Nobody is unfamiliar with Campbell’s, but in the eyes of younger consumers, iconic brands have a way of losing top-of-mind relevance or turning stale. The company was founded in 1869 and has seen two world wars, and Linda Lee is honoring the brand’s history while making sure one of the most recognized names in the CPG aisle doesn’t reach its expiration date.
Lee, chief marketing officer of the Campbell’s meals and beverages divisions, joined Adweek’s executive editor Chris Ariens to talk through the two pillars that the brand uses to guide its strategy—comfort and utility. If Lee didn’t work in marketing, she would be renovating old homes, a practice akin to her work in giving an age-old brand new legs.
“I’m attracted to turnaround challenges,” she said. “I love inheriting brands with such strong and good bones and building upon that.”
While Lee has a strong track record in marketing—she’s moved around at companies like Stonyfield Farm and Mondelez International—she received a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell. According to Lee, strategies in science are not dissimilar to plans of attack in marketing, as each process starts with understanding a problem, jotting down assumptions and figuring out how to execute a plan.
This marketing mentality helps Lee and her team executive creative that reaches a modern-day audience, one example being its “Lunchtime Is Your Halftime” campaign, which featured Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay and corresponded with the kickoff of the 2021 football season. The thesis was that while work is important, it is not as crucial as taking time to rest, relax and eat—a theme embraced by younger generations that are less interested in hustle culture than their millennial counterparts. Lee applies these themes to her leadership style by making sure her team works at a pace that minimizes burnout.
Lee also touched on the economic uncertainty that is plaguing marketers and honing in on how her brand may not be the cheapest option in the grocery aisle but a choice that really “helps people connect and nourish their families at a price that is affordable to most.”
To conclude the session, Lee touched on the importance of letting go of egos at work by asking silly questions, embracing naïveté and refusing to hold back.
“More often than not I lead teams with way more experience than myself,” she said. “I’m not an expert, therefore I need to surround myself with experts.”
