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Hey CPT guys listeners, PVSB here and we want to take a minute to tell you about something that Sree and I are genuinely proud to be a part of. And that's the Cornell OmniCommerce Leadership Program, an immersive on campus executive education experience at Cornell University in beautiful Ithaca, New York, happening July 27th through the 31st. This isn't a webinar. This isn't another online certificate you do in your pajamas. This is five days on the Cornell campus surrounded by senior executives from retail, CPG and ad tech service providers all wrestling with the same questions you are how do I win the omnishopper? How do I navigate retail media? What does agentic commerce mean for my business? The faculty lineup is extraordinary. We're talking Cornell professors alongside practitioners from Mars, Snacking, Nestle, Walmart, Ajo delhez, Fetch Dollar General, Monster Energy, Bayer Consumer Health, and yes, sri. And I will be right there in the room with you. You walk away with a Cornell SC Johnson College of Business certificate, 36 professional development hours, and more importantly, a concrete Omni Commerce roadmap you can bring back to your organization on day one. Seats are very limited. The program is built for VPs, directors and senior leaders who are serious about getting ahead of where commerce is going. Visit the link in our show Notes to learn more and request information. Search online for Cornell OmniCommerce leadership or find the direct link@cpguys.com we'll see you in Ithaca this July. Now let's get into today's episode.
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B
I'm Matt Gregory, Chief Customer Officer of Unilever, and you're listening to the CPG Guys Podcast.
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A
Hello and welcome to the CPG Guys Podcast. Set at the intersection of commerce and and tech, your hosts Sri Rajagopelan and Peter Vs Bond explore how brands and retailers engage consumers in a digitally driven world. And now, here are the CPG Guys.
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Hello and welcome to this incredibly special episode of the CPG Guys Podcast. I'm of course Sree, your West coast co host and also CRO and co founder of Think Blue Consulting, your trusted partner in your omnichannel journey where you can get in touch with me. Then email at SRI thinkblueconsulting co. Please do listen to my older daughter's music@www.rearaj.com and a younger daughter, Lara Raja, the band Cat's Eye, who was nominated for three AMA awards just about a week ago. You can follow all of those pursuits on my personal Instagram and TikTok. Of course I'm joined Today by my east coast co host and co founder of pbsb who moonlights us head of industry and client engagement at Flywheel. Got the commerce acceleration division of Omnicom and the proud father, future pro golfer Nadia. How are those golf exploits going? We've got lessons in what's next Golf
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camp in a couple of weeks. Yeah. Seven and a half years old though. I think the pro is the real problem here. Sharice said to me the other day, I just want to do it as a hobby. She wants to be an artist. She's already decided. She said to me Sri yesterday, most kids decide at 12 what they're going
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B
to do for a career.
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But at seven and a half, I've decided that I want to be an artist.
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C
Peter, I want to reset your expectations. My kids told me at age four and six we're going to sing as a hobby. Dad, if you get us music lessons,
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A
I don't know if that's going to
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work out for them.
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C
Coachella. We're all over the world now, 27 city world tours. So I don't know. Better listen to her carefully is what I would say.
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A
I agree.
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C
Sri of course. Peter. This is a special C suite lead up to episode 600 and it continues after that. And it's a special month long programming for that. Take a minute, reflect on that man. Six years.
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A
Hard to believe. Sree, we're closing in on episode 600. The fact that we consistently produced so much content. It is. It is. We try to make it sound easy so that our listeners enjoy. They're educated and they're entertained. But we spend a lot of time sweating the details, the questions we ask, the people we invite, the. The topics we pursue. And the great thing about it is we do it from practitioner standpoint. We get to ask questions that we really want answered, things that interest us. And so to have the opportunity to talk to so many luminaries in the industry, particularly leading up to episode 600, is just a real treat. Shree, I know you agree.
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C
No debate, Peter Vang. That practitioner lens is very important. But let me thank all of you that listen to us and our sponsors. Without you, this podcast doesn't exist. In a wildest dream, Speeder and I did not realize we would scale to a point where we lead corporate America in between this New York full time. So here we are. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Make sure you're subscribing to your podcast and your preferred listening platform. We can get all our latest episodes go back and consume the 590 hour plus episodes we've already published. And then while you're there on Apple and Spotify, give us a five star rating. Why? Because Peter loves that number. Magically, is what I've heard. No, it's because it helps make our podcast more findable by industry contemporaries who are looking to be in the edutainment space, both education and entertainment. Now I'm going to jump over to our special guest. If you've been paying attention to the retail landscape lately, you know that the old way of driving commercial growth is officially moving up the window. Between the explosion of omnichannel behavior, the rise of collaborative commerce, the desperate need for genuine retail partnerships, brands can no longer just go in and walk in and assume they'll get mass volume through distribution. Question isn't about reach, it's about distinction, execution, driving trips and larger baskets at retail. And of course, brand equity development to help us cut through that noise, find the signal. We're joined live by what I would say it's a true heavy hitter that I've known for quite a bit in the industry. I think once upon a time we actually had sharing walls. At FMI Midwinter, he's leading the commercial charge for a massive brand portfolio. He's a seasoned consumer products executive with over 28 years of industry pedigree, spanning leadership roles at Clorox, Burt's Bees, Kingsford Charcoal, and now, as we've said, the CCO Chief Customer Officer for Customer Business Development at Unilever, driving strategic customer partnerships with legendary brands dah, Hellmans, Tresemme, Vaseline, et cetera. Please join us in welcoming to the CPG guys, Matt Gregory. Matt, how you doing man? Welcome to the show.
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B
I'm doing great. Congratulations on almost 600 podcasts. I think I've listened to maybe four to 500 of those, so I only have a little bit of catch up to do. But congratulations to you both. Just the impact you've had on helping share different points of view across the industry has been really remarkable.
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Matt, you're going to have to play us on double speed. That way you can catch up and make it to the 600 so.
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That's right. I'll do that. But of course, Peter. Five stars. Don't worry, Matt.
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In our generation, you could also play backwards and create the Led Zeppelin story of Stairway to Heaven. Being played backwards if you want, but you have to be from a generation to know what that means. But in the digital show lineup, this episode will include links to your LinkedIn profile, Unilever's corporate website for listeners to access what we go on with that conversation. I'm going to jump right into it, Peter, and I'll start Matt right here with the role that you have as chief Customer officer. Talk to us about your top priorities for Unilever's customer partnerships with retail this year and how those priorities evolved from your previous role.
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B
Yep. I think it's probably one of the more dynamic roles in the industry today. And that's really because it's broader than it's ever been before because consumers, of course, are engaging in so many retail ecosystems and marketplaces and social commerce and digital platforms. And the number of ways that we can interact with consumers and they can interact with us is literally it's mind blowing the number of things. And you know, when I talk to my teams and what our collective mission is with our customer organization is we simply want to be the first person or the first company that our retailer partners call when they need category growth, when they want to talk about partnerships or innovation, is that we're the first place they call for real, true category leadership. And you know, I think if you roll this back to the 30 years that I've been in the I think at one point that retailers viewed brands as a means to an end and maybe some brands also viewed retailers as a means to an end toward a greater goal. And I think the biggest shift that we've seen is that aside from previous roles is that customer partnerships today are far more connected and far more demand led. And that really makes a difference. And I will tell you, because of the consumers, they're the ones that have really created this as they move seamlessly across the physical, the digital, the social shelves and across all the platforms, including AI. And it really makes our job to be one that's connecting demand generation and retail execution and supply and how we come across in physical and digital shelves. That is what our jobs become. And the better we do that, the more likely is that will be the first person they call and will be at the top of the list when they really do need to make that phone call for what does extraordinary category leadership look like? And that's how we respond at Unilever and across our teams.
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I think we're going to get into this later, Matt, but I couldn't agree more. Particularly in the era where for the better part of 75 years retailers were writing checks and it was very much a one sided conversation in the era of where retailers become publishers and there's media involved. And to your point, consumer data is at the center of the Decisions that are being made. It does require a level of partnership and complexity that was just unheard of before the last 10 years in particular. But what I want to tap into is obviously Unilever spans many categories and channels. Obviously there's. We won't go into this, but I know there are a lot of changes taking place in terms of the portfolio and how it's structured at Unilever. But how do you, as the steward of a large portfolio of brands. Right. Balance a single coherent customer strategy with the diverse needs of all your retailer customers, the wholesalers, direct consumer partners? How does that kind of all happen? It seems like you've gotta be the jack of all trades to bring that together.
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B
It does. And I'll tell you that I think we've complicated this question over time. And really the key is we've got to follow the shopper. And the reality is that their expectations are unique across customers and different channels. And I think the key to our success and the way that we look at it is that we have to have a consumer first strategy while still recognizing that execution has to flex by retailer and channel and shopping mission. And whether that's in the drug channel or at en masse or E commerce or digital, we have to create category growth and convert demand seamlessly across all of those channels in a way, because of course we have to take our customer strategies and then we have to put that into a customer first, customer forward model and then with the consumer at the center. And you just brought it up just a minute ago, so I don't mind going into it just a little bit deeper. And as a company, we have also been championing greater focus. And last year we did separate our ice cream business and to really try to focus on the core of our portfolio. And you no doubt have seen in the news that we're considering another process with our foods business. But following that separation, our portfolio in the US will be 95% of beauty, well being personal care business. And that focus really creates one where we can be the fastest growing and most relevant company in the spaces in which we compete. And I think one of the special things we've learned throughout these two events is that it allows us to move with even greater speed with innovation, with extreme category focus where someone really knows their craft and knows their categories. And of course, I'll tell you, you can't do that without having brands that matter. And I would say that's the largest condition of being successful in this endeavor, is that you have to have a brand portfolio that drives Desire for consumers. And if you think about Dr. Squatch and Tresemme and Vaseline and Grooms and Liquid IV and there's many more. They really are a set of brands that are perfectly aligned to this forward looking mission of how we connect to shoppers and our retailers. And of course, you know, we pledge very consistently M and A in the US space focus on these categories. And I believe that's just as part of much as our success as any other. But looking at each retailer about how we will execute and how we will partner with them and how we will integrate with them really drives the end goal. But of course, all these other standards have to be met at the same time.
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A
You know, you mentioned Liquid iv. I'll make note of the fact that my other avatar at Flywheel, we were so honored to partner with the Liquid IV team and showcase a case study at Amazon Unbox last year on the great work we've done to help build out that brand. Yeah, it's so absolutely fascinating when we talk about trying to work with so many different retail partners, marketplaces, big chains, independents, co ops. It's just there's a lot of complexity and trying to navigate that can be a very challenging effort. I'll also say this. Mike Sheree and I went to the Cagney Conference this past February down in Florida. And the one presentation that we regarded as being just top notch was actually Unilever. And it was because your CEO talked about the fact that changes were made not only obviously leading up to the divestiture of the ice cream, and at that point the announcement I don't think had been made yet on the, on, on the food business, but the fact that there were also changes made to the board and to leadership. Right, because doing exactly that enabled you with the right people to fuel the growth of the business. That is fundamentally important. I think Unilever needs to be commended on recognizing that it's not just I need to remix my portfolio. There are things that need to take place to actually succeed and position yourself for success and growth.
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Yeah, Peter, thanks for mentioning that. We're really proud of that. And I think it's as much of an inside out transformation as outside in. And balancing those two has been really important. And you're right, we have built a lot of capability, we've made a lot of investments across the portfolio and our infrastructure. And frankly, it's about putting the right people in the right jobs that will truly fuel our ambitions of where we want to go.
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C
So Matt, what makes for a truly effective retailer Collaboration from a customer first perspective. You know, can you share thoughts on what constitutes a partnership that actually delivers measurable value for both the CPG brand and retailer in these volume challenge times in the industry?
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Yeah, you know, Sri, I think this is probably the largest change I've seen in 30 years. And you know, ultimately the strongest collaborations are ones where both the retailer and the manufacturer, the brand, they're focused on building the category together, not simply negotiating transactions. And I think that's been one of the things that kind of marred maybe a couple of the decades that we've been through together. And focusing on what matters is really how we create measurable value for both of us. And I think we have to be really tightly aligned on the ambition of mutual growth with retailers and brands and in the consumer. And truly the metrics that matter. It used to be when we walked into a meeting, it was like the first thing out of the chute was supply chain metrics. And at one point, you know, we talked a little bit about unit growth, but that was about the measure of success. And today when we walk into those same conversations, it's about growth, it's about digital penetration, household penetration. And have we together, both the brand and the retailer, have we created this demand generation ecosystem that is consistently providing conversion and growth? And I would say a big part of that that we've seen is that behaviors matter, integration also matters. And hey, you got to spend time with each other, you got to understand the objectives. And I think for both companies you have to advocate for integration. And that's hard. That is not a natural thing for us to do. But at the end of the day, the common thread is that our best collaborations in collaborative relationships always start with the consumer and what they're looking for next. Not just what we want to sell or what we want to be sold, it's both when the retailer and the brand are aligned. And of course, industry partnerships are much broader than products. But I'll just, I'll give you a couple of examples where I think the collaborative nature of our relationship led to really great outcomes. And there's a couple of products that put into mind. One is one's Dove and Crumble they've executed with a retailer, and one's Bridgerton activations that we did during this last season's launch. We've also done things with Devil Wears Prada and there's a host of others. But when we find the right cultural relevance and with the right product that can engage younger consumers. And both of these executions that I just mentioned they drove new to brand, new to category, new to retailer. Like all of these metrics really matter into building the category that we want. When we connect culture all the way through to commerce, it is. You cannot have one without the other. And I think this is a powerful way to reach consumers in this new world. And of course, you know, we have to have strong alignment that that is what our objective is in serving the consumer. However, they may be changing at every point.
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C
Matt, you said something very profound. Matt, number one, the world has moved quite a bit from those days when you and I would sit across the table from retail and there'd be that 200 page binder and they'd find page 47 and four rows on it. Specifically a supply chain thing. I remember those days. The second thing, the more profound part of what you said is if we put the consumer at the center of every discussion, most of these problems look very micro in nature, and it's about solving it. You know, I'm a big fan of Moving away from JDPs Joint business planning to join value creation with the consumer. So, you know, could not have hit it more home. Peter, over to you.
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All right, Matt, back to Cagney. When Sri and I were down there, we were. We were presented with some samples of the Dove Bridgerton body wash. I brought that home to my. To my family. I'm proud to say now that all of the bathrooms in my household are stocked with that very product. So it certainly was quite timely and appreciated.
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Well, we'd like for you to. Well, Peter, we'd like for you to empty those bottles and then go back and buy more for our next collection.
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Oh, no, I only brought one back. I had to go to the store to buy more.
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Mine.
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It converted. It converted.
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Mine emptied out.
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I know it converted. Great, Matt. It's no surprise that we live in an omnichannel world. Now, the questionable about the importance of how much of what's typically found in a grocery store is being purchased online. But I think what Sree and I agree on is the fact that 100% of all purchases to one degree or another are digitally influenced. So my question is this. How is Unilever adapting its customer strategy to the omnichannel realities of its customers around store visits in digital influencing purchases in store digital marketplaces? Social commerce.
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Right.
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What role do retailers really play now in actually orchestrating the customer journey that you're trying to solve for?
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Yeah, Peter, just to put a bit of a punctuation, what you said is that growth today requires we be everywhere. Where the consumer shops and engages, whether it's physical or digital retail media. And we want to leave them with an impression and experience that has to feel uniquely Unilever. And you know, I've got, you know, my favorite dove hair mask here that we use in our household. And there are eight different ways for us to purchase this item. Social, commerce, quick commerce, digital commerce, physical shelf, the agentic and a retailer platform, magentic and external platform. And you really have to think about all those things today to be a true omniplayer and bringing culture into commerce. And I would say content into conversion and that we're approaching this from every single touch point from the consumer. And today the shopper is expecting an absolutely seamless experience. And we have to create execution that matches that we have. A few brands have this type of initiative. But Unilever, the way we talk about it is the perfect store. And the way that the perfect store program has evolved over time. It used to be about number of displays and all these things that you have in the store. And maybe SRI and I went back to the part where we were filling out call forms and triplicate over our steering wheel or something like that from a long time ago. But the way that perfect store has evolved and what truly is a perfect store is we have to talk about category leadership. We have to talk about frictionless digital experiences, not just magic. You know, today a lot of companies measure content completion because that's the way the retailer wants to look at it. It has to be around content effectiveness. We have to be everywhere, anywhere that she wants to be so that we can close the sale from a supply standpoint. And of course the in store metrics matter as well. And you know, it's as simple as when we walk into a store and you see Hellman's mayonnaise or Dove or Tresemme on the shelf. We want that to be an absolute seamless experience from the point that you may have interacted with it in social all the way to when you take that back home and then you experience the science behind the brand and how it treats your hair so you'll come back for another. And through every single point of that journey, we wanted to have a consistent and differentiated proposition that really talks to the consumer. And you know, of course AI is going to add a completely new layer to this entire thing. And you know, we have some retailers that are now projecting or they have experience up to a 35% increase in their basket when an AI user interfaces use with their shopping journey. And so I think as fast as that has happened, it only reinforces like how quickly discovery and consumer conversion is going to happen. And, and I would say that both brands and retailers have a responsibility to creating a seamless experience. Now it's more complicated than it used to be, but we have a duty for a seamless experience for shoppers and consumers because the last thing any of us want is for them to be, you know, not have a great experience because that's going to make them choose somebody else.
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A
You know, a quick follow up before I pass it on to sri. I just sat with a bunch of brand marketers this week, Matt. We were talking about the customer journey and particularly as it relates to the brand. When brands started to create brand pages and, and websites, they were very much focused on the customer journey. What I heard universally now is that the purpose of the brand site is shifting. It is no longer about trying to have a customer journey because there is no buy box at the end of it per se, it's content. And so the brand site to a large degree is becoming a primary repository for large language models to understand what the product is and then apply it. Either the LLM that's built into the retailer experience or it's one of the separate tools and allow them to do the commerce. Is that, is that from, from your perspective, how you see this changing?
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I, I think that's critical. Look, any type of content we put out has to reinforce what, how the consumer or how the brand can, can give you another great experience. So I'll use Tresame as an example. It's, you know, it's often featured in New York Fashion Week and other fashion events around the world. Obviously it was what just did a collab with the Devil Wears Prada. But it's about how do you create that same Runway look for yourself on a Saturday night or a Friday night in your own home or maybe even consistently. And so talking about that from a brand site and on digital content that we have and then reinforcing that with the science underneath, it is certainly another way to make sure that the LLMs are seeing the content and seeing the, how the consumer reacts to our brands. So it helps fuel that, that notion of what we're trying to get done.
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C
Peter, you'll notice that I've slid my earphones to my back. That's because I got to tip my head to this guy. He's the first senior leader to have come on this show and recognize there are eight ways the shopper can shop. We are impressed, Matt. And the second thing is, you're also the first singular to come on the show 595 odd episodes later to jump straight into LLMs and discuss the 35% increase in shopping rates. We are impressive. Well done indeed. And no wonder. We were gaga goo going over your CEO being on the stage at Cagman, talking about it, the shopper who's gone 100% digital, even though a lot of occurrence is still very much in store for the final lower funnel. But I'm going to jump to a completely different section here, and that is supply chain disruption. You and I lived through that five years ago. We felt like a nightmare back then. Better times now back. You know, you never know when the next one's coming. So what are some of the key lessons for maintaining strong customer relationships in this regard with supply chain? And how do you collaborate with your retail partners to mitigate risks for both sides? Because at the end of the day, the consumer comes first and we want to make sure we can get product to their homes or wherever they want it.
- [27:59]
B
Look, there's a lot of battle scars on this space to tell you how many of those I've been through. And of course we still occasionally have them. But I'll tell you, Sheree, it's not over the focus, and I think the focus really is about investing in supply chain to accommodate future growth. Of course, there's a lot of investments that we've made to know correct kind of the infrastructure of the past and things we learned through the last six years. But when we talk to retailers about our investments in supply chain modernization or network flexibility and our own executional capabilities, we talk about how we're preparing ourselves for at least 5% volume growth year over year over year for the future. And I think that is what retailers want to hear at this point is like, yeah, I can go in and explain a scorecard from last quarter, but I also can tell you how I'm making sure that this scorecard is bright green for the future. And what I'm really proud of is we've been able to shift that narrative because we don't have some of the obstacles we've had in the past. I think shree what's coming at us is that we found in a couple of cases is the biggest challenges we have is calculating demand in an arena where we have to react to cultural moments that happen in any moment. And today demand can spike overnight. A creator mentioned a TikTok trend, a cultural moment. And so all of these are demand signals, I would say, across marketing and Commerce and inventory and execution and the companies that are, when are the ones that can sense that demand the quickest and reposition inventory faster and be always available. Now look, things happen, of course, and I think from a customer lens is that coming out of it and how you react to it and is your relationship built on honesty? And you know, whether it's a natural disaster or global event or cyber criminals, it's not about the event, it's about the response. And that's how we, I think we both continue to build enduring partnerships with our retail partners.
- [30:14]
A
Wonderful. Matt, I want to talk to you about growth. When you've got a brand that's already large and established like Dove, growth doesn't get easier, it gets harder. Right? It's, it's challenger brands that are emerging that see these big, big percentage growth numbers, but usually on a pretty small base. They're growing on distribution, they're, they're getting new consumers to try their product. But Dove is experiencing approximately double digit growth in the US over the last year. That is fairly remarkable. What's the unlock that really allows brands like Dove to continue deepening relevance and sustaining that level of momentum that has served it well for so many years?
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B
Dove is such an incredible brand across so many categories and you know, in many of our retail partners it is the largest non edible brand in the store. And that is really quite significant, especially given that it is growing at double digits. And you know, back to the root of your question, I think the, for us, the community impact and the commercial growth, they're not separate conversations. And I think the strongest brands today are the ones that create these meaningful connections and with consumers and they also deliver on superior science and products at the same time. And you know, you know, Dove is one of the most loved brands in America. And what we have consistently done is stand for empowerment and self esteem while also reinventing itself for new generations. I mean this hair mask is a great example and continuing to innovate around what the consumer needs, but also with, you know, cultural relevance. You know, this is one of the largest brands around the world to keep girls in sports. And you know, that's what our super bowl ad is about. It's not about a specific product. It's about the commitment we have in these, these areas that continue to drive our brand and its cultural relevance as well. And that is one of the things I'm really proud of. And, and I would just say Peter, that you know, when these things are done strategically, we've got the best go to market plans to really center around community and performance and participation. This is what retailers want. They want brands that drive traffic and loyalty and relevance. And we're really proud of the continued growth. You know, Vaseline is another one that I could go into where these are 70 or 100-year-old brands still knocking out of the park and connecting with consumers every day. And we're really proud of that.
- [32:55]
C
A reminder to our audience, we're speaking with Matt Gregory, EVP and CCO of Unilever as part of our special C suite series heading up to episode 600 on June. What an incredible thing to do Peter, be part of legacy of such incredible brands that have been around so long. So let's start getting into talent here. What competencies and capabilities do you prioritize when building and leading a high performance, you know, retail focused, customer focused organization. And then how do you foster cross functional collaboration especially given the history and the equity these brands have in the marketplace? You know, I didn't know that dog to many is the largest non edible brand. I mean how incredible is that? But that brings the responsibility of everybody, madam, assuming in your organization to have this cross functional partnership with sales, marketing, supply chain finance. So many pieces of the organization.
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B
Yeah, you know I think sree one of the things that's changed pretty dramatically and you know I'll go back to my, you know my first day out of college and and you know what the focus was on sales and how you talk to retailers and understand their objections and all the other things that we learn is that the transformation that's occurring right now is that the future of customer organization is really about demand generation. And I think the industry has shifted from customer development or sales simply around servicing retail to creating consumer demand in ways that are faster and more connected and frankly that are relevant culturally. And most leading retailers are also operating with that same growth mindset. You know, go back to a day when you had digital was separate than the merchant and you know, all these things, all that's gone and it allows us to communicate and to build plans together. And you know, that's why I see good increasingly our customer teams, it's not just about the customer teams about marketing, it's about categories, supply chain, operating all is one growth engine. And this is going to require and it does require new fluency and disciplines that you know, we may feel a little uncomfortable with across the range. And you know I talk to my teams about we want to fall in love with evolution and how we continue to evolve. So you know, transformation is one thing but I Think sometimes that kind of tires people out. And we talk about the evolution of what this, this new relationship with retailers are all about. And I think this allows us to more seamlessly connect to our customers, organizations as well when we can all solve for a silo mission. I have never been turned down for asking for demand generation ideas or that we want to execute and reaching the shopper in new ways. It just doesn't seem to happen. And I think as a part of that we've also become much more tech driven AI and data like you said Peter a minute ago. And real time insights. Those are all things that are helping us to connect signals across social trends. Commerce, inventory, execution, all those things. And ultimately I think the future of customer organizations is moving toward a fully integrated demand generation team. And that's how we'll build the future. And the companies that will win, my view, will be the ones that connect all of those dots around culture, commerce and operational excellence in one unified system serving the consumer better than we ever have.
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A
So then Matt, obviously the growth mindset based upon what you just shared is predicated on joint value creation. This is an evolution from what was traditionally referred to as joint business planning. Here's what the rate is, here's how many products I'm going to ship. So I guess I'd like to know from your perspective, looking ahead, what are some of the biggest shifts that you anticipate for yourself and even other players in the CPG retail ecosystem that is going to help Unilever and other brands win in terms of growth through joint value creation?
- [37:23]
B
Yeah. You know Peter, if you think about the last five years and what that pace of change has been, which was about equal to my first 25 years in the business, and then I think about the next three years is going to be double the rate of the last five. Like this thing is moving. And that's why, frankly that is why it's the most exciting time to be in CPG than it ever has. Because the rate of change and evolution is like, it's like anything I've ever seen. And it's particularly focused around digital commerce and AI and retail media. And I'd say creator driven demand generation. And over the past three to five years, over the next three to five years, I think the, the companies are going to win are ones that can seamlessly connect all of those pieces and then the execution, both the physical and digital shelves, we cannot lose sight of the physical shelf in some retailers. Those are actually, you know, warehouses in addition to being physical stores. But that is still the dominant part of the business, and it will be. And so we have to care about every part of the ecosystem around it. And you know, what I'm really excited about is that retailer and brand partnerships are now much more. They're becoming far more operationally focused on an integrated. Let me say, I think it's operationally integrated because the consumer now expects immediacy, she expects personalization, she expects things to be frictionless. And the future really belongs to those ecosystems that put marketing, commerce and AI enabled execution all in one unified system that really approaches demand in a completely different way. I don't know that I can tell you exactly what it's going to look like because even as we work with retailers and we start to migrate toward this idea of local demand generation teams changes by the debt, and we have to be prepared to do that and find retailer partners that are willing to be integrated and not, you know, long gone is the bow tie model and now it's about complete integration for the future.
- [39:41]
C
Peter, the question I have is what are we going to do with all those bow ties you and I collected? I only get to wear it to the Grammys. That's pretty much it. Even the AMA rejected my bow tie.
- [39:51]
A
I got like 45 bow ties in my closet. I don't know what to do with them.
- [39:55]
C
I know you do, but Matt, you know, we're in awe of everything you said because again, like I said, you guys at Unilever are clearly seeing the spectrum of what needs to be solved, anchoring it with what I think is the right place to go, which is the whole demand science, demand generation science, and then anchoring it on the consumer and then looks like all the actions with such a history of amazing brands comes back to being able to do that, serve the consumer. Now personally though, Matt, you had a career that spans general manager roles, commercially focused leadership positions like the one you are at now. What have you learned in your personal and professional history that you find yourself using most in your role today?
- [40:41]
B
First of all, I never underestimate the shopper and where they're going to go next. And I think we have to constantly be prepared to listen to him or her and find out what they really need. And I think that kind of goes with that should go across every single person and understanding that mindset. Sometimes we get caught up and, you know, internal things or other things, but we have to stay relentlessly focused on the shopper. I think for me personally, the biggest transformation we've seen is when we put the right talent on the right teams in the right moment, and then we give them the ability to adapt and creating an environment where people are really do take risk. And I like, you know, my favorite analogy is Brene Brown is a partner of Unilever's, and she has this famous talk that she does around being in the pocket and what she really means about that's a leadership framework that she's obviously adapted from football in the US but it describes what is a leader's ability to come back in the pocket before they're about to throw the ball or execute the play, to be able to make a decision and to be able to know where to send it with the right signals and to see three steps ahead and really focus on what's going to deliver the next pay and without panicking or avoiding the situation. It's about making the call. And we've put people that are great at being in the pocket into the right roles at the right time. Like, there is no. It's unbelievable the exponential success that they can have. And, you know, if I had to do over again, there's a. There's a. I would. I would use that framework over and over again if I were starting back in the 90s when I did.
- [42:25]
A
So, Matt, when I think about the actions we take, the way we do things, there's. Sometimes I just get gobsmacked, like, why were we doing that? So I'm sure you've. You have one of those things you look at, and maybe it's not, why did we ever do that? And maybe right now it's like, why are we still doing that? We were talking with someone the other day about the fact that the medical profession is still, in terms of personal records, is still dominated by the fax machine. Like, what is it that you see out there that you're going, why are we still doing that? That you would love to see change?
- [43:09]
B
Yeah. I'm laughing because my first job was. My title was shelf technology manager, which meant I was rearranging toothbrushes on a shelf at retail. And I mean, what you're asking me is, what's the next dot matrix printer and what's that gonna be? But listen, I. I think there's. It's been fun to watch all of the things that have evolved in our industry over the last, you know, several decades. But I think the one that I think we're gonna wake up and scratch our head the most is why we created functions with measurements that were just for them and siloing functions. And I think it's the biggest mistake that a lot of companies make in the future is about integration and about reaching the consumer and making sure we do it every day. Because the way I think about it is we create a moment for a consumer which has led to a sale with a retailer that creates even more momentum all the way back to what marketing does agencies do, but even most importantly back to their lines where the product is actually manufactured. And it is such a powerful way to think about like the entire loop of the consumer journey and the purchase that you can't help but like want to be all in on that. And so the faster we can get to a moment where everyone is focused on a single result and not the siloed functions, I think all the better will be preach.
- [44:39]
C
Matt, very well said indeed. Right. You know, when the, when the actual alignment of incentives happens to be common, lots of problems in this industry historically that have existed will go away because we'll all be working on what you've said multiple times today. The consumer towards joint value creation with our retail partners. Right. So now let me flip that question on the other side of its head. If you could make one singular change to positively impact the CPG industry, you can't claim the same one again, which is of course having common alignment on incentives. So one change to positively impact the CPG industry, what would it be?
- [45:20]
B
Well, you know what I'm going to say? I'm going to say you're fully allowing the entire industry about consumer demand in real time and letting that signal from the shopper drive the entire system. And you know, it's about accelerating demand in the moment, using the power of technology today to fuel immediate demand. But all these things create long term value for us. And so if I could, you know, one thing I wish that we would all make sure happens is that the complete integration in service of creating meaningful and joyful experiences for consumers everywhere and that's what makes the difference.
- [45:57]
C
Wow. I knew a conversation with Matt Gregory would be a lot of knowledge dispersed in the industry and that's how this is shaped up. But let me remind our listeners, you can find all of our content by simply going to a web Browser and typing cpguys.com as the URL. If you or someone you know has something to contribute in this ongoing discussion with the CPG guys, please send us an email at. Reach us@cpguys.com that's R E A C H U S@CPTGuys.com reach us@cpguys.com to our audience. Thank you for the clicks, likes, comments, direct messages, meeting us at trade shows, coming to our events, recording episodes with us and to our sponsors. We're always grateful to you. Peter and I made a conscious choice this entire C Suite series leading up to episode 600. We would not be taking sponsorships, but thank you. Otherwise, this show doesn't exist without all of you. You work with us all year. We're grateful to have you in our community as audience and partners. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Peter. Pleasure doing this special C Suite episode with you of Matt Gregory. What's your big takeaway today that you'd like to share with the industry?
- [47:03]
A
3 For me, the big Takeaway as successful leaders in this day and age build brands through customer centricity, they partner with retailers to put the customer, the consumer, at the center of the decisions that are being made. That is what will create value for the consumer and in turn for both the brand and the retail customers. And if you can refocus your business around that, make sure that the product is available to the consumer however they any of the eight ways that Matt clearly identified that someone can choose to buy a bottle of a jar of Dove Cream or any other product. Right? That is what is going to drive success in today's omnichannel world. That is. That is what. That is what leaders today have to recognize if they want their brands to grow.
- [47:59]
C
You took the power one of customer centricity. I'll take the other one. It's how Matt closed the episode regarding incentive alignment, which is a fabulous idea and probably should have been done a long, long, long time ago. That's what I would say stood out to me. Of course, customer centricity leads the way, which will result in demand generation, a happy outcome for both retail and the CPG brand in question. So it's as I said, Peter, Pleasure doing this with you. Matt. I want to say thank you for making time on a busy weekday to join us on the CPG Guys and our special C Suite series has been a pleasure having you on board.
- [48:36]
B
Well, thank you both. It's been a great time today and again, congratulations on your upcoming 600th and I'm glad I could be a part of it.
- [48:44]
C
That's a wrap of this episode of the CPG Guys.
- [48:58]
A
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