Jaleen Ramos is is a professional journalist with more than six years of experience. She has made significant contributions to leading Philippine dailies and publications, covering impactful stories nationwide. Currently, Jaleen covers the retail industry in Asia, producing features, profiles, analyses, and reports that offer in-depth industry insights on key trends and issues.

Today, audiences are shaping the cultural agenda. Empowered to speak up for the causes they believe in, people are actively calling out brands they see as inauthentic. What are the main drivers of this behavioural shift? And how can brands win the trust of these outspoken advocates?

Assertive Audiences

In the turbulent economic environment, money is losing its value. Consumers are reevaluating their spending across sectors. With a looming crisis of trust in financial institutions, how are people managing their budgets? And how can brands navigate the complex relationship between value and cost?

Critical Spenders

Colin Weir sold his first software platform straight out of university – a computer model to forecast the economic impact of management decisions on New Zealand’s forests. He then built his first fintech, a trade finance internet banking platform in the late 90s in London, successfully exiting to Netscape. Since then, Weir has digitised banks across the world at start-ups and as an executive at global tech firms such as Microsoft and Sun Microsystem. Now the CEO and founder of Moroku, Weir is creating a digital engagement platform focused on customer success by combining his background in data, scientific methods, and psychology.

Gen Alpha (born 2011-present)

Australia

Savings and investments

Interview with Colin Weir conducted by the author

The Australian Financial Review

Smart Company

Spriggy Economy Report

Beyond Blue

ABC News Australia

The Educator

The Sydney Morning Herald

IAPP

CHOICE

Kid Screen

Savings.com.au

Westpac

Spriggy empowers Aussie kids to master money skills via gamified tools that make learning how to save and spend more fun. Targeting ages six to 17, it blends interactive lessons with real-world tasks. But it faces a key challenge: can it keep users safe and win parents' trust in the digital world?

Cultivate

Growth and Progression

Why Spriggy banks on practical play for Aussie Gen Alphas