It's a natural struggle for a large brand that owns products in the space and has a fast-growing investment on the side taking share from their legacy brands. Were there things you could do to ensure the Celsius brand gets prioritization across the network? How do you work with that?

The Pepsi distribution model operates almost like islands with different regions such as California, West, Southeast, and Northeast. The command structure is designed to flow down information about space allocation based on standards and algorithms to these business units, or BUs. These are essentially like five divisions of Pepsi North America. These divisions are supposed to relay information to retail teams. For example, Denver has its own standards based on various metrics like local market share and flavor assortments.

It's a natural struggle for a large brand that owns products in the space and has a fast-growing investment on the side taking share from their legacy brands. Were there things you could do to ensure the Celsius brand gets prioritization across the network? How do you work with that?

At the beginning of a transition, you discuss with them what the standards dictate. You may need to nitpick and adjust these standards. Once finalized, this information is entered into Pepsi's software for planograms, and it should be implemented in the trade during the next reset cycle. Ideally, this process ensures the correct space allocation is pre-negotiated and executed. However, six months later, someone in a Pepsi uniform might have altered things, requiring you to reconcile by checking the standards against the current situation and readjusting as needed. The planning is thorough, but execution depends on verification.