Growth 02 May 2025

The Transformation Imperative: Why Big Brands Must Evolve Now

A Crisis of Growth and a Decade of Delay 

The CPG landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. According to data from fiscal year 2024 presented at the CAGNY Conference in February 2025, less than 15% of growth from the world’s top brands is volume-driven. This is not just a post-COVID anomaly—it reflects a multi-year trend, noted in recent reports including Nielsen’s 2024 Annual Marketing Report and Euromonitor’s Global Inflation Tracker Q1 2023 , where top-line growth has increasingly relied on pricing and mix rather than genuine consumer expansion. For big brands, the message is clear: change must happen now.

This volume stagnation isn’t just a financial concern—it’s a strategic one. Without sustained volume growth, the long-term viability of innovation, investment, and brand equity erodes. This is not the first time CPG players have been warned. But years of economic and pandemic-related uncertainty gave companies permission to delay deep change. Those conditions no longer hold.

The Rise of Small Brands: Speed, Storytelling, and Relevance

Small brands have outpaced legacy players across numerous categories. Their winning formula combines:

• Agility: The ability to anticipate or quickly respond to evolving consumer trends.
• Engagement: Building meaningful relationships with consumers through relevance and values alignment.
• Societal purpose: A visible contribution to issues like sustainability, equity, and health.
• Omnichannel fluency: Effective use of eCommerce, direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms, and social media to reach and retain audiences.

These qualities have allowed small brands to gain traction not only in premium niches but increasingly in mainstream, high-velocity categories—ranging from pet care and functional beverages to personal care and home cleaning.

What Big Brands Are Already Doing: Early Signs of Change 

While the urgency is high, the good news is that many large CPG companies are acting. According to recent analysis by Sevendots based on 2024 financial reports, shareholder communications, and presentations from a group of the largest global multinational CPG companies, leading players are focusing their efforts in three strategic domains:

1. Portfolio Optimization

• Streamlining SKUs and removing clutter from assortments.
• Divesting low-growth or margin-dilutive brands.
• Prioritizing and entering functional, health-forward, or premium segments where demand is rising.

2. Geographic & Channel Expansion

• Reallocating resources to high-growth emerging markets (APAC, LATAM, Africa).
• Strengthening presence in away-from-home (AFH) channels.
• Embracing quick commerce, digital-first retail, and non-traditional retail partners.

3. Digital & Productivity Optimization

• Using AI for dynamic pricing, demand forecasting, and trade optimization.
• Enhancing marketing ROI through precision targeting and content optimization.
• Rewiring supply chains for agility and resilience.

These moves, while necessary, will only deliver impact if paired with a new model of growth leadership—centered on relevance, reinvention, and recommitment.

Big Brands Must Play to Their Strengths 

On top of what large CPG companies are already working on, there are additional elements to consider in order to compete effectively with smaller brands:

1. Purpose & Sustainability at Scale

• Big brands have the infrastructure, partnerships, and budgets to deliver purpose at scale. From regenerative agriculture to sustainable packaging to ethical sourcing, their commitments must be bolder—and measurable.

2. Emotional Reconnection through Heritage and Human Truths

• Many iconic brands were built on enduring emotional propositions—joy, connection, empowerment, comfort. These should be rediscovered, reinterpreted, and re-expressed for new generations and touchpoints.

3. Innovation & Personalization

• It’s no longer enough to launch new SKUs. Breakthrough innovation is about platform thinking, consumer co-creation, and embedding personalization from formulation to packaging and messaging. Big brands have access to deep consumer data and testing capabilities—they must use them.

Efficient Product Introductions: The Execution

Breakthrough innovation means nothing without disciplined execution. Efficient Product Introductions have become mission-critical. This involves:

• Aligning brand, R&D, and commercial functions around a shared brief
• Involving retailers and trade partners early
• Integrating regulatory, category, and shopper insights
• Investing in launch readiness, supply visibility, and retail activation

This is where many CPG players still fall short. Too many innovations fail to scale, or are introduced without clarity, cannibalizing existing portfolios and eroding brand equity. This unlocks both speed to shelf and sustained presence.

Conclusion: Reclaiming Volume, Reclaiming Relevance

Volume-led growth isn’t dead. But it requires a different mindset—one that embraces reinvention over iteration, collaboration over control, and clarity over clutter. Big brands still have unmatched assets: reach, resources, trust. What they need now is resolve.

The time for cautious pilot projects and surface-level tweaks has passed. It’s time to act with boldness, purpose, and precision. The next decade of CPG leadership will belong to those who can scale not just efficiency, but relevance.

Contact Sevendots today to discover more.