Domenic Borrelli

Great time with Elanie and Kay from the Renegade Nutrition Podcast! Their content is always so timely related to changes in the science of nutrition, it's impact on our wellness, and how we can all be better at 'biohacking'. We discussed the importance of polyphenols in the diet for longevity, data from blue zones, and Goode Health. Give it a listen (if you have an hour or listen at 1.75x speed) and follow Renegade!

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The Krispy Kreme - McDonalds partnering deal is going to be a three-year brand growth masterclass in the flywheel brand growth power of physical and mental availability. For Krispy Kreme: Current 2024 Points-of Access (US): 7,775 Incremental 2026 McDonald's Points-of-Access(US): +12,000 Global longer term opportunity: + 100,000 Why is this believable? Solid Krispy Kreme mental availability platform to re-energize and re-invest some creative advertising to support that expansion. This is going to be a household penetration tsunami for the brand. (Credit to Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for physical and mental availability frameworks, cool laws and other amazing BS-busting research.) Important question for Byron Sharp Jenni Romaniuk Prof. dr. Koen Pauwels: Donuts or Doughnuts? https://lnkd.in/gHgZzXkF #Brandgrowth #mentalavailability #physicalavailability #brands #QSR

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There was a moment in last week's Roundtable when Emily Flannery declared, "that's right: beverages are officially a snack, too." The way we see category lines blurring, overlapping and/or completely falling away is fascinating, and a huge opportunity for food & bev brands with the nerve to keep up. Did you see it yet? Give the convo a watch right here: https://okt.to/XpGrUZ And if this glimpse into the future inspires you, let's chat! #futurefluent #futureofsnacking #cpgtrends

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I think consumer feedback is often under used by emerging CPG brands… Coming from a Kraft Foods general management upbringing and then experiencing start-ups for many years, I’m often thinking about which “big company” practices could bring value to young emerging companies while not screwing up their great entrepreneurial culture and founder brilliance. The one area I continue to see a gap in is “entrepreneurial” consumer feedback/market research—the lack of fast/low cost consumer research options (or even confirmation research) discussed to prevent a low velocity SKU to get delisted, to maximize brand communication, and avoid wasted spend or lost opportunity on the back end. There are some great research companies out there, but their costs (while valid and worth it) are just not in the ballpark for what many founders want to spend for or go through the time on. Sometimes it’s a lot more natural for founders to go with their gut and not get bogged down by research. And I totally get this, and it does work in many instances.   I just wish there were more options out there to efficiently confirm purchase interest between two packages or between new innovation ideas to complement founder gut. In the end, it could save the emerging brand money…. Thought I’d reach out to the linkedin community, PLEASE not from research companies selling their research, but from founders/emerging brand marketers who have been through this dilemma and have found some consumer feedback very helpful and fitting for emerging brand bootstrap budget and speed (even if their own tools or alternative ways they’ve brought in consumers more)?  This sharing might help more companies maximize their moves in the future…so hope it helps… thanks! #ConsumerFeedback #jcbgrowth

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Did you ever think of shopping as a team sport? Our #pepviz Hispanic Shopper Insights reveal that 79% of Hispanics go shopping with someone else. This makes them twice as likely to shop with others than shoppers in general and also 77% more likely to like and engage with store displays. This is why it’s so important for us at PepsiCo to innovate products and create new campaigns to engage with all of our customers and consumers.   Learn more interesting Hispanic Shopper behaviors and findings here: https://bit.ly/pepviz-data   Kate Garner, Antonio Escalona, Esperanza Teasdale, Erin Ness Cathey, Shannon Amundson, Ryan Sexton, Aracely (Cely) Moreno-Mosier, Valeria Rivas, Monica Bauer Mengelberg

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Eating whole foods, without chemicals, such as preservatives and coloring, is key. Non or less processed the better. Certainly fruits, veg, legumes, nuts, and grains are all important. And water is huge! The funny (not funny ha ha) thing is that many produce people are not big followers of what we all talk about. Heck, even the events serve way too much "stuff" (food and drink) that is less than healthy. The other issue is portion control. Speaking of science, it's widely understood that when creatures (animals and people) eat less they live longer. Food is our primary source of vitamins, nutrients and fiber, etc. Food is medicine. On a related tangent, let's talk labels: 1. Ingredient and nutrition labels need to be bigger! The packaged salad companies need to understand that we're an aging population and those teeny tiny words are impossible in the grocery store if one forgets their reading glasses or the battery on their cell phone is dying. Speaking of which, kits should have ingredients that are healthy, including dressings, croutons, etc. 2. Allergy Statements are important: "GF," Nuts, Dairy, etc. (FYI: Soy sauce contains gluten) 3. Someone look at Rx bars. That's a great idea! Ingredients front and center! Let's proudly communicate ingredients and nutrition. Heck, fresh produce is healthier than 99% of the so-called "health food," and we don't communicate at the point of purchase. 4. Idea for the day: Someone create a line of healthy kit salads without allergens and/or animal products. GF, V, No peanuts, Non GMO, Etc. **Caveat - They have to taste great and have a great nutritional panel, so don't load them up with sugar and/or salt, etc. Carpe Diem!

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Hey CPG Fam– If you know me, you know I love connecting and empowering members of this community. In that spirit, I will be regularly sharing resources and insights that other entrepreneurs have found valuable. My team and I have met with hundreds of CPG leaders to explore the benefits of equipment financing. This topic can be complex, and I've noticed many people share similar questions. Given that, I thought it would be helpful to use this forum to shed light on the ins and outs of equipment financing. I shot the video below during my weekly grocery shopping at Whole Foods Market. Walking through the aisles and seeing our clients' products on the shelves, knowing we played a part in getting them there, is always so rewarding! In this week's video, I discuss the two financing structures we offer (sale leaseback & drawdown funding) using WILDE CHIPS and Om Mushroom Superfood as examples. Check it out and let me know in the comments if you found it beneficial or if you have any other questions I can address. As always, feel free to reach out to me directly if you want to discuss your business needs one-on-one. Stay tuned for more! #CPGCommunity #ConsumerGoods #EquipmentFinancing101 #BusinessGrowth #FinanceSolutions  #IndustryInsights #WholeFoods #ClientSuccess  #FoodIndustry #RetailSuccess #FinanceTips

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The US Beer industry landscape is changing fast. AB InBev's North America Normalized EBIT declined by over $1.3 B from 2022 to 2023. The volume market share decline (relative to Molson Coors Beverage Company and Constellation Brands) contributed to that EBIT decline by an amount of $400 Million. It has not helped that overall volumes between these three major players has declined by over 4%. It's a general sign of the headwinds facing the beer category as shopper and consumer preferences shift. For #ABInBev, that overall market decline cost them another $200M. A just less than 4% increase in Net Pricing contributed a +ve $560Million to the Normalized EBIT change, but was insufficient to mitigate the increased inflationary unit costs associated with Cost of Sales and the de-leveraging of other SG&A operating expenses. It will be interesting to track how these components of EBIT will change for 2024, given growth constraints associated with market share gains and price increase ceilings. Looks like some drastic OPEX cuts might be the only short-term remedy for now as AB InBev looks to rebuild brand equity and volume share. Send me a DM or write "send" in the comments section and I will forward you the document that also contains the related MVA operating breakdown for #MolsonCoors and #ConstellationBrands. It's interesting to see how and to what extent Molson Coors and Constellation Brands benefited from AB InBev's headwinds. You will also see why Constellation Brands might be the longer term winner here. #Beerindustry #beercategory #beerdistribution #Heineken #BeverageAlcohol #Asahi #Carlsberg #BostonBeer #beer #beverages #BudLight #MillerLite #CoorsLight #Corona #ModeloEspecial

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I'll be at 👉 (https://lnkd.in/geS8v3aq) the NielsenIQ C360 conference in Phoenix - May 13-16 as The CPG Guys. Will you be there as a senior leader to discuss today's important #cpgindustry topics? 1.) Total store optimization in a post pandemic world? 2.) What does today's truly #omnichannel shopper journey look like? Have #retailmedia networks changed full funnel #omnichannelmarketing? 3.) Of course, all about #artificalintelligence 4.) #innovation - most large brands temporarily slowed it down over the pandemic - now its back to the mayhem. Shelf space is not unlimited - who wins, who loses and who doesn't belong on the shelf in the first place. Watch Liz Buchanan (NA, president), Jamie Clarke (NA retail), Andrew Criezis (President, #ecommerce) and so much more.

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CPG Panel — “More than commerce”: 🔥 We are working on a mega panel (June 13) of CPG powerhouses right now including some of my great friends: Jamie Schwab (Colgate-Palmolive) Jamie Decker (Del Monte Foods, Inc.). We will be diving into the importance of driving direct-to-customer engagement through digital, not just commerce. Topics: (4) 1. First-party data strategies 2. Customer engagement 3. Omnichannel marketing 4. No doubt AI! We still have a few panelists spots remaining, feel free send me a DM or comment below if you may be interested or know some who would be great for this topic. #ecommerce #digital #omnichannel #strategy #cmo #cdo #ceo #cro #leadership #retailecommerceclub #cpg #privateequity #playtowin

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How will our industry change when “cord cutting” and consolidation culls the herd of subscription services in CPG? This BuzzFeed article outlines 50 different subscription box companies of all shapes and sizes which have two things in common: 1. They are a great entry point for early stage brands to reach a targeted consumer base. 2. Just like meal kit companies 7-10 years ago, they are competing in a very crowded “red ocean”, some with very challenging unit economics. In this fundraising environment, it’s safe to say that many of these 50+ boxes won’t survive the CPG Mass Extinction event of the the next two years. That isn’t to say that these boxes don’t sometimes provide early adopters with GREAT access to awesome products. I’ve been a loyal customer of Bokksu for years and as a Japan-Phile it’s a much cheaper hobby than regular tickets to Tokyo. Food for thought: 👉Which of these boxes make sense to merge together, pool resources, and share customer bases? 👉What if they just shipped out of the same warehouse and used the same packaging suppliers to reduce costs? 👉Would consumers be more willing to pay for a “bundle” of boxes instead of 5+ niche recurring subscriptions? 👉What if the subscription boxes piggybacked onto the perishable CSA supply chain and gave those early adopters more of what they want? 👉If consumers could get a single curated “box of innovation” which included all sorts of innovative products rotating from 50+ different box services, how much would they pay for it?” 👉How much would retailers pay for this consumer data, to know which innovative items they should add to their stores, and where? 👉What if there was a cool vending machine(s) in the grocery store, just like Farmer's Fridge but which could dispense innovative emerging CPG across all categories, and tapped into real time data for drop ship replenishment? Pod Foods Simon Huntley Danny Taing Ashley Nickelsen Clint Chao Flowspace Total Quality Logistics #cordcutting #innovation #cpgbrands https://lnkd.in/eSmEvG4G

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Occasion based marketing for beverages is not a new phenominum. We just have to go back over the catalogue of historic Coca Cola ads to see how leveraging occasions has been used for decades to drive increased sales and margins for all members of the Coca Cola value chain.  “Refreshment on the Go”, “Stock Up for the holidays”, “makes food taste better”, “easy hospitality”, “Refreshing vacations” are just of few of Coca Cola’s occasion based propositions. It’s been the Coca Cola way for generations, and the basic principles from yesteryear, are still applied today. In fact, for the Coca Cola system, Occasions sit at the heart of their marketing DNA. They call it the OBPPC (Occasion, Brand, Pack, Price, Channel) process and it’s a critical element of their overall marketing. Coca Cola ensures that for each occasion, they clearly define the optimal brands to be sold, in the most appropriate packages, at the right prices, in the target channels to sell more products, at higher prices. They use occasions to pro-actively change the market dynamics in their favour by shifting the demand curve for beverages rather than simply moving along it to where the market takes them. DM me to learn more about how you can use Growth Scope to unlock your liquor market growth agenda by unlocking consumption occasions.

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Yesterday was an important day. At Cannes Lions , the Unstereotype Alliance, part of UN Women, launched the findings of research with Saïd Business School, University of Oxford using sales data from our global billion dollar brands, as well as from some of the other largest advertisers in the world. It objectively proves that progressive advertising sells more. Full stop. 58 countries. 392 brands. 4 years of data. 3.5% uplift in immediate sales 16% in long term sales Irrefutable evidence that doing the right thing and growth can, do and should go hand in hand. Whilst some parts of the business world are wobbling on the path to creating a more inclusive society - as Vice Chairs of the Alliance, at Mars we hope this data will help support the case to stay on the path. Be consistent. Be persistent. Be brave. We can make a difference together. Where good business means a better world. #mars #proudlymars #canneslions #inclusivity #genderequity#unstereotype #unwomen # tomorrowstartstoday UN Women UK

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Ad Age rounded up the top summer 2024 beverage alcohol trends, one of which being around the continued interest in low- and no- alcohol beverages.   At EIGHT Brewing Co., we've been all about a lower alcohol offering that complements your life without compromise since day one. With only 4% ABV, our low carb, low cal light lager is the perfect option, not only for the summer but every season.   I'm curious to watch the wider trend as it plays out across both the alcohol and traditional beverage categories. As and since we launched, we've watched more players roll out lower alc. / lower calorie offerings across wine, beer and spirits in an effort to continue to meet ever-evolving drinkers where they are. It will be interesting to see if this is a lasting trend and shift in consumer preferences, a passing phase, or the growth of a niche consumer that was previously overlooked.   To read the full piece, click the link below: https://lnkd.in/gmp6SVra

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Reflecting on this monumental moment, I wanted to wait until the news was "official" before sharing my thoughts and feelings... Almost 7 years ago, a good friend now who started as a good client invited me to his new office in NJ to explore a plant-based protein company he was considering acquiring. That's when I first encountered OWYN. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to make of it initially. Plant-based, vegan protein drinks weren't in my usual "repertoire" of ideation and marketing. But after trying the product that day, I knew I wanted to be part of the journey. And what an incredible journey it has been! Throughout the last 7 years, in my capacity as a "strategic advisor," I've embraced a multitude of roles and responsibilities, working closely with a diverse array of talented leaders. From individuals who made significant contributions from the outset and have since moved on, to those who have ascended to leadership positions, such as CEO Mark O. and Chief Sales Officer Matt OConnell, as well as "more recent" additions like CMO Julia Perez, who came in and made an immediate and substantial impact, our collaboration has been characterized by passion, mutual respect, and an unwavering commitment to innovation. Now, fast forward to today. After countless hours of strategic discussions, meetings, and partnerships, we've achieved something remarkable. We've taken a niche brand, crafted with the finest ingredients, and found the perfect successor in our recent acquisition. If you notice, even as a "consultant" I always will refer to it as we. When I work with brands, especially from day 1, I consider myself a true part of the team. Being part of a brand from inception to this pivotal moment is incredibly special. As a matter of fact, it's been a huge goal of mine since that fateful day 7 years ago. I'm eager to see what lies ahead for OWYN and hopeful that I can continue contributing to a product and brand that means so much to me and countless others, especially our consumers. #OWYN #PlantBased #Acquisition #Journey #Gratitude #Business #CPG #SimplyGood https://lnkd.in/emY6UT2g

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Why is this the smartest thing Walmart has ever done in Private Label? During the pandemic, Walmart experienced unparalleled growth across demographic profiles, but as inflationary pressures entered the equation the past couple of years, Walmart has experienced nearly all or in some cases their entire growth (depending on the category and dept) from High income shoppers. And, it wasn’t from just shoppers already in the box—it was from channel shifting coming from the broader retail landscape. What makes that shopper unique is their participation in Private Brands at their former retailer of choice, more upscale Private Brands at Target, Kroger, HEB, Publix etc. With that shopper now in the Walmart stores, and the fact that these inflationary pressures won’t last forever, how do you keep them? How do you elevate the Private Brand experience for that shopper group and over-deliver on what an elevate private brand can be? And, as we continue to gain knowledge on how food can be the driver of our health, how do you also provide more access to healthy, life-giving foods to all income groups and demographics? How do we address the fact that many people experience lactose intolerance and have a dietary need for non-dairy products in their everyday lives? Or, that many children and adults suffer from dairy, egg and other food allergies that require them to access foods without these ingredients? Have a family member that are lactose intolerant or a milk allergy—why should they not have access at the best possible prices to incredible, delicious, non-dairy products that address those needs? Enter Bettergoods. It addresses so many of these questions and is just getting started. This is one more reason why Walmart is for every shopper, every income group, and every demographic profile. This launch demonstrates Walmarts strategic thought leadership, being aware of what is happening with the shopper in their box, and being willing to meet the needs of these shoppers. I can’t wait to see how far this brand goes and how many people are positively impacted by it. Kudos to Denise Wright for being the visionary leader and to her team for bringing this opportunity to life for Walmart. Well done. #Walmart #PrivateLabel #BetterGoods #NonDairy #Culinary #ChannelShifting

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The Adult Non-Alc space is fascinating. As it evolves I think we’ll see some stratification between the functional ingredient beverages and the alcoholic beverage analogs with no functional ingredients. I think the route to market and consumer demand segment will end up being very different for these two distinct categories. I think there’s a bright future for both. What do you think?

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The spicy food revolution is here, and the younger generations are leading the charge: Research shows that 47% of #GenZ and 45% of #millennials prefer moderately spicy or very spicy options.    Have you ever tried a Flamin’ Hot product in two different regions? You might have tasted two different spice mixtures – because even though love for spice is up worldwide, we adjust the spice level of our foods market-by-market based on consumer preference. The way I see it, the broadened popularity of spicy foods is a response to our world being more connected than ever. It’s an area ripe for growth and innovation, something we’re excited to lean into at PepsiCo! We’ll continue to grow to meet people where they’re at – and predict what’s coming next.    Read this breakdown of the growth in the spicy section of American supermarkets:

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