Mondelez has developed a reputation for its willingness to experiment with new ways of engaging consumers. Its “dunk in the dark” tweet and the 3D Oreo printer at last year’s SXSW are examples of the company’s innovative approach to marketing. Its latest installment is a limited-time website that allows consumers to order Oreos with individually unique packaging targeted for personal or corporate gift giving. After the company’s launch event, I talked with B. Bonin Bough, Chief Media and eCommerce Officer at Mondelēz, about this initiative and the culture that supports its ongoing innovation and risk taking.
oreo colorfilled
Ellett: What has been the key for you to experiment and do new and different things before others get there?
Bough: It was a vision setup by our fearless CMO and my boss Dana Anderson. A little over three years ago she challenged the organization to be fearless marketers. And that has given us the North Star and has allowed the organization to think different and push itself into new territories. This year, we also talked about fearless talent, and how we support talent inside the organization. We have the scale, the funding, the infrastructure, but more importantly, some of the world’s most beloved brands.
Ellett: Speaking of which, how do you find the space to experiment with such a beloved, established brand as Oreo?
Bough: That’s what Colorfilled represents for us. It always starts with a moment, with putting a flag in the ground and with exploration. This is kind of our moon shot. It’s the beginning of what we believe can be tailored, personalized experiences for consumers at scale. At the same time, we are able to do that on a brand that’s over 100-years-old. That’s what’s so exciting.
Ellett: I work with a variety of large companies that want to get to that place of fearlessness that you’ve been able to get to. How do you balance that challenge of keeping people aligned and moving quickly?
Bough: We have some of the smartest best professionals on the planet, and these people know their jobs inside and out, and they know what to do. The first thing is aligning on the vision. The other thing is that we create immovable timelines. Immovable deadlines and shorter timeframes force you to think in new ways.
Ellett: Confidence in your team to meet those deadlines requires a lot of trust—trust that your team can get the job done, and their trust that you’ll have their back. How do you generate that trust?
Bough: First of all, if you don’t trust them why did you hire them? We also we bet on people who have track records and we know are capable of doing this because we’ve done this with them before. We trust every single one of the people who work for us. Another piece is you have to have credibility as a senior leader and you have people’s backs, but it also comes down to the culture of an organization.
Ellett: It can be difficult for some companies to accept that not all experiments work. How do you set the environment where it is OK to fail?
Bough: Well I talk about my failures. I don’t have any problems talking about the times that I failed. So I accept failure as part of the course of learning. But I think the biggest thing is that we’re not taking uncalculated risks. We try to set pilots up to be as successful as possible, but we all know that some are going to fail. We celebrate experimentation and we’ll say “this didn’t work because of x, y, and z.”
Ellett: Let’s talk about your latest experiment, Color-filled, and what inspired it.
Bough: The inspiration was really two-fold. First we saw that customization was important from some of our previous experiences. Then second, it was a partnership between a number of our agency partners and a number of internal people. They came back with an idea inspired by the trend of adult coloring. The Colorfilled Store gives people a chance to purchase classic Oreo Cookies but with thier own customized packaging. Every single package that we make from Color-filled will be 100 percent unique to the person who went on and colored it.
Ellett: Colorfilled is a limited-time offer. What do you expect to learn when it’s over?
Bough: There are operational pieces that we need to learn. We want to make sure that it’s the right proposition and we want to figure out how we operationalize it. From other projects, we’ve learned about collaboration. It’s really about being inspired and having a big vision to go after.