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Speaker 1: I think a lot of these companies are looking at

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Speaker 1: how do you scale food to be affordable, but not

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Speaker 1: necessarily always as nutritious for their consumers. And that’s one

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Speaker 1: of the missions of Jobani is not just better food

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Speaker 1: for all, But like, how do we actually provide nutritious

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Speaker 1: and delicious food that’s affordable? So real natural ingredients, food

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Speaker 1: that’s made better. It’s still wonderfully tasty and flavorful, but

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Speaker 1: also good for you and affordable. And that’s the thing

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Speaker 1: that I think a lot of these big companies haven’t

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Speaker 1: been able to do at scale. And that’s certainly a

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Speaker 1: mission that we’re on. And I think we’re getting to

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Speaker 1: a scale that we can have huge impact. So that’s

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Speaker 1: another conversation, but I didn’t want to say that. I

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Speaker 1: just so passionately believe that. And that’s certainly what our

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Speaker 1: company is all about.

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

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

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Speaker 2: 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. Sarah, what do

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Speaker 3: you think a tech company and a CPG company have

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Speaker 3: in common?

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Speaker 2: That’s like the intersection of brave commerce, I suppose. We’re

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Speaker 2: tech companies. We work with CPGs. It’s a great question.

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Speaker 2: And it’s interesting also, I don’t know about you, but

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Speaker 2: we have clients that are in the tech space. We

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Speaker 2: have clients that are in the CPG space. How they’re organized,

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Speaker 2: how they think, their mindset is just so different.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the DNA of a company has everything to do

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Speaker 3: with the culture and how they operate.

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Speaker 2: So totally tracking. I mean, when you first started your career,

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Speaker 2: you were working at a tech agency enabling a CPG.

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Speaker 2: And think about any kind of struggles you might have

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Speaker 2: in trying to connect the dots even in that. But

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Speaker 2: are there commonalities?

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Speaker 3: I think desire to win for the customer should hopefully

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Speaker 3: be the core commonality, right? Because at the end of

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Speaker 3: the day, you’re building a business to serve someone and

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Speaker 3: serve someone’s needs. It’s really similar to, I think, how

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Speaker 3: people describe, even though I’m not a parent yet, parenting today,

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Speaker 3: which is that as a parent, your culture, your media

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Speaker 3: consumption is so similar to your kids.

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Speaker 2: You’re both on TikTok.

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Speaker 1: You’re both on Spotify.

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Speaker 3: And so it allows you to be equally connected in

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Speaker 3: the same universe. And I share that because I’d like

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Speaker 3: to think that CPG brands and tech companies all can

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Speaker 3: leverage the same type of technologies to run their P &

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Speaker 3: L and their organizations. And so they should actually look

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Speaker 3: more similar than they do different today.

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Speaker 2: And that is certainly converging a bit. Talent plays a

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Speaker 2: really important role in that. If you keep hiring from

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Speaker 2: your same vertical, then you’re just going to end up

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Speaker 2: having iterations of thoughts, not necessarily exponential outside-in type thinking. Yeah, absolutely.

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Speaker 3: It’s interesting. I think there’s a CPG portfolio that we’ve

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Speaker 3: all been watching for a long time because the founder

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Speaker 3: has really strong values, is a force in the market,

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Speaker 3: and that’s Chobani. And they’ve been on a growth spree.

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Speaker 3: They’re more than yogurt now. They’re moving into other aisles

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Speaker 3: within the store. And they also recently did a pretty

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Speaker 3: awesome acquisition acquiring La Cologne, the coffee company that was

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Speaker 3: based out of Philadelphia.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And- As they think about their staff, Hamdi as their

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Speaker 2: CEO is somebody who is so values driven and so

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Speaker 2: high integrity that the people that he brings in on

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Speaker 2: his leadership team, everything comes with a high degree of intentionality.

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Speaker 2: And I think his most recent selection for a CMO

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Speaker 2: is no exception to that at all.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. And you and I did not know Thomas prior

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Speaker 3: to this interview, probably because he hasn’t spent the last

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Speaker 3: 20 years within a CPG organization. In fact, he’s spent

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Speaker 3: the bulk of his career in big tech at places

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Speaker 3: like Google and Uber. So it’s really refreshing to hear

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Speaker 3: his take on what it’s like to scale a CPG

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Speaker 3: organization at this inflection point, knowing that his frame of

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Speaker 3: reference is really operating within big tech.

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Speaker 2: Well, I guess we’ll see the similarities and differences in

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Speaker 2: just a minute.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Thomas.

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Speaker 2: Hey there.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we’re so excited. I feel like you’re my morning.

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Speaker 3: Chobani has been a part of my life every morning

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Speaker 3: of my life for as long as I remember. So

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Speaker 3: it’s a true honor.

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Speaker 4: Good.

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Speaker 1: Keep that up. And maybe we can add you to

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Speaker 1: your afternoon as well with like flip or creations.

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Speaker 3: We’ll get into the portfolio strategy. You’re right. I’m a

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Speaker 3: living case study of you trying to extend my lifetime value.

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Speaker 4: Awesome.

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Speaker 3: Brave Commerce, and I know you’ve listened to the show,

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Speaker 3: we get a lot of CPG C-suite executives onto the show,

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Speaker 3: like yourself, but your background is not classic CPG. Before Chobani,

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Speaker 3: you came from Uber and Google. So when you look

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Speaker 3: at some of your colleagues in the space that have

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Speaker 3: probably had 20 plus years of CPG experience, what advantages

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Speaker 3: and learning curves do you feel like you had stepping

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Speaker 3: into your new role at Chobani?

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Speaker 1: Yeah. First of all, thank you again for having me

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Speaker 1: on the show. I don’t consider myself classical anything really.

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Speaker 1: I mean, even before I was a tech marketer, I

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Speaker 1: was in public policy. I was in, I was in government.

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Speaker 1: I was a consultant. So I love kind of drawing

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Speaker 1: from a lot of different categories and experiences, which I

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Speaker 1: think is what makes the CMO job so interesting, particularly

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Speaker 1: as it continues to evolve. I also think of myself

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Speaker 1: as a builder. I’ve always been in a, you know,

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Speaker 1: a drawn to kind of really gnarly business problems at

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Speaker 1: pivotal points for a company. I’m drawn to companies where

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Speaker 1: the mission and the product is something I just fundamentally

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Speaker 1: believe in. And Chobani has all that, as did Google,

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Speaker 1: in many ways, as did Uber. Chobani to me is

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Speaker 1: like this perfect intersection of profit and purpose, like a

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Speaker 1: company that has huge momentum and huge heart and a

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Speaker 1: really interesting time to grow. And I think there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of really interesting similarities between Chobani actually and Google.

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Speaker 1: When I got here, I didn’t actually expect the company

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Speaker 1: to feel more like a tech startup than a CPG company.

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Speaker 1: So even having you introduce me or refer to me

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Speaker 1: as a CPG executive is a little bit sort of

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Speaker 1: jarring because we don’t really even like to look at

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Speaker 1: ourselves as a CPG company, certainly not a traditional CPG company, right?

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Speaker 1: We have- Sorry to scare you. Thank you. I’m trying

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Speaker 1: to get used to it. The parallels to when I

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Speaker 1: joined Google in 2010 are so, so interesting, like still

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Speaker 1: founder-led company, right? Where when I joined Google, Larry and

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Speaker 1: Sergey still at the helm. Company that had early product

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Speaker 1: market fits, a huge momentum. That’s what happened with Greek yogurt.

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Speaker 1: Hamdi saw, our founder Hamdi saw a trend in the

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Speaker 1: market really early and jumped on that and obviously brought

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Speaker 1: a lot better profit to market. Less sugar, more natural ingredients,

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Speaker 1: more flavors. The brand was built by the DNA of

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Speaker 1: our founder, like Larry and Sergey’s personalities show up in

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Speaker 1: the I feel lucky button and all the kind of

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Speaker 1: quirks of search. Actually, I was thinking about this today.

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Speaker 1: Google grew because of distribution. I mean, that was really

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Speaker 1: a large element of Google’s growth getting placed in toolbars

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Speaker 1: across the web. No, we’ve been very distribution led growth

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Speaker 1: for the last 10 or 15 years, obviously earning the

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Speaker 1: trust of our retail partners and getting more shelf space

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Speaker 1: as the brand had and the product had a lot

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Speaker 1: of demand. And then I think this one’s the most interesting.

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Speaker 1: And I didn’t expect this at all. Like software companies, right?

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Speaker 1: They innovate by launch and iterate, right? You put things

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Speaker 1: out and see how they work. And if they do well,

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Speaker 1: you kind of expand them. Well, as a packaged food company,

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Speaker 1: we’ve done the same thing. Our innovation has been very

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Speaker 1: much try new things, put them on the shelf. We

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Speaker 1: don’t necessarily invest a whole lot yet in marketing and

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Speaker 1: see what sticks. Now we’re trying to get a bit

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Speaker 1: more disciplined than that, but that had been the approach

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Speaker 1: for a while. And so now we’re at the same

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Speaker 1: point where we’ve got to grow. We’ve got to get

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Speaker 1: to the next level. We have huge ambitions to be

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Speaker 1: more than a yogurt company. To bring in new brands

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Speaker 1: like La Cologne, to continue to delight people and be

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Speaker 1: there for them in their lives. And so we’ve got

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Speaker 1: to do things differently, which is why I’m here. And

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Speaker 1: I think what I’d love to do is figure out

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Speaker 1: how to bring the best of CPG, which I’m learning

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Speaker 1: and trying to learn fast with the best of tech.

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Speaker 1: I think CPG is consumer first, insight driven, right? Really

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Speaker 1: understands the shopper and the shopper experience. But I think

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Speaker 1: tech is innovation obsessed. digitally led is test and learn,

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Speaker 1: move quickly, break things, see what works. And I think

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Speaker 1: if you could find a way to bring those things together,

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Speaker 1: I think this is the kind of modern marketing organization

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Speaker 1: and air quotes that everyone seems to be talking about.

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Speaker 3: What do you think is preventing that from happening today?

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean, the CPG category, first of all, I

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Speaker 1: think you have really large companies that that have very

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Speaker 1: established ways of working. And this is what I’m learning, right?

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Speaker 1: Which is in some ways they’re brilliant and in other

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Speaker 1: ways they’re challenged. Very kind of process driven, very marketing

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Speaker 1: led versus consumer first and thinking about how to stay

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Speaker 1: on top of current trends and innovate and sort of

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Speaker 1: see what works. So I think there’s a lot of

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Speaker 1: kind of just large, bureaucratic processes that protect a certain

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Speaker 1: level of rigor, but maybe at the cost of moving

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Speaker 1: fast and trying things. I think second is the whole

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Speaker 1: shopping journey has been completely turned on its head. This

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Speaker 1: was happening before COVID, but obviously COVID accelerated this tremendously.

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Speaker 1: Kind of acceleration to digital and kind of the role

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Speaker 1: that digital is playing in the whole shopping journey. And

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Speaker 1: I think that’s another thing where you have to be

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Speaker 1: able to adapt quickly, be able to read data almost

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Speaker 1: on a daily basis, like a tech company, like an

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Speaker 1: Uber and Google. right, and be able to respond to

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Speaker 1: those kind of current trends in the market and personalize

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Speaker 1: at a level of detail and individualization that I think

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Speaker 1: big mass CBG companies haven’t been built for. And so

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Speaker 1: it’s breaking that tradition, if you will, and those established

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Speaker 1: processes and being much more kind of digitally nimble than

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Speaker 1: I think those companies have had to be to date. Now,

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Speaker 1: it’s not to say they’re not doing well and so

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Speaker 1: lots of great things are happening, but I think we’re

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Speaker 1: at the size and scale and mindset that I think

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Speaker 1: can adapt to that even better.

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Speaker 2: I love the way you tie in the whole idea

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Speaker 2: of mindset. I’m thinking about it through the lens of

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Speaker 2: like you as an individual join companies at certain life

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Speaker 2: stages where like things are going good, but like if

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Speaker 2: you need accelerated growth, you’re the guy to call. So

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Speaker 2: you are making choices based on something that you believe

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Speaker 2: has a really good product market fit, but still has

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Speaker 2: a higher ceiling than where things are. So it does

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Speaker 2: seem like you as an individual are the stock to

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Speaker 2: bet on, which is just a little pressure for you

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Speaker 2: and not necessarily a stock tip that I am providing

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Speaker 2: to any of our listeners or anything like that. Something

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Speaker 2: interesting you just kind of talked about, which I didn’t

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Speaker 2: think we would get to, the whole idea of being

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Speaker 2: digitally led, I think, struck a lot of CPGs when

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Speaker 2: COVID hit, when people stopped shopping aisles and started shopping keywords.

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Speaker 2: In some cases, that became almost like a sidebar conversation,

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Speaker 2: but people were still talking about planograms. As you step

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Speaker 2: into this space, digitally more advanced world, but still in

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Speaker 2: the world of CPG, how do you see that reconciliation

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Speaker 2: kind of coming play? You’re in a better for you category,

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Speaker 2: which means that you can play in any aisle. You

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Speaker 2: don’t have to be imperishable. You don’t have to be like,

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Speaker 2: you can pretty much be anywhere in a keyword, but

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Speaker 2: you are still a victim of, well, there are worse

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Speaker 2: things than being a victim of the perimeter of the

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Speaker 2: store as somebody who’s on the board of a center

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Speaker 2: of store company. But that all being said, it’s a

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Speaker 2: very different mindset when you’re shopping by keyword versus aisle.

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Speaker 2: So what are your thoughts on that?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it’s a great question. Well, first of all, I

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Speaker 1: want to say like, I think there’s a lot to

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Speaker 1: learn and respect about the CPG category. So I don’t

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Speaker 1: mean to kind of belittle, undermine that because these are

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Speaker 1: large enterprises that produce food at scale for Americans every

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Speaker 1: single day. And frankly, the distribution and delivery in the

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Speaker 1: retail is like a It’s an operationally challenging business as

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Speaker 1: I’m learning it, right? And so I don’t mean to

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Speaker 1: belittle that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I would just say that one of the

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Speaker 2: funniest things is in tech, you can fail fast. In food,

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Speaker 2: you can fail fast on like an innovation, but like

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Speaker 2: there’s a lot more rigor that goes into the stuff

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Speaker 2: you put in your mouth versus the stuff you put

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Speaker 2: on your phone.

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Speaker 1: As there should be.

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Speaker 2: Please, I appreciate that level of scrutiny and security.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: But anyway, as you were.

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Speaker 4: Yes.

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Speaker 1: But even on that, as we talk about, you know,

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Speaker 1: food that’s better for you and sorry, now we’re going

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Speaker 1: to be on a tangent for a second is I

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Speaker 1: think a lot of these companies are looking at how

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Speaker 1: to use scale food to be affordable, but not necessarily

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Speaker 1: always as nutritious and necessarily delivering the best ingredients for

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Speaker 1: their consumers. And that’s one of the missions of Chobani

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Speaker 1: is not just better food for all, but like, how

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Speaker 1: do we actually provide nutritious and delicious food that’s affordable?

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Speaker 1: So real natural ingredients, food that’s made better, it’s still

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Speaker 1: wonderfully tasty and flavorful, but also good for you and affordable.

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Speaker 1: And that’s the thing that I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: these big companies haven’t been able to do at scale.

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Speaker 1: And that’s certainly a mission that we’re on and I

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Speaker 1: think are getting to a scale that we can have

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Speaker 1: huge impact. So that’s another conversation, but I didn’t want

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Speaker 1: to say that because I just so passionately believe that.

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Speaker 1: And that’s certainly what our company is all about. But

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Speaker 1: this is what I’m learning about the CPG category to

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Speaker 1: your question is like people don’t actually shop in store.

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Speaker 1: they buy in-store. And so they’re influenced by a whole

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Speaker 1: lot of other considerations that play into their mindset, both

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Speaker 1: rational and irrational, right? That then leads them to the

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Speaker 1: decisions they make in a very impulse or a very

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Speaker 1: quick way when they’re actually in the aisle. So that’s

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Speaker 1: an important feature. There are certain categories like ours where

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Speaker 1: people actually do buy online because it is a very consistent,

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Speaker 1: reliable product with a lot of trust. And so you

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Speaker 1: don’t necessarily need to go into the store as much,

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Speaker 1: although we’re a fresh product. And so we actually do

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Speaker 1: drive a You could see buying a lot of these

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Speaker 1: products digitally and having them delivered to your door. And

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Speaker 1: there’s an incredibly slow to change elements, as you say.

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Speaker 1: We talk about the resets. That’s something I’ve had to

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Speaker 1: learn very quickly, that resets in dairy are once, maybe

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Speaker 1: twice a year. And so your ability to put new

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Speaker 1: things on the shelf and change the way you want

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Speaker 1: to show up that important moment is a slow to

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Speaker 1: change process that has a lot of other factors operationally

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Speaker 1: that play into it. And so I think the opportunity

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Speaker 1: now to be in people’s lives in other channels and

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Speaker 1: other ways is the opportunity, as you say, keyword searches.

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Speaker 1: The ability, I think, now to take the data and

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Speaker 1: the insights from these retail media platforms and apply those

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Speaker 1: elsewhere outside the retail media platforms, I think is one

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Speaker 1: of the biggest opportunities where we can partner with a

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Speaker 1: Kroger or a Walmart and understand our consumer and the

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Speaker 1: shopper in a much deeper way. and connected them from

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Speaker 1: those insights everywhere else to then bring them back to

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Speaker 1: that point of shopping. So I know, I just think

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Speaker 1: there’s huge opportunities for even more disruption and innovation.

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Speaker 2: Completely agree. And frankly, it’s so interesting. 10, 12 years ago,

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Speaker 2: we were talking about the importance of social listening and

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Speaker 2: we were using Google to understand search informed insights. What

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Speaker 2: are the keywords that people are using? Then when we

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Speaker 2: saw Twitter was basically just the world’s largest focus group.

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Speaker 2: And here you’ve got ratings and reviews, which is literally

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Speaker 2: telling you, what do you think of our new innovations

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Speaker 2: and our new flavors? So the insights that you can

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Speaker 2: get from your digital shelf footprint will most certainly help

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Speaker 2: if you’re listening, which is kind of important to that end.

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Speaker 2: As you think about the limitations of the reset versus

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Speaker 2: the dynamicism of digital and How do you change the

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Speaker 2: mindset of the teams within your organization to understand and

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Speaker 2: to act with a different degree of, let’s say, agility

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Speaker 2: than might have been the case just a couple of

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Speaker 2: years ago?

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I think the good news on this,

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Speaker 1: and this kind of gets back to my point on

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Speaker 1: Chobani feels more like Google felt in 2010 than maybe

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Speaker 1: what Unilever feels like today, is that we already have

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Speaker 1: that mindset. We’ve always been in an agile, move quickly,

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Speaker 1: launch and iterate mindset. And I think the good news

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Speaker 1: is we’ve built a lot of trust with our retail

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Speaker 1: partners such that they give us permission even more so

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Speaker 1: they invite us in to innovate kind of quicker. And

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Speaker 1: we just went to FMI last week. you know, show

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Speaker 1: them a bunch of innovations. And I can’t tell you

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Speaker 1: to a meeting, everyone said, can I be first to

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Speaker 1: bring that to shelf? And that’s just a very special

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Speaker 1: place to be because people do love our product and

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Speaker 1: we’ve been good partners for our retailers. And I take

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Speaker 1: no credit for that because I’m new. So I think

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Speaker 1: we actually have that mindset. Now it’s how do we

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Speaker 1: work with our partners, our retailers as partners? So then…

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Speaker 1: show up in different ways. And potentially, as we think

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Speaker 1: about moving Treboni into new aisles, how do we maybe

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Speaker 1: get them to reimagine those aisles in the way that

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Speaker 1: the products show up so that we can do some

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Speaker 1: innovation that hopefully leads the whole category forward, which is

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Speaker 1: what we’ve done with Greek yogurt and what we hope

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Speaker 1: to do with oat milk and creamer. So I think

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Speaker 1: that’s the opportunity is to figure out how to partner

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Speaker 1: better with our retailers to make that happen.

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Speaker 3: You touched on a few things there that I would

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Speaker 3: like to double click. One’s on the portfolio strategy. So

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Speaker 3: we opened up by saying, like, I start my morning

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Speaker 3: with you and you’re like, well.

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Speaker 1: How about the afternoon too?

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Speaker 3: It seems like Chobani’s at an inflection point of flexing

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Speaker 3: new growth levers. And some of those new growth levers

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Speaker 3: are entering new categories. Can you tell us more about

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Speaker 3: the portfolio strategy?

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And this comes back to my analogy again between

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Speaker 1: Chobani and Google. You know, when I joined Google in 2010,

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Speaker 1: Google was already more than a search company, but everyone

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Speaker 1: still thought Google search. 15 years into our growth, people

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Speaker 1: think of us as a Greek yogurt company. but we’re

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Speaker 1: already more than yogurt, right? And how do we help

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Speaker 1: people see us as more than that and invite us

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Speaker 1: into more parts of their lives and their day parts?

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Speaker 1: Growth at Chobani, we think about growth in a lot

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Speaker 1: of different ways. It starts with our core, where there’s still,

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Speaker 1: we believe, a lot more growth to be had in

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Speaker 1: the yogurt category, moving beyond yogurt, and then thinking about

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Speaker 1: what’s next. And if I start just with our core,

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Speaker 1: I mean, just to the remarks we made at the

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Speaker 1: top of the podcast, yogurt is much more than just

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Speaker 1: a breakfast food. And we’ve got a lot of different

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Speaker 1: varieties to offer, including tasty treats for the afternoon, like

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Speaker 1: Chobani Flip, dessert-like products like Chobani Creations, which we just offered,

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Speaker 1: higher protein offerings. We’ve got zero sugar. And so the

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Speaker 1: role that yogurt can play and Greek yogurt in your

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Speaker 1: life and your day part for your entire family has

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Speaker 1: expanded quite a bit. And there’s a ton of growth

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Speaker 1: to be had in our core category, including even drinks,

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Speaker 1: yogurt drinks on the go and higher protein forms of

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Speaker 1: yogurt shakes. So tons of growth, I think, still in

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Speaker 1: our core to help people really unpack and discover, I think,

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Speaker 1: all the ways that yogurt could be a much more nutritious,

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Speaker 1: delicious part of their everyday across all meals and day parts.

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Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people didn’t know this. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: when I was interviewing, I was just kind of getting

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Speaker 1: to know the company better. We’re now an oat milk

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Speaker 1: and creamer in categories that I think there’s a lot

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Speaker 1: of room for disruption, like we disrupted the Greek yogurt category,

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Speaker 1: which is most people don’t realize, I think 80%, according

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Speaker 1: to our research, that their creamers that they put in

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Speaker 1: their coffee every day don’t actually have real cream. And

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Speaker 1: so the ability to actually provide people a more clean

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Speaker 1: and real ingredient product that has just the same great

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Speaker 1: taste as what’s on the market, I think it’s a

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Speaker 1: huge opportunity for disruption. And we’re already seeing tremendous momentum there.

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Speaker 1: We just brought in La Cologne into the family. And

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Speaker 1: so ready to drink coffee. I mean, most people, I

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Speaker 1: think it’s 70% of people drink their coffee cold and

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Speaker 1: not just in the summer. And so the ability for

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Speaker 1: the ready to drink coffee market to explode even further,

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Speaker 1: I think is ripe. Now we’re in this space and again,

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Speaker 1: trying to do very similar things in terms of real ingredients,

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Speaker 1: less sugar, but all the same great taste that you

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Speaker 1: get in other cold form lattes. A great opportunity there.

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Speaker 1: And then of course, I can’t tell you what we’re

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Speaker 1: thinking about next, but there will be other things that

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Speaker 1: take us further afield that kind of build on our strengths.

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Speaker 1: So growth comes in lots of flavors.

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Speaker 3: It’s pretty amazing. On the La Cologne story, since it’s

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Speaker 3: so recent, I read the Fast Company article about at

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Speaker 3: least the journalist’s take on how the acquisition came to be.

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Speaker 3: And I think it’s powerful for this show because if

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Speaker 3: I read the article and remember correctly, you guys did

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Speaker 3: a booth together at Expo West and there was all

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Speaker 3: this interest from all the buyers to buy both of

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Speaker 3: you together from like a merchandising standpoint. And your founder

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Speaker 3: was like, maybe this just shouldn’t be a booth at

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Speaker 3: a trade show, but an actual business strategy.

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Speaker 1: So Hamdi has been attracted to La Cologne for many years. Um,

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Speaker 1: and was drawn to it because of the craft and

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Speaker 1: the taste of the coffee and the incredible story behind it.

420
00:19:56,180 –> 00:19:58,900
Speaker 1: This is Philadelphia brand that’s incredibly loved. And as you

421
00:19:58,960 –> 00:20:01,160
Speaker 1: unpack the brand and get to know it, has just

422
00:20:01,180 –> 00:20:03,780
Speaker 1: like a very loyal following. I mean, I have friends

423
00:20:03,800 –> 00:20:06,180
Speaker 1: who live in Philadelphia that for the longest time would

424
00:20:06,240 –> 00:20:09,280
Speaker 1: give guests who visit them in Philadelphia, La Cologne coffee

425
00:20:09,300 –> 00:20:11,240
Speaker 1: to go home with because they were that kind of

426
00:20:11,280 –> 00:20:14,330
Speaker 1: dedicated and believers in the brand. And so there’s just

427
00:20:14,570 –> 00:20:16,610
Speaker 1: incredibly shared values. And as I’ve gotten to know the

428
00:20:16,869 –> 00:20:19,869
Speaker 1: team there, there’s just a simpatico that feels very natural.

429
00:20:20,170 –> 00:20:22,170
Speaker 1: But you’re right. Like it’s also a marriage made in heaven,

430
00:20:22,230 –> 00:20:24,290
Speaker 1: coffee and cream, and they go very well together. So

431
00:20:24,369 –> 00:20:27,670
Speaker 1: there’s a lot of synergies from our operations to actually

432
00:20:27,710 –> 00:20:29,730
Speaker 1: how you use the product that I think make this

433
00:20:29,810 –> 00:20:30,909
Speaker 1: really just a perfect pairing.

434
00:20:31,160 –> 00:20:32,430
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a question about it as you’re

435
00:20:32,450 –> 00:20:35,130
Speaker 2: thinking through all of these different things. You talked about

436
00:20:35,250 –> 00:20:38,649
Speaker 2: oat milk. You talked about the broader snack portfolio, what

437
00:20:38,690 –> 00:20:40,210
Speaker 2: I think is an interesting story because I’m the one

438
00:20:40,230 –> 00:20:42,890
Speaker 2: who’s telling it. But during COVID, I actually got exposed

439
00:20:42,970 –> 00:20:45,530
Speaker 2: more to your portfolio because of supply chain. So every

440
00:20:45,570 –> 00:20:48,230
Speaker 2: time I would get a recommended substitution, I would try

441
00:20:48,270 –> 00:20:49,810
Speaker 2: something new. I would try a new flavor. I would

442
00:20:49,830 –> 00:20:51,409
Speaker 2: try a zero sugar. I would try a better few.

443
00:20:52,410 –> 00:20:56,200
Speaker 2: And then I started getting replacement with things like oat

444
00:20:56,240 –> 00:20:59,220
Speaker 2: milk and drinkable and all these other things. How do

445
00:20:59,270 –> 00:21:02,650
Speaker 2: you think about the umbrella Chobani brand in the context

446
00:21:02,730 –> 00:21:03,570
Speaker 2: of the expansion?

447
00:21:03,590 –> 00:21:06,189
Speaker 1: Yeah, that’s a great question. And certainly one of the

448
00:21:06,230 –> 00:21:09,360
Speaker 1: big things I need to tackle in my role. Because

449
00:21:09,390 –> 00:21:11,660
Speaker 1: I think as we’ve grown the portfolio in the core,

450
00:21:11,740 –> 00:21:15,260
Speaker 1: as you just say, across other categories, how do we

451
00:21:15,300 –> 00:21:18,659
Speaker 1: tell that story? How do we define what’s Jobani across

452
00:21:18,780 –> 00:21:21,600
Speaker 1: all these different products and platforms, right? And how does

453
00:21:21,619 –> 00:21:23,700
Speaker 1: that show up such that when we do the next thing,

454
00:21:23,720 –> 00:21:26,600
Speaker 1: you as a consumer immediately know what we have to

455
00:21:26,720 –> 00:21:29,219
Speaker 1: offer in disrupting the next space because you’ve seen us

456
00:21:29,260 –> 00:21:31,679
Speaker 1: do it time and time again, and that consistency and

457
00:21:31,700 –> 00:21:34,220
Speaker 1: clarity is there. And so I think one of the

458
00:21:34,400 –> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 1: opportunities we have is to connect people Our product more

459
00:21:37,560 –> 00:21:39,980
Speaker 1: with our mission and our purpose and show how making

460
00:21:40,020 –> 00:21:42,180
Speaker 1: yogurt could actually change the world. Or as Hamdi likes

461
00:21:42,220 –> 00:21:44,080
Speaker 1: to say, it’s maybe not a cup of yogurt that

462
00:21:44,100 –> 00:21:45,859
Speaker 1: will change the world, but it’s how we make it.

463
00:21:45,880 –> 00:21:47,460
Speaker 1: And then how do you create in the middle of

464
00:21:47,480 –> 00:21:50,500
Speaker 1: the portfolio strategy? That’s the red thread across all those

465
00:21:50,540 –> 00:21:53,620
Speaker 1: different products that you just listed. So people immediately understand

466
00:21:53,680 –> 00:21:55,909
Speaker 1: kind of what the Chobani ingredient is across all that.

467
00:21:56,350 –> 00:21:57,770
Speaker 1: I think there’s some work to be done, but what

468
00:21:57,810 –> 00:22:03,400
Speaker 1: we stand for is delicious, nutritious, and accessible. And that

469
00:22:03,460 –> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 1: last one, particularly in today’s day and age with inflation

470
00:22:06,720 –> 00:22:09,760
Speaker 1: and all the tightness of wallet and people’s shopping cart,

471
00:22:10,240 –> 00:22:13,109
Speaker 1: accessible means not just available everywhere, but affordable. And we’ve

472
00:22:13,130 –> 00:22:15,389
Speaker 1: really resisted a lot of the price increases that have

473
00:22:15,410 –> 00:22:17,810
Speaker 1: come with inflation to make sure that our product is

474
00:22:17,830 –> 00:22:20,389
Speaker 1: still something that more people can put on their tables.

475
00:22:21,130 –> 00:22:24,109
Speaker 3: It’s pretty amazing to see how this mission-driven organization has

476
00:22:24,250 –> 00:22:27,230
Speaker 3: remained even at scale. Thomas, we got to ask you

477
00:22:27,250 –> 00:22:29,660
Speaker 3: our famous last question, which is what’s the bravest thing

478
00:22:29,680 –> 00:22:30,260
Speaker 3: you’ve ever done?

479
00:22:30,280 –> 00:22:33,660
Speaker 1: I love this question. So the first thing that comes

480
00:22:33,680 –> 00:22:36,909
Speaker 1: to mind for me is convincing the CEO of a

481
00:22:36,940 –> 00:22:40,129
Speaker 1: company to run ads, paid ads, telling people not to

482
00:22:40,210 –> 00:22:43,530
Speaker 1: use our products. So this happened in the early weeks

483
00:22:43,850 –> 00:22:46,510
Speaker 1: of COVID. I was at Uber only about six months

484
00:22:46,550 –> 00:22:48,970
Speaker 1: into my time at Uber. And obviously we were all

485
00:22:48,990 –> 00:22:51,230
Speaker 1: being asked to stay at home to prevent the spread

486
00:22:51,250 –> 00:22:55,540
Speaker 1: of COVID. What better company than a movement company to

487
00:22:55,580 –> 00:22:58,330
Speaker 1: tell people to stay home? we’re all about safety and

488
00:22:58,369 –> 00:22:59,730
Speaker 1: we were doubling down on what does it mean to

489
00:22:59,770 –> 00:23:02,170
Speaker 1: be safe in our cars and safe to have food

490
00:23:02,210 –> 00:23:05,530
Speaker 1: delivered home. But we thought it was really the best

491
00:23:05,570 –> 00:23:07,230
Speaker 1: thing we could do is tell people actually just not

492
00:23:07,250 –> 00:23:09,090
Speaker 1: to take an Uber because that was in all of

493
00:23:09,130 –> 00:23:10,689
Speaker 1: our best interests. And the more that we can kind

494
00:23:10,730 –> 00:23:13,100
Speaker 1: of quickly get through this, the better we’ll all be.

495
00:23:13,619 –> 00:23:16,540
Speaker 1: And so we put out ads on television telling people

496
00:23:17,040 –> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 1: not to ride Uber for the interests and the betterment

497
00:23:19,600 –> 00:23:22,040
Speaker 1: of everyone. And he’ll tell you that was the first

498
00:23:22,080 –> 00:23:24,140
Speaker 1: time he’s ever told, you know, given a CMO money

499
00:23:24,480 –> 00:23:26,850
Speaker 1: to tell people not to use their service. So That

500
00:23:26,890 –> 00:23:28,470
Speaker 1: was one of the bravest things. And frankly, it was

501
00:23:28,490 –> 00:23:30,160
Speaker 1: the right thing to do. And it, I think, also

502
00:23:30,200 –> 00:23:32,959
Speaker 1: helped us as Uber repair some of the trust that

503
00:23:33,000 –> 00:23:35,810
Speaker 1: we had lost in previous years. You’re right.

504
00:23:35,830 –> 00:23:38,129
Speaker 3: That’s such a powerful brand moment and probably lives up

505
00:23:38,190 –> 00:23:40,790
Speaker 3: on the mantle of Patagonia closing its.

506
00:23:40,850 –> 00:23:42,650
Speaker 1: Doors during Black Friday. Exactly.

507
00:23:42,690 –> 00:23:42,850
Speaker 2: Yeah.

508
00:23:43,010 –> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah.

509
00:23:44,420 –> 00:23:47,920
Speaker 3: Well, Thomas, it’s so awesome to hear about your journey

510
00:23:47,960 –> 00:23:50,260
Speaker 3: into Chobani and what’s going on in terms of a

511
00:23:50,310 –> 00:23:53,109
Speaker 3: growth story there. At least in the New York metro area,

512
00:23:53,230 –> 00:23:55,990
Speaker 3: all eyes are constantly on Chobani, but we hope globally too.

513
00:23:56,030 –> 00:23:56,970
Speaker 3: And thank you for your time.

514
00:23:57,410 –> 00:23:59,480
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. Great to chat. And hopefully

515
00:23:59,520 –> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: I’ll see you at the Chobani Cafe.

516
00:24:03,119 –> 00:24:07,500
Speaker 3: Well, so fascinating to hear about Chobani’s approach to growth

517
00:24:07,800 –> 00:24:11,879
Speaker 3: and how they operate internally. If you enjoyed this episode

518
00:24:12,030 –> 00:24:15,230
Speaker 3: and you want to think about how other organizations are

519
00:24:15,710 –> 00:24:18,609
Speaker 3: creating growth, what levers are they using and how do

520
00:24:18,630 –> 00:24:22,129
Speaker 3: they build a culture around innovation? A few episodes to

521
00:24:22,170 –> 00:24:25,199
Speaker 3: check out. You can go listen to the CEO, Build-A-Bear.

522
00:24:25,920 –> 00:24:29,200
Speaker 3: Sharon John, who talks about all different forms of IP

523
00:24:29,640 –> 00:24:33,580
Speaker 3: that business is now bringing to market. You could also

524
00:24:33,700 –> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 3: go check out a new entrant that’s obviously disrupting the

525
00:24:36,840 –> 00:24:42,470
Speaker 3: category with the CMO of Athletic Brewing, Andrew Katz. And

526
00:24:42,590 –> 00:24:45,899
Speaker 3: if you want to think about how culture can create

527
00:24:45,980 –> 00:24:50,620
Speaker 3: an environment of innovation, go check out an episode probably

528
00:24:50,660 –> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 3: from a year ago, which is with Joy from 3M,

529
00:24:55,400 –> 00:24:57,949
Speaker 3: who really dives deep into what it’s like to be

530
00:24:57,990 –> 00:25:01,930
Speaker 3: a marketer with an engineering organization. If you enjoyed this episode,

531
00:25:02,090 –> 00:25:05,330
Speaker 3: tell a friend, write a review, blast it on LinkedIn.

532
00:25:05,590 –> 00:25:08,170
Speaker 3: Sarah and I appreciate that you are listening.

533
00:25:26,220 –> 00:25:30,200
Speaker 4: Hi, I’m Jackie Cooper, Global Chief Brand Officer at Edelman

534
00:25:30,220 –> 00:25:32,990
Speaker 4: and the host of Touch of Truth, a new podcast

535
00:25:33,050 –> 00:25:36,490
Speaker 4: launching on the Adweek Podcast Network. My dad gave me

536
00:25:36,530 –> 00:25:40,209
Speaker 4: this incredibly smart piece of advice. Meet everyone once. As

537
00:25:40,250 –> 00:25:42,570
Speaker 4: a result, I’ve met some of the most fascinating and

538
00:25:42,630 –> 00:25:45,740
Speaker 4: inspiring people on the planet. Now on Touch of Truth,

539
00:25:45,960 –> 00:25:49,219
Speaker 4: we’re coming centre stage and sharing the mic to experience

540
00:25:49,260 –> 00:25:52,129
Speaker 4: stories of truth, insights and visions for the future that

541
00:25:52,150 –> 00:25:54,619
Speaker 4: will challenge your way of thinking. Touch of Truth is

542
00:25:54,670 –> 00:25:58,199
Speaker 4: available wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes come out

543
00:25:58,400 –> 00:26:00,470
Speaker 4: every Tuesday. I do hope to see you there.