Heineken promotes UK marketing lead to European commercial development role

Heineken’s UK marketing director Michael Gillane has been promoted to European director of commercial development for global brands. Rajeev Sathyesh will take over as UK marketing boss, working across brands including Heineken, Amstel and Birra Moretti.

Prior to taking on the UK role, Sathyesh led commercial development in APAC. He joined Heineken in 2021 from Procter & Gamble where he spent more than 15 years working on brands including Gillette across India, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

In his time at Heineken he has been credited with transforming the brand and business in APAC, while his creative work was awarded four Cannes Lions last year.Heineken commits to ‘competitive’ pricing as its volumes decline

He will sit on the UK management team and report to UK managing director Boudewijn Haarsma who says Sathyesh has “considerable consumer goods experience from across the world” and a “strong track record across many areas of the business”.

Gillane, one of Marketing Week’s Top 100 most effective marketers, has been at Heineken for more than 12 years, rising to marketing director in 2020. He has been responsible for driving uptake of the business’s premium brands, with volumes rising by 11.4% in 2022 compared to the previous year. He has also developed Heineken UK’s craft beer portfolio during his tenure.

He has been credited by Haarsma for his “leadership and commitment” and for building a “world-class marketing team”. He will be based in Heineken’s Amsterdam office.

Gillane also worked at P&G before joining the beer giant. There he spent more than a decade working across brands including Flash, Pantene and Fairy, rising to marketing manager for UK haircare.Heineken CEO: Brand power today is pricing power tomorrow

Yesterday, Heineken CEO Dolf van den Brink described 2023 as “challenging” for the business with volume sales taking a hit leading to a drop of 4.3% in net profit to €2.3bn (£1.97bn).

“Strong pricing to offset very high input and energy cost inflation and volatile macro-economic conditions in some key markets affected our volume momentum. Notwithstanding these difficult conditions, we continued investing in our brands and capabilities,” he said.

“We gained or held volume market share in over half of our markets as volume performance moderately improved quarter by quarter. We recorded operating profit [before exceptional items and amortisation] organic growth in three out of four regions while we adapted to the challenges in Asia Pacific.”