Troy Treangen of NIQ On How To Leverage Data To Take Your Company To The Next Level

Executing Strategic Pricing and Promotion Strategies: Pricing and promotion data tracks what is currently happening in the market, such as the success of current promotions, and what’s ahead, like the impact of price changes on consumer demand. These types of insights are especially important around seasonal events that drive food and beverage consumption, such as Easter, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day .

The proper use of Data — data about team performance, data about customers, or data about the competition, can be a sort of force multiplier. It has the potential to dramatically help a business to scale. But sadly, many businesses have data but don’t know how how to properly leverage it. What exactly is useful data? How can you properly utilize data? How can data help a business grow? To address this, we are talking to business leaders who can share stories from their experience about “How To Effectively Leverage Data To Take Your Company To The Next Level”. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Troy Treangen, Chief Product Officer, NIQ.

Troy Treangen is an accomplished technology executive with a rich history of driving innovation and growth across the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry. With over two decades of experience, Troy has consistently demonstrated his ability to lead and transform organizations, resulting in significant advancements in product development and technology solutions. His journey through various leadership roles showcases his exceptional expertise and visionary leadership.

As the Chief Product Officer at NIQ, Troy is at the forefront of shaping the company’s product strategy and innovation. Troy leads a global team of over 1,100 professionals while indirectly influencing over 2,400 engineers.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

My passion for technology started at a young age when my dad brought home a Tandy computer — one of those that plugged into the TV. I would write small-scale code to discover what these programs, which seemed so grand at the time, could do on the device. Then, in my teens, we upgraded! We got a Windows computer, and I was off to the races. I would take it apart, put it back together again, and continue writing code. While I didn’t know it at the time, this would be the foundation for my entire career; it’s what fueled my desire to learn and grow in the technology field.

Fast forward to college, I studied Computer Science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha while working at Conagra Foods as a developer and multiple other roles. During this time, I became a hardcore programmer in web technologies, and spent nearly a decade leading the IT team, eventually expanding my role into Director of Sales Technology & Reporting.

From there, I grew my career by combining my technology expertise with client-services and sales-focused roles, ultimately joining the Nielsen team a decade ago to help build what the industry now knows today as NIQ. Today, I am fortunate to lead a team of talented technologists driving agile transformation to help retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers win market share with data-driven approaches.

It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a humorous mistake you made when you were first starting and the lesson you learned from that?

At the time, it wasn’t humorous, but I can laugh about it now. I was accountable for our sales systems for one of the roles I had while at ConAgra Foods. Specifically, my team was accountable for our home-grown Trade Management system. We didn’t have much rigor around our production environment, and we moved code in pretty frequently. One time, when we moved code, we introduced some big pricing miscalculations, which ultimately meant a few customers got a great deal on a few invoices that didn’t get caught. This was real money that the company lost, and it was because of a simple decimal point in a calculation. I am all about an agile approach, but it also needs to be done with the right rigor, control, and structure. Little mistakes can be material, so things need to be balanced. I do push the envelope at times, but always remember a few of these scenarios to help determine action plan.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

Sometimes it’s not just about two paths, it could be even more. Regardless, difficult decisions need to be made all the time.

Earlier in my career, decisions were more about what and how to build applications (i.e. what software to use, what methods/languages to use, what features are required, etc.). In the middle of my career, decisions turned more into things that focused on the teams I worked with and the clients that I had, (i.e. who should we hire, which projects should we do or not do, who should we partner with to deliver). Now my decisions are more focused on the company as a whole.

Obviously, I still have personnel decisions to make, but the decisions are not just about a team or a specific area. These are now things that adjust the company strategy, and we better make informed decisions or implications are just greater.

The point of all of this is that difficult decisions will always have to be made, and over your career they will continue to change, with more specifically the risk/reward ratios continuing to get bigger and bigger in tandem. Whether you are a newly appointed manager, a seasoned vet, or a C-suite executive, decision making is part of the job, and it’s not an easy thing to do. It takes thinking, evaluating, and trusting your team, and your gut. While your experience will change over time, the process is still the same.

Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?

This has been an exciting year for NIQ as we uncover new applications of AI and machine learning to supercharge our work.

We recently announced the expansion of our NIQ Connect platform to use Snowflake Secure Data Sharing. As datasets grow into data lakes, we are tackling data sprawl head-on for retailers and CPG brands by undertaking strategic investments, like this one, aimed at enhancing data-sharing capabilities and seamless real-time data access that is essential to successful AI strategies. With massive datasets flooding organizations, poor data quality, bad signals, and inaccuracies in analysis and modeling can mean bad outputs from AI if you’re not careful. To realize the full potential of AI, great data is required to procure great insights.

One way we are bringing this to life: We’re launching NIQ Labs, which will drive the future of NIQ’s most innovative products, solutions, and talent to solve clients’ most pressing problems. The incubator within NIQ will bring together a talented cohort of technologists to leverage AI and other emerging technologies in innovative ways across five core pillars: product coding, global e-commerce measurement, retail media, analytics, and data science. The goal is to uncover new pathways for growth by combining cutting-edge technologies with NIQ’s unparalleled, high-quality data to derive actionable insights using AI.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

The status quo has never been my North Star. Innovation and pushing the boundaries are what fuels my work. I’ve learned along the way that hunger, willingness to learn, and dedication are requirements for success.

1. Hunger: I grew up with three younger brothers, and as you might expect, this created an environment rooted in healthy competition that encouraged us to be the best versions of ourselves. While I am not as competitive with my brothers today, it showed me the value and power of staying hungry on your professional journey. As the rate of innovation accelerates, staying hungry is essential to keep pushing and innovating.
2. Willingness to Learn: In reflecting on my own journey, a willingness to learn has been instrumental to building teams and driving transformation. From starting in IT to transitioning to sales to now leading product at NIQ, I lead with a learner’s mindset that encourages personal and professional growth.
3. Dedication: Success isn’t possible without committing yourself to your role and being dedicated to the task at hand. Whether it’s writing code on a Tandy, or creating new offerings to provide clients with the full view of consumer behavior and trends, dedication is required to diligently problem solve.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion about empowering organizations to be more “data-driven.” For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what it looks like to use data to make decisions?

Data provides companies with critical insights needed to understand trends and behaviors impacting their business. It empowers them to better understand pathways for growth, whether that’s through pricing and promotion strategies or product innovation.

At NIQ, we equip clients with the full view on consumer behaviors to optimize their retail strategies and grow market share. High-quality, impactful data uncovers evolving trends in consumer behaviors, and leads to the insights needed to prepare for the future. A brand can use data to learn why and how consumers’ shopping behaviors are evolving, predict what’s ahead, and determine the best strategy to drive their business forward.

For example, from our data, we see that as inflation persists, private label business is booming. Consumers are prioritizing value over name brands. Equipped with the full view on consumer data, brands can take this learning and go a step further to determine what pricing and promotion strategy will drive consumer interest while using predictive analytics to measure elasticity and the potential impact of price changes to maximize profits.

Data also helps identify potential whitespace across categories and opportunities for innovation that can also increase market share. Armed with compelling data, brands can negotiate better deals with retail partners or secure funding if you’re an emerging brand seeking capital.

The opportunities data provides are endless. As consumers now shop across multiple channels, there are more retail touch points than ever before. More data is available at our fingertips, creating an exciting but daunting opportunity. Brands and retailers need the full view on consumer behavior, leveraging the right omnichannel data to build winning strategies.

First and foremost, data-driven decisions require high-quality data, especially when leveraging AI to uncover insights from it. Good data means good insights out to equip your business with the learnings you need to succeed.

Based on your experience. which companies can most benefit from tools that empower data collaboration?

Data collaboration across industries is paramount to grow market share, and we see significant opportunity for retailers, as well as fast-moving consumer goods and consumer durables manufacturers to leverage data and create forward-looking, winning strategies.

In a time when consumer behavior and shopping patterns are shifting rapidly — from the rise of omnichannel experiences to the impact of navigating long-term inflation — actionable data is needed now more than ever across industries such as food, beauty, pet care, and beverage. Data isn’t limited to the largest retailers or CPG brands either. As a business leader, I’m committed to the democratization of data to help businesses of all sizes succeed, including emerging brands and small businesses.

When more people have access to sophisticated intelligence, better decisions get made. We all, as business people and consumers, benefit in the long run.

Can you share some examples of how data analytics and data collaboration can help to improve operations, processes, and customer experiences? We’d love to hear some stories if possible.

Data, paired with meaningful insights, equips businesses with the tools they need to predict in-market performance and develop pricing and promotion strategies, marketing efforts, and in-store operations to match.

It can also drive product innovation by uncovering what consumers are buying, and the all-important “why” behind it. These insights help businesses uncover whitespace and optimizations based on consumer needs and preferences.

One of my favorite real-world examples is from one of our clients, Frutero. The emerging ice cream company was striving to expand their reach beyond a single retailer. They used data to tailor their messaging by retailer and region, while highlighting shopper data to showcase how their ice cream meets new consumer needs to get more on shelves. In just two years, Frutero went from three stores to 2,500 by simply using data to create actionable strategies that resonate with retailers and consumers alike.

From your vantage point, has the shift toward becoming more data-driven been challenging for some teams or organizations? What are the challenges? How can organizations solve these challenges?

My goal is to get people excited about using data, rather than seeing it as an insurmountable obstacle. That’s what we aim to do at NIQ, by building trust and working in lockstep with clients to provide the high-quality, accurate datasets they need to ensure reliability, consistency, and accuracy.

In addition to trust, many organizations today face dreaded data sprawl. Alongside cybersecurity sensitivities, data sprawl can make data challenging to manage and more difficult to glean insights from.

NIQ is at the forefront of bringing data together and recently announced exciting expansions with Snowflake and Google Cloud. These expanded capabilities maximize seamless integration across multiple formats and sources to meet clients wherever they are, so they have access to the full view of consumer data needed to succeed.

The mass adoption of AI is helping organizations address these challenges by helping organizations assess and understand large datasets at scale. This makes data and the insights from it more meaningful and comprehensive than ever before.

Ok. Thank you. Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are “Five Ways a Company Can Effectively Leverage Data to Take It To The Next Level”? Please share a story or an example for each.

In retail, CPG, and consumer durables, there is no shortage of ways to leverage data to take your business to the next level. Some of the most impactful ways clients leverage our data and insights include:

• Understanding Consumer Behaviors: Data helps businesses look closely at consumer shopping behaviors — what they’re buying and why. For example, with sustainability top of mind for the entire retail ecosystem, NIQ uncovered new data that shows 70% of consumers say sustainability is MORE important to them than it was two years ago . Using data points like these, brands can create sustainability-focused strategies that address other consumer concerns, like cost and lack of choice with sustainable products, to bridge the gap between awareness and consumer spend.
• Executing Strategic Pricing and Promotion Strategies: Pricing and promotion data tracks what is currently happening in the market, such as the success of current promotions, and what’s ahead, like the impact of price changes on consumer demand. These types of insights are especially important around seasonal events that drive food and beverage consumption, such as Easter, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day .
• Launching Data-Driven Advertising and Marketing Campaigns: Successful brands have a full understanding of the consumer and a compelling proposition that drives purchases. Neuroscience-based solutions are one example of data-driven marketing strategies and can be used to uncover nonconscious consumer behaviors. This innovative approach uses EEG sensors to directly measure brain responses 500 times per second and is paired with eye-tracking to understand where consumers are looking and how the brain is responding. Now, that’s a lot of data! Marketers and advertisers can use it to refine key messages and creative to strengthen this essential touchpoint with consumers.
• Breaking through with New Product Innovations: Data also helps companies identify whitespace in the marketplace so they can introduce innovations that solve consumer problems and address their needs and preferences. Once launched, data can also help businesses track the progress of their product and optimize for the future.
• Optimizing Omnichannel Experiences: Today’s shopper moves fluidly across channels, making it challenging to see the full landscape and understand how to prioritize opportunities. Without a full omni view, companies face blind spots that can impact long-term business success. With it, however, businesses can more accurately follow shopper behavior and understand evolving consumer habits, enabling them to develop data-backed plans and tailor-made strategies unique to their customers.

It’s important to remember that it’s not just the data that matters; it’s the insights you derive from it that help inform a strategic approach to business operations.

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NIQ The Green Divide Report

2 https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/analysis/2023/brandbank-the-power-of-seasonal-events/

Based on your experience, how do you think the needs for data might evolve and change over the next five years?

In the past 50 years, demand for data has grown exponentially. I expect this will continue to grow at a rapid rate as consumers continue to exhibit multichannel shopping behaviors and their need for consistent and seamless experiences becomes even stronger.

Alongside this demand, the datasets we manage will become increasingly complex. The question will become: With so much data, what will we do with it to drive business forward? To answer this, AI will be key.

We’re already seeing this happening today and expect the use cases for AI to only expand in the years ahead. A few of the ways we’re already using AI at NIQ include coding automation, sustainable quality control, data validation, pattern identification, and forecasting. AI will empower teams, improve productivity, and fuel business growth.

Thank you for your great insights, We are nearly done. You are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Responsible AI and AI ethics. AI is taking root at all levels of organizations today and can offer much good for employees, consumers, and businesses. AI has the power to solve many challenges but may also create new ones if we don’t take calculated steps in leveraging the technology.

As business leaders, we must be aware of the limitations and potential risk of moving too quickly and use AI for good. A human touch is essential when managing AI and other emerging technologies to ensure accuracy, credibility, and provide guidance only humans possess.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Please follow me on LinkedIn. I’d love to connect and hear from others about their technology journeys and their own data-driven transformations.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!