Asahi Kasei Corporation Mobility & Industrial Business Division

Interview Participants

Asahi Kasei Corporation

Mobility & Industrial Business Division

Strategic Planning Department, Digital Marketing Promotion Office, Functional Resin Digital Marketing Group

• Group Manager: Mr Yudai Sakita
• Ms Hikari Oku
• Ms Shoko Tsutsumi

Interview Date: January 23, 2025. Titles are as of the interview date.

Asahi Kasei Corporation, a leading chemical manufacturer celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2022, has positioned 2024 as the "Digital Normal Era," driving company-wide digital transformation (DX). Its Mobility & Industrial Business Division provides high-performance engineering plastics (Enpla) with superior heat resistance and mechanical strength compared to conventional plastics. To complement traditional sales-driven customer engagement, the company launched the Asahi Kasei Engineering Plastics Information Portal in April 2021 to enhance digital marketing and strengthen collaboration between marketing and sales for new market expansion.

To achieve this, Asahi Kasei implemented marketing operations development and leveraged inside sales. This article reflects on the project through insights from representatives of Asahi Kasei, 01GROWTH Inc., which supported the marketing operations framework, and Bridge International, which handled inside sales outsourcing.

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Background: Strengthening Sales Alignment Through Marketing Operations and Inside Sales

Mr. Yudai Sakita: Asahi Kasei’s engineering plastics business has expanded globally since the late 1990s, establishing production bases in China, the U.S., Europe, and ASEAN while primarily serving Japanese automakers. However, significant market shifts in the 2010s created an urgent need for evolution. With the growing presence of overseas manufacturers, it became clear that we needed to develop new initiatives for customer acquisition beyond our traditional Japanese client base.

Despite Asahi Kasei’s strong domestic brand recognition, awareness remained limited among international companies. To enhance our presence and drive new business opportunities, we recognized that marketing would be essential to achieving these goals.

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Ms. Hikari Oku: Since launching our website in 2021, our team worked to drive domestic and international marketing initiatives, focusing on increasing inbound inquiries by expanding content production. While we successfully grew inquiry volume, we faced challenges in assessing their quality and understanding how they translated into tangible business outcomes.

Additionally, collaboration with sales was not yet fully optimized. We were still in the process of refining our tactical approach to align marketing efforts with revenue targets.

Ms. Shoko Tsutsumi: While our marketing initiatives successfully increased inquiries, we lacked visibility into whether they were high-quality leads. We were uncertain whether traditional marketing automation scoring models were effective for our engineering plastics business and navigated the process through trial and error.

Looking back, this was more than just a marketing operations project—it was a turning point that reshaped our overall business direction. By developing a structured playbook, we established a tactical framework, implemented an operational model, and rapidly executed a demand generation system to supply high-quality sales opportunities. This experience was transformative for both our business and my professional growth.
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Reasons for Selecting 01GROWTH Inc. and Bridge International as Partners

Ms. Hikari Oku: Our first encounter with 01GROWTH was through a lecture for Asahi Kasei Group. The concept of quantifying marketing’s revenue impact resonated deeply with me. When Mr. Marui introduced a structured approach to visualizing marketing’s financial contribution, my team and I immediately saw its potential. Learning that a standardized model existed for revenue impact measurement was eye-opening, and we were thrilled to implement it within our engineering plastics business.

Ms. Shoko Tsutsumi: Partnering with an industry leader like 01GROWTH was reassuring. Throughout the project, their insights and clear solutions to our challenges proved invaluable. Having previously attended internal lectures and read Data-Driven Marketing, I had a keen interest in this area, and I was excited when our Digital Co-Creation Division proposed this initiative.

Mr. Yudai Sakita: There were two key reasons for choosing Bridge International. First, they were recommended by 01GROWTH, a trusted partner in our project. Given our confidence in 01GROWTH’s expertise, their endorsement carried significant weight. Second, their proposal was highly convincing. After comparing multiple options, Bridge International stood out as a reliable choice. Just as 01GROWTH is a leader in marketing operations, Bridge International is a pioneer in the inside sales domain, making them a strong and strategic partner for this initiative.
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Project Outcomes

Ms. Shoko Tsutsumi: Looking back, before this project, we didn’t have a well-defined process or clear rules for handing off leads from the web or trade shows to the sales team. Our main goal had been simply increasing website traffic. Through this initiative, we were able to structure the lead handoff process properly. Additionally, integrating Adobe Marketo Engage with Salesforce allowed us to track lead status even after they were passed to sales.

Ms. Hikari Oku: Tsutsumi and I worked closely together on this, and as a result, we’ve significantly increased both the number of programs we can execute and our execution speed. We also collaborated with Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation, which had been developing its own marketing operations playbook. By exchanging insights, we were able to refine our approach and expand the scope of what we could achieve.

Ms. Shoko Tsutsumi: Initially, we were only using Adobe Marketo Engage for email distribution and forms, but through this project, we have gained a comprehensive understanding of nearly all its features and can now fully utilize the platform. Additionally, by learning the underlying design principles of Salesforce and other technologies, as well as acquiring knowledge of standard operational models, we have moved beyond surface-level usage and evolved into a more strategic and effective application of technology.

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Marketing-Driven Opportunity Generation

Mr. Yudai Sakita: One of the key quantitative results is the number of high-quality opportunities handed over to sales, and we are seeing clear improvements in this area. Having a background in sales, I have a sense for identifying promising themes, and I can see that the number of strong opportunities is increasing. By refining our target audience and redefining our value proposition, we’ve been able to attract more engaged prospects. Additionally, I feel that expectations from the sales team toward marketing have grown. Previously, sales saw our efforts as ‘something marketing was doing,’ but now, there’s a stronger sense of collaboration, with more voices saying, ‘Let’s work on this together.’

Ms. Hikari Oku: With the success of Xyron, we’ve seen a significant increase in opportunities initiated by marketing, which has sparked interest from sales teams handling other products as well. Demonstrating tangible results with Xyron has helped reinforce the value of aligning marketing and sales efforts to drive revenue, and we can feel this mindset spreading across the organization.

Ms. Shoko Tsutsumi: The collaboration with sales has definitely strengthened. We’re now receiving more direct requests from sales teams wanting to implement specific marketing initiatives for targeted customers. It’s encouraging to see more discussions around executing campaigns tailored to specific audiences. Before this project, marketing-driven opportunities weren’t as visible, but now, we’re consistently generating around 200–300 opportunities per year through marketing efforts.

Ms. Hikari Oku: This project benefited greatly from having Mr. Sakita, who previously oversaw sales strategy, transition into marketing operations. His background made it easier to strengthen collaboration with the sales organization and implement inside sales initiatives. Through this process, we realized just how crucial organizational models and governance are in eliminating data and operational silos.

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Outsourcing Inside Sales

Mr. Yudai Sakita: The results of building our marketing operations and implementing inside sales were highly positive. However, I was initially skeptical about outsourcing inside sales. In the B2B materials industry, particularly in upstream supply chains like engineering plastics, it can be difficult for those unfamiliar with the field to distinguish between companies. Given this, I initially thought that outsourcing lead generation and appointment setting would be unrealistic.

Of course, there were challenges, but once we implemented the approach, I was surprised by the scale of the results. Looking at the breakdown of the business opportunities generated through this inside sales initiative, I am convinced that many of them would not have been created without outsourcing. It is difficult for our sales teams to balance existing sales activities while following up on individual leads. However, through this initiative, we have successfully converted contacts from trade shows into sales opportunities that we previously had little chance to engage with.

With inside sales handling these activities, our sales representatives can focus more on their strengths—proposal development and closing deals—ultimately improving overall sales productivity. We aim to make this a sustainable initiative and will continue evaluating our sales resources to ensure ongoing implementation.

One key takeaway from this project was realizing that even in highly specialized and technically complex areas, outsourcing can be effective when processes are well-structured and properly managed. This discovery reinforces our belief that structured process management can drive efficiency, even in industries requiring deep expertise. I see this as a competitive advantage for Asahi Kasei’s engineering plastics business moving forward.
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Future Outlook and Expectations for 01GROWTH Inc. and Bridge International

Mr. Yudai Sakita: Ensuring profitability is essential for advancing our business. A market-in approach is crucial, where we align our concepts with market needs and execute them effectively. With Bridge International, we aim to refine our marketing organization into a revenue-generating entity, while receiving support in accordance with our sales resources.

Ms. Hikari Oku: We appreciate the multifaceted support and look forward to continued recommendations. Bridge International’s inside sales initiative, introduced through 01GROWTH Inc., has provided us with valuable insights. This success will drive our next challenges, and we look forward to ongoing support, including sharing new insights and strategic proposals.

Mr. Yudai Sakita: Japan’s materials industry has the potential to generate greater profits. The key lies in how we allocate resources and operate efficiently. Leveraging digital tools to disseminate information effectively and establish a revenue-generating framework is essential for future growth. Given the rapid evolution of sales and marketing, along with the transformative impact of AI, we look forward to 01GROWTH Inc.’s continued insights on global trends.