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Sam R.SR

Sam R.

Travel Retail & Shopper Marketing | Premium Drinks

£450/day
London, GB
8-15 years

Average response time: 1 hour

About Sam

I'm a commercial marketing consultant with over a decade specialising in travel retail, shopper and trade marketing for premium drinks brands.
Most recently I spent nearly six years at Pernod Ricard, leading marketing and brand partnerships for the group's largest customer in EMEA Travel Retail, a relationship worth around €70 million a year across more than 100 markets. Before that I worked across travel retail and domestic at Beam Suntory, Bacardi Brown-Forman and Lindt chocolate, working across Global Travel Retail, On-trade, Grocery and e-commerce.

What I do:

Travel retail and shopper marketing strategy: building and activating brands across airport, duty-free and omnichannel environments, from global toolkits to local execution.

Brand activation and campaign delivery: I've led integrated launches including Absolut x Warhol across EMEA, and adapted global campaigns for premium drinks brands including Jameson Irish Whiskey, Jack Daniels and Absolut Vodka

Trade and commercial marketing: joint business planning, channel strategy, promotional and shopper activation, POS, and retailer partnership development.

Commercial rigour: I've owned marketing budgets and account P&L, set KPIs and evaluated campaign performance and ROI, using insight to shape activity.

I work best with premium drinks and consumer brands that need someone who understands both the brand and the commercial reality of travel retail and shopper channels, and who can turn strategy into activity that actually lands in-store and drives sales.

I'm based in the UK, work remotely and across markets, and take on both project and fractional engagements.
If you're looking for travel retail or shopper marketing expertise for a premium brand, I'd be glad to talk.
  • English

    Native or bilingual

  • Spanish

    Basic

Remote only
Primarily works remotely

Experience

  • Independent
    Marketing Consultant
    January 2026 - Today (7 months)
    Supporting consumer brands and hospitality venues across: Shopper, Brand and Partnership marketing

    - Supported an early stage consumer brand launching late 2026 on brand positioning and shopper comms
    - Supported bars on footfall driving initiatives and partnerships to drive incremental revenue
    Shopper Marketing Brand Strategy Partnerships
  • Pernod Ricard
    Senior Customer Marketing Manager, EMEA
    WINE AND SPIRITS
    January 2020 - November 2025 (5 years and 10 months)
    London, United Kingdom
    Pernod Ricard EMEA Travel Retail — Senior Marketing Activation Manager (2020-2025)

    Marketing lead for Gebr. Heinemann, Pernod Ricard's largest customer in EMEA and second largest globally (€70m annual GSV, 100+ countries, five sales channels). Managed c.€1m A&P and a team of four, with brand management for Lillet, Ramazzotti and Four Roses.

    Built the Borderstores channel strategy from scratch using grocery-style mechanics, doubling its weight in the Heinemann account from c.11% to c.21%

    Led the GTR launch of Absolut x Warhol in Amsterdam as an integrated campaign across OOH, digital, a large-scale pop-up, in-store visibility and influencer, reaching over 1.5 million shoppers.

    Grew Pernod Ricard to the number one spirits supplier by value, volume and share in Heinemann e-commerce, building an e-comm playbook.

    Delivered triple-digit first-year growth on the Lillet and Ramazzotti relaunch across Germany, France and the UK in Travel Retail.

    Reduced Heinemann rental costs by 40% over six years by reframing spend around brand-building value.

    Co-owned the account P&L and led annual JBP across the full portfolio.
    Customer Marketing Strategy Portfolio Strategy Customer Journey Travel Retail Brand Activation
  • Bacardi
    Commercial Planning & Activation Manager UK
    WINE AND SPIRITS
    August 2018 - March 2020 (1 year and 7 months)
    London, United Kingdom
    Bacardi UK (distributor for Brown-Forman) — Commercial Planning & Activation Manager, Super Premium (2018-2020)
    Led UK on-trade and hospitality trade marketing across the super-premium portfolio (Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniel's premiums, Chambord, Slane), c.£200k budget.

    Scaled the Woodford Old Fashioned Barrel programme to 1,000+ batch-and-serve barrels in a single quarter, repurposing Woodford OF syrup with Monin.

    Built Woodford Old Fashioned Week as an integrated on-trade platform giving venues a framework for menu features, events and activations.

    Developed Slane's UK serve strategy and PR, securing Slane Cold Brew as The Guardian's Cocktail of the Week and growing to 500 on-trade accounts in year one.

    Built Activation partnerships across high profile accounts including: Soho House, Firmdale and The Savoy
    Customer Journey Customer Marketing Strategy Launch Planning On Trade

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Education

  • Advanced Negotiation Certificate
    Advanced Negotiation Certificate
  • The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
    Google
    The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

Skill set

Categories