Bridging the Cultural Divide between East and West with Derek Koenig

Warriors at Work

Warriors at Work is celebrating 5 years this coming March and we are kicking off 2025 with a great interview with Derek Koenig - marketing & creative extraordinaire. He shares with us highlights from his 25 year career, what he learned from his work around the globe and his most recent assignment in Shanghai, China. Derek takes us on his journey of ideas, incredible business results, and inspirational stories of pushing through fear and playing with boundaries.
Whether you are looking to expand your business, locally or globally, or even in to the Asia Pacific region, this conversation is for you.
Throughout his 25-year career, Derek Koenig has combined team-building leadership, strategic acumen and award-winning creative storytelling to deliver record-breaking business results around the globe. Demonstrating equal expertise on both the strategic and creative sides of the content continuum, Koenig connects insights, data and innovative creative for break-through brand solutions. As VP Marketing for The North Face on assignment living in Shanghai China, Koenig led strategic and creative development for all consumer platforms driving awareness, relevance, consideration and conversion for the brand and product portfolio in the APAC region (including ANZ), doubling the business to reach $1B in sales in under 2 years.
(3:38) - How does Derek describe himself? He also talks about tapping into the qualities of both sides of our brains.
(5:40) - Derek shares a stand out moment when working at The Discovery Channel.
(9:00) Derek shares his experience working at North Face and expanding their brand in Asia.
(14:10) What did Derek know about himself, what critical skills did he posses, that helped him complete the task?
(16:57) What were some of the critical things Derek needed to do to create the level of engagement that North Face wanted in China?
(20:25) What was most challenging for him during this time? How did the cultural differences play a part in his approach?
(24:41) Derek shares some of the relationships he made while on this journey.
(29:02) Derek shares one of his extraordinary initiatives while he was in China.
(36:03) How did this experience shape how he views creative and marketing?
(45:22) Derek talks about how he shares his experiences and lessons in the classroom?
(47:53) What advice does he want to share with our community?
Connect with Derek Koenig
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dekoenig/
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