As the Director of Innovation Pipeline & Portfolio Strategy at Anheuser-Busch, I am dedicated to shaping the beverage portfolio of the future through strategic product innovation. With a strong background in Brand Marketing and understanding of the commercial landscape, I focus on creating impactful brands and innovative packaging designs that resonate with consumers. My leadership has been instrumental in revitalizing our brand portfolio, aligning innovation with evolving consumer trends, and enhancing our market position through strategic foresight and robust portfolio management.My experience in the beverage industry includes prior roles with Suntory Global and Constellation Brands, where I successfully led the brand & commercial strategy, brand positioning, and planning & execution of some amazing beverage brands such as Corona, Goose IPA, Goose Island 312, Knob Creek Bourbon, Basil Hayden’s Bourbon, and Booker’s Bourbon, effectively breaking through market clutter to forge meaningful connections with consumers. In addition to my professional pursuits, I recently relocated from Chicago to New York with my husband, our one-year-old son, and our 14-year-old labradoodle. We are eager to explore everything the city and East Coast have to offer! Taking any and all recommendations – kehammelrath@gmail.com
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Business Innovation LeadGalloNew York, Ny, Us -
Director, Innovation Pipeline & Portfolio StrategyAnheuser-Busch Oct 2021 - Dec 2024St. Louis, Mo, UsThis role centers around driving our strategic innovation advantage through thoughtful consumer engagement and impactful brand collaboration, while ensuring alignment and success of day-to-day operations. I led our Smart to Market initiative with our Craft breweries to drive more thoughtful and more profitable innovation. Year 1 led to over a 100% YoY improvement with weighted volume margin contribution improving over $80/BBL. I managed Anheuser-Busch’s Craft pilot brewery, leading innovation experimentation and educating 21 craft breweries on new capabilities, trends and insights. Most recently, I was part of a taskforce collective of Global Brand, Innovation, Insights and Brewing to better understand the Non-Alcoholic Beer landscape, consumer journey, and potential brewing methods in order to develop a stronger Non-Alcoholic Beer strategy for Anheuser-Busch. -
Brand Marketing Director - National Craft BreweriesAnheuser-Busch Oct 2020 - Oct 2021St. Louis, Mo, UsI developed and executed the launch of Shock Top Zest, a new, low calorie Wheat ale positioned to target the gateway beer consumer looking for light and refreshing beverages. Zest was launched regionally beating all Anheuser-Busch pilot goals, outpacing the competitor in rate of sale and quickly became a top 10 innovation in key markets.I also managed the development of our Craft Channel-specific innovation strategy, focusing on winning with the Club shopper by providing a year of unique, multi-brewery variety packs. These unique variety packs offered 7% annual growth while improving margin contribution +$25/BBL YoY.
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Senior Brand & Strategy Manager - Goose Island Beer CompanyAnheuser-Busch Jul 2017 - Oct 2020St. Louis, Mo, UsI led commercial and capacity planning process across all cross functional teams – brand, experiential, sales, finance, operations, and brewing – to ensure the strategy and plans aligned to brewery objectives and delivered against volume plans, financial targets, and brand health targets. I also led the development and execution of Goose Island's Portfolio VBI Refresh in 2018/2019 which outperformed previous packaging and the competitive set across all key project metrics – Modern, Quality, Premium, Authentic and Craft.
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Senior Brand Manager - Goose Island Beer CompanyAnheuser-Busch Aug 2016 - Jul 2017St. Louis, Mo, UsI oversaw the development and execution of Goose IPA’s first-ever national program which included a national television plan with 52 weeks of media and social support, On and Off Premise sampling, three trimesters of retail programming, and a 16-stop experiential tour. The 14-week TV campaign drove 25% of the program’s billion impressions and IPA saw a 7pt awareness jump when on TV.
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Brand Manager - Basil Hayden & Small Batch BourbonsBeam Suntory Jun 2015 - Jul 2016New York, Ny, UsI rebuilt the Small Batch Bourbon portfolio to double digit growth through expanded consumer connections, packaging redesign and innovation. Launched Booker’s Rye Whiskey, an extremely exclusive offering of the first-ever rye whiskey under the Booker’s brand which received over 6M impressions in the first week of the product shipping and was named the #1 whiskey release in the world that year. -
Associate Brand Manager - Small Batch BourbonBeam Suntory Jan 2014 - May 2015New York, Ny, UsI managed the Small Batch Bourbon portfolio inclusive of Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, Booker's and Baker's. With the Brand Director, I oversaw the media plan, developing Knob Creek’s first-ever TV Campaign with a spot that was one of Beam Suntory’s best performing spots within LINK testing at the time. I also oversaw Basil Hayden’s first influencer partnership driving 160M PR impressions and more than 63M paid media impressions.
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Brand Activation Manager - Jim Beam Family And Maker'S MarkBeam Suntory Jan 2013 - Dec 2013New York, Ny, UsI focused on the Maker’s Mark and Jim Beam portfolio, leading trade planning and execution and event activation. This included all trade programming, Jim Beam’s $5M On Premise sampling program across the U.S., and the Kid Rock Tour that included an onsite consumer experience and a retail extension.
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Activation Manager - National Accounts On PremiseBeam Suntory May 2011 - Jan 2013New York, Ny, UsWhile in this role, I developed national account programming for entire Suntory portfolio for key On Premise customers such as Applebee’s, Marriott Hotels and MGM Casinos.
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Associate Manager, Retail PromotionsConstellation Brands Feb 2010 - May 2011Rochester, New York, UsWhile in this role, I managed the $14M trade budget for Off and On Premise promotional programming focused on each brand’s key passion points and moments to win at retail. Brands included Corona, Modelo Especial, Pacifico, St Pauli Girl and Tsingtao. Corona Cinco de Mayo was the most important program of the year, resulting in 9M total impressions, an increase of 19% awareness due to online extensions around the promotion, and an increase of 12% purchase intent. -
Event SpecialistConstellation Brands Jul 2007 - Feb 2010Rochester, New York, UsI managed and executed our yearly sponsorship plan for Corona and Pacifico ensuring that all partnerships aligned with each brand’s strategy to drive ROI, sales and brand awareness. Corona Wide Open volleyball tour garnered over 72M in print impressions, 22M in event impression and 60% consumer online retrieval from On Premise Activation in first year of the tour.
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Marketing AssistantConstellation Brands Oct 2005 - Jul 2007Rochester, New York, Us
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Pricing / Billing CoordinatorConstellation Brands Sep 2003 - Oct 2005Rochester, New York, Us
Kristin Blake Education Details
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Depaul Driehaus College Of BusinessBusiness Administration Entrepreneurship -
Miami UniversityMarketing
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Miami UniversityBachelor Of Science - Marketing
Frequently Asked Questions about Kristin Blake
What company does Kristin Blake work for?
Kristin Blake works for Gallo
What is Kristin Blake's role at the current company?
Kristin Blake's current role is Business Innovation Lead.
What schools did Kristin Blake attend?
Kristin Blake attended Depaul Driehaus College Of Business, Miami University, Miami University.
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