CMO Spotlight | Jo Ann Herold - Honey Baked Ham Co.
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 Jo Ann Herold, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Honey Baked Ham. The full conversation covers her career path from dressing up as The Hamburglar at McDonald’s to becoming the CMO of Honey Baked Ham and her love for mentoring and coaching others.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW AND READ THE RECAP BELOW.
Q1 | Tell us about your career path.
Jo Ann Herold’s love for the food industry started when she worked as a Store Area Representative (STAR) for McDonald’s at a young age running birthday parties and dressing up as The Hamburglar. “I loved working for iconic brands and being a part of the community and being a part of making people's lives a little bit happier.”
From there, she studied Journalism and PR and started her first job in the food industry working for Shoney’s and Captain D's. She was then recruited to Honey Baked Ham and worked her way up to CMO during her 16 years there.
She then left to consult for a number of years, worked for Arby’s restaurant group, worked as the CMO of Interface, and then returned to her position as CMO of Honey Baked once again.
Q2 | What is your super power?
Herold’s interview was primarily focused on her ability to effectively coach and mentor others. Her mantra is “leading with love,” and she manages to do that in every aspect of her life. To be an effective coach, she focuses on kindness and harnesses the next generation of marketers by asking her team a collection of questions to gauge their needs.
She asks:
Does anyone need help?
Do you need help from anybody on the team?
Do you need help from me?
Are there any roadblocks?
Is there anything I can do to alleviate barriers?
She wants to make sure that in everything that she does as a leader, that her team understands the strategy, the “why” behind their actions, and how their role impacts the bigger picture.
Q3 | Is there a piece of advice that you would like to pass onto other marketers?
“Be bold, be a badass, and do things,” Herold stated. Like most CMO Spotlight leaders, she encouraged listeners to take risks and be fearless. “Be brave about it, and not shy or intimidated.”
Herold also emphasized the importance of understanding the financials of the business and using the information one knows to “Make a difference and show results.”
Q4 | What is the biggest challenge that you're facing in your current role?
Herold noted that the whole consumer landscape has changed more in the past year than at any time during her career. Because of this, Honey Baked Ham’s marketing team is more reliant on digital marketing and direct to consumer platforms - trying to make everything as convenient and consumer-focused as possible. Although she described this rapid change of pace as challenging, she noted that it was also fun.
“Consumers are changing their expectations so rapidly and it’s just making sure that we’re nimble enough to execute their desires.”
Q5 | Where does your team find inspiration?
The Honey Baked team consumes information from a variety of sources. From field information, to restaurant trends, they are open and willing to absorb inventive ideas from any source.
“We read every food blog, every cookbook, every magazine...we get ideas from our customers, we get ideas from our franchisees, our store teams, our suppliers.” Since they are so in tune with their audience, Honey Baked even finds inspiration for campaigns from user generated content.
Other highlights include Herold’s outlook on agency partnerships, impactful campaigns like “KellyBaked Ham,” her love for The Beatles, and how she has pursued a life of love.
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 Jo Ann Herold, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
Show notes: Jo Ann references her favorite Beatles song, The End. The quote she referenced was, "And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make."
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, spoke with Ben Boyd, the Chief Communications Officer at Chobani, about designing your own career path, the importance of empathy and understanding as a leader, and more.