People to Watch 2014: Katie Survance, Tyson Foods

Eight individuals represent this year’s class of People to Watch. Nominated by their colleagues and friends of Shopper Marketing and the Path to Purchase Institute, these rising stars are making a name for themselves by doing work for the brands and their categories that’s worthy of attention.Business wasn’t Katie Survance’s initial interest in college. She switched majors twice, taking high-level biology and art classes before deciding to focus on business administration. But all those courses help her in her current work in shopper insights at Tyson Foods. “I learned a disciplined and iterative process in science and the power of aesthetics in art,” she says.After graduating from Bowling Green, she joined a market research company supporting the Procter & Gamble team and then spent three-plus years at Nielsen as part of The Modeling Group learning more about advanced analytics, data management and interfacing with the client. “I worked with multiple media agencies, software engineers and spent time in India training an extension of our team,” says Survance.She joined Hillshire Brands (now part of Tyson Foods) as a customer category manager on the Kroger team in Cincinnati before making the move to Chicago and the shopper insights team.In an interview with Shopper Marketing, she talked about her passion for getting to the heart of what drives and motivates shoppers:Provide an example or two of your work. What makes you most proud?Survance: I recently completed a project looking at more than 14 billion product trips across the total perimeter of the store. The insights will help us understand how our categories interact with other categories across the perimeter and offer perspective in how shoppers shop. That will provide direction in possible white space opportunities for innovation, as well as in optimizing shelving complementary categories to provide meal solutions for shoppers. This research enables us to elevate the conversation with our retail partners and provide guidance as they move to small format or convert and update old stores.Last year, I managed a path-to-purchase study in our deli space. We partnered with three strategic deli retailers, conducting qualitative research through firsthand shopalongs, followed by a comprehensive quantitative survey. We were able to glean insights around the deli experience and what matters most to shoppers. We followed up the research with an ideation session bringing together a wide variety of internal constituents to truly bring insights to action. What are your career goals? Where do you see yourself in five, 10 years?Survance: In five years, I will have further developed my people management skills by sharing my expertise and empowering others to succeed. I would like to have mastered additional research techniques with the ever-changing technology in the research industry. In 10 years, I would like to pay it forward to all the impressive mentors I’ve had throughout my career and provide that guidance for others. I also see myself putting my experience to work in a more entrepreneurial environment where I can push the envelope in a different arena.What are the biggest challenges facing the discipline of shopper marketing now and moving forward?Survance: Shoppers and consumers are constantly being bombarded by messaging 24/7. The challenge is creating the right message through the most efficient vehicle in order to cut through and engage your target shopper.What role do you foresee the physical store playing in the future?Survance: The physical store is imperative within fresh foods. There’s this dichotomy in shopping between the authenticity of a farmer’s market and the convenience of an online retailer. However, I believe that shoppers are still looking for an experience. Retailers who are winning are using their physical store to communicate their personality and create an experience for their shoppers.

People to Watch 2014: Katie Survance, Tyson Foods

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