Reed’s New CCO Brings Experience From Competition
Beverage maker Reed’s, Inc. named Burleson, a former sales manager at leading mixer brand Fever-Tree, will lead Reed’s sales team by aiming to streamline supply chains, reduce costs and grow the brand’s opportunity among Gen Z consumers.
“The brand is extremely strong, is well-recognized, has a lot of ACV (all commodities value) and has the ability to be able to continue to grow year over year,” Burleson told BevNET. The company has an advantage over some of its competitors of being able to play in a variety of categories from natural sodas to mixers to its developing RTD cocktail portfolio which Burleson thinks has made the brand “significantly under-valued for quite some time.”
Burleson plans to leverage his most recent professional experience as CCO at functional, non-alc brand Kin Euphorics “to build a cost-effective brand awareness and brand trial campaign that will help reinvigorate new consumers, in particular Gen Z” who Burleson said “has a tremendous amount of upside on a go forward basis.”
The brand will be targeting that demographic with new channels along with new merchandising strategies in the next 18 months, he said. Previously, Burleson has held sales positions at VOSS Artesian Water, POPwater and Jones Soda among others.
“Chris’ energy and experience leading sales teams will be a catalyst to our continued expansion,” said Reed’s CEO Norman E. Snyder. “I have known Chris for over 10 years and witnessed his development and growth. He knows Reed’s and the category very well. We are confident Chris’ experience and leadership will take us to the next level.”
In Q1 2021, Reed’s reported it was still rebuilding revenue growth after pandemic-induced supply chain problems, inflation and higher input costs constrained profits. Burleson is expected to help the brand achieve its double-digit sales growth goals and capitalize on Reed’s “renewed momentum,” reported in the company Q4 earnings call last week.
In July, the ginger beverage maker also appointed veteran finance executive and investor Thomas Kosler to the Board of Directors as well as chair of Reed’s Audit Committee replacing Rhonda Kallman who departed to “pursue other interests,” according to the press release.
Blue Bottle Taps Retail Fashion Industry For New Creative Director
Nestlé-owned Blue Bottle Coffee onboarded a newcomer to the beverage industry as the company’s new global head of brand creative. Simone Hodges was announced last month as the new point person leading creative strategy and development of all global brand initiatives, marketing campaigns and cross-channel editorial content reporting to Blue Bottle’s chief brand and growth officer Jeff Cha.
“Simone is a dynamic brand marketer and an executive creative leader with a wealth of experience working with iconic and culture-defining brands,” said Cha in a company press release. “Her expertise and leadership will be integral in shaping and evolving Blue Bottle’s brand expression as we pursue the next phase of our growth.”
Hodges will be tasked with elevating the brand’s storytelling to consumers and growing the brand’s reach to existing and future customers. Her experience spans over 25 years in retail, leading global marketing and creative teams for nine years at Nike and, before that, 10 years at Nordstrom. Most recently, Hodges held the position of CMO for online design marketplace Minted.
She said in the company’s press release that as “an advocate for brand-led, consumer-driven growth, I look forward to working with a team that’s so passionate about elevating Blue Bottle’s special brand of coffee experience and bringing it to more people around the world.”
The new role is somewhat of a dream come true for Hodges who announced on a LinkedIn post that she has “wanted to work in coffee since my first visit to Uptown Espresso on Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne in 1995…Eight years later to the day, I get to call myself a Blue Bottler.”
Boxed Water Is Better Expands Workforce To Support Recent Growth
Michigan-based Boxed Water Is Better announced this week the addition of over a dozen new positions to its Operations, Finance, Production and Sales and Marketing teams in response to an uptick in production and consumer demand.
CRO Robert Koenen cited the company’s increased demand as a result of recent partnerships with Alaska Airlines, SoulCycle and over 200 CorePower Yoga studios nationwide.
“We have some exciting partnerships to announce as we look forward into 2023. And we enthusiastically welcome new team members as we fortify all levels in the Boxed Water family. We are proud to reward our current rock stars as well,” Koenen said in a statement.
The brand announced a slew of new hires in the Sales and Marketing divisions – many promoted from within – to support the increased business and marketing partnerships. Additionally, Boxed Water added former Coca-Cola Bottling operations manager Rick Kulas as the new director of operations along with Kavita Shah as the new marketing VP. Shah comes to Boxed Water after serving as marketing director for Meatless Farms and as well as previously holding the role of senior brand manager at Godiva.
“I have always been passionate about supporting and growing sustainably-minded brands,” Shah said in the press release. “Boxed Water’s mission to reduce consumer dependency on single-use plastic and aluminum makes me excited and proud to be part of the team.”