New marketing team at Quintessential Brands

The Quintessential Brands Group, the independent international drinks company, has made three new marketing appointments within its Brands division, Quintessential Brands Company and two new internal appointments.

Nick Williamson, pictured second from left, has joined the team of The Quintessential Brands Company as international marketing manager with responsibility for Greenall’s The Original London Dry gin, as well as Toussaint coffee rum liqueur and the Quintessential Brands vodka portfolio. Nick has 20 years’ experience in the drinks industry, principally with Diageo and William Grant & Sons. Nick worked with William Grant for 11 years in various roles, including three years as global marketing manager of Hendrick’s Gin, as well as managing Glenfiddich single malt whisky, Russian Standard vodka, Tia Maria, Zubrowka vodka, and Disaronno Amaretto.

The second new appointment is Claire O’Grady, who joined Quintessential Brands as the international brands manager for the Irish Creams portfolio, including Feeney’s, O’Mara’s and Brogan’s. Claire joins from Diageo where she worked on the western Europe Smirnoff and Captain Morgan teams for four and a half years.

The third new appointment is Sam Chandler who has joined as assistant brand manager working on Greenall’s marketing activity, with particular responsibility for running the brand’s major sponsorship of The Jockey Club, as the Official Gin of its 15 racecourses across the UK.  Sam joins from the marketing agency Futureproof where he led the activation around the England Football team, along with a variety of projects for brands including Belvedere Vodka, Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Hovis and The View from The Shard.

Sinead O’Frighil, second from right, who has worked at Quintessential Brands for two and a half years, has moved into the newly created role of international brand development manager for Irish Whiskies, looking after The Dubliner and expanding the company’s portfolio of premium Irish whiskies. Sinead moves from her position as international brand manager for Greenall’s The Original London Dry gin, which saw sales grow from 90,000 to 220,000 9-litre cases in the last two years.  Previously Sinead spent four and a half years working on the Jameson brand in the US and UK, before joining the global brand development team in Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard in Dublin.

Kate Harrison, on the left, has worked at Quintessential Brands for just over a year and has moved into the newly created role of international brands manager Premium Gins, looking after Opihr, Bloom and Berkeley Square. Previously she was international brand manager for Bloom gin.  Kate started her career within the global team at Stolichnaya vodka and then launched Estrella Damm premium lager into the UK market.

Lizzy Johnson, comments: “We are delighted to welcome Nick, Claire and Sam to Quintessential Brands and congratulations to Sinead and Kate on their new roles within the company.  We now have an incredibly strong and experienced marketing team in place and we look forward to taking Quintessential Brands to the next level.  The calibre of our staff and the strength of our portfolio of brands, confirms Quintessential Brands’ place in the industry as a leading international spirits company with global reach. 

12 January 2015 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor