Britvic poaches GB marketing director from Boots

Britvic has named Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Munnawar Chishty as its marketing director for Great Britain, replacing Bruce Dallas as he completes his transition into a new role within the business.

Dallas, who became marketing director in 2018, has been working a dual role as GB marketing director and commercial growth director since April last year. He will now become commercial growth director full time.

Chishty will join Britvic later this year. She has spent the last four years at Walgreens Boots Alliance as vice president and global category director for beauty, leading on brands including No7, Soap & Glory and Liz Earle.

In her current role she also leads Walgreens Boots Alliance’s incubator team, which is responsible for digital consumer experience transformation. Commenting on her appointment, CMO Matt Barwell says he expects Chishty to boost Britvic’s own digital transformation.

“The transformation we are driving, particularly in the digital marketing space, will benefit hugely from a hire of Munnawar’s calibre,” he says.

Before joining Walgreens Boots Alliance, Chishty held senior marketing positions at FMCG companies including GSK and Johnson & Johnson, after starting her career working at Gillette (now part of Procter & Gamble) and PepsiCo. In her six years at GSK she held roles including global vice-president of marketing and business lead in the skincare category, after ending her six years at Johnson & Johnson as global marketing director for skincare brands Neutrogena, Clean & Clear and Aveeno.

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In addition to her experience leading marketing on beauty brands, Chishty spent time in the beverages industry at Scottish & Newcastle, a brewery which produced brands such as John Smith’s and Strongbow before it was acquired by Heineken in 2008. There she was group marketing director for ales.

Speaking to Marketing Week last year, former marketing boss Dallas said Britvic is “running at the fire” during the cost of living crisis and continuing to invest strongly in areas like innovation, price-pack architecture and availability despite macroeconomic headwinds.

Last year also saw Britvic-owned Robinsons end its 86-year partnership with Wimbledon, opting for a campaign with a broader summer reach instead. CEO Simon Litherland hinted in November of a “major brand development” coming in spring 2023 for the squash brand.

New marketing director Chishty brings with her experience of “developing iconic campaigns”, says the company, citing John Smith’s Peter Kay campaign as one example. Going forward, she will be responsible for helping shape Robinsons’ post-Wimbledon marketing direction.

“I feel privileged to be leading the talented teams in Britvic marketing,” Chishty says.

“I’m looking forward to furthering the company’s mission and building on the incredible marketing plans across the iconic portfolio of brands.”