Beyond Content: Scaling Business Growth via AI-Native Infrastructure | MarketingPulse 2026 Recap

The marketing landscape in 2026 is no longer defined by who has the biggest creative budget, but by who has the most fluid data infrastructure. At the recent MarketingPulse X eTailingPulse 2026, Ben Chien, Managing Director of Greater China at AnyMind Group, joined the podcast series to discuss the theme: “Generate New Growth” .

While many view AI as a tool for content generation, Ben emphasizes that the real revolution lies in MarTech Infrastructure. As the customer journey shrinks from weeks to mere minutes, brands must move from managing campaigns to optimizing business processes.

Here are the four strategic pillars Ben outlined for navigating this transition:

1. The Compressed Journey: From Discovery to Conversion

Traditional marketing funnels are collapsing. Ben highlighted a staggering shift in consumer behavior: according to AnyMind’s proprietary research featured in our “State of Influence in APAC 2026” report, the gap between discovery and purchase has significantly shrunk, with a substantial segment of consumers now completing their journey almost instantly after seeing content.

In this era of on-demand consumption, eliminating friction between the ad and the doorstep is a strategic imperative. This is where AnyMind’s BPaaS (Business Process as a Service) model becomes foundational, integrating cloud manufacturing, e-commerce management, and logistics into a unified, AI-driven business engine capable of matching the pace of the modern consumer.

2. The KOS Revolution: Orchestrating “Key Opinion Sales” Networks

The era of the “celebrity influencer” is being superseded by the Key Opinion Sales (KOS) model. Ben noted that success in 2026 is driven by SKU-level matching.

Brand affinity alone is no longer a sufficient metric. AI now empowers brands to mobilize thousands of niche creators whose audience data aligns precisely with specific product performance targets. These creators function as a decentralized, high-conversion sales force, shifting the focus from passive “likes” to trackable revenue.

3. Data Liquidity: The Engine of Cross-Border Scalability

A primary insight from the discussion was the concept of “Data Liquidity”. For brands expanding across Asia, the barrier to entry is no longer just localization, it is capital and traffic efficiency.

Ben underscored that data mobility dictates capital efficiency. For brands expanding across Asia, he advises a platform-first entry strategy. By prioritizing established ecosystems like Shopee or TikTok Shop over independent storefronts initially, brands can treat these platforms as “learning engines” to capture local insights and optimize traffic fluidly via AnyMind’s “Liquidity Bridge” before scaling further.

4. Predictive Content: Analyzing Resonance Over Production

Ben addressed the meteoric rise of Micro-Dramas and vertical short-form video. In 2026, the value of AI lies not just in production speed, but in predictive resonance. By analyzing millions of behavioral data points, AnyMind’s AI enables creators and brands to identify specific narrative “hooks” that trigger transactions. This transition effectively reclassifies AI from a cost-saving utility to a revenue-generating engine that provides solutions rather than just choices.

The Strategic Foundation: Cultivating a Data-First Culture

Beyond technology, Ben emphasized that becoming “AI-native” requires an organizational shift. For infrastructure to truly drive growth, a data-driven mindset must permeate the entire company, from leadership setting the vision to operational teams executing on granular insights. Moving beyond intuition to a culture of evidence-based decision-making is the final hurdle in the digital transformation journey.

The Vision for the Next Decade

As AnyMind Group celebrates its 10th Anniversary, our role in the global ecosystem has matured. By integrating our foundational ad-tech expertise into a broader, end-to-end business engine, we are doubling down on our mission to become the world’s new-generation business infrastructure to make it exciting for everyone to do business. In an economy where algorithms act as gatekeepers, the market leaders will be those who own their infrastructure, from the first AI-matched engagement to the final mile of automated fulfillment.gatekeepers, the brands that win will be those that own their infrastructure, from the first AI-matched influencer post to the final mile of automated fulfillment.

Ready to Generate New Growth?

Watch the full podcast episode with Ben Chien on the HKTDC MarketingPulse Series here on YouTube to dive deeper into the evolution of MarTech and social commerce.

To unlock the data-driven strategies discussed in this recap, download our latest [State of Influence in APAC 2026 Report] or [Connect with our team] to explore your growth path today.