Anheuser-Busch announced an organizational shakeup this week, seven months after Bud Light’s disastrous partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, which tanked sales and tarnished the company’s reputation.
The company’s US marketing chief, Benoit Garbe, “will be resigning at the end of the year in order to embark on a new chapter in his career,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement.
Kyle Norrington, Anheuser-Busch’s US Chief Commercial Officer, will take on Garbe’s duties next year, CNN reports.
“This week we announced key changes to our US leadership team that reduce layers within our organization and better enable our top commercial leaders to drive our business and legacy forward,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth told the New York Post.
“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,” he added.
Other marketing executives have also left the company since the boycott began.
In the immediate wake of Mulvaney’s controversial posts, the brewer said it put Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s marketing VP, and group VP of Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream portfolio, Daniel Blake, on a leave of absense.
However, a current regional head of marketing told the Daily Caller that Heinerscheid and Blake were actually “gone gone,” and the brand just didn’t want to use the word “fire” — an allegation Anheuser-Busch has denied. (New York Post)
The changes come after Bud Light and its parent company lost billions from the Mulvaney partnership, with Anheuser-Busch InBev recently announcing U.S. revenues fell about 14 percent from July through September.
Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher believes the brand’s situation “has actually gotten worse.”
“You see Bud Light still just stubbornly down around 30% in volume compared to last year, which is where it’s been since May or June,” he told Fox News Digital in September. “That tells me that this is quasi-permanent, meaning those consumers are just lost forever.”
