AB InBev appoints Benoit Garbe as new U.S. CMO
Anheuser-Busch InBev, a global beverage giant, has appointed its Chief Strategy Officer Benoit Garbe, as the new U.S. Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at a time when everything from the company’s portfolio to its C-suite is in flux.
Garbe succeeds current CMO Marcel Marcondes. After four years in the CMO role, Marcondes was credited with growing AB InBev’s Michelob Ultra to No. 2 in the U.S. in beer sales volume just as long-time AB centre piece Budweiser dropped out of the Top 5. As he exits the CMO post, Marcondes is transitioning to a new role within AB InBev.
Garbe is joined by new U.S. chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington, who is currently president of Labatt’s in Canada and helped bring Nütrl Vodka Soda into AB’s portfolio. Additionally, Simon Wustenberg, president of InBev’s AB One distribution arm, will become the company’s U.S. chief sales officer.
Sales of AB InBev’s “core” brands have been on the decline; meanwhile its other brands and beverages have thrived. Under Garbe’s tenure as chief marketer, AB’s most popular product may not be a beer at all.
During the first year of the pandemic in 2020, AB InBev saw its sales to retailers in the U.S. drop 0.2%, or lower than the beer industry’s total 0.1% decline. Its sales to beer wholesalers, meanwhile, fell 1.7% during that time.
But AB InBev saw its “above core” Michelob Ultra become its fastest-growing brand in the U.S. and No. 2 overall behind Bud Light. Meanwhile, freshly launched Bud Light Seltzer grew at double the rate of other flavoured malt beverages.
By the first half of 2021, sales to wholesalers were up 2.5% from the same six months in 2019, with revenue jumping 6% during that span. Again, “above core” products led the way: Michelob Ultra and craft brands including 10 Barrel and Wicked Weed grew by double-digit percentage points. Hard seltzer sales, led by Bud Light Seltzer, grew by 28%, or nearly three times as fast as the hard seltzer segment. Finally, its Cutwater-brand canned cocktails more than doubled sales.
AB InBev spent a lot of time and money prior to the pandemic acquiring brands like 10 Barrel (2014), Cutwater (2015), Wicked Weed (2017) and Babe canned wines (2019).
Garbe’s previous work with AB drew on his experience at Nike, LVMH, and Diageo to help the company identify the demographics behind those acquisitions and to cull the data needed to find those consumers. His stated goal is continued growth, even if it doesn’t come from the long dethroned King of Beers.
“I am thrilled to lead the Marketing organization as we continue to accelerate our growth by creating more relevant innovations and more purposeful, human-centric brands,” Garbe said.
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