Full-Time
Senior Brand Manager
Jack Daniel’s Spirit-Based Ready-to-Drink, Ready-to-Drink
Updated on 9/4/2026
Brown-Forman
1,001-5,000 employees
Produces and sells whiskey, vodka, wine
No salary listed
Louisville, KY, USA
Hybrid
Four days per week are required on-site; remote work is available on Fridays.
Bachelor's
 Growth & Marketing (1) |
|---|
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- A Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of marketing and brand-building success in the spirits, beverage, or consumer packaged goods industries, including experience in team and brand management, consumer insights, and new product development.
- Ability to develop and implement long-term brand strategies while identifying market opportunities for new product development.
- Capability to build, lead, and mentor teams, inspiring them to achieve common goals.
- Effective management of agency partners to deliver on strategic objectives.
- Advanced budget management skills, P&L accountability, and revenue management to drive business performance and forecast accurately.
- Ability to work seamlessly with diverse teams across sales, finance, operations, and R&D to ensure cohesive brand strategies.
- Willingness to travel up to 30% of the time, including some weekends.
- Lead the U.S. marketing strategy and execution across the Jack Daniel’s Ready-to-Drink portfolio.
- Lead the development and execution of the annual strategic marketing plan and craft, present, and implement the Annual Business Plan.
- Manage brand budgets and P&L, holding accountability for achieving business results.
- Lead development of briefs and manage the agency of record from diagnostics through strategy development, execution, and evaluation.
- Oversee the agency relationship and identify opportunities for advancement.
- Oversee market research and competitive analysis to identify opportunities and threats.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive brand growth and achieve business objectives.
- Manage and champion innovation and new product development while building a long-term portfolio management strategy.
- Lead and develop the Associate Brand Manager direct report.
- Manage relationships with key partners to achieve specific business objectives.
- Craft the strategic communication plan with the broader team and agency partners.
- Lead paid and owned media channels, including paid media, influencer, eCommerce, email/CRM, social, and website.
- Lead the adaptation, creation, and oversight of creative advertising and content strategies across consumer platforms and properties.
- Manage investment performance, measurement, and annual brand learning agendas to align with communications goals and drive accountability for paid and owned media investments.
Brown-Forman is a major American-owned spirits and wine company that sells well-known brands such as Jack Daniel's, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Tequila Herradura, Finlandia vodka, and Korbel wine. It operates by producing and marketing a portfolio of branded alcoholic beverages that are distributed worldwide, in more than 160 countries. The company's products are sold under multiple label brands across categories like whiskey, tequila, vodka, liqueur, and wine, supported by global marketing, distribution, and responsibility programs. Brown-Forman differentiates itself through its large, diverse brand portfolio, extensive global reach, and focus on responsible consumption and community involvement. Its goal is to maintain leadership in the global spirits and wine market, grow shareholder value, and promote responsible drinking and sustainability across its operations.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Louisville, Kentucky
Founded
1870
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Q1 fiscal 2027 sales grew 20% in RTD, led by New Mix.
- Gross margin expanded 40 basis points in Q1 fiscal 2027 to 60.2%.
- Emerging markets rose 11% in Q1 fiscal 2027, powered by Mexico.
What critics are saying
- Lawson Whiting retires after June 2026, leaving Brown-Forman leaderless during weakening demand.
- Sazerac’s $32-per-share bid and Pernod talks prove strategic pressure is intensifying.
- Canada keeps U.S. spirits off shelves; family conflict can force a sale, ending independence.
What makes Brown-Forman unique
- Brown-Forman controls Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve, and Old Forester, with 70%+ voting power.
- Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Blackberry reached over 30 markets by September 2026.
- New Mix became Brown-Forman’s fastest-growing RTD, driving Mexico and U.S. flavor demand.
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Benefits
401(k) Retirement Plan
Health Insurance
Flexible Work Hours
Paid Vacation
Phone/Internet Stipend
Wellness Program
Company News
Hunter Luxury earns pole position in packaging design as Jack Daniel's x McLaren Halo case wins AmeriStar Design Excellence Award. The unique presentation case, inspired by the precision of F1's Halo safety device and unveiled at the Miami Grand Prix, was recognised for uniting premium brand storytelling with precision engineering, material innovation, and a carefully choreographed consumer experience. 7 September 2026 12:48 Hunter Luxury has reinforced its position as a leading full-service supplier of luxury and limited-edition packaging after its work with Brown-Forman and McLaren on the Jack Daniel's x McLaren Halo MK1 Limited Edition was recognised with an AmeriStar Award for Design Excellence. The striking presentation case houses a bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey, bottled at 58.7% ABV in tribute to McLaren founder Bruce McLaren's first race car, an Austin 7 bearing the number 58. That same attention to detail and storytelling flair is captured in the packaging, with judges recognising a distinctive wishbone structure inspired by the renowned Halo safety device that sits above the cockpit of every Formula 1 car. The idea emerged as Brown-Forman's Global Design team immersed itself in McLaren's visual and engineering language, exploring everything from the nose cone and rear wing to the centre-lock wheels, to develop a structural idea capable of framing the bottle. The breakthrough came with the Halo itself. Viewed from the cockpit, the device does more than protect the driver; it wraps around and frames them. The same visual logic could be applied to premium spirits packaging, placing the bottle at the heart of the structure and transforming a piece of race engineering into the structural chassis for a prestige release. Its sculptural form gives the pack immediate display presence, while the mechanical interaction at its centre creates a memorable moment of discovery. A bespoke push-button mechanism is concealed beneath the McLaren logo on top of the unit. When pressed, it releases the bottle smoothly from its fitted cradle, turning the act of opening the pack into a choreographed piece of mechanical theatre. The movement, resistance, and sound were each refined during the design process, including the introduction of EVA elements to give the button a softer, more satisfying click. The result is a controlled mechanical presentation system where form and function operate as a single integrated outcome. Paul Hamilton, Head of Sales & Marketing at Hunter Luxury, said, "To be recognised in the Design Excellence category at the AmeriStar Awards is a major endorsement of what Halo MK1 represents: the ability of packaging to carry a brand story through structure, movement, material, and detail. "This was a genuinely collaborative achievement. Brown-Forman began with a bold structural idea rooted in McLaren's visual language and inspired by one of Formula 1's defining safety innovations. Working with the creative teams behind Jack Daniel's and McLaren, our challenge was to convert that vision into a manufacturable object that embodies the presence of a trophy and the precision of automotive engineering, capturing the theatre, thrills and cutting-edge technology of motorsport." Turning that ambition into a manufacturable structure required an intensive development programme led by Hunter Luxury. The team translated what began as a preliminary flat artwork file into a fully engineered three-dimensional structure across more than 20 CAD iterations, refining the overall structure and mechanism. Digital motion studies were used to evaluate the mechanism before physical prototypes were produced using FDM, SLA and DMLS processes to validate form, fit and function. The finished structure contains more than 50 components, made from eight materials using eight manufacturing processes. Extruded aluminium elements were laser-cut and CNC-machined where required for finishing, alongside die-cast aluminium and injection-moulded high-performance polymer components. That technical complexity is deliberately concealed, allowing the materials and finishes to carry the visual and tactile story of the collaboration. Its carbon fibre styling recreates reference material supplied by McLaren, while an Alcantara-inspired lining provides a softer interior contrast, paying tribute to the flame-retardant fabric used to protect drivers in the cockpit. The signature McLaren Papaya surfaces use a satin mould finish to achieve a consistent matte appearance, while the black aluminium exterior is treated through an advanced electrophoresis process, enhancing durability and achieving a refined, uniform finish. Reflecting on the original design ambition, Sam Gardner, Senior Art Director at Brown-Forman Global Design, said: "There was a point when it stopped feeling like a case or a gift pack and started to feel like a piece of sculpture. That was when I realised people weren't going to hide this away in a cupboard. They were going to treat it like a centrepiece. "So many brand collaborations can end up feeling like two logos have simply been placed on an existing format. We wanted to genuinely share the DNA of Jack Daniel's and McLaren to create something neither brand could have made on its own. My hope is that, 20 years from now, a collector can look at Halo MK1 on a shelf and still see it as a moment when we got that balance right. If it still feels striking and relevant, then we've done our job." The AmeriStar Awards are the Institute of Packaging Professionals' (IoPP) annual packaging competition that recognises outstanding packages across 18 categories. Hunter Luxury's win - the latest for the Halo MK1 project - embodies the principles championed by the awards, highlighting the value of bringing creative design, structural engineering, prototyping, manufacturing expertise and global supply chain management together from the earliest stages of a project. To learn more about Hunter Luxury's specialist full-service portfolio for brands and designers, visit www.hunterluxury.com.
Jack Daniel's maker flags soft alcohol demand. September 4, 2026 JACK Daniel's maker Brown-Forman said on Wednesday alcohol demand, especially in developed markets, is likely to remain under pressure this year, while renewed trade tensions with Canada pose an additional challenge. Yet, shares of the company, which also makes Tequila Herradura, were up about 4 percent after it narrowly beat quarterly profit estimates and stuck to its annual targets in a weak spending environment. Budget-conscious US consumers are drinking less and making fewer casual purchases, with growing GLP-1 use and a greater focus on calorie intake, further weighing on demand. Brown-Forman also flagged demand softness in European countries, including Germany, France and the UK. For Canada, CEO Lawson Whiting said US-made spirits remained off shelves in most provinces and were likely to remain so for the rest of the fiscal year. The developed international segment, which includes these countries, contributed about 28 percent to the company's annual revenue in 2026, while its biggest market, the US, generated 42 percent of sales. Rival Pernod Ricard, which ended merger talks with Brown-Forman earlier this year, has also reported softer demand in major markets, including the US. Brown-Forman expects annual organic net sales to be flat and organic operating income to decline between 3 percent and 5 percent. The forecast reiteration is not "totally unsurprising," although investor skepticism is expected, especially within the context of CEO Whiting's planned retirement, RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi said. The company's first-quarter sales declined 1 percent to $911 million, below analysts' average estimate of $914.9 million, according to data compiled by LSEG. Ready-to-drink gains, but tequila slides Traditional spirits companies are now increasingly relying on flavored products, ready-to-drink cocktails and other innovations to attract consumers, particularly those who seek convenience and value. While Brown-Forman's major whiskey segment sales were flat, its ready-to-drink portfolio, the second-largest by sales, grew 20 percent. Sales in its tequila segment, which contributed around 6 percent of annual sales in 2026, fell 12 percent in the quarter. The company earned 38 cents per share, slightly above the estimate of 37 cents. Quarterly gross margin expanded 40 basis points, driven by lower costs, especially in advertising, and the end of its long-running sales and distribution relationship with Korbel California Champagnes.
Brown-Forman (BF-B) struggles with weak spirits demand and Canada headwinds. Published September 2, 2026 at 9:51 pm EDT * BF.B $27.40 +3.95% Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF-B), the maker of Jack Daniel's, warned that alcohol demand in developed markets is likely to remain weak through fiscal 2027. The company reported first-quarter net sales of $911 million, down 1% year over year and slightly below analysts' expectations of $914.9 million. Despite the sales miss, adjusted earnings of $0.38 per share beat estimates of $0.37, and management maintained its full-year outlook for flat organic sales and a 3%-5% decline in organic operating income. The biggest concern is that weakness appears broad rather than limited to one brand. Brown-Forman Corporation said U.S. consumers are becoming more cautious with spending, while health-conscious behavior and growing GLP-1 use are also affecting alcohol consumption. Demand has also softened in developed international markets such as Germany, France and the UK. Canada remains another major headwind. US-made spirits are still absent from shelves in most Canadian provinces, and Brown-Forman's CEO expects this situation to continue for the rest of the fiscal year. Brown-Forman has growth opportunities despite weak alcohol demand. Brown-Forman Corporation still has several areas of the portfolio showing strong momentum. Its ready-to-drink business grew 20% in the quarter, with New Mix particularly strong. The company has also been using new products such as Jack Daniel's Tennessee Blackberry to offset weakness in its traditional spirits portfolio. The earnings beat is another positive. Although revenue missed expectations, Brown-Forman Corporation expanded gross margin by 40 basis points and reported stronger operating cash flow and free cash flow. This suggests management is finding ways to protect profitability even while sales remain under pressure. There is also a potential recovery opportunity in Canada. If trade tensions ease and American spirits return to Canadian shelves, Brown-Forman could regain lost sales without requiring a major increase in consumer spending. At the same time, its emerging-market business has shown considerably better growth, providing an opportunity to reduce reliance on weaker developed markets. Weak alcohol demand could keep pressure on Brown-Forman. The biggest risk is that the weakness in alcohol consumption becomes a longer-term structural problem rather than a temporary slowdown. Brown-Forman Corporation is facing tighter consumer budgets, greater health awareness, and changing drinking habits, particularly among younger consumers. Barron's has also highlighted the broader weakness across beer and spirits, suggesting the pressure is affecting the industry rather than Brown-Forman alone. The company's core whiskey business is not providing enough growth to fully offset weakness elsewhere. Whiskey sales were flat in the latest quarter, while tequila sales fell 12%. Herradura and el Jimador were both under pressure, showing that Brown-Forman's diversification outside Jack Daniel's is currently not translating into consistent growth. Canada creates another significant downside risk. With U.S.-made spirits expected to remain off shelves in most provinces for the rest of the fiscal year, the company could continue losing sales in an important international market. Meanwhile, the planned retirement of CEO Lawson Whiting adds uncertainty at a time when the company is already trying to navigate weak demand and changing consumer preferences. Conclusion. The outlook for Brown-Forman Corporation remains mixed but leans cautious. The company has strong brands, improving RTD momentum, healthy cash generation, and some growth opportunities in emerging markets. The latest earnings beat also shows that management can defend margins despite weak demand. Still, the larger issue is that the pressure is affecting multiple markets and product categories. With developed-market consumption weakening, tequila sales falling and Canada likely remaining a drag, Brown-Forman may struggle to generate meaningful top-line growth in the near term. Overall, the bull case depends on RTD growth, innovation, emerging markets and a potential recovery in Canada, while the bear case centers on a prolonged decline in alcohol consumption and continued weakness across developed markets.
Brown-Forman sales dip 1% to $911 Million, but emerging markets and ready-to-drink brands show strength. September 2, 2026 Louisville spirits company reaffirms fiscal 2027 outlook as earnings per share rise 6% and ready-to-drink sales jump 20%. LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Brown-Forman Corp. reported a slight decline in first-quarter sales Wednesday as the Louisville-based spirits company continues to navigate softer alcohol demand in the United States and other developed markets, but growth in ready-to-drink products and emerging international markets provided some bright spots. Brown-Forman reported net sales of $911 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, down 1% from the same period a year earlier. Organic net sales also declined 1%. Operating income fell 3% to $252 million, although it increased 4% on an organic basis. Diluted earnings per share increased 6% to 38 cents. The quarter ended July 31. "Our first quarter results were largely in line with our expectations and reinforce our confidence in the year ahead," said Lawson Whiting, president and CEO of Brown-Forman. "Innovation remains an important growth driver," Whiting said. "Momentum from New Mix, our Ready-to-Drink portfolio, and Jack Daniel's Tennessee Blackberry helped offset pressures elsewhere in the business and demonstrates our ability to create new opportunities for growth even in a challenging operating environment." Brown-Forman's whiskey portfolio was essentially flat during the quarter. Continued international expansion of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Blackberry helped offset declines in Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey and Gentleman Jack, while sales of flagship Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey were flat. One of the strongest areas was ready-to-drink products, where reported sales increased 20% and organic sales rose 11%. New Mix, Brown-Forman's tequila-based ready-to-drink brand, led the category with sales increasing 48%, or 36% organically. The company attributed that growth to strong consumer demand in Mexico and the brand's introduction in the United States. Emerging international markets also were a bright spot, with reported net sales increasing 11% and organic sales rising 9%, led by Mexico and double-digit growth from New Mix. Those gains were offset by continued weakness in other portions of Brown-Forman's portfolio. Tequila sales declined 12%, or 13% organically. Herradura sales fell 17% as the brand experienced lower U.S. volumes and lower net pricing in Mexico. El Jimador sales declined 10%, driven primarily by lower net pricing in the United States. U.S. net sales decreased 3% on a reported basis but were flat organically. Brown-Forman attributed the reported decline partly to the end of its relationship with Korbel, changes in distributor inventories and lower volumes of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Blackberry. Those factors were partially offset by higher volumes of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Developed international markets remained another source of pressure, with sales declining 6% and organic sales falling 8%, driven in part by lower Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey volumes in Germany, France and Spain. Travel Retail sales declined 1%, with Brown-Forman citing geopolitical pressures in the Middle East. Jeremy Bowman, contributing stock analyst at The Motley Fool, characterized the results as evidence that Brown-Forman's underlying business is showing signs of stability despite the difficult environment facing the alcohol industry. "Against a backdrop of weak alcohol demand due to shifting mores, inflation, trade wars, and other concerns, Brown-Forman delivered solid results, showing the overall business appears to be stable even as the stock has gotten crushed in recent years," Bowman said. He pointed to emerging markets and ready-to-drink products as two of the company's most encouraging growth opportunities. "Within the business, there's a clear mix of strength and weakness," Bowman said. "The company is shining in emerging markets where organic revenue was up 9%, driven by success in Mexico, and its ready-to-drink segment is taking off as well, showing the company's ability to innovate." Brown-Forman also improved its gross margin during the quarter. Gross margin expanded 40 basis points to 60.2%, reflecting lower costs and the end of the Korbel relationship, partially offset by unfavorable foreign exchange and price/mix effects. Advertising expense declined 5% as lower spending behind Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey more than offset increased investment supporting the international expansion of Tennessee Blackberry. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 4%, largely because of the timing of costs associated with organizational realignments. Operating margin declined 50 basis points to 27.7%. Cash generation strengthened during the quarter. Cash flow from operations increased $13 million to $173 million, while free cash flow increased $32 million to $161 million, benefiting from stronger operating cash generation and lower capital expenditures. Brown-Forman also repaid $343 million in senior notes that matured July 7. The company's board declared a quarterly dividend of 23.10 cents per share, payable Oct. 1 to shareholders of record Sept. 3. Brown-Forman has paid regular quarterly cash dividends for 82 consecutive years and increased its regular dividend for 42 consecutive years. Despite the mixed first-quarter performance, Brown-Forman reaffirmed its full-year fiscal 2027 outlook. The company expects organic net sales to be approximately flat for the year and organic operating income to decline between 3% and 5%. Brown-Forman expects an effective tax rate of approximately 20% to 22% and capital expenditures between $60 million and $70 million. Management continues to describe the broader operating environment as challenging, citing macroeconomic pressures and geopolitical instability affecting consumer behavior and beverage alcohol consumption, particularly in developed markets. Bowman said the quarter offered signs that some of the company's newer products could help offset those pressures. "The strength of the RTD business offers some promise that the company can get back to reasonable growth," he said, describing the quarter as a "good-enough quarter" relative to expectations. For Brown-Forman, the first-quarter results paint a picture of a company still facing significant challenges in mature spirits markets but finding pockets of growth through innovation and international expansion. With $911 million in quarterly sales, a 60.2% gross margin, higher earnings per share and improving cash flow, the underlying business remained profitable even as overall sales slipped. The question for the remainder of fiscal 2027 will be whether momentum from ready-to-drink products, New Mix and Jack Daniel's Tennessee Blackberry can grow enough to counter continued pressure on traditional spirits categories and developed markets.
Brown-Forman Corporation reported first quarter fiscal 2027 results with net sales declining 1% to $911 million compared to the prior year period. Operating income decreased 3% to $252 million, whilst diluted earnings per share increased 6% to $0.38. The net sales decline was driven by the end of the Korbel relationship, reduced used barrel sales, and weakness in the tequila portfolio. These were partially offset by growth in the ready-to-drink portfolio, led by New Mix, which increased 48%. Geographically, the United States and developed international markets saw declines, whilst emerging markets grew 11%, driven by Mexico. Gross margin expanded 40 basis points to 60.2% due to lower costs. The company reaffirmed its full-year outlook, expecting organic net sales to be approximately flat and organic operating income to decline 3% to 5%.