Pair of marketing mavens deliver keynote around 'Shared Media'

CHICAGO — There’s a new way to think outside of the box — by placing both the retailer and supplier in the same marketing sandbox in an effort to generate collaborative marketing campaigns. In other words, “Shared Media.”

Two savvy marketers will spell out the sweet spot of brand and retail collaboration here, at the Shopper Marketing Expo, next week, at the Chicago Navy Pier. Keynote speakers Jocelyn Wong, chief marketing officer of Family Dollar, and Alison Lewis, SVP marketing North America for the Coca-Cola Co., will help explain how traditional marketing models may be replaced by a new, higher form of collaboration between enlightened retailers and manufacturers — a model where partners develop a common audience in an effort to drive trips and induce trial.

When executed effectively, this strategic approach to shopper communications along the entire path to purchase can help to transform the shopping experience.

In addition to clearly identifying what is meant by “shared media,” Wong and Lewis will also help to connect the dots between manufacturer objectives and a retailer’s traffic and conversion goals.

Family Dollar is no stranger to a shared media concept. Last year, Family Dollar partnered with a number of suppliers — Coca-Cola, Kimberly Clark and Unilever to name a few — in an effort to raise consumer awareness around the number of mainstream brands they’d find on Family Dollar shelves, all priced for value.

The promotion — “Spice up Your Summer Fun” — helped drive awareness, trips and basket size for Family Dollar.

Since that campaign, Family Dollar has added a marketing superstar in Wong as chief marketing officer and SVP marketing. Before joining Family Dollar, Wong served as group VP shopper marketing for Safeway, where she led the creation of a newly formed shopper marketing organization. Wong’s areas of responsibility at Safeway included marketing planning, loyalty marketing, regional marketing, health and wellness marketing, improving the in-store experience and CPG partnership development. In her prior 13 years with Procter and Gamble, Wong held a variety of roles, beginning as a chemical engineer and ending in oral care brand management.

Lewis is another marketing all-star. At Coca-Cola, Lewis oversees brand growth and customer value, delivered through consumer insights, integrated marketing communication, sports and entertainment marketing, innovation and digital platforms and multicultural marketing across the company. In 2011, Advertising Age presented the Marketer of the Year award to Lewis and her marketing team. Previously, she was president and general manager for Odwalla, a natural health beverage company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Co. Her career with Coca-Cola began in 1996 when she joined the company as senior brand manager for Diet Coke. 

The Shopper Marketing Expo is slated for Oct. 8 to 10 at Chicago’s Navy Pier. For more information, visit ShopperMarketExpo.com.