Andrea Zweig Wagner
Harrisburg
Summary
Strong consumer advocate and successful international brand and marketing leader using passion, collaboration and analytics to drive sales & awareness growth in both retail and CPG.
Overview
40
40
years of professional experience
Work History
Director of Brand Management & Design
Ahold Delhaize USA
10.2021 - Current
- Brand Steward & leader of 20-member team managing the private brand portfolio of 11 brands and 11,000+ sku’s.
- Stood up the first Brand Management Team for ADUSA, smoothly integrating it with Brand & Label Design Team.
- Executed the first cross-functional deep diagnostic of each private brand, receiving leadership approval for Brand Modernization Plan to optimize our brands – positioning, creative, label design, over a 3-year period.
- Developed & socialized Brand Design Guardrails to ensure consistency of branding across all consumer touchpoints.
- Developed and socialized Brand Product Guardrails to ensure product make up meets brand strategy.
- Established a roadmap for leveraging consumer insights, trends & competitive analysis to ensure our private brands stay relevant for our shoppers.
- Oversight of a $3 million budget
Principal
AZW Consulting
01.2019 - 10.2021
- Led a multi-dimensional branding and marketing consultancy, helping companies successfully build & launch strong brands and products.
- Working with a frozen food manufacturer, developed brand architecture for brand portfolio, identifying strengths, weaknesses & white space for further development.
- Executed in-depth frozen food analysis, identifying key opportunities for product development pipeline.
- Developed positioning & package creative for new kids’ frozen brand.
- Leveraging consumer data, led the redesign of the key brand for a plant-based manufacturer, leading to increased sales & consumer awareness.
- Developed & facilitated focus groups in the plant-based food space to identify key consumer insights & product development opportunities.
CMO
Ricos Products
01.2015 - 01.2019
- Responsible for all marketing, advertising, promotions, package & product development. Role included TV, radio, print, OOH, digital/mobile, social, grassroots, promotion & sports sponsorships.
- Leveraging data, identified the need to reposition & redesign the popcorn brand & led the execution.
- Established the company vision for the first digital strategy that optimized the website, social media, influencer program, email database & newsletter. Bolstered annual sales by +10%.
- Developed the company’s first 1 & 3 year strategic marketing plan that optimized spending & partnerships across U.S. retail & concession. Spearheaded compelling marketing programs that broke sales records.
- Partnered with Sales to deliver presentations & negotiate mutually beneficial alliances with retail & food service clients.
Director, of Product Innovation
Hussman Corporation
01.2013 - 01.2015
- Stood up new position responsible for researching, driving & building new omnichannel shopper-facing opportunities.
- Partnering with a third party developer, championed the development, positioning & distribution of a digital platform that enabled individualized consumer insight, engagement & real-time data management/ analysis.
Vice President of Private Brand & Marketing
Save-A-Lot
01.2008 - 01.2013
- Primary steward of private brand development & procurement, with full oversight of marketing, consumer research, in-store décor & vendor/client relationships for this multi-unit, franchised retailer.
- Advanced acceptance of a consumer segmentation and store cluster model, maximizing product assortment across store portfolio.
- Drove in-depth consumer research to discover a key consumer insight that led to a re-branding of the Save-A-Lot master brand.
- Developed consumer database of 1M for targeted marketing & interactive consumer messaging, with 2x the effectiveness of traditional marketing.
- Led Hispanic market segment outreach.
Vice President Meat, Seafood, Produce Procurement & Merchandising
Save-A-Lot
01.2010 - 01.2012
- Selected to revitalize performance in the $1.2B Fresh Procurement & Merchandising unit.
- Collaborating with franchisees, spearheaded a new approach to meat sourcing & promotional planning.
- Increased the wholesale meat business by +20% by re-organizing the team and retaining franchisees (75% of business).
- Supervised and coached a 40-member team, driving accountability for results, contributing to surpassing target goals by +2.5%.
- Initiated a quarterly review process that optimized franchisee and corporate promotions.
- Pioneered the Category Management discipline, training staff in category knowledge, pricing, assortment and specifications.
Vice President of Brand Strategy, Marketing, & Consumer Insights
Save-A-Lot
01.2008 - 01.2010
- Leader responsible for integrating Marketing, Label Design, Consumer Insights, & Interior Design into one cohesive team to enable brand consistency at all consumer touchpoints.
- Leveraging consumer insights, trends & competitive analysis, convinced CEO to overhaul the Private Brand portfolio.
Sr. Group Manager
Kroger
01.2005 - 01.2008
- Recruited to stand up a Brand Management team to drive Own Brands growth.
- Increased Own Brand %of total sales by 10% by developing/enhancing Own Brand strategies & packaging across 96 categories across the store.
- Revitalized the package development process leveraging consumer research, competitive analysis & cross-functional team collaboration.
- Rolled out the use of Creative Briefs, using consumer insights, trends & competitive analysis to propel strategic brand development.
- Launched new products & brands, fueled by industry trends (Active Lifestyle, Private Selections Organic and Everyday Living), increasing revenues & Corporate Brand presence across the store.
- Reduced speed to shelf by 25% by re-engineering packaging development process.
- Co-chair of cross functional Hispanic Strategic Initiative that pioneered new Hispanic format in New Mexico.
Directora, Marca Propias/New Business
HEB
01.2002 - 01.2005
- Selected to stand up Own Brands team in Mexico, integrating the team & processes with the U.S.
- Built & led bilingual, bi-cultural team located in the U.S. & Mexico, responsible for all Own Brand product & package development, brand management & promotional activities in Mexico. All business done in Spanish.
- Grew Own Brand sales in Mexico +23% to record share & sales levels.
- Drove share of key Own Brand products (HEB yogurt, HEB Creamy Creations, EB Chips Galore cookies) surpassing National Brand shares.
- Developed & facilitated a multi-disciplinary/multi-cultural team to drive Own Brand product development, resulting in the development of over 500 bilingual sku’s legal for sale in both the U.S. & Mexico, eliminating the need for dual slotting & increasing product variety across the store portfolio in both countries.
- Collaborated with Category Managers to identify product opportunities in their respective categories.
- Secured HEB’s exclusive manufacture & sale of Lala, Mexico’s #1 milk brand in the U.S., delivering sales +50% over projection. This resulted in Lala’s launch into the U.S. market; the brand is now available nationwide.
- Developed productive relationships with Latin American vendors, contributing to the development of innovative Own Brand products sold in both the U.S. & in Mexico.
Own Brands Manager
HEB
01.1998 - 01.2002
- Led the strategic direction & development of innovative private label brands across the store, including healthful product line for kids, an entry-level price point brand, a Hispanic product line as well as mainstream items (i.e. ice cream, yogurts, pet, etc.) significantly growing HEB’s Own Brand share in these categories.
Brand Manager
Procter & Gamble
01.1986 - 01.1994
- Responsible for the successful launch of iconic brands like Camay, Zest, Scope & Always Pantiliners into Puerto Rico.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Spanish
University of Madrid
Madrid, Spain 05-1985
Skills
- Brand strategy, architecture & portfolio management
- Consumer insights
- Product development
- Design & creative development
- Marketing strategy, planning & budget
- Digital, social and influencer marketing
- Sponsorship marketing
- Television, radio and billboard advertising
- Team stand up and development
- Infrastructure and process improvement
Vertex Award for Private Brand Label Design
The Vertex Awards are the only competition devoted exclusively to the art of Private Brand package design. They are judged by industry experts based on Creativity, Marketability, and Innovation.
Languages
Spanish
Native or Bilingual
Timeline
Director of Brand Management & Design
Ahold Delhaize USA
10.2021 - Current
Principal
AZW Consulting
01.2019 - 10.2021
CMO
Ricos Products
01.2015 - 01.2019
Director, of Product Innovation
Hussman Corporation
01.2013 - 01.2015
Vice President Meat, Seafood, Produce Procurement & Merchandising
Save-A-Lot
01.2010 - 01.2012
Vice President of Private Brand & Marketing
Save-A-Lot
01.2008 - 01.2013
Vice President of Brand Strategy, Marketing, & Consumer Insights
Save-A-Lot
01.2008 - 01.2010
Sr. Group Manager
Kroger
01.2005 - 01.2008
Directora, Marca Propias/New Business
HEB
01.2002 - 01.2005
Own Brands Manager
HEB
01.1998 - 01.2002
Brand Manager
Procter & Gamble
01.1986 - 01.1994
Bachelor of Science - Spanish
University of Madrid