Safeway, the second largest supermarket chain in North America, is one of the first groups in its sector to successfully build a consumer packaged goods company within a company. The Fortune 500 grocer boasts over 1,800 stores, but Safeway’s forward-thinking branding stance is what separates it from the competition. Senior Vice President of Consumer Brands, James White, leads the company’s private label business in much the same way as he did at Gillette, Nestle Purina Petcare, and Coca-Cola. In a recent podcast with Brand Connections CEO Brian F Martin, White offered rare insight into the retail side and discussed the process of building individual brands that compete with icons such as Kraft, Campbell’s and Kellogg’s.

White, who also holds the Senior Vice President of Consumer Brands title at Safeway, introduced his classical CPG marketer mentality at the retail organization after coming on board last year. “From a historical prospective we’ve always had a strong R&D product development function inside the company,” he says. “The thing that is different, and the thing that we’ve added, is we’ve installed a brand management system and strategy with CPG-background marketers that are thinking about our brand at Safeway in the same way they would have at Nestle or Gillette… the same kind of brand architecture work and positioning work that you’d think about doing in a traditional CPG environment.” White expects those efforts, coupled with leadership poached from major CPG firms, to make a significant difference in Safeway’s brand-building efforts.

Though White states there has never before been as large a retail endeavor like this, he also suggests true success should be judged by the quality of the brands Safeway ultimately builds. “Really our focus is about giving our consumers what it is they’re looking for, and we think that takes a combination of great national brands and the things that we’re doing with our exclusive and proprietary brands that give us a very unique point of difference.” Many shoppers have already begun to recognize and hold the Safeway label alongside national brands.

The former CPG man says he’s running the brand with much the same discipline, rigor and technique he employed in his previous consumer products roles. One significant difference is his closer attachment to the products and the speed with which he receives consumer input. “Really the shopper and consumer is voting multiple times a day,” says White, “so I get pretty immediate feedback on whether what we’re doing with our brands works or doesn’t work.” After that he must be quick enough to digest input and make adjustments across the marketing mix to improve the results. Another major advantage White enjoys is a newfound level of control over product distribution and placement. Safeway’s vault of consumer information also aids his team in terms of relationship marketing. It’s enough to make most traditional-label brands envious.

In terms of marketing, White plans to use traditional means to grow the brand while integrating a nuanced in-store shopping experience. He also stresses a need to gain knowledge across every imaginable consumer touch point. Perhaps Safeway’s biggest break from other private label efforts, though, lies in its overarching approach to the line. “We don’t think about anything that we’re doing as being store branded,” according to White. “Our agenda is about building consumer brands. … I think the critical challenge is that the brands deliver on the promise that we make to consumers.”

From a professional development standpoint, White points to constant learning as a pivotal element to his own growth. Personal evaluation is one key, but White thinks keeping tabs on the rapidly changing consumer marketplace is just as important. He also says increased competition necessitates such self improvement. Building a cross-functional skill set can also help marketers rise through the ranks, White believes. Finally, White says keeping these skill sets current is likely the stiffest challenge marketers face today. They’ll also be hard pressed to compete with the private-label brands he’s building at Safeway.