Former colleagues say Almond's years at Burger King dealing with the obesity furore have left him in good shape to deal with any obstacles that arise while marketing alcohol in this tough climate. 'He had a rough time,' says Alex Kuropatwa, managing director of the fast-food chain's former ad agency, DLKW, who worked with Almond when the obesity debate broke out. 'He is down-to-earth, strategically very astute and operationally very pragmatic, which is what the business needed at the time.'
He may sound something of a career masochist, but father-of-four Almond insists he is not consciously drawn to sectors that are difficult, simply to sectors that he enjoys. His own preference is for cocktails - a hangover from the time he spent in the US as global brand director for Diageo based in Connecticut. Although he returned to the UK 18 months ago, he still misses that element of US life. 'They have a cocktail culture over there that I wish we could bring over here,' he says.
The 45-year-old studied English at Queen's College, Cambridge, where he cultivated an interest in theatre. This love of the arts led him to start his career in advertising at Ogilvy & Mather, which he believed would be 'a kind of arty place to work', and until recently he was on the board of South-East London theatre company London Bubble.
After four years at brand-development specialist Craton, Lodge & Knight, Almond studied for an MBA that has paid dividends at Diageo, with its strong record in NPD. Over the past year, he has overseen the launch of fruit-based alcoholic drink Quinn's and is trialling cider brand Cashel's, with which the company hopes to capture some of the cider audience hauled in by Magners.
It is also seeking to recruit consumers to the stout sector, with trials of Guinness Red - a drink made from lighter-roasted barley - and a mid-strength variant. Almond says the brand has reached its biggest-ever share in a tough market, despite off-trade sales of Guinness Draught falling 2% in the year to 30 December, according to ACNielsen. He is already drawing up plans to celebrate Guinness' 250th anniversary in 2009, which promises to go with a bang.
Baileys is another brand that Almond has turned his attention to after sales fell 25% to 拢72.7m last year. He insists the liqueur's underlying health is good, and believes its problems were a result of overly-heavy price promotions. The company has started to address this by selling the product at prices where both Diageo and retailers can make money.
Almond admits that the immediate future will hold more challenging issues than Baileys' brand value. 'The biggest challenge is getting growth for our premium brands in a fairly static market'.
The biggest fight Diageo has on its hands right now is the binge-drinking debate. Almond says he understands why critics believe there can only ever be a conflict between being a drinks manufacturer and claiming to promote sensible consumption, as Diageo does in its current responsible drinking initiative.
'I relate it to where we were on drink-driving,' he says. 'When I was growing up, it didn't have the stigma it does today. Over a long period of education and action, that's been brought under control.' He believes a healthier attitude to drinking is not necessarily bad for Diageo, as consumers who drink less will opt for better-quality, premium brands.
There is also the prospect of the smoking ban hanging over the business. 'If it's anything like Scotland or Ireland, it will depress our sales,' he admits. Yet Almond remains optimistic that in the long-term, Diageo will be able to maintain its leading position.
CAREER HISTORY
1984-1986: Account executive, Ogilvy & Mather
1987-1991: Project director, Craton, Lodge & Knight
1991-1993: MBA, London Business School
1994-1996: Marketing director, IDV
1997-2001: Brand director, Baileys, rising to marketing director GB, Smirnoff, Diageo
2001-2003: Marketing director UK & Ireland, Burger King (owned by Diageo)
2003-present: Global brand director, Smirnoff, rising to marketing director GB, Diageo.