Interview with: Kevin Lee, COO, China Youthology Co., Ltd

1. Interview with: Kevin Lee, COO,
China Youthology Co., Ltd
“Many top Chief Marketing Officers
(CMOs) today do not know in what
direction to innovate. Everything is
changing so fast, not just technologies
and media touch points, but also
consumer tastes and value. Consumers
are defining product categories so CMOs
must ensure they are in the conversa-
tion as new value is being created
otherwise they will lose the game,”
advises Kevin Lee, COO, China
Youthology Co., Ltd.
China Youthology Co., Ltd is a sponsor
company at the marcus evans CMO
Asia Summit 2018 in Macao, 24 - 25
May.
What is troubling CMOs in Asia
today?
Things are changing so fast. There is a
lot of innovation and disruptive value
creation, consumers seeing categories
in a different light and creating entirely
new markets or sub-markets. CMOs do
not know where competition will come
from and what their future market will
look like.
In China, this fast change is felt
vibrantly as a young and developing
market, where people are exploring
different social media channels and
bringing influences from around the
world.
How can CMOs remain competitive
in this environment?
First, they need to identify what value is
in the future of their category. Second,
they must capture that value even if it
requires remaking their product, service
or brand experience to fit the whole new
value. But how do they engage
consumers where they are now? CMOs
are trying to rethink media but media is
just a small part of engagement. They
have to rethink investment spend, to
align with the new cultural networks
that generate awareness and motiva-
tion. CMOs need to rethink how
marketing, consumer insights and
product innovation divisions integrate
operations. Should they be separate?
How should they collaborate with
external specialists? What should be
done in-house? Do brands need to be
savvy about big data internally and how
frequently?
What approach should CMOs take to
better understand their consumers?
They must understand their consumer
holistically, as an individual and not a
customer. It is not just about their
purchase journey; that model is old.
How people make decisions is complex.
Brands need to have a cultural approach
to understand consumers, their identity,
their world, and have a cultural strategy
for how to relate to their motivations
and decisions. It is not merely insights
nor marketing but business adaptation.
Many CMOs have a social listening
practice with lots of data coming in, but
no idea how to use or interpret the
data. Even the savviest CMOs are just
beginning to realise they are not
leveraging data properly. It comes down
to having a proper perspective on how
to define relevant data and what
consumer framework should drive data
parameters.
The big data players like Alibaba and
Tencent have realised their gaps and
that the next generation of data is
fusion data. Bringing qualitative value
back into big data to know exactly what
should be tracked, why and what it
means to different parts of the business.
This is more prevalent in China as
change is fast, more data is available
and more CMOs are trying to under-
stand consumers dynamically in real
time. In other countries, companies
might not be able to access a lot of data
due to the regulatory infrastructure and
privacy laws, but here in China, they
can. The key e-commerce platforms in
China share data so CMOs can compare
data with that of their competitors.
Any final comments?
Success comes down to two things. Are
you in the culture of your consumers,
living and breathing it? Can you smell
the changes in the air, react and be
proactive? Are you there as your
consumers are changing your category?
Secondly, are you building your
company with those people? The key
disruptors today are companies where
the founders and the team are the
consumers themselves. That is the
reality today. More and more consumers
are becoming entrepreneurs and
building brands.
A multinational CMO in China is not
competing against other multinational
CMOs but against consumers becoming
their own CMO. CMOs need to be living
and breathing the life of the next
generation of their consumer. Otherwise
someone else will do it.
CMOs’ reliable
source of
innovation
opportunity
comes from
living in the
life of
their next
generation
consumer
How CMOs in Asia Can Stay
Competitive Amidst Change

2. The Marketing Network –
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delivers peer-to-peer information
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limited.
About the CMO Asia Summit 2018
The CMO Asia Summit is the premium forum bringing elite buyers and sellers
together. It offers top marketing professionals, agencies and consultants an intimate
environment for a focused discussion on the key drivers of marketing effectiveness.
Taking place at the Conrad Macao, Cotai Central, Macao, 24 - 25 May, the Summit
includes presentations on building brand awareness, analysing data from consumer
interactions and engagements, maximising digital platforms to boost marketing ROI,
and designing integrated marketing campaigns.
www.cmoasiasummit.com
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About China Youthology Co., Ltd
Launched in 2008, China Youthology set out for one purpose: Youth-driven change. Youthology recognizes more power in the
hands of the individual, and youth are actively transforming their world today to create their future.
Focusing on youth aged 15-35 y.o. and seeing consumers as holistic individuals, Youthology generates youth culture insights to
drive business innovation consulting, helping brands to adapt, redesign and change to truly offer relevant and leading experiences
that youth value.
Youthology identifies the real trends & fundamental changes happening in the world’s most innovative economy, living at the edge
of the latest marketing challenges and existing to create next generation brand solutions.
Youthology is an innovation consultancy that guides insights-based business adaptation.
www.chinayouthology.com
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