STRATEGIC MARKETING CONSULTANCY FOR GROWING FMCG BRANDS
CLARITY
BEFORE CREATIVITY
Big Black Door helps food and drink brands get their upstream thinking right before they spend money downstream. We bring senior client-side marketing judgement to the decisions that shape growth: who to target, what to stand for, what to say, where to play and how to win.
Blue-chip experience. Challenger mindset. Commercial impact.
Trusted by ambitious food, drink and retail brands that need board-level thinking without big-consultancy fees.
BECAUSE CLARITY COMPOUNDS RESULTS OVER TIME
72%
rate-of-sale growth for Spoon Cereals.
30%
improvement in marketing effectiveness for Arla Foods.
+11PP
(percentage points) footfall growth vs the competition for Merry Hill.
When marketing underperforms, the first instinct is often to change the agency, the campaign, the pack, the channel or the media plan.
Or to work harder, churning out more “stuff and things”
Sometimes that’s right. Often it’s not.
The expensive mistakes usually happen earlier: an unclear audience, a woolly brief, a confused positioning, an internal team pulling in different directions, or activity that is not tied tightly enough to commercial growth.
MARKETING GETS EXPENSIVE WHEN THE STRATEGY IS UNCLEAR.
33%
of marketing budgets are wasted on poor briefs and misdirected work. (Source: Better Briefs Project 2021)
SOME OF THE BRANDS WE’VE HELPED
THE MARKETING STRATEGY CHALLENGES WE SOLVE.
We bring clarity to the decisions that drive growth.
Marketing Strategy
Decide where to play, who to target, what to prioritise and how to win.
Retail & Shopper Growth
Build compelling retailer stories and shopper strategies that translate brand ambition into commercial action.
Brand Positioning & Audience
Define the audience attitudes that matter and own a clear, useful point of difference.
Fractional CMO
Senior marketing leadership, sharper decision-making and better agency alignment without the full-time overhead.
Clients usually call us when growth decisions matter and the answer isn’t obvious.
Founders & CEOs
You need senior marketing direction, but not a full-time marketing director. You want sharper commercial focus and a confident route to growth.
CMOs & Marketing Directors
You need better strategic alignment, stronger briefs and more impact from your budget, agencies and internal teams.
Leadership Teams
You need an objective partner to simplify complex growth challenges and help the business make confident choices.
CLIENT SIDE MARKETERS. BOARD LEVEL THINKING.
NO UNNECESSARY OVERHEAD.
Big Black Door is led by senior FMCG marketers who have sat where you sit. Across the team, we bring 50+ years of client-side experience growing some of the world's biggest food and drink brands. That means practical, commercial judgement - not theory for theory's sake. We help you make the choices a CMO would make, without asking you to carry the cost of a full-time one.
Featured
work
Food & drink marketing strategy examples.
PACK'D needed to turn strong product momentum into a clearer category growth strategy. We helped clarify the audience, sharpen the positioning and build a more compelling growth story for retail and activation.
The result was a more focused strategic direction that helped the brand make better choices across messaging, ranging and commercial priorities.
PACK’D: redefining a category & driving growth.
WHAT FOOD & DRINK LEADERS SAY ABOUT BIG BLACK DOOR.
We work as a senior strategic partner to founders, CEOs, CMOs and marketing leaders who want clarity, challenge and practical growth direction.
“Having Gareth at BBD to support me in growing my brand was invaluable. The insight and skills he has gained throughout his extensive career in marketing and brand are impressive, but his ability to pass them on and use them to further develop someone else is where he is really amazing.”
Pam Digva, Co-founder @ Sauce Shop.
“Through sharp insight and structured thinking, Big Black Door have helped us to reframe frozen from a functional health choice into a positive lifestyle choice and define a clear role for PACK'D to lead that change. We now have real confidence in what the future looks like, who we’re for, how we show up, and how we grow as a category leader.”
Katy Hamblin, Director of Marketing @ PACK’D
“Gareth has brought marketing specialisation & mentorship into our business… his empathy, kind and witty nature means he is a pleasure to work with. He is someone who always has his finger on the pulse, whilst staying true to our brand’s core mission, positioning, and brand values. He also holds us accountable.”
Annie Morris, Co-founder Spoon Cereals.
OUR APPROACH: AGNOSTIC CLARITY.
LASTING IMPACT.
We don’t arrive with the answer already decided.
We’re not here to sell you a campaign, a media plan, a research project or a 90-page deck. We start with your business problem, then work out what needs to happen. And what doesn’t.
Sometimes that means sharper positioning. Sometimes it means a stronger retailer story, better briefs, clearer agency alignment or a more focused growth plan.
The point is rarely more marketing activity. It’s better marketing decisions that keep working long after we’ve left the room.
NEED SHARPER
MARKETING DECISIONS
BEFORE SPENDING YOUR MONEY?
Bring us the brand, growth or marketing challenge you are wrestling with. We will help you see where sharper strategy could make the biggest difference. Together, let’s work out where clarity will create the biggest commercial impact.