Brand Strategy Committee Meeting

Announcements & Introductions (11:00 - 11:10 a.m.)

Member Disussion: Brands & FIFA - Who Wins and Who Loses? (11:10 - 11:45 a.m.)
Between FIFA official partners, clean-stadium policies, and brands going rogue (or are they?) on social, the World Cup has been a huge opportunity for brands. The question is, have they all fully taken advantage of that opportunity? 

Speaker:
Tara Caiazza, VP, Brand, ANA

How Purpose Drives Growth & Relevance (11:45 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.)
An interactive talk that frames purpose, including sustainability, inclusivity, and values, as powerful business levers for growth. Showcasing topline principles, with real brand examples and commercial evidence, attendees will learn how a purpose-driven strategy can build demand, generate revenue, and unlock competitive advantage. Attendees will leave with practical ideas and examples they can apply across marketing and with their cross functional internal and external partners.

Speaker: 
Samuel Monnie, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Purpose Hive

Break (12:20 - 12:25 p.m.)

Let Them Be Giant: Reimagining Danimals for Modern Kids & Parents (12:25 - 1:00 p.m.)
Kids don’t dream small—and neither should the brands that fuel them. Danone North America Senior Strategist and toddler mom Sasha Alavian Read shares how Danimals was rebuilt around a bold belief: when you give kids what they need, they show up bigger, braver, and more themselves.

Get an inside look at how Danimals was reimagined for a new generation—grounded in what modern parents want, rooted in nutritional science, and brought to life through deep consumer understanding. At the heart of the work is a simple but powerful idea: let kids be giant in who they are and who they’re becoming.

From evolving the product with a new nutrient-dense formula to redesigning the brand from the ground up, this transformation touched every part of the experience. The team modernized the brandmark, reintroduced Bongo with fresh energy, and built a bold new world celebrating growth, confidence, and big possibilities for kids.

Hear how this end-to-end reinvention balanced credibility and joy—delivering on what parents need while tapping into what kids love—and how strategy, design, and product came together to reshape an iconic brand for its next chapter of growth.

Speaker:
Sasha Alavian Read, Senior Strategist, Brand Purpose, Danone North America

Speaker Bios

Samuel Monnie
Once a reformed marketer, now a marketing reformer, Samuel Monnie is Co-founder & Co-CEO of Purpose Hive, a purposeful growth strategy and solutions company in New York City where he blends cross-cultural experience, data-driven evidence, and compelling stories to deliver measurable impact. He's the former SVP Revenue (Sales & Marketing) at Sustainable Brands, and held global brand, business and P&L leadership roles at P&G, Braun, Campbell’s, Grainger and Safeway.  A Brit of Ghanaian heritage, he has lived in Germany, Switzerland and now calls the NYC area home. 

Sasha Alavian Read
Sasha is a Senior Strategist, Brand Purpose at Danone North America, where she guides the direction of a $7B portfolio of more than a dozen beloved CPG brands. She has a decade of experience shaping brands at the intersection of strategy and meaning, and brings a global, values-led lens grounded in her background spanning California, Scotland, Paris, and New York City. Her work spans pivotal brand moments—from preserving brand equity during major transitions to reimagining legacy brands to preserving and integrating purpose from new acquisitions and parent companies alike. Sasha brings a thoughtful, cross-functional approach to brand-building and strategy setting, helping teams navigate complexity with clarity while staying anchored in what matters most.