Reckitt’s bold ambition: Harnessing AI to redefine revenue growth management

For years, Reckitt's approach to RGM had been largely reactive. Recommended pricing and promotion decisions were often made in silos across fragmented technology, inconsistent across markets, and heavily reliant on individual judgment. Leaders saw an opportunity not just to improve, but to leapfrog ahead. By embedding AI deeply into its commercial planning process, Reckitt could move beyond incrementalism to a new way of working—one that was predictive, data-driven, and scalable.

The vision was bold: to roll out new capabilities quickly, embed them across multiple commercial functions, and create a fundamentally new way of operating.

Reckitt leaders knew technology alone wasn’t enough. AI and advanced analytics had to prove their worth not as shiny new tools, but as engines of measurable business value. That meant building a business case—on the success of previous tech pilots—one that showed how new ways of working would deliver better pricing decisions, stronger margins, improved customer experiences, and lasting cultural change.

“It wasn’t about bringing in a tech solution and hoping it would boost performance,” says Varun Kakaria, Reckitt’s North America chief information officer. “We showed how it would embed into the commercial planning process, reshape decision-making, and create tangible value.”

To bring this vision to life, Reckitt partnered with McKinsey to design and deploy RGMx, a modular, AI-enabled tool suite. The rollout began in major markets including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, and Australia. Elsewhere, Reckitt deployed RGM Core, a streamlined version designed to build data discipline and instill fact-based decision making. This dual-track approach recognized that not every market had the same level of maturity—but every market needed to be part of the journey.

Technology was only one part of the equation. To make the transformation sustainable, Reckitt anchored the program on strong foundations. The company invested heavily in master data, technology architecture, governance, and cross-functional collaboration. Commercial, Finance, and IT leaders were engaged from day one, ensuring that the effort was not seen as “owned by digital” but as a company-wide initiative.

“It’s like building a skyscraper—the foundations are a pre-requisite to the success of such transformation and have to be very strong,” says Varun.

AI quickly demonstrated its power. Where pricing decisions were once made in spreadsheets and discussed in silos, leaders could now run robust scenario analyses with a holistic view. AI also brought together data that would have been impossible for individuals to process at scale. Leaders could test “what if” scenarios, sense likely outcomes, and refine decisions before implementation.

“The RGMx tool analytics and functionalities now enable users to identify and simulate multiple pricing and promo RGM initiatives with much higher granularity and speed compared to before,” says McKinsey partner Evagelos Athanassiou.

But the transformation wasn’t only about efficiency—it was about creating stronger category and customer propositions.

As Barney Collins, Reckitt’s Global Trade Marketing and RGM VP, explains: “RGMx has helped us move from optimizing prices to shaping the future of categories. By understanding how categories behave—across markets, brands, and price tiers—we can now design propositions that grow the total category, not just our share within it.”

By modeling category-level dynamics and consumer behavior, Reckitt began using RGMx insights to inform its global category blueprints—guiding brand and innovation strategies for categories including personal and home care products.

This represented a fundamental shift: RGMx was no longer a decision-support tool but a strategic engine for how Reckitt builds, prices, and positions its portfolio worldwide.

Embedding change through People, Process, and Technology

To sustain RGMx’s impact across the organization, our teams worked together on the right approach to capability building.

“Ensuring Reckitt’s teams were able to sustain the success of the transformation independently was a critical part of our work together,” says McKinsey senior partner Abdul Wahab Shaikh.

Reckitt realized that adoption of RGMx required training at the moment of action—when teams were developing commercial plans, shaping brand strategies, and using the RGMx tools live. The company reimagined learning as an integrated process built around a People, Process, and Technology framework:

• People trained while working on real tasks.
• Processes were redesigned to make analytics and insight generation part of everyday decision-making.
• Technology was adapted to serve those processes seamlessly.

Reckitt took a holistic approach to building and sustaining RGM capabilities by focusing on Talent Upskilling, Operating Model, Data, and Technology.

This alignment created a step change in adoption. Teams no longer saw analytics as an “add-on” but as an essential part of how planning happens. Practical, hands-on sessions using live market data helped markets prove the value of insights in real time—accelerating buy-in and changing behavior at scale.

“We designed the tools backward from the tasks our teams had to complete,” says Barney. “When technology solves the exact challenges people face in their day-to-day work, adoption becomes natural.”

Since its launch in 2021, the RGMx and RGM Core platforms have been rolled out across 35 markets. The measurable results include higher category gross profits, stronger ROI on consumer promotions, and improved profitability. Just as importantly, Reckitt has embedded a new operating model where RGM is no longer a project—it is simply the Reckitt way.

Reckitt is now building strategy differently on the back of its successful RGM programs. By consolidating local and global data within a single platform, the company now connects its category growth blueprints to market execution. Strategy design, local validation, and performance tracking are all driven by the same data trunk, creating unprecedented alignment between global and in-market teams.

“For the first time, a brand manager, a commercial lead, and a category director can all look at the same view of data, test the same logic, and track outcomes together,” Barney says. “That shared transparency has been a massive unlock for collaboration and accountability.”

The transformation also enables Reckitt to better serve consumers—delivering the right product, at the right price, in the right format—while deepening relationships with retail partners.

“RGM must be viewed as a long-term organizational capability—one that becomes embedded in an organization’s daily ways of working,” says Varun.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, Reckitt is leveraging its data and AI foundations to build an even more integrated ecosystem. The company is exploring how the RGMx architecture and data lake can connect with broader integrated commercial planning and AI-powered decision systems, amplifying insights across domains (e.g., Sales, R&D).

“Owning our data and technology stack gives us the ability to connect AI, simulation, and decision-making in one place,” says Barney. “That’s a huge competitive advantage as we continue to evolve.”

Still, the ambition remains the same: to think big, invest boldly, and use technology to transform not just processes, but culture.