Procter & Gamble’s Ranya Shamoon brings growth to a tough European baby care market

Ranya Shamoon blazed a trail as Procter & Gamble’s first female senior VP in the Middle East, and she has kept the momentum going as head of European operations for the company’s largest brand, Pampers, since 2018. Despite a declining birth rate and a challenging economy in Europe, she’s delivered steady growth for P&G’s baby care business the past three years, including high-single-digit organic sales growth in focus markets for the company. Premium innovations by P&G helped grow the European baby care market as a whole by 22% last year, per Nielsen IQ data. Read about Ad Age’s 2024 Leading Women here Strong creative, including the “Don’t Fear the Poonami” ad from Publicis Groupe’s PG One played a role. That was based on survey findings that diaper leakage is one of the things parents fear most with their babies, development of a “stop and protect” pocket and applying the slang word “poonami” with some cute baby faces to break through, Shamoon said. Her dream coming out of college was to build brands that have meaningful impacts on people’s lives, and joining P&G in Athens “exceeded all my expections,” she said. She’s worked her way up through a 30-year career. Among the ways Shamoon had that impact is through the “Pampers for Preemies” campaign, which provides millions of specially designed diapers to support premature babies. It’s backed by Pampers’ current partnership with Olympic athletes born prematurely, tied to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris. What advice would you give to your younger self? Always stay true to yourself. And, as often as you can, encourage others to do the same so that everyone feels empowered to draw from their unique perspectives to bring their best self. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? Managing my career as a journey and not as a race. That required balancing multiple factors—being where P&G needed me to make an impact, making the right family choices, while seizing every opportunity to learn and develop. Squaring the trifecta was risky as it meant walking away from some opportunities at times, but in the long run, I am grateful I was able to make a difference and grow, while always doing the right thing for my family. If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing and why? My dream has always been to build brands that have a positive impact on peoples’ lives—this will never change, no matter where I am. What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks? To me, it all starts with building a workplace culture that promotes inclusion and is grounded in shared values. This requires intentional policies, programs and practices but also “authentic” leaders who walk the talk by being unafraid to show vulnerabilities at times and shine a spotlight on the behaviors organizations can adopt to be more aware, vigilant and proactive about the inequalities and barriers to inclusion. How will AI impact your job in the future? As AI is transforming more and more the way brands connect with consumers, I feel excited by the endless opportunities that lie ahead, especially for a brand like Pampers that serves the specific needs of a very defined target group. For the millions of parents who choose Pampers every day to support their babies’ healthy and happy development, having optimal product experiences and tailored content to navigate through the parenthood journey is extremely important. AI offers unique opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of our audience, identify emerging trends and optimize our products and services to better serve parents and babies’ unique needs. It ultimately enables us to better connect with them and nurture trust, which is of paramount importance for a category such as baby care. The Pampers “My Perfect Fit” tool designed to help parents choose the right diaper size is one example of how we are leveraging AI to provide parents with the best possible experience. Read about Ad Age’s 2024 Leading Women here

Procter & Gamble’s Ranya Shamoon brings growth to a tough European baby care market

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