Hall of Fame Profile: Tracy VanBibber

After 19 years with Kraft Foods, Tracy VanBibber joined The Henkel/Dial Corp. in Scottsdale, Ariz., and contributed to a complete reinvention of its in-store merchandising. The company streamlined its process, achieving higher-quality displays, better branding and faster lead-times.VanBibber was rooted in shopper marketing while at Kraft but continued her efforts at Dial, even working with the GMA and Deloitte Consulting on their landmark shopper marketing studies, for which she wrote the RFPs and took a leadership role. Dial is in its second year under the newly centralized Winning In-Store team, and one area the group is working to improve on is putting insights into action. She says brands have no trouble gathering important insights -- for example, shoppers are focusing on needs and not wants -- but they need to work on making the insights actionable.Two years ago, Progressive Grocer named VanBibber one of the "Top Women" in the industry. Adding to her hardware, she's being inducted into the P-O-P Hall of Fame. She joined Elizabeth Bishop, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and Patrick Hare of Kraft Foods in the 2009 class. All three were honored in a ceremony at the In-Store Marketing Summit, April 1-3, at McDonald's Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Ill. We sat down with VanBibber for a Q&A. Interviews with Hare and Bishop were in the March and April issues.How did you get started in shopper marketing?I was with Kraft for 19 years prior to joining Dial. Eight years ago, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to lead sales planning and shopper marketing for the entire organization as VP of sales strategy. Kraft was well ahead of its time. Not only did Kraft have a shopper marketing focus at headquarters, but they also made sure that experts supported key customer teams in the field.What was your path to Henkel?Quite honestly, I went to school for political studies. I didn't think I'd be in marketing or sales, to be sure. I thought I'd be in law or politics, and I still think I will someday.I knew it was meant to be after the driver picked me up at the airport and we got a flat tire. Then, the hotel I was staying at was out of regular rooms and only had pull-down beds available. Finally, the interview was to start at 6 a.m., and I only had four hours of sleep. It felt like someone was trying to tell me something!I met with then-CEO Herb Baum for breakfast, and he blew me away. The first thing he said was, "All I want to know about this morning is you and how you work with people. Please don't share numbers, budget accomplishments or awards you've received -- you wouldn't be here if you weren't talented." Here I am five years later, leading the Dial sales organization and proud to be part of this amazing team.Our brands are powerful, our vision is ambitious but the employees are what keeps morale high and turnover low. They are passionate people, making a difference -- hard to beat that combination.At Kraft, you held 15 different positions. What were some of them and how did that range of experience help you in your job today?I started out in sales, calling on stores in Commerce City, Colo., for Kraft. I moved nine times with Kraft and worked in line management sales, training, project management, sales planning, sales strategy and led customer teams, regions, divisions and areas.I learned the different channels, geographies and the importance of marketing, sales and customers being joined at the hip. I learned I love to lead; I am a change agent. I also learned just because I can lead doesn't mean I am a good manager. I know where we need to go, why, and how to get there, but I can't forget to bring the gang with me.Describe your role at Dial.I lead the sales organization and have an outstanding boss in Brad Casper, Dial's CEO. I don't think I would be here today if it wasn't for Brad -- he has carried on Herb's tradition of making it all about the people. I admire Brad for his marketing savvy, for his outstanding communications skills, for his passion to win and for his vision to get us there. I have a passionate team of sales leaders that have outstanding customer relationships. I have an exceptional Winning In Store organization, led by Melanie Boulden. They have taken a vision and made it an amazing reality. We have four general managers that are great working with the customer and demonstrate flexibility to get it right. We have a strong supply team, led by Jim Hardy, that puts the customer first. We have a new vice president of finance and controlling, Ian Parish, who is extremely smart, friendly and flexible. For all these reasons, and many more, it makes leading the sales organization extremely enjoyable, rewarding and fun.Really, my role starts and ends with the customer. We are customer focused with joint annual planning, frequent top-to-tops and score carding. Also, we are owned by a German Company, Henkel, and we work aggressively to get it right within their portfolio expectations.When you joined Dial, the company underwent a major reorganization where you streamlined the in-store merchandising department. How did this change come about? What did your company learn about itself?Here was what our customers told us: "The quality of your in-store merchandising is poor, you take too long, you aren't flexible to meet my needs, and you rank in the bottom third compared to your competition in this area. Other than that, you are fine!" So we got serious about in-store merchandising. We brought in two brilliant consultants who assisted us in starting over. They literally lived with us for four months.We realized many people are involved in the process, but no one owned it from start to finish. We realized having 17 partners working with the in-store marketing (ISM) team made this process complex, expensive and slow. We reduced down to two suppliers and then to one. Our ISM team has been able to take cost out of the system, produce higher quality displays, cut lead times in half and provide flexibility.We are now getting feedback like, "Dial is flexible and I can rely on them to deliver quality ISM solutions within the time frames requested." Great work by Tom Owen and that entire team.In the new ISM system, how does sales work with marketing, creative, R&D?One of the main roles of the Winning In-Store ISM team is to facilitate the integration of all the different functional areas that in some way touch ISM. Each ISM initiative has multiple, unique moving parts, any one of which can quickly derail a project should something fail. ISM is responsible for pulling together marketing, sales planning, demand planning, scheduling, our third-party strategic partner, data management, sales, etc., to make sure that every area is represented and doing their part for flawless execution.In the past, there was no centralized group overseeing the entire process and we often missed the mark. Today, the sales team has one-stop shopping by being able to come directly to the ISM team. We also have a Web-based one-stop shop for all of sales to go to view ISM vehicles, specs and timing so they can pick and choose what makes sense with their customers.What part did you play in the making of the two Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and Deloitte shopper marketing studies?I had recommended to the GMA sales committee that we tackle this topic. It is an important, evolving new way to go to market that we are all learning about together within the industry. I was part of both studies, writing the RFPs and co-leading the efforts as the studies unfolded with my other GMA sales counterparts.As a sales committee, we thought there were many thought-provoking questions that we needed to take a closer look at in this arena: If many decisions are made at the point of purchase, then isn't that where we should be influencing? Are we? If so, how much more than in the past? How does shopper marketing fit within the marketing mix? All parties were engaged and confident about this from day one, and the two studies bear that out. Study three should be starting up shortly.In your opinion, what have been the most significant changes affecting shopper marketing in the past five years?The top three have to be:Time-starved shoppers bombarded with fragmented messages from everywhere.The sophistication of understanding shopper insights and how to act upon them.The sophistication of retailers as marketers.In your 20-plus years in sales and marketing, is the importance of gathering shopper insights and knowing the shopper becoming more prominent than before? If so, in what ways?Yes, yes, yes. Retailers are looking for insights that drive better solutions for their shopper and their sales. The opportunity to work together in testing the redesign of how categories are organized for ease of shopping, or to suggest different adjacencies to increase market basket size, or to recommend when promotions should fall to take advantage of shoppers' paychecks is all good stuff that collectively can be a big brand/category/store win for all. It takes plenty of people, financial and system resources that some CPG companies have more of than others. But, no excuses, we all can add value here and we need to.Dial is taking on "Owning Understanding of the Value Shopper" by channel and by customer. We have completed an extensive Phase 1 and are now embarking on Phase 2. We have to stop and question often, "What are we going to do with the insight we just uncovered?" That is the largest challenge for all of us -- frankly, there are too many insights and not enough action these days. I'd rather have fewer insights but have powerful suggested actions that can move the needle. We are getting there.How does Dial gather shopper insights? What have you learned and how has it influenced your in-store merchandising?Our Winning In-Store team works across the businesses to make sure we have linkage and the best solutions possible. As an example: Our consumer insight group works with consumers on why cough and cold solutions are important and tries to identify what you are looking for to meet your needs.After we ask many questions and gather the insights, the headquarter category managers create the "reason to believe" that our solution will resonate with the shopper and grow category sales. We incorporate the insights into our themed messages in FSIs, in-store merchandising, etc. We are looking to have one look all year long with key messaging that is appropriate for the key period. We are in our beginning stages of bringing all of this together.What market forces and cultural changes are affecting Dial's use of P-O-P and how will this affect your displays in the future?I would not focus only on displays - we need to change our out-of-store and in-store solutions due to changes in shopper behavior. Now, shoppers are focusing on needs, not wants. They are shopping-list focused, and they are trying hard to avoid impulse purchases. Shoppers want to feel confident that they got a "value." How do we emphasize our items and the categories they live in to fill a need? How do we make sure we end up on the shopping list? How do we show a compelling value that resonates with shoppers right now?We also need to proactively demonstrate flexibility so once the shopper shifts again, we are on the proactive curve of the change. This is not easy to do, but it's worth the time and energy.You have moved 10 times from all over the Midwest to Utah to California. I have to ask: What is life like in these different parts of the country?I've learned so much by working with various customers across the country. Understanding the unique geographic personalities and meeting new people is a hoot! I wouldn't trade those unique experiences for anything. Of course, every location has pros and cons, but a heck of a lot more good than bad, I feel. I thought I would force myself to come up with one word that best sums up all the places we've lived:Illinois - Home (moved there three times)California - ExcitingUtah - UniqueMinneapolis - COLD!Denver - Vibrant (moved there twice)Seattle - BeautifulWisconsin - Fun-LovingBaltimore - BustlingArizona - SunnySpecial thanks to my husband and three kids for embracing all the moves as new and wonderful adventures! And, I can't forget to mention how awesome my Mom and Dad are. Their support has given me the confidence to tackle things others might not.

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