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Man About Asia China Asia

Why all marketers and business leaders should spend time in Asia

By Wayne Arnold, chief executive

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March 30, 2015 | 4 min read

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Thank you very much to everyone around the world who has watched, and hopefully learnt a little more about, this amazing region we called Asia in our #ManAboutAsia series.

Writing, producing and filming the series over the last few months has really reinforced what we already knew: there are immense opportunities and challenges within this fantastic region.

I’d like to thank everybody who supported the series. The feedback through the numerous emails, tweets, messages and general anecdotes we received has been incredibly rewarding.

The most popular episode in the series has been our view on talent; I guess it is still everyone’s most challenging business topic.

With marketing, and digital marketing particularly, being relatively new to many countries, developing and nurturing a talent pipeline can be a real problem. By unpacking some of what we see as the main facets of the problem, I’m hoping we have added constructively to the debate.

I am fortunate enough to have lived and worked across several continents during my life. Even so, making this series has made me think long and hard about Asia as a place to do business.

It is a fascinating, sometimes frustrating, but overall an incredibly rewarding region, yet still very misunderstood. But I am lucky enough to have been one of those people who have had the time to experience all that it has to offer in detail, in fact I am writing this on a plane en-route to Tokyo!

And I guess this is my final thought, or challenge.

I don't believe any business leader can do a global role, and maximise their business opportunities, without spending time in the world's most populous region.

I left the comfort of NYC and London to come to Asia, because I was bored and frustrated by fellow global business leaders playing lip service to what they considered as ‘Asia’, APAC or even ‘The East’.

To be honest to myself I had to spend more than just a month a year here. To really get to grips with what made my business tick, I wanted to decipher the crucial differences between my assumptions and reality.

And you know what? It has made me a better person, and hopefully a more rounded and patient business leader. And if the truth were known, I would love many of my peers to make the journey themselves.

Times zones and the extra airmiles quite frankly can be a nightmare but the business rewards by far make up for this time-shift annoyance.

Over the last seven weeks the one question that keeps coming up is whether we are going to expand the series into other regions. The answer is that I certainly won’t rule anything out, so let's watch this space!

Lastly, I’d like to say 謝謝 (xie xie) or thank you very much, to the team at The Drum and Lowe Profero, who have helped to make this fantastic series come to life.

Wayne Arnold is chief executive of Lowe Profero and chairman of the Marketing Society southeast Asia. You can catch up on the entire Man About Asia series on our dedicated hub.

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