Growth at any cost is still a mantra. But toxic growth creates more problems than it solves.
In part two of the chat with François Bazini, the host continues a conversation about “toxic growth” and why CMOs fail, arguing that marketers often chase glamorous, short-term levers, flavour “innovations,” promotions, ill-conceived category moves, or new consumer targets that look good on paper but poison brands, instead of doing the harder work of growing the core. François illustrates toxic growth through Ribena’s decline from a top UK brand in 2015 to outside the top 100 by 2022 after shifting away from families, launching non-credible flavoured water and sparkling RTDs, and becoming promotion-dependent. They discuss how companies mismanage brands, avoid postmortems, and misread success, citing Celsius’ growth as driven largely by a competitor’s delisting and a COVID-era shift to no-sugar. He also predicts that successful CMOs must both strengthen core brand growth and build disruptive new brands.
00:00 The types of Growth
00:43 Fake Innovation and Incentives
02:26 Defining Toxic Growth
06:33 Ribena Case Study Breakdown
26:46 Future of the CMO
What Is Actually Driving Profitable Growth Today?
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