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The Breeze With Beverage DigestAuthor: Beverage Digest
Beverage Digest Editor & Publisher Duane Stanford talks shop: news of the day, interesting competitive trends, new products and categories. He brings you into the kinds of conversations that we have here every day at Beverage Digest. To dissect whats happening, connect dots, and ask the most important question: What does this mean? Language: en-us Genres: Business News, News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Episode 31: Can Big CPG Companies Close the Innovation Gap? The Case for Cultural Momentum Over Brand Equity
Episode 31
Wednesday, 11 March, 2026
In today's episode of The Breeze, Duane Stanford and John Sicher bring in RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi to unpack why big beverage companies struggle to create disruptive innovation in-house. And when big companies acquire disruptive new brands, why are the results so mixed? Duane, John, and Nik use Coca-Cola's acquisitions of BodyArmor and Fairlife as case studies to explore distribution speed, culture, incentives, and how organizing around occasions can restore relevance.• BodyArmor’s write-downs and sports drinks losing hero status• The three pillars of deals and why manageability breaks• Distribution pace versus market-by-market velocity• Cultural momentum beats brand equity• Founder retention and the Church & Dwight model• Dual engines for core and emerging brands• Organizing around occasions, not categories• Fairlife’s independence, protein timing, and tech moat• PepsiCo–Poppi risks and keeping operational fit• AI, data, and faster concept-to-shelf cyclesText us thoughts, questions, or topic suggestions.
