Jos Birken

Welcome to Jos Birken's profile page on BrandYourself. I'm currently CEO of Marketing Science, Vice Chairman of the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore, and I sit on the Board of several other marketing services countries in the Asia-Pacific region

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Jos Birken started his career with Unilever in 1986, where he worked as a marketer in various capacities in Unilever’s Household and Personal care division, lastly as a European Brand Manager.   After 6 years in Unilever, Jos Birken made what was to be a definitive switch to Direct Marketing, first as a Senior Consultant for Experian’s MOSAIC Systems, later as a General Manager of Experian’s Marketing Services Division in the Netherlands. In 1994 Jos Birken left Experian to found what later would become known as Claritas Netherlands, creating and operating the largest and most successful household database in the Netherlands, and market leader in its segment. He was also an active member of FEDMA, the Federation of European Direct Marketing. In 1997 Jos went on to become Senior Advisor for International Business Development for Consodata SA, leading European provider of Marketing Information services, based in Paris, France (now part of Acxiom Europe), and in 1999 became Consodata’s CEO for Asia-Pacific. From 2004-2005 Jos Birken served as Director of Business Development for TNT in China, helping to set up TNT’sMarketing Services business in that country. From 2006-2007 Jos Birken served as acting Asia-Pacific Head of Experian Marketing Services, expanding Experian’s activities throughout the region. In addition he has served as a Senior Consultant to Apollo Direct Marketing of Himeji, Japan; Regional Head of Marketing Solutions for Experian Asia-Pacific; as a Non-Executive Director of various Marketing Services companies throughout the region; and as an Executive Committee member of DMAS, the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore. Jos. Birken’s current roles are CEO of Marketing Science, Asia-Pacific’s technology-driven Marketing Information Services provider; and Vice-Chairman of the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore. Since joining the industry, Jos Birken has additionally worked as a Data Protection & Consumer Privacy expert, is a regular speaker on all major Direct Marketing conferences across Asia-Pacific, and has published several widely read columns in both Europe (Adformatie, Planet Multimedia) and Asia (AdVoice, AdAsia Magazine, Wireless World).

Head, Asia-Pacific at Experian Marketing Services

May 2006 - April 2007

Set up and shaped Experian's Marketing Services Division for the Asia-Pacific region, by a combination of M&A activities; adaptation of Experian's delivery platforms to the Asian markets; and setting up Marketing Services offices in Beijing, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Created a division that now generates comfortably more than 100 million Euros in annual revenues.

Columnist at Planet Media Group

February 2001 - October 2006

Long running weekly column on all things internet, marketing, privacy, and general views on the fast developing digital world; most of these written during long waits in immigration queues at Asian airports. Unfortunately stopped when KPN disbanded the Planet Media Group and gave up one of the best internet properties in the Netherlands.

Director, Business Development, DMS China at TNT

April 2004 - September 2005

Helped TNT set up a Direct Marketing Services company to address the needs of the rapidly emerging Chinese market; built a state of the art, ISO certified database infrastructure to accomodate those needs and drive list rental, analytics and segmentation services. Learned a lot about recruiting, organising and working with a team of qualified local Chinese employees.

Columnist at Adfoweb

2002 - 2005

Monthly column on Direct Marketing, privacy and data protection in the digital age.

CEO, Asia-Pacific at Consodata

1999 - 2002

Co-founded Consodata Korea and built it into a fast growing, thought leading consumer data, analytics and segmentation company in the Korean market; directed M&A activities in other Asian markets; all of this just before Consodata's Asian aspirations were cut short due to being acquired by Pagine Gialle, the Italian Yellow Pages.

CEO and Founder, Claritas Netherlands at Claritas

December 1994 - September 1997

Founded a survey-based lifestyle database company in a crowded market that quickly became the market leader in consumer segmentation and lead generation services. Created a rich consumer lifestyle database of 1.3 million households, more than 20% of the population. Company was acquired by VNU, where it became part of Claritas Europe.

General Manager CCN Marketing Services, Netherlands at Experian

February 1992 - December 1994

Ran Experian's Netherlands Marketing Services operation, offering database management, fulfilment, marketing campaign and response processing services in the Dutch market. Forged a European partnership between Experian Marketing Services and A.C. Nielsen.

Sales& Marketing Management at Unilever

1986 - 1992

Various positions as a Senior Brand Manager, National Accounts Manager, Trade Marketing Manager, and European Brand Manager; all of these in Unilever's detergents division, subsequently in De Fenix, Lever Netherlands, and Lever Europe. Oversaw and produced one of the most successful fabric detergent campaigns ever seen in the Netherlands, the Robijn Fleur&Fijn Frank Govers fashion designer campaign.

Honorary Treasurer at Direct Marketing Association of Singapore

April 2012

Took on Honorary Treasurer position in addition to Vice Chair

Chief Marketing Officer at Korvac

February 2011

Reorganised the marketing department into a brand and product development-oriented allround marketing unit; set up a world class analytics team to help retailers getting the best out of their customer base; building loyalty platforms that are ready for the age of mobile and NFC; and getting to know the rapidly changing world of cards and payments.

Vice Chairman at Direct Marketing Association of Singapore

April 2010

Helping to develop the association into a full-fledged knowledge, networking and lobbying centre that is relevant to the fast-changing times, and addresses the needs of both offline, digital and mobile direct marketers. Taking an active role in the consultation process of Singapore's Privacy and Data Protection Law in the making.

Columnist at Tijdschrift voor Marketing

February 2009

Confuciused, a tongue in cheek column about marketing and advertising in Asia.

Contributor at Molblog (Molblog.nl)

January 2006

Contributions on marketing, advertising, and privacy

CEO and Founder at Marketing Science

February 1997

Built, capitalised and nurtured a series of marketing services startups across the Asia-Pacific region. Orchestrated a move towards Software as a Service platforms for email campaign services, analytics and segmentation, response management, and others.

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

1976 – 1984

Law

Weizmann Institute of Science

1975 – 1975

ISSI

Concentration: Computer Science

St Maartenscollege

1967 – 1975

Gymnasium B

Database Marketing Loyalty Marketing Marketing Automation Digital Marketing Interactive Marketing Online Marketing Social Media Marketing Mobile Marketing Mobile Internet Advertising Social Media Monitoring Data Privacy Personal Data Protection Direct Marketing CRM software Data Analysis Demographic Analysis Predictive Analytics Customer Analytics Segmentation Consumer Insights Consumer Behavior Customer Loyalty Loyalty Programs Loyalty Program Development Product Sampling Direct Mail Multi-channel Retail Survey Research SaaS Payment Services Payment Solutions NFC Mobile Payments Mobile Applications Columnist Social Media Blogging Twitter Entrepreneur Entrepreneurial Experience Internet Entrepreneur Entrepreneurial Skills Business in China China Business Development Start-ups Data Mining Data Warehousing QR codes SMS