Shuxian Li

Thanks you to MarketingTech for looking closely at AI performance marketing in the mobile world and highlighting the opportunity for advertisers to move beyond Google and Meta to drive incremental reach and to improve campaign efficiency. "AI and machine learning have powered digital advertising for years, but until recently, those capabilities were mostly concentrated inside Google and Meta. Now, companies like Moloco are applying AI-driven optimisation at a massive scale to independent apps, which account for 70% of mobile digital activity. This development gives advertisers a new way to run outcome-optimised campaigns across millions of apps. By expanding beyond the walled gardens, they can reach more users, lower customer acquisition costs, and boost incremental conversions—all without sacrificing performance." Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gR5t4wVN

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Forrester reports that 85% of APAC marketing decision-makers already use GenAI, primarily for content creation. But GenAI does more than that. It is a secret weapon for marketing measurement, especially in APAC's complex landscape.   Our new WARC article by Celine Wong (Head of ASEAN Operations at Ekimetrics) explores how GenAI tackles APAC’s unique challenges by: 💠Democratizing multilingual sentiment analysis 💠Unlocking buried value in unstructured data (reviews, social, chats) 💠Replacing "data gatekeepers" with conversational, context-rich insights 💠Turning teams into strategic powerhouses with an "always-on analyst" Read the article here👉 https://lnkd.in/g2T8C_jq? #EkimetricsAPAC #GenAI #MarketingMeasurement #MMM   Rica Facundo | Olivier Kuziner | Zoe Cheng | William Ferrell | Yishan Feng

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After billions spent and a cookieless future promised, Google’s decisions to keep third-party cookies has shaken the ad world. Dive into Sunil Naryani’s, President of Partnerships & Product Solutions for APAC, on how brands are navigating this dual reality.    Read more here: https://lnkd.in/d7SdbaXi #AdTech #Privacy #ThirdPartyCookies #Insights Campaign Asia-Pacific

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Winning in APAC: The Cloud Go-To-Market Playbook That Actually Works After having seen the APAC market entry strategies for dozens of cloud providers, we see the same mistake repeatedly: companies apply generic GTM approaches to Asian markets and wonder why they fail. The reality? APAC requires a fundamentally different go-to-market approach. Here's the model that consistently drives results. The APAC Cloud GTM Playbook should focus on three critical success factors: 1. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕-𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉 In Western markets, capabilities often drive decisions. In APAC, trust precedes everything: • Build local credibility before pushing solutions • Establish strong ecosystem partnerships as validation • Demonstrate commitment through local presence signals The critical shift: Position yourself as a committed regional player, not a foreign vendor testing the market. 2. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 In APAC, direct GTM approaches rarely succeed. The ecosystem is your accelerator: • Prioritize major regional partners over direct market entry • Build distribution relationships before enterprise direct sales • Leverage partner credibility to overcome market hesitation A SaaS platform we worked with, tried direct market entry in Japan for two years with minimal results. After pivoting to an ecosystem-led approach with established local partners, they achieved in three months what they couldn't in two years of direct efforts. Your ecosystem strategy isn't supplementary to your APAC approach—it is your APAC approach. 3. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 Superficial localization fails. Meaningful adaptation succeeds: • Adapt your value proposition to regional business priorities • Align messaging with local decision-making structures One size doesn't just fit all—it fits none. Each major APAC market requires its own adaptation. In Lamplighters, as we build our strategy, we are very clear in our approach. For complex markets, an ecosystem-first strategy isn't just an option—it's a necessity. It provides a real-world case study and actionable pillars that prove the effectiveness of leveraging partners for trust, acceleration, and market penetration, making direct approaches obsolete. #APACStrategy #CloudGTM #GoToMarket #InternationalExpansion

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AI is reshaping marketing in Japan 🇯🇵 We surveyed 500 marketers and found that AI users are working faster, performing better, and even feeling more valuable in their careers. Get the full picture: https://lnkd.in/dGyPfF2J

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There’s been a lot of energy around cNGN lately — and rightfully so. From LinkedIn to WhatsApp, I’ve seen a range of views: sharp critiques, academic papers, defenses from builders, and even emotional calls for support. As someone who’s been in the trenches of fintech and crypto infrastructure, and who’s followed this project through multiple iterations, I thought I’d offer some perspective of my own — not as a cheerleader, not as a skeptic, but as someone who understands how hard building truly is. One recurring argument I’ve seen is that pegging a stablecoin to the naira is inherently unstable. But that idea is based on a category error — a mix-up in logic. Pegging a stablecoin 1:1 to the naira doesn’t make it unstable in itself; it simply means the token mirrors the naira’s value. Just like a USD stablecoin reflects the dollar, cNGN reflects the naira. It’s not meant to shield you from currency volatility — it’s meant to digitize the naira and make it programmable. That’s a completely different use case from, say, a USD-backed coin pegged to bitcoin. So let’s start by understanding the purpose: cNGN is not a hedge; it’s a representation. Now, is there work to do? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean we dismiss the effort or the potential. From NGNT to eNaira to cNGN, we’re watching the evolution of an idea — and like all meaningful innovation, it takes time, iterations, and feedback. The right questions to ask, in my view, are: • What does local adoption look like? • How do we ensure it becomes part of everyday use? • What use cases unlock true network effects? From what I’ve seen, cNGN is starting to lean into those answers. Remittances, cross-border payments, institutional flows, and even POS acceptance are all in focus. I also see potential in tourism-related adoption, where short-term visitors could spend locally via cNGN without needing a Nigerian bank account. These are real-world frictions that a well-integrated stablecoin can help solve. But most importantly, this moment matters because people are paying attention. The critiques mean the ecosystem cares. And in an industry where many ideas fade without notice, attention is a signal. The builders should listen, adapt, but also stay the course. I’m personally rooting for the team — not just because I know how difficult this is, but because I believe cNGN represents an attempt to solve a real problem from within. It may not be perfect yet, but it’s movement in the right direction. And if we truly want local innovation to thrive, we should challenge it — yes — but we should also nurture it. Let’s keep the bar high, but the support loud.

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“As AI-enabled threats like voice deepfakes and metadata manipulation become more common, maintaining sovereignty over communications is no longer just a technical challenge—it’s a strategic necessity.” Tash Stamatelos, SVP for BlackBerry in APAC comments in Business Today on Malaysia's leadership in communications security and its focus on digital sovereignty, as it prepares to host the 46th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on May 26th and 27th. https://lnkd.in/gchWF9hQ #ASEANSummit2025 #securecommunications

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I have an allergy to best practices. I developed it at HubSpot, where I ran Asia marketing, a place where marketing “best practices” often failed. A few examples: 1. "Use benchmarks to judge success." Our event NPS kept lagging other regions, no matter what we tried. Turns out it wasn't our events - we learned that Asian audiences are tougher graders and slower to give high scores! So instead iterating over and over trying to get our scores to match benchmarks, we developed our own and saved a ton of time, money and heartache in the process. 2. "Don't send too many emails." In India, email marketing is a free for all. No spam laws. So our open rates were terrible, and our standard nurture wasn't working. We tested being super aggressive (3X emails vs normal) which was scary! But it worked. There was a moment where we held the record for the biggest webinars HubSpot had run - with 3,000 people on a call. 3. "Reinforce brand campaign messages." We had a product launch where one of the centerpiece assets was a heart carved into a tree. It did well in the US, but initial rollout in Southeast Asia was a flop: most Asians live in big cities and doing that to a tree would be an act of vandalism, where you'll get fined or maybe even caned! 4. "Educate your audience." We talk a lot today about 95/5 and reaching new audiences, but this was largely a waste of time for us, at that time, in Asia. We were a new, emerging region, so it made way more sense to capture demand or focus on competitor switches versus investing in thought leadership. I could've been way more effective if I realized this earlier. There's a bunch of "best practices" today that sound like universal truths: - show your pricing - build a PLG motion - ungate your content - do more brand marketing - scale your content output with AI They might be right. But they could also be wrong. This post is a call for you to be skeptical of advice you see on LinkedIn, and really stress test whether best practices are appropriate for your personal context.

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With a new global partner program launched recently, Laura Padilla, Senior Vice President of Channels and Alliances at Freshworks believes partners in Asia are hungrier for greater success. Looking at customers and opportunities in the Asian region, Simon Ma, Managing Director for Freshworks in Asia shared that one of the reasons why their solutions are resonating with the market is because they provide much better ROI compared to other solutions available. Meanwhile, Benny N., co-founder and director of iZeno believes they can benefit from the partnership with Freshworks through the many opportunities available, especially in the financial and public sectors. Freshworks for Partners CRN Asia https://lnkd.in/g4PmQ-59

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“Algorithms don’t just decide what people see - they shape who wins.” Arin Phummarin, Head of Total Commerce & Digital Solutions, and Varoj Chuanbun, Senior Manager, Total Commerce & Digital Solutions, dentsu X Thailand. Arin and Varoj explore how brands can move beyond reacting to platforms and start guiding them. It’s all about feeding algorithms with smart data and aligning creative for the platform, not just for the look. If your strategy still treats algorithms like black boxes, this one’s essential reading. Read here: https://lnkd.in/eY65xvvw #Beyond2025

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