WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Heineken USA Inc. said that Christian McMahan has been named the new chief marketing officer for Heineken USA, and will join the company in this role on July 14. Ken Kunze has decided to depart the company following an 11-year tenure with the organization, the last three as CMO and member of the management team. McMahan, formerly a vice president of marketing for Diageo North America and responsible for Diageo's U.S. beer portfolio, will bring considerable category, commercial and brand building expertise to the senior marketing post for Heineken USA.
McMahan will [image-nocss] immediately begin working with the organization's leadership and marketing teams to drive the development of long-term growth strategies for the portfolio; oversee the execution of the current marketing platforms and programming for the brands; and continue to ensure the company is most effectively engaging its consumers and customers at all available touchpoints.
Prior to joining Heineken USA, McMahan oversaw Diageo's U.S. beer portfolio, leading all strategic initiatives and programming for brands including Guinness and Red Stripe. In that role, McMahan was also a member of the Diageo-Guinness USA management team and Guinness global team, demonstrating his leadership, brand strategy expertise and ability to oversee a portfolio strategy.
McMahan brings more than 15 years of beverage experience to Heineken USA. While at Diageo North America for a total tenure of six years, he also served as brand director for the Smirnoff and Captain Morgan Progressive Adult Beverages. In addition, he held regional marketing responsibilities while with Diageo-Guinness USA and Boston Beer Co. Other professional experiences provided McMahan with insight into both the distributor and on-premise industries.
As Heineken USA evolved from a two-brand company to a true portfolio organization within the import beer category, Kunze drove the integration and differentiation of Heineken USA's Dutch and FEMSA Cerveza's Mexican product offerings with breakthrough creative campaigns, packaging innovations and consumer-insight driven platform development and execution.
"Ken played a fundamental role in elevating Heineken USA to a true performance-driven portfolio organization," said Don Blaustein, president and CEO of White Plains, N.Y.-based Heineken USA. "I know this was not an easy choice for him. We'll miss Ken's insights as we continue to focus our attention on building the equity of the brands and the execution of the highly successful new platforms he drove in recent years. On behalf of Heineken USA's management team and our employees, we wish him continued success in his future endeavors."
Kunze originally joined Heineken USA in 1997 as the marketing director for the Heineken brand, leading the development of the "It's All About the Beer" campaign. As a result of the numerous innovations to the marketing of the iconic brand—including the launch of the Heineken keg can; tie-ins with films including Austin Powers and The Matrix; and the brand's first strategic multicultural program—Kunze was named an Advertising Age "Top 100" marketer in 2000.
Kunze led the national launch of Heineken Premium Light in 2006. He also drove the development of the popular "Most Interesting Man in the World" integrated marketing campaign for Dos Equis. The TV spot for the campaign was named one of Time magazine's top 10 ads of 2007.
Of his decision, Kunze noted, "My next opportunity with Heineken would have been outside the U.S. and I prefer to stay stateside for the time being. As the company heads into planning for the coming year, Don, the organization and I were presented with the best opportunity to look ahead to an orderly transition of my responsibilities."
Heineken USA is a subsidiary of Heineken International BV. Brands imported into the U.S. include Heineken Lager; Heineken Premium Light; Amstel Light, a leading imported light beer brand; and Buckler nonalcoholic brew. Heineken USA is also the exclusive USA importer for the Tecate, Tecate Light, Dos Equis, Sol, Carta Blanca and Bohemia brands from FEMSA Cerveza of Mexico.
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