The Broken Road

In the consumer goods industry, “blow your mind” innovation often involves “stumbling toward success”, “misbehaving energy” and “surrogates for prescience”. Those are just a few of the Kevin Hartley-isms that we came to know and love throughout the process of writing this month’s cover story about Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Keurig brand. We first met Kevin at CGT's Growth & Innovation Forum this past September, where his enthusiasm, and GMCR’s unique approach to innovation, truly wowed the audience. It’s a success story that reads a lot like Rascal Flatt’s country song lyrics: “That God blessed the broken road/ That led me straight to you”. Today, after overcoming its share of challenges, the company is leading the single-serve coffee revolution in North America. Turn to Page 6 to find out what he had everyone buzzing about.

Like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Energizer Personal Care shares a story marked by broken roads on Page 12. In a candid account, the company reveals why it chose to re-launch a TPM system and offers best practices for getting it right the second time around.

No Sales & Marketing-focused issue of CGT would be complete without a story focused on downstream data. On Page 9, Hanesbrands explains the innovative ways in which it is utilizing a DSR for proximity analysis and much more.

Lastly, turn to Page 13 to view the Fall edition of CGT’s Tech Preview Guide, wherein you’ll meet a handful of new solutions that can help your company to repave the broken roads in your journey toward business excellence.