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AIM High: Marketing in Asia · Two in Twenty

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to another episode of AI, the podcast for investment marketers.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Twink Field.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I am the CEO and founder of White Marble Marketing and host for this podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about marketing in Asia.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about the US last time, and previously we've talked about Europe and how to drive best practice marketing across that region.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: So now is the time for Asia.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so pleased to say that we have two great speakers on it.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Lydia Lee, who is head of marketing for UBS Asset Management APAC, and Catherine Hooper, who is the Head of Marketing Southeast Asia at Janus Henson Investors.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is such a broad subject, and it's so fascinating to hear how they tackle the region.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to hand over straight to them.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Lydia and Catherine, to talk about marketing in Asia.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think best to start if you can introduce yourselves and your roles, and then we can get into the questions.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So shall I come to you first, Lydia?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Twink.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the opportunity to be sharing with all and greetings from our side of the globe.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: My name is Lydia.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm head of marketing for Asia Pacific at UBS Asset Management, covering all client segments, and that includes institution, wealth management, and wholesale, or otherwise known as the retail segment.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: In my current portfolio, I also cover, I cover key markets in this part of the world, but previously did also cover marketing for wholesale segment globally.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Based in Singapore, I have been working in the regional capacity for more than 25 years, I would say, and within that in the financial industry for more than 20.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely an exciting region, I would say.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: And there's certainly no dull moments, and definitely there are no two days that are alike.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Catherine, over to you.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Catherine Hooper, Head of Marketing Southeast Asia at Janice Henderson Investors.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also based here in Singapore.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm originally from the UK, moved to Asia nearly 14 years ago now, where I've held various marketing positions in both asset management and previously wealth management APAC.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: In my current role, I'm responsible for marketing strategy and execution for the wholesale business in Southeast Asia, so working closely with the distribution team and part of a wider APAC marketing team and a global team out of our main offices in Denver and London, just to frame the context to some of the insights that I'll share today.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: They both sound like busy, busy roles.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you could uh start us off by just sharing with me and our listeners the kind of essential things to know about the nature of the market and the fundamentals of marketing in in Asia.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Lydia, do you want to kick us off with that?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I guess uh where do I start?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I guess when you think of Asia, what do you think of?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Land of the crazy rich Asian, perhaps, you know.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Asia is a diverse region, right?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's very fragmented and no two markets are the same.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: Occasionally it's seen by some as some a one big country, but really, it really isn't.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: Culture plays a big part, and there are local nuances that one needs to take note of when doing business in this part of the world.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one size doesn't fit all, and I think uh we all know that, and we need to take a fix and flex approach.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: What's fixed would probably be non-negotiable elements like your brand guidelines.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess the flex allows markets and teams to customize so as to be relevant to their audience type.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and within the asset management landscape, it is a saturated market, right?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: But a fast-growing one with a double-digit growth.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: There are many global and domestic players, and just to mention a couple, some obvious markets that have big domestic players are places like Japan, Australia, and China.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, looking at investor types, uh, we have uh that includes probably institutions, so in wealth funds, third-party distributors, and other financial institutions like private banks, financial advisors, insurance company.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there is no surprise that retail investor appetite is always for flavor of the month type funds.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh very churlish market out here, and holding period for a fund is always rather short.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, when it comes to industry challenges within the markets, I guess it would be similar topics like changes in the regulatory framework, transparency of fee models, which also create margin pressures, consolidation among uh players, and last but not least, um the stiff competition for the investment dollar.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: I guess I could go on, um, but it's only when you live and breathe Asia will you feel the pulse and differences of this dynamic region.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there definitely, um, as I understand it, seem to be many distinct differences country to country.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it'd be great to maybe give some more specific examples of that and the sort of challenges I guess that presents, you know, to really drive an integrated regional strategy.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Catherine, are you are you happy to share your thoughts on that?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Twink.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um, you know, just looking at uh a sub-region such as Southeast Asia as an example, um, the disparity between Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philips in the Philippines in terms of um culture and language, as well as maturity of the market, and depending on your distribution model um within the local market will definitely determine your marketing approach.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um but but perhaps to highlight three areas which contribute to I guess the complexities or the uniqueness of Asian marketing.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Lydia touched on regulatory chain challenges.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think um it's it's important to know within this region that there is no common regulatory framework.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Each individual market has its own regulator, and in some cases, um there could be multiple financial regulators.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think as such, um our friends in compliance are very much a valued business partner for regional and uh local marketing activation.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think language is an obvious hurdle for certain markets across North and Southeast Asia.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and more recently, with um in the context of digital content, so translation requests you know have progressed to digital subtitling, um, or in the case of regional webinars, um, you know, ideally we want to be able to offer a multi-language functionality to enable us and the sales teams to connect and engage with clients across the region.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think the final area which is is definitely worth highlighting um is or noting is that the media landscape differs greatly across our region.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um so in Japan and Australia and these they're really dominated by domestic publications, whereas in Singapore um there is a very small media pool.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so typically trade publications, trade uh regional trade and broadcast um are effective versus Hong Kong, where there are perhaps more local media options, both print and online.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh fascinating.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, Lydia, anything for you to add to that?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I think Catherine touched on the very important point, but I think the only point I'd like to add here would be on the maturity of the markets.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, obviously different markets are at different stages of development, hence, investor education is something that is needed in varying degrees across uh the different markets.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And this is something I'm actually very passionate about.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And as my asset managers, um, we should and could all collectively, you know, be contributing towards this because ultimately, you know, it shapes the topics uh for the future indeed.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely a key theme, I think, for many markets um and the role for asset managers in the educational uh role.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just uh just reflecting what you both said there, it doesn't seem very straightforward for any asset manager looking at the at the region, thinking about building a presence there.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, what what uh what would you say are sort of the key considerations for any asset manager kind of looking to the region and wanting to be successful there, then Lydia, maybe you could you could talk to that?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um I guess just now as I mentioned, right?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: The market is very saturated here.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: There are many factors that obviously determine the success rate of any asset managers coming to markets, right?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I think as marketers, what I would do is to really take a step back and probably think through some of these questions, right?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what have you got that other asset managers or fund managers are not already offering?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what do you really want to be known for?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: What do you stand for?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a niche that you want to occupy?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: What is your distribution strategy?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Because ultimately, right, this impacts how accessible your fund is to our audience type or to your audience types.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: And remember, right, funds are not sold.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: They are funds are not bought, they are sold.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: There is no overnight success, right?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: You just have to keep repeating, repeating, and repeating your key messages and showcase your investment um talking heads because you know we all know that we deal with very intangible products.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess last but not least, you know, teams on the ground uh will definitely need to be proactively reactive to macro fundamental changes as well as to changing investor appetites.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I imagine there's some stakeholder management required with within any asset manager as well, because to understand and appreciate that churn that you talk about, the short holding periods for funds as well.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do you do you see that, Lydia?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like, you know, I think, you know, um it's it's as we all say, as we all know, right, it's always a revolving door when it comes to funds.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I think you really need to feel the pulse on the ground, keep keep your keep your finger on the pulse, really, so that you can you know be very proactive in terms of addressing the needs and concerns of all these uh all these changes on in the market itself.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so to sort of really feel the pulse and sort of be on the ground, you probably need marketers on the ground like yourself, um, Lydia, Catherine.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um what does that really mean then for the sort of marketing strategies you're putting together, the tactics, um, so that you can really help drive and present your relevance in the in the respective markets?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, and and I think it's important, you know, don't underestimate the importance of brand, um, particularly in a region where brand perception matters, you know, more so in Asia than perhaps any other part of the world.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and while I think the disciplines around building brand awareness are no doubt the same as as they would be in other regions, so being focused, with clear and consistent messaging, being relevant and obviously being visible, um perhaps um two practical considerations um might be with regards to value proposition.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: So ensuring that your value proposition carries globally.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that that means you know the meaning is understood as well in Japanese as it would be in English.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and secondly, I think again very important to this region is the role of digital marketing to support amplification.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, don't forget Asia is is definitely a multi-screen society.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, digital penetration in AIPAC is is the highest in the world.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, from a marketing context, um it's really about using the relevant communication channels or mediums to provide reach and engagement with with target audience types.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think that that's that's particularly relevant to this region.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think um an example of that, for example, in in Hong Kong and Singapore, performance channels such as SEM or search, social, programmatic are used extensively and effectively.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um so through interpreting the the analytics that come with that, I think to enable us to make smarter decisions.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting here you talk about the sort of the value proposition and and ensuring that um that sort of resonates in all in all markets.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I guess it made me think of the you know the classic tension that always exists between how much do we do that's sort of global and apply for global thinking and how much can we flex to um to the more local nuances.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so just taking that step further, what what are the challenges in leveraging the globally produced concepts uh for sort of developing a campaign or sort of content in Asia and vice versa, Catherine?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's a great question, Twink, and um and and ultimately, you know, in my experience, I think it's about striking the balance between global efficiencies and relevance to local markets.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um there needs to be the flexibility to adapt to local market requirements, um, and that could be product positioning, tone of voice and language, um, it could be consideration of any cultural nuances, and that and sometimes that could just be as simple as an image.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um but and I but I think if if the local market needs are incorporated at the initial concept stage of global campaigns, and you build that you know good partnership between the global and the local marketing teams, and that's established from the outset, then it shouldn't it shouldn't be difficult.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um in fact, you know, we we have uh been able to successfully customize or adapt global campaigns in our region which originated from the our US colleagues, and I understand uh will also be adopted and rolled out in selected European markets uh in the coming months.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: So um so I I think it's it's as I say it's it's striking it's striking the balance.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think on the flip side where Asia marketing can really add value and in fact you know drive as a centre of excellence um would be kind of in the in the content development for regional capabilities.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I think this is really where the true value of having a local team on the ground presence who understand the local markets and can work with the regionally based investment teams as we have in Singapore or elsewhere to feed in into that um global content pipeline.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think we all are familiar with the term uh globalization, um, and essentially that to me is all about having the best of both worlds.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, and for us, maybe culturally, to shift our minds a bit more to to recognize that best practice can come from anywhere in the world from our teams across different markets.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Totally agree.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Lydia, anything from you on this question?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I think Catherine has uh brought up some really important points, and I really can't emphasize enough the whole one size fit doesn't fit all approach.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to adopt the whole fix and flex approach, where which I alluded to, you know, um at the start of the conversation.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: And whether campaigns are driven, you know, from a global headquarters or from other regions like Asia, it really depends on where the expertise lie, right?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: And like everything, it's really understanding the desired end results, and then you, you know, you just work through and determine the why, what, which, when, and how.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure, you know, that's you know, not unfamiliar to you know, all our listeners um on this podcast.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And Lidja, do you do you see in the region a shift in terms of how investors, Asian investors and buy fund buyers are thinking about ESG?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just sort of conscious again to back to that sense of the kind of value proposition and the ESG and sustainability being inherent in um a lot of the messaging now and the positioning of brands.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how where are sort of Asian investors in terms of thinking about that and for their investment choices?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And do you do you think um anything has changed and has it become more prevalent since the start of the pandemic?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: This is definitely an interesting one because it, you know, in general, the region is somewhat behind the curves in terms of embracing ESG.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I guess you know, one common investor concern is always you know incorporating these factors at the expense of profit, right?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: And but we all know that this is certainly not true.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so there is definitely a lot of education that is needed in this area, but like everything, we need to start somewhere.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: And it's been very encouraging to see the momentum in this area.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: And but interestingly, the couple of segments have really shown interest in sustainable investments have been the younger millennial investors and also female investor types.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, from a cooper perspective, you know, it's not surprising that questions about ESG involvement are have been all embedded into RFPs, where companies need to tangibly demonstrate what they're doing within this area.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously, you know, this whole area has become very important for a lot of asset managers to be looking into.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: So this pandemic has definitely accelerated the emphasis on ESG factors into the investment process, which I think for all of us, which definitely positively affects investor decisions if we do incorporate them into our investment process.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the same that you're seeing, Catherine?
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean perhaps just a broader observation on you know the pandemic perhaps acting as a catalyst for ESG, and which took root some time ago, albeit uh definitely a slow burner in this region, to your point on the education component, Lydia.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, we're we're we're certainly witnessing increased interest in recent months with local regulators across the region focusing more on sustainable investing.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think at a distributor level, specifically in wealth management, and and even from a media perspective, um, regional trade publications are making concertive efforts in the region with dedicated events and and certainly placing more emphasis on ESG content.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's it's all moving in the right direction.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Catherine, perhaps you could just expand further and and really sort of talk to your experience the last six months, you know, sort of marketing and working through the impact of COVID-19 and sort of other, you know, you've touched on some sort of trends emerging or some um tactics from suppliers.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you could just talk to other other trends that you've seen emerge.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then perhaps in the context of you know, this this it in Asia was the first to feel the impact.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think intra-region, we looked to each other as we were learning to cope, really.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, having experienced the region having experienced SARS some 17 years ago, uh, countries quickly moved into lockdown as early as February in Hong Kong and followed by Singapore.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I think when it really became a global pandemic, then it felt accentuated.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think anyone really understood the impact on life or markets and business practice um and certainly marketing, but we were all in it together.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think and I think that's when marketing really went into overdrive.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it presented the opportunity to do things differently and engage in new and better practices.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, certainly the adoption of digital accelerated um video updates from portfolio managers, remote uh media interviews from home office kind of you know humanized the experience.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think um the greatest impact uh was probably felt in uh in the event space.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it really forced us to re-look at our events framework, um, reinvent the client engagement experience, offering a virtual event platform for sales to stay connected with clients.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and typically um there'd been very little demand for webinars in this region, um, but um you know we move moved quickly to host a series of of uh of webinars, reaching multiple markets, so eight markets, providing access to global investment teams, so doing webinars with the US in the morning or um with European-based portfolio managers in the afternoon.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, going forward, I think this enhanced connectivity is um you know, is is fantastic and will probably lend itself to hybrid events, uh perhaps.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I guess just another and probably final point from me, just another positive that came out of the situation was um really strengthening global um collaboration across our global marketing teams and certainly within the investment and and distribution teams.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and dare I say the the appreciation of marketing as a function, um certainly as an as an enabler and a valued partner to the business.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know whether you have any further thoughts um on that, but equally in your response, maybe you could add um whether you feel that the region or our industry is now better prepared for new waves or events of this kind again.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, I guess you know, Catherine put it very rightly to say, you know, marketing going into overdrive and marketing is enablers are totally understatement of what we've been through, and I guess what we continue to go through.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, on this question, three key points that stick out for me are one uh would be the resiliency.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the impact of COVID has definitely been felt far and wide.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I gotta say, That Asia has been very resilient through this past six months with quite a few markets reopening in faces or planning to do so in the near future, despite not having a playbook in the face and in the face of string stringent restrictions across key markets.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: I guess there's been a lot of activities, and that has been a very nice surprise.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: And for the brave investors, obviously, there have been certainly many opportunities.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Secondly, I guess the importance of China has been amplified.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: How can we not talk about APAC?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: How can we talk about APAC without mentioning China?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's certainly a market that is too big to ignore.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: We all knew this before, but I guess there is no doubt now that China is the world's largest manufacturing economy exporter.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's, you know, definitely the world's fastest growing consumer market and the second largest importer of goods, as we all have all seen the adverse impact, right, that it has had to our markets when China went into lockdown.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess third, from a marketing perspective, is the convergence of brand and customer experience.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: And why I say it is because it's because it has been more important than ever for teams to collaborate and consistently represent what they collectively stand for.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: And in times like this, you know, it's it's all about being authentic and the reassurance and promoting and the promotion of investor confidence, if I can say.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: And this would definitely form the basis of what and how we would tackle another event like this going forward.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: So, yes, I dare say that we should and we would all be better equipped to deal with events of this nature better going forward.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I love um your points around brand as well.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think in so many instances, brand gets sort of forgotten, particularly at this sort of stage where so much is not delivered digitally.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: People are sort of you know using those those channels, distribution channels to sort of communicate product and thought leadership, but often you sort of the brand gets forgotten in that in that mix.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I'm delighted to hear you talk about brand.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um any other any other final thoughts?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I'm conscious of time and um and just such a big subject to try and cover off in 30 minutes.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I really feel like we kind of got a sense as to the markets, the the sort of the Asian investor, you know, their appetites and um behaviors, and you know, how the markets are evolving the past six months or so, particularly.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so thank you, thank you for that.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just uh wonder whether any other final thoughts for our listeners thinking about either working with their colleagues better in Asia or or um their companies looking at Asian markets themselves and where where to start.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Catherine, maybe you could start there.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think um that completely resonates with me.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: So bringing it right back to my personal experience and observations as a British marketing professional living and working in Asia for a number of years now.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um this really is a you know fascinating region.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's dynamic, it's complex, there's no two markets are the same as we've highlighted.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think just to kind of labour the point, do stay connected with your APAC marketing colleagues if you're not already doing so.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a big advocate of global best practice sharing um and and really having an appreciation of other regional practices.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um so thank you, Twink, for for again for the opportunity today to do just this.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh actually just to echo that, Lydia and I worked together at Aberdeen all those years ago, and I was looking after Europe and she was looking after Asia and you know learnt so much.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I certainly learned loads from her.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know whether it travelled the other way, but it is um you know fascinating to sort of help with some of the same issues and and sort of hear hear over sort of the more local nuances as well.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: So echo your point entirely.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um Lydia, over to you as a sort of final, final wrap-up and hurrah for the for the podcast this week.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I I I did um definitely learn to um, you know, it's always a two-way collaboration and exchange rate, you know, working in Asia and APAC, I mean, and Europe, you know, and I think it always helps when there is a lot of inter and intra-regional collaboration.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, to add on to uh to your final uh question on final thoughts and stuff like that, I think I'll just share some personal reminders that I ask myself um very frequently throughout um, you know, throughout these past months and even continuing doing so um is really to be nimble to enable uh proactive responses uh to the changing environment.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's really how how do we react to things like that um on a day-to-day basis, right?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um to work through the need for mindset shifts and be adaptable.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: And this kind of connects back to my previous point that I made about being nimble, um being purposeful with content to combat content fatigue.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: Why do I say that?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think you know our inboxes have all been bombarded in the past few months up to a point where some things get blindsided, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we all should find some balance on the amount and the frequency that we send out.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and last but not least, I think in our role as markers, we need to think of how we can reimagine the client engagement experience to transform sales execution.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I I think uh Catherine alluded to the point about you know webinars and all that, and how how do we make those experiences better?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so these are just some of the things that I keep thinking about.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's been interesting times, and I think, you know, I I can say for certain that I have certainly learned a lot um during the past few months.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: But once again, you know, thank you for the opportunity to be here um and to everyone out there, stay focused and best wishes for a great end to the year.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you both so much.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure there's anything else I can add to that.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for taking the time and for sharing your expertise.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Quite brilliant.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks again.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.