Why Growth is Everything for Tobi Asare

Tobi Asare didn't plan a career in marketing. Like many in the industry, she arrived by a different route - a background in financial services, an approach from a headhunter, and a conversation with an agency CEO that set the path for everything ahead. "The CEO was amazing, and I thought I could learn a lot from her."

It's a fitting origin story for someone who describes herself as fundamentally a people person, and for whom relationships have been the throughline of an impressive career. Most recently, Managing Partner and Head of Growth at OMD UK, Tobi has built her reputation leading new business strategy, client partnerships, and commercial performance at one of the UK's most prominent media agencies. Now, as Growth Partner at AAR, she's bringing that experience to bear from a new vantage point.

A different kind of intensity

The move from a large agency to a consultancy might look like a gear change from the outside, but Tobi is quick to reframe it. "It's a slightly different context to the intensity, rather than a change in the intensity," she says. 

The shape of her day has changed. There’s more facetime with clients across both brand and agency sides, tighter-knit teams, and a sense of genuine ownership that comes with joining an employee-owned business. "It almost feels like there's this never-ending list of ambitions and things we could tackle. We're all building to what AAR is, in ten years, but also what it could be tomorrow."

As a keen sportswoman, she also enjoys the literally more active nature of the role. "I'm definitely getting my steps in, which I actually love."

An advocate for agencies and the industry

Having spent her career inside agencies, Tobi has a deep, first-hand understanding of what agencies are actually capable of. "Once you've worked in a great agency, I don't think you lose that sense of awe," she says. "The capabilities within them are incredible."

But her advocacy has sharpened since joining AAR. It's less about championing agencies in the abstract and more about matching the right talent and capabilities to what a brand genuinely needs. "Which agencies have the right talent, the right future-facing model to support brands on their mission within the context of a high performing marketing operating model? That's what's fascinating to me now."

Her first weeks in the role have only reinforced that perspective. Sitting in chemistry meetings and pitch rooms as a consultant rather than a competitor, she's been struck by the quality of thinking, the intelligence on display. "If you're ever doubting our industry, get into a pitch room," she says. "The ideas, the strategic smarts, the art of the possible… it just reminds you of the magic we create."

The jigsaw puzzle is changing shape

Tobi is candid about the scale of change facing marketing organisations right now. Brands are grappling with how to do more with less, how to navigate structural and commercial pressures, and how to produce work that genuinely shifts business results. "That's really hard to do alongside your day-to-day, and also hard to do if you're not an expert in transformation."

Her way of articulating AAR's role in this is characteristically vivid: "The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are changing shape for marketers, and that’s a really interesting opportunity." Sometimes this evolution requires a new partner selection process. Sometimes it means redesigning an operating model entirely. And as brands evolve, so must the agencies working with them. The solutions agencies are providing need to fit that new, future-fit model. It's an exciting time to be involved."

Everything leads to growth

Ask Tobi about her approach to growth and new business, and the answer is expansive in the best way. "I just think everything is growth," she says. "Whether that's growing your talent, your commercial performance, or how you innovate around your operations. Everything has to be in service of growth." And crucially, she sees it as a collective endeavour. "A big part of my role is inspiring a culture of growth. It's not about running at 100 miles per hour on my own."

What she'd tell her earlier self

For all the momentum of her career, Tobi's advice to her younger self is disarmingly simple: ask for what you want. "At the start of my career, you think you're working really hard and it's obvious what you want your next step to be. But no, people can't read your mind." Flag your successes and your goals. The same principle extends to networks, she adds. Having great contacts isn't enough. "Make your ask really clear. And always make sure you're giving back at least as much as you're taking."

It's a philosophy that feels entirely consistent with someone who, two weeks into a new job, had already thrown herself into client meetings, chemistry sessions (and - characteristically - a Hyrox event). "Give me all the context and throw me in," she says. "I'll pick it up very quickly."

Photography: ©BronacMcNeill