The strategy looks right. The team is capable. The investment is there. And still the numbers don't move.
In 29 years of operating and advising FMCG businesses across Europe and North America — at P&G, Philips, Campari, and with clients including Diageo, Heineken, and Disaronno — the pattern repeats: the stated problem is rarely the real one.
Portfolios get restructured when execution needed more time. New strategies get commissioned when the previous one was never properly implemented. Complexity increases when the answer was subtraction.
Amati & Associates finds the real problem. Then we stay involved until it's solved.
Complexity-to-Value
A portfolio that grows faster than commercial capability spreads the team, dilutes trade support and weakens even the strongest brands at shelf.
FMCG leadership teams are not short of ambition or ideas. What they consistently underestimate is how much execution capacity is consumed by complexity — and how long that erosion takes to show up in the numbers. By the time growth stalls visibly, the cause is usually two or three decisions upstream.
A portfolio that expanded faster than commercial capability could support.
An innovation pipeline with the right concepts but the wrong sequencing.
A market strategy that was sound on paper but mistimed for where distributors, channels, and consumer behaviour actually were.
The most expensive mistake in FMCG is diagnosing a strategy problem when the real constraint is structural. The second most expensive is fixing the wrong constraint first. That is where we start — with what is actually broken, not what looks broken from the centre.
Clients typically come to us after something has already been tried. The strategy was refreshed. The agency was changed. The reorganisation was completed. And the numbers are still not responding.
Situation 1 of 4
What you see
More SKUs, more formats, more markets — and thinner performance across all of them. The commercial team is spread across too many priorities, trade support is diluted, and even the strongest brands are underperforming at shelf.
What sits underneath
The issue is not the portfolio strategy. It is that the portfolio has outgrown the system built to support it.
Situation 2 of 4
What you see
New products work in the pilot market. They don't replicate. Leadership disagrees on whether the problem is the concept, the timing, or the organisation's readiness to scale.
What sits underneath
The answer is usually the third — and it is fixable without scrapping the pipeline.
Situation 3 of 4
What you see
Revenue is holding. But margin is compressing, volume is declining in core markets, and the mix is shifting in the wrong direction.
What sits underneath
These are not planning problems. They are signals that the commercial architecture needs adjustment — in pricing, channel prioritisation, or trade investment logic.
Situation 4 of 4
What you see
Post-acquisition. Leadership change. Restructuring. These are the moments when strategic clarity is most critical and most frequently absent.
What it needs
We step in with senior commercial and marketing ownership — not to manage a process, but to make decisions and stay accountable through execution.
In these situations, advisory input alone is rarely enough. What is required is experienced, hands-on leadership that can diagnose quickly, make trade-offs explicit, and stay accountable through execution. That is the role Amati & Associates is brought in to play.
Pick the one that matches your role and what you need now. Every option is led by Filiberto Amati.
For senior FMCG professionals
€149 per seat
60 minutes
One hour with up to eleven peers on what is moving in corporate strategy, revenue growth management and the wider industry. You leave with new ideas and a short research brief to share with your team.
See dates and topicsFor senior P&L owners in mid‑sized companies
from €6,000
2–4 weeks
A written answer to the question your board or owners are pressing you on, from what to cut to which market comes next, delivered in two to four weeks.
Pick your questionFor senior P&L owners in mid‑sized and large companies
from €15,000
4–6 weeks
Find out whether your numbers are stalling because the strategy is wrong or because it is not being executed. You receive a written verdict and three to five ranked actions your team can start the same week.
See how it worksFor opco CEOs and the PE partners on their boards
from €42,000 a year
12 months
A senior operator alongside your leadership team for twelve months: we coach your leaders through the plan, teach the methods as the work happens and help get it done, so growth shows before the exit window.
See the three tiersBut your are not sure we are the right fit
Take a 2 minutes self-assessment:
The most common growth mistake in FMCG is not a wrong strategy. It is a right strategy applied to the wrong problem — or abandoned before it had time to show results.
29 years across line roles and consulting, in businesses ranging from global multinationals to PE-backed challengers, has produced one consistent observation: the companies that outperform are not more creative or more ambitious than their competitors. They are more disciplined about where they direct attention, more honest about what is actually broken, and more willing to stop doing things that are consuming execution capacity without producing commercial return. That discipline — diagnostic honesty followed by sustained operational focus — is what Amati & Associates brings.
Amati & Associates works with established FMCG businesses facing complex growth decisions, typically at moments when ambition is clear but execution has become fragile.
This work is suited to organisations with existing scale, active international exposure, and leadership teams who recognise that growth constraints are no longer tactical, but structural and decision-led.
The person we work with directly carries P&L, commercial, or brand accountability. They are not looking for a study or a presentation. They need a clear view on what to prioritise, what to stop, and what the next 90 days need to look like.
This is not designed for early-stage brands, exploratory projects, or situations where decisions cannot be made. It is also not a fit for organisations looking for outsourced analysis, campaign execution, or long-term advisory without operational involvement.
Our work requires access, clarity of mandate, and willingness to act.
When those conditions are present, involvement is focused, pragmatic, and time-bound, with the aim of reaching a clear diagnosis quickly and staying involved long enough to see results..
Two ways to start a conversation, depending on how far along you are.
Free
Check fit, credentials and possible conflicts with current clients before you book anything.
Message on LinkedIn€200 · 30 minutes
Describe your situation, agree the scope and leave with a fee range for a Focused Engagement, a Diagnostic or the Growth Sprint.
Prefer a smaller first step? Join an online workshop, €149 per seat.
