Contributed by: Eugenie Chan, Hon. Sec. Malaysia & Singapore, Strategic Asia Marketing Alliance
When IKEA entered Southeast Asia, it expected the same Scandinavian charm and minimalist humour to translate seamlessly. It didn’t.
At first, campaigns that worked effortlessly in Europe fell flat across Asian markets. The tone felt distant, and the humour missed its mark. It was a quick lesson in how cultural context shapes communication.
In Malaysia, the brand soon realised that connection required more than translation. It needed participation. Consumers switch naturally between English, Malay, and Chinese dialects, blending languages and humour in ways that are distinctly Malaysian. So IKEA leaned into that linguistic playfulness. Store signs and social posts began featuring local slang and festive greetings that felt instantly familiar, helping the brand find its voice in the market.
In Thailand, however, one of IKEA’s bed names, Redalen, sounded uncomfortably similar to a slang term in Thai. Social media lit up with jokes, forcing a swift review of the catalogue. The episode reminded global marketers that even a small cultural misstep can have wide repercussions.
These experiences highlight an essential truth for global brands entering Asia Pacific: success requires more than localisation. It demands localisation with intelligence. Language, tone, and behaviour carry different meanings across this region of nearly three billion people. Brands that assume a universal approach often stumble, while those that collaborate with partners who understand local nuance tend to thrive.
That is where alliances such as the Strategic Asia Marketing Alliance (SAMA) play an important role, helping brands translate global strategies into culturally fluent campaigns that connect authentically across the region.
The Pressure to Scale with Authenticity
As brand budgets stretch across multiple markets, marketers want campaigns that achieve both regional consistency and local relevance. Many find themselves caught between global networks that promise efficiency and independents that bring cultural fluency.
Nowhere is this tension clearer than in Thailand. Napat Sano, Project Owner at Omelet in Bangkok and SAMA’s Thailand representative, notes, “Thai consumers are becoming global citizens, making them more aware of inauthentic marketing. They immediately recognise when a foreign campaign or joke has been uncomfortably pushed into a Thai context. The advantage for local organisations comes down to comprehending the incredible fluency of the Thai language. Online language, memes, and humour evolve every day.”
Further north in Vietnam, collaboration is grounded in shared values. Hanh Nguyen, Chief Executive Officer at CommSights, explains, “Vietnamese culture is deeply rooted in collectivism. People and organisations naturally value community, belonging, and relationships over individualism. This shapes how business and marketing work. Authenticity is created through shared values, and scale is achieved when those values are adapted collaboratively across markets.”
Across Asia Pacific, this blend of cultural fluency, diversity, and collective thinking is redefining marketing. Global networks may offer scale but often lack agility, while independents bring proximity and insight but not the infrastructure for multi-market execution. Increasingly, the answer lies in collaboration.
The Rise of Regional Synergy
Asia Pacific is not a single market but a mosaic of distinct economies. Singapore remains the strategic nerve centre for many brands. Thailand thrives on creativity, Vietnam advances with digital agility, and Malaysia draws strength from cultural hybridity. China drives scale and technological innovation, Australia anchors the region with mature media and measurement practices, while India brings creative boldness and an unmatched digital growth engine. Together, these markets form a diverse but deeply connected ecosystem where cooperation is not optional but essential.
Nadine Wu, Co-Founder and CEO of Superminted and SAMA’s Singapore-based Hon. Regional Policies Officer, puts it succinctly: “Running a single campaign across APAC is an exercise in controlled compromise. To aim for perfect localisation in all markets is economically untenable; to pursue homogeneity is commercially reckless. Agencies must instead operate on a sliding scale, anchoring campaigns in universal human motivations and investing in cultural inflection points where missteps are most costly, such as religion in Indonesia, humour in Thailand, and hierarchy in Vietnam.”
Success depends on balancing depth with breadth. Brands must be precise where they want to win hearts and efficient where they only need to be present. According to Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 2025 Outlook, two-thirds of marketers in the region plan to consolidate their agency partnerships by 2027, aiming for fewer partners, faster execution, and deeper relevance.
Collaboration as the New Growth Model
This is where collaborative networks such as SAMA are redefining how agencies operate. Formed by independent agencies across the Asia Pacific region, SAMA was built on the belief that the future of marketing lies not in consolidation but in intelligent collaboration. It provides a structured platform for agencies to share insights, tools, and creative resources while preserving their unique identities. Collaboration here means aligning strengths to give clients scale without losing authenticity.
For Elga Yulwardian, CEO of Ivosights in Indonesia, this distinction is crucial. “Global networks give scale, but they are often too far removed from the ground. SAMA is not just another network; it is the living infrastructure of collaboration in Asia Pacific.”
She explains that collaboration extends beyond campaign delivery. It is about regional intelligence, trust-based partnerships that move faster than centralised systems, and collective advocacy on shared issues such as AI, data governance, and digital commerce. “WhatsApp is king in Indonesia, while Thailand and Japan prefer Line, Vietnam uses Zalo, and China has its own host of tools to contend with,” she adds. “Regional intelligence means understanding these nuances, not treating Asia Pacific as a single bloc.”
Steven Wang, Managing Director of ADX Asia, agrees that collaboration builds both capability and credibility. “By partnering with peers in Singapore, Malaysia, or Thailand, Indonesian agencies gain insights into consumer behaviour and regulatory landscapes. At the same time, SAMA allows us to present ourselves as part of a broader network, reducing the perceived risk gap compared to global networks.”
This cooperative model extends beyond independent agencies. SAMA also recognises the value of working alongside global network agencies, not as members, but as collaborators contributing to industry growth. By sharing learnings, frameworks, and operational insights, SAMA aims to uplift the broader communications ecosystem and strengthen the collective value of the region’s agency landscape.
From shared CRM systems to co-created production hubs, SAMA members are already proving that independent agencies can deliver regional work with the confidence of a network yet with the cultural fluency only local teams can bring.
As Nadine Wu notes, “When SAMA becomes more mature, it will not look like a miniature holding company. It will look like a federation of strong voices, harmonised when needed but dissonant when useful.”
The upcoming SAMA Regional Conference 2026 will bring together agency leaders from across Asia Pacific to explore these collaborative models further, offering both independent and network agencies a platform to exchange ideas, build new frameworks for partnership, and reimagine how the industry works together in one of the world’s most dynamic regions.
About SAMA
The Strategic Asia Marketing Alliance (SAMA) is a strategic initiative launched in August 2024, designed to strengthen collaboration between leading creative and innovative agencies across Asia. SAMA is a powerful platform that seeks to transform the marketing and communications landscape by uniting top-tier agencies with a shared mission to drive growth, innovation, and excellence. By combining expertise and resources, SAMA enables businesses across the region to access cutting-edge marketing strategies that enhance competitiveness, expand market reach, and set new industry standards. Through this collaborative ecosystem, SAMA not only supports its members but also elevates the entire market by promoting innovation and excellence. With its initial presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, SAMA is actively expanding into Vietnam, the Philippines, Hong Kong and beyond, further solidifying its influence in the APAC region. For more information, visit our website at www.samaalliance.com.