Unleash Your Spirit: A #OneSuntory Conversation with Kay Oh, Senior General Manager

Through all our corporate pursuits, Suntory seeks to Inspire the Brilliance of Life.

Our values of Growing for Good, Yatte Minahare and Giving Back to Society unite us to achieve this purpose.

And our people are the driving force behind our business. We believe each of us has unlimited potential to grow, to lead and to positively contribute to society and nature. We encourage our more than 40,000 global employees to Unleash Your Spirit – to be curious, be bold, and be the best you can be. And we instill a Gemba mindset, enabling our people to understand the unique needs of our customers as we continuously look to exceed their expectations. As One Suntory, we strive to make an impact and have fun doing what we love by crafting our future together.

For our employee spotlight series, we’re highlighting Suntorians around the world who demonstrate what it means to “Unleash Your Spirit.”

Kay Oh, General Manager at Suntory RTD Company, shares her six-year career journey at Suntory, including her leadership in innovation, Yatte Minahare examples and opportunities to learn and grow.

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself and your career at Suntory.? How long have you been with?Suntory? What was your role and where were you based before you moved/transferred???

I have been with Suntory Group for six years, five of them as Director of Innovation at Suntory Global Spirits (formerly Beam Suntory) in Oceania. Innovation is a critical business growth enabler for Suntory Global Spirits, and I was brought into the business to deliver breakthrough, new-to-world innovation products (mostly in Alcoholic Ready-To-Drink) to accelerate the growth trajectory for the business. About a year ago, I was seconded to the Suntory RTD Company.??

Q. What is your new role? Can you share some of your insights/learnings from the experience so far??

Oceania is a key strategic market for Suntory Global Spirits. When I joined, the business was hungry and eager to shake things up and become the innovation leader in the fast, dynamic and competitive RTD category. It required me to think and act differently. I was a team of one when I started; we grew to two people within six months.??

We behaved like a small start-up and needed to act with agility, challenge the status quo and break the barriers (and ended up breaking the processes too often ??). It was on us to showcase what we can deliver to this world.??

Returning to Australia fresh and energized after living overseas for several years, I saw huge potential in leveraging Australian’s love affair with Japan. It naturally led me to partner with my colleagues from Suntory Japan to bring those ideas to life, one of which was the launch of -196 Double Lemon in 2021, which proudly hit the biggest success anyone could dream of. Many years later, as Suntory’s global RTD ambition became clear, the opportunity landed for me to join Suntory RTD company as Senior General Manager of Marketing & Innovation a year ago.??

Q. What is your best “Yatte Minahare” story – a time where you acted boldly, tackled a challenge or turned a dream into reality in your role at Suntory??

I had a passion and belief to bring Suntory Japan’s No.1 product, -196 °C Strong Zero to Australia. However, due to various legal and industry restrictions, we needed to localize the mix. Having lived in several countries, knowing the importance of subtle nuances and differences, I strongly believed it needed to be localized to meet the Australian consumer needs and taste preferences to be successful. Simply put, we needed to be the biggest critics of ourselves.??

It was far more challenging than I had anticipated at the start.? There were many unexpected turns and some failed attempts. We often had to take two steps backwards before we could take one step forward.??

The challenge was not only to do with developing the mix and cracking the “code”, but behind the curtain, we had to work extra hard to grow supporters and believers. I knew I had to trailblaze with conviction and wave a big flag that we can launch Suntory Japan’s No.1 product in Australia, meaningfully and successfully.???

?We were able to launch in May 2021, and it was a huge success! It’s also an important step for Suntory in delivering our global RTD ambition.??

Q. At Suntory, our commitment to providing employees with opportunities to “Unleash Your Spirit” is the value we aim to offer. What does “Unleash Your Spirit” mean to you and how have you been able/encouraged to “Unleash Your Spirit”??

?Not trying is a bigger failure than having tried and failed.? At the Suntory Group, everyone is encouraged to give things a good go. I have been entrusted and empowered from day one with the company to give my very best, to inspire others and to be inspired…because that’s not a philosophy, it is a leadership act at Suntory.??

Q. What is one piece of advice you’d give to other professionals, including others across Suntory’s global business??

?Play the long game, and play yours, not the game defined by others.??