Interview: Lee Kum Kee's Eric Lin on why taking 'calculated' risk is essential for innovation

In today’s unpredictable business landscape, marketers are under more pressure than ever to do more with less. While in Hong Kong, local ad spending recorded an 8% YOY drop in the first two months of 2025, reaching a total of HK$5 billion, according to AdmanGo.   

The decrease in the overall ad spending in the city can be attributed to US tariffs, which have made advertisers more cautious in allocating resources, said the report. Ad spending across industries also fluctuated due to adjustments for the Lunar New Year, with varying degrees of change by sector.   

Budgets are tightening, expectations are rising, and every dollar spent is under the microscope. The question isn’t whether to market—but how to market smarter. In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Eric Lin, general manager, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Lee Kum Kee, said as a big believer of being focused, he is choiceful to invest marketing spending in fewer yet bigger ideas consistently.   

“It’s time to candidly review all your product initiative ideas from a consumer’s perspective. What are those really creating superior value to consumers, solving meaningful consumer pain points and creating edge versus competition? In Lee Kum Kee, we called these initiatives ‘the big bets’, prioritising not just marketing spending, but also organisation resources behind to make it successful.” 

Furthermore, he said brands should constantly ask “what should we stop doing?”. “Have the discipline to say no to investment on unproductive product portfolio and “legacy” marketing activities, something has been a while but stop delivering consumers and business value.” 

Building “data and analytics” capabilities should be an on-going organisation focus, and it’s particularly critical for better promotion planning and media effectiveness, according to Lin. “More or deeper promotion is often not the solution for growth, but smarter promotion does. Deep dive on questions such as the value drivers of different consumer segments, spending pattern, price elasticity and competition correlation.”  

It’s truly a cross-function effort involving marketing and sales, finance, research and supply chain team to leverage data insights for optimising promotion ROI down to SKU level, he added. “As an ongoing practice, ask what’s the least effective 20% of promotion spending? Avoid over-promoting and leave money on the table.” 

Striking the right balance 

When budgets are tight, marketers often face the tough choice between doubling down on proven strategies or testing something new. Lin said this is often a dilemma when short-term business pressure is intense, “but I like the quote ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results’. Robustly testing new ideas and capabilities is the pre-requisite for sustainable growth and future proof.” 

He added that the 70:20:10 framework is his favourite reference, by investing 70% in core initiatives, the bread-and-butter activities with a track record of success; 20% in growth initiatives, exploring trend and whitespace ideas as future growth engine; and 10% in Venture initiatives, experimenting high-risk, high-return game-changing ideas.  

Nonetheless, striking the balance is more an art than science, he said, adding that he tends to ensure the organisation keeps updated on changing consumer and market trends and being over-sufficient in crafting and testing new ideas.  

“In Lee Kum Kee, while driving innovation is everyone’s job, we formed a dedicated team with financial resources and a more agile and externally connected innovation process to manage Growth and Venture initiatives. This has become a key enabler for us to speed up entrance into new product categories, testing new digital business models, and leveraging AI technology to transform customer experience,” he added. 

Key takeaways for marketers 

Despite the fact that bold, innovative marketing can capture consumers’ hearts and drive standout results, managing internal expectations remains crucial—especially when budgets are tight. Lin said every transformation journey starts from seeing the urgency to change. 

“For example, objectively sharing the business reality, especially consumers’ voice and competition dynamic; articulating what’s the limitation of current ways of doing. A compelling 'case for change' story opens people’s minds to taking risks.” 

Furthermore, brands should envision the strategic value of the experiment, he added. “Are you solving a compelling consumer problem? The bigger the problem, the bigger the stake, and try quantifying the size of future growth opportunities. If this idea is successfully implemented, will it become a competitive edge against the competition?” 

Blind optimism can hardly work while taking “calculated” risk is essential for innovation, he added. “Start the experiment small with an MVP (minimum viable product), test out the proposition before further investment; Start the experiment in one lead market or product category, before roll-out broadly. Communication plays a big role in sustaining investment support, setting some milestones and indicators upfront and proactively sharing learnings and progress to key stakeholders.” 

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