CMO Spotlight | Angela Johnson - The Krystal Company
The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high performing marketing leaders.
Setup CEO Joe Koufman virtually sat down with Angela Johnson, the Vice President of Marketing for The Krystal Company. The full conversation covers her career path from falling in love with the food industry working for companies like Arby's and Church's Chicken on the agency side, to making waves at Krystal on the brand side. Angela discusses campaign successes and failures, the importance of data's influence on marketing strategy, mentorship, and her love for the 1800's.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW AND READ THE RECAP BELOW.
“It’s been quite the challenge, it’s been quite the journey. I’ve learned a lot along the way, but I love the Food Industry and I’m glad I’m here.”
Q1 | Tell us about your career path.
Angela Johnson’s impressive track in the Food Industry started on the agency-side working for clients like Mrs. Winner’s Chicken & Biscuits, Church’s Chicken, Arby’s, and Uncle Matteo’s Pizza. Her experience working on media, brand positioning, and dine in and fast food restaurants made her fall in love with the Food Industry. The Chief Marketing Officer of Krystal, who used to be Johnson’s client at Arby’s, reached out and convinced her to join the team.
Now with brand and agency-side experience, Johnson has served for six years on the Krystal marketing team.
“I came in as the Director of Marketing, really focusing on working with the agency partners and the creative brand side of things. Then I was promoted to Senior Director of Marketing Communications - so that brought in more of the public relations/communications aspect of the business. And then most recently VP of Marketing in March...which is very interesting timing due to COVID. It's been quite the challenge, it's been quite the journey. I've learned a lot along the way, but I love the Food Industry and I'm glad I'm here.”
Q2 | What is your super power?
“Being nimble,” Angela shared. “I will adapt and pivot very quickly and I'm good at developing that skillset in my team members as well.”
“You’ve got to change and pivot quickly.”
Johnson mentioned how the Food Industry is constantly adapting, so the ability to swiftly adjust is an important skill in such a fast-paced environment. “Everything is very competitive,” she mentioned. “It's about price points and retails and who has the best deal. And you may run a campaign for literally a week and realize it's not working regardless of taking six months to do it. You’ve got to change and pivot quickly.”
Q3 | Is there a piece of advice that you would like to pass onto other marketers?
Throughout the interview, Johnson mentioned how important it is to have reliable partners and people on your team, foster a culture focused on growth, and center decisions on the consumer’s behavior and data.
Her main piece of advice, however, was to “Take risks. Don’t be afraid to do something a little bit different.” She emphasized that, although you may love your role and boss, getting complacent or comfortable can be detrimental.
Q4 | What is the biggest challenge that you're facing in your current role?
Johnson, promoted to VP of Marketing in March 2020, is revamping an 88-year-old brand. Building a new identity for such an iconic brand with a loyal fanbase and history is challenging. She is also working with new ownership, new team members, and new partners. While everything seems new, she and a few other members are the ones tying everything and everyone together.
“But the challenge with a restaurant is that you really have to understand your target audience - you’ve got to have the data,” she shared. With this new team, Johnson makes centering decisions around data a priority. In the interview, she shared the success story of the marketing campaign for “The Hangover Krystal,” which was prolonged due to the positive feedback in the data. She also mentioned an unsuccessful campaign for new fries. The current testing is influenced by data from focus groups and product performance.
Q5 | What are the most important values that you demonstrate as a leader, or that you may even demand from people on your team?
Throughout the interview, Johnson mentioned key themes that are represented through her actions and leadership:
The importance of building relationships.
Johnson is keen on building relationships with her team, organization, field members, consumers, and other leaders. Her team dines at other restaurants because it is valuable to see what competitors are doing. “We like to take trips to other restaurants so we're looking at it not only from a product innovation perspective, but we're looking at it from a customer experience perspective. Some of the best brands in the business - it's not just about the product, it's truly about the customer experience. Chick-fil-A is a great example of that.”
She also connects with other leaders to gain new perspectives and continually learn. “I think, as leaders, that we're trying to get outside of the office. We're having these relationships because that's really where you're learning.”
The importance of being out in the field + supporting those teams.
Johnson and her team work behind the grill, in the field to make sure they understand what it takes to fully support every aspect of Krystal.
“Our job is to support the field. If the field isn’t successful, the brand isn’t successful.”
The importance of individual success.
Fostering a solid culture is the key to success.
“People are your best resource, and if you don’t have the strong team, you don’t have the right people, it’s gonna be tough.”
“It's important for companies to build their culture and you can have a foundation or a process maybe. That this is our leadership process and this is how we're going to develop you and make you better.” She shouted out her own mentors who asked the questions: “What is going to make Angela successful? Where does Angela need to focus? What are her strengths? What are her weaknesses?”
Ultimately, Johnson believes that developing your people is what moves the brand forward.
Other highlights include Johnson’s fascination with the 1800’s, her view on working with specialist agency partners as opposed to generalists, and how she packages marketing’s value to key decision makers.
For more marketing leadership advice and a view into the mindset of a Restaurant Industry marketing executive, be sure to watch the full interview with Angela Johnson, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, spoke with the Co-Founder of Reebok, Joe Foster, about the foundation behind building a strong brand, the importance of listening as a leader, Winston Churchill, and more.