- Elaine Wong and Steve Miller

In today's tough economy, when food companies are battling escalating ingredient costs, heavily scrutinized marketing practices and fluctuating stocks, General Mills is driving growth with a business model that includes marketing at its core.
 
Mark Addicks, CMO and svp of General Mills, revealed what those strategies were during a speech this morning at the Association of National Advertisers' conference in Orlando, Fla. Addicks credited "leadership, scale and leverage" as the three factors fueling General Mill's brand portfolio in an unstable food business.
 
"We believe that brands can nourish life, make them simpler and easier and healthier," Addicks told an audience of approximately 1,200 attendees. "Why are we growing? We're focused not just on growing our brands, but on outgrowing the category," he said.
 
Leadership, Addicks said, calls for a focus on brand leadership. This involves knowing the brand's "champion" or targeting consumer needs and streamlining current and future marketing initiatives to meet those needs.
 
As an example, Addicks related the case study of how General Mills refined its Fruit by the Foot brand after an ethnography exercise conducted with one such brand champion. While an off-camera voice interviewed a mom, her eight-year-old son Josh toyed with the drawstrings on his pants to see how far he could stretch the strings. (He got as far as the back of the ear and his kneecap.) The insight prompted General Mills to take action with a new campaign that showed kids and teens doing street tricks with the popular fruit snack (namely the "zig zag," "wave" and "the zipper").

In an interview with Brandweek following his presentation, Addicks said that the economy also introduces a marketing positive for General Mills: The notion of driving people away from fast food and to home-cooked, healthier—and often less costly—meals.

"A contracting economy means people look at how they spend their money and that often means less of things like waiting in line for fast food," Addicks said. "When they know that there are healthier foods that can be cooked, and they can also enjoy a meal at home with the family, that can be a boost to food brands." And marketing, he said, can drive that push away from fast food.

Addicks added that the move toward more home cooked meals and healthier foods is driven by the consumer—something that he expects General Mills will embrace more as time passes.

"We may feel good about where we are, but we are always behind the consumer," Addicks said. "There is nothing to be afraid of in that."

General Mills spent $697 million on marketing last year, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus, and $437 million through July.