Alan discusses marketing effectiveness in APAC, how diversity benefits our work, and why he’s a fan of a new Coca Cola ad and film score composer Hans Zimmer.
You took on the APAC CEO role in 2023. Now you’ve had time to get to know the region, the team, and our clients, what are your key takeaways?
Each market in the region presents a different marketing effectiveness opportunity for brands to grow their business. From India to New Zealand and Japan to Malaysia, there are varying levels of data complexity, a wide range of market sizes, and very distinct media and marketing landscapes that require different approaches.
This variety makes it a very exciting place to be involved in and is why APAC is a key part of Gain Theory’s global strategy. To help businesses in the region achieve best-in-class marketing effectiveness, we are continuing to build a best-in-class team. That’s why I’m delighted Arvind Sethumadhavan has joined as our Regional Client Growth Officer, based in Singapore, and Justin Nel has joined as our New Business & Client Engagement Director, based in Australia.
Alongside the brilliant data and analytics specialists and consultants we have based throughout the region already, I am looking forward to delivering on our promise of accelerating growth for ambitious brands.
Alongside your role as CEO for EMEA and APAC, you are also the executive sponsor of Gain Theory’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. How does DE&I help us to deliver great work for clients?
I have the pleasure of working with an incredibly gifted and diverse group of colleagues every day. Their curiosity to understand why things happen and their passion for making things better for each other and our clients, ensure that we consciously consider potential biases. This extends beyond how people think to how customers behave and how data can lead to biased decisions or actions unless we challenge the status quo. I believe that our clients benefit from this approach through more robust insights and recommendations.
What’s the best campaign you’ve seen recently?
The World Needs More Santas, from Coca Cola. Why? It brought a smile to my face on a wet and windy winter’s day. The idea of unexpected kindness from everyone and anyone really resonates with me, and this campaign bring this to life in a lot of clever ways.
What TV show would you recommend?
A recent BBC documentary, Hans Zimmer Hollywood Rebel, showcased why I’m a big fan of the German film score composer. I like him because as well as creating fantastic music that grips me from the first note, he’s also a little bit naughty – he was thrown out of eight schools, for example.
The documentary featured a great quote from one of his former headmasters: “I like to think of Hans as the genius that the traditional educational system failed to crush.” Given I serve as a member of an Independent Review Panel, which helps to ensure that school exclusions are lawful, reasonable, and procedurally fair, this is something I found particularly interesting.
Contact Alan to discuss any of the issues raised in this Q&A.