>> i am deirdre bolton. we are bringing you some of the best interviews from the week. our focus is on alternative assets. places that investors are putting their money outside of traditional stocks and bonds. we reach out and speak with experts about where they see opportunities. today, strategies for the new year. hedge fund strategies that offer greater transparency to be traded daily.

details on the returns so far. and the high iq of high fashion. our expert guest will rate the strategy of gucci, burberry, and other known labels. what it all means for luxury's bottom line. first up, my conversation with an allocator. the head of an office with $500 billion in asset management. constellation wealth management told me that their clients are focused on yields and taxes. >> people generally feel pretty good. it has been a good investment year. >> the s&p 500 is up 25%. >> people are feeling pretty good. cautiously optimistic. i do not think they are overjoyed. as we look at numbers on asset allocation, we see people taking money from fixed income.

much of it is not going back into the equity market. >> you have a net worth in the third quarter that rose. in theory, i know you deal with high net worth. people should be feeling good. you told me that there is not a the same level of confidence that you have seen in years past. in >> if you think about household net worth going to the highest recorded, you see that people are feeling flush. in our view is that it will be a good christmas season. investors remain cautious. >> what do they want? yield, obviously, but what are they saying you need to help with? >> this year, especially with taxes, the rates are up. as you we have a four percent surcharge. as they want to harvest tax losses for it we do not have a lot of those.

a they're focused on tax planning and let's do going forward. our view has been that we still and like the market. we might represent some of our exposure and hedge funds. is >> before we get back to hedge funds, what do you make of this rule? will it change the tone in any way? >> our clients are not talking about it. this is a wall street phenomenon. i think that probably, if history is our guide, they will you over regulate and make adjustments over time. as you and you the concept of and the rule is good for markets. >> you feel like you promote stability? and him and him and banks cannot go

out on the ledge and take unnecessary risks. >> i think that makes it more stable. we have to make sure that the banks and big institutions do not trade against clients. it is one thing to provide liquidity and it is another to trade against clients. perhaps we had gotten too big. >> the banks for known to have done them. you mentioned hedge funds. where specifically do you see opportunities in the new year? >> i think that certain hedge funds provide great risk and return opportunities. we like japan. it has been one of our best positions. it has turned out exceptionally well. it is the third or fourth inning in japan after 20 years of difficult markets. we think we are in an interesting time. >> they have gone up something like 50% this year. >> it is a closed in and an etf. what that one does is, it is short the yen. it is a double bid.

it is sort of a double-dip. if you think the yen is going lower -- >> constellation wealth advisors. funds are just one of the choices that allocators have. my next guest manages $2.2 billion. we are told that investors now have access to private equity in the same way that they had access to hedge fund strategies. >> we have just come out with a new fund. it is meant to be an alternative to private equity investing in a liquidating value format. >> it means that people who are nonaccredited, who do not have to meet that benchmark, can participate. >> that is correct. >> why are you doing this? i assume you do this so you can make money from it. >> you look at the client base, and most of the advisers have a number of reasons. -- have a hard time accessing

equity for a number of reasons. you have capital and dry powder and it's very hard to understand. second, it is not liquid. someone who has $15 may not want -- has $15 million may not want to lock up their income. we try to achieve full be close to returns in a mutual fund format. >> what is the secret sauce? >> we have partnered with the number of firms to gather data. that allows us to construct a portfolio to deliver returns. there is qes and the largest provider of equity data in the world. the three firms have created an index that works out of europe. we get the information that they deliver to us and updated weekly. we mimic the index. they developed this 15 months ago and we launched our fund in the last month. >> it is too early to ask, but so far so good?

>> we're just trying to deliver two percent or three percent above equity returns. it is a globally based -- >> two percent to three percent above equity is actually pretty hard to pull off. >> it would be this year. we look at how private equity firms will allocate capital on a sector basis. also, the amount of dry powder that they are using. there are times that the market is difficult. they may not invest as much and therefore we put in more cash. therefore, during difficult market environment, we have found that it will better protect capital. >> so, how are you seeing of this retailization?

of alternative assets. whatever category, how do you see it from their point of view? >> it started from germany and -- it started to germinate and it grew. when anything is innovative and new, the proof is in the pudding. we have competitors in there who have done well. it is starting to grow. the industry, as well as ourselves, have achieved the best years in terms of producing the types of returns that investors expect. >> there is this idea of transparency. it was only available to a select group of very rich people. >> correct. when you have a daily value, the transparency is tremendous. we can provide the transparency that they want to give to their client. >> how did you pick the managers? >> there are very few people who could do something like this.

prequent is one of them. there -- the database is tremendous. it is all encompassing and the best in the world. to work to a firm like qes, together with nemura, those are strong partners. >> bob worthington of hatteras fund. when we come back, hedge funds are attracting new capital this year. we will say which strategies are getting the most. and the concept of luxury and pawn shops may not strike as the match. but that is exactly where borrow lives. they are selling fine wine, jewelry, and art. when we come back. we also want to hear from you. send us your comments and questions. any you have for us or our guests. you see the address there. easiest to do it via twitter. ♪

>> welcome back. we focus now on hedge fund. as a group, hedge funds are on the track for the worst performance since 2005. the ceo of ritholtz wealth management is a bloomberg view columnist. we chatted about the industry. >> the concept at the kennedy

school -- they look at the various issues that face public pension funds. a big part of the problem is that they have not been getting the returns in equities. this includes state among private, etc. bonds are yielding nothing, or next to nothing. the temptation is, let's look at the alternatives and the yale model. that includes a lot of hedge funds. the problem that that has generated is that the asset class known as hedge funds has not been getting the job done. >> when you say known as, what does that mean? >> it is a legal structure that describes partners. it is not an asset class. limited partners, a feat -- 99 limited partners, a

certain fee structure. it is not stocks, bonds, commodities. it is a leveraged trading vehicle. what people seem to expect has not been happening. you will get meaner versions, ,- you will get mean reversions but you will not necessarily see that return to prior greatness due to the mathematics. >> the industry does continue to attract new capital. are investors so desperate for yield? as you said, no one is going to run and go get into this is how a bonfire right now. it continues to -- >> some is expected returns. you can reasonably expect three percent in bonds. and six percent in equities. it looks like the way the accounting is done, by various pension funds, they could say that our expectations are for 8% or 10%. they do not have to put that much cash up each year. the states do not have to pony up. the situation gets worse. not only are they not keeping up with the markets -- they are underperforming. they're making the whole that

-- they are actually making the that much bigger. >> you mentioned the structure. if the performance is so lackluster, maybe that needs to be revisited. i know that there are actually some institutional investors who have managed to get the fees move down. are we going to see that more and more with hedge funds? >> yes, and no. the old jokes that grouches can tell,t groucho used to hey, i cannot be a part of any club that will have me. they are not cutting fees eat has the flagship funds are doing fairly well. that is the paradox here. the distribution of alpha among hedge funds -- we think of a bell curve. it is symmetrical and smooth. with hedge funds, it is nothing like that. there are a handful of outliers. some of them are new emerging managers.

some of them are the old pros. the old pros -- if you do not have a few billion dollars, you're not getting in. good luck selecting which manager will out perform you. >> you have to be very courageous. there are a lot of funds out there that are midsize. let's say, $10 billion. they do not want any outside capital. they are the size they want to be. >> that is true for a handful of them. what we have found and a lot of studies show -- a manager will discover a new portion of the market that they can generate alpha from. that is not a giant vein that they can mine forever. it tends to be a smaller piece of arbitrage that they identify. it is good when they are $100 million. all the way up to $500 million. once they scale up above a $1 billion, they lose the advantage.

they lose that ability to identify and inefficiency. many of them become class indexers and the problem is, if someone outperforms, who cares? >> sac capital was famously charging higher. but the returns were a lot stronger. >> there are questions about those returns. >> well, sure. >> look if you could get into a , fund that has been and continues to outperform in excess of their fees, the s&p 500 is up. 25% year to date. if you are in a fund that is grossing higher, you are underperforming the market. you are only up 22%. to get above that and do it consistently, is a challenge. to put it in the best context -- in 1997, the industry was a little over $100 billion. today, it is $2.5 trillion. there is not that much alpha to go around. there are not 10,000 advantages.

-- 10,000 talented managers. >> bloomberg view columnist. when we come back, the pawn shop for the one percent. the ceo of borro on how the rich alone get luxury. ♪

>> pawnbroker and luxury may not be to terms that you would normally put together. even top earners are looking for alternative ways to get extra cash. london-based borro makes loans against everything from luxury watches and fine wine to vintage cars. and gold and precious metals. the founder of borro told me how he got the idea for the company. >> i first came up with the idea in mid-2008.

the credit crunch was starting to bite. >> there was a contextual point. >> the people who have luxury assets -- very nice watches and jewelry, things like that. they were not leveraging them. if you have millions of dollars, you have a private bank. there are pawn shops that serve people. who is serving the people in the middle, the people who want to buy a few thousand dollars up to $1 million? >> so how does this actually work? when you say loan against, am i letting somebody borrow something? they are renting it? >> people come to us and bring their assets to us. we take possession and we give them cash and return. >> ok. >> it is a loan. it is about $10,000. it is typically about six months. it is the lower end of a high net worth spectrum.

>> are most people using it in london or are they here? is it global? >> we started in london. we have opened in new york in january 2012. we have been lending since may, 2009. we have done $45 million of lending this year. the split is 60% london, 40% u.s. the u.s. is growing fast. >> as far as the types of items, we went through the list. there is fine wine, jewelry, cars. what do you see the most of? >> it is nice jewelry and watches. we get a lot of fine art. bigger pieces are worth more. we do quite a lot of quirky assets. like olympic gold medals and grammy awards. there are some quirky things. the beatles first record contract. it is quite an interesting angle.

>> what about -- 2008 and 2009 as you allude to. all of these guys in the city were not going to get the bonus. i still want to take a cool trip or do what i want to do. but now, who is using this? >> there has been a shift. we get a lot of small business owners. a lot of retailers. a lot of property developers. a lot of people who work in construction -- they struggle to get access to credit. they are using us for working capital so they can realize a business opportunity. >> i was just going to say, i am sure they can get a better deal. through a service such as yours than if they are buying these assets outright. >> the thing for us is the speed with which they can get access to money. we can do it the same day, next day. we can serve people all over the country. they can come to us or use courier partners.

>> borro founder. we stay with the luxury and the digital role of marketing. scott galloway is at the nyu stern school of is business. he published an annual ranking of the top rands with universities think tank for digital innovation. >> burberry's third year in a row as number one. there are others that do not have the capital for more infrastructure. they put a lot of money into digital. it is paying off. >> there are the few that you named. they seem to be kind of connecting the best of all worlds, these pop-up shops. >> there is a notion of attribution. people tend to look at e- commerce sales as an indicator of whether digital is paying off. you miss the majority of the story. while some of the luxury purchases are made online, for in five are influenced by digital.

mobile commerce will only be a $30 billion business in a few years. >> they are influencing decisions. >> $750 billion worth are influenced by smaller screens. your digital presence affect a lot more than e-commerce. >> how do you measure that? that is a little tricky. >> we spent a lot of time thinking about that. there are 850 data points. what we have found is that these firms have strong iqs. there is a strong correlation between revenue growth and shareholder return. it makes sense because when you're big into digital, it is like working out. you find that every part of your life gets better. >> that is so inspirational. >> if you become more data driven, you think about a younger consumer. you understand emerging technologies and platforms. those kind of skills lend themselves well to all kinds of

things in addition to e- commerce. what we're seeing is that firms are committee to strong digital. they have this rising tide effect. it is linked to greater returns. digital is moving to the center. we're thinking about how to make it part of the culture. >> burberry number one, gucci is number two? >> a lot of the great things that gucci is doing carry across -- is doing are being shared across the enterprise. there is enterprise value. we are finding similar scores across the enterprise. that is what a multi-enterprise brand wants. it wants to show that the tax is levying on its brand is paying off. >> they better show it. the margins are crazy. >> they want to show that there's a reason that you have more than one brand. otherwise, just break the thing up. there are a lot of guys out there ready to make that argument. >> when you talk about these

subjective qualities about the digital experience, how important is design or storytelling? >> super important. i would say that a lot of brands err on the side of the creative. there is a journey to nowhere. videos with putatively shot annie leibowitz crafted photographs. the bottom line is, wealth is another channel of distribution. it is about saving time. give me the product and the right information. the web is about saving time. social media is about wasting time. i say that in the best way. >> it is true. >> you want to learn about that. follow the design on instagram. put me on a funnel toward purchase. either on the site or in the store. >> i like that a lot. social media is about wasting time. being online is about being educated, i guess. >> this is a new channel. the best brands are getting 10% or 15% of their sale.

the greater percentage of sales you get, the higher that multiple. that is what is getting the attention. ♪

>> bankrupt company, bankrupt city -- how do you be a luxury brand? >> for 30 years, we lost our way. sales had declined. >> how do you get away with not listening to customers? how do i know you are listening now? >> the biggest thing is still pushing through that perception that it is the old man car. >> we produce the world's best cars again.

we can do this. >> it is cadillac. >> it has an incredibly appealing design. you get someone in the seat of one of these cars, you will convert them. >> i'm jeffrey hayzlett. i'm on a journey inside the biggest brands in america. i have been a cmo, ceo, and a boardroom cowboy. now i'm visiting the executives in charge of the most powerful companies in the world to see how they have tackle the challenges of the c-suite. i'm in the car capital of the world, detroit. it is the birthplace of the american automobile. it is one of the most iconic car companies, cadillac.

a brand name that evokes memories of it is a bygone era the it is a bygone era of 1950s, 1960s. luxury. a status symbol for my father or grandfather. cadillac has a lot of baggage. they were a bankrupt company located in a bankruptcy. -- bankrupt city. cadillac means market share and expanding luxury category come a -- category, a category that has been dominated by european manufacturers. does this man have what it takes to get out of the parking lot? how long will it take cadillac to be a lead car once again? they are updating and even replaced -- new designs and new partners -- could that mean sales could grow? i do not know if they have what it takes, but we will find out.

bob ferguson and his team are in charge of the cadillac global marketing strategy. it is their job to restore cadillac to the glories of bygone years, a major part of the revitalization to peel the younger and hipper customers. -- appealing to younger and hipper customers. >> a lot of history sitting behind you. >> 1954 and president eisenhower came here. lots of great cars had been designed and built. a lot of big personalities. >> when i think of the cadillac, i think back to this era. >> it was built in a wonderful place and a wonderful era. we have to make our products relevant to today. that is what i am all about. it is a great heritage. we don't run away from the heritage. >> what are the elements of making cadillac grow? >> design products that are better. it needs to be a challenger.

we are a 111 year old brand >> i that needs to be a challenger. >> i would look at market share. -- a 111 year old brand that needs to be a challenger. >> i would look at market share. when was the last time that cadillac lead market share? >> we lead in the leisure sector in 1976 when i was a junior in high school. >> that has to be a big wall staring you in the face. what was it like going home after your very first day? >> my first day here were shortly after the company had a bankruptcy. i sat down with my wife and said, i still think the team is going through a mourning process. they are great and determined people, we have to help them regain their confidence. >> is this a comeback story? >> absolutely. i'm confident that cadillac will make progress. we have relevant vehicles and cars that consumers want to buy. we need to build a brand. we have a strong product.

we need to get people familiar with it. >> what are those elements that make that up? that way you can say year from now, hey, you did it. >> to win car of the year. this week, our second vehicle into the marketplace one the motor trend car of the year. we're the fastest growing brand in the industry. it is heading in the right direction. >> i'm heading 90 miles outside of detroit to a plant. cadillac is manufacturing cars they believe will power their comeback. tell me what your role is. >> i'm the marketing manager for cadillac. >> you are in charge of the hot products. >> exactly. we have got the ats that rolled out last year. and our new cts rolling out just now. >> let's go back in time. you guys are talking about getting cadillac back to the old

state. what happened to the brand? >> for 30 years, we lost our way. in the early 1980s, we didn't listen to your customers like we should have. we are starting to rebuild the brand. >> how do you get away with not listening to customers? >> i think what happened was we were so dominant in the marketplace that we did not think he had to. >> you guys are still gm. i don't want to blame it on the old guys. it is part of your legacy. how do i know you're listening now? >> when you look at what we are doing, journalist look at the car and say, wow. this is phenomenal. it actually exceeds the expectation of the customers.

>> when we look at the age, used to be an old guy brand. now you're trying to turn it into a hipper thing. are you succeeding on that? >> yes, but it takes time. we are making process. we are making a compact size vehicle. >> when you look at the numbers, are you on target or behind? >> we are on target. the market is very hot right now. we are in a good solid their place position out of the chute with ats, which is what we wanted to do. >> what is slowing you down? you have got double digits. but what is slowing you down? >> we are at 25% increase year- over-year. >> is the single thing beating -- it is pushing through the perception that it is the old man's car. >> is that the single thing that is beating you to the number one

spot -- >> i believe that. it is not the old dealership that it was before. it is a phenomenal experience. it is about amping up that perceptual change. >> during my career, we never really competed. >> how can you make the investment now and not make it then? >> it's not that we didn't make it, but it was the wrong ones. ♪

>> cadillac believes a can design its way to relevance with its new line of luxury vehicles. unlike vehicles of the past, the new cars are sleeker and sexier. it is all part of a plan to attract new customers. >> tell me where we are sitting right now. >> you are sitting in a place that not many people come to. it you are in the secret space where we hide to create new things for cadillac. >> how do you put those design elements to make young people want that car? >> look at mercedes and bmw. they are into lightweight and nimble driving and lean, athletic silhouette. when i approach the design of a car like this, the new cts for

instance, all of the line work is drawn out to be thin and lightweight. it looks like something you want to get in and drive. it needs to feel alive to the customer. customers in the 1950s and 60s i like to say it was luxury by the pound. that is not so now. >> brand reputation -- that is what you do. how do you bring the reputation back? >> there's a different way when you look at reaching to millennials, the younger people. it is conversation. are we in that social thread? it is starting that awareness that cadillac is not what it used to be. >> you are saying awareness. was it that bad? i'm looking at the numbers if i'm on the board of directors.

>> we're looking at people with disposable income that are still able to buy our cars. they are still just a little bit older. age 35-45 are right at the end of the millennials. we still need to target them and are not getting them. bmw and audi are very successfully getting them. >> you have a promise to the greater gm corporation to return the brand back to its relevant place in history? >> absolutely. >> how do you measure that? >> awareness. >> sales are pretty good indicator of relevance. >> they are. for a lot of younger buyers, this brand never popped up. >> i'm one of them. one year ago before i joined cadillac, would i have considered buying a cadillac? no. >> were you guys having these frank conversations? >> every day. what is the fastest-growing car brand in the world? pre-k's i assume it has got to

be tesla -- >> i assume it has got to be tesla. cadillac. we are growing year-over-year. we are the fastest-growing mainstream car brand in the world. >> is that because you're having lower sales and now you're jumping up? >> will when you go from one to two -- [laughter] we doubled the number of sales in china. we will grow in the u.s. we are growing in the u.s. by 30%. we have a large base. we promised the board that cadillac would become a real source of revenue growth and profit generation. >> a major part of the equation to boost cadillac's revenue is a modernized look. i will speak with the company's interior design chief to see how the new look is evolving. >> what is your role? >> i'm the design manager for cadillac. >> you design the things that are inside this car? >> yes, and outside. all of the colors and the material.

>> what have you done in the design department that makes this more than my grandfather's cadillac? >> i think a lot of it revolves around color selection and material selection. the quality of the material is far beyond what they have been in the past in terms of really feeling like furniture quality leather. >> why were you not allowed to do that before? >> i do not think it was a matter of not being allowed to. i think it is more like working with the buying base to develop material to the standard. where we feel that luxury quality comes through. >> it sounds to me that you do not have a standard before. >> i think that has developed a lot over time. how do we set cadillac apart? that is something that has been developing for the last number of years. >> michigan might be the car capital of the world, but

cadillac is rolling out some of its most ambitious new designs at the los angeles auto show. i'm in california to speak with the president of the cadillac parent company, general motors. to see how the automobile onestry life or is helping of gm's signature brands. >> back in 1983, you started as an intern here. what was your perception of the cadillac brand? >> big, front-wheel-drive. with plastic fenders and vinyl roofs. if i had been assigned to cadillac back then, it would have been in a different place. >> you have been here for a long time. take me back to the darker days when cadillac really was the brand it is not today? >> to be honest with you, we never really competed with the german and japanese brands that really took the luxury market away from us. during my career, we have not been very good. >> you seem to be trying.

how can you make the investment now and not then? x i'm not sure we did not make the investment. >> just the wrong ones? >> the wrong ones. >> bankrupt company, bankrupt city -- how do you be a luxury brand? >> there is incredible brand recognition of cadillac, good or bad. cadillac -- that was something earned in our early days with the brand. it was the end of the world. -- the standard of the world. equity that brand carryforward? >> it only does based on the desirability of the product itself. we have got to do that. >> we need to move fast. >> it we produce the world's best car again, we can do this. ♪

>> we are here at the l.a. car show. is this like the prom for you? >> i wouldn't consider it the prom. it is more like a traveling circus. >> and looking around the floor. this does not look like old man cadillac. the one behind it looks like the kind of cadillac i would buy after my second or third divorce as a guy. >> we are having a lot of fun with cadillac. we have more cadillacs underdevelopment today than -- under development today than during any other time in the brand. it is that busy. >> when i look at the brand -- bankrupt company, bankrupt city it does not reek of luxury brand anymore. what are the challenges? >> the challenges are many. one is time. we don't have time. the customers will not wait for us to do the right thing or do the right vehicle. >> how many years? >> we need to move fast.

there are certain gaps we have in our portfolio. >> is this one of the gaps? this muscle car? >> that is one of the gaps. i would love to see that car in production. we have evolved the design language. it has got more shape to it. it is a different proportion. we will continue to move and evolve the brand. can't stand still. >> what was it that caused you to say, we can do it like we used to? we cannot be our dad's cadillac. >> we look at what the challenges were and get out of detroit and take a look at the industry. i think, during those darkest days -- >> which was when? >> during bankruptcy. you hear that terrible headline. i brought the entire design team together. i talked about how we are going to get through this bankruptcy. we will come out of the other side and everyone will look at

where we are from a design perspective. >> how do you measure for a design team success? >> it is a lot more than a pretty picture or a car. we are not designing this to hang it in the modern museum of art. we want people to purchase it. it is a design that connects with people on an emotional level that they have got to get this vehicle. >> you guys have been on the journey for a couple of years getting it to the place it is today. what is the greatest learning you have had as part of this experience are making this brand change? >> build the right car. consideration is everything. we have our research clinic. customers tell us they would not have considered a cadillac in years past. now they do. >> build the right car -- no- brainer. ,> every vehicle is a series of

in some ways, compromises. make the right choices. that is where the magic is. >> i think we have made the right choice in a lot of ways. dynamics. exterior aesthetics. these are things that i -- these are things that are resonating with the customers. >> i worry that old perceptions will keep people from getting our cars a chance. we need to find a way so people will take an opportunity to get in our car and experience it. that is a big hurdle to overcome. >> what will that success look like? is it number one, number two, number three? >> i couldn't settle for anything less than number one. >> numbers are the most important to indicate cadillac is on the rebound. there are other measurement specialties brand is heading in the right direction. >> how do you and the rest of the sea-suite describe the new line of products? >> i drive the cars twice a year and we go out there to be competition. we do it. i come back from the trips.

i have an over the moon feeling on vehicle dynamics and power and performance and design that i have never seen in cadillac before. >> that is on the track. do you go into board meetings and say, these are our competitors? in your face. what was that like? >> here is what we are doing -- we beat them. bmw in some cases. also mercedes, lexus. when we make a sedan as excellent as the ats sedan, which we did last year, in one year we made great progress. >> is it faster than you expected? >> for that car, yes. if we can build the world's best car again, we can do this. >> how do you do that? is it winning car of the year or is it in sales and profitability? >> neither. sales and profitability come from car excellence.

if you look at this segment by segment, the formula is quite different. is it the best handling car? i would say the ats is. is it the best steering type? i would say it is. is incredibly appealing in design type? i would say it is. when you look at those things, you have to have a compelling story of that product. >> and sales numbers. >> you get someone in the seat of one of these cars -- you will convert them. >> that is a tough thing to do. >> that is why it will not happen overnight. and it should not be looked at that way i'm a which is the danger of what the company did in the past. way, which is the danger of what the company did in the past. >> is the goal to bring cadillac back to that premiere number one? >> yes, it is. >> what do you think will be the timeframe for that? >> i don't know. we can do everything at once, but we will introduce new, world-class vehicles.

>> if i were a customer or shareholder or someone looking at your business, at what point would i be able to say, they are back? they did it? what would be the defining moment? >> i think when we stand in a place like this and have a conversation that is quite different around cadillac, i know we are pretty close. >> for cadillac, i am reminded of a company turnaround. someone is asleep at the wheel and suddenly they are jarred awake. they slam on the brakes. they rose the brand with an aging client base that almost died off and fell asleep and woke up out of touch and trailing in the luxury market. now they are driving forward with a new energy to be captured -- recapture their former glory to be the brand they once were. whether it is bankruptcy, the economy, or finally realizing you are not iconic company they used to be, for cadillac, the

key question is -- will they drive there fast enough? ♪

>> selling big western brands in the east. selling cosmetics and coffee. we will ask ceos of two household names. i am betty liu. this is "singapore sessions." ♪ >> "singapore sessions" rings together executives with the perspectives and experiences to talk business in south east asia. tonight two icons of international business, andrea illy of illy coffee. and william lauder of the estee lauder companies.