00;00;02;23 - 00;00;18;15
VO
Welcome the Dig In, the podcast brought to you by Dig Insights. Each week Jess Gaedeke chats with world class brand professionals to bring you the story behind the story of some of the most breakthrough innovations, marketing tactics, and campaigns.

00;00;18;18 - 00;00;45;25
Jess
Hi everyone, welcome to the Dig In podcast. This is Jess Geadake and today we are going to be inspired by the story of taking a brand's very strong equity from one market and translating that and executing that and another. That is no small feat. So we are very excited to hear today from Sarah Dibblee, who’s brand team lead for Zarbee’s, part of Kenvue ‘s portfolio, formerly part of the Johnson and Johnson family of companies.

00;00;45;26 - 00;00;48;03
Jess
So Sarah, thank you so much for being here today.

00;00;48;09 - 00;00;51;19
Sarah
Amazing. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast.

00;00;51;21 - 00;00;59;01
Jess
Yeah, I'm really excited to get into your background, so why don't we first start with you telling us a little bit about your background and what you're up to?

00;00;59;01 - 00;01;21;13
Sarah
I think so. As you mentioned, my name is Sarah Dibblee and I am the brand team lead on our views in Canada. Over the last year and a half, I have been responsible for shaping the vision and bringing our views, which was a familiar brand in the US to the Canadian market. I have worked at Kenvue, formerly part of the J&J

00;01;21;13 - 00;01;34;05
Sarah
family of companies for over five years. And I have worked in various marketing roles across brands like Aveeno Baby, Benylin and Tylenol. So I am excited to be here today.

00;01;34;07 - 00;01;43;06
Jess
Those are some excellent brands. Well, I'm sure we'll hear lots of great stories. So first, what do you love about what you do? If you had to pinpoint it to one thing, what really gets you going?

00;01;43;13 - 00;02;06;05
Sarah
Yeah, absolutely. So that's the tough question. I love working in brand management, really because of the breadth of the experience that you're able to get in a role like this within the brand, we're able to touch every aspect of the business and truly act like a business owner, which keeps things interesting. And there's definitely never a dull moment.

00;02;06;07 - 00;02;32;15
Jess
Dynamic is ever. So that's that's great background. So let's dig in if it's okay. I'd love to hear the story. So our listeners really do crave inspiration from other leaders. And I think the best way to to inspire is, is to tell stories. So you were integral in launching Zombies in Canada, taking that equity that existed in the U.S. And the big objective of seeing how can that how can that sink in another market?

00;02;32;15 - 00;02;38;10
Jess
So how did that originate? How did the company decide that this was a good strategy? What it what inspired it?

00;02;38;13 - 00;03;27;29
Sarah
So I'll start by giving a bit of background into the history of the brand. Darby's was founded in 28 by father and pediatrician Dr. Zach Zadok, and he was inspired by nature and guided by science to seek a new way to help his four sons. His vision was to bring a effective wellness solution to life. And the first product that he created contained simple ingredients like vitamin C and Honey, and was free of alcohol dyes and artificial sweeteners and flavors over the last 15 years or so, the brand has grown in popularity and credibility and is now the number one pediatrician recommended Cough sirup brand for babies and children in the United States.

00;03;28;02 - 00;03;49;18
Sarah
And after acquiring the brand in 2018, the plan was to expand in Canada as well as the European region in 2023. And as you mentioned, I was really tasked with identifying the best way to launch this equity in Canada in a way that resonated with our consumers.

00;03;49;20 - 00;03;56;29
Jess
Mhm. So how did you do that? Did you leverage any, you know, important frameworks or approaches that helped you actually get to the Canadian market?

00;03;57;01 - 00;04;24;22
Sarah
Yes, absolutely. So one thing that I realized when I started on the brand was it wasn't going to be easy to build an entirely new kind of equity and grow awareness of a brand that didn't exist with Canadian consumers. So luckily we knew that there was a decent amount of awareness transfer from the United States to Canada, and there was a lot of skill that we had in in the North American region overall.

00;04;24;25 - 00;04;50;15
Sarah
But we really had the challenge of making sure that Canadians were thinking observes and that we were easy to think of and also easy to find. And that is the approach and the framework that we took in setting up the equity for Canadians overall. So when we dove into what it meant for something to be easy to think of, that meant that we were going to be a brand that was memorable.

00;04;50;19 - 00;05;31;10
Sarah
And so we launched our biz with a 360 integrated communications plan that was really focused on digital. This strong focus on digital connected TV, social media and lower funnel placements really helped us to have an integrated holistic media plan that we knew would gather reach for Canadians. The second key element that we had within this easy to think of bucket was really differentiation and building an iconic brand, leaning into brand assets that differentiate us as well as just make our brand distinct.

00;05;31;13 - 00;06;03;08
Sarah
So when you think of Tsb's, a lot of consumers will think of our bright yellow color, our betrayal and our logo. And that was something that we really leaned into throughout the launch. And then last but not least, was just making sure it was meaningful to Canadians. And so partnering with influencers and health care providers and generating an authentic recommendation among family and friends really meant that consumers would hear about this RB brand and be intrigued.

00;06;03;11 - 00;06;36;03
Sarah
And from an easy to find perspective, that involved a lot of partnerships that we had with key grocery drug and Massmart retailers and thinking about how we could partner with these retailers nationally to launch shopper marketing plans that were tailored to each account. And this included really unique in-store displays and floor stands, couponing programs and unique out of aisle activations to surprise and delight consumers in-store.

00;06;36;05 - 00;06;52;05
Jess
Yeah, let's say all of that is is really comprehensive in terms of the go to market strategy the out of aisle activation plan is something that I think a lot of our listeners would be intrigued about because it can be kind of, you know, you're going rogue when you go out of aisle. So what did how did you think about that?

00;06;52;06 - 00;06;55;00
Jess
What were some of the specific tactics that you used?

00;06;55;07 - 00;07;29;18
Sarah
Yes, definitely. The other mile activation really for us was a way to generate awareness when a consumer's not necessarily thinking about the category or the brand. And we know that with a lot of cough cold purchases, this is actually a distressed mission where you're only going to the cough cold aisle when you need that product. And by activating out of aisle, this allowed us to build relevance for the consumer in other places as well as just generate awareness in places that you wouldn't necessarily think of a cough cold brand.

00;07;29;20 - 00;07;56;11
Sarah
So in specific retailers, we had a few different and displays not in the cough cold. I'll just to generate the awareness and have eyes on our logo and our products as well as putting the product in placements close to the pharmacy at certain retailers where an individual may be looking for advice on health and seeking opportunities to have recommendations from a pharmacist.

00;07;56;13 - 00;07;57;00
Sarah
Mm hmm.

00;07;57;03 - 00;08;14;24
Jess
Yeah, that's really interesting, because as a shopper, it's what can you do to be disruptive and think of a product or a category that might not be on your shopping list. And you know, my kids are a little bit older now, but when they were younger, you always had to have some sort of cough cold on hand because you never know when you're going to need it in the moment.

00;08;14;26 - 00;08;28;00
Jess
And so I could see that being of disruptive and especially the the visual brand cues reserves being really attention grabbing in-store. So I think that's that's a great example of things that you can do. Think outside the box from a marketing standpoint.

00;08;28;03 - 00;08;47;01
Sarah
Exactly. And it's not something that you necessarily think of as impulsive, but to your point, being prepared, especially with the category demand increasing and times like this, I think there's an opportunity to really get a message of preparedness and just easy to think of top of mind now.

00;08;47;01 - 00;09;01;29
Jess
That that's really cool. So again, it's no small feat to take a brand into a new market. I'm sure you face some barriers, some, you know, setbacks along the way. What were some of those? And don't hide it, you know, tell us the bad stuff. That's what we can learn from, too.

00;09;02;06 - 00;09;32;19
Sarah
Yes, I as you mentioned, one of the key learnings throughout this is just it's it's going to be times of ebbs and flows and really key challenges. But then a lot of great key things that come from the launch. And this was a learning experience for everyone involved. And one of the key challenges that we face, which I would say is actually more of an opportunities that we were faced with a different brand stage than the US.

00;09;32;19 - 00;10;01;14
Sarah
So the brand had already been established there, There was already strong awareness, there had good loyalty and brand loyalists who would champion the brand in Canada. No one had heard of derbies, and a lot of competitive activity around the brand was occurring in the category. And so we needed to take the equity and think a little bit differently about how to seat it and figure out the best way to introduce the brand in a completely different stage.

00;10;01;14 - 00;10;25;26
Sarah
And so when we had a look to the creative strategy and the assets that we would build for launch, we did different consumer research, both qualitative and quantitative, and we found out that some of the existing creative that was available to us from North America didn't resonate with Canadians due to the fact that they weren't aware of the brand.

00;10;25;28 - 00;10;46;19
Sarah
And so when we found this out, it really created a challenge as we thought. There may be a scale opportunity, but there was also this this new way for us to think about how we could create the equity in Canada and the message that we would give. And so this allowed us to actually work to put together a whole new creative idea.

00;10;46;21 - 00;11;07;13
Sarah
And our creative campaign is called for the love of all they can be. And it speaks to keeping our busy children or busy, busy, busy. And we know that a cough or a sore throat can really get in the way of a child and the potential that they have. And so our creative approach really allows us to speak to that.

00;11;07;15 - 00;11;20;17
Sarah
It is a differentiated way to speaking to the category that we haven't seen competitors do. And it also allowed us to introduce the new brand with a relevant story to things that parents were going through at the time.

00;11;20;19 - 00;11;44;18
Jess
I love that. And I think that it's an interesting contrast because a lot of your competitors, it seems, will focus on symptom relief, right? So like, here's a child that's experiencing these cough cold symptoms and oh, I'm making it go away by giving this this medicine. Whereas the campaign for Azaria's feels much more like the aspirational side of what could be for my child if they were not suffering from cough and cold.

00;11;44;18 - 00;11;52;24
Jess
So I think that's an interesting differentiator and hopefully something that did spark that awareness being more attention getting within the category.

00;11;52;27 - 00;12;06;08
Sarah
Yes, absolutely. You've nailed the insight exactly from the brief and basically figuring out how do we not minimize the child's potential and the experiences that they're missing out when they're sick.

00;12;06;11 - 00;12;20;19
Jess
I promise I didn't read the brief. That was just an affirmation from a consumer standpoint. I might be a little bit more informed than consumers because of my career. But yeah. So when did you know as a success, the launch of Zappos in Canada. What was your milestone internally?

00;12;20;21 - 00;12;45;20
Sarah
Yes. So this I wouldn't say this is the in the moment of success, but I knew that the brand had officially launched when I went into store for the first time and I saw the products on shelf, I almost cried at that moment because of the history of months of challenges and working through the whole team that we got to that moment.

00;12;45;23 - 00;13;28;09
Sarah
And from a consumer perspective, the moment that I knew we had impacted the lives of Canadian consumers was when our first organic review came through on the product and we were able to see the response that Canadians were giving. And so those are kind of like the first two realizations that I had around the brand existed. And while the brand only launched in July of this year, our point of sales and market share is quickly ramping up and so I think I will know that it is a success following the cough cold season as we continue to grow exactly year.

00;13;28;12 - 00;13;41;16
Jess
That's great. Well, I can imagine those two milestones made it feel real, so that's really exciting. So just and conclude this inspiring story about zombies, what was your biggest takeaway from that experience?

00;13;41;16 - 00;14;16;25
Sarah
Yes, that's our biz. We are not afraid to shy away from the puns. And so I will say that the biggest lesson I had is it takes a hive, not a village. In this case. But it is truly amazing what you can do when you work together as a team. And when you look at a brand from a consumer perspective, sometimes you forget that a brand is made up of so many people behind the scenes, from project management to sales to R&D or regulatory re, just to name a few.

00;14;16;25 - 00;14;41;24
Sarah
And the whole team truly bought into the idea that this brand would be a success in Canada and we work together to feel like we were the the owners of the business working together. And so inspiration can truly come from any individual member on the team. And a great idea. And our way to solve the problem exists amongst the collaboration of the group.

00;14;42;01 - 00;15;00;19
Jess
Tons of inspiration and that story. Thank you so much for sharing that. And so I love to turn from that to you as a as a leader, as a leader in your industry and in your organization. What would you say, sir, as one of your most controversial or passionate opinions on the state of innovation or building brands today?

00;15;00;25 - 00;15;32;03
Sarah
Yes, that is a great question. And I don't think that anyone will say this is controversial, but I'm definitely passionate about this. Consumers are educating themselves on what they are putting in their bodies, the impact that a product has on the environment. And they are learning about products and brands from so many different sources. And it is imperative that a brand react and respond to a consumer's need to be educated.

00;15;32;05 - 00;15;56;26
Sarah
And so when we think about wellness, there is a rise of ingredient transparency, clean ingredients and skin care and and things like that across health and wellness. And I believe that that is extremely important for a brand to be addressing, whether it's through their existing portfolio or innovation or even just the creative means that they have to get a message out.

00;15;56;27 - 00;16;03;20
Sarah
I think that is number one top of mind for me as we think through the next three years and beyond.

00;16;03;24 - 00;16;22;14
Jess
As a brand leader, it must be so challenging and stressful to stay ahead of consumers. I think that we're in an era now that we're just trying to get ahead of them and educate so that when they get to that point of decision, hopefully they're well informed. But I don't know. I think it's a it's a pretty difficult job that.

00;16;22;16 - 00;16;31;10
Jess
An exciting one, right? Yeah. Are you trying anything new, any new tools or approaches that you started leveraging in your process?

00;16;31;13 - 00;17;07;07
Sarah
One thing that I want to continue to leverage more is really social listening, as you've mentioned, how we can stay ahead of the consumer, but also just in-tune with the consumer is so important and so really leaning in to data through social listening tools to understand is something resonating with the consumer, something not or what are they talking about and finding ways that you can produce content that is on trend with what consumers are interested in, what their consumption habits look like, and being able to have your brand exist in those spaces authentically.

00;17;07;07 - 00;17;18;03
Sarah
And so that is something that we've just only started to do something that we can really expand on and really build loyal relationships by being relevant.

00;17;18;06 - 00;17;24;29
Jess
That will have continued importance for sure. So what's your hot take on the future of this industry or this category?

00;17;25;02 - 00;17;50;22
Sarah
Yes, it's a great one, I think because consumers are so educated less of a hot take, but you need to educate yourself as a brand leader too, and really continue to push the envelope in terms of the solutions that you're bringing to market, really trying to find innovative ways to partner to put forth the best products that consumers want five years from now and trying to get those to market earlier.

00;17;50;22 - 00;17;58;14
Sarah
So in everything that I do, we're constantly trying to increase the speed at which we operate and be able to meet the demand.

00;17;58;18 - 00;18;05;29
Jess
Is there anything specific that you're doing to partner differently or to tap into more consumer understanding in the examples you have?

00;18;06;02 - 00;18;33;03
Sarah
Yeah, absolutely. So within our website, one thing that we are doing is we've been able to launch with where to buy functionality that actually allows us to identify where our consumer can go and find a product in the So in despite of not being a DTC brand, this is a way that we are trying to really make it easy for the consumer and understand how they can go from being aware of a brand, purchasing a brand.

00;18;33;06 - 00;18;52;28
Sarah
And in partnership with that, we've also launched a CRM program on our website where we know that we can figure out what kind of products the consumer will be interested in and utilize that to help shape our future innovation and understand what's working and what's not working about our products and our communications.

00;18;53;01 - 00;19;09;26
Jess
Yeah, that's great. And I love the comment about despite not being a direct to consumer brand, how can you find those touchpoints along their journey by being exposed to your brand and interested in your brand and not losing them along that journey? So that's a great example. Thanks for sharing that. So we're going to turn to the final deck.

00;19;09;26 - 00;19;20;01
Jess
This is all about you as a consumer and as a person, so feel free to take off your professional hat for just a minute, if you like. What's the last product or service you bought on impulse?

00;19;20;04 - 00;19;44;15
Sarah
Oh, this is such a good one. But I am a sucker, a sucker for a good popcorn. And while at the store the other day, I stumbled upon the lesser evil popcorn. I'm not sure if you realize this, but I have it here is like a better for you option of popcorn and that is quite addicting and incredible.

00;19;44;15 - 00;19;54;05
Sarah
And so I bought this impulsively and I have continued to buy it ever since. And I highly recommend for any popcorn lovers.

00;19;54;07 - 00;20;12;06
Jess
There you go. So there is a lesson. So you bought this on an impulse. You're probably a popcorn lover, but you were like, Yeah, I'm going to try this out now. You're a loyalist. So just a lesson to be learned to brands find that compelling moment and to capitalize on that impulse. And you've got a brand for a consumer for life.

00;20;12;08 - 00;20;21;27
Jess
So a great example. Let's the what's a category or a brand or a product that you could just rationalize any price point for. It's just something you need in your life.

00;20;21;29 - 00;20;46;13
Sarah
Oh, this is a tough one. This one is this might spark a little bit of a debate, but I am very into fitness and wellness and I go crazy for a good quality laser brand. And so I am a Lululemon fan through and through. And really, I don't know if I could rationalize any price point for them, but I love Lulu.

00;20;46;13 - 00;20;58;19
Sarah
I'm great with a good quality athleisure brand that's going to be there for years. And I can always justify in some girl math by thinking about the long term potential that that product has.

00;20;58;19 - 00;21;13;01
Jess
For me. I think the pandemic's greatest gift to the world was the prevalence of athleisure being just an okay thing to be wearing, and I am grateful for that. Right? We have to find the silver linings and things, and I believe that the pandemic gave us athleisure.

00;21;13;04 - 00;21;16;11
Sarah
For 1,000%.

00;21;16;13 - 00;21;28;22
Jess
So brands have distinct personalities. I'd love to know what's a brand that you would love to date and have caught you, but then a brand that you'd love to marry. And sometimes they're the same brand, but not often when you think about it.

00;21;28;26 - 00;21;59;19
Sarah
Yeah, that's a great question. And when I think about dates, I think about someone. It's going to be fun and maybe new and exciting. And for me that is the brand. On running. They have been everywhere lately. They've been activating in communities and really strong influencer partnerships and they've gotten their product in the hands of everyone. So I think that that is something that is great and new and exciting.

00;21;59;22 - 00;22;28;17
Sarah
So I would definitely bet on from a marriage perspective, a bit more commitment. I love a smart brand and I think Spotify has always been the first brand think when it comes to data and utilizing that to really know their listeners and figure out how to to futureproof their platform. And so with that one, I think I definitely see a long term viable option with that brand.

00;22;28;21 - 00;22;49;13
Jess
I think I've had one other guest mentioned Spotify as the brand to marry, and I think we're on to something here because it involves to learn, as you know, evolves with you and grows with you in your life. And so I think there's there's something very cool about that. So awesome, great, great examples of brands. And so finally, as we kind of wrap up here, Sarah, what keeps you inspired at work?

00;22;49;13 - 00;22;53;03
Jess
Obviously, you love what you do, but what is it that inspires you most?

00;22;53;06 - 00;23;22;08
Sarah
Absolutely. I think the number one thing for me is the power of collaboration and passion from others that keeps me inspired. I work with an incredible team on this launch. I am hopeful that I'm going to work with high performing teams in the future, and I think by really making sure that you get to collaborate with a lot of different people have diverse perspectives.

00;23;22;11 - 00;23;44;00
Sarah
That is a constant source of inspiration and it makes it interesting to come to work every day and think about how we can do things differently. So I always ask the question of someone in the room, Maybe it's not the person who is in the direct role, but getting their perspective as a consumer or shopper would always be extremely helpful.

00;23;44;03 - 00;23;56;26
Jess
Excellent. Oh, that's wonderful inspiration. Sarah, thanks for sharing your story today. It's been really exciting to hear about taking the Arby's brand to Canada and some of your other perspective as a brand leader. I've learned a lot. I appreciate you joining today.

00;23;56;26 - 00;24;03;15
Sarah
Thank you so much for having me. You are now have a Dig In podcast fan for life.

00;24;03;17 - 00;24;11;13
Jess
Awesome. We love hearing that. Tell a friend. Thanks everybody for joining us. See you next time.

00;24;11;16 - 00;24;16;00
VO
Like what you heard? Share the inspiration or head to diginsights.com to learn more about

00;24;16;00 - 00;24;16;19
VO
what we do.