In the spotlight: Belgian Advertisers Association’s Luc Suykens

I was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, a city that has been a major port since the 16th century, with a constant connection to the wider world. My father led the port authority, so from an early age we understood the value of speaking at least four languages. Each new language opened the door to a different culture. It wasn’t called DEI back then, but growing up surrounded by cultural diversity has enriched me ever since. That drive to seek out new and different networks of people has never left me.

I originally studied to become a finance or banking specialist. An internship in investment banking took me to Tokyo in 1989, right at the peak of the Japanese stock market. I enjoyed the analytical side of the work, but something was missing – the human impact. The experience pushed me to pursue an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where I found my path in marketing. Philip Kotler, who was my professor, captured it perfectly: “Doing it is much more fun than keeping the score.”

My career in advertising and marketing began in brand building at Procter & Gamble. It was the ideal place to combine rigorous analytical thinking with deep consumer insight. I stayed for 32 years because of the company’s values and its relentless commitment to innovation.

Many companies talk about values but their true level of commitment only becomes clear in difficult moments. Time and again I saw senior leaders at P&G choose the harder right over the easier wrong, standing by their values even when it came at a cost. That integrity, combined with the company’s capacity to reinvent itself, kept me engaged and inspired. P&G teaches you to focus on the core, especially when the world around you is changing. It is those elements I found in the people at P&G – many remained friends for life.

By the time I joined UBA, it was already a strong organisation, thanks to the leadership of former CEO Chris Van Roey. With more than 300 members, a thriving academy and events like the UBA Trends Day, the foundation was solid. This allowed me to bring in an external focus: “We have the customers we deserve to have”. We helped refocus our media measurement JIC – CIM – towards cross-media and made advertising self-regulation (Conseil de la Publicité) more pro-active in sensitive sectors like alcohol, protecting children from HFSS products and regulating Influencers.

One of the proudest moments during my time at UBA has been seeing the team evolve into a self-directing unit. In just four years, membership contributions rose by 40% and participation in our activities exceeded 9,000. This is the result of strong content leadership in areas like AI, customer experience, positive marketing behaviour and media, with net digital spending now reported at the sector level.

Among the biggest challenges we’ve faced was the shift from a product-focused model to one rooted in customer intimacy. That shift required every member of the UBA team to embrace change. We worked to become much closer to our members to ensure we continued to deliver real value.

The operations team led a complete overhaul of our communications – from a new website to a restructured database – while we also launched the ‘CMO Voices’ podcast in partnership with our local Financial Times. In just seven months, it attracted more than 17,000 listeners, a clear sign that marketing leadership can resonate far beyond our own sector.

If I could achieve one big goal for Belgian advertisers in the next five years, it would be to ensure that advertising helps consumers transition to more sustainable habits. Consumers want to be more inclusive and sustainable, but it is not easy, especially for the most vulnerable. The solutions must come from our industry. We can help people make those choices – after all, building habits is our core competency.

And finally, a fun fact about Belgium: astronauts on the moon could reportedly see only two man-made structures on Earth with the naked eye — the Great Wall of China and the Belgian highway system. All of our highways were illuminated at night, a necessity for anyone familiar with the Belgian driving style.