HUNGRY. Espresso: Tony’s Chocolonely’s Global Marketing Strategy in 16 Minutes
Feb 19, 2026
Doug Lamont, an experienced consumer brands leader from Innocent Drinks and Tony’s Chocolonely, shares his scaling playbook. He champions rolling innovation with many small-to-medium bets. He explains how to remove fear of failure, use early shelf sales to time marketing, and make multi-year country bets for real growth.
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Rolling Bets Outperform One Big Launch
- Big launches fail because companies over-research and fear failure, slowing timing and reducing agility.
- Rolling small-to-medium bets let you test cheaply and back winners fast, reducing overall risk.
Scale Marketing Only After On-Shelf Proof
- Do test products on shelf for a few months and only scale marketing behind those already selling.
- Kill losers fast and pour marketing money into proven winners to halve your risk before big spend.
Layered Bets Across Three Growth Pillars
- Doug describes layering bets across brand, innovation and country expansion to grow from £100m to £500m.
- He deliberately keeps multiple irons in the fire so one failure doesn't derail growth.