Podcast Summary: Asian Markets

In this podcast episode, Kiran Kapur and Charles Nixon discuss how global economic growth is changing and why businesses need to pay more attention to Far Eastern and Southeast Asian markets, especially China and Vietnam. They also cover how AI is making marketing more efficient and creative, but raise questions about whether it might hold back innovation or affect jobs. Another point they touch on is the overuse of “corporate speak” and how brands need to communicate clearly and in a way that actually connects with different audiences. Finally, they discuss the growing popularity of lab-grown diamonds as a cheaper, more ethical option, and how clever marketing has shaped trends in the jewellery world.

 

Key Points

  • The discussion focuses on how important Far Eastern and Southeast Asian markets, especially China and Vietnam, are for future economic growth, encouraging businesses to adapt by learning local languages and understanding the market better.
  • Kiran and Charles stress how vital cultural adaptation is in marketing, using IKEA in India as an example, where they changed their products to suit local price sensitivities. This shows how companies need to really blend into local cultures to succeed.
  • AI comes up as well, with the view that it boosts efficiency and creativity by taking care of boring tasks and helping productivity. Still, there are worries about whether it can truly innovate and what it might mean for jobs.
  • The speakers also call out the overuse of “corporate speak,” saying businesses should focus on clear, straightforward communication that actually grabs people’s attention in today’s fast-paced world.
  • Lastly, Kiran and Charles talk about the growing trend of lab-grown diamonds as a cheaper, more ethical option, and how smart marketing is shaping the way people see and buy jewellery.

 

Podcast Transcript: Asian Markets

Transcripts are auto-generated

 

Kiran Kapur (00:04):
Hello and welcome to Opinionated Marketers with Kiran Kapur and Charles Nixon. Charles, we've had a number of things that we wanted to talk about today, but one of them was the changing pattern of economic growth.

Charles Nixon (00:17):
Yes. I think it's probably about time to repeat what may well be seen as the obvious, but the fact that the European Union still continues to struggle with generating significant growth, German economy not being that strong, the UK is almost going backwards. It seems the American marketplace is up and down, therefore, it is just so much larger that the far Eastern, Southeast Asian marketplaces are the places to go. China continues to grow significantly, and so does Vietnam and others. So I think if we haven't taken it seriously already, the question is how many Chinese speakers do you actually have on your marketing staff? How easy is it for you to do your marketing communications campaigns in Mandarin or Cantonese? And how easy is it for you to reach these marketplaces through trade agents, sales agents, or indeed subsidiaries? And if you haven't already considered it, it's probably about time that you do because this is going to be the new norm going forward. The economic policies and the turmoils in the American marketplace don't seem to be settling down, and I can't necessarily see, easily see a change in the UK or European marketplaces. So we really do have to look to the export marketplace and the overseas markets for growth.

Kiran Kapur (01:43):
And I think it was quite interesting what you said before we started recording, where you said that we used to think about China as somewhere where we outsourced things to so that we could get things made and then bring them back to the Western marketplace. Whereas now we are realising actually it's a whopping great market in its own right. So you don't think about just outsourcing, you think about actually selling to that marketplace. And of course, the brands that have done that really well are often the luxury brands.

Charles Nixon (02:07):
Yes. It almost seems as if one's saying this thing after the horse is bolted, as it were, but it's still remarkably true. I can still remember people in America sort of chastising one another on the basis that they had absolutely no understanding of the way in which the rest of the world worked if they were working from a marketplace such as based in Chicago. And that is still true of any large corporation or indeed small corporation that's trying to expand. You really have to have an understanding of these marketplaces. So send people out there, make sure you have troops on the ground as it were, and make sure that you really understand the culture of the marketplace and the ethics of the marketplace. It doesn't have to be China. China is undoubtedly the largest, and it is the most sophisticated of the marketplaces. The Indian marketplace is growing rapidly, but there are still teething troubles in terms of uniformity across each the states. So I think looking at the various overseas opportunities, Vietnam is the other one that constantly is talked about, but that probably is an outsourcing marketplace still. But China needs to really to be embraced as an ordinary in inverted commerce marketplace rather than something that was extraordinary.

Kiran Kapur (03:20):
Yes. I mean, it's always interesting to look at brands that have done really well in the different marketplaces. They really do get into the culture. So one of the examples I always use is Ikea going into the Indian marketplace because there is a rising middle class they want, as a middle class is around the world, do they want things for their homes, and they want the exciting and the new. But the Indian marketplace is very, very price-conscious. It's an incredibly price-conscious marketplace. So IKEA had to take their ideas, but then completely culturally make them acceptable within an Indian marketplace when they opened in Hyderabad, and one of the things they had to do was massively expand their low-price products because that's what the marketplace wants. So what you say about getting the culture right is incredibly important

Charles Nixon (04:08):
Yes. In many instances, what one looks at these things and says, "Well, how am I going to compete? "Because they do want low price marketplaces, low price products, but it's not impossible. And indeed, complete new lines, as you've just indicated, have been tried. Even in the UK, you have the Any Day range from John Lewis, which has moved them seemingly and arguably down market, but being very successful indeed. They're actually talking now about bringing back their bonus, so shows that it's been successful. And I think in that respect, no, it is not impossible to find new ranges for new markets.

Kiran Kapur (04:45):
And then just finally, and very briefly, because it was an article in the FT, and as you know, I'm very fascinated by diamonds generally, the lab-grown diamond market.

Charles Nixon (04:54):
Absolutely.

Kiran Kapur (04:54):
This, I just think is, it's one of those marketplaces, which is just so interesting because you can see the marketplace changing in real time. It's fascinated me for a while. So lab-grown diamonds originally came in probably more for the industrial diamond side, but you don't have to dig them out the ground. They are made literally in a lab. There was a big move in the jewellery marketplace because they are so much cheaper. Then the marketing companies like DeBeers fought back and said, "No, no, no. For a romantic diamond, you want a real diamond, you want a proper diamond". But they don't want to go too much into that because then you have to start thinking about the conditions that diamonds are dug out of the ground. And now the marketplace, according to the FT, seems to have moved back again to lab-grown diamonds because the price is coming down dramatically.

Charles Nixon (05:44):
It is an interesting opportunity for people who want to get into a marketplace using technology by lab-grown diamonds. The other aspect that I don't think is mentioned is the recycling of vintage diamonds and the aspect of that. And it has reminded me of a very major article which I read a couple of days ago, which I would point people to, which is in the New Yorker, which is about the paradigm shift as the author puts it to solar power. And the element that - you might be thinking, "where's he going with this?"- Well, the point is that the recycling of previous solar panels actually means that there probably won't be a requirement to create or dig out of the ground much more rare earth. So for example, to produce a solar panel, 10, 15, 20 years ago, you required something like 20 grammes of silver. You actually only need now three grammes of silver to produce a similar panel, which will produce about five times as much electricity.

(06:56):
The result of which therefore is when you decommission an old one, you can create about five times the number of panels, and therefore 25 times the amount of electricity. And the argument goes that by something like 2035, you won't actually need to dig the stuff out of the ground. You'll just keep recycling because the recycling rate has gone up to about 90 odd percent. Now, how does that apply to diamonds? Well, I dunno what the demand for diamonds generally is, but the fact is there's an awful lot of them in existence, and therefore does the diamond market who wants real diamonds start to say, "Well, actually I want a vintage diamond because of its provenance rather than a new one dug out". Or the alternative, a slightly cheaper synthetic one, sorry to use that word, but the element is what is it required for in terms of gifting or status symbol. So yes, it's a very interesting segmentation of the diamond marketplace, and I think that's a really quite fascinating marketing trend, which will probably extend to many other of the jewellery markets.

Kiran Kapur (08:09):
And it's worth pointing out that, of course, the reason that diamonds became the symbol of love and engagement rings was nothing to do with culture. It came from DeBeers. It was a DeBeers advert. I mean, very famously it was a Debeers advert. They pushed all of this idea, the idea that you spent a month's wages on the engagement ring for your partner, because in those days it would only have been the men that were working. This is from marketing. So we need to remember that a lot of the jewellery marketplace is created by marketing.

Charles Nixon (08:42):
Yes, indeed. As in many, many marketplaces, we are to blame. Right. Well, on that interesting and sad note, I think we'll probably end [laughter]

(08:54):
Good to speak to you as ever, Charles.

(08:56):
Pleasure. Nice to talk to you. Bye-Bye.