Insight, Innovation and Inclusive Leadership: The New Business Success Formula

Posted on February 8, 2025February 13, 2025 by Denyse Drummond-dunn

Organisations are facing unprecedented challenges in remaining competitive and maintaining business success in 2025.

The three fundamental pillars of sustained success are deep customer insights, meaningful innovation, and inclusive leadership.

Let’s explore why this powerful trinity is more relevant than ever in 2025 and how you can leverage it to grow your business.

Prefer to listen to the podcast? Click below.

Why These Three Pillars Matter Now More Than Ever

The numbers tell a compelling story.

McKinsey’s latest research reveals that companies effectively combining these three elements outperform their peers by an astounding 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin. But what makes this combination so powerful?

Deep Customer Insights Power Business Success

Insight is the cornerstone of every successful strategy.

The key difference between successful and struggling companies? Top performers turn data into actionable intelligence that drives decision-making at all levels.

McKinsey reports that companies using customer insights for decision-making are 60% more likely to achieve above-market growth rates!

The true value of insights comes when they bridge the gap between raw data and real-world application, allowing businesses to anticipate consumer needs, optimize operations, and refine strategies.

Gone are the days when gut feelings drove business decisions. Modern market leaders demonstrate the transformative power of customer insights:

– One standout example is Spotify’s “Wrapped” campaign. In 2023, Spotify used not just user listening data but an understanding of the emotional drivers behind their customers’ listening habits—self-reflection and social sharing. By tapping into this human desire, Spotify’s campaign led to over 30 billion streams, showcasing the power of customer insights in driving engagement and brand loyalty.

– Nike’s adaptive clothing line, developed through extensive consultation with disabled athletes, opened entirely new market segments

– P&G’s open innovation platform has revolutionized their product development process by incorporating external perspectives

But it’s not just consumer-facing data that drives success.

Internal business insights—such as employee feedback, operational inefficiencies, and market trends—are equally crucial.

Companies that develop a culture of continuous insight-gathering and sharing can make smarter, more informed decisions at all levels.

Does your Insight Development Process need an upgrade? Click below and check out our two-hour online masterclass for marketers and market researchers.

Innovation: The Competitive Edge Amplifier of Business Success

Recent PwC research shows that 61% of CEOs view innovation as their top priority for achieving long-term growth.

But here’s what’s fascinating: successful innovation in 2025 looks vastly different from what we’ve seen before.

Innovation is not just about creating groundbreaking products or services; it’s about creating solutions that drive long-term value.

BCG’s latest report revealed that top innovators share three core practices:

Maintaining investment in innovation even during downturns
Leveraging advanced technologies like AI to drive innovation
Aligning innovation with sustainability goals alongside profitability

Microsoft offers a powerful example of how innovation can drive meaningful change. Instead of treating AI as a standalone technology, Microsoft integrated AI tools into their product suite to enhance real user productivity.

The result? A 40% increase in … Click to continue reading

Why Your AI Marketing Strategy Is Failing (And How to Fix It)

Posted on January 25, 2025February 5, 2025 by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

The promise of AI in marketing has never been greater!

But if you’re like most CPG CMOs, your AI investment isn’t delivering the promised returns.

IDC’s latest Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide shows that the global AI software market is expected to reach $251.4B by 2027, far exceeding earlier projections. However, most organisations are seeing disappointing returns on their AI investments. (Source )

This is confirmed by McKinsey’s 2023 State of AI report, 50% of organizations are using AI in at least one business function, but only 27% report seeing tangible cost savings! (Source)

The disconnect? It’s not the technology that’s failing – it’s how we’re using it.

As Laurie Buczek, Group Vice President, Executives Insights and Leadership Services at IDC said when launching their latest FutureScape report:

Marketing’s future is represented by AI-fueled transformation. We only see the tip of the iceberg today, and lying underneath is a world where AI becomes the new operational fabric of marketing and sales, redefining the role of marketing, the people who work within marketing, and the way brands deliver a compelling, engaging customer experience.”

As a CMO, you’ve likely already invested in AI tools. Perhaps you’re using them for content creation, basic analytics, or campaign optimisation.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you’re like 62% of organizations, you’re barely scratching the surface of AI’s potential.

So to help, here are a number of common failures and their solutions. You can thank me later!

If you prefer to listen rather than read:

Marketing Deep Dives by Denyse · AI Marketing Strategies_ Success & Transformation

Failure #1: The Single-Tool Trap
Most CPG brands fall into what McKinsey terms “point-solution paralysis.”

You’ve invested in an AI content tool or basic analytics platform, but it operates in isolation.

According to Adobe’s 2024 Digital Trends Report, this approach captures only 25% of potential ROI. (Source)

The Fix: Consider how P&G transformed their approach. By implementing what their Global CMO calls an “AI ecosystem,” they integrated multiple AI models across their brand portfolio.

The result? A 30% reduction in marketing waste across their brand portfolio. (Source)

Their system connects predictive analytics, consumer sentiment analysis, and dynamic segmentation in real-time.

Failure #2: Outdated Mental Availability Measurement
Byron Sharp’s research at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute shows that 83% of brands either measure mental availability incorrectly or not at all. In today’s rapid-fire digital environment, annual brand tracking studies are like using a sundial to time a sprint.

The Fix: Nike’s revolutionary approach leverages continuous AI monitoring across 50 million weekly customer interactions. Their “Consumer Intelligence Network” automatically tracks and adjusts brand signals, leading to a 40% increase in digital engagement, a 28% increase in consideration rates and identification of $2 billion in new category opportunities. (Source)

Failure #3: Static Segmentation Paralysis
In the fast-moving CPG space, traditional annual segmentation is dangerously outdated. McKinsey’s 2024 Consumer Insights report reveals that 71% of brands still rely on annual studies, missing crucial … Click to continue reading

Top 10 Challenges of Mid-Sized CPG Companies: Insights, Statistics and Real-World Solutions

Posted on October 15, 2024December 20, 2024 by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Executives and business owners of mid-sized CPG companies face a unique set of challenges that differ from those of startups or larger enterprises.

These challenges stem from the need to balance growth, operations, and innovation while competing with both larger firms and more agile startups.

Here are the top ten challenges mid-sized consumer goods companies face, real-world examples of businesses that have successfully overcome these obstacles, and expanded solutions explaining how to implement these strategies in your own organisation.

If you prefer to listen rather than read, click below.

Denyse Drummond-Dunn · Navigating The Top Ten Challenges Faced By Mid – Sized CPG Companies

Executive Summary

For those of you who tend to skim-read and only look at the bottom of an article to read the conclusions, here’s one better, an Executive Summary!

All companies struggle at times and mid-sized businesses have their own specific problems to solve without the resources of the larger organisations. The examples in this article show it is not only possible but sometimes in just a year or two. Check out the issue you’re struggling with and jump to the example for a quick solution.

Prose: Improved employee retention by 20% over 2 years.
Chobani: Achieved double-digit revenue growth annually over 5 years.
RXBAR: Improved cash flow by 15% in 18 months.
KIND Snacks: Grew DTC sales by 25% in 3 years.
Beyond Meat: Became a leading player in the plant-based market over 5 years.
Gatorade: Increased consumer engagement and repeat purchases over 2 years.
Seventh Generation: Avoided fines and strengthened market position in 3 years.
Clif Bar: Successfully transitioned key executives over 5 years.
Mondelez International: Reduced waste by 15% in 3 years.
Nestlé: Pivoted towards health and wellness trends over 5 years.

Mid-sized CPG companies face a unique set of challenges as they navigate the complexities of growth, supply chain management, consumer trends, and competition from larger and smaller brands.

Here are the top ten challenges faced by CPG companies, supported by statistics and real-world examples, along with actionable solutions tailored to this industry.

1. Talent Acquisition and Retention in CPG

Attracting and retaining talent is particularly challenging in the CPG industry due to high turnover in manufacturing, distribution, and sales roles, coupled with increased competition for digital talent needed for e-commerce and data-driven marketing.

A 2023 report by Deloitte found that 66% of CPG executives identify talent acquisition and retention as a key business challenge. Additionally, the turnover rate for manufacturing jobs in the U.S. stood at 29% in 2022, further exacerbating the issue.

The solution to this particular challenge is to build a strong employer brand and invest in workforce development.

To attract and retain the right talent, mid-sized CPG companies need to focus on building their employer brand while investing in continuous training programs. Here’s how:

Develop Your Employer Brand:
- Promote your company’s purpose and values, particularly around sustainability and innovation, to attract younger talent interested in making

… Click to continue reading

The Power of Creativity: How to Foster Innovation in Your Organization

Posted on September 26, 2023September 6, 2024 by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

How important is innovation in your organisation? You’re missing out on revenue and growth if it is not one of your top three objectives!

Innovation isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a critical component of success. Companies that embrace innovation consistently outperform their competitors, adapt to changing market conditions, and create sustainable growth.

To truly ignite innovation, organizations must foster a culture of creativity and continuous improvement. In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of this culture and provide insights, statistics, and real-world examples to help you cultivate it within your own company.

The Imperative of Innovation in Your Organisation

Innovation is not an option but a necessity. Customers rarely stay satisfied for long these days and are constantly looking for something better.

According to a PwC Global Innovation Survey, 80% of CEOs believe innovation is a key driver for business growth. This sentiment is supported by hard numbers: Companies that prioritize innovation are 50% more likely to outperform their peers over a ten-year period, as reported by McKinsey.

But what exactly is innovation? Wikipedia defines it as:

The practical implementation of ideas that results in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services.

As you can see it has ideation as its foundation, which already gives an indication about nurturing it in organisations.

It is usually accepted that there are three main types of innovation: product innovation, process innovation, and business model innovation. Since I always try to take the customer’s perspective, we will be concentrating on product and, to a lesser extent, service innovation in this article.

So, how can you leverage the power of innovation in your organisation to drive growth, stay competitive, and future-proof your business? The answer lies in creating a culture that values creativity and continuous improvement.

Creating a Culture of Creativity

There are three main ways you can encourage more creativity in your business. Or should I say there are three ways to stifle creativity if you don’t follow these three rules?

Encourage Open Communication: Open and free communication is one of the cornerstones of a creative culture. Employees who feel heard and valued are likelier to share their ideas and insights.

In a study conducted by Gallup, organizations with high employee engagement were found to be 21% more profitable and 17% more productive than those with disengaged staff.

Engaged employees outperform their peers because they tend to be more innovative, and efficient, and have higher customer retention rates. This illustrates that a culture of creativity isn’t just about generating ideas; it’s about harnessing the collective intelligence of your workforce.

Example: Google is a great example of a company that has understood and embraced this concept. Their famous “20% time” policy, where employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their work hours on projects of their choosing, has led to innovations like Gmail and Google News.

Embrace Diversity: Diverse teams are more likely to generate innovative ideas. We all know that men and women … Click to continue reading

13 Most Inspiring Marketing Quotes and Questions to Live By in 2022

Posted on January 18, 2022October 4, 2024 by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Did you know that using marketing quotes can improve your plans? Do you have a plan you are following that will (hopefully) enable you to reach your goals?

To meet our objectives, we often look to make changes, large or small, in our organisation. At times like these, I find it useful to motivate with inspiring marketing quotes from people much wiser than I am. If you are looking for ways to motivate and inspire your team, then I am sure you will enjoy these.

This is my selection of great quotes from some of the best marketers around, together with a relevant question to ask yourself for each. If your favourite quote is not included, then please add it to the comments below the post.

**#1. “Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills” Al Ries**

This quote refers to the Catskills, a province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York and only 1270m high. It compares them to the Himalayas, a range that includes some of the world’s highest peaks, including Mount Everest (8,849m).

It uses this comparison to suggest that to succeed in marketing you have to afront the highest peaks of strategy and timing, and not be satisfied with scaling simple hills. In other words, be in the right place at the right time with the right offer. Simple!

QUESTION: Are you going to upgrade your marketing this year to meet this lofty challenge?

**#2. “In marketing I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss – and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last” John Romero**

I love this quote because it refers to knowing and understanding your customers. The best ones, however you define that, come first and your best prospects come second. If you’d like to know if you’re targeting your very best customers and best prospects, then check out the following post: How Well Do you Know Your Customers? 13 Questions your Boss Expects you to Answer

QUESTION: Do you know who your best customers are and everything you should about them?

**#3. “Business has only two functions – marketing and innovation” Milan Kundera**

This post shows the often forgotten importance of marketing to business. I know those of you in sales or operations etc will complain, but if customers don’t know and love your brands then you don’t have a business. It really is as simple as that. I also like that innovation is included, because especially today, customers have become so demanding that we need to constantly upgrade our offers to them.

QUESTION: Does your business value marketing? If not, how can you help them to recognise its value?

**#4. “The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions” Claude Levi-Strauss**

Are you better at asking questions or answering them? Which is more important in your job? Why? A leader doesn’t have all … Click to continue reading

What Customer First Strategies Really Are (And What They’re Not!)

Posted on July 18, 2019January 14, 2025 by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Everyone is talking about customer first strategies and why they are important. However walking the talk is a different matter!

An interesting article on NewMR by Ray Poynter prompted this post. He spoke about the differences between customer focus and customer centricity and the often times confusion between the two terms. That is why I tend to speak about customer first rather than customer centricity these days.

In its simplest form a customer first strategy is about thinking customer first in everything you do. Yes I know it sounds easy, but it really isn’t. And it doesn’t come naturally, at least to start with. I believe that’s because it involves a culture change to move the organisation in this direction. But I can assure you it’s worth it; its value is now well proven.

If you would like to see some exciting statistics about the value of making your customers the heart of your business, then CMO.com has a great article. It’s called “15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Customer Centricity” and many of the research results reported are still valid today, so it’s definitely worth a read.

What Are Not Customer First Strategies

I have seen a customer first strategy defined as

“a strategy by which businesses create their products, content, and marketing campaigns so that they serve their customers first, and their organization second.”

I don’t agree! If you don’t think about your organisation then it will likely fail! That said, I am also a little sensitive to the comments of Sir Richard Branson, who says

“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”

This may be true for an airline, where the client is primarily basing their opinion on the service on board and the “niceness” of the crew. After all, every airline will get you from A to B.

However for many industries, customers are enjoying (or not!) your product or service without your employees being present. They will remain loyal (or not!) to your brand, based upon their own personal experiences, at least in most cases.

A customer first strategy is therefore not about only thinking about the customer. It is about understanding how best to serve them in such a way as to delight them, while keeping your employees and shareholders happy. This is relatively easy to do because when the business is going well, all stakeholders are happy.

What Customer First Strategies Are

Econsultancy asked what effective leadership in the digital age is. Several key leadership qualities were found, including being ruthlessly customer-centric, data-driven, innovative, collaborative and agile. I am thrilled to see customer centricity coming first by a long margin.

So the leaders have got the message, but what are they doing about it? Not a lot in many cases. And why? From my experience it is because they just don’t know where to start or what to do. (If that’s your situation, try our … Click to continue reading

A Customer-First Approach to Successful Innovation (and 3 Secrets Shared)

Posted on May 29, 2017September 14, 2024 by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Denyse Drummond-Dunn · A customer-first approach to successful innovation

“Never miss an episode. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts to get new episodes as they become available.”

Whether you believe that 60% of new product launches fail, or the number is 80% or 95%+, the truth is that successful innovation is rare. Why is this? Read on for my own ideas of the reasons and propositions for some simple solutions.

Last year I wrote a highly popular post on “Improving Ideation, Insight & Innovation: How to Prevent Further Costly Failures.” In it, I spoke about the importance of starting the innovation process with customers. I also mentioned that it should be a virtuous circle rather than the funnel that most organisations still use today.

This time, I want to examine the role of the customer in successful innovation. And why they should actually have a prominent position throughout the process.

Start with the Category rather than (just) the Customer

Every customer-centric organisation should start their processes with a review of the customers they are looking to please. But to do this, the first step to both insight development and successful innovation is to identify the category in which you are, or want to compete. Especially when looking to innovate, it is vital to identify what business you are in.

Now you probably can immediately answer that question but would you be right?

A recent client of mine was looking to launch a juice flavoured soft drink. They naturally (?) thought they would be in competition to juices. When we dug deeper, using our “Home or Away™” decision tool, we found they were actually competing with energy drinks for athletes!

Another practice I use is to zoom in or out when looking at a category, in order to identify new opportunities. Today’s technological world is forcing many organisations to take another look at their complete business models – whether they like it or not!

Telecoms have become geolocalization data providers to other industries.
Pharmaceuticals are being forced (?) to move from treating illness to maintaining wellness.
Food companies are moving into nutraceuticals, concentrating the health benefits of certain foods. (have they really only recently understood that our health comes primarily from the food we eat?!)
Tobacco companies are reinventing personal pleasure systems with e-cigarettes and other tobacco replacement products. In fact, André Calantzopoulos, Philip Morris International’s CEO recently predicted a “phase-out period” for cigarettes.
Alcohol providers are turning more and more to lower and non-alcoholic drinks trying to keep up with the interest in wellness. They have understood that whereas drinking is a social behaviour, most people no longer include getting drunk with that sociability.

From these examples, it is clear that most companies could benefit from a re-evaluation of their assumed category, to see whether it has or will change in the near or longer-term future.

Once the category is defined, it becomes much easier to identify the correct customer segment to target. Of course, you still need to get to … Click to continue reading

Why Customers Are The Answer To All Your Problems (If You Ask the Right Questions)

Posted on April 4, 2017October 4, 2024 by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Last week I asked whether it is employees or customers who are more important to an organisation. If you missed it read “Customers Care About a Product’s Value, Not How the Company Treats Employees” now and catch up.

I knew it would be a provocative question but I still didn’t expect quite so many comments! So this week I decided to be just as provocative and talk about the issues that challenge many businesses. And where the answer to whatever problem they have is actually quite simple. For me, customers are the answer! They can either answer or help you overcome any challenge or issue you may have. Read on and then let me know if you agree.

How can I innovate more successfully?

According to an excellent article by Harvard Professor Dr Srini Pillay “Humans have a natural aversion to innovation because it involves a healthy dose of uncertainty and risk.”

Unfortunately, we try to reduce this risk by referencing past events to help us to predict the probability of our future success. Dr Pillay concludes that possibilities rather than probabilities are more likely to lead to better results.

I would concur with this statement, as the world is changing too fast to rely on past events as a predictor of anything in the future. This is why I say that customers are the answer!

It is only by getting closer to our customers and being constantly curious, that we have any chance of increasing our success in satisfying them.

It therefore makes sense that we involve our customers in helping us innovate. Not as a judge of concepts, which is what many businesses do. This is wrong because we know that consumers don’t know what they want, at least not until they see it.

However, they do know what their pains are; what is wrong with a product or service and what they would rather have. Co-creation and in fact ongoing conversations with our customers is the only way to stay ahead of the game.

In another article, this time in the HBR, Heitor Martins, Yran Bartolomeu Dias and Somesh Khanna from McKinsey shared the results of numerous interviews they conducted in Silicon Valley, the home of US (tech) innovation.

They conclude that it takes many skills and cultural changes for most organisations to become more innovative. These include:

Audacity and grit: The determination to continue despite failure. And I would add the acceptance of failure and the license for employees to fail too.
Strong leadership and true collaboration: An inspiring vision and the tenacity to make it happen – together.
Give employees autonomy. We all need meaningful work. The chance of helping an organisation grow is what motivates top employees. That and the freedom to make decisions based on clear goals but without directive processes on how to meet these objectives.
Build platforms, not products. This may be the hardest for