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Mike Del Pozzo: For us, one of the biggest problems to solve
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is, you know, our Gatorade. Our core Gatorade users are still
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using Gatorade. But sometimes there are light users are
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picking something else up for a second purchase or throughout
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different parts of the day. So those day parts are becoming
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increasingly important across, particularly for PepsiCo
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snacking and beverages and within Gatorade, that's how we
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think about it.
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Welcome to the be epic podcast, brought to you
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by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of
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Arkansas. I'm your host, Brent Williams. Together, we'll
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explore the dynamic landscape of business and uncover the
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strategies, insights and stories that drive business today.
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Well, today, I have with me, Mike Del Pozzo. Mike is
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president and general manager of Gatorade, Mike, thanks for being
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here today.
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Mike Del Pozzo: No, thanks for having me. It's awesome to be
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back in Arkansas.
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Well, we're glad to have you back. And you've got
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a little bit of a history in Arkansas in Northwest Arkansas.
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Today, I want to talk about the brand that you get the
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opportunity to lead some of what you see coming in the CPG and
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retail industry and some of the cool experiences that you get
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leading this brand. But but to begin, love to hear a little bit
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about your background, how did you land at you know, what's
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your history look like? And how do you land as president and GM
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of Gatorade?
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Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, well, thanks. It's, uh, I mean,
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honestly, it's, it's pretty, I feel very fortunate one, you
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know, like many probably, that are listening to this. I grew up
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playing sports, and I was an athlete, not quite as good as
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some of these student athletes I got to meet with this morning
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here at the university. But, you know, the brand was some very
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personal to me, and, and so I came into PepsiCo, which is the
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parent company of Gatorade, right out of school, actually,
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as an intern, and I got to intern on Gatorade, that was
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about 23 years ago. And I remember saying, oh, I want to
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get I want to go full time on Gatorade. And it was kind of the
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the crown jewel at the company then and that was my, my goal.
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And if I'd ever known that 23 years later, I'd be sitting here
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with you talking about it, it was, I wouldn't have believed
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it. So over the 23 years at PepsiCo, I've worked across a
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lot of different parts of the business, I've been on the
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customer side, the supply chain side, the marketing side, have
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moved around about nine times throughout the country, all
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within the US. And then I took over the Gatorade job almost two
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years ago. So I serve as the president of Gatorade. So I have
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responsibility for everything from what we say make move,
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market and sell. So where we make our products and
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manufacturing sites, moving the product on go to market, the
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brand side, which is the fun part of the business people like
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to talk about, which is all the marketing of Gatorade, our
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sports, our athletes, our lead partners. And then obviously,
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all of our customer kind of relationships I've managed with
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with Gatorade as well. So over the years, that's been kind of
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kind of hit and I, I, you know, came into this one the last two
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years.
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Well, a couple of things out of, out of your
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story leading up to this point that that are interesting to me.
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internship you mentioned, which is something at the Walton
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College we're extremely focused on. And we're extremely
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fortunate to have a concentration of business around
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us that our students can engage in that way. But clearly, the
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internship made a difference in your life.
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Mike Del Pozzo: Big time. And, you know, we were obviously with
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your support able to talk to some students today. And they
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asked some really good questions. Actually, I was
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sitting there like, wow, I'm impressed. I don't know that I
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would have been able to come up with those years ago, around,
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you know, internships and opportunities. And I did tell
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them I mean, frankly, you know, you've got a really special
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unique situation here in Northwest Arkansas. And as you
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mentioned, I've been here I've lived in Univer. I've lived in
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Northwest Arkansas twice. My wife went to university here. My
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daughter was born in Bentonville. And I tell the
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students now, you know, utilize the the unique situation you're
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Yeah, I think they're critically important to get to know
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in, you've got obviously big companies out here, big CPGs you
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know, PepsiCo, obviously, I'd rather everybody come to us, but
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there's a lot of other opportunities out here with, you
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know, with what Walmart's brought down here. And
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obviously, we have a team on the ground here a big team that sits
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in Northwest Arkansas and the internships I think what they
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you know, what they do is they really provide an opportunity
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not only for us to get to know students in what they're capable
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of, but the students an opportunity to check out the
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company. Is this something I want to be a part of? Do I
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believe in their values? Do I believe in what they stand for?
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Do I believe they've got growth potential? And so I kind of see
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it that way. And we try and come into those things you know,
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really wide open in fact, that told somebody today we're not as
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narrow on functions, even you might come in with a supply
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chain. You guys have an unbelievable supply chain
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program here at the university. But we also want you to get a
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breadth of experience. You may come in and do that but we want
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to you learn how to interact with sales and marketing and,
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you know, all the brand side and that allows people then to say,
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hey, maybe I maybe I don't want to be supply chain, maybe I want
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to do something else. And so that's what those internships provide.
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companies to understand what you like, what you don't like. And
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and then to apply, you know, I think that I, personally, if I
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learn something, I need to apply it for that, like really kind of
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set in and internships offer that ability.
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Yeah, for sure.
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You know, you also said that you've had the
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opportunity, you've moved, you know, several times, but you've
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moved functionally, which I assume set you up pretty well to
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run a business like Gatorade.
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Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, it. I joke about it a bit, because I think
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some of it was accidental. And now we're actually really trying
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to teach that and develop within PepsiCo, I, I came in, you know,
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really, in what we call business development. At the time, it was
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kind of like the centerpiece of supply chain and a little bit of
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kind of getting product from point A to point B, and, you
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know, understanding kind of how to do that. And then they said,
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Hey, you want to move to Northwest Arkansas, and I was a
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young guy living in Chicago working, just getting started at
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PepsiCo. And I said, absolutely, I knew what, what was going on
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out here. This was almost 20 years ago. And I came out into a
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sales role. And while I was in sales, I was actually on the
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Frito Lay business. And then they moved me over to Gatorade
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and in part of our Pepsi business, in a different
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function. And so over the years, those moves were, you know, they
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weren't necessarily always promotions, they were new
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experiences either cross functional into a different part
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of the business or a different brand. And so, as I told some of
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the students today, it's time flies. I mean, I think people
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look and say, how do you spend 20 plus years at the same
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company and you know, I'm in my mid 40s, so it's, for me, that's
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been most of my life. And the reality is, if you find the
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right company that you love, and you love what you do, and don't
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get me wrong, there's everybody's got days that they
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say, boy, you know, I don't love it, but you time flies, you're
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like, holy cow. I've been in all these different businesses and,
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and I've built, you know, my career on diverse experiences.
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So now I actually hire for that I try and build what I call a GM
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mindset, somebody that can come in and learn lots of functions.
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So when they talk to a customer, like Walmart down here, we're
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not just looking for people to talk sales, they need to talk
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supply chain, and go to market and finance. And so that's kind
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of what we're looking for now.
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You know, you mentioned a couple of stints in
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Northwest Arkansas, anything, you know, in particular that
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stands out in those experiences that you learned that that
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you've kind of taken forward into your future roles?
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Mike Del Pozzo: Well, I think the one is, what I love about
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being out here actually is the competitive nature, we're you
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know, just like anybody, we want to be the best CPG. So you see a
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lot of you get great visibility for great companies out here.
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And so it always puts you on you see something or like, you know,
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whether your boss says, hey, you know why is so and so doing that
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you're like, oh, my gosh, we gotta be better. So I actually
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love that. I almost think about it, like a bunch of elite teams
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down here, right? All work. I mean, this is one of the, you
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know, biggest and best customers obviously. So you've got your,
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your great talent down here. So that's the same for all of our
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competitive CPG groups. So I think that's one it makes us
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better. I think the other is, I've always loved when you you
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know, when you work in down here on a business this size, the
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decisions you make have a material impact. And I like that
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we we joke sometimes we say you come out here and you blow up or
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blow up you know, it's like it's it's an opportunity to really
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make a name for yourself. And you know, you learn a lot so I
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made stupid decisions too when I came out here that I thought
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were right on the business that I'm going to try something and
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maybe it didn't work and when you make a bad decision on
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business that size within PepsiCo, even it's like, oh my
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gosh, I gotta I gotta learn from that. What did I do wrong? Maybe
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that business wasn't right for the time maybe it was, you know,
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the the go to market was different than it needed to be
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whatever it is. It's so big that you learn from it and you
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optimize so there's just so much opportunity that comes with
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being on the customer this size.
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Yeah, there sure is. I love what you said about
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like, you know, the the talent that comes through this region
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through various CPG companies and some developed here, some
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coming in from other places. It's a pretty unique place in
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that way.
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Mike Del Pozzo: For sure. Yeah.
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Well, I'd love to talk a little bit about
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Gatorade because what an engaging brand, it's a dynamic
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brand and seems to fit you in some ways, right? You bring the
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energy and you're bringing an inner you to an energetic brand.
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I'd love to hear a little bit about the history of the brand
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and anything you're excited about going forward.
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Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, it's uh, I mean, it's a special story. I
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don't know. I mean, probably people. You know, you have a
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little bit of context for Gatorade being you know,
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invented through this idea of kind of solving a problem of you
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know, hydration but it next year will be 60 years from when the
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brand was was developed. 1965 on the sideline of Florida, Florida
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Gators, and what was so special about it, it was a we were
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talking about inventorship it was an inventor that worked at
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the university there, Dr. Robert Cade. And you can there's books
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out there first and thirst and a bunch of others. You can read on
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it. It's pretty amazing. You know, he basically had, you
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know, what you would assume is you know, they call it the swamp
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out there. It's it's hot market. These players were getting
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dehydrated. And Dr. Cade was working in the university in the
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science and r&d lab and created the basically electrolyte
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formula that's now in Gatorade and obviously a proprietary
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Gatorade electrolyte blend. He invented it and they got it on
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the sideline, they called it Gatorade for the Florida Gators.
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And I believe after the first year using it, they went on to
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win a national championship. And then there's even more history
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you can follow where they from there, he shared that formula
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with the Kansas City Chiefs, and then they won a championship and
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then it kind of goes on from there. And you know, that the
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Cade family is still actively involved in philanthropy out
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there. And I stay close with his daughter, Phoebe Cade. So it's
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real, it's personal to me. I mean, when I took the job two
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years ago, the first thing I wanted to do is understand the
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history of the brand. And it's a balance, right? Because I don't
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want us to, like, you know, rest on the laurels of 1965, sports
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drink hydration, we've got to reinvent ourselves. So the brand
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itself was in probably one of the biggest transformations
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ever, portfolio transformation, brand transformation. But what I
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try and do is strike a balance of protecting the history, the
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heritage of the brand, and thinking about what we need to
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move forward. And that's why you'll you know, we'll talk you
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see some of the portfolio expansion, but it's such a fun
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story out there, it's part of who we are, it's part of the
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heritage. And then honestly, you know, that is what I think has
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us is such a relevant brand within obviously the sidelines
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of University of Arkansas, most colleges and universities, all
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32 NFL sidelines, all major league baseball dugouts, all NBA
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sidelines, you know, the brand is synonymous with sports, with
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athletes and with competition, and we intend to keep it that
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way.
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You mentioned that, you know, you're always
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trying to strike that balance, I guess, between the history and,
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and continuing to innovate and, and, you know, it's in a fairly
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established category, right, the beverage category, how do you go
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about innovating with with that historical brand in that type of
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category?
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Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah. It starts with a consumer, you know, we
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talk about, we talk about it as the athlete more, but I use the
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term athlete, loosely now. I talked about the modern athlete,
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because I think the core athlete, there's a need for
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Gatorade, how they used it hydrated either before, during,
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after whatever occasion, you know, sweat, occasion, etc. The
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modern athlete is more of what I'd call this 24 wellness
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hydration like they want they want to they want this product
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or some of the functional benefits of the product all day.
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And we have a portfolio for all parts of that day. And that's
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the goal. And so, what we think about is, you know, I think
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about the brand Gatorade zero for example, we didn't have a
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zero sugar Gatorade product till 2018. It was the first liquid
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refresh LRB called liquid refreshment beverage to a
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billion dollars, it's now going to be about a $2 billion brand
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by itself. Because not everybody wants they don't always want
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sugar. A lot of athletes do want sugar and your body actually
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needs sugar and carbohydrates for those those harder workout
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occasions. But we introduced zero, we introduced a product
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called Gator light. Just in the last year and a half. It's a
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rapid rehydration product. It's already almost a half a billion
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dollars. It's the market leader. And that is a unique benefit
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that brings 2x electrolyte blend plus potassium, magnesium, other
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things that the body needs for like a rapid quick recovery. We
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introduced that. Last year we introduced a product called fast
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twitch which is athletic energy Gatorade's first foray into
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caffeine, 200 milligrams of caffeine, Gatorade,
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electrolytes, B vitamins, in partnership with the NFL, and
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that was a very big launch for us because the NFL didn't have a
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caffeinated product that they had on the sideline anywhere. So
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that was a big deal. This year, as we sit today actually, this
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week, we launched Gatorade water, which is an alkaline base
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water, with electrolytes. And then you see this go on and you
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think about the portfolio. It looks a lot different than it
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used to. The other thing we're really focused on, as you talked
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about how to you innovate in a developed category is function
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and form. And so we're really focused on this beyond the
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bottle agenda. You know, we invented Gatorade was a powder
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when it started. So I kind of tell people like we were the OG
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of powders. But now people are bringing it. There's lots of new
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players in this space. And it's either because people want to
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create their own like I want to control my own functional
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ingredients. or I care about the planet more than I probably used
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to, I didn't know how much plastic I was, I was wasting.
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And so I want to be more cognizant of that. Or there's a
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component of convenience and portability, hey, I bring our
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tablets or our powders when I go play golf or when I go travel.
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So I know I've got that. So this whole category, you know, when
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you're 65 share of a category that's this big, you have a
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responsibility to disrupt yourself or somebody else will
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disrupt you. And that's what we're doing.
Brent Williams:
00:15:27
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, for sure.
Brent Williams:
00:15:27
What a great point, you know, when when you
Brent Williams:
00:15:27
Well, you know, and maybe, you know, taking that
Brent Williams:
00:15:29
lead in a category that you have the responsibility to push that
Brent Williams:
00:15:31
a little bit more broad. So, just talk about, you know, I
Brent Williams:
00:15:33
category forward?
Brent Williams:
00:15:43
think you said at the beginning of how do you innovate in a
Brent Williams:
00:15:47
category, you mentioned the consumer, what are some ways you
Brent Williams:
00:15:50
see the consumer evolving? What does that mean, in your opinion
Brent Williams:
00:15:56
for the industry CPG. And for retail, you know, so I blend
Brent Williams:
00:16:00
those two together?
Brent Williams:
00:16:02
Mike Del Pozzo: Well, two two kind of areas, I'd say, one, the
Brent Williams:
00:16:05
macros on the consumer, and that's what's happening in the
Brent Williams:
00:16:08
environment right now. And that is, you know, frankly, whether
Brent Williams:
00:16:13
it's inflation, whether it's trends in you know, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:16:17
people trying to think differently about how they
Brent Williams:
00:16:20
engage in brands throughout the day, whether it's, there's these
Brent Williams:
00:16:23
macros of the environment that we're all navigating that are
Brent Williams:
00:16:25
important, you know, and that has a material impact on all
Brent Williams:
00:16:29
food and beverage, and certainly Gatorade and PepsiCo being, you
Brent Williams:
00:16:33
know, the largest food and beverage company has a big
Brent Williams:
00:16:35
responsibility, make sure we've got the right kind of solutions
Brent Williams:
00:16:38
for that. And that means pack price architecture. So you've
Brent Williams:
00:16:41
got great value on packaging needed. That means your route,
Brent Williams:
00:16:44
you're you're thinking about making sure all your products
Brent Williams:
00:16:47
are either sustainable, biodegradable, and you've got a,
Brent Williams:
00:16:51
you know, a real strong sustainability agenda. And that
Brent Williams:
00:16:54
means, so the consumer is driving that all that so we
Brent Williams:
00:16:57
talked about it as macros, but it really is because the
Brent Williams:
00:16:59
consumers are choosing to engage in brands and companies
Brent Williams:
00:17:03
differently. So that's something we take a big responsibility of,
Brent Williams:
00:17:06
more near. And I think, though, is this consumer behavior stuff,
Brent Williams:
00:17:09
which is, you know, whether it's health and wellness would be a
Brent Williams:
00:17:11
big one, right? And it doesn't necessarily mean what it used to
Brent Williams:
00:17:14
it's, oh, I'm cutting calories, not it's not necessarily it.
Brent Williams:
00:17:16
It's a lot of people. In fact, if you look at some soft drink
Brent Williams:
00:17:19
businesses, real sugar is actually doing better, like
Brent Williams:
00:17:21
people are like, no, it's artificials. Or it's,
Brent Williams:
00:17:23
everybody's different. So you can't, you can't pivot your
Brent Williams:
00:17:27
brand one way, you've got to really listen to the consumer
Brent Williams:
00:17:30
and say, how do I solve that need? And so, I health and
Brent Williams:
00:17:33
wellness is certainly a big part of it that we're focused on and
Brent Williams:
00:17:36
making sure we've got the portfolio that people need and
Brent Williams:
00:17:38
people want. I think the other is this idea of convenience.
Brent Williams:
00:17:42
People are on the go more than ever you think about COVID
Brent Williams:
00:17:46
people were at home they were working out they were exercising
Brent Williams:
00:17:49
on their peloton, whatever. So the peloton sales go way up and
Brent Williams:
00:17:53
our product was way up because people were at home. Now they're
Brent Williams:
00:17:55
on the go. And you would think okay, well, then you would have
Brent Williams:
00:17:58
more purchases? Well, the reality is they've got more
Brent Williams:
00:18:00
choices. So they're thinking about things throughout the day,
Brent Williams:
00:18:02
differently. So for us, one of the biggest problems to solve
Brent Williams:
00:18:05
is, you know, our Gatorade, our core Gatorade, users are still
Brent Williams:
00:18:09
using Gatorade. But sometimes there are light users are
Brent Williams:
00:18:11
picking something else up for a second purchase or throughout
Brent Williams:
00:18:14
different parts of the day. So those day parts are becoming
Brent Williams:
00:18:17
increasingly important across, particularly for PepsiCo
Brent Williams:
00:18:21
snacking, and beverages and within Gatorade, that's how we
Brent Williams:
00:18:23
think about it. And we think about building this kind of
Brent Williams:
00:18:26
competitive moat around our business to make sure that we've
Brent Williams:
00:18:29
got solutions for all those day parts, but the consumers
Brent Williams:
00:18:32
changing, you know, so rapidly. The other thing, I think, youth
Brent Williams:
00:18:37
is changing a lot, you know, I've got two daughters that are,
Brent Williams:
00:18:40
you know, 11 and nine and things that I drank as a kid or
Brent Williams:
00:18:44
consumed they're not, they're just not touching it. And so I
Brent Williams:
00:18:48
listen to them a lot. I mean, I we do a lot of great marketing
Brent Williams:
00:18:51
studies. Now, I always tell my marketers like, okay, I hear
Brent Williams:
00:18:54
what you say, I'm gonna go talk to a bunch of kids in the
Brent Williams:
00:18:56
neighborhood and see what they say. So I think it's just being
Brent Williams:
00:18:59
aware. And lastly, I'd say competitive. These are
Brent Williams:
00:19:03
competitive categories, they're, they're high growth categories
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00:19:06
that you know, a lot of people come into. And so when you're a
Brent Williams:
00:19:09
big company like ours, you know, claims are important. Being
Brent Williams:
00:19:13
aware of kind of competitors and not you know, reacting but
Brent Williams:
00:19:16
understanding what consumer need they're meeting that you're not
Brent Williams:
00:19:19
meeting and and how do you go meet that. And that's a big part
Brent Williams:
00:19:21
of we focus on,
Brent Williams:
00:19:22
Yeah, you know, when you talk about that younger
Brent Williams:
00:19:24
consumer, I'm the dad of two daughters as well. So that
Brent Williams:
00:19:28
resonates with me. How is your strategy for marketing shifting?
Brent Williams:
00:19:34
Is it shifting in any ways, the way you're engaging through
Brent Williams:
00:19:37
content? Experiences?
Brent Williams:
00:19:40
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, I'd say a couple things. You know, one,
Brent Williams:
00:19:43
it's really how you reach that consumer is different as you
Brent Williams:
00:19:46
know, I mean, my girls like, I mean, I don't even know if know
Brent Williams:
00:19:49
how to turn the TV on, you know, I mean, they want to watch.
Brent Williams:
00:19:51
We've got, you know, TVs right in front of them. They want to
Brent Williams:
00:19:54
watch their shows on iPads. They want to engage, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:19:57
socially differently. So how we reach the consumer, I think is
Brent Williams:
00:20:00
very different. You know, I sat through a session with the NBA a
Brent Williams:
00:20:03
couple weeks ago on this very thing with all the tech and
Brent Williams:
00:20:07
streaming giants there and talking about content, how
Brent Williams:
00:20:10
people want to view sports, it's different, it really is. And the
Brent Williams:
00:20:13
same is on our brands. We still advertise on live sports,
Brent Williams:
00:20:17
because it's one that you know, I still feel like is going to be
Brent Williams:
00:20:19
very relevant for a long time now how people engage might be
Brent Williams:
00:20:22
different, but they're going to engage live, they're not going
Brent Williams:
00:20:24
to watch a game later and see what happened.
Brent Williams:
00:20:26
Mike Del Pozzo: So we still do that, socially digitally, is you
Brent Williams:
00:20:26
Right.
Brent Williams:
00:20:30
know, I mean, I know it goes without saying, but I think how
Brent Williams:
00:20:33
we do it is more important, the intentionality targeting is more
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00:20:36
important, otherwise, it's wasted media dollars. So being
Brent Williams:
00:20:39
smart about who we're connecting with and when is, is it's
Brent Williams:
00:20:43
harder, it's a lot of work on the brand, it's making sure
Brent Williams:
00:20:48
you're authentic in how you in how you communicate, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:20:52
we, we sign a lot of athletes. And so when we sign an athlete,
Brent Williams:
00:20:56
like we're very, very close to why are we doing this? Do they
Brent Williams:
00:20:59
mean, does it? Do they? Is there a storytelling opportunity? Is
Brent Williams:
00:21:03
there authentic opportunity to talk about this partnership? And
Brent Williams:
00:21:07
that's it. And I mean, we feel like the other thing somebody
Brent Williams:
00:21:10
told me once recently that I thought it's stuck with me as
Brent Williams:
00:21:13
coaches used to be your coaches in sports, like if you were
Brent Williams:
00:21:17
playing a sport, and a coach said, hey, drink this, eat this
Brent Williams:
00:21:20
study this you did it?
Brent Williams:
00:21:21
Yeah.
Brent Williams:
00:21:21
Mike Del Pozzo: Coaches now or like social media influencers or
Brent Williams:
00:21:25
and it's scary, right.
Brent Williams:
00:21:26
Yeah.
Brent Williams:
00:21:27
Mike Del Pozzo: You know, I think they told me something
Brent Williams:
00:21:28
like, you know, 60% of the content that's now viewed is
Brent Williams:
00:21:32
from non experts even on so they're just so how we help
Brent Williams:
00:21:36
message that is different too.
Brent Williams:
00:21:38
Yeah, well, you know, as I've gotten to know you
Brent Williams:
00:21:41
a little bit today, I thought, and I'm a big sports fan, like
Brent Williams:
00:21:45
you get some really cool sports experiences, it sounds like,
Brent Williams:
00:21:50
give us a little bit of flavor for that. Because, you know, you
Brent Williams:
00:21:53
mentioned you mentioned NFL, NBA, college sports, I'm sure
Brent Williams:
00:21:57
I'm just kind of touching the tip of the iceberg there, any
Brent Williams:
00:22:00
any cool experiences that have been really fun for you?
Brent Williams:
00:22:03
Mike Del Pozzo: It's a fun business. I, you know, I joke
Brent Williams:
00:22:05
sometimes because the the job comes with great, fun events,
Brent Williams:
00:22:09
the last couple of weeks from Super Bowl to the NBA All Star
Brent Williams:
00:22:12
game, and when we're there, we engage with our partners and,
Brent Williams:
00:22:16
you know, then my boss reminds me, you know, hey, you gotta get
Brent Williams:
00:22:20
back and run the P&L Today so, you know, it's a balance of both
Brent Williams:
00:22:23
those things, but it's somebody that's been, you know, just an
Brent Williams:
00:22:27
avid fan of all sports, you know, I've been, I've been able
Brent Williams:
00:22:30
to go to, you know, a dozen Super Bowls, and gotten to
Brent Williams:
00:22:34
engage with some of the athletes that you know, I idolized over
Brent Williams:
00:22:37
the years and I always enjoy that what I enjoy most about it
Brent Williams:
00:22:41
is and it's funny, the time they give us I always at first was
Brent Williams:
00:22:44
like, oh, is it because they think we're gonna you know,
Brent Williams:
00:22:48
we've got dollars to spend or is it really it's it's more these
Brent Williams:
00:22:52
these athletes want to talk about the brand the experiences
Brent Williams:
00:22:55
they had the fun they had and for and for me that's that's
Brent Williams:
00:22:58
pretty special. We we do a lot of shoots, I go out to our
Brent Williams:
00:23:02
shoots, those are always fun. I went out and did one we did a
Brent Williams:
00:23:05
spot last year called don't go missing with Damian Lillard
Brent Williams:
00:23:09
who's you know, just was named the MVP of the NBA All Star
Brent Williams:
00:23:12
game, awesome athlete, great Gatorade supporter, and we had
Brent Williams:
00:23:16
fun with it. And I got to see you know, how these these guys
Brent Williams:
00:23:19
are in their element. And, you know, doing those is fun. And
Brent Williams:
00:23:23
frankly, you know, really anything that I think gets us
Brent Williams:
00:23:26
closer to our our core athletes is something I really enjoy
Brent Williams:
00:23:30
doing. You know, we talk about being always everywhere, I'd
Brent Williams:
00:23:33
love to have every I'm competitive just like anybody
Brent Williams:
00:23:33
Love it. Well, no, sort of shift back personal.
Brent Williams:
00:23:36
else. I, you know, I hate when I see a brand that's not ours on a
Brent Williams:
00:23:38
You've had a great career thus far. You're nowhere near
Brent Williams:
00:23:40
sideline or, you know, in somebody's hand, and we figure
Brent Williams:
00:23:43
out how do we get it and work to get better?
Brent Williams:
00:23:44
finished. But you've had a great career thus far with a great
Brent Williams:
00:23:49
company. If you think about our students, and you're to put
Brent Williams:
00:23:55
yourself back in the shoes of a college senior, you know about
Brent Williams:
00:24:01
to go into that first job and build a career. Any is there
Brent Williams:
00:24:07
anything you've learned that you say like, oh, this really helps
Brent Williams:
00:24:13
me now. And this is something I would share?
Brent Williams:
00:24:18
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, you know, I just talked to a few about
Brent Williams:
00:24:20
this this morning. I know it's a little cliche, but I really
Brent Williams:
00:24:23
believe there's, I say for two reasons. One, I believe it and
Brent Williams:
00:24:28
two, I think we've gotten away from this a little bit when I
Brent Williams:
00:24:30
think about students and it's this relationship component. You
Brent Williams:
00:24:34
know, a lot of people want to talk about their resume, which
Brent Williams:
00:24:36
is important, the experiences, their grades, all the things
Brent Williams:
00:24:38
they did in school, I think that's really important. But
Brent Williams:
00:24:41
when I sit across from somebody and look at bringing people into
Brent Williams:
00:24:43
PepsiCo, whatever, it's it truly is about the experiences they've
Brent Williams:
00:24:47
gotten. And then frankly, building and leveraging those
Brent Williams:
00:24:51
relationships when they come in, and I think that, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:24:53
that's the one thing we talked about it here what an
Brent Williams:
00:24:57
unbelievable opportunity with all the companies based out
Brent Williams:
00:24:59
here. At a university that's got, you know, great credibility
Brent Williams:
00:25:02
in the community with the CPG industry. So I think, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:25:05
when you're coming into a company, and I'll use myself as
Brent Williams:
00:25:08
an example, I, I let the reason I got opportunities is through
Brent Williams:
00:25:12
just naturally building new relate, I'd ask somebody, go get
Brent Williams:
00:25:15
coffee, I was the Frito Lay, you know, junior marketer, and I'd
Brent Williams:
00:25:19
go talk to the Pepsi guy and say, hey, can we grab coffee let
Brent Williams:
00:25:22
me buy you a coffee? Or can we go out in a store together and
Brent Williams:
00:25:24
walk a store, I did that constantly, and one I learned
Brent Williams:
00:25:28
from it, and then I built relationships, and that opened
Brent Williams:
00:25:30
up so many doors. And so the, these businesses are still heavy
Brent Williams:
00:25:35
relationship opportunities. And I think I teach my daughters now
Brent Williams:
00:25:39
I bring them to business dinners with me a lot. I had them sit
Brent Williams:
00:25:43
through a business dinner with the owner of the Chicago Bulls
Brent Williams:
00:25:45
like a month ago, and it was a two hour dinner. And I said,
Brent Williams:
00:25:47
you're gonna sit here and listen to us talk, and we're gonna
Brent Williams:
00:25:49
engage you. But like, I worry that that kind of stuff has kind
Brent Williams:
00:25:53
of went away, you know, and I think for, for us, that's a big
Brent Williams:
00:25:56
one, I'd tell students that build those relationships. The
Brent Williams:
00:25:58
other is, you know, getting, you know, a multitude of
Brent Williams:
00:26:02
experiences, like really not just coming in with like, you
Brent Williams:
00:26:05
know, one particular skill set, but you know, developing
Brent Williams:
00:26:09
yourself with different experiences that round you out
Brent Williams:
00:26:11
as a person is an opportunity. I think that that really goes kind
Brent Williams:
00:26:16
of sometimes missing when you come into these conversations.
Brent Williams:
00:26:20
And then lastly, I think, you know, this authenticity is
Brent Williams:
00:26:23
another big one we talked about this morning a bit like being
Brent Williams:
00:26:26
yourself and talking about who you are, I think that's a luxury
Brent Williams:
00:26:29
like back, I felt like 20 years ago, I would just be trying to
Brent Williams:
00:26:32
get a job and be like, oh, no, I'm gonna work as hard as I can
Brent Williams:
00:26:35
all day. Now, it really is about what's important to you, you
Brent Williams:
00:26:38
know, what motivates you. And I think bringing that to these
Brent Williams:
00:26:42
conversations for students is super important as well.
Brent Williams:
00:26:45
Well Mike, I couldn't agree more the
Brent Williams:
00:26:47
relationship component. And, you know, it's one of the one of the
Brent Williams:
00:26:50
things that I think about, you know, our typical undergraduate
Brent Williams:
00:26:53
student, at least traditional undergraduate student, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:26:57
the transformation that happens during this these college years,
Brent Williams:
00:27:01
and you're in the classroom, but I'm always encouraging them, I
Brent Williams:
00:27:04
think, like you are get as many experiences as you can build as
Brent Williams:
00:27:07
many relationships as you can do that authentically. So that, you
Brent Williams:
00:27:12
know, you get value out of it, and the other person gets value
Brent Williams:
00:27:16
out of it. And you know, you just never know where that leads
Brent Williams:
00:27:19
to.
Brent Williams:
00:27:19
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah. 100%. And typically, to your point, you
Brent Williams:
00:27:21
don't I mean, it, it typically opens up a door that you didn't
Brent Williams:
00:27:24
even see comin, right? Because you, you know, you put yourself
Brent Williams:
00:27:28
out there. And I think that's, you know, that's something we're
Brent Williams:
00:27:31
trying to do do more of as we bring people in is put them in
Brent Williams:
00:27:35
even uncomfortable situations, see how they do and typically
Brent Williams:
00:27:39
they end up finding, you know, something they didn't realize
Brent Williams:
00:27:42
they'd be that good at.
Brent Williams:
00:27:43
Well, Mike, thank you for being engaged with
Brent Williams:
00:27:45
the Walton College. We're really appreciative of you, the
Brent Williams:
00:27:49
partnership and excited to see what you do with the brand in
Brent Williams:
00:27:52
the future.
Brent Williams:
00:27:53
Mike Del Pozzo: No, thanks for having me. This is a real honor.
Brent Williams:
00:27:55
Like I said, coming back here and, you know, think about when
Brent Williams:
00:27:58
I first came here to work in Northwest Arkansas, if I thought
Brent Williams:
00:28:01
I'd be coming back here to do this podcast with you and be
Brent Williams:
00:28:05
running the Gatorade business is a dream and I think that's, you
Brent Williams:
00:28:07
know, a lot of what this this is about, how do we build more of
Brent Williams:
00:28:10
those through the partnership with the University and PepsiCo
Brent Williams:
00:28:14
and certainly happy to bring any, any folks in as they come
Brent Williams:
00:28:17
over.
Brent Williams:
00:28:18
On behalf of the Walton College. Thank you for
Brent Williams:
00:28:20
joining us for this captivating conversation. To stay connected
Brent Williams:
00:28:24
and never miss an episode. Simply search for be epic on
Brent Williams:
00:28:27
your preferred podcast service.
00:00:00
Mike Del Pozzo: For us, one of the biggest problems to solve
Speaker:
00:00:02
is, you know, our Gatorade. Our core Gatorade users are still
Speaker:
00:00:05
using Gatorade. But sometimes there are light users are
Speaker:
00:00:08
picking something else up for a second purchase or throughout
Speaker:
00:00:11
different parts of the day. So those day parts are becoming
Speaker:
00:00:14
increasingly important across, particularly for PepsiCo
Speaker:
00:00:17
snacking and beverages and within Gatorade, that's how we
Speaker:
00:00:20
think about it.
Brent Williams:
00:00:21
Welcome to the be epic podcast, brought to you
Brent Williams:
00:00:24
by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of
Brent Williams:
00:00:27
Arkansas. I'm your host, Brent Williams. Together, we'll
Brent Williams:
00:00:31
explore the dynamic landscape of business and uncover the
Brent Williams:
00:00:35
strategies, insights and stories that drive business today.
Brent Williams:
00:00:44
Well, today, I have with me, Mike Del Pozzo. Mike is
Brent Williams:
00:00:49
president and general manager of Gatorade, Mike, thanks for being
Brent Williams:
00:00:53
here today.
Brent Williams:
00:00:54
Mike Del Pozzo: No, thanks for having me. It's awesome to be
Brent Williams:
00:00:56
back in Arkansas.
Brent Williams:
00:00:57
Well, we're glad to have you back. And you've got
Brent Williams:
00:00:58
a little bit of a history in Arkansas in Northwest Arkansas.
Brent Williams:
00:01:03
Today, I want to talk about the brand that you get the
Brent Williams:
00:01:06
opportunity to lead some of what you see coming in the CPG and
Brent Williams:
00:01:11
retail industry and some of the cool experiences that you get
Brent Williams:
00:01:15
leading this brand. But but to begin, love to hear a little bit
Brent Williams:
00:01:19
about your background, how did you land at you know, what's
Brent Williams:
00:01:22
your history look like? And how do you land as president and GM
Brent Williams:
00:01:26
of Gatorade?
Brent Williams:
00:01:26
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, well, thanks. It's, uh, I mean,
Brent Williams:
00:01:28
honestly, it's, it's pretty, I feel very fortunate one, you
Brent Williams:
00:01:32
know, like many probably, that are listening to this. I grew up
Brent Williams:
00:01:35
playing sports, and I was an athlete, not quite as good as
Brent Williams:
00:01:39
some of these student athletes I got to meet with this morning
Brent Williams:
00:01:42
here at the university. But, you know, the brand was some very
Brent Williams:
00:01:45
personal to me, and, and so I came into PepsiCo, which is the
Brent Williams:
00:01:51
parent company of Gatorade, right out of school, actually,
Brent Williams:
00:01:54
as an intern, and I got to intern on Gatorade, that was
Brent Williams:
00:01:57
about 23 years ago. And I remember saying, oh, I want to
Brent Williams:
00:02:02
get I want to go full time on Gatorade. And it was kind of the
Brent Williams:
00:02:05
the crown jewel at the company then and that was my, my goal.
Brent Williams:
00:02:08
And if I'd ever known that 23 years later, I'd be sitting here
Brent Williams:
00:02:11
with you talking about it, it was, I wouldn't have believed
Brent Williams:
00:02:14
it. So over the 23 years at PepsiCo, I've worked across a
Brent Williams:
00:02:18
lot of different parts of the business, I've been on the
Brent Williams:
00:02:20
customer side, the supply chain side, the marketing side, have
Brent Williams:
00:02:26
moved around about nine times throughout the country, all
Brent Williams:
00:02:28
within the US. And then I took over the Gatorade job almost two
Brent Williams:
00:02:33
years ago. So I serve as the president of Gatorade. So I have
Brent Williams:
00:02:37
responsibility for everything from what we say make move,
Brent Williams:
00:02:40
market and sell. So where we make our products and
Brent Williams:
00:02:42
manufacturing sites, moving the product on go to market, the
Brent Williams:
00:02:46
brand side, which is the fun part of the business people like
Brent Williams:
00:02:49
to talk about, which is all the marketing of Gatorade, our
Brent Williams:
00:02:52
sports, our athletes, our lead partners. And then obviously,
Brent Williams:
00:02:56
all of our customer kind of relationships I've managed with
Brent Williams:
00:02:59
with Gatorade as well. So over the years, that's been kind of
Brent Williams:
00:03:03
kind of hit and I, I, you know, came into this one the last two
Brent Williams:
00:03:06
years.
Brent Williams:
00:03:07
Well, a couple of things out of, out of your
Brent Williams:
00:03:09
story leading up to this point that that are interesting to me.
Brent Williams:
00:03:13
internship you mentioned, which is something at the Walton
Brent Williams:
00:03:16
College we're extremely focused on. And we're extremely
Brent Williams:
00:03:19
fortunate to have a concentration of business around
Brent Williams:
00:03:23
us that our students can engage in that way. But clearly, the
Brent Williams:
00:03:27
internship made a difference in your life.
Brent Williams:
00:03:29
Mike Del Pozzo: Big time. And, you know, we were obviously with
Brent Williams:
00:03:31
your support able to talk to some students today. And they
Brent Williams:
00:03:34
asked some really good questions. Actually, I was
Brent Williams:
00:03:37
sitting there like, wow, I'm impressed. I don't know that I
Brent Williams:
00:03:40
would have been able to come up with those years ago, around,
Brent Williams:
00:03:43
you know, internships and opportunities. And I did tell
Brent Williams:
00:03:46
them I mean, frankly, you know, you've got a really special
Brent Williams:
00:03:49
unique situation here in Northwest Arkansas. And as you
Brent Williams:
00:03:51
mentioned, I've been here I've lived in Univer. I've lived in
Brent Williams:
00:03:55
Northwest Arkansas twice. My wife went to university here. My
Brent Williams:
00:03:58
daughter was born in Bentonville. And I tell the
Brent Williams:
00:04:00
students now, you know, utilize the the unique situation you're
Brent Williams:
00:04:02
Yeah, I think they're critically important to get to know
Brent Williams:
00:04:03
in, you've got obviously big companies out here, big CPGs you
Brent Williams:
00:04:06
know, PepsiCo, obviously, I'd rather everybody come to us, but
Brent Williams:
00:04:10
there's a lot of other opportunities out here with, you
Brent Williams:
00:04:12
know, with what Walmart's brought down here. And
Brent Williams:
00:04:15
obviously, we have a team on the ground here a big team that sits
Brent Williams:
00:04:18
in Northwest Arkansas and the internships I think what they
Brent Williams:
00:04:21
you know, what they do is they really provide an opportunity
Brent Williams:
00:04:24
not only for us to get to know students in what they're capable
Brent Williams:
00:04:27
of, but the students an opportunity to check out the
Brent Williams:
00:04:30
company. Is this something I want to be a part of? Do I
Brent Williams:
00:04:33
believe in their values? Do I believe in what they stand for?
Brent Williams:
00:04:36
Do I believe they've got growth potential? And so I kind of see
Brent Williams:
00:04:39
it that way. And we try and come into those things you know,
Brent Williams:
00:04:42
really wide open in fact, that told somebody today we're not as
Brent Williams:
00:04:45
narrow on functions, even you might come in with a supply
Brent Williams:
00:04:48
chain. You guys have an unbelievable supply chain
Brent Williams:
00:04:51
program here at the university. But we also want you to get a
Brent Williams:
00:04:54
breadth of experience. You may come in and do that but we want
Brent Williams:
00:04:57
to you learn how to interact with sales and marketing and,
Brent Williams:
00:05:00
you know, all the brand side and that allows people then to say,
Brent Williams:
00:05:03
hey, maybe I maybe I don't want to be supply chain, maybe I want
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00:05:06
to do something else. And so that's what those internships provide.
Brent Williams:
00:05:13
companies to understand what you like, what you don't like. And
Brent Williams:
00:05:17
and then to apply, you know, I think that I, personally, if I
Brent Williams:
00:05:22
learn something, I need to apply it for that, like really kind of
Brent Williams:
00:05:25
set in and internships offer that ability.
Brent Williams:
00:05:28
Yeah, for sure.
Brent Williams:
00:05:29
You know, you also said that you've had the
Brent Williams:
00:05:31
opportunity, you've moved, you know, several times, but you've
Brent Williams:
00:05:34
moved functionally, which I assume set you up pretty well to
Brent Williams:
00:05:38
run a business like Gatorade.
Brent Williams:
00:05:40
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, it. I joke about it a bit, because I think
Brent Williams:
00:05:44
some of it was accidental. And now we're actually really trying
Brent Williams:
00:05:46
to teach that and develop within PepsiCo, I, I came in, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:05:51
really, in what we call business development. At the time, it was
Brent Williams:
00:05:54
kind of like the centerpiece of supply chain and a little bit of
Brent Williams:
00:05:58
kind of getting product from point A to point B, and, you
Brent Williams:
00:06:00
know, understanding kind of how to do that. And then they said,
Brent Williams:
00:06:03
Hey, you want to move to Northwest Arkansas, and I was a
Brent Williams:
00:06:06
young guy living in Chicago working, just getting started at
Brent Williams:
00:06:10
PepsiCo. And I said, absolutely, I knew what, what was going on
Brent Williams:
00:06:14
out here. This was almost 20 years ago. And I came out into a
Brent Williams:
00:06:18
sales role. And while I was in sales, I was actually on the
Brent Williams:
00:06:21
Frito Lay business. And then they moved me over to Gatorade
Brent Williams:
00:06:24
and in part of our Pepsi business, in a different
Brent Williams:
00:06:27
function. And so over the years, those moves were, you know, they
Brent Williams:
00:06:31
weren't necessarily always promotions, they were new
Brent Williams:
00:06:34
experiences either cross functional into a different part
Brent Williams:
00:06:37
of the business or a different brand. And so, as I told some of
Brent Williams:
00:06:41
the students today, it's time flies. I mean, I think people
Brent Williams:
00:06:44
look and say, how do you spend 20 plus years at the same
Brent Williams:
00:06:47
company and you know, I'm in my mid 40s, so it's, for me, that's
Brent Williams:
00:06:50
been most of my life. And the reality is, if you find the
Brent Williams:
00:06:54
right company that you love, and you love what you do, and don't
Brent Williams:
00:06:58
get me wrong, there's everybody's got days that they
Brent Williams:
00:07:00
say, boy, you know, I don't love it, but you time flies, you're
Brent Williams:
00:07:04
like, holy cow. I've been in all these different businesses and,
Brent Williams:
00:07:07
and I've built, you know, my career on diverse experiences.
Brent Williams:
00:07:11
So now I actually hire for that I try and build what I call a GM
Brent Williams:
00:07:15
mindset, somebody that can come in and learn lots of functions.
Brent Williams:
00:07:19
So when they talk to a customer, like Walmart down here, we're
Brent Williams:
00:07:21
not just looking for people to talk sales, they need to talk
Brent Williams:
00:07:23
supply chain, and go to market and finance. And so that's kind
Brent Williams:
00:07:27
of what we're looking for now.
Brent Williams:
00:07:28
You know, you mentioned a couple of stints in
Brent Williams:
00:07:31
Northwest Arkansas, anything, you know, in particular that
Brent Williams:
00:07:34
stands out in those experiences that you learned that that
Brent Williams:
00:07:37
you've kind of taken forward into your future roles?
Brent Williams:
00:07:40
Mike Del Pozzo: Well, I think the one is, what I love about
Brent Williams:
00:07:44
being out here actually is the competitive nature, we're you
Brent Williams:
00:07:48
know, just like anybody, we want to be the best CPG. So you see a
Brent Williams:
00:07:51
lot of you get great visibility for great companies out here.
Brent Williams:
00:07:55
And so it always puts you on you see something or like, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:07:59
whether your boss says, hey, you know why is so and so doing that
Brent Williams:
00:08:02
you're like, oh, my gosh, we gotta be better. So I actually
Brent Williams:
00:08:04
love that. I almost think about it, like a bunch of elite teams
Brent Williams:
00:08:07
down here, right? All work. I mean, this is one of the, you
Brent Williams:
00:08:09
know, biggest and best customers obviously. So you've got your,
Brent Williams:
00:08:12
your great talent down here. So that's the same for all of our
Brent Williams:
00:08:15
competitive CPG groups. So I think that's one it makes us
Brent Williams:
00:08:19
better. I think the other is, I've always loved when you you
Brent Williams:
00:08:23
know, when you work in down here on a business this size, the
Brent Williams:
00:08:27
decisions you make have a material impact. And I like that
Brent Williams:
00:08:30
we we joke sometimes we say you come out here and you blow up or
Brent Williams:
00:08:34
blow up you know, it's like it's it's an opportunity to really
Brent Williams:
00:08:36
make a name for yourself. And you know, you learn a lot so I
Brent Williams:
00:08:40
made stupid decisions too when I came out here that I thought
Brent Williams:
00:08:43
were right on the business that I'm going to try something and
Brent Williams:
00:08:45
maybe it didn't work and when you make a bad decision on
Brent Williams:
00:08:48
business that size within PepsiCo, even it's like, oh my
Brent Williams:
00:08:51
gosh, I gotta I gotta learn from that. What did I do wrong? Maybe
Brent Williams:
00:08:54
that business wasn't right for the time maybe it was, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:08:57
the the go to market was different than it needed to be
Brent Williams:
00:08:59
whatever it is. It's so big that you learn from it and you
Brent Williams:
00:09:03
optimize so there's just so much opportunity that comes with
Brent Williams:
00:09:06
being on the customer this size.
Brent Williams:
00:09:07
Yeah, there sure is. I love what you said about
Brent Williams:
00:09:09
like, you know, the the talent that comes through this region
Brent Williams:
00:09:13
through various CPG companies and some developed here, some
Brent Williams:
00:09:17
coming in from other places. It's a pretty unique place in
Brent Williams:
00:09:20
that way.
Brent Williams:
00:09:20
Mike Del Pozzo: For sure. Yeah.
Brent Williams:
00:09:21
Well, I'd love to talk a little bit about
Brent Williams:
00:09:24
Gatorade because what an engaging brand, it's a dynamic
Brent Williams:
00:09:27
brand and seems to fit you in some ways, right? You bring the
Brent Williams:
00:09:31
energy and you're bringing an inner you to an energetic brand.
Brent Williams:
00:09:35
I'd love to hear a little bit about the history of the brand
Brent Williams:
00:09:37
and anything you're excited about going forward.
Brent Williams:
00:09:40
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, it's uh, I mean, it's a special story. I
Brent Williams:
00:09:43
don't know. I mean, probably people. You know, you have a
Brent Williams:
00:09:46
little bit of context for Gatorade being you know,
Brent Williams:
00:09:49
invented through this idea of kind of solving a problem of you
Brent Williams:
00:09:53
know, hydration but it next year will be 60 years from when the
Brent Williams:
00:09:58
brand was was developed. 1965 on the sideline of Florida, Florida
Brent Williams:
00:10:04
Gators, and what was so special about it, it was a we were
Brent Williams:
00:10:09
talking about inventorship it was an inventor that worked at
Brent Williams:
00:10:12
the university there, Dr. Robert Cade. And you can there's books
Brent Williams:
00:10:16
out there first and thirst and a bunch of others. You can read on
Brent Williams:
00:10:18
it. It's pretty amazing. You know, he basically had, you
Brent Williams:
00:10:21
know, what you would assume is you know, they call it the swamp
Brent Williams:
00:10:24
out there. It's it's hot market. These players were getting
Brent Williams:
00:10:27
dehydrated. And Dr. Cade was working in the university in the
Brent Williams:
00:10:31
science and r&d lab and created the basically electrolyte
Brent Williams:
00:10:35
formula that's now in Gatorade and obviously a proprietary
Brent Williams:
00:10:38
Gatorade electrolyte blend. He invented it and they got it on
Brent Williams:
00:10:42
the sideline, they called it Gatorade for the Florida Gators.
Brent Williams:
00:10:46
And I believe after the first year using it, they went on to
Brent Williams:
00:10:50
win a national championship. And then there's even more history
Brent Williams:
00:10:53
you can follow where they from there, he shared that formula
Brent Williams:
00:10:56
with the Kansas City Chiefs, and then they won a championship and
Brent Williams:
00:11:00
then it kind of goes on from there. And you know, that the
Brent Williams:
00:11:05
Cade family is still actively involved in philanthropy out
Brent Williams:
00:11:09
there. And I stay close with his daughter, Phoebe Cade. So it's
Brent Williams:
00:11:12
real, it's personal to me. I mean, when I took the job two
Brent Williams:
00:11:14
years ago, the first thing I wanted to do is understand the
Brent Williams:
00:11:17
history of the brand. And it's a balance, right? Because I don't
Brent Williams:
00:11:21
want us to, like, you know, rest on the laurels of 1965, sports
Brent Williams:
00:11:25
drink hydration, we've got to reinvent ourselves. So the brand
Brent Williams:
00:11:28
itself was in probably one of the biggest transformations
Brent Williams:
00:11:31
ever, portfolio transformation, brand transformation. But what I
Brent Williams:
00:11:36
try and do is strike a balance of protecting the history, the
Brent Williams:
00:11:39
heritage of the brand, and thinking about what we need to
Brent Williams:
00:11:42
move forward. And that's why you'll you know, we'll talk you
Brent Williams:
00:11:44
see some of the portfolio expansion, but it's such a fun
Brent Williams:
00:11:48
story out there, it's part of who we are, it's part of the
Brent Williams:
00:11:50
heritage. And then honestly, you know, that is what I think has
Brent Williams:
00:11:54
us is such a relevant brand within obviously the sidelines
Brent Williams:
00:11:58
of University of Arkansas, most colleges and universities, all
Brent Williams:
00:12:02
32 NFL sidelines, all major league baseball dugouts, all NBA
Brent Williams:
00:12:06
sidelines, you know, the brand is synonymous with sports, with
Brent Williams:
00:12:10
athletes and with competition, and we intend to keep it that
Brent Williams:
00:12:13
way.
Brent Williams:
00:12:14
You mentioned that, you know, you're always
Brent Williams:
00:12:17
trying to strike that balance, I guess, between the history and,
Brent Williams:
00:12:20
and continuing to innovate and, and, you know, it's in a fairly
Brent Williams:
00:12:26
established category, right, the beverage category, how do you go
Brent Williams:
00:12:30
about innovating with with that historical brand in that type of
Brent Williams:
00:12:34
category?
Brent Williams:
00:12:35
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah. It starts with a consumer, you know, we
Brent Williams:
00:12:37
talk about, we talk about it as the athlete more, but I use the
Brent Williams:
00:12:41
term athlete, loosely now. I talked about the modern athlete,
Brent Williams:
00:12:46
because I think the core athlete, there's a need for
Brent Williams:
00:12:49
Gatorade, how they used it hydrated either before, during,
Brent Williams:
00:12:52
after whatever occasion, you know, sweat, occasion, etc. The
Brent Williams:
00:12:56
modern athlete is more of what I'd call this 24 wellness
Brent Williams:
00:12:59
hydration like they want they want to they want this product
Brent Williams:
00:13:03
or some of the functional benefits of the product all day.
Brent Williams:
00:13:06
And we have a portfolio for all parts of that day. And that's
Brent Williams:
00:13:09
the goal. And so, what we think about is, you know, I think
Brent Williams:
00:13:14
about the brand Gatorade zero for example, we didn't have a
Brent Williams:
00:13:16
zero sugar Gatorade product till 2018. It was the first liquid
Brent Williams:
00:13:21
refresh LRB called liquid refreshment beverage to a
Brent Williams:
00:13:23
billion dollars, it's now going to be about a $2 billion brand
Brent Williams:
00:13:26
by itself. Because not everybody wants they don't always want
Brent Williams:
00:13:30
sugar. A lot of athletes do want sugar and your body actually
Brent Williams:
00:13:32
needs sugar and carbohydrates for those those harder workout
Brent Williams:
00:13:36
occasions. But we introduced zero, we introduced a product
Brent Williams:
00:13:39
called Gator light. Just in the last year and a half. It's a
Brent Williams:
00:13:42
rapid rehydration product. It's already almost a half a billion
Brent Williams:
00:13:45
dollars. It's the market leader. And that is a unique benefit
Brent Williams:
00:13:49
that brings 2x electrolyte blend plus potassium, magnesium, other
Brent Williams:
00:13:54
things that the body needs for like a rapid quick recovery. We
Brent Williams:
00:13:58
introduced that. Last year we introduced a product called fast
Brent Williams:
00:14:01
twitch which is athletic energy Gatorade's first foray into
Brent Williams:
00:14:05
caffeine, 200 milligrams of caffeine, Gatorade,
Brent Williams:
00:14:08
electrolytes, B vitamins, in partnership with the NFL, and
Brent Williams:
00:14:13
that was a very big launch for us because the NFL didn't have a
Brent Williams:
00:14:16
caffeinated product that they had on the sideline anywhere. So
Brent Williams:
00:14:19
that was a big deal. This year, as we sit today actually, this
Brent Williams:
00:14:22
week, we launched Gatorade water, which is an alkaline base
Brent Williams:
00:14:25
water, with electrolytes. And then you see this go on and you
Brent Williams:
00:14:29
think about the portfolio. It looks a lot different than it
Brent Williams:
00:14:33
used to. The other thing we're really focused on, as you talked
Brent Williams:
00:14:35
about how to you innovate in a developed category is function
Brent Williams:
00:14:39
and form. And so we're really focused on this beyond the
Brent Williams:
00:14:43
bottle agenda. You know, we invented Gatorade was a powder
Brent Williams:
00:14:45
when it started. So I kind of tell people like we were the OG
Brent Williams:
00:14:48
of powders. But now people are bringing it. There's lots of new
Brent Williams:
00:14:52
players in this space. And it's either because people want to
Brent Williams:
00:14:55
create their own like I want to control my own functional
Brent Williams:
00:14:59
ingredients. or I care about the planet more than I probably used
Brent Williams:
00:15:02
to, I didn't know how much plastic I was, I was wasting.
Brent Williams:
00:15:04
And so I want to be more cognizant of that. Or there's a
Brent Williams:
00:15:09
component of convenience and portability, hey, I bring our
Brent Williams:
00:15:12
tablets or our powders when I go play golf or when I go travel.
Brent Williams:
00:15:15
So I know I've got that. So this whole category, you know, when
Brent Williams:
00:15:19
you're 65 share of a category that's this big, you have a
Brent Williams:
00:15:23
responsibility to disrupt yourself or somebody else will
Brent Williams:
00:15:26
disrupt you. And that's what we're doing.
Brent Williams:
00:15:27
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, for sure.
Brent Williams:
00:15:27
What a great point, you know, when when you
Brent Williams:
00:15:27
Well, you know, and maybe, you know, taking that
Brent Williams:
00:15:29
lead in a category that you have the responsibility to push that
Brent Williams:
00:15:31
a little bit more broad. So, just talk about, you know, I
Brent Williams:
00:15:33
category forward?
Brent Williams:
00:15:43
think you said at the beginning of how do you innovate in a
Brent Williams:
00:15:47
category, you mentioned the consumer, what are some ways you
Brent Williams:
00:15:50
see the consumer evolving? What does that mean, in your opinion
Brent Williams:
00:15:56
for the industry CPG. And for retail, you know, so I blend
Brent Williams:
00:16:00
those two together?
Brent Williams:
00:16:02
Mike Del Pozzo: Well, two two kind of areas, I'd say, one, the
Brent Williams:
00:16:05
macros on the consumer, and that's what's happening in the
Brent Williams:
00:16:08
environment right now. And that is, you know, frankly, whether
Brent Williams:
00:16:13
it's inflation, whether it's trends in you know, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:16:17
people trying to think differently about how they
Brent Williams:
00:16:20
engage in brands throughout the day, whether it's, there's these
Brent Williams:
00:16:23
macros of the environment that we're all navigating that are
Brent Williams:
00:16:25
important, you know, and that has a material impact on all
Brent Williams:
00:16:29
food and beverage, and certainly Gatorade and PepsiCo being, you
Brent Williams:
00:16:33
know, the largest food and beverage company has a big
Brent Williams:
00:16:35
responsibility, make sure we've got the right kind of solutions
Brent Williams:
00:16:38
for that. And that means pack price architecture. So you've
Brent Williams:
00:16:41
got great value on packaging needed. That means your route,
Brent Williams:
00:16:44
you're you're thinking about making sure all your products
Brent Williams:
00:16:47
are either sustainable, biodegradable, and you've got a,
Brent Williams:
00:16:51
you know, a real strong sustainability agenda. And that
Brent Williams:
00:16:54
means, so the consumer is driving that all that so we
Brent Williams:
00:16:57
talked about it as macros, but it really is because the
Brent Williams:
00:16:59
consumers are choosing to engage in brands and companies
Brent Williams:
00:17:03
differently. So that's something we take a big responsibility of,
Brent Williams:
00:17:06
more near. And I think, though, is this consumer behavior stuff,
Brent Williams:
00:17:09
which is, you know, whether it's health and wellness would be a
Brent Williams:
00:17:11
big one, right? And it doesn't necessarily mean what it used to
Brent Williams:
00:17:14
it's, oh, I'm cutting calories, not it's not necessarily it.
Brent Williams:
00:17:16
It's a lot of people. In fact, if you look at some soft drink
Brent Williams:
00:17:19
businesses, real sugar is actually doing better, like
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00:17:21
people are like, no, it's artificials. Or it's,
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00:17:23
everybody's different. So you can't, you can't pivot your
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00:17:27
brand one way, you've got to really listen to the consumer
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00:17:30
and say, how do I solve that need? And so, I health and
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00:17:33
wellness is certainly a big part of it that we're focused on and
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00:17:36
making sure we've got the portfolio that people need and
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00:17:38
people want. I think the other is this idea of convenience.
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00:17:42
People are on the go more than ever you think about COVID
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00:17:46
people were at home they were working out they were exercising
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00:17:49
on their peloton, whatever. So the peloton sales go way up and
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00:17:53
our product was way up because people were at home. Now they're
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00:17:55
on the go. And you would think okay, well, then you would have
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00:17:58
more purchases? Well, the reality is they've got more
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00:18:00
choices. So they're thinking about things throughout the day,
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00:18:02
differently. So for us, one of the biggest problems to solve
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00:18:05
is, you know, our Gatorade, our core Gatorade, users are still
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00:18:09
using Gatorade. But sometimes there are light users are
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00:18:11
picking something else up for a second purchase or throughout
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00:18:14
different parts of the day. So those day parts are becoming
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00:18:17
increasingly important across, particularly for PepsiCo
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00:18:21
snacking, and beverages and within Gatorade, that's how we
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00:18:23
think about it. And we think about building this kind of
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00:18:26
competitive moat around our business to make sure that we've
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00:18:29
got solutions for all those day parts, but the consumers
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00:18:32
changing, you know, so rapidly. The other thing, I think, youth
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00:18:37
is changing a lot, you know, I've got two daughters that are,
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00:18:40
you know, 11 and nine and things that I drank as a kid or
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00:18:44
consumed they're not, they're just not touching it. And so I
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00:18:48
listen to them a lot. I mean, I we do a lot of great marketing
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00:18:51
studies. Now, I always tell my marketers like, okay, I hear
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00:18:54
what you say, I'm gonna go talk to a bunch of kids in the
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00:18:56
neighborhood and see what they say. So I think it's just being
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00:18:59
aware. And lastly, I'd say competitive. These are
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00:19:03
competitive categories, they're, they're high growth categories
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00:19:06
that you know, a lot of people come into. And so when you're a
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00:19:09
big company like ours, you know, claims are important. Being
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00:19:13
aware of kind of competitors and not you know, reacting but
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00:19:16
understanding what consumer need they're meeting that you're not
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00:19:19
meeting and and how do you go meet that. And that's a big part
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00:19:21
of we focus on,
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00:19:22
Yeah, you know, when you talk about that younger
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00:19:24
consumer, I'm the dad of two daughters as well. So that
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00:19:28
resonates with me. How is your strategy for marketing shifting?
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00:19:34
Is it shifting in any ways, the way you're engaging through
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00:19:37
content? Experiences?
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00:19:40
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, I'd say a couple things. You know, one,
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00:19:43
it's really how you reach that consumer is different as you
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00:19:46
know, I mean, my girls like, I mean, I don't even know if know
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00:19:49
how to turn the TV on, you know, I mean, they want to watch.
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00:19:51
We've got, you know, TVs right in front of them. They want to
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00:19:54
watch their shows on iPads. They want to engage, you know,
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00:19:57
socially differently. So how we reach the consumer, I think is
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00:20:00
very different. You know, I sat through a session with the NBA a
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00:20:03
couple weeks ago on this very thing with all the tech and
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00:20:07
streaming giants there and talking about content, how
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people want to view sports, it's different, it really is. And the
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00:20:13
same is on our brands. We still advertise on live sports,
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00:20:17
because it's one that you know, I still feel like is going to be
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00:20:19
very relevant for a long time now how people engage might be
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00:20:22
different, but they're going to engage live, they're not going
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00:20:24
to watch a game later and see what happened.
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00:20:26
Mike Del Pozzo: So we still do that, socially digitally, is you
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00:20:26
Right.
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know, I mean, I know it goes without saying, but I think how
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00:20:33
we do it is more important, the intentionality targeting is more
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00:20:36
important, otherwise, it's wasted media dollars. So being
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00:20:39
smart about who we're connecting with and when is, is it's
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00:20:43
harder, it's a lot of work on the brand, it's making sure
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00:20:48
you're authentic in how you in how you communicate, you know,
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00:20:52
we, we sign a lot of athletes. And so when we sign an athlete,
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00:20:56
like we're very, very close to why are we doing this? Do they
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00:20:59
mean, does it? Do they? Is there a storytelling opportunity? Is
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00:21:03
there authentic opportunity to talk about this partnership? And
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00:21:07
that's it. And I mean, we feel like the other thing somebody
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00:21:10
told me once recently that I thought it's stuck with me as
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00:21:13
coaches used to be your coaches in sports, like if you were
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00:21:17
playing a sport, and a coach said, hey, drink this, eat this
Brent Williams:
00:21:20
study this you did it?
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00:21:21
Yeah.
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00:21:21
Mike Del Pozzo: Coaches now or like social media influencers or
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00:21:25
and it's scary, right.
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00:21:26
Yeah.
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00:21:27
Mike Del Pozzo: You know, I think they told me something
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00:21:28
like, you know, 60% of the content that's now viewed is
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00:21:32
from non experts even on so they're just so how we help
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00:21:36
message that is different too.
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00:21:38
Yeah, well, you know, as I've gotten to know you
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00:21:41
a little bit today, I thought, and I'm a big sports fan, like
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00:21:45
you get some really cool sports experiences, it sounds like,
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00:21:50
give us a little bit of flavor for that. Because, you know, you
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00:21:53
mentioned you mentioned NFL, NBA, college sports, I'm sure
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00:21:57
I'm just kind of touching the tip of the iceberg there, any
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00:22:00
any cool experiences that have been really fun for you?
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00:22:03
Mike Del Pozzo: It's a fun business. I, you know, I joke
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00:22:05
sometimes because the the job comes with great, fun events,
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00:22:09
the last couple of weeks from Super Bowl to the NBA All Star
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00:22:12
game, and when we're there, we engage with our partners and,
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00:22:16
you know, then my boss reminds me, you know, hey, you gotta get
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00:22:20
back and run the P&L Today so, you know, it's a balance of both
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00:22:23
those things, but it's somebody that's been, you know, just an
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00:22:27
avid fan of all sports, you know, I've been, I've been able
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00:22:30
to go to, you know, a dozen Super Bowls, and gotten to
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00:22:34
engage with some of the athletes that you know, I idolized over
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00:22:37
the years and I always enjoy that what I enjoy most about it
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00:22:41
is and it's funny, the time they give us I always at first was
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00:22:44
like, oh, is it because they think we're gonna you know,
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00:22:48
we've got dollars to spend or is it really it's it's more these
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00:22:52
these athletes want to talk about the brand the experiences
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00:22:55
they had the fun they had and for and for me that's that's
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00:22:58
pretty special. We we do a lot of shoots, I go out to our
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00:23:02
shoots, those are always fun. I went out and did one we did a
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00:23:05
spot last year called don't go missing with Damian Lillard
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00:23:09
who's you know, just was named the MVP of the NBA All Star
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00:23:12
game, awesome athlete, great Gatorade supporter, and we had
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00:23:16
fun with it. And I got to see you know, how these these guys
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00:23:19
are in their element. And, you know, doing those is fun. And
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00:23:23
frankly, you know, really anything that I think gets us
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00:23:26
closer to our our core athletes is something I really enjoy
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00:23:30
doing. You know, we talk about being always everywhere, I'd
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00:23:33
love to have every I'm competitive just like anybody
Brent Williams:
00:23:33
Love it. Well, no, sort of shift back personal.
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00:23:36
else. I, you know, I hate when I see a brand that's not ours on a
Brent Williams:
00:23:38
You've had a great career thus far. You're nowhere near
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00:23:40
sideline or, you know, in somebody's hand, and we figure
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00:23:43
out how do we get it and work to get better?
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00:23:44
finished. But you've had a great career thus far with a great
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00:23:49
company. If you think about our students, and you're to put
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00:23:55
yourself back in the shoes of a college senior, you know about
Brent Williams:
00:24:01
to go into that first job and build a career. Any is there
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00:24:07
anything you've learned that you say like, oh, this really helps
Brent Williams:
00:24:13
me now. And this is something I would share?
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00:24:18
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah, you know, I just talked to a few about
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00:24:20
this this morning. I know it's a little cliche, but I really
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00:24:23
believe there's, I say for two reasons. One, I believe it and
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00:24:28
two, I think we've gotten away from this a little bit when I
Brent Williams:
00:24:30
think about students and it's this relationship component. You
Brent Williams:
00:24:34
know, a lot of people want to talk about their resume, which
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00:24:36
is important, the experiences, their grades, all the things
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00:24:38
they did in school, I think that's really important. But
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00:24:41
when I sit across from somebody and look at bringing people into
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00:24:43
PepsiCo, whatever, it's it truly is about the experiences they've
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00:24:47
gotten. And then frankly, building and leveraging those
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00:24:51
relationships when they come in, and I think that, you know,
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00:24:53
that's the one thing we talked about it here what an
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00:24:57
unbelievable opportunity with all the companies based out
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00:24:59
here. At a university that's got, you know, great credibility
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00:25:02
in the community with the CPG industry. So I think, you know,
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00:25:05
when you're coming into a company, and I'll use myself as
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00:25:08
an example, I, I let the reason I got opportunities is through
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00:25:12
just naturally building new relate, I'd ask somebody, go get
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00:25:15
coffee, I was the Frito Lay, you know, junior marketer, and I'd
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00:25:19
go talk to the Pepsi guy and say, hey, can we grab coffee let
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00:25:22
me buy you a coffee? Or can we go out in a store together and
Brent Williams:
00:25:24
walk a store, I did that constantly, and one I learned
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00:25:28
from it, and then I built relationships, and that opened
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00:25:30
up so many doors. And so the, these businesses are still heavy
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00:25:35
relationship opportunities. And I think I teach my daughters now
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00:25:39
I bring them to business dinners with me a lot. I had them sit
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00:25:43
through a business dinner with the owner of the Chicago Bulls
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00:25:45
like a month ago, and it was a two hour dinner. And I said,
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00:25:47
you're gonna sit here and listen to us talk, and we're gonna
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00:25:49
engage you. But like, I worry that that kind of stuff has kind
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00:25:53
of went away, you know, and I think for, for us, that's a big
Brent Williams:
00:25:56
one, I'd tell students that build those relationships. The
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00:25:58
other is, you know, getting, you know, a multitude of
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00:26:02
experiences, like really not just coming in with like, you
Brent Williams:
00:26:05
know, one particular skill set, but you know, developing
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00:26:09
yourself with different experiences that round you out
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00:26:11
as a person is an opportunity. I think that that really goes kind
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00:26:16
of sometimes missing when you come into these conversations.
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00:26:20
And then lastly, I think, you know, this authenticity is
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00:26:23
another big one we talked about this morning a bit like being
Brent Williams:
00:26:26
yourself and talking about who you are, I think that's a luxury
Brent Williams:
00:26:29
like back, I felt like 20 years ago, I would just be trying to
Brent Williams:
00:26:32
get a job and be like, oh, no, I'm gonna work as hard as I can
Brent Williams:
00:26:35
all day. Now, it really is about what's important to you, you
Brent Williams:
00:26:38
know, what motivates you. And I think bringing that to these
Brent Williams:
00:26:42
conversations for students is super important as well.
Brent Williams:
00:26:45
Well Mike, I couldn't agree more the
Brent Williams:
00:26:47
relationship component. And, you know, it's one of the one of the
Brent Williams:
00:26:50
things that I think about, you know, our typical undergraduate
Brent Williams:
00:26:53
student, at least traditional undergraduate student, you know,
Brent Williams:
00:26:57
the transformation that happens during this these college years,
Brent Williams:
00:27:01
and you're in the classroom, but I'm always encouraging them, I
Brent Williams:
00:27:04
think, like you are get as many experiences as you can build as
Brent Williams:
00:27:07
many relationships as you can do that authentically. So that, you
Brent Williams:
00:27:12
know, you get value out of it, and the other person gets value
Brent Williams:
00:27:16
out of it. And you know, you just never know where that leads
Brent Williams:
00:27:19
to.
Brent Williams:
00:27:19
Mike Del Pozzo: Yeah. 100%. And typically, to your point, you
Brent Williams:
00:27:21
don't I mean, it, it typically opens up a door that you didn't
Brent Williams:
00:27:24
even see comin, right? Because you, you know, you put yourself
Brent Williams:
00:27:28
out there. And I think that's, you know, that's something we're
Brent Williams:
00:27:31
trying to do do more of as we bring people in is put them in
Brent Williams:
00:27:35
even uncomfortable situations, see how they do and typically
Brent Williams:
00:27:39
they end up finding, you know, something they didn't realize
Brent Williams:
00:27:42
they'd be that good at.
Brent Williams:
00:27:43
Well, Mike, thank you for being engaged with
Brent Williams:
00:27:45
the Walton College. We're really appreciative of you, the
Brent Williams:
00:27:49
partnership and excited to see what you do with the brand in
Brent Williams:
00:27:52
the future.
Brent Williams:
00:27:53
Mike Del Pozzo: No, thanks for having me. This is a real honor.
Brent Williams:
00:27:55
Like I said, coming back here and, you know, think about when
Brent Williams:
00:27:58
I first came here to work in Northwest Arkansas, if I thought
Brent Williams:
00:28:01
I'd be coming back here to do this podcast with you and be
Brent Williams:
00:28:05
running the Gatorade business is a dream and I think that's, you
Brent Williams:
00:28:07
know, a lot of what this this is about, how do we build more of
Brent Williams:
00:28:10
those through the partnership with the University and PepsiCo
Brent Williams:
00:28:14
and certainly happy to bring any, any folks in as they come
Brent Williams:
00:28:17
over.
Brent Williams:
00:28:18
On behalf of the Walton College. Thank you for
Brent Williams:
00:28:20
joining us for this captivating conversation. To stay connected
Brent Williams:
00:28:24
and never miss an episode. Simply search for be epic on
Brent Williams:
00:28:27
your preferred podcast service.
