About Emma
I am a strategic and commercially minded Senior Marketing Manager with over 11 years of experience building iconic consumer brands across Australia and international markets. I have spent the last 6+ years driving multi-million dollar portfolios at Diageo (Bundaberg Rum, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker), and previously managing major portfolios at Ferrero (Nutella and Tic Tac) and at Lion (XXXX Gold and Hahn).
Skilled across brand strategy, consumer and category insight, integrated campaign leadership, partnerships and cross-functional delivery, I have a proven track record of driving brand growth, market share and commercial performance - most recently delivering a +$750m RSV performance driven. My experience in partnerships (working on the NRL, AFL and NRL team sponsorships).
I have led high-impact campaigns recognised by the industry, including Cannes-shortlisted work, and am passionate about creating culturally relevant, game-changing work that delivers exceptional brand and business outcomes.
My recent work also includes My recent work includes steering massive commercial sports partnerships (such as the NRL sponsorship renewal & implementation, an AFL partnership, and Cowboys NRL team sponsorship), and leading complex portfolio resets on Bundaberg Rum and Johnnie Walker.
I’m keen leverage my experience to help grow businesses via their marketing work - from high-level positioning, launch playbooks, marketing strategy, campaign planning & management, through to mentoring junior teams to help them learn & grow.
Experience
Diageo
Senior Brand Manager - Bundaberg Rum (2024 – 2026)
Key Responsibilities:
Led Bundaberg Rum’s strategic planning and portfolio reset, translating consumer insight, bourbon opportunity analysis and business performance into clear growth priorities across the masterbrand and broader dark spirits occasions
Owned annual, three-year and five-year Marketing Business Plans, setting the strategic direction for Diageo Australia’s largest brand
Led end-to-end development and launch of Bundaberg Rum’s new communications platform, ‘Forever Classic’, from insight and briefing, to consumer testing, creative execution and launch at the NRL Grand Final
Led major sporting partnerships, including negotiation of the NRL sponsorship renewal - Diageo Australia’s largest partnership investment.
Key Achievements:
Delivered +1.8% equity growth for Bundaberg Rum, making it the only major dark spirits brand to grow equity, while also increasing national and Heartland penetration ahead of F26 targets
Launched ‘Forever Classic’, reintroducing the Bundy Bear as a core brand asset and delivering +6.6% brand salience and +3.6% penetration growth - the brand’s strongest result in over two years
Delivered Diageo Australia’s strongest brand performance in F26, with Bundaberg Rum reaching +$750m RSV, +1.3% vs LY.
Diageo
Brand Manager - Johnnie Walker (2022 – 2024)
Key Responsibilities:
Developed and managed the annual and three-year marketing strategy for Johnnie Walker in Australia, defining key growth opportunities and challenges through consumer, business and shopper insights, and building a roadmap across mental and physical availability
Led the local strategy & execution of Johnnie Walker’s global KEEP WALKING brand platform, ensuring campaigns were strategically aligned to global positioning while remaining locally relevant via leadership of partnerships, activations and market-specific creative
Acted as the local Johnnie Walker brand custodian and key approval point for brand marketing activity across in-store, digital, sales, agency and external partner teams.
Key Achievements:
Delivered growth with 18–35yr old consumers, achieving +1.3% equity, +1.8% penetration and +0.9% overall brand equity growth in a declining category - the leading Johnnie Walker equity result globally
Delivered strong commercial results through the Christmas gifting campaign, with Johnnie Walker Black Label achieving +18.7% volume growth versus last year and +$3.7m versus plan. The campaign was later adopted as a Diageo global standard
Led the Johnnie Walker AFLW omni-channel campaign, which was then shortlisted at Cannes in 2024.
Diageo
Customer Marketing Manager – Coles Liquor (2020 – 2022)
Key Responsibilities:
Develop BTL campaigns strategically aligned to Coles Liquor Group (CLG) & Costco strategies and shopper insights, to drive behaviour change pre-store and at point of purchase to grow our brands’ share of market.
Key Achievements:
Created a below-the-line playbook for Coles Liquor Group, aligning Diageo and customer priorities to deliver consistent, strategic and commercially effective in-store execution
Developed and delivered ‘Paired to Perfection’, a joint Coles Liquor Group marketing platform that strengthened Diageo’s spirits visibility and secured repeat rollout across two consecutive years
Led the development and launch of Diageo’s first Coles Online ‘Grocery Hub’, unlocking a new eCommerce growth channel and delivering +174% year-on-year growth
Improved Diageo’s ranking from No. 3 to No. 1 supplier for ‘Customer Marketing Support’ in The Advantage Group industry survey.
Ferrero
Category Manager – Spreads & Convenience (Nutella & Tic Tac) (2018 – 2020)
Key Responsibilities:
Analyse customer, competitor and shopper data to identify commercial opportunities and develop category growth plans for Ferrero and key retail partners.
Key Achievements:
Leveraged shopper insights and sales data to develop range review recommendations across Spreads and Mints & Gums, resulting in increased ranging and visibility for Tic Tac (+8%) and Nutella (+12%).
Led the development and implementation of Ferrero’s Perfect Store project, influencing National Field and Category teams across Metcash, Coles and Woolworths to improve share of shelf and positioning, delivering +15% growth for Nutella.
Developed and implemented the promotional strategy for a Tic Tac innovation launch in P&C, leading a cross-functional team across multiple stakeholders
Lion
Assistant Brand Manager – XXXX Summer (2015 – 2018)
Key Responsibilities:
Develop and implement the three year brand strategy and annual brand plan, via collaboration with agency partners and internal sales & marketing stakeholder to enable achievement of business & consumer goals.
Key Achievements:
Led cross-functional teams on Innovation projects - working with Insights & Sales teams to ensure brand-fit and successful in-store launches for two new brand product propositions. Both exceeded all launch KPI’s
Negotiated and delivered a 3 month On Prem program with Merivale, delivering +55% incremental volume YOY
Managed monthly performance reporting for the brand
Key Skills
Qualifications
Bachelor of International Communications (2010)
Macquarie University
Key Industries
Software & Tools
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