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Executive summary

As a mission-driven company operating in the fast-paced consumer goods industry, Newman’s Own needed to streamline internal operations to better serve its philanthropic goals. By adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot, the company increased creativity, effectiveness, and efficiency—freeing up employees’ time to focus on strategic storytelling and impact.

After embedding Copilot across departments—from marketing and legal to logistics and finance—the results were immediate: faster workflows, clearer communication, and more time spent on purpose-driven work. With Copilot embedded in employees’ daily tools, Newman’s Own is scaling its mission with greater productivity and clarity—laying the groundwork for future innovation in how they communicate, collaborate, and give back.

"Using Copilot and AI to its fullest potential so we can be smarter than our competition is a key piece of our recipe for success."

David Best, President and CEO, Newman’s Own

70 Hours

Saved Per Month Summarizing Industry News

50 Hours

Saved Per Month Preparing Market Briefs

Newman’s Own is in the highly competitive food industry, making an array of products, from sauces to snacks, drinks to dog treats. The company continues Paul Newman’s founding commitment to “give it all away,” with 100% of its profits going to Newman’s Own Foundation, whose mission is to nourish and transform the lives of children who face adversity. Newman’s Own is seeking new ways to improve employee productivity and reduce costs. Microsoft 365 Copilot is a critical part of how it runs a lean, efficient organization to maximize its profits. “We need to keep growing, operating efficiently, and staying relevant to consumers and their needs,” says David Best, President and CEO of Newman’s Own. “Having greater insight into what consumers want today and tomorrow is crucial to our success.”

How Newman’s Own competes in a crowded market

Copilot is an integral part of the daily operations of Newman’s Own; many employees, including Best, use it every day. He explains how important it is to use technology to the company’s advantage. “Using Copilot and AI to its fullest potential so we can be smarter than our competition is a key piece of our recipe for success,” says Best. Newman’s Own is quickly seeing a tremendous impact, with increases in creativity, effectiveness, and efficiency driving its business forward.

David Best, President and CEO, Newman’s Own

“Before, a brief might take three hours to complete. With Copilot, I can have an outline in 30 minutes to an hour as a starting point, and I can stay focused on key messages and KPIs.”

Riley McCarthy, Social Media Manager, Newman’s Own

The marketing team has been able to triple the number of campaigns they run in a month and rely on Copilot to stir up their creativity. “Before, a brief might take three hours to complete. With Copilot, I can have an outline in 30 minutes to an hour as a starting point, and I can stay focused on key messages and KPIs,” says Riley McCarthy, Social Media Manager at Newman’s Own. With social trends that can change in a moment, she uses Copilot to help put the Newman’s Own spin on things. “I can do several campaigns in a month now because I have more time to come up with more ideas, which matters because we are getting more eyeballs on us,” says McCarthy.

Copilot is an invaluable coworker

Copilot is seen as an additional coworker on the team. McCarthy shares how Copilot helps her flesh out ideas and get past a creative block, like a colleague she would brainstorm with to build on ideas.

Jennifer Millones, Chief Legal Officer at Newman’s Own, reinforces how valuable Copilot is, explaining, “Copilot is my junior associate. I use it to handle legal questions and gather citations, which accelerates my ability to support the company.” It also helps her by cutting unnecessary legalese out of contract templates, making them easier to use. Millones shares how Copilot helps her craft company-wide emails that are more approachable, with less “lawyer language” that may be intimidating.

The Logistics and Transportation team receives many industry publications every day. Sherry Linson, Director at Newman’s Own, says, “I have Copilot summarize each one; it only takes 30 minutes when it used to take me all morning. With these summaries, I quickly discover ways to keep costs down and introduce new initiatives.” Linson adds, “It’s my information database. My creativity platform. A jumping point. All at my fingertips.”

“Using Copilot and AI to its fullest potential so we can be smarter than our competition is a key piece of our recipe for success.”

David Best, President and CEO, Newman’s Own

Finding new ways to be more productive with limited resources is a core principle for Newman’s Own, because this affects the bottom line. Bruce Wallace, Chief People Officer at Newman’s Own, says, “Giving our people the best possible tools is important so they can be successful because that drives everything we do, supporting our ability to transform children’s lives, and leads to everyone feeling a sense of fulfillment.”

McCarthy shared how Copilot is making a difference with her dyslexia. “I have confidence whatever I’m writing—whether to an executive or posts on social media—it will be spelled correctly, with the proper grammar, using Copilot.”

Copilot saves Newman’s Own both time and money

Best reinforces how Copilot is a key part of the company’s money-saving plans because the team is gaining time and productivity efficiencies. Copilot is an integral part of how Newman’s Own has been able to give even more to help children in need. Best concludes, “Nothing could be better than helping more kids, and that’s what Copilot allows us to do.”

Newman’s Own doesn’t have the scale of some of its competitors, so it’s essential for employees to be able to work smarter, not harder. Best believes Copilot will continue to take the company to the next level of growth and have greater impact toward its mission.

Bruce Wallace, Chief People Officer, shares his perspective on empowering employees with Copilot

After 13 years in Financial Services, I made the leap to Newman’s Own. It’s as different and rewarding as you can imagine.

Our mission of helping kids who face adversity really resonates with me, and being here fulfills me in ways I didn’t expect. I get to help the people so they can help more people.

One of the biggest challenges in the nonprofit sector is making sure our team has the best tools to do their jobs. We run extremely lean. With Microsoft Copilot, we’ve supercharged every person. It’s an absolute game changer for us.

Copilot helps our finance team move quickly from data to insights, so they can make sure every dollar is spent wisely. Our marketing team can now pinpoint the best audience at the right time, which has really boosted our outreach. And our legal officer now has Copilot acting like a junior associate, making their workload much more manageable.

For me, the real value of Copilot is in empowering our employees. By giving them the latest technology, we’re not only boosting their productivity but also showing them that their work is valued and supported. This has a huge impact on employee engagement and retention. When our team feels invested in, they’re more committed to our mission, and that ultimately helps us make a bigger difference in the lives of the kids we serve.

It’s hard to believe a piece of technology has this kind of human impact. But it does.