Raymond Segismundo

Despite being #1 in AI, Anthropic is still hiring AEs for every industry in Japan. Why? People in APAC only buy because they really trust you . In APAC: sales cycles are longer people are more risk-averse we trust those who speak our native language more, even if we speak English APAC buyers want to see the outcome first before taking any risk. They want it done with/for them because they expect you to be the expert at what you do. So you need adopt a more consultative, outcome-based approach. Every sub-market in APAC have a different set of cultures, business principles, regulatory and compliance etc.. In Japan, you need to know the concept of "genba shugi" (which means to see the problem for yourself and be onsite) In Korea, you need to understand the "chaebol" group operations In Malaysia, you need to know when the "ramadan" season is. Yet, for years, all the sales tools that we adopt for selling in APAC are still Western-based tools. Tools that end up becoming an admin chore for APAC sellers because they don't necessarily help them improve. Relationships are poorly tracked. Conversations live in WhatsApp, Line, Kakao, Viber. Partner-driven sales are not supported. What are your favorite sales tools when selling in APAC? Hint: knowing how to use SalesForce is compulsory for Anthropic sales team.

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𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗯. 🧪 At AKIN, 2026 YTD was all about MVP testing (yes this is another post on AI 😅 ). Systematically. Across real client requests. Because here's what I've been sitting with: for years, the GTM trade-off for trad. digital agencies managing multiple global brands across APAC was speed vs. accuracy. All strategists will know this tension: 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘚𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸. Now, I genuinely think it's becoming a problem of the past. If you invest in building the right AI insight architecture: one that continuously synthesises brand positioning, competitive signals, and product-market fit data, you can capitalise on fast deployment without shortchanging quality. We're still building the full picture (more on the insights → tactics layer soon), but today I want to share something practical from the last 6 weeks of testing across our client GTM mandates. Three LLMs with 3 different GTM jobs. Here's what held up in the field: 1. 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 (𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰)  for deep brand strategy and long-form content architecture. Best-in-class for nuanced reasoning, tone calibration, and holding context across complex brand briefs. When we need to synthesise a 15-page brand guide and produce on-brand campaign messaging that doesn't sound generic 2. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧 (𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗚𝗣𝗧-𝟰𝗼) for speed, iteration, and multi-format adaptation When we're in rapid-fire creative development, spinning up variations, adapting across channels, testing hooks. GPT-4o's speed and flexibility make it the workhorse. Particularly strong for structured outputs: battlecards, competitor snapshots, briefing frameworks. 3. 𝗚𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶 (𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲) for real-time market intelligence and search-grounded insights - the underrated one. When we need competitive tracking (especially for APAC-specific GTM), Gemini's search integration is a meaningful edge. We've started embedding it into our early-stage research flows. For sure, no single LLM wins across all GTM use cases. The consultancies that will lead in 2026 aren't the ones with the best AI subscription but they're the ones who've built the architecture to deploy each model where it actually excels. We're a small team running big mandates. Getting this right isn't academic. It's existential.. Hence the motivation to write and share a series on AI integration & harmonising #agencylife. Keen to compare notes, especially with teams operating across multiple markets. Drop a ping! Onwards. 🚀 #B2BAI #GTM #AIStrategy #DigitalAgency #MarketingAI #Singapore #AKIN Feat. Chronos, my personal productivity app I'm building now to give hindsight insight (isn't that the best) to get foresight! 🤗 Thanks to legend Heng Hong Lee for the tips & guidance.

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57% of Southeast Asian companies are in what Adobe calls AI's "frozen middle" with clear ambition but early adoption. That's been my experience when we work with clients to scale AI too. The AI agenda is set and pilots are underway. The most interesting work happens next - embedding AI into real workflows, alongside the teams who use them every day. That's where impact gets built, through defining the outcome up front and investing as much in people and process as much as in technology. The region's momentum is real. The next chapter is all about deployment.

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Southeast Asia is the natural frontrunner for agentic commerce. The recent Google x Sea (Shopee) partnership is a significant strategic signal. It moves the region beyond "AI chatbots" and into transaction agents that autonomously handle product discovery and payments within a unified ecosystem. While this is a global goal, Southeast Asia’s infrastructure is uniquely positioned to hit the "Go" button first due to the structural advantages of this specific tie-up. Why the "Agent" leap is shorter here: The Delegation Habit: We are already a "Super-App" culture. From Grab drivers to Shopee sellers, users in SEA are behaviorally conditioned to delegate high-stakes tasks to an app interface. Shifting from manually tapping to sending a prompt is a natural evolution of existing behavior, not a radical change. The Integrated Stack: Agents thrive in "closed loops." Because Sea owns the full stack (discovery through Shopee, their own payment rails via Monee/SeaMoney, and last-mile logistics), an agent doesn't need to bridge five different websites to finish a job. It executes everything within a single, integrated API. Autopay for Intent: The technical unlock here is Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2). It acts as a digital power of attorney, allowing users to set specific spending rules (such as "buy if it's under $30 and has a 4.8-star rating"). This enables the AI to pay securely on your behalf without requiring a manual confirm for every transaction. This isn't just a pilot; it’s a move to plug Gemini directly into Shopee's 52% market share. Google and Sea are essentially building a bridge between search and sale. As Forrest Li put it, the goal is to make AI "useful" at a massive scale by turning what used to be a tedious mobile checkout into a single, autonomous instruction that actually gets the job done #ai #agentic #agenticcommerce #brainlabs https://lnkd.in/geJgRWZ9

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Moving to SEA has made one thing pretty clear: some of the biggest opportunities here may not be new startups, but old businesses waiting to be modernised. I wrote a short piece on why the region feels particularly ripe for this right now. https://lnkd.in/gqGMc3sQ

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How can brand winning on TikTok Shop？Look the top 15 skincare brands on TikTok Shop across US and Thailand markets Same category. Very different growth playbooks. According to Kalodata's latest 30-day data(09/26 ~ 10/25): 🇺🇸 US:$38.95M generated by the top 15 skincare brands 🇹🇭 Thailand: $14.31M generated But the difference in market concentration is even more interesting. In the US, Medicube APR Corporation leads with $15.33M, followed by Dr.Melaxin Brand at $6.84M. Together, these two brands account for 56.9% of the top 15's combined revenue. In Thailand, the top two brands, Yerpall Thailand ($2.10M) and Nana ($2.00M), account for just 28.6%. The US ranking is heavily concentrated at the top. Thailand's is much more evenly distributed. And the brands leading each market are very different. The US top 15 includes Medicube, Dr. Melaxin, Sungboon Editor, Anua and COSRX. Thailand's ranking features Yerpall, Nana, Teashell, La Roche-Posay, Eucerin and Watsons. What's even more interesting is the growth behind the rankings. In Thailand, all of the top 12 brands recorded negative revenue growth over the measured period. Yet two brands further down the list stood out: • #13 Yatawee: +89.79% • #14 PAPAFEEL: +98.22% We see a similar pattern in the US, where Dr. Althea (+58.02%) and Biodance (뷰티셀렉션) (+40.18%) are growing despite ranking outside the top 10. So what does this mean for beauty brands expanding internationally? 1. A winning brand in one market isn't automatically a winning brand in another. Brand recognition matters, but local competition, consumer needs and price positioning can change the equation. 2. Market leadership and growth momentum are two different things. The largest brands tell us where demand is concentrated today. Faster-growing challengers may offer clues about where opportunities are emerging. 3. Product strategy and content strategy need to be built around each market. The question isn't just which products are selling. It's why consumers are buying them, what value they're responding to, and how brands can communicate that value through content and creators. takeaway： For brands looking to expand across TikTok Shop markets, copying what's already successful elsewhere isn't enough. The real opportunity is to understand each market's competitive landscape, identify unmet demand, and adapt both the product proposition and the way it's marketed. If you were expanding a skincare brand internationally, would you prioritize a market with established category leaders or one with a more fragmented competitive landscape? #TikTokShop #Skincare #SocialCommerce #Ecommerce #CommerceIntelligence

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AI can make an ad faster. But can it make people want to buy? 🤔 I have been thinking about something that feels increasingly important for marketers. What is the most important job of Marketing today? I would argue it is "creating demand". Look around. 👀 Restaurants are closing. Retailers are shutting stores. Some malls struggle to bring in footfall. Lifestyle and discretionary categories are fighting harder for every dollar. And consumers are increasingly cautious about spending. In this environment, telling people “our product is better” may not be enough. (Unless you are running insanely crazy deals which again is not good for business :-)) For many lifestyle, fashion, food, beauty and experience brands, the consumer first needs to feel something. They need to feel excited. Curious. Inspired. Hopeful. They need to think: “I want that.” “That looks fun.” “I want to experience this.” “Let me check this out.” That, ultimately, is **demand creation**. And this is where I think the GenAI advertising conversation needs to go beyond “AI makes advertising faster and cheaper.” Yes, it does. AI can help brands create, localize, adapt and test creative at a scale that would have been difficult and expensive traditionally. (CNA) That's a huge opportunity. If AI saves us 50% of the production time, are we going to use that extra time to create 50% more ads? Or are we going to use it to spend more time thinking? 👉 Thinking about the consumer. 👉 Researching what is happening culturally. 👉 Understanding what people are feeling. 👉 Finding the tension. 👉 Finding the insight. 👉 Developing the story. 👉 Getting the message right. Because the real competitive advantage may no longer be how quickly we can produce an ad. It may be how deeply we understand why someone would care about it. A 2025 study on AI-generated marketing communications found that when consumers believed emotional communications were authored by AI, positive word-of-mouth and loyalty were reduced — with perceived authenticity helping explain the effect. (ScienceDirect) So I don't think the answer is: “Don't use AI in advertising.” Quite the opposite. I think the winning model could be: Human insight → Human strategy → Human storytelling → AI-powered creation → Human judgement. Use AI to create 20 versions instead of 2. Use it to localize a campaign across markets. Use it to test different narratives. Use it to move from idea to execution in hours instead of weeks. But don't outsource the idea. Because consumers don't fall in love with production efficiency. They fall in love with stories, ideas, identities, experiences and emotions. And perhaps this matters even more right now. Because AI can make the ad. But Marketing still has to make people care. 😃 https://lnkd.in/gpE3evQ4 #Marketing #GenerativeAI #Advertising #BrandStrategy #DemandGeneration #CMO #ConsumerBehaviour #AI

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Southeast Asia's e-commerce just hit US$185 billion in GMV, growing 16% YoY. But the real story isn't the headline number, it's what's driving it. The latest e-Conomy SEA 2025 report from Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company reveals that video commerce has become the region's new growth engine. Over the last two years, video commerce GMV expanded 2.5x. Revenue grew 33% from 2023 to 2024, with another 18% growth projected for 2025. The mechanic is elegant: high volume, low-cost purchases at massive scale. The number of sellers actively using video platforms surged 80% YoY to over 3 million stores. Video isn't just another channel, it's the most cost-efficient way to connect with consumers through trusted, engaging content. Here's the market breakdown: Non-grocery dominates at US$161B (SEA-6) in 2025, heading to US$300B by 2030. Online grocery is smaller but growing fast at US$24B in 2025, projected US$59B by 2030. Both segments are riding digital adoption and product diversification. But here's the sleeper opportunity: Retail Media Networks (RMNs) RMNs are expected to become a US$3B market. SEA marketplaces currently show ~2% ad depth (ads as % of GMV). That's behind China (~7%) and the US (~2.2%). The gap isn't a weakness, it's untapped monetization potential worth billions. What this means for startups: If you're building in e-commerce, video commerce infrastructure is the unlock. Tools for creators, video production at scale, analytics for video-driven sales—these are picks-and-shovels plays in a gold rush. The 3 million sellers using video need better tech, better insights, better conversion tools. Online grocery remains under-penetrated. US$24B growing to US$59B by 2030 means there's room for vertical plays, logistics innovation, and last-mile solutions that work in SEA's fragmented geography. Don't sleep on RMNs. If ad depth moves from 2% to even 4% over the next few years, that's a doubling of a multi-billion dollar market. First-party data platforms, conversion optimization tools, and attribution tech for marketplace advertising are all opportunities. What this means for investors: Video commerce isn't hype, it's demonstrated 2.5x growth with strong unit economics. Companies enabling this shift (creator tools, video infrastructure, logistics for micro-transactions) are worth deep diligence. The RMN opportunity is structural. SEA's marketplaces are under-monetized compared to mature markets. As they close the gap, the early enablers of that infrastructure will capture disproportionate value. Grocery's trajectory from US$24B to US$59B isn't sexy, but it's predictable growth in a massive market. Defensible logistics, supplier networks, and regional density matter here more than flashy tech. The region's e-commerce market is maturing, not slowing. The companies that understand where the puck is going will define the next wave. https://lnkd.in/g3qA8a8i

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