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Case Study  |
Food

Innovation & Insights Leadership during Seamless Employee Leave Coverage

Keeping innovation moving with flexible senior-level insights support
The challenge

Covering Critical Innovation Needs During a Team Absence

A leading global food and ingredient company needed temporary leave coverage for a senior Insights & Innovation role supporting high-priority new product innovation initiatives. The organization required an experienced Insights professional who could quickly integrate into complex cross-functional teams, lead front-end innovation work, and support long-term innovation planning.

The Approach

Integrating Flexible On-Demand Innovation Insights Expertise

SIVO’s On Demand Talent team placed a fractional Insights & Innovation Leader with more than 25 years of Fortune 500 experience across consumer insights, strategy, innovation, and growth. The consultant brought deep expertise in front-end innovation, food & beverage categories, and AI-enabled insights tools.

During the engagement, the insights leader:

  • Led front-end innovation projects with cross-functional internal and external partner teams, guiding initiatives from immersion and ideation through prototype development and commercialization handoff  
  • Designed and facilitated innovation workshops, trend immersion sessions, concept validation activities, and business prioritization discussions  
  • Managed third-party research and inspiration partners across qualitative and quantitative learning initiatives  
  • Developed a scalable Portfolio Architecture framework to support long-term innovation roadmap planning and pipeline sufficiency efforts  
  • Provided tactical support across AI prompt engineering, data synthesis, insight translation, and strategic storytelling projects  

“He has been a great partner, getting quickly up to speed on what we do and how we work.  He has added perspective to new ways of delivering innovation which will help us grow as a team as well.”
– Innovation Leader, Global Food Manufacturer
The Impact

Sustained Innovation Momentum and Strategic Growth Support

SIVO’s  fractional talent helped drive tangible innovation and growth opportunities by identifying high-potential concepts aligned to the company’s capabilities, customer partnerships, and strategic priorities.

“SIVO’s Fractional Expert was engaged, pro-active, and brought good energy and ideas to our initiatives.”  
- Senior Insights Director, Global Food Manufacturer

The fractional Innovation Leader created business impact also included:

  • Strengthening the company’s reputation as a strategic innovation partner with key customers  
  • Increasing the visibility and credibility of the insights and innovation function internally  
  • Helping business leaders identify future growth opportunities and prioritize innovation investments more effectively  
  • Expanding team capacity and agility by providing experienced, flexible senior-level support during a critical transition period  
  • Allowing core internal teams to remain focused on other high-priority initiatives while accelerating execution across strategic innovation and emerging AI projects  

The fractional insights model enabled the client to maintain innovation momentum, quickly access specialized expertise, and deliver meaningful business impact while also ensuring seamless maternity leave coverage that allowed a valued employee to step away with confidence and peace of mind.

Maintained innovation momentum during a critical employee leave without disrupting priority workstreams
Advanced high-potential growth opportunities aligned to the company’s capabilities, customers, and strategic priorities
Strengthened long-term innovation planning through portfolio architecture, roadmap support, and pipeline prioritization
Expanded team capacity and agility with flexible senior-level insights support across strategic innovation and emerging AI needs