Singapore the Silicon Valley of marketing: Accenture

Singapore is the best global marketing hub in Asia, according to a new report released by Accenture.

The consultancy’s ‘The Race is on: To be CMO of the Future’ study listed Singapore as the sixth best city in the world for marketing, which was the highest of any Asia-Pacific city. New York was top, followed by London and San Francisco.

However, Accenture found that with many brands and marketers shifting their attentions to the world’s growth regions, of which Asia is the driving engine, Singapore has rapidly cemented its position as the region’s global marketing hub.

The report outlined key factors to Singapore’s success, including a strong technology start-up ecosystem, ease of doing business, a multicultural environment, robust infrastructure and government support for business innovation.

The study surveyed more than 250 CMOs, CDOs and chief innovation officers from 11 countries, including seven from Asia-Pacific: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand. Respondents came from five sectors: consumer goods, IT, finance, professional services and healthcare.

Almost two-thirds (62%) of brands headquartered in Singapore said they chose the Lion City because of its access to a diverse range of talent. Moreover, 92% of respondents whose brands are globally centralised, or have regional marketing functions, would consider relocating to Singapore.

Nils Michaelis, an Accenture managing director and innovation lead for its APAC products group, said Singapore is “a key testing hub” for big brands.

“The country’s central location means that companies can launch, test, figure out, and quickly relaunch to market with small tweaks in minimal time,” he added. “Singapore has huge potential in redefining the new creative and technological marketing ecosystem for the future, perhaps even becoming the Silicon Valley of the marketing world, both physically and virtually, with its network of successful start-ups, and strengths in talent mix and capabilities.”

The report also delved into what the future CMO would look like, and how ready marketing departments are to deliver their brand’s future business outcomes.