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LOOKING TO GET a quick read on hot marketing trends? Try suburban Minneapolis.
Specifically, the Charles A. Pillsbury Auditorium at General Mills headquarters on the first Wednesday of each month. That's where the company's chief marketing officer, Mark Addicks, leads about 300 of its marketers through a rapid-fire tour of what's catching his eye in the ad world. Last Wednesday, he plowed through hits and misses involving everything from an outdoor campaign for Duracell to Taco Bell's latest TV ads.
At first blush, none of this seems overly relevant to a company whose charge is to get consumers to eat more Cheerios, Yoplait, Green Giant and other packaged foods. But the presentation, which is part of a broader employee-education event called "First Wednesday," exemplifies the priority General Mills puts on keeping an outside view.
"A marketer today has to be incredibly curious and externally focused," said Mr. Addicks, who started First Wednesdays about 10 years ago out of a concern that the company was becoming too insular. "How...