Tip 1: Follow the Money
Phan’s first non-negotiable was understanding the P&L (Profit and Loss) intimately, stressing that until marketers speak the language of finance, they will never be seen as true business leaders.
He shared a defining career example from 2015 when he was Head of Cider at CUB. Given the task of arresting six years of consistent share decline, his team bypassed the “big ad” and innovation and instead focused on commercial fundamentals: distribution, price, and promo frequency. This delivered slight share growth within months, which he calls the essential step to earning freedom.
Phan stressed that marketers have accountability for the bottom line, not just the top line. To follow the money, a marketer must know where money exchanges hands and what happens next: covering freight, retailer terms, discounts, and variable costs. If a marketer can quote and memorize key facts from their P&L in meetings, they instantly gain credibility.
The cold hard fact is… until you speak the language of finance, you'll never be seen as a true business leader.
– Brian Phan, Chief Growth Officer, Asahi
Tip 2: Breadth over Depth
Phan argued that a brand’s perception is the sum of its parts. He noted that while advertising is visible, price is “probably the biggest signal to a consumer that we have about what to think about our product.”
He cautioned against spending a career narrowly, identifying as only a specialist in brand or innovation. To ascend to the next level of leadership, a marketer must understand every single part of the building block that brings a brand to life. This breadth gives the marketer the credibility to trade off tensions, prioritize resources, and understand how to allocate against different building blocks.
Tip 3: Work in Sales
Phan emphasized that his belief that marketers should work in sales is central to both understanding the P&L and building breadth. He challenged the notion that marketers truly own the outcome and the result, stating that one does not feel the same accountability as working in sales, where the number is “crystal clear.”
While he admitted he did not enjoy his time in sales, it gave him the essential building blocks to be a better marketer. It provided a better appreciation for how the creative and strategic work done in the “ivory tower of a head office” actually translates to helping drive sales for the company. Sales forces the marketer to feel the true weight of accountability.
Tip 4: Measurement Matters
Phan confirmed that measurement is the key to proving that marketing is a growth engine, not a cost center. He described the long journey Asahi took with Mutinex to gain data-backed confidence in their investment decisions.
Measurement allows marketers to put opportunities into the company forecast, defending their budget not just with creative passion, but with hard data and facts. This capability is critical when results are under pressure. Data defines the “logic” in the logic and magic of marketing, allowing the business to determine where to spend money, on what brands, and over what timeframe to achieve a goal.
You cut my marketing budget, the result is under more pressure.
– Brian Phan, Chief Growth Officer, Asahi
Tip 5: Curiosity is the Muscle
The final tip was a behavioural one: marketers must remain innately curious — about people, technology, and algorithms. Curiosity is the muscle that drives knowledge, but marketers must eventually make a leap to put that knowledge into practice.
Ultimately, Phan concluded, the marketer’s core challenge is to simplify the complex. By simplifying the insight and the positioning, and by understanding how every component of marketing works, they can help use marketing to drive commercial growth and more money.
If knowledge is power, then curiosity is the muscle.
– Brian Phan, Chief Growth Officer, Asahi