food & drink
Senior marketing director, confectionery, UK & Ireland
Mondelēz International
Few people know Mondelēz’s confectionery business like Benazir Barlet-Batada. From her first role at the business in 2007 as brand manager, she’s built up a huge and diverse volume of experience, with some significant achievements along the way.
Those achievements include overseeing the launch of major Cadbury product development, such as its hugely popular Marvellous Creations, as well as initiatives like the #FreetheJoy UK platform. In her current role, which she was promoted to in January 2021, Barlet-Batada oversees the full roster of confectionery brands for UK and Ireland at Mondelēz, and has successfully steered the business through Covid toward impressive growth.
In July, the global business reported an increase in net revenues of more than 9.5% in the second quarter of 2022, with much of that volume growth fuelled by its confectionery business. Barlet-Batada continues to evolve the portfolio, one such example being the launch non-HFSS sweets Juicies from its Maynards Bassetts and The Natural Confectionery Co brands earlier this year.■
Benazir Barlet-Batada
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CMO
Britvic
The news that Britvic would end its nine-decade long partnership with Wimbledon in June is just the latest example of how CMO Matt Barwell is committed to constantly evolving and innovating with its portfolio of drinks brands. The end to Robinsons’ sponsorship of the summer tennis tournament will see Barwell and his team expand their summertime reach going forward, and focus on new campaigns, such as the ‘Big Fruit Hunt’.
It might be one of Britvic’s most beloved British brands, but Barwell has championed a constantly evolving strategy as key to Robinson’s success. This strategy is evident in a steady flow of product development, the removal of all added sugar, and moves to double its strength to reduce packaging.
Barwell, who joined the business in 2014 after 15 years with Diageo, applies the same progressive logic to broader marketing strategies across the business, with an attitude that these should always be ready to innovate and adapt. This attitude is demonstrated through the business’s launch of its digital studio to meet the challenges of the future.■
Matt Barwell
Head of marketing
Weetabix
2021 was a stellar year for marketing at Weetabix, with the brand picking up the Marketing Week Award for Best Use of a Small Budget for its ‘Beans on Bix’ activity, showing you can put together compelling and highly versatile content for only a few thousand pounds. The activity then went on to be crowned campaign of the year by Marketing Week readers.
Claire Canty has worked at the business for nearly a decade, taking on the role of head of marketing in October 2021, a job she shared with Gareth Turner until his departure from the business in May.
Canty hasn’t let the momentum slow since then and has sought to ensure the brand stays relevant and fresh in the mind of UK consumers. Weetabix kicked off 2022 with a new £1.5m TV campaign, encouraging people to choose healthy cereals, and exploring on-trend topics such as plant-based, remote work and even self-driving cars. Then in May it unveiled a quirky animated ‘Have you had your Weetabix?’ ad, that debuted across TV and social media, and formed part of a £14m marketing spend to grow the brand.■
Claire Canty
CMO
Diageo
A strong believer in the power of marketing, under Cristina Diezhandino’s leadership, Diageo has continued to invest heavily in its brands to drive growth, increasing marketing spend by 24.7% in the year to 30 June 2022. This investment has paid off for Diezhandino and Diageo with the increased spend credited with helping boost sales by 21.4% in its 2022 financial year and fuel momentum behind its premiumisation strategy.
This stands as a testament to the ability of Diezhandino, who took on her current role in July 2020, having previously worked as global category director for scotch and managing director for Reserve brands. During this time she has built up an impressive volume of experience across both marketing and general management. That includes time spent as general manager for Central America and the Caribbean, where she was responsible for Diageo’s business in more than 37 territories.
Diageo has signalled that its marketing will remain integral to its growth strategy into 2023, and it is in extremely capable hands under the leadership of Diezhandino.■
Cristina Diezhandino
CMO
Premier Foods
With a portfolio of ambient grocery brands including Bisto, Loyd Grossman sauces and Mr Kipling, Premier Foods is arguably vulnerable to the impact of inflation, as consumers opt for cheaper own brand equivalents. But thanks in part to the excellent work of its CMO Yilmaz Erceyes, the company reported a 6% rise in sales in the first quarter of 2022, with sales of its branded products up 4.2%. A mix of relevant product development and the right value-focused messaging around its core stable of products have both helpedto buoy the brand owner.
Among the standout activities led by Erceyes in recent months is a campaign for Mr Kipling in May, its first creative since 2018. The campaign tapped into consumers’ emotional connection with the sweet treat brand, depicting a father and daughter sharing a touching moment over a piano and Mr Kipling Angel Slices. It also zeroed in on the brand’s new HFSS-compliant range. This campaign demonstrates Erceyes’ approach, which balances innovation with showcasing Premier Food’s beloved products.■
Yilmaz Erceyes
Marketing director
Little Moons
He might be best known for taking mochi ice-cream brand Little Moons viral on TikTok at the start of 2021, but there are far more strings to marketing director Ross Farquhar’s bow. He became the envy of brands everywhere when he and his team appeared to master the latest social media platform. The brand spawned 15,000 TikTok videos and generated more than 150 million views among locked-down consumers, leading to a sales uplift of more than 2,000%. But rather than neglect other channels, Farquhar wisely opted to broaden the brand’s marketing mix, as part of a strategy to take the dessert from cult product to household name.
This led to the launch of the ‘Ice cream from another world’ campaign in 2021, spanning outdoor media and TV. Central to its creative were two playful 20-second films, using bold and quirky concepts to convey the sense of otherworldliness, which aired exclusively around Channel 4’s Gogglebox and First Dates to help cement Farquhar’s plans to take Little Moons from social media sensation to mainstream hit.■
Ross Farquhar
Marketing director, UK
Heineken
Sustainability is high on the agenda for Michael Gillane, who took on the marketing director role at Heineken UK just two months before the pandemic struck. Even amid the crisis, Gillane found innovative ways to keep building its portfolio of brands, such as by highlighting how the team had devised a way to turn wasted pints into green energy while pubs remained closed.
Over the past year as the hospitality sector has reopened, he and his team have continued to innovate, in particular via a steady stream of product development, all of which has sustainability as its “north star”.
In April 2021 Heineken launched Inch’s Cider, which is made with apples that have been grown less than 40 miles from the mill. Across its full beer portfolio, which includes Amstel and Birra Moretti, Heineken’s target is that 100% of its barley and hops globally come from renewable, sustainable sources by 2030. By 2021, it was 65% of the way towards achieving that goal. As well as focusing on the impact of its product, Heineken is working to get to net zero in its advertising and media.■
Michael Gillane
Head of marketing, UK and Ireland
Tony’s Chocolonely
Also known as ‘Countess of Cocoa’, Tony’s Chocolonely’s head of marketing, Nicola Matthews, has made some bold choices since she joined the business in 2018. Describing the brand’s product as its “number one marketing tool”, she has talked extensively about the ethical confectionery brand’s commitment to not paying for media. Instead, it has relied on advocacy and word of mouth to promote the brand and its mission to make the chocolate supply chain 100% slave free. In short, while competitors ploughed millions into campaigns, Matthews and her team successfully reached £83m in revenues, hardly spending a penny on media.
With scale came change, and in 2021 Matthews spearheaded Tony’s first UK above the line campaign. But product and ethics remain at the core of its communications. The brand also attracted headlines when it included a blank door in its advent calendar last year in an attempt to highlight inequality in the chocolate industry. “We really do believe if you’ve got a story worth telling then you shouldn’t have to pay to tell it,” Matthews has insisted. And so far, that recipe seems to be paying off for the brand.■
Nicola Matthews
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Marketing director, GB
The Coca-Cola Company
Louise Maugest was promoted to her role as The Coca-Cola Company’s marketing director for Great Britain in 2021 from within the business, demonstrating the reputation she has built since first joining as a brand manager for Coca-Cola Zero in 2014. Before her promotion to the top UK marketing job she was a marketing manager for new beverages in Great Britain, in which she impressed by playing a central role in the introduction of new marketing strategies and product development.
She is now responsible for all new product launches in the UK, tasked with sustaining growth at what Maugest herself has called a “pivotal” time for the business. She’s drilled down on cultural and emotional significance with consumers, opening a flagship Coca-Cola store in London earlier this year, and building greater affinity via the ‘Real Magic’ marcomms platform. There’s also been a focus on the Diet Coke brand, celebrating the drink’s fashion connection as it reaches its 40th anniversary this year. Maugest has targeted “brand love” through collaborations with Kate Moss and tapping into Diet Coke’s fashion links.■
Louise Maugest
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Marketing director
KP Snacks
Now at the tail-end of his three-year strategy to put marketing at the heart of the business, Kevin McNair claims it has left the snacks company successfully “punching above its weight”. He joined the business in late 2018, and within just eight months had embarked on his plan to transform KP Snacks from a “trade-led organisation” to a “brand marketing-led” business.
The results are impressive, with the latest filing to Companies House showing KP Snacks increased revenue by 1.1% to £479.4m in the year to 26 December 2020, despite pandemic restrictions hindering growth. In a clear sign of its new marketing agility, KP Snacks managed to pivot consumer attention to ‘take home’ snacking, growing ahead of the total grocery market at 15.1% versus 12.8%.
The driven McNair is now targeting further growth, penetration, awareness and profit, implementing the Ehrenberg-Bass principles of how brands grow across every department. He is encouraging incremental innovation and fuelling growth across recently acquired brands, such as Tyrells too, which saw a 12% boost in 2020 alone.■
Kevin McNair
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FMCG
Food & drink
analysis
methodology
judges
CHARITY & NOT-FOR-PROFIT
FOOD & DRINK RETAIL
GENERAL RETAIL
MEDIA & TELECOMS
REGULATED INDUSTRIES
TRAVEL, LEISURE & HOSPITALITY
consumer goods, tech & AUTOMOTIVE
FINANCIAL SERVICES
FMCG
Food & drink
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