Hall of Fame Profile: Joe Radabaugh

Joe Radabaugh says that while he's worn many hats at Nestlé USA over the past two decades, he's been fortunate to almost always be near the front lines of change. He's walked a career path that has taken him to all corners of the company, from field sales, logistics, planning, analytics, project management, process design and best practices to various global projects.He helped start up and now leads the Shopper Marketing & Insights team for Nestlé USA, managing a variety of specialized tasks for a variety of operating entities within the corporate family. In February, he submitted to a series of questions about the evolution of shopper marketing inside Nestlé and some of the challenges ahead.He will be recognized on April 14 during the In-Store Marketing Institute's 18th Annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Shopper Marketing Summit, held at The Westin O'Hare, Rosemont, Ill. He will be honored alongside two other 2011 Hall of Fame inductees: Kim Feil, vice president & CMO, Walgreen Co., and Mark Scott, the former vice president, shopper marketing & business development, Kimberly-Clark.SM: Please walk us through how shopper marketing is organized at Nestlé USA.Radabaugh: Our team supports Nestlé USA, which includes products that cross Frozen & Refrigerated Foods, Beverages, Baking, and Confections. Nestlé USA is one of five operating companies that Nestlé has in the U.S., with the others being Nestlé Nutrition, Nestlé Purina Petcare, Nestlé Waters, and Nestlé Professional.At Nestlé USA, our efforts in Shopper Marketing & Insights include a mixture of headquarters and field-based resources. Interestingly, focusing on "the shopper" was the lens that helped ignite new levels of collaboration across our U.S. operating companies. Our collective teams quickly realized that shoppers are looking for solutions that can "cross the box," and that our wide portfolio of strong brands paired with relevant insights and capabilities uniquely positions us to bring tremendous value to our retailer partners and their shoppers.SM: How did shopper marketing take root?Radabaugh: As I reflect on our efforts, it's been quite a journey. Prior to 2007, we were seeing pockets of thought leadership emerge in various divisions across Nestlé USA around some of the activities now associated with "shopper marketing." Our marketing teams were already very strong in the area of developing and leveraging traditional consumer insights, so it was a natural progression to try and learn more about how our consumers behave when they shop or figure out how our consumer segmentations might link to the newly developed shopper segmentation of our retail partners.As a result, Nestlé USA sales and marketing leadership sanctioned the initiation of a small corporate pilot in 2007 with the objective of exploring the benefits of developing more robust capability in this space. I was asked to lead this pilot, and our official journey in "shopper marketing" began. We started small, and ramped up quickly from there. We consolidated our best thinking while at the same time evaluated how the rest of the industry and Nestlé were thinking about the space. Over the next couple of years we learned a lot and began to solidify and socialize "shopper marketing" with marketing and sales.Throughout our journey I've been pleased with the sustained level of top-down executive support. Our leaders have been taking the journey with us, understanding that we wouldn't figure it out all at once. We'd make mistakes and have had to course correct over time. Even though robust measurements weren't consistently available, they stayed committed because they recognized some of the undeniable truths reshaping our industry real-time, such as 1) fragmentation of traditional media and the emergence of "the store" as a key influencer; 2) shoppers are busier than ever and are looking for more ideas and solutions; 3) our retail partners are getting more sophisticated in their approaches; and 4) technology was transforming the way consumers shopped.Early on, our activities were more opportunistic in nature as we learned how to approach the work. We did, however, quickly realize that to achieve sustained success we needed to ensure that a "winning with shopper" mindset worked its way into the DNA of our sales and marketing teams. Shopper marketing needed to move beyond a "project or initiative" status, and evolve into the way we do business.Given that, we've worked hard to institutionalize our efforts on several fronts. Such things as consistently framing-up how to think about the work (e.g., insights vs. activation, path to purchase mindset, etc.), ensuring that relevant shopper and retailer insights are integrated into our planning (e.g., shopper/retailer back), and providing our field teams with new tools and resources to engage (e.g., roadmaps). Tackling all of these things holistically is critical to drive sustained change.For me, success will be the day I see that "winning the shopper" actions are seamlessly integrated into how we innovate, build brands, and collaborate with our retail partners. We're on our way, but there is no doubt we have much more to do and will continue to learn and refine our approach.SM: Who are the key members of your team?Radabaugh: : I've been fortunate to work with a wonderful collection of individuals during this journey. Some of the best and brightest from within Nestlé are either currently on the team or have rotated through the group. Currently, we have team members dedicated to uncovering insights, while others are embedded with either brand or customer teams. Integrating the voice of the shopper upstream in brand planning as well as downstream into collaborative customer planning and activation are central activities of the group.SM: Depending on which consultant you ask, category management and shopper marketing either conflict with or complement each other. What are their respective roles at Nestlé USA?Radabaugh: I love getting into this discussion with folks, since one's answer can quickly reveal their perspective on many fronts. We've definitely wrestled with this one as well. We have both functions and my point of view is their activities can and should complement each other. The efforts of these two functions should be closely linked during insights and strategy development, but utilize their different competencies during activation (e.g., communication development versus assortment planning).If you start in an integrated way while uncovering foundational insights (e.g., purchase barriers and influencers along the path to purchase) it naturally leads you to a discussion about what can be done in the future to orchestrate different behaviors that can positively impact category performance. The possible activation strategies and tactics will probably include a combination of various marketing and merchandising options, but should be vetted and prioritized in a coordinated way to maximize efforts. To clear up any confusion, organizations need to break down the key activities for themselves and assign as well as communicate clear roles and responsibilities to minimize possible conflicts. We're still working on this as well.SM: When did you first realize that in-store marketing could be a career?Radabaugh: I grew up mostly on the sales side, but over time developed a passion and deep appreciation for marketing. I felt that Nestlé could sharpen our efforts at the point of purchase, doing a better job of targeting and engaging with our most valuable consumers. Finishing my MBA helped me crystallize my thinking that excellence in marketing can and should be extended all the way to the point of purchase. This was not new news for many in our industry, since departments like customer/co-marketing have been in existence for years. But the difference I saw with shopper marketing was two-fold:The shopper becomes the sweet spot between retailers and manufacturers.Insights are critical to the key strategies and tactics pursued.However, my "ah ha" moment that in-store marketing could be a viable career came after a presentation I made to a collection of USC graduate marketing students. I found the students were pre-programmed to think their only path to a marketing career was through brand marketing. It was illuminating to them (and the professors) that marketing could have other focus points, and that the store was emerging as a powerful marketing vehicle influencing purchase decisions. I had to cut short the robust Q&A or they would've kept me for an additional hour!I'm convinced our industry has to do a better job collaborating with academia to build out curriculum and specialization in this space.SM: What advice would you give to anyone just breaking into shopper marketing?Radabaugh: I'd offer up a few things:Embrace the ambiguity. It's an exciting but still-evolving space.Find your "inner shopper." Start reflecting on your own behaviors.Pursue relevant functional knowledge. Having both marketing and research skills are a plus.Buddy up. Find a thought leader whom you can bounce ideas and concepts off.Stay informed on the space. Leverage resources like the In-Store Marketing Institute!SM: We know that Nestlé devotes a lot of time and effort to spreading the "message" of shopper marketing throughout the organization. What kinds of things do you find most effective?Radabaugh: One thing I'm very proud of is our degree of commitment to "change management" around winning with shoppers. A robust illustration of this occurred in 2009 when we developed and executed a year-long integrated change-management plan that touched Field Sales, Headquarter Sales, and Brand Marketing. One of the capstone activities was a meeting for Nestlé marketers in North America, where marketing teams came together to immerse themselves in exercises, key concept overviews, case studies and expert panels in order to elevate their awareness and capabilities on how to win with shoppers. I'm also pleased that "winning with shoppers" is now a part of Nestlé's worldwide brand-building curriculum.SM: We hear that your CEO takes an interest in shopper marketing too.Radabaugh: Our CEO, Brad Alford, has been great in his leadership and support for our efforts in this space. He's demonstrated that support in several ways over the years, including making it a key priority in his annual "blueprint for success." I attribute some of that support to the fact that he has great experience in brand marketing and cross-training in sales. I've personally seen him challenge our marketers to walk in the shoes of their shoppers, ensuring they understand the constraints they face (e.g., time/money) and where along the path to purchase they make the decision to buy our products. He's earned his shopper stripes.SM: How does shopper marketing fit into a "worldwide brand-building curriculum"?Radabaugh: From a global context I definitely see, and have experienced firsthand, synergies that can be unlocked by thinking and collaborating globally. However, I also see limitations. I see clear benefits in creating common frameworks, training curriculums, work processes in addition to leveraging great vendors, effective activation vehicles, and more. However, when it comes to developing and sharing global shopper insights… I'm not there yet. My belief is that there isn't a global consumer for "food," and I suspect the same thing can be said for shoppers.SM: Are there any shopper marketing campaigns that you find particularly memorable?Radabaugh: We made a decision early on that we would leverage shopper marketing and insights to enrich many of the activities we were already doing. As a result, the related work output is evident in the execution of a range of activities such aspre-store marketing vehiclesin-aisle space and assortmentcategory shelving solutionsout-of-aisle shopper solution displaysbrand marketing campaigns at retail, andco-marketing scale programsA good integrated example of our work was our recent "Family Night In" program that paired up our Stouffers and Nestlé Toll House brands along with a movie offer to create the perfect "night-in" occasion for families. The execution included several pre-store and in-store communication touchpoints as well as in-store merchandising support. Consumer and shopper insights led us to the solution, but we also pre-tested program concepts with shoppers. As a result we saw pronounced category and brand lifts that exceeded our expectations.SM: What's involved in re-designing a platform as venerable as "Good Food, Good Life"?Radabaugh: One of the most visible recurring examples at Nestlé USA can be seen in the retail execution of our "Good Food, Good Life" (GFGL) marketing platform. Our GFGL program is Nestlé USA's primary scale retail marketing vehicle, and is executed in collaboration with our retail partners several times a year. After extensive consumer and shopper insight work, this program was redesigned a couple of years ago to be more shopper-centric. As a result, the executions are now more relevant to shoppers via the way we frame the communication, bundle our products, and merchandise in-store.Retail partners have been pleased with our new approach and the associated results for their business. The co-marketing team and our agency partner have done a great job evolving our efforts here. We'll look to continue to enhance our efforts here as well.SM: What are "out-of-aisle shopper solutions" at Nestlé?Radabaugh: This refers to our development of shopper-centric secondary display solutions (for example, a lunchbox solution for Mom pairing Juicy Juice drink boxes and a snack) that were created as a result of insight work. It is significant, since now we're pursuing these types of opportunities as a result of applying a shopper lens to drive improved results. For example, how our brands can be more relevant on "quick trips" in addition to just "stock-up trips."SM: How often do you co-promote with other manufacturers or retailers?Radabaugh: We co-promote with both other manufacturers as well as private brands at the local level, where it makes sense. One by-product of looking at our business through a shopper lens is the new opportunities it reveals for solutions, and occasions to pursue. We don't always have the breadth of portfolio to build the certain solutions or to play in certain occasions, so establishing partners is important. We're really excited about the acquisition of the Kraft pizza business (DiGiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen and Jacks) and the additional opportunities it will unlock for our portfolio.SM: What is Nestlé USA's approach to the digital path to purchase?Radabaugh: I'm a big believer in the unfolding power of digital and the prominent place it will have in our overall marketing mix and certainly shopper marketing strategy. Things are starting to change quickly, especially as brand teams realize the power of social media and location-based marketing.I see two major paths here: The first path for shopper digital strategy is as a coordinated extension of a brand's digital strategy, especially since it's one of the only vehicles that can enable a brand to engage a consumer in a cohesive way along their entire path to purchase journey. The second path comes the other way, as an output of upfront collaboration between retailers and manufacturers. Wonderful opportunities exist for partners to target and engage mutually beneficial shoppers and create new types of offers and loyalty programs that drive improved results. We're activating and experimenting on several fronts. I expect the frequency and sophistication of those activities to only increase.SM: What are some key issues on the horizon in shopper marketing?Radabaugh: I'd like to think there is more upside and opportunity for the space versus the challenges, especially given the universal truths I mentioned earlier that I believe are shaping our industry at a rapid pace. However, for shopper marketing to deliver on its promise, the business value and results must be consistently visible to all constituents. I'd sum up my quick hit priorities for the industry as:Activate a more defined retailer/manufacturer collaboration model (e.g., Retail Commission on Shopper Marketing)Align on a viable standardized metric frameworkTake advantage of opportunities in the digital space, andCreate a pipeline of practitioners in collaboration with colleges and universities

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