How did you get to where you are today?
I have a broad background. I started my career working in engineering for four years and then moved on to high street retailer Boots as a retail buyer. Then in 1991 I moved to Dairy Crest and stayed there for 15 years. Within this time I worked at Yoplait Dairy Crest for 12-and-a-half years, joining as marketing manager and leaving as deputy managing director. At Dairy Crest I was trading director for butters and spreads. In September last year I joined Ocean Spray as commercial director for UK & Ireland, where I am responsible for sales and marketing for UK & Ireland for the Ocean Spray brand.
Tell us a bit about Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray is a co-operative owned by more than 650 cranberry growers in the US and Canada. It was formed in 1930 by three growers and this year celebrates its 75th anniversary. It has a turnover of $1.4bn and the UK is its biggest international market outside the US. In the UK it operates with four partners - Gerber Foods, which looks after juice and juice drinks, Humdinger, which looks after dried fruits, Princes Soft Drinks, which looks after dilutable juice drinks, and F Duerr & Sons, which looks after sauces. We are very broadly listed.
What has been keeping you busy lately?
Although our mainstay is ambient juice drinks, our products are available in both ambient and chilled and we have just relaunched in chiller cabinets. We have also conducted £10m research into the massive health properties of cranberries. As part of this, in the chiller we have redesigned our packaging by putting two acetate windows on the cartons. The windows are at the front and back, which allow people to see how much they have poured. We have also just launched a new cranberry sauce - Just for Chicken - a softer, smoother cranberry sauce developed to complement chicken.
What are your plans for 2006 and beyond?
We have a relatively new team here and we want to try to understand what motivates consumers to buy Ocean Spray products. We want to re-ignite the health benefits of cranberries and push NPD across drinks and food. We are planning significant investment in the media next year and want to get the positioning of the brand right. In October we will be sponsoring the Kew Gardens Autumn Harvest Festival, where we will be recreating a cranberry harvest in the pond at the front of the Palm House.
I have a broad background. I started my career working in engineering for four years and then moved on to high street retailer Boots as a retail buyer. Then in 1991 I moved to Dairy Crest and stayed there for 15 years. Within this time I worked at Yoplait Dairy Crest for 12-and-a-half years, joining as marketing manager and leaving as deputy managing director. At Dairy Crest I was trading director for butters and spreads. In September last year I joined Ocean Spray as commercial director for UK & Ireland, where I am responsible for sales and marketing for UK & Ireland for the Ocean Spray brand.
Tell us a bit about Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray is a co-operative owned by more than 650 cranberry growers in the US and Canada. It was formed in 1930 by three growers and this year celebrates its 75th anniversary. It has a turnover of $1.4bn and the UK is its biggest international market outside the US. In the UK it operates with four partners - Gerber Foods, which looks after juice and juice drinks, Humdinger, which looks after dried fruits, Princes Soft Drinks, which looks after dilutable juice drinks, and F Duerr & Sons, which looks after sauces. We are very broadly listed.
What has been keeping you busy lately?
Although our mainstay is ambient juice drinks, our products are available in both ambient and chilled and we have just relaunched in chiller cabinets. We have also conducted £10m research into the massive health properties of cranberries. As part of this, in the chiller we have redesigned our packaging by putting two acetate windows on the cartons. The windows are at the front and back, which allow people to see how much they have poured. We have also just launched a new cranberry sauce - Just for Chicken - a softer, smoother cranberry sauce developed to complement chicken.
What are your plans for 2006 and beyond?
We have a relatively new team here and we want to try to understand what motivates consumers to buy Ocean Spray products. We want to re-ignite the health benefits of cranberries and push NPD across drinks and food. We are planning significant investment in the media next year and want to get the positioning of the brand right. In October we will be sponsoring the Kew Gardens Autumn Harvest Festival, where we will be recreating a cranberry harvest in the pond at the front of the Palm House.
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