Get To Know Daniel Posavac, CEO of Bonsey Jaden

“Branding is more important than ever in a digital-first world!”

Digital marketing is no longer a trend, it is its own virtual world. With all the innovations and technologies emerging regularly, what was previously the wave of the future is showing no signs of slowing down. The inability to be digital-first spells disaster for marketers, and that’s why brands need someone who knows how to navigate the ever-changing landscape masterfully.

Enter Daniel Posavac, a dynamic and entrepreneurial digital strategist, passionate about working with global brands to transform business models and drive scale via digital platforms and technology.

With the aim of steering the Bonsey Jaden group towards higher levels, Daniel and the company secured investment from technology giant CUE group, further enhancing Bonsey Jaden’s expansion across Asia and the United States as one of the fastest-growing digital agency groups.

Hi Daniel, welcome to Marketing in Asia. To start, tell us more about your background, your career, and your passion.

As a kid, I was passionate about football and music, but then it became obvious I was not talented enough in either of these to make them a career. It was around the time of MySpace I realized my day job could be something more than it was, and I really fell into the deep end with Digital Marketing. After cutting my teeth in boutique agencies in Sydney, I co-founded a music-first digital agency in 2011, which eventually led me to Singapore. I partnered with amazing people to launch Bonsey Jaden in 2013 with a vision of building a brand-centric digital agency network across Asia. It has been a roller-coaster ever since, and I am proud to still be passionate about building Bonsey Jaden and evolving our team and services. I found that I enjoyed so many aspects of running a global agency business, and love the collaborative, fast-paced, and team-centric nature of our industry.

We are thrilled to hear about the CUE Group investment in the Bonsey Jaden Group. Tell us more about it. 

We were looking for a strategic partner who would facilitate the next stage of growth for Bonsey Jaden. COVID-19 has not dampened our ambitions, and once we got to know CUE, we saw an excellent fit—especially in terms of long-term vision and ambition. This partnership will allow us to continue our development and growth across APAC and into more global work. It will also inject new products and offerings from CUE into our agency, which is exciting for both our teams and our clients.

With various opportunities blossoming worldwide, how will this partnership grow Bonsey Jaden and CUE’s portfolios in digital technology? 

We want to keep deepening our technology and data expertise, which CUE has in abundance. It’s going to be exciting to integrate the knowledge, products, and services into our offering over the coming years. This will only further strengthen our ability to use data and technology to drive best-in-class solutions for our clients and partners.

With this investment in place, what changes do you see in the company over the next year? 

Even though we have been building Bonsey Jaden for 8 years now, it feels like we are still developing and very much in a growth stage. So, changes in Bonsey Jaden will be driven by growth opportunities, integration of CUE products and services into our offering, and continuing to work on more regional and global clients and projects. There are no operational major changes planned, but we are already tapping into the knowledge and expertise CUE has in E-Commerce, Big Data, AI, and Technology Solutions, to further enhance the work we do for our clients.

Being considered an industry expert in digital marketing, innovation has always been the driving force behind Bonsey Jaden’s award-winning campaigns. What is your advice to other digital marketers, especially the younger generation, in terms of thriving in this highly competitive industry?

My advice has not changed from the advice I gave to our first account manager in Singapore (who eventually became our Group COO): to succeed and thrive in this industry, you have to learn every day—from your colleagues, clients, partners, competitors, Google, and any other available sources. 

What I love about this industry is that for those who are passionate about continuous development and learning, this industry has something new to offer every day!

Daniel, it is incredible to see your business growth as having worked with global names such as Cetaphil, Microsoft, Prudential, Starbucks, Singapore Tourism Board, MARS, and others. Would you please share with us some of your best practices in connecting and maintaining relationships with these powerhouse clients? 

Our business has seen amazing growth through partnerships and referrals, and this comes down to people. We have been very fortunate to build a strong network of clients and partners, who we cherish and nurture through the work that we do, and the attention we give to every brief. Relationships are built on trust, and we focus on this across every engagement we have. It’s not always easy in an industry that is as fast-paced and competitive as ours, but I feel that the old maxim of “you only get out what you put in” has been positively true in our experience

As you have achieved many things in your professional life, what is the one thing that keeps you motivated in your life?

Learning, which is an ironic thing to say as someone who chose not to go to university. But as an experiential learner, I have truly enjoyed experiencing the entrepreneurial side of things. I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface yet in terms of learning how to build and grow a global business, how to lead teams, how to build brands, and how to manage relationships. This constant need to learn and implement those learnings at scale motivates and keeps me passionate about all the little things that go into running this business on a daily basis.

Describe your leadership style.

That is probably a better question to ask my team! I try to be open and honest and to treat people the way I want to be treated. I am also very direct and don’t have the time for internal games (read, politics). I guess finally, due to the nature of our business, I give a lot of autonomy to my leaders and trust them to make decisions when the pressure is on. However, I am always prepared to plug in and problem solve when they need me.

Will Bonsey Jaden gain any valuable new technology, product, and or process from this partnership?

Yes, we are already implementing a number of exciting technology solutions from CUE Group into our offering. The first is a solution called Retail X, which collects and analyses on-ground and in-store data, and integrates this data with CRM or any digital data platforms, to offer a single view dashboard for analysis and insight development. The second is an AI scanner and temperature detector (very much topical right now), which also offers fantastic data analysis and insight capabilities. There are definitely more in store, and we will be sharing information on these in the coming months!

Daniel, thank you for these wonderful insights. For our readers who wish to contact you, how can they reach you?

Just type in my first name, and put a symbol ‘at’ then followed by Bonsey Jaden dot com (just to protect us all from the bots).