When we talk about Danone’s mission, which is one planet, one health, all of our brands are committed to delivering that vision, but of course in a way that is authentic to that individual brand and its brand purpose. We know that today more and more consumers care about brand purpose. They want to buy brands and believe in brands that share their values. We are living in this value-driven world, so it is more important than ever that we are building brands that have a purpose in the world.
Almost every company is shifting towards giving employees the choice of where to work and when. People aren’t going to come to the office five days a week anymore and there's going to be less and less willingness from employees to sit in the same chair for ten hours a day. The core themes here are more employee empowerment and a more distributed way of working. Instead of having a one-size-fits-all workplace, you’ll see more diversity in spaces and the ability for employees to move throughout.
Companies have been so focused on communicating their brand value and their value proposition to their consumers that there has been some neglect on the employee side. Even if you segment workers and employees beyond the segment of generations but by where they’re actually at in their career and the options they're considering, the brand of the employer becomes really important. Relating to shared values, it's really an opportunity for companies to stand for something and really talk about what those values are - not to make everyone carbon copies of one another but to be on the same page on how we make decisions.
During quarantine I think it was clear that this is a nation that was starving for sports. People were watching NBA players play Xbox, so by the time when fall came around and football season was approaching, there was a lot of anticipation built up for really wanting to see that all. While there's still a lot of uncertainty, there is one thing that was certain: people are going to be watching from home. Everyone was talking about the stadiums, but guess what, over 90% of football fans watch from their homes anyhow.
Right now, it’s all about the speed to market. Things happen in real time at the restaurant level, so we're basically getting feedback at the restaurant level and we don’t have the option to wait 2-3 days to react. We need to react on the spot - pull promotions out of the store or introduce something new to the store, or ship merchandise because a product is not selling as well as we would like it to be selling. There is a big shift in that need for flexibility, agility and speed to market.
It’s so easy to just cast multicultural faces in your advertising. That has to be just the beginning. When you’re impacting communities and lives through your advertising, that’s when you make a difference. When you start to employ people behind the camera that reflect that diversity on screen, that’s when brands really make a short-term and a long-term difference and that’s what we’re working to do at Cadillac.
I started working very early, when I was 14. I had a unique first job; I worked in a stock room at a retail store and learned how to dress the windows, which is really when I learned about targeting. You have to understand targeting in order to dress the window. I would tell the young people today to start your work ethic early. Working is like a muscle; you have to come to work and put all of yourself into it. I find that many young people who haven’t had to work, when the work is put on them, they’re like ‘Woah, wait a minute, we’re still in it?’ To anyone trying to break in, you need to be gritty, especially if you’re a person of color. I hate to bring up this mantra, but it’s true. If you're a person of color, a black person in particular, you have to work harder than the next person. So I come to the table with my goal being ‘Always win against myself.’ I have high standards. I want to be that person that comes in and does something that no one else has done before and completely transform business results.
As we look at the end to end ecosystem, it’s about workforce, it’s about products and services, it’s about supplier diversity. How do your brands and products and services show up in the marketplace? And more importantly, how can your Chief Diversity Officer not have a say in that? What really matters at the end of the day is the values that your brand stands for, and how you live that truth. You can say you stand for values, but in the moments that it’s critical, will you stand up for those values?
First party behavioral data trumps psychographic which trumps demographic. As long as you can see the customer’s actions and intentions, that’s the best way to create any sort of experience. That makes you a better marketer and provides better content. This is the age of context. If you’re not delivering experiences that are contextually relevant to the consumer, they’re getting bombarded from all different cylinders and you won’t catch their attention. We need to make sure that when we present someone with an opportunity that it fits into what they actually need. Every once in a while, I get an ad and I’m so enamored by it, that I have to buy the product, because it was targeted too well. Maybe I needed it, maybe I didn’t, but I bought it. That’s the goal.
We’re founded on making sure we’re building relationships, helping customers in communities and just being a good neighbor. That’s further shaped by the mission, vision and values that we have. Every interaction we have with our customers is pivotal to that brand promise. When you’re thinking of the environment we’re in right now, whether that’s wildfires or hurricanes, we know those are crucial moments where we have an opportunity to show up and really help people. We call that the moment of truth. But it’s not just in those environments that people are looking for help. If you think about COVID, people are really concerned about their health, their loved ones, and leaving their legacy, and that’s where State Farm comes in. Being able to meet the needs of customers regardless of where they are in their life stage is really important to us.
It’s so easy to just cast multicultural faces in your advertising. That has to be just the beginning. When you’re impacting communities and lives through your advertising, that’s when you make a difference. When you start to employ people behind the camera that reflect that diversity on screen, that’s when brands really make a short-term and a long-term difference and that’s what we’re working to do at Cadillac.
When it comes to the NBA, not everyone is an all-consuming, avid sports fan, but there are still so many people that love the game, and love what the NBA brings from a cultural standpoint.. You have people that love the competition, the celebrities, the showmanship. The NBA is a perfect example of a platform that lives well beyond the sports - it’s the music, the talent, the fan experience and so much more.