Ayobami Agbede, a Nigerian marketing and brand-management professional, has commenced a new role as Brand Manager, Vodka Portfolio at global beverage company Diageo, marking another significant step in his growing career across marketing, innovation and brand strategy.
Agbede announced the appointment in a professional update, stating that he was pleased to begin his new position with Diageo.
With experience spanning marketing, communications, product innovation, corporate affairs, growth strategy and consumer engagement, Agbede’s latest appointment at Diageo further positions him within the global fast-moving consumer goods and beverage industry.
In his new role, he will lead the company’s vodka portfolio and category agenda across APM markets within the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, with responsibilities covering prominent brands including Smirnoff, Ketel One and Cîroc.
His mandate includes driving brand strategy, portfolio growth, consumer engagement and commercial performance, while working with local markets and agency partners to deliver consumer activations and accelerate growth across the vodka category.
The appointment follows his previous role as Innovation Manager, Beer, RTD and Mainstream Spirits for Partner Markets, SWC Africa, also at Diageo, where he led innovation strategy and pipeline development across 15 partner markets.
In that position, Agbede focused on beer, ready-to-drink (RTD) products and mainstream spirits, strengthening his experience in product innovation, portfolio development and commercial strategy.
Before joining Diageo, Agbede served as Group Head of Marketing at Konga Group, where he oversaw brand strategy, marketing operations and revenue-focused campaigns across several business units, including Konga E-commerce, Konga Retail, Konga Pay, Konga Travels and Tours, Konga Health, TDiLife, Konga TV and Konga Radio.
At Konga, his responsibilities included performance marketing, brand positioning, revenue growth, market expansion, marketing-efficiency initiatives, owned media and non-traditional marketing campaigns.
He also previously served as Executive Director, Corporate Affairs and Marketing at Zinox Technologies, where he led corporate communications, stakeholder engagement, brand strategy and marketing activities across the Zinox Technologies Group, including TD Africa, Konga Group and Task Systems.
His career record also includes a stint as Innovation Manager at Grand Oak Limited, where he played a central role in product development and go-to-market strategies.
During his time at Grand Oak, Agbede led the redesign of bottle packaging for Calypso Coconut Liqueur, Lord’s London Dry Gin and Bacchus Tonic Wine, while also introducing canned ready-to-drink variants for Lord’s Gin, Calypso and St. Lauren.
He further contributed to portfolio expansion through the introduction of Oriki 11 and Encore, with Oriki 11 achieving 75 per cent of its volume target within two months of launch, while Encore reached 45 per cent of its total volume target across two SKUs within the same period.
Earlier in his career, Agbede worked as Head of Marketing Communications at BuyLetLive, where he was involved in brand positioning, growth-focused communications and strategic partnerships. The company subsequently received the Best Online Real Estate Portal of the Year recognition at the 2022 Africa Housing Awards.
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He also served as a Growth Consultant at FirstFounders Inc., developing growth roadmaps and supporting initiatives aimed at increasing the number of African-focused startups being incubated and scaled.
His professional journey includes additional marketing and communications roles at Spacefinish, ID Africa, Lawrence Price and Company Limited, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group), First Almond Realties and Fabot Ventures.
At NGX Group, Agbede contributed to digital brand management, investor communications and product positioning. He was involved in initiatives including X-Kathon, described as the capital market’s first hackathon, and StockTown, a financial-literacy comic book series designed to communicate capital-market concepts in an accessible format.
Agbede began his professional career in tax analysis at the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, before undertaking graduate internships at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the African Reinsurance Corporation.
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