The Myth of the Brand in Asia-James Parsons MD of Flamingo Group Asia

As a part of the Marketing in Asia Speaker Series 2012,  James Parsons, MD of Flamingo Group Asia, will be presenting a lunch time talk on Branding in Asia, 2nd of October starting at 11:00 am.  This event is open to students at the Australian School of Business, academics and industry professionals.

Summary:

Whilst the Western world has had at least 50 years to develop consumerism as we know it, the majority of the Asian markets have had nothing like as long.  The role of brands and their communication in Western culture is at a mature stage. In Asia can the same be said?  And how does this vary from India to China to Japan to the Philippines?  This talk will suggest that issues of culture, media environment, psychology and others play a fundamental role in informing the significance of the brand construct. The implications for how brands and their progress are dealt with by brand guardians in Asia will be a fundamental part of the talk.

Bio:

James Parsons is Asia Managing Director of Flamingo, a consumer and cultural insight company with offices in Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo.  He joined Flamingo in 1993 in London and moved in 2007 to Tokyo to set up Flamingo Tokyo.  In Tokyo he developed business with multinationals including Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Nike and Allianz, relationships that have continued with his move to Singapore in 2011.

His work in Asia has taken him from delving into motherhood and laundry in the Philippines to ethnographic explorations of the diabetic patient experience in India to semiotic analysis of the notion of modernity as conveyed by toothpaste brands in China.  His 20 years of experience –  that have seen him research brands and the cultures they live in arcross North and South America, Africa, Europe and latterly, Asia, have convinced him that everyone is most certainly not the same wherever you go.

James lives in Singapore with his Japanese wife and  2 (bicultural )children.

Places are limited, so please register ASAP to secure your attendance by emailing Melissa at z3158178@unsw.edu.au