Duty Free Global names Justin Weston as CMO and Senior VP of Middle East and APAC
Justin Weston, Senior VP of Middle East and Asia Pacific and Chief Marketing Officer, Duty Free Global, effective September 1, 2023.
Duty Free Global has appointed Justin Weston in the dual role position of Senior Vice President of Middle East and Asia Pacific and Chief Marketing Officer, effective September 1, 2023.
Weston is an experienced luxury sales and marketing executive with a long career spent living and working across Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, a region where he has particularly long-standing working relationships and contacts. He moved to Dubai in 2022, a return to a region he knows well from a childhood spent accompanying his British Diplomat father.
Weston's working life began in Hong Kong with the British conglomerate Jardine Matheson. After ten years spent in Australia, Hong Kong and then Japan, in 2000 he joined the LVMH Group and moved to France. In 2005, he moved to the US, following his passion for wine to California to work in Napa Valley. He returned to France to join the Remy-Cointreau Group, initially as the effective CMO of the Liqueurs & Spirits brands and then as CEO of Cointreau.
In 2014, Weston moved to Singapore where he was tasked with setting up the global Duty Free operations for William Grant & Sons, the independent family whisky company. This was followed by four years as Managing Director, Asia for the Italian wines and spirits company, Campari, setting up a new RTM across the region. In 2021, Weston joined Actavia, a consulting firm specializing in RTM and brand building, initially in Singapore, before moving in August of 2022 to Dubai to set up their office there.
Barry Geoghegan, founder, Duty Free Global said, “On behalf of all the team at Duty Free Global (DFG) we extend our warmest welcome to Justin. We believe with Justin’s vast 25 year experience in building luxury global liquor brands he will add a huge amount of knowledge to our channel dedicated team at DFG.
"In his dual role with DFG we are delighted to have Justin head up the strategically crucial Middle East and Asia Pacific region. Justin’s many years living in the region in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Dubai give him a first-hand understanding of the nuances and culture of the region which will be a huge asset to the DFG team. Allied to his regional role Justin’s many years as a luxury marketeer in the wines and spirits business will prove invaluable to our brand partners as we jointly develop the best in class marketing approach to succeed in the channel.”
Weston added, “I am delighted at this opportunity to work with Barry and his team at Duty Free Global, both as their ‘man-on-the-ground’ in the re-accelerating of Middle East and Asia Duty Free markets and to support more broadly the many excellent global brands that DFG represents. I have always believed that duty free can play a key role in wider brand building efforts, as well as afford numerous opportunities for inter-action with consumers. Barry and DFG have an enviable reputation in duty free and I look forward to building on that.”
Weston will be attending the forthcoming TFWA Cannes and is looking forward to meeting brand partners, press and operators on the Duty Free Global stand J35 in the Green Village. Brand partners that will be on the DFG stand include:
Sazerac Brands: Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Fireball, Southern Comfort, Sazerac de Forge Cognac, Wheatley Vodka, Paddy Irish Whiskey, Myer’s Rum, Jung & Wulff Rum, Parrot Bay.
Creams: Somrus cream liqueurs, Five Farms Irish Cream
Gins: Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, Amazzoni Brazilian Gin, Broker’s London Gin, Ukiyo Japanese Gin, Ginato Italian Gin, Etsu Japanese Gin, Goalong Japanese Gin
Vodka: Istil 38 Pot Still Irish Vodka
Tequila: Cazcabel
Whisky: Fercullen Irish Whiskey, Bladnoch Scotch Whisky, Compass Box Whisky, Gold Bar Whiskey, The Last Drop, Hinotori Japanese Whisky, Goalong Japanese Whisky
Wines: Wakefield by Taylor’s, Albert Bichot
