At LockSmith, we believe that marketing training is the foundation of marketing effectiveness. And few partnerships showcase that belief better than our work with PZ Cussons.
We’re proud to be the chosen partner for the PZ Cussons Marketing Growth Academy, a multi-market, multi-phase training programme designed to raise the floor, create a common language and build the strategic muscles needed for sustainable growth.
The challenge: aligning teams around a global growth agenda
With a renewed ambition to become a brand-building organisation, PZ Cussons’ marketing leadership needed to unlock more consistent performance across markets — fast.
But like many global FMCG businesses, their teams were at different starting points. There were varying levels of marketing capability, fragmented briefing standards and an urgent need to shift mindset from trading to long-term brand building.
They knew what good looked like. The challenge was ensuring every marketer — across all regions — could deliver it.
Our solution: practical, fun, and sticky marketing training
Working closely with CMO Paul, the global capability team, and senior stakeholders across markets, we co-designed a scalable academy model tailored to PZ Cussons’ language, processes, and live business needs.
The result? A multi-year programme to drive behavioural change.
Phase 1: “Quick Win” workshops in Indonesia
With the most urgent capability gap identified in Indonesia, we kicked off with two high-impact, high-energy workshops:
- Unlock Critical Thinking: Helping marketers diagnose problems and write stronger strategies.
- Unlock Amazing Briefs: Building skills to create tighter, more commercially effective briefs.
By integrating our proprietary LockPicking Toolkit, delegates gained a structured way to approach marketing problems, challenge assumptions, and find better solutions — all while working on live business challenges.
“One of the most engaging and enlightening training sessions I’ve been exposed to during my career in marketing.”
– Marketer, Indonesia
Phase 2: Embedding capability in the UK & Ireland
With momentum building, the next stop was the UK & Ireland. Again, the focus was on embedding foundational capability — but this time, tailored to reflect local culture, commercial context, and brand priorities.
Two interactive workshops delivered immediate impact:
- Unlock Critical Thinking: Elevating strategic analysis, insight generation, and decision-making.
- Unlock Amazing Briefs: Improving the quality and clarity of briefs to inspire agency partners.
The feedback was electric. Delegates worked on live briefs, practiced applying tools in real time, and left the sessions with greater confidence — and sharper thinking.
“The training brought refreshed thinking to live brand projects, pushing complex challenges to the forefront and leaving the team feeling clear on future choices.”
– Alex Glen, UK&I
Phase 3: Deep diving on specialist skills – Shopper Marketing & Commercial Skills
Recognising that brand strategy alone isn’t enough, we then delivered targeted interventions in areas that directly influence commercial performance:
- Shopper Marketing: Teaching marketers how to convert brand love into purchase behaviour.
- Commercial Skills for Marketers: Helping teams become financially fluent, ROI-savvy, and confident in commercial conversations.
“Another fantastic LockSmith workshop, challenging habits and really driving the diligence of shopper-led thinking to drive conversion to sale.” – Marketer, PZ Cussons
Phase 4: Train the Trainer
Every great business needs internal champions to own capability. We ran a Trainer the Trainer with James and Tine from the global capability function, focused on how to design, deliver and embed marketing capability programmes that will empower their teams long after the training session ends.
We always include train the trainer in our marketing academy design. Why?
✅ More efficiency – it’s not practical or financially viable for LockSmith to develop & deliver 100% of marketing capability building programmes in a business.
✅ More impact – there are some topics that are definitely best developed internally and plenty subject matter experts within the business to do it. They just need to know how.
✅ More accountability – embedding the behaviour change is best done by ensuring line managers and marketing leaders take personal accountability.
Capability building is about behaviour change. And, while external trainers like us bring expertise and best practices, the real magic happens when the internal team takes ownership of embedding those behaviours day in and day out.
The impact: Trusted partner for world-class capability building
LockSmith didn’t just run training. We embedded capability into the rhythm of the business.
- Supported the shift to a culture of accountability and insight-led thinking
- Upskilled 90% of the global marketing population in six months
- Tailored content to reflect PZ Cussons’ culture, language and live challenges
- Delivered across 3 markets and 10 brand teams — with consistently high engagement and ratings
“LockSmith are unmatched when it comes to building world-class marketing capabilities… a perfect blend of cutting-edge insights, practical application and highly engaging delivery.”
– Paul, CMO, PZ Cussons
Final word
What began as an urgent need to bridge capability gaps has evolved into a world-class programme that’s helping teams think more critically, brief more clearly, and lead more commercially.
PZ Cussons’ Growth Academy is a shining example of what happens when capability building is taken seriously — and delivered with energy, relevance and real business context.
If you’re a capability leader navigating similar challenges — from securing global buy-in to integrating training with business priorities — we’d love to help.
Let’s talk Marketing Academies
📩 chris@locksmith.works | alex@locksmith.works
📅 Or book a call here to explore what a tailored Marketing Academy could look like for you.
