Much like the rest of the industry, BrightSide faced its challenges in 2024, feeling the knock-on effect of restructurings, mergers and consolidation. The team worked hard to support clients in more creative ways, and overall had a positive 12 months with strong candidate and client introductions.
One of BrightSide’s Director’s Amber King says: “A real highlight for us has been teaming up with Suntory Oceania to launch its national recruitment campaign for territory managers. It’s an exciting time for Suntory which is officially launching its new $3bn Suntory Oceania partnership in July this year. The business is looking to hire more than 130 new Suntorians across Australia and BrightSide is looking forward to contributing and being part of that growth story.”
Staying ahead
Being Australia’s only dedicated drinks specialist for 10 years, BrightSide has guided the industry through evolving recruitment trends, and Sue Lauritz, Co-director, says e-commerce is a space to watch, with many businesses bringing these skills in-house as they ramp up their digital approach.
Lauritz has also observed sustained demand for national accounts and business managers, but she has seen a change in this talent.
“The pool seems to be getting smaller, and candidates won’t leave their current roles unless there’s more money, a category they’re more passionate about, or a promotion. We’ve worked with many clients around succession planning internally to ensure talent is being hired for these roles in the future.
King adds: “We encourage our clients to engage in pre-planning sessions annually, as the more we know, the more we can truly partner and support their business. It could be around growth plans, talent gaps, future hires, leadership and structural changes.”
Another major change King and Lauritz have observed in drinks recruitment of late is the reinstatement of field sales roles into larger businesses to enhance career opportunities and development for sales reps.
“Typically, we see reps moving into field sales, key account or trade marketing roles when they come off the road, so it’s always encouraging to see businesses create these layers. Reps have so much IP, when they move as much as they do it can be disruptive to businesses of any size,” says Lauritz
In 2025, BrightSide will continue to deliver solutions to clients by uncovering talent that supports their growth plans, specialising in sales and marketing, e-commerce, digital, online, category and trade, whilst they continue to expand into finance, HR and ops.
“BrightSide has worked incredibly hard to be the preferred supplier to the drinks industry, we pride ourselves on our reputation and capability to partner and support our clients, whilst building peoples careers”
“BrightSide has the networks, the tools and the intimate knowledge of the industry, which enables us to deliver the brightest talent from both passive and active markets. We also take the headaches away like rejecting candidates, setting up interviews, salary negotiations and the like,” says Lauritz
In the year ahead, BrightSide will also support its clients with employee retention.
“We’re using a fantastic new tool with many of our clients to improve retention, for benchmarking and to encourage team building. It can be used as part of the recruitment process, ensuring you hire the right person every time, and for performance reviews to get the most out of your staff by understanding their motivations more intimately,” King said.
This article originally appeared in the 2025 National Liquor News Industry Leaders Forum edition.