Rank the listed BTL streams in order in relation to your organisational strength

1. Creative

2. Shopper

3. Experiential

4. Digital

What is the mission & the philosophy of your agency?

We are a creative activation agency, specialising in a new era of measurable experience delivery.  Our philosophy is quite simple - create great, measurable work that delivers fantastic results - all underpinned by 4 key principles - 1: Efficiency, 2: Effectiveness, 3: Transparency & 4: Partnership.

What is your agency's business strategy?

Before launching AU in March 2023, we spent a lot of time looking at the market with colleagues and old clients and found a gap - lack of accountability in the BTL space. Not only do we want our work to deliver results, we also want to make sure we as an agency are 100% accountable - hence one of our core agency pillars is all about transparency.  Our overall business strategy is to have 10 multi branded client / partners - in the first 2 1/2 years, we currently have 5 core amazing partners.  Most importantly as an agency, we also want to ensure a great work life balance for our team hence our efficiency principle.  Underpinning all of this is to have fun whilst creating great measurable work.

What does your ownership structure look like and what does that mean for Asahi?

We are very proudly an independent Australian agency. 95% is owned by our founders James (CEO) and Amelia Neale and the remaining 5% by Rosie Carter our Managing Partner.  This means we have the flexibility and freedom to make our own decisions - efficiency at our core.  Whilst not hindered by holding company politics, we do have full financial backing by our founders who have been in the industry for over 25 years having built and run previous creative agencies here in Australia and over in the UK.

Who do you regard as your key competitors in Australia?

VML Commerce (Shopper), The Idea Shed (Shopper), Bastion (Experiential), Amplify (Experiential).

What differentiates you from your competitors?

Accountability. Every project that passes through our agency benefits from a holistic TTL approach to creative and planning. That is, considering the most relevant brand, consumer, and customer context rather than viewing any one component in isolation and most importantly what results it should deliver. We keep our finger on the pulse of the latest consumer trends, retail initiatives, audience insights and more to identify the most impactful opportunities to activate in market. Another big differentiator is our transparency - this needs to be across the board in order to make us most efficient - basically, we don't hide anything and give our clients full access to our working project folders which our partners are finding 'refreshing'.

What makes your agency the perfect fit for Asahi? 

We believe AU and Asahi could be the perfect blend - Why?  We believe in efficiency and effectiveness across the board driven from project side at AU but also processes and WOW with our partners.  We drive transformation that requires full service, perfectly connected, data powered retail capabilities.  We work as an extension of your team and are led by people who have been passionately associated in the industry for 20+ years.  We make the magic together, in a collaborative and transparent spirit.  We want to support creating purpose led and strategic solutions for Asahi.  Finally, we love what we do and would love the opportunity to work with you.

Where do you think Asahi has opportunities to improve across shopper/trade marketing and experiential?

As we haven't had the opportunity to work with Asahi yet, this is a tricky question to answer. Saying that it would be remiss of us not to comment on the overall plan that was presented to us on the 24th September 2025 with the full alc & non alc brand teams.  Considering the current restructures that have happened at Asahi, the consolidated plan was one of the best we have been presented - concise and well structured, considering the number of brands, categories and customers to consider - the opportunities are endless.