Hostess Brands exec Tina Lambert’s journey through innovation

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Hostess Brands exec Tina Lambert’s journey through innovation

21 Dec 2022

Annie Hollon

Annie Hollon is a journalist, copywriter and social media strategist from the Dallas, Texas area. She found a love for magazine writing during her time at the University of Alabama where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in public relations and English. Beyond writing, you can find her expanding her library, attempting to teach herself the guitar and trying new hobbies.

KANSAS CITY, MO — Some people were shaped into the leaders they are today through the course of their respective academic and professional careers. Tina Lambert was born one. The VP of the Marketing Center of Excellence for Lenexa, KS-based Hostess Brands hit her stride as a leader early on from the very first role she held as the oldest of seven children.

Raised as an “Army brat,” Lambert is no stranger to change. She attended eight different schools between preschool and high school and spent much of her childhood traveling across the US and abroad before her father retired in Ohio. As a result, Lambert remained near her family for college. She earned her bachelor’s in marketing and international business from the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lidner College of Business.

Her past experiences, Lambert shared, are what shaped who she is as an executive.

“I’m a very creative solutions-minded person, and I’m not someone who becomes attached to the way things are now because I spent my whole life knowing that everything was always in flux,” she said. “I’m actually not afraid of change; I crave change, and that led to a lot of the choices I’ve made with my career.”

Lambert’s path to Hostess Brands was one filled with innovation. Among the pivotal points of her career, two stand out to her as major lessons in ingenuity: a college internship with toy conglomerate Hasbro and the launch of a new snack brand under Procter & Gamble (P&G).

With her work at Hasbro’s Kenner Toys division, which included contributing to the company’s acquisition for the license of Pokémon, Lambert gained a deep appreciation for understanding the consumer.

The next came from her time at P&G on the team behind launching Torengos, a Pringles like triangular tortilla chip stack stored in a prism-shaped can. Despite pre-launch consumer feedback praising the flavor and the company’s investment in two full production lines, marketing and capital, it ultimately failed within a year.

“Ironically, I think the failure of P&G’s Torengos brand launch is what led to focusing the rest of my career on innovation because it happened early enough that I had nothing to lose, but so much to learn,” Lambert reflected. “Seeing how such a strong idea could fail so fast — and understanding the whys behind it — was mind-opening.”

Over the years, Lambert learned that, similar to life, innovation failures both “teach you more and stick with you longer.” She would carry these lessons into future roles at companies including Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods and Tyson Foods.

It was at Tyson where Lambert first connected with Andy Callahan, current president and CEO of Hostess Brands. Through their work together in the retail and foodservice businesses at the company, Lambert was inspired by the “magical” balance of inspirational and pragmatic leadership upheld in his work.

It was this connection with Callahan that brought Lambert to lead the Marketing Center of Excellence two years ago. With the role built specifically for her, she oversees a centralized marketing support team that covers an array of matters including innovation, advertising, e-commerce, shopper marketing, consumer insights, packaging and more.

Though change has led Lambert to companies across the spectrum of CPGs, one concept ties them all together: innovation. The term has been a constant throughout the roles she’s held in her career. Over time, Lambert’s definition of innovation has evolved from a product-focused point of view to one that is more organizational.

“As I think about innovation in an organizational context, there are four ingredients I always talk about: having the right people in place, the right strategy in place, the right processes in place and then the right financial support,” she said, noting that Hostess Brands continues to invest in all four.

This investment includes positioning experts to support the company’s growth through advertising and R&D in addition to innovation. These strategies are centered around the five fastest growing snacking occasions that offer a $50 billion market opportunity.

In addition to the organization behind innovation, Lambert also noted key components: Plan as far ahead as you can, and to be agile when the plan goes sideways.

A case study in this strategy is Hostess Bouncers, an early project she initiated after joining the Hostess Brands team. When the bite-sized snack cakes entered the market, the team had to pivot when the launch was pushed back due to delays driven by COVID-19, labor and equipment delays.

Starting a new role at any company comes with its own set of challenges but stepping into a newly formed position at a company that has brands that are 100 years old requires finesse and a steadfast leadership style cemented from years of practice.

Lambert has both in spades.

This story has been adapted from the 2022 Innovations Annual issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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