Following a strong performance in 2021, including growth in grocery of over 52 per cent, and with continuing growth in 2022, Fever-Tree has expanded its team with the appointment of a Head of Commercial Sales and a Head of Strategy for Australia and New Zealand.
Grant Howard joins the sales team from Lion, where he worked in a variety of roles, in a recruitment process led by BrightSide Executive Search. Alanna Gibson joins as Head of Strategy having worked with industry leading clients across Europe and Asia Pacific for over five years.
Howard told The Shout that having been involved in the industry for a number of years he has seen the recent trend of consumers drinking less alcohol and wanting to drink better quality.
“This insight, validated by numerous data points has formed part of many of my presentations to retailers over time. The Fever-Tree business philosophy, which is entrenched in producing the best quality liquids, combined with the marketing tagline, ‘If ¾ of your Drink is the Mixer, then mix with the Best’, really resonated with me.”
He added: “I’m looking forward to building on the great foundations that have been established by people working on the brand since its inception in Australia. Andy Gaunt, Caroline Wood and the teams at our two distributor partners, SouthTrade International and DKSH, have done such an amazing job to build consumer awareness and availability of this brand. However excitingly, there is so much more to do to position the brand and company for future growth opportunities.”
Howard will be working with those distribution partners on key commercial battlegrounds and will also be working with on- and off-premise customers and consumers to understand “understanding what is good and what could be better about the Fever-Tree proposition”.
He also said, that while it was a tough decision to leave Lion, the team at BrightSide really helped his transition to Fever-Tree.
“I was and still am very passionate about the brands and people at Lion,” he told The Shout. “It is a company without peer, however personal and professional growth are two very important things for me.
“I will be forever grateful for the support that Amber King and Brightside showed during the change process. Amber is empathetic and understanding and a highly effective communicator. Whether you are a candidate or employer, I can highly regard Amber, because I know she worked hard for both Fever-Tree and myself.”
Howard said while he will be going out to talk to the trade, if customers want to reach out, he can be contacted on 0408 706 312 or grant.howard@fever-tree.com.