Episode 14: Kenny Juskoviak - The Emerging Brand Revolution

Kenny Juskowiak: The Emerging Brand Revolution
What happens when startups get the same powerful data tools that used to be reserved for Fortune 500 companies? Kenny Juskowiak, Head of North America Marketing at NielsenIQ, joins Quinn and Naila to explore how the entire CPG landscape is being reshaped—one scrappy brand at a time.
In this episode, we dive into the democratization of data and discover why Kenny believes AI will have a disproportionate advantage for small brands rather than making big companies more powerful. From founders creating products in their garages to solve problems they couldn't find on shelves, to the rise of social commerce and shoppable ads, this conversation reveals how passion-driven brands are challenging century-old giants.
Key Topics:

Why NielsenIQ created an entirely separate division for emerging brands
How AI is transforming product development (spoiler: salt and vinegar donuts might be in your future)
The difference between US and European startup cultures in CPG
Why retail is fragmenting into discovery, fulfillment, and transaction—and what that means for brands
The future of grocery shopping: Will physical stores disappear by 2040?

Whether you're an emerging brand founder, a CPG industry professional, or simply curious about the future of how we discover and buy products, this episode offers insider insights from someone working at the frontier of consumer data.
Connect with Kenny Juskowiak:
LinkedIn: Kenny Juskowiak
Website: NielsenIQ.com

Where to Listen & Watch
Podcast Platforms:

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
YouTube

Follow Now, Near, and the Future:

Website: nownearfuture.com
Instagram: @nownearfuture
LinkedIn: @nownearfuture
Facebook: Now, Near, and the Future

Transcript

Quinn (00:03.224)
Welcome to Now, Mir, and the Future with Nyla Mir and Quinn Harrington. A podcast that's part crystal ball, part microscope, and part rocket ship.

Quinn (00:28.204)
Welcome to Now, the Future. I'm Quinn Harrington. Today we're diving into something that's reshaping the entire CPG landscape. How small, scrappy brands are taking on the giants.

Naila (00:40.273)
And I'm Naila Mir. We're talking about democratization of data and what happens when startups get access to the same tools that are used to be reserved for future, that used to be used for Fortune 500 companies. Gonna do that again.

Quinn (00:55.18)
Easy for you to say. Speaking of butchering names and words, our guest today is Kenny Dziskoviak, Nailed it, Head of North America Marketing at Nielsen IQ. Kenny, when 400 brands applied to your founders pitch slam, that told us something pretty significant about the market, didn't it?

Kenny Juskowiak (01:04.019)
Nailed it.

Naila (01:05.487)
Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (01:17.299)
Yeah, I think the world is a very interesting place right now. And especially in the CPG space, there's a lot of really cool stuff that's going on. But we've had the pleasure of working on the last couple of years with a bunch of these emerging small brands, particularly in the US, but now on a much more global scale as well. And we're learning so much about the challenges that they're facing, the environment that they're playing in, and what the future is going to look like.

for us as consumers because honestly, this is the frontier where it's all getting defined. So very, very cool stuff happening in this space and so excited to talk with you about it today.

Quinn (01:53.154)
Yeah, we're very happy to have you here today. I was working on a set of like a tick tock style videos for you guys for some event and they were interviewing a lot of these emerging brands and some other insights were just like I had like these hold up aha moments when they were first talking about agentic AI and how that's going to influence things. And then so then I started doing research like what is agentic AI because I don't know.

Kenny Juskowiak (02:21.063)
Yeah.

Naila (02:21.681)
Yes.

Quinn (02:21.825)
this term and then, you know, start learning more about it and then realizing that, you know, it's essentially stripping away a lot of the human component of it. So I wrote this blog article about salt and vinegar donuts. Like, gentic AI might think, well, they like salt and vinegar chips and they love donuts and these are top categories. Why don't we just put the two things together? And then you end up with something that is completely disgusting.

Naila (02:36.945)
Hmm?

Naila (02:50.683)
Mm-hmm.

Kenny Juskowiak (02:50.803)
It's possible. Yeah.

Quinn (02:51.873)
that could end up on your shelf, you know, on your grocery shelf and no human said, we should taste this first.

Kenny Juskowiak (02:59.773)
Yes, yes, there is a, it's actually really interesting because there's a, so I have the pleasure of working for NIQ, which is just like a big old market research company. have data about anything and everything you could imagine as it relates to consumers and what's going on in the world of retail. And AI has been such a conversation, not just in the way that it's going to transform commerce, right? The way that we as people shop, but also the way that like companies run their businesses. And so.

for emerging brands, for large brands, AI is ubiquitously part of the conversation and it's popping up in all the places that you can imagine. And so there's this very, very cool and interesting technology that we just developed that actually can use AI to mimic or to project what flavors are gonna taste like, like how appealing a product will be based off of

the ingredient deck that you've put together. So you can literally like put in a recipe and this whole thing will formulate the product synthetically and then test it synthetically against a bunch of consumers to say like, hey, is this gonna be something good? So either you don't end up with salt and vinegar donuts or maybe it turns out that salt and vinegar donuts is actually an amazing idea, Quinn. And we've all just been missing the boat and we need to give it a try, but it'll at least be able to help.

Quinn (04:23.467)
I feel like I'm going to be proven wrong by the end of this episode. Kenny's going to go to his 3D food machine and print it out and sample it right on the air.

Kenny Juskowiak (04:30.227)
Yeah, we'll give it a test. Yeah, we'll give it a test and see if it holds water or not. I'm not hopeful, but you know, I've been proven wrong before and I would love to find out that salt and vinegar doneness is the future.

Naila (04:33.456)
Yeah.

Quinn (04:44.749)
That's amazing. Let's move into our now segment. Kenny, you've built an entire division around emerging brands at NIQ. What made the company realize that startups needed their own dedicated focus?

Kenny Juskowiak (04:59.185)
You know, we'd always sort of played in this space a little bit. but then we, we really saw that we weren't winning as much as we wanted to with, with, with these types of brands and, and we wanted to investigate why. And so what we actually ended up doing was we carved out an entirely separate part of our business, totally isolated from like a totally new brand, totally new business, separate space, et cetera, to go and focus specifically on.

learning about like, what the heck is actually going on with these emerging brands? What do they need? And how do we figure out a way to make ourselves more appealing to them? And that's why we created this sort of foundational business called Byzer that was oriented towards towards them. But that learning process was so was so instrumental to us figuring out, you know, these guys have very unique types of needs. And we've been trying to sort of reach them with

with the same old playbook and it's not what they're looking for, right? Like they're oftentimes one or five people shops and they're dealing with a million fires a day. Their primary challenges are like, do I go and get distribution? How do I walk into meetings with retailers that are way bigger than me and oftentimes way smarter than me in terms of like just knowledge about the marketplace and tell a story that's compelling to get myself on, you know.

store shelf or 10 or 20 or whatever. And so the way that they talk about their business, their goals are just very different than what you see from these, you know, large established companies that have much more sophisticated set of needs, but also a very different type of challenge that they're trying to address. And what you also find with these emerging brands is they're so passionate, like these people are so they're not, they're not, you know,

Quinn (06:42.498)
Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (06:46.759)
Hey, I went to this Ivy League school and I have an MBA and I'm going into brand management. Like they're like, my kid had a, had a challenge, you know, had a gluten allergy and I couldn't find anything for them. And so I made it myself in my garage or, I felt this very compelling need. And so I just had to go and solve this problem for the world because I couldn't find a solution on shelf. And that's such a different mindset. And these people are so passionate.

but they're non-traditional in terms of their backgrounds very often. so working with founders to help them navigate through a world that's very foreign as they try to bring a very mission-driven business to life is just so, so it's inspiring, but it's also like a very different type of need that they have than what, you know, we normally encounter. And so it was really fun to do that exploration and figure out how we can help this really vibrant community of passionate brands to thrive.

Quinn (07:42.989)
Love that like when just real quick Naila when I first started working with when Nielsen on boarded me as a vendor You were just starting to talk about emerging markets. So you were looking into India Africa, know brick nations so on and so forth and I was back in like 2009 2010 so but it was still like You know PNG Unilever the heavy hitters

Naila (07:43.077)
That's what I was thinking that.

Quinn (08:12.253)
But now you're talking and courting clientele that in the past would have been like not a qualified client. And think it's fascinating that you're now kind of, and this leads into what Nihilus going to ask about a shift in perception.

Kenny Juskowiak (08:37.201)
Yeah, yeah, I think we still are global, by the way, like 94 countries, like we're, we're doing the thing where we were trying to do it all. And so far it's working out pretty well actually. And we are actually bringing these emerging brands SMB sort of approach to all those other countries as well, because, and we'll talk a little bit about this, but like Europe has an even more vibrant startup culture than the North America does. And, and it's

Quinn (08:41.931)
Right.

Kenny Juskowiak (09:06.167)
when it comes to the CPG space. like there's so much to do. And I think what we're trying as much as possible is real or what we're realizing is data has such a, has a central role to play in businesses of all sizes. And it's more about figuring out how do we tailor ourselves to fit the need of our customers as opposed to trying to, you know, just do the same old thing that we've done for a really long time. And we're finding a lot of success with that. We're really excited about it.

Naila (09:33.714)
You're right, because in the UK, I watch Dragon's Den. It's a bit like Shark Tank, I think, in America. And when I looked back in five years ago, the companies that were coming to pitch are so different to the companies now. They're very purpose driven. They've got a mission. They're companies, and it's just a different environment. And I'm hearing that now Africa, I think it's Nigeria that has one of the biggest economy of startups.

Kenny Juskowiak (09:38.087)
Yes. Yes.

Naila (10:03.319)
and smaller companies. But for the viewers, before I ask my question on data and the big players and the small players, for our viewers, emerging brands, what is that? And CPG.

Kenny Juskowiak (10:03.622)
Interesting.

Kenny Juskowiak (10:16.551)
Yeah, okay. So so sorry. I live in a world of acronyms. And so it's a, it's a very good reminder. So CPG is consumer packaged goods in other parts of the world. You might hear it called FMCG, fast moving consumer goods. It's the type of stuff you see on grocery store and, you know, supermarket shelves. So food, household staples, those types of things.

Naila (10:18.903)
Yeah

Naila (10:30.033)
okay.

Kenny Juskowiak (10:43.269)
less of like the big dishwashers or you know big appliances that you might go and buy but but those types of things that are the common household brands that you go and find to pick up every day on amazon or whatever your chosen your chosen platform might be any emerging brands are those brands that are on the smaller side of the house we have different definitions depending on what part of the market you're in but in north america for instance it's you know like any brand that has less than 200 million dollars of revenue which is

by the way, a huge amount of revenue. But, but you know, just like they have very different types of needs. So it's these brands that are startup sort of brands looking to grow. And they're and they're earlier on in their growth stages than you know, your large established players that have been around for 100 years and have their operations well established, have their relationships in place with retail, know how they're going to market all that stuff. It's it's much more focused on on those sort of early stage companies that are

Quinn (11:13.737)
Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (11:41.629)
growing like rocket ships and need some support to do that.

Naila (11:45.694)
So it reminds me of Unilever days. I was at Unilever 15 years. So that's why I know a lot about Nielsen and Consumer Intelligence. And we used to call it mushroom brands. yeah, they used to be the ones that we were talking about this 10 years ago, right? Because Unilever is already thinking about how do we work with them more closely? How do we actually support them, even though we're a big company and of course acquire some of them in the future? But how does that

Kenny Juskowiak (11:49.829)
Okay. Yes.

Kenny Juskowiak (11:56.014)
fun!

Kenny Juskowiak (12:11.527)
Yeah.

Naila (12:13.222)
How does that work then? So data is not only for the big players. How are you changing that narrative now that you're talking about emerging brands? What does it mean for them?

Kenny Juskowiak (12:25.639)
Yeah, it's historically been something that emerging brands have been sort of locked out of and because of pricing, because of, you know, even just resources, the ability to like, even if they have the ability to afford the data, they don't have the resources or the time to access it and use it the way that it needs to, that they need to. And also because retailer expectations have evolved over time, right? It used to be that things, especially for emerging brands with retailers could be a little bit less formal.

And they would be willing to give you a chance or run things on a little bit more gut feel. All of those environmental effects have sort of changed, right? So one, retailers would still love to have you, like they're still very supportive of emerging brands, but they like to see a little bit more professionalization in the way that they run and the intelligence that they bring to the market. And so that they can have like a meaningful conversation and manage their performance more. So it's become a higher necessity for emerging brands to use this stuff.

And two, we've focused a lot more on how do we make that data accessible and tailored to the use cases that emerging brands really have. So, you you probably don't need all of the information that, you know, these big guys have. You don't need all of the infrastructure and overhead and all that other stuff that these big guys have. And so how do we really streamline our data approach to say, what do you really need to run your business? How many retailers are you really trying to get into? How, how,

many brands are you really trying to manage and what's the universe that you're that you're trying to achieve and then like orienting or offering to like be tailor made to suit those use cases so that they can say, Hey, you have to walk into a meeting to, you know, pitch meeting with investors. Okay, cool. Here's the way that you should be having that conversation. This is the key. These are the key pieces of information that you need and you're ready to go. And you don't have to be a data guru to navigate through.

you know, reams and reams of information to synthesize the story out of it, you can just sort of get it, right? And that's like also where the next frontier is, and where AI is going to take us is like, my gosh, AI is going to take that and suit and like turbocharge that sort of democratization of data access, because it's going to become very, natural language, like you're not going to have to like, you can be the nurse who started a granola bar company and her garage.

Kenny Juskowiak (14:49.565)
who then can just ask a question to a platform and get an answer that they, that they, that she needs in order to like make an informed decision on her business. And that's very, very cool.

Quinn (15:00.842)
I know it's so exciting because having, know, Naila and I having been in the marketing space for, you know, a generation, the data has always been there. But typically it's been extremely expensive and inaccessible and difficult to really gain insights from it unless you're able to, you know, have the resources to use

that data at scale, you know, to have the team and all that. And with some of these new tools that are coming out, both in the CPG space and in the general marketing space, I feel like that data is, you know, I guess more democratized now in respect to even large platforms of data. It's still easy for

the little guys to gain insights from some of these new tools that are being created today. It's no longer like, okay, so I sent out a HTML email campaign or I've set up a drip campaign or automation and I'm getting all this information. have no idea what to do with it. I'm just sort of guessing. Now, you're really getting insights in natural language that are actionable. And I think that's pretty exciting.

Kenny Juskowiak (16:29.299)
It is very, very cool and it's only going to get better. And I think that's the really exciting part of all of this. So I have a very optimistic picture of what AI can do for emerging brands. I don't know if everybody always agrees with me on that front and there's certainly reasons why I could be wrong. But I do think that the potential for emerging brands with what AI platforms really offer can be

Naila (16:41.084)
Mm-hmm.

Kenny Juskowiak (16:56.796)
truly transformative and a great leveler for how brands end up going to market.

Quinn (17:03.389)
Awesome. So we're going to talk about that more in the near segment, but let's go around the room. the room. Take it away, Nyla.

Naila (17:05.5)
Yes.

Naila (17:11.058)
time. Wish. All right, so before, yeah, there's lots we want to talk about Kenny, but before we go and talk about that, we do around the room. What has everyone been up to lately?

Kenny Juskowiak (17:26.152)
Yeah.

Quinn (17:26.571)
Well, I'll go first and then maybe Kenny will chime in on this too. I've been working on this video project for a major client about the future of consumerism and how AI is transforming consumer behavior. I know we can't show it yet, Kenny, but you're going to love it when it launches. Do you? Yeah. It's very interesting because it's the first time that we have created a video

Naila (17:27.954)
I'll go on then.

Kenny Juskowiak (17:47.153)
Very excited.

Naila (17:48.967)
you

Quinn (17:56.918)
from scratch with video generative AI. And so we've been experimenting with the different tools. Right now we're getting some pretty amazing results with Gemini Vio 3.1. The technology is advancing so fast that the first version of this video that we did was

impressive, but certainly not to the standards of the kind of work that we would normally do. a few, five, six weeks later, new versions have come out to where we can maintain things like continuity of character. We can have AI actually spell and get things right. So it's a very exciting time.

I sort of have mixed feelings about it because I love live production and the ability to control and get the product exactly as you want. But when that's not available either due to budget or time or resources, it's certainly like a bold new frontier.

Kenny Juskowiak (19:17.103)
And it's it's super cool work. I'm really excited for it all to come together. And honestly, the, the vision that it's articulating, right? Like, like I love the use of the tool within like to build this, but also the story that it's articulating about how commerce is going to evolve is, is one that I'm super passionate about. And, know, I think that's the other side of this, you know, what's, what's going on in my life. Like we're spending so much time right now in like,

Trying to envision what the future of commerce will look like and then how do we make sure that we, in everything that we're doing, are future-proofed, are ready for that future, can tell that story to our clients, but also make sure that our products and our service teams and everything else about NIQ is well aligned to where that future is going. And it's hard to pick, right? There's so many different places where it could go, but even just that dialogue.

Is something that really gets me excited right like the the visioning of what the future could be Is very very fun. So that's where I'm spending my time and well not as much as I'd like But that's the the most fun parts of my day are the ones where I get to talk about that kind of stuff So I'm happy really really enjoying it

Naila (20:29.24)
I like, I hope I get to see this too. me, if we're talking about the future, I'm thinking about the future of my company. So I'm in communications and sustainability. So really focused on the employee side. How do we help employees motivate them? How do we get them to be more purposeful? So yeah, my future is about what's going to happen next. New clients, new projects, looking for those that excite me and taking my baby on a trip.

Quinn (20:30.795)
What about you, Nyla?

Kenny Juskowiak (20:33.274)
Yeah.

Naila (20:56.89)
So I'm thinking about Egypt, which is warm because England is cold right now. Yeah, she's 19 months old and she keeps saying I want to go on a plane. So I need to take her on a plane somewhere. That's my future.

Kenny Juskowiak (21:00.006)
Wow.

Quinn (21:10.825)
Yeah, you say you want to take her on a plane, but then... Yeah, you know. Yeah, I...

Naila (21:14.237)
my god. That's not...

Kenny Juskowiak (21:16.627)
Wait, wait for the landing.

Naila (21:20.209)
my god, I had that.

Quinn (21:20.898)
Well, know, regardless, it'll be a fun experience for everyone. I was telling Naila I watched this documentary on the pyramids and now all of a sudden I want to go to Egypt, which I never cared about before. You know, I've studied Egyptian art in college and all this. I was like, I was like, no, no, I'm super interested. Indeed.

Naila (21:33.836)
yes.

Kenny Juskowiak (21:37.125)
out yeah

Kenny Juskowiak (21:44.403)
Now you're fascinated. The power of good marketing, right, Quinn? It's like all it takes is a little bit of good storytelling and now you're captivated.

Naila (21:49.084)
There you go.

Naila (21:54.546)
I think Quinn, now I was just going to say I think I need to think about AI and marketing for my company a bit, future. Yeah. Yeah.

Quinn (21:54.911)
Let's properly introduce. Pardon. Go ahead.

Quinn (22:02.385)
Yeah, know, Kenny's the man if you have any questions. So. All right, let's properly introduce our guest. Kenny, just. Just just go via had it before. Kenny, just go via Kenny J is head of North America Marketing for Nielsen IQ, and he's been recently promoted so.

Naila (22:08.335)
Now I know.

Kenny Juskowiak (22:08.627)
but happy to help however I can.

Kenny Juskowiak (22:18.269)
Just go via.

Naila (22:22.226)
Kenny J.

Kenny Juskowiak (22:22.523)
All good. Kenny J.

Quinn (22:30.709)
Congratulations, well deserved. Where he's on a mission to prove that powerful insights aren't just for household names. With background spanning brand strategy, big data analytics, and creative problem solving, Kenny helps startup and emerging CPG brands compete with industry giants by giving them access to the same measurement tools and ecosystem that power the world's biggest companies. Before focusing on emerging brands, Kenny led customer success for Nielsen IQ's manufacturing clients across the US and Canada.

and has worked with major brands like General Mills across multiple continents. And he did great in school. We're not going to get into that. He founded Pitch Slam, which is pretty awesome. Kenny, where can we find you online? Where can people find you online?

Kenny Juskowiak (23:15.951)
geez, I wish, you know, I'm one of those troglodytes who doesn't have a huge online presence, but if you want to find me, you can always find me on LinkedIn. That's like the one social media network there. I make sure that I stay at least somewhat abreast of what's going on and I'm able to be connected. But otherwise I am very happily disconnected on so many of our other social platforms and it's not something that I regret.

Quinn (23:40.619)
I did an internet stalking on you and I'm just trying to find out more, you know, and it's just like, this guy's a ghost. you know, I mean, it's obviously you work for NIQ, but beyond that and where you went to school, your life's a mystery.

Kenny Juskowiak (23:49.491)
That's what I'm looking for. That's it.

Naila (23:49.574)
Huh?

Kenny Juskowiak (23:57.298)
I'm trying to keep it that way, but you can always ask. Whatever you want to know, I will happily tell you. I just, for whatever reason, probably not going to put it on the gram or wherever else it could go.

Naila (23:58.023)
that.

Naila (24:10.748)
That is good. Shall we move to the near? Yes, we should. So near future is all about the.

Quinn (24:10.804)
Fair enough. All right, Naila, you want to move on to near? Yes. All right. Hold on, hold on, hold on. We've to hit the button.

Naila (24:19.56)
yes, sorry. Okay, so Kenny, the near future is all about the next three to five years. We were just talking about LinkedIn and you've posted on LinkedIn about believing that AI will have a disproportionate impact on small and emerging brands. And we've touched upon it a bit as well. Why is AI going to be a bigger advantage for these little brands and guys?

Kenny Juskowiak (24:27.389)
Mm-hmm.

Kenny Juskowiak (24:46.757)
Yeah, here's my optimistic story and I'll also give the other side of it as well. My optimistic story is because so many large brands have gained advantage over time through capital, human capital, access to data, access to people to do things that needed to get done, right? They were doing jobs. like, hey, I need to optimize my trade promotion. I'm going to have an entire team of people who are going to analyze those types of things.

Naila (24:50.852)
Okay.

Kenny Juskowiak (25:16.177)
make sure I'm making smart decisions and then allocate it the right way. So it's not only that the big brands have the money to put into trade, but they also have the resources to consult, engage with retailers in the way that they need to and come with intelligence that makes their decision making better, right? Like they make better decisions because they have the resources to make better decisions. And those resources have historically been really human. AI has the opportunity for that.

Naila (25:19.922)
Mm-hmm.

Naila (25:41.148)
Mm-hmm.

Kenny Juskowiak (25:46.236)
like decision improvement program to become much less human intensive. Like you don't need to hire and have like entire teams of people working on solving big complex problems. Now those things can and will get solved by, by AI in a really fast, efficient digital way. So if we make data more accessible and we make decision optimization processes more accessible, these small brands have the nimbleness to actually go in.

execute some of these things way faster than some some of the larger brands do, right? Like they just don't have the inertia, the momentum, the history, the tradition, whatever else it might be. And it's only all it's it's all upside for them, right? Like there's there's very little risk. So they can take big swings, using really intelligent decision making processes to do things that bigger brands just aren't ever going to be able to do. And that's really exciting. Now, the other side of this, though, is like that that sort of assumes this concept of like a digital native

or like an AI native emerging brand, right? Somebody who's built on the back of these tools knows like their processes are built around AI. Their decision-making is built around AI. There's going to be this group of brands that might be in the emerging space, might be a little bit larger, who are gonna already have established processes. They have a ton of infrastructure. Transforming those things to be more AI aligned is gonna be hard, time-consuming.

And that's, there's, like potential risk in that group of folks to like fall behind. Cause then like the big guys, they're all in, right? They're taking all of those resources and they're putting them into figuring out and solving AI so that they can use it for more complex applications so that they can become more efficient. And so I think you're going to have this weird sort of dichotomy of like really big brands who have invested a lot to, to transform themselves, to integrate AI into their decision-making, who are going to bring some interesting stuff. You're going to have this.

middle group who are existing, you know, existing brands who need to transform but might struggle because resources are tight and it's hard to, it's hard to like take resources away from day to day operations to focus on this sort of transformational element. And then you're going to have new companies that are going to be built on the back of AI and AI tools and tech. And those ones are going to like just go flying, right? And, so, yes. And so, so like, I'm really optimistic for that, for that sort of

Naila (28:07.42)
Go fast.

Kenny Juskowiak (28:13.369)
AI native business and then I can see challenges for these like, my gosh, I have to transform and I don't have the resources businesses and then the big guys are the big guys and they're always gonna find a way, right?

Quinn (28:25.864)
Yeah, mean, that's the thing I worry about with the emerging brands is is getting found. So when you were talking about when we were talking about the AI agents that are going to be helping us with shopping, I begin to wonder how so if you're

Naila (28:46.512)
Hmm.

Quinn (28:53.8)
looking for a recommendation for a beauty product and it's like an under eye cream or you know something that gets rid of wrinkles or whatever. Is agentic AI going to suggest you know Olay or you know a big popular brand that's at Costco or is it going to be one of these emerging brands you know or

Kenny Juskowiak (29:16.499)
I think that, yeah, I think that's the big question is we don't, we don't really know, right? Like they, a few of them have come out and said that their agents are going to be totally neutral, that they're not going to have, you know, like, like what you could do with search, you know, could do search engine optimization and you could pay to be at the top of the list or all this stuff. Like they've come out and said that they're not going to do that. Now is that how long is that going to stay in place? And is that going to be true for everybody? I, you know, I, I, I believe there's enough market pressure in

in a bunch of different directions that that will eventually sort of, you will be able to buy yourself to the top of some of these agentic platforms. But I also think that that, that that model is going to change because now it's not just buying search. It's about like buying the actual transaction itself, right? Like you're, you're going to, you're going to buy yourself into the cart. You're not just going to buy yourself the eyeballs of somebody saying, I didn't know about this. And so, so it'll be a very interesting dynamic that we see. And this is where I do think

Quinn (29:52.884)
Mm-hmm.

Naila (30:08.754)
you

Kenny Juskowiak (30:15.281)
that agentic decision-making is going to be really hard to crack unless you can change behavior and change preference for the consumers. And this is where the marketing side of things is going to become so incredibly important. It's like, how do you become noticed? How do you gain the attention of consumers so that they want to engage with your brand? So they add you to their cart manually. They bypass their agent to say like, actually, that seems really cool. I like that brand. I'd love to give it a try.

Naila (30:27.014)
Mm.

Quinn (30:39.836)
Right.

Kenny Juskowiak (30:43.677)
I'm gonna ask for it. And then, and now all of sudden you start to work yourself into the repertoire. And I think working yourself into the repertoire is where you really want to go because now what had historically been a sort of habitual, you know, habitual consumer behavior, autopilot, as we say, will be true autopilot. It'll be copilot. won't be autopilot, right? It'll, it'll be the machine taking that habit and turning it into a regimented

Naila (31:02.108)
Mm.

Quinn (31:05.299)
Right.

Kenny Juskowiak (31:11.687)
decision criteria, was like, no, this is the repertoire. And so I'm going to go and buy this until I'm told to do something different or until something changes that would, that would lead me to believe it. So, so breaking through with marketing, getting that trial, using a bunch of different digital platforms to do that, to reach consumers, get the interest and, and get them engaged with the brand will be, will, will be the fight. Right. And, and there's a huge number of platforms to do that.

Quinn (31:36.522)
And there's still always those there's still always those guerrilla tactics that break through. There's this social media app that I did a video for called For Real's and it's basically like TikTok for pets. And I had this idea like what if you wrapped all the fire hydrants in you know Times Square you know with like For Real's marketing and I was like no that's illegal. I was like but what if we like

Kenny Juskowiak (31:48.625)
Mm-hmm. fun.

Kenny Juskowiak (32:01.01)
yeah.

Quinn (32:05.981)
did something like dog bowls, you know, and you put the dog bowls out in front of each little restaurant or bodega and it said for reals on it with a QR code and all that. So thinking like in the future, think being creative, sort of bypassing, you know, the whole AI agent or ecosystem to get in front of your consumer with a novel idea, I think is still gonna be a

Kenny Juskowiak (32:07.955)
Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (32:15.485)
Yeah.

Quinn (32:35.585)
a challenge and an opportunity for us folks in the creative industry. Pepper has a question. It is. It is. I love that part. I've always enjoyed helping the little guy and sometimes the big guy come up with an out of the box idea, you know, to place media in ways that get your attention, don't cost a lot, maybe make you smile.

Kenny Juskowiak (32:42.259)
Yeah, but that's the fun part,

Kenny Juskowiak (33:02.823)
Yeah. Yeah.

Quinn (33:05.321)
you know, something I enjoy. So Pepper has a question. If you're in Vi... and Pepper's our producer, by the way. If you're advising an emerging brand today, what should they be focusing on right now to position themselves for the next three to five years? Where's the puck going? And what should they not be wasting time on? What are the distractions that emerging brands fall for?

Naila (33:06.043)
PR.

Kenny Juskowiak (33:29.169)
Yeah, that's a wonderful question. And I honestly think that the answer is a very evolving one. What I would say is, especially for emerging brands, is do what you do really, really well and own that space. like over diversification, moving into a bunch of different categories, moving into a bunch of different places, viewing yourself as like a lifestyle brand versus like your core.

You can be all of those things, right? Like you can be a mission-driven organization and stand for more than just like whatever product it is that you're launching. But when you're getting off the ground, like focus can be so incredibly necessary, right? Crush where you want to crush, win those spaces, and then expand when you have that solidly in control. And so...

Control your growth, I think is a big thing that these emerging brands really need to do. Cause you're going to get presented with lot of opportunities, but we've seen so many of these brands sort of grow beyond themselves, get over their skis. like, I was doing really well in, know, XYZ retailer. Like I was doing really well in Whole Foods and then Walmart came to pick me up and I fell behind because like the Walmart logistics requirements were just so...

Naila (34:46.898)
Mm.

Kenny Juskowiak (34:51.259)
so regimented and they're so big and you sort of get swallowed into this administrative swamp. Nothing against Walmart and any of that. Nothing against these emerging brands. just like, if you're not ready for it, it can really swallow you up. And so make sure that you are growing where you want to grow, winning really well and getting yourself really refined and then moving in the direction and then like growing when you're ready, right? Taking the next step when you're ready so that you can.

Naila (35:05.127)
Mm.

Kenny Juskowiak (35:19.867)
and will succeed in the places where you want to. I think for the next three to five years, is like, like commerce is just going to change the avenues to reach consumers. Like we were just talking about some very cool PR opportunities to like break through with consumers. Those PR opportunities are also going to become transaction opportunities, right? Like, you know, we're.

we just part of this part of the thing that we're working on is like, Hey, like these like meta Ray-Ban glasses, like eventually those are going to integrate with a, with a consumption opportunity where it's like, I'm going to see this for reals bowl outside of a restaurant. Like that's really interesting. Not just, not just, is it going to delight me and I'm going to be like, wow, what a cool idea. But I'm also going to say, let me tell, let me check out this brand, you know, snap a picture and then say like, Hey, you know what? Let's add that to the cart. And then it's going to be waiting for you when you get home.

Naila (35:55.718)
Mm.

Kenny Juskowiak (36:15.165)
from wherever it is that you're like when you're when you're at Times Square. And so all of these marketing.

Naila (36:15.932)
crazy.

Quinn (36:18.973)
No wait, I thought the drone was gonna fly into Times Square in five minutes and be like, here's your bowl, you're like, I don't want it now. Okay, I'll take it away, I'll send it to your house. Yes.

Kenny Juskowiak (36:22.099)
I didn't need it now. Yeah, I'll take it back to your home. Yeah, it'll be amazing. Right? Like that that's the future that we're moving into. And so like, so transactional media and understanding that like your marketing is also your shelving and you're just and your merchandising is is going to be the thing that that these brands are going to need to win with. And that's how you're going to win transactions, you're going to stake a lot of a lot of share that way. And it's going to be

Naila (36:22.264)
Yeah

Naila (36:26.798)
That too.

you

Kenny Juskowiak (36:51.835)
a really important mechanism for how brands get off the ground. They're already launched, like emerging brands are already launching in online channels and things like that. That's the playing ground. That's the testing ground for so many of them. And I think it's just going to get accelerated even further to be like, how do I break through where marketing and merchandising became basically the same thing.

Quinn (37:09.437)
Yes.

Naila (37:12.476)
great advice and we were talking about this focus Naila I've got loads of ideas but get my business going grow that first and look I'm not in consumer goods but I'm in services so how do I I'm going to think about how I apply what you're saying to my type of business as well and how does that work for me yeah lots to think about Quinn I know we got the future segment but do you want to do across the pond then

Quinn (37:12.649)
Cool.

Kenny Juskowiak (37:17.043)
Hahaha

Kenny Juskowiak (37:31.111)
Yeah.

Quinn (37:36.445)
Yes.

Quinn (37:40.115)
Let's do across the pond. Let me press the button.

Naila (37:41.97)
Alright.

Quinn (37:47.465)
That's Elena, by the way, that did that little voiceover. Yeah. Yeah, she did our I know she's she's so freaking talented. We had her on the podcast in season one and she's just she's just delightful. my God, we we had it was just you should watch that one. It is very entertaining. And she talks about AI and

Kenny Juskowiak (37:52.079)
is it? She sounds great.

Naila (38:03.184)
That was quite funny too. There was a moment we were just cracking up.

Quinn (38:17.16)
voice acting and screen actors and all the stuff that's going on with the Hollywood strike and it's fascinating.

Kenny Juskowiak (38:26.783)
yeah, I'll have to check that out for sure.

Quinn (38:29.082)
Ahem.

Naila (38:30.108)
Great. So I have a question then for Kenny. You've worked with General Mills internationally and you spent time leading Nielsen's European operations. So when it comes to emerging brands, are American brands different from the British or European brands? What differences or no difference?

Kenny Juskowiak (38:48.689)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So just, want to be really clear so that I don't, I don't claim a lot more responsibility than I've ever had. I, I led our emerging operate, I led our emerging brands operations for North America. And I also had a partnership with our emerging brands teams in Europe. And I led our, general mills operations in Europe while I was over there too. So, so I've lived in Europe and I've done a lot of work in Europe, but I also, I can't claim to have been our European lead, because,

Quinn (38:57.554)
Hahaha

Naila (39:15.173)
Okay.

Kenny Juskowiak (39:18.833)
Well, Emily Doros, who is who is leading Europe for us is amazing. And I would, I would hate to try to fill her shoes because she's truly magnificent human being. the, but I have a lot of perspective on, what's going on with European emerging brands. And what's really interesting is, is what's happening in Europe. Like the, the environment for emerging brands in Europe is, is even more, more ripe for.

Naila (39:19.494)
their others.

Kenny Juskowiak (39:46.58)
for innovation for growth than it is in the US. I think there's something like 50 % more emerging brands in Europe than there are in North America. And what's really cool is that they have, because of all of the smaller markets that are all bundled together, there's a very interesting opportunity for growth pathways. You can sort of launch your brand in one country.

And maybe it could, maybe it takes off. Maybe it's doing awesome. But if for whatever reason you hit a ceiling, right? Where maybe one of the two of the top three retailers don't take you and you don't have a lot of pathways to growth. All you have to do is travel, you know, a hundred miles in one direction and you can go and find a whole new set of consumers to go and reach out to. And so what we've seen is that now I think of the, of like the, I don't know.

of all the brands that we consider in the emerging space, about 50 % of them in Europe are multi-country operations, which is up significantly over the course of the last several years. It used to be, I think, down in the 20s. so we're seeing a lot more brands who are still small, but they're operating across a bunch of different markets, seeking new opportunities and bringing their values, their mission into new markets where it can and still does resonate, but in a way that's going to allow them lots of kind

low risk growth opportunities that are really exciting for them. So it's a very interesting space to be.

Naila (41:16.092)
Yeah, that reminds us. Yeah, we had Nas and she's got a brand called Fifi. She's based in Portugal, but operating and selling products in UK first and they're looking at the carbon footprint and they're trying to disrupt the whole fashion industry. So fast fashion, they do not want, they want people to wear durable products and that's what they're saying. We've got six clothes lines.

Kenny Juskowiak (41:38.717)
Yes.

Naila (41:42.234)
and that's it and they closed down on Black Friday so they disrupted it and said we're not going to sell on Black Friday come back to us after that yeah she was on our podcast too yeah small emerging brand

Kenny Juskowiak (41:48.403)
Wow.

Kenny Juskowiak (41:52.608)
so, so cool. Yes. Yeah. Go out, go outside, enjoy the, enjoy the day, spend time with family or friends, or just catch up on sleep after a late night out. know, I think that there's something really valuable about, and I think they're one of the things that emerging brands, I don't think we, we, I don't know if we talk about it quite enough is the risk profile of.

Quinn (41:52.646)
Yeah. They pulled an REI, so go outside.

Naila (41:58.688)
Eww.

Quinn (42:01.126)
Okay.

Naila (42:06.022)
Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (42:21.779)
And like loss aversion is so much different, right? Like there are large companies in so many ways are trying, are operating in a protectionist capacity, right? They have a lot of margin that they need to protect. There's a lot of revenue that they need to protect. They're in defense mode. They could still be in growth mode, but they're diverting resources to defense in so many cases, right? And protection of the core and emerging brands, especially in the startup field just don't have

that, right? Like there's, there's nothing, there is quite literally nothing to lose. And, and so they are, they can take big swings, they can do really interesting stuff. And, and it makes for a really great opportunity for them to like truly define the future and hit home runs that that brand, larger brands might not have the stomach to try to get after. So very cool to hear those stories.

Naila (42:52.028)
Mm-hmm.

Quinn (42:56.904)
Right.

Naila (43:15.794)
Mm-hmm.

Quinn (43:15.96)
Speaking of the future, that was a great segue. The future. All right, Kenny, you've been doing great so far. I give you an A plus. Crystal ball time. Let's look 10, 15, 20 years into the future. What will emerging will emerging brand even be a meaningful category anymore? Or will that just be how all brands work?

Naila (43:25.842)
You

Kenny Juskowiak (43:27.048)
thank you.

Naila (43:28.547)
you

Kenny Juskowiak (43:44.724)
Oh, man. I think there's always going to be a place, I hope, maybe this is the part of me where I have to be a human and say, like, I hope that there's always a place for innovation, for entrepreneurship, and for new ideas to break in and transform the way that we think about shopping, think about our food, think about the products and ways that we live our life and just make things better. I do.

hope that emerging brands are always a place. And I actually would love to see them become a much larger share of the overall way that our marketplace works, right? Like imagine if the shelves were littered with a bunch of brands who are new and start up bringing innovative ideas that we can all try and bring to life. I think that that would be amazing. I also see a very different pathway where consolidation continues.

to happen at the top. And it becomes a lot more focused on large brands who maybe own a portfolio of a bunch of smaller brands that represent different needs, lifestyles, things like that. But where concentration becomes a bigger deal. And so the economics of the next 10 years and how the space is going to evolve are going to be really, really interesting. The good news is that emerging brands continue to and have been stealing share from

Naila (44:56.615)
Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (45:11.453)
from like, like, like they've been growing as a, a, as a share of the overall marketplace. And I think that's been healthy for everybody. And the mode of operating seems to be right now that big brands are going to watch this space. like, innovation has been marvelized is the way I think about it. Like they, they launch big franchises, big movies, blockbusters on franchises that they know and trust because there's low risk there. And then they watch

what's happening in the indie space, which is emerging brands. And then they pick from those winners and scale the stuff that seems to be doing really well. So I think we're going to continue to see that in the way that things continue to operate. At least that's the way that I would love to see the marketplace evolve. Boat.

Naila (45:54.322)
They play a role in the emerging brands pathway as well, right? So the big ones, yeah, yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (46:01.088)
yeah. Yeah. And there's this amazing innovation track that a bunch of these brands, the large brands have built to sort of help fund small brands as they as they bring things to life. And so that ecosystem is really rich. And so I hope to see investment continue to flow that way, to to really give opportunities for new experiments to come to market that we can see if they're going to work out or not that are hopefully going to make the world better for all of us.

Naila (46:26.29)
But I'm

Quinn (46:26.471)
Kind of like when Colgate bought Hello Toothpaste. Yeah, I remember he was that guy was at C 360. Yeah, Craig. Yeah, he. Wow. And Colgate not only bought the company, paid him a bunch of money, but then said, we still want you to be in charge and run your business essentially the same as you did before. So he has the resources of a much larger company, but

Kenny Juskowiak (46:29.48)
Yeah.

Naila (46:29.542)
Hmm.

Kenny Juskowiak (46:33.747)
Craig Dibitsky. Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (46:50.215)
Yeah.

Quinn (46:56.295)
the autonomy to take his idea in whatever direction that he wants to. I do have one more question because we need to go to the wrap pretty soon. This is not Joe Rogan. We don't do two and a half hours, although I could easily. could. Yes. Yeah. Nobody wants to listen to Nylon and I for two and a half hours. So sadly, I do have.

Naila (46:58.674)
Mm.

Kenny Juskowiak (47:13.148)
Yeah.

Naila (47:13.552)
No, not yet.

Kenny Juskowiak (47:17.203)
I wouldn't say nobody. think that that's not fair.

Naila (47:21.618)
You

Quinn (47:25.735)
questions about retail. As we've been talking about the brands and what's going on with the brands and I can see the future where, you know, there'll be a place for scrappy startups, especially in the luxury space. But in terms of retail, I'm concerned that, you know, it'll just be

Kenny Juskowiak (47:34.78)
Okay.

Quinn (47:54.446)
Amazon Target Mart, know, just one giant retailer that distributes everything in the entire planet, you know, with the drones. And there's no reason to ever go into a boutique or have a, you know, a one off experience because, like you said, the world is your shelf and it shows up at your door instantly.

Kenny Juskowiak (48:00.104)
Yeah. Yeah.

Kenny Juskowiak (48:14.407)
Yeah. Yeah.

there's a real possibility of that, right? That I think retail, retail has historically been lots of things bundled together, right? A store has been the place where you go and discover products. It's been the place where you go and acquire products. And it's been the place where like that, that products have been shipped to, right? So it's kind of sort of then this like fulfillment thing. It's been a transactional facility and it's also been like a discovery and engagement facility.

Naila (48:20.274)
you

Kenny Juskowiak (48:47.487)
And, and now the world is going to be different, right? And those three jobs, which have all been bundled together are now fragmenting a bit, right? Like there's a facility, there's, there's a distribution and fulfillment facility that like Amazon can play, does play for lots of other brands, right? Like some, like Amazon is a, is a fulfillment center. Walmart does the same thing, right? Like there's, there's, how do you, how does the product get to you?

Quinn (49:06.001)
True.

Kenny Juskowiak (49:14.963)
is a different question than what are the products that I want to buy? And I think those discovery platforms are going to look very different than what traditional retail has been. That's probably going to become a much more of a media enterprise. like TikTok Shop is like a very emergent platform right now around this whole idea of social commerce. But I was just watching some Amazon Prime last night and the advertising.

that are blended now into their shows, it allowed me to buy directly through the ad, right? It's happening. It's happening. And so I think like this discovery mechanism and the idea that like everywhere you go is a shopfront to identify, see, experience new products.

Quinn (49:44.933)
Yeah, I saw that. I freaked out. was like, my god, we talked about this two years ago. It's happening.

Naila (49:50.905)
No way.

Kenny Juskowiak (50:07.801)
is very liberating for brands, but it also is very transformational for retail. And then, so I think the question is, Quinn, like, what do you want retail to be? Because I think when we have started to talk about it, it's been those three things bundled together, and now those things are just getting disaggregated, right?

Quinn (50:27.281)
Yeah, mean, short of produce or things that you really need to see and touch. Not a whole lot of need for me to go to the grocery store anymore. Naila, go ahead.

Naila (50:39.494)
Well, only when there's a price difference. so like when I... The grocery store is five minutes walk from my house, but for some reason I won't have time and then I'm on my app trying to buy the grocery and then you realize you're praying so much more I might as well go and walk. So I'm still debating between sometimes I need to do the online shopping because I don't have the time, but then sometimes I'm like just get out because of the price or I need to see it myself. So...

Kenny Juskowiak (51:07.09)
Yes.

Naila (51:07.79)
I think there's a space where you're always wanting to go and see it but what seeing looks like might be different. Yes, okay.

Kenny Juskowiak (51:13.831)
Yes, I think that there's always going to be a role for that hands-on experiential part of retail. It might be diminished from what it has historically been, but I definitely think it's never going to go away. It's a matter of degree, not a matter of existence, if that makes any sense.

Naila (51:34.002)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, before we get kind of go. Yes.

Quinn (51:36.359)
Well, I know we've gone a little bit long, Kenny, so we're going to go ahead and move to the wrap, shall you take us out, Nyla?

Naila (51:46.182)
Yeah, so we're not going to ask any more questions. We're just going to wrap up the episode of Now, Near, and the Future. As always, you can find us on the web at nownearfuture.com, YouTube and Instagram at nownearfuture.

Quinn (52:00.388)
If you love this episode, be sure to like and subscribe. And if you didn't, we're still going to keep talking. So you might as well get used to us. Can he remind everyone where they can find you on on social? That's right. Kenny just go via LinkedIn. Yes. And on Nielsen, Nielsen, Iq.com. Yeah, yeah. I mean, why not?

Naila (52:08.978)
Kenny Juskowiak (52:17.661)
Katajaskowiak on LinkedIn. That's the place.

Quinn (52:30.353)
So there's a wealth of information there, anything you could possibly want to know in the CPG space. Kenny, thanks so much for joining us. We always tell all of our guests that you're incredibly insightful, but in this case, you really are.

Naila (52:30.829)
Yeah

Naila (52:42.245)
exit.

Naila (52:49.488)
You are.

Kenny Juskowiak (52:50.867)
Thank you so much. I'll take that to heart. And thank you for having me. What a fun discussion. Like I could, like you said, I could do the Joe Rogan episode on this stuff. This is, this is really, really fun and I love the time here. So thank you for the opportunity to discuss it.

Naila (52:56.924)
Thank you.

Quinn (53:04.718)
Absolutely.

Naila (53:05.34)
Thank you everybody and as always stay curious, keep dreaming and...

Quinn (53:10.33)
See you in the future!

Naila (53:11.954)
See you in the future.

Kenny Juskowiak (53:14.035)
Bye bye, thank you.

Quinn (53:17.031)
Hold on, me do that.

Quinn (53:24.657)
There's our outro.

I do all this in post anyway, but it's fun. Alright, stop recording.

Naila (53:31.452)
Thank you.