Tag: Marketing Leader

This month, MARKETECH APAC truly lived up to its name. For the top 5 stories this September, we saw a diverse set of newsmakers hailing from around the APAC region.

The top stories were identified based on Google Analytics from August 17 to September 15. In the list, two great brands from Southeast Asia and East Asia flexed their creative prowess to showcase novel brand marketing moves. Marketing leaders also continue to dominate the list; a marketing executive from South Asia recounted her almost two-decade marketing journey, another one, an APAC business director filled us in on a growing buying trend that no one saw coming amid the pandemic, while a significant appointment from ANZ also grabbed people’s attention this month. 

Top 5: Shopee gets fictional character Phua Chu Kang as new face of the brand

Ever since eCommerce platform Shopee was launched, it has only been putting its trust to big, international names to represent its brand – that would be Kpop girl band Blackpink and professional footballer Cristian Ronaldo. During its 9.9 super sale, the brand decided to show what hyper localization really means by getting not just any local personality, but a deeply rooted cultural icon – sitcom character Phua Chu Kang.

Phua Chu Kang, played by actor Gurmit Singh, is the title character of the longest-running sitcom by network Mediacorp, which revolves around the misadventures of the Phu family.

The show ran from 1996-2007, and within that time, Singaporeans grew to love the eccentric, overly confident, and yellow-boots wearing contractor. So what has truly made the Shopee team go for this rather unconventional stint?

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Head of Marketing Tiger Wang said, “The [appointment] marks another milestone for us as we continue to build on the hyper-localized approach and deepen our engagement with the local audiences. Phua Chu Kang is a household name and a celebrity, [and] local icon. His ability to resonate with and unite local communities aligns with Shopee’s vision, making him the best choice for us.”

Top 4: Hong Kong-based Towngas cooking academy extends its expertise to YouTube 

Amid in-person limitations during the ongoing pandemic, many brands and businesses alike have turned to the virtual side of things. Take Hong Kong-based cooking school Towngas Cooking Centre as an example. The culinary academy which has flame cooking at the core of its program, has gotten things rolling this September as it forayed to YouTube this month, and it doesn’t stop at that. It has a bunch of high-caliber celebrity chefs to boot, tapped to showcase the school’s virtual sessions.

Healthy Monday, French Wednesday, Culinary Tips4U, and Star Chef Weekend and Sunday Mom & Dad are just some of the quirky-titled lessons that are slated for its YouTube viewers.

General Manager for Retail Marketing & Sales Catherine Wong said that the occurrence of COVID has definitely pushed Hong Kongers to prefer home-cooked meals to dining out, and this is what ultimately brought the brand to make the most out of the situation. 

Top 3: Healthcare marketing maven Jasrita Dhir

Last month, the #MARKETECHMondays episode of Philippines’ Mark De Joya entered the top five list, and this time, another one of the webisode’s guests – India-based marketing leader Jasrita Dhir has been one of the stories that garnered the most views.

Jasrita’s marketing expertise expands almost two decades, where she’s worked with a list of well-known brands such as consumer product giant Procter & Gamble, hospitality brand Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, and television media company NDTV before having focused entirely on brand and marketing for healthcare services. 

Currently, she is the assistant vice president for healthcare provider Fortis Healthcare in India. When we sat down with Jasrita during her #MARKETECHMondays episode, she shared some very helpful advice that could be very well treated as a guiding light to budding marketers. 

“I just have two things to say to [marketers]; the first is, please never forget why you decided to become a marketer. There would be times in your journey when you’re feeling low, but constantly remind yourself [your why], [which is] because you want to be your consumer’s voice inside your organization,” said Jasrita. 

‘The second is keep upgrading; it’s nobody else’s responsibility to upgrade your skills. Because your consumer is going to keep changing; there are new avenues, [mediums], [and] new platforms. You have to have their pulse,” added Jasrita.  

Top 2: Stella Berry’s take on a new phenomenon in shopping amid the pandemic

Have you heard of revenge shopping? We bet not, but we too are sure that it would be a term soon to ring bells. In a nutshell, revenge shopping goes hand in hand with luxury shopping. It is a phenomenon that sees luxury stores opening their doors to shopping-starved consumers looking to avenge their months spent holed up at home during the lockdown.

This month, Regional Business Director of mobile advertising solutions Adludio, Stella Berry dedicated a full thought leadership article on the buying trend.

Stella said that it is a testament to the unique relationship consumers have with luxury. 

“No one could have predicted that after months of lockdown, the need for luxury goods has resulted in long queues outside of boutiques. This phenomenon is the result of brands, really making the effort in continuing to engage with people even during the lockdown,’ shared Stella.

All looking positive for brands and consumers, but Stella also puts out a caution.

“Returning to business as usual at this [rapidly] accelerated pace could bring about a negative impact [on] the environment, and consequences on sustainability. So luxury marketers need to find their balance to ensure the brand continues to remain sustainable, but also well-loved,” said Stella.

Top 1: Cognizant ANZ ropes in former PwC executive Jane Livesey

Our top story for the month comes from Australia and New Zealand, and from global IT firm Cognizant at that. In August, former PwC managing partner Jane Livesey was roped in by the firm to become CEO. 

Livesey breathes and lives IT. At PwC, she led over 800 IT professionals for the company’s technology consulting practice team in Australia; while for 12 years, she served as tech managing director for Accenture. With a seasoned IT experience under her belt, Livesey has also become an active advocate for women in the field of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, or STEAM. 

It hasn’t been very long since Jane settled into the role, and as we checked up on her, she shared with us, “It’s been great to join Cognizant and hit the ground running in Australia and New Zealand. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had conversations with both our clients and our teams. At Cognizant, we are focused on how to enable organizations in ANZ to keep on top of era-defining innovations and drive growth in the face of continuous technological and market changes. As CEO of ANZ, my priority is to provide local enterprises and governments with high-quality, market-leading digital transformation capabilities that enhance the lives of people and support digital-first.”

Watch the MARKETECH APAC REPORTS of these top five stories, with exclusive appearance and commentary from the newsmakers themselves.

If you have interesting stories, thought-leadership pieces, and case studies in the area of marketing, technology, media platforms, and SME, please send us an email at [email protected]. Who knows your story could be part of our top 5 next month.

Mumbai, India – Omnicom Media Group-owned media agency PHD has roped in communications veteran Monaz Todywalla as its new chief executive officer for India. 

Todywalla comes with close to two decades of extensive experience in the field of media and marketing and communications. She served as vice president of growth & strategy at media planning agency Wavemaker India for 11 years, and prior to that, she was deputy general manager and later on, senior vice president of communications agency Madison Communications from the year 2003 – 2014.

Talking about her new role, Monaz said, “I am excited about working with the talented and diverse team at PHD India, fostering creativity and inclusiveness in a space that is already abuzz with innovative thought. Coupled with a solution-oriented and richly-curious ethos at PHD, I am looking forward to leveraging my experience and helping our clients make the leap in a rapidly changing business landscape.”

CEO of PHD APAC James Hawkins believes that with Todywalla, PHD could not have asked for a more experienced, skilled and innovative thinker to lead the India team.

“With Monaz’s strong emphasis on cross-functional, multi-disciplinary work, and her focus on creating an inclusive work environment, I am absolutely confident that Monaz will lead PHD India to greater heights,” said Hawkins.

PHD is a global communications planning and media buying agency network. Its operations expand North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific.

Singapore – Dentsu Aegis Network today announced the appointment of Dominic Powers, former CEO of Singapore-based advertising technology company CtrlShift, to the role of head of business growth and solutions for APAC. 

Prior to joining Dentsu, Powers served as executive vice president and managing director for international affairs of advertising cloud solutions provider, Epsilon, for 14 years until 2016.

Currently, he independently offers advisory services in the area of technology and marketing, and acts as a connector among brands, agencies, and tech companies for consumer engagement projects, with which he operates a self-domain website, dominicpowers.com, to promote his services.

Based in Singapore, Powers will be reporting to Dentsu Aegis Network’s CEO for APAC Ashish Bhasin, as well as to the company’s CEO for solutions in the region, Yusuke Kasahara. 

Within the new role, Powers will be tasked with driving organic revenue growth for clients by identifying innovative solutions to maximize growth opportunities across media, creatives and CRM. 

He will also be overseeing the APAC region’s new business strategy and opportunities within the company’s existing client base, working with regional teams to grow C-suite relationships as well as the solutions unit to deliver business value to clients through integrated solutions, strategies and products.

Commenting on his appointment, Powers said, “Industries across the world have seen more disruption and transformation in the past six months than they have in years.” 

He adds, “Brands need an agency that can guide them through the changing consumer landscape, maintaining their relevance while identifying the next growth opportunity. I am looking forward to working with our teams across the APAC network to identify these challenges and deliver growth for our business and importantly, that of our clients too.”

Meanwhile, Kasahara said, “Marketing transformation is central to Dentsu Aegis Network’s proposition. While we are built in a way that enables integration across multiple capabilities, Dominic’s role will be paramount in making sure [that] the way we organize ourselves benefits our clients while bringing new brands through the door.”

To thrive in marketing and public relations where creativity is the name of the game is already a challenge on its own, let alone to achieve tenure in such industry. To become a mainstay—that is a different story altogether.

For the first #MARKETECHMondays episode this September, we feature Norman Agatep. A name that may have been, over the period of time, synonymous to advertising and PR in the Philippines; a living and breathing example of a man whose passion in marketing and corporate communications has lent him an undeniable feature of success, that is, longevity in the field.

Norman is currently the president and managing director of Grupo Agatep, an integrated marketing communication agency put up by his father, Charlie Agatep, a veteran PR man himself.

Norman has been working in advertising and PR since 1990 prior to becoming chief of his family-run agency. But from the year 2015 onwards, that was when he saw his expertise unfold in a novel way, being appointed to roles that would charge him not only with overseeing clientele work, but also with contributing to the growth of the country’s communication industry.

In 2015, he stepped in as president of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP). Then in 2016, he was elected chairman of the 4As, or the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of the Philippines, a non-profit organization covering Ad agencies in the country. The year after, he was reelected to the position, all the while being named as chairman of the advertising regulatory board, the Ad Standards Council (ASC). Currently, he serves as president of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines.

Truly a soldier of the creative industry, his devotion to the work of media and communications goes over and beyond running an agency, but now has proven to be that of dedicating oneself to the country’s advertising and PR landscape.

With all these credentials under his belt, one would wonder, who was he before all of it? We go back to the night of his graduation.

Starting out as an English lit teacher
Before doing agency work, Norman was with the academe, teaching high school students on an array of subjects that are still close to communication: English literature and composition; film theory and appreciation.

As a man looking for a career to build, from the very start, he need not look far ahead having a father that was well-immersed in marketing. But there was this brief incident at the night of his college graduation that further pushed signs that he was meant to do work in marketing communications.

“I remember very distinctly, walking out at the venue of our graduation, I was with my dad and the president of an ad agency came over, and was recruiting me on the spot to join his agency,” said Norman during the #MARKETECHMondays interview.

“When he asked me, my father was there at the time. My dad was saying, ‘But wait, before you even ask my son in your agency, I might as well be the first one to ask him’.”

As inconclusive it may be, accepting that impulsive offer could still have turned a different path for him, but a father has got to know—doe-eyed Norman was very well destined to become successor.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
To say that Norman’s father, Charlie Agatep, is an inspiration to him would be a complete understatement. Norman says that a big part of his passion and work ethic could not have come elsewhere, but has always been deeply grounded from his roots.

The senior Agatep built the agency in 1986, where years later, would be joining forces with multinational advertising leader Euro RSCG, more commonly known today as Havas Worldwide. In 2016, the company returned to its local roots and is now the independent agency, Grupo Agatep.

“The mentoring that I got from my dad was holistic. I would see him at home, and then at work, then back at home again,’ shared Norman.

“The very way that he would dispose [of] himself at home, and the examples he would demonstrate through work ethic in the office, then back at home again; [that] is seamless. So it was something that I was surrounded with 24 hours a day.”

He shares further, “He would demonstrate exactly what effective communication would be. He would be very clear on how he would communicate.”

One of the best lessons he learned from him, the balance of the right and the left brain.

“He is results-oriented. That’s something difficult [for me] [because] I am more on the creative side of communication, so sometimes, it gets difficult for me to focus on results, because I am so buried, entrenched on the task of creating.”

“But [my father], he’s not like that. He’s able to distance himself from work, and see where the work is headed to and what objectives are still needed. So he is results-oriented, [something] I am continually learning from, [and] the quality that I am trying to learn.”

A tale on pitches: failures and successes along the way
When asked about failures and successes, Norman touched on the pitches that he was able to see through and those that just didn’t get the green light.

For him, there have been disappointments in the career he’s led just like everybody else’s; probably an account that he lost or a pitch he didn’t win, but trying to remember them will never be as vivid, as he lives by the attitude of always “moving forward” and never lingering on the missteps.

“I don’t remember them distinctly because the attitude should be to take that situation, and see how you can be better because of it.”

With successes, it would come as a surprise that a particular pitch he felt most proud of was one he didn’t immediately bag, and was in fact only a second choice to the winning idea at the time.

The pitch was for a big advertising campaign for a beverage brand, where five agencies were in competition. Norman’s team was the smallest agency of the bunch. Easily a boulder to overcome at the start, his team had been asked to revise and present twice. But hard work paid off when they received a call the night of the second round.

He recounts, “The night of that second presentation, the brand manager called [and wanted to meet].”

The brand manager goes, as Norman remembers, “We were not so impressed by [your] idea, [and] the other agencies had bolder ideas, but we [enjoy] [working] with you, we feel like we can work through an idea.”

Then the next thing the manager says is something we all ought to learn on the topic of attitude:

“The pitch is an opportunity to see what ideas you have, but it’s also an opportunity to see if we will be able to collaborate on this brand. We did not feel that with the other agencies, we [felt] that [with you], [that] as we collaborate even more, we will get it right.”

Norman as a leader
Leadership is something that has defined most of Norman’s career.

He maintained a directorial position for 19 years before becoming Grupo Agatep’s president. He was creative director of then Euro RSCG Manila for nine years, then managing director of the rebranded Havas
Worldwide Manila for another 10 years.

So how is he as a leader? Even after being in the industry for so long, he reveals that he’s the kind who’s ever hands-on.

“I [wear] several hats. In the office, it’s managing the teams and making sure the clients are happy and serviced well, and making sure delivering what we had promised to our clients; also ensuring that the quality of work is up there. I check on a lot of the work that’s coming out.”

We also asked about the ongoing elephant in the room for the tenured individuals in the creative industry, the ones that hadn’t been originally acculturated to the digital medium: how do you evolve, and lead a young, millennial- and Gen-Z- dominated team?

The way he’s able to manage such team, he chalks it up to his professorship.

“Both my dad and I used to be teachers, where he taught both high school and college. A big part of leadership is training [newcomers]. It [gets] tiring when people eventually move on, and then you have a new set of people to train, but I really like it, and you have to like it to be able to survive this cycle of forever teaching even the basics of PR and marketing.”

He adds, “It’s about loving the craft and being updated yourself, because when I started 30 years ago, there wasn’t online marketing yet. You just have to keep growing as well, and being several steps ahead of the people you’re going to train, and having an open mind that you’re [also] going to learn from them.”

“PR work is grassroots”
Norman gives advice to would-be and aspiring marketers, and he imparts one that is brief, but hits home to the perpetual misconception of what PR work really is.

“There is a preconceived notion that marketing and PR would be a glamorous job, which is sometimes, it’s like that, but it’s a lot of hard work too.”

“If you want to get into marketing, you’ve got to understand it fully. A lot of PR work is grassroots. It’s going to communities, and trying to understand them better, and trying to think of ways to solve the problem of the brands you’re working with.”

Ultimately, he adds, creative PR work starts with oneself.

“Understand brands. Take a look at the brands that you like, try to figure out what makes them successful for you. What did the brands do right that made you patronize them, [ask yourself] how can you use that, and translate that to other stuff that you could do to other brands.”

Watch the full video of this interview on our YouTube channel, going live today at 6:30 pm PST.

If you’re a marketing leader and you want to share your career experience to inspire the marketing industry, please reach out, we want to hear your story.

Sydney, Australia –  Experience management tech Medallia has announced that it has appointed its newest country manager for ANZ, Heather Paterson, former director of the Asia Pacific and Japan in the New York-headquartered Intralinks. 

Medallia provides a SaaS platform, the Medallia Experience Cloud, which services the market in the understanding and management of experience of customers, employees, and citizens via the capturing of experience signals from in-person daily journeys, digital channels, and IoT interactions. 

As the company continues to invest across the APAC region, Paterson will be tasked to lead the Australia team, where she is also said to spearhead the launch of ground operations in New Zealand, expected over the coming quarters.  

Gavin Selkirk, Medallia’s APAC vice president and general manager believes Paterson’s strong leadership background makes her the best person to lead the country’s growth.

“Heather’s results-driven approach, ability to build and manage teams and [her] strong background in financial services technology – an important and growing sector for us – means she’s ideally suited to run our business across Australia and New Zealand,” said Selkirk.

“Australia was Medallia’s first office in the region, and as it continues to grow, we look forward to building our New Zealand presence which Heather will play an integral role in building,” Selkirk added.

Singapore – Twitch, Amazon’s live video streaming service has appointed its newest marketing head for the APAC region, Sandeep Suvarna. 

The appointment comes in the middle of the streaming service’s rapid expansion in the region. It is expected to form a critical part of a wave of new hires in Singapore, to grow the local Twitch community and further improve the service for its content creators, media partners, and publishers.

For his new role, Suvarna will be charged with overseeing Twitch’s marketing strategies for APAC audiences. 

“Twitch is redefining the way we think about entertainment, and provides a point of connection for millennials and members of Generation Z who visit the service to socialize with communities of like-minded individuals and creators,” said Suvarna.

This is not the first time that Suvarna will be spearheading a digital streaming service. Prior to joining Twitch, he most recently launched Fox network’s FOX+ in APAC. 

His credentials boast of over 15 years of marketing experience, working across prominent brands such as LinkedIn and Yahoo. 

“Sandeep’s expertise in marketing comes at a crucial juncture as Twitch expands its operations in the Asia Pacific,“ said Sunita Kaur, APAC Senior Vice President of Twitch.

“With Sandeep on board, we look forward to broadening our services, and showcasing both our gaming and growing non-gaming content, to a greater number of users across the region,” added Kaur.

MARKETCH APAC and Blogapalooza proudly unveil the first episode of #MARKETECHMondays. 

#MARKETECHMondays provides a platform for learning and sharing as we handpick influential marketing leaders and ask them about their careers, marketing journeys, and challenges, and successes. They will also be providing sage advice and rare insights from the most competitive frontlines of APAC marketing. 

In our pilot episode, we sat down with #MARKETECHExpert Mark De Joya, the Head of Corporate Communications of Max’s Group, Inc., and the Marketing Director of Max’s Restaurant. Mark De Joya is a recognized marketing professional with 17 years of experience.

He has worked with diverse brands, including Samsung, Huawei, Unilever, and Mondelez. He has also worked as a business leader and strategist for McCann Worldgroup Philippines. He believes in creative excellence and marketing effectiveness through “work that works.”

First Job

Mark began his career as a Brand Assistant at Unilever. He handled Lady’s Choice, a popular line of sandwich spreads in the Philippines. Unilever is widely considered as the “marketing university of the world.” He said that he is always grateful for the opportunity that he was able to begin his career the right way. He learned the nuts and bolts of brand development, equity management, portfolio management, and a truly integrated point of view of marketing communications.

He tells us about his first campaign and how he worked with Creative Guild Hall of Famer, Raul Castro.

“The first campaign I ever worked on was this little ad called “Isipin Mo Na Lang” (Think About It) for our Sandwich Spreads line; I’ve seen so many different iterations through the years—updating the food shots, packshots, tagline—but all with the same base ad. This was my first introduction to advertising, working with Creative Guild Hall of Famer Raul Castro.

“He’s intense, intuitive, and naturally brilliant. His team gave me my first taste of insight-based advertising and crafting narratives rooted in universal human truths and tensions—in this case, the innate nervousness of a young mom imagining the “lunchbox wars” that happen in the schoolyard, away from her eyes. But this first experience also taught me so much about the craft itself—pacing, casting, framing, lighting, blocking. I’m glad my first ad gave me hands-on experience both in the science and art of advertising.

“To this day, before the age of viral ads memes, I will always recall the pride I’d feel meeting people off the street who could recite the ad back to me verbatim. Back in the pre-YouTube world, I consider that quite a feat.

I’ve carried the foundations I built in these years throughout my career as I branched out to different industries: consumer electronics, retail dining, the advertising industry, etc.,” he says.

Mentors

Mentoring is crucial to success in this industry. It gives a career person a head start that may help him get ahead faster than those who have to learn the ropes. While Mark is an independent go-getter, he says that two people also influenced him as he went through his career.

“The first was Gino Borromeo, my mentor at the McCann Worldgroup when he was the Chief Strategy Officer. You need a certain level of creative IQ to thrive in the creative industry. To many people, “being creative” meant being artsy, having a sense of métier, and a natural affinity for the arts.

“I learned from Gino that “creativity” isn’t just those things; it’s the ability to solve problems. Classically defined—something is not truly “creative” unless it solves a real problem for humanity. Creativity, at its core, is an exercise in problem-solving. Therefore, the job of a marketer is to prove his effectiveness by creating real solutions,” he relates.

The second person who influenced him the most was Ariel Fermín, the Group Chief Operating Officer at Max’s Group. Ariel was also Mark’s first Marketing Director when he was still working at Unilever, seventeen years ago.

“His mind is one of a kind. He was trained as a chemical engineer, his incisiveness, and his ability to break down any problem—into its most basic equation. And that makes any problem, no matter how impossible it may seem at first, eminently solvable, because there’s always an equation to solve for X, Y, and Z.

“Under him, I’ve learned the perfect balance that has to exist between building great brands and doing great business. No marketer can say they’ve done great brand work if it doesn’t help the business; likewise, a strong brand makes a great business sustainable. His adage of “brand over time, business overnight” guides me in trying to craft great, effective work that adds value to life, value to the culture,” says Mark.

Current Job

Mark joined Max’s Group three years ago. He currently holds dual roles: Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing Director for Max’s Restaurant, the group’s flagship restaurant.

According to Mark, there is the prestige of playing a critical role in the country’s largest casual dining group. In addition to Max’s Restaurant, Max’s Group also operates Yellow Cab Pizza, Pancake House, and Krispy Kreme.

“It is an honor to be part of an organization that is firmly rooted in heritage and tradition while being relentlessly geared toward reinvention and renewal.”

What’s fascinating about the retail industry is how it demands discipline in bridging the end-to-end the links, from high-level brand thinking, nuanced product development to intimate one-to-one relationships with our end-users in our stores and e-commerce platforms. 

Mark De Joya, the Head of Corporate Communications of Max’s Group, Inc.

“Much of my career was spent leading FMCG and consumer electronics brands—where, to be honest, the ability to connect directly with our consumers is not always as direct, given the layers of distributors and retailers between the brand on its pedestal and real human beings in the market.”

“These realities challenged my teams and me to be the best-in-class in five-sense marketing. Experiences and communications go hand-in-hand 24/7, not just as one-off branded activations.”

Leadership

Mark says he is blessed to have served under excellent leaders of his time. He believes that he learns as much from people as people do from him. He also believes that there are different kinds of leadership, but not all of them are ideal.

“Some of them lacked humility and self-awareness. So early on, I promised myself that I would try to do better when I was finally serving in the same position. Everyone has something to learn. Everyone has something to teach. That’s how teams grow together,” he tells us.

Failures & Successes

Mark doesn’t mince his words about the failures that he experienced in his career. But he takes it all in stride. He firmly believes that it is part of the process, and marketers must develop the right mindset when encountering failures in life.

“As the great Conor McGregor says, there’s no such thing as losing—either you win or learn. I’ve done it all in my career. I’ve made a bad strategic choice, played the wrong game, positioned something wrong, priced something wrong, built the wrong mix. But for every “whoops” I’ve made, I believe I’ve had the opportunity to say, “I’m grateful I learned this. So next time, I’ll do that.”

To Mark, his greatest achievement in life was being named the 2019 Innovator 25 for Asia-Pacific by Provoke Media. Provoke Media was previously known as The Holmes Report. It is one of the world’s leading resources on public relations.

When asked why he treasured this award more than anything else, he responded: “This mattered to me more than brand awards. I believe it was recognition built less on hard metrics and more on the accumulated body of work that I consistently built while working on meaningful brands and standing for making positive change in the world.”

Personal Mantra

Mark’s mantra is also the core of his work philosophy.

“I could state my orientation and professional philosophy as a marketer: Solve great problems, build meaningful brands, create great value.

“Or, in the words of one of the wisest men I’ve ever met, “Math + Meaning = Magic.”

“There is a growing public distrust of their sincerity and authenticity. There is also this sense that with growing commercialization, there is this inevitable invasion by people whose intentions are less sincere. The world needs less salesmanship, more soulmanship.”

Career Advice

He shares with us his essential list for career and life:

  1. Play with joy. Grit is great, but not when it starts to chew away your passion.
  2. Don’t wait ‘til you’re ready. Always say yes, then have the courage to figure things out along the way.
  3. Martyrdom is not a career path. Guaranteed, 100% of the time, martyrs end up dead.
  4. Focused bigness, not scattered smallness. Conserve your greatness for the moments that matter—then go to town.
  5. Be curious. The right questions can be as powerful as the right answers.
  6. Choose to say, “Yes, and…” Bring out the best in people by building them up, not breaking them down with a “yes, but…”
  7. Always be in beta. You are never a finished product. Progress is the goal, not perfection.
  8. Just do it. The world cares more about actions than about ideas.
  9. Choose to unite, not to divide. The things that bring us together will always be stronger than those that drive us apart.
  10. Be interesting. Your job is not your life. Find three hobbies to make your life more meaningful: One to make you creative, one to make you healthy, and make you rich.

Subscribe to MARKETECH APAC’s YouTube Channel and watch the full video interview with Mark as we premiere on Monday, July 27 at 6.30 pm.

If you’re a marketing leader and you want to share your career experience to inspire the marketing industry, please reach out, we want to hear your story.