In this episode of "CMO Weekly," host Hayley Clover sits down with Amina Pasha, the CMO of Thrive Market, for an insightful discussion on her 20-year career in marketing and her strategic approach to leading Thrive Market's growth.
Amina Pasha shares her journey, beginning with her foundational years at Procter & Gamble, where she gained extensive experience working on iconic brands like Pantene, Wella, Pampers, Crest, and Oral-B. She highlights how these experiences, often involving struggling brands, provided her with a "general management base" and a deep understanding of consumer mastery. A pivotal moment in her career came with the realization that 75% of women in the Middle East, a key market for Pantene, were under 24, yet the marketing targeted older demographics, leading to a significant brand turnaround after shifting strategy.
Amina discusses her transition to mission-driven brands, sparked by the birth of her son. She served as the Head of Marketing for The Honest Company, where she learned about direct-to-consumer (DTC) and e-commerce marketing, as well as scaling CPG brands in beauty and baby. Her passion for healthy living led her to Thrive Market five years ago, where she quickly rose to CMO.
At Thrive Market, Amina focused on blending values-led brand storytelling with digital precision. She explains how her previous experiences allowed her to swiftly diagnose and address challenges in people, processes, and plans, enabling rapid scaling of the business. A key initial step was defining the brand strategy and articulating its values and unique selling propositions. She also built out the brand side of the team, bringing in leaders from diverse backgrounds like Sephora to head media and another beauty company for creative, fostering a "brand and performance magic". Under her leadership, Thrive Market has grown to over $700 billion in revenue and 1.6 million members, becoming the world's first climate-positive grocery platform and a leader in food equality.
Amina emphasizes Thrive Market's focus on "wellness champion parents," their primary target audience. She discusses their current "Back to School" campaign, aimed at reducing the cognitive load for busy moms by offering innovative, healthy, and easy solutions, including new products and exclusive brands like Thrive Market Fruit Circles and Partake's World's Tiniest Cookies. She also highlights the importance of self-care for mothers, noting that Thrive Market offers products for moms like Acure Hydrogel patches, magnesium, lavender mint teas, and supplements.
The conversation delves into Thrive Market's social media strategy, particularly their success with TikTok. Amina explains how TikTok, initially used for creative learnings and identifying cultural trends, became a powerful platform for authentic connections through micro-content creators. She notes the platform's utility as a "knowledge camp" for insights that can influence other marketing channels.
Looking ahead, Amina envisions Thrive Market further leveraging AI to reduce cognitive overload for parents by personalizing the shopping experience and curating tailored boxes based on family health goals and needs. She also sees the company redefining "healthy" in the next five years, moving beyond just food to offer holistic health solutions that address sleep, stress, and overall well-being, bridging the gap between health data and the shopping experience.
The episode concludes with a rapid-fire Q&A, revealing Amina's favorite city , her dream dinner guest, and her non-negotiable daily workout ritual. She also shares her current "brand crush" – longevity-based skincare products that work at a cellular level.