Opinion

There is no ‘digital Asia’ and there never will be

Brian LeongIn this guest post, Brian Leong wonders why even though adoption of digital devices in Asia is spectacularly high, marketing spend is still so low relative to other media.  

No matter what the traditional perception of Asia as a connected economy is, the truth is that we have one of the lowest levels of digital investment on the planet.

On its own that’s an alarming fact to consider. But combine that with the fact that we have among the highest levels of social media adoption in the world and its becomes something of an oddity.

But why is this, and what are the social and economic repercussions of a marketing infrastructure that is failing to keep up with global trends?

The first point to consider is that there is no one ‘Asia’ at all. In a continent of 48 countries and many, many more languages it’s not at all easy to apply a ‘digital solution’.

But geography aside, are we really as ‘e-ready’ as we think?

Apart from South Korea, who regularly rank as one of the globe’s most connected countries, there are only three other Asian countries ranked in the ICT Development Index (IDI) top 20, the internationally recognised barometer of digital penetration.

Of course the sheer diversity of our region means that while there is no one solution, there is also no one problem to overcome.

Take Indonesia for example with nearly 44 million people online, the archipelago has the world’s fourth largest population of Facebook users and generates 15 per cent of the world’s tweets.

By contrast, the internet In Myanmar remains slow, unstable and affordable to less than one per cent of a population of over 60 million.

So starting from such an uneven and irregular level of infrastructure any big ticket pan-Asia digital marketing decisions are always going to be difficult to make.

Add to that the fact that many CMOs themselves have said they are not as digitally savvy as they could be. By favouring tried and trusted marketing channels and it’s easy to see why we are not seeing the sort of universal online campaigns that are so commonplace in the US and Europe.

And just to complicate matters even more, political struggles across our region fragment the landscape for marketers in ways in which no other region has to relate to. The Great Firewall of China for instance has long-ranging implications far beyond sovereign borders, bringing a new dimension to integration.

So what’s the answer to break digital marketing and all the brand benefits that come with it across the region?

As an industry we can’t change infrastructure or topple governments (much as we like to think we are all powerful!) but there are great leaps we can make to influence the future of marketing across the region.

Number one of my personal wish list would be greater investment and focus on digital across Asia. We need to be thinking about the new generation, and making them battle ready for a new digital planet.

I’m not just talking about desk-based schooling, incremental change happens when individuals are challenged with going beyond the realms of comfort to create a new digital mentality.

And once we have the skill base, I think it may be time for the old guard to start taking a back seat and let these new digital lunatics take over the asylum. Start taking a few risks, forget about the ingrained habits of celebrity endorsement and mass-market cable TV and start to think like the consumers of the future, digitally and especially mobile first.

The opportunities are there, and some individuals and companies are leading the way. More global campaigns are opening up opportunities for local talent to raise both their profiles and their games, which has increased levels of creativity and accountability hugely.

But I genuinely still believe there is a need for an industry-wide investment in nurturing and building strong Asian talent with the local cultural ability to be successful across all markets.

Yes things are changing, but not fast enough. We need to have more faith in the truly digital generation coming through and remember that while there will never be one digital Asia, digital solutions can manifest themselves in many different ways.

Brian Leong is GM and creative director of Lowe Profero Shanghai

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