The Brand and Demand Love Story: Unlocking 2025 Growth in Southeast Asia

Consumers in Southeast Asia (SEA) are changing daily, requiring brands to undergo rapid transformation to stay relevant. Leading companies are using data and AI to deliver hyper-personalized experiences to the region’s young, tech-savvy consumers. They are embracing sustainability to reflect consumer values.  

In this dynamic interplay between consumer expectations and tech innovation, these innovative companies are setting the stage for a new era of marketing. Exceptional marketing teams know they must integrate brand and demand throughout the entire customer journey in ways that mutually reinforce one another to drive growth.  

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Brand-led experiences encourage exploration and advocacy, creating long-term relationships. Demand-led initiatives help customers use products and services most fully and keep the brand voice and promise front and center. In short, brand changes perceptions. And demand alters behavior. Both are vital. And when they are interwoven at each stage of the customer’s journey—from consideration, purchase and onboarding—organizations are more likely to find success. 

Prophet’s latest research has unveiled the key actions that winning companies across the world have in common, from which we identified four core principles that are especially important in SEA.  

Adapt Quickly: Embrace Experimentation with a Growth Mindset 

The digital savviness of SEA’s young consumers is growing and changing so fast that marketers can barely keep up. Companies are exploring new technologies more quickly, scaling what works and discarding what doesn’t.  

Companies know it’s not enough to be an early adopter – they want to be ahead of the curve. They need to codify an experimental approach to new channels and tactics.  

While not all marketers do this well, Prophet’s latest research has found clear trends among the most successful marketing organizations. Compared to companies that lag the average, these higher-achieving CMOs are courageous, lifelong learners, with 82% saying they are willing to try new processes, compared to 61% of CMOs from less successful firms. They are at ease leading teams with people with more expertise, at 80% versus 64%. And they are far more likely—71% versus 48%—to say they support their teams in experimentation, even through failures. 

Shopee is one of the region’s best examples of adaptability. This innovative e-commerce online platform provides customers easy, secure and fast online shopping. It keeps up with young people by consistently adapting to the region’s evolving e-commerce landscape by swiftly incorporating gamification and fintech services. For instance, Shopee has effectively integrated social commerce features like Shopee Live which allows sellers to showcase products in livestreams and enables direct interaction with buyers, creating an immersive shopping experience and accelerating purchasing decisions. Shopee Live played a crucial role in Malaysia and Thailand’s 9.9 Super Shopping Day, boosting sales by over 6x. 

However, this growth couldn’t happen without a concerted integration of brand and demand. Long-term brand visions are built with consistent brand-building activities in its memorable marketing campaigns. Shopee’s annual 9.9 Super Shopping Day campaign embodies its core values of simplicity, joy and community, building strong brand recognition and excitement. With a brand DNA that is centred on fun, Shopee is able to deliver engaging experiences to continuously drive demand, foster loyalty and sustain growth.  

Increase Customer-Centricity: Data is the Engine 

Many organizations are rich in data. But who “owns” it and how efficiently that data is shared and used makes all the difference. In the most successful organizations, the marketing team is also the most customer-obsessed. They are responsible for customer insights and data, utilizing them to better inform brand and demand efforts – from reinforcing positioning and value propositions, targeting and segmentation, to building a robust loyalty program. 

In companies that most effectively balance brand and demand, customer data and insights are tied to measurable business outcomes.  

DBS Bank, based in Singapore and operating in 19 markets across Asia, blends a customer-centric approach with data-driven personalization and seamless brand-demand integration. Its latest brand campaign, “Trust your spark,” is a brand effort that humanizes banking through real-life stories, evoking emotion and strengthening connections. Using YouTube Instant Reserve, DBS Bank personalizes content with audience interests—food lovers see ads on reducing food waste—enhancing engagement. Using first-party data from Google’s Analytics 360, the bank tracks customer journeys, optimizing ad spend and re-engaging audiences effectively. This data-driven strategy fuels measurable impact, with 15% of new business-related loans and SME products originating from Sparks viewers. With these insights, DBS Bank can make data-driven decisions to optimize future brand campaigns, ensuring its marketing efforts resonates emotionally while driving tangible business results. 

Integrate Short-Term Tech Wins with Long-Term Brand Building 

The rise of tech-enabled demand-generation tactics is reshaping marketing across the region. From predictive analytics and automation to real-time personalization, companies are leveraging technology to drive immediate customer acquisition and conversion at unprecedented speed. According to the e-Conomy SEA 2024 report, most organizations in the region can transition from an initial idea to execution in just six months, with 70% reporting a favourable return on investment (ROI) attributable to GenAI workflows within a year of implementation. 

While these tools accelerate short-term wins, brands must resist the temptation to prioritize quick gains at the expense of long-term brand building. Brand and demand cannot be seen as trade-offs, but as complementary forces. Prophet’s research found that the most successful leaders are those who confidently measure and manage the long and short-term simultaneously. In our study, 84% of marketers who are top performers can manage short-term and long-term KPIs effectively, compared to only 57% of all respondents. The key is “bothism”—embracing the power of tech-driven growth while making sustained investments in brand building. 

POSB Bank, a subsidiary of DBS Bank in Singapore, exemplifies the “bothism” approach by integrating tech-enabled demand generation with brand building in its recent “Treat Yourself Right” campaign. Using AI-powered age-morphing visuals, POSB Bank crafted deeply personal and relatable narratives that illustrate the evolving financial needs of Singaporeans over time. This reinforces POSB Bank’s position as a lifelong financial partner, fostering stronger brand affinity.  

Shangri-La Circle, a five-star luxury hotel brand’s loyalty program in Asia, is pioneering the future of hospitality with its technology by driving immediate operational efficiencies while simultaneously investing in initiatives that enhance the guest experience and build long-term brand loyalty. Shangri-La leverages advanced technology, including NeXRobot for contactless in-room service, a WeChat Mini Program for seamless guest requests and a smart check-in system to reduce staff workload. At the same time, a user-centric booking experience and an AI-powered local marketing platform help personalize guest interactions, optimize customer journeys, and strengthen brand loyalty across its global network. These show that brands can integrate technology seamlessly with the brand experience, ensuring that short-term wins and long-term brand equity coexist in a modern marketing strategy.