The FMCG Marketing Daily — June 17, 2026

The FMCG Marketing Daily — June 17, 2026 The essential daily briefing for brand managers and marketers in consumer goods. In today's episode: • AB InBev is extending two of its biggest global beer brands — Stella Artois and Bud Light — into the fast-growing UK fruit beer segment, signalling a deliberate portfolio play to capture summer occasion drinkers. • Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put has publicly doubled down on the company's decision to remain in Russia, putting brand purpose and reputational risk back at the centre of FMCG's most uncomfortable strategic debate. • The Macallan is actively courting Gen Z not through premiumisation of everyday drinking — which that cohort largely avoids — but by repositioning single malt Scotch as the ultimate special occasion luxury splurge, a strategically distinct route from the celebrity-led Gen Z plays we've seen from other spirits brands. Fun fact: Walmart's store layout is deliberately designed so that dairy and eggs are placed at the back of the store — but research from the University of Arizona found that this 'forced walk' strategy actually reduces average basket size in modern supercenters because shoppers on quick trips abandon their carts rather than navigate the full floor. The retailer has been quietly testing dairy repositioning in select markets since 2022 as a result. Hosted by Marco and Klara.