Molson Coors hires new marketing boss

Molson Coors Beverage Company has appointed Hannah Norbury as its new marketing director for Western Europe.

Hannah joins from food and beverage company Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I, the owner of drinks brands including Lucozade, Orangina and Ribena, and was previously head of marketing at GlaxoSmithKline.

Hannah will sit on Molson Coors’ regional leadership team for Western Europe, led by managing director Phil Whitehead. Her role encompasses oversight of all Molson Coors brands in the UK and Western Europe and she will be responsible for marketing strategy and investment across the portfolio.

“Hannah brings a wealth of experience to the team,” said Phil Whitehead, managing director for Western Europe at Molson Coors. “She will be instrumental in helping us to further harness the power of our award-winning portfolio, from brands like Madrí Excepcional, the UK’s most successful ever new beer launch, Staropramen and Aspall Cyder, to Cobra, Coors and Carling, Britain’s number-one lager.

“As the beer and brewing industries rebuild after the pandemic and face into new economic challenges, the role of our brands in helping customers to drive sales is ever more important. With Hannah’s strong track record of delivering successful beverage brand campaigns, her experience will be a great asset to our team and our customers.”

At Suntory, Hannah was instrumental in driving transformational sustainability initiatives including moving Ribena and Lucozade products to packaging that both contained more recycled content and was itself more recyclable. She also oversaw Lucozade’s gender equality campaign – Football is Football – during the Women’s Euros in 2022.

Hannah said: “Beyond a great brand portfolio, Molson Coors’ genuinely people-first culture really attracted me to the role, and I knew straight away that it’s a business with similar values to my own.

“I’ve loved seeing first-hand how that values-led culture comes to life both through the brands, with Carling’s work in championing women’s football through its partnership with the Vitality Women’s FA Cup or its support of the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), or through the great progress Molson Coors is making against its sustainability goals. This role is a real opportunity to work with an incredibly talented group of people in an exciting industry, with an amazing portfolio of established best sellers and exciting new entrants to the drinks market, all underpinned by a culture that really chimes with my own personal values.”