Former Carlsberg global marketing director joins non-alcoholic drinks brand
Stephanie Illgner, former global marketing director of Carlsberg, has joined ISH, a non-alcoholic brand established in 2018 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Illgner, who has previously held leading roles at Tchibo, the Coca-Cola Copmany, Ferrero Scandinavia and Royal Unibrew, spent seven years at Carlsberg, she will head up the marketing of ISH, growing the brand’s presence globally.
“We are still a small business so we have to punch above our weight, and Stephanie can help us do exactly that,” said ISH chief executive Peter Bruun.
“The most important thing for us right now is to scale our team with highly skilled individuals who have navigated the beverage space and with relatively few resources can help position ISH as one of the leading players on the alcohol-free stage.”
The low and no alcohol category is among the industry’s fastest growing, the IWSR recently reported the category is expected to grow by a third by 2026.
“The large brands have also seen this trend so for us, as a much smaller player, it's really about being on the first wave and establishing ourselves quickly and manifesting the ISH brand as one that will be around for a very long time,” said Illgner.
“ISH speaks to some very current megatrends about moderation, well-being and of course taste, and that made me really excited about the idea of switching, even though it's a much smaller brand.”
ISH recently announced the relaunch of its entire range in the UK market.
“We are re-launching ISH Spirits in the UK market now we have now taken the time to develop the best tasting non-alcoholic product range on the market,” said international sales director Henning Kallesen.
“The time to re-launch ISH Spirits in the UK market is therefore right now… we could have launched two other alcohol-free gin and rum variants, but because we are determined to have the best-tasting products in the market, we went back and improved our product.”