Living Marketing

Our guest Douglas Young, CEO and co-founder of Goods of Desire (G.O.D.), joins us to share his fascinating journey from architecture student to becoming an icon of the Hong Kong retail landscape. Discover how Douglas' architectural background uniquely influences his design process and the balancing act between maintaining creative integrity and meeting customer expectations. Did he have family support and what were his inner motivations that drove him to success.

Brand collaboration at its finest is showcased in G.O.D.'s successful partnership with Starbucks to create a 60s-70s style Hong Kong café, proving the power of respecting local culture. Douglas talks about the uphill battle against industry copycats and the necessity of innovation to preserve G.O.D.'s integrity. This episode is packed with insights into creativity, cultural marketing, and the courage to pursue unique paths, offering listeners a rich tapestry of inspiration and wisdom.

Welcome to a new season of Living Marketing, the podcast where we chat with business leaders about their life lessons and experience! Today, we're joined by Janet Yuen, CEO of Hung's Food Group (HFG), who has masterfully blended tenacity and innovation to steer one of Hong Kong's top F&B companies through times of challenge. 

HFG has built an extensive food and beverage empire, directly operating more than 600 outlets across China and Hong Kong under its Yoshinoya, Dairy Queen, Maria’s Bakery and Uncle Fong’s brands.  

Navigating through social unrest and global health crises, Janet has propelled Hung's Food Group to flourish, maintaining the company's vitality and ensuring growth. She's here to reveal her strategies for adaptability, maintaining open communication, and an unwavering commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Under her leadership, HFG has embraced uncertainty as a catalyst for innovation and strength.

Janet's ascension in the F&B world wasn't preordained. Her transition into the industry was a journey of hurdles and discoveries, and she's ready to share how her prior experiences have seasoned her approach to success in this dynamic sector. Janet's story is a testament to the potency of transferable leadership skills, demonstrating how they can be adapted to the unique tastes of food and beverage.

Beyond her corporate achievements, we'll also uncover Janet's secret passion—a personal pursuit that infuses her life with additional flavor and fervor. Prepare to have your appetite for wisdom and inspiration satiated in this episode that promises to be as enriching as it is enlightening.

This episode is in Cantonese.

As global marketing director for Plaza Premium, among the world's largest operators of luxury airport lounges globally, Janis is no stranger to the trials and triumphs of a second year being battered by a history-making pandemic. In spite of all that I'm most impressed by her ability to maintain a work/life model that balances health and happiness with the demands of work, home and family. How does she stay centered? What are her regrets? What does the future hold? All this and more, in my chat with my longtime friend Janis Tse. 

Before she joined Archetype as deputy managing director, Liz was editorial director for LUXE City Guides for five years. I'm a huge fan of LUXE, one of what their founder Grant called "Luxe Lovelies", so it was a fascinating conversation about where LUXE is today, and how shifting patterns of travel information consumption has impacted their ability to grow over the past decade. As usual, Living Marketing is more about "living" than "marketing", so it was a pleasure to hear Liz recount her life of adventure that took her from London to Bangkok, then Singapore and at last Hong Kong. We talked about how they leapt into the City of Angels naively underprepared, how homesickness can be a physical sensation, and how maturity can make us all better romantic partners. 

As head of Corporate Communications for AQUMON, an Asia-based investment platform and roboadvisor, Caroline enjoys an exciting role at the intersection of fintech and consumer marketing. Her path to FSI is anything but typical though, only moving into the finance field after six years in the fashion industry dividing her time between Hong Kong, Milan and Beijing. In fact, Caroline's personal journey is a case study in experimentation. Her first major was Egyptian Archeology, then Law, before finally landing on Marketing. How did she end up with those choices? What was it about her upbringing that allowed her to experiment and make unconventional choices? What was it like dating Italian men? We talk about all this and more...

As Director of Membership for Hong Kong's hottest new private members club, Carlyle & Co, Kimberly has waited a long time for the club to open its doors because of the pandemic. Personally, she's also navigated a journey without a script to follow, as a biracial American kid growing up in Hong Kong who had to learn Chinese at the age of nine. Walking out of the family business into the publishing business, she spent seven years at lifestyle magazine HK Tatler, before she moved on to become AXA's Asia head of Brand and Corporate Communications. We talked about why she left the publishing business, what it means to transition into the hospitality industry working for the Rosewood group, as well as her experience growing up in Hong Kong as a child between two cultures.

Henry is Asia Head of Marketing for FCM Travel, part of Flight Centre Travel Group. At 27 years old he's also my youngest podcast guest to date, a millennial marketer who has enjoyed a swift rise up the ranks during his five years with FCTG. We chatted while Henry was still in London, working remotely until travel restrictions opened up for him to relocate to Singapore. With the occasional East London ambulance siren as background music, we discussed his views on how Gen Y and X can complement each other in marketing leadership, where British professionals prefer for overseas assignments, and even whether he's for or against tattoo and piercings in the office!

Welcome to part 2 of my chat with Arun, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of PRovoke Media, one of the most respected and widely read trade media of the marketing and communication industry. We start with a rumination over how well-prepared agencies really are for a post-Covid world, then change gears and talk about Arun's personal views on happiness, the various roles he plays in life, and what it meant for him growing up as a person of colour.