Spilling the Tea

Rick (00:04):

It takes a bit of a blend of art and science to get baking just right and having extra eyes, ears, and hands can make a big difference along the way. That’s where A. B. Mauri North America comes into play. We are the team behind industrial and artisan bakers that help optimize success. We’ll discuss more on this episode of The Oven Light. So let’s get going. Flip the switch. Welcome back to The Oven Light, everybody. I’m your host, Rick Olshack. The Oven Light is on, the switch on. Last time on the podcast, we visited with the innovation lead for Palermo’s Pizza, Nick Faluca, and we had a great discussion. Today, get ready. We’re visiting with the vice president of marketing North America for Twinings tea. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s welcome Stephanie Berez to the Oven Light. Hi, Stephanie.

Stephanie (00:58):

Hello. Great to be here. Thanks for having

Rick (01:01):

Me. We’re excited for you to come onto the podcast and spill some tea, as they like to say, as all the cool kids say now. All right, so we have as part of our podcast, Stephanie, a little section called the hot pan. Maybe we call it the hot cup today. I don’t know, but it’s a series of quick hitting questions. So let’s jump in right away. We’re going to go controversial, coffee, tea, or juice to start the day.

Stephanie (01:24):

Well, I will go super honest. Never juice. I don’t juice in the morning. I don’t love to drink those kind of calories, but it’s definitely a mix. I’m not a ritual. I’m not kind of a tea or a coffee depending upon my mood and how I’m feeling. So there you have it, the honesty of what a feel good morning type feels like for me.

Rick (01:45):

How do you like your coffee? How do you like your tea? And if there’s a bake good, what are you having with it?

Stephanie (01:50):

Yeah, so I’ll go tea for that option. So I typically like my tea hot and I am an Irish breakfast girl, so of course twinings Irish breakfast. And I love it because I like something that’s a bit more hearty and I love to put milk in my tea, which is always a controversial topic. But in the afternoon then I’m more in that iced herbal category. So that’s my spilling of the tea. But being from New York, if I am going to indulge in a baked good, it’s got to be a bagel. It’s got to be an egg everything bagel. And if I’m going for it, I’d rather have the loxin cream cheese with all the accoutrements. So that is a full way. Being a girl from Long Island, you got to dress the bagel properly.

Rick (02:29):

I love it. Okay, that’s awesome. And we’re going to get really clinical because you get asked if you go into a coffee joint or a place for a hot beverage. How do you like your milk? Is it skim, 1%, 2%, whole?

Stephanie (02:43):

Love it. So I actually flip around. I am a very personalized drink consumer, hence the interest in working in beverages. If I’m drinking hot coffee or hot tea, I really like a 1% milk because I don’t want too much, but I want just a little bit of that depth to get the thickness of the liquid in the right place but not too thick. But if I’m drinking a latte, I go oat milk because I just don’t like that much dairy in my system and it’s just too milk intense. So I do believe putting the right milk in every product works really well. And actually I use coconut milk when I’m making a twinings refresher at home. So we have this great new product line and it’s really fun to be able to mix it up and put the right milk in the right thing. And that’s actually what makes it fun working in beverage, just kind of experiencing things as you wish them to be.

(03:31):

And I think the world is a palette for us to enjoy all the tastes

Rick (03:36):

And the experiences. You’re a storyteller already, Stephanie. This is going to be a fun episode. I love it. I love it. Love it.

Stephanie (03:41):

All right.

Rick (03:42):

So you’ve celebrated what, three years now with Twinings after spending several years starting your own agency for branding, marketing, strategy, some innovation as well. So congratulations on that. But what’s that been like moving from you were in the working world and then you created your own business and going a different path and now you’re back in the corporate side. So

Stephanie (04:02):

How

Rick (04:03):

Do you do it? How have you managed that?

Stephanie (04:05):

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I remember when I was a little kid speaking of storytelling, I always asked why. I actually wrote a whole song about asking why and I’d love to sing growing up and that was my whole thing and I love people. So studying history and psychology undergrad and just really understanding people and just building that all the different pieces that come together. And so for me, for my career, I’ve always been just empowered to follow my heart and what I wanted to do and how I can drive the impact. And so after 20 years working on the corporate side where I collected a lot of great experiences, it was really taking that confidence to found my own marketing agency called Heart of Why Marketing. Quite intentionally done because I believe if you can get to the heart of why, anything can happen in terms of driving impact and results.

(04:50):

And so yeah, I’m very pleased to work now for the past three years leading marketing here at Twinings North America. I actually joke because it was like we dated before we got married. Twinings was my client for two years. So I was having the two-year interview I didn’t know I was having and we just really came together I think in a great time and in a great way. So it’s been a great journey.

Rick (05:11):

Fantastic. I love that. So hey, in full transparency, if you’re listening, Stephanie and I are kind of like cousins since our respective businesses fit under the umbrella of Associated British Foods based in the UK. So you had some experience in the tea business as an agency and now you’ve got it firsthand. So what do you think of the consumer retail tea business and just consumer beverage business as well?

Stephanie (05:37):

Yeah. Well, I mean honestly, because I had that two-year-long quote interview, I really had the pleasure of getting to know both the people and the brand. And I think that’s really the number one reason why I got back into being in – house in terms of my career. And I think that sense of empowerment and trust and really driving for consumer centricity and really owning the narrative of we’re taking the brand is super important. And actually I’ll also share, I’ve always been a big tea drinker as I mentioned, and I have distinct memories growing up and even till today I joke that my mother is one of the biggest Twinings influencers because she drinks tea all the time. And so it’s a brand that is actually really near and dear to my heart. And I think it’s really important. Passion is one of the things that I look for, not just within myself, but for the people that I work with.

(06:30):

And I think that’s really, really exciting to be able to drive that ownership, passion and collection. And honestly, Rick, working on a brand that is 320 years young is just a great honor. And as you know from working within our same model at Associated British Foods, we work on brands for longevity. We work with trust and leadership and empowerment and we get to work with great networks. The fact that we get to be connected and yet also being empowered to lead our own businesses is really key. So after about 25 years of experience, it’s great to work in a world that I feel very valued and valuable and also have so much growth potential in both the people and the business to take forward.

Rick (07:15):

So let me ask you this. So consumers today are getting strapped and they’re getting hit in a lot of areas, whether it’s gas prices, tariffs, dietary guidelines, GLP-1 is affecting. Is this affecting the lens that you’re seeing or are there certain industries or trends or innovations that are really bubbling to the forefront for the tea side of the business?

Stephanie (07:37):

Yeah, so I think that tea is a really interesting category because Twinings is an accessible premium brand. So we offer high trust, high quality, delivering taste profile, and we’re at a premium, but really it’s accessible. When you think about what you can do to buy a box of tea, call it for about $5 and get 20 serves out of that, that’s a really approachable way to deliver high value. And within that, people are really looking for brands that they can trust that are not only delivering upon the quality, but really the full and holistic consumer experience. And wellbeing really plays a factor. Yu want to enjoy something, but you also don’t want to feel guilty about it. And that’s where I think when you take all of these global trends coming together, whether or not it’s health and wellbeing, costs, tariffs, dietary, GLP-1s, all these different factors come together.

(08:28):

At the end of the day, consumers really want a product that is meeting their needs based upon what they’re looking for. And for us, we have recently done a ton of work to get closer and closer to the consumer, total holistic beverage demand landscape study to really understand, okay, based upon people’s day parts and their needs and what are they going through in terms of the holistic parts of their life, how do we match our brand to the needs that consumers are looking for? And that’s where we really can drive a lot of value for consumers.

Rick (09:01):

Well, it’s funny when you mentioned demand landscape, I’m like, oh, I’m starting to shudder a little bit because we did a lot of that work when I was at Anheuser-Busch and specifically on Stellar Tois, we dove down to who our core consumer is, and we actually gave this consumer a name. It was a guy in his late 20s, was starting to make his way in business, liked things a little bit finer, would spend a little bit more money, enjoyed having the chalic in his hand, and his name was Ben. Is there a Ben for Twinings Tea or is there a core consumer? Is it Claire? Is it Dominic? Who is it?

Stephanie (09:36):

Well, we have a very clear consumer profile, but actually it’s so interesting. It’s a hot debated topic in the world of marketing. Do you give them an actual name or do you give them a persona and a profile? And actually, I internally like to say that we’re talking to people and let’s bring them to life, but it is a very diverse group of people. So you actually have the tendency, if I gave that person a name, everybody thinks of just that human. Our target needs to be on a mindset and not just on a demographic base. And I think that’s where marketing has really continued to evolve because in the earlier days, I feel like it was much more demographically focused. Now I think our mindset focus really allows us to reach, and the digital tools that we have as marketers allows us to reach different people in different ways with the right content at the right time.

(10:27):

So actually we have held off on giving our consumer profile a human name and instead go after that mindset marketing. So I know that others still need, and that’s great that that works for them, but I really like it. This is going

Rick (10:40):

Back more than a dozen years, so I love it. And marketing has to advance and it has to evolve over time. So speaking of that, like you just mentioned, digital marketing, you’ve got the influence of AI. How is that affecting what you’re doing and how your job comes to be?

Stephanie (10:58):

Yeah, I think that AI is one that we all need to really be embracing. And I think it’s something that helps us from an analytical capability standpoint, creative development, recognizing synergies as well. Twinings is a global brand. There are so many things that we can do to share and learn across markets. There’s also so much that we’re doing in the world of media buying and execution. From the hypotheses that we have, it is quite interesting when you test those hypotheses how they play out. And we need to use a combination of upfront consumer learning to be able to feed into the journey, but then put things out into the real marketplace to see how can we best auto-optimize some of the right match between messaging and delivery of content? How do we use AI to help? And it’s getting better and better with every passing week or hour really or minute to be able to get to sharper content, sharper delivery.

(11:52):

And then also at the end of the day, if I can drive action from insights, we can then drive sharper business decisions. So we and consumer products, all of us sit on a ton of data. We need to get better and better at harnessing that data to drive action orientation.

Rick (12:08):

I love it. That’s great. Okay, we’re going to move to a new area. Let’s dive into your background. Your background is so rich. And first on the sweet stuff, we’re going to talk about candy and gum. Your background, you worked on some iconic brands. I’m going to list a few. Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, Bubbalicious and Trident. I believe what? Four out of five dentists agree. So what an adventure to be in that space. How was that for you? Tell me about

Stephanie (12:34):

It. It was so much fun. It was so fast-paced. And actually we brought fast-paced to the FMCG fast-moving consumer goods. Candy moves so fast and there’s so many trends and it’s so experiential. And in those days, I really just cut my teeth on working across so many different functions, which is part of the joy of what I have today is leaning on some of my past experiences in sales and operations. And I think for me, working in a very fast-paced industry on really iconic brands helped me in a couple of key ways that I can share with you, just really learning some things from influential people early on, knowing what questions to ask and who best to answer it, whether or not you’re asking consumers or you’re talking internally, really taking on that learning mindset and really adding value. People want to know your thoughts.

(13:26):

And I think that’s what the candy industry is so interesting for because there’s so many different ways to connect and you have to think about both the power of the emotion and the function. So you need a product that delivers, but positioning matters. And so it was a really interesting way to really start my career because there were so many learnings to be had in such short order.

Rick (13:48):

Is there a candy that’s on the shelf right now that you’re like, “Boy, that’s my go – to,” or one that is a carryover from one you worked on?

Stephanie (13:56):

Yes. Gosh, I think that the nerds gummy clusters are really taking the category by storm and they have actually repositioned what was an old stale brand in nerds, which I’m sure we all remember from growing up in the ’80s myself. A little boxes. Yeah. Little cartons of boxes. And now you have these reinvention of form. And I think that’s so much of what makes innovation really interesting. And it was there. It was within the tenants of the brand to deliver pops of flavor. But how do we deliver it in a way that actually allows for on – the-go consumption? Because you can’t take that box. I don’t know what the brief was. I didn’t work on the brand, but I imagine that there’s all these different insights that that team had to bring together cross-functionally because it is a team sport and then the execution has been second to none.

(14:47):

And now they had a Super Bowl commercial. So I think they’ve done pretty well for themselves.

Rick (14:50):

Yeah. It’s kind of like the old Tic-Tacs. And remember even, I’m going to age myself, dynamites were out there, but you’d walk with that little container in your pocket and you hear they… I mean, I would think nerds had that same sort of thing, but today’s consumer seems to want texture. They want different elements. And to have that sweet and little bit of sticky and a little bit of crunchy altogether, it’s worked well. I will tell you here in the office, there’s a big grab bag and I bought some and different people bring them in. But for some reason, people have gravitated towards high chew and they’ve got new flavors and the flavor that’s winning right now is blue Hawaii. But it’s interesting. It’s interesting. Little chewy, you need that little pickup when you’re working during the day.

Stephanie (15:33):

An experience unto itself. Blue Hawaii, they positioned it. On this note, let me tell you the interesting thing also, and it’s funny because I was like, I struggled to think of it like a salad, but the concept of a candy salad is all the rage with the teenagers as they get together for end of year category class parties, if you will. Candy salad. Candy salad. They each bring a different candy. They all dump it into a bowl, mix it up so it looks like a salad, and then they share it out. And when you think about it that way, nerds would never have had a place to be within that because who’s going to bring nerds? Now you can actually bring those gummy clusters and it’s just so fun and experiential. So yeah, the whole candy industry is so – That’s

Rick (16:14):

Like the protein

Stephanie (16:15):

Is

Rick (16:15):

Part of on top of the chicken, are those nerd clusters. Wow, that’s interesting.

Stephanie (16:19):

Yes.

Rick (16:20):

A candy salad. Wow. We’re going to have to get the dentist involved in the next episode of the show. All right, so here we go. We’re going to turn the page. So you want from candy. We like to talk usually about buns in the oven, but secondly, we’re going to talk about your healthy side of your career, health and wellbeing products for Church and Dwight. So tell me about that.

Stephanie (16:42):

Yeah. So for those that don’t know, Church and Dwight has a huge household and personal care, really diverse business. And actually few companies can you then say that you worked on a combination of arm and hammer household cleaners and then jumped over to working on the Trojan brand in the sexual health category. So it was quite the diversity of experience. When I jumped over to Trojan, I jumped in for the power of the innovation function and the feeling that I would have in terms of making sure that we were doing a lot to advance public health outcomes. And I think that’s really important. And working in a category that is super functionally and emotionally charged is also really important. You learn a lot about that from a marketer, but also from a marketing perspective. But also in terms of the partnerships that I had with R&D and then also as a business leader, the value of creating public and private partnerships.

(17:39):

So having to work with the FDA and had some really critical meetings with the CDC and really being able to work with nonprofits and universities. And I think that’s really fulfilling. It was a very fulfilling chapter of my career, but also one that was super fun because you’re largely marketing to 18 to 24-year-olds and you’re on the cusp of everything, all things related to media and consumer engagement. So that was pretty cool.

Rick (18:04):

What a great opportunity. And it sets you up to where you are now with Twinings and how you’re moving forward, but having those kind of diverse experiences, probably what a great opportunity to learn and to advance your thinking and be creative about it.

Stephanie (18:22):

Yeah, absolutely. And in that chapter of my career, we had a funny joke because we said Sex and Candy was my theme song, speaking of music, which I know you love Rick, but it was actually really funny. And actually to this day, I do a lot of work within the infertility community. I also worked on the First Response brand when I was at Church in Dwight, and it’s a personal passion point for me, and I continue to do some work within that industry to help people achieve their family building plans. And if we can spend a little time in our own spare time in passion points to help our community, I think that’s really important to put our skills to good work.

Rick (19:00):

Excellent. Well, you lead us right into the second round of hot pan questions. And the first one I’ve got listed, first concert or favorite album, or maybe a CD, or maybe whatever. So what do you think music-wise?

Stephanie (19:14):

Well, my first concert I’ll define as the one that I went to with my friends on my own, which was REM, Jones Beach, Outside, Orange Crush Tour. Amazing. I’m totally speaking Rick’s love language because he just did one of those. Oh my gosh, that’s for sure.

Rick (19:30):

I’ve never seen him. It’s on the list and it’s like Michael Stipe. We’re never

Stephanie (19:33):

Going to get

Rick (19:34):

Him to play again, right?

Stephanie (19:35):

Oh, so good. So good. And then I love Natalie Merchant. I love her storytelling. She’s still performing. Whenever she is, I try and see at least one or two of her shows and she mixes it up. And she’s just a great storyteller and I know way too many words to way too many songs. I sang College Acapella, so that’s a little bit of a song in the background is the narrative of my personal passion and I love music at large. So thank you. I’m so glad you asked me about music.

Rick (20:05):

Here’s my Natalie Merchant story. I was a much younger man working in Orlando with the Orlando Magic, but I knew the guys from the arena at the time very well, the guy who was in charge. And I was trying to impress a longtime girlfriend and he got me front row. It was Natalie Merchant opening for Sting. I mean, back to back, front row, center, best seats I’ve ever had. It was fantastic. And she was wonderful. She was wonderful. So there’s your Natalie story. The only time I’ve seen her, but it was

Stephanie (20:34):

Good. I would almost be jealous, but I’ve seen her everywhere from Lincoln Center to a random barn in the Berkshires where she was doing a charity event and there were like 200 of us in there. So I’ve seen her through all walks and yes, I wish I was sitting next to you in that front row too. Might I add?

Rick (20:50):

We’re getting into summer season. People are thinking about vacations and all that, but you get a free weekend day where you’ve got nothing planned at all. What are you going to do with it? Where are you going? Who are you hanging out with? Are you not?

Stephanie (21:01):

Well, hands down, I’m with my family. My husband and I have three kids and they are centers of our world and we all share a love of sports and I would take them to the Mets game. That is my personal passion and I love baseball. Now we have quite a controversial household because I married a Yankees fan. So in our house, that’s an intermarriage.

Rick (21:21):

Double

Stephanie (21:22):

A

Rick (21:22):

Series. Yeah.

Stephanie (21:23):

Yes. Yes. So that becomes fun and I appreciated the Mets walking things off the last time we met just a couple of weeks ago. So that was super fun. Our joke is that, what does our intermarriage produce? It produces one Yankees fan, one Mets fan and a Blue Jays fan.

Rick (21:40):

Wow, the Blue Jays. Okay. Well, they had a great year last year. They did. They beat up my pirates a little bit here recently, but we’ll see how the baseball season turns out. I’m hopeful for both teams, but we’ll se what happens. So you’re well-traveled. Certainly you like the core metro area, you like New York, but is there another US city that you like to visit or are there other parts of the country and you’re like, “Boy, this is part of my DNA.”

Stephanie (22:07):

Well, I will give you both the city and the country answer. So the city answer is Nashville, hands down. I love music. I love seeing live music and I love seeing artists starting to scale and telling their own stories through their own singer-songwriter moments as well as the covers. And it’s just so fun and so engaging in food culture nonstop. I’m not a sit on the beach kind of gal for a vacation. That’s not my vibe. But my countryside is that I spent a lot of time in the Berkshires Western part of Massachusetts. Love to hike, love to be in nature, and the live music scene up there alive and well as well.

Rick (22:47):

Excellent. We’re going to find a concert to go to at some point, the two of us and our collective friends and families. All right, so let’s jump back into your career a little bit. Can you give me maybe one or two highlights of maybe your path to what got you to here? Is there something you’re like, “Boy, that’s a bellwether mark.” Is something you’re really proud of or a highlight?

Stephanie (23:09):

Yeah. I think to me it’s all about the people. It’s about the people that are in your circle and the people that are with you on the long term and that really are there to provide counsel and thought. And I think you have to build the circle of people that are not only the people that you meet in your career, but the people that are willing to continue to support you, to mentor you at the right times and to just then be able to then give support back to them in their moments. So I’m really proud of the network and the friends that I’ve made along the way in my career. And I get just as much, if not more, out of supporting them than I do out of them supporting me. And I think that creates such a great sense of accomplishment and also support to help me my best and bring myself to the best level.

(23:59):

And I’d say that foundation allowed me to really have the confidence within myself, but also the trust that I had from this vast network to be able to go out on my own and really found my own business. That’s not easy when you have that secure corporate job, but when you can listen to that voice and trust in your own self and trust yourself, that was a really pivotal moment for me to have that confidence and have that support.

Rick (24:23):

Excellent. How about any kind of final words of wisdom or is there a book or a quote or some sort of mantra that maybe you live by that it’s also part of your being?

Stephanie (24:33):

Yeah, that’s so important. And in your personal brand, I love that question, Rick, because I think people should know what defines them and what drives them. So for me, my life mantra is the tenacity to never quit and forever driving to the heart of why. And I have said that for a very, very long time. Anybody who’s known me or has touched me throughout this journey called life knows that. And actually for a very, very long time I actually had the words heart of why on my signature for a very, very long time before I actually then even launched the business called Heart of Why. So I think that’s really important to find your own words of wisdom. The other thing that I will say is that I’m a big fan of controlling what you can control, influencing what you can influence, and accepting the things that you cannot change and then doing something about it.

(25:22):

Life is a lot more frustrating when you don’t accept the things that you can’t control. And then also by being clear on what you can control, that’s where innovation happens because you get to innovate around it, you get to work forward from there. And I think that’s a really healthy mindset to take you forward.

Rick (25:38):

Great words of wisdom, Stephanie. We appreciate that. All right, I’m going to give you one last chance here. Any plugs for twinings? Anything that we’re seeing as we get into second half of the year? I know you talked about you teased the refreshers a little bit and some new flavors. I think there’s a strawberry raspberry or are there other flavors or other new things out there that people should be aware of? Yeah.

Stephanie (25:58):

Well, it’s really exciting to bring that cafe experience right into your home and give you the ability to mix and match it as you wish. And our new instant herbal tea refreshers line is really exciting. So we have a strawberry raspberry with peach mango and what is just about to launch is a blueberry lemon flavor and it is just in time for the summer and really delicious. So yeah, really all you do is pour it into water and then stir for a second and it’s ready for you. Or you can mix it up and add it to lemonade or some sparkling water, coconut milk. Have your fun with it just like you have the ability to customize things in a cafe as well. So those are really delicious. The other thing I will tell you is that if you’re not winding down at the end of the night with a cup of herbal tea, you’re missing out, I truly believe it’s the gift you give to your future self to take care of yourself whether or not you’re choosing a Twinings Pure Peppermint or we do have a Sleep Plus tea, which has a little bit of melatonin in it.

(26:57):

Honestly, I feel like we live these really full lives and you kind of need some self-care at the end of the day to give that gift to your future self so you can wake up feeling better in the morning.

Rick (27:07):

I can’t stop there because you commented about the refresher line and what we’re seeing here an explosion of the whole dirty soda movement. You’ve seen the Starbucks and McDonald’s and others going into that world. You’ve got Seven Brew and all these other places that have popped up that just seem to be havens for this younger audience that wants new. They want innovation, they want flavors, they want just things that are out of the norm than what maybe we were accustomed to. Why is it so big? And it sounds like you’re tapping into it too.

Stephanie (27:43):

Yeah, I mean I think it’s so big because you want to be able to enjoy things as you like it, especially the generations that are coming up now, which is the generation of instant gratification. When you and I wanted to watch our favorite cartoon, we better be right in front of the TV and then you were lucky if you had the $800 VCR to record it. Now if you want it, it’s there for you. And I think that translates into all aspects of life immediately wanting to create exactly what you want. And a brand like Twinings, we have the power to put into your hands exactly what you want to be able to have the experience you wish for. And actually on social, some of the most fun things that we’re doing are giving people new ways to enjoy our product. So you want a peppermint hot chocolate around the holidays?

(28:25):

Don’t put the crap in that hot chocolate. Take Twinings Pure Peppermint and put a teabag in and drink your hot chocolate with Pure Peppermint and enjoy it for the holidays. You want to enjoy something in your coffee and not just drink something regular coffee also pure peppermint for that. And people are like, “Oh my gosh, Steph, this is a great idea. It tastes like I’m going out to a cafe.” And I’m like, “Yes, just enjoy having some fun, enjoy life by experimenting and just really having the tools at your fingertip to make something your own.” And I think that’s key in life. We just want to live our life and enjoy it, but also choose brands that are delivering that quality and that value and that taste. And that’s really what Twinings can do and that’s why I love working on it.

Rick (29:10):

Well, I love how you just brought the whole thing into personalization. And I tell you what, if you’re listening today, what a personality we’ve had. That is it for the Oven Light today. We want to thank Stephanie for a great visit. Thanks for joining us today.

Stephanie (29:23):

Pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Rick (29:25):

And for now, it’s that time. The switch is off. The oven light’s off, but thanks for listening and we’ll see you next time. We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Oven Light. Until next time when we discuss more about the wonderful world of baking technology, trends and more, the switch is officially off. Goodbye for now. See you next time.