- The podcast "Rethink Retail" interviews Deepak Jost, Global Head of 1 Demand Data Analytics Solutions for Mars Wrigley.
- Mars Wrigley is a purpose-driven company with a focus on triple bottom line and the 5 principles of Mars.
- Deepak discusses his educational background and the importance of continuous learning and curiosity in leadership.
- He emphasizes the business-led and analytics-enabled approach to data and analytics, and the use of AI to drive mutual value creation, freedom, and efficiency within the company.
- Mars Wrigley prioritizes responsible and ethical AI usage to enhance, not replace, jobs and create more opportunities for employees.

- The use of AI should be leveraged to free up time and increase efficiency for associates
- An example of successful data science initiative was the development of an omni-channel analytics capability for a large e-commerce customer
- The use of retail media networks is increasing, and it is important to have a single source of truth for investment decisions
- A measurement strategy is crucial for determining where to allocate resources and evaluating the performance of investments
- The balanced scorecard approach and consideration of long-term metrics are important for building a comprehensive measurement strategy for organizations

- The speaker discusses the challenge of managing digital media budgets and the need for a measurement strategy
- They emphasize the importance of understanding organization goals and choosing the right partners for retail media
- The conversation shifts to the health and wellness segment within Mars snacking and the use of data and analytics in forecasting
- The speaker advises aspiring data professionals to build their ability to adapt and learn continuously
- They also talk about their involvement in Toastmasters and the importance of building communication and leadership skills
- The conversation ends with a fun rapid fire question about the speaker's favorite M&M.

- The speaker discusses their favorite M&M flavor and chocolate bars
- They mention giving Maltesers or Caramel M&M's to their wife on Valentine's Day
- They express love for both Rajnikanth and Amitabh Bachchan as actors
- The speaker emphasizes the importance of doing business responsibly
- The podcast encourages listeners to join for the next episode and apply to be a guest

- Deepak Jost, Global Head of 1 Demand Data Analytics Solutions for Mars Wrigley, discusses the company's purpose-driven approach and the importance of continuous learning in leadership.
- Mars Wrigley prioritizes responsible and ethical AI usage to enhance job opportunities and increase efficiency for employees.
- The use of AI is leveraged to develop omni-channel analytics capabilities and retail media networks.
- A measurement strategy is crucial for resource allocation and evaluating investment performance.
- The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding organizational goals and building communication and leadership skills.
- The conversation ends with a fun rapid fire question about the speaker's favorite M&M and chocolate bars.

RETHINK Retail - the evolution of retail in today’s connected world.
Join us as we explore the most recent trends and innovations in commerce.

Welcome to Rethink Retail, the show where we dive into the stories and strategies behind some of the most successful brands on the planet.

From brick and mortar giants to e-commerce disruptors, we uncover the secrets to their success and deliver the keys to true retail transformation.

So ask yourself, are you ready to rethink retail?

We're live from the North America Mars Wrigley Headquartered in North America here in Newark, New Jersey with me is Deepak Jost.

Deepak is Global Head of 1 Demand Data Analytics Solutions for Mars Wrigley.

Really looking forward to having this conversation.

M&M Skittles, Wrigley Gums, obviously Snickers, my favorite.

Mars is about a hundred-year-old company, does over 50 billion in sales with 145 approximate associates around the world.

And recently, I believe Mars was named to 1 of the best places to work by Forbes.

And my question to you Deepak, is it more about the principles and values and the 5 principles of Mars or is it just because you have unlimited Snickers and M&Ms in the office?

I love my M&Ms in the office but I think when it comes to Mars I think 1 of the founding areas which attracts associates of the company is our 5 principles and the purpose-led culture.

At Mars we say the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.

That purpose-driven culture has been 1 of the biggest reason why I decided to work for Mars.

I always wanted to work for an organization which believes in triple bottom line.

How can we leverage the power of technology to drive profitable growth for the people, for the organization's profit and more importantly what can we do for the planet.

That triple bottom line mindset is there within the company, and the 5 principles always helps.

Not many people know about us as a company at Mars.

We have 1 of our biggest division is pet care.

We, Mars is 1 of the world's largest employers for veterinarians in the world.

of the Mars Well, maybe you can go from triple P's to quadruple P's and add P for pet at

Look, I mean, you talked about the planet as 1 of the P's, and I think you've studied all over the planet.

You started with engineering in South Asia and South India in particular, And then you went and got your MBA right here in GW universities, right?

And then you went a little bit back, you went back to London to Oxford to get a executive degree.

Just curious about, can you give us a little background on the different methods and concepts in the different countries and is there 1 country you're going to next for your education that we should know about?

I don't think I'll be going to a new country for any education soon because education is available every time online.

I feel like with the new advent of generative AI, I'm doing 1 more masters because there is a lot to learn to reinvent yourself.

But I think as a leader, I think 1 of the key themes is my first mentor who taught me.

I think if you have to be successful in your career, you need to have the ability to continuously learn and reinvent yourself.

That learning mindset is a skill set which is going to come in handy if you want to be successful.

And I'm a strong believer of having that learning mindset within me, my team, etc.

When it comes to learning mindset, I have seen all of these countries, the universities that I have been a part of, have that fundamental thing with them to educate the students, educate people, and that helps them to leapfrog in their career.

Now, I did my mechanical engineering in India at NIT Calicut, which was quite different from my business school education at George Washington University.

And the economics of mutuality executive program was quite different at Oxford as well.

So all of these universities have something unique to offer and something diverse that you can pick up from everywhere.

Yeah, I love what you said about being continuously curious.

There's a professor at Stanford, Carol Dweck, in her book, Mindset, she talks about 2 different distinct sets of students, the learn-it-alls versus the know-it-alls.

And she said, the learn-it-alls always outperform the know-it-alls.

So that learning curiosity that you echo, I absolutely agree with that.

I thought we weren't gonna say it, but it's difficult not to say it in a retail conversation, especially when you're sitting with a global head of data analytics.

So look, you were on Coca-Cola's analytics team.

You're leading the global team here at Mars regularly.

What can you tell me about how you're developing different actionable insights within AI to empower your associates?

Yeah, so I think, see, as a data analytics practitioner, I think AI is 1 of the many technologies that you can leverage to drive a business outcome.

I think my fundamental principle when it comes to data and analytics practice is that it should always be business led and analytics enabled.

If you are in the data and analytics space, almost a decade back, we used to build data warehouses.

For the last 5 to 10 years, people are building data lakes.

These days, organizations are building lake houses.

It has always been about multiple data foundation to generate some knowledge and insights to solve a business problem which will create a small value.

1 of my fundamental belief is that we need to invert that, and we need to always start but not with data but start with business questions first.

We need to be in the business of building solutions that solve a specific business problem which is going to generate a value.

And to generate these value and actions, you can easily understand what is the knowledge and insights that you need to have, and what is the data foundation that you need.

So at Mars and at Cocoa also, whenever we are focusing on building capabilities to solve a business question, we have been successful.

When it comes to AI or generative AI in general, I think 1 of the biggest aspects that you need to keep in mind is your ability to build systems that can adapt, that can be agile.

Because technologies are going to evolve over a period of time.

The technology of today might not be the technology of tomorrow.

So your ability to build a system which can adapt faster is going to set you up for success.

At Mars, when it comes to the usage of AI, responsible AI is very important for us.

And we say the responsible AI is non-negotiable at Mars.

We are partnering with companies like Microsoft, the Responsible AI Institute, to build our next-generation standards on usage of AI in the right way for our associates, our customers, and our consumers.

It's nice to know that there is a focus here.

As companies roll out AI, it seems like there is a subsect of certain employees that have a little fear of it.

It's kind of like that maybe if it's video creation or knowledge-based answering or whatever the functionality is, there's a subsect of some employees that fear that, is this gonna replace my job?

I mean, if you look what happened with the Hollywood strike with the writers, right?

It's not just specific to our CPG retail industry.

See, it is always going to enhance, create more opportunities.

It is going to make associates work much harder.

I think I want to come back to the 5 principles at Mars and

1 of our 5 principles is the mutuality principle.

So mutual benefit is always a shared benefit.

Now when it comes to AI and other new technologies in the marketplace, if you are able to drive a mutual value creation for our employees, it could be saving their time, it can make them more impactful, I think those benefits are going to endure.

So mutuality as a principle is very important when you think about these technologies.

Our freedom principle essentially says we need profits to we need freedom to define our future but we need profits to remain free.

Now to drive profitability or revenue growth or profitable growth I think AI can be used in the sales function marketing function it can be used in a supply chain function enabling function etc So freedom principle is another aspect.

The final thing is about efficiency principle.

So by leveraging this AI, what we are essentially trying to do is to build capabilities which is going to long lasting value for our brands to give a better experience to our consumers, et cetera.

So again, it is always great to work for a company which fundamentally believes in these 5 principles.

So we don't need a separate principle for the usage of AI.

It helps the associates free up their time and be more efficient right there.

You earlier talked about your value-led approach.

It has to solve a business purpose and a solution.

Can you give us a specific initiative, maybe not AI, but some data science, some analytical insights that you provided to your associates that successfully impacted the organization or P&L?

And there are many initiatives which are already published.

e-commerce or omni-channel capability that we have.

Tell us 1 that's not published, it's just a private conversation with you and me.

Yeah, so and I think there are many examples.

This 1 specifically, this is for 1 of our large e-commerce customers.

Now, 1 thing that we have seen in the past is that our associates both on the sales function, marketing function, they had to go to 10 or more different places to understand what is happening in the business.

What is happening in sales, what is the media spend, what is happening from an out of stock standpoint, what is the overall P&L, from a financial standpoint.

So with the help of our data sciences team, we build out an omni-channel analytics capability, which helps the business teams take faster decisions, building on a single source of truth.

So the team was able to integrate 20 plus different data sources and build a connected data foundation.

Sitting on top of that connected data foundation are feature stacks and machine learning algorithms, which build out the outcomes of the KPIs.

And leveraging the KPI, our business teams were able to do what you can call it as an AI-assisted execution.

Some cases, there are always human in the loop to take some strategic decisions.

Now, how does this help from a day-in, day-out basis?

Now, we have seen that these data sciences capabilities have helped build a better experience for our consumers.

We have seen we are winning in our retailer-powered algorithms when it comes to winning the search, when it comes to giving the best experience for our consumers to pick the right products for the right time, it has been helpful.

So there are, so this is 1 of the example that we are actively seeing.

And as I mentioned earlier, these are capabilities which is not only helping us from a freedom principle driving top-line and bottom-line growth, it's helping our associates to save time and from an efficiency standpoint, we are seeing that it's giving better accuracy for the results that we are trying to publish.

And it seems like your data science team has done a great job because you're a lot further up the curve than most CPG brands.

And what I will say is, I've been saying this from my time at Walmart, it's building a trusted source for the associates.

If the associates can trust that source, because it's going to be GIGO, either it's going to be great in and great out, or it's going to be GIGO, garbage in and garbage out.

The fact that you have the cleanliness of the data, the fact that you've organized it, you've structured it, and now the associates can use that efficiently and they trust it, that's super important.

And 1 important aspect is on data quality as well.

I think data quality is something that you invest in and you might not see an immediate return, right?

So data quality, building a strong data foundation is a culture in itself.

And I think in my perspective, I think it is you cannot blame a system for a poor data quality.

We just need to have the right kind of discipline to enter the data in the right way, manage the data on an ongoing basis.

Data discipline, quality, and plumbing are So important.

You know, you did touch upon media networks in there.

You talked about it and you can't help, but listen to an earnings call by any grocer or retailer and then not talk about retail media networks.

It is top of mind that high margin business is offsetting some of the really high wages, high costs, and the low grossers sort of margins that they have.

And everyone is doubling down and partnering.

From your lens, from the CPG lens, can you talk respectively how retail media networks are a partnership between not only the retailer, the grocer, the CPG, maybe even some SIs or some tech platforms like your CTVs.

How does that partnership integrate and work?

And I think, see, the ability to influence our consumers when it comes to the bottom of the funnel I think the retail media networks are doing already a fantastic job and they are starting to help us influence from the top of the funnel as well.

Now I think depending on which retail media network that you talk about, I think the different aspects that you mentioned, it is going to vary slightly.

But I think at a high level, so as a brand, see retail media investment is something new.

And we are continuing to, the share of retail media investment is continuously increasing.

Now for us to have a good investment or to drive a good ROAS or incrementality we need to make sure that we have a good understanding of where are we investing.

So that means that we need to have a single source of truth.

Now like large organizations, I mean you would have heard of the story of 4 blind people explaining an elephant.

Somebody touching the trunk, somebody touching the leg and explaining it different.

And sometimes we need as organization, like sometimes a sales function explains our consumer 1 way, marketing might explain the same consumer a different way, supply chain a different way, because we don't have a single source of truth.

When it comes to retail media, I think 1 of the biggest aspects that we need to focus on is on building a single source of truth.

And I think how can we have the shopper marketing work very closely with the national media team, which works very closely with the sales team.

So I think that is going to be very important in building out a single source of truth.

When it comes to, see, I think algorithms and the technology, now I might have an algorithm for today which can change that I think however you are building a system if you are a CPG company and that can change and sometimes we might get a better algorithm or a technology in place and that you should be open to change and driving those new experiments.

But having a good understanding of how can we drive the best experience to your consumer, I think that should take precedence over anything else.

So I want you to know, not only did you say GEN.AI first, but you also said ROAS first, just for the record.

I was wondering who's going to say both these phrases first.

So again, you said it, we're in the early days of retail media networks.

Talk to me about now as we talk about in-store digital with in-store being audio and video and where is Mars seeing the impact?

We have so many startups and brands who don't have the big budgets that you guys do.

I think I'll tell you how any organization should think about spending.

So as an organization, you need to have a measurement strategy and a solution to measure these.

Now, the way I think about the measurement strategy, there are strategic measurement decisions that you have to take, and then you have to take tactical measurement decision.

A strategic measurement decision would be like, see, if you have 1 additional dollar to invest, where would you put it?

The strategic resource allocation is very important.

Now, let's say we have decided to invest 1 dollar in media The additional dollar in media.

So when it comes to media, you need to understand out of the media, which channel you should put it in.

Now there are capabilities like market mix modeling, which is already available there for say probably couple of decades.

Now the way you need to think about it as how are you going to build the MMMs or market mix modeling in an agile way so that you can have more frequency of updates when it comes to strategic investments.

Then finally you need to see how your investments are performing So you need to have a performance.

So moving from strategic allocation, from a strategic level at a resource allocation standpoint, which is very strategic to a tactical, hey, how is my each dollar working?

Having that measurement strategy is going to be very important.

Now, depending on which industry you are in, which brand you represent, this impact is going to look different.

Now, when you think about the KPIs for measurement, You should think about profitability ROI or a sales ROI or a retail sales ROI, those are some of the metrics.

You should also think about long-term metrics like retention, household penetration could be a metric.

So My suggestion is you should think about a balanced scorecard, which is important for your organization, and build out this comprehensive measurement strategy.

I love that, the balanced scorecard approach.

From a consumer standpoint, This kind of brings me back to the, it feels like you said it's early days in retail media networks, but it also feels like, remember it was early days in OTT and everyone was unbundling and getting rid of the cable because they were saving money?

But now I feel as a consumer, I have Hulu, I have Disney, I have Netflix, I have Prime, I feel like I'm back to the same amount, right?

So from a B2B standpoint, I mean, what do you think about your unified digital media budgets and there's so many different options, do you need to subscribe to all or is it subscribing to Walmart enough because 90% of America lives 10 miles to a Walmart, then do you need to do the smaller regional grocers?

Do you need to do the larger digital players?

This is exactly why do you need a measurement strategy in place.

Now, depending on if you see you are a CPG company in whatever category that you operate in, you need to figure out what is the balance code card and what are the key KPIs that is important for you.

Now If you want to improve your digital performance, you know what are the KPIs that you need to focus on.

Let's say if you are primarily in a brick and mortar space that you want to drive the growth, what is the KPI?

Now if you're a young brand and if you want to drive on recruitment, you know household penetration is a metric that you might want to use.

So depending on your organization, your category, I think the metrics are going to look quite different.

Now I mean My suggestion to anybody who would want to build it is like figure out what are your Key goals that your organization is trying to accomplish and you can make these choices Quite fast because see unlike 15 20 years back I mean that your ability to move the funding or make the investment in a dynamic way, in more agile ways significantly than in the marketplace.

So you can make these shifts as it is needed.

I'm waiting, I mean, we're talking about digitization of the store and how everyone is spending them.

I mean, day 1 using Jeff Bezos' day 1 quote, right?

I feel like we're gonna walk into a grocer or our Walmart and Whole Foods and we're gonna be like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible where you're just sliding shelves left and right.

But as we incorporate the digitization of the store between audio and video and ESL, and who's doing it well?

And who's the 1 that you're like, those guys, they're incumbents, but these guys are leaders or these guys, I see them in 5 years doing a great job or?

So I think every organization has its own strengths.

So I think, would I tell 1 organization's retail media work network work better than the other 1?

It is a very tough decision to make, because your organization and your partnership might be in different stages.

Now, I think that is a call that you have to take with your strategic partners.

Now I think you will see, I think now my perspective is that the faster, and as a data and analytics practitioner, The faster you build the data sharing agreements, the new data sharing agreements with your partners with you, I think you are going to make better decisions for both you and your partner so that you can drive a better consumer experience.

So I think the key question that I would ask yourself is, what is your goal to the earlier question that I asked?

And all of these partners will be able to do a

Who's the partner that can fill your scorecard the best, kind of like what you were saying?

There's a big focus on health and fitness and healthy snacking here at Mars.

I know the recent acquisition of Kevin's Natural Food I guess played into that.

Can you talk about some of your other brands like Kind and Nature Way and how Mars Wrigley is also looking to push further and cater to that health conscious customer?

Absolutely, so we have a health and wellness segment within broader Mars snacking, which Kai and Nature's Bakery are part of.

If I were to quote our president for Mars snacking, so there is a significant tailwind that we are seeing in the health and wellness category.

And there is a lot of focus our organization is putting there.

Now, as a data and analytics practice, it's a fantastic time to leverage the data and analytics that we have built for the masterly business that can be potentially leveraged for the other businesses as well.

So it's a fantastic time as a data and analytics practitioner to understand what different categories are doing and how this category is going to evolve.

We do a lot of analytics around the forecasting aspect of it.

As a practitioner, It's a fantastic time to see more data, different kinds of category and whatnot.

I could definitely see the authentic, like genuine sparkle in your eye when you talk about data every time.

What advice would you give to an aspiring young professional who wants that sparkle in his eye when he's talking about data, who's looking to get into the industry today, into the data science, into the AI field within retail and CPG.

What advice would you give that young professional?

So I'm going to tell a short story about this.

So this is a story about a bridge in the Central American country, Honduras.

So in 1930s, So Honduras is the Central American country.

They're prone to a lot of natural disasters, earthquakes and whatnot.

Now, the government of Honduras collaborated with the US government to build a bridge in the 1930s.

And they built this bridge to last to withstand hurricanes, flooding associated with it etc.

The construction was completed the bridge is called the Choluteca bridge and it became a tourist attraction of sorts and decades passed by another hurricane hit the country hurricane Mitch so do you know what happened as part of the hurricane there was a lot of flooding and the river changed its course now there was a bridge which was built to last but there is no water under the bridge.

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Deepak Jose, Global Head of One Demand Data & Analytics Solutions at Mars Wrigley - RETHINK RETAIL (1)