Nearly 10 years ago, I worked with a young marketer at Frito Lay Canada named Jason McDonell, who was leading the marketing strategy for a new product, Munchies. Little did I know that Jason would become a Frito-Lay leader in the U.S. -- and a great example of the power of optimism.
Frito-Lay’s Canadian team developed Munchies based upon a simple insight: People love cheese snacks, and they love variety. So why not combine these two ideas into one snack? And, Munchies was born – a combination of Doritos Nacho Cheese, SunChips Harvest Cheddar, Cheetos Crunchy and Rold Gold all in one bag. Thanks to Jay’s hard work and optimism about the product, it was a success -- and soon after, we launched Munchies in the U.S. (I was part of that team).
Today, Jason (pictured at right) is the Vice President and General Manager of Customer Strategy for Frito-Lay U.S. In May, he spoke at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) conference, "2009 Brand Building in Tough Times and Beyond."
"The theme of my presentation was speed,” Jason told me. “Because economic conditions are changing rapidly, the key to success in business is speed -- being able to maneuver quickly to meet changing consumer needs. To achieve this, you have to stay focused on three underlying principles: speed of trust (based on the book by Stephen M.R. Covey), speed of optimism and speed of simplicity."
Speed of Trust: Jay experienced the Speed of Trust in action at Frito-Lay several years ago when our CEO, Al Carey, approved the first Doritos Crash the Super Bowl promotion, a program that Jay helped bring to life, and that put faith and trust in our consumers to create a successful Super Bowl ad for the Doritos brand. The “Speed of Trust” worked, and the winning ad ranked No. 4 in the USA Today Ad Meter.
Speed of Optimism: Jay referenced the TrueNorth brand team as a great example of the speed of optimism. They redefined marketing by launching ads that feature the inspiring stories of how people pursue their passions and help others, the pursuit of their “true north.” (Earlier this week, I blogged about the latest TrueNorth campaign, “TrueNorth Story of the Month.”). I think Jay’s success as a leader at Frito-Lay is thanks to his own speed of optimism.
Speed of Simplicity: As an example of the speed of simplicity, Jay described his team’s efforts to simplify the salty snack aisle in retail stores to improve the shopping experience by making it easier for consumers to find the snacks they’re looking for. You’ll see this in your local grocery store, too -- the better-for-you products are grouped together at the end of the aisle, dips are now more predominately displayed and easier to find, and you’ll see new rounded displays at the ends of aisles that feature your favorite snacks.
I've blogged about my belief in the power of optimism, and laid down the gauntlet and made it my New Year's resolution for 2009. I like to think that I'm doing a pretty good job of being optimistic, although it's been a challenge to make the transition from working to being more self-directed in retirement.
But when I start to backslide, it helps to get a shot of encouragement from people like Jay, who makes me realize that by staying optimistic (and trusting and simple), all things are possible. How has optimism improved your life or work culture?
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