Using thought leadership to launch new ideas for old brands.
An interview with Melanie Huet about positioning the Simmons brand for Gen-Z consumers.
Today’s guest is Melanie Huet. She is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding.
We discuss with Melanie the process of taking Serta Simmons, a 100-year-old brand and transforming it for modern-day operations. She explains how she came to understand the culture of the company. Then, Melanie talks about building trust, and what she did to create clear communication between teams. She wanted to ensure everyone understood where the company was heading and what their role was in it.
The Gen Z Market
Melanie reveals how they utilized the Simmons brand and repositioning it to be appealing to the Gen Z market. Afterward, she speaks about how they took consumer insights to create a hugely successful launch on Tik-Tok with Snoozapalooza. She shares the task of pitching such a new idea and platform to the board and how she got them on board.
The success of the Tik-Tok launch wouldn’t have been possible without proper research and creativity. Furthermore, Melanie gives us an overview of the work that went into ensuring marketing used the right message to guarantee the campaign didn’t come off forced or fake.
Finally, we conclude this great interview discussing where thought leadership fits into the Serta Simmons brand. We learn how they find new ideas, and ways you can measure the success of those ideas.
If you are working with a well-established brand that is looking to update itself or find a new audience, get your pen and paper ready because this episode is full of great information!
Three Key Takeaways:
- If you want your thought leadership to be effective, you’ll need to understand the culture of the brand you are working with.
- Deep research is a must if you want your thought leadership to move your audience to action.
- When developing content, thought leaders should listen to ideas from anywhere, not just from the top of an organization.
Join the Organizational Thought Leadership Newsletter to learn more about expanding thought leadership within your organization! This monthly newsletter is full of practical information, advice, and ideas to help you reach your organization’s thought leadership goals.
And if you need help scaling organizational thought leadership, contact Thought Leadership Leverage!
