20 - Jesh Sukwani : Asia’s Edge, Media’s Future & The Power of Travel Data

Host James Welch, a former 24-7 Media innovation captain, grills Global Media and Marketing Transformation Executive Jesh Sukwani—the mastermind who once led Zaxis behind the Great Firewall in China for WPP. Now based in Milan, Jesh shares his winning strategies for future-proofing a CMO’s toolkit. Tune in as they dive deep into the revolution shaping the future of global media, marketing, and data.

Interview Guide

This chat follows our "Signals & Sparks" format, where we find the method in the madness and the data behind the creative spark. Here’s what we covered:

The Signal in the Noise: Jesh sees Asia—spanning from the UAE to Japan—as a powerful signal for the future, noting its energetic, can-do mentality and advancements in creative industries and the democratisation of AI. He highlights the development of cost-effective, mixed-model AI solutions and the success of B2C platforms like TikTok, which created an entire content creation industry.

Connecting the Dots: Jesh, who spent almost five years leading media and the COE at Lenovo/Motorola, is focused on the changing dynamics of how brands engage with media agencies. He argues that an updated compensation model is required to utilise first-party data effectively to develop models and drive better outcomes, connecting media, technology, and data. Jesh also stresses the under-monetisation of travel data, which he categorises as a subsection of retail media, and the opportunity to use audience data (e.g., specific flight routes) to target audiences with intent, consideration, and a strong call to action.

Quick-fire. The quick-fire round to get to know them better:

Hero: Too many to name, referring to all the people who have been alongside him on his journey, both privately and professionally.

Best Decision: Coming into and remaining in the media and marketing industry, calling it dynamic, changing, and potentially the most profitable.

Worst Decision: Underestimating his own abilities and not taking a leap of faith to move to Dubai or the Caribbean when he had the opportunities early in his career.

A Bright Spark: Anthony Rhind, a London-based executive with a fascinating career path spanning agency, tech, and media.

📍Keywords:

Jesh Sukwani, Asia’s edge, media future, travel data, digital Asia, media evolution, Asian innovation, travel analytics, media transformation, data insights, digital disruption, travel intelligence, Asia tech growth, media modernization, emerging markets, digital media trends, Asian business growth, content strategy, global travel trends, data-driven insights, predictive analytics, travel forecasting, media industry trends, digital storytelling, Asia digital economy, audience analytics, tech adoption Asia, travel industry data, media platforms, smart data systems, content distribution, digital content strategy, data-powered decisions, media tech, travel consumer insights, Asian markets, content ecosystems, travel segmentation, digital transformation Asia, travel demand analysis, media performance, cross-border travel trends, Asia competitive edge, global content strategy, media engagement, travel patterns, data science travel, media analytics tools, Asia leadership, future-ready media, travel behavior insights, digital travel tools, content innovation, Asia storytelling, digital systems Asia, audience behavior, business intelligence Asia, travel data platforms, media production trends, travel marketing, digital research Asia, travel experiences data, media growth strategy, regional media growth, data monetization, tech-driven media, analytics-driven travel, Asia-focused content, travel insights 2025, global audience data, media architecture, travel trends analysis, Asia market insights, content performance analytics, smart travel solutions, digital travel platforms, Asia future trends, global...

Welcome to After Dinner Chats: Signals & Sparks, the series where we find the method in the madness and the signal in the deafening noise of data and tech.

This week, host James Welch brings in a guest from his own team: WPP's David Spencer. David's the colleague who gets the "weird and wonderful" tech problems, the ones ad agencies don't normally solve, and somehow finds a "springboard for success."

Get ready to hear about the incredible Easter eggs hidden in Lando Norris's new F1 website (and how to find them), why the future of AI isn't one big "bulldozer" but a team of specialist agents, and a truly... unfortunate... triathlon mishap. This is one of those conversations that is both fun and useful.

Welcome to "Signals & Sparks," the podcast that finds the method in the madness and the data behind the creative spark.

This week, James Welch sits down with Jamie Sergeant, founder of the global marketing agency Crowd. Jamie joins the pod to talk AI, global insights, and... giant penises? (Yes, you read that right.)

Jamie's signal is the great AI showdown: USA vs. China.

He argues the US is trying to build one "behemoth AI" to rule them all (and costing a fortune in compute power to run). Meanwhile, China is quietly building an army of "bespoke AI"—over 2,000 tiny, specialist AIs in WeChat alone—that "get one job done really, really well" using far less power.

Jamie places his bets on the bespoke approach, warning that the giant models will soon be too expensive to even switch on.

So, how does Jamie know all this? He's not just doom-scrolling. His "spark" comes from his agency, Crowd.

While some agencies are "global" on their website, Jamie is on "daily calls" with his teams in key territories like Chengdu and Shenzhen. He explains how having 25 nationalities on a staff of 55 and serving as a UK "export champion" gives him a direct line to what's actually happening on the ground, long before it becomes a trend piece.

We finish with the "High Five" quick-fire round, and frankly, it's an all-timer. Tune in to hear:

• His Hero: The "super cool" James Bond.
• His Best Decision: Starting his global agency, Crowd, back in 2012.
• His Worst Decision: The classic managerial regret: "a couple of people that I've hired over the 25 years..."
• His Funniest Moment: This one is worth the download alone. It’s a story about pitching an NHS sexual health campaign that involves the immortal line: "Close your eyes. Imagine you're in a big dark room and there's a ginormous penis in front of you." (He won the pitch, by the way).
• His "Bright Spark" recommendation: Matthew Horobin, our fabulous brand strategist friend who introduced us.

(Music from "Signals & Sparks" by The Consultants)

Welcome to the second episode of Season Two, Signals & Sparks! Our 17th guest is the brilliant Dr. Kate Devlin, Professor of AI and Society at King's College London.

Kate is a leading expert on how we emotionally engage with technology. She's on a mission to explore the complex, messy, and fascinating relationships we're building with AI, from digital companions to the ethics of resurrecting the dead.

In this episode, we explore:

The Signal in the Noise

Kate shares her thoughts on the AI news dominating the headlines, framed as a story of "weird and wonderful":

• The Signal: The release of OpenAI's video generator, Sora, and its most startling use case: creating digital versions of people who have passed away, raising profound questions about grief, memory, and digital ghosts.

Connecting the Dots

We dive into Kate's journey and her process for turning signals into sparks:

• She discusses her decade-long research into human-robot relationships, which started with headlines about sex robots and evolved to the reality of AI companions on every phone.
• Kate explains her skepticism of using AI for research, arguing that inherent biases and the tendency for LLMs to "hallucinate" make them unreliable tools for gathering accurate insights.
• She argues that generating AI video clips doesn't make you a filmmaker, highlighting the risk of "AI slop" and the irreplaceable value of human craft and creativity.

High Five

We finish with a quick-fire round:

• Your Hero: A celebration of curiosity—all the people at conferences and events who are prepared to think outside the box and explore new ideas.
• Your Best Decision: Moving to King's College London, a place that has been a fantastic fit for her work and research.
• Your Worst Decision: Getting involved in work she didn't fully believe in, and a more personal one: marrying her first husband.
• Funniest Moment: The time Jeff Bezos told her she was "very funny," and the endless stream of good jokes that can be found in the world of sex robots.
• A Bright Spark: She recommends Matt Tompkins, the mutual connection who brought her to The Next Dinner Party in the first place.

Welcome to the first episode of Season Two, Signals & Sparks! Our 16th guest is the brilliant Paul Evans, founder of the positioning company, version.

Paul is on a mission to transform positioning from a static, 40-year-old marketing concept into a dynamic, data-driven capability fit for the intelligence era.

In this episode, we explore:

The Signal in the Noise

Paul shares two fascinating signals he’s picked up on, framed as stories of "love and hate":

• Hate: The recent lawsuits filed against Google by Pubmatic and Magnite. Paul highlights the incredibly smart positioning by Pubmatic, which framed its legal action around industry transparency and fairness, rather than just lost revenue.
• Love: The partnership between Amazon and Netflix. Paul sees this as a powerful signal of Amazon's meteoric rise as a DSP, creating much-needed competition for giants like The Trade Desk and proving that competition is one of the strongest drivers of innovation.

Connecting the Dots

We dive into Paul's journey and his process for turning signals into sparks:

• He discusses his transition from roles at Vodafone and as a fractional CMO to founding his own company, version, to address a desire to build something bigger than himself.
• Paul explains his vision for "positioning engineering"—a rigorous, data-driven, and adaptive approach that treats a company's market position like software, capable of being updated in response to market changes.
• He argues that positioning is the critical, often undervalued, catalyst that translates business strategy into a successful go-to-market plan.

High Five

We finish with a quick-fire round:

• Your Hero: Victoria Asha from Ginger May, for her energy, expertise, and approach to problem-solving.
• Your Best Decision: Starting his company, V2RSION, to transform the capability of positioning.
• Your Worst Decision: Leaving Microsoft and the Xbox team, a decision made more with emotion than rationale.
• Funniest Moment: Redefining "funniest" as "fun," he points to the physical challenges he undertakes, from Media Fight Night to his upcoming 250km Marathon des Sables.
• A Bright Spark: He recommends Lucia Mastromauro, Global VP at Deliveroo, as a future guest, praising her intelligence, energy, and problem-solving skills.
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Welcome to today’s conversation. These conversations started over dinners where James welch gets to introduce everyone at the table. Dinners are always fun. And sometimes useful, but the end of the day doesn’t really matter how it’s fun or useful it’s just the fact that we are all there connecting and making sure that we can all see what’s coming round the corner.

And the next thing we’ve got to do is to stay in touch with each other.

For a special episode of AfterDinnerChats, host James Welch takes on Guest number 15, his most challenging guest yet... himself.

The episode, prompted by a dare from guest number 10, Tim Burrowes, features two "Jameses" for the price of one. They discuss topics ranging from an innovative wooden satellite to fixing industry-wide "bad data."

James Welch, a consultant at WPP, also reveals his two other "hats": an event organiser for "The Next Dinner Party" and the host of this very pod. He shares insights on how all three roles work to help people "get ripped off less" by providing more value, whether that's through intelligent data products, curating events that foster real connection, or translating complex topics into plain English.

The conversation follows the usual format, ranging from business insights to personal anecdotes, provides a glimpse into his heroes, best decisions, and worst. Yes, join us for this irreverent 12-minute chat!

#AfterDinnerChats #TheNextDinnerParty #TNDP #KeepingInTouch #twoforthepriceofone

Get ready for a double dose of industry brilliance on the latest #AfterDinnerChats! Episode Five features two incredible leaders tackling trust and transparency from two unique angles.

First up, meet Mo Moubayed, the co-founder of Veridoo! We dive into the world of Out-of-Home advertising and how his team is bringing confidence and effectiveness to the channel.

• Mo's Hero: He draws inspiration from Marc Pritchard for his legendary stand on media transparency and refusal to accept excuses for fraud. A champion striving to help advertisers getting ripped off less.
• One More Guest: Mo would love to bring Nick Parker to the dinner table. As the global president of Veridoo and former COO of Kinetic, Nick is a "wealth of knowledge" and a master storyteller in the OOH space.

And in the second half, we welcome Audrey Boisumeau, who has start a new role to grow the UK & US operations for the Hawke, an Azerian company. She tells us about her mission to empower programmatic buyers with the control and ethical practices they deserve.

• Audrey's Hero: In the fight against ad fraud, her hero is independent researcher Dr. Augustine Fou, who she credits for his brilliant tech and relentless commitment to eradicating fraud in the supply chain.
• One More Guest: Audrey nominates Richard Ottoy from Picnic. A "veteran of the industry" and a humble programmatic expert with a sharp and accurate opinion on where the market is heading.

This episode is a masterclass in how we can all work towards a more transparent and effective advertising ecosystem. Don't miss it!

#RippedOffLess #AdTech #Programmatic #OutOfHome #OOH #AdVerification #Transparency #Marketing #Podcast #Leadership #Trust

What does it truly mean to get "ripped off less" in business? Is it purely about price, or is it about transparency, ROI, and genuine value?

On the 'After Dinner Chats' podcast, several leaders shared their unique approach to this very question, revealing a broad spectrum of what creating value really looks like.

For Paddy Gilmore, it's about maximising marketing effectiveness. He champions the use of humour, citing a survey that found humorous campaigns can generate over 100% more ROI. His mission is to help brands use humour intelligently to get more "bang for their buck".

For Tim Burrowes of Mumbrella and Unmade, it’s about systemic transparency. He works to expose where money "leaks out" in the advertising supply chain, encouraging marketers to ask hard questions about their media spend and challenge conflicts of interest to ensure a fairer industry for everyone.

For Sheetal Thakar, founder of Formagility, the focus is on providing a high-value alternative to overpriced services. She helps large organisations achieve alignment by "charging a lot less than those big consultancies" while aiming to deliver even more value.

Their chosen heroes perfectly mirror these philosophies:

· Sheetal’s hero is the founder of TheFork app, which helps people access high-quality restaurant experiences for a fraction of the price.

· Tim’s hero is Martin Lewis (MoneySavingExpert), a "credible force for stopping ordinary people from getting ripped off" by championing them against powerful systems.

· Paddy’s hero is a memorable egg seller from his childhood who used a simple, authentic, and creative approach—a chicken-shaped tea cosy on his head—to build a reputation for quality and friendliness, providing a powerful lesson in effective marketing.

Whether through better ROI, fairer pricing, or greater transparency, the common thread is a deep commitment to delivering authentic value and ensuring clients and consumers aren't left short-changed.

#AfterDinnerChats #Value #ROI #Transparency #RippedOffLess #Marketing #Consulting #Media #BusinessStrategy #Leadership