This week we launched our newest podcast, Shaping What’s Next, a series showcasing the Cushman & Wakefield Asia Pacific leadership team. In the first episode we spoke with Anna Town, Cushman & Wakefield’s Head of Marketing & Communications for Asia Pacific. During the conversation we discussed creating the What’s Next brand, the challenge and excitement of moving from a local to a regional role, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and where the organisation is headed in the coming years.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
The What’s Next brand actually originated in the Australia market.
“When I joined there was an incredible opportunity to build a strong message around our brand following the recent merger with DTZ. After all, we were now one of the top three global commercial real estate firms, and everyone was watching closely to see who we were going to become, a situation that was really every marketers dream. So we got all the leadership of the Australia business together into a room and ran a workshop where we asked them how they would describe our brand in the future. We then worked with a local brand agency and together we came up with this concept of being “What’s Next” for the property industry in Australia.”
Diversity and inclusion are deeply entrenched in the Cushman & Wakefield culture.
“I’m really proud about what we’re doing collectively at Cushman & Wakefield around diversity and inclusion. I think it is something that differentiates our culture and our business, and that’s something we’re always looking for as marketers. When I came into the organization, I got a sense immediately of the commitment. It wasn’t just a tick-in-the-box exercise. We were really walking the walk not just talking the talk.”
As a leader it’s important to understand where the expertise lie within your team.
“What I know for sure is that I’m not the expert in marketing strategy in India, or in China, or Vietnam, or the other 11 countries that we have under our remit. But I do have those experts in my team. What I hope that I bring to the table is some consistent thinking, consistent strategy, a consistent approach around our brand and our sales support infrastructure, so that our customers have a consistent experience across the Asia Pacific region.”
It’s an exciting time to be leading marketing at Cushman & Wakefield.
“In terms of the future of marketing, we’re in a digital revolution so there’s a whole range of opportunities for us marketers around automation, analytics and improving lead generation to really drive that organic growth in our business at Cushman & Wakefield. We’re looking at ways that we can use artificial intelligence in the marketing process. There’s some exciting thinking that the digital team is doing around that.”
Cushman & Wakefield are busy creating more opportunities for our business, our clients and our people.
“It’s a very exciting time to be part of Cushman & Wakefield and of the Asia Pacific region. Being part of the Asia Pacific leadership team that sits across all these markets, I feel very confident that we’ve got a strong, diverse and cohesive leadership team that’s going to help drive that growth strategy. I think we can absolutely build a business that is different to what exists in the market. We can build a great business and really define What’s Next for the industry in Asia Pacific.”
Check out the full podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and subscribe to ensure you never miss an episode.
