Bothell-based Essentia Water announced the hire of Paul Curhan as Vice President of Marketing and Innovation; Neil Kimberley as Vice President of Strategy and Market Development; and Tahne Davis as Creative Director and Brand Manager.
These newly created positions have been added in response to the brand’s accelerated growth and rapid expansion into mainstream retail channels. At the end of the third quarter, Essentia’s year-over-year revenue growth measured more than 85 percent.
“Essentia has been able to achieve so much with a very lean management team, including becoming the no.1-ranked bottled water brand in the natural food channel and the fastest growing top 10 premium bottled water brand in the grocery channel. As we poise for explosive growth, it’s imperative to build an experienced beverage team,” said Essentia President and CEO Ken Uptain. Essentia is outpacing its category’s growth and is on track to book its 10th consecutive year of revenue growth.
“With collective experience of more than 50 years in their respective fields, Paul, Neil and Tahne offer of expertise to take Essentia to the next level as a mainstream consumer brand,” said Uptain. “I am so excited to officially welcome them to the Essentia family and to share Essentia’s unique taste and benefits with more people.”
As Vice President of Marketing and Innovation, Curhan will be responsible for driving Essentia’s growth from niche to mainstream brand. This includes consumer marketing campaigns, brand and product management, and organizational enhancements aimed at expanded retail trade and consumer brand awareness for business growth. Over the past year, he has consulted for Essentia, helping optimize its brand positioning and launching integrated consumer promotions. Curhan has more than 20 years of experience building revenue and brand equity for a range of premium consumer lifestyle brands. Some of his many notable marketing achievements include the retail launch and North American rollout of Starbucks’ ready- to-drink bottled Frappuccino beverages with Pepsi, and helping turnaround craft beer company Pyramid Breweries to become the No. 1 growth Top 10 brand nationally. Curhan earned his MBA in Marketing from The University of Michigan Ross Graduate School of Business Administration.
As Vice President of Strategy and Market Development, Kimberley has been tapped to lead Essentia’s market expansion. Kimberley was compelled to join Essentia because of the brand’s leading position in the rapidly growing functional water segment. Kimberley has nearly 20 years of experience as a beverage industry leader with a record of success creating products and strategies to grow both established and startup brands. His achievements have included playing a key role in the resurgence of Snapple in the late 1990s and subsequently as Vice President of Strategy for Cadbury Beverages. More recently, Kimberley was involved with the fast-growing Runa Tea startup. Originally from England, Kimberley earned his bachelor of arts in American History and American Politics, from University of East Anglia.
Davis joins Essentia as Creative Director and Brand Manager. In this new in-house capacity she will develop and manage Essentia’s creative strategies and brand communications. This includes acting as liaison between internal and external creative resources, program development as well as partnership and sponsorship management. Davis has spent close to 15 years as the principal of Davis Design, offering brand development, digital, advertising, packaging and promotional design services to a range of consumer product and services companies. Over the past two years, she has served as a design consultant to Essentia and spearheaded the redesign of Essentia’s packaging, which has been well received by retail and consumer customers. Davis has an intimate understanding of Essentia’s target market; she has worked with leading national active lifestyle brands like Moving Comfort, an innovator in women’s fitness apparel, and Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, among others. She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Utah State University.
