CAGNY 2025: What didn't we hear?

Last week we had the privilege of listening to the CEOs and leadership teams of 31 leading consumer goods companies. Many of you know that I was on the ground and reporting back. (And if you missed it, check out my posts: CAGNY 2025: Day 0, CAGNY 2025: Day 1, CAGNY 2025: Day 2, CAGNY 2025: Day 3 and CAGNY 2025: Day 4.)

Having had a few days to recover from the onslaught of free giveaways from so many of my favorite brands, it’s a good time to take a step back and sum up what I heard – and, specifically, what I didn’t hear.

The Context: Are you a maximizer or a satisficer?

We started the week talking about the consumer – and the fact that our research shows a continual level of decision stress and a “maximizing” mindset, as individuals face persistently high grocery prices, health & wellness concerns and worry about geopolitics, sustainability and more. Companies are also carefully considering these factors, with tariffs, commodity costs, the rise (and fall) of growth in specific markets and ongoing channel shift discussed frequently throughout the week.

Above all, it need not be stated that the consumer is the heart and soul of our industry, and companies increasingly recognize that being consumer-centric requires reinventing the enterprise around end-to-end outcomes. Early in the week, I introduced the thought leadership we published on the end-to-end enterprise.

If you’re seeking more detail on what companies are doing in each of these areas, take a look at CAGNY 2025: Day 0, CAGNY 2025: Day 1, CAGNY 2025: Day 2, CAGNY 2025: Day 3 and CAGNY 2025: Day 4. What I would like to focus on today is the 5 things I didn’t hear.

1. Where is the breakthrough innovation (esp. through science)?

For years, most companies in our industry have predominantly invested in incremental innovation – whether they be new flavors/ formats or category adjacencies. This remains an important growth driver – but there’s always that part of me that wishes for something more. Truly breakthrough innovation has been rare; as consumer demands become more sophisticated – and science and technology open new possibilities – I am going to push harder on this topic. If you’re looking for inspiration, there’s a lot to admire in the direction L’Oréal has taken, and the ways they have applied science and tech to truly differentiated inventions – as well as the broad ecosystem they have built to accelerate their innovation.

2. What does the brand mean in the age of AI?

In my speeches, I frequently talk about the evolution of search. Once upon a time, search meant Google. Then, sometime in the last decade or so, we reached the point where more product searches started on Amazon than Google. Today, consumers are increasingly finding what they want through TikTok – and we already see the advent of gen AI-enabled search (Did you all catch the Alexa+ video?). This is not just a shift among platforms, but more meaningfully describes the broader evolution of what consumers are seeking – from information to product to content to personalized solution. Google can help me find a flight; Chat GPT can help me plan an amazing vacation for my family based on each of our preferences and interests. As brands, we’ve all gone through the process of learning how to do SEO through each platform; what happens when the equation flips and AI becomes the gatekeeper to (or even controller of) the consumer decision? What happens when bot-to-bot commerce becomes real, and I just let my AI agent go off and proactively find what I need – and take myself out of the decision-making? We see leading companies already embedding AI in brand-building, not just to be more precise but to also solve the previously unsolvable in consumer/ customer intimacy. For example, this week, I heard some companies talking about how they are utilizing AI to accomplish levels of engagement that used to be cost prohibitive. Clorox now has a goal to move 50% of their digital media to 1:1 personalization – because AI is making it possible to target, find and deliver truly 1:1 personalized content. Colgate-Palmolive also talked about the ability to support 1.7 million outlets in India with 30 million recommendations every month – impossible without AI.

3. Supply chain is a growth (not just cost) driver.

Supply chain was very frequently discussed by CFOs and under the headline of cost productivity. Far be it for me to ignore that supply chain remains a great productivity lever, but let’s also talk about how it is increasingly a critical growth driver. In particular, we need to stop thinking about supply chain as simply the recipient of commercial asks – and start thinking about the active partnership throughout the consumer journey. What is encouraging is that, in market, I increasingly hear about integrated business planning; while many companies still frame this as a supply chain activity, in its fully realized state, it is the integration of marketing, sales and supply chain to win in consumer and customer outcomes. I admire what PepsiCo is doing in this space: The company has been making significant data and tech investments to power the entire business, and that includes utilizing these capabilities for end-to-end planning. Moving away from traditional functional or market-level planning, PepsiCo is utilizing its next gen capabilities (and connected data lakes) to drive far more precise forecasting, and also operationalize across functions – from procurement through demand generation through supply.

4. We did not hear enough about people.

I mentioned that one of the biggest questions I get behind closed doors is around people – and specifically the workforce strategy, upskilling and ongoing change management required to successfully reinvent with AI. I think it’s notable that L’Oréal’s CEO made sure to mention that their marketers loved using the new BETiq AI tool. He’s right to be proud of this. Most companies are struggling with the substantial shifts required in people and organization – and we get a lot of questions, including about new leadership characteristics, the shift to a skills-based organization and how to build a continuous change muscle.

5. Looking ahead: The journey to the boundaryless enterprise.

I began with end-to-end enterprise; I will end here, as well. By and large, our industry remains oriented around a series of siloes – functional, market and value chain. I do see encouraging signs – as I mentioned above with integrated business planning, and also in the direction Nestlé is taking in operational planning, global productivity and enterprise transformation. Cross-value chain efforts, such as Colgate’s partnership with retailers (clean rooms for shared data and joint media targeting), as well as L’Oréal’s innovation ecosystem also provide inspiration for our industry – and I fully expect more to come.

And that’s a wrap for CAGNY 2025! As always, I welcome your thoughts and reactions. Please feel free to drop these in comments or DM me.