Cross-Departmental Integration

Shopper marketing at Barilla America is handled on a project basis nowadays rather than being a way of life.

In an entertaining and free-wheeling talk, Craig Geiger, director of category development at Barilla America, explained the relationship between the staffs working on shopper marketing and category management. Category management staff works on merchandising, assortment, pricing and shelving. Shopper marketing staff works on trial, incremental volume, loyalty and equity building.

Here is how this privately-owned pasta compapny makes it work:

One, define roles for everyone
Two, create organizational support by finding a champion
Three, field advocates and leaders
Four, treat budgets as critical
Five, assign a person to be the miner of shopper insights
Six, share learnings.

An example of creativity in action is working with Decision Insight and its virtual shopping platform .