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September 2006 - Strategy Magazine
Who to watch

Man of action
It doesn't take long for Diageo's Joey Bergstein to make an impact on his brands

by Annette Bourdeau
page 19

Joey Bergstein is always looking for the next big challenge. Good thing, too, since he's just been given quite the task.

After pumping up Diageo's global ready-to-drink business - including impressive double-digit sales growth in Canada, South Africa and Australia - Norwalk, Conn.-based Diageo North America has given Bergstein, 37, the lofty role of SVP, global rum, which will entail growing the booze giant's strong Captain Morgan brand globally and developing its portfolio of Venezuelan rums, including Pampero and Cacique.

If Bergstein's track record is any indication, Diageo should expect to see his impact on its rum portfolio quickly. Before heading stateside to work his magic at Diageo in 2003, Bergstein turned around the Molson Canadian brand in the U.S., carved out a niche for the Molson Bubba keg in Canada, and launched the Brazilian import A Marca Bavaria here as Toronto-based Molson Canada's VP marketing.

Prior to Molson, Bergstein amassed European CPG expertise with P&G. His first project was to wrestle some of L'Oréal's hair product stranglehold away for its Pantene brand, initially concentrating on France during a two-year stint at the Paris office from 1994-'96, then moving to the London office to handle Pantene for all of Europe, and in 1999, he successfully introduced Sunny Delight in the European market. In 2000, he headed back to North America and led a B2B strategy that helped Cincinnati-based P&G see an 18% profit growth for its commercial cleaning and hygiene business in 2000.

"He's unbelievably focused. He sees where he wants to go, and he's like a dog on a bone," notes john st. advertising president Arthur Fleischmann, who worked with Bergstein on the A Marca Bavaria launch. "He's very clear-thinking."

And it's Bergstein's focused approach that makes him an inspiring leader, according to Keith Gillespie, director, Smirnoff vodka and RTD at Diageo Canada, who recalls going to Miami several years ago for a Diageo conference where Bergstein spoke. "Joey is a good visionary. We came home energized," he says. "He's able to boil things down into

easy-to-grasp concepts."

Bergstein's knack for succinctly summarizing complex strategies in turn helped Gillespie clearly explain goals to his own team in Canada when he worked with Bergstein in 2004 on re-invigorating the Smirnoff Ice brand in Canada. "Joey is a really great strategist," explains Gillespie, adding it was nice to work with a fellow Canadian on the global team. "He was able to share global best practices, and he's very aware of the Canadian market."

Part of Bergstein's strategy for Smirnoff Ice was to make the brand more relatable to the young male target. He selected London-based agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty to help craft a new global campaign for the brand that resulted in the popular "Uri" ads, featuring a laid-back Arctic man who loves his dogs and his Smirnoff Ice. "The character is a vehicle to connect to the brand," explains Bergstein. And, it worked. The campaign and local activation efforts helped Smirnoff Ice go from double-digit decline to 14% growth in the past year.

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