Top Russian role goes to Smirnoff man

International Distillers & Vintners has moved its international marketing director for Pierre Smirnoff, Paul Davey, to head its fledgling Russian division.

International Distillers & Vintners has moved its international marketing director for Pierre Smirnoff, Paul Davey, to head its fledgling Russian division.

Davey, who created the Smirnoff Black brand and was instrumental in developing the Smirnoff Red “through the bottle” advertising campaign with agency Lowe Howard-Spink, leaves for Moscow this week to take up the post of deputy general manager of IDV Russia.

He has been marketing director at Pierre Smirnoff for two years, and has helped handle Smirnoff’s 45m worldwide advertising budget.

The company is looking for a replacement to continue the brief of building Smirnoff into the world’s number one spirits brand, a position held by Bacardi rum.

IDV has been operating in Russia for five years, but Davey is the most senior manager yet to run the office. The Russian vodka market is three times as big as the rest of the world put together – 250 million cases of vodka are sold every year. It is dominated by the Stolichnaya brand.