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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 working to develop in-store solutions
designed to stand up to the challenges of
today’s dynamic retail environment.
7-ELEVEN
AMERICAN EXPRESS
BEAM SUNTORY
n Tom Burkemper,
n Suzanne Burg, Senior Manager,
n Jeanette Koklamanis,
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.
Marketing and Communications
Burg develops and launches merchant
experiences that encourage point-ofpurchase signage placement, improve
merchant satisfaction and drive merchant
and member engagement.
ASICS AMERICA CORP.
n Casey Nolter, Director
of Retail, Americas
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.
A
ACCO BRANDS
n Gary Lazicki, U.S.
Marketing, Retail
Merchandising Manager
Lazicki leads the strategy
and implementation of inline category destinations
as well as promotional product displays
incorporating shopper marketing and
brand-based strategies for the school and
office product portfolios.
AVERY PRODUCTS CORP.
n Kimberly True, Director,
Visual Merchandising
True leads strategy for Avery Products’ retail in-store
presence and off-shelf display, commercial print and
online catalogs, trade shows and integrated marketing efforts with sales teams.
ACE HARDWARE CORP.
n Mike Berschauer, Director,
Retail Projects
n Lorne Cohen, Group
Category Manager
Cohen leads a category
management team responsible for all retail product recommendations,
including optimal assortment, retail pricing strategy and space management.
n Elyse Sanneman, Store Design and
Planning Manager
Sanneman manages a joint team comprised of store planners and planogram
documentation specialists.
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS
n Kevin Conniff, Vice President, Visual
Merchandising, In-Market Assortment
and Transportation
ALCON LABORATORIES INC.
n Ashley Olson, Manager, Displays and
Special Packs
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.
BEST BUY CO. INC.
n Chris Brandewie, Director of Store
Design
BLUE BUFFALO CO.
n Craig Stankevich, Director of Channel
Marketing
n John Devine, Senior Manager,
Merchandising
n Eric Green, Global Display Category
Manager
BURT’S BEES
n Theresa Champaigne,
Merchandising Manager
Champaigne is responsible
for developing and implementing insights-based,
breakthrough temporary
merchandising solutions that maximize
brand impact at the point of decision.
BAYER HEALTHCARE CONSUMER
CARE
n Ben Barra, Manager,
n John Pender, Director,
Visual Merchandising
n Michele Smith, 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 annd Afrin.
See profile on page 9.
BOSE CORP.
B
Merchandising Services
Barra is responsible for
the end-to-end business
process of bringing pointof-purchase projects from
concept through in-store execution for
the Bayer Healthcare portfolio of products. He strives to drive innovation in both
design and supply chain.
See profile on page 3.
n Tiffany Pieja, Merchandising
Manager
C
CAMPBELL SOUP CO./PEPPERIDGE
FARM
n Justin Cerritelli, 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 Chris Cogan, Manager,
Merchandising
Cogan’s team strives to deliver on pointof-sale, retail shelving and other customer-related orders.
n Jeff Lee, Director of In-Store Execution
2
BEST BUY
Chris Brandewie, Director of Store Design
With every step he’s taken throughout his career, Chris
Brandewie has worked progressively to find solutions
for the store. As an engineering supervisor trained in
industrial design, he began his path designing store
equipment for White Castle.
That led to design jobs at WD Partners and Chute
Gerdeman, where he got more involved in the overall
store environment. He then became director of store
design and planning for Supervalu before venturing
out on his own in May 2004 as the principal and owner
of Astro-Man Studio, a design consultancy specializing
in retail and restaurant design.
Along the way, Brandewie has developed a keen interest in the behavioral aspects of design “and really taking into consideration what impact the physical aspects
of the store have on the psychology of the shopper in
the space,” he says. In short, he’s become passionate
about finding ways to change behaviors through architecture, color, layout, design and adjacencies.
Brandewie, who joined Best Buy in 2007 and was
named director of store design in October 2012, recently answered the following questions for Shopper
Marketing:
Photo by Chris Bohnhoff
“The better retailers will start to look at their displays
not so much in terms of how they can scream the
loudest in the environment, but how to actually tell
their story most effectively.”
How has the emergence of the omnichannel shopper
influenced your overall approach to store design
and merchandising?
BRANDEWIE: We’ve spent a lot of time recently trying
to take that on. The whole idea of showrooming formatted what we’re doing in terms of price matching,
making pricing transparent, and ensuring that the in-store experience gives our customers a certain level of comfort and intrigue
that they can’t necessarily get in an online scenario. We’ve tried to
create a situation where there’s absolutely no reason for customers to go anywhere else. We will continue to work on amplifying
their experience in our stores and be an advocate for our customers. We want to make sure we’re providing customer-based experiences first and foremost.
in revenue but also in customer satisfaction, lack of returns and the
likelihood to recommend, then we certainly deem that as a success.
What are the most important characteristics of a mutually
beneficial merchandising collaboration between a
manufacturer and a retailer?
BRANDEWIE: We have a lot of vendor shops, and it’s been a great learning experience for everyone involved. We recently put in vendor pads
in our home theater areas for Samsung and Sony and work directly with
both design teams. It’s been a very collaborative exercise and fun as a
retail designer, helping them elevate their brand in our space without
completely eliminating the feel of Best Buy. We’ve worked very hard to
create hybrid solutions that take the best of them and the best of us to
create something brand new and exciting within our space. It allows
customers to have that side-by-side comparison and make better-informed decisions as to what is going to help them in their lives.
Please discuss any modifications to Best Buy’s store design over
the past couple of years, and what we can expect in the future.
BRANDEWIE: We’re starting to get into more saturation of color
and areas to differentiate the space for shoppers to guide them
through a bit more easily. I also think we’ve been missing out for
quite some time in consumer electronics in terms of getting that
texture in there and the layering of experience. We want to push
ourselves to play around with the surrounding experiences, and
use texture, light and color to move people throughout the store
and help them make the decisions they need to make.
Based on your experience as emcee for the Path to Purchase
Institute’s Design of the Times award ceremony last October,
can you identify any noteworthy trends in merchandising?
BRANDEWIE: Simplicity is going to be the key. As we move forward, we’re going to continue to see more complexity in products
as they come to life in stores and online. The better retailers will
start to look at their displays not so much in terms of how they can
scream the loudest in the environment, but how to actually tell
their story most effectively.
How does the organization typically define success for the instore experiences you and your colleagues create?
BRANDEWIE: We’re a retailer, so we’ll always measure it off of revenue and revenue increases, but we also take a hard look at consumer feedback, consumer input and the likelihood of a shopper
to recommend the store. If we see a noticeable increase not only
3
NESTLÉ PURINA
Bill Kambol, Senior Merchandising Display Specialist
Although Bill Kambol has won several awards for his
P-O-P design work over the years, there was little if any
design to his early career path. An industrial design grad
from Purdue University, Kambol wanted product design
work, but jobs were scarce as he graduated during a recession in the early 1990s.
Continuing his education with graphics studies, he
eventually discovered packaging design. Soon after this
introduction, a friend who designed display structures
told Kambol that his employer was looking for a structural designer. He nailed the interview and took his first
of two jobs with P-O-P design firms that lasted through
the turn of the century.
It was in his second job that Kambol first worked with
Purina, among other CPGs, and was struck again by the
thought that CPGs needed internal display designers.
Purina recruited him in 2001, but it wasn’t a simple decision. His present company and Purina were both being
bought, he was about to become a father for the first
time, and changing jobs would require a move away
from family. “It was a lot to digest in a short period of
time,” Kambol says. “Eventually, Purina’s fantastic people
and culture won us over and a more affordable big city
(St. Louis) convinced us to make the move.”
In his current position, Kambol works directly with
the marketing group to design, develop and implement
in-store marketing solutions in the form of displays and
special packs. Brands include Fancy Feast, Cat Chow,
Beneful, Dog Chow and Tidy Cats. Kambol recently took
the time to answer the following questions for Shopper
Marketing:
Photo by Whitney Curtis
“The best solution is customization. This way
everybody has some skin in the game. It’s always more
motivating to work on something for a customer that
even they can’t wait to see in their store.”
there. I can say that our customization has increased tremendously.
This trend has never stopped since I have been in the industry. The
excuse used to be technology but the technology is there now, so
the industry can no longer claim that. Customization means more
opportunities, and that’s fantastic – we are building more opportunities. The great side of customization is that there is commitment
from all parties.
How does merchandising fit into the Nestlé Purina
organization?
KAMBOL: The growth and role merchandising plays has changed
dramatically since I began 13 years ago. Particularly on the food and
litter side, it was truly seen as a “nice-to-have” or even a “hope-tohave.” Displaying pet food seemed underdeveloped here. We were
doing a fantastic job with our treats but other food and litter products lagged behind. Over the years that “nice-to-have” has turned
into a “must-have.” We create merchandising for a variety of strategic reasons, and it is essential for any new product launch.
What reasons do you hear most often from retailers who elect
not to accept a merchandising program?
KAMBOL: They are required to give reasons? The fact you are asking
that question shows us what a hot button it is. That hasn’t changed
since I’ve been in the industry. The best solution might be customization. This way everybody has some skin in the game. It’s always
more motivating to work on something for a customer that even
they can’t wait to see in their store.
How does the company define success for its in-store marketing
programs?
KAMBOL: ROI is a big part of it. So is purchase growth after a product introduction that utilized display merchandising – that’s key. I
personally just define success by my workload. If we did a great job
previously and our customers are trusting us to continually come up
with great solutions, they will ask for more merchandising. Pretty
simple. By the way, we have never been busier than right now.
On what areas should CPGs pay special attention to
improve their merchandising programs in the current retail
environment?
KAMBOL: My advice is listen to your customers. Educate them
about your product and about merchandising. Educate your internal teams about merchandising if they are not already. Build trusting
relationships with your vendors but always keep them honest. And,
most importantly, have great display designers in-house.
What kinds of shopper insights does Nestlé Purina use to
develop its merchandising programs?
KAMBOL: I am not sure how formally we go into insights. I don’t recall seeing any reports about insights, not that there aren’t some out
4
CHURCH & DWIGHT
CRAYOLA
n Beth Ondush, Manager,
Merchandising
Ondush manages the
development and execution of point-of-purchase
activity, both permanent
and temporary, across key accounts and
channels.
n Dan Bracken, Director, Marketing
Services
THE COCA-COLA CO.
n Pamela Basciani, Global Director,
Immediate Consumption
n Christine Naples,
Retail Design Manager
Naples focuses on driving
brand recognition and
success in the marketplace
by designing proprietary
merchandising displays.
n Preston Poore,
Director,
Retail Merchandising
Solutions
Poore and his team are accountable for Coca-Cola’s
display innovation, custom
design and commercialization process.
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS
n Rick Neira, Director Visual
Presentation and Store Environments
Leader, Retail Access
E&J GALLO WINERY
n Laurence Peters, Design Director,
Key Accounts
Peters is responsible for accounts such
as Walmart, SaveMart and H-E-B, focusing on delivering specific, innovative and
functional design elements in order to
build mutually beneficial partnerships.
GODIVA CHOCOLATIER
n Jose Padron, Director of Visual
Merchandising
GOPRO
n Gabe Mendez, P-O-P/Displays
Operations Manager
ENERGIZER HOLDINGS INC.
n Kristine Koehler, Merchandising and
Display Manager, Fem Care
n Natalie Mallone, Merchandising and
Display Manager, Wet Shave
n Davi Tash, Merchandising and Display
Manager, Sun Care
F
FOOD LION
n Karen Fernald,
Senior Vice President
of Merchandising
H
HALLMARK CARDS INC.
n Kurt Kozacek, Vice President,
Visual Merchandising
Kozacek is responsible for the end-to-end
strategy, planning and execution of the
brand experience, including all visual presentation, fixturing, product layout and
signing in mass-channel retailers.
HEINEKEN USA
n Susan Mastrogiacomo, Commercial
Marketing Services Director
THE HERSHEY CO.
Strategy and Logistics Group
Merchandising, Space Planning
Retail Category
Solutions
Glew leads the category
management and customer analytics efforts.
n Dan Pasqualucci, Senior Team
E
n Dimitri Foutres, Director, Wall
n Dana Ocampo, Manager, Visual
n Gary Glew, Director,
Merchandising Strategy
n Rene Brignac, Director
COTY U.S.
GLAXOSMITHKLINE
n Laura Bailey, Senior Manager,
CONAGRA FOODS
Marketing Manager,
Walmart and West Region
Faragher originates and
implements custom secondary display and semipermanent display initiatives for ConAgra
brands at national accounts.
Marketing
Communications
Manager
Lamendola oversees a
retail marketing team that
touches many unique and custom retail
merchandising initiatives.
DR PEPPER SNAPPLE GROUP INC.
Drink Equipment Commercialization
n Scott Faragher, In-Store
GARMIN
n Ronnie Lamendola,
D
n Mark Rohde, Group Director, Cold
of Retail Innovation
Brignac leads the retail innovation team that drives
ConAgra’s in-store strategy
including innovation agenda and display execution at retail.
G
n Frank Sheehe, Global Retail and
FOOT LOCKER
Merchandise Manager
n Brian Landman, Director, Visual
Merchandising, In-Store Experience
Landman is responsible for the creative
strategy for the Foot Locker and Kids Foot
Locker brands.
5
HUNTER DOUGLAS
n Maureen Marrone,
Director, Visual
Merchandising
J
JOCKEY INTERNATIONAL
n Mark Fedyk, Vice President, Retail
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
n Steven Hecht, Director, In-Store
MCCORMICK & CO. INC.
MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL
n Sarah Peri Bankert, Senior
n Tim Kearns, Associate
Merchandising Innovations Manager
Bankert leads McCormick’s U.S. in-store
merchandising and display efforts from
design to execution across multiple
brands and retail channels.
Strategy and Innovation
MEAD JOHNSON NUTRITION
K
KEURIG GREEN MOUNTAIN
n Don Collins, Director, Merchandising
and 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.
KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC.
n Diane Rogers, In-Store Merchandising
Lead
L
LOGITECH
n Cynthia Bowens, Retail Marketing
Manager
L’OREAL USA
n Michael Arecchi, Vice President of
Merchandising
n Nancy Hafter, Assistant Vice
President, Retail Innovation and
Promotional Development
n Christina P. Ragazzini, Director,
Retail Innovation and Promotional
Development
M
MARS CHOCOLATE U.S.
n Adrienne Mattar,
Merchandising Manager
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.
n Beverly Hughes,
Director, Shopper
Merchandising Solutions
n Robyn Petroski, Merchandising
Manager
n Steven J. Zoellner,
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.
National Sales and
Strategy Manager
Hughes and her team are
responsible for developing
channel strategy for club
and for managing the Amazon.com and
diapers businesses.
MICHAELS STORES INC.
n Chris Jernstrom, Director,
Merchandising Strategies, Canada
Jernstrom supports the Canadian market
through analysis, review, support and
execution of merchandising, advertising
and marketing, space planning, inventory management, pricing and customer
loyalty.
MICROSOFT
n Jason Floyd, Group
Manager, Visual
Merchandising, U.S.
Floyd leads the U.S. team in
the design, development
and deployment of all
visual merchandising programs in
support of Windows, Surface, Office,
Xbox and PC hardware for all U.S. retailers.
n Jake Olsen-Jacobsen,
Senior Retail Display
Manager
Olsen-Jacobsen is
responsible for retail fixture
structural innovative
design, consumer device retail security
and display engineering, electrical and
safety compliance for Microsoft product
displays.
N
NBC UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
n Mary Khachikyan,
Director of NewRelease
Planning
Khachikyan is responsible
for the new release procurement and production
planning for Universal Pictures Home
Entertainment.
NESTLÉ PURINA
n Bill Kambol, Senior Merchandising
Display Specialist
See profile on page 4.
n Greg Norsworthy,
Director of Retail
Presentation
Norsworthy’s primary
objective is to create enhanced shopping experiences at the category and brand level.
NESTLÉ USA
n Cory Wofford, Team Lead,
Communication Department
Wofford’s team collaborates and coordinates with the brand teams in determining the key priorities for Nestlé’s retail
sales teams that include selling and merchandising in stores across America.
NESTLÉ WATERS
n Pam Venn, Marketing Manager,
Merchandising and Point of Sale
6
PEPSICO / FRITO-LAY INC.
Maddy Kulkarni, Senior Marketing Manager, Point-of-Sale
Maddy Kulkarni is the CPG marketing industry’s version of
a lifelong sports fan who gets drafted to play for her favorite professional team. A senior marketing manager at PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Inc., she joined the company straight out of
the MBA program at New York University’s Stern School of
Business in July 2010.
“PepsiCo was the company I wanted to work for,” she says.
“As a consumer, I loved PepsiCo brands and the marketing
behind them, from the pop-star Pepsi commercials at the
Super Bowl, to my favorite Quaker Chewy chocolate chip
granola bars, to delicious Tropicana orange juice, and my alltime favorite, Crunchy Cheetos.”
Kulkarni started for PepsiCo in the Purchase, New York,
office, helping to launch Sierra Mist Natural by taking
charge of the brand’s social media strategy and running
the weekly brand analytics and trackers. Next was a crash
course at the Frito-Lay headquarters in Plano, Texas, where
she helped launch Better For You snacks.
“Working at Pepsi is a lot of fun because you can focus
a lot on consumer-facing marketing like social media, print
and TV ads,” says Kulkarni. “At Frito-Lay, you get more of a
general management experience as a marketer because
not only are you working on consumer-facing marketing,
you are also working on things like determining what capex
(capital expenditures) you might need to make your product at which plant, working with procurement on timely
sourcing of ingredients, and working with finance on P&Ls.”
After a year of activation work in the supermarket channel, Kulkarni leaped at the chance to grow further. “I did my first two roles in
brand and innovation,” she says, “so last year I raised my hand for a
shopper marketing role to round out my experience.”
She took some time out recently to answer the following questions from Shopper Marketing:
Photo by Rex Curry
“Merchandising is the final opportunity to close
the deal with the shopper and have her put your
product in her basket. The materials we use give
the shopper cues about the product.”
with operations to make sure enough product was shipped; and we
worked with the brand team on making sure our communications
and point-of-sale materials were “on brand.” I also work with our merchandising center of excellence team to create temporary and permanent displays that help shoppers find what they are looking for.
What role does merchandising have in the company’s overall
shopper marketing strategy?
KULKARNI: It is the final opportunity to close the deal with the shopper and have her put your product in her basket. The materials we
use give the shopper cues about the product – corrugated displays
can cue limited time or seasonal offerings; wood/metal/more permanent displays can indicate staple/everyday items. The attractiveness
of an endcap merchandising unit itself can factor into the decision for
a shopper to go down the chip aisle.
Describe the first eight months in your new job.
KULKARNI: I am working on developing and executing the growth
strategy for two of our largest accounts in the grocery channel –
Safeway and Albertsons. I determine what brands to lean into at
what times during the year, what our lobby and perimeter displays
look like, and how we participate in retailer programs like Safeway’s
loyalty card program “Just for U” and Albertsons’ yearly “Monopoly”
event. I also work closely with our shopper insights team to understand the unique differences of the Safeway and Albertsons shoppers. Lastly, I work very closely with sales and the retailers themselves
to learn about the goals most important to them, and then, keeping
those in mind, creating programs that drive value for the shopper,
the retailer and our business.
What recent Frito-Lay in-store marketing campaign stands out
to you the most?
KULKARNI: A quick-turn Cheetos display we created for Thanksgiving
at Albertsons. At the end of the summer, we sat down with the brand
team and asked ourselves, “How could we do more in-store events
with the brand during Q4?” The Cheetos brand is all about mischievous
family fun, and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to engage in such moments. We worked with the brand team, sales and finance to create a
thematic display unit that called out the promotion to use social media
engagement tools for a chance to win a Cheetos prize pack. It was a full
360-degree activation that included a custom URL for the program, an
ACME MyMixx digital coupon and social media posts on the Frito-Lay
and Albertsons Facebook pages.
How do the various in-store marketing functions fit within the
greater Frito-Lay organization?
KULKARNI: I stay very connected with our cross-functional partners
in sales, finance, operations and the brand teams. For example, last
year when we created a custom experience to bring our national Lay’s
“Do Us a Flavor” campaign to life at Safeway, we worked with sales to
sell in the product and perimeter display; we worked with finance to
deliver coupons and value to shoppers at the right time; we worked
7
NIKE
PETCO ANIMAL SUPPLIES INC.
SEPHORA
n Matt Kelly,
n Tim Swanson,
n Maureen
Global
Director of Procurement
for Retail, Workplace
Design, and Real Estate
Kelly’s role is to optimize
and commercialize the
go-to-market plans for retail stores (Nikeowned, franchised and multi-channel),
and Nike sales offices, headquarters and
distribution centers.
Vice President,
Visual Presentation
PINNACLE FOODS
SHARP ELECTRONICS CORP.
n Andrew Kohler,
n Terri Siebert, Associate Director,
Senior
Manager, Category
Leadership
Kohler leverages analysis
and multiple software
tools to identify optimal
assortment and insights with intent to
maximize retailer category productivity,
buyer conversion and shopper traffic.
NOVARTIS CONSUMER HEALTH
n Margaret Farrell, Displays Manager
n Stephen Kamp,
Associate Director,
Displays/Special Packs
Watson, Senior Vice
President, Merchandising
PRICE CHOPPER SUPERMARKETS
n Blaine Bringhurst, Senior Vice
Marketing Communications
SKULLCANDY
n Jeff Chuh, Director of Retail Product
Marketing and Visual Merchandising
SONY ELECTRONICS
n Anne Lips, Retail Marketing,
Visual Merchandising Manager
n Tony Shinker,
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.
President, Sales, Merchandising and
Marketing
P
PROCTER & GAMBLE
PEPSICO
n Bill Smith, Senior Display
Manager, Duracell North
America
Smith is responsible for
the strategic direction and
operations of the Duracell
permanent and temporary display
program.
n Karl Flowers, Senior Manager, Small
Format Merchandising Innovation,
Frito-Lay
n Jim Ivy, Sales Strategy
and Planning,
Merchandising, Frito-Lay
Ivy manages design
and development for
Frito-Lay’s permanent
equipment solutions in the large-format
channel.
n Maddy Kulkarni, Senior Marketing
Manager, Point-of-Sale, Frito-Lay
See profile on page 7.
n David Lothian,
Senior
Director, Sales Strategy
and Planning
Lothian’s team is responsible for enabling sales
growth with its in-store
merchandising solutions.
n Eric Long, Sales Planning Manager
n Jennifer Quotson, Vice President,
Global Creative Studios
R
REEBOK INTERNATIONAL
n Karin
Summersett,
Displays Manager
n John Lynch, Vice President, Head of
U.S. Marketing and Merchandising
n Brian Kelly, Senior
Director of Merchandising
and 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.
STARBUCKS
ROLL GLOBAL
n Dave Churchill,
T
S
n Erika
National Director,
Merchandising, Wonderful Brands
SABRA DIPPING CO.
n Pete Loizzo, Director,
Sales Operations
SARGENTO FOODS INC.
n John
Bottomley,
Senior Director of
Retail Merchandising
Bottomley is responsible
for retail merchandising
excellence across all channels of trade.
n Michael Vaszily, Marketing Director
of Alternate Channels and Strategic
Merchandising
8
TARGET CORP.
Rinkleff, In-Store
Marketing Senior
Planner, New Formats
Rinkleff’s focus is on the
planning and implementation of the in-store experience for CityTarget, TargetExpress and
other high-level innovation projects.
n Bill
Stafford, Senior
Design Lead
Stafford is responsible for
the design of store environments and fixture and
lighting development.
n Kathee Tesija, Executive Vice
President, Merchandising
BLUE BUFFALO CO.
Craig Stankevich, Director of Channel Marketing
A relative newcomer to the pet food category, Blue Buffalo has
ramped up its marketing efforts in the past year to make more
pet owners aware of its premium-quality, all-natural pet nutrition for dogs and cats. A major part of that effort was bringing
in Craig Stankevich as director of channel marketing in September 2013.
Stankevich has since been charged with leading the marketing efforts for Blue Buffalo’s regional and independent retail
accounts within the pet specialty channel throughout the U.S.
He was previously a veteran of the beverage world, having held
various shopper marketing, merchandising and promotions
roles at PepsiCo, Nestlé Waters, Reed’s Inc. and SoBe prior to
his current post.
With a passion for creating innovative and effective in-store
solutions, Stankevich says supporting stores with channel tools
and merchandising solutions as well as creating account-specific programs and materials for the company was an opportunity
he couldn’t pass up. “Blue Buffalo has done a tremendous job
leveraging advertising over the years to drive consumer awareness about our brands,” he says. “Now our regional and independent accounts have the tools to continue generating that
awareness when that consumer becomes a shopper.”
In the past year, his team has created various tools along the
shopper’s path to purchase. “We now have the in-store tools
to help pet parents navigate a store, differentiate our different
product lines, and become educated on the key product attributes for those product lines,” he says.
Stankevich recently took time out to answer the following
questions for Shopper Marketing:
Photo by Ty Foster
“We want to make pet specialty special, and
by creating fun yet functional merchandising
solutions for retailers, it helps the process of
selling that in with their key decision-makers.”
How did you become involved in merchandising and in-store
marketing?
STANKEVICH: My first exposure was when I worked on productlaunch support materials, consumer promotions and equipment
programs supporting the SoBe portfolio of brands. Within the energy drink category, I was able to make some truly unique and innovative displays and cold equipment (coolers) that really stood out
from the competition.
the parking lot. In the second half of this year, we also launched our
first merchandising program to regional and independent customers,
with the intention of creating display tools that would really get our retail partners excited about them. Our “Dog House” merchandiser adds
vertical uprights to the base stacker that allows hooks for treats and
trays for cans so we can have our entire product portfolio on one display. Our “Cat Tree” merchandises our entire portfolio of cat products
with the added feature that it is completely wrapped in blue carpet to
give the display a second life as an actual cat tree. Retailers have been
excited to bring both into their stores, and they’ve been very successful in helping to drive impulse sales.
What is Blue Buffalo’s approach to merchandising compared to
other companies for whom you’ve worked?
STANKEVICH: There’s been a tremendous acceptance to outside-thebox ideas for merchandising displays in my work with regional chains
and independent customers in the pet specialty channel. Blue Buffalo
looks at merchandising as a necessary tool to gain incremental space
in-store. At SoBe, for example, we built merchandising tools based on
our needs for different channels of business. We only sell within one
channel, but there are plenty of needs and opportunities in the pet
specialty channel as our product portfolio continues to expand.
What kinds of insights are used to develop your merchandising
programs and how far does the organization break down these
insights?
STANKEVICH: In the past year we’ve created the tools we were lacking to support our in-store marketing efforts and launch our first
merchandising program. We are working on tools that will allow us
to look at store-level detail to measure sales and create a shopper
insight story at the chain/store level, which will be great for us to leverage. We have a saying that we want to make pet specialty special,
and by creating fun yet functional merchandising solutions for retailers, it helps the process of selling that in with their key decisionmakers. Our goal is to make displays and merchandising solutions
that will help drive impulse and add-on sales, while at the same time
being innovative and unique.
What recent Blue Buffalo merchandising programs stand out to
you the most?
STANKEVICH: Our five-foot Coroplast bags of some of our leading
SKUs for pet stores have received a tremendous reaction from retailers
and are a great tool to generate awareness – not only before the customer gets out of the car but in some cases before she even pulls into
9
n Jen Theisen, Senior
Fixture Designer
Theisen’s primary work is in
the healthcare, beauty and
household commodities
divisions.
n Natalie
Zimny, In-Store
Marketing Manager
Zimny drives large-scale
strategy, guidelines and
long-term innovation for
storewide marketing.
n Steve
W
WALGREEN CO.
n Louis Dorado,
Director,
Space Management,
Visual Merchandising
and BDM Operations
Dorado’s team brings to
life planograms, floor-plan
execution and promotional space at the
more than 8,100 Walgreens stores.
n Mike Hattenschweiler, Director,
In-Store Marketing Design
TIME INC. RETAIL
n Troy Stratton, Director of Retail
Display
TYSON FOODS
n Paula Steenstra, Director of Creative
Development
n Katherine Tai, Manager, Strategic
Merchandising and Mix
U
Rogers, 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 Jim Jensen, Group Vice President,
Well Experience Implementation and
Space Planning
WALMART STORES INC.
n Chad Henderson, Senior Design
Manager
Henderson manages the production of
design details and style guides.
n Barbara Magstadt, Senior Director,
Visual Merchandising
UNILEVER
n Tom Gioielli,
Category
Strategy Manager,
Deodorants and Male
Grooming
Gioielli’s team develops
and leads consumer
and shopper insight-based deodorant
shelving strategies.
10
n Kenneth Siemens, Design Director
WORLD KITCHEN
n Chuck Schneider, Senior Director,
Visual Merchandising
Y
YANKEE CANDLE CO.
n Jodi Villani, Manager, Wholesale
Activation, Visual
Villani strategizes with the activation team
to support primary business objectives
through compelling, innovative in-store
experiences.