Client Insights: How To Optimize The AI Trade Promotion Calendar 

Managing promotional deal processes is a necessary part of business for CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) companies. 

However, it’s also exhausting, costly and time-consuming - even for organizations as large as Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (CCA). 

Melinda Wienand, previously CCA’s Head of Revenue Growth, sat with HIVERY to record a fascinating podcast episode where we explored our partnership in developing the world’s first AI trade promotional calendar and how she helped pioneer a better approach which ultimately led to the creation of HIVERY Promote.

HIVERY Promote uses AI to generate optimized trade promotion calendars to automate trade promotions and facilitate dynamic continuous learning that is helpful in forecasting accuracy demands, addressing constraints and attaining overall business goals.

Melinda shared CCA’s journey with HIVERY and how her personal experience has been revolutionary for their organization.

A more advanced AI approach to promotional deal processes

Looking back on her 3 years of research and development experience with Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (CCA), Melinda Wienand, previously CCA’s Head of Revenue Growth and currently Head of Revenue Management at Simplot Australia, recalled how the company had to decide to move past the conventional methods and technologies of offering promotional deals if they wanted to remain competitive.

“We were originally running multiple scenarios that were brainstormed by a group of very smart people in Finance, Sales and Revenue Management. However, we were still facing constraints.

She further explained, “There was the need to come up with as many scenarios as possible, but we also had to do it in a rapid way. If not, our price elasticity models tended to become obsolete by the time we were done with the results.”

She realized that such an iterative procedure of imprecise guesswork to try to find the ideal promotional deals were costing them substantial time and effort. So, Melinda and her team aimed to master two important things: 

1. Keep price elasticities model learning with live data, and
2. Run many more scenarios in a time-efficient way.

This was impossible with the original method. So, to do this, HIVERY and CCA worked together to develop HIVERY Promote – which offered an AI-driven trade promotion optimization solution.

HIVERY Promote takes only a few minutes to generate promotional calendars which are more effective, implementable and competent in meeting demands of multiple stakeholders for CPG companies.

Revolutionizing the way product promotions are done

By reiterating the vital aspects of designing these promotional calendars, Melinda discussed the essence of HIVERY Promote and why its development was so important in revolutionizing the way product promotions are done today.

“With the old school way of doing things, there were a great deal of financial calculations needed to understand the financial impact of promotional calendars. But people are not aware that the execution elements of promotions are far more important than just price discounts.”

She added, “Things like catalogue planning, in-store display preparations and communications delivery often go unnoticed because there’s a lack of accurate data. To implement favorable outcomes for shoppers, retailers and brand, HIVERY Promote takes careful consideration of all of these factors in optimizing promotional management.”

The outcome of this new approach: AI trade promotion optimization

Melinda is proud that CCA’s promotional activities have improved due to their advanced new method of revenue management. She explained why HIVERY Promote stands out from the other solutions in the market:

“HIVERY Promote is unique because it offers you a price elasticity model that is dynamic. It also provides a prescriptive promotional calendar that optimizes Key Performance Indicators. Most importantly, HIVERY Promote has an interface that allows you to visualize the impact of a promotional calendar – helping you easily make smarter decisions that bring success to the business,” said Melinda.

The future of promotional planning 

Seeing how CCA came a long way together with HIVERY Promote, Melinda wants to tell other businesses that using an AI trade promotion tool to improve their retail operations is worth it.

“We are continuously witnessing how unmatched and powerful HIVERY Promote is. It is the perfect balance between intuitive and easy to use. However, what makes it most powerful is its ability to refresh with new data and a new scenario in a very quick manner.”

Melinda admitted she felt honored to be in the same room when the AI trade promotion calendar from HIVERY Promote was created. Today, she anticipates how CPG companies and retailers will progress even more because of it.

“HIVERY Promote is the future of promotional planning in the food industry. To make sure your business won’t get left behind, you must learn how to adopt and adapt,” she said.

Want to learn more about HIVERY Promote?

Listen to Melinda’s podcast episode on HIVERY’s Scientific Maverick Podcast station and learn about her journey in discovering a new way to maximize promotional management activities. 

For more information about HIVERY Promote, click here.