Jim Stengel, Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble, will be the headline speaker at this year’s ANA Annual conference: Masters of Marketing. Mr. Stengel’s presentation titled, Leadership for Building Successful Brands, will focus on P&G’s leadership in energizing their mature brands and creating new ones that resonate with today’s consumers. I recently spoke with Jim and we discussed his participation at the upcoming conference.
1. Jim, what points can you share from your experience at P&G that contribute in building a successful brand?
We are at our best when we are engaging consumers at times and places that are important in their lives, reaching out to them on their terms in a permission-based way. We’ve learned a great deal about creating experiences that reinforce our brands’ equity with non-traditional marketing approaches.
For example, creating unique in-store experiences for beauty brands like SK-II skin care and Pantene hair care; reaching parents at milestones in their baby’s development; sampling our home care products with soon-to-be newlyweds applying for their marriage license. And certainly the online space is opening new doors for us, helping to create an innovative way of interacting with our consumers through a two-way dialogue that provides them access to us, and a way for them to set guidelines on how they would like to receive information about our products.
We have created a mantra of sorts in putting the consumer at the center of all we do. This is not something new for our company as we’ve had a strong consumer focus for more than 165 years. But when we really, really think about what it means and how choices are made with the consumer in mind, this results in more focused brands, more aspirational brands, more broadly-defined brands and it inspires our people to understand that their business plays a role in the life of the consumer.
2. What advice do you have for marketers at other companies who are facing similar challenges that you face – both in revitalizing brands and creating new ones?
Keeping the consumer at the center of the decision-making process is key to identifying solutions to the challenges all of us face in a world that is increasingly more fragmented due to the multiple ways media is consumed. If you can successfully determine where your consumer is spending his/her time, you can appropriately tailor messages to reach them in the most effective way.
Consumer-centric marketing has no assumptions. It begins with identifying who is your consumer and determining what is unique and different about him/her. A simple idea executed extremely well.
Getting to know your individual brand consumer and what influences his/her decisions, through a consumer-driven approach that is deeper and more personal provides you the insight to make deliberate choices about how best to reach him/her. This insight holds true regardless if you are introducing a new product or refreshing an established brand. Keeping the interests of the consumer in mind provides the compass to set the right direction for a brand.
3. Can you provide us with insight on how you have managed to successfully balance a diverse portfolio of brands?
Each brand has a unique story to tell, but all of the brands have something to learn from one another. By creating a “learning” culture that encourages open sharing of successes as well as opportunities, we have been able to successfully identify and reapply programs across regions and across business units. This has led to a greater acceptance for testing and experimentation of new marketing models as we seek to develop more insightful ways to engage with consumers.
4. Based on your experience, what can attendees expect to gain from attending the Annual Conference – and what are you most looking forward to this year?
Inspiration, ideas, camaraderie, and a little sunburn. The ANA annual conference is a marketing "fitness spa" – you exercise old muscles you have not used in a while, and you discover new muscles during an energizing marketing workout. This is one of the premier industry events of the year, and it always offers surprise, thought provoking challenges and great opportunities to make new industry connections.
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