From strategy to execution that delivers result.
A senior advisory firm for brands that need to move the market - not another slide deck. We diagnose, decide and deliver, from the boardroom to the shelf.
Operators, not observers.
The Breakthrough is a boutique advisory built by senior commercial leaders with two decades inside global FMCG, consumer health and digital platforms. You work directly with the people who have run the brands - not a pyramid of juniors billing hours.
We bring the outside market view and the inside reality of getting things executed - pricing, portfolio, go-to-market, media and shelf. Big-firm rigour, without the big-firm distance or overhead. Every engagement is judged on one thing: the result it moves.
Four walls we help you crash.
Strategy & diagnosis
Where the brand really stands, where it is losing, and the strategy to build a position competitors can't easily take back.
Pricing & marketing finance
Pricing architecture and portfolio P&L that stop the profit leaking, fix the mix, and find where margin can grow.
Go-to-market & shopper
Route to market, category and shopper plans that win the battle where it is decided - at the point of sale.
Consumer connection
Distinctive communication and media that cut through - built on the right brief, spent on the right plan, online and offline.
If any of these sound familiar, we should talk.
The brand is losing share and no one agrees on why.
A price war is eroding margin and discounting isn't a way out.
The innovation pipeline is busy, but nothing actually lands.
Two portfolios just merged and the P&L is a maze.
You're entering a new market or channel and can't afford to learn it the hard way.
A launch has one shot - and it has to be right.
Results, not references.
Senior partners on every engagement.
Twenty-five years building and turning around consumer brands with full P&L ownership - across global FMCG and consumer health (Carlsberg, GlaxoSmithKline / Haleon, Boehringer Ingelheim, USP Zdrowie) and, most recently, digital: a TikTok executive who scaled one of Europe's fastest-growing businesses across 13 markets. He launches brands from a blank page, brings declining icons back to growth, and turns attention into commercial results. A Silver Effie winner (2019) and an Effie Awards Poland juror.
LinkedIn →
Twenty years across strategy, corporate finance, market research, marketing and innovation - for global corporations and local champions alike (Eurosport, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, Carlsberg, PGNiG, Goodvalley). He builds brand and portfolio strategy on hard analysis, then pressure-tests it against what technology, production, logistics and sales can actually deliver.
LinkedIn →Four walls, crashed.
The #1 Czech beer in Poland, built from a blank page.
A flat mainstream segment with no room to out-spend the leaders. We found the value in provenance and created a Czech-beer concept priced for the mainstream shopper.
#1 Czech beer in Poland within 3 months · largest beer launch in 8 years · Silver Effie 2019.
A 170-year-old brand, brought back from delisting.
A declining icon on the delisting list. We rebuilt the whole brand mix around its authentic heritage and re-earned a mainstream price.
Net revenue and brand contribution doubled in two years · "Brand of the Year" · a global gold benchmark for relaunch inside the group.
A regional commercial vertical, scaled past its target.
A fast-moving digital platform needed a repeatable regional sales strategy for its largest FMCG, pharma and retail advertisers.
+165% year on year · 110% of target · among the fastest-growing verticals in the region.
A flagship OTC brand turned into the market's #1 growth driver.
A flagship vitamin-C brand plateauing in a crowded OTC market. We repositioned it and shifted trade from push to pull.
+3pp value share · #1 in growth value in the entire Polish OTC market · highest share in six years.
Sized to the problem, not the invoice.
Diagnostic sprint
A fast, senior read on where you stand and the three moves that matter most. Low commitment, high clarity.
Strategy project
The full strategy and marketing plan - pressure-tested against competitors and built to be executed, not filed.
Interim leadership
When you need the strategy run, not just written, we step in and lead the function until it holds.
Advisory retainer
A senior sounding board for the CMO and the team - on the decisions between the big projects.
A firm sized to the problem.
Senior-led, always
You get the people who have carried the P&L and the launch - from first diagnosis to final decision.
Team assembled per project
We build the right expert team around your problem - no fixed overhead, no bench you pay to keep warm.
Boardroom to shelf
Strategy on paper is half the job. We can stay on to implement - including interim leadership - until it works.
Questions we get asked.
What does The Breakthrough do?
Strategy and marketing advisory for companies that want to genuinely shift their market position, not collect another deck. We work across four areas: strategy and diagnosis (where the brand really stands and what to do about it), pricing and marketing finance (price architecture and portfolio profitability), go-to-market and shopper (route to market and winning at the point of sale), and communication and media - with a particular focus on digital communication built on native content, both organic and paid, that cuts through to consumers where they actually spend their time. We handle both the decision in the boardroom and its delivery - all the way to the shelf and the screen.
Who do you work with?
Boards and owners, marketing and commercial directors, challenger brands taking on the leader, portfolio companies of investment funds, and global corporates operating in Poland and Europe. The common thread is a high-stakes moment: a launch, a repositioning, a price war, a share decline, or post-acquisition integration - a situation where you have to make the right call and then deliver it.
How are you different from a large consultancy?
You work directly with partners who have owned the P&L, run brands, led launches, and built and led teams - not with a group of junior analysts billed by the hour. We know how strategy meets the reality of production, logistics and the sales floor, and how to build and lead the people who have to deliver it - because we recruited, developed and ran marketing and sales teams ourselves, including through change and fast growth. We combine the rigour and method of a big firm with a practitioner's perspective. The result: less theory, faster decisions, and real accountability for the outcome, not the slides.
How do you work?
We fit the format to the problem, not the other way around. Four main modes: a diagnostic sprint (2-4 weeks - a fast, honest read on the situation and the three moves that matter), a full strategy project (complete strategy and plan, pressure-tested against competitors and ready to execute), interim leadership (we step in and run the function when the strategy has to be led, not just written), and an advisory retainer (a standing sounding board for the board and the team). We assemble the team around the specific project, and a lead partner is always personally involved.
Who is the team?
The firm is led by two partners: Bartosz Grodny (Managing Partner) and Wiktor Urban (Chief Strategy Partner). On every engagement, one of them leads the work personally. For each task we assemble a small team of experts matched to the problem - without carrying a large permanent structure that the client ends up paying for.
Where are you based?
Warsaw. We work with clients across Poland and Europe, remotely and on site, in Polish and English. Entity: The Breakthrough LLC sp.k., KRS 0000986320.
Have a wall worth crashing?
Book a 30-minute call. We'll tell you straight whether we can move the result - and how we'd start.