Today’s guest is Melanie Huet Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding. We discuss with Melanie taking Serta Simmons, a 100-year-old brand, and transforming it for modern-day operations.  How she came to understand the culture of the company, built trust and had clear communication to ensure everyone understood where the company was heading and what their role was. Melanie talks about separating the Simmons brand and repositioning it to be appealing to the Gen Z market, including having a hugely successful launch on Tik-Tok with Snoozapalooza.  She shares the task of pitching such a new idea and platform to the board and how she got them on board. The success of the Tik-Tok launch wouldn’t have been possible without proper research and creativity.  Melanie gives us an overview of the work that went into ensuring marketing was in the right place with the right message to guarantee the campaign didn’t come off force or fake. We conclude this great interview discussing where thought leadership fits into the Serta Simmons brand, how they find new ideas and ways you can measure the success of those ideas. If you are working with a well-established brand that is looking to update itself or find a new audience, get your pen and paper ready because this episode is full of great information Three Key Takeaways: ·         If you want your thought leadership to be effective you’ll need to understand the culture of the brand you are working with. ·         Deep research is a must if you want your thought leadership to move your audience to action. ·         When developing content thought leaders should listen to ideas from anywhere, not just from the top of an organization.