Jackie Bebenroth on the Korn Ferry Briefings Podcast

Jill Wiltfong:

With us now is Jackie Bebenroth, Founder and Principal of Muse, a brand strategy and storytelling firm. Jackie, thank you for coming on to speak with me.

Jackie Bebenroth:

Thanks for having me, Jill.

Jill Wiltfong:

That last clip was from The Conversationalist, which is a Gen Z-focused YouTube channel. Jackie, Gen Z has become famous for preferring brands that are purpose driven. But do you agree that many companies right now are just paying lip service to that idea to get their attention?

Jackie Bebenroth:

A lot of brands are well intentioned, however, there are challenges that, most organizations are built with the purpose of driving returns for their shareholders, right? So how do they fit a purpose into that core mission? I think some brands do it better than others, but for the most part we know that 70% of Gen Z is looking to buy from brands that they believe are making a difference in the world. So, it's becoming more and more important as that consumer perception is driving brands to make shifts in their initiatives, and how they express purpose.

Jill Wiltfong:

So, we looked at cruises off the top of this podcast. Do you have some examples of how other industries are doing a good job of transforming their brands to bring in these younger customers?

Jackie Bebenroth:

I love what I'm seeing from major beverage brands. So, one example is these collabs and these music festivals, Gen Z younger audiences are all about entertainment, and collaboration. And so, the more you can entertain and drive experiences through your brand, the better off you're going to be. In the food and fashion scene, again, this theme of collabs has been common. I've recently seen a viral campaign where a major shoe manufacturer partnered with a fast-food fried chicken company to create fried chicken shoe. Now, that seems really silly, but they put that out, got tons of exposure, and it got viral real fast.

[Moneyball movie scene]

Jill Wiltfong:

That was a clip from the film, Moneyball, where Brad Pitt has to convince a room full of dissenters about a groundbreaking new strategy around picking baseball players. Jackie, making a big brand shift externally as a company usually requires smart leaders to do some internal brand evangelism with their own employees to get them on board first. You've actually worked with a major food manufacturer and seen firsthand how they've done this. Can you share some details on that?

Jackie Bebenroth:

So, in one case, with this global food manufacturer, we were actually tasked as the agency to take an ambassador group out into the field. In this case, we were working on sustainability communications. And so, we planned an event to take 12 corporate ambassadors out to tour regenerative farms. And they spoke with the farmers; they could see the soil health firsthand. They started to understand in real tangible terms the impact of what it would mean for them to procure food ingredients from these types of farmers. And then they brought that information back and started spreading the word from the ground up. So, creating sort of this grassroots movement, and not just leaving it as top-down presentation initiative.

Jill Wiltfong:

Looking ahead, Jackie, are there other changes we should expect beyond what we're seeing right now?

Jackie Bebenroth:

I often am fascinated by this concept of the Gen Z being noted as one of the loneliest generations. So here we are as interconnected as ever digitally, but they're still reporting that they're feeling isolated and lonely. I think brands are going to react to that, and we're going to see more communities being built from brand level. We're also going to see more of the concept of belonging come through in brand strategy. And I think Gen Z will certainly jump on that.

Jill Wiltfong:

Big changes to come, exciting changes to come, a lot of things that should bring us together as a society, which is good news indeed. Jackie, thank you so much for talking with me today.

Jackie Bebenroth:

It's been a pleasure, Jill. Thank you so much.