A P&G Leader’s Nugget for Cat Man and Insights Pros
In a recent episode of Guy Raz’s “How I Built This” podcast, Jim Stangel, former CMO of P&G, delivered an aha! moment that I thought Category Management and Shopper Insights professionals would find insightful.
Guy Raz: “We are in an era of massive data…I mean, you can measure everything now and increasingly everything more. In your view, do you feel like brands today rely too much on statistics and not enough on ground truth fact-finding?”
Jim Stengel: “It’s an AND, Guy… I had a nickname when I was an assistant brand manager, Data Man. I spent my time in the brand group just scouring the data about the brand, the competitive set distribution, and what’s happening. And I would spend a lot of immersion time in stores with mothers, with parents. You gotta do them both because insights will pop out when you are using both sides of your brain. So I’m an advocate for both. But if you do one without the other, you will not be a world-class marketer or world-class brand builder.”
This really got me thinking, especially for those of us in Category Management and Insights. Data and research are essential, no doubt. But when we mix that with real-world truth-finding, that’s when the magic happens.
Are you out there talking to shoppers, doing shop-alongs, chatting with colleagues from other accounts, or getting insights from brokers, buyers, store managers or even that DSD guy or girl? It’s when we do the “AND” that we find the actionable insights (not data!) that actually move the needle on the business. Let’s goooo! 🙂
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