Guinness recruits Nestlé marketer as Euro chief

Nestlé marketer Jon Potter has been appointed marketing director of Guinness Brewing Worldwide’s European region. – Potter joins Guinness from Nestlé’s Czech Republic operation, and fills a post left vacant when Rob MacNevin left to join cider

Nestlé marketer Jon Potter has been appointed marketing director of Guinness Brewing Worldwide’s European region.

Potter joins Guinness from Nestlé’s Czech Republic operation, and fills a post left vacant when Rob MacNevin left to join cider maker Matthew Clark (MW February 28).

Potter will report to managing director of Guinness Europe Malcolm Swift when he takes up his new position on December 1. Swift says: “Growth in our emerging markets continues to be our main priority and Jon’s appointment will help us achieve this.”

Potter was marketing director of joint venture company Cokoladovny with overall responsibility for the Czech and Slovak republics, where he oversaw strategy for local and international confectionery brands. Before moving to Cokoladovny in 1995, he was marketing manager for Nestlé Rowntree in the UK and started his career in 1988 at KP Foods.

Guinness’s European region covers the whole continent including Russia, but does not include the UK, Ireland or Spain, where the brewer has separate operating companies (Guinness Brewing Great Britain, Guinness Brewing Ireland and Cruz Campo, respectively).

A Guinness Brewing Worldwide spokesman says: “Europe is seen as a developing market, not like Ireland and Great Britain. It offers huge potential for us. We are strongest in Germany, Italy and France.”