For four years, one of the best marketers on earth grew almost entirely by charging more. That just stopped working.

People are still buying, but they won’t keep paying more just because the label is familiar.

When the largest pure-play consumer packaged goods company in the world posts flat organic sales because it can no longer grow on price alone, it confirms that the caution in the confidence surveys has reached the center of the shopping basket, not just the discretionary edges.

For your own marketing, that means retiring messaging that leans on lifestyle or aspiration alone and making the economic case explicit: This lasts longer, does the job of two products, performs measurably better, costs less over time. The brands that keep pricing power are the ones that give customers a concrete reason to pay it. Everyone else is one shelf tag away from losing the sale.

Cutting marketing when times get tough is the single worst move a business can make. It’s the moment your competitors go quiet, which makes it the cheapest time to take share.

BY MICHAEL TASNER