WPCPROFILE

From France
to ASU to
Singapore,

a marketing career
spans the globe
By Alice Popovici
Jerome Bigio wearing a white button up shirt and black blazer with his arms crossed and smiling at the camera
For Jerome Bigio (MBA ’02), curiosity is a creative tool. Whenever Bigio starts working on a marketing campaign for a new film or series at Netflix, where he is the senior marketing director for Southeast Asia and Taiwan, he begins with questions: Who is the audience? What is important to them? And what will spark a conversation?

“What makes someone laugh, and what (makes) someone cry, and what makes someone think is quite different across the world,” says Bigio, who has led campaigns for Netflix projects, including the award-winning series Wednesday and Stranger Things, creating targeted content that reaches audiences across all marketing touchpoints. “To me, that challenge is interesting.”

Bigio began working for Netflix in 2016 in its Amsterdam office, but when he moved to Singapore two years later for a new opportunity within the company, he had to quickly adapt to a new culture and entertainment ecosystem. Bigio credits his ability to quickly pivot and learn the nuances of a new environment to his international upbringing and education: He grew up in France, spent many summers with relatives in Los Angeles, and studied in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Spain before landing at ASU for his second master’s degree, an MBA.

Colleagues at Netflix say curiosity, humility, and directness are some of Bigio’s greatest strengths.

“He’s very good at connecting with people … it’s his superpower,” says colleague Filippo Zuffada, the senior director of consumer products for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Several years ago, he and Bigio worked in Netflix’s Amsterdam office. “He’s very open to new ideas.”

Barry Smyth, vice president of marketing for the Asia Pacific region, says Bigio’s ability to ask the right questions and generate debate “inspires his team to do great work. He has created an environment where team members feel comfortable enough to brainstorm ideas but does not hesitate to let them know when something doesn’t hit the mark.

“It’s a delicate balancing act,” Smyth says. “It’s a willingness to get your hands dirty.”

Bridging continents: Bigio’s educational journey from Europe to America

Bigio says his time at ASU, where he focused on marketing services, significantly impacted his professional development, adding an American perspective to his European educational background. After earning a bachelor’s degree at Kedge Business School in France, which included spending semesters abroad in Portsmouth, UK, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, Bigio completed his first MBA at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.

The following year, in 2001, Bigio arrived at W. P. Carey. He says he immediately noticed the contrast between higher education in Europe and the United States.

“In ASU, the faculty were much more approachable; you could exchange a lot more with faculty members,” he says. “I was exposed to CEOs of big companies in Arizona, people who would be coming and talking about their experiences.”

Bigio remembers being impressed and a little intimidated by many of his classmates, whom he described as having more professional experience and being more skilled at speaking in public. However, he says his time at ASU made him more effective at bringing his point across during group discussions and allowed him to forge connections with like-minded classmates.

“Much of the value you get is from the connection you build with your peers and classmates,” he says.

Carlos Aguirre (MS-IM/MBA ’02), an Arizona-based human resources leader for Amazon Web Services, a cloud computing subsidiary of Amazon, had several classes with Bigio at ASU. He remembers him as an outgoing, collaborative classmate who often contributed during class discussions and team projects.

“Someone like Jerome is someone you would want to have on your team,” says Aguirre, who has kept in touch with Bigio for the past 20 years and caught up with him recently during a business trip to Singapore. “He is approachable.”

What makes someone laugh, and what makes someone cry, and what makes someone think is quite different across the world.
—Jerome Bigio­­ (MBA ’02)
Jerome Bigio wearing a white button up shirt and black blazer smiling at the camera

Charting a career path

After completing his degree at ASU, Bigio worked briefly in business development for Lutron Electronics in the U.S. before relocating to Europe to open the electronics manufacturing company’s market in Spain and Portugal. Several years later, he moved on to TomTom, a maker of satellite navigation devices, rising through the company’s retail marketing ranks and eventually settling in Amsterdam.

“You would see ads from the brand on billboards, on TV, and people using the product and talking to you about it,” Bigio says of the navigation devices. “Everybody had a relationship with the product. I found that very interesting and exciting—I think it led me to that path of international consumer marketing.”

After a stint at Bose, Bigio landed at Netflix, parlaying his experience in consumer electronics into a brand partnerships role handling retail accounts, including Orange, Samsung, Google, and LG. He moved to Singapore a few years later, eventually transitioning from brand partnerships to consumer marketing.

Crafting connections: Bigio’s approach to transcultural marketing

In his current role since January 2023, Bigio leads a marketing team of about 25 people spread out across Southeast Asia. They study target demographics, try to understand potential viewers’ interests, and anticipate which marketing approaches would pique their curiosity about a new program.

“It’s stories and art you are trying to present to the world. I think it’s fascinating material to work with—very creative, emotional, and relatable for people,” says Bigio, who recently worked on the marketing campaign for a South Korean sci-fi thriller called Parasyte: The Grey. “I think that makes the creative canvas very interesting.”

Smyth, who divides his time between Netflix’s Singapore and Mumbai offices, says Bigio can focus on the details of an issue while simultaneously keeping the big picture in sight.

“A lot of the time, in marketing, we’re trying to do too much,” Smyth says. “You’ve got to be able to bring people back to the reason why, and he does that very well.”