WEBVTT 00:00:00.980 --> 00:00:03.600 Hi everyone, this is Ella Wong from Good Growth 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.400 for The Vegan Report. Today we're exploring a 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:09.060 question that's been on our minds. How do we 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:11.140 grow the plant -based movement in Asia without 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:14.580 falling into the leaky bucket trap? For those 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:16.940 of you who might be new to us, Good Growth focuses 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:19.620 on research, strategy, and prototyping solutions 00:00:19.620 --> 00:00:22.789 for sustainable food systems in Asia. We just 00:00:22.789 --> 00:00:25.070 released our first good growth strategy brief, 00:00:25.649 --> 00:00:27.750 which we're seeing as a quarterly Intel drop 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:29.969 to share actionable insights we're seeing in 00:00:29.969 --> 00:00:33.090 the field. So before we dive in, a quick reminder 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:35.609 to connect with me. My email and social links 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:38.590 are in the episode notes. You can find new episodes 00:00:38.590 --> 00:00:41.130 every Wednesday on this podcast. And if you found 00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:43.250 this conversation helpful, please share this 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:46.490 episode with your community. So let's start with 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.250 the all protein market. One observation we've 00:00:49.250 --> 00:00:53.039 seen is a gap between interest and action. In 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.899 our research, 75 % of those who have not tried 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:58.399 plant -based meat in Southeast Asia are willing 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:02.179 to try it, but repeat purchases are low. So it 00:01:02.179 --> 00:01:05.040 makes us wonder, is this a demand or a marketing 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:08.560 problem? What we've seen is Western playbooks 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:10.840 that focus on abstract values like saving the 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:13.819 planet may not resonate in Asia, where food choices 00:01:13.819 --> 00:01:16.620 are deeply cultural and driven by specific health 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:21.140 and cost considerations. But instead of concluding 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:23.459 that there's a demand ceiling, we're interested 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:25.739 to explore how the movement could apply market 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:28.579 research to local campaigns. So some ideas that 00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:30.980 we come up with that we think are worth exploring 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:34.859 include marketing consortiums, where organizations 00:01:34.859 --> 00:01:37.680 pool resources to hire the same regional experts 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:41.180 who may have launched successful campaigns in 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:45.040 Asia. Another one is channel testing to see if 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:47.879 messengers like healthcare professionals or targeted 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.500 segment messaging are more effective than broad 00:01:50.500 --> 00:01:53.739 -based campaigns. And this brings us to Nick's 00:01:53.739 --> 00:01:56.319 point about growing the movement. We've noticed 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:58.620 a pattern where international NGOs scale into 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:00.780 new markets but struggle to find a model that 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.659 works on the ground. We call this the leaky bucket, 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:06.680 where resources flow in but we lose credibility 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:09.139 and burn out talent because global strategies 00:02:09.139 --> 00:02:12.770 might conflict with local contexts. So the good 00:02:12.770 --> 00:02:14.770 news is the movement is starting to update on 00:02:14.770 --> 00:02:17.990 these lessons. Our take is that we should explore 00:02:17.990 --> 00:02:20.430 infrastructure that operationalizes contextual 00:02:20.430 --> 00:02:23.729 knowledge. So this isn't just about hiring locally. 00:02:24.129 --> 00:02:26.889 It's about building systems to support this local 00:02:26.889 --> 00:02:30.129 talent. Some soft landing ideas that we think 00:02:30.129 --> 00:02:34.169 are worth exploring include hosting regional 00:02:34.169 --> 00:02:37.539 knowledge sharing forums. So maybe using models 00:02:37.539 --> 00:02:39.939 like fuck up nights, where organizations can 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:43.180 openly share failures and what didn't work before, 00:02:43.460 --> 00:02:47.539 before others commit resources. Or maybe there's 00:02:47.539 --> 00:02:50.580 contextual onboarding kits, so downloadable resources 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:53.719 for priority markets that synthesize desk research, 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:56.860 stakeholder maps, and what's been tried before 00:02:56.860 --> 00:03:00.139 so newcomers don't start from zero. And then 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:02.300 there's also mixed methods intelligence gathering. 00:03:02.669 --> 00:03:05.750 So while we know now that AI is the default research 00:03:05.750 --> 00:03:08.389 tool for most organizations, which makes a lot 00:03:08.389 --> 00:03:10.770 of sense, supplementing that desktop research 00:03:10.770 --> 00:03:13.270 with local insights from advocates and researchers 00:03:13.270 --> 00:03:16.310 on the ground will provide much more context. 00:03:16.870 --> 00:03:18.909 We're currently building a platform for this. 00:03:19.349 --> 00:03:21.689 So DM me if you're interested to know more or 00:03:21.689 --> 00:03:25.569 join us. Finally, we have to look at how we find 00:03:25.569 --> 00:03:28.840 resources to grow the movement. Often the default 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:31.259 is to build more fellowships or incubators to 00:03:31.259 --> 00:03:34.060 support young talent or fundraise from within 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:36.560 the movement. But in Asia, there is a wealth 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.620 of resources from other movements that we should 00:03:38.620 --> 00:03:42.159 consider tapping into. So instead of building 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.460 from scratch, we believe the movement can build 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:47.759 bridges. For example, funding -wise, the top 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:50.120 10 institutional funders like Foundations and 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:52.659 Corporate Giving in Asia give a total average 00:03:52.659 --> 00:03:55.900 of 2 billion US dollars annually. and our movement 00:03:55.900 --> 00:03:59.400 has not tapped into any of these resources. Other 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:01.539 local institutional capital can also be found 00:04:01.539 --> 00:04:03.919 in international schools, chambers of commerce, 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:06.280 and religious foundations that may already have 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:09.120 mandates for public health, climate, or animal 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.120 welfare. And in terms of how to engage newer 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:15.139 donors, we're very interested in events -based 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:18.480 activation, so like shark tank formats or impact 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:21.509 tours. which go beyond traditional pitch decks 00:04:21.509 --> 00:04:24.589 to create experiential, peer -driven engagement 00:04:24.589 --> 00:04:28.569 for regional donors that might be new to vegan 00:04:28.569 --> 00:04:32.430 and plant -based advocacy issues. And with talent, 00:04:32.449 --> 00:04:35.730 we could explore reverse incubation. So recruit 00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:38.350 proven leaders from climate tech, social impact 00:04:38.350 --> 00:04:40.910 sector, and train them in animal advocacy to 00:04:40.910 --> 00:04:42.930 design interventions that make sense locally. 00:04:44.009 --> 00:04:45.790 We're hoping that this strategy brief becomes 00:04:45.790 --> 00:04:47.730 a starting point for conversations about what 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:50.689 to do in Asia. We're currently working on a series 00:04:50.689 --> 00:04:52.910 interviewing Asian -based leaders on lessons 00:04:52.910 --> 00:04:55.250 they've learned from working and expanding in 00:04:55.250 --> 00:04:57.529 the region, and we'll share that regularly on 00:04:57.529 --> 00:05:00.089 our socials and newsletters. You can find the 00:05:00.089 --> 00:05:02.990 full brief at goodgrowth .io or reach out to 00:05:02.990 --> 00:05:06.430 us at hello at goodgrowth .io with any specific 00:05:06.430 --> 00:05:08.810 questions. Thank you for listening and thank 00:05:08.810 --> 00:05:10.509 you for all the work that you do for animals.