Carter quits in Treasury shake-up

Andrew Carter, chief commercial officer for APAC & EMEA at Treasury Wine Estates has decided to leave after the wine group announced “substantial changes to its business model”.

Andrew Carter

His departure after just two years with the wine group follows a decision by TWE to manage its Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa regions separately to the Australia and New Zealand markets.

Carter’s previous experience as global travel retail director for Bacardi led him to identify this sector as a major new focus for TWE around the world. Having expanded the group’s travel retail team, he set out an ambition “to significantly grow the size of our GTR business over the next five years to become a genuine leader in the category”.

Having originally joined TWE as managing director for EMEA and GTR in early 2012, Carter was promoted to his larger role last August, taking on additional responsibilities across corporate strategy and business development.

Commenting on his departure, TWE said: “The Company would like to thank him for his contributions to the business and wish him well.”

The news comes less than a week after the announcement that TWE’s director of New Zealand production & brand, Sam Glaetzer, will be leaving the group to join Constellation New Zealand next month as its new managing director.

These changes in the regional management of TWE’s business come alongside a decision to manage its “Australian Commercial” portfolio of brands separately to the “Luxury & Masstige” collection. The group has also shifted the timing of the launch for its top end Bin Series, Icon and Luxury wines to October in order to tap into this key time of year for gift giving.

The shake-up within the company follows the appointment of former Kraft Foods Europe president Michael Clarke to the role of CEO earlier this year after the departure of David Dearie. Clarke has now promised a “reset” year for the company as it wrote down AUD$260 million-worth of assets.

Looking ahead, Clarke said: “I am looking forward to the start of the new financial year with great enthusiasm, and we will continue to drive transformational change throughout TWE over the course of fiscal 2015.

“We have already taken significant steps to reset consumer marketing investment, our cost base and business model, and over the coming year we must fully realise the benefits of these changes.”

This shift in the company’s consumer marketing strategy will see TWE embark next month on its largest ever promotional push for Penfolds. For a three-month period from July 2014, Australian customers who buy any six bottles of Penfolds Bin Series or Icon & Luxury wines will be offered a 32-bottle refrigerated wine cabinet at a “significantly reduced price.”

Highlighting this as “just one of many consumer facing marketing campaigns TWE will be implementing in fiscal 2015”, Clarke described the move as representing “a significant and exciting shift in the way in which we invest in our brands”.