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- [00:01]
A
Hi, I'm Ben Johnson, senior Vice president of marketing at Reds All Natural and you're listening to the CPGuys podcast.
- [00:12]
B
Welcome to the CPG Guys podcast. Your hosts, Sree Rajagopalan and Peter V S Bond explore how brands and retailers engage consumers in an increasingly digitally driven world. And now, here are the CPG Guys.
- [00:31]
C
Hello and welcome to this episode of the CPG Guys. I'm of course Sri, your co host and also CRO and co founder of Think Blue Consulting, your trusted partner and your omnichannel development journey. Get in touch with me at srinkblinkconsulting Co not. Com. Please do listen to my older daughter's music at www.sriyaraj.com and follow Lara Raj, my younger daughter as a member of the world's fastest growing global girls group, Katsai. I am joined today with my co host and co founder and friend Peter V S Bond, who also moonlights as head of industry client engagement at Flywheel, the commerce acceleration division of Omnicom. Friday afternoon. How you doing Peter? Back to school?
- [01:07]
B
Well, yeah. Sri, my, my big issue is I had one earlier this week. Our big car, the engine failed. I'm told by the dealership that it's it, it's. It's got the engine, entire engine needs to be replaced. The good news is it's, It's. I got 100,000 mile powertrain warranty in and we're only 90,000 miles into it. But of course you need to get sign off from corporate and so my car has been sitting in the dealership for four days waiting for the warranty department at the headquarters to say you can fix your car. And then unfortunately my wife had a little accident with our other car this morning. Nothing nearly as debilitating, just a scraped side of another car. But so we're kind of all smarting from a couple of things. The good news is everybody's fine. Nobody was ever at risk. That's all that matters. But feel, feel a little banged up. Kind of like my Dodgers of late. Sri, it's, it's not been a good. It's not been good since the all star break for the Dodgers. It's just been a, it's been a bit of a mess. I know you feel my pain on your end of things. Let's hope that both of our teams can prevail as they get get closer to the fall classic. What do you think?
- [02:19]
C
You know, there's hardly a baseball community left in the US now. I feel like 1% of the population watches baseball so I've decided we're on.
- [02:27]
B
The young end of the spectrum, aren't we, sri?
- [02:29]
C
Probably. So I've decided in the future that I'm going to limit my conversation on baseball because nobody can relate to it. Man.
- [02:37]
B
What do we have to start talking about? What sport do we have to talk about?
- [02:40]
C
Like cricket or curling?
- [02:42]
B
Curling. I do think curling is the sport of the future.
- [02:46]
C
Absolutely.
- [02:47]
B
We're going into curling. All right, sri, but it's good to be here.
- [02:50]
C
We're going to get curling and we're going to join. We're going to join. We're going to join the Canadian curling Olympic team. That's our goal. Make sure you're subscribing to our podcast on your preferred listening platform where you can get our latest episodes, even go back to consume some of the 510plus episodes we've already published. Today's episode is actually long overdue. We discussed recording this a year ago, again earlier in June at Cannes, France, but somehow the Fortuner schedules matched. Didn't match earlier, matched now, and we've landed the plane today. Boom. Join us in welcoming to the podcast Ben Johnson. Ben, of course, is the senior vice president of marketing at Dreads. Dreads is on a mission to cook food better and we're going to decompose what that means. He's had the opportunities to lead the team's full marketing team to include brand management, demand planning, insights, brand experience, design, packaging, and of course, commercialization. Adam leading the performance marketing strategies, e commerce, event marketing, and whatever new opportunities come their way. He proclaims he's having a blast. And that's on LinkedIn, y'. All.
- [03:50]
A
Yeah.
- [03:51]
C
These are the kind of people we want to have on the show, so this better be that darn good. So here we go. Let's welcome Ben to the cpgs. How you doing, man?
- [04:00]
A
I'm doing well. And we are aiming to make it the best. We're competitive here at Reds. And the great thing like that, the intro. Fantastic. And really, here at Reds, all of those things are done by one person or maybe two. So, you know, looking forward to diving into the discussion with you guys.
- [04:19]
C
Awesome. Welcome to the show. We're excited to have you on the podcast. We'll of course, include in the digital show notes. So this episode links to your LinkedIn profile and that of Reds. So let's get it going and I'll kick it off by asking you a simple question. Reds. Reds itself positions itself as an authentic premium foods brand with a strong emphasis on ingredient integrity and product innovation. I know you and I had quite a lengthy discussion about that at Cannes France, but how do you keep that authenticity alive in marketing while still scaling the brand and getting distribution?
- [04:49]
A
Well, I mean, product quality and passion for what we do, how we craft food, how we cook food better, comes ultimately from our founder, Mike Adair, our founder and CEO. He's with us every single day, in fact, just across the way in the office over there. And Mike started the business with this passion of taking originally just amazing burritos that actually his wife was making while he was in business school and said, hey, how can I take this experience? How can I take high quality food and bring it to folks? And the idea of doing that through frozen means you don't have to add junk to it. Frozen food can and should be amazingly good. Add in the advent of the air fryer. This can really be amazing food, and that's what we're passionate about every single day. So Mike's building of this business is at the core of our brand's mission, and we're on that mission to cook food better. And so it really is at the core of what we do. Try to be as authentic for the.
- [05:57]
C
Benefit of our audience. Can you explain what advantage frozen gives that allows you to keep that authenticity?
- [06:04]
A
Well, I mean, you, you freeze something at the peak of freshness. So we bake our own tortillas in house. They're coming off the line. Sometimes it's like as little as 20 minutes that that tortilla is going to be folded into your burrito and then immediately flash frozen for to deliver to you at the peak of freshness. And there's other benefits too, right? Less food waste. That product can be amazing if frozen and kept frozen the right way for. For a year. And boom, you put it in the air fryer, get it going, and we're going to bring that freshly baked tortilla to you at the peak of freshness.
- [06:43]
C
Is it fair to say no preservatives, therefore, or low preservatives?
- [06:47]
A
Absolutely. When. When you freeze something and it is, it's something that frustrates us. We look at the rest of the category and the category can kind of have a little bit of a stigma because there are a lot of preservatives and I'm going to just call it junk throughout the category, but it doesn't have to be that way, so. And there are other brands joining with us in making amazing frozen food accessible to folks. But yeah, frozen food should be amazingly good.
- [07:16]
B
Ben, welcome to the podcast. I should also, I'D be remiss if I didn't thank you for your military service. It's a core component of your background. So thank you for, for what you've done for our country. This morning I fired up a absolutely scrumptilicious reds all natural chorizo burrito and I put it in the air fryer. And to your point, it tasted so good this morning. So thank you for all that you guys do down there to bring tremendous, accessible and authentic food to the community. I, for one, appreciate it.
- [07:56]
A
Absolutely. And you know, that thing, that thing hits, that's one of our better sellers, has been around for a while. I mean, you're talking in those breakfast burritos. 16, 17 grams of protein. Great way to start your day. And I know for me and you guys know this as we were talking in Cannes, I usually get my kids off to school in the morning all the time. And what a great, convenient, easy way for me to do that. Serve them food that I'm proud to give them. Right? That's going to fuel them and start a great day that they're going to like. And so many days in the work week especially, it's part of our routine, too.
- [08:36]
B
Sree would refer to it as a protein power pack. That's how he would do it. But anyhow. All right, so let's talk about this competitive landscape in grocery. Your, obviously, as a frozen product, you are pri. You are, you know, your, your entry into the market is physical, retail, brick and mortar. And I guess my question is, how do you, how do you think about balancing your spending against in store channels where the lion's share of your business is happening versus digital channels, which I've got to imagine a lot of your consumers, like everyone's consumers, are adopting at a faster and faster rate. What, what goes into your mind when you think about how you're going to connect from a marketing perspective with both existing consumers and potential consumers of reds all natural?
- [09:38]
A
Well, you know, sometimes that in store placement you have only so much control over that. So we joke, but sometimes it's true. You know, you might end up in the bottom shelf in the corner next to the men's restroom back in a retailer. And, and so therefore, you know, that's kind of hard to move it off of that shelf. And so therefore the digital shelf, I think for an emerging starting brand, you know, earlier stages brand is incredibly important. And so we value that a lot. As far as in store, though, what we've been able to show through data is reds bringing that high quality Product to the frozen category can be tremendously incremental to the category north of 70%. And so when we're able to demonstrate that, start building momentum, we can get that better everyday placement in the mainline shelf set in the stores. And that's still incredibly important to us reaching folks. You got more foot traffic there. But in many ways to get there, we've had to make sure that we curate and we take care of the digital shelf. And there's no excuse not to do that. Right? That's kind of a decision and actions that you can take as the brand, regardless of what any, what anyone else says.
- [11:05]
C
Ben, when I trolled you on LinkedIn I went as far back as General Mills and I looked at Wheaties and I stopped trolling any further in LinkedIn the experiences boxes, therefore hiding the fact that you were a naval officer for six years, which I didn't know till Peter just mentioned. And looks like you spent time up in the great state of Washington and even served in is it Thailand and Indonesia. So thank you for that and thank you for being on the show again today. I'm going to jump into consumer personalization. You guys have great products. Peter mentioned eating a breakfast burrito at home today. So what strategies is Reds using to build deeper, more personalized consumer relationships? Whether that's through loyalty programs. You may have social media storytelling, TikTok, Instagram or in market experiences activating in store or perhaps at other experiential events.
- [12:01]
A
Well, you know, the, the in store piece or experiential events because we love that. I mean Reds is about being an active brand, giving you the energy to get out there, to have an amazing weekend. Whether that's just like crushing it at the soccer field, carrying your collapsible chair and going to 10 different events in a day or, or you know, getting out there and, and doing a serious hike or a run. So I love the experiential out in the world piece of it. However, the challenge that we have is we are so particular that our food is cooked correctly properly. I mean we agonize over our cooking instructions and so we end up not doing a ton of sampling that we product sampling that we can't control. But of course, you mean you'll see us at Expo west, you'll see us at Nootopia now here in a few days and we love to serve and we, and we take a lot of pride in, you know, we're not just trying to keep those samples for a select few. We're really happy to feed the entire show sometimes that involves me, like, you know, making guacamole to surf with the burritos at 7am all kinds of stuff. We're really passionate about that. But it. It is difficult to do that in a mass scalable way when you're so particular about. We want folks to just have an amazing experience with the food. That can be kind of a challenge. But getting back on, like, the loyalty side, yeah, really important to us. We have what's called the Club rojo program. About 60,000 participants, members in Club Rojo. I think we have some of the best gear available out there, whether that's, you know, a koozie for your drink, nice marine layer jackets, something to drink out of all that sort of stuff. We really love to support our fans with great gear. And so they add the. The Rojo loyalty program is important to us. Keep growing that. And of course, we're active on all the social channels. We've got about 40,000 Instagram followers and look forward to continuing to grow.
- [14:17]
C
That Peter, he's got his swag game on. Because I have some of those reds.
- [14:21]
B
Did we not. We got some of the swag when we met up with Ben and can. He was kind enough to heap out the copious amounts of swag.
- [14:31]
A
You guys got the new hats.
- [14:33]
B
We did.
- [14:34]
C
We got the new hats.
- [14:35]
B
We're really appreciative of that. It's in my collection, but thank you for that. No, there's no question that we appreciate and you do. And you know what's interesting? You know Ben, who also has now 40,000 followers on TikTok 47, let's be accurate. It's a guy whose nickname is Papa Raj and he has pop star daughters. And they. And those fans of the pop star daughters figured out in the last couple weeks who Paparaj is. And suddenly his following is exploding. He is a TikTok superstar.
- [15:15]
C
Superstar. I don't know, but superstar rising. Rising social media person. Let's just leave it at that, all right?
- [15:23]
A
I mean, it sounds like a musical person for sure.
- [15:27]
B
You would think. He. He can't carry a 10.
- [15:29]
A
Hey, did you listen to Pop? I went to Paparage last night.
- [15:32]
C
It was.
- [15:32]
A
It was fantastic.
- [15:33]
B
Yeah, I know. It does sound like he's. You know what it is? It sounds like he's like the kingpin. He's paparazz.
- [15:38]
C
You know, he's showing the making or restaurant in the making.
- [15:41]
B
I don't know. We'll have to see. All right, so Ben, I'd love to know a little bit about in this again. Competitive world with pretty big players in the frozen section. Right. What creative plays or differentiators has Reds been leaning into to stand out in that category that seems to be so saturated? I've got to imagine it's a little challenging. You talked a little bit about the authenticity and the meticulous directions that you put in how to prepare food. But what, what, what exactly are you, you doing to really try and differentiate in the mind of the consumer?
- [16:18]
A
Well, you know we, we are the biggest premium breakfast sandwich and burrito brand in the world from my understanding. I guess maybe I kind of just say us based upon the spins data or Nielsen data. So we are the biggest in the, of the premium segment. And I would say I, I would look at the category. We want to build and grow the category. So I don't so much look at and I, I think I shared earlier right, like about 70% incremental to the category. We want to bring new shoppers to the frozen category. It can be and it should be amazing food and we can do that. So I don't so much look at that we need to try to like pull from an entrenched bigger competitor. But rather I'm really interested in bringing more people into the category.
- [17:08]
C
You know, those are words that merchandisers are going to love, especially buyers are going to love if you say look, I'm trying to expand your category. So what about, I have to ask you, what do you think is the number one most important metric for you? Therefore, is it volume growth, dollar growth? Is it category growth? Is it share? I'm just curious, you know all the above.
- [17:29]
A
Well and Peter, you've heard this before, I, I why I'm not the original person that coined the phrase but the bear closest to the tent, right? It's all about prioritization and you got to take care of the top priorities. So for us in many ways, and I mean this is I think standard for most of the brands out there. Velocity turns. Am I earning and am I continuing to earn my spot on that shelf set now long term, yeah, there's KPI. Like I want to be increasing my awareness, my household penetration. Of course I care about trial and repeat. But you got to live to see the next day so you can keep investing behind all those other call longer term metrics. So in many ways, right. Velocity off the shelf is, is king.
- [18:24]
C
To us as it probably should be. So you mentioned having an Instagram following TikTok followership, etc. Doing experiential pop ups, things of that nature. What's Resonating most. And are there any, any ones you can recall that have stood out in your mind?
- [18:41]
A
Well, earlier this year and this, this, this was a fun one as we're kind of dabbling in what we would call like a culture drop. Want to be relevant, want to be interesting and want to be able the premium product that we, that we craft. And so we did this drop. It was a collaboration with a lingerie company, Thistle Inspire Lingerie and we collaborated together to, to make lingerie for air fryers. And, and this is because we didn't know what love really was until we tasted a reds burrito cooked in an air fryer. So that was the genesis of partnering with Thistle Inspire to, to create a unique. And what's the line our creative folks worked on? Like it's the first and probably the last line of lingerie for air fryers. But, but yeah, like great response. I mean millions and millions of impressions, lots of sharing and it's, it's a fun way to kind of bring to life our value proposition, you know, in an interesting way that, that people can't ignore.
- [19:54]
C
But of all the platforms what's resonating the most is the. Because people can taste a experiential one. Is that still the number one mechanism for drawing a new audience for you and driving household penetration?
- [20:08]
A
No, I mean I'm going to go to two routes here. It's either via digital social channels and, or the retailers digital shelf. I'm in a huge way and of course it's not just about that paid search ad. Right. Whether you got a different placements, you can bring video to these platforms and that continues to be, it's not just the final piece of conversion at the end of the funnel. It can be a little bit more than that. So that's really important to us. But of course the higher level awareness equity piece for us I would say TikTok going to a younger audience and then Instagram scaling or being a little bit, a little bit older but both doing well.
- [20:57]
C
If the digital shelf is that high a priority. Do you guys still care about ratings interviews?
- [21:02]
A
Of course we do. Of course. Right. That's you know we like what 20 years ago we would talk about like word of mouth and that sort of thing and now it's like well you don't need someone to tell you about it because you can see it and see a Hundred and other 150other folks have tried that product, rated it, talked about it. So yeah, incredibly important to us ratings and reviews and it's a check on if we're delivering on our mission, if we say we're here to cook food better, we got to deliver on it.
- [21:34]
B
I have to imagine it's amazing. It certainly is to me that no matter what you say about your brand or a retailer says about your brand, a thousand other people that someone has never met, that person is willing to trust them because they took the time to write a review and they bought the product. And I got to imagine also, I mean, obviously we can't forget the importance that, that both the star rating and the review count are highly correlated to organic search placement. And so if you don't have the ratings and reviews, you're not even going to appear in the consideration set because as a friend of ours, Mike Black says, the best place to hide a dead body is on page two of search results because nobody ever goes there to look.
- [22:23]
C
Let me remind the audience that we're speaking to Ben Johnson, SVP at Reds.
- [22:30]
B
Ben, sustainability is very toxic. Top of mind for natural focused brands. How do you look through your tools to communicate Red's environmental or wellness commitments as transparently as possible without coming across as preachy or your efforts being performative in nature?
- [22:51]
A
We do that in an authentic way, right? In the product that we provide or whether that's products that, you know, we don't have hormones, we don't have undue additives in the product and so we try to source from in a, in a sustainable and smart way and we bring that to the consumer. That's part of our value proposition, right? Like great food doesn't have to have hormones or additives and things like that. So we just tried to bring it authentically, not preaching to anybody but just, hey, part of our value proposition is you're getting cage free egg, you're getting the high quality meats. And so yeah, I know this is part of our value proposition. We don't have to preach about it. It's inherently part of the product and who we are.
- [23:46]
C
Let's talk about distribution and growth in it. So how are you collaborating with retail partners? Whether it's shelf innovation, exclusive SKUS Co promotions, driving trial and repeat. Give us a scoop, man.
- [23:59]
A
Well, I think the answer is yes. Yeah, yeah, yes to all of that. You know, we, we of course partner with tons of retail partners sometimes that is on exclusive custom SKUs. That could be the case, but we're always looking to see what we can do. And if you look behind me, right, I have a shelf set with almost like 16, 17 single count burritos, different flavors different fits, things that are vegetarian, things that are fully organic, things with steak, things with chicken, things with our kettle cooked beans. And so there's lots of options to fill out the unique need of our retail partners. Right. What is the right fit for them? For some folks it's having all of our multi packs on the shelf. For some it's a blend of that but with the single count products to add even more flavor, variety. So there's different ways to play that for them. And I think right now we're, you know, we're up to north of 50 SKUs. So we, we have the ability to kind of customize that set based upon the retailer's needs.
- [25:10]
C
Is growth primarily coming from Ben? Is it in store, online? All of the above.
- [25:14]
B
Is it distribution? Yeah.
- [25:15]
C
Is it just expansion of distribution footprint?
- [25:18]
A
Well, like I said, the number one metric is turns. So you don't get to just say, hey, I gained, you know, 20% more distribution and oh, I feel great because my sales are 20% higher. You should feel great when the sales are 40 or 50% higher because you're also driving increased turns on those products. So that continues to be, like I said earlier, the number one metric for us and the number one indicator of health of our business. Right. We want to drive trial. Now you talk about the ways of doing that. We have found a great way to do that is to drive, drive trial and acquisition digitally and we see an omni channel halo. So you get folks because of, you know, the amount of online.com shopping you get folks in, you get in front of them in a smart, productive and efficient way. Drive trial of that product. Yeah, they're going to come back and buy youon.com, but they're also going to come back and buy you in the brick and mortar store. They're going to go down the aisle. So I've seen digital be a good gateway to growing the omnichannel turns.
- [26:33]
B
And to take a little further on the metrics you mentioned, turns out I've got to imagine that other metrics that large data sets are able to get at things like what is the point of market entry or the pomi. Right. I have to imagine that for you something like that is particularly important because your goal is to get them into the brand franchise and then to expand them. But if they never try the brand, you can't exactly expand it. So what are the other metrics that you're really paying attention to as you look to build and get that? You know, I grew distribution 20, but my real business grew 40 because there's so much more.
- [27:18]
A
Well and available. I think on most of the platforms.
- [27:23]
C
Right.
- [27:23]
A
We look at percent new to brand.
- [27:25]
B
Okay.
- [27:25]
A
Right. So of those and how do you look?
- [27:27]
B
How far is your look back on that? If you're looking. Well, like what's the window that you're ideally trying to get at is that they haven't bought a breakfast frozen breakfast item in the last year. Like what is. What to you is new to brand?
- [27:42]
A
That's a good question, you know, because I know I'll admit I haven't really thought of that, Peter, because largely I think I'm at the whims of the platforms that provide that information to me. So doesn't really matter what I think. Well, but I think most are looking back six months.
- [28:00]
B
Okay. Well, I happen to know that earlier today SRI and I were talking with an industry luminary about this. In fact, she lives. Not only does she live in Nashville, not only does she live on the street you live on. My understanding is she might actually live in the house that you live in. And she can probably tell you interestingly enough that Amazon has now introduced a look back window that's five years long. So Flywheel helped enable that for them. So you now have the ability to look back and understand new to brand, if they're really new to brand. So lots of developments there. But I've gotta imagine like being able to measure that kind of stuff is just a marketer's dream because it really helps you think about how to invest your dollars right against the right audience.
- [28:52]
C
Does that mean you guys are actually actively selling on Amazon in the fresh area or on Whole Foods? Because only then that becomes valuable.
- [29:02]
A
Well, with, with the huge expansion. So that was like the big news of this week, right? Where am I? Amazon's going to go more aggressively.
- [29:11]
B
They've got local partnerships that do the delivery with other grocery retailers and they are now offering grocery products to over a thousand cities and towns in the United States as of this week as part of their network. That's a big deal. And that now that's going to be pretty important to. Isn't it, Ben?
- [29:31]
A
Well, I mean we, we want folks to be able to get reds any way they can. And while that hasn't been a channel for us previously, I mean it's definitely something we look at. We saw that news earlier this week, the five year look back. That's interesting because I know this person you're speaking of. We're rumors.
- [29:51]
B
Hope so.
- [29:51]
A
Yes, she's fantastic. Claudia Johnson. But I Don't think she can remember what I cooked for dinner two weeks ago, like Friday night, beautiful dinner. I don't think she can remember that, Peter.
- [30:05]
B
I don't know if it's that she can't remember it. It's that it's hard to communicate that in a single emoji. And we both know that is her preferred method of communication.
- [30:16]
A
And I guess I will have to check myself. Right. You always got to take responsibility for herself. I need to ensure that that meal is. Is memorable.
- [30:24]
B
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
- [30:26]
A
Yep.
- [30:27]
B
Over to you.
- [30:27]
C
SRI experiences make the outcome at the end of the day so memorable meals. Indeed, sir. So let's take a. Let's ask you to look forward into the future. You know, the obvious trend you're excited about is natural and the fact that you can keep it preservative free. But what are you following closely? Are there any concerns you have that have nothing to do with food itself, like the economy? And then are you guys looking at new innovation territories?
- [30:55]
A
Well, the answer is yes. Things that I'm concerned about or think about the future. One interesting one, household penetration of the air fryer. Like, I shared, like, we love this air fryer so much, had to make some lingerie for it. But household penetration of the air fryer is north of 70%, probably pushing 80 these days. And we think that is just such a game changer for frozen food. It works so well with those tortillas that we bake fresh daily. It really is a game changer. So that's one trend very near and dear to our heart that I watch. But overall. Right. How could you have this discussion without saying, hey, concerns about the economy. I've been waiting for tailwinds for the category for a long time and haven't seen them come in. And I don't think they're immediately coming our way. And so there's definitely concern there. As the shoppers, you got to make decisions. What are you going to give up now? I think as a premium product, we do have a little bit of insulation against that, but we're definitely not immune. And so, yeah, absolutely, that's a concern. Now, do I. I'll go back to like, naval officer, military stuff. How much can I control that? Well, I sure can't control the economy. If I could, I probably wouldn't be working here at Reds. Actually, I still would be because I love it. But, you know, we control the things that we can control. So we're going to make sure that we keep our value proposition really tight. Always looking at price, looking at the value that we provide. I mean, these days you go out for a fast food breakfast sandwich which has who knows what in it, and you can very easily pay $4.50, $5.50, you know? Sure, yeah. Like in a large market Los Angeles, you might be paying more than that. So all of a sudden, a premium breakfast sandwich that we can offer that, that you can make in the convenience of your own home for a, like, half the price or better is a tremendous value. So, yeah, we're also.
- [33:16]
C
There ain't no decent breakfast here in LA for four bucks and five bucks. Good luck.
- [33:21]
A
Exactly.
- [33:21]
C
Yeah.
- [33:23]
B
Ben, I would like to close this out by giving you a chance to talk to people who might want to follow in your footsteps. You have a really interesting background, having gone from the Navy into the food business at General's, into the household business at Kimberly Clark. You were in the automotive space, and now you're back in the food space. So what's the advice you give to people that are looking to build a career that's as diverse as yours?
- [33:55]
A
Well, it really has been a blast so far. And I love what I'm doing. I love CPG food. What a fun and interesting space. I mean, I grew up as a only child, mama's boy, and going to the grocery store with my mom and inherently always interested of, like, why does someone pick? There's so many choices. Right. As a kid, I'm probably remembering going down the cereal aisle and, you know, it was a lot of fun to work for General Mills, work on brands like Wheaties. Why does someone choose the product that they choose? And that is still inherently interesting to me. So I love this industry. I love CPG food. And for people who are getting into.
- [34:38]
C
It.
- [34:40]
A
Cpg, I mean, I think the biggest thing is never stop learning. And I think sometimes when you're. When I was younger, if someone said that, I'm like, oh, well, of course I'm always learning. But one of the things that I've seen in my career as you get more and more senior, especially if you're at a large corporate, you stop doing as much. You do more managing, and that's good. And it's an important leadership skill to hone. But one of the things that I have loved about being here at Reds is I get to be both a practitioner, a button pusher, and a strategist at the same time. And that's forced me to learn and do things that I haven't done before. And I think that's incredibly value. I'm valuable. I definitely Am a better marketer, a better overall business person for having this experience and really enjoy it, frankly. And so, yeah, I think, you know, if there's words of wisdom, be like, never, never stop learning. Take those roles that are weird and different for our family. We took the jump moving from Dallas, Texas, to. To Kieri, Italy, just outside of Torino, and took that jump. Learned a ton from it. So similar to coming to Reds. My first foray into, like, what I'd call smaller emerging. Absolutely. Loving the new, interesting, challenging experience. Loving it.
- [36:09]
B
Hey, Sree, do you know of any, to Ben's point on lifelong learning, do you know of any really good sources of education, particularly entertaining education, that we could refer our audience to help them on that journey of lifelong learning? Anything come to mind?
- [36:28]
C
Yeah, there's a TV channel, blue in color with white lettering on it, starts with an F. Oh, okay. No, no, I'm just. I'm just kidding.
- [36:36]
B
Okay.
- [36:37]
C
There may be a podcast that I would recommend to everybody. It might start with a C and end with an S. Okay. And I might have two of the co hosts in here today, but.
- [36:45]
B
Okay.
- [36:46]
C
In any event, what a terrific conversation. Let me thank our audience for listening to this wonderful episode. Do leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favorite listening platform. The rating of the review that you love that you leave informs us on how we're doing as well as if you're having the right conversations with the right people. To all of you, thank you from Peter and me. You make the show happen. To all our sponsors, whether this podcast or parties, events, hosted dinners, having our panels. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Peter. Fun doing this podcast with you. What's your big takeaway? One big takeaway that you would reiterate to the audience.
- [37:19]
B
Yeah. It was actually something that Ben said at the end when talking about trends he's following. He understands that to grow the brand, people have to like the brand. To like the brand, they have to try to brand. And it doesn't go from the freezer into someone's mouth without a functional intermediary. So what he talked about was air fryers. Air fryers give a really great experience for his product. And understanding penetration, not only the fact that it's penetration, but. But in the advertising campaign that he mentioned, the one with air fryer friendly lingerie, it brought the air fryer in. The air fryer is a critical vehicle to deliver the best possible consumer experience for the product. And so weaving that into the storytelling and acknowledging that that's one of the best ways to do it. That's a good marketer. It's not about I'm going to present you a nice product with a beautiful package. That's important, but it's also about understanding the not just the path to purchase, but the actual path to consumption. I thought that was very telling today. Sree, how about you?
- [38:31]
C
Some things surface up right up to the top. The first is the sustained importance of experiential marketing. And right at the end, he closed out with lifelong learning journey. He's also had so many experiences having come from a naval service. He talked about moving to Italy and learning. But to me, the one that is a rude reminder, an important reminder. So anybody in the commercial journey is you can come up with a million metrics of what success looks like. The only one that matters is the velocity. And I'll close it out actually, with that resonating message. And Ben, I want to thank you for joining on the CPG Guys.
- [39:11]
A
Yeah, thank you guys. Enjoyed my time and looking forward to. I'm going to go sell some more burritos right now.
- [39:19]
C
Let's do that, Ben. That's a wrap of this episode of the CBG Guys.
- [39:35]
B
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 CPGuys, 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 CPG Guys, llc. The views expressed by guests are their own, and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or or any entity they represent. The views expressed by CPTGuys LLC do not represent the views of their employers or the entity they represent. CPTGuys 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 present in this podcast.