In this episode of The Negotiation, we speak with Ricky Samuel, E-Commerce Lead at Mindshare, a global media agency, where he helps clients in understanding their e-commerce-related challenges to drive success. For those who don’t know, Mindshare was the first purpose-built company created by WPP and today has a head count of over 10,000 that operate in 116 offices in 86 countries around the world. To put it bluntly, having Ricky on the show is kind of a big deal. In Part 1 we discuss Ricky’s track record of success starting with his time at Bose and omnichannel sales in Southeast Asia in the early 2010s; we talk about his time at ASUS and just how much control Microsoft had over their local marketing strategy and pricing. We also discuss localized messaging and marketing for Indonesian consumers and driving preferential product placement on search platforms. We end part 1 by talking about how customer feedback impacted the product roadmap for Indonesia during his time at Hewlett Packard. And for those who want to catch our discussion on video, head over to WPIC_co on YouTube to find us there. Enjoy!
Show Notes
Topics Discussed and Key Points:
● How Bose approached omnichannel sales in Southeast Asia in the early 2010s
● Bose’s commitment to consistency across resellers
● How much control Microsoft had over ASUS’s local marketing strategy and pricing
● Localizing messaging and marketing for Indonesian consumers
● Driving preferential product placement on search platforms
● How customer feedback impacts HP’s product roadmap in Indonesia
Episode Summary:
Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Ricky Samuel, E-Commerce Lead at Mindshare, a global media agency, where he helps clients in understanding their e-commerce-related challenges to drive success.
Ricky speaks on the digital landscape in Southeast Asia as well as the development of broader digital transformation strategies for the region since his entry into the marketing world in the early 2010s.
Ricky worked as Bose Indonesia’s Brand Marketing Manager from 2013 to 2015. Looking back at this experience, he offers some insight into the evolution of the company's omnichannel sales strategies during a time when digital commerce was rapidly gaining prominence. He talks about Bose’s focus on “customer excitement” to maximize the in-store experience, as well as Bose’s commitment to consistency in quality, service, and experience across their resellers.
As the Product Marketing Lead for ASUS from 2015 to 2016, Ricky discusses the unique challenges of localizing the brand in Indonesia. He then does a deep dive into HP’s omnichannel operations during his time with the company from 2018 to 2019, emphasizing the importance of partnering with Key Opinion Leaders and top e-commerce platforms to drive brand equity.
Key Quotes:
“We need to ensure that experience and engagement is at the same level every time a new customer walks into our store.”
“On the local level, showcasing and using the products is more powerful than communicating to the customer who we are. So, we had better engage with Key Opinion Leaders about our products for more powerful messaging.”
“We need to understand the needs of the population itself. We need to understand their behavior: how they spend their money and how they use our products in their daily lives.
What is The Negotiation?
Despite being the world’s most potent economic area, Asia can be one of the most challenging regions to navigate and manage well for foreign brands. However, plenty of positive stories exist and more are emerging every day as brands start to see success in engaging and deploying appropriate market growth strategies – with the help of specialists.
The Negotiation is an interview show that showcases those hard-to-find success stories and chats with the incredible leaders behind them, teasing out the nuances and digging into the details that can make market growth in APAC a winning proposition.