Case study · joint venture leadership
Pepsi Lipton International: growth through shared authority
A leadership case in aligning two global organisations around portfolio growth, innovation and international execution.
Context
Pepsi Lipton International operated as a joint venture between Unilever and PepsiCo. Its leadership environment required alignment across brand ownership, bottling and distribution capabilities, regional priorities and shared decision-making.
Business challenge
Build growth across EMEA while navigating a matrix in which authority, assets and priorities were distributed across two parent companies and multiple markets.
Role and accountability
As CMO EMEA, Vincenzo Riili led regional marketing strategy and worked across the joint-venture system to align innovation, brand development and market execution.
Strategic choices
- Create a shared growth agenda across stakeholders with different incentives.
- Use innovation and portfolio expansion to create new demand.
- Coordinate regional strategy with market-level execution.
- Translate brand ambition into a commercially executable plan.
Reported outcome
The Pure Leaf launch is reported by Vincenzo Riili as adding approximately €80 million in revenue over two years.
Verification note: commercial outcomes below are executive-reported unless linked to an independent public source.