We are honored to introduce Irma Goyal Shrivastava, board member at Health-Ade. Irma is a marketing and business leader with an impressive track record of developing roadmaps for growth for large and small for-profit and non-profit organizations. Skilled at building strategic partnerships, overseeing digital transformation and creating innovative plans that integrate offline and online marketing and sales strategies. Excels at formulating strategy, setting direction, and leading cross-functional teams in executing plans with distinction.
Read on to learn more about Irma.
Q+A with Manna Tree
MT: How does Manna Tree’s mission to improve human health through nutrition align with your professional and/or personal mission?
Irma: The Manna Tree mission to improve human health through nutrition is perfectly aligned with my personal mission to drive positive change. My belief is that we can all make a difference if we act and engage. As Gandhi said, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Personally, I am committed to advancing health choices as well as a diversity of voices being brought to leadership ranks.
MT: Why is (strong) marketing a non-negotiable for growth stage brands?
Irma: Marketing is a non-negotiable for all brands, especially growth-stage brands, because it creates revenue growth. Marketing defines what your brand has to stand for that matters to your target audience. First and foremost, your product, as well as product innovation, has to deliver on your distinct point of value. This, combined with having your brand available in the right packages at the places where your target consumer shops will drive sales. Add to this a well-executed marketing campaign that brings new consumers (to try your brand) and retains existing ones (to give them more reasons to remember, consume and talk about your brand). These marketing initiatives will build brand awareness and a strong brand image that will create positive momentum and revenue growth.
MT: How do your years of experience working at global brands resonate when advising growth stage brands like Health-Ade?
Irma: My experience with global brands ranging from small upstart challenger brands to well-established global brands seeking relevance exposed me to a wide variety of brand and marketing approaches that I can apply as we forge our path forward for Health-Ade. Plus, global brands like Coca-Cola invest heavily in consumer data regarding consumer and shopper behavior and preferences as well as innovation pathways. I have gained deep insights to apply to our business. In addition, I can draw upon my organizational leadership experiences to advise Health-Ade and the team Chris Lansing is leading.
MT: What do you believe the future of food holds?
Irma: One item I believe is in our future is the personalization of food. Technology will open up new avenues for delivering unique, individualized food options. As Manna Tree has identified, health & wellness will continue to be core to the future of food innovation. I do believe that personalization that allows people to customize the ingredients, flavors and health benefits they are seeking in their food is in our future. Still, one thing that will never change is that taste will always be a priority. Consumers will not trade out on taste.
MT: Favorite Health-Ade flavor?
Irma: Ginger Lemon. As a believer in Ayurvedic herbs and the digestive benefits of ginger, I’ve always loved the herb when paired with the perfect flavor like lemon to soften ginger’s spice.
MT: Favorite marketing campaign (new or old) and why?
Irma: I know it is outside of Manna Tree’s focus and I may be a bit biased, but I think Share-a-Coke was an amazing marketing campaign. This is the campaign where Coca-Cola replaced their brand name with people’s names or relationships. Not many brands can literally remove their brand name and drive more brand connectivity. It created an emotional connection for people that increased sales significantly.
MT: What are your favorite ways to stay active?
Irma: I have been a runner for a long time and love that ‘runners high’. I have also recently taken up tennis. It’s been fun being a ‘beginner’! It is such a social sport. I also love strategic games and have recently learned Mahjong with a group of friends in my neighborhood. That will take a long time to master.
Full Bio:
Irma is a strategic business executive who excels at translating customer needs into innovative marketing and commercial strategies to drive revenue. She is an accomplished brand strategist with expertise leading the development of the growth and innovation agenda, including digital marketing and data analytics for brands. As a leader, Irma excels at bringing forth data-driven strategies that cut through complexity, while utilizing inputs from many data sources and stakeholders to achieve growth. Her broad experience gives her the background to guide growth seeking companies as a board member. Irma brings experience as Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Randstad, the world’s leading human resources services company, where she oversaw brand strategy, digital marketing, and product development efforts to drive growth, as well as crisis communications. She led the development of the digital and data analytics infrastructure and integrated brand campaigns that drove year over year double-digit revenue growth through the effective deployment of digital marketing levers such as CRM, SEO, social, digital media, mobile product development, as well as customer experience.
She also brings experience from her years at Coca-Cola leading the brand growth strategy for large, well-established brands like Diet Coke or McDonalds, and for small, entrepreneurial consumer brands like Odwalla. She brought a visionary approach to many brands to connect with unique consumer insights to drive messaging, innovation, and partnerships to increase sales. She has an eye for strategic partnerships which are mutually beneficial and where to find the right marketing activation to accelerate growth. At Randstad, she nurtured a cutting-edge partner to attract, develop and retain talent in sought after industries leading to increased revenue. While at the American Cancer Society, she led a groundbreaking multifaceted partnership to provide critical patient services as well as significant revenue to support the organization’s mission.
Irma is on the for-profit company boards of both Health-Ade, a gut-health beverage company that enjoys the strongest category growth, and Employ Inc, a private software company that helps thousands of companies recruit, hire, and retain talent. She is also on the board of The Lovett School, a preeminent independent school, where she is on the governance and DEI Committees, and she sits on the advisory board for the Children’s Museum of Atlanta and Junior Achievement of Georgia. Irma is also a founding board member for 48in48, a nonprofit that mobilizes marketers to serve nonprofits globally. Irma has a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two high-school aged children.
