Asian MarTech / Charlotte Mceleny / Publisher, APAC at The Drum / Simon Kemp / CEO and Founder at Kepios

"If you think you're a marketer that has all the answers - you have a problem" this quote is from a double header episode of the #ShinyNewObject podcast between Charlotte Mceleny - Publisher, APAC at The Drum and Simon Kemp CEO and Founder at Kepios. The purpose of the discussion was to work out the main difference between marketing between the east and the west. Apparently it's not as simple as picking a cool bit of tech in Asia and porting it over to the west. A lot of digital business in the East have developed due to the physicality of the countries themselves. One example is the Grab App in Singapore which is a mix of Uber and Apple Pay - "it's an OS for city" says Mceleny. We also cover cultural anomalies such as Singles Day which Simon tells us is a "Valentines Day for the Self." It's not so hard to imagine that one coming to the west. Charlotte tells us that "UK has a strong creative aesthetic" and that the East doesn't see the West's marketing as old school. So there's hope as well as inspiration to glean from the other side of the planet. I was surprised to learn that the sacred 'Big Idea' doesn't work as well in a region made up of many markets. Few ideas can be re-appropriated to fit local cultural differences but Simon's good news is that "marketing that adds value to people's lives translates is translatable to all." Well said.