ORLANDO – When recruiting new hires, Katie Williams, vp of marketing at Mondelez, likes to share the company’s values: loving Mondelez consumers and brands, growing every day and doing what’s right. The goal is to underscore that employees will work on the iconic brands owned by Mondelez, including Oreo, Sour Patch Kids and Chips Ahoy in an environment that cares about their work and how they do it.
“When we connected into [our values], it enabled us to talk to young recruits not just about our brands but why we’re here, how we’ll engage with you as a colleague and what opportunities we have to deliver,” Williams told Beet.TV in an interview at the CMO Growth Council.
Mondelez, which formed eight years ago, has a vast portfolio of brands, some of which have been around for more than 100 years. Brand purpose is a thread that runs through how the marketing arm of the company operates, particularly as the company has worked to reinvigorate legacy brands. According to Williams, Mondelez had to recognize that the customer landscape has changed, and how brands serve customers has changed, even within the last 10 years. “It’s about mattering to consumers, not about marketing to consumers,” she says. “Reinvigoration starts with a love for consumers.”
That approach has led Mondelez to diversify its marketing mix to include more opportunities for personalization on digital, social and data-driven channels, alongside long-standing channels like TV. Broad reach channels like TV help to drive ROI and raise brand awareness, but they have to be combined with more targeted channels.
“It’s important for us to recognize that the path to purchase has changed significantly. It’s not just about driving awareness and shouting from the rooftops about what your brand bundle is – it’s connecting with consumers across channels and doing that in a personalized way,” says Williams. “TV works as a foundational element of that plan, but it’s not the only element of that plan anymore.”
This video is was produced in Orlando at the CMO Growth Council. The series is sponsored by iSpot.tv. For more videos from the event, please visit this page.
