Andrew Cross Email & Phone Number

Bourton On The Water, England, United Kingdom

Cheltenham, England, United Kingdom

• Challenger Drinks is a disruptor marketing & sales agency, that works with progressive founders of start up and scale up drinks brands, to maximise their potential and realise their ambitions. As a small consultancy my.
• Delivered a successful new brand positioning, packaging re-brand and digital marketing strategy for Bedlam Brewery, which led to them offering me a role as a Non-Executive Director.
• Working with design agencies, I led the re-brand and new product development for Pulpt Cider, leading to a new listing in over 800 Tesco stores and more than tripling Pulpt’s turnover.
• Developed and implemented a new sales and marketing strategy for Napton Cider that secured new listings with Co-Op, Ocado and Waitrose, growing sales by +200% in 12 months.
• Provided regular progress and performance reports to maintain client expectations.
• Retained all clients on a permanent basis after impressing during initial short-term contracts.

Cheltenham, England, United Kingdom

The Swim Group is a collection of businesses, including an ecommerce store, linked to the growing outdoor swimming market, often referred to as Blue Health.Approached to join the business as NED with the task of developing a commercial strategy to deliver the groups vision and growth ambitions. Following a workshop with key stakeholders, I developed and.

Approached to support the business with their digital strategy due to declining ecommerce sales post pandemic. Following a full review of the business, I held a full days workshop with the board to redefine their positioning and marketing strategy. This became the foundation for all future activation including a new website, packaging re-brand, NPD, trade.

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

• A full board level appointment leading the commercial strategy of a 40 year old cider business targeted with delivering 50% growth and a turnover of £1m.
• Delivered sales growth of +70% to £1.2m within 12 months on a £50k marketing budget.
• Using category insight, I strategically repositioned Dunkertons as a premium brand with a new brand identity, packaging and innovation, tailored to a new target audience.
• Spread brand awareness and engagement through a new omni-channel digital strategy.
• Implemented a successful new sales plan, including new pricing strategy, channel strategy and product strategy leading to a new listing in over 400 Sainsbury’s stores.
• Identified areas of improvement within processes, personnel, and structure; implementing subsequent procedural changes after discussion with key stakeholders.

Great Alne, Warwickshire, United Kingdom

• A full board level appointment leading the commercial strategy for a high growth, fast paced SME craft brewery targeted with delivering annual turnover of £10m in 2 years.
• Full P&L responsibility and managing a £500k marketing budget, I led a team of 13 including 7 field sales managers, 3 telesales executives and 3 marketeers.
• Achieved sales growth of £2.7m (+34%) to £10.6m pa in less than two years; £0.8m ahead of budget, in a fast paced and highly competitive craft beer market.
• Spearheaded the rebranding of the core portfolio and launch of NPD which contributed over 25% to sales growth.
• Delivered the company’s first media campaign through social media, PR, radio and outdoor advertising.
• Negotiated all sponsorship contracts and activation including Aston Villa FC, Wasps Rugby and Coventry Rugby.

Remote

• Appointed by C&C Group PLC to lead the global brand strategy for the £100m Magners cider brand and return the brand to growth following a period of decline.
• Led a team of three marketeers and a £7m marketing budget for the global Magners brand.
• Worked closely with category and consumer insight teams to strategically reposition and rebrand Magners to appeal to a new target audience and steal share from competitors.
• Spearheaded a team of agencies to create and execute a global brand campaign to drive awareness and engagement across TV, radio, digital, PR, outdoor & sponsorship, including Rangers & Celtic FC.
• The brand campaign led to Magners becoming the 2nd most spontaneously recalled and preferred cider brand in the UK.
• Following the campaign, Magners global sales increased by 7.6% to £46.3m, with market share up 3.6%.

Bedford, England, United Kingdom

• Joined Wells & Young’s on a 12 month contract to lead the brand strategy for McEwan’s and Younger’s ales when they purchased the brands from Heineken for £20m in October 2011.
• Leading an annual marketing budget of £700k I created, implemented and delivered a five year strategic plan for McEwan’s to deliver an incremental £3m NSV.
• Through delivery of new business, value engineering, NPD and new ATL media I led the McEwan’s brand to No.1 premium draught ale in Scotland up 20% MAT to Sept 2012 vs -3% the previous year.

• Headhunted to join Jygsaw Brands, a Joint Venture with Heineken UK, targeted with leading the marketing strategy to transform their heritage portfolio from double digit decline into growth.
• Managed a £2.6m marketing budget to re-engage the brands with their target audience through the development, implementation and delivery of consumer campaigns including TV, digital, print, PR and NPD.
• Led the development and delivery of strategic ATL and BTL marketing activation including TV, print, digital, packaging redesigns and on-pack promotions to deliver sales targets for the Newcastle Brown Ale, Scrumpy.
• Led the hugely successful NPD launch of Symonds Founder’s Reserve which was the fastest growing premium cider in the market, +570% YoY and winner of a 2011 Design & Packaging Award.
• In under three years I grew EBITDA by £2m to £17m, 23% ahead of budget.

Cheltenham

Cheltenham, England, United Kingdom

Northampton, England, United Kingdom

Northampton, England, United Kingdom

Bsc Hons 2:1, Management Science

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Management Science, 2.1

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Management Science, 2.1

A-Levels: Business Studies (A), Design & Technology (B), Maths (C)