Pernod Ricard CMO prepares departure - Global Drinks Intel exclusive

Pernod Ricard is on the hunt for its next group CMO less than 18 months after creating the position, as Eric Benoist looks to move on.

In September last year, a redraw of Pernod Ricard’s senior executive structure saw Benoist move up to the new role from that of global marketing & commercial director. The promotion was the latest in a career with the company that started in 1993 and will end on 31 December.

During his time with Pernod Ricard, Benoist travelled extensively, to Asia as marketing director for two years, then more specifically to Japan, where he oversaw the company’s operations in the country as MD. As well as having been international marketing director at both the Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët and Chivas Brothers subsidiaries, he was also CEO of Wyborowa Pernod Ricard and of Pernod Ricard Central Europe for three years until 2018.

Details of where Benoist is moving to were not disclosed, although Global Drinks Intel understands he will semi-retire.

“We would like to take opportunity to warmly thank Eric for all his contributions and commitment during all these years while sincerely wishing him all the best in this new chapter he begins,” the company said in an internal communication seen by Global Drinks Intel.

Pernod Ricard has yet to appoint a successor.

In results for fiscal 2024 – to the end of June – the group saw its sales slip by 1% on the corresponding period a year earlier. Subsequently, a near-6% top-line decline in the first quarter of the current financial year was not enough to stop the group from forecasting a positive performance over the full 12 months.