The FMCG Guys

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QXMuApKUktk 

Julio Cesar Do Monte is the Area Vice President Russia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey (RAMET) at Consumer Healthcare Leader Kenvue. He joined Daniel in Dubai to speak about his very international career, that's taken him and his family from Brazil to Germany, Indonesia, UK, South Africa and, now, the Emirates in a large regional role.

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Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP4NIkfYSck 

Spryos Tryfonas is the VP of Asia, Oceania and Africa at Cereal Partners Worldwide, the joint venture between Nestlé and General Mills. Daniel sat with him in Dubai to learn about his career path up to a Regional General Manager job: the beginnings, growing, leadership, tough decisions, moving internationally and what to do to get there.

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The highly anticipated "What's in Store for Retail Media Networks" is coming to Dusseldorf on February 23rd. Sign up here: https://stratacache.com/en/euroshop-whats-in-store-for-retail-media-networks/. In this episode, we welcome STRATACACHE's (the company behind the event) Tijmen Willems and Alison Dunham to speak about the main themes of the event, such as Creative, Measurement, the role of Brands as well as a general "State of the Nation" of In-Store Retail Media! 

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Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puxn9ynnfMQ 

Sharon Gee is the SVP Product, AI at Commerce, the umbrella company of BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift. Daniel joined her live at their stand at NRF (Retail's Big Show in NYC, January 2026) to discuss what brands have to think about data when presenting themselves to a world where agency is no longer a human exclusivity. 

Tune in to hear about:
- Commerce's rebrand and how they are combining a Data and Commerce 
- The Shift to Data as a Storefront, Customers as the...

Marina Nesterenko is the Global Category and Customer Marketing Director at LIPTON Teas and Infusions (Unilever spin-off). In this conversation, we speak about how she's re-imagining the tea category – where over 5 Billion cups are consumed a day globally! – to better connect with consumers, now that younger generations are not so keen on coffee. We also speak about her FMCG career beginnings, falling out of love with the corporate world and back again, entrepreneurship and more. Ah! And Marina is also the Founder of Bubble Bliss, a Champagne Bar in Paris that's just been nominated as one of the best in F...

Don't miss our visit to Small Beer Brewery on our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ and YouTube: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spyros-tryfonas-81aba886/ 

Felix James and James Grundy are the founders of Small Beer, a mid-strength (2.1 to 2.7% ABV) brewery based in South Bermondsey, London. They join Daniel to speak about their journey as Founders, why they decided to go all-in into this category, routes to market and much more.

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Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/U6qbdhxf1Fc  

In this episode recorded live in New York City, we are joined by Julie Averill, former Chief Information Officer at lululemon and Uri Knorovich, co-Founder and CEO at Nimble. Together, we explore the impact that AI Agents are having beyond the buzz and the front-end shopping, like enabling real-time data collection. During the conversation, you'll hear more about the possibilities that this opens, but as well how senior executives are facing this novelty and how it's impacting organisations.

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...

This podcast was filmed live from John Lewis' Partnership's Bluewater store in Dartford, Greater London. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/-9bCupRp5ao and behind the scenes here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DT--fTpjcVM/?img_index=1&igsh=MWNwcmVyOHZrN2p2Zg==   We are joined by John Lewis' In-Store Retail Strategy & Development Manager Georgia Riley and Barrows Connected Store's CEO James Hay to speak about how they've partnered to create a next generation Store Experience with their digital touchpoints (formerly known as screens) and how that ultimately benefits brands, consumers and the Retailer.   Tune in to hear about:  John...

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/V43RZy5M1Bw 

Gentiane Barret is the Global Head of Media eCommerce and Content at Consumer Health Leader Opella (former Sanofi Consumer Healthcare). An unusual leader in our industry, having worked at the likes of Google and Bain & Company prior, she joins Daniel live from his Barcelona office to speak about her bold approach to building digital capabilities, Retail Media and much more. 

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Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NZl3R8U19yM 

Charles Waters the President of International at Beauty Icon Revlon. With an interesting personal story, having grown up in Barcelona with an English background (as the name indicates), we sit with him at their Barcelona office to speak about how he's built his career, stayed loyal and now is aiming for a big comeback after some troubled years that included filing Chapter 11.

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Lavinia Capresi is the Senior Marketing Director EMEA at Toys Leader Hasbro. Now looking after their Fashion and Preschool portfolio, she joins Christine and Daniel to share her journey at the company across local (Italy) and regional Marketing roles, her passion for board games, how communities are boosting the category, how they approach their consumers (kids and adults) and more.

Tune in to hear about:
-    Lavinia's Marketing Career
-    Curiosities about the Toy category
-    COVID's impact on toys and play in general
-    How to cater to different audiences 
-    How marketi...

Rutger Rozendaal is the CEO at Plant-based Leader The Vegetarian Butcher. He joins Efrain and Daniel to speak about where the category is in this crucial time, how his business is building a brand to escape commodification, how grocery is betting on the category and how it is to lead a business as a (relatively) young leader.   Tune in to hear about: Rutger's career path from Consulting to Unilever and now leading a business The status of the plant-based category after years of ups and downs How Grocery Retailers perceive the plant-based category Why everyone will win if plant-based wins W...

Natalie James is the Head of eCommerce Europe at spirits leader Brown-Forman, owner of the famous Jack Daniels brand. A thought leader in the Digital FMCG space, which she ended up in in a rather surprising way, she joins the podcast to speak about her career, an exciting project in eB2B and her vision of the industry.

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Xenia Barth is the Chief Executive Officer at Merz Lifecare Holding, a leader in Health, Wellness and Beauty in the OTC space with a very strong presence in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and part of the larger Merz Group (Pharma). With an international and cross-functional background in FMCG at the likes of Henkel and Reckitt, she speaks with Efrain and Daniel about her journey, lessons learnt and what her vision is for the business she's leading today.

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In this special episode of The FMCG Guys, we are joined by… your favourite hosts: Efrain, Cristina and Daniel! Yes, tune in to get to know our respective festive traditions and, later, hear about some of their personal stories, anecdotes, quirky work habits and more.   We wish you all a fantastic festive season and start to 2026!  

More 

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Audio Mixing by Modest Ferrer
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Disclaimer
The views and...

Kristof Neirynck is the CEO at Avon. He visited us back in August 2023 when he was CMO and General Manager Western Europe at Avon to share how he's transforming a brand with a huge legacy to make it succesful in the future. 

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Book Recommendation: Jim Collins - From Good to Great

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tfqor_l64-M 

Andrew Lipsman is one of the world's most respected Retail Media's Opinion Leaders. We sat with him at SMG and ADWEEK's Retail Media Summit UK to speak about the latest trends, what Retailers are doing and, ultimately, how brands and CMOs may be underestimating this Media Channel's true potential.

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Check out Andrew's appearances on The CPG Guys here: https://w...

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YVCxn035iQI 

Rob Edwards is dairy leader Arla Foods' Head of Media and Digital in the UK. He joins us live from SMG and ADWEEK's Retail Media Summit UK 2025 to speak about his vision of what Media means to FMCGs today – especially as a rare outsider to the industry!

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Niccolò Gloazzo is a Senior Director of Media and Omnichannel at Kettle & Fire, one of North America's top broth brands. In this conversation, you'll hear about how a career journey that started living in a house-boat in Amsterdam have driven him to lead up a Digital function and start his own Retail Media agency!

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Richard Bowden, Marketing & Digital Director at Boots No7 Beauty Company, joins Daniel to speak about his zigzag career from agencies and British Airways to William Grant & Sons, Unilever and now Boots – and what that journey has taught him about brand building, data, e-commerce and leadership. We also discuss how Boots built premium, "own" brands like No7, why marketing needs a proper seat at the boardroom table again, and how to balance long-term brand building with short-term commercial pressure. 

Key topics & takeaways

Loyalty is harder to earn. Consumer trust is harder to keep. Signs are we're entering a Loyalty Recession. So how can FMCG brands stay ahead and stay relevant in 2025? Sarah Richter, the Chief Marketing Officer at SAP Emarsys is a marketing leader with a deep view across customer engagement, data and loyalty. She joins Daniel to break down the findings of Emarsys' Global Customer Loyalty Index (find it HERE) and explain how loyalty is shifting, why "true loyalty" is in decline, and what brands need to do to build meaningful, long-term connections to stay competitive.

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Mike Del Pozzo, President of North America Commercial & Customer at PepsiCo, food & beverage manufacturer of iconic brands like Pepsi, Frito Lay, Mtn Dew, Gatorade, Quaker Oats & Doritos.

Find Mike on Linkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-del-pozzo/
Find PepsiCo on Linkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pepsico/
Find PepsiCo online at: https://www.pepsico.com/

Here's what we asked Mike:

PepsiCo recently announced *Pepsi Prebiotic Cola* — a major evolution of traditional cola. How do you see functional ingredients like prebiotics shapi...

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j7L91zT_YzE

Benni Lickfett is the Global VP Breakthrough Innovation, Digital & Ventures at spirits and beer leader Diageo (Guiness, Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker…). In this conversation, recorded live at SMG and ADWEEK's Retail Media Summit UK, you'll hear about how rethinking consumer journeys, deploying AI-driven personalization, innovating beyond the bottle, bringing tech into heritage brands, and staying ahead in fast-changing spaces like travel retail, martech, and sustainability.

 Tune in to hear about:

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ATxKgfca_5w

The Hot Seat is this fun, fast and slightly chaotic collaboration of The FMCG Guys and The Women and Retail Media Collective. In this episode, Ana Lau and Daniel are joined by Lisa Tan, a  Retail Media Leader based in Singapore with experience in both Retail and Ad-Tech. The episode opens with rapid-fire personal questions to get to know Lisa before getting into uniquely Singaporean myths, retail market realities, and the quirks of working across tech and retail media.

Lisa breaks down the structure of Singapore's retail l...

Bastien Parizot is the SVP IT & Digital, Marketing & Transformation and CIDO Emerging Markets at Health & Hygiene leader Reckitt. A leader with who's seen it all — having worked in start-ups, retail, sporting goods and even automotive, apart from FMCG — he joins Daniel to talk about how he's keeping Reckitt up to date by betting on the right tech innovations.

Tune in to hear about:

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LY2w1o-wpmQ

Aaron Gallagher is the Managing Director and Head of Sales at Head of Sales Kinective Media℠ by United Airlines, the carrier's very own Media Network. He joins Daniel live from SMG and ADWEEK's Retail Media Summit UK 2025 to speak about the opportunities in this unique proposition.

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Tara Loftis is the Global President, Dermatological Skincare at Galderma. Globally representing brands like Cetaphil, Defferin, Alastin and Benzac, she's a leader that balances soul, gut feeling and scientific rigour. Always keeping her ears tuned to what's happening in culture, she speaks about how she's been able to create "viral bets" that resonate with the zeitgeist and the contemporary consumer.

Tune into this conversation to hear about:

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gztCQqP5KZY

Lucia Mastromauro is Deliveroo's VP of Advertising. We sit down with her at SMG and Adweek's Retail Media Summit UK 2025 to speak about how the delivery player is continuously upgrading their offering to brands across their different channels, from Restaurants to High Street.

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Hanneke Faber is the Chief Executive Officer at Consumer Electronics Leader Logitech. One of the top voices in our industry, with a background at flagship companies like Procter & Gamble, Ahold and Unilever, she joins Christina and Daniel to speak about her upbringing, key decisions and how she's approaching the future at the US and Swiss-based company.   Tune in to hear about: How being a youth champion diver brought Hanneke to do her bachelors in the USA Her 20-year stint at P&G, experience in Retail at Ahold, Unilever and why she decided to take the moves Logitech's balance: offense, innovation a...

In this episode recorded live at Groceryshop Las Vegas, we sit down with Peter Lizner, Head of Strategy at Rohlik Group, one of Europe's most advanced online grocery companies. We explore how the Czech-founded business has grown into a €1.1 billion player across Europe through a unique approach to local sourcing, customer service, and technology is setting a new standard for convenience and quality. 

We discuss:

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mhJh7MuMaD8

Mercado Libre is Latin America's eCommerce leader. In this episode of The FMCG Guys, Daniel sits down at Mercado Libre's Mexico City  Office with Alejandra Restrepo, Director of Mercado Ads (The Retailer's Media Division) Mexico. Together, they dive into how Latin America's largest e-commerce platform is rapidly evolving into a full-scale media ecosystem — connecting commerce, fintech, and entertainment across the region. Alejandra shares her career journey from 13 years at McKinsey to leading the growth of Mercado Libre's advertising arm, which has grown to be one of Latin America's top thre...

Watch on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/xO8ljWS9miU

The Hot Seat is our collaboration with The Women in Retail Media Collective. In Every episode, one of their co-Founders, Ana Laura Zain and Emma Helsloot, team up with Daniel to have a conversation with a relevant person in Retail Media that breaks cliches, boring panels and gets very personal.

In this episode, we are joined by Fluent's Strategic Partnerships Leader Morgan Chapman, who loves to compete against herself when getting on planes. Ana Lau and Daniel won't leave a page unturned in order for you t...

Helen Tomlinson is Kenvue's recently appointed Managing Director of Spain. She joins Christine and Daniel to speak about how she's developed her career across functions and countries to become one of, unfortunately still few, female General Managers in our industry. In this conversation you'll hear some examples of how some specific situations like "putting a hand up"  can help advance, nuances we may not be aware of, the importance of mentors, allyship and much more.

Topics covered include:

A year later, we are back with a special CPG Guys × FMCG Guys crossover with Rick Swinkels, CEO of TCC Global, during Groceryshop in Las Vegas. You can also watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/rkq6l7SXA30 

This time, we focus on why loyalty is the real growth lever in grocery right now. We dig into shopper "promiscuity" under value pressure, the surge of private label, how misused promos and siloed RMNs erode trust, and why paid memberships and smart, human-centred personalization are setting the next rules. Rick also shares how TCC's physical-reward programs and ne...

Today's guest is Selim Tansug, COO at The Quality Group, a leader in the Sports Nutrition and Functional space with brands like ESN and More Nutrition. With 20 years in supply chain and an 18-year career at Unilever, he shares his perspective on how the industry has evolved from global optimization to resilience and agility amid today's volatility. From managing operations in Turkey, Vietnam, and Europe to leading the growth of a D2C sports nutrition business, Selim reflects on balancing speed, innovation, and technology while maintaining culture and a consumer focus.

Tune in to hear about: 

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/V9dHBZDZv3A

In this episode of The Hot Seat, we are joined by Jemma Haley from The John Lewis Partnership, who dives into her world of retail media strategy, sharing the highs, lows, and quirky bits of her day-to-day. Get to know her through rapid-fire personal questions, ping pong beer brands, "Would You Rather?" dilemmas, and the classic "Two Truths and a Lie", where she shared her background dancing in a Status Quo video that might just go viral now.

We know how to have fun but also...

Sign up for Candid Commerce Amsterdam (Nov 5th at Capital C): https://candid-commerce.com/amsterdam-2025 

See last year's event: https://candid-commerce.com/candid-commerce-amsterdam 

Candid Commerce London: https://candid-commerce.com/candid-commerce-london 

The Hot Seat: https://www.fmcgguys.com/hot-seat-wrmc/ 

In today's episode we are joined by Sorin Patilinet from Pepsico. Growing up in Romania without access to global brands sparked his fascination with advertising and shaped his perspective on how marketing drives connection and influence. He joins Daniel to speak about his recent book "Marketing Effectiveness: Applying Marketing Science for Brand Growth".

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In today's episode we are joined by Pavi Gupta, Insights and Analytics VP at Chobani, with nearly three decades of experience across global FMCGs. Over his career, he has witnessed and shaped how new technologies transform the way organizations generate and apply insights. He joins the show to discuss how curiosity, empathy, and change management remain at the core of the function, and why elevating the role of insights is more critical than ever.

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The Hot Seat is a special episode series of The FMCG Guys in collaboration with the Women in Retail Media Collective. You can also watch on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/nGmcW0BSxTQ 

In every episode (cadence TBD!), we will be unveiling the most personal and fun side of different Retail Media Personalities. Expect Quick-fire games, bold opinions, and zero buzzwords. This section will be hosted by the co-Founders of the collective Ana Laura Zain and Emma Helsloot and our very own Daniel Torres.