From Intern to Brand Leader: Cedric Huntington’s Journey at Mondelēz International

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Cedric Huntington’s journey at Mondelēz International is a testament to curiosity, consistency, and growth. He began his career with the company as a Senior Associate Brand Manager Intern in 2022, embracing every opportunity to learn, collaborate, and create impact. Today, as Brand Manager, Innovation for Chips Ahoy!, Cedric brings that same drive to building insight-led innovations for one of the world’s most iconic snacking brands. Read on for Cedric’s candid conversation, packed with real insights from his journey and tips for anyone starting out.

How did your time as a Senior Associate Brand Manager Intern prepare you for your current role?

My internship experience prepared me well for my full-time role because it gave me a glimpse of how Brand Management is practiced at Mondelēz. My intern project was challenging, and within just ten weeks, I had to get creative in how I uncovered insights and translated them into strong recommendations.

One of the biggest takeaways from that experience was learning to rely on consumer data to guide decision-making. That approach has stayed with me ever since. Now, as I lead Chips Ahoy! Innovation, I consistently strive to do what is best for the consumer by building insight-driven products and platforms.

In my full-time roles, there are many moments where strategies need to be developed quickly or problems must be solved under set timelines. In those situations, data becomes an essential tool for building strong plans.

As Brand Manager, Innovation for Chips Ahoy!, what does a typical day look like?

The best way to describe my day-to-day role is to say that being a Brand Manager is like being an entrepreneurial business owner. The business you run just happens to be a brand.

A typical day involves working with cross-functional partners across Research and Development, Finance, Legal, Sales, Manufacturing, Ad agencies, etc. to execute brand plans. Some days are more technical, focused on manufacturing solutions, food science development, or packaging creation. Other days are more creative, involving campaign development, graphic design, or consumer research.

Regardless of the focus, one thing remains constant: you are accountable for the business and responsible for delivering growth. The most rewarding part is that you never do it alone. You get to collaborate with an incredible group of experts who bring deep knowledge from their respective fields.

What are the most important skills you’ve developed at Mondelēz that help you succeed as a brand manager?

There are two skills I believe are critical to being a successful brand manager.

• The first is the ability to distinguish the vital few things from the trivial many. Brand managers are constantly surrounded by information, requests, and challenges, all of which often feel urgent. A strong brand manager can filter out the noise and focus on what truly matters and direct their time toward the highest-impact initiatives. Only then are they able to direct their time and attention to the highest contributing items and remove the obstacles that stand in the way between the current state of business and where they want the business to go.
• The second is the ability to lead and inspire a team. A brand manager is only as effective as their cross-functional partners. Building strong relationships across teams allows you to grow the business in ways that would be impossible to achieve alone. Being eager to learn from others and understand their areas of expertise helps teams solve complex challenges more effectively. These are two critical skills that I strive to develop every day in my role as a brand manager.

How do you balance creativity and consumer insights when developing new product ideas?

I think that consumer insights are the foundation for the most creative product ideas. They provide direction and clear guardrails by helping define the consumer need you are solving for. Once you know the key need you are solving for, then you can get really creative with ways to solve that need.

The expression that "creativity loves constraints" is absolutely true and I feel that using consumer insights as your constraints enables leaders to develop the best new product ideas.

Once you have gathered a foundational set of insights and some potential ideas, it is important to loop in the team and hear what everyone has to say. Especially what the most junior people in the room have to say! By having everyone contribute with their thoughts, it enables a seemingly good idea to become a great idea and really reach its true potential.

How would you describe the culture at Mondelēz, particularly for early-career professionals?.

The culture at Mondelēz is extremely supportive. From the very start of my internship through my current role, I have consistently felt encouraged by peers and leaders. That support comes in the form of assigned buddies, mentors, managers, etc. and happens naturally through fellow Mondelēz employees just being kind and helpful. Either way, the support is always there!

While the business can be fast-paced and demanding, the people make a meaningful difference.

As a father of four young children, I also deeply value the flexibility and understanding the company provides, which allows me to balance personal and professional responsibilities.

What advice would you give to young professionals aspiring to build a career in brand management?

Keep putting in great effort but don't over stress about your career path. If your goal is to get into brand management and you are dedicated to reaching that goal, I am confident you will get there. Just keep your head up and focus on finding joy in the journey. Do your best to find some sort of brand management opportunity that can give you experience enough to get your feet wet. E.g. unpaid internship, freelance brand work, or a brand manager role at a small local company.

For others, it may look like a paid internship at a large CPG conglomerate or a fancy consulting gig on a big brand. Either way, if you keep putting in the effort you will eventually get into brand management.

The Chips Ahoy! × Stranger Things collaboration was a major success. What was your experience working on this project?

Working on the Chips Ahoy! and Stranger Things collaboration was one of my most favorite projects to lead at Mondelēz. It was the largest partnership the brand had ever undertaken and an incredibly exciting project to bring to life.

Because of its scale, many teams contributed to the final execution, and I had the opportunity to work closely with all of them. That experience helped me appreciate the level of detail and coordination required to execute large-scale partnerships successfully.

When evaluating potential brand partnerships, we focus on two key factors: brand fit and cultural relevance. If a partnership does not align with the brand or resonate with consumers, it becomes difficult to deliver a strong campaign or meaningful innovation.

Then from there you get to the fun part of bringing the partnership to life in a way that makes sense to the consumer and ultimately drives cookie sales.