Summary

Introducing, my journey. Ben Roberts is an experienced business professional & strategic leader with over 20 years of International CPG (consumer packaged goods) exposure and a proven history of driving volume & efficiency through insights & analytics.

More recently focusing on digital, having completed a Google Digital Marketing course, ‘Google Squared’ in 2014-2015. I had previous experience in the digital realm from leading Wrigley’s global mobile strategy, and digital was rapidly evolving. It became a natural pivot to support companies in the navigation of this complex yet powerful area of business.

The Start

My journey started in Bath, UK. I still say I was born in one of the top 10 cities in the world!

If you have not visited Bath, it is worth adding to the wish list. A Roman Spa city built around natural hot springs; the pagans originally called Bath ‘Aquae Sulis’ – the goddess of sacred waters.

Finding Business

I can still remember being taught about a PMI model in grade 4, positives, minuses, and interests, it was the first time anything made logical sense. After which point, I began learning and studying business and commerce. In 1996, I became the first member of my family to attend university, where I specialized in business with marketing at the University of the West of England.

The Early Marketing Years

After initially finding a role in purchasing and logistics, I quickly pivoted to my preferred function, ‘marketing’. I specialized in brand marketing, where I had complete autonomy over my portfolio. I was even responsible for Europe and at an early stage of my career I managed the budget, and I managed the resources. Not only that, but I determine every aspect from a marketing perspective. In 1999, I introduced the company I was working for to the World Wide Web. I coordinated the design and production of their first-ever website. I have been on the digital wave from the beginning.

Moving to Canada

My journey took me to another country. I always wanted to live in another country, I didn’t want to ever reach the age I am now and say I wish I had done… I should have done that. So, I made it happen, I made the decision I wanted to live in another country. I started to do research, I evaluated my options, I looked at pros and cons, predictions, forecasts. In the same way, I break down all the challenges I encounter.

Having narrowed my search to three countries, I started the painstaking application process. Interviews, tests, reviews, references, medicals, and of course the waiting and the waiting. Finally, after over 18 long months, I had a ‘skilled workers visa’ with Canada stamped at the top of the page.

On April 18, 2001, my family drove me to Gatwick Airport in London, where we met my best friend, and they waved me off, as I walked into the next chapter of my journey – wondering whether I had made the biggest mistake of my life!

Project Management versus Brand Management

I slowly started finding my feet in Canada. It is funny to think I used to hear this line all the time, ‘you don’t have Canadian experience’. To overcome this, I stayed in a similar industry versus what I had been doing in the UK. I wanted to stay in marketing, but I quickly realized that doesn’t often happen in Canada. Brand Managers in CPG (consumer packaged goods) are project managers, they have minimal creative license as nearly every decision is predetermined either by the US or global.

Brand marketing in CPG wasn’t giving me anywhere near the responsibility or resources which I had previously enjoyed. My balloon had burst, where was my journey going to go next! It was comical to talk with marketers who were conditioned to think they controlled their brands. They were passed a folder marked ‘this is how we did it in the US’, now go and do the same thing in Canada. What do you mean Canada is different from the US? The response would be, did you look at your volume numbers, this month?

FMCG Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

For the first 15 years of my journey in Canada, no one talked about FMCG. It was not a phase which North Americans were familiar with. It basically splits CPG into two. The products which you would find at Canadian Tire and Home Depot, are the products that turn slower and do not usually have any freshness issues (think power drills, mosquito nets). Then you have FMCG. This pertains to all fast-moving consumer goods which are sold in grocery and drug stores. The product and sales dynamics are very different between the two.

How do I pivot to FMCG? One word kept coming up again and again, Nielsen. My journey will lead me there.

Nielsen

ACNielsen is a data and analytics business. They collect POS store data from retailers and subsequently aggregate this data into categories. Every time an item is scanned at store level, the transaction is then recorded; this data is subsequently sold to Nielsen. Where they consolidate and segment this data from multiple retailers before selling it back to vendors.

I had managed data for the company I worked for in the UK, but it wasn’t dynamic, and it wasn’t my strong point. But it was the drug of FMCG and the retailers who sold the products.

I knew what I had to do, to get where I wanted to go, I would require a stop at Nielsen, and I would have to make data and analytics a strength.

A Passion for Confectionery

My stop at Cadbury will always put a smile on my face! As you now know, I spent my childhood in the UK. Cadbury was this beloved UK brand. As a child every Christmas I would look forward to the Cadbury variety packs, and I was now working for the company, it was a dream come true! Often after someone gets your name, they’ll ask you what you do. I would tell them I worked for Cadbury. A smile would come on their faces as they were instantly transported back to their childhood. Next would come either one of two things, ….my favourite Cadbury product is ….do you know how they get the Caramilk into the Caramilk bar?

If Cadbury had not been taken over by Kraft in a hostile takeover, I think I would still be there. It was the last place I felt like I was part of a family.  Everyone was working together for the same goal. The leadership at Cadbury at that time was the best I had or have ever experienced.

Category and analytics gave me a tool to leverage growth and develop new opportunities and ways of working. At the time, retailers in Canada wanted to try new things and gain a competitive advantage. I also found a great passion for working in confectionery, which was rich with innovation and unique category dynamics. For the first time in Canada, I was working in tier one (FMCG). The brands and categories were big enough and dynamic enough for retailers to care.

Back to the UK

I had the opportunity to move back to the UK between 2013-2015 to spearhead Wrigley Mars ‘Global Mobile Strategy’ at their Global Growth Center in London. It was a new position as they were worried about how the mobile phone was going to change their business model, specifically if you could checkout anywhere. I worked extensively at understanding a complex, ambiguous challenge and subsequently predicted where it would go. I studied digital marketing with Google and developed a model which is still relevant today. Furthermore, I predicted that mobile was going to be a good thing, not a bad thing, and how it could enhance the business model versus being detrimental. My motto at the time, ‘mobile changes everything’, and it did!

I missed Canada!

Return to Canada

In 2015, my journey brought me back to Canada and I had some mediocre stops. The first thing I concluded was that ‘Category’ generally only works if you’re number one, number two, or at best the number three manufacturer! Not so much if you’re number seven! Subsequent players are not very important to retailers especially when their sales strategies are at odds with category-centric principles.

I found the Canadian landscape had changed quite significantly. Going from Global partners who wanted to innovate, test & learn, and really push the envelope, to the slow and stodgy world of Canadian retail, was a shock to the system. Retail in Canada had consolidated like crazy and to a large part had become unorganized, inefficient, and fragmented.

The problem was they now had the upper hand, what was once a mutually beneficial win-win arrangement turned prickly, and uninspiring. Partnerships and category-centric approaches were disappearing overnight, replaced by short-term thinking and poor leadership.

The Pandemic Pivot

In 2019, a virus spread across the world, forever changing how we interact and do business.

With CPG going through an unfavourable phase. I looked at new options.

In business, I had three areas dialed up:

• Building strategies
• People management and
• Digital

Digital

My journey brought me back to digital. Digital was no longer going to be a nice-to-do.

Connecting with customers was now going to be more important than ever before. The best way to do this was going to be leveraging social media, where you can actually target your audience. In addition, the hub of most businesses, their websites often lacked the necessary functionality and capabilities necessary to rise to the top. I also, observed how Canadian Customer Service/experience is lacking.

I honed my skills. Studying social media, website strategy/design along with advanced digital analytics. I studied coding and delved into the backend of Google Analytics. Moving forward, I am now combining these new skills in digital with my previous extensive business experience. This developed into Sterling Steps.

Sterling Steps Effect – summary

Subsequently, we established the ‘Sterling Steps Effect’, where we combine digital elements to complement one another.

1. SOCIAL: We design social media strategies to drive your web traffic

2. WEB: We design a better web experience to optimize the call to action

3. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CX: We provide solutions & recommendations to improve customer experience. This model significantly improves your flywheel, drives loyalty, and subsequently a distinct business advantage.

(See Mini Blog ‘what is the Sterling Effect’ – to find out more).