My food & drink job: Amy Armstrong, brand manager, Asahi

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Name: Amy Armstrong

Age: 27

Job title: Brand manager, Peroni Nastro Azzurro

Company & location: Asahi UK, Woking

Education: University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, International Business & Modern Languages

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? A popstar or a model.

Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? Having previously worked for a pharmaceutical company, I really wanted to make the move to food and drink as I thought it would be fast-paced, with more opportunities to work on innovation. Also, I wanted to work in an industry where consumers really care and are passionate about your brand. It has lived up to my expectations in all these areas!

Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): As one of the brand managers on the Peroni team, my role is predominantly focused on the projects related to recruiting a younger audience. This includes working with other internal teams on the brand and campaign plans for our innovation Stile Capri, including creating assets and working with media and content partners. I also lead our partnership with Mob, our influencer plan with our creative agency, any sampling on Peroni, and overseeing our social media accounts.

What does a typical day look like? It varies by week and depending on what stage projects are in, but recently my focus has been on content creation to support our brand launch, Peroni Nastro Azzurro Stile Capri. Within my week there will be a lot of cross-collaboration with internal teams and agency partners, as well as developing exciting plans for 2024. At Asahi UK, they offer great flexible working options so in a week I could be in Woking or London, as well as visiting our amazing customers in the on and off-trade.

“Lots of brands are owned by parent companies that you may have never heard of. Look into the parent companies of brands to help you stay more up to date with job opportunities”

Tell us about how you went about applying for your job: For this position I took part in two interviews. This involved a HR screening plus a chat with my line manager and an in-person interview with recruitment task to see the way I would work and take a brief on. This was then followed by a few HR processes and tests. I don’t remember any tough questions, but there was information and data to process for the presentation, but I must have managed it.

What’s the best part about working for a food and drink company? For me, it is about the people that you work with and meet within the industry – everyone is friendly, helpful, and sociable, and beer is a fun industry with lots of great events to attend. I also love how fast-paced it is, and that I can see the projects I work on come to life in market. I’m not just planning something which is going to happen in a year or more time.

And what’s the biggest misconception people have about food & drink? Probably the amount of time, resource and functions involved to launch a product in market. Before I worked in the industry, if I picked up a new product on the shelves in a supermarket, I would never have considered the months, sometimes years, of planning and work that it took to get there. Another is that you need a university degree to be able to make your way in – thankfully this isn’t always the case.

What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food and drink industry? Do your research, lots of brands are owned by parent companies that you may have never heard of. Look into the parent companies of brands to help you stay more up to date with job opportunities. Also, try and gain relevant experience, for example if you are interested in working in drink, a bar job while studying may be helpful.

What’s your ultimate career dream? I don’t know to be honest; I’m taking it a few years at a time and enjoying where I’m at for now. I would like to stay in the industry though, gaining experience on different brands within the Asahi UK portfolio.