“We’ve been doing a lot of work on our overall marketing approach and … understanding the consumer and connecting to the consumer as a key stepping-stone of our approach” in becoming “what I would call ‘margin-centric’ to ‘consumer-centric,” Van De Put told investors gathered at the Alliance Bernstein 37th Annual Strategic Conference June 2.
He explained when he took the company’s helm almost four years ago, Mondelēz had just completed a “very successful period where it was focused on margin expansion,” and was ready to transition to a more locally-based business model that delivered consistent, operational excellence to win with consumers.
To do that, the company reorganized, “came up with a good list of growth drivers and growth enablers,” shifted the culture to empower local teams and strengthened its supply chains – all moves that served Mondelēz well during the pandemic.
It also adopted a new marketing approach that more effectively communicates the company’s values and how its products meet consumers individual needs, Van De Put said.
He explained the first step in this transformation was “getting clear on what our brands stand for, what is their purpose, how do we drive that purpose, [and] how do we explain that to the consumers.”
Mondelēz’s answer was to increase to 60% its overall marketing investment in digital marketing – 35% of which is personalized – to drive “very high engagement,” Van De Put said.
Because “digital creative excellence is very different from TV or print,” and personalization requires a deeper understanding of consumers, he explained that Mondelēz also invested more heavily in better insights and analytics, and hired a marketing team that is digitally savvy and understands how today’s consumers communicate.