Sharat K. Mathur

The consumer packaged goods (CPG) and Retail industry are going through a period of significant change. Both retailers and manufacturers are struggling to find growth and improve profitability. One strategy is through consolidation - e.g., Kraft-Heinz, Keurig- Dr Pepper Snapple Group on the manufacturer side, as well as Safeway-Albertsons, Ahold-Delhaize, Walgreens-Rite Aid on the retailer side.

Perhaps the most famous line ever uttered about advertising — it is generally attributed to John Wanamaker, the founder of the eponymous Philadelphia department store — is not a credit, but a jibe. “I am certain that half the money I spend in advertising is wasted,” Wanamaker is said to have quipped. “The trouble is, I do not know which half.” That uneasy sense of mystery has undergirded the growth of modern marketing communications.