The idea that TV advertising is a dead medium remains popular simply because digital platforms make it incredibly easy for cautious marketers to track immediate actions. In a challenging economic climate, the temptation to rely on instant metrics is understandable. However, real-world data from Uni-China Group shows that relying entirely on easily trackable digital data damages long-term business growth. Shifting budgets exclusively to low-attention digital formats costs companies billions in lost revenue compared to high-attention environments like TV.

For more than a decade, marketers have debated whether television is dying. After moderating The Marketing Society Hong Kong's Uncomfortable Conversations: Is TV Dead? panel, I came away convinced we have been asking the wrong question. Television isn't dead. Consumers have simply changed how they consume video, moving seamlessly between broadcast television, streaming platforms and digital video.

The Marketing Society session I participated in asked a familiar question: Is TV dead? I don’t think that is the most useful question anymore.

The pace of digital and technological change has never been greater, bringing with it extraordinary opportunities to drive growth, build brands and deliver exceptional customer experiences. A summary of our global Navigate Now and Next series from five of our hubs.

Highlights and insights from Navigate: Now and Next 2026 Hong Kong. Leading through complexity and fragmentation. Hong Kong's discussions centred on leadership in an increasingly fragmented environment. The emphasis was on navigating short-term commercial pressures while maintaining long-term thinking, managing increasingly complex customer journeys and recognising that strong leadership and human judgement are essential in a world of accelerating automation.

The discussion explored how marketing effectiveness is being weakened by short-term optimisation, fragmented measurement, and over-reliance on AI-driven efficiency, while reinforcing the need for stronger brand building, long-term thinking, and clearer strategic discipline.

A reflection from Navigate: Now and Next (Hong Kong), shaped both behind the scenes and on stage. Drawing on planning discussions and the event itself, this piece explores where marketers are converging on what matters most - from AI and trust to the balance between brand and performance.

Fourteen senior marketing and business leaders across APAC share their honest perspectives on the tensions defining modern marketing leadership, from AI and measurement to brand building and organisational complexity, in partnership with Ekimetrics.

Ines Lam reviews her address to The Marketing Society Hong Kong, exploring geopolitical volatility, US tariff uncertainty, AI-driven workforce transformation, China’s outbound capital shift, and why organisational agility is essential for business leaders navigating 2026’s evolving global landscape.

Greg Carton reviews the From Macro to Market - Asia’s Economic Trends by HSBC's Ines Lam