These Countries Are Shaking Up Advertising in Asia

It’s been a big year or two for Dick Van Motman. In 2012 Dentsu bought Aegis to become the first Asian-born global advertising network. Dick and the rest of the team at Dentsu Aegis have been working hard to ensure the integration happens as seamlessly and positively as possible – and now they’re ready to celebrate (with a huge MassiveMusic party at Spikes Asia). LBB’s Laura Swinton caught up with Dick to find out that that’s not the only thing getting him excited at the moment. In his role as chairman and CEO of Dentsu South East Asia, he’s also in the fortunate position of witnessing a fascinating shift in the region that’s seeing various countries stepping out from the shadows of China and Japan. Even markets like Thailand, which has always performed well on the international awards circuit, is starting to see competition from its neighbours. 

Korea

I worked in Korea about 20 years ago. It’s a highly interesting market. I think people own, on average, two and a half cell phones each in Korea, which is amazing. It has one of the highest Internet speeds in the world. 1988 was when they opened up for the Olympics and if you look at where they are now it’s fascinating.

Indonesia

I was just speaking at a forum where an Indonesian mayor was also speaking. The way he used social media to get elected and engage with his constituents and how his department embraces Facebook, Twitter and dashboards to monitor progress and satisfaction in his city is amazing. He’s the member of a mayors’ organisation, where 200 mayors from around the world come together. He said that he is behind on physical infrastructure but he’s ahead on the way he uses technology and social media to engage and reduce the gap between officials and citizens. I contend that this whole label of ‘developing’ has to be revisited.

Vietnam

Very young population, very hardworking, very intelligent. Let’s say they have not had the benefit of a regime that was foresighted enough, like for instance, China. I’m not making any statements here about communism versus democracy but the way China has been run has been about economic progress. Vietnam has been a little bit lacking, zig-zagging in its progress but it has all the potential. It has close to 100 million people. It should be the next big market.

It has been very open and sanguine about all the foreign influence of the past. They embraced stuff that worked for them without being fussy or precious about the effect on their own culture. The ability to merge and adapt.

Philippines

I think the big surprise is, of course, the Philippines. It is a very internationally-linked market. It’s English-speaking, and now for the first time you can unlock the population size, the international mindedness and the good level of education because of political stability. It makes the Philippines a very attractive market. I think Philippines has been a net exporter of talent for a very long time and now it’s really taking off as a market on its own.

Bangladesh

Markets like Bangladesh are interesting because they’re much bigger markets. I think Bangladesh has 180 million people. That’s a big market – and size does matter. 

Thailand

I think Thailand has always had political challenges throughout the last decade. But it has never in the past changed the nature of the Thai spirit and the way that the Thai look at life. It’s quite light hearted. I think what has happened over the past couple of years is that it’s got more competition from countries like Vietnam and China. So it needs to go and redefine itself and say ‘ok Thai creativity is quite nice, but what’s the next level?’.  What’s the next level of articulation? How do they address new media? I think that’s the challenge facing Thailand.

Myanmar

We are very much present in Myanmar. We’ve had a branch office until recently but we’ve beefed it up to get behind winning the Myanmar Telecomm account. The culture is interesting. When you go there the feeling that you get is great. The people are nice and smart and quite well-educated and there’s a feeling of optimism in the country. Yes we do see Myanmar as a good opportunity as it’s a relatively emerging market. I think what makes Myanmar interesting is its location and the fact that it’s only recently opened up. Naturally there’s a lot of opportunity but there’s a lot of challenges.