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IN MERCHANDISING
Scores of consumer product manufacturers
and retailers are represented in this year’s list
of noteworthy merchandising professionals,
all of whom are developing in-store solutions
that stand up to the challenges of today’s
dynamic retail environment.
THE HERSHEY CO.: RICK PRICE, Senior Manager, Merchandising
Center of Excellence
R
Photo by Jennifer Stumbaugh
ick Price loved Reese’s peanut butter cups as a kid, but
little did he know that he would spend his career marketing his favorite brand. Fresh out of college, the marketing
major joined The Hershey Co. in 1982 and has since held
a wide variety of roles, from research, sales and marketing to advertising, merchandising and center-store evolution before taking
on his current role, which he assumed two years ago.
“There’s always been that psychology of the consumer/shopper that I love and trying to dig deep into how can we solve her
problems – that’s where I am today,” he says, adding that he sees
himself more as a consultant to retailers, trying to help solve
shoppers’ problems and frustrations. The Merchandising Center
of Excellence team was designed to do just that – solve shopper
and retailer problems, with a focus on creating convenient, fun
and engaging shopper experiences to re-energize the center store.
As senior manager, Price oversees this group.
Knowing that trips to the store are declining, his team is working with retailers to find solutions that will make shopping more
convenient and help build bigger baskets. The perfect example
is the company’s gold standard – s’mores one-stop-shop solution centers that merchandise Hershey bars, marshmallows and
graham crackers. “Shoppers are time-starved, so when these are
merchandised together, it’s a win-win-win,” Price says. “Retailers
build bigger baskets, the shopper experience is enhanced and the
items featured all produce sales growth.”
He says it’s critical that both his team and their retailer partners
understand the problem to be solved going into any project. “We
then align upfront on the key deliverables and scorecard performance against aligned KPIs. It’s just about solving problems,”
he reiterates. “If everyone doesn’t know the objectives up front,
we’re going to have a hard time solving it and aligning on success
metrics. And if we try to do it after the fact, we’ll be in trouble.”
Price says a POPAI study conducted in 2014 showed that while
consumers have a love and passion for confection like no other
category, there is a major disconnect. Shoppers reported their
frustration in shopping for candy and rated it the worst in terms
of shoppability and findability and very low in terms of inspiration. Since those insights were uncovered, Price’s team set out to
change that and has found some recent successes.
With regard to organization structure, Price says the Merchandising Center of Excellence team represents the “voice of the
shopper” and works collaboratively with the company’s shopper
insights team to help solve shopper problems with a focus on
creating an immersive and engaging shopper experience.
Collaboration with retailers will continue to be a key focus.
Leveraging case study results that are grounded in shopper insights, the team has built a menu of proven in-store solutions and
capabilities, he says.
2
7-ELEVEN
,
Senior Director,
Merchandising,
Non-Alcohol
Beverages
Burkemper is the U.S.
strategic business
unit leader for 7-Eleven’s multibilliondollar non-alcohol beverage portfolio.
Categories include energy, soft drinks,
waters, isotonics, juices, coffees, teas
and functional beverages.
n Tom Burkemper
Career achievement
In partnership with Winn-Dixie, The Hershey Co. created its Hershey’s Candy Experience in late 2014 (see image on page 1). The concept replaced the traditional
candy aisle at Winn-Dixie’s newly renovated store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The
key focus, says Price, was to solve a shopper’s problem and retailer’s opportunity.
“Seventy-six percent of shoppers aren’t happy with clutter in the candy aisle resulting in 25% of shoppers walking away without any confection in their basket,” Price
says. “Our reimagined candy aisle addresses these challenges and makes candy
shopping convenient and memorable.” This design moved the entire 24 feet of the
candy aisle out of center store and into a more shoppable, convenient and visually appealing area that commands 27 by 27 feet of space. The permanent candy
section proved successful, garnering positive consumer feedback and posting a
25% lift in confection category sales at this Winn-Dixie location. The solution is
showcased in Hershey’s Customer Innovation Center and Price says retailers are
lining up to consider this for their stores. “We’re seeing fantastic results from this,
and it’s only just begun.”
Recent achievement
For retailers that don’t have adequate space to create a Candy Experience destination, Price says the company’s Branded Experience Pods can get them in the
game. “This is the next evolution,” he says. “We talked to shoppers and we know
they will pay full margin revenue for their favorite brands if we can help them find
what they’re looking for and give them something more experiential.” Price says
his primary interaction is with the shopper and working with the company’s shopper engagement team to find a solution for the particular retailer. These branded
pods are not the full experience, he says. “Candy is a fun category and Hershey has
fantastic iconic brands – the Reese’s, Kisses and Hershey’s brands have strong emotional connections. We’re always working to develop solutions leveraging these
insights to surprise and delight the brand lovers. These branded pods bring that
experience to life in the retail environment.”
A
ACCO BRANDS
, U.S.
Marketing, Retail
Merchandising
Manager
Lazicki leads the strategy and implementation of in-line category destinations as well as promotional
product displays that incorporate
shopper marketing and brand-based
strategies for the school and office
product portfolios.
n Gary Lazicki
, Senior Leader,
Visual Display & Merchandising
n Ryan Tesiero
ACE HARDWARE
,
Category Manager –
International
Cohen leads the
category management strategy and
execution across all
categories for Ace International retailers. He is responsible for retail product
recommendations, including optimal
assortment, retail pricing and space
management.
n Lorne Cohen
, Category Strategy
& Operations Manager
n Elyse Sanneman
, Director of Category
Management & Retail Development
n Andy Voelker
Photo by Jennifer Stumbaugh
3
ACH FOOD COS.
n Paul Rearick
Engineer
, R&D Packaging
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS
, Vice President,
Visual Merchandising, In-Market
Assortment and Transportation
n Kevin Conniff
AHOLD USA
,
Director of Retail
Nolter is responsible
for the strategic direction and tactical
execution of retail for
Asics in the Americas,
including operations, real estate, merchandising, store design and talent.
n Casey Nolter
AVERY PRODUCTS
,
n Tonya Herring
Senior Vice
President,
Merchandising,
Non-Perishables
Herring leads the
merchandising teams
to build programs that include optimal
assortment, pricing strategies and
space management.
ALCON LABORATORIES
,
Manager, Displays
& Special Packs
Olson is responsible
for point-of-sale displays and special
packs from development to delivery to all key customers.
n Ashley Olson
AMERICAN EXPRESS
, Senior Manager,
Marketing & Communications
Burg develops and launches merchant
experiences that encourage point-ofpurchase signage placement, improve
merchant satisfaction and drive merchant and member engagement.
n Suzanne Burg
ASICS AMERICA
, Director,
Visual Merchandising
(See profile on page 14)
n Kimberly True
B
BAYER HEALTHCARE
, Senior Manager,
Visual Merchandising
n Peter Davidson
, Director, In-Store
Merchandising
n John Pender
, Senior Manager,
Visual Merchandising
Smith is responsible for the design and
development of secondary-placement
displays for mass, drug and club retailers. Brands include Claritin, Miralax,
Coppertone and Afrin.
n Michele Smith
BEAM SUNTORY
n Jeanette
BEHR PROCESS CORP.
, Vice President of
Retail Experience
n Sarah Furnari
BEIERSDORF
, Merchandising
n Kristine Koehler
Manager
BEST BUY
,
Director of Store
Design
Brandewie leads the
creative design team
focusing on store
layout, architecture,
displays and fixturing.
n Chris Brandewie
, Director,
Visual Merchandising
n Toni Engebretsen
BLUE BUFFALO
Stankevich,
Senior Director,
Channel Marketing
Stankevich leads the
marketing efforts for
Blue Buffalo’s regional and independent
retail accounts within the pet specialty
channel, supporting stores with channel tools and merchandising solutions.
n Craig
BOSE CORP.
Koklamanis,
Senior Procurement
Agent (POS)
Koklamanis is responsible for strategic
sourcing by using a
collaborated approach to deliver the
best products at the best value. Her focus is on cost savings based on analysis
and market intelligence.
4
, Senior Manager,
Merchandising
n John Devine
, Global Display Category
n Eric Green
Manager
BURT’S BEES
CLOROX CO.
n Theresa
n Tim Roberts
Champaigne,
Merchandising
Manager
Champaigne leads
the development
and implentation
of all promotional merchandising for
Burt’s Bees. She’s tasked with creating
insights-based solutions that maximize
brand impact at the point of decide.
, Merchandising
n Tiffany Pieja
Manager
C
CAMPBELL SOUP/
PEPPERIDGE FARM
, Senior Customer
Development Manager, Innovation
Cerritelli works with the breakthrough
innovation brand team, acting as the
single point of contact to ensure all
customer development aspects are incorporated into the commercialization
process of Campbell’s new product
launches.
n Justin Cerritelli
, Senior Manager,
Merchandising
Cogan’s team strives to deliver on
point-of-sale, retail shelving and other
customer-related orders.
n Chris Cogan
CENTRAL GARDEN & PET
,
Vice President,
Retail Sales and
Service
Mosshart heads a
team of merchandising professionals that
works across diverse categories such
as grass seed and nutrients with Pennington Seed, pet & wild birdfood led
by the Kaytee brand, and a portfolio of
brands in the weed and pest control
category.
n Roger Mosshart
,
Director, NRS
Merchandising
Solutions, Channel
Planning &
Development
Staten leads CocaCola North America’s U.S. retail merchandising team with responsibilities
for supporting commercial strategies
across brands, channels, franchise partners and key customers as well as advancing a future state shopper-focused
merchandising strategy.
n Richard Staten
, National Retail
Operations Manager
COCA-COLA CO.
,
Group Director,
Channel Planning
and Development
Basciani leads a team
in driving the commercial strategy for
the large store channel, identifying
highest leverage opportunities for category growth and delivering shopper
solutions for key consumption occasions and missions.
n Pamela Basciani
, Vice President,
Channel Planning and
Development, SM Capability
n Karyn Froseth
,
Group Director,
Channel Planning
and Development
Merino leads the
team responsible for
developing commercial strategy and planning for convenience, drug and dollar stores channels
across the Coca-Cola North America
business unit.
n Oliver Merino
,
Group Director,
Equipment &
Commercialization
Rohde leads a team
responsible for the
development and
commercialization of Coca-Cola North
America’s cold drink equipment portfolio including cold drink equipment
commercial strategy, equipment development/design, graphics and features
that engage shoppers.
n Mark Rohde
5
CONAGRA FOODS
,
Director of Retail
Innovation
Brignac leads the retail innovation team
that drives ConAgra’s
in-store strategy including innovation agenda and display
execution at retail.
n Rene Brignac
, Manager –
Retail Innovation
n Tim Brogan
, Manager –
Retail Innovation
n Jamie Hall
COTY U.S.
, Senior Director,
Wall Strategy and Logistics Group
n Dimitri Foutres
, Manager, Visual
Merchandising/Space Planning
n Dana Ocampo
MARS CHOCOLATE NORTH AMERICA: RANDALL RODRIGUEZ,
Senior Merchandising Manager
R
andall Rodriguez believes that as senior merchandising
manager he has to “make every store visit count,” so it’s
no surprise that he has made every one of his 16 years
with Mars count. He has learned nearly all aspects of the
business in his roles in IT, finance, sales, supply chain, research &
development and marketing. And he now draws from those varied
assignments in guiding the in-store presence of Mars Chocolate
North America.
“These experiences have given me a broad perspective of our
business and what it takes to enable cross-functional groups to
work toward a common goal and be successful,” says Rodriguez.
“With my foundation being in technology, I was able to learn
and master project and business process management principles.
“My experiences in supply expanded that foundation to include lean thinking and Six Sigma skills that serve me every day.
After leading various critical programs for Mars Chocolate from
supply chain transformation to improving product freshness,
I developed a passion for our customers, brands and in-store
conditions.”
Rodriguez emphasizes each store visit’s value because modern technology’s effects on shopping behavior and the future of
brick-and-mortar stores is not to be feared, he says. The number
of consumers visiting physical locations is still sizable enough to
make in-store influences important. The rise in online shopping
has also led to a rise in store pickups.
“Retailers will use their stores as distribution centers and continue to drive traffic to their stores,” he says. “This provides an
additional option for shoppers getting merchandise faster.”
Once shoppers visit, it’s up to the magic of merchandising to
sway them. Rodriguez says nothing online replaces in-person
thought provocation. “Whether through creating nostalgia, interactivity or simply a pleasant shopping experience, retailers will
find ways to reinvent themselves and create reasons for shoppers
to want to physically interact with products before purchasing
them. Given this, in an impulse category such as chocolate, we
need to make every visit count.”
Rodriguez says merchandising has changed because shoppers’
attention is divided by mobile devices in the store. An intriguing
display in the right place is no longer enough, he says. “Another
critical trend is reinventing the aisle to create a store within a
store,” says Rodriguez. “Only one in five shoppers ever travel
down the candy aisle, and creating an inviting environment that
connects with them becomes that much more important.”
Creating eye-catching and effective displays takes a team working with other teams, Rodriguez says, and input from Mars’ customers is crucial to effective merchandising. He says the status of
Mars Chocolate North America means it has invaluable consumer insight to share with retailers to maximize sales and velocity.
“We put our customers, the retailers, at the heart of everything
we do,” he says. “Our goal is to drive growth not just for Mars but
the retailer and the entire chocolate category. Transparency and
trust are the most important characteristics to make a mutually
Photo by Steve Hockstein
beneficial relationship. For the manufacturer, it can mean being a
steward of the category and being able to make decisions beyond
your sole business objectives if it’s the right thing to do for the
retailer and their shoppers.”
He says his company defines success in terms beyond sales. It
takes its role as category captain seriously; Rodriguez’s display
and equipment team is organized to work with customers of large
outlets and small outlets, focusing on semi-permanent displays,
seasonal displays and national promotional point-of-sale materials.
Their efforts include pre-packed displays and customer-specific
shopper marketing programs. Close collaboration ensures consistent in-store messaging all year, and the insights group helps
display strategy by refining where and when displays are most
effective, he says.
“The goal is to match mental and physical availability to bring
smiles and moments of joy to shoppers and consumers,” says
Rodriguez. “We are successful when we can make the connection
with shoppers on the role of chocolate in specific moments or
traditions. If we are able to properly make those moments come
to life at retail and lift not only Mars Chocolate but the entire
category, then we know we have been successful.”
6
CRAYOLA
,
Manager,
Merchandising
Ondush manages the
development and
execution of pointof-purchase activity,
both permanent and temporary, across
key accounts and channels.
n Beth Ondush
Career achievement
Rodriguez “borrowed” this display from his European colleagues. The color mix
concept uses clear cylinders to show the colors and graphics of the packaging of
several brands. “Given the success we had seen in Europe, I made this program
a top priority for my team,” says Rodriguez. “We partnered with various account
teams and delivered great successes in the mass, grocery and drug channels. The
results have been significant, with sustained double- and triple-digit unit sales increases.”
, Vice President of
Customer Solutions
(See profile on page 10)
n Rick Stringer
D
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS
, Director, Visual
Presentation & Store Environments
n Rick Neira
E
EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE
,
Merchandising &
Display Manager,
Wet Shave
Mallone leads
Edgewell’s U.S.
wet shave in-store
merchandising and display initiatives
across all classes of trade.
n Natalie Mallone
Recent achievement
Rodriguez says the creation and deployment of the 2015 Halloween point-of-sale
materials is the most successful merchandising project he’s been involved with.
There was a 10% to 20% better sell-through in stores with the Halloween display
than those without. “My role was to drive my team’s collaboration with our marketing team, our display partner and our
graphics partner,” he
says. “My team managed the program’s
execution to ensure
our retail teams had
all the materials they
needed. I knew we
had a success on our
hands the day I walked
into a retailer and saw
multiple people taking pictures with our
displays.”
7
, Merchandising & Display
Manager, Sun Care
n Davi Tash
F
FOOD LION
,
n Karen Fernald
VP of Fresh
Category,
Merchandising
& Pricing
FOOT LOCKER
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
H
, Director,
Visual Merchandising,
In-Store Experience
Landman is responsible for the creative
strategy for the Foot Locker and Kids
Foot Locker brands.
, Director, In-Store
Strategy & Innovation
n Brian Landman
n Steven Hecht
HEINEKEN USA
n Susan
Mastrogiacomo,
Commercial
Marketing Services
Director
Mastrogiacomo leads
a team that is responsible for identifying and developing
channel-relevant merchandise and
displays in order to maximize brand
impact at point of purchase.
G
GARMIN INTERNATIONAL
n Ronnie
Lamendola,
Senior Manager,
Retail Marketing
Lamendola oversees
a retail marketing
team that touches
unique and custom retail merchandising initiatives from in-store and online
merchandising in the USA and globally. He also leads Garmin’s Miami and
Chicago storefronts merchandising
activities.
, Director In-Store
Design/Special Pack
n Bob Myers
, Director,
Packaging and Merchandising
Design and Commercialization
n Jeanne Figo Comar
, Senior Manager,
Merchandising & Print Services
n Megan Phelan
,
Director,
Merchandising &
Retail Innovation
Collins leads the
in-store visual merchandising team and
strategy across all U.S. channels, which
includes creative and industrial design,
brand shop innovation, secondary displays, POS and retail activation.
n Don Collins
, Director,
Merchandising Center of Excellence
n Scott Dunkley
, Senior Manager,
Merchandising Center of Excellence
(See profile on page 2)
n Rick Price
, Global Retail &
Merchandise Manager
n Frank Sheehe
HUNTER DOUGLAS
,
n Maureen Marrone
Director of Visual
Merchandising
GLAXOSMITHKLINE
KELLOGG CO.
KEURIG GREEN MOUNTAIN
HERSHEY CO.
GENERAL MILLS
K
KIMBERLY-CLARK
, Senior Director,
n Dayton Henderson
Global Design
, Displays Manager
n Margaret Farrell
KRAFT HEINZ CO.
, Associate Director,
Displays/Special Packs
n Stephen Kamp
GODIVA CHOCOLATIER
, Director of Visual
Merchandising
n Jose Padron
GOPRO
, Senior Manager,
Global P-O-P Operations
n Gabriel Mendez
,
Senior Director,
Sales Operations
n John Jaffke
J
JACK LINK’S
, Packaging
Engineering Manager
n Kent Oakland
JOCKEY INTERNATIONAL
n Mark Fedyk
Officer
, Chief Merchandising
8
, In-Store
Merchandising Strategy Lead
n Diane Rogers
L
MEIJER
L’OREAL USA
n Dave Clark
, Vice President of
n Michael Arecchi
Merchandising
, Vice President,
Promotional Development &
Procurement, Consumer Products
Division
n Laurie Houlihan
, Director,
Retail Innovation & Promotional
Development
n Christina P. Ragazzini
LG ELECTRONICS
, Shopper Marketing
and Merchandising Manager
Olson is responsible for developing
and implementing insights-based,
breakthrough in-store experiences and
solutions.
, Vice President,
Brand & Product Development
, Director,
Merchandise Presentation
n Shelly Huisken
, Vice President of
Brand Development & Marketing
n Nicole Laughlin
, Director,
Merchandise Presentation
n Doug Robertson
,
Vice President,
Merchandise
Presentation and
Pricing
n Adam Whitney
n Rachel Olson
LOGITECH
MICROSOFT CORP.
,
Director of Retail
Digital Marketing
and Visual
Merchandising
n Jason Floyd
, Retail Marketing
n Cynthia Bowens
Manager
, Acting Group Manager,
Visual Merchandising
n Timi Mafua
M
MARS CHOCOLATE U.S.
,
n Adrienne Mattar
Merchandising
Manager,
Merchandising
Center of Excellence
Mattar’s group is
responsible for developing and executing pre-pack merchandising vehicles by collaborating
with brands, sales associates and customers to identify and address display
penetration barriers.
,
Senior
Merchandising
Manager, Shopper
Merchandising
Solutions
Petroski leads a merchandising team responsible for the
design, development and execution of
temporary displays and POS.
n Robyn Petroski
n Dwain (Jake)
Jacobsen,
Senior Retail
Demo Manager
,
Director, Shopper
Merchandising
Solutions
Zoellner leads the
strategic merchandising function, and his
team is responsible for all designing
and producing of Mondelez display
material as well as all aisle-reinvention
projects.
n Steve Zoellner
N
NBC UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
,
Director of New
Release Planning
Khachikyan is responsible for the new
release procurement
and production planning for Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
n Mary Khachikyan
NESTLE PURINA
, Senior
Merchandising
Display Specialist
Kambol works directly with the marketing
group to design, develop and implement
in-store marketing solutions in the
form of displays and special packs.
n Bill Kambol
MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL
, Manager,
Merchandising Materials,
In-Store Merchandising Center
of Excellence
n Kelly O’Brien
, Senior
Merchandising Manager
(See profile on page 6)
n Randall Rodriguez
9
CRAYOLA: RICK STRINGER, Vice President of Customer Solutions
W
hen Rick Stringer walks into a store during backto-school or any holiday season and sees a Crayola
pallet train or new planogram, he typically thinks
back to the testing that went into it and how it was
determined that a particular product is where it is on the shelf.
“Occasionally I’ll harken back to a mom who maybe made a comment that drove that,” he says. “That’s the really fun stuff and the
exciting part of the job.”
As Crayola’s vice president of customer solutions, Stringer has
four groups that report to him: merchandising, business intelligence, category management and strategic planning. “We’re
responsible for triangulating consumer, shopper and trade marketing insights into actionable recommendations that meet our
customers’ strategic objectives for the category,” he says.
The customer solutions group was newly formed when he assumed his role last spring. Having started his career in sales at
Schering-Plough and moving through a variety of functions from
account management to product marketing, Stringer says his
passion has always been in consumer packaged goods. He’s held
many positions within Crayola, starting as a trade promotion
manager and then moving into education marketing, where his
team was constantly finding ways to nurture the relationship the
company has with teachers and helping them use its products
as well as visual arts as a cross-curricular resource. He served
as the general manager of the company’s European business for
two years after that, then headed customer leadership, worked
in regional sales management and led the sales group prior to
assuming his current post.
Stringer thrives on working collaboratively and cross-functionally with Crayola’s creative, engineering and procurement
groups. The group also works very closely with the market research department on identifying learning objectives specific to
shopper, to channel and to customers. “Our category is interesting in that it’s really driven by occasion,” he says. “There are so
many solutions in children’s art and stationery that we provide
mom based on those different occasions, and understanding that
really has been a major area of focus for us. We’re taking those
insights and moving them into customer-specific solutions.”
Crayola’s new Sky Blue merchandising lab has enabled Stringer
and his group to be much more proactive in the work they do.
Using what he calls a “scrappy approach,” the company is bringing in moms and dads, kids and grandparents alike to garner its
directional insights and then engaging with retailer partners to
localize programs to their specific shoppers or visual merchandising needs.
“It’s been very impactful,” he says. “It’s designed to say to our
customers, ‘Here are some directional learnings, now let’s focus
in on your specific shopper insights.’” Retail assets have to work
harder, he adds, but with the business intelligence and advanced
analytics retail customers have today, they can measure the
data more accurately than ever before. “So that means that the
collaboration to ensure that we’re strategically aligned with the
Photo by John Kish IV
customer’s objectives is a bigger deal. Something that goes up
quickly and easily is really becoming a major imperative.”
As shoppers have more “stepping stones” along the path to
purchase, Stringer believes it will be critical to continue digging
into the different occasions when consumers buy Crayola products and the key points of influence that drive decision-making.
“We’ve done shopper segmentation work to understand different
shoppers’ approaches and behaviors when shopping,” he says.
“We know there’s a strong emotional connection to the brand,
and sometimes it’s just ensuring that it stays top of mind. But we
also want shoppers to recognize that we provide great solutions
for all their needs throughout the year.”
Beyond the normal success metrics, Stringer emphasizes that
programs have to be seen as efficient in the retailer’s eyes. With
the emergence of the omnichannel shopper, he believes consistent threads that weave through the entire path to purchase will
help drive conversion in-store. He sees the Holy Grail in merchandising as the integration of mobile and digital technology at
shelf, and his group will continue its exploration of engaging the
shopper in a meaningful way.
10
,
Director, Retail
Presentation,
North America
Norsworthy’s primary
objective is to create
enhanced shopping
experiences at the category and brand
level.
n Greg Norsworthy
Career achievement
Over the last 10 years, Crayola has placed a large focus on the back-to-school seasonal set, not only understanding how the list impacts the way mom shops and
the role of the brand but also optimizing product placement and flow. “That is
work that we continue to refine,” Stringer says, noting that it includes understanding how to ensure the company is meeting the core basic needs of the shopper
while at the same time continually refining insights to find transaction-building
opportunities, trade-up opportunities and speed of shop. “That
profiling work is so important to
understand the different types of
back-to-school shoppers and how
to find executable merchandising
plans for our customers to actually
roll out. It’s a big deal.” The teams
conduct a variety of annual studies
and have boosted efforts within its
new lab. “We’re building merchandising vehicles with an eye on the
holding power required and having
the right items in place at the right
times,” he says. “That can be very
impactful as well. It’s the basic and
simple stuff that really impacts the
business.”
, Senior Display and
Merchandising Specialist
n Pam Venn
NESTLE USA
, Merchandise
Manager, Confections & Snacks
Division
n Thomas Kobayashi
, Team Lead,
Communications Department
Wofford’s team collaborates and coordinates with the brand teams in determining the key priorities for Nestle’s
retail sales teams that include selling
and merchandising in stores across
America.
n Cory Wofford
NIKE INC.
Manager
,
Director, Global
Procurement,
Retail & Corporate
Facilities
Kelly’s mission is to
maximize consumer
impact by leveraging Nike’s suppliers
and scale to help provide world-class
experiences and environments.
n Matt Kelly
Recent achievement
Based on learnings garnered through ethnographic work and formal shopalongs,
Crayola in October implemented a complete aisle redesign at Meijer that went
across all of the chain’s stores at the same time. It was time to “freshen things up,”
Stringer says, and it started at the ground level and moved up to the Sky Blue lab,
where testing of four
different full planogram
executions
took place, with
three different iterations. “We leveraged
the Crayola brand
and it was designed
around wayfinding
and the proper segmentation flow,” he
says. “We’re really
pleased with the results of that and very
pleased with the execution.”
11
, Senior Visual
n Kenneth Edwards
P
PFIZER
PEET’S COFFEE & TEA
n Chris Beley
, Director of Visual
n Adam O’Connell
Merchandising
S
, Display Team Lead
POST CONSUMER BRANDS
,
Visual Presentation
& Merchandising
Manager
Collette leads the
strategy and design
of in-line merchandising as well as all displays in North
America, driving consumer perception
across Post’s full portfolio of brands.
n Steve Collette
PEPSICO
,
Senior Manager,
Small Format
Merchandising
Innovation,
Frito-Lay
n Karl Flowers
, Sales
Strategy & Planning,
Merchandising,
Frito-Lay
Ivy manages design
and development for
Frito-Lay’s permanent
equipment solutions in the largeformat channel.
n Jim Ivy
,
Senior Director of
Merchandising &
Execution
Kelly leads the Merchandising Center
of Excellence for the
Pepsi Beverages Co. (PBC), PepsiCo’s
beverage manufacturing, sales and
distribution operating unit in the U.S.,
Canada and Mexico.
PRICE CHOPPER
SUPERMARKETS
n Blaine Bringhurst
Senior Vice
President, Sales,
Merchandising
and Marketing
,
, Vice President, Visual
n Tim Swanson
Presentation
PETSMART
, Vice President, Store
Design and Visual Merchandising
n Shane McCall
, Director, Sales
n Pete Loizzo
Operations
SARGENTO FOODS
,
Senior Director
of Retail
Merchandising
Bottomley is responsible for retail
merchandising excellence across all channels of trade.
n John Bottomley
, Vice President,
Sales Services
n Michael Sokol
, Director, Marketing
and Merchandising
n Michael Vaszily
SC JOHNSON & SON INC.
, Director,
Sales Operations
n Lute Rasavong
n Brian Kelly
PETCO ANIMAL SUPPLIES
SABRA DIPPING CO.
, Vice President of
Corporate Brands
n Michael Cormier
SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO.
, Director, In Store
Marketing
n Scott Evans
n Paul Cobb
PROCTER & GAMBLE
SKULLCANDY
, Group Vice President,
Merchandising
, Operations Leader,
Health & Well-Being and Beauty,
North America
n Andy Monaco
, Pet Care Display
n Don Overton
Leader
R
REEBOK INTERNATIONAL
, Vice President, Head of
U.S. Marketing & Merchandising
n John Lynch
12
, Director of Retail
Product Marketing and Visual
Merchandising
n Jeff Chuh
SONY ELECTRONICS
, Retail Marketing,
Visual Merchandising Manager
n Anne Lips
,
Senior Manager,
Retail Merchandising
and Strategy
Shinker leads and
manages all retail
merchandising and
display initiatives, including strategy
and development for Sony’s sound
division.
n Tony Shinker
, Senior Director –
Merchandising Strategy &
Transformation
n Lisa Roath
, Vice President,
Merchandise Operations
n Ted Smetana
,
Senior Design
Lead
Stafford is responsible
for the design of
store environments
and fixture and lighting development.
n Bill Stafford
,
Senior Fixture
Designer
Theisen is responsible for the design
of fixtures and store
environments for the
health & beauty, electronics & entertainment and household commodities
divisions.
n Jen Theisen
STAPLES
, Vice President,
Visual Merchandising
n Robert Madill
STARBUCKS
, Vice President,
Global Creative Studios
n Jennifer Berger
, Director, Shopper
Innovation & Experience
n Kelly Marsh
, Vice President,
Global Creative Studios
n Jennifer Quotson
T
TARGET CORP.
, Senior Director,
Divisional Merchandise Manager
n Sarah Arnold
,
Manager – In-Store
Marketing,
New Formats
Rinkleff’s focus is on
the planning and implementation of the
in-store experience of Target’s smaller
format stores and other high-level innovation projects.
n Erika Rinkleff
TIMBERLAND CO.
, Senior Director,
North America Merchandising,
Footwear & Apparel
n Jackie LaLime
U
UNILEVER
,
Team Lead – U.S.
Category Strategy
Gioielli’s team develops and leads consumer and shopper
insight-based assortment and shelving strategies for all of
Unilever’s categories.
n Tom Gioielli
W
WALGREEN CO.
,
Director, Space
Management, Visual
Merchandising
Dorado’s team brings
to life planograms,
floor-plan execution
and promotional space at the more
than 8,100 Walgreens stores.
n Louis Dorado
n Mike
Hattenschweiler,
Director, In-Store
Marketing Design
TIME INC. RETAIL
, Director of Retail
Operations & Display
n Troy Stratton
TYSON FOODS
, Manager,
Strategic Merchandising & Mix
n Katherine Tai
13
,
Group Vice
President,
Well Experience
Implementation &
Space Planning
Jensen is responsible
for developing and leading store formats and the creation of new business
programs. His team is also responsible
for space planning relating to macro
space allocation, category display plans
and promotional activities.
n Jim Jensen
AVERY PRODUCTS: KIMBERLY TRUE, Director, Visual Merchandising
K
imberly True’s first career mentor was her stepfather, Jim Willey, a former vice president of
sales and marketing with then
Anheuser-Busch division Merico. And
while she continues to heed Willey’s advice, True is now more than capable of
offering her own after stops at leading
companies like Nestle USA, Masterfoods
USA, Sony Pictures Entertainment and
now Avery Products. “Some of the most
valuable lessons I learned along the way
are: collaborate with the cross-functional
team on projects; forecasting is not an exact science; learn to write a great creative
brief; and identify what risk you have in
the plan and have counter measures in
place,” she says.
In high school, True worked at a grocery
store and learned a bit about in-store operations, planograms, and
off-shelf and front-end displays. After earning a marketing degree
at California State Polytechnic University (Pomona), True joined
the logistics group at Nestle in 1991. “The club store channel
was just getting traction, and one of my key responsibilities was
converting retail packs into club pack pallet displays,” she says.
“That’s where it all started.”
She was promoted to the merchandising group in the confections division, where she created promotional display programs
and national permanent display fixture programs while defining ROI methods with key customers and integrating consumer
insights. Rene Alvarez, then the merchandising manager for the
confections division, taught True to emphasize “stopping power”
in her display work.
True then climbed the leadership ladder – at Masterfoods
(Mars Inc.) as in-store presence manager for brands like Whiskas
and Uncle Ben’s, and at Sony as director of operations, leading a
group in the operational aspects of DVD display production, specialty DVD packaging development and materials management.
At Avery since 2006, True leads the retail and commercial
teams that are account focused on retail displays and trade shows,
and commercial customers’ online and print catalogs. She heads
all category merchandising solutions, retail test merchandising
and trade advertising assets. “Within my role, I also aid the sales
organization with ensuring the sales tools needed for market
activation are developed and available such as collateral, online
digital assets, retail planograms and displays or commercial promotional programs,” she says.
True’s team is part of the customer marketing group within
Avery’s sales organization, and is split into retail and commercial
catalog focuses. They work with the consumer insights group
to learn shopping behavior and user behavior for Avery products. “Our product marketers, consumer insights and digital
Photo by George DeLoache
marketing teams within our marketing group collaborate with
our category business managers, account sales teams and visual
merchandising team within our sales group to develop programs
to drive the business,” she says.
True says she enjoys working with teams from Avery partners.
Collaboration within leads to collaboration without. “I have
found that when we have the ability to bring together the right
team, decision makers and area experts between the retailer and
the brand, it aids in the ability to create a successful program and
bring it to market more quickly,” she says.
“Key players that drive this are our retailer merchants with
their marketing and store operation and visual teams, the brand
marketers with their account sales team, category business managers, insights and visual teams. I also find it integral to include
in the process the supplier/thought partner that will be producing
the program.”
Now in her third decade of merchandising, True says recent
years have brought change. It’s become more instantaneous, she
says – faster delivery to store, quicker turns, and retailers wanting the easiest in-store setup to maximize compliance. And she’s
noticed in-store promotional windows are shorter with more
frequent display programs. “I’ve noticed more category management solutions over the last five years or so, more loyalty cardbased signage and integrating mobile-friendly content with less
instant on-pack promotions,” she says. “Also, in some categories,
I see lighting transforming the retailer’s in-store environments,
which is very engaging. For office supplies, key trends in the
marketplace are about inspiring the consumer with solutions and
the products that can make their project successful.
“Brands are achieving this with inspiring visuals, on-target
messaging and the use of various types of materials/printing
techniques to create that inspiration and stopping power, both
online and in-store.”
14
WALMART STORES
, Senior Director
– Visual Merchandising /
Merchandise Execution
n Mark Brodeur
, Director, Apparel Visual
Merchandising
n Paul Kilsch
Career achievement
, Senior Director,
Visual Merchandising
n Barbara Magstadt
True says that one of the more successful broad market merchandising
projects she has worked on was a
new line of specialty labels in unique
shapes, textures and sizes. Website
analytics provided a target market of
small businesses that could use these
products to brand and promote
their products. To inspire small business owners, Avery needed to show
them what the materials looked like
– printed – and needed to communicate how easy it was to get great
results. “Our cross-functional Avery
team brought forth to market category solution signage, merchandising solutions and a few test vehicles
to gain additional consumer insights
and shopping behavior on this line of
products,” says True. “This line continues to gain momentum with line
extensions and performance for the category.”
,
Senior Director,
Visual
Merchandising
Marketing
Rogers leads the
visual merchandising services team and is responsible
for in-store marketing programs for
Walmart U.S.
n Steve Rogers
WONDERFUL BRANDS
, Vice President,
Merchandising
n Dave Churchill
WORLD KITCHEN
, Senior Director,
Visual Merchandising
n Chuck Schneider
Recent achievement
Avery worked on the labels category with superstore merchants at Staples and Office Depot/OfficeMax. Each of the retailers’ objectives was independent, and True’s
team was able to collaborate with them to create planograms that are visually compelling and meet many of the outlined objectives set forth for each account. “At
Staples, the labels set was increasing the shelving density and we needed to improve the category performance of our specialty labels by increasing the presence
of those products in the set,” says True. “At Office Depot/OfficeMax, our objectives
were about harmonizing the assortment, improving category navigation, and creating a product presentation to drive trade-up.”
15
Y
YANKEE CANDLE CO.
, Director of
Merchandising and Promotions,
Retail Stores
n Brian Chaisson
, Vice President/
GMM Retail Activation
n Debbie Ter Doest