Meet the Marketer: Annemarie Browne, Lion NZ

From ancient Sumerian brews to the cutting edge of AI, the beverage market is always evolving. To navigate this landscape, we sat down with Annemarie Browne, Marketing Director at Lion New Zealand, to discuss how one of the country’s most iconic beverage companies is staying ahead of the curve.

What do you love about what you do, day to day? 

I work in a category that has brought people together for thousands of years—beer was first brewed over 10,000 years ago, likely by a Sumerian woman. Today, we carry that legacy forward by creating products that add enjoyment and drive sociability. There’s something really special about working on amazing brands that are part of Kiwis everyday moments and celebrations. 

What excites you about the opportunities for brands in Retail Media?

Retail Media allows us to influence consumers at the most critical moment. It lets us present our brands in the best possible light, to help customers understand why it suits their needs and makes them easy to find and buy.  It’s that great moment where brand building and conversion come together. 

What learnings have you gained from using Retail Media through the years? 

• Think end to end.  The more consistent your imagery is through the line, the easier it will be for consumers to recognise and choose your brand.  

• Keep it simple: Don’t make promotions too complicated – you’ll be surprised how often straightforward promotional mechanics outperform complex ones and drive stronger engagement. 

• Plan early and partner closely: Retail experts have a clear view of what works—bringing them in early leads to better outcomes.

• Design for the environment: Creative needs to work hard in a retail context—clarity, standout, and relevance are critical.

What changes are you seeing in customer behaviour and how are your marketing tactics and objectives changing in response? 

Consumers are increasingly time-poor, overwhelmed, and under financial pressure, which is making them more deliberate in their choices. This means they are more likely to select a trusted brand where they know what they will get, rather than take risks. 

To meet these changes, we’re doubling down on building strong, trusted brands like Speight’s and Steinlager, while also reducing barriers to trial. This includes aligning innovation to established brands and creating more opportunities for consumers to experience new products before committing. 

What new technologies, such as AI or automation, are you most excited about, and how do you plan to leverage them?

AI is already impacting almost every marketing touchpoint, but in the short term I think there are a few really useful ways to utilise it to add value. 

1. Real time insights and decision making: Quickly understanding what’s working globally and applying those learnings to improve effectiveness.

2. Creative at speed and scale: Rapidly producing and adapting content for different channels, enabling faster test-and-learn and more effective optimisation

3. Shifting focus to strategy: Automating execution allows marketers to spend more time on higher-value strategic thinking and creativity.

How do your brand and trade marketing teams collaborate to build effective, full-funnel Retail Media strategies?

Incredibly well. Our brand and retail teams are highly integrated, with retail embedded into the annual brand planning process. Teams plan and align together from the outset to ensure a full-funnel approach. We’re also increasingly connecting our above-the-line media agency directly with the retail teams to ensure we optimise the total media plan and create a more seamless experience across channels. 

How do you define and measure success in Retail Media, and how do you align on KPIs between your brand and commercial teams?

This area is still a bit of a work in progress to be honest. Commercial teams are primarily focused on sales metrics, while marketing also looks at brand value and engagement. To ensure alignment, we try to be really clear on the purpose of the activity from the outset, then set KPI’s based on the specific job to be done.