• by Sarah Mahoney , April 9, 2026

The biggest names in consumer packaged goods are still winning — but the ground is shifting beneath them. According to Circana's 2025 U.S. CPG Growth Leaders report, private label and manufacturers under $1 billion in annual sales both gained share last year, while the largest players — those with $8 billion or more in revenue — continued to lose ground.

The 14th annual report, which tracks more than 700 manufacturers across grocery, mass, club, convenience, drug, dollar and ecommerce channels, names Red Bull as the top growth leader among the largest CPG companies, followed by Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oréal and Coca-Cola. Among mid-tier manufacturers, Chobani, Celsius, BellRing Brands, Georgia-Pacific and Driscoll's led the pack.

But the more interesting story is found in who's chasing them.

Retail food and beverage grew 3% in 2025, while non-food CPG slowed to 2% — and much of that growth flowed to smaller players and store brands. Private label gains were driven by newer items, though momentum slowed by year-end. Meanwhile, digital and social channels continued to lower barriers to entry, giving emerging brands new tools to break through.

The report identifies five themes that separate winners from the rest, regardless of size: rich consumer bonds, end-to-end authenticity, relentless value, rewritten occasions and continuous discovery. The twist is that how brands activate those themes varies considerably depending on scale.

Take media. Circana's data shows that influencer marketing delivers a return-on-ad-spend index of 217 for small brands — more than double what large brands see from the same channel. Large brands, meanwhile, get stronger returns from linear TV and online video. The implication is straightforward: For small brands, creators and community outperform. Larger ones should invest in mass reach.

“Winning today means putting the consumer first and staying authentic,” said Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief advisor at Circana, in the announcement.  “Brands that build real trust and offer clear value are connecting deeply with shoppers and building lasting loyalty in a highly competitive space.” 

Distribution is the great equalizer — or divider. Growth leaders of all sizes outpaced competitors in distribution expansion, but the gap was far more dramatic for smaller brands. Companies under $1 billion grew distribution 42% on average, compared to just 7% for all other manufacturers in that tier. Getting on more shelves, in more channels, remains the single most reliable growth lever available.

Innovation is also separating leaders from losers. Growth leaders in the largest tiers derived a higher percentage of dollar sales from new items than their peers, and that gap widened in 2025. But the report is careful to distinguish between meaningful innovation and noise — the brands that succeeded launched products tied to emerging occasions and consumer behaviors, not just new flavors for their own sake.

The consumer behavior piece may be the most important signal for marketers. Younger households — Gen Z and millennials — over-index significantly with smaller growth leaders. Brands like Samyang Foods, Olipop, Electrolit and Bloom index well above the CPG average with those consumers, while most of the $8 billion-plus players skew older. As that generational transfer of purchasing power continues, the brands building community with younger consumers now are staking out territory that will be hard for larger players to reclaim later.

Ecommerce is also punching above its weight. While it represents only 12% of CPG dollar sales, it contributed 71% of total CPG dollar growth in 2025. Growth leaders drove equal or greater share gains online than in brick-and-mortar — and smaller brands, in particular, used ecommerce as a beachhead before expanding into physical retail.