Labatt Breweries of Canada has announced a shuffle in marketing leadership to begin the new year.

After serving nearly four years as VP of marketing for Labatt, Todd Allen is moving to a new role within parent company AB InBev, becoming global VP of marketing for Budweiser.

Meanwhile, Andrew Oosterhuis (pictured), who had been working as Budweiser’s global advertising director for the past two years, will be returning to Canada to succeed Allen in the VP of marketing role.

Both Allen and Oosterhuis are long-time employees of AB InBev.

Allen first joined Labatt as director of marketing in 2012 and served in various positions before his promotion to Labatt’s VP of marketing in 2017. His new role is another promotion within the company that will see him overseeing marketing for the Budweiser brand globally.

Oosterhuis has worked his way up through various marketing roles since joining Labatt in 2007, before moving stateside in 2018 to become global director of Stella Artois and, later that same year, to a similar role at Budweiser.

His new role will have Oosterhuis assuming marketing responsibilities for a catalogue that includes Labatt’s beer brands, as well as recent additions to its non-beer and ready-to-drink offerings.

The change in marketing also comes as the company plots a return from the challenges of 2020, which saw on-premise sales in particular take a hit due to lockdowns and other impacts of the coronavirus. One thing the pandemic did not change, however, is the company’s goal of diversifying its portfolio beyond the stagnant beer category. While brands like Budweiser and Alexander Keith are still pillars of the company’s marketing efforts, it has also been putting support behind growing brands like the recently acquired Nutrl ready-to-drink brand and Babe canned wine.