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Dig In is your go to source for insights innovation. It's for anyone with a genuine interest in fostering brand and product growth, exploring groundbreaking innovations, and embracing the dynamic world of expanding businesses and brands.
Jess Gaedeke (00:00)
Hi everybody. Welcome to the Dig In Podcast. I have been looking forward to this conversation for quite some time. I'm so glad, that you joined us. So I have Amy Bear, Head of Strategic Insights North America at Bel Group with us today. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time.
Amy Baer (00:14)
I'm so excited to do this with you. So thank you for asking me.
Jess Gaedeke (00:18)
Absolutely, I was looking forward to it. So I'm to throw an impromptu question at you. You haven't seen this coming.
if you could live in any era of history what would you choose?
Amy Baer (00:26)
So it wouldn't be in the United States. It would definitely be in during like the Downton Abbey era. So I am a huge that is like my ultimate favorite show on TV. And not only that, but I'm super obsessed with the dresses, the idea that you could have afternoon tea and that would be like an activity. So absolutely during that era.
And all of my friends, my girlfriends always laugh at me because anytime they see like a new period drama coming out, they're like, Amy's going to be the first one at the movie theater to see that. So that would be the era that I would live in.
Jess Gaedeke (01:00)
Now how do you feel about Bridgerton? Because it's totally different vibe than at downhill.
Amy Baer (01:04)
Totally
different vibe. I'm very accepting of it. I do watch it through and through, but is sort of like a one and done with me. Downton Abbey, to be honest, I have watched the whole series number of times, never missed any movie. And then also I rewatch it when I'm flying on planes. So Delta is always playing a series of it and I will just rewatch it every time I'm on Delta.
So yeah, it's something about that time me.
Jess Gaedeke (01:31)
Yeah, okay. Well, you clearly have conviction with that. I love that.
Well, tell us a little bit about your background in your role today
Amy Baer (01:37)
Sure. So I've been in the consumer insights, analytics and strategy for about 28 years. It's crazy when I say that, but it's true. I started out in undergrad as a psychology major and had no idea what I was going to do with psychology. I wanted to become a psychologist, but then realized that there was a additional school to attend.
And it just by happenstance in undergrad, I was going through this book where they had an internship available in a summer and it was, you like data? Do you want to understand why consumers are buying certain things? And so it was a summer internship that I got at was Unilever and and it was in their consumer science team dealing with R &D. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Needless to say, it went from a summer internship
that led to they created an internship for me during the school year. And then when I graduated, they hired me. So it was a brand new position. So I served them well, but they were serving me well. I worked on Dove Caress and Lever 2000 Bar I loved. then went to Lancome in New York City. So growing up in Connecticut, it was always a dream to live and work in New York City.
So I went to go work for Lancome, which was my first entry into working with the French. And I loved it. It was the perfect job, perfect time in my life. It was literally in the city meets, you know, work life. So it was fantastic and I loved it. I then found an opportunity at Heineken. So I went from working with women and for products relatively for women to working primarily with men.
on brands that a lot of men were drinking. So it just gave me a full picture of like different brands, but they were really similar to each other because Lancome and Heineken, it was all about the badge value and it was all about people seeing like the perception doing or consuming. So that Heineken for a couple of years loved Heineken, such a fantastic company. I was a team of five who helped develop Heineken Light.
And it was such a great experience for me because it was a smaller company, not family owned, but still family on the board. So the family had to approve everything that was launching. From Heineken, I decided to go to a much bigger company. So I went back to New York City and worked for Colgate Palmolive. And that's where I met a lot of people from the dig team.
but worked for Colgate Palmolive for 16 and a half years. Never did I think that I was gonna stay at a company that long, but they really afforded me many opportunities. in 16 and a half years, I had seven different jobs, working on different brands, working on different parts of the organization, and even in different geographies. So Colgate was wonderful. Colgate was a family to me, but I was looking for a new opportunity after Colgate.
So after being at a really large CPG company, I went and pivoted to a private equity firm. And so that taught me how to take all my skills from a large company and really instill it in a PE firm. Because in a PE firm, you were doing most of everything. So it was great. It was great. I got the knowledge and understanding of what it was like to work for a PE firm. But then a great opportunity came along with Bel.
And so now I've been at the Bel Group for a little over a year and a half. It's a fantastic company. It is a family company. So they are on the fourth generation of the family, grooming the fifth generation. And they're great brands. And they're brands that I've always consumed either myself or my family. So the brands are Laughing Cow, Baby Bel Cheese, Boursin Cheese, and Go Go Squeeze.
And so there are brands that I truly love and believed in even before I became an employee. So now it's so easy to be an employee there because it's talking about brands every single day that I love. So that is 27 and a half, almost 28 years of my career when I look back on it.
Jess Gaedeke (05:31)
it's such a great.
so many amazing brands and different shapes and sizes of companies. And so that rich experience, I'm sure, is serving you well now at And that's a great segue into the story you're going to tell us about. So our listeners crave inspiration from other leaders. And one of the best ways to inspire, think, is to share a story. one of the things you've been really influential in doing at Bel is introducing a critical muscle memory and capability
consumer insights. So tell us about that, sort of take us back to the beginning when you realize this new capability was so important to introduce.
Amy Baer (06:09)
Absolutely, Jess. So I've always been very passionate about ethnographic interviews, meeting the consumer where they are. one of the things I absolutely loved about Colgate is always going into consumers' homes. I look back at my career, I can say I've been in consumers' homes in at least 15 different countries. I had my global position, we were doing qualitative interviews in Taiwan and in
Philippines as well as Africa. And it really helps to understand brands and it helps to understand the people who are buying or using your brands. three months ago, I had an experience at Bel and I was speaking to one of our fellow marketers I was just saying, you know, they said, well, what are you passionate about, about consumer insights? And I said, well, going into consumers homes. know this person has been in marketing for over 10 years.
And they said, I've never done that. And I knew their history and I knew the brands that they work for very large brands. I you've never done that. And they said, I've always wanted to do that, but every company I've worked at, that was the first thing that they cut in their budgets. And so I was in this meeting with all marketers from Bel, as well as the strategic insights team. And it was a three hour meeting and I didn't pay attention to the meeting at all. All I did.
was sit down and map out how can I do this for my Bel marketers in a relatively short manner. So my timeline, that meeting that I sat in that I told you I didn't pay attention to, that was in the beginning of March. And by the beginning of April, I had every single Bel marketer in at least two consumers homes. And I created something called Consumer Connect Day. I got the buy in from my CMO.
The second I sent her a note, I don't even think she had time to read the note. It was just a huge response of yes, with about 15 exclamation points. Then took it to the general manager and she said, Amy, this is something I've always loved to do too. And so, you know, the senior management at Bel is very supportive of anything you want to do. And so what I did is I mapped it out. I met a great supplier recruiter that I've known for a very long time and we mapped out, you know, how are we going to take
27 Bel marketers in one day in all different consumers' homes across Chicago, and then bring them back. to my most important part is to really have a debrief session. So a debrief session on what they learned, what were their ahas, what have they never seen before from a data perspective. We have a lot of data in the company. We have some great data in the company. But I realized a lot of the marketers are just spending time
looking at data not necessarily talking to people. So on that day, I had people, I had them do the interviewing. I didn't have moderators do it. I had them take ownership of interviewing these consumers. I wrote a discussion guide, worked with a moderator to develop a great discussion guide and some points on where to take consumers. But I made them go into the consumer's pantries. I made them go into the consumer's refrigerators and freezers, take pictures of everything, and then report back.
And so the most important part was that debrief session where you can just, you have felt the energy in the room. energy was so exciting. The fact that some of these people were like, my gosh, I got to talk to a baby bell consumer who's consuming 20 baby bells a week. And now I understand why and where they're consuming it. And it was also really important for me to say, okay, well, what are you going to do in the next 30 days for your are the insights that you learned?
What are you going to do the next 30 days? What can you do the next and any future innovations? And so what we did is we created a roadmap for our three cheese brands of, what were the new insights that you learned? And it was amazing. It was energetic. But the most important thing was that Monday morning meeting that I had one of the brand directors come to me and said, Amy, I just had one of my people.
discuss how they were in consumers homes last week and this is what they learned and this is the action that they're taking and they were having a conversation with somebody from sales. So it was not only just spending a day with consumers, but it was also like giving them a new light on who their consumer was and how they can change things within marketing or within sales or how we're showing up to consumers. So that to me is a huge passion point.
but also a project that really, really proud of. So now, you know, sometimes you're so proud of these projects and you tell people or you put something on LinkedIn. And what has happened is the organization has asked me to do this another time. So we're going to do it in Q3. And we want to make sure that we're doing this at least two to three times a year, as well as, you know, now it's considered a best practice within Bel. And
I have my boss saying to me, Amy, I want to roll this out everywhere in the world. So it was just that one simple insight of somebody saying, I've never been in a consumer's home and it haunted me. But now I'm transitioning into like the positive out of it is great. We're going to make sure that we have more consumer connections than we've ever had before.
Jess Gaedeke (11:15)
Yeah.
And that actionability is so important. So I'm glad that you mentioned that the most important part is, okay, what are you actually act on? And I'm just curious because, know, as insights professionals, sometimes we take for granted that our stakeholders, they kind of understand or they have observed certain behaviors that, again, you're saying they've never actually seen it. So can you share just one of the ahas, like one of the things that you heard one of these team members say that they just had this light bulb moment once they were actually in the consumer's home and they really got it?
Amy Baer (11:19)
Absolutely.
Absolutely, absolutely. And I couldn't agree more. It is so important. Like I took it for granted that this was happening all the time. I took it for granted that people understood who their consumers were. And now it's one of those things that I'm like, okay, I'm going to take everything at face value. One interesting discussion is someone marketing from our laughing cow team went in a consumer's home.
so laughing cow is a round box that has triangle wedges of cheese. The box itself has this cute little red ribbon that you just need to pull to open the top of the box. And then the top of the box looks like almost a hat top that you could just take easily on and off. Well, one of the ah-has our team member had was that this consumer
who has said she's been consuming laughing cow for at least seven or eight years, never knew about this little red strip around the top that would help take the top off super easily. woman actually uses a knife to cut off the top of the cheese. you know, someone took that back and said, okay, an action ability perspective, we can't assume that people know how to open this, as well as maybe we need to make that little
red string a little bit longer or have a tab on the end to make it super easy for somebody just to open the box of cheese. So again, a very simple thing that we took for granted. We took for granted that everyone would know how to open this, but yet I'm sure that one consumer actually reflects hundreds of consumers out there that don't know how to properly open the box of cheese.
Jess Gaedeke (13:21)
That's such a great example. And you can only learn that through observation, right? And through that interaction. so great. mean, obviously, you've created such an impact there. I love the just the phrase you use that, you know, Amy, I want to do this across the world. I must feel really good that now you're empowering that type of empathy and consumer you know, everywhere across the globe. So I'm excited to see what innovation and different you know, sometimes it can spark an idea for a campaign like sometimes how you observe people use your packaging or interact with the actually
some new creative ideas for how to in the marketing activities. So I'm see it on display in a number of different ways.
Amy Baer (13:56)
I so. I hope so. I think just for the themselves, they just got a great understanding of even their consumers. We always talk about their consumers consuming our product. Sometimes they didn't realize all of the other products that could be in their refrigerator. And so just taking simple products of the refrigerator or asking to look through the cheese drawer, people were saying, wow, the competitive context is actually a lot different than we ever thought it was.
I think it's just those aha moments that could really lead to somebody just understanding their brand more thinking what does the competition look like and how can we tackle all of those ⁓ competitors out there.
Jess Gaedeke (14:35)
So that's a wonderful story from your time here at Bel. What's your overall takeaway, like your biggest takeaway this experience so far?
Amy Baer (14:41)
biggest takeaway is, you know, always believe in your convictions. So I, again, a huge passion point of mine has always been ethnographic interviews and learning from consumers. I think that's why I've stayed in Consumer Insights for so many years. But for me, it's just spreading the love, spreading the joy of consumers throughout the entire organization,
So the idea is the marketing team told people, R and D and now I've had R and D saying, next time you do this, we would love to come in too. Or the packaging team learned about the problem laughing cow package. So they were like, we would love to come in too. So it's a little bit of,
you know, a journey are also just gathering the whole organization to really be consumer centric. I think a lot of organizations say that they're consumer centric, but the idea of Bel truly is becoming consumer first is just a really exciting time to be at Bel.
Jess Gaedeke (15:39)
and an exciting time to be in insights. yeah. So we'll go next to one of your other passionate points of view and it's about the role of technology, mainly AI and how that is maybe shaping perceptions of what should or shouldn't be done in the insights industry. So I'd love your hot take on this. What do you believe the role of AI should be within an insights organization?
Amy Baer (15:41)
Exactly. Exactly.
Absolutely. I think this is a great topic of discussion. I've been to a conference this year on it with regards to qualitative and AI. I see AI as a very helpful tool. I use it in my life. I use AI when my children and I are trying to figure out a problem or even directions for something, but I see AI as a tool. And so the way I've positioned AI is
is it's another tool in our insights toolbox to use. I don't believe it's going to replace anything. I don't believe it's going to replace people within insights because we still do need strategic thinking tied to the brand. We still need people to understand what the problems and obstacles are within an organization and how we can solve them. But again,
AI is just another tool in a toolbox. I think it's great for some things within research. So with regards to open ends, it can quickly, quickly tabulate what open ends and come up with themes. think, you know, some teams have used it to help with moderation of focus groups, again, it's a tool, it's not a replacement. So for me,
I'm always open to understanding what new methodologies are out there, what people are using it for, but I don't see it as replacing people or replacing the function anytime soon within organizations.
Jess Gaedeke (17:29)
couldn't agree with you more about needing that human lens to get the strategic value out of the insight. So I'm all for where AI can get us to faster or maybe enable some of those more in our time in the industry have taken a lot of time to bring a project to bear. And now we can really accelerate However, implications to the client's business, what to do, bringing in all the other context that someone has,
about your time when you're at Colgate, what'd you say 16 years? Like that organizational memory is very difficult to replace. And that is what we strategists have the ability to bring. couldn't agree with you more. do you think about the future of the CPG industry? That's one you've been in a long time as well. Where do you think we're headed?
Amy Baer (18:13)
Absolutely. So I think the CPG industry has been going through a lot of growth and then a lot moments of being stagnant. But with regards to, you know, I always see new product innovations coming out. I always see growth in additional markets. So I think with regards to CPG or with regards to where I am in the food industry right now, there is still a lot of opportunity out there.
⁓ But again, I think it's the idea of people working smarter and also not necessarily harder in that way. With regards to the world that I'm in right now within healthy snacking, Bel is really in a great position right now because anything that you see in the news, it's all about people trying to eat healthier, whether it's the trend of Ozempics.
or of the world or whether it's the trend of people just realizing some of the foods that they've been eating are highly processed. Now, you know, I'm so happy when I look at the brands that I'm working on and Go Go Squeeze is a great example. It's literally an apple and some lemon juice in a pouch. That's it. That's it. And so, you know, I fed Go Go Squeeze to my son when he was little. And now I walk around the house eating a Go Go Squeeze because it's a
It's a great quick snack and you feel good about eating it. I think, you know, where I see the food industry going in is some categories could be in trouble because they don't realize how processed food is. I think as people are getting smarter, they're starting to also realize that, what I've been eating isn't as healthy as I thought it was at a time.
Jess Gaedeke (19:54)
Go Go Squeeze is another trip staple for us as well. And I remember feeling like I was going to get mom of the year award when it was Halloween and it was my turn to like bring the class snack. You take a Go Go Squeeze. I'm sure you've seen this. I saw it on Instagram is how I got the inspiration. You put some toilet paper around it and put two little bug eyes on it. And all of a sudden you have a cute little mummy. And so you bring your Go Go Squeezes all lined up little mummy snacks is the easiest thing that looks super impressive. So know, heads up to anyone who has elementary school children.
Amy Baer (20:22)
love it. I love it. I can also tell a quick go-go squeeze story too. So with my own house and my own household, like my daughter is 16 years old, so she might have outgrown the original go-go squeeze, but she plays competitive soccer. And this past year, she was eating a go-go with electrolytes as she's walking on to the soccer field. And one of the girls was like, ⁓ what is that? So she tried it too. By two weeks later, my daughter said, hey,
any way that you can get some go-go for my soccer team. By the end of the year, we had a soccer coach from a different team was like, are you sponsored by GoGoSqueeze? We're like, no, we've just got every athlete here to convert to GoGoSqueeze because they just loved it so much. They remembered it from childhood, but now it was the same type of product, but for that older girl. So it was a really, really fun thing to see.
And the other coach said, no, they're not sponsored by Go Go Squeeze, just a mom who works for the company. So it's very cute.
Jess Gaedeke (21:24)
You win. my gosh, you just stole my mom of the year moment. You definitely win that you're like a celebrity. And that's such a great example of the brands that can grow with consumers. So if I know and love a product when I'm eight years old, and then in a few years you meet me with a new product that gives me that same nostalgic and brand association, but now with the benefit that my body needs when I'm now 12 or 14 or 16, that is a beautiful, evolution of a brand. And I hope to see more and more of that.
Amy Baer (21:53)
Thank you. And I hope there's more coming.
Jess Gaedeke (21:55)
Okay, so we're moving to the final dig. This is all about you as a consumer. Feel free to take off the professional hat if you wish. product or service you bought on Impulse?
Amy Baer (22:03)
I bought it yesterday. So it's a pair of sneakers that I've been eyeing So it's not necessary but I wanted a neutral color sneaker And so I've been shopping online and I just hit that button. So hopefully I'll like them. They're coming in the mail tomorrow
Jess Gaedeke (22:16)
Okay, well keep me posted. And I am curious, how do you feel about fashion sneakers as like an accepted thing now in our professional world? I'm here for it.
Amy Baer (22:23)
So that's
exactly what I just bought, Jess. So I bought a pair of Vince, like very neutral fashion sneakers, because I am seeing a lot of people wear fashion sneakers and I haven't been there. I'm still a heels girl. Anyone that knows me, I love my shoes. So I said, okay, I'm gonna try to make that small transition in. Let's see, see if it works for me.
Jess Gaedeke (22:44)
Okay, well whatever works for you, but I am eager to hear how this goes and best of luck with that. Is there a category or a brand that you could rationalize any price point for? You just have to have it in your life.
Amy Baer (22:56)
Absolutely. think there's two categories. So not necessarily brands, but two categories. So chocolate and olive oil. So a little bit of secret about me is I love to cook and I like to bake. So if I don't have a good olive oil in my house, we're in trouble because I really think that cooking it really starts at the base. So olive oil, super important to me. And also baking.
and just eating it in general, you have to have good chocolate. Everyone needs to indulge every so often. And so I never want to have a bad piece of chocolate. So really need to have good piece of chocolate. And it doesn't matter the price point there.
Jess Gaedeke (23:33)
That's really fair. So brands have distinct personalities. What's a brand that you would date and a brand that you would marry? And it's up to you. They can be the same or different brands.
Amy Baer (23:40)
Okay, let's see a brand that I would marry Ralph Lauren. So for me, Ralph Lauren, so I am a Connecticut girl. So I am a preppy, the original definition of preppy girl through and through. So Ralph Lauren has been a brand that's been with me my entire life, continues to transition and change, but still that old staple heritage brand that I always will love.
Brand that I would date, would say Laduree for the macaroons, the French macaroons. So I'm a proponent of French since Belle is a French brand. So Laduree macaroons, they are just super fun, super whimsical, Parisian. So I think that would be just a really fun brand to date.
Jess Gaedeke (24:26)
You would be a really fun person to travel with. Maybe someday I can find a way to make it on one of your trips.
Amy Baer (24:29)
Thank you.
I would love that. I love to travel so much. So happy, happy anytime to give travel tips or to travel with you.
Jess Gaedeke (24:40)
I love it. I love it. Let's do it. Who's an industry leader you think I should try to bring on this podcast?
Amy Baer (24:45)
would an insights perspective, Kalindi Mehta. I don't know if you know Kalindi. It's Kalindi and I have been colleagues for a while, going on 20 years, and she is just a fantastic insights person. So recently took a new job with Unilever, and she has a lot of forward thinking. So I think she is a fantastic person to have on the podcast too.
Jess Gaedeke (25:09)
What a great suggestion.
have been in the industry now you said 28 years so I'd love to know from you what keeps you inspired at work.
Amy Baer (25:17)
Absolutely. I would say passionate people and fantastic brands. So for 28 years, I've had the luxury of working on some fantastic brands. So not only brands that people love, but that I love to work on. Nothing makes me happier than when I worked at Colgate and I was in Mexico and people would say, you work for Colgate. Like, what a fantastic brand. It's a brand that's in every family.
And now I tell people I work for Bel Group. And sometimes people don't necessarily know Bel Group as a company. But when I say to them, baby bell cheese or go go squeeze or borson, everyone's face lights up. And that's what keeps me very passionate is I love working on brands that I love personally. So that keeps me very excited. And then passionate people. I've always surrounded myself with people who are excited to work on certain projects.
who are really just passionate and willing to go that extra mile. And I think that's how I've surrounded myself within the Insights community. Everyone is always willing to go that extra mile and do what is right for the business and also what is good for the business. And that's what keeps me going. So again, great brands and great people are just the most fantastic combination.
Jess Gaedeke (26:37)
is a wonderful combination and thank you for being one of those passionate people, Amy. Every time I get to talk to you, I just feel a little bit lighter and like my day is going to get even better. So I really appreciate you taking time to be on the podcast.
Amy Baer (26:48)
Absolutely. And thank you so much for asking me. This was so much fun, Jess.