Torani’s experimentation with flavor could have stopped at its original product lines but the company has grown with modern times, embracing the era of cafes and eateries and allowing it to reflect in its product line. It is here that Melanie Dulbecco has thrived, having spent 32 years shaping and molding the company to continue its rise upwards. It’s not every day you meet a leader with a serious commitment to a “100 percent retention” of their team, but Dulbecco knows a little something about making it happen. 

Industry Leaders: It’s been a long run as CEO of Torani. Can you tell us about a few milestones that have defined your career?

When I first walked through Torani’s doors 32 years ago, I was inspired by this tiny family-owned company in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point Neighborhood with just eight people in manufacturing. They were creating local jobs and approaching business with a people-first mindset.

I dove in headfirst, and three decades later we’ve grown an average of 20 percent year-over-year consistently for 32 years, hired hundreds of people locally, and we’re just getting started!

An early milestone that defined Torani—and ultimately my career—was inventing the flavored latte and shifting our business model towards our “Café Era.” We knew this delicious discovery had the ability to bring many more people into the coffee fold. We partnered with coffee roasters as distributors, reimagined our portfolio, focused on our new “killer app,” the vanilla latte (which nobody had ever heard of!), and eventually grew into a global company and household brand.

Another defining milestone for us is when Torani became a certified B-Corp in 2019. This validated our nearly 100-year commitment that business can be a powerful force for good. It also created a new platform for us to learn and share practices with like-minded businesses to make an even stronger collective impact.

A recent milestone that I’m exceptionally proud of is that we were able to successfully relocate our headquarters and manufacturing from South San Francisco, which had been our home for 25 years, to our new 30,000-square-foot Flavor Factory in San Leandro during the early days of the pandemic. This was Torani’s biggest investment in our long history—the kind that takes your breath away when you sign the bank loan documents—with an ambitious goal of 100 percent retention of our team members. We had to juggle the move and commissioning of production lines amid the shelter-in-place orders and global supply chain craziness, but we did it together and we ended up succeeding with flying colors.

Industry Leaders: You’ve probably seen many careers begin with their first steps at the company, tell us a little more about what it’s like working with young talent.

One thing I love about Torani is that we have all kinds of jobs and team members from all kinds of backgrounds, including socio-economic, educational, country of origin…you name it. We have team members who come from a whopping 35 countries around the world. Each team member brings their unique flavor to Torani.

Working with young talent is inspiring. They’re having a great impact on business as are bringing new ideas and pushing us to think differently, especially around our work lives. One thing I’m seeing is that our younger Gen Z team members are pushing harder for more work-life balance, and while this is an area we’ve always excelled at, they are bringing a valuable new perspective. I don’t think they necessarily want anything different from previous generations, but they’re confident enough to push to make it a reality. My generation threw ourselves into working long hours. It was the way we proved ourselves. Now we’re ALL benefiting from this workplace paradigm shift, thanks in part to our youngest team members. As leaders, we can listen, adjust our policies and practices, and then lead by example, celebrating that we have integrated lives within and outside work.

Industry Leaders: There may have been many changes you’ve witnessed in the workforce with every passing year. Is the Gen Z workforce very different?

One inspiring thing I’m seeing from our Gen Z team members is their desire to learn, develop, and take a more meandering career path. Previous generations often picked one job and worked their way up a traditional ladder. This new way of thinking about work creates learning and development experiences and opens new, unexpected opportunities.

At Torani, we have a practice called Career Mixology that’s perfect for team members who want to experiment and try new things. We encourage team members to pursue different opportunities within our organization with learning and development and to even transition into new roles across departments. For example, a team member at Torani might begin their career as a food scientist and later express interest in marketing, work on a project, and then move to that side of the business. We love this and believe businesses can and should create more opportunities for people to bust out of traditional career thinking.

Industry Leaders: We’re fascinated by the innovative ideas of combining Torani’s products with energy drinks or beverage ideas for a “Galentine’s Day.” What inspires these ideas, and is there an eye on trends that are shaping the industry? 

At Torani, we are “flavor geeks” and our team of trend experts tracks flavor and beverage trends from around the world, looking at everything from grocery store shelves to fine dining menus to street food fare. We take these insights to help our café partners build menus that appeal to young consumers, create new on-trend flavors, and develop recipes for holidays like Galentine’s Day!

We just launched our Flavor of the Year 2024, Torani Puremade Galaxy Syrup, which is our first foray into the world of “fantasy flavors,” aligning with consumers’ desire for escapism. The concept was brought forward by our trend research teams and takes the concept of “traveling with your tastebuds” a step further (this trend also inspired our 2022 and 2023 Flavors of the Year, Salted Egg Yolk and Toasted Black Sesame). This flavor is particularly interesting because our team was inspired by scientific research on what space “tastes like,” and combined that with the rising interest in fantasy. 

Industry Leaders: For Torani, “Everything starts with people.” Can you tell us a little more about the people-centric culture at the company?

Our purpose is Flavor for All. Opportunity for All. Flavor is not just what we make, it is also what each of us brings. And we believe that businesses can and should create more opportunities for our team members, customers, partners, and community to not just “make it” but to thrive. At Torani, we’re focusing on opportunity onramps and workforce development for our team members and are exploring how we can extend this to our customers, consumers, and local communities.

For us, people-centric is not just one of many decision-making filters, it is the first and most important lens at every crossroad. Whether it’s a global pandemic or a business bump, we ask ourselves “When we look back at navigating this, what will make us proud?” Using this people-first approach, we’ve never had a layoff in our nearly 100-year history, we have remarkable tenure, and our business is thriving.

Our Internal Opportunity Practices focus on learning and development (with programs like Contribution Management and Career Mixology) and income and wealth inclusion (with compensation philosophies, Skill Block programs, ESOP, bonuses, and profit sharing for every single team member)—we all share in the successes together. 

Industry Leaders: We’d love to know more about Torani’s work with the non-profit organization SHE-CAN, and what that was like for the company.

Torani’s purpose is “Flavor for All. Opportunity for All.” We love to support organizations that create opportunities and SHE-CAN (Supporting Her Education Changes a Nation) is a long-time Torani partner that does exactly that. SHE-CAN supports amazing young women from post-conflict countries like Rwanda, Cambodia, and Guatemala to earn U.S. college educations and then return to their countries to be change makers.

Many of Torani’s female leaders have been SHE-CAN mentors, a five-year commitment to support a scholar through her journey, and recently we supported the Make A Change Program. This program empowered 10 young women to return home during their summers to create service projects to address their communities’ challenges. Our team members were honored to support these women with their projects. Each exuded creativity, ranging from establishing women’s agricultural co-op with bookkeeping classes in Cambodia to challenging menstrual taboos in Liberia.

Industry Leaders: Before we close things off, do you have any advice for aspiring leaders who will define the workforce in the upcoming years?

There’s a lot of opportunity to rethink the way business has worked traditionally. Business holds the potential to be a much more powerful force for good. We’re excited to be part of the community of leaders pushing boundaries, and count on aspiring leaders to challenge the status quo!

Melanie Dulbecco Bio: Melanie’s mantra is “Grow, baby, grow!” That’s exactly what she’s done for over 30 years as Torani’s CEO. Torani, the fiercely independent flavor maker and B-Corp, has averaged double-digit, year-over-year growth in that time, flavoring cafés around the world. Melanie’s passion and expertise are in organization development and scaling social impact companies. She’s committed to shaping business to be a force for good, creating opportunity and development for people from all backgrounds. Melanie earned a BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford. She feels a strong connection to Rwanda through her involvement in the NGO SHE-CAN as a Board Member and mentor to Rwandan scholars studying in the US.

The post Torani CEO Melanie Dulbecco: Fluidity is the Name of the Game appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

As Gen Z continues to grow up and reconfigure the Internet, digital marketers must figure out how to respect individual freedoms while offering personalized customer experiences.

As a generation that grew up with full access to the Internet, Gen Z is also more conscious of what they want and why. They are conscious consumers who research companies and brands before making purchase decisions.

It is not enough to have online reviews. This generation is comfortable with change and welcomes advancements in technology. They prioritize relevance and authenticity over quick profits and follow brands with a purpose. 

Digital Advertising Trends for 2023

The digital advertising landscape is set to change drastically in the coming years.  

According to Business Insider, by 2026, Gen Z will be the largest generation, at around 82 million people. And Gen Z is passionate about social issues and sustainability.

Digitally sophisticated and politically progressive, GenZ is ready to fight for what they believe.

Aneesh Dhawan, CEO of Knit, a Gen Z insights platform and video feedback solution provider, told CMSWire that Gen Z’s sense of self-expression carries forth in their decisions about the brands they choose to do business with.

He stated that the company found that 89% of Gen Zers choose to shop from brands that are socially and environmentally conscious.

Marketers need to keep in mind that no matter what the campaign is about, if it is not purpose-driven, they will lose the biggest demographic.

Gen Zers want to know if the organizations they work with align with their values.

According to the recent Verint report, less than 36% of consumers under 40 prefer to visit stores when interacting with retailers. This shows that online shopping will be a big part of the consumer experience and making it more interactive and fun is what digital marketers should aim for.

As digital natives, Gen Zers know how to weed out the chaff from the wheat and are unafraid to call out those who do not practice what they preach.

Short Videos

According to online video consumption statistics, 92.7% of global internet users watch digital videos. Ecommerce product reviews are watched by 27% of online consumers every week.

It is clear that online videos have become part and parcel of our everyday life.

TikTok changed the social media game with its simple, short videos that enamored the young and old. As over 40% of its daily users fall into the 18 to 24-year-old age group, brands quickly realized the potential of advertising on this platform. The video game app’s rivals weren’t too far behind. Instagram came up with Reels, while YouTube let content creators promote their wares through Shorts.

Digital marketers must to make short, engaging videos that give relevant information in bite-sized pieces. Short videos are easy to consume, and often people do not actively realize that they are marketing tools unless specified.

People browse short videos, while waiting in line, traveling, or killing time as they await something else.

Short videos fill the gap and, when presented thoughtfully, can draw people to the brand’s website.

Podcast Ads

In recent times, the podcast industry has become a multi-million-dollar industry. With its rise, the digital advertising industry has woken up to the huge market this presents. 

Podcast ads have now become mainstream, as over 100 million Americans listen to podcasts every month. 

According to the Edison Research Super Listeners 2021 report, podcast ads are the most recalled ad types. Podcast ads contain detailed information about the product or service being promoted. The host usually chimes with their experiences, if relevant.

In some cases, the podcast ad is a pre-recorded audio message inserted into the audio.

In a Nielsen survey, 70% of respondents reported that a podcast ad increased their awareness of a new product or service. The study also discovered that 69% of those surveyed correctly recalled the brand advertised in the podcast.

Podcast ads are more effective as they cut across demographics and have a loyal following.

The ROI for podcast ads will be much higher than a regular TV or radio ad campaign.

Some of the most successful podcasts earn thousands in revenue every month as they build up a dedicated customer base.

In Nielsen’s survey, podcast listeners admitted that podcast ads made them seriously consider new products/ services.  

Influencer Marketing

It is the age of the influencers, and it is defined by the unique tastes of Gen Z. As a generation that grew up having access to and playing around the Internet, they know how to use it to their advantage.

Influencer marketing also lends a certain authenticity to your brand as the creators have already built credibility with their audience. Influencer videos and vlogs also rank among the most popular videos on the Internet. Research shows that around 25.2% of Internet users worldwide watch influencer videos every week.

The influencer industry generated over $13 billion in 2021, and is set to rise in the coming years.

To promote specific products that cater to a niche audience, it is better to partner up with a micro influencer. A micro influencer usually has between 1,000 to 10,000 followers.

According to Forbes, a micro influencer has more engaged audiences compared to a macro influencer (between 10,000 and 1 million followers) or mega influencer (over 1 million followers).

Digital influencers are expected to impact how to shop, eat, and travel in 2023, as brands realize their impact on consumer behavior.

As consumers place greater value on how they spend their money, they are turning to more reliable sources (read influencers).

LinkedIn Storytelling

If you are on LinkedIn you will come across multiple stories and campaigns by different brands. But more than the curated ones, LinkedIn has the potential to generate organic traffic.

From blog posts, case studies, experience sharing, and getting new joiners to pen their thoughts about the company culture, LinkedIn marketing has evolved into something much bigger.

Today, reviews and testimonials are widely shared on LinkedIn and sometimes outdo paid marketing strategies.

LinkedIn marketing is part of professional networking, but it also serves as a news source. Everyone, from customers to HR professionals, talks about big organizations and what they approve or disapprove of.

As digital marketing evolves in 2023, unpaid LinkedIn marketing will boost company image and customer engagement.

There have been posts about exceptional customer service by Uber drivers, big tech giving people with large career breaks a chance, and bosses who help employees maintain a work-life balance.

Conscious consumers pay attention to these facts when deciding which brand to go with before making a purchase.

Augmented Reality Experiences

Augmented reality (AR)and other immersive experiences will redefine digital advertising.  Online shopping picked up during the pandemic.

To enhance online shopping, brands are now experimenting with AR techniques to offer better feedback and personalized experiences. AR empowers customers with the ability to visualize and customize products in 3D when shopping.

Apple CEO Tim Cook believes AR will soon become a part of our everyday life. He said, “I do think a significant portion of the population of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences everyday, almost like eating three meals a day. It will become that much a part of you.”

According to a report by Mobile Marketer, only 1% of retailers are currently leveraging AR or VR (virtual reality) in their customer buying experience. The report also found that 52% are not prepared to integrate AR and other technologies.

Recognizing the power of these technologies, Google has now launched AR to help shoppers figure out the best beauty products for their skin tone and color.

Consumer experiences will be defined by the AR experience retailers offer.

On the IKEA Place App, customers can visualize how furniture will look in their living space in real-time, and offer customization options. When given a choice, 61% of customers will prefer retailers who offer AR experiences.

According to Vibrant Media, AR ads are enabling brands to bring their products to life right in front of consumers. Digital advertising agencies are scrambling to play catch up, and those who don’t will be made redundant in a few years.

Luxury brand Miss Dior launched a campaign early this year that used Google Lens and allowed customers to create an AR garden of blossoming flowers to promote their perfume. Miss Dior reached 2.5 million clients and garnered 350,000 global user engagements.

Data Privacy

While it is not something that is often talked about in advertising, data privacy will be a big factor in digital advertising. As the world unites over data privacy and fundamental human rights, companies that ask for consent will generate trust and credibility.

Mining customer data for personalized ads targeting has been the norm in the last decade. But all that is set to change.

A business that shows that they value and respect user privacy will gain the trust of consumers. In 2023, many more laws will be put in place to prevent tracking user data without consent.

Failing to protect the integrity and privacy of customers can have repercussions that extend far beyond legal and financial penalties.

In 2016, European governments came together to launch the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) act. According to the GDPR, consent must be “freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous”. It is a constantly evolving piece of law.

The EU has also fined big tech for data privacy violations and for using consumer data for more than intended.

The US Congress has a data bill that seeks to entrench privacy by design into technology.

According to research by Google, consumers view bad privacy experiences as almost as damaging as theft of their data. It is enough to make 43% of them switch to another brand.

Studies have shown that no matter how enticing a product is, GenZ will reject it if the brand partners with inauthentic celebrities or influencers. The Knit 2022 report found that 44% of the younger generation will not give their business to such brands.

“With about $150B in buying power, Gen Zers are using their individuality to shop from brands that understand these values,” said Dhawan. “The brands that successfully engage Gen Zers are doing so because they aren’t lumping them all together. 

They aren’t just marketing based on a widespread identity; instead, they speak to specific consumers and hone in on their unique individuality as a generation.”

The post Digital Advertising Trends That Will Redefine 2023 appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.