Daniel studied a postgrad Diploma in Marketing & Advertising Communications with us in 2001. Now he’s based in Hong Kong, working as Red Bull’s General Manager of Greater China. Read what he has to say about his Red & Yellow experience.
Give us your elevator pitch… who are you, what do you do, what gets you outta bed every day?
I lead Red Bull’s business in Greater China, a region that consists of Hong Kong, China and Macau. I live in a beautiful place on the South China Sea and I dream about South Africa’s waves and Japan’s mountains every day. I have also been privileged enough to live in Omotesando in Tokyo and in the heart of Shanghai. I’m an eternal student of marketing and I am passionate about travelling, learning, and sharing my experiences with others to help them to be better at what they do. Weirdly enough, I am also passionate about economics and politics.
When someone says “Red & Yellow” what are your immediate thoughts, memories or feelings?
The best year of my life
Please complete this open-ended sentence: “Red & Yellow taught me…”
That I was not alone, was amazed every day to find that there were people just like me from all over the world to learn with, party with, fight with, strive with and ultimately try to take over the world with.
Tell us about your most memorable experience at Red & Yellow on campus? Preferably good.
That would be the day I finished my thesis. I and the 2 Michelle’s, my 2 partners in the project, presented barefoot (because we could), and nailed it. That night we partied until dawn, so full of Red Bull. As we watched the sun coming up from the slopes on Table Mountain, it was the ultimate movie moment. It was the end, it was the beginning, it was a defining time.
You’ve been invited to answer these questions because you’re in the Red & Yellow “alumni hall of fame”, tell our readers how important it is to have a digital marketing qualification these days and describe the types of career paths it can unlock?
Quite simply the world has moved past event marketing and it has moved past advertising. All that matters now are experiences, and the consumption and flaunting of them: as people, we are now defined by the content that we consume and share. It’s no different for business. Your business will fail in the long term if the experience it offers is not significant for consumers, because there’s someone in China who can do it better and cheaper. That experience has to be physical, social and digital, and it has to be “broadcastable”. If you’re a strong digital marketer, and you know how to do all of this, your career is locked for life. Our digital team are the most important people in our team because e-commerce is connected to social, which is connected to a cashless society in China and you can just imagine where that future will take all of us.
