Episode 283 / Eric Melis / PepsiCo / Vice President - Global Brand Marketing Pepsi, 7UP, Mountain Dew and Mirinda
Finding the Intersection of Passion Points in the Era of the Consumer
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Eric Melis is the Vice President of Global Brand Marketing for Pepsi, 7UP, Mountain Dew and Mirinda. He leads brand strategy and positioning, as well as global campaigns, and focuses on finding the intersection of passion points for consumers and capitalising on them to succeed in data driven marketing.
A big part of the successful and enduring marketing success of a brand like Pepsi is its strong association with music and football - two key passion points for its consumers. “Consistency pays off” for brand building, as Pepsi has always had coherent campaigns at local and global levels around these two interests.
This is why Eric’s shiny new object is the intersection of passion points. He thinks there’s never been a better time to be in marketing as brands increasingly focus on consumers and curious marketers can identify the passions that will help consumers connect with their brands.
“This is an era where brands either solve or aim at solving consumer problems”, Eric says. Delivering experiences and partnerships that show consumers that you understand them and their interests is what can differentiate your brand from competitors, regardless of your industry.
Eric also warns against seeking perfection in campaigns. Instead, aim for progress and testing, so you can get more insights and improve your consumer connections. Find out more on how he does that on the podcast.
Transcript
The following gives you a good idea of what was said, but it’s not 100% accurate.
Eric Melis 0:00
There's no better way of finding out than doing something, you know, making it real as small as it could be, but learning from it in real life.
Tom Ollerton 0:09
Hello and welcome to the shiny new object podcast. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of automated creative, the creative effectiveness ad set platform, and this is a regular podcast about the future of data driven marketing, and it's always my pleasure and my privilege to interview one of our industry's leaders, and this week is in no way different. I'm on a call with Eric Melis, who is vice president global brand marketing, Pepsi, 7UP and Mirinda. Eric, for anyone who doesn't know who you are and what you do, could you give them a better background?
Eric Melis 0:49
Sure. First of all, thank you. Tom for having me in your podcast. Eric Melis, as you said, I'm originally from Caracas, Venezuela. Have been working in this industry for 2025 years now. And yeah, it's, it's ever, ever more exciting. I've always worked in this function, in marketing, and from Venezuela, moved to places like the US Mexico. I'm now based out of Dublin, Ireland. And, yeah, just leading, you know, brand strategy, positioning, and, you know, global campaigns for those beautiful brands you you mentioned Pepsi, 7up and Mirinda.
Tom Ollerton 1:25
So if there's a student who's listening to this podcast thinking, I want to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give to them, assuming they're doing all the basics correctly?
Eric Melis 1:35
Well, I would say that if, if you consider yourself to be a curious person, person who you know is not afraid of getting out of your comfort zone. I would say that this is the best time you know that you could ask for, you know, to be in marketing, in this industry, and obviously for me, marketing, I look at marketing from a holistic standpoint, what we call end to end. So whether you're in insights and innovation brand you know, and brand building, I think it's this is the best time, because, you know, this is what I call the people era, where, you know, a lot of companies, a lot of brands, are really and truly and genuinely putting consumers at the center. So if you're, you know, really curious about learning new technologies, learning, you know, what people's problems are. This is time to be really in marketing. Many years ago, I think it wasn't. It wasn't the same case. It was more hard sell type of marketing from companies. But you know, it's just a different media and consumer landscape. So that's what I would say, that that's what I'd say, staying curious, and, you know, I'm not afraid of, you know, making mistakes and just, yeah, bringing your growth mindset.
Tom Ollerton 2:53
So curiosity is a word that comes up quite often on this podcast, and I strongly believe that if you're not curious, then you can't be creative, right? Because if you're not, if you're not, if you're not curious about how to do something different, then you're not going to do anything creative. You'll just be replicating someone else. But also, if you're not curious, you won't find any golden nuggets in the data. So I think, like it's a really important part of data driven marketing is to always ask questions. However, there is literally so much you could be curious about, right? All of us could just not do our jobs and spend the whole time just working out about new things, about data driven marketing. So how do you know when to be curious? How do you know when to kind of press that button versus back off and get the job done?
Eric Melis 3:32
Really interesting question, and I would say that, and that links to the answer the previous question. I believe that curiosity doesn't necessarily have a particular point in time where you you know this is the time to be curious. Or you know you know certain moment of the year, certain season of the year, certain you know moment in your week. Or I think that the way I look at it is you need to be an observer and become the best observer you can you can be, you know, 365, days a year, and it's, you know, to me, doesn't have a specific given time. I think that the more you're able to look at, you know, how people behave. And again, I'll use the term, you know, holistic. You know whether they are at a at a moment of purchase, and you know whether they are, you know, experiencing a passion point, whether they are at home watching the movie or, you know, when they are going through problems. I mean, the more you can actually observe. That's when, I guess you get the qualitative side of, you know, the you know, what brings to be curious, actually. And so I think that the more you can do that. And then the second thing, I would say that it's that combination. It's a topic that also comes probably. And you've heard a lot the combination of art and science. It's not only about, you know, listening to people, observing people, but also, you know, being curious in terms of, you know, what new technologies, what new tools can you use to look at what you know people problems are, or what actually trends for futures that are starting to build are so that combination, and again, that can happen at any given time. So I think that, you know, the curiosity is you have to have it in you, I think, or you have to challenge it. You know, to keep in mind that every single day, every single hour, can bring a very good moment, or very interesting moment for you to do something with it, about it and start adding value as a marketeer.
Tom Ollerton 5:53
So what advice do you have for people to become better data driven marketers? What is the bit of advice that you share with your teams most often, or find yourself repeating?
Eric Melis 6:03
Yeah, and it has to do with what I say. Well, what I was saying in terms of observing, right? I think this is a time. This is an era where, you know, brands either solve or aim at solving consumer problems. You know, aim at really delivering experiences, as opposed to just, you know, hard selling products or services. You know, either they do that or I believe that they're gonna, they're gonna fail, you know, in this pursuit of engaging engaging consumers and really add value to their lives. So in order to do that, you know, you have to really combine, you know, an integral observation of what's going on in their lives. And like I said, you know, we the one thing what we're doing at PepsiCo internally is, instead of speaking about consumer centricity, you know, we want to talk about people centricity, or human centricity. And the difference between that is, you would argue consumers or shoppers, is a view that is very centric at the moment of consumption or at the moment of purchase. And there is, I mean, the reality is that 24 hours, seven days a week, 365, days. You know, a lot of people are not just thinking about your brands only in that moment, right? So there is much more than just a moment of purchase. And so you have to look and listen and observe as much as you can. And you know, that's one thing. So that's, that's important, that's some something I would advise, and I would tell, and I tell my team. The other thing is, if you are in the more brand management side of of the marketing function, as opposed to, you know, the insights or the innovation, or call other other functions, I think that you as a brand manager, also have to, you know, not just wait until you get those insights. You know you have to be very proactive and and do that for yourself, and really see for yourself, you know and understand for yourself, really holistically. You know what? What are being the you know, tensions in people's lives, so that you genuinely, you know, talk to your partners, brief your partners in the right way, and try to, you know, come up with content that is not only relevant, engaging, but actually aims at doing something for consumers' lives.
Tom Ollerton 8:27
So we're now going to move on to your shiny new object, which is the intersection of passion points, which we've never had before. Eric, so what is that? And why have you chosen it as your shiny new object?
Eric Melis 8:39
So if I take for for instance, brand like Pepsi, obviously beloved brand for all of us work at PepsiCo, and it's a brand that has it's a legacy brand, as I call it, for many years. And I can tell you this from experience, you know, having been 25 years associated to the brand, every time you talk to consumers, or every time you talk to people and you ask about Pepsi, you know, it doesn't matter, honestly, where people are. You know, maybe in China, in Mexico, or in Egypt, or whatever country you talk to people from, you always get this association that Pepsi has had with music and with sports, specifically, or, you know, predominantly football. And that comes because of the, you know, the consistency that our brand has had, you know, at a global level, but also at our local level, in, you know, executing and and always doing this, you know, big programs you know, to drive the messaging that the brand you know, in a particular moment has been, you know, wanting to land. The reality is that, obviously, that consistency pays off. It's important, you know, now the brand is associated and for two. Two reasons is important. One is we continue to get from this research. We do these insights. We you know when we talk to people, that when you ask them about main interests in their lives, and this goes across generations, especially Gen ZS and millennials, music and football come up as the main passion points, or the main topics of interest in consumer lives. So what I what would also, what we have also learned, is that there is something that is actually even greater than that, and is the fact that now the consumption habits, or consumption of or experience the way of the people experiences these passion points has sort of evolved, and they, you know, they see a role for music. You know, to play in football or football to play in music. So when you intersect, when you combine, you know the power of these interests or these passion points, as we call them, you know, there's, there's nothing more impactful than that. And so we understand that that is, that is a fact. And so we try to bring our brand DNA, we try to bring our brand perspective, you know, to to those experiences, to deliver something that is truly unique in a space we know is truly, truly relevant for our for our consumers. So that's the first thing. I would, I would, I would, I would tell you why, why we we think that intersections of passion points is so relevant now more than ever,
Tom Ollerton 11:42
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so if someone's listening to this, thinking, Eric's got a point there, but I don't do that. What is the way to get started with pulling together different passion points? How would a marketer start on that journey to replicate what you've done here?
Eric Melis 12:34
So again and again, depending on what your brand is, depending on who your consumer is, is true, again, is this pursuit of really understanding, deeply understanding, what moves you know, people's you know what moves people's hearts and what you know what moves, what drives emotions, right? And in our case, again, we, we keep, you know, getting from consumers, you know, feedback that music in different ways of experiencing is something that you know is really, really valuable, you know, to make, you know, a difference in people's lives, whether it is live music or whether it is through, you know, technology or and the same, the same for for for football. And so once you get that, that insight, once you know, you know what exactly moves people's heart, you know what moves people's emotion, then then you have to combine that with, you know, what is your brand about? You know, what is the story that your brand wants and needs to build. And, more importantly, how do you make sure that, because these are so big of a spaces, you know, and you know, many brands, maybe, you know, tackling, or to wanting to appropriate, you know, these passion points, what is the distinctive point of view that the brand can actually, you know, bring to the table. And that can be done in a couple of ways. That can be done because of, you know, through your you know, different bold tonality, if I if I may, and also through, you know, potential partnerships that your brand may be having. And so it's about understanding exactly you know, what is that particular passion point is there one two that consumers are actually enjoying? How do you make, you know, by intersecting them. How do you make this, you know, an even greater or stronger, more impactful, you know, passion point, if you will. And then, what is your point of view as a brand? And what else can you bring to the table, an example of partnerships to actually make distinctive, unique experiences.
Tom Ollerton 14:52
So who else do you think does this well, who, which brands do you look up to or observe? Of the really get that intersection of passion points done?
Eric Melis 15:04
Well, yeah, yeah, I would say, I would say, probably, in, in another industry. I would say Heineken, is, is, is one brand that also, I believe that touches different passion points, or unites passion points, that would be one that comes to mind right now.
Tom Ollerton 15:28
And so, do you think that uniting passion points, it works better in like, I don't know if you call alcohol or beer, FMCG, but is that? Do you think it's a particular good fit for CPGs?
Eric Melis 15:40
Yeah, no, I wouldn't think so. I think that the the power of this is is truly understanding. It's not about an industry specifically or it's not about necessarily, necessarily a specific passion point, but it's, it's truly about understanding and proving to consumers you understand. You know what moves them. You know what they are really interested in their lives. You know what, what? What do they do for fun? What do they do to solve problems? And once you once you've nailed that, okay, what is your different point of view? What is your distinctive point of view? And and again, how do you use that data you have? And how do you use you know, other other assets or partners to really enhance that experience, because not necessarily your competitor may have you know the same assets or the same approach to leveraging passion points. So as long as you do that you know, you know might not be music, might not be football, it might be a different passion, point fashion, or, I don't know movies or but that's, that's where the secret I think lies, and honestly, my point of view can be across categories.
Tom Ollerton 16:52
So I'd like to go back one step. And I think all the way through this interview, you've talked about observation, curiosity, paying attention. 365, 24, hours a day, always being open to learn and to observe, and being in this people era, era where we put these people in human centricity, not just a shopper the last three feet, as it were, so I'll be interested to know your your research methodology that helps you understand those passion points. So I'm writing a book at the minute about the intersection of data and creativity and advertising, and one of the tensions that I've found in that work is that you've got claimed behavior. Qual, that's, you know, what people say and what they do, are two different things. But then you've got this, this deluge of ones and zeros, this, this data coming from the Facebooks and and the Googles of this world telling us that something happened, someone viewed some content, someone clicked on something. So both have huge pitfalls and huge opportunities. So how do you make sure that the signal that you're getting from your research is true. How would you make sure that when you decide on these fashion points, that you know they're definitely right?
Eric Melis 18:08
Yeah, no, good question, and I would say it's a combination, at least for us, it's a combination of tools we have, qualitative and quantitative, but also, you know, in the spirit of being agile is really going out there. And, you know, trying, trying new methodologies, trying new, you know, new initiatives, new ways of doing things. And because I believe that at the end of the day, there's no better way of finding out, you know, to your point, your question, than you know, doing something you know, making it real as small as it could be, but learning from from it in in real life, as opposed to, you know, sometimes, you know, trying to get it perfect, You know, before you actually launch something going through so many rounds of testing, you know, regardless what the tool may be. And I think that that mindset of agility and you know, the concept of progress over perfection, I think, is also one thing that we try to promote internally many times. And speaking of the tools, you know, again, some of them may be very expected, but work very well. You know consumer ethnographies. You know consumer immersions, qualitative types of of sessions where, you know, you spend a short amount of time, or longer amount of time, you know, observing consumers, but again, in different or people, I should say, but in different contexts. I think that getting getting them out of, you know, the typical focus room, you know, space or context is important. You want to you want to see how people. Feel and act in different contexts. And then, obviously, quantitative, you know, it depends on what we're you know, what we're looking for, you know, specific concepts. Or are you actually testing, you know, creative ads, and so before you actually air them, to find out, you know the sales potential, or find out, you know, the brand building potential. That's, you know, there are different tools. But again, one thing that I am a big believer on is just try not to always try and get perfect before you launch, you know, 80 for the 20, you know, get that concept, get that, you know, sort of prototype, and launch it and just see, even if it's in in one market, or in, you know, in a geography within a market, do it for real and track it. You know, see, you know, what is the conversation about? What is the boss? Use different tools to understand in real life what is happening, and then learn from it, and, you know, adjust and move on to the next one.
Tom Ollerton 21:04
I'm gonna finish this interview now because we're over time, unfortunately, although I would love to carry on chatting all day, really, there must be so much more you can share. But the line that really stuck with me is progress over perfection. I think that's really powerful, because we can beat ourselves up about perfection like but actually, if we ask ourselves, have we? Have we got better? Then that's great. And I thank you so much for the your time and sharing your your thoughts. And I will. I'm going to write that down, and then that's going to be my little motto for the for the next few weeks. Eric, thank you so much for your time.
Eric Melis 21:32
Thank you Tom for having me once again. Thanks so much.
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