CMO catches up with global head of content and media monetisation for the snacking giant to talk about brand strategy, cross-functional buy-in and taking risks
While the onus is on owned IP, that doesn’t mean Mondelez wants to develop everything in-house. Instead, it’s relying on a mix of new partners, such as production agencies and publishers, as well as existing agencies, but working with them in new ways. A key partner is The Story Lab, a content agency within the Dentsu Aegis Network.
“Media agencies are part of that equation and the way we work together is much more in lock step, so it’s mutually beneficial for us to succeed in these types of things,” Henderson said.
“In the past, you’d have content producers who sit at the top with the idea. They’d develop it, create and distribute it. We’d show up at the bottom, and foreseeably make it worse by interrupting with a commercial message. What we’re saying is we want to lift ourselves up that value chain.”
According to Henderson, the industry is at an interesting point in time for media and creativity, where new capabilities are still developing. “Marketers and agencies know how to tell great brand stories, we know how to persuade people to think differently and pick things off the shelf. Entertainment partners know how to tell great stories that are going to earn attention, but the intersection of those is still in development,” she claimed.
“There is such a critical need for brand strategy at the centre of that and creative planners within the agency have a huge role to play where those two worlds intersect.”
Another big shift is in how marketing as an internal function is positioned to the wider business. For Henderson, a media monetisation approach requires “commercial creativity” and for marketers to look at content and innovation in a new way.
“We have more great ideas than we ever had but half don’t see the light of day because they’re too hard, complex or it’s too easy to say no,” she said. “This idea of creative problem solvers who know how to connect the different pieces, get over hurdles as they come about and who know how to figure out where we’ve got gaps and who we should be working with, is a skillset very rapidly evolving and in demand.”
As Mondelez expands its media monetisation model, Henderson said it’s important that it’s achievable at scale. She’s now looking at how to get the new approach embedded into regions.
“We don’t want this to be just another thing marketers have to tack on, it’s about how it fundamentally changes the way we work day-to-day,” she said.
Being willing to change is vital if Mondelez’s media monetisation model is to be sustainable. And it’s clear from the Heaven Sent stunt example, that an appetite for risk is also required.
“What’s critical is having senior leadership empowering their teams to make these decisions to move quickly and to recognise where there is risk, but not run away from it,” Henderson said. “Celebrating those moments of risk are critical, and equally, learning quickly when things don’t go well is a huge piece in changing the culture.”
Cross-functional collaboration is another key component, and Henderson said she was surprised at how quickly Mondelez’s legal team became an ally as her team worked on the Heaven Sent stunt.
“The lawyer I work in our global office never said no, she just said ‘here’s how we might do it’,” she said. “From there, we started building this cross-functional taskforce, slowly adding risk management, insurance, finance and accounting, because it changes the way we operate our business. It’s this team of people that made this possible.
“Oftentimes, marketers think they’re just going to say no, so avoid them and push them to the side. But give them a role in that challenge, and you’ll be surprised what they can make happen.
“In this type of model, you can’t do it by yourself. You’ve got to find ways to bring the rest of the organisation on board.”
Another key to cross-collaboration is to speak the language of the business. Henderson agreed marketers commonly assume everybody knows where we’re coming from - to their detriment.
“It’s really important to help them understand in the context of what we’re trying to do – for us it’s achieve growth amid huge disruption – then show them how they can be rock stars as well,” she said.
“This model is about changing marketing from a cost centre to profit centre. You speak to anyone in accounting and finance and their eyes light up. You speak to a lawyer about there being real value in our trademarks and IP, and they can see it working differently. Grounding it in the commercial realities of the business and helping them chart a path forward where they can be heroes in that mix has been really valuable.”
Find your ‘stick-to-it-ness’
From a marketing team perspective, Henderson said attributes she’s now looking to foster are “curiosity and grit”.
“Whenever I’m looking at talent or building teams, curiosity is the first thing I look for – are you bringing the outside world in, and can you connect seemingly disconnected things in new way,”she said.
“And grit is because it’s really hard to be a marketer and have some of this stuff happen. Things go wrong, multiple times a day, and as a marketer, you need an incredibly sense of purpose and commitment. I call it ‘stick-to-it-ness’ – anything can fly in your face and you’re still able to move forward.”
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu
In the third and final episode of our 3-part CMO50 video series exploring modern marketing and why it’s become a matter of trust, we’re delighted to be joined by Telstra’s former CMO and now digital services and sales executive, Jeremy Nicholas, and Adobe VP Marketing Asia-Pacific and Japan, Duncan Egan.
Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.
Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?
As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.
