Invest in your business stories and create better outcomes.

What does broken pottery and storytelling for business training have in common? It’s simple. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using pure gold. The metaphor is clever and clear. Once repaired, the pot is more valuable and beautiful than it was before.

The stories you tell in business including presentations, dashboards and reports (and even e mails) are already probably quite beautiful but what if we broke them down and stuck them back together with gold….something beautiful and definitely more valuable will appear.

The quest for "cut-through" — the ability to get quickly and directly through or past something that blocks or slows one down (Source: Merriam-Webster) — is a critical objective for both retailers and suppliers. This term captures the essence of what many in the industry strive for impactful communication and decisive action that drive results.

The quest for "cut-through" — the ability to get quickly and directly through or past something that blocks or slows one down (Source: Merriam-Webster) — is a critical objective for both retailers and suppliers. This term captures the essence of what many in the industry strive for impactful communication and decisive action that drive results.

So, why do we need Storytelling in FMCG? Do we have dashboards, e-mails, insight drops, spreadsheets? We have more granular insight than most industries, every product is scanned at the checkout, and we know who buys our products and when, where and why they buy them. We know more now than we ever have.

Collective Stories are specialists in market scoping, retail category management and insight. We specialise in assessing the balance between your current and aspirational markets. We believe in actionable and dynamic insight, oh and we believe in frugality, always making your spend work hard.

The following stories created post Christmas store visits have been selected and showcased because they have something to teach us as category managers, not just at Christmas but throughout the year. It’s amazing to see the changes vs. last year but also there is a definite sense that we have learnt from multiple lockdowns and changes to our missions. Retailers have taken chances with activity execution and we are seeing newness all around us notably with tone of voice, consideration of mission and recognition of the fact that we are all very different post pandemic. If you want to read more about changes to missions during the pandemic, check out the recent article we wrote for The Retail Institute.

As category managers in FMCG, stories are all around us, we very much hope you enjoy this edition and if there is anything you would like to see from us in the future, please contact us.

The following stories created post Christmas store visits have been selected and showcased because they have something to teach us as category managers, not just at Christmas but throughout the year. It’s amazing to see the changes vs. last year but also there is a definite sense that we have learnt from multiple lockdowns and changes to our missions. Retailers have taken chances with activity execution and we are seeing newness all around us notably with tone of voice, consideration of mission and recognition of the fact that we are all very different post pandemic. If you want to read more about changes to missions during the pandemic, check out the recent article we wrote for The Retail Institute.

As category managers in FMCG, stories are all around us, we very much hope you enjoy this edition and if there is anything you would like to see from us in the future, please contact us.

This article discusses changes to shopper missions caused by the pandemic and what this means for FMCG suppliers and retailers. Particular focus is given to the role of the FMCG Category Manager who is ultimately responsible for understanding how we shop, where we shop and the subsequent development of the opportunity and the optimisation of the shopper mission. It is also the responsibility of the category manager to work out practically and tactically what this means as we move into new 2022 planning cycles with realigned strategic priorities.

Stories are everywhere, they inspire, motivate and spark action. From and FMCG category development perspective, we should use stories to drive true and real development in our categories. At Collective Stories, we encourage the use of stories we collect from retail and real life to make your initiatives richer, more focussed and lets face it, a lot more interesting than a massive load of data (we still love data).

Stories are everywhere, they inspire, motivate and spark action. From and FMCG category development perspective, we should use stories to drive true and real development in our categories. At Collective Stories, we encourage the use of stories we collect from retail and real life to make your initiatives richer, more focussed and lets face it, a lot more interesting than a massive load of data (we still love data).

In the pulsing, flexing and brilliant world of FMCG, Flagship stores are an opportunity to showcase, to test and learn, to generate noise. Category Managers need to be aware of these stores for many reasons but predominantly because they are often the living embodiment of the strategic intent of the retailer. Maybe this is the aforementioned Admiral? Feel free to advise.

A multitude of similarities exists between category management and the art of storytelling. The first important link between FMCG category management and storytelling is the idea that Category Management is the primary platform whereby FMCG suppliers and retailers interact with each other.

Here at Collective Stories we also use an Octopus to describe how category projects can often become unwieldy particularly when large amounts of data are involved. We describe how this situation can feel like putting an octopus in a shopping bag, a tentacle always tries to escape.

Once you are listed, the hard work really begins. FMCG insight is a constant focus, we describe it as a constant flow, not a drenching or a dribble.

Helen recently gave a talk to CIM about the world of FMCG Category Management and the role of storytelling. Since then, We have been asked to share the top 5 storytelling tips we took the audience through!

It’s no longer David vs. Goliath, its Colin vs. Cuthbert, Goliath hasn’t been seen for a while, apparently he has been reformatting the VLOOKUP’s in his JBP. Two Private label brands which act like leading brands, indeed are leading brands, fighting about a caterpillar.