Brand Growth Fuels Marketing Department Expansion at General Cigar

Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) announces that sustained growth across the company’s brand portfolio in 2020 and 2021 has led to an expansion of its marketing department which is part of the company’s North American Branded and Rest of World division. 

Since 2020, the General Cigar brand portfolio, which includes stalwart brands such as Macanudo, Cohiba, CAO, Punch, Partagas, La Gloria Cubana, Hoyo de Monterrey, Diesel and others, has grown by more than 20%.

Chris Tarr, vice president of marketing for STG’s North American Branded and Rest of World divisions said, “Our focus on bringing excitement to the premium cigar category through innovative collaborations, out-of-category partnerships, and impactful brand engagements has met with a great response from the trade and cigar-smoking community. As the trajectory of our brands continues, we have bolstered the expertise of our current marketing team by shifting roles and adding new talent, which ultimately allows us to provide deeper support to our brands on a global level.” 

In STG’s expanded North American Branded and Rest of World marketing team, Steve Abbot has been promoted to Director of Marketing, overseeing the marketing of all handmade cigar brands for General Cigar. Steve joined the company in 2014 and for nearly eight years, has made his mark by managing brands including Cohiba, CAO, Partagas, and La Gloria Cubana. Most notably, he has been credited with driving the evolution of Macanudo, fueled in part by the development and expansion of Macanudo’s Inspirado and M Flavors lines.  Steve has also been responsible for the relaunch and expansion of General Cigar’s website CigarWorld.com. 

In his new role, Steve will report directly to Chris Tarr and oversee the brand marketing team that includes Ed Lahmann (senior brand manager, CAO and Hoyo/Excalibur), Matt Wilson (senior brand manager, Cohiba, Partagas, Sancho Panza), and two new appointments to the marketing team: John Hakim (brand manager, Punch, Odyssey, Chillin’ Moose) and Olga Koke (assistant brand manager, El Rey del Mundo, Bolivar, special projects).  

Also reporting to Chris Tarr in the STG North American Branded and Rest of World division marketing department are Justin Andrews (new business development manager), Matt Davenport (marketing manager), John Pope (brand manager Bulger, Leaf, Kite), Max Stokkebye (marketing manager), Mark Renard (international marketing manager) and newly hired Jean Romanowicz (international brand manager). 

Chris also manages the STG North American Branded and Rest of World design team led by  Megan Jenkins (senior graphic design manager), who oversees Gooch Gulick (senior graphic designer) and Nikki Jordan (graphic designer). 

STG is currently recruiting for a “manager of brand experiences” to support its event platform and an additional “assistant brand manager.”