The Takeaways from Growth Leaders Summit Chicago 2024

Growth Leaders Summit Chicago, held in partnership with Bain & Company, was a one-day event for marketing, commercial, revenue growth, and demand leaders. Held at a venue near Chicago’s famed Navy Pier overlooking Lake Michigan, the event featured current and former executives from brands like Danone, Walgreens, Coca-Cola, McCain, and Bain, who shared their perspectives on the latest best practices, trends, and technologies for driving growth in the digital age.

1. Selling consumer centricity

Leveraging consumer insights to drive better financial outcomes for CPG companies and their retailers is critical in today’s volatile and complex marketplace.

This was the central theme of a presentation by Scott Boyle, Senior Vice President of Insights and Analytics at Danone.

Scott opened his presentation by discussing the evolution of consumer centricity at Danone, highlighting their shift towards a "quadruple win" strategy—where the company aims to benefit itself and its customers, the broader communities, and the planet. "Obsessive consumer centricity," as he termed it, is the driving force behind this strategy, aimed at infusing consumer insights into every aspect of its planning and execution, from portfolio strategy to channel management and activation.

He explained that a crucial part of Danone’s consumer-centric strategy involves identifying "priority needs, benefits, and occasions today and tomorrow," which guides the company’s strategic alignment and tactical execution to ensure continuous adaptation to the changing landscape. It also involves directly engaging top-tier partners to identify opportunities and co-prioritize actions. “We want to focus on areas where our retailers are underdeveloped and where we can innovate for the market,” said Scott.

He also addressed changing internal dialogs to encourage a more consumer-centric sales approach. “It's trying to change the dialog to get different outcomes with our sales organization in a consumer-centric way,” he said. This shift is critical for aligning internal stakeholders with the company's strategic goals, ensuring everyone moves in unison towards more consumer-focused outcomes.

Scott concluded his presentation by asking the audience to consider their own company’s position and capabilities in their consumer-centricity journey. “Are you leveraging the full potential of consumer-centricity in your commercial partnerships?” he asked.

2. What does it mean to become a customer-centric organization?

Rapid technological advancements, evolving consumer expectations for seamless, personalized experiences, and intense market competition are pushing companies to adopt more consumer-centric strategies.

Walgreens is an integrated healthcare, pharmacy, and retail leader at the forefront of this movement. It bridges its core business areas—healthcare, retail, and pharmacy—to forge a seamless consumer experience that feels like a continuum rather than a disjointed service.

Dorancy Hellman, Senior Director of Technology at Walgreens, spoke next, emphasizing the drugstore chain's complex data challenges—much more intricate than those of a typical retailer—due to the overlapping needs of its diverse services. "We try to collect data across all teams, and all come together to create a picture of what a customer needs,” she said. “Then, we identify the competitive solution that retains the customer."

A significant portion of Dorancy's presentation focused on the internal processes necessary for a customer-centric transformation. She pointed out that customer-centricity is an outward-facing strategy and an inward necessity. "We often forget our team members are also our customers,” she explained. “So, when we’re so focused on outward-facing experiences, we also miss the need to focus internally.”

She elaborated on the alignment needed within the organization to truly become customer-centric: "Transformation can’t happen when it’s only external and outward-facing. You have to think about everything that must change to be customer-centric,” she said. “If your processes aren’t in sync to solve those challenges, they will fail."

Another theme in Dorancy’s discussion was the concept of value exchange—not just between Walgreens and its customers but also suppliers. "It's a value exchange between Walgreens and our suppliers as well as us to our customers," she stated. This relationship is critical in ensuring that all parties are engaged and benefit mutually, thereby enhancing the overall consumer experience. "We have the same conversations with our customers and suppliers about what trends we’re seeing and how they can help us solve them,” she explained.

It’s a continued conversation that’s incredibly important to bring partners to the table, so it’s a win-win for both of us.”

3. Why commercial and marketing success requires a planning transformation

According to Marco Caldarelli, a senior partner at Bain & Company who heads Bain's Revenue Growth Management team for the CPG industry, approximately 85% of CEOs are dissatisfied with the outcomes of their companies' RGM efforts.

"More than 60% of promotions do not deliver incremental value,” Marco explained. “$20B is lost per year in promotions."

Despite the lackluster returns, he remains bullish on the potential of RGM, provided companies make strategic changes, particularly in light of recent economic pressures and changing consumer behaviors. "There is no better time to be in RGM than right now,” said Marco. “The last couple of years have amplified the need for change and brutally showcased the need to rethink the way companies approached the RGM capability building so far” 

Improving RGM outcomes requires a bold transformation along two axes, according to Marco:

First and foremost, CPG companies must "amplify and connect the dots thanks to data and tech.” It is crucial to improve the effectiveness of the five levers of RGM: price, price-pack architecture, mix, promotion, and trade investment, and connect them seamlessly.

Second, “CPG Companies need to take the capability building in RGM seriously." He pointed out, "$370B are spent annually on any capability building, and 90% of capability building programs are ineffective and do not lead to tangible business results, including RGM." He noted that capability building is neither “just the installation of a cool AI tool” nor “just the deployment of an RGM academy.” It is about having a team, skills, governance, performance management, and RGM mindset embedded. "You should start with the end in mind,” he advised. “What three RGM insights will set up the Sales Team to win the negotiation?” 

“Ask what the P&L impact of my RGM choices is—with the choices of my retailers in mind—side by side."

4. RGM Essentials: Navigating Today's Business Cycle for Increased Value

The conversation about improving RGM outcomes continued with a presentation from Jim Drews, another Bain partner, and Gurkan Munsuz, Head of Global RGM at McCain, a Canadian multinational frozen food company.

"CPG companies over the last few years have seen a 7% sales growth, but the price-volume mix is unsustainable," Jim noted, emphasizing the precarious balance businesses face today. "Of that growth, 95% was through list price but only 5% from volume growth.”

Jim also expanded on the evolving role of RGM beyond mere price adjustments. "RGM is not just about uprising; it is about how we operate in the category and understand our competitors,” he explained. “It’s about finding different ways to win.”

"We need to be able to translate insights into opportunities," Gurkan responded, highlighting the gap between data collection and its application in strategic decision-making. He also stressed the role of RGM professionals within organizations, describing them as integral connectors: "RGM leaders are the Chief 'Dot Connector' across sales, commercial, and supply chain teams."

The speakers discussed the critical aspect of data in modern RGM, acknowledging its potential and pitfalls. Despite better data access, significant gaps prevent companies from fully leveraging analytics. The current data landscape often provides backward-looking insights, which are less predictive and prescriptive than needed for dynamic market environments.

The session also addressed the need for an evolved RGM operating model integrating capabilities across organizational functions. Creating a 'one-stop-shop' of integrated capabilities, coupled with a strong focus on mindset change, recruitment, and upskilling of RGM personnel, was discussed as essential for sustaining growth and adapting to new market realities.

5. Science at Scale: The Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Drawing on his extensive three-decade career at Coca-Cola, Francisco shared insights into the art and science of brand scaling and the strategic execution necessary for sustaining growth.

At the heart of Francisco's discussion was the pivotal role of data in understanding and expanding brand reach. He emphasized that a brand's ability to resonate with consumers in today's digital age can be accurately measured and scaled using advanced data analytics.

Francisco detailed how market positioning, product quality, and team capabilities are fundamental to a company’s success. He remarked, "The three things that investors care about are what the market is—is it attractive or not? What is the product—is it a winner or not? And who is the team—can I scale it or not?" According to him, this triad is the cornerstone of any successful growth strategy.

A recurring theme in his talk was the importance of consistency over occasional brilliance. "Being outstanding is interesting, but being consistently better is better,” he said. “You must consistently be better than your competitors.”

Perhaps the most profound of his insights was the role of growth in contributing to societal harmony. "Growth is the only thing that enables human beings and society to avoid conflict," Francisco observed. He argued that economic expansion creates wealth and distributes it in a way that can alleviate societal tensions.

Central to achieving these heights of growth is cultivating a growth mindset. Francisco urged the audience to embrace a philosophy of possibility and optimism. "The growth mindset begins with believing; you have to believe because belief defines your expectations, your expectations define your actions, and your actions define the result," he said.

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