mills’ Blue Buffalo, Colgate-Palmolive’s Hills Pet Nutrition and the ASPCA. “‘It’s what we’d want if we were pets’ is so much more than a tagline or a marketing campaign,” Hassan says. “It’s the articulation of the company’s aspiration to help pet parents do what’s best for their pets. It’s an enduring platform with the power to drive Petco’s future, and it represents our steadfast commitment to deliver on our purpose to improve the lives of pets, pet parents and our own [employees].” IQ

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FULL SCHEDULE OF TOPICS

RETAIL ROUNDUP Tuesday, June 22

AMAZON

Tuesday, July 20

RETAIL MEDIA NETWORKS

Tuesday, August 17

CVS

Tuesday, September 21

A UNIQUE WEBINAR SERIES THAT EXAMINES TODAY’S TOP RETAILERS Join us as we present uncensored, up-to-date briefings on the retailers you care about most. Each month we tackle a different retailer covering its recent go-to-market activities and showcasing its current marketing and merchandising programs.

PLEASE VISIT

P2PI.ORG/EVENTS

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER. AN OFFICIAL EVENT OF

PUBLIX

Thursday, October 21

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Tuesday, November 16

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ALL WEBINAR S ARE COMPLIMENTARY AND AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER AIR DATE .

R E G I S T E R PRODUCED BY

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“The global economy is dynamic and tumultuous.

But, there is always an opportunity to innovate, collaborate, and delight today’s shoppers.”

— TANNER VAN DUSEN, CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER, ENSEMBLEIQ

THE FUTURE TAKES FOCUS

NOW

Unexpected market forces rapidly change the way we build trust in our brands. It’s time to join the only community that connects thousands of professionals to the insight and influence essential for solving business problems and driving growth into the future. The time to align with Path to Purchase IQ is NOW.

PathtoPurchaseIQ.com F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N , PLEASE CONTACT ARLENE SCHUSTEFF, ASSOCIATE BRAND DIRECTOR, AT ASCHUSTEFF@ENSEMBLEIQ.COM

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