Driving Kellanova's Growth Agenda
Charisse Hughes, SVP and chief growth officer at Kellanova and a member of the MBAi Industry Advisory Board, talks about her company's award-winning Pop-Tarts campaign and why AI is crucial to organizational success.
When Charisse Hughes looks at sports sponsorships, she sees an uninspiring sea of sameness.
"Every brand buys its way in, sticks its logo where it doesn't belong, and gets lost," said Hughes, senior vice president and chief growth officer at Kellanova. "Traditional sponsors had littered every sporting surface imaginable with meaningless messaging."
The Kellanova team decided to flip the script. On December 28, 2023, they introduced the world's first edible mascot, a human-sized Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts pastry, and fed it as a snack to the winning college football team on the field of the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The goal was to showcase that Pop-Tarts, historically tied to breakfast, can be a great snack as well.
"While most brands turn their food into a mascot, we turned a mascot into food, changing the playbook for sports sponsorship in the process," said Hughes, an Industry Advisory Board (IAB) member of Northwestern's MBAi program, a joint-degree program offered between the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering.
The move paid off.
Pop-Tarts sales grew by 3 percent the week after the game. The company sold 21 million more toaster pastries in the eight weeks after the Pop-Tarts Bowl than it did during the eight weeks before the game. Sales continued at a high level during the first quarter of 2024.
That type of growth is what Hughes strives for. She drives the company's growth agenda through the leadership of global brands, innovation and research and development, commercial advanced analytics, marketing, and licensing and cultural initiatives. Part of that growth agenda revolves around artificial intelligence (AI), allowing the company to dig deeper into consumer insights, optimize its supply chain, and deliver personalized marketing at scale.
Kellanova is already using AI in a variety of ways.
- The company created an AI-powered persona for Mr. P, the Pringles mascot, to interact with consumers and provide real-time answers.
- Kellanova leverages a suite of AI tools to collect real-time data and insights that combines with a Generative AI platform to create concepts and recipes for future business opportunities.
- The company also recently launched a virtual representation of its consumers that uses AI to simulate and predict consumer behavior.
"AI and machine learning help us innovate more effectively and create engaging, frictionless consumer experiences," Hughes said. "By embedding AI in our operations, we drive efficiency, enhance decision-making, and stay ahead of market trends."
Hughes brings that forward thinking to MBAi, where she and her fellow IAB members provide strategic guidance to ensure the program's curriculum aligns with current and future business needs. Kellanova also routinely sponsors capstone projects, where MBAi students collaborate with students from Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program to present solutions to problems facing industry partners.
"We aim to equip students with the skills and knowledge required to navigate the evolving business landscape, emphasizing technology, data analytics, and innovation," she said. "By doing so, we prepare students to be agile, forward-thinking leaders capable of driving growth and positively impacting their organizations."
The Kellanova team was rewarded for its forward-thinking Pop-Tarts campaign. In partnership with the Weber Shandwick communications agency, Kellanova won its first ever Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, topping more than 2,200 other nominees in the brand experience and activation category.
Hughes said the award highlights the power of creativity and strategic thinking in driving impactful brand experiences and business value. She believes MBAi graduates demonstrate that same ability to impact organizations and influence growth.
"We are developing leaders who deeply understand business and technology, using these tools and skills to solve some of today's most critical challenges," Hughes said. "MBAi graduates will be at the leading edge, equipped to tackle complex problems and drive meaningful change in their industries."