We don't use "today" -- which day, Monday, Tuesday, etc?
We don't use "today" -- which day, Monday, Tuesday, etc?
Notes: Sponsored article for ASEAN Marketing Forum 2005
Philip Kotler Center for ASEAN Marketing launched
MarkPlus&Co will host, in Jakarta today, two important
international gatherings -- the launch of the long awaited non-
profit marketing organization, the Philip Kotler Center for ASEAN
Marketing, and the inaugural ASEAN Marketing Forum.
The ASEAN-based consulting company -- founded by Asia's
leading marketing strategist, Hermawan Kartajaya -- will
inaugurate the new marketing center at the ASEAN Secretariat.
With its aim of supporting an ASEAN-ist marketing strategy as
a formidable approach to competing in the region, the think-tank
will also stage its first event at the same venue: ASEAN
Marketing Forum 2005.
With a population of about 500 million, a combined gross
domestic product of US$737 billion, and total trade of $720
billion, ASEAN today is very much an essential force on the
global economic playing field. Along with China and India, ASEAN
is on the verge of becoming a new global economic power center.
At the government level, ASEAN member countries have agreed to
establish one community for the ten-member nations by 2020.
The ASEAN Community, comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
and Vietnam, will rest on three pillars, the ASEAN Security
Community (ASC), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and ASEAN Socio-
Cultural Community (ASCC).
One thing that has spurred marketers' interest is that by
2020, ASEAN -- one of the world's most successful regional
groupings -- sees itself becoming a single market and regional
production base.
As a single market, ASEAN will be targeted by both
multinationals focusing on ASEAN and locals going regional.
Multinationals think of ASEAN as a prospective, unsaturated
market. On the other hand, local firms seeking to expand their
businesses see ASEAN as a real, tangible market to go after as
the Asia Pacific region is too far away for them. That is why
ASEAN has now become one of Asia's major geo-economic
attractions, besides China and India, for businesses across the
globe.
One direct consequence of a single ASEAN market is that for
multinational corporations and local companies seeking entry into
the ASEAN market, they will need to adopt a regional marketing
approach.
Specifically, they will need ASEAN marketing approaches. This
is where the Philip Kotler Center for ASEAN Marketing, a non-
profit organization, fits in, convincing ASEAN marketers that
ASEAN marketing is far more formidable than local or global
marketing.
Co-founded by Phillip Kotler, the world's number one marketing
authority, Hermawan Kartajaya, and Hooi Den Huan, an Associate
Professor at Nanyang Business School, Singapore, the Philip Kotler
Center for ASEAN Marketing aims to promote regional marketing in
the ASEAN region, while encouraging ASEAN marketers to support
the ASEAN Community 2020 and further enhance the ASEAN brand.
It envisions the creation of ASEAN Marketing 2020, which will
equip regional marketers with global standards, regional
perspectives and local champions.
This regional-based, non-profit-making organization is
headquartered in Jakarta and aims to make this city the capital
of ASEAN Marketing. Besides the fact that the ASEAN Secretariat
is located in Jakarta, Indonesia, as the biggest country in the
region, has 40 percent of ASEAN's population and is considered to
be the anchor of ASEAN.
The center will be launched by ASEAN Secretary-General Ong
Keng Yong. Among the highlights of the event will be the launch
of a commemorative first-day cover by Hana Suryana, the president
director of Pos Indonesia, the launch of the book Think ASEAN co-
authored by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya and Hooi Den Huan,
and a video link-up with Philip Kotler in Chicago.
The launch of the center also features distinguished speakers
from academia, government and the business world. Among these
will be Lim Chong Yah (Emeritus Professor, Nanyang Technological
University), and Indonesian Minister of Trade H. Dr. Mari E
Pangestu.
Marketing Forum
The launch of the Philip Kotler Center for ASEAN Marketing
will be followed by the inauguration of the ASEAN Marketing
Forum, which will be attended by prominent marketers from across
the region.
The forum will provide up-to-date regional market information.
There will be a special lunch talk by Tony Fernandes, Group CEO
of AirAsia -- the pride of Southeast Asia.
Experts from the region's professional marketing bodies will
also provide market updates on their respective countries.
As ASEAN is set to become a single market, marketing reach
must no longer be limited to the home market but will need to be
larger in scope, reaching the entire Southeast Asia region.
This has the potential to create serious business threats to
the local players in each country. However, the regionalization
of ASEAN also offers huge marketing opportunities. The
increasingly dynamic and tangible ASEAN market is attract both
local players and multinationals seeking to expand their
businesses. It is up to them to exploit this lucrative regional
market that has half a billion consumers.
In his concluding remarks, Hermawan Kartajaya, also the
President of the World Marketing Association for ASEAN Marketing,
said he believes that the future starts today, at this second. He
argued that the globalization era is a done deal; it is now the
time for regionalization.
The year 2020, which envisions ASEAN as a single market and
regional production base, is already happening today. Of course,
there are still hurdles to ASEAN integration. However, progress
towards integrating the regional economy has been made and the
results are already visible to some extent.
At the government level, initiatives, schemes and measures
are increasingly being put forward and negotiated, while at the
private sector level, some businesses with proactive attitudes
already benefit from a "think-regional" mind-set.