Mauro Porcini is a widely known design thought leader, author, and first-ever Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo. He is also a presenter and judge on the TV shows New York by Design and America by Design on CBS and Amazon Prime Video. Mauro is from Italy, where he studied design in Milan and did his thesis on wearable technology with Philips Design. After opening and closing an agency with music artist Claudio Cecchetto, he spent 10 years at 3M, then was hired at PepsiCo as Chief Design Officer in 2012 to help them gain a competitive edge over their main competitors at Coke. In this role, he is infusing design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is leading a new approach to innovation by design that impacts the company’s product platforms and brands, which include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Sodastream, Doritos, and many other brands. He leads teams based in cities all over the world, including but not limited to New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Moscow, New Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Cape Town.

On the show today, Alan and Mauro talk about what it means to be a Chief Design Officer and how the role came about at PepsiCo. They also talk about the scope of design in an organization like Pepsico today, how design manifests in the work they do, and some examples of the type of work he is doing. Mauro tells us design is not about working with an outside agency; it is about the culture around everything in your company, from finance to branding to shipping and everything in between. PepsiCo realized they needed an outsider who could design their culture and found the perfect candidate in Mauro, who brought the five phases of design culture to their organization.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• What advice from Steve Jobs inspired PepsiCo to create the Chief Design Officer role?
• The five phases of redesigning culture
• What has changed over the past 15 years that is completely changing the business world?
• Three recent design examples to highlight three business goals

Key Highlights:

• [02:20] Shoes as a source of love and pain (and business)
• [05:50] How Mauro learned about innovation and timing
• [10:45] Why PepsiCo created the Chief Design Officer position
• [24:24] Being understanding but still calling out bad behavior
• [25:30] How does design manifest at PepsiCo?
• [33:15] Innovation is not just about a great idea; it's about being able to take it to market.
• [36:10] 3 recent design examples to highlight 3 business goals
• [41:30] Pushing businesses forward through design rather than innovation
• [44:00] There are two different types of projects.
• [46:20] Divorce, depression, and the importance of a community that cares
• [51:20] The barriers to entry are changing, and we need to change with them.

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the show today, Alan and Michelle talk about her career journey, the ETS rebrand, the uniqueness of her current role, and why more organizations should be thinking of a similar structure at the leadership level. ETS's focus on people and mission of driving human progress forward is what drew Michelle to the company. As Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, she is responsible for internal and external communications, customer insights and analytics, branding and marketing, e-commerce, philanthropic impact, global demand generation, and product innovation and development.

Michelle Froah is currently the Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at ETS, but when she was younger, she had aspirations to become an astronaut. While that dream never came to fruition, it did lead her to study mechanical engineering, which unexpectedly shaped her into the perfect person for the complex role she has now. Michelle started her career at Procter & Gamble, where she learned problem-solving under pressure and the value of a well-managed team. She then moved to Singapore and became the Asia Pacific Regional CMO for Kimberly Clark, where she developed a global perspective and understanding of local execution. She then founded Brandable before moving on to Samsung and serving as SVP of Global Brand and Marketing at MetLife before joining ETS in 2023, where she is focusing on transforming it into an organization that empowers human progress.

As ETS enters a new category of future readiness, the CMO role itself is changing as well. While it is still about marketing, it is also about sorting through insights, perspectives, and growth strategies to apply them most effectively, which is where the innovation title comes in. Michelle's combination role allows her to work with all of their partners to serve customers in new ways and communicate that ETS is delivering real-time insights and solutions to help people enhance their skills. Michelle wraps up by talking about how her time as an engineer unexpectedly shaped her as a leader, team member, and well-rounded marketer, how shared goals empower marketers to tackle increased complexity and help the consumer win, how data can improve personalization, and the ways consumers benefit by melding marketing and innovation leadership roles.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How being trained as an engineer made Michelle a more well-rounded marketer
• Why ETS decided to rebrand and how they are launching it
• How ETS has been using AI for 20+ years and how they are evolving with the landscape

Key Highlights:

• [01:50] Always looking for the road less traveled by
• [03:45] What drew Michelle to ETS, and what does she do there?
• [05:30] It all comes together over time.
• [08:00] Michelle’s career path: a global perspective and local execution
• [10:30] CMOs trained as engineers are just built differently.
• [13:10] What is ETS up to today?
• [15:30] Skills needed to be effective in the future
• [17:00] The future of CMO innovation
• [19:55] The AI portion of the show
• [25:20] Rebranding: why and how
• [30:30] Characterizing the new brand promise
• [33:15] The importance of her time as an engineer
• [36:10] Advice to her younger self
• [37:10] The increased complexity of marketing
• [39:10] Personalization supported by data
• [42:05] Thinking about how marketing and innovation can meld to improve customer outcomes

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Alan and Jessica talk about Bubble Goods, who it serves, and how they are helping emerging food brands and unique consumers alike.

Jessica Young is a fan of Fufu and the founder and CEO of Bubble Goods. With 10+ years in the food and wellness industry, Jessica saw a gap in the market: food brands were innovating (specifically in the health foods sector), but they didn’t have the digital know-how or right platform to launch and scale on. It was becoming harder and harder for these brands to get onto Whole Foods, launch and scale within Amazon, and drive customers into their singular e-commerce channels. Jessica saw an opportunity to launch something similar to what Etsy has done in the handmade goods space by creating and curating a marketplace for innovative, truly strict-label, independent food brands. When she was starting her career, she didn't intend to enter the food industry, but her passion for cooking triggered an evolution that led her to it, and she never looked back. After going to culinary school, she worked as a chef in NYC in Michelin-starred restaurants for a while before she became burned out and began exploring the online food space. She transitioned to the food startup scene in 2013 and eventually became the first employee and Head of Product and Operations for Daily Harvest in 2015 before launching Bubble Goods in 2019.

Bubble Goods is a drop-ship marketplace that curates brands for their users and gives small independent food and beverage brands the ability to market nationally. Jessica tells us they have a strict vetting process to make sure they are only delivering the best to their customers, but there is no order minimum so they can remain start-up friendly and keep their finger on the pulse of emerging trends. Bubble Goods has two main groups of customers: one is interested in discovering innovative foods, and the other is searching for foods that adhere to lifestyle and dietary restrictions. Bubble Goods prides itself on being low-lift and high-impact for the brands it partners with, and for many of its brands, Bubble Goods is their first retailer. To help brands succeed, Jessica and her team work hard to be good partners by putting brands in front of the right customers and giving them resources when they onboard for everything from legal resources to marketing partners.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• What inspired Jessica to start Bubble Goods?
• What benefits do brands get when they partner with Bubble Goods?
• Who is the target consumer, and how are they targeted?

Key Highlights:

• [02:00] The first professionally trained chef on the show
• [03:40] Fufu is having a moment.
• [06:15] Bubble Goods: what they do and who they serve
• [08:00] Who is buying from Bubble Goods?
• [10:00] Bubble Goods role in helping newer brands
• [11:30] The importance of transparency
• [15:10] Who is making the food, and does it matter?
• [17:30] How marketers should leverage Bubble Goods
• [19:20] What is coming next?
• [20:15] Lessons from the kitchen
• [22:30] Advice to her younger self
• [24:30] New-school and old-school tactics
• [26:00] Snaxshot and CPGD
• [26:45] The AI portion of the show

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.