The CPG Guys - Beverage Boss with Calypso Lemonade's Bridget McCarthy Lasda

Beverage Boss with Calypso Lemonade's Bridget McCarthy Lasda

12/28/20 • 39 min

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB welcome Bridget Lasda, Chief Customer Officer for King Juice/Calypso Lemonade for this episode.
Bridget started her career at The Coca-Cola Company and then Heineken USA before joining King Juice.
Questions Bridget answers include:

You joined Coca-Cola straight out of college. What were some of the experiences or skills you honed at Coca-Cola that have served you particularly well in your career there and beyond?
What were some of the requirements of selling alcohol beverage products that were surprising or challenging for you as you joined HeinekenUSA?
After working your entire career at large companies with venerable brands, you decide to join this emerging Calypso business. What drew you to this opportunity and were there any particularly humbling experiences you faced working for an early-stage brand?
The trade requirements you faced over your career have been transforming as the omnichannel world emerges. What was needed for an omnichannel retailer is much more demanding than just a brick & mortar retailer. Can you tell us what capabilities you need to bring when selling into a national omnichannel retailer particularly as it relates to the digital shelf?
When you are Coca-Cola, you are often the category captain or trusted advisor to the buyer. How do you position King Juice’s role and what specific set of capabilities do you employ to succeed in a highly competitive and crowded category?
Calypso’s distribution is growing rapidly,even reaching to Hawaii. Is your growth strategy more geographic or channel based? What are your KPIs beyond equivalized cases?
The pandemic had broad impact on the food & beverage industry. How did that manifest for King Juice in your supply chain and retail demand? Has that changed as the pandemic extends? Is virtual selling harder or easier that live meetings?
Convenience retailers like 7 Eleven and Go Puff have entered the eCommerce world. Is this a promising channel and do you think that more competitors will enter the market?
What are some of the key transformations that you are watching in the retail industry that pertain to immediate consumption beverage?
How has a commitment to your community through volunteerism brought balance to your professional pursuits and how would you advise our audience to consider similar altruistic pursuits?

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You joined Coca-Cola straight out of college. What were some of the experiences or skills you honed at Coca-Cola that have served you particularly well in your career there and beyond?
What were some of the requirements of selling alcohol beverage products that were surprising or challenging for you as you joined HeinekenUSA?
After working your entire career at large companies with venerable brands, you decide to join this emerging Calypso business. What drew you to this opportunity and were there any particularly humbling experiences you faced working for an early-stage brand?
The trade requirements you faced over your career have been transforming as the omnichannel world emerges. What was needed for an omnichannel retailer is much more demanding than just a brick & mortar retailer. Can you tell us what capabilities you need to bring when selling into a national omnichannel retailer particularly as it relates to the digital shelf?
When you are Coca-Cola, you are often the category captain or trusted advisor to the buyer. How do you position King Juice’s role and what specific set of capabilities do you employ to succeed in a highly competitive and crowded category?
Calypso’s distribution is growing rapidly,even reaching to Hawaii. Is your growth strategy more geographic or channel based? What are your KPIs beyond equivalized cases?
The pandemic had broad impact on the food & beverage industry. How did that manifest for King Juice in your supply chain and retail demand? Has that changed as the pandemic extends? Is virtual selling harder or easier that live meetings?
Convenience retailers like 7 Eleven and Go Puff have entered the eCommerce world. Is this a promising channel and do you think that more competitors will enter the market?
What are some of the key transformations that you are watching in the retail industry that pertain to immediate consumption beverage?
How has a commitment to your community through volunteerism brought balance to your professional pursuits and how would you advise our audience to consider similar altruistic pursuits?

To access all of The CPG Guys content, visit http://cpgguys.com

Previous Episode

Shopper Marketing Insights with Ken Coogan

The CPG Guys welcome Ken Coogan from Coogan Partners. Ken recently fielded a survey with CPG shopper marketing professionals and joins the podcast to share the results with our audience.
Questions covered in the interview with Peter:

What are some of the CPG-related transformations getting your attention in the pandemic?
Why did you field this survey and can you give us details behind the makeup of the respondents?
What do you see as the key conclusions from the study?
What do you consider to have been the biggest changes impacting shopper marketing? How are they accelerated by Covid?
What does the survey tell us brands are doing to win in these turbulent times from an investment perspective?
Driving trial through in-store sampling has been virtually eliminated due to health concerns. How are brand compensating and is there a benefit to the digital shelf (sampling for reviews)?
What are the sources of insights that brands are turning to to drive their decisions in the pandemic era?
What do you think the biggest issues and opportunities will be going forward?
How should retailers and brands be thinking about the post pandemic future?
In your consulting work around share groups, you bring together people with similar roles at non-competing manufacturers to discuss topics of interest to them. Can you share with us some areas of focus that have risen to the top this year and do they align to this research?

Download the survey results here.
Access all The CPG Guys content at http://cpgguys.com

Next Episode

The "Omnies" Awards - Part 1 CPG Brands

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB celebrate the first annual "Omnies" which recognize the best in omnichannel digital for retailers, marketplaces and brands.
Follow The CPG Guys on LinkedIn at http://www.LinkedIn.com/company/cpgpodcast
In the first episode, CPG Brands awards are named for the following categories:

Best Digital CPG
Best DTC CPG
Most Improved Digital CPG
Rising Star Digital CPG
Best CPG Use of Social Media
Most Innovative Digital CPG

Find all our content and the full list of winners at http://cpgguys.com
References to Texas A&M Center for Retail Studies and its employees being involved in calculating the results of the awards was satirical and intended to add humor to the series of episodes.