The guru speaks<\/p>\n
Rodney Louis Vincent, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
How many top bosses do you know who present junior managers
\nwith reading lists of history, current affairs and literature,
\nand then hold discussion groups to make sure the reading gets
\ndone.<\/p>\n
Miles Young thinks as much like a professor as he does like
\nthe chairman of one of the largest advertising and marketing
\ncompanies in Asia.<\/p>\n
A family tragedy while completing his last year at Oxford
\nUniversity put Young on a career path he never dreamed of. The
\ndeath of his mother, who battled diabetes all her life, resulted
\nin Young signing up to meet recruiters visiting his university at
\nthe very last minute. The only slot left was with an advertising
\nfirm.<\/p>\n
The well-respected ad professional whose supposed trademark is
\ncolorful shirts finds defining \"Asia\" far more than a semantic
\nissue, especially in coordinating a 7,000-plus Asian creative
\nnetwork that stretches from India to Japan. Young has spent close
\nto 21 years with the network.<\/p>\n
Being the driving force of Ogilvy and Mather Asia (O&M), Young
\nspends 75 percent of his life traveling with a particular focus
\non building a strong commercial business in Asia. Under Young's
\nleadership, O&M has become the dominant advertising network in
\nthe region.<\/p>\n
The chairman of Ogilvy and Mather Asia speaks his mind:<\/p>\n
Your focus has been on growing Asia's big five media
\ncommunications markets, mainly China, Japan, India, Taiwan and
\nKorea.<\/p>\n
My personal focus has been on growth in Japan, China, India,
\nKorea, excluding Taiwan. Though this doesn't mean to say our
\nagency's focus is only on these markets. Tim Isaac looks after
\nthe southern part of Asia. In the future, I think there will be
\ntwo huge dynamic economies in Asia -- China and India.<\/p>\n
Japan is relatively becoming less important due to cultural
\nstructural reasons. It's a country that has found difficult to
\nglobalize. Japan had its chance during the '70s and '80s to
\nembrace Asia, but it never did and behaved in a hostile way. I do
\nthink it will increasingly be known as the Switzerland-ization of
\nJapan. Korea is a very dynamic market, but it's limited by its
\nsize.<\/p>\n
Among those, you've got two monsters which are the largest and
\nthe second largest countries in the world. China's had all the
\npublicity recently. Business there is much more rooted and we're
\npretty much ahead, with a workforce of 900 people, partly from
\nbeing first in brand, having extremely skillful Chinese
\nmanagement and treating China as an opportunity instead of a
\nplace to service multinational clients. To build our strength in
\ndepth, 50 percent of the business is local and the local agencies
\nwe've acquired are operating outside of the big three cities.
\nIndia is also rising and multinationals are recognizing that it's
\nnot just a one-horse race.<\/p>\n
Does Indonesia have the potential to compete with these markets,
\nin the near future?<\/p>\n
Indonesia is now an important market for us. We're growing
\nvery nicely. It's a question of critical mass, the speed of
\neconomic development, when and how fast. Indonesia has China's
\ncharacteristics 10 to 15 years ago, possessing an active,
\ndeveloping, assertive middle class with rising living standards
\nand an appetite for consumer well-being. Vietnam is somewhere
\nbehind and has the disadvantage of the rigid bureaucratic
\ncommunist government. In that perspective, Indonesia's got
\neverything going for it. Some multinationals are still not sure
\nhow business-friendly Indonesia is and that is an impediment
\nwhich holds back foreign investment.<\/p>\n
How does a less sophisticated market like Indonesia take itself
\nto the next level?<\/p>\n
It's a developing market and I don't think there's one single
\nanswer. If I compare the business to what it was eight years ago,
\nthere's just no comparison. Eight years ago, Indonesia
\nadvertisements were small and slightly primitive. In my view,
\nOgilvy can now stand up against any agency. I was recently having
\na conversation with someone and we were commenting on how the
\nproduction has improved beyond recognition over two years, and
\nthat's because foreign directors came in and worked with local
\nproduction companies, which improves the whole quality cycle. The
\ntalent pool is huge but the skill pool is minute and it needs to
\nbe grown. Many clients want new concepts from the institution and
\nthat has to grow professionally in parallel. Thailand would be an
\nexample, wouldn't it? Twenty years ago, it was probably in a
\nsimilar position and it's in the first world market today.<\/p>\n
The writer is the editor of ADOI Magazine, an English publication
\nabout advertising and marketing.<\/p>",
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