I work on how AI decides which brands get recommended, and I have watched that decision from both sides of the table. Brand-side at J&J and Unilever. Platform-side at Meta and Pinterest. Now I help UK CPG leaders win the Invisible Buyer.
Naureen Mohammed
Thirty years on both sides of the shelf: building brands at Johnson & Johnson and Unilever, and running the platforms that recommend them at Meta and Pinterest, including Discovery Commerce for CPG. It is the one credential in this field you cannot acquire by reading.
Marketing had two three buyers. The third is a machine.
Naureen Mohammed, Lead Partner & Founder
For thirty years, marketing had two buyers. The trade buyer, who decides what gets listed. The shopper, who decides what gets bought. I spent my career learning both, brand-side at Johnson & Johnson and Unilever, and platform-side at Meta and Pinterest.
Now there is a third, and it is a machine. When a shopper asks an AI what to buy, an algorithm shortlists two or three brands before a person sees anything. I call it the Invisible Buyer, and almost no one is managing it.
Being found is not the same as being chosen. The brands that win the next decade are the ones the machine recommends.
That is the work I do now. I help UK CPG marketing leaders find their Choice Gap, the distance between the share they hold and the share the AI gives them, and close it.
Five disciplines, one thread: how brands get found, and how they get chosen.
Brand Strategy & P&L Leadership
Owned the number, not the deck: consumer health and FMCG P&Ls run as businesses, from portfolio strategy to GTM transformation.
Platform & Discovery Media
Ran the platform side at Meta and Pinterest, where algorithms decide what shoppers see first, including Discovery Commerce for CPG.
AI Choice & Answer Engines
The Invisible Buyer thesis: measure the gap between the share you hold and the share the AI gives you, then close it.
Commercial Growth & Market Entry
Built categories and verticals from zero across MENAP and EMEA, partnering directly with CMOs and boards.
Marketing Organisation & Capability
Teams, agencies and boards restructured for how discovery actually works now: education at board level, playbooks at practitioner level.
Brand-side building the brands. Platform-side recommending them.
Founded the fractional CMO practice for AI-era consumer choice. I help UK CPG marketing leaders measure their Choice Gap, the distance between the share they hold and the share the AI gives them, and close it.
Led double-digit growth of a multi-million-pound CPG portfolio, partnering with Unilever, P&G, L'Oréal, Nestlé, Mars, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. Pinterest is a discovery and recommendation engine: the platform side of how consumers now find and choose brands.
CPG industry expert across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, covering a 10-figure client investment portfolio. Drove double-digit incremental investment via board-level education and practitioner playbooks, on the algorithmic surfaces that increasingly decide what consumers discover.
Commercial lead for market expansion across CPG, luxury, health and beauty in MENAP. Scaled CPG vertical from zero to $40m at 23% CAGR. Built luxury vertical from scratch to $10m.
P&L owner for $420m consumer healthcare business across 13 markets and 4 regional offices. Delivered 12.5% CAGR through GTM transformation, team re-org, and vendor overhaul.
Led brand strategy across 17 EMEA countries for Clean & Clear. Owned Listerine ($50m UK brand) achieving record 52% market share. Scaled 'Power to Your Mouth' campaign across 13 global markets.
Built foundation in consumer goods marketing across vaccines, skincare, and FMCG categories.
Operator by day. Board director since 2016.
Board Director & Shareholder
itsherstore.com
2016–Present
VC Board Advisor
Goddess Gaia Ventures
2022–2024
Board Member
The Marketing Society
2016–2020
Board seats are where the thesis gets stress-tested against someone else’s P&L. Retail, venture, and the industry body, with the same question every time: where is the next buyer coming from?
Recommended, not just found.