Most FMCG Growth Problems Are Not What Leadership Thinks They Are.

The strategy looks right. The team is capable. The investment is there. And still the numbers don't move.

In 25 years of operating and advising FMCG businesses across Europe and North America — at P&G, Philips, Campari, and with clients including Diageo, Heineken, and Disaronno — the pattern repeats: the stated problem is rarely the real one.

Portfolios get restructured when execution needed more time. New strategies get commissioned when the previous one was never properly implemented. Complexity increases when the answer was subtraction.

Amati & Associates finds the real problem. Then we stay involved until it's solved.

See how we work Start with a diagnostic

The gap between strategy and results is almost never strategic.

FMCG leadership teams are not short of ambition or ideas. What they consistently underestimate is how much execution capacity is consumed by complexity — and how long that erosion takes to show up in the numbers. By the time growth stalls visibly, the cause is usually two or three decisions upstream.

Portfolio growth without focus

A portfolio that expanded faster than commercial capability could support.

Innovation and NPD

An innovation pipeline with the right concepts but the wrong sequencing.

Marketing

A market strategy that was sound on paper but mistimed for where distributors, channels, and consumer behaviour actually were.

When companies bring us in

Clients typically come to us after something has already been tried. The strategy was refreshed. The agency was changed. The reorganisation was completed. And the numbers are still not responding.

When the portfolio has grown beyond what the organisation can execute. More SKUs, more formats, more markets — and thinner performance across all of them. The commercial team is spread across too many priorities, trade support is diluted, and even the strongest brands are underperforming at shelf. The issue is not the portfolio strategy. It is that the portfolio has outgrown the system built to support it.

When innovation launches but fails to travel. New products work in the pilot market. They don't replicate. Leadership disagrees on whether the problem is the concept, the timing, or the organisation's readiness to scale. The answer is usually the third — and it is fixable without scrapping the pipeline.

When growth exists on paper but not where it matters commercially. Revenue is holding. But margin is compressing, volume is declining in core markets, and the mix is shifting in the wrong direction. These are not planning problems. They are signals that the commercial architecture needs adjustment — in pricing, channel prioritisation, or trade investment logic.

When a transition creates a gap at exactly the wrong moment. Post-acquisition. Leadership change. Restructuring. These are the moments when strategic clarity is most critical and most frequently absent. We step in with senior commercial and marketing ownership — not to manage a process, but to make decisions and stay accountable through execution.

In these situations, advisory input alone is rarely enough. What is required is experienced, hands-on leadership that can diagnose quickly, make trade-offs explicit, and stay accountable through execution. That is the role Amati & Associates is brought in to play.

How we work

Involvement takes three forms, depending on what the situation requires. In practice, engagements often move between them as the work develops.

When direction needs to be established:

We work alongside leadership teams when priorities are unclear or the diagnosis is contested. The focus is not producing a report. It is reaching a clear view on what the real problem is, what the trade-offs are, and what needs to happen in what sequence.
Example
A multinational beverage company had a full innovation pipeline but declining returns from every launch. Leadership could not agree on whether the issue was the concepts, the market readiness, or the organisation's capacity to execute at scale. We led a rapid cross-market diagnostic, identified that the innovation was mis-timed rather than mis-designed, and reset the sequencing across channels and geographies. The outcome: fewer launches, sharper investment focus, measurably higher in-market impact, and faster go/no-go decisions at board level.
The outcome was a sharper investment focus, fewer launches with higher in-market impact, and faster decision-making at board level.

When strategic intent exists but execution lacks senior ownership:

In situations where the direction is clear but no one with sufficient seniority owns the translation into action, we step into a defined leadership role. This is not coordination. It is decision-making authority across markets, functions, and commercial partners.
Example
A mid-size food company had clear growth ambition and a functioning marketing team, but innovation was driven by product push rather than market pull. We took on fractional commercial leadership, rebuilt the pipeline from outside-in, established clear decision criteria, and aligned the team around a smaller number of better-supported priorities. The result was a sharper innovation focus, fewer launches with higher in-market impact, and faster decision-making at leadership level.

When momentum cannot wait

When growth, restructuring, or expansion requires full operational accountability — including P&L responsibility, team leadership, and direct involvement with markets, distributors, and retail partners — we take on interim executive roles with defined mandates and clear exit criteria.
Example
Following several years of leadership changes, a premium FMCG business had lost momentum in a key European market. Commercial performance had weakened, the team lacked direction, and profitability was under pressure. We took on interim executive responsibility, rebuilt the local organisation, reset trade relationships, restructured the promotional operating model, and simplified the portfolio. The business returned to profitability within 18 months and delivered double-digit revenue growth, with a leadership structure capable of sustaining results after our involvement ended.

About Us

Our Main Belief

The most common growth mistake in FMCG is not a wrong strategy. It is a right strategy applied to the wrong problem — or abandoned before it had time to show results.

Twenty-five years across line roles and consulting, in businesses ranging from global multinationals to PE-backed challengers, has produced one consistent observation: the companies that outperform are not more creative or more ambitious than their competitors. They are more disciplined about where they direct attention, more honest about what is actually broken, and more willing to stop doing things that are consuming execution capacity without producing commercial return. That discipline — diagnostic honesty followed by sustained operational focus — is what Amati & Associates brings.

28

Years of

Experience

80+

International

Projects

Who this is for. And who it is not

Amati & Associates works with established FMCG businesses facing complex growth decisions, typically at moments when ambition is clear but execution has become fragile.
This work is suited to organisations with existing scale, active international exposure, and leadership teams who recognise that growth constraints are no longer tactical, but structural and decision-led.
The person we work with directly carries P&L, commercial, or brand accountability. They are not looking for a study or a presentation. They need a clear view on what to prioritise, what to stop, and what the next 90 days need to look like.

This is not designed for early-stage brands, exploratory projects, or situations where decisions cannot be made. It is also not a fit for organisations looking for outsourced analysis, campaign execution, or long-term advisory without operational involvement.
Our work requires access, clarity of mandate, and willingness to act.

When those conditions are present, involvement is focused, pragmatic, and time-bound, with the aim of reaching a clear diagnosis quickly and staying involved long enough to see results..

Our Team

Elisabetta Borghi

Social Media, Fashion, Retail

Milan, Italy.

Rafael Escanez

Sales, Business Development, M&A

Madrid, Spain.

Ralph Talmont

Creativity, Innovation, Communication

Warsaw, Poland.

Marco Bevolo

Brand, Futures, Foresight

Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Filiberto Amati

Brand, Marketing, Strategy

Warsaw, Poland.

If you are facing growth decisions that feel increasingly complex, time-sensitive, or difficult to resolve internally, a focused conversation can help clarify priorities and options.

Engagements typically begin with a confidential discussion to understand the situation, the constraints, and what success would need to look like in practice. From there, we determine whether involvement makes sense — and in what form.

There is no obligation, and no predefined programme. The aim is clarity, not commitment.

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The Diagnostic

>15,000

EUR, Depending on the scope

A structured diagnostic engagement for FMCG leaders who suspect something is wrong but cannot locate where.
Four to six weeks. One clear output.
No slide deck padded to justify the fee.

Apply for a Diagnostic

Scoping Call

200

EUR, per 30 min. call

Advisory, Fractional, or Interim Engagement. Scoping and fee questions, or briefings and RFP.

Discuss your situation

Online Workshops

149

EUR per person

One-hour, small-group sessions on specific FMCG growth challenges
Volume vs Value Growth, Demand Spaces, Shrinking for Growth.
Entry point for leaders who want a focused discussion before a larger conversation.

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