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Mason Tay shares how brands can scale globally by balancing localisation, data-driven personalisation, and community-led growth while navigating fragmented markets and diverse consumer behaviours.
Expanding globally sounds straightforward until the realities of language, culture, and behaviour begin to diverge. What works in one market often fails quietly in another. Not because the product is flawed, but because the context is misunderstood.
For companies operating at scale, the real challenge is no longer access to new markets, but relevance within them, how to prioritise, adapt, and remain meaningful across vastly different user expectations.
It’s a balancing act between consistency and customisation, where growth depends less on reach and more on resonance.
“I think as we go forward within international explorations, we are thinking more about how community can be part of your marketing story beyond you just pushing out through your CRM or paid channels. Which I think can be a very effective lever,” said Mason Tay, Director, Global Markets Growth, Tripadvisor.
Mason took the stage at Unlocked: Mobile & App Growth Summit Singapore to share how global brands can rethink international growth by focusing on market prioritisation, local relevance, and scalable personalisation strategies.
Three things Martechvibe learned from his talk;
1. Localisation requires prioritisation, not uniform execution
Scaling globally is not about treating every market equally. Language quality, cultural nuance, and content importance vary by region. Therefore, high-impact markets demand deeper localisation, combining human input with technology to ensure relevance, trust, and meaningful user engagement at scale.
2. Product relevance comes from local feedback loops
Understanding regional behaviour requires more than assumptions. Building feedback systems with local users helps identify gaps in experience, payments, and discovery. These insights enable platforms to adapt dynamically while maintaining a unified product across diverse markets and expectations.
3. Personalisation and mobile-first thinking drive global engagement
Global platforms must adapt experiences based on user behaviour, language, and device context. From content-heavy interfaces to tailored recommendations, personalisation bridges relevance gaps. Combined with mobile-first design, it enables seamless, intuitive interactions across diverse international audiences.
