Asahi Europe & International is the European division of Japan’s Asahi Group, stewarding a premium beer portfolio across 9 countries with 19 production sites .
Their global brands include Asahi Super Dry, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell, Kozel, and Grolsch, available in both alcoholic and low-/no?alcohol variants. They also brew local favourites via regional companies—such as Gambrinus, Radegast, Tyskie, Ursus, and Lech—covering lagers, pilsners, craft ales, and ciders across Europe.
The Brief
Allexo have worked closely with Asahi (previously Miller Brands) since 2011, building and developing their teams from Manager to Director level across the full marketing & commercial spectrum.
Due to business growth, there was a necessity to bring in more dedicated resource into the category function, with the creation of two newly created roles – a Category Manager for the off-trade, and a Category Manager for the on-trade.
With the business and brands having grown to a significant size in the UK, the approach to category management had evolved from being more insights-led and transactional, to more strategic and partner-led with customers across all channels.
As such, the focus was on finding individuals with strong customer category management experience who had led formal range reviews, ideally from a classically trained FMCG blue-chip background. As always, strong knowledge and a passion for the drinks industry was considered to be an advantage, although not essential.
The Process & Results
Working through the Allexo Process with a detailed briefing call and a clear criteria, process and timelines in place, we worked through a full search of the UK market.
A shortlist of 7 profiles was introduced resulting in both roles being offered and accepted – one from Bacardi having managed grocery, and the other having taking a brief hiatus from the drinks world, previously at Accolade Wines.
The project was completed on time and within budget 6 weeks from the initial brief.
