Suntory Global Spirits has appointed Bruce Song as Vice President, Commercial Excellence for Asia Pacific (APAC). Based in South Korea, Song will oversee the newly established Commercial Excellence team in APAC, with a focus on enhancing consumer engagement and accelerating business growth across seven markets – Oceania, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Commercial Excellence team
The Commercial Excellence function will collaborate with local commercial and marketing teams to drive strategic growth, working closely with counterparts in North America and Europe to execute against a globally aligned strategy grounded in data and insights.
“The establishment of our Commercial Excellence team in APAC is a critical step to strengthening our regional capabilities and accelerating growth,” said Masato Hayashi, President, APAC and Global Commercial Excellence, Suntory Global Spirits.
“Bruce’s experience, strategic mindset and people-first leadership will help strengthen our ability to build iconic premium brands and consistently create incredible experiences for customers across the region.”
A results-driven leader with over 25 years of global experience across commercial, marketing and management roles, Song brings strategic foresight and a collaborative leadership style to the team.
“We want Suntory Global Spirits to be the Most Admired premium commercial organisation, and the preferred spirits partner for our customers,” said Song. “The Commercial Excellence agenda is essential to reaching this ambition and delivering sustainable growth – providing a shared set of global standards, as well as the tools, insight and commercial capabilities we need to support executional excellence and best-in-class customer engagement across our key markets.
“We have a great opportunity in APAC to tailor our approach, while ensuring consumers experience our brands with the consistent quality and craftsmanship they expect.”
Song joined Suntory Global Spirits in 2017 as Managing Director of Korea, establishing the Korea route to market and business entity. More recently, he served as Managing Director of Emerging Asia, leading a team of more than 200 across Korea, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Song will report to Hayashi and serve on the APAC and Global Commercial Excellence leadership teams.