Being the market leader creates a specific problem: the strategies that got you there start to lose their edge, and it's difficult to see it clearly from the inside.
Looking at regional data, I noticed a pattern before it had a clear name: skincare and hair care were converging in how consumers thought about them. I sourced a product that sat at that intersection and repositioned Head & Shoulders around it before competitors had made the same move.
The team was over 50 people, and the brand's messaging had drifted in too many directions. I consolidated it into a single playbook: specific enough to guide execution across different segments, simple enough that no one needed to interpret it differently depending on who they were talking to.
Rather than asking for more budget, I restructured how existing resources were allocated. Concentrating support on the top 10% of the portfolio by ROI freed up room to act on the new positioning.
Results
- 2 points of market share growth
- 6% profit improvement
- New category positioning ahead of competitors by at least one year