Shopper Marketing - September 2017 - 48

PEOPLE TO WATCH

hillip Cleveland doesn't consider himself a wine connoisseur. What attracted
him to E. & J. Gallo Winery instead was a
shopper marketing role that would be
a new venture in his career path, as well as the
opportunity to become part of a team where
everything is rooted in insights. "It's shopper
first in terms of every platform we bring to the
table," he says. "Everything we do is focused on
that point in time when a consumer becomes
a shopper and conversion."
Cleveland began his career in public relations, spending time at both FleishmanHillard
and Edelman before moving to AnheuserBusch for a contract position in its PR department. He rose through the ranks during his
tenure there, highlighted by him inheriting
the Bud Light brand at the age of 25 and consequently running all communication strategy
as a specialist and then manager of marketing
communications. That included overseeing
the strategy for five consecutive Super Bowls
as well as managing all media tours and all NFL
and music partnerships from a PR standpoint.

Phillip Cleveland
COMPANY: E. & J. Gallo Winery
TITLE: Shopper Marketing Manager
AGE: 32
EDUCATION: Southeast Missouri
State University (bachelor's, mass
communications, public relations);
Washington University (master's)
48

y SHOPPER MARKETING SEPTEMBER 2017

He then eventually moved over to the brand
side.
He says that while his undergraduate education taught him the value of teamwork, his
MBA was focused on cross-functional collaboration, something he appreciates every day
in his work. Mike Bulthaus, now executive director, marketing strategy and planning, at St.
Jude Children's Research Hospital, was a critical
mentor early on at A-B. "No one had taught me
the fundamentals about how to succeed at an
office until that point," he says. "Not just how to
do your job, but how to integrate into a culture.
He was a coach from day one and is one of my
closest friends to this day."
Similarly, Julie Fisher, Gallo's shopper and
customer senior marketing manager, brought
Cleveland into a position and culture that he
hopes to be a part of for a long time. "We speak
the same language and are both very rooted in
insights in terms of how we bring programs to
life," he says of his current boss.
As shopper marketing manager at Gallo
since April 2016, Cleveland is the shopper marketing lead for eight chains (Kroger, Meijer,
CVS, Giant Eagle, Hannaford, BJ's Wholesale,
Spartan Nash and Albertsons' Shaw's). He is
also responsible for managing the local efforts
and alignment with the winery's distributor
network in the three-state region of Ohio,
Michigan and Indiana.
A recent win for the team is the Barefoot
"Perfect Match" digital platform, a program
created to bring more non-wine drinkers into
the category. The cross-functional program,
which started at Kroger with the option to
move into multiple retailers, is a BuzzFeed-style

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Shopper Marketing - September 2017