Celsius Holdings has made a series of marketing appointments in a bid to turn the US beverage company’s “big brands into mega brands”.
The company, known for brands such as Celsius Hydration and Alani Nu, has appointed Rishi Daing as CMO alongside forming a new marketing leadership team.
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Daing’s career includes 15 years at PepsiCo, which is an investor in Celsius. He joins the company from Mark Anthony Brands, where he led the launch of Mas+ in collaboration with Lionel Messi.
“I am thrilled to be heading back to my happy place,” Daing said on LinkedIn. Today, I return to my first love – marketing – at Celsius. With Celsius and Alani Nutrition defining the future of modern functional beverages; and Rockstar energy drink rounding out its total portfolio, no company is better positioned than Celsius to lead this irreversible evolution towards functional beverages.”
Reporting to Daing are newly appointed chief brand officer Kyle Watson and chief creative officer JoBeth Fink.
Watson has led marketing for the Celsius brand in North America since 2019. Fink has worked for Alani Nu for five years. Celsius acquired Alani Nu earlier this year.
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By GlobalDataCelsius chairman and CEO John Fieldly said: “These appointments reflect our commitment to building a world-class marketing organisation capable of scaling our brands from big brands into mega brands.
“With Rishi, Kyle, JoBeth and our strong leadership bench, we are creating a marketing powerhouse that positions us to be a leading, global, functional beverage portfolio company and deliver long-term value for our shareholders.”
PepsiCo upped its stake in Celsius late last month. As part of a multi-faceted deal, Celsius bought the brand rights to Rockstar in the US and Canada.
The company is keen on capturing the North American market, where competition is high and growth projections for the energy drinks sector remain modest.
US canned-water company Liquid Death is also set to enter the energy drinks market with the launch of Liquid Death Sparkling Energy next January.
According to founder and CEO Liquid Death Mike Cessario, the decision is driven by consumer purchasing patterns linking their current products with energy drinks.
Announcing the move in July, he said: “Energy drinks are the number one item purchased with Liquid Death in a basket but we needed to find a way to do a truly better-for-you option that was more nutritionally similar to a cup of coffee. And not an extreme caffeine, extreme sugar energy drink, or even one with an ingredients panel that reads like a chemistry experiment.”
