CPG Spark Series

In 5-minute sessions, speakers share their expertise on hot topics for the CPG industry.

Brands, Wall Street and Beyond the Status Quo

Thursday, September 29 | 11:05-11:10 a.m. MT

Kelly Dotson
President
Numerator

The ecosystem surrounding brands, particularly Wall Street, is leveraging a more progressive, aggressive view on assessing brand growth— a view that opts for rapid directional insights across the full-range of consumer behavior over precise measurement of a smaller, traditionally tracked view. This session explores the impact of this ecosystem on brands and the strategic gap to explore.

Addressing the Sustainability Imperative

Thursday, September 29 | 11:45-11:50 a.m. MT

Jordan Bar Am
Partner
McKinsey & Company

The topic of Sustainability is growing in importance as consumers, customers, employees, investors, and (even) regulators increasingly press CPGs to clarify and increase their commitments on the topic.  Despite the mounting pressure, CPG’s often struggle to build the business case around sustainability, encountering a gap between what consumers/customers say they want and what they are actually willing to pay for. This session will provide a framework for how CPGs can think about addressing the sustainability imperative and how to think about opportunities for differentiation and collaboration to achieve their agenda.

Courage to Drive Change for a Circular Economy

Thursday, September 29 | 1:15-1:20 p.m. MT

Scott Ballard
President, Plastics & Circular
Eastman

What will it take to create a true circular economy? It’s a complex challenge and there is no easy answer. It will take leadership, collaboration, and innovation throughout the value chain to drive systemic change.

Driving CPG Growth in New Ways

Thursday, September 29 | 2:20-2:25 p.m. MT

Josh Rider
Vice President, Brand Partnership Strategies
Instacart

Explore how e-commerce insights are creating new opportunities for CPG growth. Josh Rider, VP of Brand Partnerships at Instacart, will share unique applications of first-party data by leading and emerging brands to drive results online and offline. Learn how CPG brands are leveraging insights to shape their strategy, from optimizing their advertising investments to growing distribution and more. 

Planning for Market Volatility and Shifts in Consumer Behavior

Thursday, September 29 | 2:55-3:00 p.m. MT

Rich Wagner
Founder and CEO
Prevedere

The world is changing faster and with more volatility than ever before. On top of the pandemic, business leaders must now be prepared to navigate inflation, recessionary pressures, changes in consumer behavior, and more.  

In this session, Rich Wagner, Founder and CEO of Prevedere, shares how a leading CPG company identified which external factors impacted their business and quantified the potential positive or negative impact and timing. Adopting a new forecasting strategy, this top CPG now has all the right ingredients – global macroeconomic data, market-validated forecasts, and “what-if” scenarios – to plan a successful path forward amidst increased uncertainty. 

Driving Growth in 2023 and Beyond

Friday, September 30 | 10:00-10:005 a.m. MT

Kirk Perry
President and CEO
IRI and NPD

Explore some of the biggest trends and watch outs we’re seeing across industries and understand the top questions to think about as we head into 2023.