Collaboration, a challenger mentality and keen cultural perspectives in APAC.
Mahalakshmi Srinivasan
23 July 2021
Mahalakshmi Srinivasan
23 July 2021
Collaboration, a challenger mentality and keen cultural perspectives in APAC.
Collaboration, a challenger mentality and keen cultural perspectives in APAC.
Emerging from the pandemic, we’re tasked with more than just redefining the new normal, but also reimagining our place within a crowded, sometimes confused, and often changing marketing landscape.
We’re witnessing consumers pivoting and adopting new habits, and businesses adapting strategies in response to accelerated trends. Globally, we’re faced with increasingly price-oriented, digital, and socially conscious consumers who expect more from the brands they engage with, and businesses that are competing to cut through the noise, connect and convert, and create meaningful experiences at every turn of the customer journey.
And in that midst, as an agency looking to carve its niche in the region, we find ourselves asking the all-important question: “How do we help our clients resolve their pain points in the new normal?” It’s a starting thought that has become our true north – first, truly understanding our clients and their problems, and then providing them with solutions built around those concerns.
So while everything has become even more complicated, Indicia Worldwide’s core proposition in APAC remains focused on unlocking growth. We leverage our global production capability, creative ideas, and suite of tech solutions (In Touch) to help businesses achieve greater scalability and create new value each step of the way.
In expanding our agency footprint in this part of the world, we’re actively building or flexing on our legacy strengths in print management and production capability, while building a strong narrative around value creation and our evolution into an insight-led communications agency. What this means is that we’re now also harnessing our broad toolkit and repertoire to help our clients continue to scale and move up the value chain with solutions around creative adaptation, creative development, and data-driven insights.
And at the heart of delivering new value is collaboration, which takes many forms at Indicia Worldwide. We’re cognizant of the fact that collaboration today is not only about being on the same page as our clients, but also bringing them into the discussions, having their pain points be front and centre of what we do, and adapting with agility amid their changing needs and evolving trends. Only then are we able to find the best solution from our toolkit to solve their problems.
Just as crucial is collaboration from within. Working with a multi-disciplined team – with members in places like the Philippines, China, Australia, plus North America and Europe – means that we get to leverage varied expertise, ideas, and approaches and utilise an effective framework by easily lifting and shifting it across other parts of the business, geographically.
Often, what sets established players from new ones is trust – in fact, 72% of business leaders consider trust to be of the utmost importance when purchasing new products or services for their organisations. So how then do we build credibility within a business area that our clients might not immediately associate us with?
The answer: adopting a challenger mentality and then showing up – again and again.
Instead of launching the agency and then figuring out what to do, we turned the problem on its head by going straight to our existing clients and asked that they present us with a problem that we think our infinity loop is capable of delivering. We’re getting them to put us in the hot seat by throwing us a challenge that they think we would never be able to solve, we’ll run a workshop, and within 48 hours, we’ll turn around a solution for them.
And that credibility and equity that we build with a client by actually following through on our proposition go a long way in cementing the relationship.
Yet another challenge that presents itself in the region is meeting expectations and dealing with a market that is far from homogenous. What works in Singapore may not work in Thailand or Indonesia. For example, if your client is in the space of food, what you eat, what gives you joy from a food perspective is very different in every single market in APAC – but that’s also where the opportunity is.
This makes drawing on a diverse team equipped with the right capabilities, cultural knowledge, and on-the-ground experience even more crucial when it comes to attracting and engaging prospects and clients. Ultimately, what comes out of Indicia Worldwide’s combination of global expertise and resources, a deep understanding of local markets, and a clear proposition of creating new value collaboratively is nuanced solutions that are culturally resonant, personalised, and that adeptly address the crux of our clients’ pain points.
It’s a truly exciting time to be growing our presence here in APAC, and we’re already looking ahead to working intimately with new clients and existing ones, powering ideas and solutions with data, insight, and technology aimed at bringing new levels of efficiency and effectiveness to businesses in the region.
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