Mondelēz CCO, Russ Dyer on Oreo’s Real-Time Content Engine, Inventing Your Own ESG Best Practices, and the Importance of Having a Hunger for Networking [Episode 41]

Russell Dyer is the VP & Chief of Communications and Government Affairs at Mondelēz International. At Mondelēz, Russ is responsible for overseeing all external and internal communications as well as government affairs for Mondelēz International, a Fortune 150 and the global leader in snacking. Russ joined Mondelēz in 2015 as Vice President, Global Communications. In that role, he was responsible for all strategic communications plans, overseeing the worldwide external and internal communication activities.

Prior to joining Mondelēz, Russ spent 2 years at Kraft, and before that, Russ was agency-side with a 6.5-year stint at Weber Shandwick. 

Here are some key takeaways from this conversation with Russ Dyer. 

Speed and playfulness are the names of the game. As a brand, Oreo has just about nixed the extensive content approval processes in favor of quick brand responses in real-time, which is what this digital age demands when it comes to brand relevance. Perhaps the most notable example of this was Oreo's Dunk in the Dark campaign, which has a place in the annals of marketing history. The idea itself was extremely simple, but the fact that they were the first brand to respond during this moment in culture catapulted them to the top of the conversation, making this one piece of content a best practice for years to come. As such, Oreo has built a social media content engine based on quick responses and engaging with conversations of the day in real-time and in ways that are authentic to the brand. 

ESG is an open playing field; invent your own best practices. Mondelēz launched the first of its kind traceability program with the Triscuit brand, whereby consumers are able to see the exact path to production the crackers take; this includes everything from where their ingredients are sourced from to their exact manufacturing processes. As more and more consumers and stakeholders become interested in transparency, finding new ways of disclosing this information is going to become more and more important. Rather than studying how other brands were handling this element of ESG, Mondelēz decided to invent their own, and I'm sure other brands will begin to do similar things. ESG is still an evolving field, so rather than wait for a best practice to emulate, do what Mondelēz did and create your own pilot programs and test & learns to chart the path yourself. 

The squeaky wheel gets the opportunities. Russ delivered a killer piece of career advice, which was to make sure you are constantly exposing yourself to new people, new knowledge, and new ways of thinking and learning. Throughout the course of a career in marketing, it's rare to have a manager who will give you the kind of mentorship and education that will really enable you to flourish towards executive leadership; these are things you're going to have to find for yourself. Russ specified that it takes a HUNGER for new knowledge and relationships to move upward, so get out there, start taking people out for lunches, coffees, or just casual conversations, if only to expose yourself to new ways of thinking and working. It all pays off eventually. 

Speed and playfulness are the names of the game. As a brand, Oreo has just about nixed the extensive content approval processes in favor of quick brand responses in real-time, which is what this digital age demands when it comes to brand relevance. Perhaps the most notable example of this was Oreo's Dunk in the Dark campaign, which has a place in the annals of marketing history. The idea itself was extremely simple, but the fact that they were the first brand to respond during this moment in culture catapulted them to the top of the conversation, making this one piece of content a best practice for years to come. As such, Oreo has built a social media content engine based on quick responses and engaging with conversations of the day in real-time and in ways that are authentic to the brand. 

ESG is an open playing field; invent your own best practices. Mondelēz launched the first of its kind traceability program with the Triscuit brand, whereby consumers are able to see the exact path to production the crackers take; this includes everything from where their ingredients are sourced from to their exact manufacturing processes. As more and more consumers and stakeholders become interested in transparency, finding new ways of disclosing this information is going to become more and more important. Rather than studying how other brands were handling this element of ESG, Mondelēz decided to invent their own, and I'm sure other brands will begin to do similar things. ESG is still an evolving field, so rather than wait for a best practice to emulate, do what Mondelēz did and create your own pilot programs and test & learns to chart the path yourself. 

The squeaky wheel gets the opportunities. Russ delivered a killer piece of career advice, which was to make sure you are constantly exposing yourself to new people, new knowledge, and new ways of thinking and learning. Throughout the course of a career in marketing, it's rare to have a manager who will give you the kind of mentorship and education that will really enable you to flourish towards executive leadership; these are things you're going to have to find for yourself. Russ specified that it takes a HUNGER for new knowledge and relationships to move upward, so get out there, start taking people out for lunches, coffees, or just casual conversations, if only to expose yourself to new ways of thinking and working. It all pays off eventually.