The Uplow'd By 84.51‪°‬ 84.51

When COVID-19 took hold in early 2020, the grocery industry found itself facing an unprecedented rate of change. Brands and retailers were suddenly forced to navigate near-constant shifts in customer behavior and consumer sentiment.
As shoppers’ habits, preferences and norms continue to evolve even as the pandemic wanes, 84.51° has kept pace with ongoing behavioral analytics and consumer research, identifying a number of shopper trends that have emerged around concerns about safety, health, finances, sustainability and community. And, the research reveals critical insights about the future of the industry—in particular, the rise of the hybrid shopper and the importance of an omnichannel strategy in response.

On this first episode of 2021, we welcome Barbara Connors, VP of Commercial Insights, to discuss the warm summer months ahead, and the consumer trends that CPGs can expect as we head into the second year of COVID-19 and the impact the vaccine roll out may have on consumers. Barbara walks us through the research the Commercial Insights team has completed to shed some light on what is shaping up to be a Summer of Celebrations.
 
To read more about our Summer of Celebrations, visit 8451.com/summer2021.
 
As VP of Commercial Insights for 84.51°, Barbara is responsible for building relationships with more than 1400 clients across CPG, media & shopper marketing agencies, food associations, food marketers, product licensors and more to leverage 84.51°’s best-in-class insights solutions to drive sustainable growth for their business.  She holds a Master of Marketing Research and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Georgia. 

On this special Thanksgiving episode of The Uplow’d, we welcome guests Erika Penrose and Logan O’Neil to discuss the recent research completed by 84.51° on consumers’ perceptions about COVID-19. We’ll discuss how shoppers’ attitudes about the pandemic have evolved over time since the outbreak, and how brands can expect this to impact spending around the upcoming holidays. 
To read the full report, Consumer Perceptions on Returning to Normal and its Impact on the Upcoming Holidays, click here: https://8451-assets.netlify.app/docs/8451_Consumer-Perceptions-and-Holidays_R5.pdf
Erika Penrose is a Consultant on the Foundational Research team, where she is focused on bringing the voice of the customer to life. Through her role, she leads various consumer research survey-based projects. In addition to her work on mapping out the pain points of the customer journey and running a bi-weekly survey on COVID-related sentiments, she has also worked on the Topics and Trends program, providing educational insights on relevant industry trends. Erika joined 84.51° in 2019, and enjoys cooking new foods and trying to visit all of the Cincinnati parks. 
Logan O’Neil is a Senior Consultant on the Commercial Insights and Loyalty, Commercial Solutions team. In her role, she leads 84.51° Insights Product Marketing efforts, showcasing the value of 84.51° Insights products, solutions, and capabilities through the development and implementation of go-to-market strategies. Logan joined 84.51° in 2018 and hit the ground running, contributing to the pre-sales journey and launch of 84.51° Stratum – producing sales collateral and leading product demonstrations. Logan has also led and contributed to a number of sales enablement efforts, supporting 84.51° Insights Account Managers. Logan is an alumna of The University of Alabama and enjoys outdoor activities and traveling. 

On this episode, guests Kelsey Crookes and Peter Johnson talk about the shift of grocery shopping from in-store to online. We’ll chat about the partnership between Kroger Precision Marketing and Microsoft PromoteIQ that is helping brands win business in today’s digital aisles. We also a shine a light on important holiday marketing trends in ecommerce.
Curious about the Roku episode referenced in today’s episode? Click here: https://www.8451.com/the-uplowd-by-8451-podcast/goddard-shirole-kroger-precision-marketing-roku 
 
Kelsey Crookes is a Lead Consultant for 84.51°’s Product Strategy & Innovation team. In her role, she leads the strategy and development for Product Listing Ads, part of the Kroger Precision Marketing portfolio, and is focused on helping brands connect with shoppers at the point of purchase. Kelsey joined 84.51° in 2016 supporting Kroger’s Produce and Floral Merchandising business and brings an analytical and problem-solving mindset to her work in the media space. Kelsey is a Miami University alumna and an avid reader and baker.
Peter Johnson leads the Microsoft PromoteIQ Client Partner team dedicated to Kroger Precision Marketing. His goal is to empower brands with the strategic insights needed to leverage the PromoteIQ platform to connect with Kroger shoppers. He is a veteran in the digital advertising space with over 15 years of experience. Peter is an alumnus of NYU, and a dedicated New Yorker who loves all the food, culture and diversity the city has to offer.

Today on The Uplow’d, we welcome Julie Emmett, Jessica Mahan and Eric Wolfe to discuss an in-store test conducted on behalf of the Plant Based Foods Association to uncover how Kroger shoppers are responding to plant-based meat products across the midwestern U.S. We’ll learn about the surprising results of this test, and what it means for the future of plant-based meats. 
The test was also recently featured in an article by the Specialty Food Association. For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/307Q4KC.
Julie Emmett is Senior Director of Retail Partnerships for the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA). She collaborates with retailers on behalf of PBFA members by leading a multitude of groundbreaking initiatives to grow plant-based foods. Julie holds a Master of Business Administration from St. Mary’s College, is certified in nutrition education, and is thoroughly passionate about understanding what is driving growth within plant-based foods. 
Jessica Mahan is a Lead Insights Account Manager at 84.51°, where she connects associations, boards, product licensors, marketing and media agencies with leading customer data and insights. In addition to her work scoping and executing the causal impact test with Kroger and the Plant Based Foods Association, she has also worked closely with Kroger’s leading CPG and supplier partners in the Grocery and Fresh categories, consulting on merchandising strategy and linking companies with 84.51° customer-first analytics. 
Eric Wolfe is a Director of Merchandising Consulting for 84.51°. In his current role, he helps clients identify areas and processes where insight can be infused to make better business decisions. During his 10-year tenure with 84.51°, Eric has worked on a variety of initiatives including leading research and development of strategy for Fortune 500 CPGs, development of new data science capabilities across retail channels, and progressing Kroger’s understanding of customers’ needs within the Meat and Seafood categories. Eric holds a Master of Business Administration from The University of Kentucky.

On this special edition of The Uplow’d, we welcome Data Scientist Tyler Uher to discuss the 84.51° data science development program. Tyler, who joined 84.51° in June 2019 via the program, tells us what drew him to choose a career with 84.51°, and what the recruiting process was like for him. 
 
Tyler has a BBA in Business Analytics from the University of Notre Dame. In his current role, he supports the 84.51° Media business team by building tools to deliver insights that consultants can use to show measurable worth of brand investment in Kroger Precision Marketing’s owned and operated assets.