Advertise on podcast: Growth, Brands and More

The K-shaped economy didn't create the barbell in FMCG portfolios. It accelerated a trend already twenty years in the making, and most manufacturers still measure it wrong. In this episode of Growth, Brands and More, I'm joined by Todd Kirk of Middlegame, an FMCG marketing analytics firm. They build market structure models on Nielsen IQ data, increasingly with AI in the loop. Todd worked both sides of that data. He started at IRI (now Circana), then moved client-side to Coca-Cola's brand teams. Today he applies that lens at Middlegame, built specifically for FMCG. We open with the shrink-to-grow thesis and why the mainstream is being pinched from both ends. Then Todd walks through a live case study: a decomposition of sparkling wine sales in Ireland. It separates real incrementality from transfer demand, and shows exactly where a 2.3% retail value gain actually came from. We close on why revenue growth management and commercial teams keep talking past each other. And on where AI genuinely earns its place in this kind of analysis. If you manage a portfolio that's being pulled toward value on one side and premium on the other, this one is for you. In this episode: 00:03:49 — Welcome back: Todd Kirk and Middlegame's read on the "first moment of truth" 00:07:54 — Defining the K-shaped economy: 00:13:48 — Beyond price: multi-banner shopping and the private label upgrade 00:16:02 — From price-pack architecture to portfolio interactions 00:26:06 — Case study: decomposing sparkling wine sales in Ireland 00:40:44 — RGM vs. commercial, market structure as a Rubik's cube, and where AI fits This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

How can international brands enter the ‘hot’ Polish Supermarket scene? What kind of insights should they use, and which should they dismiss? Host Filiberto Amati interviews Dominik Wilk, now Poland country manager for German wholesaler Crevel Europe, on what international brands need to know to enter Poland's modern trade. He covers logistics, trade promotions, currency and payment-term variability, and how listings often begin as “in-and-out” supported by leaflets and social media before permanent placement. Key mistakes include pitching only product quality, ignoring shopper differences and geography, and treating listing as success; Winning requires ongoing support, preparation, patience, and a consistent strategy. 00:00 Polish Retail P&L Basics 07:19 Logistics, Pricing and Competition 14:37 Listings, Promotions and Retail Maze 23:27 Route To Market Playbook 29:16 Pitching And Listing Mistakes 35:13 Promotions, Trends And Final Advice This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Is nutrition the next board-level risk for food and beverage companies? Do we need to install a Chief Nutrition Officer? Aart Jan recounts a career spanning Unilever (including roles in Singapore, China, and leading the tea division), a Coca-Cola/Nestlé joint venture, and FrieslandCampina. In the latter, he served as corporate CMO and developed a nutrition policy distinguishing daily versus occasional products to grow healthier sales. After leading fitness and nutrition platform fitchannel.com and selling it to investors, he now consults on applying marketing to public health, arguing health harm is driven more by consumption frequency and usage intensity than by penetration. AJ goes to the core of his vision of a shift from ingredient accountability to impact and outcome-driven nutrition, enabled by wearables and glucose monitoring. For our guest, health is an emerging board-level portfolio risk alongside shifts in consumer demand and regulation. Finally, we discuss GLP-1’s effects on cravings, category volumes, and family repertoires, and propose a chief health officer and portfolio KPIs focused on product role, frequency, and health outcomes. 00:00 Career Journey in FMCG 02:45 Health Platform Lessons 09:56 Health as Corporate Risk 37:45 GLP-1 and Demand Shifts 49:09 Chief Health Officer Future This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

What is happening in Spirits? Why are RTDs growing while the rest of the categories are not? Filiberto hosts a discussion with Chris Maffeo and spirits veteran Olivier Rouche. Olivier recounts his 35 years at Pernod Ricard in commercial strategy & negotiation and his new consultancy, training, and coaching work. They examine the spirits industry’s rapid transformation as premiumization stalls, consumption slows in traditional markets, and demand shifts toward lower-alcohol options. The group highlights operational and margin challenges for spirits companies entering RTDs, including reliance on third-party production, canning and small-format constraints, best-before dynamics, promo pressure, and retailer assortment tightening. They distinguish multiple RTD sub-markets (value retail, grab-and-go, multipacks, premium on-trade cocktails) and expect more partnerships with bottlers/distributors. Olivier advises aligning RTDs with company strategy, quantifying margin dilution versus volume-driven value expansion, and ensuring sustainable long-term operations, while warning against rushed launches, cost-driven pricing, and ignoring local consumer differences. 00:00 Meet the Guests 01:12 Olivier's Career Shift 04:17 Spirits Industry Shakeup 13:27 RTDs Strategy and Execution 24:08 RGM Mistakes and Wrap-Up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

What is a water sommelier? Selling water is both an art and a science. In this Growth Brands and More episode, host Filiberto interviews beverage veteran and water sommelier Ganesh Iyer, who recounts entering the beverage industry before focusing full-time on water sommelier work. Iyer defines the role of the water sommelier and explains the art of pairing meals and beverages. He argues that water education lags in India compared to Europe due to a lack of cultural respect and hospitality training. He highlights common branding mistakes (such as generic messaging or an unclear value proposition) and emphasises tailored on-premise training, moving conversations from procurement to revenue, and future opportunities like water menus, culinary pairing, and meaningful functional benefits, and advises new entrants to define an uncopiable “moat.” 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:00 Ganesh Career Origins 04:59 Water Sommelier Explained 09:16 Key Water Attributes 16:42 Premium Water Positioning 25:34 Common Branding Mistakes 36:21 Training That Actually Works 47:35 Future Opportunities in Water 51:01 Final Advice and Wrap Up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

What if sustainability needed to go beyond Carbon management to become a strategy? In this episode, Adam discusses sustainability in FMCG, with an emphasis on localised water risk management. He touches on technologies for water efficiency and closed-loop systems, which are constrained by regulation in some regions, and highlights India’s zero liquid discharge practices. Water savings can also strengthen the business case through energy recovery and loss reduction, with wastewater serving as a bioindicator of inefficiency. He points to regenerative agriculture, intermodal transport, supplier engagement to decarbonise scope 3, growing customer demands for sustainability data, and future trends including nature metrics, risk pricing maturity, shorter supply chains, financial instruments, digital traceability, and collaborative action. 00:00 Water Risk Hotspots 02:25 Mitigation and Closed Loops 06:01 Resilience in Supply Chains 13:27 Scope Three and Supplier Pressure 18:39 Future Trends and Leadership This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

What if sustainability were not about doing good or looking good? What if it were about risk management?? In this episode, Filiberto interviews sustainability professional Adam Pawelas - a sustainability veteran in food and beverages - about how sustainability has evolved over 20+ years from compliance to operational excellence, CSR, and now ESG embedded in business strategy and finance. They discuss universal sustainability practices across industries: mapping stakeholders, identifying material topics, and clarifying internal and external motivations, with leaders differentiating themselves through future-proof asset design, portfolio choices based on product footprints, responsible sourcing for scope 3 impacts, embedding sustainability in risk frameworks, and resourcing commitments via incentives tied to sustainability KPIs. They address myths that sustainability is only a cost or is fading, arguing it is becoming more structured and important for resilience amid extreme weather and geopolitical shocks. The conversation highlights packaging complexity, regional differences in recycling systems and recycled content, and the growing role of EU reporting frameworks and peer pressure in driving action. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 03:04 Sustainability From CSR to ESG 10:57 What Comes Next: Resilience 14:07 Leaders vs Laggards in Practice 20:53 Packaging Regulation and Reporting This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Do large organisations really understand complexity? Or do they underestimate it? The discussion argues that operations exist to manage organisational complexity but are often overlooked unless disruptions occur, making end-to-end understanding hard in large companies. On AI, it’s described as a buzzword whose operational impact is often oversold: automation isn’t new, and effective AI requires deep process knowledge, high-quality standardised data, documentation, and governance, plus costly model building, training, and controls, making business cases difficult in FMCG operations today; however, AI pressure may accelerate data standards and enable more end-to-end supplier-to-consumer data exchange. For growth strategy, the key operational advice is to start by asking why a “white space” exists, identify execution barriers early, and make explicit trade-offs (e.g., distributor vs creating a legal entity) based on timeline, control, capabilities, and scalability. On barbell portfolios, premium and entry-level require different production, logistics, skills, and standards, risking underutilised assets unless execution is deliberate and guided by a clear playbook. The concluding advice is to involve an operational “buddy” early and stay close to day-to-day operations to sense-check ideas and improve predictability. 00:00 Ops and Complexity Reality 03:49 Why AI Hype Meets Data 11:17 AI Governance and Standards 14:26 Making Growth Plans Executable 26:14 Barbell Strategy and Final Advice This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Why is there a disconnect between commercial objectives and operational ability to deliver those objectives? In this episode, our guest, Pierre-Yves Parent, a transformation and operations veteran from Procter & Gamble, Diageo, and Coty, discusses why growth strategies often fail in execution due to mismatches with a company’s operating model. Parent explains end-to-end physical and data flows, highlighting how interfaces and human interpretation create instability and how the biggest tension arises when moving from design to implementation. Using RTDs as an example, he describes a structural misalignment in commercial operations timelines driven by seasonality, weather volatility, supply constraints, artwork/regulatory variations, retailer codification delays, and inventory/scrap and reporting impacts. The conversation also covers large transformations and carve-outs/mergers, noting early design tradeoffs, legal/IT separation limits, shared services complexity, and how weak governance and undisciplined change management can derail benefits by leaving unresolved resistance and incomplete execution. 00:00 Why Strategies Fail 05:30 Execution Meets Reality 10:40 RTD Supply Chain Chaos 20:24 Inside Big Transformations 34:33 Where Transformations Break This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Is premiumness in RTD as important across demographic segments? How should an Aldi Private Label compete with Guinness? And what would happen if GLP-1 were available in an oral format? The second part of the discussion between Andy and Filiberto begins with how conjoint analysis reveals which packaging, price, size, and format cues consumers use in split-second FMCG decisions, highlighting ABV as a simplified signal of value, quality, strength, and flavour intensity, and warning that label “communication architecture” can unintentionally drive choice. It contrasts cans (mainstream, larger scale, often requiring partners) with glass (more premium, niche), and argues that innovation expectations should align with the chosen format’s scale. Research shows willingness to pay varies by demographic and market (e.g., French women and younger Spanish males paying premiums for glass), creating tension between segmentation opportunities and supply-chain de-complexification, while “shrink-to-grow” can open white space for smaller brands and even cross-category competitors. Finally, Andy presents more insights from Epic’s previous research: 1) a UK study on Aldi’s Guinness-like stout found that alternative design choices (e.g., a glossy gold can and a distinct icon); 2) a separate study on oral GLP-1 formats 00:00 Conjoint Research Setup 01:42 Format Choices And Scale 04:40 Segmentation Versus Supply Chain 19:30 Packaging Signals And Copycats 28:49 GLP-1 Oral Disruption Wrap This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Can we model consumer choices in a timely fashion? Shouldn’t we test product-related design choices before launching them into the market? The episode features Andy O’Brien, FMCG & RETAIL VP at Epic Insights, discussing his FMCG background and Epic’s software-driven, decision-based research, which delivers faster insights. They emphasise the need for rapid data to support innovation, challenge assumptions, and keep pace with retailer and internal decision timelines, noting procurement and organisational volatility as barriers and arguing that better tools should reduce high new-product failure rates. The conversation presents Epic-sponsored conjoint research on alcoholic RTDs in Germany, France, and Spain: product is the main choice driver, packaging is second, and their interaction shapes decisions, with price reinforcing expectations. Findings also suggest premium glass packaging complements rather than replaces mainstream cans, with cans driving volume while glass supports higher-value occasions and specific cohorts (e.g., female consumers in France). 00:00 Welcome and Preview 01:49 Meet Andy and Epic Insights 04:17 Fast Conjoint Research at Speed 08:22 RTD Study Insight One Drivers 20:05 Insight Two Packaging Premiumisation Wrap This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Why do brands follow trends and waves, embracing change when it is not needed? Why aren’t they obsessing about brand relevance, which is potentially the mother of all brand problems? In this Growth Brands and More episode, Philippo interviews brand strategist Magda Adamska, who moved from agency planning (Nike, T-Mobile) to operator roles at MTV/Viacom and Pearson, then became a consultant and built Brand Struck, a database tracking 250 brand positioning analyses. Adamska contrasts the agency's focus on communication and creativity with client-side realities of the full marketing mix, citing Kinder Bueno’s repositioning, which tripled share. She describes shifts from fun/rebel branding to purpose and sustainability, and now “cultural relevance,” warning that fundamentals and measurement matter most. She argues relevance is the key driver of resilience (Uber, Instagram), while decline can stem from lost relevance (Bud Light) or bad business decisions despite relevance (Nike’s DTC shift). They discuss brands travelling internationally (Liquid Death in the UK), the importance of fame/awareness and investment, and why brand architecture projects start from portfolio messes driven by short-term incentives, acquisitions, and weak CEO stewardship. 00:00 Meet Magda Adamska 05:25 Brand Trends and Relevance 22:32 Brand Architecture Fixes 29:40 Short-Termism and Fake Innovation 32:43 CEO Stewardship and Brand Splits 40:45 Future Priorities and Value This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Growth at any cost is still a mantra. But toxic growth creates more problems than it solves. In part two of the chat with François Bazini, the host continues a conversation about “toxic growth” and why CMOs fail, arguing that marketers often chase glamorous, short-term levers, flavour “innovations,” promotions, ill-conceived category moves, or new consumer targets that look good on paper but poison brands, instead of doing the harder work of growing the core. François illustrates toxic growth through Ribena’s decline from a top UK brand in 2015 to outside the top 100 by 2022 after shifting away from families, launching non-credible flavoured water and sparkling RTDs, and becoming promotion-dependent. They discuss how companies mismanage brands, avoid postmortems, and misread success, citing Celsius’ growth as driven largely by a competitor’s delisting and a COVID-era shift to no-sugar. He also predicts that successful CMOs must both strengthen core brand growth and build disruptive new brands. 00:00 The types of Growth 00:43 Fake Innovation and Incentives 02:26 Defining Toxic Growth 06:33 Ribena Case Study Breakdown 26:46 Future of the CMO This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

From Chief Marketing Officer to Chief Growth Officer. New Label or New Reality? What’s the future of marketing? Filiberto interviews François Bazini, former CMO Europe at Suntory, about how the CMO role is changing and why some companies relabel it as a Chief Growth Officer. François recounts his global FMCG career (Danone, PepsiCo, Suntory) and contrasts functional marketing leadership with P&L general management, arguing that strong CMOs act as “brand CEOs” who own trade-offs across top line, bottom line, capital, and time horizons. He says CMOs often fail by avoiding ROI discussions or shifting spend to only what’s easily measurable, overemphasising short-term activation over long-term brand building. He also argues that CMOs must be brand stewards while improving ROI credibility by reframing returns around equity and pricing power, and advises marketers to build both “PowerPoint and Excel” skills and to speak the finance, supply chain, HR, and commercial languages. 00:00 Meet François Bazini 02:42 From CMO to P&L Leader 06:00 Brand CEO Mindset 10:56 ROI Trap and Brand Stewardship 23:08 Chief Growth Officer: The Future This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe

Nicotine Products are not a smoking cessation category anymore.The Blurring Boundaries of Nicotine. And that changes everything. Nicotine pouches show this shift clearly. They look less like medicine and more like mints. Consumers prefer formats that don’t make them feel like patients. In this episode, Filiberto interviews Joel Rubenstein, an LBS alumnus and consumer health veteran, about his career in consumer health and the evolution of nicotine products. Rubenstein explains why tobacco companies are moving into cessation/harm reduction: nicotine is both the addictive problem and the cessation ingredient, it is hazardous to manufacture, and cigarette sales are declining. He contrasts highly regulated pharmaceutical players with rapidly innovating non-pharma products (vapes, gums, strips, and especially nicotine pouches), predicting recreational products will outcompete pharma’s. He stresses policymakers often wrongly equate tobacco with nicotine, notes inconsistent regulation (e.g., marijuana legalisation vs pouch bans), and warns unethical marketing, teen targeting, and ultra-strong pouches could trigger backlash, arguing for stronger retailer/supply-chain accountability and self-policing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe