This week’s Seeds of Growth features three exceptional marketing leaders on their take on finding new growth opportunities and balancing green investments with inflation. We interviewed Katie Williams, CMO Haleon US, on how to find growth opportunities. Nicola Buck, CMO at BP, elaborated on their partnership with Uber, and Luca Zerbini, CEO of Una Terra shared his vision on how to balance green investing with inflation.
Haleon, formerly GSK, the global leader in consumer health, became a newly independent company with a focused strategy to deliver better everyday health with humanity, sustainable above the market growth and attractive returns to shareholders.
The company’s ambition is to deliver annual organic sales growth of 4-6% in the medium term. We interviewed Katie Williams, CMO Haleon, US about where and how to find growth opportunities.
In finding those growth opportunities Katie and her team ‘decoded the world’: making sense of what’s going on by leveraging insights and foresights. The IRG and Katie had a conversation on proactive wellbeing, reaching new demographics and moving from self-care into the customer arena of self-optimization. Uncovering three big learnings that serve as inspiration for anyone looking to systematically decode the world and find new growth opportunities.
1. Analytics and empathy
Connect a culture of analytics to a culture of empathy. Definition of empathy: curiosity (ask why) x humility (truly understanding ‘other’ people).
2. Learning is growing
To grow, you need to learn. When innovating, don’t over-focus on instant business success but rather on key learnings. Did we learn something about a target group, about a channel, etc.?
3. Follow the behavior
To identify new growth opportunities, look at the whole customer (health) journey to define the inner space, core space, complementary adjacencies and potential areas of expansion.
Inspired by Katie Williams, IRG Participant 2022, CMO Haleon, US
As a loyal reader of the Seeds of Growth you probably don’t need to be convinced of the power and importance of Humanizing Growth. Still, in convincing others it’s helpful to get the latest and greatest on some of the recurring themes and discussions around the topic: Should we communicate brand values or product attributes? How do we measure our progress on ESG? How are some of the best leaders of the world driving Humanized Growth? Have a read as this week’s edition provides you with the answers.
Last week, at the Global Marketing Summit, three members of the IRG community and IRG’s founder engaged in a conversation about Humanizing Growth. Two of the presenters happen to be the reigning Humanized Growth Champions: Andisa Ntsubane & Rupen Desai. Together with Zeynep Yalim Uzun – former CMO of Arcelik – they shared their professional journeys, personal purpose and how they drive humanized growth for their companies. Watch the recording to learn more about the conception of the IRG and to be inspired by two leaders on how they create impact for all stakeholders with their companies and Humanized Growth initiatives. (This video is best viewed on a desktop here and if needed you can change the language by pressing the three dots in the lower right screen.)
To set the stage IRG’s founder Marc de Swaan Arons explained how the IRG came about and what purpose it serves for CMOs. Next, Andisa Ntsubane described how he got inspired to deliver ideas and impact ‘worthy of emulation’. Andisa was the driving force behind one of the biggest vaccination campaigns in the African continent. Working for Old Mutual, he built an initiative and business model for the insurance company to vaccinate almost 6 million African people. Andisa elaborates on how he helps to drive Humanized Growth for Africa in his new role at Vodacom as Managing Executive Brand Marketing and Communications Africa.
Rupen Desai shared how his two daughters guide his decision-making and inspired him to create solutions for the planet that drive prosperity for all stakeholders. Working for Dole – where he just resigned – and in partnership with Ananas Anam, he helped build a business model around turning pineapple leaves which were long considered a waste by-product, into a vegan, sustainable leather substitute for many brands like Nike, H&M, Hugo Boss and others. As a result, farmers gain additional income, Dole generates new business opportunities and there is less damage to the environment from the wasted, rotting leaves. That’s people, planet, and prosperity thriving interdependently together.
Inspired by Zeynep Yalim Uzun – IRG participant 2021, Former CMO Arcelik, Executive Board Member at European Women on Boards
If one were to look for what deserves CMOs’ attention this year, the annual letter from Larry Fink is a useful starting point. Fink is the CEO of Blackrock – the $10 trillion asset management fund – who offers a lay of the land on a topic that is at the r
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