Commerce Riff with Sri & PVSB - October 27, 2026

PETER: Welcome to the Commerce Riff from the CPG Guys, the weekly look at what matters in commerce. I'm PVSB. Joining me as always is my co-creator, father of pop stars, they call him Papa Raj. To me, he is the man known as Sri. Sri, what’s shakin?

SRI: Getting ready for the Katseye concerts this weekend in Belmont Park.

PETER: Four stories this week. Coca-Cola finishes its global marketing review and splits the media business between Omnicom and WPP. Kroger lays out its plan to become America's favorite grocer, with big bets on value, private label, and retail media. Salesforce agrees to buy Braze for about 5.7 billion dollars. And Boston Beer posts another quarter of lower profit and revenue as beer demand keeps falling.

SRI: Lots to cover. Let's get into it.

STORY 1: COCA-COLA PICKS OMNICOM FOR NORTH AMERICA, KEEPS WPP ELSEWHERE

PETER: First up, Coca-Cola. On Thursday the company announced it has completed a global marketing operating system review, with the goal of building what it calls a world-class marketing ecosystem powered by data, technology, and AI.

PETER: Here's the outcome. WPP Open X stays as Coca-Cola's media partner globally, except in North America, Japan, and South Korea. In North America, Coke selected Omnicom as its media partner, and Omnicom will work closely with WPP StudioX. Dentsu continues to handle media in Japan and South Korea, which weren't part of the review. And WPP Open X remains the global creative partner, which also wasn't part of the review.

PETER: Quick disclosure for our listeners: I work at Flywheel, which is part of Omnicom, so weigh my commentary on this one with that in mind.

PETER: Manolo Arroyo, Coke's Chief Marketing and Customer Commercial Officer, said the review was about making sure Coke has the right partners, capabilities, and operating model for a fast-changing landscape. He praised WPP's performance in the reviews, citing its media, tech, and data capabilities, and pointed to its Open Intelligence data solution, which builds on results from Coke's FIFA World Cup 2026 activation.

PETER: On North America, the reasoning is specific. Coke says bringing media, data, CRM, loyalty, and creators together in one connected ecosystem lets the North America operating unit move beyond channel-based execution toward more integrated consumer experiences. The new structure rolls out in phases beginning December 1.

PETER: CPG Guys lens: Coke isn't picking one agency model, it's picking by market. Global scale from WPP, Japan and Korea with Dentsu, and an integrated data, CRM, and loyalty play in North America. The question for brands is no longer just who buys the media, it's who connects the data. And it fits a pattern we've been tracking: PepsiCo's move to Publicis back in Episodes 48 and 49, and DoorDash naming WPP Media its global partner in Episode 52. Agency reviews are being decided on data and integration.

STORY 2: KROGER'S PLAN FOR “AMERICA'S FAVORITE GROCER”

SRI: Story two. Kroger held its 2026 Investor Update in New York on October 20, led by CEO Greg Foran, under the banner “Building America's Favorite Grocer.” The strategy has three pillars: win with the customer, drive profitable digital growth, and modernize how Kroger operates.

SRI: The financial framework: roughly 3 percent comparable sales growth in 2029, excluding fuel and pharmacy, adjusted EBITDA growth of 3 to 6 percent a year from 2027 to 2029, and adjusted EPS growth of 7 to 11 percent. That excludes the pending Giant Eagle acquisition, which Kroger expects to close in 2027, pending regulatory approval.

SRI: How does Kroger pay for it? A 4 billion dollar structural cost takeout, which it calls its largest ever. That includes sourcing more directly, taking direct sourcing from under 1 percent today to over 10 percent, buying smarter in cost of goods, cutting indirect spending, and scaling a new capability center in Bengaluru, with about 3,000 corporate roles impacted over time.

SRI: That funds a 5 billion dollar self-funded investment in value, paired with fewer promotions. Kroger describes it as moving dollars out of complex promotions and into better everyday value. Early results in rollout markets show visits up 200 basis points over the first two quarters, and the rollout reaches about 250 stores by the end of 2026 and about 700 by the end of 2027.

SRI: Private label is a big piece. Our Brands is about a 40 billion dollar business today, and Kroger wants to grow it from 35 to 40 percent of sales, with its premium tier targeted at 15 percent plus annual growth through 2029. It also plans about 110 new stores by 2029.

SRI: On digital: Kroger has about an 18 billion dollar eCommerce business, yet only 1 in 7 of its shoppers buys online through Kroger. The target is an additional 500 million dollars of eCommerce EBITDA by 2029, not counting media. Its new Shopping Assistant is showing 11 percent higher spend from repeat adopters.

SRI: And retail media. Kroger points to 65 million households, 95 percent of sales tied to a loyalty card, and a 2025 Bain and ROI Rocket survey in which advertisers ranked it number one for accurate and transparent reporting. Retail media monetization is also a named value driver in its connected store plan, alongside labor productivity and shrink. Digital shelf labels grow from about 1,100 stores today to more than 2,400 by 2029, with robotics and RFID expanding too, and Kroger targets about 500 million dollars in waste savings by 2029.

SRI: CPG Guys lens: fewer promotions, more Our Brands, and a bigger in-store media footprint add up to a different deal for suppliers. Expect trade dollars to shift toward everyday price and for retail media to become the place you earn visibility, in the app and on the shelf. And none of it, the Shopping Assistant, the connected store, the retail media, works without clean, consistent product data underneath. That's the world of our recent guest Neda Nia, Chief Product and Growth Officer at Stibo Systems. Look out for one of the CPG Guys share groups to make a visit to Kroger in Cincinnati early in 2027!

STORY 3: SALESFORCE TO BUY BRAZE FOR ABOUT $5.7 BILLION

PETER: Story three. Salesforce signed a deal to buy Braze for about 5.66 billion dollars including debt, adding a customer engagement platform to its portfolio. Braze shareholders get 47 dollars and 50 cents in cash per share, a premium of roughly 58 percent to Braze's Monday closing price of about 30 dollars. Salesforce expects the deal to close in its fiscal 2028, which starts in February 2027, pending Braze shareholder and regulatory approval.

PETER: Salesforce describes Braze's platform as optimized for high-volume, real-time B2C engagement. Think personalized messaging across mobile apps, websites, and email, driven by live customer behavior. Salesforce says Braze's real-time engagement and AI decisioning will complement its Data 360, Customer 360, and Agentforce layers, and strengthen Marketing Cloud. Braze serves roughly 2,770 customers. For perspective, the ExactTarget deal that built Marketing Cloud back in 2013 was 2.5 billion dollars, so this is more than double.

PETER: CPG Guys lens: this is a bet that the next phase of marketing is real-time, agent-driven, and built on first-party data. We heard about this directly from our recent guest Devin Kunysz of Salesforce, who talked about AI agents in CPG sales execution and which tasks can be automated versus which still need people. CRM’s need to be effective - fast, quick and ready to work with AI while teams are in the field LIVE. Put it next to Kroger's loyalty data and Coke's push to combine CRM, loyalty, and creators, and you see the common thread: whoever owns the customer relationship and can act on it in real time wins.

STORY 4: BOSTON BEER LOGS LOWER PROFIT AND REVENUE AS BEER DEMAND SLIDES

SRI: Last story. Boston Beer, the company behind Samuel Adams and Truly, posted lower profit and revenue in the third quarter as demand for beer continues to fall. Profit was 43.2 million dollars, or 4 dollars and 21 cents a share, compared with 46.2 million, or 4 dollars and 25 cents, a year earlier.

SRI: For context, the second quarter showed the same pressure. Depletions fell 6 percent and revenue fell 3.3 percent to 568.3 million dollars, with declines in Twisted Tea, Truly, Samuel Adams, Hard Mountain Dew, and Dogfish Head, partly offset by growth in Sun Cruiser and Angry Orchard. Pricing and product mix softened the blow, but volume is the issue.

SRI: CPG Guys lens: when a category is shrinking, price and mix can only carry you so far. The growth has to come from new brands, new occasions, and winning more of the shelf and the digital aisle. It's the same dynamic behind Kroger's value reset, shoppers want simple, visible value, and suppliers in softer categories will feel that pressure first.

PETER: That’s it for today’s Riff.

PETER: A reminder to catch up on our recent episodes. Salesforce's Devin Kunysz on AI agents in CPG sales execution, and Stibo Systems' Neda Nia, their Chief Product and Growth Officer. Links are in the show notes.

PETER: If anything we covered today sparked a thought, drop it in the comments, we read every one.

PETER: And if you're not following us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube yet, now's the time. We'll see you next week.