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Mr. Kevin Huang, Chief Operating Officer of SCMP and Mr. Hanane Sabri, Head of Horse Racing Marketing, Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)
Mr. Kevin Huang, Chief Operating Officer of SCMP and Mr. Hanane Sabri, Head of Horse Racing Marketing, Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)
[Morning Studio Feature]
When taking on a marketing leadership role, resilience, agility, and adaptability are the qualities brands need to tackle the marketing challenges they face in an ever-changing business environment.
Whether it's the geopolitical environment or the rapid development of technology, marketers need to be flexible and adapt to the situation while keeping the customer top of mind. This will always be a winning formula, said a group of influential marketers featured in the 2024 Marketing Predictions series produced by the South China Morning Post.
Resilience, agility and adaptability
“For me, if I had to describe 2023 in one word, I would use the word roller coaster. The ride is always breathtaking, exciting, and sometimes heart attack-inducing. Me too. I have certainly had a number of heart attacks,” said Jacqueline Choi, head of marketing at Prudential Hong Kong Limited. She shared the sentiment many marketers felt when reflecting on their marketing efforts this year as Hong Kong began its path to post-COVID-19 recovery.
Marketers have had to use their careers and life experiences to learn and adapt quickly to navigate a new and changing world. Hanane Sabri, Head of Horse Racing Marketing at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, drew inspiration from her career as an elite athlete.
“Elite sports taught me work ethic, discipline, resilience and goal setting. I learned to have realistic goals as well as ambitious goals,” Sabri said. But most of all, she learned the importance of teamwork and believes that good marketers are able to define a clear vision and purpose and connect it to their mission and goals.
“Defining your unique value proposition is really important,” she said.
customer centricity
She also believes that marketers need the ability to focus on and humanize consumers and create meaningful connections.
It is important to take a consumer-centric approach. You need to understand the specific needs and priorities of your consumers in order to provide the best offer to meet these needs. Align your marketing strategy with your business organization's strategy.
Sabri is not alone in this regard. Looking back on his career, Cheuk Shum, Head of Marketing, Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC Hong Kong, said passion, excitement and continuous learning were essential to achieving customer centricity. He argues that marketers should take a humble approach and engage in experience sharing so they can learn from the unique perspectives of publishers, industry players, and even consumers.
“It's very important to keep an open mind, always learning, always hungry for knowledge. I think that's the spirit of our team,” he said. Also, Cheuk has always stayed true to the brand, sporting his PayMe Meow shaved hairstyle on the back of his head.
The ability to humanize and create meaningful connections isn't just in B2C environments. Cecilia Chan, Head of Marketing and Communications at Colliers Hong Kong, said: The strategies we deploy, the marketing knowledge we deploy, the knowledge we have about our customers, and the creativity we deploy. The only difference is the client, what they want, what they need, and her KPIs,” said Chan.
Check out our 2024 Marketing Predictions series.
- Cecilia Chan, Head of Marketing and Communications, Colliers Hong Kong
- Jacqueline Choi, Head of Marketing, Prudential Hong Kong
- Dr Winfried Downe, Group Head of Advertising, Brand Strategy and Media, UBS
- Hanane Sabri, Head of Horse Racing Marketing, Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)
- Cheuk Shum, Head of Marketing, Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC Hong Kong
