The FMCG Guys (Dwyer Partners)

If you are a listener of this podcast you likely work in the Consumer Goods and Retail industry. And, maybe, you have an aspiration to reach the C-Level. But what does that actually look like?

Our guest is Sahil Tesfu, Chief Strategy Officer at Essity. Listen in to learn how she approaches value generation across markets and functions and much more:

• Her career path from consulting to the industry and the transition in between
• Assessing the impact of actions at the C-Level
• Facing “Black Swan” events and future risk assessment
• Being creative beyond Data

We are very excited to launch The Social Corner, a new video segment looking at relevant social media marketing insights and trends. This video podcast will be hosted by Rafael Schwarz, Managing Director at TERRITORY Influence, the leading social media & influencer marketing agency for FMCG companies in Europe.

Watch on The FMCG Guys’ LinkedIn Page or on Youtube.

Our guest is Pierre-Yves Calloc’h, Global Chief Digital Officer at Pernod Ricard. He joins Daniel and Christina to share his unique career path, which started as a Consultant, later climbing the ladder in IT, taking a bold switch to General Management (with a move to Latin America included) and for, the last years, heading up the Digital Agenda, first leading the commercial agenda and now looking into new business models.

Tune in to hear about:
- Making cross-functional and geographic moves
- Capabilities he’s developed internally in Data and AI
- His point of view on the true potential of AI
- Easy24, Pernod’s eB2B platform that serves their portfolio but also other FMCGs

More:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Gonzalve Bich is the Chief Executive Officer of BIC, the iconic brand and company in stationary, lighters and shavers. In this episode, he joins Efrain and Daniel to explain how he's guarding the brand's legacy while innovating to make it future-proof through:

• Gonzalve's role as a CEO: being strategic while having his finger on the pulse
• Fostering innovation across all levels of the organization
• Portfolio innovations at BIC like temporary tattoos
• The future at BIC and the wider FMCG industry

Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn

Since the return to a certain normality in the last couple of years, FMCG companies have been hit with a harsh reality: the struggle to find growth. That’s why we are partnering again on this episode with Mars United Commerce (formerly The Mars Agency) to unveil the key levers companies could be pulling to go back to top line increases. And we do that with no other than their CEO for Europe, Darren Keen.

Tune in to learn about:

• The Key Growth Levers FMCG companies can use to unlock growth
• What the “new normal” looks like for CEOs
• Why Consumer Goods companies are struggling with increasing top-line revenues
• Mars United Commerce’s rebranding to serve the purpose of growth for people, client and community
• Balancing data and human intuition to create a true connection between brands and consumers

More:

• Re-listen Mars United Commerce's prior visit to the podcast: https://www.fmcgguys.com/katrina-smart-mars-agency/ 
• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Follow The FMCG Guys on Linkedin

Watch on Youtube

Dunnhumby Executives Siro Descrovi (Strategy & Insight Consultant) and Feroud Seeparsand (Senior Consumer Psychologist) join Efrain and Daniel to go over their latest Global Inflation and Consumer Pulse Reports.

Topics Covered

- Meaning of Inflation

- Current macro-economic environmnet

- Consumers' reaction

- Strategies adopted by Retailers

- How can FMCG brands adapt

- A look into the future

Links for both reports:

- Global Inflation report https://resources.dunnhumby.com/global-inflation-report/

-Consumer Pulse report https://resources.dunnhumby.com/consumer-pulse-oct-2022/ 

Oshiya Savur is the CMO at Maesa, the Bain Capital owned Beauty Accelarator. With a wealth of experience in beauty at the likes of Unilever and Revlon, she joins us to speak about her journey and how she's bringing new, exciting brands to market. Ah! And she's also a podcast host: https://www.wh-the-tech.com/ 

This Episode is brought to you by Softserve Business Systems. Start a conversation about fact-based digital transformation today by visiting https://softservebs.com/

In this podcast, you'll hear about:

• The similarities and differences between leading Marketing for big and small brands
• How Digital Transformation and AI have impacted Marketing Creativity and Innovation
• Influencer Marketing
• How a fast company like Maesa approaches hiring for leadership positions

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Linkedin Live session with eCommerce expert Stefan Wenzel.

Part 1: current Shifts in Omni-channel retail:

- Away from brick & mortar and the decline of wholesale

- How online players are pushing their marketplaces rather than their wholesale business

- The (forced) evolution of into Direct to Consumer.

Part 2: impact of these changes on companies and what type of talent you need for each of the mentioned channels:

- Wholesale Sales

- Direct to Consumer Management

- Merchant

Watch live replay here.

Little did Raphael Savalle know when he was doing his MBA at Kellogg that we would end up being interviewed by one of his classmates: our very own Efrain Rosario! Raphael is now the Chief Financial Officer at Weleda, a world leader in holistic, natural, organic cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and he joins the podcast to explain his unique career path and his approach to business: performance with a purpose.

Tune into this podcast to learn about:

• Raphael's career path at Unilever, Bel, Coty and more!
• Working in Europe and the US
• Adapting to different environments: bankrupcy, IPO, Digital
• Weleda's mission, vision and growth ahead
• His unique approach to the role of a Chief Financial Officer

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Virginia (Vicky) Cervantes from Tropicana Brands is our guest this week. Originally from Mexico, she's worked internationally with the likes of Kellogg's, Avon and Pepsico, mainly in Marketing, and she's currently the General Manager for Growth Markets Western Europe.

Follow The FMCG Guys on Linkedin

Topics Covered

- Transitioning from Marketing to General Management

- Changing Industries (from foods to beauty and foods again)

- The importance of developing a network

- Putting People and Purpose at the center

Books Recommended

• What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
• The Leadership Pipeline by Ram Charan

Revenue Growth Management (RGM) has become one of the key strategic sub-functions in modern FMCG companies. It acts like the glue between Sales, Marketing, Finance… and more! But, what does this function actually do? What are its goals? And what are the trends shaping it right now.

It’s our pleasure to welcome Bayer Consumer Healthcare’s Global Head Revenue Growth Management, Nikitas Paraskevopoulos to speak about:

• What RGM does in a Consumer Goods company
• Why it has become a key function
• Key levers within RGM: pricing, portfolio optimisation…
• How Data, Analytics and emerging tech like AI are impacting
• Stakeholder alignment
• The future of RGM

More

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/  
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

STRATACACHE is going to take London by storm next Monday March 31st with their “What’s in store (for Retail Media Networks)” event. This event, which we were lucky to attend in January in New York during NRF, will feature top voices in Retail and Brands to debate and explore how, as an industry, we can advance in In-store Retail Media.

Learn more about the event here: https://www2.stratacache.com/retail_media_networks_london 

Listen to Chris Riegel's episode about the seven sins in Retail Media:

Listen to Ben Reynolds' episode about In-Store Analytics: 

To understand the latest trends and anticipate the event we are accompanied by Chris Riegel, CEO and Alison Dunham, Sales Director, In-store Retail Media UK, at STRATACACHE to speak about:

• Purpose of the event
• What’s changed in the last year
• The hottest topics in in-store
• Developments in measurement
• The rise of CTV
• Turbulences and M&A in the agency world
• How AI will transform Retail Media

More

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/  
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Paul Wright has done it all: big business, small companies, run his own business... and now heads up advertising for Uber (their classic ride app plus Eats), a unique opportunity when you have a customer base of 150 million users! He joins us to speak about how they are building a robust and attractive media offering for FMCG and Retail brands.

This Episode is brought to you by Softserve Business System. Start a conversation about fact-based digital transformation today by visiting https://softservebs.com/

Topics covered in this episode:

• Paul's career
• Running different adds depending on the customer's journey on the ride app
• Building an ecosystem across their two main platforms
• Data measurement
• Opportunities for FMCG, Retail and non-endemic brands

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

We are back with another episode of #TheSocialCorner hosted by Rafael Schwarz, reviewing concrete use cases for #ChatGPT.

How well does this #AI application perform in daily agency life? can it help editorial teams speed up some standard tasks or get them started on some creative work?

With all the buzz and excitement about #ChatGPT it is time to put it to the test.

More insights and updates next Thursday, powered by The FMCG Guys and TERRITORY Influence (Bertelsmann Group)

The FMCG Guys are joined by Henkel's SVP Beauty EMEA Antoine Collette on this episode.

In this conversation, you'll learn about Antoine's leadership journey across different countries and companies, from his first leadership experience through his current role heading up a multi-country region, and all the learnings in between, such as:

• Leading a team for the first time
• Balancing hands-on execution and strategy
• Managing up and down in an organization
• Giving your team opportunities to shine
• Setting a vision with purpose and clear action
• Managing different cultures when going abroad
• Leaning into curiosity doing COVID

The FMCG Guys, Daniel and Efrain, are joined in this episode by Vijay Talwar, a proven business leader at Foot Locker, Nike, and Blue Nile, who was named the CEO of eCommerce player Wish shortly after recording this episode.

Vijay shared several learnings from his prestigious career, reflecting on how his personality has impacted his leadership style, what he learned in his years leading a non-profit foundation in India, and how finding your purpose can serve as a great catalyst to driving organizational and individual transformation.

• Sources of inspiration and motivation
• Being an extrovert in the corporate world
• Leaders that have inspired Vijay in his career
• Stepping out of corporate to work for a non-profit, and back into corporate
• Impact of COVID in leadership
• How engaging executive peers has changed in time
• Setting a vision and managing large teams through purpose

With a background in companies like Accenture, Procter & Gamble, Boston Consulting Group, and Google; it’s safe to say that not many people have Eric Gregoire’s experience. Now the VP of Global Strategic Marketing & Digital Transformation at Bayer Consumer Healthcare, he comes to the podcast to speak about how he’s grown his career between Marketing and Digital while making decisive moves that give him have a unique point of view on business today and tomorrow.

Tune into this episode to hear about:

• How switching from FMCG to Consulting, then Tech and now back in Consumer has shaped Eric’s approach to business and leadership
• The evolution of Marketing in the last couple of decades
• Eric’s main priorities in Digital and Marketing
• Will Marketing and Digital merge in the future, or will they remain separate?
• AI and other innovations

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Groupe SEB is one of the leading small appliances companies globally. They own world-class brands like Tefal, Rowenta and Krups. Their Head of eCommerce François Mayor joins the podcast to speak about his path in Digital, from building basic capabilities, to growing into a leader heading up the company’s DTC offering and now the world’s largest online Retailer: Amazon.

Tune into this conversation to learn about:

• Groupe SEB’s dimension across brands and channels
• Getting into Digital back in 2012
• Growing from a hands-on individual contributor to a team leader
• His experience in DTC
• Mastering Amazon: how they are currently operating and the difference between 1P and 3P
• What’s the future of working with amazon and the 1/3P split.

 More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Tulika Pandey is the eCommerce and Shopper Marketing Lead, Canada at WK Kellogg (The Cereal spin off of Kellogg’s).

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLyDIF8bFgE 

She joins Daniel live from the Retail Media Summit Canada (organized by the Path to Purchase Institute) to speak about how she leads a sales strategy agenda in an omni-channel world through:

• Her unique role managing both Shopper and eCommerce
• What’s next in Retail Media
• In-store Media: her thoughts and how relevant it is for FMCG brands.
• Advice around skipping hurdle
• Putting the consumer at the center and approaching the full-funnel in consequence

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Nick Ashley, Managing Director Tesco Media and Insight Platform at dunnhumby joins us to share his Retail Media wisdom. With him, we'll explore how the UK largest grocer views Media and much more:

• Connecting Retail Media with Tesco's In-store experience
• #forgetthefunnel to create a true 360 brand experience
• Closing the loop and assessing returns on investment
• dunnhumby: putting a loyalty plus Retail Media proposition together

Sharon Lewis, Head of Digital & Data Latin America at Kimberly Clark, joined us week to speak about how she's driving eCommerce growth and culture change in this emerging region.

Tune in to learn about:

• Sharon's career journey across the US and LATAM
• Critical Success factors when driving Digital Transformation
• Latin America's different levels of digital maturity and the region as a testing ground
• Influencing Headquarters to bring resources to the region 

Getting out of the comfort zone has been the common thread in Stephanie Boudjenah-Mazoyer's career. Having left her native France as a student, she then started an international career, mainly with adidas, where she climbed the ladder across different functions and countries. She credits her background in competitive sports as the cornerstone for her relentlessness. 

Tune in to learn about:

- Stephanie's career journey

- Her background in competitive sports

- Moving internationally, and doing so with a family

- Evolving as a Leader

Vijay Talwar, Dufry's new Chief Digital and Customer Officer, visits us again (revisit last year's episode here) to speak about how passion has driven and shaped his personal and professional life.

Follow The FMCG Guys on Linkedin

Topics Covered:

• The impact of going to boarding school aged 9
• Linking personal passions with work
• The difference between applying Purpose and Passion
• The importance of transitions in life
• Enjoying the destination but, also, the journey

Our guest Jon Trevor has a unique background working in the Digital Shelf first on the Agency side with Ascential and, during the last two years and a half, at Ecotone, is the leading company in Europe for organic, vegetarian, healthy and fair-trade food. When Jon joined this business, he decided to take a unique take on Digital: instead of relying on external partners, he in-housed many of the capabilities that are normally outsourced. In this conversation, you'll hear about his journey and how he's developed this team through:

• Ecotone's brand portfolio, approach to biodiversity and B Corp status
• Jon's career background in agency
• His current scope within Ecotone's global eCom team managing the tech stack and providing services and capabilities to local BUs
• An in-house approach to digital shelf and how they deliver tools, reporting, and resourcing against the key areas
• Integrating AI into digital shelf analytics and the wider business
• Content creation and an in-house Digital Asset Management system

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

2024 Update: Vijay Talwar is now the Chief Commercial and Digital Officer at Travel Retail Leader Avolta.

The FMCG Guys, Daniel and Efrain, are joined in this episode by Vijay Talwar, a proven business leader at Foot Locker, Nike, and Blue Nile, who was named the CEO of eCommerce player Wish shortly after recording this episode.

Vijay shared several learnings from his prestigious career, reflecting on how his personality has impacted his leadership style, what he learned in his years leading a non-profit foundation in India, and how finding your purpose can serve as a great catalyst to driving organizational and individual transformation.

Itay Kahana  from Watchful joins us to tell us how monitoring the experience in your competitors  Digital Store can help you win online.

Alex Smith, Commercial Director at YF (formerly Young Foodies), is our guest this week. YF helps young FMCG brands scale through an array of solutions spanning across Sales, Investment or Recruitment.

 Tune into this conversation to learn about:

• YF’s mission and business model
• How they partner with brands and retailers
• Developing an FMCG innovation pipeline
• Upcoming areas of growth in FMCG

Cristina Kenz from Kraft Heinz joins Efrain and Daniel to speak about how her career, which started with a backpacking trip in Australia, has driven her to foster a culture of innovative and sustainable growth at Kraft Heinz.

This episode is brought to you by CommerceIQ. Download the free chrome extension here: https://growth.commerceiq.ai/fmcgguys 

Main topics covered in this conversation are:

• Why it makes sense to have Growth and Sustainability under the same umbrella
• Key innovations Cristina and her team have driven at Kraft Heinz
• Creating a culture that fosters and rewards innovation
• How to effectively influence across markets and layers

Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 

Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez

Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Our guest is Aseem Puri, CEO at Unilever International, the white space division of the FMCG giant. He joins the show to speak about how there’s plenty of room for growth for Consumer Goods companies if the right entrepreneurial approach is taken. He also speaks very frankly about his self-development and leadership journey, which includes recently writing 10X Productive, a book about getting the most of life in the age of distraction and social media.

• Find Aseem’s book here: https://aseempuri.com/product/demo-book/

 Topics Covered:

• Aseem’s career highlights
• Finding growth in FMCG
• Succeeding in a big corporation while staying true to his own personality
• How he’s evolved his leadership style during his career
• About 10X Productive and some key advice

More:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Paul Martin, Global Head of Retail at KPMG joins us this week to go over the "Retail's Delicate Balance", the firm's latest industry report. Tune in to learn about:

• Paul's passion for a "tangible" industry like FMCG and Retail
• Key take away's from the Consumer Goods Forum in Kyoto and the talk of the town in the industry
• Company collaboration from farm to fork
• The 3Ps of Retail: Profit, People and Planet
• Finding balance through Purpose

Does Digital Transformation have to be hard? Is there a way to dodge some of the common headaches and understand the reality versus the myths?

Watch on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKP3JMn8nzU&t=2057s 

Meet Tomasz Kozlowski, the VP of Global Sales at SoftServe Business Systems. He’s not just any expert; he’s a mythbuster who’s spent the last 15 years helping FMCG companies find clarity in the complicated world of tech. In this episode, co-hosted by Daniel and The CPG Guys' Peter VS Bond we review the most common digital transformation myths, such as:

• Digital Transformation is all about Technology
• It will solve all my sales problems
• It's only for the Modern Trade Channel
• Only large corporations can drive this change
• Immediate ROI is guaranteed
• We are tech advanced because we have a lot of systems
• Data is the basis for Digital Transformation
• ChatGPT will help you solve serious problems

Are you ready?

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Tom Langley is the Head of Retail Media at John Lewis Partnership, the owner of Waitrose (Supermarket) and John Lewis (Department Store). He joined Christina and Daniel to explain the Partneship's approach to Media in Premium categories, covering:

• How FMCG Brands can position themselves by investing in Waitrose Media
• Retail Media in Department Stores
• How under-invested premium categories like Electricals, Home or Fashion will evolve
• Building an ecosystem of partners and suppliers as a Best Practice

The FMCG Guys Efrain & Daniel are joined live by Jennifer Silverberg (CEO at SmartCommerce) and Stijn Demeersseman (GM/Category Lead at Amazon) to go over the top topics and themes exposed at Shoptalk Europe 2023.

While FMCGs' growth has come to a major halt in Europe and North America, what's going on in Asia? In this episode, we are accompanied by Management Consulting Leader Kearney's Head of Consumer for Asia Sid Pathak, with who we go over what's keeping CEOs and GMs up at night when it comes to being successful in the East.

Tune in to learn about:

• Kearney as a firm and Sid's scope there
• The ups & downs in South East Asia
• GM/CEO top priorities: Growth, Talent and Digitalisation
• A look into the next years
• What Leaders are getting wrong
• Some tactics and strategies Kearney is applying to help their clients today

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Canada Goose is one of the key players in the premium outdoor space, especially with its iconic jackets. Their Senior Director Digital Retail EMEA, Sri Ganesh Santhiram, joins us to speak about how they are creating a true premium experience across channels.

This Episode is brought to you by Bolt Chat AI! Visit them here: https://www.boltchatai.com/ 

In this conversation, you'll hear about:

• Changing Sectors and Categories: from football to consumer goods and luxury
• Creating a seamless omni-channel experience
• Translating a luxury value proposition across Channels
• Balancing DTC and wholesale

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

The CPG Guys & The FMCG Guys (Daniel, Efrain, Sri & Peter) got together for a LinkedIn Live event where they discussed all of the latest trends in CPG/FMCG omnichannel retail, such as:

- Consumer Spending in a Volatile Environment

- Retail Media

- QR Code: has it come of age?

- The Metaverse

- War on Talent

And many more!

Alexander Graf is one of Europe’s top e-commerce and Retail voices. Co-Founder of Composable Commerce leader Spryker, he also host two e-commerce podcasts (in German and English) and three others about different topics. In this episode, he joins Daniel live from Barcelona during this year Shoptalk to speak about the Top trends he sees in today’s commerce. from composable to China's growing influence.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH_dhqaApeU 

Get ready to get up to speed through:

• Alex's background and role at Spryker
• Composable Commerce: what it's all about
• The evolution of eCommerce in the last decade
• The Marketplace model
• China's growing influence and the impressive scale of the likes of Tiktok and Temu
• The impact of this on FMCG

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Daniel sits down with James Chandler, Chief Marketing Officer at the IAB UK (the industry body for digital advertisitng), at the Retail Media Summit UK to speak about:

• The IAB's interaction with Brands and Retailers
• Why media standardisation is a focus topic in the industry right now 
• James' career path prior to IAB
• How to bring all the relevant industry players to the table for the greater good.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7FbuSF1FY1s 

This episode is brought to you by CommerceIQ. Download the free chrome extension here: https://growth.commerceiq.ai/fmcgguys 

Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 

Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez

Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Anna Bertoldini, Head of Employer Branding at NielsenIQ, is our guest this week. With her, Christina and Daniel explore how she leverages storytelling to build a compelling employer brand. Tune in to learn about:

• Building an employer brand that reflects the actual company culture
• Attracting and retaining top talent
• Balancing having a diverse team with a solid company culture
• Measuring success and what good looks like

Please leave a review to support us!

Join us at Candid Commerce in London (Feb 12th): https://mediummarketing.co.uk/candid-commerce-london

Kerry Morrison heads up the Retail team in GS1 UK, the company that provides industry with the barcodes needed to trade. With 60,000 members in the UK across the top Retailers (Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, etc.) and global brands (Unilever, Mondelez, Nestle...), they were created for the industry by the industry to bring members togehter and address and solve problems in a collaborative and non-competitive space.

Kerry joined the show to speak about the importance of barcodes and the new generation that's coming through:

• What is GS1 and its role in the industry
• Why are Barcodes important in trade and specifically in FMCG
• What the new generation of barcodes look like and what features they'll have
• How and when will brands transition 
• The role of Retail in this transfomation
• How it will affect consumers

More:

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

We are back with another episode of #TheSocialCorner with our host Rafael Schwarz reporting from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

If 2015 was #adtech’s high summer, this week has been the #creators’ turn to plant their flags in the French riviera.

#Creators and #influencers have taken over the Croisette, and CMOs' schedules, at Cannes Lions this week. Social platforms and #influencer agencies have prominent beach spots and rented villas at the festival, hosting fringe programming, press meetings and exclusive parties.

Have a look at attached video summary for more news and insights from #canneslions2023, powered by The FMCG Guys and TERRITORY Influence (Bertelsmann Group).

Karl Walsh is the former CEO of Bodybuilding.com and, previously, Chief Digital Officer at JCPenney and Pandora.

Follow The FMCG Guys on Linkedin

In this episode, you'll learn about:

- Karl's background in Consulting and Entrepreneurship

- Pivoting into big corporate

- What attracted him into Digital

- Karl's Leadership Style

- Driving Digital Transformation

- Being a CEO with a Digital Background

Marketing teams are forced to create more #content than ever to engage with their target groups across multiple paid and owned #media channels and with several formats.

But how can brands deliver that much content in a cost-effective way? We asked our #marketing expert Rafael Schwarz for some insights and best practices.

During the next weeks Rafael will share some advise how CMOs can turn #content creation into a strategic competitive advantage for their brand.

More #digitalmarketing news, insights and updates every Thursday - powered by The FMCG Guys and TERRITORY Influence (Bertelsmann Group).

Antonio Iandolo is the Chief Executive Officer at Eminence, part of the Delta Galil Group. They are a market leader in the underwear category and joins us to speak about:

• His experience navigating M&A
• Why his category is closer to FMCG than fashion given its accessibility 
• How his category is ideal to be truly omni-channel
• The importance of margin in a high volume accessible business

Follow us on LinkedIn and leave a review if you've enjoyed this episode!

The Very Group is the UK’s Online Pure Play Department Store. Tom Goulden, their Director of Trading, Insights and Analytics joins Daniel live from Retail Media Summit UK 2024 in London to speak about how they’ve recently revamped their Retail Media offering with SMG, how their unique categories trade online and much more.

 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_kphm0x-XA 

 Topics Covered:

• Tom’s career in Retail
• The Very Group’s unique value proposition as a pure-play Department Store
• How different is a Retail Media Network in their categories versus Grocery
• Data Science and Analytics: how they are embedding them into a digital first company

More:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Kristina von Troschke is the Chief Marketing Officer at Germany-Based Toy company Schleich. You may know the brand through it’s realistic animal models, which you can find worldwide and many have fond memories of. In a time where technology has had an impact on everyone’s lives, we often overlook at the impact screens have on kids’ development. In this episode, we’ll explore how going back to toys can foster kids’ imagination and, most importantly, key social skills like compassion and empathy.

Tune into this episode to hear about:

• Kristina’s career from running international brand management at Procter & Gamble to leading Marketing at German Middle-sized businesses
• Her approach to Marketing, putting brands’ heart & soul in the center and not relying only on Tech & Data
• Schleich’s mission around Crafting Compassion and its impact on early age development
• Kristina’s own experience being a working mother of 3

More:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Andrew Hamada, Co-Founder and CEO Reason Automation (and former Amazonian) joins us live to explain how he's helping companies gather quality data from Amazon.

The FMCG Guys take center stage at Shoptalk Europe with this live episode. Our guest is Christoph Sterkel, Head of eCommerce Europe (B2B, D2C, Marketplace) at Kellanova (Kellogg’s, Pringles). This podcast is also co-hosted by The CPG Guys’ Sri Rajagopalan, who also leans into the big topic of this conversation: the confluence between Foods and Digital.

 Tune into this conversation to learn about:

• Kellanova’s various routes to consumer
• Building both B2C and B2B capabilities
• How to manage the different challenges along the way
• The next horizon of capability building

Plus some questions from our live audience!

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

The overwhelming majority of FMCG purchases are still done where they have always happened: in the store. In a time where a lot of the industry narrative seems to be tilted towards online Media, what are Retailers and Brands doing to show up in-store? This is why we have partnered with the top company in in-store media, STRATACACHE to shed some light into this opportunity. In this episode, we speak with their CEO Chris Riegel about the Seven Deadly Sins Retailers Commit when approaching in-store Retail Media.

Join STRATACACHE’s Event at NRF: https://nrfbigshow.nrf.com/special-programs/retail-media-networks 

STRATACHACHE’s Website: https://www.stratacache.com/en/ 

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why In-store is such an exciting and important space right now
• The evolution of STRATACACHE and Consumer Goods since they started off in 1999
• Their upcoming NRF Event
• The Seven Sins of In-store: “In-store is more”, “Programmatic Ad Tech is not your friend”, “Can’t improve what you can’t measure”, “Buy vs Build”, “Data = Rate”, “Scale or Fail”, “Other People’s Money”

More:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Our guest today is one of the rising stars in Retail. With a background in Retail blue chips like Arcadia and Levi’s, Maddy Booker-Price is now the Head of eCommerce at Urban Outfitters. She joins the podcast to speak about how the role of Digital has become more central in Retail organizations during her career through:

• The role of an omni-channel Director in 2024
• Working with cross-functional peers
• The importance of listening to the consumer
• Her vision of what an online store has to be
• Leaderships lessons learnt along the way

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• The CPG Guys (US "Sister Podcast"): https://www.cpgguys.com/ 
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

We are back with another episode of #TheSocialCorner hosted by our #digitalmarketing expert Rafael Schwarz.

Consumer preferences and behaviors are impacted significantly by high inflation and economic uncertainty - but how can #marketing leaders react? is it time to invest now? time to downsize the portfolio? time to innovate?

In our new #podcast series Rafael will share learnings and implications how brands might adjust traditional marketing Ps in times of crisis. dial in every Thursday for more insights and best practices for #FMCG brands.

Powered by The FMCG Guys and TERRITORY Influence (Bertelsmann Group)

In this episode, we visit Bain & Company's London Office to speak with Bahige El-Rayes, Partner specialized in Operations. In this conversation, you'll hear his take on the current state of the Consumer Goods industry and how Supply Chain can play a role to help companies win in the future.

In this conversation you'll hear about:

• Bahige's take-aways from the Procurement Leaders Converence
• Post-COVID FMCG: are the winners now losers?
• Main challenges for Consumer Goods companies to find growth
• How companies can leverage Supply Chain for growth and the right KPIs and metrics to measure this
• What type of leader a modern Supply Chain needs
• Sustainability and circular supply chains: what's happening there?

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

The Trade Compliance department is emerging to guide companies through an increasingly complex world. We invited Bruna Romano, who heads it up at PUMA Group to understand:

• The impact of global turmoil for business
• How Trade Compliance can influence in a company
• Best Practices and pitfalls in approaching regulation
• How having the right Trade Compliance policy can help a company win

If you enjoy the show, please leave a review below!

Nicolas Kroeger, one of Europe's top voices in Retail Trends and current ad interim Chief Digital Officer at Manor AG, Switzeland's largest Department Store, joins Daniel live in Barcelona to go over what's happening in Retail in the old continent.

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ik6mmBdRz8 

This Episode is brought to you by Softserve Business System. Start a conversation about fact-based digital transformation today by visiting https://softservebs.com/

In this episode, you'll hear about:

• Europe's Retail Situation today amid inflation, old merchandise pilings, low margins and other post-covid antics!
• Potential ways out of the current scenario
• Looking towards the store of the future and learnings from NRF
• Tech (AI) in Retail
• How to get a better understanding of the consumer

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Sunil D'Souza, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Tata Consumer Products (Part of the famous conglomerate Tata Group) sits down with Daniel and Christina to share his thoughts on:

• Tata Consumer's portfolio and national and international footprint
• India's Consumer Goods Market: Retail, Demographics and Trends
• The role of digital as a disruptor
• Project Aalingana: Tata Group's ESG mission 
• The role of a post-COVID leader

Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 

Mariapaola Vetrucci, Chief Strategy Officer at Barilla, the world's largest pasta producer, joins us to speak about her journey from consulting to the C-Level.

Join us to hear about:

• Transitioning from strategy to brand and P&L
• Making Strategies pragmatic and impactful
• Her role heading up iconic brand Wasa globally
• Being a self-aware leader with a growth mindset

If there is one thing we have learnt this year in The FMCG Guys Podcast is that the often overlooked B2B channel is key to the present and, especially, the future of Consumer Goods Companies. Digital is playing a key role in building the relationship between distributors, small shops, consumers with the brands. Our guest, Patricia Amaro, is arguably one of the best in the biz: she’s worked in this confluence for many years, having built a platform at Unilever which is now one of the largest B2B marketplaces in Latin America, built global capabilities at Reckitt and, currently, looking after the digitalization at Mars Wrigley.

 Tune into this conversation to learn about:

• Patricia’s impressive career journey from digital start-ups to building eB2B capabilities globally
• The strategic importance of (e)B2B in modern FMCG companies
• Different eB2B platforms and models
• Being strategic and smart when deploying globally

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

We welcome 2023 with Moritz Hoffmann, Senior Director Global Retail Media at German Q-Commerce company Gorillas (recently acquired by Getir).

Follow The FMCG Guys on Linkedin

In this episode, you'll learn about:

- Moritz's career before Retail Media

- The evolution of Retail Media

- How the Brand / Retailer dynamic has changed

- Opportunities for FMCG Brands

- What makes Retail Media a Gorillas different

Fiona McDonnell is a well known executive who has led teams and P&L in companies like NIKE, McCormick and Amazon. She recently temporarily stepped out of the corporate world to write “Two Mirrors and a Cheetah”, a book that aims to empower professionals by gaining self awareness and bringing their full self to the workplace.

Where to follow Fiona and find the book:

www.fionamcdonnell.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Two-Mirrors-Cheetah-Differently-Yourself/dp/1739926307

Two Mirrors And A Cheetah by Fiona McDonnell | Waterstones

Two Mirrors and a Cheetah: Think Differently, Own Your Career and Succeed by Being Yourself by Fiona McDonnell, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Two Mirrors and a Cheetah eBook by Fiona McDonnell - 9781739926311 | Rakuten Kobo United Kingdom

Two Mirrors And A Cheetah : Fiona McDonnell : 9781739926304 (bookdepository.com)

Scott Boyle is the SVP of Analytics and Insights at Danone joins from Denver, CO in this episode to talk about creating a data-centric culture.

Follow The FMCG Guys on Linkedin

Topics Covered in this episode:

- Scott's career path across blue-chip multinationals working in Europe and the US

- Creating a data-driven culture and mindset in big corporate

- Finding the right people that can connect data and business outcomes

- Selecting the right data and making it actionable

- Measuring other important topics such as Sustainability through data

Sara Diez, VP Private Labels, Sustainability and D&I Product Management joins the pod to speak about her amazing journey across FMCG and Fashion and the great work she's doing at Zalando. 

Main Topics Covered:

• Zalando's impact to 51M consumers as the largest European Apparel Pure Player
• Private Label Business as a flagship in sustainability and D&I
• Co-Creating an adaptive Fashion like with big brands
• Sara's career journey across different company cultures

Check out Zalando's adaptive offerings: https://en.zalando.de/campaigns/adaptive-fashion/ 

Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 

Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez

Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Ralf Miculcy is an Associate at WL Gore. But what does that actually mean? At WL Gore—a global materials science company known for its innovative products like GORE-TEX—every employee, from entry-level to the CEO, is called an Associate. This is just one example of its distinctive, non-hierarchical culture.

In today’s episode, we dive into Ralf’s journey across Operations, Projects, and General Management at WL Gore. We explore how this unique culture functions in practice and what makes it so effective through:

• Ralf’s cross-functional career
• Gore’s Multi-category business
• A unique non-hierarchical culture
• How a company can scale while staying true to its founding values
• Career progression in a flat hierarchy

More

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Paola Peretti is the Chief Digital Officer at Fresh Cosmetics, part of LVMH. With an impressive career at the likes Mars, Moncler, Electrolux and Conde Nast, she joins the podcast to speak about:

• Prioritising her values and personal life while reaching the C-Level
• The difference between product categories: FMCG, Retail, Cosmetics and more!
• eCommerce: Direct vs. Key Accounts
• The importance of having trusted leaders and investing in learning

Sunny Wu joins us live to speak about how she's building a Peer-to-Peer clothes rental platform.

Peak season is just around the corner. With Prime Day, Singles Day, Black Friday and Christmas later on.

We invited Nabil Malouli, who heads up eCommerce at the one of the world’s largest logistics companies, DHL, to better understand how the best companies in FMCG and Retail are preparing for the an upcoming peak season with many topics on the table: inflation, post-covid, excess inventories… and more.

Here are some of the discussion points in this conversation:

• How best in class companies are preparing for covid
• Must-do’s ahead of peak season
• Learnings from the past
• The role of current disruptions
• Excess inventories
• Covid seasonality effect

We are back with another episode of #TheSocialCorner hosted by Rafael Schwarz.

During the pandemic marketing teams learned to use #influencers as content creators due to their production autonomy and engaging content.

In this episode Rafael is sharing practical tips, best practices and insights to leverage all types of influencers purely for their #content creation capabilities.

Powered by The FMCG Guys and TERRITORY Influence (Bertelsmann Group).

We are back with another episode of #TheSocialCorner with our host Rafael Schwarz sharing insights and best practices regarding efficient content production.

Marketing teams are forced to create more branded #content than ever to engage with their audiences across multiple digital #media channels.

Last week Rafael shared how CMOs can leverage #UGC for their content needs - this week he is sharing insights about strategic #content planning and production.

More #contentmarketing news, insights and updates next Thursday - powered by The FMCG Guys and TERRITORY Influence (Bertelsmann Group).

Kait Stephens (Brij) joins us live to unleash the Power of QR in Consumer Goods.

Did you know that you can find Colgate toothpaste in over 200 countries? Ann Tracy, after an international career mainly in Supply Chain, has taken helm of the Sustainability Agenda in the Personal, Home and Pet care behemoth. We invited her to the podcast to learn about:

• Ann's path from Supply Chain into Sustainability
• Why Sustainability has become increasingly strategic to Colgate-Palmolive and other FMCGs
• Swords and Shields: from being reactive to being proactive
• Colgate-Palmolive's big "Ambition Pillars": 11 actions and 50 targets

Oliver Baggaley joins us from Ahold Delhaize in a series of 2 episodes to understand current opportunities in eCommerce Retail.

In this first episode, we explore how Brands and Retailers can better partner to create joint value. Here are the main points of this first episode:

- The current state of FMCG brands working with Retailers

- Embracing Technology

- The Impact of Supply Chain Challenges

- How does Retail look at FMCG

- Commercial Objectives of the two players

- The role of Data and Insights 

Alex Prouhet (Global Director Deliveroo Advertising) and Nicole Kivel (MD Northern Europe at Criteo) join Efrain and Daniel to speak about how they've joined forces to create a unique commerce value proposition.

Topics covered in this conversation include:

• The value of a Q-Commerce for FMCG brands, such as hyperlocalization
• How Criteo is bringing innovation and technology to the table to create a total RM platform
• Future potential for Consumer Goods and also non-endemic brands on the platform
• Deliveroo's 3 Grocery propositions

• Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Chris Perry, one of the pioneers of FMCG eCommerce, is finally on The FMCG Guys! Currently co-heading firstmovr, he's on a mission to educate & empower people and organizations embrace the fast pace of change in today's Retail and Consumer World.

Jump on the show & you'll learn about:

• A career that went from FMCG to Agency and back!
• Starting firstmovr and what this movement is all about
• Challenges for Brands in today's eCommerce
• How to drive incrementality by taking a full-funnel approach
• Influencing in-store from an omni perspective
• Measurement: how can brands quantify the impact on their business
• How should brands think about growth from a total category management perspective

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Vitaliy Novikov is the Digital Commerce Director at Coca-Cola HBC, one of the famous beverages' main bottlers. In this conversation, we discuss front and back-end digitalization in a Consumer Goods company.

This Episode is brought to you by Bolt Chat AI! Visit them here: https://www.boltchatai.com/ 

• Vitaliy's career path from General Management to Digital
• Digital B2B and B2C in the context of a Beverages company
• Internal capability building and upskilling for a digital-ready and data-driven organization
• Online Commercial Activations

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Mercado Libre is, undoubtedly, the eCommerce leader in Latin America. Headquartered in Argentina and the clear dominant in the 2 key markets, Brazil and Mexico, they have been able to beat very famous foreign competition during years. Their CMO and Head of Ads, Sean Summers, joins us to speak about their key success factors and what the future holds for them, with the added context of Retail Media’s boom.

Tune in to learn about:

• Sean’s international career in FMCG prior to joining Mercado Libre
• Mercado Libre’s success: x3 users versus 2019
• Their unique approach to Media and Ads and their interaction with brands
• The outlook of the business in the next 3 years

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Founded in 1894, Bata is a company with an amazing legacy which is now looking into the future. Roger Graell, their Chief Digital Officer, joins the show to speak about how he’s creating a channeless consumer-centric experience and being a catalyst for change for a company of 5,000 stores and 4 sales channels.

Tune in to learn about:

• The objectives he sets when approaching a Digital Business
• His 3 key business pillars: dot com, developing marketplaces and in-store digitalization
• Career background at the likes of lastminute.com and Mango
• Building Omni capabilities like using stores as operational hubs
• The importance of consistency
• His contact with new technologies

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Brazil is a country with a population of over 200M that’s gone through a rollercoaster of emotions in both politics and economics. It’s also the 5th-largest country in the world.

We welcome Bruno Chinellato, who heads up online user journey experience and experience at Via, the largest electronics and furniture retailer in Brazil, to better understand what's the status of Digital Commerce in the country and how he sees it evolving. 

In this conversation, you'll learn about:

- Bruno's career journey

- The current maturity status of eCommerce in Brazil

- Specificities of the Brazilian economy: demographics, territory, developmental differences, logistics

- Complexities of this environment when developing Digital

- Managing this complexity as a business leader

- Current areas of growth and opportunity

- What the situation may look like in the coming years.

Packaging is becoming an increasingly important element in the Consumer Goods industry. Apart from being key from an aesthetic, brand building point of view, today it can also be a game changer in sustainability and new routes-to-market like eCommerce.

Our guest, Jeannine Ferguson, heads up Marketing for Northern Europe at DS Smith, one of the world's main packaging companies. She joined the company after a long career in FMCG, in companies like Coca-Cola and J&J. In this conversation, you'll learn:

- Jeannine's career path in FMCG prior to moving into packaging

- Her purpose as a Marketing Director in Packaging

- The importance of Packaging from a brand building perspective

- Linking Packaging with Sustainability and the impact on shopper's buying decision

- The latest trends in Consumer Goods' Products packaging

Julie Laurens' career is one of a kind. Having studied law in her native France, she took a turn early on, ending up doing Marketing in the UK, from where she switched to eBay. At the tech giant, she lived in 3 countries (UK, Switzerland, US). This experience in a Digital company opened the door for her to digital roles... in FMCG! First at Pernod Ricard and now at Pierre Fabre. She joins Christina and Daniel to speak about her journey, lessons learnt and why every future CEO will need digital experience.

Enjoy this conversation, in which you'll hear about:

• Taking control of your personal and professional life regardless of your academic choice
• Acting as an entrepreneur in a big corporate
• Why eCommerce should a key building block for anyone that wants to lead a Consumer Goods organization
• How she leads and inspires teams and acts as a catalyst for change being genuine 

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Federico Pasquini, Global R&D Innovation Director for International Family Care & Professional at Kimberly-Clark, joins us for a deep dive into the world of Research & Development — a first for the podcast.

In this episode, Federico shares how R&D drives progress in a global FMCG powerhouse, and why innovation matters even in the most low-involvement categories.

Tune in to hear about:

• Federico’s international career journey — from Europe to India
• What the innovation process really looks like in a fast-moving consumer goods company
• How to challenge the status quo in everyday product categories
• The critical relationship between R&D and other departments
• R&D’s growing role in sustainability

Our guest is Steph Lilley, General Manager for Reckitt’s Hygiene Business Unit in their home market, the UK, and Ireland. She joins Christine and Daniel to speak about her career from a graduate program to becoming a General Manager, with some international moves in between, but always focusing on development and with a prominence of P&L roles.

Tune into this conversation to hear about:

• Steph’s first leadership experience
• The learning curve when taking an international assignment in Russia
• The leadership style she’s developed in time
• Balancing being genuine with “getting results”
• Her experience being a woman in commercial roles
• Approaching diversity, equity and inclusion
• Leveraging Reckitt’s popular brands for societal change

 More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• The CPG Guys (US "Sister Podcast"): https://www.cpgguys.com/ 
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

What comes to mind when you think of Cannabis? Rico Uesluek, CEO of Marry Jane, one of Europe's largest producers, joined Daniel to speak about the state of the category and where it's headed to. With a background in Coca-Cola and Logitech, he will challenge many of your preconceptions through:

• His transition from small business to large blue-chip to CEO in the up-and-coming Cannabis industry
• The state of affairs of Cannabis in Europe
• What categories and channels Marry Jane operates in
• How they are building a company in cannabis with FMCG best practices

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Guest Episode! The CPGGUYS are joined in this episode by Ajay Sharma, North America VP of eCommerce & Omnichannel for Bayer Consumer Health, manufacturer of iconic brands like One-A-Day, Claritin, Alka-Seltzer, & Miralax.

Follow Ajay Sharma on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajay-sharma-26900360/
Follow Bayer on Linkedin :  https://www.linkedin.com/company/bayer/
Follow Bayer online at: https://www.bayer.com/

Ajay  answers these questions : 

1. Take us through your career journey from school in the UK to pharmacy management to Coca-Cola to Bayer and now as an ecommerce leader in our industry?
2. How do you work with your teammates at buyer in the physical world of brick & mortar and how do omnichannel plans get developed?
3. Retail media - would love your thinking on this. How do you approach retail media, secure budgets and what would you advice others on planning effectively for this?
4. What are metrics that matter in the omnichannel world - we would say content, search, etc - would love that from you - what do you measure as success?
5. The world of artificial intelligence - how are you learning and keeping pace with its development? How do you connect it to what you do for Bayer and the industry?
6. Data has become a monetized platform for retailers. Some scaled data represents consumer habits, some is very retail centric movement, kinda making the syndicated data world less relevant. What’s your thought on retail centric data that now is all over the industry?
7. Talent - simply put what makes a good digital or omnichannel leader. You come from the brick & mortar world of pharmacy and adapted to digital. What’s the mojo?
8. The last question on the CPGGUYS is always fast forward. What trends are you following and what do you think is next for the industry with omnichannel?

Our guests in this episode are Nick Hinsley, Chief Revenue Officer at the unified Retail Media Network Platform, Zitcha; and Jack Johnson, Head of Retail Media and Data at UK-based Online-only supermarket Ocado. They join the podcast together to speak about how they are teaming up to launch the exciting Retail Media Network Ocado Ads, which aims to be the most flexible network in the market, and a blueprint and model to follow for other Retailers.

Tune in to learn about:

• Ocado’s position in the market and the reason for its historical dominance online
• Zitcha’s role in the Retail Media landscape
• How Ocado will differentiate itself as a Media network being online-only
• Ocado Ads Manager powered by Zitcha’s potential around data, self-serve and innovation and test & learn
• How advanced planning tools will make Ocado differentiate their offering to Brands

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Amazon expert Martin Heubel joins us to go over Amazon's changes in the 1P Model after they announced they were not going to be working with some FMCG distributors in Euorope recently.

Join us to learn about:

• Amazon's recent change breaking up with distributors in Europe
• What this means for FMCG Brands
• Changes in Amazon's internal vendor management structure
• What FMCG Brands can do to win in this channel in the future

Lluís Ferré is the Head of International Business at Boonrawd Brewery, a 90-year old Thai business which you may know from their flagship brand, Singha.

Follow The FMCG Guys on Linkedin.

In this Episode, you'll learn about:

- Moving across continents, functions and industries

- Why going international early is important

- Learning the local culture when leading

- Why rapport may be more important than hard facts 

- Doing business and leading in Asia

- Adaptability in complex financial and cultural situations

Our guest is Ivan Cuesta, a Consumer Goods veteran, enterpreneur and university teacher that’s worked at the likes of Danone and Hero and has deeply studied Activist Shareholders’ impact on companies.

Activist shareholders have become a home staple in Europe. A known player in the United States for decades, they’ve made a big impact in the old continent in the last few years, reaching a record high last year with 235 campaigns. In the consumer goods industry, they have created some memorable moments, such as 3G attacking Unilever or Nelson Peltz assaulting Procter & Gamble’s board. 

In this conversation, you’ll learn about:

- The main players

- When did they start going into FMCG

- The scenario in which they intervene

- Examples of governance: Unilever, Danone, Nestle

- What to expect in the coming years

The FMCG Guys are joined by Henkel's SVP Beauty EMEA Antoine Collette on this episode.

In this conversation, you'll learn about Antoine's leadership journey across different countries and companies, from his first leadership experience through his current role heading up a multi-country region, and all the learnings in between, such as:

• Leading a team for the first time
• Balancing hands-on execution and strategy
• Managing up and down in an organization
• Giving your team opportunities to shine
• Setting a vision with purpose and clear action
• Managing different cultures when going abroad
• Leaning into curiosity doing COVID

Our "State of Supply Chain" Series is back in 2025! The drumbeat of FMCG is as under pressure as ever before, in the middle of internal stuggles, unpredicatable industry dynamics and external volatility. To review the challenges and opportunities for operations leaders, in this episode we are joined by Alberto Lupano, SVP Group Supply Services Transformation & Operational Excellence at Reckitt and an old friend of the podcast, Federico Marchesi, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Haier Europe, who already joined us in 2021 and 2022.

Topics covered:

• Pre and Post COVID Supply Chains
• The Current Status
• Supply Chain in the Executive Commitee: Hero or Villain
• How the big political changes in 2025 may affect global Supply Chains
• Digitalization
• Why is Supply Chain still not strategic in some businesses?
• What to expect in 2025

Review past "State of Supply Chain" Episodes: 

• 2022: https://www.fmcgguys.com/the-state-of-supply-chain-in-2022/ 
• 2021: https://www.fmcgguys.com/the-state-of-supply-chain-in-2021-with-federico-marchesi-and-fabio-grazioli/ 

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Our guest for this episode 200 is Rick Swinkels, CEO at TCC. The head of the Loyalty company joins Daniel and Peter Bond from The CPG Guys live from Groceryshop in Las Vegas to speak about his unique career, his industry insights and how their loyalty programs deliver exponential value beyond price, creating communities around Retailers. 

• Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xJOotPI7Jkc
• TCC Website
• TCC LinkedIn

Topics Covered:

• Rick’s career in Retail prior to TCC
• TCC’s proposition: creating high participation, high engagement loyalty campaigns and platforms that influence, recognise and reward shopper behaviour in-store and online
• The big topics in Consumer & Retail and what can Retailers do about them
• How to create Value independent from price
• Creating Omnichannel campaigns
• Learnings from Groceryshop and comparing US and European Retail

More:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Isabel Soriano is the President International at Wolverine Worldwide, a Footwear leader with a portfolio of famous brands like Saucony, Merrell and Sweaty Betty. With more than 20 years in the category, Isabel comes to the show to speak about the lessons learnt during her career path, which has seen her move internationally, change functions, companies and, ultimately, become a C-Level executive who has been successful managing organizations in both good and bad times.

Tune in to learn about:

• Isabel’s multi-functional career and international moves both in Europe and LATAM.
• The purpose of the main brands in Wolverine Worldwide’s portfolio
• Approaching the Footwear Marketplace across sales channels
• Managing organizations and change management in a volatile world with a clear vision and communication
• Creating an organization with the consumer in mind

More:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/  
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 
Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Martin Frech, Chief Strategy Officer at Market Expansion Leader DKSH and a Non-Executive Board Member joined Daniel some months back to speak about:

• His transition from Consulting into the industry
• How to get into operational and P&L roles
• Major pitfalls when moving regions
• Non-Executive work and the world of Private Equity

This episode is brought to you by CommerceIQ. Download the free chrome extension here: https://growth.commerceiq.ai/fmcgguys 

Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 

Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez

Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

The FMCG Guys will be back with all-new episodes very, very soon. In the meantime, enjoy this episode from one year ago which Daniel recorded in Iceland.

Ever wondered what running supermarkets in a remote country like Iceland looks like? Daniel was lucky enough to learn this in this fascinating in-person interview live from Keflavík. Our guest (and host, in this occasion!) is Gunnur Gunnarsdóttir, who runs both Retail and Human Resources at Samkaup, one of the island's main players in FMCG Retail with a number of banners.

This Episode is brought to you by Softserve Business System. Start a conversation about fact-based digital transformation today by visiting https://softservebs.com/

Listen in, transport yourself to Iceland and learn about:

• Gunnur's career path from Human Resources Manager to heading up a Retail Organization
• Iceland's FMCG market: Retail Footprint, Challenges and Opportunities for brands
• Samkaup's mission of serving the entirety of Iceland's population even at a financial cost
• HR initiatives in diversity, continuous learning and talent attraction
• Omni-channel initiatives and partnership with Lobyco in Loyalty

Mark Jagger, Global Sales Director at Sanofi Consumer Healthcare and Alain Attias, CEO at BayBridge Digital join Christina and Daniel to speak about the Digital Transformation journey they've been on together.

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 

In this episode, you'll hear about all the ins-and-outs of a Digital Transformation in a Consumer Goods Commercial organization leveraging Salesforce through:

• How have FMCG companies digitalized behind the scenes
• The impact of digitalization on the brand / consumer relationship
• Challenges, hurdles and wins in Sanofi Consumer's digital transformation
• Empowering Sales organizations (from Directors to reps) with technology

This Episode is brought to you by Bolt Chat AI! Visit them here: https://www.boltchatai.com/ 

More:

• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

The Co-Op is the UK's Convenience Leader, with about 2,500 stores. Their Head of Customer Rewards and Retail Media, Dean Harris, sits with Daniel at the Retail Media Summit UK to speak about:

• The Co-Op's convenience value proposition within the UK grocery market
• How can FMCG Brands maximize this convenience Retail Media Network
• Dean's career journey
• Linking Loyalty, Data and Media

This Episode is brought to you by Bolt Chat AI! Visit them here: https://www.boltchatai.com/ 

Follow The FMCG Guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/ 

Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez

Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Hosted by Adeel Ansari, Head of HR Strategy, ER, Comms & DEI (DE/CH) Dorothee Noll and usual co-host Daniel Torres Dwyer go over the latest trends in People & Talent.

Tune in to learn about:

• The post-COVID working scenario (working from home or the office)
  - Diversity and inclusion
  - Leveraging Social Media for Recruitment
  - Attracting and Retaining high potential top talents

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-agCGKG_FUM 

Rob Hollands is the Chief Executive Officer at Metacask, a premium spirits online marketplace that offers both digital and physical assets. It allows you, for example, to remotely buy a Whisky cask and get bottles delivered! With him, we explore the fascinating world of Whiskies and omni-commerce.

This Episode is brought to you by Bolt Chat AI! Visit them here: https://www.boltchatai.com/ 

Topics discussed: 

• Whisky's cult following and status as a cultural icon
• Consumer trends: post-covid, premiumization, online usage
• Creating a seamless brand experience online and offline with a premium end-to-end feel
• Owning your own cask

More:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ 
• Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/
• Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez
• Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Sebastian Micozzi, Global SVP Digital Marketing & Transformation at Bacardi is our guest in this episode. He joined Daniel to share his thoughts on:

• The evolution of Branding
• Digital’s impact on Marketing and FMCG
• Finding leaders in Digital & Marketing
• Going into General Management from Marketing