Welcome to the first edition of Consumer Products Insights, Bain & Company's Global Consumer Products newsletter. We are launching this quarterly publication to keep consumer products executives out in front as they deal with a fast-changing marketplace and intensifying competition.

Each issue will keep you updated in three important areas:

• We will examine shifts in global trends, showing how they impact the industry and detailing how to best respond. In this first issue, we will unveil our list of the top ten capabilities required to win in the future, and uncover five intriguing themes—five winning behaviors that consumer products players should consider adopting almost as mantras and embed in their ways of thinking and operating.
• We will explain what leading FMCG companies are doing to successfully adapt to increasingly complex market conditions—proven approaches that help them outcompete and grow profitably. This first issue includes a detailed explanation of The Bain Brand AcceleratorSM, our approach to revitalizing slow-growth brands.
• Finally, top executives of winning groups and brands will share valuable lessons about how they've managed to succeed and redefine the rules of competition in their categories. This first issue features highlights of a discussion with Hugues Pietrini and Patrick Mispolet, the current and former CEOs of Orangina Schweppes in France, about the successful rejuvenation of their iconic soft-drink brands.

The content of Consumer Products Insights draws on decades of experience with global Consumer Products leaders. We hope you will find it insightful and practical. If you would like to follow up on a particular topic, please reach out to one of the many experts in our Global Consumer Products Practice. And do not hesitate to suggest specific topics for upcoming editions.

Thank you in advance for your interest and feedback.

-Vijay Vishwanath, head of Bain & Company's Global Consumer Products practice

Getting ahead of game-changing trends

Consumer products executives are confronting significant trends that are reshaping their world—everything from declining populations in developed markets to curtailed consumer spending among some consumer segments to retailer consolidation and the growth of private labels. As these and other trends alter the rules for players in both developed and developing markets, companies best-equipped to meet the challenge will be distinguished by their strength in five winning behaviors: repeatability and consistency, simplicity and alignment, speed, external focus and selectivity.

Revitalizing brand growth with The Bain Brand Accelerator

In developed markets, many consumer products categories have stopped growing and private labels are causing the pool of branded products to decline. We've identified three winners that beat the odds and boosted their brand growth to significantly outperform the competition. While each of the companies pursued a different strategy, they all used The Bain Brand AcceleratorSM, an approach to determining why brands are not growing faster and mobilizing teams to act.

New life for Orangina Schweppes, France

In this video, Hugues Pietrini and Patrick Mispolet, the current and former CEOs of Orangina Schweppes, France, discuss the challenges of reviving their soft-drink brands.

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