Integrity and trust: Prudential's CMO on marketing in post-GFC Asia

Julie Lyle joined Prudential in September, 2008, just as the world economy appeared to be spinning out of control. Her task was to maintain, and eventually enhance, the organisation’s reputation and stature in Asia, as markets teetered on edge around it.

“They were looking for someone who could manage in a fast pace of change; and someone who had deep experience in protecting and building a brand through financial crisis,” she told Campaign.  Further, the new chief marketing officer needed to be someone “with the experience to navigate the diversity and complexity of the Asian region”.

Lyle says she instantly warmed to the unique challenges surrounding financial services marketing, noting that Prudential’s customers often invest their family’s financial futures with the organisation. It is therefore vital to continually maintain and communicate the organisation’s integrity. “You’re reaching into people’s lives in a way that perhaps a fast food or a consumer good might not,” she said. “That puts the onus on the marketer to be very responsible and focused on the integrity of not only what they’re selling, but the way they’re selling it — because it’s people lives.”

Things get a little more complicated with the diverse and complex nature of the Asian region. Prudential operates in 13 national and regional markets: the Middle East, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Vietnam. It ties them together with a “hybrid” model of decentralization – in which local teams have the opportunity to adapt branding strategies to their own particular markets and circumstances.

“We’ll have regional branding campaigns that will harness our platform of ‘always listening; always understanding’,” Lyle says. But the organisation appreciates that markets and expectations are different in each of the 13 operations, and local teams are encouraged to adapt material and strategies to suit.

The same is true when it comes to working with agencies and marketing partners. While the organisation has contracted Ogilvy and Mather as its regional agency of record for the past two and a half years, each of the markets are encouraged to build their own relationships. “At the local level, we enable the local markets to choose the partners that they would like to work with,” Lyle says, adding that Prudential has worked with almost all major agencies in one way or another during her tenure.

Agencies need to offer: innovation, flexibility, and the ability to adapt to cultural sensitivities. “They’ve got to be constantly on the cutting edge,” Lyle said.

Importantly, Ogilvy and Mather is on hand to fill in any gaps at short notice, or to add support where local agencies may not have the full cross-section of expertise required. Lyle says far from causing inter-agency tensions, this can often be a powerful combination. “The two are going to have to play nice together,” she says. “When you manage those expectations upfront, you get superior quality thinking, and a little bit of inspired competition and creativity.”

No matter which market or agency is involved, Prudential places great stock on its consumer insights. Over the past 10 years, Lyle says the group’s research team has undertaken more than 400 significant projects across the region, giving the wider group a comprehensive understanding of the ways people in each of the 13 markets invest and what they are looking for.

There’s a lot of insights and you have to keep researching them,” Lyle says. “You’ve got to tailor your message and your product to each market.”