Georgia-Pacific CMO Laura Knebusch on staying nimble as a CPG behemoth

It’s a paper conglomerate behind some of the biggest names, such as Brawny and Dixie. But even though the products are ubiquitous, when is the last time a shopper has really thought about such a brand? This conundrum is what Laura Knebusch thinks about every day.

Knebusch is the CMO of Georgia-Pacific, and is in charge of all consumer-facing marketing and customer experience endeavors. It’s a tall order for a parent company that has brands in most mass retailers, small retailers as well as online. “We have to be thinking about how we are delighting consumers with the experience they have with our brands every time they are interacting with us,” Knebusch said. She joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and spoke about how she approaches marketing such a behemoth.

One major facet of Knebusch’s marketing philosophy is to always be testing out new channels and ways to reach customers. “We do have a focus on experimentation,” she said. “It’s not a set, we’re going to do this many [experiments]. But, each year, we want to make sure that we are carving out a certain amount of investment so that we can experiment and learn and not just invest in the things that are tried and true. With the world changing so much, that’s absolutely critical.”

One thing that’s no longer an experiment, though, is online grocery. According to Knebusch platforms like Instacart grew thanks to the pandemic and are more or less here to stay. That being said, they are still in their infancy. E-commerce, she said, “is an area where we are testing and learning and experimenting because it’s changing so much. And we are seeing capabilities develop really quickly. So it has to be kind of an experimental mindset.”

And many of the ad offerings on those platforms have yet to mature. “I think measurement is still a really big opportunity in this area,” she said. “Companies like Instacart are putting a lot of focus in this area and evolving, but there are still opportunities… particularly in the area of kind of measurement — making sure that you can return the value for those investments that you’re making in them.”

For her, it all boils down to a new retail paradigm that every business must contend with. “Consumers expect more from brands — they have more choices, more ways to purchase and more ways that you can reach them,” she said.

Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

What it takes to be a modern marketer
“We have to be thinking about how we are delighting consumers with the experience they have with our brands every time they are interacting with us. And that is different than traditional marketing, which was: we’re going to tell people about why we’re great and then hope that we tell them enough times that they remember it and they go buy our products. And today that’s not the way it works. Consumers expect more from brands — they have more choices, more ways to purchase and more ways that you can reach them. [You have to be] thinking holistically about that entire experience and making sure that experience is consistent — not just consistent, but distinctive — and how your brand comes to life so that it stands out in a memorable and meaningful way from your alternatives. So it’s about thinking about that whole funnel, that whole experience they have, but making sure that experience is distinctive, and it’s something that makes them understand why you are better than the alternatives.”

What Knebusch looks for in new advertising platforms
“The things we’re looking for [in new advertising platforms] are, do they have the capabilities to help us reach the consumer? Do they have the data that’s going to help us better target and be more effective with that investment? Can they help us measure? I think measurement is still a really big opportunity in this area. And then, how do they stack up versus the alternatives? They’re not all created equal. And so it’s an area where we are testing and learning and experimenting, because it’s changing so much. And we are seeing capabilities develop really quickly. So it has to be kind of an experimental mindset. And where we think there’s value, we’re scaling. And where there’s not, we’re waiting to see how that continues to evolve.”

Trying to keep future generations in mind
“[I’m focused on] continuing to keep the consumer first in the organization. And understanding… [that] the diversity of our consumer is changing — how are we understanding the impacts of the consumer, as you think about the millennials? As you think about Gen Z? And how that might impact who our target consumer is today and might be in the future. One area that we’re very focused on is continuing that understanding.”