J.M. Smucker’s CMO on what she’s learned about refreshing ‘dusty’ brands

Back in 2018, The J.M. Smucker Company reimagined its entire marketing model, realigning internal teams around its major business units and consolidating the work of a dozen agencies under one. The “Power of One” model looked to streamline creative, data and media functions, bringing its $580 million account to a bespoke Publicis Groupe unit called PSOne.

In the years since, Smucker — like other major advertisers — has had to navigate the pandemic, a host of operational challenges and evolving consumer behaviors, and — like other consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers — has had to modernize legacy brands for a new generation of shoppers.

When Smucker started on its new marketing journey, less than of a quarter of its brands were growing or maintaining share, a percentage that now stands near 86%, by volume — surpassing a two-third benchmark, according to Smucker CMO Gail Hollander. The company saw net sales rise 6% during Q3 of its 2024 fiscal year, led by volume and sales mix growth by brands including Meow Mix and Cafe Bustelo.

The executive has seen the turnaround from both the brand and agency side. Before joining the company as chief marketer in 2023, she ran the Smucker business for Publicis as client lead, giving her a unique perspective about how to boost CPG brands.

“We came in six years ago when there were 11 different iconic brands, but they were dusty,” Hollander said. “Fueling brands with modern energy is what helps you maintain relevance over time, and that is what the JMS marketing model is really about… we fuel these iconic brands with modern energy by thinking about the brand’s DNA and by uncovering a big brand platform idea, and those ideas tap into culture in unique and ongoing ways.” 

Building brand platforms

Among those “dusty” brands were Jif, Folgers, Meow Mix and J.M. Smucker itself: the marketer was part of the first wave of pandemic rebrands, setting aside its familiar strawberries, leaves and countrified typeface for a sleek, modern look that better spoke to the company’s portfolio, expertise and appeal.

For Smucker’s own brands, there are three core parts to rebranding or rethinking a brand’s place on the modern landscape: understanding the brand’s truth and DNA, the consumer truth and what they’re looking for in the category and what role the brand plays in culture.

“If you put all those in a bucket and you mix it up, that helps you get to a brand point of view,” Hollander explained. “That is the foundation for everything that we do. That allows that brand to not only be relevant today, but stand the test of time.”

Jif was one of the first Smucker brands to be reimagined under the new framework. A “That Jif’ing Good” platform launched in 2019 has shifted the brand away from what choosy moms choose to campaigns tapping into hip-hop and internet culture. Similarly, Folgers had to solve for a bad reputation problem as millennials entered the market.

In the case of Milk-Bone, the dog treats brand has been oriented around fostering a genuine, authentic relationship between pets and pet parents at a time when culture is inundated by social media-induced superficiality. For Meow Mix, Smucker keyed in on its iconic jingle and connection to music for a boy band-focused nostalgia trip. Brand platforms serve as “broad shoulders” for news and innovation, but also are built to last, Hollander said.

“Six years ago, nobody was talking about those brands, and now they’re healthy, they’re growing, we are attracting younger audiences,” the executive said. “That is all because we are dedicated to the art and science of marketing communications.”

Lessons for CMOs — and the C-suite

The role of the chief marketing officer continues to evolve, with CMOs facing short tenures and grappling with “murkiness” over who is responsible for what in the C-suite. In the corporate landscape, particularly with public companies like Smucker, investors expect brands to deliver on short-term business goals that sometimes run counter to the priorities of the marketing organization. For Hollander, integral to the CMO role is the need to get the entire organization to buy into the importance of long-term brand building.

“It’s easy to default to marketing as a cost-center mentality, and when budgets are tight, those media investments are a really big number on your P&L,” Hollander said. “But creativity has an outsize impact on the business.”

Hollander works closely with President Mark Smucker, COO John Brase and head of sales Robert Crane, executives that believe in the power of marketing and communications, she said. Demonstrating the effects of marketing throughout the organization requires reminding people that marketing is about the “art of the ‘and’:” a combination of both breakthrough creative and data-driven insights.

“There are fundamental principles that will drive your business, and you can’t forget about them, but then you need the dollop of magic which is all the creativity,” she said.

Data is the “backbone” for everything Smucker does, from insight-driven strategies and the creation of consumer targets that can be scaled through lookalikes powered by Publicis Groupe’s Epsilon division — a process that is constantly being tweaked to sharpen media spends and their outcomes.

“You’re squeezing the most out of every single penny that you put out there. It’s got to work as hard as it possibly can,” Hollander said.

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“When budgets are tight, those media investments are a really big number on your P&L, but creativity has an outsize impact on the business.”

Gail Hollander

CMO, J.M. Smucker

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Nearly six years on from the launch of the “Power of One” marketing realignment, the Smucker-Publicis relationship in the form of PSOne is “alive and well,” Hollander said. Before the shift, Smucker’s marketing work was linear and siloed, increasing complexity and reducing efficiency. 

“What’s really unique about the relationship between Publicis and Smucker is we built this together,” the executive explained. “We built the notion of integrated teams that didn’t have any silos, that had all the connective tissue. Whether it’s from media or data or social, it just doesn’t matter. You don’t know where one group begins and then the other one ends.”

The integrated approach allows data, creative and media to work hand-in-hand. It also requires the agency to not just provide creative uses of ads and media, but have a business-focused mindset that helps Smuckers achieve short-term and long-term goals.

“You need that integrated thinking, and you need that partnership to deliver business today and brand health for tomorrow,” she said.