Following on from a recent win at the AACS awards, Patties GM OOH Matt Dodson spoke to C&I about the win and whats new and upcoming with Patties.
C&I: Congratulations on the win, what does that mean for the company?
Matt Dodson: “It was absolutely exciting and certainly unexpected, we weren’t expecting to have that awarded to us within the first twelve months of the new Patties and the change where we’re starting to head as a company.”
“To be nominated was a genuine honour, so to win it, certainly is something that’s quite exciting for us.”
C&I: How has the brand grown in recent times?
MD: “In terms of the growth of the brand, when you look at the category it has grown and the on-the-go channel has been an exciting area. It is seen as the core category of growth over the coming years.”
“Id like to think that we are now starting to lead that hot on-the-go category segment and starting to look at it from a completely different angle from where we ever have before.”
C&I: What is the P.I.E system?
MD: “The P.I.E system is an IT platform that we have within Patties now, its actually a wonderful examples of some of the cultural changes that we’ve started to make here within Patties- around the fact that anyone can have the opportunity to put their hand up and say I’ve got an idea for innovation, for doing something different. That can be through NPD or business innovation, it can be through whatever you like so its been quite amazing some of the ideas that have come up. It’s about making sure that everyone in the company has the right voice, and the right voice is through this P.I.E platform.”
C&I: What are some Directional changes that have occurred?
MD: “When I start to sit back and reflect on what some of the changes have been, the key thing for me has been the attitude change that we’ve had within Patties, the cultural change has been quite significant over the last twelve months. From that, we’ve started to engage with our customers, especially within the convenience space on a completely different level and we’re starting to work with them on totally insight led, category innovation. It’s not about having one pie, one brand that fits all convenience today- you need to start to think about a new consumer that’s really starting to come into this market. What we’ve found, is that we’re starting to attract more customers than we have in the past in regards to our fresh way of thinking and its certainly growing the opportunities for us in this space through the cultural and attitude change.”
“We’re a whole new executive management team and there’s been a totally new way of thinking. It’s about leading the commercial team together, with marketing as well, absolutely from the inside out.”
C&I: Can you share some insights from the Patties Innovation Platform?
MD: “The two things that I can share from the Innovation Platform are; the current consumers still love the brand Four n Twenty and still have some resonation with the brand but what we haven’t done well is, we haven’t supported that brand well in the past- we’ve almost just traded on the fact that its such a strong brand, that the consumers will always know it. One of the key insights for us is how we’re now going to support the convenience industry an transform the brand again, into something quite special.”
“The second thing is, that there’s a whole new consumer that starting to come up into this market and they’re looking for something more, something more premium and artisan, and that’s been one of the exciting developments that started to come out of it.”
To be continued.