Rick Roth

Great and provocative read on Liquid Deaths’s success story. So many insights and examples which are relevant for FMCG challenger brands as well. Mark Ritson claims that “… if you step back and look at the original ‘four Ps’, it is almost impossible not to acknowledge that while the promotional P has its place, the product P is invariably the most important tactical consideration. Shitty marketing can surely kill a great product, but without a successful, product even the best marketing does little other than speed its own demise.” And I fully agree (see my earlier post for details) - so if you’re not yet following Mark, do it asap. It’s worth it (and entertaining). #challengerbrands #productlaunches #offlineretail

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GORP-core: Fashion Trend or Strategic Opportunity? The buzz around GORP-core has outdoor and performance brands buzzing—yet there’s a fine line between seizing an opportunity and falling into a trap. What started as a trend grounded in utility and function, but elevated by cultural pioneers, has led many brands to pivot toward a style-driven approach, catering to segments like the Luxury Lovers, Stormhunters, and Tastemakers. 🌍✨ But here’s the challenge: chasing style trends can push brands into a cycle of “what’s next?” 🔄 Without a solid anchor in performance and innovation, the focus on aesthetics can dilute authenticity, leaving core outdoor consumers—like the Functionalists (28% of the market)—questioning where the brand stands. When brands focus too heavily on lifestyle trends, they risk losing the trust of their largest and most loyal segment, those who value protection, performance and practicality. However, this shift doesn’t have to be negative. The key is balance. Brands can successfully expand their reach without alienating their core by staying true to what defines them—innovation, performance, and sustainability. Want to make sure your brand stays authentic and compelling 2025 and beyond? Let’s talk about how to craft a strategy that resonates—keeping you ahead of trends while staying true to who you are. Navigating these complex dynamics requires a clear strategy rooted in real consumer insights. At Above The Clouds Communication , we help brands find that balance—guiding them to make informed decisions on strategic marketing, messaging, and positioning to build long-term relevance and trust. In a time when consumer behaviors and trends shift rapidly, understanding what truly drives your audience is more critical than ever. Whether it’s embracing new opportunities or solidifying your core, it all starts with the right insights. #Outdoor #sports #Performance #BrandStrategy #GORPCore #OutdoorInnovation #Sustainability #FashionTrends #ispo #ispomunich #ispomunich2024 #strategy #marketing

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I love a red carpet. Maybe it's my Los Angeles roots or my obsession with pop culture. But I was surprised to find myself thinking about the role of Brand while I perused the Met Gala 'looks' on social media. The use of #ai was unexpected and dare I say fun. But #ai was used by 'big brands', i.e. powerful women who already have a seat at the Met Gala table. Typically, these types of marketing efforts are utilized by smaller brands who want to be part of the larger conversation but don't have the resources to do so (I'm thinking about smaller brands who execute on the periphery of the super bowl or a big trade show). Which got me thinking, if a smaller brand (ie, someone who is not a household name) pulled this with #ai, would we be equally delighted? Or, are there different rules for who gets to utilize the latest tech? #socialmedia #marketing #branding #influencers #metgala https://lnkd.in/gCVa2Aiw

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Great post from Grace Carney Union Square Ventures on The Fragmentation Of Search: https://lnkd.in/egwnR95D Are consumers willing to pay for Search? We'll be able to answer that question in a subset of what current search excludes, when we launch our edtech MVP of MakeLoveNotPorn Academy in a few months' time: https://lnkd.in/e3jbrak6 - the aggregator hub for the best of the world's #sexed, searchable by age-appropriateness, cultural sensibility etc. At a time when open healthy #sexed is being censored and deplatformed everywhere (including deliberately in search), parents and teachers have told me for years, we'll pay anything for this service (while VCs/investors have refused to fund anything to do with this topic). We'll see - watch this space 😎

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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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How did jackfruit become a plant-based success? It took strategy, innovation, and understanding consumer drivers: taste, health, and sustainability. The Jackfruit Company shows how combining natural benefits with market insights can break barriers. Can jackfruit inspire more breakthroughs in sustainable food systems? https://lnkd.in/eJaF_Jgc

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All founders, Board of Directors and CEOs This is a critical aspect of a transformation of your business which can make a huge impact in measurable finacial outcomes together with CHANGING LIVES OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE AT THE CORE OF THE SUCCESS OF YOUR BUSINESS Peter Stavros

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#CauseAndEffect #BurdenOfProof #BetterSafeThanSorry Unsolicited advice for advertisers making claims about net-zero emissions, bamboo products, or recyclability: Until there is clarity on what qualifies as an “internationally recognized methodology,” it’s probably best to stop making environmental claims - not just in the oil and gas sector -, or have a chat with legal.

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I'm nervous about tomorrow, but it gave me a little extra comfort to weigh in on this year's election. CBS Sunday Morning News was a chance to go mainstream with the perspective I can bring. I got the "walk and talk" shot with David Pogue and I got emails from my family and friends who watch the show. In this business I'm in, we're responsible for help shaping messages and experiences that define what people think about brands. Hopefully based on a truth. Can't say the truth piece feels quite as true anymore for political ads. Although that was probably debatable about marketing as a whole, unfortunately. And It's harder than ever to unify people around a message-- we've moved beyond the broad message to much more niche. In many ways good because there was an assumed bigger perspective that left many out. But we're also losing a shared narrative, which makes truth impossible. And in media today we must navigate the complexity of platforms and subculture to try to align people around a set of values and beliefs, if not a message. We must try and break through peoples' bubbles-- that they aren't even aware they are a part of. Or maybe they are and don't care. Luckily with brands we still have to play the long game. So we haven't gone all negative. We need to build the brand over time. In politics, fear of what could happen can be more unifying than the hope and belief of real change. It's an all or nothing for candidates, so they have to go all in. They don't just have a low sales quarter. The winner of the election controls the next 4 years. The loser gets nothing. However while fear can serve as a unifier or at least a barrier to voting for your opponent, it doesn’t work as well as a motivator for most. I just hope we've given people enough to show up for: pride, hope, optimism, joy--belief that moving forward is a good thing.

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#Speaker #Announcement #AdTech #Economic #Forum returns to the fabulous New York Times Center on March 19.  It's the best place to be if you're interested or vested in #adtech. Last April at our inaugural forum we brought 34 of the brightest minds to the stage to deliver #enlightenment 💡  #enlightenment is our primary unit of production. We produce it with four raw materials: #Content at the intersection of adtech, economics, and finance. #Conversation in the raw with zero no trade-press listening in. #Connecting with friends new and old. #Collaboration that turns into #deal making. If there is one thing that makes curating #ATEF worth all the effort it's hearing from so many people about the deals they got done by being there. When we produce #enlightenment, our guests get #deals done. Today we are announcing 12 #returning speakers and one #new speaker with several more speaker announcements happening over the coming weeks: Sir Martin Sorrell Brian Wieser, CFA Sanja Partalo Rishad Tobaccowala Joe Marchese Laura Martin, CFA, CMT Shweta Khajuria, CFA Eric Franchi Reed Rayman Brian O'Kelley Stephen Master Bob Lord and... Daniel Salmon #ATEF #NYC is invite-only or apply to attend. Are you in? https://lnkd.in/ewR6wpV3 If you're interested in #sponsoring ATEF NYC, reach out to me or Rob Beeler. We've curated a handful of creative sponsorships and we go "logo lite" at #ATEF so get involved soon and lock it in.

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Fascinating read from Alt-Meat! The resurgence of bootstrapping as a primary growth strategy for start-ups is indeed thought-provoking. We've always championed self-funding and embraced this approach in growing our brand. Not the sexy way but it is the only way. The final paragraph is particularly intriguing, "PitchBook contends that more start-up companies will be self-funded: How many credit cards does it take to buy an industrial scale fermenter or a high-volume food-grade extruder?" #PitchBook #Bootstrapping #Sustainability https://lnkd.in/gB53dxWM

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As a brand creative and strategist, I often face the dilemma of when to disrupt a winning formula and when to protect a brand’s heritage (and when to do both at the same time). In my new article in Forbes https://lnkd.in/gWXffTCr, I examine how to navigate this balance by breaking down four case studies of successful brand stewardship. It turns out that sometimes the marketer’s bravest move is restraining themselves from changing what is already working. You wouldn’t rebrand the Mona Lisa, would you? #brandstrategy #brandstewardship #branding #Firehouse #Forbes #marketing

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Diageo doubles down on non-alcoholic spirits with the acquisition of Ritual Zero Proof & now owns three of the five world's largest non-alcoholic spirit brands Ritual Zero Proof was founded in 2019, and became the #1 non-alcoholic spirits player in the US after joining Diageo’s accelerator program in 2020. Five reasons why this deal makes sense: 1) Fast growing: The US non-alcoholic spirits has been the fastest growing category with +31% L5Y CAGR. 2) Incremental: 94% of non-alc buyers in the US also purchase alcoholic beverages, spending on avg $292 more than households exclusively purchasing alcohol demonstrating the incrementality of the category to beverage alcohol. 3) High Right-to-Win: Ritual is already a #1 non-alcoholic spirits player in the US, with a strong market position and tailwinds 4) Synergistic: being a #1 player globally in both alcoholic and non-alc spirits Diageo is well positioned to build on Ritual’s current success and scale it up further leveraging its GTM muscle and category expertise 5) Close to the Core: being a part of Diageo’s accelerator (Distill Ventures) since 2020, Ritual already knows what it takes to make cooperation with a spirits giant successful, limiting risks of integration challenges Exciting times for Diageo 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝘀: FF&A solves the most complex strategic problems of the world's largest FMCG companies across Corporate Strategy, Organic Growth, Digital RTM (eCommerce, DTC, and eB2B) and M&A. 14 out of the world's 20 largest FMCG companies are repeat Clients 𝗧𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲, 𝗰𝗳. 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗠𝗖𝗚 𝗠&𝗔 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄: https://lnkd.in/efD5RNWX 𝗧𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀, 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝘀 & 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗠𝗖𝗚 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿: https://lnkd.in/ea4gy65y #fmcg #cpg #mergersandacquisitions https://lnkd.in/dXAZQ242 Pernod Ricard The HEINEKEN Company AB InBev Carlsberg Group Campari Group William Grant & Sons The Coca-Cola Company PepsiCo

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No Data, No Dollars Anyone who has heard me speak recently will have heard me say this. Retail Media is hugely profitable for retailers. Unsurprisingly they want more and more investment from manufacturers, often times in return for ads that are becoming less and less effective. As manufacturers we need to make sure we are making the maximum return possible on ever £,$,€,¥ (or any other currency invested). For me, that means knowing what we want in return and that starts with access to robust, accurate, complete and timely data for every campaign we invest in. Simply put, if you don’t get data in return you shouldn’t be investing. Recently I spoke with Lauren Livak Gilbert and Peter Crosby of The Digital Shelf Institute. Amazingly, they have chosen to refine my words and meanings and turn them into the amazing article attached. If you aren’t a member of the DSI I really can’t advocate it highly enough. They do excellent work and their podcast is the best in the industry. #digitalcommerce #ecommerce #cpg #fmcg #cpgindustry #fmcgindustry #digitalshelf #retailmedia #digitalretailmedia #omnichannel #digitalretail

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What does the political landscape look like based on brand preference? What brands are truly non-partisan? In a polarized US political climate, many brands are focused on being as non-partisan as possible - but the latest Harris Poll 100 data show an interesting picture of what brands resonate more or less with Democrats and Republicans. More brands in their 100 skew towards liberal preference, though what most strikes me is how hard it is to truly exclude a party. The appeal of brands that have taken a potentially divisive stance (Chick-fil-a, Nike, etc.) may sit further on one side, but still hold significant preference across parties. When compared with how far out the Trump Organization polls away from Democrats, its interesting to see how the 'Chick-fil-a sandwich effect' allows consumers to separate product from brand. https://lnkd.in/eSextXbt #brandstrategy #brands #politics #uselection

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Is it just me, or does this seem like a reference to 'Deny, Defend, Depose' / 'Deny, Depose, Delay'? The timing seems a little convenient. What company / copywriter would take such a tragic moment and attempt to turn it into a parody for commercial gain? That's incredibly poor taste if you ask me. Klarna - please tell me I'm overthinking this and it's merely a coincidence and not some failed attempt at whatever your copywriter was going for - humour, satire, parody, homage... #copywriting #marketing #emailmarketing

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Oh boy, so a mysterious third-party is crawling and indexing your site and feeding that to Perplexity. How wonderful :) -> In response to plagiarism allegations, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says the company “is not ignoring” robots.txt, but does rely on third-party web crawlers "Srinivas said the mysterious web crawler that Wired identified was not owned by Perplexity, but by a third-party provider of web crawling and indexing services. Srinivas would not say the name of the third-party provider, citing a NDA. Asked if Perplexity immediately called the third-party crawler to tell them to stop crawling Wired content, Srinivas was non-committal. “It’s complicated,” he said." #perplexity #google #seo #ai

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GLP-1 drugs aren’t just curbing appetites, they’re slimming down profits for global confectionery brands. 📉 This shift in #consumerbehaviour presents a significant challenge for eating and drinking brands, which must now rethink product development to align with the growing influence of GLP-1 usage. 🤔 The The Hershey Company’s recent earnings call revealed #doubledigit declines in net income and earnings per share, while retailers like Walmart have reported lower food sales, particularly in sweets and snacks. 🍫 Looking ahead, Morgan Stanley predicts that the consumption of carbonated soft drinks, baked goods, and salty snacks could drop by up to 3% over the next decade due to GLP-1 adoption. Personally, I think the decline could be even steeper when factoring in other trends we’re tracking. 📊 With one in eight U.S. adults having tried GLP-1 drugs, their impact extends beyond food. From an influx of larger-sized clothing in the #fashionresale market to plastic surgeons observing reduced skin elasticity, these drugs are reshaping consumer habits and entire industries. 👗 As the U.S. leads this shift, brands like Nestlé are already rolling out product lines tailored for GLP-1 users. The global response will be fascinating to watch, with more low-sugar, high-protein, and smaller-portion options likely emerging to meet new global behaviours and growing demand. 🌍 It will also be interesting to see what the future of the #sweetindulgence will look like and how brands will adapt to our #littletreat #culture and our search for that crumb of happiness. 🥐 Signal Credit: Joceline Yong #GLP1Impact #ConsumerTrends #FoodInnovation #HealthAndWellness #FutureOfFood #ChangingAppetites #ProteinPacked #LowSugarLifestyle #MarketShifts #GlobalAdaptation

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