HGS #7: Andrew Clarke talks about growth and the role of marketing today

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all viewers from all around the world. My name is Franklin Hendrice. I work with the Institute for Real Growth, which features weekly humanized growth series webinars. The purpose of the institute is to help chief marketing officers and other growth leaders drive more humanized growth by connecting them to peers, thought leadership, and experts. That's exactly what we're going to do in the next hour. I have with me Andrew Clarke, global president of Mars Wrigley. Let me tell you a little bit about Mars. Mars has been around for more than 100 years, with over 125,000 associates, and the businesses cover pet care, food, and Mars Wrigley. Andrew, you're a lifer at Mars. You spent the first 20 years in category and sales leadership roles, then became chief customer officer of Mars global, and later added the CMO job to that, which is a really interesting perspective. Two years ago, you became the global president for all of Mars Wrigley. In the next hour, we'll talk about your view on growth from the perspective of a very large family-owned company, and the opportunity for marketing. It's especially interesting to hear your perspective from a sales and general management background. I think it was about six years ago that we met, both invited by WPP for a tour through Silicon Valley, visiting all the big tech players. The only thing I forgot was to buy some shares. Very warm welcome, Andrew. Great to have you here. Let me start by asking you: where are you and how are you?

Yeah, great. This used to be my office, but my wife is a therapist and she kicked me out, so this is a room that sees a lot of emotions. Andrew, what I remember from that trip through Silicon Valley is that we visited some clear outperformers but also the likes of Yahoo that are not around anymore. I noticed three fundamental differences: the outperformers were all super ambitious, almost aggressive, but at the same time humble. I remember Phil Schindler from Google saying we're positively paranoid, never underestimating what's coming. The third element was that they were extremely clear about their purpose. So I don't know if you recognize that, but I'm mostly interested to hear to what extent these three characteristics apply to the Mars Wrigley business.

So how much of your time do you spend nurturing or fostering those characteristics at Mars Wrigley?

Very good timing. We just signed the United Nations Global Compact as a new partner to the institute, and this would be a great addition. I remember visiting Mars offices and always seeing the plaque with the five principles. So have they remained the same over time?

I find that super interesting. I had a conversation with Michael Green, CEO and founder of Human Rights First. He said purpose changes over time, but values are rock solid. Is that something you agree with, or do you see your value set changing as you mature?

Exactly what I want to talk about next. I wrote down: 'We believe the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.' That's the articulation of the Mars purpose. So is there one Mars purpose, or do the different businesses like food and Mars Wrigley have different purposes, and the brands have different purposes?

The literature on purpose always says leaders and employees should align their own purpose with the business. To what extent is that the case for you? Did you define your own purpose in life?

But what would your answer be, Andrew, to that?

I couldn't agree more. So to what extent do you involve yourself with the purpose and activation of the brands?

Let me throw in a million-dollar question: growth. How do you define growth—personally or as a business?

That's a clear answer, but I find it interesting that you start with financial performance. I believe financial performance is a result of the other three. In our leadership program, we discuss that people say the right things, but 90% of conversations are about next quarter's budget. Mars is not an exception. When I owned my company, our KPIs were on client relationships, not turnover. I read that the CEO of Taobao in China says the key KPI is the number of jobs created through the platform. So the order is important. How much do you talk about top line versus quality of relationships in your town halls? Do you steer on the right order?

Hey Andrew, to all viewers, there is the possibility to ask questions. I'm going to read the first question from Simon, an associate at Mars, in a moment. But just maybe to help the audience: Andrew, what question should I really not ask you?

He does have a question related to growth. He talks about challenges with technology and changing ways we manage supply chains, and he wants to know about the role of human-technology partnerships from the perspective of the need to upskill and train associates on new ways of working. How do you have a view on this?

You mentioned the chief digital officer and all these digital transformations happening in basically all companies. The way I look at it, any digital transformation that doesn't put the customer journey at its heart is a missed opportunity. It can still lead to increased efficiencies, but it's a missed opportunity. In our program, we talk about...

How what a role is and how you make sure you're in the driver's seat or next to the driver's seat as a marketing function, being the voice of the outside world and the customer very specifically or consumer. To what extent is marketing deeply involved or in the driver's seat of these digital transformations happening?

So I hear that a lot of things go really well at Mars Wrigley. What is the most important pitfall for marketers, not per se Mars Wrigley, but more broadly? What's the biggest watch out? The one thing you would always push marketers to do less or more of?

Like a very practical actionable example of that. What was an intervention that one of these CMOs either in Mars regularly or outside that you would say really breaks down the barriers? Because that is the biggest barrier to growth. Bain did a study, 90% of CEOs said the biggest barrier is internal dysfunction, the silos. So what have you seen or done yourself that was so effective in breaking down those silos?

Good, thank you. I want to share a question from Saffron Inkster. What's the primary metric of success for your brands from a marketing perspective, and how important is brand love?

Andrew, explain to me. Every leader I've spoken to at Mars starts mentioning the Laws of Growth and Ehrenberg Bass work. How is it possible that you then forget about penetration or don't put enough attention to it? That's almost the way it feels. How is it possible this is not enough on the radar?

Great. And that's something you have driven. I think that sounds really interesting, this Growth Legacy approach.

Great. I want to do one more from the viewers. Rebecca Lyons asks: How do you feel category leadership has helped put shopper and consumer at the heart of Mars business? Rebecca has a good background in Mars, so probably a leading question, but a great one.

Yeah, she's confirming that in writing.

I want to talk about what happened at Mars Wrigley when COVID hit. The Institute for Real Growth helps CMOs shift from short-term shareholder focus to long-term all-stakeholder focus. Pre-COVID, prime focus was capital markets and consumer. COVID shifted it to colleagues and communities first. With Mars being family-owned and having principles of mutuality, have you seen a shift in focus on specific stakeholders?

You mentioned the shift towards digital. Simon Sadie asks: We've seen the digital age brings dangers like hate speech and consumer privacy challenges. How do you embrace the growth these platforms bring while maintaining your principles?

So it's about balancing profits and principles. What's your biggest regret or learning from those tough choices?

This comes down to real leadership. How would you describe yourself as a leader? Or how would others describe you?

I read Bob Chapman's Everybody Matters, which says every employee matters and it's about creating the right context. I floated that with venture capitalists; they said kick people out if they don't work immediately. Where are you on that scale?

Hard to argue. We're almost at the end. If there's one thing you want people to take away from this conversation, what would it be?

Great. And what did you learn from this conversation?

Well, Andrew, thank you very much. It was a very open and honest conversation. Undoubtedly people took a lot more out than just your point about learning. I did for sure. To the viewers, this was the first one since summer pause. Next week I'm talking with Elena Rosenfeld, founder and CEO of Kicking Horse Coffee, a much smaller business bought by Lavazza because of its clearly articulated purpose. She's inspirational. Thank you for your questions, sometimes difficult ones. I wish everyone a lovely end of the day and a great weekend. Thank you, Andrew.