A Productivity Mindset

Productivity

Extending our levels of superiority, creating the financial flexibility to manage through increased external volatility, and an ongoing need to drive balanced top- and bottom-line growth requires productivity up and down the income statement and across the balance sheet.

We’re delivering significant cost and cash efficiency with many more opportunities ahead. We’re discovering lower-cost ways of working with fewer resources — today’s necessity giving rise to the productivity inventions of tomorrow. New digital tools are being brought to the forefront, providing another productivity driver — in our labs, in the office environment and on the factory floor.

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Productivity is now as integral to our culture as innovation; it’s part of our DNA.

For example, our Product Supply organization has successfully leveraged automation solutions to fuel productivity and accelerate our journey toward an End-to-End Synchronized Supply Network. Investments like this have enabled significant savings over the past 10 years, with more ahead.

In Brand Building, data & analytics and digital technology are reinventing how we work. We’ve already seen significant savings in agency fees and production costs, with further savings ahead.

These are just two examples. Over the last 10 years, we’ve fully embedded a productivity mindset into our operations and activity system. It is part of our DNA; now as integral to our culture as innovation. Productivity work never ends and will remain a significant part of our focus.

VARIOUS STATEMENTS IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT, including estimates, projections, objectives and expected results, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are generally identified by the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “project,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “likely” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties discussed in Item 1A – Risk Factors of the Form 10-K included in this Annual Report. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.