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How are APAC brands preparing to invest marketing budgets this year?

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By Danielle Long, Acting APAC Editor

March 14, 2023 | 4 min read

As economic uncertainty continues to dominate boardroom conversations, where are Coca-Cola, Mondelez and Unilever planning to invest their APAC marketing budgets this year?

Image of Hong Kong shop signs

How are APAC brands preparing for economic headwinds? / Image by Jason Lam from Pixabay

This question will be explored when Nikhil Rao, vice president SEA of Mondelez AMEA and Khim Yin Poh, global brand vice president at Unilever take the stage at The Drum APAC Trends Briefing.

The senior marketing leader session will see Rao and Poh discuss how the brands within their portfolios are engaging consumers across the region and driving growth against strong economic headwinds.

The Asia Pacific region remains “a relative bright spot in an increasingly lethargic global economy” according to the IMF with growth in the region expected to rise 4.3% this year, despite the uncertain global environment.

According to PWC, Asia Pacific CEOs are less pessimistic about prospects of global growth and more optimistic about the region's growth, compared to their global peers.

The panel will also reflect on the broader marketing trends that are shaping the region, addressing some of the key themes raised during other sessions.

The event will kick off with a keynote address by Coca-Cola’s vice president of marketing for ASEAN and South Pacific Matthias Blume. Blume will provide an engaging exploration of the brand’s strategy to improve its sustainability and ESG commitments across the region.

A discussion on the importance of DE&I in the region will see Mastercard’s senior vice president, head of marketing and communications for Asia Pacific, Julie Nestor, join Amazon’s head of global diversity and inclusion - WWOPS emerging markets Abhijit Naik and Accenture’s director of experience platforms Lisa Collins, for a robust discussion which will be moderated by AAMS president Shufen Goh.

Asia’s creativity will go under the spotlight when BBH Asia Pacific chief creative officer Sascha Kuntze, joins Publicis’ Southeast Asia chief creative officer Ajay Thrivikraman, TBWA\Group Singapore’s creative director Angie Featherstone and KVUR’s co-founder & executive creative director Uma Rudd Chia. This session will explore the creative challenges and opportunities of the region while exploring some of its best work.

The disappearing cookie will be a regular fixture in a panel discussion around the future of digital media measurement, which will be moderated by Prantik Mazumdar, the managing director, CXM group at Dentsu Singapore. The session will include: Gayathri Venkatesan, marketing science partner manager for South East Asia & emerging markets at Meta, Hiren Desai, head of digital marketing, ASEAN and South Asia for Standard Chartered Bank, Alastair Hill, chief executive office at On Device Research and Abhinay Bhasin, head of product marketing and strategic account relationships at ProfitWheel.

The latest and emerging trends powering Asia Pacific’s thriving e-commerce and retail category will be analysed by Zalora chief revenue and marketing officer Achint Setia, Shiseido vice president of digital and ecommerce Juliana Chu and Yahoo Southeast Asia head of commerce, Reta Lee.

Plus so much more with marketing talent from Criteo, Group M, Twitch, OMD, Livewire, Nexplay, Stack Adapt, Teads, Epsilon, Razer, Grab and Sentosa Development Corporation.

Final tickets remain, find out more here.

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