2022 is finally over, and we’re so excited to share the first episode of 2023 with you!

This episode of The Negotiation is part 1 of our conversation with Dave McCaughan. Dave McCaughan is a Marketing Thought Leader and Storyteller. He has spent the last three decades in Asia Pacific leading strategy planning and in senior management roles with McCann, one of the world’s most successful advertising agencies. He joined McCann in 1986 in his native Sydney, where he built the Strategic Planning function, and since 1995 has been based in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Tokyo leading regional strategy and communications campaign development for clients like Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Nestle, Cathay Pacific, Sunstar, Hitachi, Johnson & Johnson, and many others. In 2015 Dave launched BIBLIOSEXUAL, which works with brands to bring together his long-term passion for understanding the relationship between form and content.

In today’s episode, we discuss Dave’s extensive work in marketing brands in Asia. He explains why he chose the name BIBLIOSEXUAL for his company. We then dive into a discussion of Japanese culture and consumer habits, and how international brands need to think about the market when advertising.

Topics Discussed and Key Points:

• The Coke vs. Pepsi challenge
• How great brands figure out what matters to people and play to that
• Why storytelling is fundamental when you are in business
• The reason Dave chose the name BIBLIOSEXUAL for his company
• Why it is important for a marketer to understand the mediums that matter to consumers
• The potential future homogenization of the Asia Pacific region
• Japanese advertising and what flawed perceptions exist among international companies
• Why cultural context is so important for Japanese consumers
• Cultural stereotyping and country stereotyping