Price Pack Architecture: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Module 01: Embedding PPA in Your Organization

Embedding PPA in Your Organization

Redefine PPA as a structured, cross-functional growth system rather than a one-off pack change or reactive exercise.

Colin McQuay reframes PPA as a structured, cross-functional growth system rather than a reactive pack exercise. He walks through the core steps of effective PPA, from understanding category and portfolio roles, to ideating against clear problems, evaluating ideas through desirability, feasibility, and viability, and embedding decisions into organizational processes. The focus is on moving PPA from analysis to execution, ensuring it delivers portfolio-wide impact on shelf and in the P&L.

• PPA is a structured method to drive growth and margin improvement, not a management exercise.

• PPA assigns a clear role to every portfolio item, grounded in shopper needs and consumer habits.

• PPA requires cross-functional ownership across marketing, category, finance, insights, and operations.

• Build a strong PPA plan in three steps: understand category/consumer needs, ideate solutions, simulate options to select the right bets.

• Evaluate ideas through three filters: desirable, feasible, viable.

• To get concepts onto shelves: involve key retail partners early and align them to the objective.

• Anchor PPA into how the business already runs by mapping internal processes and linking PPA activities to them.

Next, we dive into the OBPPC methodology, exploring how Occasion, Brand, Pack, Price, and Customer logic create a more precise, behavior-driven foundation for PPA across channels and shopper contexts.

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Module 02: OBPPC Foundations: From Concept to Practice

Introduction to OBPPC

Go step by step through Occasion, Brand, Pack, Price, and Channel to define the appropriate competitive frame before discussing pricing. Learn how OBPPC clarifies price sensitivity, portfolio roles, and channel dynamics, making pricing decisions easier to justify, execute, and scale across markets.

Achieving the Triple Win Through OBPPC as a Manufacturer

Two real-world OBPPC case studies show how teams use scenario simulations to reframe pricing and pack decisions based on occasion, price perception, and channel context, unlocking a triple win for manufacturer, retailer, and shopper.

Defining the right competitive frame is the foundation of effective Price Pack Architecture. OBPPC moves pricing discussions away from broad category averages and toward the specific purchase context, clarifying how Occasion, Brand, Pack, Price, and Channel shape shopper choice and real price sensitivity.

This module explains how OBPPC brings structure and a common language to complex portfolios, helping teams anchor decisions in how shoppers actually compare options at the moment of purchase.

You’ll see the framework applied in practice through case studies demonstrating how scenario-based simulations and context-driven thinking unlock smarter PPA strategies and deliver measurable wins for manufacturers, retailers, and shoppers alike.

• Pricing decisions only make sense when you define the correct competitive frame first
• OBPPC narrows analysis to products shoppers genuinely see as alternatives in a specific moment
• Price sensitivity becomes clearer when anchored in Occasion, Brand, Pack, and Channel rather than broad category averages
• The same product behaves differently across channels because expectations around price, convenience, and urgency change
• Pricing must account for both customer and consumer dynamics to reflect real decision power
• OBPPC provides a structured foundation for building price pack architecture that works in real-world buying situations

Next, explore how PPA shapes innovation and portfolio strategy, showing how to design price ladders, tiered architectures, and pack formats that guide shopper choice while aligning elasticity insights with long-term commercial intent.

Innovation, Portfolio Strategy, and PPA

Discover how to use PPA as a strategic lens for innovation and portfolio design, aligning pack architecture, price ladders, and elasticity insights to guide smarter long-term commercial decisions.

Sources: 

• NielsenIQ (21.07.2021), Product innovation that breaks the mold: 3 key features of Breakthrough Innovation winners, Access here
• Stephanie Cernivec (15.08.2014), Nielsen: 85 percent of new products fail in the marketplace, Access here
• Katy Askew (18.03.2019), Most new products fail: Implicit sensory testing can help beat the odds, Access here
• Rafi Mohammed (10.2018), The Good-Better-Best Approach to Pricing, for Harvard Business Review, Access here
• PepsiCo (2025), Earnings, Access here
• Kraft Heinz (13.01.2026), HEINZ Unveils the First Fry Box with a Built-In Condiment Compartment in Eleven Countries Across the Globe, Access here
• Coca-Cola (10.08.2025), Convenient Size at the Convenience Store: Coca‑Cola Mini Cans Are Here, Access here
• Matt Beckett, et al. (21.05.2020), A Revenue Management Reset in Consumer, for BCG, Access here
• Marcus Bokkerink, et al. (2017), How Net Revenue Management Boosts the Top and Bottom Line, for BCG, Access here
• Ray Florio (03.10.2019), Pricing Elasticities: CPGs Renewed Focus on Pricing, for TotalRetail, Access here

• Innovation must fill a distinct portfolio role that is not already served.
• Whitespace comes from mapping occasion, price point, and channel, then targeting demand with inadequate supply.
• Portfolio structure should follow Good–Better–Best to clarify trade-ups and prevent overlap.
• Pack strategy has three levers: size signals occasion, format signals value, design creates pricing power.
• Elasticity explains what happened; PPA is used to design what should happen.
• Pricing one SKU shifts demand across the full portfolio, not just that item.
• Elasticities provide direction and speed; simulation provides precision and confidence.

Next, explore how competitive moves shape your PPA decisions and how to benchmark pack-price architecture while deciding when to lead the category and when to follow.

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Module 04: PPA and Competitive Dynamics

Competition Impact on PPA Strategy 

Sources: 

• PepsiCo (04.02.2025), Quarterly Earnings, Access here
  
• Circana (17.12.2025), CPG private label value share climbs to 42% across EU6, rising to 44% in supermarkets, reports Circana, Access here
• Coca-Cola (10.08.2025), Convenient Size at the Convenience Store: Coca‑Cola Mini Cans Are Here, Access here
  

Explore how competitive dynamics should shape your Price Pack Architecture strategy without triggering reactive decisions. You will learn how to classify competitor moves, distinguish structural shifts from temporary noise, and decide when to innovate, defend, counter, or lead. The module introduces practical tools such as pack-price indexing and price corridor analysis to identify gaps and vulnerabilities, while emphasizing disciplined scenario planning to stress-test decisions before committing. The core message is competitive response in PPA must be strategic, data-driven, and portfolio-focused, not reflexive.

• Discipline beats speed in competitive PPA by classifying competitor moves first and distinguishing structural shifts from temporary noise before reacting.
• Innovation should create value, not redistribute it. Avoid “me-too” pack responses that add complexity and cannibalization without expanding the pie.
• Use structured tools like Pack Price Indexing to identify gaps, overlaps, vulnerabilities, and to treat private label as a permanent competitor in your price ladder.
• Choose the right response posture: observe, defend, counter, or lead, based on context, then stress-test decisions through scenario planning before committing.
• Competitive response must be strategic, not reflexive, grounded in data, simulation, and portfolio-level thinking rather than panic.

Next, we examine how to navigate inflation and tariff pressure by separating true cost drivers from competitive noise, identifying when price is defensible versus when pack and format are the smarter levers, and defining the right mix of actions to protect margin without eroding consumer trust.

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Module 05: PPA Amid Inflation

PPA Amid Inflation

How to Model for Inflation in the Buynomics Platform

See how the Buynomics Platform can be used to model amid inflation in our short demo video.

Bonus: Colin McQuay on PPA During Inflation

Explore how inflation has pushed Price Pack Architecture to the center of Revenue Growth Management decisions. It explains how PPA interacts with pricing, promotions, mix, and trade terms, and why these levers must be managed together. You’ll learn how to evaluate the trade-off between price increases and pack size changes, and how value-based pricing can help maintain a clear price structure across the portfolio. The session also introduces simple heuristics for assessing price and size changes. At the same time, it highlights the limits of these rules when portfolio interactions come into play. Finally, it shows how advanced simulation can model real shopper behavior and support more confident PPA decisions.

Next up, explore how joint business plans, internal alignment, and retailer co-creation turn great portfolio strategy into real commercial results.

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Module 06: Triple Win: Retailer Co-Creation, Category Strategy, and Joint Value

The Triple Win: A Retailer’s Perspective

PPA Strategies & Joint Business Plans

Explores how Price Pack Architecture strategies can be embedded into joint business planning with retailers to create sustainable growth for both sides. 

Discover how joint business plans provide the structure to translate PPA ideas into shared objectives, clear KPIs, and executable initiatives. Through real examples, the module shows how portfolio optimization, range rationalization, and the right pack sizes can improve category performance and shopper experience. It also highlights why successful PPA strategies start with retailer co-creation and category thinking rather than internal SKU decisions. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve the “triple win”: creating value for shoppers, retailers, and manufacturers at the same time.

Next, we explore how to make PPA stick through strong governance, the right operating model, and practical routines that keep your architecture working over time.

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Module 07: Operating Model and Governance

PPA Governance & the Right Operating Model

Explore how to turn PPA strategy into a sustained competitive advantage through the right governance model and operating routines. The module introduces three governance layers: Strategy, Execution, and Portfolio Health, showing why all three must run in parallel to protect the architecture over time. You will learn the three core routines that keep PPA active, from the Annual Architecture Review to the Innovation After Action Review and Quarterly Portfolio Health check, and how to narrow your metrics to the measures you will actually act on. The module also defines the RGM team's distinct role in governance: as a key builder, an independent mirror, and a strategic advisor rather than a reporting function or compliance enforcer.

• PPA fails most often not because the strategy was wrong, but because there is no operating model to sustain it over time.
• Good governance spans three layers: Strategy, Execution, and Portfolio Health. 
• An Annual PPA Architecture Review is the most important governance routine, setting clear roles across every SKU, pack, and channel before the planning cycle begins.
• No SKU should enter the portfolio without a clearly defined, measurable role, which must be the success criteria at 12 and 26 weeks post-launch.
• Promotions must reinforce the price ladder, not erode it.
  • Average promotional price needs to be monitored as closely as the everyday shelf price.
• Portfolio architecture is not a set-it-and-forget-it activity.
  • It requires continuous, active management as consumers, competitors, and channels evolve.

Next, course host Ivan Tretyakov summarizes your learnings from the full course and gives you a clear plan to put them into practice.

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Module 08: Bringing PPA Into Practice

Bringing PPA Into Practice

Sources

Explore how to bring PPA into practice at any stage of your organization's RGM maturity. Drawing on a four-stage model from Foundational to Optimizing, the module shows where most organizations stand today and what the right next step looks like, from defining a price ladder and mapping the portfolio against occasions, to building channel-specific strategies and fully embedding PPA into innovation, brand planning, and joint business planning. You will also learn the governance foundations and metrics needed to measure PPA success across portfolio, execution, retailer, and consumer dimensions, and how simulation tools can sharpen commercial judgment and reduce execution risk.

• RGM maturity runs across four stages: Foundational, Developing, Managing, and Optimizing. The goal is not to reach stage four overnight, but to take the right next step from wherever you are.
• For organizations just starting out, three steps build the foundation: define your brand's price positioning in the category, map the portfolio against consumer occasions, and socialize the structure cross-functionally.
• For more mature organizations, the challenge is making PPA more precise at the channel and store-cluster level, more embedded across planning cycles and joint business plans, and more agile in responding to competitive and market shifts.
• Governance is not bureaucracy. It is the infrastructure that makes speed possible, built on leadership vision, clear ownership, aligned incentives, and regular steering engagement.
• Measuring PPA success requires tracking metrics across four dimensions: portfolio health, execution efficiency, retailer performance, and consumer behavior.
• Simulation tools do not replace commercial judgment. They give teams a common language, reduce execution risk, and build the confidence to move faster on PPA decisions.

Next, complete the certification assessment to earn formal recognition of what you’ve learned in this RGM Academy course.

Overview: PPA: From OBPPC to Global Roadmap> Certification Assessment

This certification validates that you can design and implement Price Pack Architecture as a structured, portfolio-wide growth system and translate strategy into measurable business impact. With Buynomics' proven expertise supporting global leaders, it signals your readiness to shape PPA strategy, drive cross-functional alignment, and lead your organization toward more sustainable and profitable growth.

Follow the link below to take the assessment and earn your PPA certification.