Potluck

In this episode, Scott & Drago sit down to stir the pot with Clay Schouest, Chief Strategy Officer at Dentsu APAC.  Clay has recently launched a  controversial new paper "The Imagination Economy: When AI Stops Executing and Starts Imagining on Our Behalf" and we dig right into it.  A deep and creative thinker, he brings a bunch of exotic recipes, throws in more than a pinch of salt a...

In this episode, Scott & Drago sit down to stir the pot with Zoe Chen. Formerly of BBH Singapore and Virtue ASIA, she's a strategy director who's worked over the years with some of the most exciting global and regional brands - Nike, Coca Cola, Toyota, Shiseido and Diageo.  She's been the driving force behind some fascinating cultural research, including the piece we're exp...

In the age of AI and social media  live events can be more valuable than ever in bringing people together, contributing to culture, and harnessing community. But it's all too easy for brands walk into the trap of simply badging events and box-ticking against hollow metrics.  To stir the pot on all this, Scott and Drago speak with Hass Aminian, founder of Millennial Events.  Hass paints a pict...

In this episode, Scott & Drago stir the pot with the fabulous Wendy Walker,  President of the International Advertisers Association (IAA) in Singapore.  Formerly, Wendy's led marketing at brands such as Telstra, Bupa, Manulife, Mindshare, and Salesforce. She's worked across B2C and B2B in countrywide roles in Australia, and Asia regional, as well as in global roles since moving to Si...

In Part 2 of our conversation with Olivia Plotnick, founder of Wai Social, we go beyond Chinese New Year campaigns to explore what's really happening on the ground across China — far from the Shanghai bubble. Last year, Olivia completed something remarkable: a 60-day solo journey through 32 lower-tier Chinese cities, covering over 1,200 kilometres on foot, documenting retail transformation an...

In this episode, Potluck hosts Scott and Drago sit down face-to-face with Singapore's most recognisable voice - that of Angel Teo. Angelique Nicolette Teo, aka Angel, is host of the BIG SHOW on Kiss92 - one of Singapore’s most popular and iconic morning radio shows, Angel’s been in the public eye—and ear—for the past 20+ years as an EMCEE, moderator, host, model and online creator. Her incred...

In this episode of Potluck, hosts Scott and Drago discuss Chinese New Year 2026 with Olivia Plotnick, founder of Wai Social, a Shanghai-based agency helping global brands navigate China's unique social media ecosystem. Olivia's insights regularly feature in the Financial Times and Jing Daily, and she's become a go-to voice on what it actually takes to connect with Chinese consumers....

In this episode of Potluck, hosts Scott and Drago discuss Tet, the Lunar New Year in Vietnam, with Dinh Cao, Associate Strategy Director at Leo Burnett Vietnam. Dinh highlights the cultural significance of Tet, noting it as a week-long public holiday for renewal and family gatherings.  She explains how younger generations, particularly Gen Z, are reshaping Tet traditions with modern twists while m...

We kick off 2026 with Ci En Lee , Senior Media Strategist at Publicis Media Singapore, children's book author ("Short of Nothing" 📖), trends aficionado 📈, and Rising Star Award winner 🏆 at both the Singapore Media Marketing Awards and Marketing-Interactive's Agency of the Year Awards. Ci En is a passionate voice for inclusivity in advertising—dedicated to showing the world t...

We continue our conversations with leaders in the space of the experience of the older adult in Asia, and this time, our guest is Anna Mori.  Anna is an executive officer at TDS, a strategic design company based in Tokyo, and Learning Design Director at digital creative business school Hyper Island Japan. She is a trained graphic designer and has worked with global brands on a variety of projects...

We continue our exploration of the retirement experience in Asia, and this time, our guide is QiNi Lee.  QiNi brings a unique perspective as Sodexo's Corporate Responsibility and DEI lead for Malaysia and Singapore, combining her academic background in gerontology with government, NGO and corporate experience. She helps us shed light on how businesses can tap into the opportunity the retireme...

We sit down with Dave McCaughan as we continue exploring "The New Contract of Retirement" across Asia.  Dave has coined, championed, and now serves as the epitome of "The New Life Builder" . But what is this "New Life" actually built on, and why should brands look to be part of its foundations? With four decades of advertising experience with McCann across Bangkok, Ho...

As we're continuing our journey into the world of retirement, our guide today is Dr. Shiori Shakuto, author of "After Work: Japanese Silver Backpackers in Malaysia." In this episode, Shiori is helping Drago and Scott explore the evolving perceptions of retirement across Asia. Dr. Shakuto's groundbreaking anthropological research reveals how Japanese retirees are rejecting tradi...

Scott and Drago return, introducing their new research: Retirement: The New Contract. Silvers, Seniors, Boomers ...labels that dismiss older adults as a homogeneous audience. Yet, across developed Asia, the older demographic is growing not only in size, but also in its diversity, influence and spending power. So, why are they so often ignored or misrepresented by brands? With the nature of work ra...

Objects: things we covet, collect, display, share and utilise. But what do they mean as ‘stuff’ increasingly integrates with our digital lives, or even morphs into virtual worlds? Who better to ask than Justin Peyton from Wunderman Thompson, whose BRAND N3XT platform explores the people and ideas that are working to make Web3 and Metaverse a positive force for people, business and society. In Potl...

This time, it's Chris Arning who's come to stir the pot with Drago and Scott. Chris runs boutique consultancy Creative Semiotics, teaches an online course titled How to Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks and is the co-founder of Semiofest, and more... What did we get up to stirring up: - We start off with that perennial question of what is Semiotics. - Chris shares some examples from applying S...

Potluck returns for our 3rd season, and the first episode of 2022. Pei Ying Loh is Head & Co-Founder of Kontinentalist, an organisation dedicated to telling data-driven stories about Asia.  As a collective of writers, designers, developers and data-visualisers, they tackle topics connected to Culture, Politics, People and History through various creative approaches. Our discussion charts: - Th...

Before Scott and Drago hang their aprons and ladles for the year, they sit down to stir the pot one last time in 2021. The two hosts discuss their favourite parts of the conversations they've had throughout the year with Katie Dreke, Ambrish Chaudhry, Charlotte Wilkinson, Ajay Jilka, Jocelyn Tse, Simon Chadwick, Vasuki Shastry and Peter Smyth. Among other things, they're discussing... -...

Hear the full feast of our conversation with Peter Smyth, a man of many talents, analogies and stories! We follow his cycle from Toronto to Hong Kong, onwards to Tokyo – and now back. Where his career has spanned both big agency life (BBDO) and the world of luxury marketing with Louis Vuitton and latterly Van Cleef & Arpels. We lift the lid on Asia and particularly Japan via his deft tips for...

In the third and final part of our conversation with Peter Smyth, we have the usual conversation for this segment around three main areas: Flavour of the Month, where we travel back in time to Honda motorbike's entry into the US in 1962. In Brand Bullshit, Pete takes on the linearity of decision making in business and marketing strategy. Fortunate Failures draws the curtain on Pete's exp...

In Part 2 - ‘Hacking Humans’, we fold in the next layer of our conversation with Peter Smyth. This time, Drago and I enjoy hearing his modus operandi for understanding people and culture… ·       ‘Thinking in bets’, and how life is far more poker than chess ·       How great insight boils down to great people illuminating the opportunity ahead… ·       Balancing gut instinct vs. ‘what the data is...

Drago and Scott are stirring the pot - with Peter Smyth, Head of Marketing & Comms at Van Cleef & Arpels Japan. A strategy legend in Japan, Peter is with BBDO for 16 years - in Toronto, HK and Tokyo.  He then moves to client side to become VP of Comms and Marketing at Louis Vuitton Japan before joining Van Cleef. Peter has been in Japan for 16 years until his recent move to Toronto with hi...

Settle down to hear the full feast of our conversation with Vasuki Shastry, author of 'Has Asia Lost It? Dynamic Past, Turbulent Future'.   Vasuki is an inspiring writer, thinker and leader; formerly of the IMF and Standard Chartered Bank, building on his earlier experience in journalism and academia. Today  he’s an Associate Asia Pacific Fellow at the thinktank Chatham House, and Senior...

From Dante's inferno, to Brand Burns...rounding off our conversation with Vasuki is our quickfire segment...  Flavour(s) of the month: on a lighter note, we touch on the eclectic range of literature that’s on his summer reading list, and how fiction can play an important part in grasping cultural realities. Brand bullshit: how the decoupling of the US and China markets is far from inevitable,...

A 20-minute ride through Mumbai with an auto rickshaw driver, two contrasting realities, and a sudden epiphany for our author. In part 2, Vasuki discusses how human stories helped him anchor the heavy hitting challenges facing developing Asia today. We zoom in on two of the eight ‘circles of hell’ discussed in the book: 1) The Middle Class Trap: how the path towards an aspirational and vibrant mid...