Tips to improve your marketing game ft. Pepsi’s CMO, Todd Kaplan

Welcome to our brand new newsletter! This is Grace Weekly, where you can find the best take-outs we have collected for you, taken directly from our “Smart Venture Podcast” and our interviews with the best of the best.

Let's start with a bang with our interview with Pepsi’s CMO, Todd Kaplan

Todd Kaplan is the CMO of Pepsi and the leader of the PepsiCo’s US Cola business. He created and launched LIFEWTR and BUBLY, two significant innovations in PepsiCo history. He also produced the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show and the #BetterWithPepsi campaign, and collaborated with top performers. He was ranked as one of the "Top 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the world" by Business Insider.

“Are puppies ok?”

Wanna know how to build a successful career in marketing, the creative process behind one of the world’s most iconic brands and what an NBA team and a Super Bowl Ad have in common? Then you are in the right place.

Ofc they are! Look at that little thing!

(We could have easily done a “that’s what she said” joke here but we didn’t. Shame on you.)

Parts of this newsletter are freely taken from our interview with Todd and adjusted for reading.

GG: I’ll give the audience the TL;DR of some of your memorable moments. When you were a student, you created an organization ad shop in your campus and matched marketers with internships in local bussinesses. You dressed up as Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" at one of the holiday parties from your company and reached out to the CEO of Pepsi to ask them about marketing job opportunities. I feel like you're definitely a role model."

TK: You've definitely done your research and the Tom Cruise thing - I did not dress up for a holiday party (laughs). It was at a thing called “the intern bash”. My year they had a 1980s fashion show so I said “I'll do Risky Business” and just kind of put myself out there. I'm convinced that’s the only reason I got hired.

You know what to do at the next company party if you want a promotion.

GG: What separates yourself from being a great marketing person to being the leader of the crowd?

TK: A lot of it it’s being in the right place at the right time, with the right experience and perspective. There is a lot of serendipity in any role. I have had a career with calculated risk taking and a brand that needed its mojo back. I have always been creative and love coming up with ideas and new ways of looking at things, but bringing that with the strategic rigor of how to systematically solve creative big hairy problems and lead a larger organization through a tough time into a good time and really change our paradigm has been great. (…) Pepsi has had 16 straight quarters of sales growth. A lot of success is the ability to see around the corner, filter out noise, and excite everyone to march after that."

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

GG: What is one skill you are constantly trying to get better at?

TK: At a company like this you have to bring everyone along on the journey with you. Early in my career, I didn't do this well. I've learned to slow down and bring everyone along, including legal, R&D, supply chain, finance, and other stakeholders. It's more rewarding when you get a good win.

GG: How did you grow from a branch manager to managing iconic brands?

TK: Some of the best advice given to me around leadership was the idea that what got you here won't get you there. You have to change your approach as you progress in your career. The best players aren't always the best coaches, and the best coaches aren't always the best players. It's not always about being the best, but about coaching others to do well and leading by example.

Best ideas come at night. But if you wake up the next day and you are thinking “lets turn into a pickle” you should totally sleep more tbh.

GG: How do you help people connect Pepsi with a lot of really new interesting things, compared to their old image?

TK: You need to see the world as they see you, not how you see yourselves. Brands need to have a healthy self awareness and really understand how the world sees them and embrace that. (...) One of the first things I did on the Pepsi brand was this campaign that stemmed from of our greatest weaknesses, which is that most times Pepsi is often served as an apology - where someone goes into a restaurant, they order our competitors product, that restaurant pours Pepsi and the server says “Is Pepsi ok?” And so, we addressed that head on. We got Cardi B and Steve Carell and Lil Jon and did a really fun Super Bowl spot really playing on this.

GG: What do you view as your unfair advantage or “superpower”?

TK: I would say creativity is my superpower. It's the ability to see around and simplify, combining creativity with strategy and simplistic storytelling."

GG: It's interesting that you mentioned knowing yourself, understanding how people see you and strategically simplifying things as important skills for a brand. Most people overthink, so those are good skills to have.

GG: As a team leader, how do you shape your team? What function do you personally pay attention to training?

TK: It's important to bring in diverse skill sets, mindsets, and backgrounds to have the right creative horsepower to see around the corner and solve problems. You need a blend of experienced and learning people with complementary skills. Find a way to get everyone to work well together through team culture and bonding.

GG: Where does your drive come from?

TK: I'm very curious, you know. And like I said, my brain is always thinking and moving. Creativity is the linking of two unlike ideas together. I try to experience as many different things as possible to become a better marketer and be more curious. I went to a WWE wrestling match and a NASCAR race to try new things. As a marketer you want to experience as many different things as possible.

“Grace Weekly, improving your content diet one idea at a time”

So, what have we learned today? Apart from the urge to rewatch The Office again, Todd’s interview left us with so many good tips that we can’t wait to try them out in our entrepreneurial journey.

Top takeaways from our newsletter this week:

Bring everybody on the journey with you.

Always take calculated risks.

Experience things you won’t do on a daily basis.

See the world as your customers see you, not as you see yourself.

What got you here won’t get you there.

You should totally have a Pepsi.

Want to have those tips with you all the time? Save this directly from here.

So that’s how it’s going to be from now on.

You'll receive sweet takeaways from our interviews with top entrepreneurs in your inbox every week, along with tips and advice to help you navigate entrepreneurship. If you want to hear the full interview with Todd, check out the "Smart Venture Podcast" episode. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for regular updates, and don't forget to share this with your friends! We have a surprise in store for you if you get 3 people to subscribe.

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