Category management is a foundational pillar in most consumer products companies today. But often category teams can end up working in silos, pulling data together from disparate sources, using different templates and language. This can present inconsistencies to retail partners and even within the brand’s organization.    

Having a cohesive national category story with a common template and language for one category or multiple categories presents “one voice” to retail partners and key stakeholders. 

No matter if your brand plays in one category or multiple categories, there are foundational pillars that build the story.  These pillars or steps provide guidance for building the story that can be used across channels and categories within one organization.

Building a Cohesive National Category Story 

The story funnel creates the structure for category management to build a brand-agnostic national story, and quality data builds the foundation of a strong national story. Organizations should provide their category teams with a single source of information. When the same data is used consistently throughout the organization, the story can be socialized and supported by all levels and departments – building alignment and a cohesive approach to growth. 

Once the national story is complete, this feeds each regional and retailer-specific presentation. Teams can look at how their retailer is similar or differing from the national story and can bring that opportunity or risk to their customer(s). Having multiple teams presenting at a single retailer, but all with the same template and macro-level story, provides a consistent story across the store while highlighting differences that impact your category’s specific shelf and assortment needs.   

Driving Category Growth 

Along with retailer benefits, a cohesive category story also improves internal discussions within your organization. Conversations around where your brand(s) may be falling short or where there are opportunities across innovation, brand messaging, and shelf assortment are all important to maintaining healthy, relevant brands and items. Bringing this lens to RGM conversations and making sure there is alignment on pricing and promotion levers to help drive category growth is key to category leadership. 

To assist with developing a cohesive category management approach, Clarkston can leverage its unique perspective and experience to facilitate building a cohesive national category story. Once the story is complete, Clarkston can help you define the processes needed to knowledge transfer the approach to all field sales to carry the macro trends and consumer preferences down to the specific category and store. Contact us today to get started.