The CPG Guys

Ho Ho Ho! This week, The CPG Guys are joined by Whitney Cooper, Senior Director of Omnichannel Transformation in the Walmart Connect retail media unit of Walmart.

Whitney is here to give us a preview of her highly-anticipated Holiday Gift Guide!

Link to Whitney's Holiday Gift Guide: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2021-holiday-gift-guide-whitney-cooper

Follow Whitney on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneycook/
Follow Whitney on Instagram at: https://instagram.com/whitneyfaecooper

Please provide the CPG Guys feedback at http://ratethispodcast.com/cpgguys

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGGuys.com
CPG Guys on Instagram: https://instagram.com/cpgguys

Please follow the Network of Executive Women at http://newonline.org/cpgguys

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB, are joined in this episode by Jim Simon, the co-founder & CEO of JiMMYBAR, a family company with a female co-founder & creator of "Bars With Benefits" meaning high protein-low sugar great tasting bars with Functional ingredients like immune boosting fruit, Collagen, Turmeric, Guarana Caffeine, Keto friendly nuts. 

Follow  Jim Simon on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jisimon/
Follow JiMMYBAR on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jimmybar-whole-food-bars/
Follow JiMMYBAR online at: http://www.jimmybars.com

Jim answers these questions:

1) You were involved in tech M&A and your sister was running a restaurant, what made the two of you decide to start up a nutritional bar business?

2) Did you hit the right recipes right off the bat or how did you evolve them into actual products?

3) There are many things in my life that are non-negotiable. What was non-negotiable from an ingredients or taste perspective in your products?

4) What were some of the ROI obstacles that you faced in getting your products listed in physical retail stores and how did that drive your Go To Market strategy, particularly as it relates to food service?

5) How did JiMMYBAR develop into an omnichannel brand? How did you go about building and marketing your own brand site and when did you decide to enter the Amazon marketplace? On Amazon are you 1P, 3P or a combination?

6) What are the tools and techniques you leveraged to grow your business on Amazon, particularly around supply chain and retail media?

7) Your physical retail strategy has been quite successful. Hardly a week goes by without seeing you post on LinkedIn new retail listings: Commissaries, CIBO, TravelCenters, GetGo, GTM, Rite Aid, CVS, Costco and many others. What made it ROI positive when earlier it did not and is there a common path to listing success?

8) You seem to have been a travel warrior as you built out your business. What has been the impact of the pandemic on your selling?

9) Early in your startup, you made a conscious decision not to seek VC as you built your business. How did you manage scaling your business without substantial external capital and how has that changed?

10) How do you think about developing innovation that scales successfully? What are the key elements of this process and where are you focusing for expansion?

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB, are joined in this episode by Vandana Khanna, Director of Digital Finance Transformation at Unilever.

Follow  Vandana Khanna on LinkedIn at:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/vandanakhanna/
Follow Unilever on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unilever/
Follow Unilever online at: http://www.unilever.com

Vandana answers these questions:

1) Your career has passed through several CPG brands, J&J, PepsiCo amongst them and core finance such as D&B. Decompose this for our audience and tell us how different it is CPG vs core financial companies.
2) The pandemic has irreversibly altered shopper behavior it seems - do you agree. In the role you perform, how are you responding to this and preparing Unilever to win during the transformation?
3) The word data lake is a misused and confusing term. Decompose this for our audience. How are you creating a data lake?
4) From your experience, How does Finance play a big role in ecommerce transformation?
5) Your role involves - Design the Roadmap and Path to scale Emerging Technologies like RPA, Cognitive and Intelligent Automation capabilities. What does this mean in everyday life?
6) You are a partner to supply chain and factory finance - in these days of supply chain constraints how does your role help these functional groups?
7) Diversity & inclusion has taken on a stronger meaning these days. How are you Champion Inclusivity and belonging for People of Color these days?
8) What is your advice for others on the finance transformation journey like you? 

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & guest host Melisssa Burdick from Pacvue are joined in this episode by Rose Jia, head of Growth Marketing for Amazon Fresh.

This is the second of a two part partnership episode series with Cardlytics which partners with financial institutions to understand where and when consumers are spending their money. They use these insights to help marketers identify, reach, and influence likely buyers at scale.

Follow Rose Jia on LinkedIn at: http://linkedin.com/in/rjia
Follow Renaissance Marketer at: http://renaissancemarketer.com
Follow Whiskey-Me-Up at: https://whiskeymeup.com/
Follow Cardlytics online at: http://www.cardlytics.com
Follow Cardlytics on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardlytics/
For more inquiries on eyekandy, please contact [email protected]

Rose answers these questions:

1. Walk through your background—the journey from investment banker to marketing.
2. Do you think your background gives you an edge/advantage in your current role, how so?
3. What is renaissancemarketer.com How do you define a renaissance marketer?
4. Are there certain gaps or common biases that you think hold a lot of marketers back from making a bigger impact?
5. Shopper behavior has change dramatically in the past year and half. What challenges do you face in better understanding and incentivizing shoppers?
6. You’ve spoken about your approach of choosing partners to go ‘deep’ with as similar to making investments in the financial world. Can you explain your philosophy about that?
   1. What gaps do you see in the solution provider space to meet the new needs of/partner with retailers?
   2. Any good examples of emerging platforms you’re bullish on delivering big marketing returns for you over the long term?
7. What does best in class partnership look like to you? (Guiding/consulting/challenging vs marching orders/tactical execution)

Please provide the CPG Guys feedback at http://ratethispodcast.com/cpgguys

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGGuys.com
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/cpgguys
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cpgguys

Please follow the Network of Executive Women at http://newonline.org/cpgguys

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB, are joined in this episode by Sean Halter, CEO of Connectivity Holdings, a media strategy investment company and host of the CMO Suite podcast.

Follow  Sean Halter on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanhalter/
Follow Connectivity Holdings on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/connectivityholdings/
Follow Connectivity Holdings online at: https://connectivityholdings.com/
Follow The CMO Suite Podcast on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-cmo-suite/
Follow The CMO Suite online at: https://thecmosuite.com/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Scott Lester, the founder & Chairman of Eyekandy, the world's leading Augmented Reality (AR) Provider for commerce. Partnering with Brands and Retailers across the world to produce engaging AR shopper experiences in store, online and in print.

This is a partnership episode with Eyekandy.

Follow Scott Lester on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-lester-94104b2/
Follow Eyekandy online at: http://eyekandy.com/
Follow Eyekandy on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eyekandy/
For more inquiries on eyekandy, please contact [email protected]

Related content:

• AR thought leadership article: https://eyekandy.com/news-insights/measuring-augmented-reality-success
• Tyson Case Study - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hillshire-Snacking-Small-Plates-Genoa-Salami-and-White-Cheddar-Cheese-Single-Serve/47446798
• Bacardi Case Study - https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/635243249
• M&S Foods Case Study: https://eyekandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CaseStudy-MS-PercyPig-2.pdf
• Coca-Cola AR Avatar Demo - https://vimeo.com/610073515

Scott answers these questions:

1) Tell us about eyekandy, how the journey started & where you are as a company today?
2) How is eyekandy helping the CPG industry with AR - How is eyekandy differentiating itself in a crowded marketplace?
3) You're talking to CPGs daily, what are you seeing as the biggest opportunities in the industry?
4) We’d love to hear about some experiences you have enabled already today for brands like Tyson.
5) Why is the sentence AR enables offline to online meaningful - decompose how this is done?How long does a partnership with you take to enable?
6) Tell us about your full service agency work? What do you offer?
7) What can clients expect from you in terms for measuring ROI and what data or metrics do you provide?
8) Share your roadmap of services and products we can expect to see in the future?

Please provide the CPG Guys feedback at http://ratethispodcast.com/cpgguys

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGGuys.com

Please follow the Network of Executive Women at http://newonline.org/cpgguys

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB, are joined in this episode by Pete Maldonado the co-founder & CEO of Chomps & the Sr Director of eCommerce Stacey Hartnett. Chomps is a manufacturer of protein-packed meat snacks that deliver on taste, simple ingredients and powerful nutrition!

Follow  Pete Maldonado on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermaldonado/
Follow Stacey Hartnett on LinkedIn at:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-hartnett-berger-6b2aa124/
Follow Chomps on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chomps/
Follow Chomps online at: https://chomps.com/

Pete & Stacey answers these questions:

1) We’d love to hear your origin story. How did you two know each other and what was the catalyst that led you to found the business we now know as Chomps
2) As you grew your business, what were your funding principles and how have you been able to maintain the “family-owned” status?
3) What was the evolution of your omnichannel strategy? Did you start in physical retail and move online or vice-versa? What were some of the key decisions that drove your entrance into each channel?
4) How do you manage your DTC and Amazon platforms? Are you leveraging machine learning tools or AI to drive some of your activities? What is helping you win scaling your digital selling?
5) Let’s talk about CRM strategy. You’ve built a community of “Chompians.” What are the pillars of your CRM strategy that you focus on to drive growth with your active consumers?
6) How are you leveraging all of the 1P data that is being generated by your DTC business? Does it inform your ability to sell effectively into other channels? Also, UGC or ratings & reviews are clearly a major asset on your brand site. How are you leveraging UGC beyond just displaying it on your brand site?
7) How do you set your associates up for success? What are the leadership principles and resources you leverage to ensure this objective?
8) What have been some of the challenges that the pandemic has brought to your business? How has it impacted your selling approach if at all?

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB, are joined in this episode by Ashwin Nathan, VP Head of Marketing and Advertising at H-E-B. Founded in 1905, H-E-B operates more than 400 stores in a number of formats and is the #1 food retailer in the Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley markets. It is the largest private company in Texas and one of the 15 largest privately held companies in the U.S.

Follow  Ashwin Nathan on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwinnathan/
Follow H-E-B on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heb/
Follow H-E-B online at: http://www.heb.com

Ashwin answers these questions:

1) So what is this word retail transformation, and how have you been embracing it?
2) Since the onset of the pandemic, it feels eCommerce is the word in the room, which does not really encompass omnichannel. please explain omnichannel for us as it pertains to HEB?
3) You have been a digital maverick now for quite some time, what unique role does digital play in customer acquisition?
4) How is HEB leveraging digital as an asset? When along the path to purchase is it engaging your customers?
5) Take us through your own career journey - why digital leadership, why marketing
6) In your current role how important is loyalty and how are you leading from the front, differentiating from your competitors?
7) UX and conversion go hand in hand - how do you ensure this is the case
8) Give us a prediction of what comes next in customer engagement - is it shoppable media? Where should brands & retailers be placing bets?

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & guest host Melisssa Burdick from Pacvue are joined in this episode by Ross McNab, President for North America Advertising at Cardlytics which partners with financial institutions to understand where and when consumers are spending their money. They use these insights to help marketers identify, reach, and influence likely buyers at scale.

This is the first of a two part partnership episode series with Cardlytics.

Follow Ross McNab on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcnabross/
Follow Cardlytics online at: http://www.cardlytics.com
Follow Cardlytics on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardlytics/

Ross answers these questions:

1) Why don’t you start with sharing a bit more about your journey through programmatic advertising and what lessons you’ve drawn from that to guide how you approach advertising at Cardlytics.

2)Reputation/Perceived Value in advertising is as important as ever, yes? In your opinion, how has this subsequently impacted the way in which senior leaders think about the role/value of marketing/advertising plays in the broader business strategy, and how has that changed?

3)Let’s dig into Cardlytics. What differentiates you? What is Cardlytics edge? Why should a brand work with you vs others?

4)What is Cardlytics philosophy for scale : Is it Data or Data Science ? This is a cardinal question within any CPG organization, how do you help drive scale and adoption? 

5)Talk to us about the cardlytics ad platform. What tools & solutions does it offer?

6)  eCommerce and digital selling is another area that has now become permanent. How do you think this positions with the traditional way of revenue measurement across CPG manufacturers? What are your thoughts around this space - what do you offer? 

7)(Sri) What makes your campaign measurement suite different from others? Digital campaigns by default are easier to measure, but what about in-store

8) (Melissa) What’s next for Cardlytics? What does the product pipeline look like?

Please provide the CPG Guys feedback at http://ratethispodcast.com/cpgguys

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGGuys.com
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/cpgguys
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cpgguys

Please follow the Network of Executive Women at http://newonline.org/cpgguys

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB, are joined in this episode by Jeff Lucas, Chief Revenue Officer of Firework, a B2B interactive short form web story video platform for brands to engage and convert their website visitors.

This is the first of a two part partnership episode series with Firework.

Follow Jeff Lucas on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-lucas-76911945/
Follow Firework online at: http://firework.tv
Follow Firework on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fireworkhq/

Jeff answers these questions:

1) Jeff, please share with us what you do for Firework and your career journey of how you got there
2) Please educate our audience as to why live streaming shoppable video is hot? Isn’t China and Korea leading with this already?
3) In March, Forbes referred to Firework as the "Decentralized, B2B version of TikTok." Talk to us about that statement. Vincent spoke quite a bit about this as well. What does that mean to you?
4) How are brands & retailers leveraging the power of Fireworks offering? What value are they seeing? Notably, we saw the big announcement about your partnership with Albertsons. 
5) Talk to us about the core offerings of Firework. Why is this good for CPG and retail? Isn’t retail lower funnel more important here than CPG brands?
6) How do you differentiate from perceived competitive offerings? What can clients expect back from you in a partnership in terms of data or insights on performance. What are the metrics?
7) Share to us about what’s next for Firework. How do you scale and get the word out that live streaming is super hot and is a huge ROI mechanism?

Please provide the CPG Guys feedback at http://ratethispodcast.com/cpgguys

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGGuys.com
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/cpgguys
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cpgguys

Please follow the Network of Executive Women at http://newonline.org/cpgguys

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.