Identity Beyond Borders: Communicating Brand Purpose Across APAC

As the world tuned in to Super Bowl LVI last month, viewers were greeted with another selection of socially-conscious ad campaigns. Clearly, the purpose-driven train is showing no signs of slowing down - and the trend is far from exclusive to the global West. Across the APAC region there has been a similar rise in purpose-driven marketing, but with distinctive nuances of which marketers should be aware. 

Naomi Hama, Freedman International’s managing director for APAC, is perfectly placed to understand the trends underpinning the industry across the region. Having spent parts of her career living and working in China, Japan, and Australia with agencies including DDB and McCann before joining Freedman, Naomi has an instinctive feel for how marketing works across APAC. 

“There’s no question that there’s been a rise in socially-conscious messaging from brands over the past few years, especially around the issues of gender equality and sustainability,” she says. “But, as ever with APAC, there isn’t one clear and simple trend. It depends which market you’re looking at”.

To underline her point, Naomi references a recent report from the Japanese creative agency Hakuhodo. 

“Hakuhodo’s research shows that only 10% of people in Japan can identify a brand with which they ‘empathise’,” she notes. “So it’s one thing for people to know what a brand’s values are - but quite another for those values to align with consumers in a way which is relevant”. 

While there may be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to communicating your brand purpose across APAC, there are some examples which provide key insights.

Everything In Moderation

For an instructive example in communication brand purpose across the APAC region, Naomi highlights the Australian plant-based food startup V2. “The company was founded in 2019”, she says, “but they’re expanding aggressively across the APAC region. Their purpose is to ‘feed the planet in a way that takes care of the planet’ - so there is a clear sustainability message there”. 

However, the brand’s first TVC marketing campaign didn’t highlight that message as a core part of its communications. “Instead of doubling down on the obvious point about sustainability, they instead leveraged humour to highlight their products’ taste and broad appeal”, she explains. The brand positioning is summed up with the tagline, ‘for every taste-a-tarian’. 

Above: The plant-based food brand V2 highlighted taste and accessibility in a recent marketing campaign. 

There’s a fascinating nuance behind V2’s campaigning which is worth any APAC marketer’s attention. To illustrate her point, Naomi draws on research from Kantar published last year. “What’s interesting is that sustainability is an important factor for consumers in the APAC region… to an extent!” she says. 

“On the one hand, 53% said they have stopped buying products from companies which they know are harmful to the environment,” she notes. Importantly, as Naomi highlights, that statistic refers to a negative purchasing decision linked to companies which are perceived to be causing harm - not necessarily a positive purchasing decision linked to companies which are doing good. 

“The report shows that whilst a majority of consumers prefer not to buy from environmentally harmful brands, 63% across the APAC region ‘do not feel it is their responsibility’ to be sustainable and that it is instead “up to businesses and producers’,” she explains.

Coming back to the case of V2, it’s interesting to see how this dynamic plays into the brand’s marketing. “There’s clearly environmental undertones”, Naomi observes, “even down to the emphasis on the colour green across the brand’s packaging and imagery. But the focus of their communication is taste and accessibility. So it’s not that the brand doesn’t have a clear social purpose, and it’s evidently linked to sustainability - but it isn’t at the heart of all their marketing”. 

The recent success of V2 in rolling out across the sprawling and diverse APAC region suggests that this is a lesson worth learning for marketers.

Consistently Adaptable

According to Naomi, one of the most important considerations when it comes to your brand purpose across different markets is understanding the difference between ‘communication’ and ‘adaptation’. Over the course of our conversation, Naomi highlights this point when LBB asks how a brand could potentially adapt their purpose for an APAC audience.

“It’s not a question of adaptation,” she says. “But of communication. If you adapt your purpose, then you’re changing it - at which point it is less likely to be taken seriously in your new market, and undermined in your other markets. Your purpose should be definitive and consistent no matter where you connect with consumers. The only change is in the communication”. 

On which point, Naomi explains how that sense of consistency is baked into her approach. “At Freedman we ensure that what your brand stands for in your home market is replicated internationally”, she says. “Our local teams use cultural insights to make sure your marketing communications really connect with local target audiences, while keeping your brand consistent around the world”.

All of which boils down to Naomi’s key message of advice for any brand looking to expand in APAC: Know your market. 

“Know the market, know the culture, and know your competitors both regional and local,” she says. “APAC is one of - if not the most - diverse regions you can imagine. When it comes to achieving success, there’s no substitute for knowing your market and, ultimately, choosing the right partners”.