and beer company Diageo has selected beverage distributor Wirtz Beverage as the exclusive national broker for its brands in Canada.The agreement forms part of Diageo's strategy to further strengthen relationship with its consumers.
As a result of the agreement, Diageo's brands will be represented by Wirtz Beverage Canada, within which the current Diageo sales people will be transitioned into.
Wirtz Beverage Canada will be under the leadership of Wirtz Beverage executive vice president Julian Burzynski.
Diageo North America president Larry Schwartz said: "This arrangement with Wirtz Beverage provides us with the best of both worlds -- a broker that understands our business and a dedicated Canadian sales force that knows our brands and the Canada market.
"I strongly believe that this is the right move for Diageo Canada. As a business, we must continually adapt to the market, which is why improving our route to consumer has been a priority for our company," Schwartz added.
"We have seen the benefits of this model in other parts of the world and can see how it will make Canada a more agile and efficient business allowing us to further invest in Diageo and our brands."
Wirtz Beverage group president Rocky Wirtz said: "We will leverage our commercial sales expertise with training and development programs, market analytics and technology tools to support the Diageo brands across Canada, and we look forward to working closely with the country's liquor boards."
In a separate development, Diageo Canada has replaced Maggie Lapcewich with Jakob Ripshtein as president. Under his leadership, Diageo Canada will continue to directly manage all other aspects of its business, in addition to working with the dedicated sales force within the broker.
The new arrangement and Ripshtein's new role will come into effect from 1 July 2014.
Johnnie Walker whiskey, Smirnoff and Ciroc vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray and Guinness wines are some of the well known brands of Diageo.
