Graco 2014 Annual Report Download - page 10

Newell Rubbermaid 10 2014 Annual Report
Our investments in growth-enabling capabilities are
starting to pay dividends. In addition to advertising
and promotion, we have significantly increased
funding in the areas of consumer research, design,
innovation, marketing, e-commerce and customer
development.
Our innovation funnel value has doubled versus prior
year. We increased our consumer research headcount
by 50 percent and doubled the research budget. We
also introduced a new, more rigorous new product
development process, which is yielding bigger and
better quality ideas. In 2014, we opened a state-of-
the-art design center to foster collaboration and
creativity across our brands. The design center also
features immersion labs for evaluating prototypes,
an on-site model shop and a usability lab to enable
interaction with consumers and end-users to create
better product experiences.
We are making tangible progress towards our
ambition to be a design- and innovation-led company
famous for design and product performance.
We have diversified and upgraded the talent of
our marketing teams, organizing them around
global hubs in the U.S., Brazil, China and the U.K.
With 35 percent of our marketing professionals now
outside of North America, along with 25 percent
of our research and media spending, we are also
creating a more global perspective and building a
solid foundation for geographic expansion.
Our investments also extend to the digital world,
where more and more consumers are shopping.
To better serve our online channels, we announced
plans to open a new global e-commerce hub in New
York City in early 2015. The strengthened analytics
capability it aords will provide us with deeper
analysis and insight into digital consumers’
purchasing behavior. This transformative building
block of our Growth Game Plan will help expand
the company’s e-commerce business and accelerate
online sales growth worldwide.
On the customer development side, we are investing
in shopper marketing programs to fuel growth
via brand building, equity-driving promotions and
improved in-store visibility. We are partnering
more strategically with our retail partners to help
support major in-store initiatives and drive consumer
consumption. These eorts have helped us win
incremental distribution and shelf space across the
portfolio and improve point-of-sale growth, a win-
win for us and our customers. As a result, Newell
Rubbermaid won “vendor of the year” awards at
several of our key retailers, a validation of our ability
to drive Every Day Great Execution.
BRAND BUILDING AND
CAPABILITY INVESTMENTS
ARE PAYING OFF
(CONTINUED)
Design
Our 40,000-square-foot
Design Center brings
together all the disciplines
in design and innovation –
including graphic
and industrial design,
prototyping, usability,
color, material and trend
analysis – under one roof
to collaborate across
our entire portfolio of
great brands.
Innovation
Through better research
and collaboration, we have
made great progress
in generating a strong
pipeline of high-quality
innovation ideas across
the portfolio. We are well
within reach of our aspira-
tion to have 30 percent
of sales come from new
products launched over
the last three years.
Customer
Development
Our investments in shopper
marketing programs, better
promotions and enhanced
in-store visibility are driving
incremental distribution and
placements across channels.
Our robust merchandising
programs, backed by strong
innovation and heavy adver-
tising and marketing, helped
drive a successful Back-to-
School season.
Investing in Winning Capabilities
GROWTH