JI LI

Business Strategy

• Developed a strong ability to transform research findings into actionable strategies
• Distilled complex quantitative & qualitative information into clear and concise recommendations that can be easily understood and implemented by stakeholders

Business Storytelling and Presentation

• Created an internal training program on business storytelling, focusing on audience analysis, story structure, presentation skills to help colleagues tell better stories
• Ran storytelling training for APAC staff and client research teams

Consumer Insights Specialization

• Experience designing and conducting research across both qualitative and quantitative methods of consumer insights
• Management of the design, fielding, implementation, and analysis of consumer insights projects
• Management of external panel suppliers on all aspects of the research including sampling, execution, and reporting
• Experience with quantitative survey market research tools (e.g. Qualtrics, Alchemer, MarketSight etc.)
• Ability to turn consumer insights into clear and actionable recommendations

(For other responsibilities please refer to the below experience.)

Case Highlight:

1. Consumer Awareness & Perception, Path to Purchase Survey Analysis for Bandai Namco

The Asian division of Bandai Namco Holdings sought to gain insights into consumer sentiments regarding their renowned IP, Mobile Suit Gundam, across eight Asian markets. I spearheaded the research project, which involved designing a 15-minute survey to address Bandai Namco's key business questions and uncover consumer insights. The survey was administered to 4,000 respondents across these diverse markets. Leveraging the collected data, I analyzed and mapped out various aspects, including consumer awareness and perception of Gundam, competition analysis, target customer segments, the path to purchase, and expansion strategies specific to each market. Armed with this comprehensive consumer understanding, Bandai Namco can make informed decisions regarding market prioritization and product category expansion for their Gundam licensed products.

2. Private Banking Client Insight Deep Dive for Citi Private Bank

Upon launching a new private banking upgrade plan, Citi wanted to understand the concept with existing and potential private banking clients. Therefore, we designed a client insight deep dive research with the key methodology of in-depth interviews. I conducted over 10 in-depth interviews with the existing and potential private banking clients of Citi in Hong Kong, covering topics including their utilization of banking services, attitudes towards wealth management, perceptions of Citi, and a concept test for the new upgrade plan. Following the interviews, a comprehensive analysis was conducted on the gathered information. This analysis served as the basis for client profiling and provided valuable insights to guide decision-making. Recommendations were made regarding the most suitable plan to pursue, as well as the different strategies to employ for various client segments.

• Primary and Secondary Research: Conduct thorough, detailed desk research, as well as primary interviews with industry experts and consumers on a regular basis across multiple studies.
• Project Management: Oversee and be responsible for on-going custom research work for projects, including:

1. Client Communication:

Client communication from project inception through project completion.

Presenting findings to clients to ensure that all client objectives have been met.

Understanding, maintaining and developing the relationship between company and any custom research client.

Clients include KAO, Dow Chemical, Electrolux AB, Mastercard, Visa, Savencia…

2. Project Set-up and Execution:

The planning of projects including development of briefs, templates and other supporting materials necessary for meeting all project objectives.
The day to day line management of any contract analysts (as relevant) including regular communication via phone and email, establishing schedules and administering final payments.
A full review of all generated materials via querying, validation and final interpretation of data and analysis to fully meet client objectives.
Delivering timely, thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis that enable clients to make strategic decisions.

• Case Highlight:

1. Future of Refrigeration Appliances for Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical wants to understand the future trends in refrigeration appliances in Asia Pacific, North America, and Latin America to guide their strategic planning of Polyurethane products in the world. I lead the entire project from client communication, research, to managing different stakeholders within the company. The key challenge of the project is to gather information across such a big geographic coverage, and to understand the more technical aspect of refrigeration appliance trends. I therefore placed local analysts in the key countries of refrigeration appliance manufacturing, such as China, South Korea, and US. Besides, we actively reached out to industry experts in the top refrigeration appliance manufacturers to gain insights and validate our findings. Eventually, we were able to translate the trends observed into an index relevant to Dow Chemical’s Polyurethane business, and provide actionable strategies for them to proceed.

2. Competitor Strategy Analysis for KAO

KAO sought to gain a comprehensive understanding of their key competitors, P&G and Unilever, in Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, specifically in the laundry care product category. Through extensive research and analysis, we examined the needs and habits of consumers in these markets, evaluated the product line-ups and campaigns of P&G and Unilever, and validated our insights through interviews with former employees. The resulting comprehensive analysis provided valuable insights into the laundry care strategies employed by P&G and Unilever in each market, allowing us to identify the market spaces with the greatest potential for KAO. With this knowledge, we provided strategic recommendations to guide KAO's decision-making and capitalize on untapped opportunities, enabling them to enhance their competitive position and drive growth in these markets.

• Strategy - Conduct in-depth research of consumers and the market to identify new opportunities and create strategies for campaigns. Spot and forecast cultural and market trends in HK and mainland China.

1. Consumer Study: China's Lower-tier City Consumers

To help Danone further expand its China market, I started a study to look into the lower-tier city consumers in China and to identify the potential growing opportunities. After analyzing large sums of reports and data on their culture, life and consumption, plus several in-depth interviews with local moms, I was able to discover five key features and the respective implications for the baby formula industry. (eg. They value social identity over individuality.)The final product is a comprehensive report presentation that was well-received by both the company and clients.

2. HK Market and Consumer Research

To increase the market share of Aptamil's infant formula products in Hong Kong, we realized the significance of a profund understanding of HK moms and their feeding patterns. Therefore, with the help of our strategy director, I conducted an on-going observation and study of the HK Mom consumer group. The aim is to dig into their needs and pain points, and understand the difference in their values, ways of education, and feeding habits, in order to provide the right insights for Aptamil's online campaigns. Our last campaign on immunity has performed pretty well on conversion and retention, doubling the number of users who have spent more than 30s on client's e-shop.

• Project Management - Work with clients, internal teams, and external vendors to define and achieve project goals. Manage and update client's digital assets and websites.

1. Aptamil ESSENSIS HMO Product Launch

TVC/Photo Shoot: I was fully involved in the shooting and editing of the launch TV commercial, as well as the key visuals with celebrities, mainly responsible for the coordination between clients, our own design team, and external vendors, to ensure the punctual and high-quality delivery of the productions.

Product Launch on E-shop: I was responsible to prepare the product launch materials (pack shots, product descriptions, etc.), add the new products catalogues on client's CMS system, make new web pages for the products, and launch the new product pages.

Online Campaign Content Production: Coordinate with clients, design team, and vendors to ensure the punctual and high-quality delivery of online banners and other content.

Campaign Results: Launch video views on social media exceeded 50000 in the first month, with over 8000 conversions from display ads to e-shop and nearly 25000 engagement on social.

• Researched on e-learning and teaching innovation projects.
• Transformed project reports/academic papers to visual creative ideas.
• Designed UI/UX for new websites and apps for educational use.

1. Jockey Club Flipped Classroom Project

Jockey Club Flipped Classroom is a non-profit project aiming at promoting the new flipped classroom teaching approach among HK's primary and middle schools. One of the obstacles to overcome prior to the launch is how to introduce this new method to the teachers and students in HK. Therefore, I have taken up the challenge to extract and transform them into simple and clear ideas, based on which I also made an animation video as an introduction to flipped classroom and the project. This video is still placed at the front page of the project website, as a portal for teachers and students in HK to better understand this new teaching approach.

2. UReply APP UI/UX Optimization

UReply is an education app developed by CUHK, and widely used across different departments at CUHK. However, due to its old interface and inconvenient layout, we've decided to give it a boost on functions and design, during which I was mainly in charge of the UI/UX design. After understanding the needs of students, teachers, and the school, we decided to take Blackboard as an example, expand and categorize the functions, and also add more personalized content (like calendars). When the optimization was completed, it was warmly welcomed by the students at CUHK. And now the app has also expanded to other universities in HK, including the Education University and Baptist University.

• Produced video social/photo content for Ashinaga social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram).
• Produced short portrait documentaries and promo videos for marketing and fundraising.

• Conducted various kinds of research for a new documentary project (The Bleeding Edge).
• Gathered news materials and created everyday social media posts for The Hunting Ground Twitter and Facebook accounts.

• Created social content for clients such as Sunkist, Garrett Popcorn, and ZTE.
• Helped shooting and editing corporate videos and campaign visuals.
• Provided creativity support for other practices.