Coco Wu currently serves as Associate Strategy Director, APAC at Huxly by MMR, where she specializes in cultural insight and innovation strategy, supporting brand growth and product innovation projects across the food, beverage, and FMCG sectors.
With over a decade of experience across the Asia-Pacific region, she brings deep expertise in cross-cultural research and commercial strategy, with strong familiarity across China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. Through her work, she has helped brands uncover the deeper cultural drivers behind consumer behaviour and translate complex insights into clear, actionable innovation and brand strategies through systematic cultural and sensory research approaches.
At a time when competition in the food and beverage industry is shifting from product differentiation to broader experience and cultural relevance, Wu continues to advance the application of semiotic and sensory research in innovation. Her work helps brands build more resilient product experiences and brand expressions that can succeed across multiple markets.
Competition in the food and beverage industry has shifted from simple product differentiation to a more comprehensive contest of experience and cultural relevance. Relying solely on formulation, packaging, or isolated market insights is no longer sufficient to sustain long-term brand growth.
Drawing on real-world practices across China and the broader Asia-Pacific region, this session explores how food brands can leverage sensory and semiotic research approaches to uncover the deeper cultural drivers behind consumer behavior in diverse market contexts. It will examine how cross-market insights can be translated into actionable local innovation strategies that resonate authentically with consumers.
The presentation will also address the practical challenges Chinese brands encounter as they expand into the Asia-Pacific and global markets. It will share perspectives on how to maintain a nuanced understanding of Chinese consumers while incorporating multi-market viewpoints—ultimately building a more resilient and forward-looking pathway for food experience innovation.