Albertsons has a goal to “create a magical customer-centric digital ecosystem” by using intuitive digital tools that simplify the shopping process and offer more personalized and well-being suggestions for how to eat, live and feel better,” says Francisco Bram, vice president of marketing & customer insights, Albertsons Companies. 

“Customers are now getting more familiar with personalization, convenience, and dynamic pricing,” he adds. “The next six months grocery retailers are going to be reevaluating their investments in technology, focusing on digital transformation, enhancing expanding private label products.”

The retail chain recently launched a tool that allows them to look at a customer’s entire shopping history with Albertsons and connect that information back to USDA MyPlate guidelines. With this data, the company can then let them know if they are under or over indexing on protein, fruits, veggies, and then recommend the necessary steps for the individual to improve their overall nutrition. “It’s completely free. We’re just leveraging data to enhance that customer journey and show customers we truly care about their health and well-being,” explains Bram. “Retailers will use customer data more and more to enhance customer experiences.”

Prior to joining Albertsons about three years ago, Bram held senior marketing roles at Uber and Siemens. Brand Innovators caught up with Bram from his office in the San Francisco Bay Area to discuss retail media networks, earning grocery points for exercising and how growing up on a farm in Portugal has helped shape his approach to leadership. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How are we thinking about digital transformation? 

It’s really the path we charted to help build customers for life. Our strategy was when I first joined, almost three years ago, how do we seamlessly integrate digital technology into the various customer journeys that we identified? For example, we know customers are looking for convenience and inspiration for what to eat. They’re also looking for what to buy that aligns with their health and well-being goals. Our goal is to connect these different journeys together through digital technology, and also enhance the offline and online experience with our brands.

How are you building loyalty with customers?

I’ve learned that a grocery customer shops up to five different grocery store brands on average. They look for what’s most convenient, cost-effective and rewards. In order to build customer loyalty, we have to find customers where they’re at and remove a little bit of the perception that grocery shopping is just about filling and stocking up your pantry. It’s just a chore. We started running a lot of customer research studies and learned that an average person thinks about food 226 times a day. It’s a lot of cognitive load created just by thinking about food. It’s about how they eat it, how to cook it, how to plan the meal. It’s also about  what’s healthy for you. And if you’re the primary shopper, what’s healthy for your household?

It was important that we start to build programs that give customers delightful moments as they interact with us so that they feel like they would be missing out on something if they decide to go somewhere else just because it’s closer. 

For instance, we launched a platform that contains over 9,000 proprietary free recipes. A customer can determine that they want to shop for recipes that are vegan friendly or they don’t have peanuts and we can populate those recipes personalized to your health and well-being goals. And it’s all shoppable so you can with one click add all the ingredients to your cart and use flash delivery, which means we can deliver all the ingredients within 30 minutes with step-by-step instructions on how to cook it. 

How are you supporting consumers as they navigate inflation and deal with tighter budgets?

We are acutely aware of the financial pressures customers face. We think about ways to make grocery shopping not just magical, but also so that it doesn’t break the wallet. We partner closely with CPG brands to offer discounts on products. In our app, we have a deals section. It’s the most visited section in our entire digital experience. Customers can find coupons that they can clip automatically to their wallet so that at checkout, all these discounts can apply automatically.

The other way we also offer ways to save is through continuously expanding our own private label products. We have a lot of healthy, fresh, own brand products and we’re constantly launching new SKUs. Not only are they high quality, but they come at a lower price. 

Finally, we’ve built ways for customers to make healthier choices, earn for being more active and in exchange to save on their grocery bill. For example, with the launch of Sincerely Health, we allow customers to make better, more informed decisions in terms of what to buy that aligns with their health and well-being goals. You can set up a goal like, “I want to walk 10,000 steps” and you can connect the device to our Apple Watch in our app. Once you accomplish this 10,000 steps you would earn discounts on grocery products. 

How are you working with brands in your retail media network?

Our Albertsons Media Collective is our arm that works with brands. Their goal is to thoughtfully integrate digital advertising to enhance, not disrupt the shopping experience. If I’m already buying with you, I want to see ads. We’ve actually learned that customers do enjoy advertising as long as advertising is contextually relevant to that customer journey.

If I’m buying produce and you’re featuring a specific ad for avocados, that is compelling and enhances my journey versus, of course, featuring an advertisement for something completely unrelated to my journey. The goal is to partner with brands and insert those brand ad experiences into these different journeys, not just the one size tall, but personalize it to those journeys. How do we make advertising more of a customer enhancement versus a distraction? Our partnerships are really designed to deliver mutual value, delivering CPG brand visibility.

We have 39 million loyalty customers who engage with our brand frequently. We support 55 million households. And so we have an opportunity to add visibility to CPG brands but we believe the most impactful way to do so is by offering customer deals and products aligned with their momentary experience and customer journey. We are trying to strike that balance between giving brands the visibility they need while offering customers products that are relevant to them. 

What is your approach to leadership?

I grew up on a small farm in Portugal and my grandfather was an agricultural engineer. The most delightful moments of my childhood were spent cultivating the fields. I took that as a lifestyle approach for myself. I’m a cultivator at heart. I love to approach leadership with care and dedication, just like a gardener would nurture the garden. So to nurture my team, my brand, my customers the same way. that means, paying attention to the details, being consistent in the delivery of our goals, and being very transparent about how our goals are delivered. Also, create a purpose. When you’re cultivating a garden, the purpose is to see it flourish. So I empower my team with clear objectives, connecting them back to a purpose.

For example, we’re launching Sincerely Health, a platform to allow customers to live healthier. And one of our goals would be to measure how many customers have actually improved their health score since the launch. that creates meaning that creates excitement. It keeps us in touch with customer needs. It’s really important to always emphasize why we’re doing it. I also believe that success is not an overnight creation, just like cultivating a garden, it’s a series of small consistent steps that would lead to great leaps. I like to nurture a culture where we celebrate small wins, where there’s kindness, we drive for growth, while at the same time, keeping the customers as the North Star.

Are there any other career positions that you’ve held that help give you perspective for this current role? 

At Uber, it is a culture where we move fast. And we use data to inform decisions. But the way to get data is not to sit around and hope that data comes to us. It’s about learning and experimentation and extracting insights from. That was really something I took with me when I came to this role. Albertsons is a retailer, it’s been around for a long time and so I brought in some of that learning experimentation mindset. It is okay to fail and take risks, as long as we learn from these, and we build playbooks for the future. And so many of the tools and technologies and even campaigns that we ran were experiments.

We were constantly testing out new ways to reach customers and new ways to connect with customers at a deeper level. Sometimes it’s a home run, sometimes it’s not but that’s part of the experience. Creating that culture where people feel empowered to take risks is really important. 

The post Innovator Interviews: Albertsons’ Francisco Bram appeared first on Brand Innovators.

“The streaming landscape completely changed the game for everyone,” says Diamond. “Now with cord cutting, all of our marketing is driving towards Max so that we can get eyeballs into the streaming service and then ultimately, have them stay there.”

Marquee shows are a key driver to maintaining subscribers, so the return of True Detective –one of the network’s biggest shows ever– was a big deal. After almost five years since the previous season, Season 4: Night Country aired in January 2024. It occurred with the 10 year anniversary of the series and the marketing team wanted to make a big deal of the return of this iconic show.

The show itself was innovative at its launch a decade ago – being one of the first television shows to feature A-list movie stars– a common occurrence today. The new season brought with it an update from a show which was originally created by and starring men. The latest chapter has a dominantly female voice starring Jody Foster and Kali Reis, led by showrunner Issa López.

“It was a fresh female perspective. In many ways we were talking about it as a mirror of Season 1,” says Diamond. “Season 1 was male-focused and set in Louisiana. It was dark, hot, and sweaty. True Detective Night Country was predominantly female, very cold, arctic. Everything that we did was grounded in that strategy, we leaned into the cold part of it quite a bit.” 

The campaign included TV, billboards, digital and social, as well as out-of-home stunts that brought the crime scene of Alaska to the streets of Los Angeles and New York, where fans could find Easter eggs and interact with show references. The brand also sent companion viewing kits and swag to influencers, and hosted early screenings in partnership with the Alamo Drafthouse for passionate fans.

Strategically, one of the main objectives with the series was to bring back True Detective fans and attract new viewers. “We knew with the changing landscape and Max becoming a big player in the streaming game that we had a fresh opportunity to bring in new viewers, in particular, a female audience,” says Diamond.

“It was not only a moment for the series, but a moment for the brand to signal that True Detective and HBO and Max are starting the year off with the bang,” he continues. “We definitely wanted the series to feel like it was connected to the True Detective lore that had been established in the previous three seasons.”

Brand Innovators caught up with Diamond to talk about the True Detective return, growing subscribers and how the streaming business has changed over the years. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

What was the story you were trying to tell in the True Detective campaign? 

For any crime show, you’re setting up what the stakes are of the season. It’s very clear in the first episode what happens to the six missing scientists and we bring in our two lead detectives and they’re here to solve the case. We leaned into the crime, the mystery, the disappearance, the setting. We had our critics embargo lift right at the top of the year and the reviews started coming in and they were really positive. We quickly flipped the switch from a narrative sell to a robust critic sell because the critics were talking and everyone was raving about how True Detective was back with a vengeance and it’s can’t miss TV. 

This was a long campaign. We had our first asset out last April, about nine months before the premiere. It was tied to the campaign when HBO Max became Max. We released teasers and trailers on Streaming Day for some of our biggest shows that were coming up and True Detective was one of them. The show premiered in mid January. So right before Christmas, we really started from a paid perspective and promotions and everything –this crescendo of marketing activity all happening at once. 

What are your key takeaways from this and how will you apply it to the next shows?

This show was unique in the sense that it’s a limited series. It was only six episodes. To put it in context, Game of Thrones seasons were running 13 episodes per season. This is something that we really wanted people to get into early. But if you do get in a little bit late, there is still a big opportunity to catch up and binge because people are not going to feel so daunted that there’s going to be 24 weeks of this, like in the old broadcast days. Things have changed a lot.

It was definitely an opportunity for us to think about it from a strategic perspective to get people to be there on day one. But also to build FOMO and buzz around what’s happening, which is what we did by focusing on positive acclaim and really strong press. There weren’t a ton of competitive dramas happening at the same time in the marketplace either. We had an A-list movie star with Jodie Foster and we caught fire.

How did you tap into the fan base?

The True Detective fan base is very passionate in many ways. There’s this army of fans. It’s hard to live up to those expectations but from a marketing perspective, we are really mindful of how we speak directly to those fans so that they feel a part of the campaign. Ultimately these are the people that we really need to be the early hand raisers and spread positive word-of-mouth ahead of a series premiere. Fans are going to either love a show or they’re not. That’s not necessarily something that we can control. We can control how we reach them, how we talk to them, how we curate discussions with them. 

Can you talk about how you use this anchor type show to drive subscribers?

We definitely think about the calendar not only with HBO shows, but Max shows in general. My team works on HBO and Max originals. We work very closely with our scheduling teams. We’re going from The Regime into The Sympathizer into House of the Dragon and later this year, The Penguin. We want to bring people in and have them watch, that’s really how we think about audiences for Max streaming. Now so much of how we evaluate the success of a show is how much that show is able to ultimately convert new subscribers and drive business.

There are certain shows that just have the ability to bring in new subscribers on an annual basis, like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. On a year-by-year basis, people are coming in and churning out based on that content. It’s really our job along with scheduling to figure out how we can collectively tell a cohesive brand story so that we can have subscribers not only coming in for the show but staying for the next show after. 

How has marketing changed since you joined in 2012? 

When I started, it was the post-conclusion of The Sopranos. Game of Thrones was just getting started. Girls was the next big thing. We were pretty much solely focused on viewership, conversation, acclaim, and awards. We used the idea of the show breaking through the cultural barrier as a way of measuring the success of our content. Girls, for example, was the show that people talked about and it was just part of the conversation. 

A lot has changed, particularly as we’ve gone from different parent companies from Time Warner to AT&T and now to Warner Brothers Discovery. The whole business of television marketing, streaming marketing has changed so much. I worked on the last few seasons of Game of Thrones and it almost feels like a different world ago. Since then, you have so many other streaming services that have launched from Paramount+ to Peacock to Apple TV and Disney+. At that point, it was probably just Netflix and maybe Prime Video. 

The HBO brand is still, in many ways, a crown jewel brand in the entertainment landscape, but consumers are going to follow the content. The amount of content that is out there now is about 10x the amount of when I started – somewhere around 800 new shows are coming out a year– so you really do have to stand out. When we have the opportunity to market these big shows, whether it’s House of the Dragon or The Last of Us, we can take big swings. We can really stand out and still be what HBO represents. The biggest difference is just how much we have to stand out. 

The post HBO’s Alex Diamond appeared first on Brand Innovators.

McHugh’s team is responsible for how the Verizon brand shows up across the entire shopper lifecycle—TV, digital, retail, you name it. By translating creative concepts to incentivize shoppers to join over 140 million users on their 5G ultra wideband services. Through brand partnerships to above-the-line campaigns with talent like Jason Bateman to personalized offers via email, McHugh’s team aims to connect with customers across their interests in real-time.

A self-proclaimed student of marketing, McHugh stays up-to-date with industry trends by marketing book reads, digital community content and admiration of other brands’ activities. Additionally, she’s making sure to be well informed on the 2023 industry hot button item: Artificial Intelligence (AI): “We need to make sure that we are sharpening our skills, that we’re learning how to connect with customers, and that we’re meeting customers where they are. So, going deep in digital understanding AI—how to utilize AI in a way that is appropriate for the brand that allows us to get the right message to the right customer in a way that is faster and more efficient.”

Brand Innovators caught up with McHugh from her home office in New Jersey to talk about the importance of customer-centricity and the ongoing evolution of marketing channels and efforts. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

You’ve been with Verizon for 11 years now, can you elaborate on what has shifted and become focal for the brand in how you show up with shoppers? 

From a media perspective, we would rely heavily on TV. We need to make sure that we’re creating programs that are on TV but also very focused on digital and how do we think about personalization that we can connect one to one. So it’s about the mass and we have a very large customer base, so it’s how you balance mass communications with very targeted and digital communications that are relevant to different segments. 

So that’s certainly a big shift as we think about the marketing dynamics and the amount of channels and how we can be personalized, how we can get to market faster, and how we can have a message that hits the right customer at the right time. It’s things that have been building over time, we’re now just able to refine those two and use those tools in a way that drives not only our business goals but also our brand goals.

Talk to us about brand partnerships. How do they come to life?

A lot of what we do is about how we ensure there is shared alignment and goals between partners. So whether that is us and Apple, that is us and Disney, that is us and the NFL— how do we ensure we’re clear on what we collectively want for the partnership? How do we get clear on what this is going to be, the benefits that it’s going to unlock for our customers? Always about putting the customers in the center and building something that is unique and bespoke for our Verizon customers. And if you think about the partnership, we think about the journey that our customers go through. 

And for the fans of sports, how do you ensure that we’re thinking about when someone is getting a ticket? How do we think about that mobile experience? When someone’s getting to the stadium? What can Verizon unlock for that experience for fans, when they’re in the stadium? What does that look like? And then again, how do we make sure that we’re leveraging the partnership to connect with them when they’re outside of it as well? 

So leveraging the teams and the players so that we can harness the power of our partners to connect with our customers, and to give them something that they wouldn’t have had otherwise? And how do we ensure that the network and the 5g network is the underpinning of that, that the Verizon network can create experiences for you?

The Verizon technology can create something for you and an experience that you wouldn’t have otherwise had. 

Can you elaborate on your NFL partnerships?

We’ve been a long standing partner of the NFL and we have been in many ways. Our focus used to be on NFL mobile and how we could create an experience where fans could watch NFL on their phone…Now the focus has been how do we ensure that the network experience in stadiums is an incredible one and we want to make sure that if our name is on that stadium or in that stadium, that fans are having an incredible network experience… 

So we have 5G Ultra wideband in all of our stadiums to ensure that we have the best possible experience. And then we have that to say how do we think about unlocking the Fandom of the NFL but also our local teams. And we have many local team partnerships that we can connect to the fans and the local fandom to create bespoke experiences. 

So this year we launched our partnership with YouTube TV for NFL Sunday Ticket and that allowed fans to have access to content and access to NFL Sunday Ticket in a way that we hadn’t been able to offer before. So connecting and being super targeted to avid fans with something that was really important to them and giving them NFL Sunday Ticket free on us was a great way to connect with what matters to fans. And again, connecting that to the stadium experience allows us to give clear value to our customers and a value exchange for our partnership with the NFL.

We were just in the thick of the holiday season, how did you and the team want to show up in 2023?

The work that we’ve done this holiday is all about delivering the right offer to customers. But as you think about a holiday season, it’s as much about giving to your family as it is about giving to society and that’s something that’s so important to us. As we think about how we give back and citizen Verizon at Verizon, our work in CSR is not philanthropy, it’s part of our strategy. We believe being a responsible business is good business. And it is critical to all of the work that we do for this holiday. 

We partnered with Disney and they have a new incredible film out this holiday season. That’s all about wishes. And when you wish upon a star which is obviously such an iconic line from Disney, and it’s all about wishes up in the sky. We worked with Disney to understand the film before it was released and said what can we create together that really allows us to grant the wishes of children in need across the country who might not get that wish granted otherwise.

Looking ahead to this year. What can we expect from you in the team? 

You’ll see a lot more of Verizon making an emotional connection with our customers, putting our customers at the center of everything that we do. It’s been a really big focus for us in 2023 and you’ll see a lot more of that in 2024. How do we ensure that it is all about our customer and that we are relentlessly focused on what matters to them and how we communicate to them? 

What are you most bullish about this year?

You’re going to see a lot more of that as we think about the brand as we think about what’s driving the business on the consumer and on the business side. 

I’d say what we’re most bullish on is personalization, segmentation, how we focus on local and how we focus on our different segments and we do a really good job of hitting a broader message that is relevant to everyone. But you’re gonna see us do a lot more personalization as we get into 2024 and you’ll see us leveraging AI as a tool to enable that.

The post Innovator Interviews: Verizon Wireless’ Kristin McHugh appeared first on Brand Innovators.

McBride Sisters Wine Company was founded by sisters Robin and Andréa who grew up continents apart and found shared interests and passions in one another and winemaking. The wine brand – the largest Black-owned label in the US– promotes access and inclusion in an industry often considered unapproachable. 

The company’s mission is to revolutionize the industry with a “blend of old-world elegance and new-world finesse” promoting sustainable practices and cultivating community through shared glasses of wine. Drawn to the communal and revolutionary spirit of the brand, Fuller is on a mission to apply her full-funnel marketing background and passion for community-driven efforts in taking the McBride Sisters marketing efforts to the next level. 

“As a Black woman, the opportunity to work for two accomplished Black women who have paved the way in their industry was truly inspiring,” she says. “As they shared insights into the company’s ethos, emphasizing sustainable, socially consciousness, and being culturally aware, I became immediately engaged. Their values resonated with mine, as I am passionate about working for companies that prioritize people and the planet.”

Fuller’s past experiences include a variety of marketing roles at Kellogg’s, The Hershey Company, SC Johnson, and the coveted Milk Bar. Brand Innovators caught up with Fuller from her office in the Bay Area to discuss her new job, the company’s mission, and 2024 plans.  

Growth at McBride Sisters Wine Company

Fuller’s most coveted memory at the company thus far? Leading marketing efforts in the reveal of the brand’s 2022 Central Coast Pinot Noir—which is certified carbon neutral and sourced from a sustainable vineyard in California.

The launch was an especially exciting milestone for the brand—marking an evolution in winemaking with a focus on their commitment to environmental priorities. The second red wine varietal to come to fruition, the grapes were sourced from a Certified California Sustainable Vineyard.

Social awareness, consciousness, and community are key in the greater brand story and Fuller and her team worked to bring these concepts to life in marketing efforts around the release. Through recipe and food pairings, educational and inspiring imagery, and Pinot Parties at a variety of Kroger locations, the brand aimed to “surround sound” shoppers with the release.

Additionally, the team challenged themselves this holiday season by leaning heavily into social, which Fuller positions “as King and Queen,” editorial content inclusive of blogs and thoughtful recipe pairings in partnership with dynamic and diverse chefs and a variety of holiday offerings.

Fewer, bigger, better in the year ahead

Next year, Fuller is hoping to hone in on some celebratory moments for each of their brands and is encouraging her team to focus on fewer, bigger, better moments. As a brand that’s “wired for the new world,” Fuller has some specific growth areas she wants the team to focus on. 

“I want us at the end of 2024 to walk away and say to ourselves, we increased household penetration. We drove aided awareness and we were able to bring in new consumers to an industry that has never been deemed as accessible and approachable. And McBride Sisters Wine provided that space in that place for this consumer to come in. And really, we cultivated a community.”

In a time of hyper-specialization within the marketing industry, Fuller emphasizes the importance of understanding a full-funnel marketing strategy and reflects fondly on a career that has empowered a variety of opportunities, including a documentary producer debut during her time at REBBL.

Entering a new category has come with a new set of challenges such as state-to-state legalities. Fuller’s past roles came easy to her, she had a go-to playbook that emphasized the correct channels on where and how to meet her shoppers. These days, similar to the McBride Sisters’ founders, Fuller is reinventing her playbook. 

In her spare time, Fuller is a dedicated mentor supporting children from underprivileged communities similar to where she got her start. “Never dream too small,” is a mantra Fuller tells herself and those she supports. Fuller’s dreams and ambitions led her to work in a variety of marketing roles including shopper, trade, and brand-side positions, and made her the “jack of all trades” marketer she is today. She encourages others to get familiar with all elements that make up the “orchestra” and fill the marketing cup funnel. At McBride Sisters Wine Company, Fuller serves as the conductor in a new category. She welcomes the opportunity and believes she has reached the pinnacle of her career.

The post Innovator Interviews: McBride Sisters Wine’s Renee Fuller appeared first on Brand Innovators.

“We wanted to commemorate over five decades of sparkling wine making in California with a reimagined Chandon home,” says Cécile Artigalas, chief marketing officer of LVMH’s Chandon.

“Our California home has been a destination for exceptional sparkling wine in Napa since 1973, and is the first of our six homes around the world to undergo this exciting transformation. Additionally, to toast to Chandon’s golden anniversary year, we created the very special 50th Anniversary Cuvée Winemaker’s Blend.” 

To create the anniversary bottle, director of winemaking Pauline Lhote reunited with former Chandon winemakers Dawnine Dyer, Wayne Donaldson and Tom Tiburzi to begin trials. “It has been an amazing project to create this limited release cuvée as a true celebration of Chandon’s winemaking legacy in Napa Valley,” adds Artigalas.

Brand Innovators caught up with Artigalas to talk about the milestone anniversary and discuss the new space. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is the inspiration behind the new space?

The vision for Chandon’s California home is a space that allows one to feel at home and be stimulated in a multi-sensory way. Each element that Taalman Architecture added reflects the alchemical processes of winemaking and the hybrid methods of the winemakers in their traditional and pioneering techniques. Earthen textures and materials bring in the terroir and simultaneously add warmth and form. Water and air elements highlight the important microclimate of the region and bring light, reflection and transparency, using glass, mirror, metallic and reflective materials.

The new building design sees spaces seamlessly connected via a series of ramps that echo a Californian hillside path. Wine is a natural product, and we love to taste it as close to nature and our terroirs as possible, so the new space beautifully blurs the lines, the line between indoors and outdoors.  

How does this new space help support your brand’s mission?

Our Chandon Homes are our 6 pioneering wineries implemented in unexpected destinations from Argentina to Brazil, Australia, China, India and of course California. We chose the name deliberately because our wineries are much more than a production site. It’s where our roots are, where we’re most at home. It’s a showcase of our craft, and an expression of who we are and our mission. Our California home has been a destination for exceptional sparkling wine in Napa since 1973, and it is one of the first of our six homes to throw open its doors. We are hosts at heart, and our Home is the place where we get to extend our warm hospitality.

Who are your customers and how does this kind of offering appeal to them?

At CHANDON, everyone is welcome at our Home and table. We welcome wine lovers and culinary aficionados alike to enjoy our meaningful sensory experiences and events, as we offer a range of exclusive options that suit every mood. Our new Home will continue to host individuals, groups, families and more serving those 21+, though we certainly re-imagined some of our offerings to bring new energy, edutainment, elevated experiences, and visually appealing elements to life that we feel cater to a wide range of guests.  

How are you thinking about customer experience?

When we revitalized this home here in Napa, there was one overarching goal: to welcome visitors and Club Chandon members alike and have a place for all to experience our home’s warm hospitality. We wanted to create a warm and inviting community hub, or ‘home,’ for all where we can showcase our hospitality and exceptional wines – everyone is welcome at our table here at Chandon. We offer a wide range of experiences that cater to a multitude of consumers to ensure their experiences feel very elevated yet approachable.

How are you thinking about innovation?

Since being founded in 1959, Chandon has continuously been a community of pioneers and innovators. As one of the 6 Chandon wineries, we’ve created the world’s largest estate dedicated solely to sparkling winemaking. From our female-lead winemaking team, to our prioritized sustainability practices in our vineyards, gardens and newly renovated spaces, here at Chandon, we are innovators at heart and look to continue that legacy for years to come. 

How are you showing up in culture? 

At Chandon, our goal was to create a place that reveals our care and deep respect for its land and people. We are a diverse community of a little bit more than 800 employees speaking more than 30 languages worldwide. 16 winemakers of seven different nationalities craft our outstanding creative sparkling wines with the expression of their unique 6 terroirs. 

We’ve built the Chandon culture and community around its people and continue to share our message of hospitality and home in hopes others continue along this journey with us. We love to support like-minded organizations and partners across a variety of landscapes – beauty, art, culinary, celebrations and beyond. 

The post Innovator Interviews: LVMH Chandon’s Cécile Artigalas appeared first on Brand Innovators.

The brand awareness has grown significantly since she joined the company. “I always joke that when I first started, people looked at me a little quizzically, maybe they had heard of it but they weren’t quite sure what we did,” she says. “Now we’ve had this is our sixth round of George Clooney campaigns. Awareness of the brand and even familiarity and understanding of who we are and what we offer has fundamentally shifted.” 

Padula’s job has expanded from introducing the Nespresso brand into the zone of educating consumers on the coffee experiences they offer. “We’re really thinking about that broader story that we can tell,” she explains. “What’s unique? What’s our point of difference? The consumer needs to know first and foremost, what’s in it for them. It’s the great taste of the coffee. We might say quality, but they need to know quality equals this amazing thing when they go to sip it.”

Nespresso accomplishes this by building an emotional connection to the brand. “The coffee category sits in this food and beverage space, but it’s so much more meaningful to consumers,” says Padula. “They describe Nespresso as life changing when they’ve experienced it. It’s not just a functional beverage that wakes them up in the morning, it’s really more of a ritual.” 

The brand marketing strategy is two-fold. The idea is to get prospects to try the product, then it’s about building brand love once they are in the Nespresso community. Additionally, the brand is positioning itself as a home coffee brand. 

“Increasingly, we’re seeing people coming to Nespresso, who were primarily out-of-home coffee drinkers,” she explains. “When consumers are pressed from an economic reality standpoint and their dollars having to stretch further they are still willing to invest in something that’s everyday luxury or attainable luxury. It’s the lipstick index, you’re still willing to invest in something that’s an everyday luxury that really makes you feel good. It goes back to that emotional connection. The idea is that you can still get that beautiful experience and you can get it at home for a lower price than you might have realized.” 

Prior to her time at Nespresso, Padula worked at Swarovski, WhiteWave Foods and Grey Group. Brand Innovators caught up with Padula from her home office in New York to talk brand loyalty, sustainability and Gen Z. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Can you talk about how obviously Nespresso is a product that you will continually buy? 

We have an amazing CRM team. As a DTC brand that’s always been in our DNA because we have this amazing data of direct purchasers. We can bring them new and different coffee experiences and keep them engaged to buy. But more and more, we’re moving into this world where we think about the consumer experience overall, and how do you market throughout that entire experience? There’s two pieces. One is subscription. We offer what we call easy order, recurring purchases available through our direct channels. It lets you set it and forget it, which is very consistent with the industry at large. Our retail partners want to do the same thing. We want to make it easy and rewarding for people to come to us. 

The other piece is what differentiates DTC. The reason to shop with us directly and keep coming back to Nespresso is because we actually offer the widest portfolio. We’re launching limited editions and new coffee experiences, you can always get them first and usually exclusively through our direct channels. There’s this other element of loyalty, which is so much more than just the transactional element. I feel like this brand knows me and understands me. That’s where loyalty comes into play. That direct relationship with the consumer is something we don’t take lightly. We invest a lot of time and energy in it. 

You talked about this emotional connection to the product. Can you talk about the importance of why emotion is important in your marketing?

As a brand person, if there’s no emotion associated with the product, I couldn’t do the branding. We are by nature as human beings emotional beings. If you are purely transactional, lacking that emotion as a brand, then you’re just a business. I might buy the same brand, because I like it. But I don’t have an emotional connection to the brand of toilet paper I buy. That’s fine. It works in that category. 

But for a coffee for a category that you actually consume. it’s something I’m choosing to put in my body. Every year, these really deep dive focus groups with consumers and I joke that they’re more like voyeuristic therapy sessions than they are coffee focus groups, because it’s really trying to understand what makes people tick. Our consumer is really unique in that they’re constantly striving to improve themselves to improve the world around them and coffee plays a really central role in that. It is first and foremost that the functional reality of it helps me start my day and get up and go. 

But there’s so much more to it. It’s really about feeling like they have a moment to themselves to set all of their intentions for the day and then power all that potential that they feel. We try to thread that through everything we do from a marketing standpoint.

How are you thinking about brand purpose?

We are first and foremost a purpose-driven brand. We’ve always had purpose at our core, we just didn’t communicate it. We’ve always thought about the entire value chain in how we source our coffee for almost 40 years. How do we give back but not just in service of saving the world, but actually in service of protecting coffee, because we want coffee to be around for the next 100 years. It might not be if we don’t do things the right way. 

Sustainability to Gen Z means so much more than just Earth and green sustainability. Their definition of sustainability is all about social justice and diversity and inclusion. If you think about cultivating different communities who are farming, coffee, different income realities, it’s always been part of our DNA too so it’s really natural for us now to lean into that space. 

We’ve tried to tell this story about faraway lands and farmers in a lot of different ways in the US and it didn’t resonate with the US consumer for whatever reason. It felt very far away. Coffee was born in Ethiopia. You’re helping Ethiopian women who want to learn how to become coffee farmers. That’s an amazing story but it didn’t fully connect in the way we wanted it to in the US. So we said, how can we mimic all of the work we do in the coffee value chain and bring it to a US consumer in a more relevant way.  We intentionally focused on social impact here in the US. Lst March, we launched a partnership with the Ali Forney Center, which is the largest homeless youth center for LGBTQ+ youth in New York City –our backyard as a corporate team. This is a cause that matters to our employees.

Can you talk about how Gen Z is impacting your marketing and how you’re thinking about the audience?

Gen Z are guided by values, probably more than any other demographic or generation I’ve seen. They really want brands that they can see themselves in, that they can connect with. It’s not just a singular purchase, it’s really saying something about themselves. It’s not about what you are showing from a brand logo standpoint, but actually what you are quietly saying and representing by being associated with a brand. We find that when we’re hiring influencers, it’s really important to us that they connect with our brand purpose.

From a coffee standpoint, Gen Z’s definition of coffee is cold coffee. And for years, we never talked about cold coffee. But of course, you can make iced coffee with our machines. It’s very easy. How do we educate, train and almost start to flip our visualization and the context for coffee, that goes all the way up through like product innovation. We just launched cold brew coffee, for example. That’s a reflection of Gen Z influencing product innovation and coffee innovation. 

But also in how we communicate, something as simple as George Clooney in our new ad is holding a cold coffee mug. We have had to really evolve our visualization of coffee with celebrities, which is really a reflection of the Gen Z influence.

Can you talk about how your experience in the advertising world on brands like Cover Girl, Clairol, Pantene, Downey helped prepare you for this role?

I had the benefit of working on a lot of upstream product development and innovation. A good chunk of my time was spent not on actually producing ads, which you assume from an advertising agency standpoint, I actually worked on the global account for Pantene, where we were thinking about what the brand was going to be in five years down the road and writing concepts for future product ideas. I’ve referenced our focus groups in espresso and things like that. 

I knew I wanted to go brand side, in order to do that, I had to specialize in something that nobody else knew how to do, because I didn’t have my MBA. At the time, you couldn’t get your foot in the door at many of these brands without it so I specialized in social media as a way to say, this is something your brand marketers don’t know how to do. I grew up in the food space at White Wave Foods, which is now part of Danone.

At Swarovski it was about placing our products with people who elevate the brand, world tours with Madonna and JLo, and things like that, that really allowed the brand to live in that luxury space. Then I got the call from Nespresso and I said, I don’t really want to go back to food, it wasn’t my specialty. But what’s been super fascinating is this merging of luxury food and that brand strategy that I learned in the advertising agency world. Nespresso is really hard to pinpoint and really hard to compare to other brands because it’s an everyday product but it’s more luxurious and higher quality. It’s actually been this perfect amalgamation of all of my background of bringing those worlds together. 

The post Innovator Interviews: Nespresso’s Jessica Padula appeared first on Brand Innovators.

“Urban is the OG of not just nonconformity, but also for always testing and learning from trial and error,” said Higuera. “Sometimes we’re almost too early to the game, because we’re always innovating. We also always try to have a good time. It’s really about having fun, being first in the space and seeing how we can deliver new and inventing and entertaining experiences.” 

The brand revealed 18 virtual makeup looks in Roblox and developed 3D avatar wearables that allowed users to try on makeup products that could be purchased. The products included limited-edition looks from beauty influencers Manny Gutierrez, Leilani Green, and Emmy Combs, including: 24/7 Glide-On Waterproof Eyeliner Pencil, 24/7 Moondust Glitter Eyeshadows and 24/7 Inks Liquid Eyeliner. The virtual event was produced in collaboration with Ulta Beauty’s Ultaverse, where consumers could try new looks on their avatars and then shop at the Urban Decay pop-up shop. 

This immersive experience isn’t Urban Decay’s first foray into Roblox’s ever-expanding universe. The brand collaborated with Paris Hilton in 2022 to launch Cryptoween, a virtual Halloween soirée complete with costumes, DJ sets, and special celebrity appearances. 

Brand Innovators caught up with Higuera to talk metaverse, Gen Z and innovation. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

How is the brand thinking about the metaverse?

The idea was to bring our sense of self expression to a whole new audience. What I love about the metaverse is it’s a space where we are servicing everyone’s realities. We see our brand as a tool of empowerment. We see the metaverse as another tool of empowerment. It’s a tool of self expression. Then you have obviously the power of Roblox, which gives us this entirely new opportunity to connect with the new generation in a way that we might not even be able to do in the IRL spaces that we live in. 

You bring the power and tool of the metaverse, the empowerment tool of Urban and then you have this space of its new introduction to a new generation that brought us all together. It’s a chance to give everyone a way to unlock self expression through our products that creates almost the fantasies of makeup that you may not even yet know you can do IRL. Then there’s the last piece which is at the service of our great partner Ulta. Ulta is a leading retailer in the Gen Z space. It’s like a one plus one equals three or in this case, one plus one equals five. 

Can you talk about how makeup can come to life in the metaverse?

It’s such a mixed reality. We use our relationships for example, with Emmy Combs or Manny MUA and brought them together giving them an opportunity to play with makeup in ways that you don’t know if you can do in real life with a wild sense of self expression very much we like to say “fearlessly.” Self expression and bringing that to life in a different way. Sometimes you stare in the mirror and you’re like, “Can I really do this eye liner?” Can you throw self doubt out the window? I hope that we live in a space where we can one day really all of us throw self doubt out the window. But this gives us a space where you’re completely unleashed, you’re completely free. What we also hope for many people who find comfort in the meta space, if you’re also fearless to be your most authentic self.

You mentioned Gen Z. Is that the key audience that you’re going after with this effort?

What we really more gravitate towards is anywhere that we can be an ally for standing up in your differences. What I love about the new generation is bringing its allyship across communities of self expression, self love, especially. It was a perfect way to kick off Pride Month. I use the term Gen Z but honestly, it’s more about, we know that’s who are on Roblox. But it’s more about finding the connection, where we can help others really stand in their differences. This is a generation that is opening the doors for different types of new relationships with brands. They’re demanding a much higher expectation of brands. This generation is certainly holding true to power on being brands that are holding up responsibility for social wellness, digital wellness. 

Can you talk about the connection this type of an event in the metaverse can then lead to real world product sales?

Brands have to create space for testing, learn and hold. I like to look more on return on objective versus return on investment. I call it the ROO. Because sometimes, especially when things are new, you have to hold them to different objectives. In this case, this isn’t the objectives here are more certainly recruitment of awareness. But also, one of the areas that we like and we are more and more looking into is how can you play around to be higher in consideration? How can you play around to say, oh, wait a second, I didn’t know that Urban has the most colors of eyeliner. 

This was less a sales driving initiative, because we can’t necessarily measure the omnichannel experience that it creates. But it might mean that a month from now, when you’re down the aisle at Ulta, you pick up that 24/7 liner. It’s certainly met our objectives in terms of awareness, driving buzz driving for the brands. You’re actually playing with the product longer than on a website. These are all great objectives that ultimately, as we test and learn on this platform will continue to support our biggest initiatives.

What are the key learnings that you take away from this event?

The key learning is to keep learning. We found the gamers actually had a strong propensity to participate in the events and they did have fun glamming up their avatar so we were excited to see that that was the case. We also found that emphasizing an identity is the most fluid in the meta environment.

It’s also giving us learnings from the real world. How do we bring some of what we’re learning in the way that people want to express themselves in the metaverse into real life? We found that this is a space for exploration and fantasy. It might just be the realization that they want that 24/7 black liner in day-to-day life. Being able to service both realities is really important. Thinking of the same person, but in two realities, was interesting. This gave us a sense of where we could start to test and learn different looks in the virtual space and in the real space. 

How are you thinking about innovation? 

We’re at the forefront of where beauty meets tech. L’Oreal has been seeing that for years and keeps us abreast, but also pushing us, which is great. For Urban, what excites me about beauty tech is the opportunity to empower you to see yourself in ways that sometimes you feel on the inside, but you’re not quite sure how to do it on the outside. We’re experimenting in the next level. We’re obviously are in the meta space. I can’t wait to see what we figure out on AI and where we’re going to go. 

It’s always an honor to be in this industry where there’s so much new and you look at urban and OG on its way to be the G.O.A.T. We want to innovate for self expression.

The post Innovator Interviews: Urban Decay’s Malena Higuera appeared first on Brand Innovators.

“I was actually quite shocked it wasn’t as well known,” says Sue, head of brand and marketing communications for the company. “I came to grow brand awareness in the UK and align the brand across a lot of the communications channels so that across the channels there is a lot more consistency.” 

Sporting goods brand Decathlon’s mission has always been around making sports accessible to the many, which often meant people trying new sports for the first time. But the brand wanted to also serve consumers beyond novice level and therefore has transformed its messaging to focus on “moving people through the joy of sport as well and the wonders of sport.” 

“I run marathons, but that’s other people’s worst nightmares,” explains Sue. “It’s in moving the way that they want. We’ve been positioned as an entry level, try a new sport brand, which is still definitely part of our bread and butter. But it’s also building right through to some more of the performance products, as well.”

The messaging is now focused on showing a range of price points in a category, as well as the different technical specs. Take camping, for example. Decathlon is promoting an easy tent that’s easy to set up and take down to address a segment looking for a simple experience. They also offer a rooftop tent for those that love wild camping that do it for a passion for adventure around the country. 

“We are just making sure that we’re mindful of the different customer needs and are segmenting those expert lead athletes from those that just want to move every day,” says Sue. 

Whether it is camping, biking, swimming, pickleball, paddle boarding, tennis, running, or any other sport you can imagine, the brand is looking to tell stories to a range of audiences in order to cultivate relationships with people no matter where they are in their relationship with sports. Since the company began this refresh, the brand has seen year-over-year growth, particularly in some regions like London, where brand awareness is now over 60%. 

Brand Innovators caught up with Sue from her office in London to talk about this brand shift, summer sports and innovation. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

How are you telling these sports stories?

We are a very seasonal business. At the moment, for example, we are planning the strategy and direction for summer from an overarching theme perspective. Then working closely with internal product teams on the themes they’re seeing from a product perspective in terms of hero products. For example, it might be camping, hiking and water sports leading up into summer. Once we’ve got the hero categories, I’ll look at planning media from a paid perspective, working closely with our creative studio to then create the look and feel and the identity of the campaign. Then that will start to reflect across the channels as well. 

I’ll set the overall plan and the direction but then each of the channels will then have their own approach in terms of how to activate it across the channels. For example, social media will take that brief and the scope of the campaign and then create their own reels based on whether it’s focusing on the technical specs of a product to show that it’s expertly designed or might feature some of the design story from their team over in France. It might also then focus on some of the PR activity that we’re going to again build our authority in the market because we don’t have the same brand heritage in the UK as we do in France. 

Can you share an example of one of those stories?

We have launched a football boot. This football boot is innovative in the fact that it adds material that forms the boot itself, which is quite unusual. Football boots often need replacing because the bottom of the boot starts to peel away. So we’ve developed one piece boots that prevent cracking. To build credibility, we took some key football journalists to show them around the shoe design lab so that they could experience the whole design process, how it’s manufactured, and then test the boots. We got very positive press coverage, which started to build our reputation in terms of a higher priced football boot and that opened up the conversation with the football audience that we’ve never really had before.

Another product was the folding bike. We coined it as the challenger to the Brompton Bike. It was the design of the mechanics that opened up the bike and could just be unfolded in one second, which again makes it super easy for commuters. It was more compact than a Brompton bike. We leaned on media, The Evening Standard, a big commuter paper, to review the product and talk about its benefits. 

How is the brand thinking about sustainability?

We’ve been doing a lot of work at the moment on the circular economy. We’re launching a couple of new propositions this year. We’ve just gone live with our rentals service. We’re the first retailer that offers a rental on sporting goods across a number of sports. It’s had a lot of attention, in terms of addressing not only the cost of living crisis, in terms of the ability to rent sports equipment from £10 a day, as well as the maximizing usage of our products. It’s quite a game changer. A lot of the products that were demo or display products and are then moved into our rental proposition so that we’re getting as much usage as possible out of them. It gives people the ability to try new sports. A lot of the rental products are quite high ticket items such as stand up paddle boards, kayaks and ebikes. It gives people the opportunity to test it to understand whether or not it’s the right product for them. That’s one component of our circular economy. 

We’ve also been piloting buyback as well. We’re testing it on bikes at the moment. If you bring it back to us, we will provide an estimate of how much it is worth and in turn, the customer gets Decathlon gift cards so that they can then redeem against their next purchase. Those bikes are bought back and then sold as part of our second life range. We’ve also got a workshop in store as well. We repair tents, bikes, etc. People are repairing and maintaining products. We are starting to build on a circular economy.

Can you talk about how you’re thinking about customer loyalty and building these relationships with clients?

Another pilot that we’ve just launched is a new membership program based on customer spend. The customer accumulates points that can be redeemed against the next purchase. These points basically have monetary value. Further down the line, they’ll also be able to donate the points to charities, whether it’s local sporting communities or other nominated charity partners. If the customers also use our workshop services or buy sustainable products – such as our Eco design range which is made from recycled materials– they will get additional points over and above the baseline points program. 

Can you talk about how you’re thinking about innovation?

Sustainability is top of mind for us. We’ve seen some of the innovative products from our team in France like edible gels pods that you see people consuming, whether it’s in marathons or long cycles. Later this year, we will have a version that is packaged in an edible form. The danger of marathons is just the amount of wrappers that are left along the course can prove quite dangerous to slip on. 

We’ve also got some innovation around nutrition, as well as product development in terms of tents as well. We’ve got a tent launching later this year with the rooftop open so you can see all of the stars with a full 360 degree camping experience. We’ve also got the product innovation in terms of yoga mats and fitness equipment that fits into the decor of your flat so that it does not consume as much storage space. There’s a lot of consideration when integrating fitness and sport into everyday life. We are building more performance products as well to address that higher performing sport need, whether it’s carbon plate shoes for the marathon run. They are not necessarily innovative to the market, but its innovation in terms of Decathlon’s overarching mission is, in terms of making it more accessible to more people and more accessible price point.

The post Innovator Interviews: Decathlon’s Frances Sue appeared first on Brand Innovators.

Diageo’s vice president of innovation Lisa Kliegerman says that mindfulness among consumers in the post- pandemic era is driving this opportunity. “We’ve all come through a major global pandemic, and throughout that process, our relationship with food and drink has shifted,” says Kliegerman. “We see people opting to drink better, not more on many occasions.”

“At the same time, we continue to see the desire for socialization, especially post-pandemic, which has created space for consumers to be more open about variety, and the inclusion of non-alcoholic choices during these socializing moments,” she continues. “An increase in innovation has also brought vibrancy to the category. We’re seeing more offerings, a huge jump in quality, proxies for beer, wine, and spirits as well as an increased prominence of offerings with celebrity endorsements, such as Seedlip.”

Kliegerman has spearheaded the growth of Diageo’s non-alcohol category with leading brands including non-alcoholic spirit Seedlip and non-alcoholic beer Guinness 0 and continues to experiment with new products.

“At this stage of category evolution, we also must continue to experiment and learn what works best to bring consumers into the category,” she says. “We’re exploring ideas that are entirely new and have never been done before, as well as ideas that provide consumers with a closer-to-home on-ramp into the category, like the recent launch by our colleagues in Europe of ​​Tanqueray 0.0% Flor De Sevilla Orange. Keeping this wide spectrum at the top of the ideation funnel allows us to learn as much as possible as we proceed through the product creation journey and, ideally, helps us increase consumer penetration as quickly as possible.”

Brand Innovators caught up with Kliegerman to talk about the non-alcohol category, mindfulness and circular economy.  This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Who is driving this shift to non-alcoholic beverages?

Non- and lower-alcoholic experimentation is happening across a very wide range of consumer groups. Yet, in general, we see most category adoption coming from alcohol drinkers who occasionally seek a non-alcoholic option for the moments in which alcohol has traditionally been the default. Specifically, the most engaged audience is millennials who are leading the charge in opting to elevate their beverage choices, whether they are choosing to drink alcohol during that occasion, or not.

How are you marketing to this demographic and to others who might be curious about these products?

Distribution is the most important lever in marketing non-alcoholic products today – literally just gaining physical availability where consumers shop is the first step. Additionally, our Diageo North America Innovation team works closely with the brand marketing teams who are experts in creating authentic connections with consumers. With Diageo North America Innovation exploring and evaluating this consumer opportunity space, we look at consumer trends from alcohol and other beverage categories to help influence our product ideas and broaden our understanding of how these products can fit into consumers’ lives. Our disruptive technologies and world class innovation labs allow us to rapidly translate these idea nuggets into product prototypes. In terms of messaging, marketing and product communications must provide clear product information and education on how to serve and consume the product, as the category is still new to the majority of potential buyers.

How are you tapping into wellness trends like the Dry January and being sober-curious?

Moments like the new year, summertime, and the holiday season are key opportunities for us to reach a broader set of individuals who, for a discrete time window, may be more open to learning about, and trying, non-alcoholic options. And while we certainly plus up our marketing in key cultural moments that impact the category, we continue to seek out an always-on, consistent place in consumers’ minds while the category finds its footing. There is so much upside in terms of consumers simply learning there are delicious, non-alcoholic options out there. While certain cultural tentpole moments increase interest, consumers seek elevated cocktail options for every seat at the table throughout the year. Worth noting, it’s very important to us to promote moderation and responsible consumption throughout the entire year.

How are you helping grow brands like Seedlip and Guinness 0?

For us, it’s about first establishing these brands as household names. With so much category evolution, we want to create intuitive options that don’t require unnecessary effort or time to understand. Additionally, everything we develop must taste incredible. It is an obvious statement, but you get one chance to influence consumers with a new innovation and, if it doesn’t taste good, it is so much harder to win them back a second time.

What trends do you expect to see in the alcohol/non-alcohol space in the coming year?

The future continues to hold a lot of new product innovation and experimentation for the non-alcoholic space. There is no end to the new ingredients and formats. We see so much experimentation today, but the brands that maintain consistency and provide meaningful value to consumers will define the category’s future. We anticipate continuing to see a rise in offerings that provide consumers with ease and convenience. We also see consumers’ perceptions of mindfulness and sustainability moving closer together and, at times, being one and the same. We anticipate that in the future there will be a consumer expectation for products in the mindfulness space to have more sustainability reasons to believe – like recyclable or circular packaging, regenerative agriculture practices, or community give back.

The post Innovator Interviews: Diageo’s Lisa Kliegerman appeared first on Brand Innovators.

AB InBev’s Zé Delivery is an on-demand delivery service in Brazil and TaDa Delivery in the rest of the world (mainly Latin America and Africa currently). These brands deliver cold beer in less than 30 minutes for supermarket prices. 

“What we propose to consumers is delivering cold beer in less than 30 minutes at supermarket prices,” says  Herscovici. “In the same way you can order a pizza anywhere around the world in less than 30 minutes. If you can do that with a pizza, why can’t you do it with beer? We help solve that problem.” 

Additionally, the brand has PerfectDraft –essentially an espresso bar for beer machines, in which consumers can buy machines to keep in their homes and can order kegs for delivery to replenish the beer supply. “Today we have more bars at homes in Europe than bars exist in Europe,” says Herscovici. “This is an amazing premium experience that really drives a lot of joy and entertainment for consumers.”

As global chief direct-to-consumer officer since last May, Herscovici sees the initiatives as building on the company’s mission to “create a future with more cheers.” “DTC helps provide that by giving consumers access to joyful beverage experiences,” he says. “We’re going to scale this even further. People enjoy our products when they have a barbecue or when they’re watching a football game. We know we can make those experiences even better with the products we offer.” 

AB InBev’s DTC services are present in more than 17 markets. Last year ABInBev’s DTC business counted more than 69 million online orders with nearly$500 million in net revenue driven via digital channels. Overall the beer category has seen sluggish sales due to inflation, but Herscovici says the category is resilient and profitable and a lot of this growth is happening in DTC and developing markets, which Herscovici oversees.

“We had an all-time high in volume growth with 2.3% volume growth and 11.2 net revenue growth,” he explains. “We show growth in more than 60% of the markets where we operate. Despite all the trends, we have been able to grow the category being the No. 1 brewer globally and our DTC products are contributing to that growth.”

These offerings rely on AB InBev’s massive logistics network with a presence in hundreds of markets and relationships in these markets with more than 6 million retailers. Herscovici will be speaking at the Brand Innovators’s Evolution of Retail Summit March 27-28. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

How are you thinking about digital transformation?

We have a very clear strategy. The first pillar is leading the category. The second pillar is digitizing and monetizing our ecosystem, which is helping drive this digital transformation. Within the second pillar of our strategy, we have two big propositions, one is DTC. What’s helping us drive the transformation, helping us connect with close to 2 billion consumers that already purchase our products. We want to create joyful experiences for them by solving pain points. This will help grow the category more effectively by developing occasions.

How are you working with retail partners?

In Brazil, we are doing a pilot rewards program where consumers can use QR codes on bottles. You buy a bottle with a QR code, you scan it and that gives you points. Those points can really be redeemed in a bar. So we drive foot traffic to our retail partners. And we’ve seen more than 35% of consumers wanting to redeem in a bar. This is a very good example of how we’re driving incremental sales for partners, being able to connect the online and the offline world, which is a dream come true. As a company, we can then see purchase behavior of the same consumer when they’re buying online or when they’re buying offline. This gives us a lot of insights on how we can grow the category better. 

From a partnerships perspective, we have 40,000 couriers that work for our retail partners that deliver our products. That’s another thing that we bring to the business. Another important thing to point out is our platform is open. So we don’t only sell our products, we sell competing products and we even sell other categories like snacks, ice, limes, charcoal, whatever is convenient to make the proposition better for the consumer. We always pride ourselves in doing what’s best for the consumer.

How is digitization transforming the category?

There are three areas in which we’re innovating to really drive innovation into the category. First is sustainability. We may be the only player out there in this space that is able to offer returnable bottles to consumers. Why? Because the driver can deliver an order and pick up returnable bottles in the same trip. More than 40% of our sales in Zé and TaDa are returnable packaging. The competition doesn’t have any returnable packaging. We know that this is better for the environment and this is better for consumers, because they are more affordable. This brings inclusivity and helps grow the category in a healthier way. 

The other innovation is doing partnerships with other companies. Recently, for example, we did a partnership with Meta. We did an app promotion with WhatsApp for Carnival. We had a 22% click through rate. We’re constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be done. 

The last area is in-home consumption, a trend that was already growing pre COVID and accelerated during the pandemic. Ecommerce sales are going to grow more than $10 billion globally in the next five years. This will help grow the relevance of beer within the ecommerce space and will help drive that online beer penetration to drive category growth.

Are there any campaigns that you’re currently working on? 

Last week, we did a campaign with football clubs in Brazil. You need to pay a monthly membership fee to become a member of and to be able to go to see the games in Latin America. We did a promotion in which 50% of what they pay monthly for the club membership, they get it in cash back for beer that they can buy on-site or for delivery. That’s an example of a benefit that we’re offering to consumers. People that were already fans of the club can use half of that membership fee to buy the beer that they are already buying. It created a lot of awareness and buzz around the country. 

Another campaign that we’re currently working on is a music festival in Colombia, called a Stereo Picnic. It’s one of the biggest music festivals like Lollapalooza. You can use TaDa to get a free beer at the festival. We know that getting beer in the festival is sometimes not that easy. This is an example of how we bring convenience to the experiences. 

The third example is for PerfectDraft. We have a campaign called Spring Rewards so we’re offering consumers that buy three to six kegs from April to June additional discounts to stimulate demand there. We recently launched Corona Zero, which is a big innovation. Corona is one of our global brands that is growing and growing and we’re activating a lot. Now we made it available with zero alcohol in Europe and that’s driving a lot of conversation. 

Are you seeing a growing demand for non-alcoholic beers?

Yes. We see health and wellness has been a trend that has been there for since COVID. This was accelerated. Non-alcohol beer sales are growing in all countries around the world. It started more in Europe. We see it happening in the US and in Latin America. We have Budweiser Zero and Corona Zero. It’s something that we see as bringing choice right to consumers. It drives moderation. It’s seen as a healthier proposition and we’re very proud to be activating non-alcohol brands around the world. 

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What trends do you expect to see this year?

One is the continued growth of ecommerce and in-home consumption. We had seen that prior to COVID, we saw an acceleration during COVID and now we’re seeing ecommerce go back to similar growth that was existing prior to COVID but with a higher base. In-home consumption is also growing a lot. The second trend that I see is convenience, which accelerated during COVID. I see it continuing its growth. In Brazil, we recently launched vending machines called Zé Express. Imagine you you enter the lobby of an apartment building and you can in there you can get our products cold at the best prices without needing to go anywhere.That’s an example with a breakthrough technology that is providing convenience to your home without needing to wait for anyone to deliver. We learned this from China where we have over 60 of these machines. The third trend is health and wellness, like the Corona Zero example.

The fourth trend is going back to experiential events. Carnival just happened a few weeks ago and it had a record turnout. Lollapalooza happened this past weekend in Argentina. We’re seeing a lot of people going back to enjoying these joyful beverages with their friends and having a great time. We’ve been activating these things for decades and we have a great opportunity now being able to integrate our DTC propositions within these festivals.

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