Fans of Kokanee Peak Brew, the limited edition beer made with traces of snow from mountains across Western Canada, should thank Candy Lee for quenching their thirst for Canadiana in a can.
Lee, a senior brand manager at Labatt Breweries of Canada, had been building the business case and lobbying for more marketing spend on Kokanee, a key regional brand in Western Canada. “It was a multi-month process with countless excel files, powerpoint decks, and presentations, but ultimately worth it as I do think it’s been some of the most interesting work we’ve done on the brand in a while,” says Lee.
It led to the Kokanee Peak Brew, which was a hit when released early in 2015 and was promoted by a series of digital video shorts that celebrated local heroes of each mountain. The campaign’s long-form video content also drove best-ever digital metrics at Labatt, helping to re-energize the brand.
Lee, 28, says her manager called her “scrappy” for pushing to get the budget for the campaign.
“I chose to take that as a compliment,” says Lee.
To her, scrappy means being efficient with resources. “It’s also about having a certain amount of stubbornness or grit. When you see an amazing creative idea, it’s fighting for it, even if someone more senior doesn’t quite see how it’s going to work. It’s up to you to not just let that idea die.”
Lee’s confidence comes from always knowing that she wanted to be in the marketing profession. As a kid, Lee saysshe would often run up to people and tell them stories to try to provoke some kind of emotional reaction.
“Now I can’t run up to family and friends every other day and make them laugh and cry, but in my own way I get to do that with the marketing campaigns that I work on,” Lee says. “What I love about what I do day-to-day is that the end result is a creative campaign where you get to move people and give them a daily dose of inspiration.”
Lee started at Labatt in 2009 as a management trainee and worked her way up through various departments and roles before becoming the brand manager for Kokanee and value brands in July 2014. Last springshe was promoted to senior brand manager and added Budweiser to her portfolio.
Lee was also the driving force behind Deja Brew, which uses water melted from snow that fell in 1962, the year Kokanee was founded.
“She proactively identifies opportunities,” says Andrew Oosterhuis, director of Budweiser. “Candy is a driver that wants to continue pushing forward, despite whatever barriers are put in front of her, which is important… because it’s not always the first time that you get the result you want.”
