Wells & Young’s lures Carlsberg marketer

Wells & Young’s Brewing Company has poached Chris Lewis, the marketer responsible for launching Carlsberg Edge, to the new role of marketing director. He leaves Carlsberg after less than a year in the post.

Lewis, who takes over the W&YBC role in January, will be responsible for developing its marketing strategy and will work closely with advertising agency Farm, which has just been appointed to the £2.5m advertising account.

Lewis is on gardening leave from Carlsberg, where he was responsible for brand marketing and innovation.

Before joining Carlsberg in January, he was marketing manager at Weetabix, where he launched Alpen Light cereal bars and Seriously Oaty. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Bulmers and worked on the launch of its successful but controversial ready-to-drink, Sidekick.

Lewis says: “To an extent, I’m sad to be leaving Carlsberg so soon after joining, but when this sort of opportunity comes up, you don’t let it go.”

Nigel McNally, managing director of W&YBC, says: “Chris is a very experienced marketer and we know him from his Bulmer’s days when he worked with us on Red Stripe.

“He has extensive new product development experience, and we have a number of projects we want him to drive forward.”