From Entry to Belonging: Winning Emerging Markets

In this episode of Points of Growth, the conversation turns to one of the defining business questions of 2025: how can global brands expand into emerging markets in a way that truly resonates with local consumers?

TRAILER

Manfred:
The customer was asking us, we don't understand, but somehow we are losing our client and our potential customer on the way in the sales funnel.

Swithin:
If your product doesn't speak the local language, respect traditions, or reflect values, it's invisible.

Neha:
How important is it to localize beyond just translating content?

Manfred:
You really, really need to have a local team that knows not only the language, but also can really help you in terms of your messaging.

Swithin:
I mean, the goal isn't just, you know, market entry — it's market belonging, and that's how you stay.

EPISODE

Neha:
Hi, everyone. My name is Neha, and this is Points of Growth, a podcast about the ad tech industry by Yango Ads. Here, we unite marketing and business specialists alike to discuss advertising, app monetization, current trends, and challenges.

In past episodes, we've covered the technology behind it all, but there's actually one key topic that we haven't explored yet. Cue drumroll, please… That is geography.

So today, we're entering the area of new markets. If you're looking to expand your business beyond the Western or English-speaking world to reach new customers, you will be entering the territory of emerging markets. So the question is, how do you build up your business presence in a local language and culture? What's important to keep in mind, and how do you advertise effectively across the world?

So our speakers today are Manfred Schlosser, Director of Advertising Sales for Europe and Northern America at Yango.

Manfred:
Hi, Neha.

Neha:
And Swithin D’Silva, General Manager for the Smart Device Business in the MENA region at Yango.

Swithin:
Hi, Neha, thank you for inviting us to the show.

Neha:
Welcome, guys. It's actually very nice to meet you, and I'm possibly going to be asking everyone their most favorite question in the world. Please tell us about yourselves.

Swithin:
I'm Swithin D’Silva, General Manager for Yango Smart Devices Business in the MENA region. I've been in this part of the world for the past 20 years across multinationals and some startups as well. I'm proud to be a member of Yango and am enjoying my work in the region, as well as with the team.

Manfred:
My name is Manfred Schlosser. I'm the Director for Advertising Sales at Yango for Europe and North America. In the past, I also had the pleasure of opening the Latin American markets for advertising at Yango, where I was running the Latin American business for two years. This is also my part of the emerging markets.

I also have a personal connection to emerging markets. My parents were born in an emerging market — Kazakhstan, to be exact. So I had the luck to grow up with different cultures in my house. And I'm very, very happy to be here and to be talking about the importance and the opportunities in emerging markets.

Neha:
So we actually kicked off this podcast by exploring 2025's top trends, right? For our listeners, check out our first episode if you've missed it. And the one thing that stood out was that emerging markets are a major trend today.

Now, first things first, let's talk a little bit about the concept of emerging markets. Why do we use the term? Which countries are considered emerging, and why is it such a trend right now?

Manfred:
I think emerging markets are economies in transition, first and foremost. What we can see across all the emerging markets all over the world is very fast GDP growth. This GDP growth is much higher in most cases than in the old established Western markets. You see a rapidly expanding middle class.

And of course, with this expanding middle class comes rising consumer spending. This is something that all the emerging markets have in common. And then, of course, there are a lot of ongoing economic and political reforms. So what we see is actually a little bit more stability and opportunity for long-term investments.

We see a lot of increasing foreign direct investments, or FDIs, in emerging markets all over the world. And then, of course, evolving financial markets that we can see with growing stock exchanges. This makes emerging markets so important right now for all multinational companies and represents a great opportunity to grow your business.

Swithin:
I think Western markets are already mature and saturated. Brand trust, privacy, and experience dominate all these markets, and they've been around for years.

In emerging markets, you see the GDP jumping, you see so many people moving up into different social strata. It's exciting for marketers and business leaders to see these markets, because this is where the real money is going. Foreign direct investment, as Manfred said, is flowing into these markets at a rapid rate.

In emerging markets, I think it's more about access, affordability, and aspiration. You're not just selling a product — you’re often delivering first-time access to tech or new services, which is really exciting to witness. In the West, I guess you disrupt an old habit, but in emerging markets, you often create a new one.

Neha:
Let's move on and say, okay, if we were to compare in broad terms Western markets to emerging markets, what would you say are the key differences depending on geography, of course?

Swithin:
Western markets, I guess, are already mature and very saturated. So in our markets, in terms of the products that we bring in and the kind of consumers we have, we can almost see an elation in terms of new products that we are bringing to the market.

The products we're currently talking about are smart speakers — the AI smart speakers that we have brought to the region — and of course, a localized, regionalized version. It is literally delightful to watch consumers interacting with our products at various touch points. They are so elated to see this kind of technology and how relevant it is to their lives.

Another example I can share: I was in Kenya almost five years ago, and coming from Dubai, I thought that we were the absolute top notch in terms of fintech. But when I went there, I watched people moving money from one person to another just on the phone. It's a system called M-Pesa. And that just blew my mind. I thought, this is the kind of stuff that we in advanced markets, and even Europe as well, Manfred, haven't really seen. These guys have leapfrogged and gone way, way, way ahead in terms of this kind of technology.

Manfred:
Coming from the European market, when I was for the first time on business in Latin America — particularly spending a lot of time in Brazil, the biggest market in Latin America, in São Paulo — I realized that so many companies were actually doing a lot of business through WhatsApp. And not only in terms of messaging, but also for customer service, e-commerce, and payments.

That was surprising for me because WhatsApp is something that in a business context we absolutely never use in Europe.

I could really see that in this developing market of Brazil, things are dealt with very differently. The pace of how stakeholders are communicating with each other — companies and people — is much faster. We are still using quite a lot of emails in Europe and also in the US, while in Brazil and Latin America, I experienced that everything was handled much, much faster.

That was very interesting to see. From a bigger perspective, if you look at demographics: Europe and the US are comparably older societies. Maybe that is one of the reasons we are still using older communication styles like email.

Meanwhile, these emerging markets are much younger in their approach. They are more flexible in trying something new and are communicating with these different platforms. All of these little experiences make it fascinating to work in these markets.

Neha:
So I'm going to jump in here because I am guilty — or not so guilty — since I use Line and WhatsApp. Line is more predominantly used in Thailand. Things need to move really fast. For example, I send meeting invites on WhatsApp saying, Hey, can you join this call? There's no long introduction like, Hi, are you free? Can I reschedule this call?

But that's one of the challenges I’ve found: being so accessible to some of my clients. I'm not going to get into the work-life balance bit because that's not today’s topic. But it comes down to this question: how fast are we going to move things along?

Now, we're already moving so quickly with WhatsApp, Line, and Telegram to get things up and running. But let’s talk a little bit about the challenges — challenges behind it all. Now, as a new business looking at moving into an emerging market, what could possibly be the biggest challenges a business would face?

Is it difficult for them to get into the cultural context, or is it the social context?

Swithin:
I think the biggest challenge is assuming that global success equals local fit. I think all of us would agree that culture eats strategy for breakfast any day. If your product doesn’t speak the local language, respect traditions, or reflect values, it’s invisible.

It’s not just about localization — it’s about cultural integration. Without empathy, our tech is just noise.

Let me give you a very clear example of what happened when we were launching our smart device business in the MENA region.

I remember it vividly because I was at a resort in Bali, and we were on a call — cross-functional teams across so many regions. I was enjoying myself, but we had this amazing conversation. And the question was: How soon can we launch our product?

I said, Guys, we have to change our mindset to be local first. It’s not about the product, it’s about changing your mindset.

For context: smart speakers. As a company, we are pretty big worldwide — market leaders with 80% market share. We understand this business. But when we came to the UAE and the MENA region, we actually had to regionalize the product.

It took two years to develop the Arabic language. We created a bilingual product in Arabic and English. We even auditioned people to capture the Khaliji accent and got the right person in place — who is now a celebrity. We had linguists and professors working on the language for two years, and we spent an amazing amount of money just to make the product culturally relevant: to understand what Iftar is, what Ramadan is, Islamic scenarios, and so many other details.

Finally, after doing several rounds of research into the name — what would appeal to the maximum number of people — we launched Yasmina by Yango. That’s one scenario of true localization.

Manfred:
I fully agree with Swithin that localization is absolutely critical for success. I vividly remember a case of an Italian fashion brand expanding into Central Asia — a very well-known brand.

We compared their advertising in Italy with their advertising in Central Asia. And the customer was asking us, We don’t understand. Somehow, we are losing our clients and potential customers in the sales funnel.

It turned out that they weren’t having the same conversion rate as in Italy. They thought it was a branding problem. We checked their brand awareness and, since it was a very well-known brand, awareness in Central Asia was nearly the same as in Italy.

So the issue had to be elsewhere. What we found was that many customers dropped off at the very last step — when making the purchase.

There were two key problems:

Payment options. The brand was using the same system as in Italy, mainly credit cards. They ignored local payment options, which is a huge mistake.

Delivery times. Their delivery promise was two to three working days, which is considered fine in Europe. But in emerging markets, it’s seen as very slow — because competitors were offering same-day or next-day delivery.

If a customer is buying online, they want it immediately. Otherwise, they could just go to a store and get it straight away.

We worked with them to adapt. They found a local partner for last-mile delivery. At Yango, we also specialize in this area. Adapting to customer expectations — whether that means local payment methods or faster delivery times — is crucial for success.

Neha:
I was just about to ask, What’s wrong with two to three working days? And then you said people get same-day delivery. Wow.

Okay, let’s talk platforms. Are there platform-specific trends like WeChat in China, Telegram in Russia, or TikTok in Southeast Asia? How do businesses navigate challenges like regulations, ad formats, or payment methods?

Swithin:
Looking at platforms, let’s take Amazon and Noon, for example. Neha, coming back to your point about delivery — you should see what’s happening here. We have 15-minute delivery, 45-minute delivery for certain products.

We work closely with both the big players — Noon and Amazon. And if your product reaches a certain level of consumer interest, you automatically qualify for faster delivery slots like 15 or 45 minutes. That’s one clear case.

Neha:
Wow. Fifteen-minute delivery — unheard of.

Manfred Schlosser:
I can fully agree with Swithin. In Latin America, I saw this with Mercado Libre, the dominant e-commerce platform in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

Doing business with them means adapting not just to their ad systems but also to their logistics network, Mercado Envios. Here’s why:

When we entered the market, we offered geo-targeting — just like in Europe and the US. You could target São Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, but exclude rural areas. Great.

But Mercado Libre wanted something deeper: the ability to include or exclude specific neighborhoods, down to postcodes. I asked why. And they said: Manfred, have you ever been to a favela? Go see one, and you’ll understand.

So I did. The next day, I went on a tour of Rocinha, one of the largest favelas in Rio. And I realized: there are no street names, no functioning postal system. Deliveries are nearly impossible.

So why advertise to someone who can’t even receive your product? That experience taught me how crucial it is to adapt technology to local realities. Things I’d never even considered in Europe or the US became obvious in Latin America.

Neha:
That reminds me of a recent case. A restaurant told us, We only want to target customers within 10–15 km of the restaurant. We asked why, and they said, Nobody will travel more than 30 km in Bangkok traffic to eat here.

They were right. Traffic is horrendous. They needed to reach people close enough to realistically visit.

So my next question: how important is it to localize beyond just translating content? What mistakes do companies make when trying to localize?

Swithin:
More often than not, companies confuse translation with localization. Culture, context, consumer behavior — these are often ignored.

Take Uber’s entry into the MENA region in 2017. They came in flushed with funds, spending heavily on marketing. But they didn’t localize. Meanwhile, Kareem, the local competitor, had Arabic branding, local teams, local call centers, and bilingual interfaces.

Most importantly, Kareem understood that people didn’t want to use credit cards. Uber insisted on them. In three years, Uber realized it wasn’t working. They ended up spending $3.2 billion to acquire Kareem, which still dominates today.

The lesson: you can’t copy-paste relevance.

Manfred:
Absolutely. Let me add an example. TikTok, a global platform, adapts its algorithm differently for each market. The same principle applies to us at Yango: our advertising algorithms must adapt to local realities in Argentina, Brazil, Germany, or France.

Even McDonald’s, a global giant, localizes its menu. Wherever you go, they have items you won’t find anywhere else. That’s how global brands stay relevant — by mixing global identity with local flavor.

Swithin:
Exactly. At Yango, we call this “thinking global but acting local.” The brand DNA, voice, and values stay consistent, but user experiences are localized.

Take our Yasmina product. It always sounds warm, helpful, and smart, no matter the geography. The look and feel is consistent worldwide, but partnerships differ locally. In Dubai, for instance, if you’re not partnering with Noon, Carrefour, or Etisalat, you’re basically invisible.

Neha:
So entering new markets is challenging enough, but how do you not just enter — how do you stay? How do you achieve long-term expansion?

Swithin:
The first thing is people. Local teams with deep market expertise. My team in the UAE collectively has over 100 years of experience. They understand the demographics and lifestyle of a market where only 10–12% are locals, and 88% are expats.

Partnerships also matter — master distributors, sub-distributors, and retailers. We work across all levels to make sure the brand is present and understood.

And influencers — one example: we worked with a high-profile Arabic influencer who posted about us. That resonated with the CEO of a major company, who later decided to incorporate our product into their business across the GCC.

Manfred:
I fully agree. Hiring local talent is key. Without local people, you stand no chance. Companies often copy-paste what worked at home and fail.

Take Walmart in Germany. They brought the US model — cheerful greeters, bagging services — but Germans found it unnecessary and invasive. Walmart never lasted 10 years; by 2006, they exited the market.

At Yango, we also adapt ad strategies. In Europe and the US, we target across devices — phones, tablets, laptops, even TVs. But in Latin America, the mobile phone is king. That even influenced Netflix, which offers mobile-only subscriptions in Colombia at a cheaper price. That’s localization.

Swithin:
Exactly. Long-term success means listening before launching, building local teams, co-creating with partners, and staying relevant year after year. Success isn’t just scale — it’s belonging.

Neha:
Manfred, Swithin — thank you so much. There’s no textbook for expanding into new markets, but today we’ve highlighted some excellent points.

While entering new markets, you may need a guide to help you be heard and find your customers. Yango Ads has profound experience in emerging markets. We know how to target, advertise, and monetize both locally and globally. Explore our product portfolio on the website and discover your new points of growth with us.

The link is in the episode description, and stick around for upcoming episodes where we discuss all things ad tech. Take care.