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Hershey’s Yussef Kuri – “To Reach Millennials Succesfully it’s Crucial to Let Go of Paradigms and be Open to Learn and Experiment.”

Yussef Kuri, New Emerging Consumers, Marketing Manager at The Hershey Co. is going to be one of the many major brand marketers speaking at  #Portada15  next week.  According to Kuri, to engage the tech-savvy multicultural Millennial it is critical that marketers are open and willing to learn. We conducted an interview with Kuri.

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Yussef Kuri, New Emerging Consumers, Marketing Manager at The Hershey Co. is going to be one of the many leading brand marketers speaking at  #Portada15  next week.  According to Kuri, to engage the tech-savvy multicultural Millennial it is critical that marketers are open and willing to learn. We conducted the below interview with Kuri. 

-Yussef KuriYussef Kuri, New Emerging Consumers, Marketing Manager at The Hershey Co.

Portada: What role does Marketing to Latina Millennials play in Hershey’s overall marketing?

Yussef Kuri: “Marketing to Latina Millennials is a core component of our overall Hispanic Marketing strategy, especially talking about young moms who are, usually, head of households.  For the Hispanic culture, women are the key decision-makers in selecting what products and brands are brought into the household, especially in the food and beverage category. They are equally, or even more important, in building traditions and habits among their family members. Having identified this, we saw a huge opportunity in targeting Latina moms to drive the business for some of our most important brands such as Hershey’s Milk Chocolate and Hershey’s Syrup.”

Portada: What role does Hispanic Marketing play in Hershey’s overall U.S. Marketing Strategy. Is it embedded in a total market approach or in a more specific Hispanic marketing effort or both?

Yussef Kuri: “We have a dedicated team to develop and implement strategy to build our brands with U.S. Hispanic consumers. However, the approach we take is defined on a case by case bases, depending on the brand development stage and the marketing objective. For example, in Jolly Rancher we’ve taken a Total Market approach where the advertising to U.S. Hispanics is an integral part of the total brand communications, no creative adaptations, no original developments, just translating the GM copy in Spanish has proven successful to generate trial. Hispanic specific efforts are also implemented on brands such as Hershey’s Milk Chocolate. The most important and iconic brand for the company currently shows an under-index in consumption among Hispanic consumers compared to the general market. Reason why a specific Hispanic approach is required in order to capitalize its full potential, and Hershey’s S’mores provided the perfect opportunity to drive trial trough a usage occasion that fit with U.S. Hispanic consumers in terms of flavors/palate and one of the core Hispanic values that is “sharing good times with the family”.

Portada: Does Hershey have a Hispanic specific content marketing effort (e.g. a website or a custom publication?)
Yussef Kuri: “We currently have a US Hispanic  “Seasons” site called celebrahersheys.com, where consumers can find recipes, craft ideas and content related to the most important seasons for candy: Valentine, Easter, Halloween and Holiday. Additionally, there is cocinahersheys.com with contents that include recipes for desserts, baked goods and all sorts of treats using our great brands as ingredients.”

Portada: What attributes do you think a marketer targeting Millennials needs to have in order to be successful?
“He or she needs to be highly adaptive to the ever-changing environment in which this generation lives. They need to stay “in the know” of what is relevant and what is not. It is important to let go of the paradigm of using a “formula” for great marketing, because to reach this consumer successfully it is important to be open to learn and experiment.”

Yussef Kuri is a highly accomplished marketing professional with years of experience in the Consumer Goods industry. Accounted with progressive international and domestic business leadership, occupying roles of increased responsibility in corporations such as Cadbury Adams and The Hershey Co.Proven successful use of knowledge and insights in the creation and execution of strategies that lead to profitable business growth.

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