00;00;02;23 - 00;00;18;20
VO
Welcome to 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;22 - 00;00;35;10
Jess
Hi everybody. Welcome to the Dig In podcast. This is Jess Gaedeke and I am so thrilled to be joined today by a very cherished client partner of Dig Insights. Today we have Erin Del Ponte, SVP of Marketing at Swanson Health. Erin, I am so stoked that you're here. Thanks for joining us.

00;00;35;26 - 00;00;40;21
Erin
Hey, Jess, thanks for having me. I'm really, really excited to be here, looking forward to talking with you today.

00;00;40;29 - 00;00;46;24
Jess
Yeah, well, let's get into your background. Tell us a little bit about some of the businesses you've been a part of and where you are now.

00;00;46;27 - 00;01;25;01
Erin
Yeah, so I’ve got a pretty interesting background, a little bit of a Swiss Army knife. I started off in the DTC space with Reader's Digest doing direct to consumer marketing really before the Internet, right? So doing a lot of direct mail. Great experience there where I was really diving into consumer marketing and to brand, product development. And then really once I sort of learned that space and moved forward to really want to dig into the digital part of the business and went to a pure play e-commerce costume party supply retailer and dug my heels in there and then moved over to Stella & Chewy’s

00;01;25;01 - 00;01;50;16
Erin
eventually. So launching their e-commerce division as well as international and then getting a little sprinkle of sales experience in there as well. So coming to Swanson, it's been great overseeing our brand because I have a lot of that different experience and different perspectives and it's really kind of helped me bring everything together. It's a little bit of like all roads lead to the place where you're meant to be, and I feel like this is the place I'm meant to be right now.

00;01;50;19 - 00;02;11;12
Jess
I love that. I love that to start and we're going to dig into a lot of those diverse experiences and it’s part of the expertise you'll bring today. So really looking forward to that. But I want to start us off with just an impromptu question to get us going here. So did you have as a child, like a famous crush, someone that you just adored, a celebrity?

00;02;11;14 - 00;02;18;06
Erin
Oh boy. I don't know if I should admit this or not, but I loved Barry Manilow. I loved him

00;02;18;08 - 00;02;20;25
Jess
Oh my god, I did not see that coming.

00;02;20;25 - 00;02;30;21
Jess
I love it. That's amazing. I was expecting Corey Haim or
Kurt Cobain, I don’t know. That's amazing.

00;02;30;23 - 00;02;53;11
Erin
I think that was the first crush. Eventually moved to like Rob Lowe. But I totally remember being in kindergarten loving Barry Manilow and my mom and I searching high and low for Barry Manilow's greatest hits number two, and eventually finding it at Kohl's department store, which Kohl’s does not have a record selection anymore. But I remember playing every single day, loving It.

00;02;53;13 - 00;03;19;28
Jess
That is amazing. And thank you for getting us going with a surprise answer like that. Much respect to Barry. That's amazing. Okay, well, let's dig in. So our listeners really do crave inspiration from other leaders. And I think one of the best ways to inspire is to tell a story. And you were integral in the brand refresh that happened and still happening at Swanson Health and so I'd love for you to tell us that story.

00;03;20;01 - 00;03;27;12
Jess
How did you know it was time for a brand refresh? Like how did that idea really originate within the business?

00;03;27;15 - 00;03;51;29
Erin
Yeah, you know, so Swanson is a 55 year old company, and funny enough, it's probably the 55 year old company that you haven't heard of yet. And we recognize that. That being said, we're also a huge business. We have a big, you know we started as a catalog company, so primarily signed direct to consumer. Now we've obviously migrated online but still have that catalog business.

00;03;52;01 - 00;04;14;02
Erin
So we've been all along we've been really good at that bottom of the funnel, you know, driving people with high intent to our site, converting them and we knew there was a whitespace of how do we bring more people into the brand and really develop, it was really more of a hypothesis, right? We assumed, before we had had consumer insights,

00;04;14;05 - 00;04;42;27
Erin
we assumed that if we could tell more people about Swanson, it'd be easier for us to convert them and we could grow the brand. And what was interesting in this journey, and this is really how I got to know Dig Insights, I was actually referred to Dig from a former colleague who's a current friend, and he introduced us to Dig and we sort of had these hypotheses, but we weren't really sure what were consumers considering when they were thinking about buying vitamins and supplements.

00;04;43;00 - 00;05;09;02
Erin
And then for the purposes of this conversation, I'll call VMS. Vitamins, minerals and supplements. What were consumers looking for when they're making VMS considerations. What brands were they considering? Why were they considering Swanson? And we sort of had our hypotheses as to why, but what was great when we started working with Dig we really there was a lot of things we uncovered that we didn't realize were really important to our prospects and our own customers.

00;05;09;05 - 00;05;33;09
Erin
And the thing is, the things that we learned from that research, we were already winning on. We were already winning on it, but we weren't telling the story. So those insights were great to sort of help us say, okay, we need to lean into these insights, we need to lean into our story so that we can drive awareness. Because what we also learned from those insights was that once people learn about Swanson, they highly converted.

00;05;33;11 - 00;05;51;22
Erin
So we knew for sure that hypothesis was correct. We had an awareness issue and it was really eye opening. It's a little bit of, shoot, we should have known that. But it's also like, shoot, we didn't know that. But now we had like, you know, facts are your friends, right? There was the proof right in front of us.

00;05;51;24 - 00;06;19;11
Jess
Yeah. Having those facts are important, especially with brand refreshes, because they make people internally really nervous. You don't want to alienate the customers that have known you for 55 years and are familiar with you and recognize your packaging when they see it. So, you know, how did you convince your internal stakeholders to take the leap? Like whether it was through the data and the insights that luckily we were able to provide or other steps that you took to build that conviction?

00;06;19;11 - 00;06;21;01
Jess
How did you do that internally?

00;06;21;01 - 00;06;43;25
Erin
A lot of marketing to marketing is how we had to call it. So it was when I built the plan for our brand strategy. Part of it was the first piece was obviously getting those consumer insights. The second piece was, okay, how do we then take those insights to really talk about how we want the storytelling, how we want to show ourselves to our consumer right?

00;06;43;28 - 00;07;11;12
Erin
And then how do we then take a full funnel approach at using those insights, using that branding to tell our story at top of the funnel and bring them all the way through? And then sort of the fourth part of my plan was how do we bring the entire organization along for the ride? And I honestly think that fourth piece was probably the most important piece of all, because what we did was first laid out the plan of this is how we're going to attack this.

00;07;11;19 - 00;07;36;06
Erin
So once we had insights, what we did was we actually had an internal brand steering committee made up of cross-functional team members. So part of that steering committee was really part of the process with Dig, right? So Dig presented findings to us. So it was what was pretty it was like the story was sort of laid out for everybody, like, hey, here's you know, here's where we're not telling our story.

00;07;36;12 - 00;07;59;18
Erin
Here's the right consumer to go after and really, here's how you should tell your story. And so that that piece was actually pretty easy. It was facts. You can't argue facts. Once we, I think the really scary part was, once we got to how do we bring this brand to life with what we've learned and how do we make everybody in the organization feel good about it?

00;07;59;20 - 00;08;29;28
Erin
So we actually partnered with another outside agency who helped us. What we did we went through what we call the brand hack. We took sort of a deep dive into the brand, a deep dive into the consumer insights that we had and talked about how do you bring this brand to life? How do we talk about Swanson? And we looked at sort of three different approaches of how we could bring the brand to life and a little bit of like kind of call it the Goldilocks effect. With one approach that we came up with was about half a step away from where we were before. Came up with

00;08;29;28 - 00;08;56;09
Erin
another approach that was so far away from where we were, it was uncomfortable. And then we landed with the campaign that we and look that we have now. You Be Well look, You Be Well campaign. And it just felt right. It felt right. And so we went on actually an internal campaign in the organization to sell this look, this feel, this message into the organization.

00;08;56;11 - 00;09;16;06
Erin
And I think once you create transparency and you bring people along for the ride, they feel good about it. And so it was it was so much easier to bring it to life. But it's so important to bring along key stakeholders and just bring on the organization because everybody just everybody's so passionate about Swanson. It's like sending your baby off to school, right?

00;09;16;06 - 00;09;34;23
Erin
You want to sort of have a say in like what college they go to. But like, you know, ultimately that the decision is going to be with the baby, right? Like in this case, like the baby was the brand, like the progression that we made to the branding we have now was really it was a natural progression of who we were, and we just need to sell that to the organization.

00;09;34;25 - 00;09;51;13
Jess
That's a great analogy, the sort of, you know, kid or baby choosing the college and I think what I picked up from you as we've been talking and I've seen the campaign is that it is something that I think the Swanson team can be proud of. I think that it, you know, effectively represents the evolved illustration of the brand.

00;09;51;13 - 00;09;55;19
Jess
So tell us a little bit about the new positioning. Like what what is Swanson today?

00;09;55;20 - 00;10;19;22
Erin
Yeah, Yeah. Well, you know, it's interesting what Swanson really was when Lee Swanson founded the company 55 years ago. So he really had this you know, we're based in North Dakota and Fargo, and he did everything. He was the expert. He researched for solutions. He built the team. He built the business, shipped the product from North Dakota.

00;10;19;22 - 00;10;42;19
Erin
So there was really this sort of like this hardworking Midwesterner help your friends and family kind of mentality. And you know what? That still is alive in the organization today. And that's what was so interesting to me when I first started at Swanson. The overriding sentiment that I had gotten from everybody was this pride of this is Fargo, we're doing this ourselves.

00;10;42;25 - 00;11;05;00
Erin
We have scientists, we have pharmacists, we have licensed nutritionists, and we're researching, we're innovating, we're shipping like it all starts in Fargo. And, you know, it was interesting knowing that and going into this process, I knew there had to be some sort of connection there that we had to pull together because I think that's really integral to who we are. Because, and that's really where the story is,

00;11;05;00 - 00;11;23;22
Erin
you know, if you look at our branding now, it's really all about we're humble, like we're so humble. We have not talked about our expertise for years, right? We're so humble that we have not told everybody all the steps we go through to quality check products. So I think the voice now is owning up to who we've been.

00;11;23;25 - 00;11;43;26
Erin
It's we're still humble, but we're proud. And we know it's okay to tell our story because that's how people learn about your brand. That's how people make their choices is when they understand the expertise and the quality and the depth of assortments. And you just have real people in the Midwest who are making this all happen.

00;11;43;29 - 00;12;00;23
Jess
It's a wonderful heritage to stand on and it is something to be proud of. And having seen the campaign, I do think that that is personified within that. So, yeah, it's really compelling. And, you know, when you think about a brand refresh and you think about how you measure success, I think there's kind of two schools of thought.

00;12;00;25 - 00;12;19;26
Jess
One is we know we need to kind of modernize, but our main goal is to not alienate our existing customer base. It's just almost like a do no harm. And then the other school of thought is how can I use this to actually get a lift to actually see greater sales, greater consumer adoption? How do you judge success for the refresh?

00;12;19;26 - 00;12;22;18
Jess
Is it in one of those two camps or somewhere in the middle?

00;12;22;21 - 00;12;44;07
Erin
Well, we did. We're also very mindful in how we execute. We've always been very careful. So we did do a little, I would say, pre testing the waters before we went live with the refresh, sort of testing some creative treatments to existing customers and new customers and testing some of our messaging just to make sure we had it all fine tuned.

00;12;44;07 - 00;13;06;13
Erin
And we did learn we did learn a few things from that sort of pretest that helped us tweak some of our messaging and for the better. So we kind of went into it like carefully. But for us now, we've been very clear to message to our existing customers who are so important to us and have really built Swanson to what they are now.

00;13;06;13 - 00;13;30;21
Erin
It's we're still the same Swanson. We're just telling our story. And so we're owning up to that. And I think it's been interesting to see prospects and sort of the feedback we've gotten from prospects like it's there's a lot of really interesting points of view of Midwest people are excited about. They're like, I love the Midwest. Like who doesn't love a hardworking, down to earth Midwest person who is like, you know, just trying to help you out.

00;13;30;24 - 00;13;59;06
Erin
And so there's been a lot of positive feedback even from prospects. So for us to sort of measure success, you know, obviously there's things that there's metrics that we're looking at. But I think, you know, we're looking at I mean, we can get down to metrics. I mean, we're looking at, you know, how do we how do we rank as far as like branded searches, how do we grow in social. We also are using MMM so we can see incremental growth from our awareness efforts for that as well.

00;13;59;09 - 00;14;22;25
Erin
So we really you know, we're watching trends, we're watching engagement, watching new unique visitors to our site. And so that's that's sort of the funny thing with like a brand refresh, there's not one single metric you can say, did it work or did it not? It's really sort of an aggregation of a lot of different things. I keep telling everybody, like brand’s a little squishy, right?

00;14;22;25 - 00;14;43;06
Erin
So we have to kind of like arts and crafts, how we find out if it worked. And then ultimately there's a couple of things. You know, when we worked with initially, we did the consumer Insights study with Dig. We understood our awareness level and so I know where we rank now. I know our closest competitor where they rank.

00;14;43;06 - 00;15;03;02
Erin
And I will tell you we are going to beat that closest competitor by the end of this year. So my, my, my behavior is to beat that closest competitor. So when we come back at the end of the year and do another awareness study with, they will be able to say, okay, we have beat them. And we reached that target and then who's the next target?

00;15;03;04 - 00;15;10;20
Erin
So it's the metrics we have and then we'll ultimately look at brand awareness later on at the end of the year.

00;15;10;22 - 00;15;36;13
Jess
And it's such an asset. When your problem to solve is awareness, it means that your core offering, your core positioning, what you stand for is solid and is about putting it in front of more people. And that feels like such a small problem. It can be a resource challenge, of course, right? It's not like a problem to solve, but it's much easier than, oh crap, I have an equity issue, I have a product quality issue and how do I like rejig my marketing plan around that?

00;15;36;13 - 00;15;43;23
Jess
So in a lot of ways it's a gift. So tremendous refresh. Like, what's your biggest takeaway from that experience?

00;15;43;23 - 00;16;12;00
Erin
Well, I would say professionally it's been one of the most fulfilling projects I've ever had in my career. It's been really it's been so much fun to really dig into the personality of the brand. And it's like you sort of have this like, like science meets art, right? Because we have the science behind the insights. There's a little bit of an art to making sure we bring forward the right voice and the right message.

00;16;12;02 - 00;16;42;29
Erin
So I think it's been really fulfilling. And I think the other part this is really fulfilling is seeing people who have been at Swanson for years come to me and say, like this brand look and feel is exactly who we are. Like, this just feels right. And the pride that comes with that and I think that is almost the most fulfilling piece for me is is how much employees connect with it, how much we're seeing our own customers and prospects connect with it.

00;16;43;02 - 00;16;58;07
Erin
It's just a lot of pride, and I feel really good about all of this and I'm really excited to see what happens over the next 55 years with Swanson as we continue on this journey of really bringing this brand to the world.

00;16;58;09 - 00;17;15;05
Jess
Yeah, well, if you keep taking all those vitamins and supplements from Swanson, we have to see that. So congratulations on a tremendous refresh. So let's turn to a little bit to you as a leader, and I'd love to hear, you know, what is one of your more passionate viewpoints about leadership today?

00;17;15;10 - 00;17;37;24
Erin
I believe that there's kind of a couple of pieces with it. Number one, it's so important to be transparent. I think all of us have worked for leaders who keep things close to the vest or maybe don't share the good and the bad with everybody. I'm not afraid to tell my team like I don't know the answer. We'll figure it out like or I don't know the answer, but I think you might have the answer.

00;17;37;27 - 00;17;59;03
Erin
And can you help me to figure out what the answer is? I think there's that transparency and like acknowledgment of like, I don't know how to do this alone. I don't know, like all the answers. And I think also giving sort of that freedom to your team to say like, you can figure this out, I trust you, you're professionals.

00;17;59;06 - 00;18;19;26
Erin
You come to me with solutions or you tell me how you think it should be. This should be fixed because there's an ownership to it and you're feeling much more connected to the solution, much more connected to the project. And I always try to lead the way. I always wish I would have had leaders treat me throughout my career, and I've met a lot of great leaders that I worked for.

00;18;19;28 - 00;18;32;02
Erin
I've also had some that maybe haven't been as great, and I think I know what I felt like I needed. And I want to make sure that my team gets the things that I felt like I needed all along.

00;18;32;04 - 00;18;48;28
Jess
I think that, you know, the people that you lead, develop, get that benefit of everything you've learned. You're almost Frankenstein, like the good and the bad from from past experiences. And and on the point of transparency, one thing I think that's really freeing about that is that you don't have to worry about a facade as a leader when you are very transparent.

00;18;48;28 - 00;19;07;15
Jess
It's actually less stressful when you think about it because you don't have sort of one face for this audience and one face for this other audience. Sure, you might manage communications differently based on like what level you're talking to, but you know, when you're transparent, you don't have to have two versions of the story. And I think today the workforce demands transparency.

00;19;07;15 - 00;19;19;15
Jess
I mean, consumers demand it of brands, employees were demanding it of of leaders. So that's phenomenal. I'm just so glad to hear you talk about that. And I'm sure your team is very lucky to have you as their leader.

00;19;19;18 - 00;19;22;20
Erin
I'm lucky to have them. They're pretty great, too. Yeah.

00;19;22;22 - 00;19;33;18
Jess
Just like spoken like a good leader to say that, tosses it right back. That’s the way that works. So tell me which new tools or approaches or frameworks have you been leveraging in your work and which ones have had an impact?

00;19;33;20 - 00;20;00;20
Erin
So I would say, you know what, I guess I'd be remiss if I don't talk about AI right? I think everybody's trying, that it's more experimental, right? Like we're looking at ways of how can we use a AI in copy? Obviously you still need that human touch to it. But back to your point of having limited resources, you know, we're a big company, but we also have a pretty lean team and we're trying to crank out a lot of a lot of content, a lot of work.

00;20;00;22 - 00;20;32;07
Erin
So as we lean into different tools, AI tools to help with that and also make sure we're blending in that human touch to it as well. So I think that it's really experimental. You know, we have teams and resources, but we have teams on the regulatory side that's using AI, that's looking at claims management, looking at, you know, we're we obviously because we're so heavily regulated, we actually have to look at reviews that we receive from customers because we can't have claims that are outlandish in our reviews.

00;20;32;07 - 00;20;54;28
Erin
So we use AI to sort of cull through those reviews. So I think that that's for us is how can we take that to the next level. But I will say, how do you maintain your authenticity? Because ultimately who we are as a brand is being very authentic and real. And how real is I think you can weave it in where it makes sense.

00;20;55;00 - 00;21;16;05
Erin
But for example, I wouldn't use I probably wouldn't use any AI in our creative because we want to photograph real people. We don't even use makeup artists or hair like it's truly real people. Let's see your wrinkles, let's see your imperfect body. That's totally fine. So I think for us it'll just be very mindful how we use it.

00;21;16;05 - 00;21;30;25
Jess
I like that. That kind of notion of there are certain parts of certainly within the marketing discipline where you need that human not just touch, but you need the human sort of leading that there are other places where you can tap into tech or AI to sort of get you a starting point or maybe get you halfway through.

00;21;30;25 - 00;21;49;19
Jess
So I think that's really mindful. Yeah, thanks for sharing that because I know a lot of our listeners are trying to figure out where does AI fit. I know at Dig we've made some major developments using AI and it's really about where can we get more efficient and then also where can we kind of learn faster so that we can apply that human thinking to take it to the next level.

00;21;49;19 - 00;21;59;03
Jess
So yeah, exciting stuff. And so what's your hot take on the future of the VMS industry? Like where's it going and what's it going to look like in a few years?

00;21;59;10 - 00;22;24;23
Erin
I think what's interesting, I see it becoming people developing their own personalized solutions for themselves. And what I mean is, you know, in the space of VMS, you're not just taking one pill, let's say one multi vitamin to take care of everything. You're sort of building your own solution to what works for you. And even outside of VMS, it's you're taking a portfolio of VMS that makes sense for you.

00;22;24;27 - 00;22;48;13
Erin
But what are then the other actions you're taking outside of that? And it's very personal, right? Is it I play pickleball every day. I walk every day. I take time to meditate every day. I want to make sure I read every day. I think it's really going to become the sort of like personalized solution to what's right for you and how do you get out there in a way that helps people understand, like whatever solution you choose, that's cool.

00;22;48;13 - 00;23;01;20
Erin
Like we're here to help you and and be a partner for you while you're trying to build that solution. So I think it's it's making sure that you're helping consumers in the way that they want to be helped. And it will be very different for everybody.

00;23;01;26 - 00;23;19;27
Jess
Yeah, I think that taps into a lot of the things that we hear about and trends and foresight, right? Is the idea of personalization, the idea of a holistic wellness. I mean, these are just going to become increasingly important. So yeah, that's helpful to know. And you guys are already well on your way to be in front of meeting consumer needs.

00;23;19;29 - 00;23;33;17
Jess
So that's great. Okay, we're moving to the final dig. This is all about you as a person, as a consumer, feel free to take off the professional hat for a moment if you wish. What's the last product or service that you bought on impulse?

00;23;33;19 - 00;23;48;07
Erin
Gosh, So I fell asleep on the couch early last night, so I was awake in the middle of the night because I fell asleep too early. I bought some new Reef sandals at about 2:00 this morning while laying in bed.

00;23;48;10 - 00;24;04;04
Jess
I wonder what that statistic of what time you purchased that says about you as a consumer but yeah great brand that makes sense. What about a category or brand or maybe a specific product that you could rationalize any price point for? You just have to have it in your life?

00;24;04;10 - 00;24;26;02
Erin
Well, of course, I'd say supplements from Swanson, but we've talked a lot about Swanson so I'll pick a different brand. I would actually say pet food, especially being in that space and understanding how nutrition really changes the life of an animal. I probably spend way more on pet food than I should ever admit to anybody for my dogs.

00;24;26;04 - 00;24;41;26
Jess
You know, you have so many friends in that conversation, though. I mean, you and I both work in Pet for a number of years. And, you know, when you when you care about your pet like a member of the family, then you want to put the same level of quality and nutrition in their body as you do your family.

00;24;41;26 - 00;24;52;09
Jess
And I think that's why we’ve seen this prevalence of, you know, amazing new products within the space. And it's great to see them coming closer to the expectations we have for for human food. I'm sure they appreciate it.

00;24;52;11 - 00;24;52;28
Erin
Yeah.

00;24;53;00 - 00;25;11;05
Jess
I have a one year old golden retriever puppy that's like crazy, a little ball of fire. But we're at that point where he's like kind of moving from puppy to getting to be a little older and we have to revisit his nutritional needs, just like we do with our kids that are turning teenagers. Yikes. I'm going through a lot of change, Erin.

00;25;11;08 - 00;25;21;04
Erin
Well, I think my dogs probably eat better than my teenage kids do. And that's because I have control over what they're eating. I only have control over what the dog's eating.

00;25;21;06 - 00;25;33;00
Jess
You’re on to something there. So brands have distinct personalities. We know that. What's a brand that you might choose to date and a brand that you might choose to marry? They could be the same brand, but sometimes not always.

00;25;33;02 - 00;25;54;25
Erin
Yeah. I would say from a dating standpoint, you know who really interests me? Noom? And I'll say it's it's really interesting. I actually started using Noom about a year ago, and so obviously I'm much more aware of them as a brand, but I like their conversational style. I like they're kind of like a best friend. So I don't think I'd marry them.

00;25;54;25 - 00;26;21;07
Erin
Maybe I'd like they'd be my BFF because it's very much like educational. It's very much like low pressure. It's very much like hey I want to help you. But, you know, if you don't want help right now, it’s cool. I'll still be here. Like the approachability of the brand. So I would say they’d probably be BFF. I'd say as far as marrying a brand, for sure, my big crush has always been Target. Love everything about Target.

00;26;21;07 - 00;26;45;27
Erin
You can see any content from Target, any ad from Target immediately you know it’s Target. Like you don't have to hear a sound bite. You don't have to see a person. Like you immediately know that it's Target. You walk into the store, it has that same feel, that same vibe. I love that they have such like engagement from like, from influencers and just like any I'm part of the mom set too, right?

00;26;45;27 - 00;27;11;09
Erin
Everybody talks about going on a target run. Everybody talks about like, I went to Target and I left $500 lighter. Right? But like, it's it just it's so, like woven into I think so woven into what I do. Like, it's great. I can have I can have products delivered in my house. I can go to their houses and get like I've gone out and hit another Target because I just needed a break from being at home. Like it's a little bit of everything.

00;27;11;09 - 00;27;14;22
Erin
I think Target would be my brand that I would marry.

00;27;14;24 - 00;27;34;18
Jess
Well, that's a great testament of it. And the role it plays in so many people's lives because it is it's the safe haven, It's a happy place, it's respite. It's also where you can get literally anything you need for your house. Yeah, that's a great one. So finally, Erin, a lot you can tell inspires you, but what really keeps you inspired at work?

00;27;34;24 - 00;28;04;21
Erin
I think what keeps me inspired at work is actually seeing other people get excited about the work that we're doing. I feed off of other people's energy and I get excited about what we're doing. I get excited about the story we're telling to consumers, but to see other people, like in the environment that I work, working, get excited about it to, you know, even something as little as it's part of our brand refresh, we created backgrounds for Teams and Zoom that are branded.

00;28;04;23 - 00;28;26;02
Erin
And I love when I get a call with people in the organization and like somebody who you would never expect has the branded backgrounds. We didn't make it mandatory and like just see, like they're embracing it. They're excited about it. And I think seeing that is it's so exciting. It's, you know, I, I have kids and I get excited when they pick up on positive things that I've tried to pass along to them.

00;28;26;02 - 00;29;32;10
Erin
And I think it comes into the workspace, too. You just you love knowing that what you're doing is making an impact positively on people.

00;29;32;12 - 00;29;54;25
Jess
Yeah, that's fantastic. Well, honestly, as a you know, the research partner that was part of this initiative, nothing makes us more inspired or excited when we do see the insights we were able to partner on and bring to bear live out in their sort of new world. And so when I see that background as well, I get really excited on behalf of the folks that worked with Swanson and were able to do part of that research.

00;29;54;25 - 00;30;10;14
Jess
So thank you for trusting us with such an important business objective. It was such a pleasure to to work with you on that, but also to have you here today to hear so much more about your background and some of the lessons that you've shared. So awesome conversation, Erin, thank you so much for being here today.

00;30;10;16 - 00;30;27;13
Erin
Thank you for having me. I've really enjoyed it and I've actually really enjoyed working with Dig. I mean, I do have to say that if we did not have Dig I don't think we could be where we are now. Those insights were so crucial in bringing to life the brand as it is. So Dig was there in the beginning of the journey.

00;30;27;14 - 00;30;33;27
Erin
It's been really fun to go for all of us. So yeah, I've really enjoyed it and really enjoyed our talk today too. So thank you.

00;30;33;29 - 00;30;40;00
Jess
Thanks, Erin. I love it. Well, thanks you guys for joining us again on the Dig In podcast and we'll see you next time.

00;30;40;02 - 00;30;47;15
VO
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