Here is a transcript generated by otter.ai of The Content Mix podcast interview with Patrick Neyret, global director at Danone on the power of brand purpose:

Carlota Pico 0:13
Hi everyone, and welcome back to The Content Mix. I’m Carlota Pico, your host for today’s show, and I’m excited to introduce Patrick Neyret who is Danone’s Purposeful Brands and Marketing Transformation Global Director. Welcome, Patrick, and thank you so much for joining us today on The Content Mix.

Patrick Neyret 0:32
Thank you, Carlota, for having me.

Carlota Pico 0:34
The pleasure is ours, Patrick. Patrick, you have such an exciting journey to tell us all about. Could you tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today? I mean, you went from Pernod Ricard to now Danone. What’s that experience been like?

Patrick Neyret 0:47
It’s been great. I mean, this is just the latest chapter of super exciting ride that spans around 17 years now between Brazil—So I’m French-Brazilian, born and raised in San Paolo. I spent most of my career in Brazil and four years ago I moved to France, to Paris. And around two years and a half ago, I joined Danone. It’s been great.

Carlota Pico 1:14
Okay, excellent. And what about marketing? What made you decide to pursue a career in the marketing field?

Patrick Neyret 1:22
It’s funny, because I always felt attracted to that discipline. I know that people have like, super lofty, super interesting ambitions and I want to become like an engineer, and doctor, and so on and so forth. But from a very early age, I always, I was always interested and attracted to brands, to the creative side of these of these creative brands and the work they do, etc. So I always felt like this was the right way to to go. And like, I didn’t apply to many different universities, or many different types of courses. So I focused on marketing, and I’m super happy to have chosen this career.

Carlota Pico 2:06
Okay, and I saw your LinkedIn profile—yes, I was snooping around—that you also have a business degree from INSEAD, right?

Patrick Neyret 2:13
Yeah, this is actually a leadership course I did the back in my days from Pernod Ricard. This is a super amazing course they have in company. Yeah. So yes, it is a degree from INSEAD, but more like after you graduate or you specialize or something.

Carlota Pico 2:32
Okay, and how is that leadership course helped you to lead the way for future marketing professionals across the different brands that you’ve worked in?

Patrick Neyret 2:40
Yeah. So I think it allows you in or a promotes in you a sort of openness that you need, and the empathy which is so important in this day and age? I mean, with COVID, it’s even more important, right? So no, it was, it was a fascinating sort of experience, not only to be in touch with such amazing sort of professors and methodologies, but also to be in touch with your peers, like from from Pernod Ricard, back in the day. So no, it was, it was a great experience. And also they take people from different countries, and they place them during a week. I had a wonderful first week in New York and then a second week in Chicago, which by itself is a great experience. So it was a blast, really. I was very blessed to have that experience.

Carlota Pico 3:31
Okay, amazing. Well, I do want to talk a little bit about how you’ve shaped yourself into a marketing professional. So apart from that leadership experience at INSEAD, what other skills do you think young marketing professionals should acquire in their early years?

Patrick Neyret 3:50
I think there’s a sense of curiosity in marketing, which I think is it’s very, very, very important. I think there’s a lot to be learned in your sort of day to day. But there’s a lot to also learn from what happens outside, right. So I always try to get inspired by music, sports, design. So I think there’s a curiosity across the board that is very important. I think marketing is a discipline that you need to work really, really hard, as are other disciplines. But marketing is a fascinating one in that sense. And you need to allow yourself to always ask the very naive questions, right? Because sometimes these questions they prompt interesting insights and they prompt movements and actions from brands and from business which are extremely relevant, right? I think there’s no point in sort of making things complex. Like we are up sometimes in these global teams in an ivory tower. And we need to always distill, simplify, put ourselves in consumers people’s shoes, and understand sort of what’s the simple most exciting way to tell our stories and to make sure that everything that we’re doing is relevant and authentic for them. So curiosity is one. Be open, absolutely. Be sort of open also to do a lot of hard work, right, and to simplify the things that you that you do. It’s a lot, but I think it’s worth it.

Carlota Pico 5:22
Those are fantastic takeaways, Patrick. So now, let’s put some of that theory into practical examples. What have been some of your favorite or proudest marketing moments to date?

Patrick Neyret 5:32
So I think one of my proudest marketing moments to date was back when I was at Heineken in Brazil, and we were in a moment where the awareness around the brand was not massive, but the palette from from consumers were sort of changing from very light brands to brands, which have a little bit more character, a little bit more taste, and Heineken was basically part of that sort of subset. And we were definitely punching above our weight. And we decided to sponsor one of the top five music festivals in the world, which is Rock in Rio. And so we were basically serving 700,000 people at that event. And we decided not to go with the traditional sort of aluminum cans, but to serve everyone with draught beer, which from an operational standpoint was a nightmare. But from a consumer perspective, from a consumer experience standpoint, was amazing, because he was the best way to taste the beer. So what ended up happening was that not only we sort of hijacked the attention of the festival—we became the number one brand in terms of awareness—but also that helped sort of drive a massive growth in the months to come. So that’s one, and the second one, I think it’s my current experience, sort of trying to help brands and businesses in their marketing transformation and in their journey of purpose around brands. It’s it’s complex. It’s a big journey, but it’s super rewarding. So these are two moments, with like probably 10 to 15 years difference.

Carlota Pico 7:14
Okay, Patrick, we are going to be diving further into your current role later on into the interview. But before I also want to talk about your challenges, what major challenges have you faced?

Patrick Neyret 7:26
So I think, whenever you want to become sort of an international marketer, and that was always my ambition—I think I think there was something about changing or moving away from from Brazil, changing countries—and that, for me, was my most interesting and challenging experience today. Also, from a personal from a personal side, right, you need to start understanding how a new country works, how, like the new ways of working, new ways of adjusting to the culture. And this is where you need to sort of get back to your to your roots and understand how important it is to be super resilient, to be open, and to build relationships. Because sometimes we take that for granted, right? For me, it’s the same example as if you were sort of always part of one school, right, when you’re young, and then you change schools suddenly you realize, well, I was sort of born with those friends, and now I need to sort of create or have new friends. And so how do I do this? Right. So you’re always learning and it was a challenge in the beginning, but now it’s a bit more easy. So the family, everyone is fine. And now I’m super adapted to the to the European culture and to the French culture, which is obviously a little bit more specific.

Carlota Pico 8:50
Yeah, no, I can totally relate to that story, because I grew up in Washington, DC. And then when I was 15, my parents moved me to Madrid, Spain, and of course, it was a shock. I mean, looking back on it, I’m so grateful for the change, because it shaped me into the person that I am today. But it was very challenging at that time. So, what about marketing challenges? What type of challenges have you faced within the marketing field and what major lessons did you learn?

Patrick Neyret 9:19
I think in my current position we face this challenge of sort of understanding what are the key priorities for a big company like Danone, like a 25 billion euro company like Danone. What do we need to implement to transform the way we do marketing? That’s a big challenge. And also, when we support the different brands in the portfolio, obviously, you need to be super specific. You need to be there for them. Each of them are part of one specific context with a set of consumers, of the people they serve. So I think this is a this can be quite a complex environment. So you need to be sort of on your toes all times, to be honest. So it’s a…everyday when I go to work, or actually when I open my computer at home, it’s a it’s a fantastic ride and a fantastic challenge.

Carlota Pico 10:14
Okay, well, I’m going to go back to your LinkedIn profile and read a line out for the audience that really caught my attention: “I believe in the power of an authentic purpose, the pursuit of growth and impact at scale, fueled by creativity, and in sync with culture.” What does that mean, Patrick?

Patrick Neyret 10:35
Yeah so I think having a purpose, like an authentic purpose and looking beyond just profit, and actually focusing also on every type of stakeholder that your brand impacts, I think is critical, right? So that’s the seed for great marketing. And then I think ultimately, you need to be focusing on impact. That means growing the business, of course, but also impacting people, planet, right…people’s health in the case of Danone, which is a big deal for us. And then the way to connect these two points. So starting with a clear purpose and moving to impact for me, is creativity, right? Is the way to cut through, is the way to deliver your stories. And creativity doesn’t live in isolation. So in order to make creativity, like effectiveness, or creative, make creativity effective, you need to basically have it very much synced to culture, right? Otherwise, you just don’t have that connection. Right. So that’s a point A: purpose, point B: impact. So business, planet, health, and then the way to get there for me is creativity that is connected to to culture. But that’s a lot of LinkedIn copywriting right there. So…

Carlota Pico 11:59
What about examples? Do you have any examples of brands that have built a great creative culture?

Patrick Neyret 12:04
Yeah, I think from my personal I mean, I can assume that a company like Nike, for example, is creative. I can assume that the team behind Ben and Jerry’s a creative. There’s creativity there, for sure. But I mean, from my personal experience, when I worked at Heineken, I think we were really focused on delivering things with a creative way, right, in a compelling way. So we were very much focused on design–design was critical for Heineken. We had amazing agencies working with us, but I think was one of the moments when I worked with most brilliant people from from a creative standpoint. So these are sort of two or three examples of brands or company cultures, which I think are remarkable from a creative standpoint.

Carlota Pico 12:55
Okay, excellent. Thank you for sharing that with us. Patrick, we are going to be moving into your current role. But before we do that, could you tell us a little bit about Danone’s product lines, please?

Patrick Neyret 13:05
Yeah, I can actually talk about Danone at large. So Danone it’s a fascinating company. So basically, we are composed by three divisions. So dairy and plant based products is one; waters is another one; and then we have a division called specialized nutrition, which spans everything from infant meal formula all the way to solutions for patients, right? Danone is a 25 billion Euro company with over 100 brands and recently Danone became what we call “Entreprise à Mission”. So in its own status, we need to focus not only on shareholders, but also on the other stakeholders, like so we became sort of a purpose-driven company, by definition in our own status, which is very interesting for for a French company. But to be honest, very interesting for any type of company this size. Another interesting point is that 25, or over 25 of our subsidiaries across the world are B Corps. And today, over 40% of our revenue is delivered by sort of these B corpse subsidiaries. So we take…we pay a lot of attention to the to the whole, doing good for the world and not just doing good for our own p&l and just driving profit, right? So there’s a lot of respect in that sense.

Carlota Pico 14:34
Okay, well, I’m actually one of the consumers of your products myself. I grew up on Danonino and have been consuming your yogurt for the past 34 years. So thank you for bringing yogurt into my life. Okay, Patrick, could you talk to me a little bit about what purpose means? I mean, how would you define it?

Patrick Neyret 14:53
Yeah. So that’s a very good question, actually. So, for… in a nutshell, sort of…a brand purpose is what allows you to exist sort of beyond your P&L right? Having a compelling purpose is what allows you to understand that you live in a world and that you have different levels of impact, different communities of interest, different stakeholders–not just shareholders, right? We are extremely picky when it comes to defining and to defending purpose at Danone. We have a special way to call purpose at Danone which is “manifesto.” So we don’t call them purposeful brands, we call them manifesto brands, right? Which for us are brands that are purpose-driven. They are a people power, and they respect the ‘one planet, one health’ for company vision that we were established around three years ago. Okay, so that’s a bit in a nutshell, what we how we define it. And we believe that establishing your purpose is a very special and important exercise. So we don’t think that every branch should like some sort of save the world, right? You need to understand where you stand, what is your right to play, the audience’s that you impact so that you can have something that is exciting, that is true to your brand, that can deliver more than just growth, right? It’s impact from from multiple perspectives. And also that excites your partners, your creative agencies and your consumers. So that’s something where we stand in how we define entry to purpose.

Carlota Pico 16:31
That’s a beautiful message, Patrick, so could you talk to me a little bit about the actions that you take that stand by that purpose and that definition?

Patrick Neyret 16:40
So yeah, that’s a very good question and I think one of the best examples we have, it’s from one of our brands from Mexico, it’s a brand called Bonafont, who has been fighting for gender equality rights for for many, many years–for more than 15 years now. They have an amazing partnership with UN Women for more than a couple of years now. And now they piloted this idea, which has always been in sync with their purpose to violence against women, because the number of calls that the police was receiving during these sort of covid pandemics around violence against women has increased significantly. So the brand also sort of address that moment. And in line with their sort of previous fight for gender equality, they started sort of addressing that topic in their communication and in their actions, as well. So this is just one example of a brand that has been consistently delivering against their their purpose in sort of, for a greater good, right? Not just selling more bottles of water.

Carlota Pico 17:49
Congratulations on that initiative. Okay, Patrick, what about marketing transformation? What does that mean? Because that’s also part of your job, right?

Patrick Neyret 17:57
Yes. So yeah, we have the two…So in our team, we have the two the two hats. One is, again, helping the brands from unearthing their purpose to bringing that purpose to life, and hopefully one day becoming recognized by it and driving more impact. From the perspective of the marketing transformation for 10 years that Danone had no one sort of at the helm of the global marketing, global marketing team. So there was no not like a global marketing vision that could cross transversely across brands and businesses. So three years ago, the position of CMO was created. And today it spans marketing transformation, and also insights. And the first thing that the team started doing was creating the global marketing vision, right. So every single marketer in the company across the three divisions can have like one sort of inspiring and compelling way to move forward. And then we started focusing on the building blocks to make sure that the way we do marketing is improving significantly at scale. So we created a global marketing community, which spans regions, hierarchies, different divisions, we started working on the non marketing academy, we started working on a common brand positioning model. And once these elements sort of are in place, now we’re starting to tackle specific topics, for example, creativity–how can we, as a company, become more creative, more creative, and drive more effectiveness with our creative work? Or design–how can we excel at packaging, design? Or PR–right–How can we tell better stories, more relevant stories, leveraging the power of our brands and the power of our purposes? So that’s a bit of the combination of the purpose purposeful brands journey with marketing transformation are our key priorities for today.

Carlota Pico 19:54
Okay. And you started this around two years and a half ago, right?

Patrick Neyret 19:56
Yeah.

Carlota Pico 19:57
What have been the major lessons that you’ve learned so far? Do you have any tips or tricks for other companies that hope to follow in your footsteps?

Patrick Neyret 20:06
Yeah, I think you need to understand the context of the company when you’re pitching stuff. So for example, the creativity agenda was something that I, as one had this massive conviction that this was the way to go. But only when I understood and I saw the different opportunities across projects or angles to sort of land that personal conviction around creativity, is when I saw it sort of gaining traction, gaining energy and started being incorporated by the teams. So this is one. The second one is sort of a a mindset of serving, right? I am part of a global team. I work across all brands and all divisions. So if I’m not here to serve the other teams and collaborate with them, I mean, this, this is going nowhere. Right? So I think these are the two sort of tips. Be aware of the context–drive or leverage your personal conviction, and have the sense of collaboration and yeah, just be there to your teams and to the different brands into different businesses.

Carlota Pico 21:21
Okay, and drawing on your wealth of experience, having worked for very many iconic brands in the b2c area, do you have any tips or tricks on how marketing directors can plan for a future post-COVID-19? Because I feel like we’re always talking about COVID-19 COVID-19, how we’re having to adjust to it, but there is going to be life after COVID-19 as well, and we have to start planning for that.

Patrick Neyret 21:49
You know, so there are a lot of… well, as a Brazilian, we are sort of designed to face crisis, right? Obviously, not as big as this on, but I mean, every single year in Brazil, there’s something that happens. So you just get used to this roller coaster. I think you need to have the fundamentals in place, right. I mean, I’ve been reading a lot of different articles and listening to a lot of different podcasts that just say that, first, you cannot stop investing–if you’re like a fast moving consumer goods company, don’t stop investing during Covid times. Don’t adjust every single sort of piece of your communication, because we’re facing this crisis, right? A couple of researchers showed that the things that people thought that were funny like 10 months ago, they still find it funny today. So just don’t stop communicating. Don’t stop talking to people, right. So this is one, but I think, in general, I think you need to have the fundamentals in place. You need to have a team that is resilient, and that understands where everyone is going, right. You need to have a clear vision, a clear set of objectives. And you need to understand what are sort of the most important actions that you’re doing and why you’re doing and you’re taking this these actions. It’s almost like you’re in this boat, in the middle of a storm, but you need to be focused on just like charging through and moving forward. I think that’s a that’s a bit my advice as a marketer, but also as a Brazilian.

Carlota Pico 23:31
Okay, and now let’s take a trip down memory lane, Patrick, and let’s think of your younger self, when you were a child. If you could give your younger self one piece of advice about life or about pursuing a career in marketing, what would that be?

Patrick Neyret 23:46
Yeah, I think from a from a career standpoint is to treat this as a marathon. So I had the opportunity of running my first marathon earlier this year, and I think this analogy serves really well the perspective of long term marketing career, right? I think when you’re doing your your training, you need to understand what is sort of your pace, you need to understand what is your goal, and you need to enjoy the journey. And you need to try to avoid looking sort of sideways too much, right? Because it’s very easy for you to start competing against friends, colleagues, and start believing that, “Oh, I’m not going too fast.” And I mean, this is for me, it’s a it’s probably the biggest advice I could give or biggest advice I could give to my sort of younger self. You know, it’s treat this as a marathon. Enjoy the enjoy the process, enjoy the ride, and try not to be so anxious– things will come with time. So that’s a bit that’s my take.

Carlota Pico 24:56
Okay, well, that’s a beautiful message and one that I think a lot of young people will definitely benefit from. Okay, let’s move into our set of rapid fire questions which are basically your recommendations for our audience. To get the section started off, I’d like to ask you about your source of inspiration. So who do you admire–a professional role model or an influencer, perhaps?

Patrick Neyret 25:17
That’s a good question. So I think I have someone in the sort of marketing space there that I really admire. It’s a guy called Jonathan Mildenhall. So he’s the former CMO of Airbnb, it’s a guy that had many interesting senior positions, also at Coca Cola. And now he has his own his own company, it’s called 21st Century Brand. It’s a guy that I follow. I had the opportunity of meeting him in one of the events, and he was and it was great. I think the guy represents what modern marketing should be, right? The sense of community, the sense of purpose, and a sense of creativity, and sort of trying to also incorporate different perspectives. There is a designer, it’s a Swiss designer that lives in New York, and I’ve been following her for many years now. Her sort of nickname is “Swiss Miss,” her name is Tina Eisenberg. And she has, she has many different ventures. And she has a very interesting blog. So her blog is swiss-miss.com and it’s a great source of inspiration. I love design. I love architecture. So this is how I keep sort of my balance, not focusing only on work.

Carlota Pico 26:32
Okay, how interesting. In my former life, I was actually an entrepreneur and I met Brian Chesky, who was also co-founder of Airbnb, and he was telling me about his journey and how it all started off with mattresses.

Patrick Neyret 26:44
Yeah, I mean, mattresses in their apartment. It’s was like a super simple, super simple idea back in back in the days in San Francisco that just exploded. And I think Jonathan, Mildenhall was the guy that sort of transformed Airbnb from a b&b platform into this sort brand that represents the community and that represents the sense of belonging. So it’s a it’s a great story.

Carlota Pico 27:13
Yeah, no, it’s a fantastic story. And they’ve done a fantastic job at building a community. Patrick, what about a resource that you’d like to recommend? So for example, an event, a publication, a group, a community?

Patrick Neyret 27:26
So I have, I have a couple of podcasts that I want to recommend. So one more sort of on the business side, I really liked admire the work that Nadine Dietz is doing on Adweek with her podcast CMO Moves. I think it’s a it’s super interesting, sort of the quality and the caliber of the people that she’s been interviewing. But also I want to recommend something sort of on the music side, which is a classic, classic program from the BBC, which became a podcast then, which is called Desert Island Discs. So you have this amazing set of interviewees and they always have to pick eight songs that sort of represent their life. And yeah, they have amazing people there and the songs just compliment really nicely their trajectory. So really I love it. And and then there’s a book–I’m a big fan of sports–and there’s a book from the former coach of the Lakers and the Bulls, which is called Eleven Rings, by this guy named Phil Jackson, one of the most awarded coaches in the in the NBA. It’s a great book. Great book!

Carlota Pico 28:42
I love the podcast that you mentioned. And you were part of Adweek, right?

Patrick Neyret 28:47
I am part of there. So, they’re running a mentorship program this year–actually, this is the second or third year–and this year is I am part of the program. So I have this amazing mentor. Her name is Alegra O’Hare. She’s the former CMO of gap in the US. And yeah, it’s been great. And this is powered by Adweek, yes.

Carlota Pico 29:10
What a fantastic opportunity. Okay, Patrick, and last but not least, what’s your favorite app at the moment and why?

Patrick Neyret 29:18
I was thinking about these and trying to come up with something like super innovative and sexy. But I realized that the app that is helping me the most is an app called Mighty. So it’s an app that is connected to a very small device that allows me to run without taking my phone with me–I hate to run with like carrying like the iPhone. And so this allows me to just take all my music with me on all my podcasts. It syncs with this with this app. So it’s almost like a version of iPod Nano, but that sort of incorporates everything I have on Spotify, so podcasts and music, and it’s super light and yeah, it makes my life so much easier early in the morning.

Carlota Pico 30:04
Okay, you know what some of the most simple apps are actually some of the best apps. The other day, I was posting another guy’s and he was saying that his favorite app is this app which is on his iWatch that will count the seconds that it takes him to wash his hands. And during Covid times, he finds it extremely useful because he’s counting down to 40 seconds and making sure he’s virus free.

Patrick Neyret 30:27
And it works! Yeah, wow.

Carlota Pico 30:29
I mean, I thought it was fantastic as well. Okay. Patrick, thank you so much for joining us on The Content Mix. It was awesome to learn about your background about your experience at Danone, and how Danone is creating purposeful brands.

Patrick Neyret 30:41
Thank you for having me, and, yeah, anytime. Thank you.

Carlota Pico 30:45
The pleasure has been mine, Patrick. And to everybody listening in today, thank you for joining us on The Content Mix. For more perspectives on the content marketing industry in Europe, check out The Content Mix. We’ll be releasing interviews just like this one every day, so keep on tuning in. Thanks again, have a fantastic day and see you next time. Bye!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai