Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
P&G argues profitable retail sales growth is the ultimate business metric. Field marketing campaigns must connect physical brand memory directly to purchase.
On September 28, 2026, Procter & Gamble published an article detailing its approach to retail media and brand operations. Jacques Hagopian, P&G’s Senior Vice President of North America Brand Operations, presented a strict standard for evaluating campaign performance. He argued that consumer attention is not the endpoint, defining the primary success metric as profitable retail sales growth. This publication followed the Groceryshop 2026 conference, which took place from September 22 to 24 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
The core of the P&G framework shifts the focus away from superficial engagement rates. Hagopian noted that impressions, clicks, and Return on Investment diagnostics are helpful markers for evaluating a campaign mid-flight. However, they should not serve as the final scorecard for a marketing program. Profitable retail sales growth must remain the primary objective.
To achieve this growth, brand building requires disciplined execution. Hagopian stated that the fundamentals involve growing awareness, creating memory, and connecting that memory to purchase. He framed this progression as building both mental and physical availability. The consumer journey is a continuous flow of insights, idea creation, execution, and retail conversion.
The P&G article described a recent collaboration with Albertsons that began as a simple dinner conversation. This partnership developed into Rico’s Tacos, a short-form comedy-drama series featuring Head & Shoulders, Vicks, and Bounty. The initiative highlights a content and commerce model designed to synchronize demand creation directly with product availability. This kind of integration prevents marketing dollars from generating awareness that shoppers cannot act upon.
For consumer packaged goods marketers, this framework challenges how we measure physical marketing. At Makai, we have been connecting brands with people through live experiences, retail programs, and national activations since 1995. Over three decades, we have built a track record of creating meaningful brand moments across the country. Too often, we see brands treat live interactions as isolated wins.
Capturing attention on a busy event floor is just an intermediate step. An experiential activation must operate as a reliable bridge to a shoppable product. When brands focus on tying live experiences directly to retail velocity, they build campaigns that generate actual pipeline. Hagopian’s insistence on connecting memory to purchase validates a disciplined operational approach.
Physical engagements have to pull their weight commercially by proving their value beyond simple attendance numbers. We managed a four-week, multi-market Costco sampling program for Pulmuone's PlantSpired line. The program delivered more than 65,000 samples and recorded an 18 percent sold to sale rate. This concrete example shows exactly how structured retail sampling can connect trial with purchase.
Every sample poured must represent a direct step toward a transaction, not just a momentary distraction for a passing shopper. If a retail demonstration generates a massive crowd but zero pipeline, the activation has failed its commercial mandate. Mental availability only holds value when it translates into measurable revenue. Physical touches must plant a seed that survives the drive home and triggers a purchase.
The principles outlined by P&G highlight a widespread issue in physical marketing. Many brands invest heavily in creating elaborate event footprints but fail to map the downstream logistics. If the consumer journey is a continuous flow toward retail conversion, then a street team activation must integrate with retail reality. Marketing leaders often struggle to track how an impressive booth translates into actual cases moved off the shelf.
To solve this, experiential programs must prioritize documented shopper data over mere foot traffic estimates. When brands leverage highly visual pop-up experiences, they must still answer the fundamental question of conversion. Every activation should capture information that allows the brand to measure downstream impact. This means equipping brand ambassadors with clear reporting protocols and structuring event spaces to encourage direct action.
Hagopian’s focus on building mental and physical availability serves as a strict blueprint for field teams. Mental availability is established when a live demo creates a lasting memory. Physical availability is confirmed when that same consumer finds the product easily in their local grocery aisle. Bridging this gap requires rigorous project management, dedicated storage logistics, and national execution capabilities.
According to the P&G article, big ideas and strong execution begin 12 to 18 months before consumers ever see them in many cases. This extensive timeline completely changes how field marketing directors approach their schedules. Brands cannot treat physical activations or retail media as a last-minute addition. Demand creation has to synchronize tightly with product supply.
Early alignment between brands and retail partners prevents costly operational misfires. A massive sampling tour fails instantly if the featured product is missing from the adjacent grocery aisle. Planning a year in advance forces teams to coordinate their awareness efforts with merchandising realities. Marketers focused on moving street-level traffic into the store must verify that store inventory matches their field efforts.
When supply chains and field marketing operate in silos, brands generate awareness that they cannot monetize. The 12 to 18 month window gives trade marketing managers the runway to secure floor space, finalize permits, and train brand ambassadors properly. This timeline ensures that the physical availability Hagopian mentions is ready when consumer memory triggers a buying decision. It demands a level of logistical control that goes beyond just booking a footprint at a local expo.
Without this foresight, activations suffer from inconsistent staffing, missing products, and poor overall execution. Every point of reach must actually function as a viable point of sale. Teams must align their promotional calendars with retail buyers to guarantee stock levels remain healthy during peak activation periods. This prevents the nightmare scenario of creating massive local demand for a product that is out of stock.
Evaluating field programs against retail benchmarks forces marketing teams to adapt their strategies. Rather than treating a trade show as a branding exercise, managers must track how booth conversations influence buyer intent. Hagopian's model implies that all marketing channels, including live events, are ultimately accountable for generating revenue. By demanding clear attribution, consumer packaged goods companies can eliminate activations that fail to convert.
Teams can start by standardizing the metrics they use across both digital and physical touchpoints. If an online campaign is judged on cost per acquisition, a street sampling tour must face a similar financial standard. Marketers investigating why simple interaction counts fall short know that vanity numbers cannot hide weak sales performance. Establishing strict baselines ensures that every field operation contributes directly to the bottom line.
Hagopian specifically identified creating memory and connecting that memory to purchase as a fundamental requirement. Translating that concept into the real world requires precise staging and disciplined follow-through. Over our history, we have delivered more than 1,000 campaigns in all 50 states for more than 200 brands. That range has given us experience across different products, audiences, and retail settings rather than a single activation format.
Building physical availability means designing environments that guide the consumer smoothly from introduction to transaction. Teams must map the physical journey with the same rigor they apply to digital funnels. We see this daily when executing trade show spaces that are required to convert visitors into buyers. A cluttered booth flow or a distracted brand ambassador can instantly break the connection between brand memory and retail purchase.
A Brand Manager in the CPG space shared: "Makai transformed our test-drive activation into an emotional brand journey. They connected technology, lifestyle, and experience seamlessly, and turned casual visitors into loyal fans." We successfully integrated multiple experience layers to convert casual participants into committed brand advocates. This approach proves that live events can serve as powerful engines for retail conversion when planned correctly.
Treating attention as the finish line leaves revenue on the table. A brand moment only matters if it changes a consumer's buying behavior in the long run. To secure your pipeline, you must audit your upcoming experiential calendar and ask one definitive question. Are your current physical activations built to capture a fleeting crowd, or are they mathematically structured to drive profitable retail sales growth?
After marketing leaders align their planning to connect brand memory directly with retail purchases, building physical environments that hold consumer focus becomes the next operational requirement. To stop scattered attention and poor booth flow from ruining your conversion goals, Makai takes control of your event footprint. We plan and manage trade show spaces that attract attention, start conversations, and convert visitors into customers. Request a proposal
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
