Asians don’t market

When I came to Singapore one year ago, I thought I would be doing interim marketing jobs for international companies. This is what I did in Holland for the last few years (Leaseplan, Delta Lloyd and Fortis) and it suited me well seeing a lot of different ‘kitchens’ and cultures, not being bound to one company and meet a lot of interesting people.

But Asia is different. First of all, they don’t know an interim market like we do in Europe. The labour market in Asia is very flexible, so probably there has never been a big need to work with temporary employees. I think that’s one of the reasons this market developed so fast in the Netherlands where it can take lots of time and money to fire somebody -if possible at all-. Consequently, if a company has the choice, it doesn’t want to go and hire a permanent one. Whcih makes interim the perfect solution. Several friends of mine own interim agencies and they make good money transferring managers from to company to company for several months. But not in Asia.

 

Next to a lack of interim opportunities, Asia does not market the way we do it in Europe. Asians sell, they do not market. Branding, advertising, creative concepts; they were not invented by the Asians. Business development, conferences, discounts: that’s what counts here. And that’s what works. And the explanation is not hard: the Chinese, who dominate the Asian market (also  in Singapore, Indonesia), focus on one thing; money. In other words: trade, selling.

Of course the multinationals (MNC’s) plan branding campaigns. Singapore Airlines choose their new advertising agency last year (TBWA was the lucky one) and there has a lot of creative work to be done. And of course, a lot of other big companies spend their dollars on branding. But still, it’s not a lot compared to the US and even Europe if you think that 3.3 bilion people are living in Asia and figures are even below those of Europe. And the amount for Asia also include Australia and New Zealand.

So, what does Diederik do now? I’m working with financial services company Amicorp as marketing & sales manager for Asia. That’s right, marketing AND sales and it’s a great experience:-) Amicorp is in the booming hedge fund business and services banks, law firms and other financial services providers with international tax and estate planning solutions.