Profile: Cleyana Mayweather, Mars Wrigley Confectionery

Cleyana Mayweather has always had a passion for sports and is a true student of the game. So it made sense when she landed at the National Basketball Association fresh out of college with a degree in communication studies from Northwestern University. She was in digital marketing with the NBA until she decided to “flip the script” and pursue options on the brand side.After earning her MBA at Emory University, she joined Mars Ice Cream in its graduate development leadership program just more than a year ago. Since then, she has built the e-commerce marketing function and has set new standards for the company’s ice cream segment.She is one of the Path to Purchase Institute’s three Women of Excellence honorees in the “Rising Star” category.What are your current responsibilities?Mayweather: I’m responsible for creating our online content strategy, which includes everything from product details and images to leading our search optimization and also driving demand to those products on grocery e-commerce websites, grocery delivery and click-and-collect. I also work on our long-term brand strategy projects as a brand manager in the brand organization, which allows me to connect the brand and sales worlds.You have taken content for Mars Ice Cream to the next level. How so?Mayweather: I’ve set the expectation internally that we have to move with speed and it’s OK to fail. There are always new things in the space so we have to try them and if we don’t fail, we can’t learn how to really be successful in this new and emerging channel. Also I’ve created a function that many didn’t know the effects of actually having but are excited about now. Marketing e-commerce has not only been beneficial at Mars to really help with the digital shift of purchases, but it also helps arm our sales and marketing teams and the entire organization with more information and better resources.Please tell us how you have integrated online-ready content into the company’s new item process.Mayweather: The necessary steps required to launch a new item are mainly focused on how to win in a traditional brick-and-mortar environment, but it’s critical to make packaging pop in-store and online. I work to create a process that makes e-commerce marketing a part of our new item process so when we produce regular packaging artwork, we also produce e-commerce artwork that focuses on the key benefits of the project. Now when a new item is produced and ready to hit the market, it’s ready for both the physical and digital shelf. We are one of the segments leading this initiative at Mars. And more recently, I’ve worked with our global team to make sure we follow a global standard going forward.Can you talk about the research project the team carried out recently?Mayweather: I led a workstream for a large cross-functional project that really dove deep into looking at one of our largest brands and category. We looked at insights, analyzed data and created a strategy to move that brand forward. Making sure my team completed its work and deliverables on time helped me to grow leadership skills but also build those key relationships that are necessary to really win and do things at a high level in an organization.What excites you most about the future in this space?Mayweather: Retailers are asking us to drive shoppers into stores digitally. We’ve tried new digital shopper programs for the first time and have had great results, so it’s very exciting that we get to finally use the power of digital to touch the consumer in different ways.

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