Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Pamela Kaufman of Morgan Stanley. The line is now open. Please go ahead.
Pamela Kaufman: Hi. Good morning. I was on mute. Can you discuss how much investments shifted into the second half of the year? I think you mentioned that in the prepared remarks. And just broadly how you’re thinking about marketing and brand investment relative to your original plan given what you’re seeing from a demand standpoint and increasing elasticities?
Steve Cahillane: Yeah, Pam, maybe I’ll start and then flip it to Amit. I’d say we have clearly increased our investment in A&P in the first half of the year as we said we would. We were maybe a little bit more judicious as we continue to work through bottlenecks and shortages and get our confidence in our supply chain back to where it needs to be to really drive the type of quality merchandising that we want to drive. And so we see more ambitious plans in the second half. So we’ll see an increase above the run rate that we had in the first half as we drive really good program against Pringles and Cheez-It, our cereal business and so forth. So, continued investment in the brands in a constructive way to drive good quality displays, and promotions on the floor into the second half.
And so that’s what you see happening. A little bit of dynamism going forward, but a confidence in our supply chain is a lot more solid than I’d say it’s been really since the pandemic. I don’t know, Amit, if you want to?
Amit Banati: No. I think there’s been some shift. We always talk this year that we’d be lapping last year’s pull down, right, as we went — as we were building inventories in the first half of 2022. So, for the half, we were up mid-single digits on for the half in A&P. And so — the quarter and so I think we’d expect some shifting of that into the second half.
Pamela Kaufman: Great. Thank you. And just wanted to ask what you’re seeing — what you’re observing from the consumer outside of the US your results, especially in Europe were very strong. So, maybe if you could touch on what you’re seeing in terms of consumer behavior across your geographies?
Steve Cahillane: Yes. I’d say — and we’ve talked about this in the past, Europe is probably under more strain in terms of household budgets than North America. But we performed very well in the second quarter, obviously, you saw our snacks grow nearly 20% on an organic basis. You saw positive growth in cereal. And so from that perspective, our brands are performing well. Our relationships with our customers are very, very constructive. We find the overlap of what they need for their consumers, which we share as we think about putting together promotions and programs that address a strained household budget environment in Europe. But I’d say the brands have performed very well. Our customer teams have performed in an excellent manner as we’ve executed unprecedented revenue growth management activities in Europe, and really continue to operate in a situation where household budgets remain under pressure.
And for the foreseeable future, I think we’ll continue to remain under pressure. But underlying that is a resilient consumer who continues to spend against discretionary items like Pringles and like our cereal brands.
Pamela Kaufman: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Steve Powers of Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open, please go ahead.
