chatted for an hr. w/ex-Kraft sr. BM, currently now managing fragrance at a major beauty house - spoke the same language and provided meaningful insight on the trade-offs heading into beauty. was the first person really to challenge me to be both passionate about the product you're working on as well as passionate about the nature and aims of your function (ie: beauty marketing focuses primarily on launch activity/newness/marcomm vs. CPG brand focus/management). She spoke w/nostalgia regarding Kraft's deep consumer focus and richness of insights, bringing brands to life, growing them over time... it was beautiful to hear, would've made Calkins tear.
the sound of true fulfillment is unmistakable, an elixir.
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phone screen for Bare Escentuals strategy position tom, Chain Store Age webinar on conversion
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Unilever's acquisition of Alberto today....the latter the only company I interviewed final rounds both 1st/2nd yr... whew. stiff 15x premium they paid but makes plenty of strategic sense from a global/category/growth/portfolio management perspective. makes me wonder whether the premium is further inflated b/c of AC's earlier acquisition of Simple (UK skincare co.) end of last yr.
