CGT Announces Business & Technology Award Finalists
The importance of transformational business and technology initiatives cannot be underestimated in the consumer goods industry. That’s why CGT will once again recognize one individual and three consumer goods companies for excellence in IT, supply chain, customer management and small-to-midmarket growth strategies. Today, we proudly reveal the 19 finalists for the prestigious 2015 Business & Technology Awards.
Winners will be announced during a special awards ceremony at the 2015 Consumer Goods Business and Technology Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla., October 19-22, 2015.
Winners will be announced during a special awards ceremony at the 2015 Consumer Goods Business and Technology Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla., October 19-22, 2015.
2015 CIO OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Presented to the Chief Information Officer that has made the largest demonstrable impact within his/her company through transformational business and technology initiatives.
1. Michael Auslander, CIO, Sun Products Corporation
Sun Products’ CIO, Michael Auslander, wanted to improve its trade promotion management (TPM) system to help field sales and sales finance employees target the right customers for its promotions, improve forecasting accuracy, and get more bang for its buck from its 10,000-plus promotion events every year. Now the solution is helping Sun Products meet the challenges of an ever-changing retailer and consumer landscape — and punch above its weight to compete with multinationals twice its size.
2. Mark Dajani, CIO, Mondelez International
Mondelez International decided to streamline its operating model to focus on global categories and core brands. Mark Dajani, global CIO, has played a key role enabling the new operating model from evangelizing process excellence, leading change to achieving best in class cost. He has also been at the forefront of the Winning in Sales Execution (WiSE) initiative, a 3-year global project designed to transform the global selling process of Mondelez’s approximately 45,000 sales representatives.
3. Julie Rafferty, SVP & CIO, Pinnacle Foods Inc.
Since joining Pinnacle in April 2013, Rafferty has laid out the strategic direction for the IT function by ensuring significant progress has been made in terms of people, process, and applications and built a strong IT foundation to support Pinnacle’s growth. She has organized and built a state of the art Business Intelligence Data Warehouse with multiple analytical capabilities supporting business users across all functions. Rafferty has also led the successful integration of two major acquisitions made by Pinnacle: Wish-Bone and Gardein.
4. Jennifer Sepull, VP of Information Services & CIO, Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Sepull is responsible for leading Kimberly-Clark’s enterprise-wide information systems initiatives to support the company’s future growth and to maximize the return on its information technology investments. Since joining Kimberly-Clark in February 2013, she has been focused on transforming the ITS organization to drive revenue and market share for the business through strategic technology innovation.
1. Michael Auslander, CIO, Sun Products Corporation
Sun Products’ CIO, Michael Auslander, wanted to improve its trade promotion management (TPM) system to help field sales and sales finance employees target the right customers for its promotions, improve forecasting accuracy, and get more bang for its buck from its 10,000-plus promotion events every year. Now the solution is helping Sun Products meet the challenges of an ever-changing retailer and consumer landscape — and punch above its weight to compete with multinationals twice its size.
2. Mark Dajani, CIO, Mondelez International
Mondelez International decided to streamline its operating model to focus on global categories and core brands. Mark Dajani, global CIO, has played a key role enabling the new operating model from evangelizing process excellence, leading change to achieving best in class cost. He has also been at the forefront of the Winning in Sales Execution (WiSE) initiative, a 3-year global project designed to transform the global selling process of Mondelez’s approximately 45,000 sales representatives.
3. Julie Rafferty, SVP & CIO, Pinnacle Foods Inc.
Since joining Pinnacle in April 2013, Rafferty has laid out the strategic direction for the IT function by ensuring significant progress has been made in terms of people, process, and applications and built a strong IT foundation to support Pinnacle’s growth. She has organized and built a state of the art Business Intelligence Data Warehouse with multiple analytical capabilities supporting business users across all functions. Rafferty has also led the successful integration of two major acquisitions made by Pinnacle: Wish-Bone and Gardein.
4. Jennifer Sepull, VP of Information Services & CIO, Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Sepull is responsible for leading Kimberly-Clark’s enterprise-wide information systems initiatives to support the company’s future growth and to maximize the return on its information technology investments. Since joining Kimberly-Clark in February 2013, she has been focused on transforming the ITS organization to drive revenue and market share for the business through strategic technology innovation.
CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT AWARD FINALISTS
Presented to a consumer goods firm that is best leveraging a solution to manage customer relationships, trade promotion, marketing and/or consumer insights.
1. Kellogg Company
Kellogg is a leader in innovation and utilizing mobile technology to improve sales performance. Key to its successful customer management is using a Flowfinity mobile solution to motivate and manage its field sales team to optimize retail execution in every retail store.
2. Keurig
Keurig successfully managed the introduction of its new brewer using Orchestro's platform. Orchestro provided visibility and planning assistance to monitor activities during the launch period through multiple reports run on a daily/weekly basis.
3. Frito-Lay North America (PepsiCo)
PepsiCo's Frito-Lay brand deployed an advanced analytic trade optimization solution to reduce unprofitable trade promotion spend. This allowed for an increase in employee productivity and increase revenue and profits for the Frito-Lay division.
4. WhiteWave Foods
WhiteWave Foods does a tremendous job communicating with its customer base. The organization engages with customers through Facebook and Pinterest using custom landing pages to allow them to share their experiences.
5. Wyeth Nutrition
Wyeth Nutrition partnered with TABS Group to develop a global business intelligence service: TABS WorldView; a multi-country sales database and analytic reporting tool.
1. Kellogg Company
Kellogg is a leader in innovation and utilizing mobile technology to improve sales performance. Key to its successful customer management is using a Flowfinity mobile solution to motivate and manage its field sales team to optimize retail execution in every retail store.
2. Keurig
Keurig successfully managed the introduction of its new brewer using Orchestro's platform. Orchestro provided visibility and planning assistance to monitor activities during the launch period through multiple reports run on a daily/weekly basis.
3. Frito-Lay North America (PepsiCo)
PepsiCo's Frito-Lay brand deployed an advanced analytic trade optimization solution to reduce unprofitable trade promotion spend. This allowed for an increase in employee productivity and increase revenue and profits for the Frito-Lay division.
4. WhiteWave Foods
WhiteWave Foods does a tremendous job communicating with its customer base. The organization engages with customers through Facebook and Pinterest using custom landing pages to allow them to share their experiences.
5. Wyeth Nutrition
Wyeth Nutrition partnered with TABS Group to develop a global business intelligence service: TABS WorldView; a multi-country sales database and analytic reporting tool.
SMB MARKET AWARD FINALISTS
Presented to a small to mid-size consumer goods firm that is best utilizing technology, business and innovation strategies to achieve substantial growth in size and/or revenue.
1. Caf Britt
Since its founding in 1985, Caf Britt has always had a core customer base who both loved its products and believed in its fair-trade focused ethics. Caf Britt decided to use Reflektion’s 1 to 1 Personalization solution that met two specific goals for its e-commerce growth: one, engage and convert new visitors at a higher rate and two, maximize conversions and increase basket size from loyal, returning customers.
2. King's Hawaiian
King’s Hawaiian partnered with RW3 nine months ago and has not looked back since. Using the RW3 InStore MarketCheck application they executed a blitz strategy across 18 different states, completed over 375 audits, and did it all in a nine day period with only 25 auditors which included the CEO.
3. Lactalis
Lactalis' overarching goal is to encourage trial and drive sales via couponing opportunities, and serving ads to consumers who are browsing within a digital grocery environment. The company increases its market share by tailoring its messaging directly to brand loyalists as well as competitive brand purchasers.
4. Naples Soap
Naples Soap Company was founded in the winter of 2009 during the grips of "The Great Recession" by CEO/Founder, Deanna Renda out of her home. In five short years Naples Soap Company has been fortunate to recognized for its commitment to excellence from product to operations to staff and most importantly the customers.
5. Samuel Adams
The Boston Beer Company began in 1984 with a generations-old family recipe that Founder and Brewer Jim Koch uncovered in his father's attic. Today, The Boston Beer Company brews more than 60 styles of beer.
1. Caf Britt
Since its founding in 1985, Caf Britt has always had a core customer base who both loved its products and believed in its fair-trade focused ethics. Caf Britt decided to use Reflektion’s 1 to 1 Personalization solution that met two specific goals for its e-commerce growth: one, engage and convert new visitors at a higher rate and two, maximize conversions and increase basket size from loyal, returning customers.
2. King's Hawaiian
King’s Hawaiian partnered with RW3 nine months ago and has not looked back since. Using the RW3 InStore MarketCheck application they executed a blitz strategy across 18 different states, completed over 375 audits, and did it all in a nine day period with only 25 auditors which included the CEO.
3. Lactalis
Lactalis' overarching goal is to encourage trial and drive sales via couponing opportunities, and serving ads to consumers who are browsing within a digital grocery environment. The company increases its market share by tailoring its messaging directly to brand loyalists as well as competitive brand purchasers.
4. Naples Soap
Naples Soap Company was founded in the winter of 2009 during the grips of "The Great Recession" by CEO/Founder, Deanna Renda out of her home. In five short years Naples Soap Company has been fortunate to recognized for its commitment to excellence from product to operations to staff and most importantly the customers.
5. Samuel Adams
The Boston Beer Company began in 1984 with a generations-old family recipe that Founder and Brewer Jim Koch uncovered in his father's attic. Today, The Boston Beer Company brews more than 60 styles of beer.
DICK CLARK SUPPLY CHAIN AWARD FINALISTS
Presented to a consumer goods firm for excellence in executing improvements in supply or demand planning, warehouse management, transportation management, S&OP processes or supply chain network design.
1. Electrolux
Electrolux sought to implement a collaborative system between their company and its suppliers and landed on NeoGrid’s cloud-based supply chain management software and expertise. With this VMI initiative, Electrolux is now able to achieve synergy and transparency with its suppliers in ways that it had never been able to do before. Electrolux is continuing to maintain steady growth as the world’s second largest appliance maker.
2. Hallmark
Hallmark Cards, Inc. has worked to transform its retail sales strategy by providing critical customer and business insights to the Hallmark field sales organization across 40,000 stores in 100 countries. The strategy involved a new SAP Mobile Platform, allowing Hallmark to gain near real-time visibility into its inventory and service activities.
3. Mondelez International
As a Mondelez International Customer, Walgreens is now having all time low issues with its snack on shelf availability. To correct this Walgreens summoned the assistance of its 3PL Distributor and Mondelez International. After 4 months the measured on shelf availability has improved by 4 percent.
4. NIKE
Nike has embarked on a transformational program to standardize and optimize its global S&OP process. The effort has required significant leadership from the global function and coordination/communication with a broad set of global stakeholders.
5. Red Bull North America
Launched in 1987 in Austria, Red Bull's energy drinks are now available in over 166 countries. The company partnered with JDA to efficiently and rapidly generate more than 4,500 customized planograms for retailers across the U.S. For one retailer, Red Bull increased space by almost 30 percent within the energy category.
The awards process started in January, when nominations were collected from the greater CGT community, including consumer goods executives, industry analysts, consultants and technology providers. These nominations were then narrowed down to a group of five finalists per award by CGT's editorial staff based on multiple award criteria, like project scope and results since launch. CGT's Editorial and Research Advisory Boards will elect one “winner” in each of the four categories.
Please join CGT in October at the 2015 Consumer Goods Business & Technology Leadership Conference to find out more about the initiatives that earned these individuals and companies the title of "finalist". Winners and finalists will also be profiled in the upcoming December issue of CGT.
1. Electrolux
Electrolux sought to implement a collaborative system between their company and its suppliers and landed on NeoGrid’s cloud-based supply chain management software and expertise. With this VMI initiative, Electrolux is now able to achieve synergy and transparency with its suppliers in ways that it had never been able to do before. Electrolux is continuing to maintain steady growth as the world’s second largest appliance maker.
2. Hallmark
Hallmark Cards, Inc. has worked to transform its retail sales strategy by providing critical customer and business insights to the Hallmark field sales organization across 40,000 stores in 100 countries. The strategy involved a new SAP Mobile Platform, allowing Hallmark to gain near real-time visibility into its inventory and service activities.
3. Mondelez International
As a Mondelez International Customer, Walgreens is now having all time low issues with its snack on shelf availability. To correct this Walgreens summoned the assistance of its 3PL Distributor and Mondelez International. After 4 months the measured on shelf availability has improved by 4 percent.
4. NIKE
Nike has embarked on a transformational program to standardize and optimize its global S&OP process. The effort has required significant leadership from the global function and coordination/communication with a broad set of global stakeholders.
5. Red Bull North America
Launched in 1987 in Austria, Red Bull's energy drinks are now available in over 166 countries. The company partnered with JDA to efficiently and rapidly generate more than 4,500 customized planograms for retailers across the U.S. For one retailer, Red Bull increased space by almost 30 percent within the energy category.
The awards process started in January, when nominations were collected from the greater CGT community, including consumer goods executives, industry analysts, consultants and technology providers. These nominations were then narrowed down to a group of five finalists per award by CGT's editorial staff based on multiple award criteria, like project scope and results since launch. CGT's Editorial and Research Advisory Boards will elect one “winner” in each of the four categories.
Please join CGT in October at the 2015 Consumer Goods Business & Technology Leadership Conference to find out more about the initiatives that earned these individuals and companies the title of "finalist". Winners and finalists will also be profiled in the upcoming December issue of CGT.