We’re AB InBev, brewer of some of the world’s best-loved beers, like Stella Artois, Corona and Budweiser. Read on to find out how Caroline, Senior Brand Manager for Bud in the Netherlands, worked with various AB InBev teams to launch Bud crates in the local market.
Why are we launching Bud crates in the Netherlands? How does it impact our sustainability agenda?
The crate is the number one format in the Dutch lager market. Local consumers see the sturdy, returnable format as the epitome of convenience. To deliver on our ambitious growth objectives with Bud in the Netherlands, this format was essential. The crate launch is a very logical initiative when considering our ambitions on sustainability as well. Our ambition is to ensure 100% reusable packaging or packaging made with at least 50% recycled content by 2025. By introducing the Bud crate we take another significant step towards this goal. It feels rewarding to contribute to these broader goals that benefit our planet through the projects I get to work on in my daily job.
Introduce yourself, your career at AB InBev, your current role and your responsibilities.
A little over five and a half years ago I joined AB InBev as a Market Visionaries Trainee in the Netherlands. It was the first step in my professional career after finishing my master’s degree. This first year as a Sales Representative in retail as part of the traineeship taught me a lot about our consumers and how they navigate the category when shopping for beer. The most exciting part of this role was talking about our portfolio of iconic brands and learning about every one of our brands’ unique ‘personality’ and the roles they could play in people's lives. This is why I was thrilled to continue my career in a Marketing role, as a Brand Manager for Jupiler. At the time I had very little Marketing experience and I was put in charge of brand activities for my country, which pulled me out of my comfort zone. I had to step up and own it. Today I look after Bud in the Netherlands as a Senior Brand Manager. I am responsible for ‘everything Bud’ that reaches our consumers and I look after the commercial performance as well. I have been fixated on identifying and solving some gaps in our Bud portfolio. This is where the Bud crate project started.
If you had to pick one, what would be the one challenge that you took on during this project and transformed into an opportunity?
As the project lead, I worked with nearly every department of the company: insights, packaging, innovation, finance and sales to name a few, navigating and collaborating with many different stakeholders. At AB InBev, there is a lot of freedom to grow and develop without traditional boundaries of a function, which I got to experience first-hand while working on this project. Many facets of the project I had very little knowledge of at the start of it. It took a lot of ownership and entrepreneurship and it wasn’t always easy. I tried to keep my colleagues energized throughout the entire journey, which can be challenging in a fast-paced environment like ours. I can now look back and say that I have developed myself into a better Marketeer, with a solid commercial foundation.
Watch a commercial video about the Bud crates