The Sweet Sound of Success: Jill Baskin, The Hershey Company CMO Talks D&I

Baskin oversees all aspects of marketing for some of the sweetest brands on earth and offers a clear explanation for how and why diversity and inclusion DampampI is a key tenet of the company She discusses how Hershey has instituted pay equality how its founder39s charitable works continue to this day and how a business built on accessible luxury became a standard treat in homes around the worldThe following is an abridged version of the deepdive conversation Listen here to the full interview Subscribe or listen to the Advancing Diversity Podcast on Apple Podcasts Stitcher or watch it on YouTube or listen to the entire podcast hereMoss This is a wonderful opportunity to share the origin story of The Hershey CompanyBaskin It39s really a great story so thank you for the opportunity to tell itWhile trying to start a business Milton Hershey failed four times before he successfully founded The Hershey Company His recipe for success was discovering the process to make chocolate at scaleamp8230 This brought the price down and he was able to democratize chocolate so anyone could afford a little bit of sweetness not just the wealthy Now we39re in our 125th yearamp8230That resilient entrepreneurial spirit and desire to bring chocolate to everyone is an inclusive action that guides the company todayConlon Milton Hershey said quotOne is only happy in proportion to how happy he or she makes others feel happy and is only as useful as his or her contributions help othersquot Knowing this it seems that diversity and inclusion are naturally central to The Hershey Company missionBaskin It39s a very important pillar of our company for business reasons and as it comes straight from our founder Milton and his wife had no heirs So they founded a school for orphans that today is a worldclass boarding school serving 2300 underserved girls and boys each year They live at the school and employees are encouraged to participate with the students in all sorts of ways from faith groups to helping out with a Halloween party or a Christmas party to reading stories to young children at the homesMoss How have your DampampI efforts impacted The Hershey Company39s bottom lineBaskin We believe it is good business By having and activating a diverse workforce we will do a better job of listening to the consumer We also ask that our suppliers are inclusive We have a lot of purchasing power as clients and it39s important to use that to advance diversity For example I have started requiring that our casting is inclusive Often I send work back because it is not representative of the real worldIn our industry we know women are driving about 85 percent of consumer purchasing amp8230 so having women reflected within our talent pool and consumer messaging is essential Together we can turn insights into actions and decisions that resonate with consumersConlon Do you have an example of a DampampI activation that you are especially proud ofBaskin I developed an inhouse agency to create advertising for our brands This organizational restructure instantly unleashed creativity and energized the company Our inhouse agency team is extremely nimble which accelerates the speed of production and provides us with marketing campaigns and messaging that we control My agency team is small but mighty and diverse It is effective and inclusiveConlon What aspects of Hershey39s DampampI initiatives most inspire you personallyBaskin It39s the company ethos that inspires me amp8230 all of us working together And I know that sounds a little Pollyanna but I39m telling you Hershey is the best place I39ve ever worked I think that39s partly because of our inclusion efforts With women in leadership positions like Michelle Buck our CEO amp8212 one of only 36 female CEOs in the Fortune 500 amp8212 I just think it presents a lot of opportunities for women If you get a chance work for a womanMoss Can you describe how Hershey has also made a commitment to equality through an equal pay programBaskin We closed the gender pay gap At Hershey men and women earn the same amount for the same or similar job dollar for dollar To measure this and to ensure that equal pay is maintained every single role is evaluated once a year If we identify anyone on staff that we feel isn39t being paid equally to others of the same number of years work responsibilities etcetera amp8230 we bring the situation to our pay equity committee and they will make any adjustments that are necessaryMoss You39ve worked on the agency and the brand side of the industry Where is it easier to enact change through DampampI activism and advocacy Baskin It39s easier on the clientsideamp8230 but that doesn39t mean that I39m letting agencies off the hook I believe agencies should be more active in their recruitment of diverse candidates because we39ll get better and more actionable ideas as a result But I am going to let them off the hook a little because they are paid to reflect client direction Clients must be very clear about how much DampampI they want in the messaging they put out to the world and how that communication is framedConlon What39s your hiring process and where you source from to ensure a fit with your corporate culture Baskin We39re about two hours from Philadelphiaamp8230 yet we find that it isn39t hard to recruit and hire Every person through the interview process is told about the Hershey origin story and they learn about our corporate culture which extends into the greater community They see that inclusivity starts at the top We have 42 percent gender diversity on our board of directors and 50 percent diversity on our executive committeeAJ Petross our vice president of diversity and inclusion reaches out to partners ahead of our recruiting events to ensure that qualified candidates know that we are committed to diversity inclusion and equality She connects with prospects through The Network of Executive Women The Society for Black Engineers Women in Supply Chain and others We attend ROMBA which is Reaching Out MBA a career event for LGBTQ students and we also interview at MBA Vet which is a career event for transitioning military peopleOur head of human resources Kevin Walling sits on the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and we interview through them We also reach out to diverse student organizations and through our internal business resource groups to promote our inclusive interview processConlon What single piece of advice would you give to another chief marketer who is trying to get inclusion woven into their marketingBaskin Speak up and act We have an awesome pulpit as the CMO to speak up on behalf of the importance of diversity and the benefits of inclusionWeaving diversity and inclusion into the fabric of your company is good for business And we have proof In this podcast series our Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors 2020 inductees each discuss the many ways their organizations champion diversity equality and inclusion as well as examine the benefits to their company constituents and community Each episode features one inductee39s strategies and best practices that others can adapt to help their organizations accelerate the move from advocacy to activismThe 2020 Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors inductees include Jill Baskin chief marketing officer The Hershey Company J Michael Haynie PhD vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation Institute for Veteran and Military Families Tim Jones chief executive officer Publicis Media Americas Tim McNeal talent development Walt Disney Television Sue Obeidi director Muslim Public Affairs Council The Hollywood Bureau Tony Rogers chief member officer Sam39s Club Tiffany R Warren founder and president ADCOLOR and senior vice president chief diversity officer Omnicom and Shelley Zalis chief executive officer The Female QuotientClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The Sweet Sound of Success: Jill Baskin, The Hershey Company CMO Talks D&I

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"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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