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Speaker 1: What I find interesting is your ability to tell a

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Speaker 1: story internally is very similar to your ability to tell

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Speaker 1: a story to a consumer. If you think of it

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Speaker 1: with all the Teams meetings and Slacks and DMs and

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Speaker 1: all those things that are out there today, there’s a

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Speaker 1: lot of noise and looking for your attention. And so

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Speaker 1: you have to find ways to cut through all the noise,

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Speaker 1: even internally, just like you have to cut through the

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Speaker 1: noise for consumers and all the different tactics or the

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Speaker 1: platforms that they might have their attention on. And so

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Speaker 1: we really think a lot about cutting through that noise

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Speaker 1: and telling a story and bringing the organization along with

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Speaker 1: the story.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to today’s episode of Brave Commerce.

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Speaker 3: I’m Rachel Tippegraph, the founder and CEO of Micmac.

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Speaker 4: I’m Sarah Hofstetter, president of Profitero.

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Speaker 3: And this is a show that talks about what’s relevant

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Speaker 3: in e-commerce for the world’s biggest brands.

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Speaker 4: Sarah, it’s funny.

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Speaker 3: I just had lunch with another great CPG type of executive,

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Speaker 3: Rob Master.

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Speaker 4: Ah, love Rob. We should get him on the show.

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Speaker 5: We will.

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Speaker 1: We will.

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Speaker 3: Believe me. But the reason why I’m bringing this up

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Speaker 3: is Rob teaches a class at the University of Wisconsin.

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Speaker 3: He told me that in the beginning of the semester,

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Speaker 3: he shows a bunch of logos on a slide and

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Speaker 3: the kids in the room have to guess. They’re obviously

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Speaker 3: college age. And he’ll show things like Blackberry, Kmart, and

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Speaker 3: they don’t know these brands. And it’s pretty amazing because

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Speaker 3: these were household names.

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Speaker 4: It’s incredible.

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Speaker 2: But think about the last time that people used Kodak.

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Speaker 2: And then you’ve got these brands that actually like were

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Speaker 2: gone for a while and then come back. Those zombie brands,

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Speaker 2: if you will.

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Speaker 6: Absolutely.

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Speaker 3: Like Holtz Show, Disney, Walmart, Utz Potato Chips. And like

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Speaker 3: those are recognizable brands that have been around and have

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Speaker 3: been able to stand the test of time.

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Speaker 2: Many people who start their career in CPG, the question is,

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Speaker 2: are you a brand builder or are you a brand caretaker?

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Speaker 2: Sometimes these brands have been around for so long, like Coca-Cola,

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Speaker 2: for example, that sometimes you might think to yourself, oh,

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Speaker 2: I’m a brand caretaker. But to your point and to

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Speaker 2: Rob’s point, That’s not necessarily a given. So building brands,

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Speaker 2: sustaining brands, that’s just something that you have to continue

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Speaker 2: to invest in. Standing still is going backwards.

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Speaker 3: 100%, you have to remain relevant. We think about a

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Speaker 3: brand in the snacking space that in my mind, like

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Speaker 3: represents Americana, summer, like automatically when I see the logo,

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Speaker 3: I think about getting a tuna fish sandwich to pair

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Speaker 3: with it. And that’s us.

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Speaker 2: It’s funny because when I think of us, I think

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Speaker 2: of those big cheese balls, that huge cheese ball tub.

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Speaker 2: It’s raining outside and I just want to curl up.

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Speaker 2: And make sure that I’m not going to get my

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Speaker 2: hands too orange so that I.

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Speaker 4: Can’t touch anything else.

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Speaker 2: But like there’s there’s an immediate brand affiliation regardless of

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Speaker 2: how you do.

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Speaker 4: And it’s a testament to the brands that have been

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Speaker 4: built over time.

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Speaker 2: It’s also a testament to those who continue to think

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Speaker 2: about how do we innovate for the future.

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Speaker 3: So you’re about to hear from Sean Adams, who leads

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Speaker 3: digital commerce for us. And if you think about Utz,

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Speaker 3: that’s a brand that you typically would purchase in a

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Speaker 3: physical environment. And you’re going to hear about how it’s

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Speaker 3: become one of the, or maybe the, fastest growing salty snack.

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Speaker 3: And you will hear how he and his team have

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Speaker 3: done it on the show. So let’s bring Sean onto

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Speaker 3: the show. Sean, so great to see you.

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Speaker 1: Great to see you as well. Thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 3: So it feels like this has been a long time

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Speaker 3: in the making, but you’ve been working at Utz longer

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Speaker 3: than I’ve known you. You’ve been there for, I feel like,

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Speaker 3: the last decade.

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Speaker 5: Is that right?

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Speaker 1: I have in total 13 years, believe it or not.

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Speaker 4: Wow.

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Speaker 3: That’s a lot of snacks that you’ve probably consumed over

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Speaker 3: the last 13 years. And consumer snacking habits, it feels

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Speaker 3: like they’ve fundamentally changed over the last decade. What have

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Speaker 3: you seen in the category over the last 10 years?

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Speaker 1: Salty snacks is a great place to be, that’s for sure.

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Speaker 1: It’s a great category. I’ve been in my entire career.

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Speaker 1: I’m from Hanover, Pennsylvania, the snack food capital of the world.

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Speaker 1: It’s really a very interesting place where 90% of the

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Speaker 1: US population is eating snacks. A third of the eating

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Speaker 1: occasions in the United States are snacking. And so taste

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Speaker 1: is the most important thing. Like taste, no matter what

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Speaker 1: time period, taste is always the most important thing in snacks.

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Speaker 1: But we’ve double clicked into who our consumer is. And

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Speaker 1: we look at a who and a when when we

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Speaker 1: look at our consumer We’re looking at foodie snackers or

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Speaker 1: functional snackers or adventurous snackers. That makes up the who.

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Speaker 1: And then we look at when people are snacking, energizing

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Speaker 1: on the go, social occasions, or if they just have

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Speaker 1: a taste or a craving. And so what’s been interesting

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Speaker 1: for us and the trend that we’re seeing is our

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Speaker 1: ability to line up our brand portfolio with those occasions

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Speaker 1: and with those consumers. And a major trend, of course,

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Speaker 1: that’s happened in the last 10 years is the role

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Speaker 1: of media. and social media. So we have the ability

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Speaker 1: to engage directly with our consumers and connect the messages

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Speaker 1: that we want to get out to that consumer group.

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Speaker 6: So Sean, on the topic of social, with the growth

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Speaker 6: that’s Utz is seeing, how do you think about new

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Speaker 6: shoppers who might be entering the category or specifically shopping

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Speaker 6: Utz because of discovery in social versus discovery in store?

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Speaker 1: Snacking is very broad, right? Most people are snackers by nature.

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Speaker 1: For us at Utz, what’s interesting is we are in

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Speaker 1: growth mode. Believe it or not, you can’t get Utz

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Speaker 1: potato chips across the United States. You can get it

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Speaker 1: in many more parts of the United States than you

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Speaker 1: ever could before, but it’s not something that is across

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Speaker 1: the United States just yet, but we’re working on that.

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Speaker 1: And so as we move into new markets, we have

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Speaker 1: to make sure that our brands are meeting our consumers

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Speaker 1: and we’re educating our consumers. as we enter into new markets,

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Speaker 1: but then also in our core market, we want to

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Speaker 1: drive our consumers to the shelf and give them a

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Speaker 1: reason to buy us. And so we use social media

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Speaker 1: and our targeting tactics to be able to accomplish those goals.

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Speaker 2: When you think about the different ways that people discover

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Speaker 2: these brands, no question category is hot, but you think

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Speaker 2: about social as a point of discovery, obviously at shelf

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Speaker 2: as a point of discovery, But the roles of retailers

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Speaker 2: as media is a pretty critical one. So how do

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Speaker 2: you guys think about, and especially now that you’ve been

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Speaker 2: at the company for quite some time, but you’ve seen

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Speaker 2: a lot of change and you have led a lot

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Speaker 2: of change. How do you think about retail media investments

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Speaker 2: versus brand building national, digital, social?

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Speaker 4: Like, how do you think about the whole king caboodle?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, great point. How do we think of it? It’s

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Speaker 1: not necessarily a versus, but more of a amplification of

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Speaker 1: the two together. So we think of it, our philosophy

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Speaker 1: is building brands or sales overnight and brands over time.

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Speaker 1: And that’s a philosophy we’ve really been focused in on

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Speaker 1: here recently. Building sales overnight is, you know, those bottom

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Speaker 1: of the funnel tactics, search, for example. And those tactics

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Speaker 1: are effective, certainly. What makes them more effective is as

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Speaker 1: you’re able to build your brands over time, you’re able

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Speaker 1: to tell your messaging with your brands. So if we

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Speaker 1: can just break it down, you know, as we grow

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Speaker 1: distribution across the country, And we look at our model.

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Speaker 1: What we’re looking to do is really optimize retail media.

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Speaker 1: So as we are moving into a new market, there

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Speaker 1: are top of the funnel display advertisements or ways that

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Speaker 1: we can communicate our brands to support this distribution growth

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Speaker 1: that we have, as well as moving down the funnel

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Speaker 1: into search and with a real focus on new to brand.

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Speaker 1: Because what we know and the data tells us is

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Speaker 1: when somebody tries us, they love us. And so that’s

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Speaker 1: a big focus for us. But, you know, we also

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Speaker 1: are elevating our campaigns and there’s two new campaigns. There’s

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Speaker 1: a new UTS campaign and a new Zaps campaign that

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Speaker 1: we are launching. And we’re really excited to bring those

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Speaker 1: to our consumers as well.

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Speaker 2: I absolutely love building sales overnight and brands over time.

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Speaker 2: That is a memory sticker I will be stealing with credit.

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Speaker 5: Excellent.

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Speaker 2: I’d like to pull a little bit at your string

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Speaker 2: of searches bottom funnel, because I want to challenge that

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Speaker 2: thinking for a bit. Why would search be bottom of

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Speaker 2: funnel if that is a point of discovery in the

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Speaker 2: category and you’re trying to get people new to brands?

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Speaker 4: Like, should it be playing double duty?

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Speaker 2: If you put search in a corner of lower, does

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Speaker 2: that denigrate it? Like, you and I know each other,

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Speaker 2: so I know you obviously don’t feel like search is

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Speaker 2: just a one-trick pony, but.

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Speaker 4: For our listeners, how do you think about search?

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Speaker 1: Search is the major driver right now for us in

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Speaker 1: retail media because it has so much muscle. You certainly

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Speaker 1: have the ability to target and find that consumer at

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Speaker 1: the bottom of the funnel, quote unquote. But search is

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Speaker 1: so powerful and we have been able to really focus

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Speaker 1: on that new to brand tactic that’s so important for us.

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Speaker 1: And search is a great way that we can reach

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Speaker 1: consumers that may not have been thinking about us.

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Speaker 3: Here we are talking about search for a company where,

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Speaker 3: and you can correct me if I’m wrong, Sean, but

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Speaker 3: the majority of sales still comes from physical environments.

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Speaker 1: For sure.

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Speaker 3: And a big part of your role is just digital

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Speaker 3: transformation throughout the organization, which means you probably have to

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Speaker 3: change a lot of people’s minds.

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Speaker 1: For sure.

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Speaker 3: You’ve been there for 13 years. I imagine there’s been

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Speaker 3: people at us who’ve been there for 20 plus years.

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Speaker 3: So people might be set in their ways. How do

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Speaker 3: you go about educating all of the stakeholders so they

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Speaker 3: understand that the work that you’re doing impacts online and

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Speaker 3: offline sales?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it’s storytelling. The background as I got

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Speaker 1: into digital marketing and e-commerce, what I find interesting is

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Speaker 1: your ability to tell a story internally is very similar

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Speaker 1: to your ability to tell a story to a consumer. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you think of it with all the Teams meetings

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Speaker 1: and Slacks and DMs and all those things that are

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Speaker 1: out there today, there’s a lot of noise and looking

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Speaker 1: for your attention. And so you have to find ways

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Speaker 1: to cut through all the noise, even internally, just like

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Speaker 1: you have to cut through the noise for consumers and

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Speaker 1: all the different tactics or the platforms that they might

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Speaker 1: have their attention on. And so we really think a

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Speaker 1: lot about cutting through that noise and telling a story

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Speaker 1: and bringing the organization along with the story. So we

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Speaker 1: have really focused in on finding a message. And for us,

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Speaker 1: we’ve got a great message right now. We are the

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Speaker 1: fastest growing salty snack brand in e-commerce. And that’s something

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Speaker 1: that I will bring and post on the refrigerator in HQ.

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Speaker 1: I’ve got it hanging in my office, bring it up

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Speaker 1: in any meeting that I can. And we have evangelized

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Speaker 1: or set up the team where they can evangelize that

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Speaker 1: message as well, because that’s very compelling. That gets people’s attention.

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Speaker 1: And then it makes organizational capabilities or getting the investments

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Speaker 1: for increased capabilities, increased partnership. It helps to bring that

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Speaker 1: to life. I mean, just right before recording this podcast,

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Speaker 1: we were able to sit with the Utz brand team

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Speaker 1: and the integrated marketing team, and we were sharing what

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Speaker 1: our strategies are on how we could partner together in

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Speaker 1: a better way to move forward.

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Speaker 3: Just on that note of how you partner with the

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Speaker 3: other cross-functional teams, like take marketing, for example, where maybe

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Speaker 3: they have their own budget. How do you guys approach

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Speaker 3: having a unified relationship with the customer?

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Speaker 1: So unified relationship with the customer when it comes to budget,

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Speaker 1: What we look at is there’s a finite amount of

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Speaker 1: funds and there’s a lot of things that we’re trying

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Speaker 1: to accomplish. So we have to collaborate internally around what

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Speaker 1: our objectives are and then what those tactics are in

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Speaker 1: order to achieve those objectives. So there’s a lot of

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Speaker 1: consensus building that we do. We’ve got a very strong

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Speaker 1: team as we have transitioned into a brand organization with

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Speaker 1: integrated marketing and digital commerce. There’s a lot of collaboration

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Speaker 1: that happens to ensure that we are spending our finite

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Speaker 1: amount of dollars in the right places.

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Speaker 2: So I love the way that you think about merchandising

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Speaker 2: within the organization as a mechanism, not just to educate,

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Speaker 2: but to understand the why behind the what. And clearly

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Speaker 2: your career has had a very interesting route. I love

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Speaker 2: that you started up in HR and that means you

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Speaker 2: got to know the battle rhythm of the organization. And

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Speaker 2: then you figure out how to make things work through

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Speaker 2: that irrigation system, if you will. That’s the way I

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Speaker 2: am connecting the dots for your career. But how do

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Speaker 2: you think about the building blocks of your career from

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Speaker 2: HR to startup founder to RevMan to where you are today?

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Speaker 1: First of all, I’ve been very blessed to have the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to be in so many different disciplines. So in

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Speaker 1: human resources, when I started my career at Utz, I

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Speaker 1: was actually an intern. I interned at Utz, went on

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Speaker 1: and worked for the competition across town in snack food

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Speaker 1: where all the Snyders of Hanover in human resources were.

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Speaker 1: before becoming the director of HR at Utz and was

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Speaker 1: in that role for about 18 months before our president,

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Speaker 1: who then became CEO and now chairman of the company,

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Speaker 1: said to me one day, hey, I don’t think you’re

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Speaker 1: an HR guy. I think we want to get you

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Speaker 1: into some sales and marketing and some other things. I said,

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Speaker 1: I think you’re right. And so he took an interest

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Speaker 1: in me and provided an opportunity to get into business transformation.

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Speaker 1: And the entrepreneurial itch came and I just couldn’t quiet

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Speaker 1: it down. So I left the corporate world for a

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Speaker 1: three-year period to do some startup work, entrepreneurial work, including

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Speaker 1: a snack subscription company that we launched. But I was

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Speaker 1: starting a young family and remembered that I liked to

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Speaker 1: paycheck and benefits and all those things and never burned

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Speaker 1: a bridge. So I was able to get back into

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Speaker 1: us in trade marketing and revenue management. It was a

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Speaker 1: great foundation to learn pricing and promotions and things that

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Speaker 1: I didn’t realize, of course, where I would land, but

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Speaker 1: those things have helped me so much. The journey jumping

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Speaker 1: from trademarking and revenue management into digital marketing and e-commerce,

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Speaker 1: it really came by just a curiosity. I was starting

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Speaker 1: to get retargeted for shoes. When I was looking up

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Speaker 1: shoes online, I started getting retargeted. I’m like, how in

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Speaker 1: the world are they doing that? And the cool thing,

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Speaker 1: and this is 2019, is you can learn anything from

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Speaker 1: podcasts and YouTube and just diving in. So just dove

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Speaker 1: into learning how to retarget ads and had a friend

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Speaker 1: that had a small business and asked her, can I

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Speaker 1: run ads for you for free? It went excellent. And

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Speaker 1: then I think I became annoying within the walls of us,

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Speaker 1: just always asking anytime there is some situation or opportunity, hey,

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Speaker 1: what about digital? What about e-commerce? What about digital marketing?

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Speaker 1: We could do this. And then finally, the organization came

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Speaker 1: to me and said, hey, all those things you’ve been

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Speaker 1: talking about with digital marketing and e-com, we are going

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Speaker 1: to invest in this. This is July of 2019. We

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Speaker 1: are going to invest and you’re going to run it.

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Speaker 1: And so thank goodness that we did, because then we

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Speaker 1: were Obviously, that’s before COVID. So we had some capabilities

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Speaker 1: that we were building, the tailwinds and have built capabilities

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Speaker 1: since then. But I feel very blessed to just have

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Speaker 1: the foundation in learning people and change, to your point,

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Speaker 1: in human resources and then trademarking, revenue management, pricing and promotions,

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Speaker 1: and then betting on myself to teach myself digital marketing elements.

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Speaker 1: But all of it underlined with an organization and people

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Speaker 1: that would take a chance on me.

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Speaker 4: I love your story. I’m going to get even a

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Speaker 4: little bit more personal if you don’t mind. We’re going

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Speaker 4: off script. I hope you don’t mind.

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Speaker 1: Bring it. Let’s do it.

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Speaker 4: When was the last time you finished one of those

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Speaker 4: cheese barrels?

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Speaker 1: When’s the last time I finished one of those cheese barrels?

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Speaker 1: It is April of 2023.

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Speaker 4: Are you on your next one then?

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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. There’s constantly April 2023 for National Cheeseball Day.

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Speaker 4: That is one that we all celebrate on the regular.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Potato chips or pretzels? What’s your go-to? Unless the answer

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Speaker 4: is cheese balls, in which case, no judgment.

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Speaker 1: I love this question. Favorite to market would be Zapp’s Voodoo,

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Speaker 1: the Utz crab chip, and the Utz cheese ball. Those

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Speaker 1: are my favorite to market, but my favorite to eat

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Speaker 1: is the Utz honey wheat pretzel with an espresso martini.

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Speaker 1: It’s the best.

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Speaker 4: Sweet, salty, savory, indulgent.

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Speaker 1: It’s all of the above. It’s a sleeper and it’s

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Speaker 1: my favorite. That’s my go-to. Oats, honeyweed, pretzels with an

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Speaker 1: espresso martini.

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Speaker 4: I am digging that.

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Speaker 2: Rachel and I were at the Digital Food and Bev

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Speaker 2: Conference in the UK and we asked people what their

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Speaker 2: late night food and Bev snack indulgence would be.

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Speaker 4: And you would have won.

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Speaker 3: Someone said carrots and that guy laughed out of the room.

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Speaker 4: That was a Sandman Sam kind of a moment. Last

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Speaker 4: thing you bought online.

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Speaker 1: There’s a lot of things I buy online.

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Speaker 4: Last thing.

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Speaker 1: The last thing would be golf balls.

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Speaker 4: All right. That’s a little more on brand. Okay. Okay.

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Speaker 4: Last hire you made. And then we go to our

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Speaker 4: famous last question.

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Speaker 1: Last hire I made was an intern. We have interns

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Speaker 1: and it’s where I started in the organization and we

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Speaker 1: have a great internship program and really excited to stretch out.

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Speaker 1: And it’s really interesting with interns. They have the skillset

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Speaker 1: already built in, in this world. And so it’s just

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Speaker 1: explaining a little bit more and helping them to see

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Speaker 1: the bigger picture of, but really excited about our intern program.

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Speaker 4: That’s awesome.

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Speaker 3: Well, Sean, we got to ask you our famous last question,

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Speaker 3: which is what’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

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Speaker 1: You know, I listened to the brave commerce podcast at

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Speaker 1: the UCH gym every so often, right? I’m a big listener.

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Speaker 1: So I’ve been preparing for this question. So I’ve thought,

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Speaker 1: do I tell them about the time I hit the

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Speaker 1: home run at Oriole park Academy yards or the entrepreneurial journey?

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Speaker 1: But I went a little bit more personal and it’s

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Speaker 1: in 2020 and There’s a lot of people doing things

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Speaker 1: way more brave than me in 2020. But in the

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Speaker 1: vacuum of Sean Adams, in 2020, there was so much change, right?

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Speaker 1: You had the whole world was changing for COVID. We

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Speaker 1: were building capabilities in a new department. We went public.

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Speaker 1: That’s when public in August of 2020. And also, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: was going through a divorce and a custody situation all

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Speaker 1: at that same time. And so it was the craziest year.

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Speaker 1: But I’m so proud as I look back at it,

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Speaker 1: the way that I was looked at as a leader,

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Speaker 1: not only just for my family, but in the organization

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Speaker 1: and everything kept moving along. And now I look at

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Speaker 1: it today, my kids are flourishing, got a great partner,

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Speaker 1: and I have built out a team that has brought

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Speaker 1: us to being the fastest growing company in e-commerce and

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Speaker 1: salty snacks. So a lot of brave things happened in 2020,

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Speaker 1: but I’m really proud of how we were able to

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Speaker 1: navigate through that year of 2020. Wow.

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Speaker 4: Resilience. Yeah, it’s amazing.

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Speaker 3: And thank you for sharing and being so vulnerable and

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Speaker 3: what time does, right? You can look back now and

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Speaker 3: see the growth over the last four years.

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Speaker 4: It’s remarkable.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely.

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Speaker 3: You heard it here. Fastest growing salty snacks online is us.

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Speaker 3: So you better start paying attention to what they’re doing. Sean,

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Speaker 3: we’re so appreciative for your partnership and friendship. And thanks

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Speaker 3: for your time.

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Speaker 1: Likewise. Thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 3: If you’re in a snacking mood, you know that Brave

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Speaker 3: Commerce has a lot to check out. But if you’re

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Speaker 3: in a sweet mood, go check out Vinnie Rinaldi from Hershey’s.

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Speaker 3: And if you’re in a more salty, savory mood, you

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Speaker 3: can go check out the CEO of Campbell’s, Mark Klaus.

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Speaker 3: If you like what you’re hearing, tell a friend, write

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Speaker 3: us a review. Thanks for listening.

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Speaker 5: Hi, I’m Jackie Cooper, Global Chief Brand Officer at Edelman

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Speaker 5: and the host of Touch of Truth, a new podcast

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Speaker 5: launching on the Adweek Podcast Network. My dad gave me

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Speaker 5: this incredibly smart piece of advice. Meet everyone once. As

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Speaker 5: a result, I’ve met some of the most fascinating and

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00:20:14,380 –> 00:20:17,500
Speaker 5: inspiring people on the planet. Now on Touch of Truth,

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Speaker 5: we’re coming centre stage and sharing the mic to experience

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Speaker 5: stories of truth, insights and visions for the future that

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00:20:23,900 –> 00:20:26,359
Speaker 5: will challenge your way of thinking. Touch of Truth is

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00:20:26,420 –> 00:20:29,949
Speaker 5: available wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes come out

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Speaker 5: every Tuesday. I do hope to see you there.