Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) U.S. chief marketing officer Benoit Garbe will resign at the end of the year, the company announced today.
Garbe is departing to “embark on a new chapter in his career,” according to an A-B spokesperson. He has served as CMO since late 2020, filling the position left vacant a year earlier by Fabricio Zonzini. He previously held marketing and strategy roles at Diageo, Moet Hennessy, Louis Vutton and Converse.
“Today we announced key changes to our U.S. leadership team that reduce layers within our organization and better enable our top commercial leaders to drive our business and legacy forward,” A-B U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement shared with Brewbound. “These senior leadership changes will accelerate our return to growth as we continue to focus on what we do best – brewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in moments that matter.”
A-B U.S. chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington “will now oversee and be fully dedicated to all aspects of its marketing activities, including brand plans and portfolio strategy, insights, analytics and investments,” according to the company spokesperson.
Norrington was promoted to CCO – which was a newly created role for the U.S. division at time – in September 2021, when A-B restructured its commercial leadership team. He previously served as president of Labatt in Canada and has been with the company for more than 23 years.
With Norrington’s added responsibilities, U.S. chief sales officer Simon Wuestenberg and high end business president Andy Thomas will report directly to CEO Brendan Whitworth.
Garbe’s exit comes as A-B is now seven months deep into significant declines in its U.S. business, driven mainly by declines in Bud Light, following a conservative-led boycott of the brand. The boycott is in response to the brand’s partnership with influencer Dylan Mulvaney, for whom Bud Light printed a single commemorative can to celebrate her journey documenting her life as a transgender woman. Mulvaney also created a video promoting a Bud Light consumer NCAA March Madness sweepstakes.
Garbe is the first executive to publicly resign from the company since the fallout. Two A-B marketing executives were placed on leave in April, with no update since. In July, A-B cut just under 2% of its U.S. workforce, in a restructuring characterized as a way to “simplify and reduce layers within its organization,” a company spokesperson told Brewbound at the time.
At the end of 2022, A-B’s North American business contributed 29% of the company’s overall earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), recording organic revenue growth of +2.4% and organic EBITDA down -0.5%, according to the company’s earnings presentation. As of the end of Q3, North America now contributes 24% of the company’s EBITDA, with revenue down -12.7% and organic EBITDA down -26.7%.
A-B’s total U.S. revenue declined -13.5% in Q3, while shipments (sales to wholesalers) declined -17.6% and depletions (sales to retailers) declined -16.6%, “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light and impacted by shipment phasing ahead of our October price increase last year,” leadership shared in its Q3 earnings report.
Bud Light dollar sales are down -17.1% and volume down -20.9% year-to-date (YTD) through October 8 in Circana-tracked off-premise channels. Trends have shown little sign of slowing down, with dollar sales down -26.6% year-over-year (YoY) and volume down -28.4% in the last four weeks.
A-B dollar sales are down -7.2% and volume -11.1% YTD, with share of total beer dollars down -3.57, to 32.58%. In the last four weeks, A-B dollar sales are down -11.8% YoY and volume down -13.9%.
A-B’s turnaround attempts for the Bud Light brand have focused on pro and college football, honoring military service members and country music. The company announced a new Bud Light sponsorship deal in the U.S. and Budweiser globally with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).