Flavor Forward Strategy

Independent Strategist partnering with brands to create healthy, sustainable food innovation

Recent Projects:
• Innovation Strategy Lead for a rapidly growing ($50MM) BFY confectionery snack brand. Established brand guardrails, landscaped 5 adjacent categories, and facilitated cross-functional ideation workshop culiminating in category extension / brand stretch recommendations.

• Interim Innovation Director for a ($1.5B+) private equity backed juice brand. Created brand & innovation architectures, shaped consumer insights & unmet needs into innovation platforms, wrote 75 product concepts in <1 week, and filled the brand's 5 year innovation pipeline.

• External Facilitator for a ($300MM) growth-stage, better for you, better for the planet meat snack. Conducted stakeholder interviews, planned, moderated, and directed the brand's first-ever innovation summit generating 10 testable new product concepts.

• Brand Strategist supporting a global team of behavior change specialists & nutritionists. Tasked with landscaping the dietary diversity needs of school-age children in India to fight malnutrition & micronutrient deficiency, mapping best practices & gaps in existing programs (public, private, NGOs, and PPPs), and making recommendations to further improve the ($600MM) health drink's social impact.

• Head of Insights & Innovation for a rapidly growing ($50MM), purpose-driven, clean-label frozen novelties brand. Established repeatable commercialization process, tested 50 category extensions, filled 3-year innovation pipeline, wrote sell-in story and customer-facing category strategy for long-term growth.

• Innovation Strategist for two of the world's largest ($1B+) salty snack brands. Elevated jobs to be done with culturally relevant & emotionally rich consumer insights, drafted discussion guides, moderated digital consumer interviews, facilitated cross-functional ideation workshops, and wrote new product platforms & concepts.

More here: 
FlavorFwd.com

Founder & Innovation Director

Drake University

Guest Lecturer for Drake's College Of Business & Public Administration

Courses:
-Consumer Behavior: Marketing + Psychology (Mktg 115)
-Money or Mission: First Year Seminar in Social Entrepreneurship (FYS 004)

Guest Lecturer - Consumer Behavior & Social Entrepreneurship

The Taste Trust

Co-Founder of The Taste Trust. We're a merry band of food innovators with 3 goals...

• Connect - smart people with different perspectives (brand, co. size, location, function, seniority)
• Learn - from each other, making each of us 10% smarter about food innovation
• Play with Purpose - bringing fresh air to stale (but real) business problems

Every month, Taste Trustees bring one of the the following to our call:
• A food innovation challenge / business issue we're wrestling with
• An untapped whitespace opportunity we believe has potential
• An innovation trend we're keeping an eye on
• A new product that we love / hate

Along the way we learn a little and laugh a lot.

Co-Founder

Tropicana Brands Group

Interim Innovation Director, Tropicana

GoodPop

Interim Head of Insights & Innovation

Wells Enterprises

Brand Manager for Blue Bunny's $500MM ice cream & frozen novelties businesses

• Served as "general manager", overseeing all daily operations for flagship Blue Bunny brand
• Orchestrated 8-figure IMC/360 marketing campaign incl. TV, social media, digital, PR
• Led new product commercialization & portfolio management for all product lines
• Supported director & innovation team on 3 year plan and innovation pipeline
• Owned media plan & marketing budget; led monthly demand meetings with senior leadership
• Managed two senior associate brand managers & creative/PR/social/media agencies

Brand Manager, Blue Bunny

Yum! Brands

Brand manager with P&L responsibility for $1.5 billion KFC U.S. Group Occasion segment

• Returned declining segment to growth, delivering +30% sales growth YTD thru Aug '20
• Coached 2 associate brand managers & served on KFC’s Coaches Council on behalf of marketing
• Oversaw the design, planning, and execution of 10+ cross-functional projects at a time
• Facilitated bi-weekly innovation alignment meetings with c-suite and key franchisees
• Sold 400k Cinnabon Desert Biscuits per day and won QSR's 2019 package of the year
• Generated over one billion impressions with Chicken & Donuts, driving millennial consideration
• Coached new ABM through KFC's biggest bet of 2019, Kentucky Fried Wings in <6 months

The relaunch of Kentucky Fried Wings effectively tripled our sales of wings during the promotion, and doubled ongoing everyday sales for the layer.  This was a highly complex launch, touching virtually every part of the business, including:

• Renovation of 2 core menu items (hot wings & BBQ sauce)
• Launch of a new sauce (buffalo)
• Development of new cooking & saucing procedures back of house
• Significant changes to menu boards
• National rollout of Delivery via GrubHub
• An ambitious supply plan increasing wings production to over one million pounds per week

Brand Manager, KFC Calendar Marketing

Innovation manager responsible for overhauling KFC’s innovation stage-gate process

• Redesigned KFC’s innovation process to generate more ideas and standardize consumer testing
• Accelerated product development process, cutting down on paperwork & time to market
• Filled 18 month innovation pipeline, a key enabler for 2018 & 2019 annual operating plans
• Started embedding a culture of innovation with R&D, marketing, finance, and operations teams

Brand Manager, KFC Upstream Design & Innovation

Unilever

Innovation lead for two of Unilever’s largest heritage ice cream brands: Popsicle & Klondike

• Initiated format launch across 4 brands estimated to contribute $100M in retail sales
• Collaborated with agencies to reposition Popsicle, including 2019+ communications roadmap
• Led innovation for Popsicle Canada & Klondike Canada (new products & claims through 2020)
• Ran point on nutrition & sustainability, ensuring that our growth was responsible
• Redesigned Popsicle.com (managed 4 external agency partners and cross functional teammates)

Senior Associate Brand Manager, Popsicle & Klondike Innovation

Resident expert on developed markets for the world’s largest hand washing program 

• International short term assignment in Mumbai, India
• Crafted strategy for launching Lifebuoy in new countries (i.e. white spaces) 
• Localized Lifebuoy’s interactive voice response (IVR) mother's program for Indonesia and Kenya
• Streamlined UX for reporting the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan’s (USLP) reach

Senior Associate Brand Manager, Lifebuoy Social Mission

Brand expert for sales teams & customer expert for the brand team

• Coordinated development of national sales strategy, incl. price & promotional guidelines
• Partnered with all major customer teams to set trade rates & sales targets
• Optimized trade spend by analyzing past events and vetting in-year funding requests
• Tracked all in-store merchandising to ensure flawless off-shelf product placement
• Set standards to prevent channel conflict between e-commerce and brick & mortar retailers
• Supported retail sell-in of Hellmann's Vegan (Carefully Crafted) and Organic Mayonnaise 
• Supported foodservice and retail sell-in of Hellmann's Stick Packets

Channel & Customer Development, Hellmann's/Best Foods

Business Manager with P&L responsibility for $200 million personal care brand 

• Led all cross-functional margin improvement & innovation projects
• Owned business operations for the brand, incl. P&L management, budgeting, and forecasting
• Managed external agency partners (PR, design, and social media) 
• Led digital marketing (incl. SEO, SEM, and e-commerce)
• Supported Unilever’s campus recruiting team and employee wellness business resource group
• Delivered Q-tips best-selling month ever (to-date): August 2015
• Recognized by AdWeek as the #8 Most Trusted CPG Brand for Women

Senior Assistant Brand Manager, Q-tips & Vaseline

Unilever’s boots on the ground in Minnesota for Walmart, Target, and the Grocery channel 

• Enhanced store-level execution of customer marketing programs 
• Piloted new share of shelf software & reported compliance vs. planograms 
• Built and maintained displays and other forms of in-store visibility (ISV)
• Influenced store managers to participate in marketing programs, improving display support

Retail Analyst

Data Analyst for Unilever’s 200+ Hair Care SKUs at Target

• Supported TRESemme, Nexxus, Dove, Suave, Clear, Axe, TIGI, TONI&GUY, Motions, Just for Me
• Optimized coupon drops to prevent layering & maximize ROI of brand/retailer trade spend
• Conducted ad-hoc analysis using Nielsen & RSi to refine category price & promo strategy 
• Developed data-driven consultative sales support material
• Partnered with Category Management & Customer Service to improve forecasting & in-stocks

Sales Analyst, Target Hair Care

Brand Management Intern for Vaseline – encouraged men to add skin care to grooming routines

• Developed launch plans for Men’s Spray Lotion with external agencies (PR, Design, and Media)
• Conducted competitive analysis of men’s lotion category using Nielsen Nitro and ad spend data
• Recommended growth opportunities in men’s grooming segments to marketing leadership

Brand Management Intern

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management

Marketing intern – helped a team of financial advisors find & serve high net worth individuals

• Developed full marketing plan for financial advisors to grow assets under management (AUM)
• Improved conversion with snowball sampling and referrals in place of cold calling 
• Worked with an advanced CRM system to generate warm leads (high net worth individuals)
• Partnered with compliance team to develop new, substantiated marketing claims 
• Recommended business development opportunities with large local businesses
• Recruited and trained my replacement to ensure a seamless transition

Marketing Intern

I'm an innovation strategist on a mission to create $500MM in healthy, sustainable food innovation by 2030 in support of the United Nations' SDGs.

It's a blend of food innovation, brand strategy, consumer insights, and environmental & social impact work.

➤ Who I Help:
✓ Entrepreneurs: 
co-founders | bootstrapped startups | investor-backed scaleups

✓ Intrapreneurs:
purpose-driven brands in the food & beverage and CPG industry


➤ Where I Started:
✓ In-house brand management / strategic marketing for...
✓ Unilever (Popsicle, Klondike, Hellmann's, Best Foods)
✓ Yum! Brands (KFC)
✓ Wells Enterprises (Blue Bunny)


➤ What I Do:
✓ Food Innovation:
product-market fit | category extension | category creation | brand stretch | whitespace mapping | platform innovation | portfolio architecture | competitive landscaping | innovation process design | concept writing

✓ Consumer Insights:
concept testing | consumption data analysis | qualitative research | focus groups | interviews | ethnography | consumer journey mapping | workshop facilitation | research vendor referrals

✓ Brand Strategy:
value proposition | brand positioning | brand purpose | social mission | vision | values | brand personality | brand archetypes | distinctive attributes | functional benefits | emotional benefits | brand key


➤ Why I Do It:
1) We need to accelerate our transition to a more sustainable food system. Today, global food production accounts for ~35% of emissions and ~50% of habitable land use, yet ~1/3 of the food we produce goes to waste. By 2050, there will be 10 billion people on this planet. They will need to eat.

2) We need to encourage people to make healthier choices with food. 1/3 of Americans are obese. Another 1/3 of Americans are overweight. Plant-based diets reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and stroke, and simultaneously improve our quality of life while we're here.

3) If the core skills of a marketer are behavior change & demand generation, and if the core function of innovation is to solve human problems, I can think of no better use of my time & talents than helping people make better choices with food -- both for themselves and for the planet we all inhabit.


➤ How I Do It:
✓ Values: growth, truth, freedom
✓ Strengths: learner, focus, achiever, analytical, significance
✓ Archetypes: creator, explorer, sage
✓ Enneagram: 5 (investigator), 1 (reformer), 8 (challenger)
✓ MBTI: INTJ (architect)


If you're a founder, entrepreneur, investor, innovator, or strategist working to make the food world a better place...
🌍 read more: FlavorFwd.com
👍 let's connect!

88-93% of Americans don’t eat enough plants.
Those are real numbers. From the CDC.
Specifically…

12.3% of Americans eat their daily fruit.
10.0% of Americans eat their daily vegetables.
<10% of Americans eat their daily whole grains.
7% of Americans -- just 7% -- eat their daily fiber.

That means you’re outnumbered.
By about 10:1

If you want to eat well, get comfortable being different.

Fortunately, small changes compound fast. 
Start with 1 more serving -- *today* -- and grow from there.

Nick Budden

How Nestlé innovates, from their head of innovation + R&D:

1) “It starts with understanding what the consumer needs are. We try to avoid people coming up with ideas on their own – it has to come from a consumer understanding.”

2) “I get inspiration everywhere. Whenever I’m at conferences, even when I’m grocery shopping.”

3) “Innovation is happening globally. We have centres around the world, and each one is working on global innovations. The whole point of these global innovations is to roll them out to most markets.”

4) “Two in a box.” “Where you bring in someone from R&D (on the) technical (side), and someone from marketing and consumer, and they work together to come up with the winning proposition. And once you have this winning proposition put together, you have to test (with) consumers again – even if it’s just a paper concept, you have to make sure it resonates with the consumer.”

5) “If you’re not into AI, you’re not going to survive. It’s not just about Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT, it’s about digitally transforming your value chain end-to-end with innovation. With AI you go faster – you iterate faster, you test faster. It’s a no brainer. If you’re not doing it that way, if you’re still doing the pen and paper method, then you’re going to go extinct very fast.”

Love them or hate them, they're still the biggest food company on planet earth. This is their playbook. Borrow it or do it better.

https://lnkd.in/gbeHT_zX

Open article: Nestlé R&D head on how the world’s biggest CPG innovates by foodnavigator.com

Rania Abou Samra, Head of Innovation and R&D for Nestlé MENA

Nestlé R&D head on how the world’s biggest CPG innovates

Have better-for-you food brands lost the plot entirely?
Sometimes I really do wonder.

I wonder if we’ll ever stop defining “better” as the absence of a negative (fat, sugar, calories, etc.) or stop the myopic/mechanical process of bolting on one nutrient of interest at a time.

Not just adding 20 grams of protein and calling it better. 
Not hot swapping the worst ingredient for the 2nd worst.
Not formulating for a claim on a label, but for real people.

Not just following consumer perceptions – hiding behind the convenient comfort of “just giving people what they want” – but actually educating people to want what they already clinically need. 

I wonder if we’ll ever define better health and nutrition as it actually is – as the presence of the *many* positives offered, first and foremost, by an abundant variety of minimally-processed fruits & vegetables.

Where “white space” and “unmet need” are not defined within the narrow bounds of fiduciary responsibility, but within the much broader realm of real unmet human needs – a white space that remains perennially unexplored, under-developed, and yes, unmet.

I wonder if we ever stop to consider the harm we cause when we casually use the terms “wants” and “needs” interchangeably. 

I wonder if we can ever learn to look beyond “the business reality” to see *reality*. I’m not suggesting we ignore financial results. I’m beckoning for braver leadership, to be 1% more open to the idea that financial results and public health outcomes can improve in tandem.

Is that a message BFY brands are ready to hear?
Because sometimes I really do wonder…

“I think (the food revolution) would start with transforming our agricultural production system into one that was focused on food for people instead of animals and automobiles. We would need to change our electoral system so that we could elect officials who were interested in public health rather than corporate health. We would need to fix our economy so that Wall Street favors corporations who have social values and public health values as part of their corporate mission. Those are revolutionary concepts at this point because they seem so far from what is attainable. But I think if we don’t work on that now, if we don't do what we can to advocate for a better food system, we won’t get it.” – Marion Nestle

Other insights from her interview on NPR's Fresh Air:

“Fruit loops with vegetable dyes are still fruit loops. M&Ms with vegetable dyes are still M&Ms. It’s not going to make a big difference in the food supply. On ultra-processed foods they’ve said they want to define them, but that’s all they’ve said. They’re investigating the possibility of looking at marketing to children but with no sense at all that there are regulatory initiatives that they are considering. And they declared a big win when Coca-Cola said it would substitute cane sugar for high fructose corn syrup, something that I termed nutritionally hilarious, because they’re basically the same biochemically and they’re not going to make any difference at all.”

“These are not ideas that are backed by science. But we’re in an era in which science is considered just one way of looking at things, and people have different sets of “facts” that they believe. And this is part of food politics now in a way that is very troubling.”

“If you want to reduce obesity in the United States and help people eat more healthfully, you’ve got to do things like change the agricultural subsidy structure, you have to stop the ability of food companies to market ultra-processed foods especially to children, you need better school food, you need universal school meals, you need much more money in school meals than presently exist, you have to look for ways to make healthy foods an easier and less expensive choice and look for every public policy that you can to do those kinds of things. And I don’t see that happening.”

“We have never punished the poor as badly as we’re punishing them now…I’m just stunned at just how similar this is to what happened in the 16th century when the English passed the English food laws. And they were passed with the idea that the poor were poor. Not because of bad luck being born into the wrong family or circumstances beyond their control, but the idea that the poor were poor by choice and that what they wanted was to live on hand-outs. And the idea that, hundreds of years later, we’re still thinking the same way is just shocking to me.”

More here:
https://lnkd.in/gmjXGyWv

Open article: 'What to Eat Now' nutritionist talks SNAP, food policy and the 'triple duty' diet by npr.org

'What to Eat Now' nutritionist talks SNAP, food policy and the 'triple duty' diet

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