West Brewery hires Brewdog marketer to front £5m expansion
WEST, the Glasgow-based independent brewery, has upped the stakes in the battle of the brewers by luring drinks industry "veteran" Richard McLelland from headline-grabbing rival Brewdog to front its £5m expansion plans.
McLelland, 33, was Brewdog's UK sales and trade marketing manager for 18 months and is now WEST's sales director.
He has been given a remit of "accelerating growth and increasing sales across the UK" as the brewery charges ahead with its ambitious plans. WEST is due to invest £5m in a second brewery in Glasgow next year.
Along with Brewdog McLelland has worked at a number of drinks brands previously, including seven years with Red Bull and Smirnoff Ice as it launched in the UK.
He said: "WEST is flying and to be honest this was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made. Just look at the way it goes about its business and its reputation; a nimble outfit that's not shy of sticking its neck out, but one that's rooted in integrity, decent values and exacting standards. And its beers are outstanding.
"I've known Petra [Wetzel, WEST owner] for years and maybe it was inevitable we'd work together. With the new brewery opening sometime in 2011, we have a massive opportunity to build the WEST brand in the UK and create a true centre of brewing excellence fuelled by Scottish passion and German efficiency. Watch this space."
Wetzel added: "WEST is on the verge of great things and Richard is absolutely the right person to join our passionate team. He combines industry insight with irreverence in an invigorating fashion. Plus he's spent time living in Germany, so he gets exactly where we're coming from.
"With a quality sales director in place for our quality product, we can now fulfil our ambition to make WEST a major UK player."
Joining McLelland on the sales team is new hire Gemma Leisegang, the new sales manager for on-trade in Scotland. Gemma joins from Waverley TBS, the drinks distributor, and is the first of a number of planned sales appointments over the next year.
Meanwhile BrewDog has itself been busy, appointing Edinburgh agency QueryClick to handle its search engine optimisation.
Brewdog founder James Watt, who may be best known for his controversy-courting PR stunts, has said the SEO campaign would help BrewDog outdo rival beer brands.
"Sadly, in such an unforgiving industry dominated by monolithic advertising campaigns and mass market brews it's not uncommon to feel like you have to shout to be heard," Watt said.
"With our website the mainstay of BrewDog we naturally want this to be optimised in a way that out does the competition and inspires even more people to join the revolution," he added.
QueryClick managing director, Chris Liversidge, added: "While BrewDog aren't shy to attract attention by courting controversy in the press, it's important to have a solid SEO campaign running in the background to guarantee impressive return on investment all year round.”