July 2, 2008
P&G Vet Takes Over as Safeway’s CMO
Safeway announced yesterday that it has hired Diane Dietz, a former executive with Procter & Gamble who has been credited with having reinvigorated the Crest brand, as the supermarket chain’s new executive vice president and chief marketing officer (CMO).
In her new position, Ms. Dietz will have broad responsibilities including overseeing Safeway’s marketing, merchandising, manufacturing and distribution functions. She will report directly to Steven Burd, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Safeway.
Ms. Dietz spent 19 years at P&G where she most recently ran the manufacturer’s Oral Care North America unit.
“Her broad experience running one of the most valuable brand portfolios in the world and her demonstrated ability to drive sales at retail are well-suited for her responsibilities at Safeway,” Mr. Burd said in a statement.
Discussion Question: What advice do you have for Diane Dietz as she makes the switch from the manufacturer side to retail?
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Diane Dietz’ greatest challenge at Safeway: most retailers expect results in 30 days or less. My guess is that P&G allowed a much greater timeline. Best advice: don’t change the logo. Improve something shoppers really want. How about Singles Night? Gay and Lesbian Singles Nights? Tasting parties to raise money for charities? Biometric frequent shopper ID so everyone can leave their cards at home?
The store associates out in the field are your direct links to your customers. Build strong relationships with with them and listen to what they have to say. Retail gives you day by day hour by hour sales results. Use those results to your utmost advantage in your performance analytics which should affect both merchandising and marketing strategies.
Diane, success with Crest at P&G is to make a connection between the consumer and the brand. That same thinking needs to permeate Safeway. Is the new store redesign, product assortment, and customer orientation making a connection between the consumer and the store?
Safeway is a retailer who clearly gets the importance of both merchandising and marketing. The recent dramatic improvements to the store through the Lifestyle format and to store brands such as Safeway Organics are certainly leading edge and show willingness to invest.
The challenge for an CPGer turned retailer is to understand that while the retailer’s brain may understand and value marketing, getting things executed is a brave new world vs. the simplicity of CPG marketing. Lower margins, immediate results measurement, thousands of stores, and a labor force dependent on part-timers are a very different world from the Ivory Towers. Combine that with the reality that Marketing is a staff function with retailers, and needs to operate with the folks who call the shots in Merchandising and Operations.
All that said, the move to a progressive thinking retailer can be incredibly energizing. Huge opportunity to make a mark and change the way the retail game is played!
I don’t know Diane, but I am confident that these type of industry moves are fantastic for the shopper marketing industry, as they showcase the career potential of those marketers who are really dedicated to bringing the best thinking, insights, and collaborative solutions forward. Both brand and retailers can grow equity and sales when top talent is dedicated to a marketing process that requires collaboration and mutual objectives for success. We as an agency look forward to working more closely with her and the other smart marketers at Safeway.
Dear Diane – Years ago, John Smale hurdled very high barriers when he got the ADA to endorse a toothpaste for the first time, Crest, thereby replacing Gleam as PG’s top selling toothpaste. Colgate was amazed by its competitor’s accomplishment and Smale foamed up to the very top of your old company. Years later, you did a fine job reviving Crest when it became remodel time. Now you have a challenge not unlike Smale’s was 40-50 years ago.
Here are two questions that could impact your effectiveness as CMO at Safeway: 1)Does Steve Burd have the marketing savvy of PG’s Art Lafley? If not, quickly develop a key internal support network beyond Mr. Burd for your future creative efforts at Safeway. Don’t let yourself get isolated inside the CEO’s environment.
2)As you well know, manufacturers create most of the new products and contemporary packaging which in turn can develop increased margins easier than can supermarket merchandisers, who are team extensions in the relay race to the consumer. Thus, search for ways to make the Safeway Brand more unique with fresh products and captivating services that are less dependent on CPG companies and suppliers. And–Lots of Good Luck!
The effectiveness of a CMO (or anyone in a senior marketing position) depends on the personality and creativeness of the person, not the position. One of my former bosses was VP of Marketing and is the least creative person I’ve worked with. He recently left his job to become a CMO. The only reason his lack of talent won’t hinder him is because he’s in the credit union world…not much creativity required there.
Good luck, Diane! I shop at Genuardi’s exclusively so I look forward to seeing what you roll out.
Apparently it’s still pretty big news when a major supermarket company recruits a CPG marketer to its upper ranks. It’s an unusual–and I’d infer–challenging transition for the marketing pro. But there is precedent at Safeway, which has tapped at least one former brand marketer to its top marketing post.
I think this is a more complex job than running a CPG brand. It involves piloting Safeway as a master brand as well as its store brand programs, which include its very successful O organics line.
Each Safeway store is a communications environment for multiple, competing brand messages. Ms. Deitz will need to be the maestro of this cacophony–turning out what sounds like a marketing symphony to shoppers.
“The first thing we do,” said the character in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, is “kill all the lawyers.”
To paraphrase, Kill all the Category Partners, market regionally and control your own destiny. Safeway has devolved to a sameness that eschews regional brands and localized marketing for the simplicity of centralized management. Dominick’s is a classic example, Genuardi’s is another. Of course there are Randall’s and Tom Thumb. The crafts learned at P&G are probably counterintuitive to this process, but we shall see how she works out of the box.
I’ll use this question to comment on Diane’s past; whether it will shed light on her future is another story. I don’t know when she took over the Crest brand, but I had been a Crest user since childhood. As one of the first fluoride toothpastes and with its support from the American Dental Association, it always seemed to obvious choice. Just to improve on it, Crest was the first to use the “flip top” for the tube toothpaste.
I now use Colgate.
It seemed Crest gave up their differentiators one by one. I guess the first to go was the unique fluoride feature, which almost all the toothpaste brands copied. The ADA began endorsing Colgate, then Crest dropped the flip top and Colgate began carrying it. On that last point, I can only assume the owner of the patent on the flip top got too greedy for Crest and they decided to stop licensing it.
As I said in the beginning, I don’t know where Diane’s involvement with the Crest brand began and ended, but I think the advice from my perspective is to “never stop listening for footsteps.” There is always someone behind you, hoping for an opportunity. If you become complacent and try to ride on your laurels, you will be overtaken. Some would say Safeway has already let that happen.
Diane’s challenge with her new position will be the breadth of products, the impact of local demographics, and the dependency on good execution at store level (product does not sell from the backroom). Creating a dynamic and sales oriented mentality at store level will be her challenge.
Brian Cornell left for a reason–not just to become head of Michaels. Retailers and Wholesalers believe that the ‘gray matter’ does not exist in their own organizations, so they opt-out for ‘talent’ but seem to always forget about ‘experience’.
The challenge for Ms. Dietz will be the fast pace and breadth of issues she will have to deal with. Execution (operations) is essential to branding and merchandising success. Her ‘branding’ experience will play an insignificant role in her day-to-day touch points.
Oh, and as a reminder to everyone, O Organics, Eating Right and the brand reorganization to 10 brands from 70, occurred BEFORE Safeway solicited CPG help (Brian Cornell-Pepsi and James White-Gillette.) I give her two years….
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Diane Dietz’ greatest challenge at Safeway: most retailers expect results in 30 days or less. My guess is that P&G allowed a much greater timeline. Best advice: don’t change the logo. Improve something shoppers really want. How about Singles Night? Gay and Lesbian Singles Nights? Tasting parties to raise money for charities? Biometric frequent shopper ID so everyone can leave their cards at home?
The store associates out in the field are your direct links to your customers. Build strong relationships with with them and listen to what they have to say. Retail gives you day by day hour by hour sales results. Use those results to your utmost advantage in your performance analytics which should affect both merchandising and marketing strategies.
Diane, success with Crest at P&G is to make a connection between the consumer and the brand. That same thinking needs to permeate Safeway. Is the new store redesign, product assortment, and customer orientation making a connection between the consumer and the store?
Safeway is a retailer who clearly gets the importance of both merchandising and marketing. The recent dramatic improvements to the store through the Lifestyle format and to store brands such as Safeway Organics are certainly leading edge and show willingness to invest.
The challenge for an CPGer turned retailer is to understand that while the retailer’s brain may understand and value marketing, getting things executed is a brave new world vs. the simplicity of CPG marketing. Lower margins, immediate results measurement, thousands of stores, and a labor force dependent on part-timers are a very different world from the Ivory Towers. Combine that with the reality that Marketing is a staff function with retailers, and needs to operate with the folks who call the shots in Merchandising and Operations.
All that said, the move to a progressive thinking retailer can be incredibly energizing. Huge opportunity to make a mark and change the way the retail game is played!
I don’t know Diane, but I am confident that these type of industry moves are fantastic for the shopper marketing industry, as they showcase the career potential of those marketers who are really dedicated to bringing the best thinking, insights, and collaborative solutions forward. Both brand and retailers can grow equity and sales when top talent is dedicated to a marketing process that requires collaboration and mutual objectives for success. We as an agency look forward to working more closely with her and the other smart marketers at Safeway.
Dear Diane – Years ago, John Smale hurdled very high barriers when he got the ADA to endorse a toothpaste for the first time, Crest, thereby replacing Gleam as PG’s top selling toothpaste. Colgate was amazed by its competitor’s accomplishment and Smale foamed up to the very top of your old company. Years later, you did a fine job reviving Crest when it became remodel time. Now you have a challenge not unlike Smale’s was 40-50 years ago.
Here are two questions that could impact your effectiveness as CMO at Safeway: 1)Does Steve Burd have the marketing savvy of PG’s Art Lafley? If not, quickly develop a key internal support network beyond Mr. Burd for your future creative efforts at Safeway. Don’t let yourself get isolated inside the CEO’s environment.
2)As you well know, manufacturers create most of the new products and contemporary packaging which in turn can develop increased margins easier than can supermarket merchandisers, who are team extensions in the relay race to the consumer. Thus, search for ways to make the Safeway Brand more unique with fresh products and captivating services that are less dependent on CPG companies and suppliers. And–Lots of Good Luck!
The effectiveness of a CMO (or anyone in a senior marketing position) depends on the personality and creativeness of the person, not the position. One of my former bosses was VP of Marketing and is the least creative person I’ve worked with. He recently left his job to become a CMO. The only reason his lack of talent won’t hinder him is because he’s in the credit union world…not much creativity required there.
Good luck, Diane! I shop at Genuardi’s exclusively so I look forward to seeing what you roll out.
Apparently it’s still pretty big news when a major supermarket company recruits a CPG marketer to its upper ranks. It’s an unusual–and I’d infer–challenging transition for the marketing pro. But there is precedent at Safeway, which has tapped at least one former brand marketer to its top marketing post.
I think this is a more complex job than running a CPG brand. It involves piloting Safeway as a master brand as well as its store brand programs, which include its very successful O organics line.
Each Safeway store is a communications environment for multiple, competing brand messages. Ms. Deitz will need to be the maestro of this cacophony–turning out what sounds like a marketing symphony to shoppers.
“The first thing we do,” said the character in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, is “kill all the lawyers.”
To paraphrase, Kill all the Category Partners, market regionally and control your own destiny. Safeway has devolved to a sameness that eschews regional brands and localized marketing for the simplicity of centralized management. Dominick’s is a classic example, Genuardi’s is another. Of course there are Randall’s and Tom Thumb. The crafts learned at P&G are probably counterintuitive to this process, but we shall see how she works out of the box.
I’ll use this question to comment on Diane’s past; whether it will shed light on her future is another story. I don’t know when she took over the Crest brand, but I had been a Crest user since childhood. As one of the first fluoride toothpastes and with its support from the American Dental Association, it always seemed to obvious choice. Just to improve on it, Crest was the first to use the “flip top” for the tube toothpaste.
I now use Colgate.
It seemed Crest gave up their differentiators one by one. I guess the first to go was the unique fluoride feature, which almost all the toothpaste brands copied. The ADA began endorsing Colgate, then Crest dropped the flip top and Colgate began carrying it. On that last point, I can only assume the owner of the patent on the flip top got too greedy for Crest and they decided to stop licensing it.
As I said in the beginning, I don’t know where Diane’s involvement with the Crest brand began and ended, but I think the advice from my perspective is to “never stop listening for footsteps.” There is always someone behind you, hoping for an opportunity. If you become complacent and try to ride on your laurels, you will be overtaken. Some would say Safeway has already let that happen.
Diane’s challenge with her new position will be the breadth of products, the impact of local demographics, and the dependency on good execution at store level (product does not sell from the backroom). Creating a dynamic and sales oriented mentality at store level will be her challenge.
Brian Cornell left for a reason–not just to become head of Michaels. Retailers and Wholesalers believe that the ‘gray matter’ does not exist in their own organizations, so they opt-out for ‘talent’ but seem to always forget about ‘experience’.
The challenge for Ms. Dietz will be the fast pace and breadth of issues she will have to deal with. Execution (operations) is essential to branding and merchandising success. Her ‘branding’ experience will play an insignificant role in her day-to-day touch points.
Oh, and as a reminder to everyone, O Organics, Eating Right and the brand reorganization to 10 brands from 70, occurred BEFORE Safeway solicited CPG help (Brian Cornell-Pepsi and James White-Gillette.) I give her two years….