In April, Global Drinks Intel editor Olly Wehring was in Belgium for Anheuser-Busch InBev’s AGM. Also there was group CEO Michel Doukeris, who found time after the meeting for an exclusive one-to-one.
On the same day in February that he oversaw Beam Suntory’s first set of results since becoming CEO, Greg Hughes shares his views on the past, present and future of the brand owner with Global Drinks Intel.
In June, Diageo hosted an ‘Innovation Showcase’ event at its headquarters in London. Shortly after the session, Global Drinks Intel editor Olly Wehring caught up with group chief innovation officer Mark Sandys to hear more about the brand owner’s approach to all things new.
In May, Carlsberg’s group CEO, Jacob Aarup-Andersen, was in Belgium to announce a refresh of the group’s abbey beer, Grimbergen. Global Drinks Intel spoke to him shortly after the official event to hear about the brand owner’s plans for ‘1128 by Grimbergen’ and the beer’s position at the premium end of its portfolio.
Relatively speaking, Brenda Fiala is a newbie in the beverage alcohol industry, having joined Bacardi in late 2016. Global Drinks Intel spent an insightful hour in her company in February to learn more about… insights.
As well as announcing full-year sales growth – the first since 2019 – in fiscal 2024 for Treasury Wine Estates, group CEO Tim Ford shared more with Global Drinks Intel editor Olly Wehring in August about the brand owner’s performance, as well as adding colour to the latest plans to right-size the business.
BuzzBallz founder Merrilee Kick shared the history of the RTD brand that has grown to 35 variants and almost 7m in case sales – almost all of which hail from just one market.
In July, trade association the World Spirits Alliance published a report looking at the spirits industry’s place in the global economy. Global Drinks Intel editor Olly Wehring spoke to the organisation’s president – and CEO of Moët Hennessy – Philippe Schaus, to hear more about the report’s findings.
On one of our multiple sojourns to Paris this year, Global Drinks Intel met with Solène Marchand, Pernod Ricard’s head of marketing for non-alcoholics, to hear more about the brand owner’s recent moves in the zero-ABV spirits segment.
Fida Bou Chabke’s time at the top of Rémy Cointreau’s global travel retail division took effect in June last year, when she moved up from overseeing the group’s Louis XIII cognac brand in the Americas. Global Drinks Intel editor Olly Wehring met up with Chabke at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes in October to learn more about how she and Rémy Cointreau’s GTR operations are getting on against the backdrop of troubling times for the company.
