B2B-PR-agency insights - fmcg brands and commerce innovation

Written by Simpatico PR

Posted on 2025-06-16

Phygital Powerhouses: How Legacy & Challenger Brands are Shaping Retail an event from InternetRetailing and RetailX provided an interesting snap shot of what brands are thinking and doing right now in response to changing shopper behaviour and emerging technologies – not least AI and retail media platforms.

Here are my take aways from the day which I expect to frame discussion in the fmcg brand space over coming months.

1. Data collaboration is the hottest cpg/fmcg buzz-phrase – particularly between brands, retailers and tech to fuel retail media performance and shopper insights. But to what extent will cpg/fmcg brands be in the driving seat and how will they create the necessary first party data (1PD) to influence marketing and promotional strategies?

2. Watch out – everyone will have a data cleanroom. Perhaps cleanrooms providing a safe space to do data matching are the answer. They will squeeze between every partner to power even better shopper relationships said Thibaut Munier of Numberly. 

We are used to the concept from Google, Meta and Amazon as a means to fuel their tech stacks with anonymized consumer information – but we can expect to see every brand and retailer start to use them as 1PD becomes an ever more valuable resource.

3. From Siro Descrovi and Ed Sellier at Dunnhumby – data will allow us to go back to the shopping future - we’re on the cusp of a new shopper data paradigm enabling brands and retailers to tailor price and experience in the way that small, local shops did for their communities a hundred years ago – but at scale.

This is a fascinating idea that back in the day shop keepers knew how to stock, price and merchandise grocery and household products to match the very specific demands of shoppers in their local areas because they knew the customers personally. The rise of mass-market retail removed this intimate knowledge from the super-marketing equation. Now, combining retailer and cpg/fmcg data has the potential to make shopping experiences far more tailored.

4. But…more work needed to understand “human missions” – why we buy. Could we start to see new models of personalisation that get past the current crude attempts to understand people and tailor marketing to them – asked Herculano Rodrigues THG Ingenuity.

5. Uncanny shopping valley has yet to be crossed. When the movie Minority Report was released, many dismissed the idea that advertising in public spaces could become personalized in such an overt way – it’s now more than possible to execute targeted screen ads – could the retail environment become a test-bed to acclimatize consumers? Could mobiles bridge the gap?

Explaining the launch strategy for NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto in the U.S. market, leveraging boutiques, e-retailers, Nestle’s Berta Cruz Corominas revealed that the team decided consumers were not ready for such an approach when they entered stores even though the necessary shopper data had been collected before people had become customers.

6. But Berta from Nestle also proclaimed omni-channel is dead – it’s now all about omni-experiences - i.e. the game is moving on fast and consistency of experience delivery across every customer touch point maintaining brand consistency, voice, and identity, has to be a key objective in brand marketing.

7. Much was said about data and measurement and brand marketing beyond retail media, which prompted the question - does retail media need a JIC (Joint Industry Committee / Currency) to establish standards for measurable retail media outcomes beyond the JBPs (joint business plans)?

8. Time and again the advertising industry denigrates promotional marketing and questions brands decision to invest in claiming that promoting value damages brand equity. But it is time to re-think the relationship between brand equity and value promotions? Hard elements such as price, product and reviews are vital to GenZ – who don’t automatically respect the heritage of major brands.

Citing its work with Coca-Cola Steve Smith of savi UK said sampling can be critical to winning approval from younger consumers who don’t necessarily buy into or respect heritage brands.

9. From Marco Brucato of Beko Europe don’t fear AI’s impact on work – work does not have a cap or limit it will simply enable us to do way more than we imagined possible. And, brands’ response to harnessing AI should be structured into three parallel areas – Efficiency, Consumer Experience, Creativity.

Click to find out more about our B2B PR agency approach to thought leadership and B2B marketing.