ignition asia-pacific Watching the digital skills gap in India Samar Singh Sheikhawat, chief marketing officer at United Breweries – the leading brewer in India, with more than 50 per cent of market share – has warned that the role of the chief marketing officer is becoming more complex. “There was a time when marketing meant working with the creative agencies and studying research reports,” he told the Consumer Insights and Analytics conference in Mumbai. “What’s changed is that digital disruption is happening at the speed of thought.” The speed of disruption, he argued, means that many senior-level marketers aren’t digitally enabled. However, his message to senior marketers was that they should not confuse an expanded marketing remit with specialising in data. “Your job is not to be the chief data scientist,” he said. “You need to be the chief growth officer – you have to drive digital transformation, revenue growth and increased profitability. CMOs have to balance business environment, transformation, increased competition, rapidly evolving media and digital disruption. You cannot continue to do your business the way you did it.” in numbers China is powering global digital ad spend Growth in global ad spend is being driven by the Asia-Pacific region, with digital – and China – leading the way. Source: Dentsu Aegis Network Projected growth of global ad spend in 2018 (up to $613.5bn) Within an arm’s reach of a Coke In the 1950s, president of Coca-Cola Robert Woodruff said he wanted to put a Coke “within an arm’s reach of desire”. That message has now been updated for the digital age. Speaking at the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) in Singapore, current president James Quincey said there was an opportunity to put a Coke “within a click’s reach of desire”. Across Asia, and especially in China, mobile will be key to this. “The rate of mobile-only users in China is four times that of the US,” he said. “The online-to- offline meals market in China is $30bn. It’s the size of the entire restaurant industry in Italy.” The company has collaborated with digital- tech firms to find new ways of delivering Coke to consumers. Its eFulfillment pilot programme has made direct-to-consumer orders available via a network of local bottlers. Next up – making Coke products available via Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant. Projected digital ad growth in China Growth in ad spend in China Growth in ad spend in India of this growth will be seen in the Asia-Pacific region Changing perceptions about Chinese children “When it comes to sports, children have the grit, determination and fearlessness of adults,” says Steve Tsoi, vice-president of marketing for Nike Greater China. But this, he adds, isn’t always how Chinese children are thought of, or represented in advertising campaigns, which often resort to sentimental stereotypes. “The [children] aren’t constrained by their age, but they’re sometimes constrained by parents’ fears of them falling or failing,” he says. Nike is challenging parents’ overprotective attitudes in its ‘Don’t Call Me Precious’ campaign, which features videos of some of China’s young sports stars asking adults to let them have a go and be the best they can. The digital campaign is supported by out-of- home advertising and a ‘meme generator’ with which children can create their own empowering posters. Whether the campaign underscores a real shift in attitudes of Chinese parents, or simply sees an opportunity to grow market share in a particular demographic, it ably demonstrates the power of marketing to change its message and to disrupt traditional views. Watch Changing Perceptions of all advertising spend in China will be digital of this digital growth will be driven by online giants Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent cim.co.uk/exchange video to expand to this size