Victor Zanon

I lead the creation and scale-up of Masan’s first Consumer Innovation Center, building and managing a dedicated cross-functional team across consumer insights, category, R&D and marketing. The CIC operates as a central platform to turn consumer insight into commercially viable innovation across Beverages, Coffee, Nutrition and Home & Personal Care, in one of Southeast Asia’s most competitive FMCG markets. I built the CIC from the ground up, defining its operating model, innovation pipeline and team structure, while hiring, developing and aligning talent around clear ownership and decision frameworks. My focus has been on enabling teams to move faster without losing consumer relevance or execution discipline. I oversee the full innovation journey with my team, from identifying real consumer white spaces to launching products in market. This includes portfolio prioritisation, concept validation with consumers, and making hard calls on what to scale and what to stop early. I work closely with WinCommerce to ensure strong go-to-market execution, translating innovation into retail-ready launches with clear value propositions and operational readiness. My role sits between strategy and execution. I combine long-term portfolio thinking with hands-on leadership, using data, insight and testing to drive sharper decisions and measurable business impact.

Active contributor to GLG, Guidepoint, Dialectica, Arbolus, Reticula and other expert networks. I act as an expert advisor for leading global consulting and investment research firms, contributing senior-level perspective on FMCG, consumer innovation and private label strategy. My work focuses on helping teams and clients make sharper decisions around product innovation, portfolio strategy and market adaptation, particularly when global concepts need to be translated into local, culturally relevant propositions. I advise on topics such as consumer behaviour shifts, innovation pipeline design, portfolio prioritisation and go-to-market strategy, drawing directly from hands-on experience in retail and FMCG leadership roles. Projects span Europe and Southeast Asia and cover categories including food and beverage, personal care and household products, with a strong emphasis on practical, actionable recommendations over theoretical frameworks.

I owned the end-to-end management of a large private label portfolio, overseeing more than 100 SKUs across their full lifecycle, from concept definition to delisting. My responsibility focused on portfolio coherence, consumer relevance and long-term category performance. I led cross-functional teams and coordinated multiple stakeholders across sourcing, quality, logistics, pricing and commercial areas, working closely with international suppliers to develop and scale Mercadona’s own brand propositions. A core part of my role was making disciplined portfolio decisions. I defined and tracked key KPIs, using Nielsen, Kantar and internal performance data to prioritise initiatives, simplify assortments and actively delist underperforming products to protect scale, efficiency and consumer clarity. I also identified and developed new growth opportunities through continuous market, competitor and consumer analysis, contributing to category evolution within a high-velocity retail environment. This role shaped my approach to innovation and strategy: consumer-led, data-informed and grounded in operational reality.

I managed on-trade accounts across the Levante area, developing commercial plans aligned with regional priorities and category objectives within a highly competitive FMCG environment. My role combined commercial negotiation with execution, including annual agreements with hospitality partners, performance tracking through seasonal sales data, and in-market activation of brand and category strategies. I worked closely with customers to identify product and range opportunities, translating brand and portfolio priorities into effective on-trade execution. This experience gave me a strong grounding in customer economics, negotiation dynamics and the realities of commercial decision-making. This role built the commercial foundation that later shaped my approach to portfolio strategy and consumer-led innovation.

Early exposure to supply planning and operational processes within the supply function, supporting data analysis and internal reporting in a complex, large-scale organisation..

Led and developed youth teams (ages 8–14), focusing on discipline, teamwork and long-term skill development. Early hands-on experience in team leadership, communication and responsibility.

Supported marketing initiatives through competitive analysis, social media monitoring and event coordination, gaining early exposure to brand communication and consumer engagement.

Assisted marketing and sales activities, including competitive analysis, customer support and partner acquisition in an early-stage environment.

Erasmus + program