The Toll House Cookie Conundrum with Orchid Bertelsen, Head of Consumer Experience, Strategy & Innovation at Nestlé USA

On this episode, Orchid discusses the connection between consumers and cavemen, the rise of social commerce, and Ruth the Cookie Coach.
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ABOUT THE GUEST

Orchid Bertelsen is the Head of Digital Strategy & Innovation at Nestlé USA, where she evaluates and tests emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, voice assistance, AR/VR. She has a varied portfolio, made up of 40+ brands and includes beloved brands like Coffee-Mate, Toll House and DiGiorno. Nestlé is also a majority stakeholder in Blue Bottle Coffee and owns and operates Starbucks at Home. She lives in Hayes Valley with her husband and four-year-old daughter, Quinn and loves to travel back to Taiwan, where her family is from.

This episode features an interview with Orchid Bertelsen, Head of Consumer Experience, Strategy & Innovation at Nestlé USA. With over 30 brands in her portfolio, Orchid has spent the past ten years evaluating and testing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, voice assistance, and AR/VR.

On this episode, Orchid discusses the connection between consumers and cavemen, the rise of social commerce, and Ruth the Cookie Coach.

“People jump to the technology because it’s almost a shortcut and they’re enamored by it…but you cannot go chasing a solution without identifying the problem, because then you can’t make sure that the solution addresses the problem.” -Orchid Bertelsen

Show Notes

  • (3:00) Orchid’s backstory
  • (7:43) What innovation means to her
  • (9:44) A new solution to an old problem: the story of Häagen-Dazs and the bees
  • (13:40) The connection between consumers and cavemen
  • (18:03) The rise of social commerce
  • (22:24) Introducing Ruth the Cookie Coach
  • (28:06) The Toll House Cookie Conundrum: addressing an emotional problem
  • (31:09) Dissecting the technology role vs. the business objective of Ruth
  • (35:11) Lightning round: getting to know Orchid the person

Sponsor 

This podcast is presented by Dell Technologies and Intel. Together they help you realize digital transformation across retail by driving IT innovation to better engage with today’s connected consumer. Learn more at DellTechnologies.com/retail and Intel.com/retail.

Links

Connect with Orchid on LinkedIn

Follow Orchid on Twitter

Ruth the Cookie Coach

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Tony Saldanha – Transformant

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