General Mills is aiming to replicate the success that smaller, entrepreneurial brands have seen by being close to the consumer, chairman and CEO Kendall Powell. “We think it is really, really important, and in many ways it is replacing big and broad-scale tests that we used to do, which in a way moves our marketeers out of the process and distances the consumer from them,” Powell said. The strategy has proven successful with the company’s Yoplait brand, which posted 10% growth in U.S. retail sales in the last quarter after responding to consumer demand for products made with less sugar and no artificial ingredients.
Read more here.