News Briefs

Heaven Hill Brands has selected Brandhub, the trade marketing platform from Select Design, to manage point-of-sale program execution across its retail network.

The Kentucky-based spirits supplier will use the platform to plan, order, track and measure POS activity across its portfolio of brands, which includes Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Deep Eddy Vodka, Tequila Ocho and Lunazul Tequila.

According to Brandhub, the platform will centralize program management, including budget administration and approvals, multi-vendor ordering, order tracking, real-time dashboards and field-level access on both desktop and mobile. The platform will also allow Heaven Hill sales representatives to place and track orders for pre-approved materials directly.

“We were impressed by the strength of Brandhub’s ready-built platform — it offered the core functionality we needed, with the flexibility to solve challenges unique to our business,” said Lynn Hasson, director of marketing procurement at Heaven Hill Brands.

The selection follows an evaluation process in which Heaven Hill identified its requirements for a trade marketing platform. Heaven Hill joins a growing roster of alcohol beverage producers using Brandhub for retail marketing execution.

The Whirlpool Corp. is aiming to grow its personalization efforts by improving visibility into consumer behavior within its KitchenAid small appliances portfolio.

It is working with GrowthLoop to gain access to a more comprehensive view of its consumers so employees can better understand shopper preferences and identify opportunities for engagement. 

Also: How PepsiCo is scaling AI personalization to fuel cross-sells and subscriptions at Gatorade

The initiative will help Whirlpool target high-value subsegments within broader campaigns while keeping audience intelligence, activation and measurement processes centralized within its cloud-native data warehouse rather than introducing a siloed marketing system.

"A cloud-native data warehouse is central to modernizing our customer engagement strategy across every brand," Gokul Nair, CIO for KitchenAid small appliances, said in a statement, adding that the partnership will help the company deliver personalized experiences for its consumers and strong, measurable returns for the business.

Joe Mueller, who spent 35 years at Kellanova (previously Kellogg Co.), has departed the company, joining the Acosta Group as its chief retailer partnerships officer, a newly created role focused on advancing relationships and collaboration across the retail ecosystem. 

Mueller will be tasked with partnering closely with agency leadership teams across Acosta Group's omnichannel sales and services organization to identify growth opportunities and provide retail marketplace insights that help shape business strategies. 

With more than 29 collective years of leadership at the consumer goods company, Mueller helped drive strategic growth, managing a $1.2 billion snacks portfolio and building partnerships with major retailers such as Walmart. As the company evolved, he transitioned through the corporate spinoff to Kellanova, where he ultimately served as the VP of purposeful engagement, according to LinkedIn. 

Throughout his tenure, Mueller has worked across various sales and customer development leadership roles, leading cross-functional teams and executing against major supply chain and strategic sales roadmaps.

He's worked with Acosta Group in the past on retail execution, customer development and growth initiatives. 

Conagra Brands is connecting its customer and shopper marketing efforts while improving digital shelf capabilities by tapping into a single, connected commerce system. 

The company has selected Barrows as its commerce marketing agency of record following a competitive review. The partnership is expected to result in a connected commerce engine that integrates shopper marketing, retail media, product detail page content and in‑store activation. 

This approach is designed to improve conversion, increase share of shelf and scale best practices across Conagra's diverse portfolio of brands.

By leveraging the marketing company's ecosystem of tools, data and technology, Conagra aims to transform its commerce practice, deploying new tools and capabilities that accelerate insight, planning and go‑to‑market execution.

"Together, we’re excited to build a more modern, insight‑driven commerce engine that will help our brands win at shelf and deliver measurable growth with our retail partners across the U.S.," Lisa Matos, VP, sales capabilities and commerce at Conagra Brands, said in a statement.

The first Conagra programs from Barrow are expected to launch in late July.

A version of this article first appeared on the site of CGT sister brand P2PI. 

Mommy’s Bliss, a baby and family wellness brand and a Swander Pace Capital (SPC) portfolio company, has hired Natalie Hagstrom as its new CEO. Hagstrom succeeds Yasmin Kaderali, who will transition to “chief mom advisor” and remain an active board member and strategic advisor to the Richmond, Calif.-based company. 

Hagstrom brings to her new role more than 20 years of leadership experience across a wide range of consumer packaged goods categories. Her last position was general manager at Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox Co. for the Kingsford and Brita portfolios. 

“I am honored to lead such a purpose-driven brand that makes a real difference for families,” she said. “Mommy’s Bliss has built an incredibly loyal following by delivering safe, effective and trusted products for babies, kids and parents. I look forward to working with the talented team here to expand the brand’s reach, deepen our connection with consumers and continue delivering the quality and care that families rely on.”

“Natalie is an outstanding leader whose experience and values are aligned with what Mommy’s Bliss stands for,” added Alex Litt, managing director at SPC, a middle-market private equity firm with offices in San Francisco and Bedminster, N.J. “We are incredibly grateful to Yasmin for her leadership and meaningful contributions in building the brand to where it is today. As we look ahead, we are thrilled to welcome Natalie as she builds on that strong foundation to drive the brand’s next chapter of growth. Mommy’s Bliss has a differentiated position in the marketplace, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead.” 

This article first appeared on the site of CGT sister brand Progressive Grocer.

The Hershey Co. announced Wednesday that Heather Hoytink has been named president, U.S., effective July 8. Hoytink brings over 20 years of sales, operations and commercial leadership experience, most recently as SVP and chief commercial officer, U.S., of PepsiCo's Away From Home Beverages division.

In her new role, Hoytink will have end-to-end accountability for Hershey's U.S. commercial business, leading execution across the company's full snacking portfolio of confection, salty and protein. She will advance a ONE Hershey commercial model, while driving growth across away-from-home, omnichannel, digital and other emerging channels.

"We're thrilled to welcome Heather to Hershey. She's an outstanding people leader with deep customer relationships, the operating discipline to execute at scale and a track record of growth that will accelerate our U.S. business," said Kirk Tanner, president and CEO of Pennsylvania-based Hershey. "Her experience leading some of the largest, most complex customer and commercial organizations in the industry makes her exceptionally well-suited to lead our team into the next generation of growth."

While at PepsiCo, Hoytink led the North America beverage and commercialization agenda across the Away From Home channel. Prior to that, she served as president of the South Division.

"I'm excited to join Hershey at such a dynamic moment for the business. Hershey's iconic brands, strong customer partnerships and talented team create an incredible foundation for growth," Hoytink said. "I'm energized by building winning teams, investing in people and working closely with customers to unlock new opportunities. I look forward to partnering with the team to build on existing momentum, continue delivering for customers and consumers and drive the next chapter of growth together."

This article first appeared on the site of CGT sister brand Progressive Grocer.