Pernod's US Boss Heads up the Pacific

After four years as President and CEO of Pernod Ricard USA, Bryan Fry has returned home to take on the challenge of driving the strategic direction and distribution for the wine and spirits business in Australia and New Zealand.

A local boy with a background in agricultural science and viticultural operations, Fry fell into a role managing grower contracts in South Australia for Pernod Ricard Winemakers early on.

His career with Pernod has gone on to span Asia, where he was Vice President of Marketing; Brazil as Chairman and CEO; and more recently the US, which in the last financial year outperformed all of the company’s other markets.

Fry told drinks that the result of +4 per cent growth was a culmination of four years hard work to refocus the business on brand building and value generation.

“One of the things we did was break the country down into very small units and then focused on winning each one of those with the right brand at the right time.

“We also made sure that our teams in all of the states were empowered. We always try to make sure that we have a balance between what we call empowered decision-making and then excellence in execution, because you can have a great plan, but if the consumer doesn’t see it, it doesn’t mean anything.”

On the heels of success and a long stint overseas, Fry decided that it was time to take up a new challenge and moved with his wife and children back to Australia to assume the role of Managing Director of Pernod Ricard Pacific.

“To run your home market is a pretty nice honour,” Fry said. “I’m not planning on bringing anything completely new to this market, because a lot of the backbone of what we were doing in the US is already here, but I think there is an opportunity to change the model, be more disciplined in what we do with our resources in terms of human and financial, and empower the teams to connect with the consumer.

“The businesses in Australia and New Zealand are quite dynamic. We have a good team and great brands here and I can see that good evolution has happened since I left.”

The region’s performance over the last year was also among areas of the business Fry was pleased to talk about, with the team having delivered on both its budget and growth objectives and key brands continuing to outdo their competitors.

Jacob’s Creek remained Australia’s number one premium wine brand by volume, while premiumisation drove the growth of New Zealand brands Stoneleigh and Brancott. The business also had a good year for Champagne as it hedges into the top category position in Australia with Mumm and Perrier-Jouët.

“We are quite unique in Australia as we are the only real spirit and wine business, and the spirits we have are very strong with Absolut, Jameson, Chivas, the RTDs and Kahlua, which we’re now in the biggest market for,” Fry said.

“I see a lot of opportunities and there’s a lot more growth that can be taken advantage of in the Australian market.” Pernod Ricard Pacific has started the new financial year with good momentum according to Fry, who plans on hitting his numbers if not exceeding them by July 1 next year.

Among those already mentioned, key brands for the year ahead will also be Church Road, St Hugo and craft spirits such as Plymouth Gin.

This is a shortened version of the Bryan Fry interview. To read the full story, look out for the January/February edition of drinks trade magazine.