As 2025 draws to a close, we look back on a year defined not by disruption, but by decisiveness. Across our Eat Takeaway conversations, leaders from some of the region’s most influential organisations – in energy, technology, FMCG, shipping, spirits, hospitality and beyond – offered a rare, unfiltered view into how brands are navigating complexity in real time. 

Collectively, their stories reveal a clear pattern: the companies moving forward today are the ones that have stopped theorising about change and begun operationalising it. Whether modernising legacy systems, localising global strategies, or rebuilding trust from the ground up, the leaders we spoke with have shifted from planning to performing; and their progress offers important lessons for brands across Asia-Pacific and beyond.  

Read on for our take on the biggest themes shaping brand, marketing, and business leadership this year, and what they might signal for the year ahead. 

Trust has become the most valuable currency in business

If one theme echoed louder than any other this year, it was trust. Not as a brand value, but as a strategic asset built through behaviour. 

In sectors as diverse as technology, communications, and shipping, leaders stressed that customer loyalty, market entry success, and internal transformation all hinge on credibility earned in the everyday. As Nellie Chan of Google Customer Solutions reminded us, trust begins long before a sale: supporting businesses meaningfully, whether through upskilling, guidance, or accessible technology, is now a precondition for long-term relationships, not an afterthought. 

For Adam “Naj” Najberg, a veteran communications leader who spent a decade on the front lines of Chinese tech going global, trust is inseparable from transparency. Companies that withhold information, avoid engagement, or “wait out” crisis moments, he warns, inevitably leave room for others to shape their narrative. Proactive communication, cultural sensitivity, and early investment in community relationships are now table stakes for brands operating across borders. 

Even in industries built on operational precision rather than public perception, trust remains central. At Wallem, one of Asia’s most established maritime service firms, Managing Director Dickson Chin shared how a 122-year legacy is maintained not by scale or speed, but by delivering consistently, port after port, year after year. In an environment where a single oversight can disrupt global supply chains, reliability becomes reputation. 

And in FMCG, trust is earned through cultural credibility as much as product quality. Morinaga America’s Terry Kawabe described how HI-CHEW built its U.S. presence not through mass advertising, but through years of relationship-driven momentum, from grassroots sampling to unexpected endorsements from professional baseball players. In a category crowded with noise, authenticity became their unfair advantage. 

Across every conversation, the insight was the same: trust is not earned through messaging but through sustained, observable action. For leaders navigating increasingly complex markets, it may be the only durable competitive advantage left. 

Local intelligence is now the real engine of global growth

A second theme that defined 2025 was the accelerating importance of localization. Not as adaptation, but as deep cultural fluency. 

In the spirits industry, where consumer rituals vary market by market, Kathryn Williams of STOLI Group & Amber Beverage Group made it clear that global playbooks are no longer enough. Premiumisation, discovery behaviours and drinking culture differ dramatically across Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and emerging Southeast Asia, and brands must understand these nuances intimately to resonate.

Naj echoed this in the world of Chinese tech, where companies often attempt to scale globally without fully transferring authority to local teams. True localisation, he argues, requires local decision-making power, not just translated assets. Without this shift, even world-class products struggle to build trust or relevance in Western markets.

And in renewable energy – an industry traditionally shaped by infrastructure rather than culture – local intelligence is shaping adoption. At Octopus Energy Japan, President Hajime Nakamura showed how demand-shifting strategies must align with the rhythms of people’s lives. What works in the UK, where wind peaks at night, is entirely different from Japan, where solar output surges during the day but household usage spikes at dawn and dusk. The company’s ability to localise at a behavioural level, not just a technological one, is central to its rapid growth.  
Panasonic’s Ken Omae offered a similar insight from the world of design-led innovation. His team’s global research revealed how people across markets interpret, and often misunderstand, emerging technologies. By grounding innovation in observation and cultural nuance, he demonstrated how localisation must extend beyond language and into cognition: products resonate when they align with how people actually live, not how organisations imagine they do. 

Morinaga America echoed this principle through flavour. HI-CHEW’s U.S. breakthrough wasn’t achieved by exporting Japanese tastes directly, but by embracing American preferences for big, expressive flavours and a sense of playful excitement, proving that localisation can be both emotional and sensory. 

Taken together, these conversations reveal a broader truth: as markets in Asia become more culturally, economically and digitally fragmented, relevance will belong to the brands that understand not only where they operate, but how people live within those markets. 

Purpose has evolved into an operating model 

While “purpose” has often been relegated to the language of brand books and slogans, leaders this year described something far more operational: a shift toward purpose as a practical decision-making framework. 

Nowhere is this more evident than at Kewpie Corporation. Chairman Amane Nakashima spoke about how the company distinguishes short-term marketing from long-term brand stewardship, protecting the Kewpie philosophy through decades-long commitments to cooking education, community engagement, and nutritional storytelling. This separation ensures that purpose is not diluted by immediate KPIs. 

In hospitality, Tom Rowntree of IHG Hotels & Resorts discussed how purpose grounded in human understanding continues to shape innovation. Through research that bridges what people say with how they behave, leaders are designing experiences that reflect real needs, not theoretical ones. This alignment of insight and action is redefining what “guest-centric” truly means.

Even in the high-tech world of energy, purpose is shaping systems. At Octopus Energy, sustainability is not treated as an ethical ideal but as a core function of service delivery. Their platform shifts consumption to moments of renewable abundance, making sustainability economically attractive for households. A pragmatic interpretation of purpose with tangible environmental impact. 

Across sectors, purpose is no longer a philosophical north star, but a structural one, informing partnerships, product design, employee experience, and market strategy. Brands that once stated their purpose are now expected to prove it. 

Technology is advancing, but the future remains deeply human

2025 also reaffirmed a truth that sometimes gets lost in narratives of digital acceleration: even in the most technology-driven industries, human experience remains essential. 

For younger consumers in APAC’s premium spirits market, engagement now takes precedence over consumption. They follow bartenders on social media, learn cocktail craft, and seek out brands with personality and provenance. As Kathryn Williams noted, “It’s not just about drinking anymore – it’s about the story, the learning, the experience.” Brands that create genuine cultural connection will outpace those relying solely on reach. 

This human-centric shift appears even in the traditionally industrial sectors. Wallem’s future may be shaped by digitalisation and decarbonisation, but its competitive strength still rests in people: the seafarers, agents and operational teams who navigate volatile conditions with judgment that machines cannot replicate. 

Panasonic reinforced how essential human interpretation remains in the innovation process. Omae described designers as translators and mediators, bridging complex technologies with intuitive, emotionally resonant experiences. Innovation succeeds not when technology impresses, but when it makes sense to the person on the other side.

And in communications, as Naj reminded us, it is empathy, not efficiency, that determines whether global brands build trust across borders. Technology can scale messages, but only human engagement can scale understanding. 

Whether in brand building, customer relationships or organisational culture, leaders this year reminded us that technology may create leverage – but humans create meaning. 

Looking ahead to 2026 

As we look toward the year ahead, one theme feels particularly resonant: progress favours the organisations willing to combine clarity of purpose with decisiveness of action. The leaders shaping their industries today are those who make trust measurable, make localisation non-negotiable, and ensure that every technological advance is grounded in human experience. 

We extend our deepest thanks to all the brand, marketing and business leaders who shared their insights with us this year. Their perspectives continue to shape how we think, create, and partner across the region. 

For more conversations and monthly insights across Japan and APAC, explore our full Eat Takeaway series online – and don’t forget to check the takeaways at the end of each interview for actions you can apply to your own brand and business. 

Here’s to another year of learning, listening, and building – together.