The Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams and Truly Hard Seltzer, has named Allison Stransky CMO, effective October 12. She joins from Samsung Electronics America, where as CMO she steered applications of big data and AI, including striking AI partnerships. At Boston Beer she will lead brand management, digital and social media, experiential marketing and connected commerce, reporting to founder and CEO Jim Koch and COO Phil Hodges. The Boston Beer CMO hire signals a traditional brewer leaning into data-driven marketing.
Stransky’s 20-plus-year career spans Google, L’Oréal, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. Boston Beer cited her “unique blend of consumer brand-building expertise and data-driven digital marketing capabilities.” “Allison has built her career at the intersection of creativity, technology, and business growth,” Hodges said. “She brings new ideas, a consumer-first mindset, and a proven ability to turn insight into action.”
Predecessor Lesya Lysyj left in March after nearly seven years as CMO — well above industry averages — and Hodges served as interim chief marketer during the search.
Boston Beer is navigating a cooler consumer environment as the hard seltzer boom that Truly helped lead has faded.
The company is increasing brand investment, including more localized marketing; advertising, promotional and selling expenses rose 16.4% in Q2.
Other brewers are changing marketing leaders too. Nonalcoholic leader Athletic Brewing recently brought on Dan Kleinman as CMO, replacing Andrew Katz after nearly five years — the move covered in the no-alcohol beer leader hiring a new CMO amid record-low drinking.
When a category cools, companies reach for tech-savvy CMOs because brand feeling alone won’t reverse shrinking demand; deciding which brands to push to which regions and customers requires data. As with Target handing its CMO guest experience and retail media, the CMO role is expanding from campaigns into data and commerce — and “connected commerce” in Stransky’s remit reflects that shift.
Allison Stransky, formerly CMO of Samsung Electronics America, joining October 12 to lead brand management, digital and social, experiential marketing and connected commerce.
With the hard seltzer boom fading and Q2 revenue down 3.3%, the company wants to modernize marketing with a leader combining brand-building and data-driven digital skills.
Q2 net revenue fell 3.3% to $568.3 million and shipments dropped 4.5%, while advertising, promotional and selling expenses rose 16.4%.
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