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Newell Brands CEO reveals a sticky secret behind the company's blowout quarter

Newell Brands CEO reveals a sticky secret behind the company's blowout quarter

After a strong first quarter earnings beat, Newell Brands (NWL) CEO Michael Polk said that one viral phenomenon helped the consumer goods giant boost sales in an innovative way.

"Our brand managers identified this unbelievable trend with making slime," Polk told " Mad Money " host Jim Cramer on Monday. "And one of the ingredients in slime, which is this ooey gooey creation, is Elmer's Glue," a brand that Newell owns.

Each recipe for slime requires a whole bottle of Elmer's Glue, and once Newell's management realized how far-reaching the trend was, they capitalized on its popularity.

"We didn't create it, but it was out there in the social space and the teams went after it. We've had a tremendous run providing Elmer's as an ingredient in these fabulous recipes," Polk said.

Watch the full segment here:

Innovation is a major part of what drove Newell's outstanding earnings beat, especially going against what Wall Street might say is "right" for the retail space.

One example Polk touted was the company's foray into offering personalized products at its Yankee Candle stores, one of Newell's key brands. The CEO said Newell will put kiosks in every single Yankee Candle location so customers can customize their purchases in-store.

"We will drive traffic to the store so consumers can create their personalized candle for their special moments," Polk said. "By Mother's Day, 100 percent of our 600 stores in the U.S. will have these kiosks in place."

And although candles do not come to mind as particularly strong brick-and-mortar products, Polk said that area of business is performing particularly well.

"There's real excitement in the candle business. This whole type of home décor is really powerful, and consumers are willing to pay for the sensory experience that they provide," the CEO said.

Finally, as Newell Brands integrates the recently purchased Jarden into its corporate infrastructure, Polk said three factors are contributing to the company's growth and relative strength compared to its rivals.

"One is international results. We had broad-based growth in all four regions of the world. We [had] ... nearly 12 percent growth in Latin America, over 5 percent growth in Europe, over 4 percent growth in Asia," Polk told Cramer.

Next is Newell's growing e-commerce business, which represents 10 percent of the company's global revenue and, according to Polk, is twice as large as any of its peers' e-commerce ventures.

"We've made a big commitment to e-commerce. Both legacy companies did. And we're doubling down now," he said, turning to the third factor that he believes is driving Newell's success.

"We've created an enterprise-wide global e-commerce division. We have about 250 people in this group globally. By the end of this year, we expect to have almost 500 people in the division. This is very important to us," Polk continued.

The CEO concluded by saying that given its recent acquisition, the newly formed Newell Brands just turned one year old and has much more room to run.

So whether it grows from slimy prospects or beneficial synergies, the consumer goods name will remain on Cramer's radar.

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