About
Commercial strategy and market validation
Turning market complexity into a commercial roadmap
From an ambitious Connected Retail concept to a validated APAC proposition, partner ecosystem and route to market.
ADM Group, through DFI Retail Group, was exploring how a new Connected Retail proposition could connect physical retail environments with digital media, technology, data and analytics.
My role was to turn that ambition into a clear commercial path forward.
01 - The mandate
Validate the opportunity.
Build the route to market.
Market
Map the digital media, DOOH, retail media and in-store marketing landscape.
Partners
Identify the media, technology, retail and agency partners needed to bring the proposition to market.
Modelling
Determine how brands and media agencies would buy, value and measure the proposition.
Pricing
Validate pricing and establish how the proposition could be monetised before sufficient proprietary analytics existed.
ADM Group, through DFI Retail Group, set out to explore a new Connected Retail proposition across APAC. The original brief centred on three objectives: map the market, identify strategic partners and develop a compelling pricing strategy.
Answering those questions required looking at the wider commercial ecosystem — from digital media, DOOH and retail media to technology, agencies and in-store marketing.
With limited benchmarks and no historical analytics, the challenge was to determine how the proposition could be commercialised, valued and brought to market to attract partners and brand investment.
02 - The proposition
Connecting the physical and digital retail journey.
Connected Retail was designed to go beyond conventional in-store advertising.
The proposition combined physical point-of-sale environments with integrated screens, cloud-based content distribution, scheduling and analytics — creating the foundations for a connected store and media network.
My work looked beyond the technology itself to answer the more fundamental commercial question: What would make brands, agencies and media partners actually invest in it?
The resulting strategy connected Digital Media + DOOH + Retail Media + In-store Marketing into a broader proposition spanning the consumer journey.
03 - The markets
Five markets.
One commercial opportunity.
The research examined the different market dynamics, consumer behaviours, media ecosystems and commercial structures across the five markets.
More than 150 companies were researched and contacted, spanning media agencies, retailers, technology businesses, DOOH operators, retail-media specialists and in-store marketing companies.
The analysis showed both the scale of the opportunity and the complexity of bringing a new proposition into a highly fragmented ecosystem.
NEW ZEALAND
THAILAND
AUSTRALIA
HONG KONG
SINGAPORE
Analysis wasn't the deliverable. A decision was.
The project moved deliberately from market intelligence into commercial execution.
Industry leaders across the region were engaged to test what brands and agencies would require from a Connected Retail proposition. The research identified ROI, data-driven insight and cross-channel integration as critical requirements for defending investment.
Potential technology and programmatic partners were evaluated. Commercial structures were developed. Pricing was benchmarked. Sales models and required capabilities were defined.
And rather than simply identifying companies on paper, I opened my network to ADM — facilitating conversations with media owners, operators and potential partners that helped turn research into relationships.
04 - From research to route to market
“You’ll need to make the market
to grow the market.”
150+
Companies researched and contacted
40
Regional industry leaders engaged
5
Markets in Asia Pacific analysed
4 WEEKS
to complete a project projected to take four months
05 - The outcome
Four months became four weeks.
The final work provided ADM with a commercial roadmap covering market opportunity, partner strategy, commercial models, pricing, programmatic integration, launch considerations and organisational requirements. The recommendations went as far as proposing the initial commercial hires and client-success capability required to take the proposition into market.
Following delivery, I was asked to present the findings to ADM's global board.
06 - Testimonial
“We engaged Auke for a project in APAC which was wide and deep and had many deliverables. Auke delivered (over and above expectations) and on time with a report and findings that hit the mark and blew us away. I was expecting this to take 4 months and Auke delivered in 4 weeks!
In addition to this, he introduced us to media owners and operators and was able to facilitate sessions which could have been awkward and seen as fierce competitors but ended up creating strong r/ships and trust.
I would highly recommend working with Auke as he is super professional, very well connected and an expert in his sector. I would love to have him in our business and on the team.”
Richard Murray
Head of Growth APAC | adm Indicia