A volatile economy is no excuse.
Brands like Snickers, Don Julio, Arby’s, and Rubbermaid have to continue growing even as consumers are spending less.
At market research firm Kantar’s Brand Summit event on May 15, the parent companies of those storied brands, including Mars Wrigley, Diageo, Inspire Brands, and Newell Brands, revealed their strategies for growing in a time of tariffs and economic uncertainty.
ADWEEK was on the ground there. Here’s what we learned.
Use a large portfolio to drive individual brand growth
Mars Wrigley has a huge portfolio of brands that includes Snickers, Twix, and Extra gum.
The company’s brand marketers convene to define what it wants the parent company Mars Wrigley to stand for, according to Molly Hayes, the company’s head of global human intelligence.
To drive growth overall, each brand must understand what role it plays within the parent company broader portfolio.
“What is the overlap, and what do we need it to do in our environment?” she said.
To get to this, however, marketers need to understand how their brands are perceived by consumers, and what consumers want.
Christine Hasbun, Diageo’s vp of North America consumer planning, said that understanding is the first step to growth, as it informs brand strategy and execution.
You can’t drive sales without building brands
In times when companies are cutting costs, they often focus on initiatives that are meant to drive sales directly.
But Hasbun warns against shifting budgets entirely to initiatives focused on sales, at the expense of brand building.
“I don’t think there’s such a thick wall between those two,” she said. “I actually think that wall is very porous.”
She continued: “If you’re thinking about putting some sort of sales activation out in the market and putting investment behind it, you also need to consider that you have to build your brand at the same time.”
To do this, Hasbun said brands should be consistent with reinforcing their brand positioning and messaging. And for Diageo, which is in the spirits industry, she also emphasized the ability to be emotive in its advertising—”because we’re in a very emotional category,” she said.