Mark Steven Email & Phone Number

Edinburgh, Gb

Glasgow

San Francisco U.S.A. And New York U.S.A.

• As Global Strategic Marketing Brand Manager for Scotch Whisky, Canadian Whisky & select American Whiskies, the focus of this role was to generate long-term sustainable brand equity. In order to meet our corporate vision and embrace value growth opportunities I repositioned our lead single malt - The Glen Grant, leading a revitalisation of the brand essence, created a new brand visual identity, re-packed the entire range, created new price positioning guidelines, developed an extensive long-term luxury innovation pipeline, a suite of new brand assets, website upgrades and successfully launched 3 new products, culminating in the development of the oldest ever release by The Glen Grant, the coveted 60 Year Old Anniversary Edition. • All of the aforementioned positioned The Glen Grant to grow value +20% by end 2021. With the success of the prior, I was selected as part of a cross-market collaborative task force in repositioning, repacking and developing a new innovation-led portfolio architecture for Canada’s Forty Creek Whisky to great acclaim.

Speyside, Scotland & San Francisco U.S.A.

• Globally managing Campari’s Scotch and Irish Whiskies 4 brand portfolio, I was responsible for leading strategy, communication, branding, developing marketing assets and cross-market & channel collaboration, ensuring execution meets global objectives. This encompassed global pricing and positioning strategy, 5 year brand planning, creation of all educational toolkits & assets, brand experience development, digital & social strategy, innovation development, PR planning, P&L maximisation, budget management and best practice sharing. • After developing a sustainable consistent quality range recipe for The Glen Grant single malt Scotch Whisky, I successfully created and launched the 15 Year Old, which won 4 gold medals across 2018-2020, including the internationally recognised ‘Double Gold’ award at the 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. This, alongside launching our aged portfolio in Global Travel Retail, aided a volume growth of 5% from 2016-2017.

Bangkok, Thailand & Airdrie, United Kingdom

Entrusted with leading a significant brand audit of the Balblair, considered the pinnacle of the IBHL portfolio. Here I conducted extensive research across SE Asian markets to help align an updated brand strategy to our corporate objectives. This audit encompassed; consumer research, market research, competitor analysis, identifying new growth opportunities, portfolio structure, positioning & pricing strategy, brand creative enhancements, core brand range improvements, line extension development, long-term inventory planning, packaging hierarchy, long-term strategic brand planning, global toolkit assets and best practice sharing. The successful delivery of this sustainable growth model has in turn led to double digit volume and value brand growth since.

Buenos Airdrie, United Kingdom

As Global Brand Manager of Speyburn, I gave a voice to the ‘underdog’ of the IBHL portfolio, fighting for increased share of mind amongst retailers and consumers. I successfully delivered a reinvention of the brand identity, updated the portfolio architecture and launched a USA market exclusive product which ultimately received the 2016 Gold Medal for ‘Outstanding Speyside Single Malt’ at the International Spirits Challenge Awards. Responsible for the financial management of Speyburn's global P&L account, data analysis, strategic brand planning, inventory investment planning, price positioning, NPD, global toolkit creation, agency briefing & management, digital media management and global & priority market campaign activations.

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Promoted to Assistant Brand Manager for the coveted Rare & Prestige luxury portfolio, my role demanded the successful delivery of local market brand management, data analysis, NPD management, creative premiumisation planning & execution, contributing to long-term brand planning, agency management, event management and digital consumer brand engagement. Most importantly, I led and successfully delivered all marketing support for the launch of the world’s rarest Whisky collection – The Dalmore Patterson Collection. An exclusive NPD initiative for celebrated luxury retailer Harrods, priced and sold at a record £1,000,000.

Glasgow, United Kingdom

As a Marketing Executive, my role was to assist the Brand Director in the every-day management of our mainstream portfolio, which encompassed 14 brands, covering all Blended Scotch, Rum and Vodka products. I had sole ownership of our official Formula 1 team sponsorship activation & event management, developing consumer engagement digital platforms, local market On-premise trade & consumer promotional campaigns and product re-designs. In addition, I assisted in developing brand strategies, long-term brand plans and agency briefs.

Sydney, Australia & Christchurch, New Zealand

Employed as a Sales Marketing Manager for Whisky Galore across New Zealand, I was responsible for; On-premise sales, Off-premise sales, customer database development, building B2B alliances with regional distributors, generating retail & wholesale portfolio distribution and sales growth recommendations. This success resulted in aiding an international brand-distribution merger with Island 2 Island Beverages in Australia. Role responsibilities included, evaluating business operations, sales structure enhancement, formulating strategic portfolio marketing plans, category & branded portfolio training sessions, national consumer & trade networking and trade event management.

Waiheke, New Zealand

During 2010’s wine vintage season in New Zealand, I was employed by the globally respected Stonyridge Vineyard as a Vintage Cellar Hand and I embraced the hands-on opportunity to create the award-winning Bordeaux Blend, the Stonyridge Larose. My responsibilities included supporting the Head Winemaker through the entire production process from grape selection, de-stemming, crushing and plunging to recording brix & temperature readings, pump-overs and finally bottling the finished product. With a steep learning curve, heavy workload, short deadlines and high-pressured expectations, I am pleased to say that the 2010 vintage season was considered one of the finest in Stonyridge's recent history.

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Promoted internally and entrusted with the home market's capital region, this role was focussed on brand equity building alongside long-term sales growth. Here I was responsible for driving sales volume & value growth across; Multiple Pub Operating Groups, key On-premise luxury accounts and boutique Off-premise accounts, in addition to securing national stocking contracts, conducting customer category & portfolio training sessions, activating national promotions, trade day presentations and internal new employee training. With the success of the aforementioned, alongside managing corporate hospitality entertainment (official sponsorship of Premier League Darts and Hibernian F.C.) I was awarded Scotland's Salesman of the Year 2008.

Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom

As part of the newly formed On-premise sales force, I was selected as a member of the 'Impact Team', responsible for leading sales drive initiatives and portfolio product launch activations in key targeted regions for maximum visibility and consumer influence. In addition to this, I controlled the largest geographical On-premise sales region, driving product distribution and volume growth through B2B sales, customer category training and consumer portfolio tastings.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

As a Campaign Ambassador & Supervisor for Levi Strauss, I aided the promotion of Levi's 'Ones to Watch' lifestyle campaign, highlighting brand-affiliated rock bands touring in nationwide 'Barfly' venues. It was also my responsibility to control a team of 10 Sales Assistant's, train staff, internal administration & communications, competitor analysis, visual merchandising and customer service.

Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.

Whilst at University I secured a temporary contract in Virginia, U.S.A. undertaking marketing research with Viacom. Here, I was in charge of utilising a team of five researchers to generate primary data and provide guidance to the management hierarchy on recommended sales growth tactics; namely a brand loyalty scheme to increase customer retention and targeted commercial advertising to attract new consumers.

Ba (Hons), Marketing Management With Entrepreneurship, 2:1

Activities and Societies: International Marketing Strategy, Economics, Accounting & Finance, Emerging Markets, Consumer Behaviour.

Higher Level Education

Activities and Societies: Chairman of the Student Council Business Management, Business Administration, English, Maths, Geography &.