Mike Thornhill, Business Manager, Michael Page Marketing, recently spoke to Bert Wouters, former Senior Vice President for Fabric Care at Procter & Gamble, about marketing and connecting with consumers during the pandemic, opportunities and how to use crucial marketing data. How can organisations continue to connect with the consumers and try to stand out? First of all, I think we will see a tale of two cities: on the one hand, there will be a group of companies who have seen no negative or positive impact on sales due to COVID-19. Procter & Gamble’s Fabric and Home Care unit sells laundry detergents, fabric conditioners, dish washing and surface cleaning products and recorded one of its strongest ever quarters (+14% sales growth) over April-June 20. Locked-down consumers saw an increased need for hygiene and cleaning products during the pandemic, and Procter & Gamble’s well-known and highly trusted fabric and home care brands remained easily accessible. However, companies that relied more on away-from-home consumption (e.g. food & beverage, professional hair care) and/or sell products that are more discretionary during lockdown (e.g. cosmetics) have seen an important negative impact on sales and may have had to reduce marketing budgets significantly to deliver quarterly profit targets. Even when that is the case, it is important to try to stay connected to the consumer as well and as much as possible. Target consumer’s new needs and aspirationsAdapt your product offering and messaging to the new needs, while staying true to your core brand equity, and step up your creativity to find ideas that truly connect with consumers in a relevant way Be ruthlessly focused on effectiveness when selecting the media channels you will use to convey your message.How important is data going to be to navigate the road ahead and identify the long-term opportunities in the FMCG sector? Very important, yet it is not the solution to everything. A huge amount of very complex data can also become a distraction and slow down decision-making. AI and predictive analytics make use of past data, and are therefore inherently backward-looking. In a fast-changing world, many new opportunities may be difficult to predict on the basis of past data, but may be more easily discovered by qualitative, future-oriented listening methods. Therefore, I remain a big fan of maintaining a good balance between quantitative data, sound thinking and qualitative understanding.What key opportunities do you foresee for FMCG companies when planning the short and long-term strategies?New habits, needs and aspirations, will emerge as we design our new, post-pandemic lifestyle. This will create totally new, or fundamentally modify, existing jobs-to-be-done. As a result, companies may need to rethink their where-to-play as well as how-to-win strategies. In the first place, it will be important to re-assess in which categories and channels one wants to play: some spaces have become less relevant, some markets less accessible, some channels have transformed dramatically. It will be important to redefine what drives relevance for the consumer in terms of products, services, communication, shopping, and adapt strategies accordingly. Secondly, it will be important to re-assess if the required competencies and capabilities to win in the new where-to-play choices are sufficiently available. What do you believe the pandemic has highlighted about leadership in FMCG? First, the need for human empathy. Empathy towards employees, empathy towards customers and suppliers, empathy towards society as a whole. The ones that have truly prioritised safety, health and well-being and income for their employees, those who have stood by their customers and suppliers when they needed it, and those that have truly gone above and beyond to help society during these extraordinary times will come out winning. Secondly, even if FMCG has always been a fast-moving environment, those leaders who have shown strong agility to effectively deal with a new reality every day will have been more successful than others. What advice would you give right now to FMCG companies?Take great care of your employees. Health care, child care, and flexible work needs have dramatically changed over the past few months, so it is critical to adapt your employee value proposition accordingly. Stay more closely than ever to consumers and find new ways to serve them better than ever. Recommit to your true purpose. The more you make yourself indispensable and irresistible to consumers, the more your business will thrive. Accept that agility will be the new norm and organise yourself accordingly with e.g. small, autonomous, decentralised teams; more lean innovation practices; more decentralised and responsive supply chains. Accelerate your digital transformation in a holistic way: digital transformation is not only about selling your products on-line or advertising on social media. It is also about digitising consumer research, leveraging AI for product development and supply chain optimisation, and equipping your teams with the tools needed to interact fast and effectively in an increasingly virtual world.If you would like to discuss how we can support you in finding the right talent for your FMCG business please contact: Mike Thornhill, Business Manager, Michael Page Marketing Tel: +44 161 829 0395 Email: mikethornhill@michaelpage.comMarketingLinksAbout usSalary comparison toolTestimonialsJobs in ScotlandBrowse for jobsGet in touchIf you are an employer and would like to talk to us about your current recruitment needs, fill in the form below and one of our consultants will call you back.
