Advertising + Marketing MY - Sep 2015

advertising + marketing malaysia

SEP

2015

SPECIAL EDITION: THE FUTURIST

“HOW ARE WE GOING TO ENGAGE OUR CUSTOMERS OR EMPLOYEES? WHAT MUST WE DO TO IMPROVE BRAND RECALL?”

WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF MARKETING? HEAR FROM MARKETERS IN THE BOX SEAT.

“THE DAYS OF HIRING AN AGENCY TO JUST CREATE A FEW HIGH-IMPACT ADS AND BROADCAST THEM OUT TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE LONG OVER.” “CONSCIENTIOUS CLIENTS WILL NOT LOOK AT YOUR CONTENT IF ITS GOAL APPEARS TO JUST SELL PRODUCTS OR SERVICES.”

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8/10/2015 5:23:40 PM

28 October 2015 InterContinental Hotel Kuala Lumpur

A Dedicated Forum for Building Great Content Marketing Strategy While content marketing has no doubt been the latest industry buzzword, ensuring coherence in strategy and user experience to meet business needs remains a challenge for many organisations.

Without getting these variables right, content can easily become noise - a mistake every marketer wants to avoid.

Being mindful of the current state, Content 360 intends to be an ideal platform for marketers and agency professionals alike, to gain first-hand information, practical knowledge and insights from leading companies on building and executing an effective content marketing strategy that has the ability to adapt and evolve ahead of the technological changes while staying true to the brand identity.

Standard Rates (Till 23 October) Client-side: USD799 Solutions Providers: USD1099 * Under the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), registered employers can claim rebates for trainings conducted by an overseas trainer/training provider.

For more information, contact Joven Barcenas, senior project manager at +65 6423 0329 or jovenb@marketing-interactive.com

To learn more and view the agenda, visit: www.marketing-interactive.com/content360/my Content 360 takes place at InterContinental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, 28 October 2015, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm

Gold Sponsor:

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ED’S LETTER ................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Editorial Rayana Pandey, Editor rayanap@marketing-interactive.com Rezwana Manjur, Deputy Editor rezwanam@marketing-interactive.com Noreen Ismail, Journalist noreeni@marketing-interactive.com Editorial – International Matt Eaton, Editor (Hong Kong) matte@marketing-interactive.com Production and Design Shahrom Kamarulzaman, Regional Art Director shahrom@lighthousemedia.com.sg Fauzie Rasid, Senior Designer fauzier@lighthousemedia.com.sg Advertising Sales – Singapore & Malaysia Johnathan Tiang, Sales Manager johnathant@marketing-interactive.com Ee Kai Li, Account Manager kailie@marketing-interactive.com Grace Goh, Account Manager graceg@marketing-interactive.com Jocelyn Ma, Account Manager jocelynm@marketing-interactive.com Ong Yi Xuan, Advertising Sales Coordinator yixuano@marketing-interactive.com Advertising Sales – International Josi Yan, Sales Director (Hong Kong) josiy@marketing-interactive.com Events Yeo Wei Qi, Regional Head of Events Services weiqi@marketing-interactive.com Circulation Executive Deborah Quek, Circulations Executive deborahq@marketing-interactive.com Finance Evelyn Wong, Regional Finance Director evelynw@lighthousemedia.com.sg Management Søren Beaulieu, Publisher sorenb@marketing-interactive.com Tony Kelly, Editorial Director tk@marketing-interactive.com Justin Randles, Group Managing Director jr@marketing-interactive.com

A discussion on the future of marketing is always stimulating. It throws up ideas and hypotheses – some more likely to happen immediately than others – all waiting to be tested and tried.In our numerous conversations with marketers there are a few things we clearly gather. A senior marketing decision-maker will keep a lookout for a few things – talent being one of them.

Another is how to put in place the right kind of team which has a keen business sense and a knack for deciphering technology. How should the roles change given this new reality where digital is driving decision-making.

Another important consideration will be the costs associated with marketing. As the demand for online marketing goes up, so will the prices. Add to that the growing sophistication of the medium, plus declining organic reach – and it will no longer be the “cheap option” as some marketers currently think it to be.

What will also affect the cost of marketing is programmatic as it moves gradually from online to traditional channels such as TV and outdoor. It will remain cost-effective though.

Social and mobile will continue to dominate the marketing discussions as brands get their head around generating solid content as opposed to ads, and looking at engagement as opposed to selling, on these mediums. I refrain from saying this will be the year of mobile as that won’t happen. Mobile will get integrated into the mainstream more and more, but as a market we are far away from becoming mobile-centric yet.

Geo-targeting or location-based services will play a prominent role when it comes to effective targeting. The interesting use of technologies such as iBeacons and RFIDs will be in the news a lot more as marketers attempt to market to consumers on the go, on their devices.

You may want to add wearables to the list too, I, however, am sceptical that marketing using wearables will take off in this part of the world yet. Perhaps that’s something for 2017.

Other than all these, what will keep marketers on their toes are the latest developments such as ad blocking and personal data protection laws cropping up in almost every market. But at the same time, they will make marketers smarter in using relevant content to engage audiences and make the data available to them work smarter and harder.

In this edition, senior marketers speak to us about their version of the future of marketing, each very different from the other, but then again, there are no right or wrong answers to the question – what exactly is the future of marketing?

Enjoy the edition.

Advertising + Marketing Malaysia is published 6 times per year by Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd PP 16093/12/2011 (026708). Printed in Malaysia on CTP process by Percetakan Skyline Sdn Bhd No. 35 & 37 Jalan 12/32B, TSI Business Industrial Park, Batu 61/2 Off Jalan Kepong, 52100 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03-6257 4846. For subscriptions, contact circulations at +65 6423 0329 or email subscriptions@marketing-interactive. com. COPYRIGHT & REPRINTS: All material printed in Advertising + Marketing Malaysia is protected under the copyright act. All rights reserved. No material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the prior written consent of the publisher and copyright holder.

Permission may be requested through the Singapore offi ce. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in Advertising + Marketing Malaysia are not necessarily the views of the publisher. Singapore: Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd 100C Pasir Panjang Road, #05-01 See Hoy Chan Hub Singapore 118519 Tel: +65 6423 0329 Fax: +65 6423 0117 Hong Kong: Lighthouse Independent Media Ltd Unit A, 7/F, Wah Kit Commercial Building 302 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2861 1882 Fax: +852 2861 1336 To subscribe to A+M Malaysia magazine, go to: www.marketing-interactive.com ...............................................................................................................

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Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

WHAT WILL THE FUTURE HOLD FOR MARKETING?

Rayana Pandey Editor

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8/10/2015 3:36:26 PM

THE SPOTLIGHT IS ON MALAYSIA’S FINEST!

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CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................................................................................

4 A MONTH IN NEWS 10 THE STATE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MALAYSIA 18 CROSS-BORDER EXPANSION: IS THE INTEREST MUTUAL? 32 THE FUTURIST: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR MARKETING? 34 THE FUTURIST: THE ALGORITHMIC MARKETING REVOLUTION 35 THE FUTURIST: OF RELEVANCE AND THE NEED FOR SPEED The future of marketing is fast approaching and depending on how prepared you are, it could either come across as exciting or intimidating.

In this edition, marketers share what they think the future will be like for this profession.

36 THE FUTURIST: WILL YOU DELIVER VALUE ON THE GO? 37 THE FUTURIST: NOT THE TIME TO SWITCH OFF 38 THE FUTURIST: CREATE ACTS, NOT JUST ADS 42 THE FUTURIST: STORY TELL, STORY SELL 43 THE FUTURIST: A ‘DIGITAL DAWN’ 44 THE FUTURIST: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE # ... AND SOCIAL SELLING

SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE!

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IN THE FUTURE

What you’ll learn in this issue:

A spray and pray approach when it comes to marketing will spell doom for brands. A marketing strategy, which has a solid understanding of the objective, the target audience and their preferences, will have a higher chance of meeting with success.

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... MORE SOCIAL ... MORE CONTENT-DRIVEN At the heart of it all will be content and not ads. Marketers will continue to create ads, but less of them going forward as the focus shifts to engagement beyond just awareness.

We are beginning to see dedicated resources put in place for content – both creation and dissemination – and this trend will only grow.

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And all of this will help marketers personalise messages and experiences for an audience by understanding their personas. The rise of the internet of things is changing the relationship consumers have with the devices around them and for marketers this presents a world of opportunities for brands.

On top of that, marketing automation tools and programmatic buying will also make life easier for marketers. More than half of global digital media buys will be programmatic by 2017 and we will see programmatic come to TV as well.

The benefits of automations are many as well – from email and campaign management to nurturing and segmentation, as well as creating efficiencies throughout the marketing process.

According to research by MarketsandMarkets, marketing automation software revenues worldwide will grow to US$5.50 billion in 2019, up from US$3.65 billion in 2014.

According to Magna Global, worldwide programmatic ad spending will reach US$32.6 billion by 2017, with the US accounting for 50% of the total. Marketers will have to have a keen eye on where to spend.

... MORE TARGETED

>> Social media tips and tricks.

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Again, 2016 may not be the year of mobile, but it will be one that will see an increased adoption of mobile in marketing’s mainstream.

As eMarketer in its latest study said: “The global mobile advertising market will hit two significant milestones in 2016, surpassing $100 billion in spending and accounting for more than 50% of all digital ad expenditure for the first time.”

The $101.37 billion to be spent on ads served to mobile phones and tablets worldwide next year, represents a nearly 430% increase from 2013, it said. Markets such as US and China will drive this in the short term.

... MORE PERSONALISED

>> The future of marketing. >> How programmatic is changing the digital marketing landscape.

... MORE MOBILE

... MORE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC

Marketing will have to keep aside its obsession with media – both new and old – and understand the customer journey to map the touch-points. A website, a Facebook page, an Instagram feed for the sake of having it will do no good to the brand. Becoming customerobsessive and keeping brand values in mind will be the way to go.

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This isn’t just about media, or worse, only Facebook. It is about businesses becoming social to the core.

We are seeing the growth of a sharing economy which is social in its import. This is driven primarily by the tectonic shift that’s happened in how consumers share and digest information. They talk about your brand to their network of influence be it a complaint or a compliment or both. Brands have got to be where they are. And which social media should they look at? Follow the consumer.

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... MORE (RIGHT) DATA-DRIVEN

Data will not be the panacea for marketing, but the right use of data will be. With the amount of data out there and more being generated every minute, marketers will have to be smart about what they are looking at and deriving insights from. Garbage in, garbage out, is what they need to remember. Merely collecting data won’t be enough as well. Technology has made storing, searching through and segmenting data relatively easier, but making it work smartly, will be the job of marketers and they will have to do more and more of it, going forward.

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... MORE ENCOMPASSING

Lastly, marketing will have to be more about “us” and less about “me”. As digital and data change the way businesses need to operate, marketing will find itself talking more and more to counterparts in IT, customer service, sales, product, finance and even HR. Silos will have to be brought down and whether or not this happens next year, we will see more of this going forward.

In this edition, we look at what marketers themselves think is the future of marketing. Read on.

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NEWS

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WANT MORE BREAKING NEWS? SCAN THE CODE TO FIND OUT WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE INDUSTRY.

MAS gets green light Malaysia Airlines’ new holding company Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) secured its air operator certificate (AOC) from the Department of Civil Aviation.

The AOC allows Malaysian Airline System to transition into MAB, the new national carrier from 1 September. To qualify for the AOC, MAB was required to undergo months of audit activities, which included air-worthiness of the airline’s operations, aircraft maintenance, as well as regulatory conformity.

Talking about Merdeka The Bersih 4.0 rally coincided with the lead up to Malaysia’s National Day on 31 August. Focusing on the top conversations from 28 August to 31 August, “Bersih” had 127,556 mentions with 75% from Malaysia, 12% from Indonesia, 4% from the US, 2% from the UK and 1% from Australia. Meanwhile, the word “Merdeka” garnered 70,977 mentions on social media with the bulk of them coming from Malaysia at 84%.

Disruptive start-up Janet Teo and Vic Sithasanan left APD to launch Potentio – a technology start-up set to disrupt the recruitment industry. Potentio seeks to exploit a candidate’s explorative nature by building a market network with industry professionals to leverage their networks, said a release. The technology aims to provide clients with endorsed candidates who would not be looking for a job otherwise.

Moderation the key Malaysian daily The Star partnered with home-grown clothing retailer BritishIndia to launch a campaign called, “We were born moderate”.

Highlighting an individual’s political neutrality at birth, the campaign aims to create an emotional connection with Malaysians by reminding them they should not have any prejudice or bias towards each other, in order to achieve a moderate Malaysia.

Toyota’s ‘seat selfie’ Car manufacturer Toyota launched a mobile app called “seat selfie” that helps to identify if the user is wearing a seat belt. The campaign runs across Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The app works by scanning a selfie uploaded by the user.

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Gem of an idea Gemfive, an online e-commerce site, collaborated with local emerging brands and designers as part of the “Gemilang Merdeka” campaign. The campaign aimed to promote Malaysian products locally and ended on 31 August.

Gemfive launched in May this year for consumers to discover new brands. The platform aims to simplify the consumers shopping experience with “curated good finds, tips and tools, and daily inspirations for everyday living”.

Landing a partnership Property developer Tropicana Corporation Berhad appointed Yellow Mango Communications as its social media communications agency for 2015 and 2016.

The agency has been handling the brand’s social media communications for the past six months. The renewal of the appointment happened shortly after Yellow Mango Communications’ announcement of its regional expansion into Singapore in July 2015. Ixora Ang, senior marketing manager for Tropicana Corporation Berhad, said: “Working with Yellow Mango Communications has been a breeze for us for the past six months.”

A creative fit Start-up company KFIT appointed digital agency C27 as its creative agency of record. The agency is tasked to lead branding and digital initiatives for the company, with work expected to roll out within the next three months. The account covers KFIT’s Asia Pacific markets, including Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as Australia. A lifestyle and fitness app, KFIT was founded by Malaysian entrepreneur Joel Neoh.

Charlie Hebdo under fire French satirical weekly publication Charlie Hebdo has come under fire once again, this time for a distasteful ad mocking the victims of missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370. The cartoon appeared on the front cover of the newspaper after the announcement of the plane’s wreckage found on Réunion. The cartoon depicted an image of a pilot’s dismembered limbs cupping a pair of an air stewardess’s breasts.

Starcom wins Kalbe Starcom Mediavest Group has been appointed the media agency of record in Malaysia for Kalbe International’s Woods’ product.

The brand was looking for a new strategy and approach in marketing its products. SMG’s remit is media planning and buying. The appointment was made without a pitch. “We have worked with SMG in the Philippines and it was our agency of choice as we know how SMG works,” a spokesperson from Kalbe International said.

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Deviga Doreraja quits Deviga Doreraja, PR manager at LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort, has left her role at the company. As PR manager, she was responsible for creating and executing the overall media strategy in launching the first LEGOLAND resort in Asia.

Before LEGOLAND – a role she held for three years – she was PR manager at Havas Worldwide for almost two years. Before that, she was account director at JWT for two years.

Rumour has it The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is planning to engage internet and social media networks such as Facebook, Google and Twitter to handle “rumours and false information” on the internet.

Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said the issue of false information had recently taken “centre stage in the media, especially online news portals”.

Hence, the MCMC was instructed to meet social media platform providers to seek their cooperation on the matter.

An honest beginning Online shopping and delivery platform Honestbee launched last month. The e-commerce grocery store has about five members on its marketing team. The marketing and communications team is led by former HTC head of communications, PR and social media, Shane Chiang. It operates on a revenue sharing model with its retail partners. The company offers same day delivery from multiple supermarkets and boutique stores.

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Calling all tourists Tourism Malaysia launched major marketing efforts to lure tourists to local shores. The campaign was driven around the story of proximity in Malaysia where sights, shopping and shows are merely “Dekat Je,” loosely translated as “close by.” The catchphrase was also used as a way to express the proposition of the campaign where travel brings people closer.

The campaign kicked off with local rap artist Altimet and his band, the Diplomats of Drum.

Southeast Asian expansion Axiata Group’s advertising technology unit Adknowledge Asia Pacific acquired the Southeast Asian operations of Mumbai-based digital media technology company Komli Media for US$11.25 million.

Komli’s Southeast Asia business, which trades as Komli Asia Group, has operations across Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The operations in Malaysia are carried out through subsidiary and associate companies held by Komli Asia (Komli Asia Group).

Musical face of AirAsia Low-cost airline AirAsia has appointed Grammy award-winning musician David Foster as its new global brand ambassador. Foster will help the airline market its premium product range through various exclusive campaigns. The new partnership will see the launch of several engagement activities, including an opportunity to meet Foster at one of his concerts. The partnership is aimed at bolstering the airline’s products while creating a new market.

French magazine launches French fashion magazine L’Officiel launched its first edition in Malaysia in September. The magazine will be headed by Monica Mong as its managing editor. Mong was previously fashion director for NUYOU Malaysia. First published in 1921 in Paris by the Jalou Media Group, L’Officiel Malaysia will debut its launch issue under Heart Media.

A star partnership Malaysian property developer EcoWorld Development Group Berhad and The Star partnered to launch the #AnakAnakMalaysia campaign. The partnership saw #AnakAnakMalaysia wristbands distributed across Malaysia with copies of The Star. The campaign also ran across radio and online until 16 September. As part of the campaign, The Star readers could snap a photo with the wristband and share what it means to be Malaysian with the hashtag #AnakAnakMalaysia.

AdNear rebrands Location intelligence platform AdNear has rebranded to “Near”.

According to the firm, dropping the word “Ad” emphasises the platform’s increased focus on using location data for much beyond targeted mobile advertising. With the new name in place, Near aims to focus on helping marketers across industries take sharp decisions and provide them with innovative data solutions. The company also recently launched in Europe with its UK office and announced leadership hires across geographies.

Meaningful deeds To raise public awareness about cancer, AirAsia partnered with the National Cancer Council Malaysia (MAKNA) to help raise funds for cancer patients and educate Malaysians on the perils of the illness. MAKNA mobilises resources to provide curative and preventive research and support to cancer patients.

AirAsia and MAKNA launched the #AirAsiaMAKNA campaign to raise funds for cancer patients who might not be able to afford treatment.

Arrest warrant issued Malaysia’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) issued a warrant of arrest against Sarawak Report’s editor and founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown, a UK citizen. CID said it was seeking Interpol’s assistance to detain Rewcastle-Brown as she is currently based in the UK. In an interview with Channel NewsAsia, Rewcastle-Brown said it was counterproductive to issue such warrants given her current domicile.

Digitising banking To digitise its wholesale banking business, Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLBB) purchased the Intellect iGTB suite offered by India-based banking tech firm Intellect Design Arena. The move excluded its treasury segment and is aimed at acquiring new customers while retaining existing ones. HLBB’s purchase of the Intellect iGTB suite consists of the digital omni-channel delivery platform and related applications in digital.

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Expanding in style Lux Inc Media plans an aggressive expansion across the region in conjunction with the launch of its new corporate website yachtstyle.

Both YACHTstyle and luxury property magazine PALACE will be printed out of Singapore in addition to Hong Kong to allow for increased distribution and market proximity efficiencies. Lux Inc Media is also actively exploring and signing new partnership opportunities across the region.

New alliances NTUC Enterprise and NTUC FairPrice appointed TBWA\Group Singapore as their branding and creative partner. Lynette Ang, chief brand and communications officer of NTUC Enterprise, said TBWA was tasked to build the NTUC Social Enterprises’ brand proposition.

NTUC FairPrice is partnering with TBWA\Group Singapore to further enhance its outreach and strategic communication efforts in creating a greater social impact for Singapore, especially in an increasingly segmented market.

Making sense of money Singapore’s central bank Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) appointed creative agency Addiction Advertising for its integrated campaign under its MoneySENSE programme, following a pitch.

The MoneySENSE national financial education programme was launched in 2003 to help Singaporeans become more self-reliant in their financial affairs.

The campaign aims to educate consumers about the risks of credit debt. The agency is tasked to provide strategic counsel, creative direction and publicity for the campaign.

Mazda site hacked Mazda Singapore’s website, under the Eurokars Group, was hacked by Turkish-based group Ayyildiz Ti. The Mazda website was taken over by the hacker’s logo and message on the site. A spokesperson from Eurokars Group said there were no signs of customer data being compromised. Customer data on the site is accumulated through various means such as booking Mazda test drives.

Hitting a high note A song by an indie Filipino band, hit the pop music charts in the Philippines. Indie band Up Dharma Down’s song, All the Good Things, entered Philippines radio station Magic 89.9’s top 30 chart on May 28, and had by mid-June, climbed to number 14. In the music video, the band talks about how its experience in Singapore shaped its song and video. The video has attracted more than 1.1 million views on YouTube and other social media.

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French title goes online Popular French women’s fashion magazine Be has launched a site in Singapore. Be Asia, directed at Asia Pacific audiences and aimed at women aged between 18-32, will attempt to become the primary provider of high-end, chic fashion and beauty content across the region. As a digital-first brand, the magazine will deliver news, interviews and videos on a daily basis to women in Southeast Asia through a purely online presence.

A new brand image Emirates Airline selected a team of WPP agencies to handle its global branding and creative account following a pitch. Headquartered in London, the WPP team called “Team Air” will draw on the combined resources of Grey London and New York, RKCR/ Y&R and Geometry Global, as well as Hogarth and TNS to service the airline. Grey London and New York will be working on brand communications for Emirates, and RKCR/Y&R will support with the campaigns for the Rugby World Cup for which Emirates is a Worldwide Partner.

L’Oreal’s expands e-presence Beauty online marketplace Hermo partnered with cosmetics brands L’Oreal in a bid to be the first fulllistings e-commerce supplier for L’Oreal’s brands online in Malaysia.

All the other brands under L’Oreal group, namely, L’Oreal Paris, Maybelline, Garnier, Biotherm and Clarisonic were made available on Hermo on 1 August 2015.

Boasting a traffic rate of 550,000 visitors each month, Hermo caters to females aged 18-45 years old.

Digital debut The Malaysian Women’s Weekly magazine launched its new website – womensweekly.my – to extend its reach and influence as a multi-platform media that not only encompasses print, but also digital. With online advertising, The Malaysian Women’s Weekly’s digital presence provides advertisers a new reach of audience with web executions such as banner ads, site takeover, web advertorials, web videos, editorial sponsorship, and multiplatform campaigns across print and digital.

Fostering new ties Low cost airline AirAsia has appointed Grammy awardwinning musician David Foster as its new global brand ambassador.

Foster will help the airline market its premium product range through various exclusive campaigns. The new partnership will see the launch of various engagement activities including an opportunity to meet Foster at one of his concerts. According to Tony Fernandes, group chief executive officer of AirAsia, the new partnership is aimed at bolstering the airline’s products while creating a new market for it as it continues to evolve from being a low-cost carrier to a true value-carrier with the best product proposition.

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NEWS

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Coke selects three agencies Beverage giant Coca-Cola picked three WPP agencies – Ogilvy, New York; Sra Rushmore of Madrid; and Santo of Buenos Aires – for its global creative mandate. The decision was reached after a review which launched in March involving 10 agencies. According to a statement given to AdAge by Coke, the company aims to move forward with a “networked agency approach” for its first round of creative campaigns.

Mindshare’s new solution Mindshare launched a solution suite aiming to provide data-led, adaptive marketing services to brands. Called FAST, or future adaptive specialist team, the service comprises six services that clients can choose from or use as an integrated solution. Mindshare has gathered digital specialists from across the network to create five FAST hubs, located in Singapore, London, New York, Shanghai and Mexico City.

Days of Zen Razorfish Hong Kong worked with ASUS to create 100 days of Zen – a social engagement led

by Instagram artist Robert Jahns (Nois7). Inspired by Jahns’ work and showcasing ASUS’s latest smartphone ZenFone 2, the photo competition encouraged people to create and share surreal usergenerated images of their own, using a series of photos taken on the ZenFone 2 as their inspiration.

Alphabet blocked Alphabet, Google’s new holding company, was blocked in China a day after going live. The domain “abc.xyz” was “100% blocked” according to GreatFire.org, a non-profit organisation that monitors online censorship in China. Google’s search product, along with side services such as Google+, Google Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Maps, Google Play and YouTube, have been blocked in the Mainland via the country’s internet filtering system, the Great Firewall, for years.

Pearson sells The Economist Pearson sold its 50% stake in The Economist Group for £469 million. EXOR S.p.A., an Italianbased investment company controlled by the Agnelli family, will purchase 27.8% of The Economist Group’s ordinary shares for consideration of £227.5 million and all of the B special shares for consideration for £59.5 million from Pearson.

The proceeds will be used by Pearson for general corporate purposes and investment in its global education strategy.

HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST? Adidas gets Runtastic The adidas Group acquired all outstanding shares of Austriabased fitness app maker Runtastic GmbH. The transaction values Runtastic at an enterprise value of US$240 million. “This investment will add considerable value on our journey to deliver new world-class sports experiences,” said Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas. The move extended adidas’ investments in wearables and digital platforms.

Scientific research Beverage drink giant Coca-Cola is funding “science-based” research which argues that sugary drinks are not to be blamed for obesity.

According to The New York Times, the world’s largest manufacturer of sugary beverages is backing a new non-profit organisation called the Global Energy Balance Network to fund research contradicting claims that a bad diet causes obesity. The organisation disclosed that Coke donated US$1.5 million last year.

TELLING THE TALE OF SINGAPORE’S HISTORY

Tiger Beer launched its SG50 campaign “Unofficial History of Singapore” across multiple platforms on the SMRT Media network.

For the fi rst time, Somerset linkway was transformed with audio and visual capabilities, with two large digital screens installed within large format billboards, and a fully wrapped concept buy. To increase engagement, Tiger Beer featured two mockumentaries of the

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country’s “history” on chicken rice and the Kallang Wave, entertaining commuters as they moved through the linkway en route to shopping malls.

The campaign ran from 2 April to 5 May 2015 and could be found on the Somerset Linkway, Raffles iBillboard and concept trains. The creative executions were done by BBDO and the campaign cost about SG$27,000.

More sporting power MP & Silva acquired the media rights of the football league La Liga in Scandinavia and Finland, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Japan. The deal makes the international sports media company the exclusive distributor across media platforms, including television rights across cable, satellite and terrestrial, internet TV, IPTV and mobile. The agreement covers all matches during the tournament.

Going global ASUS Tek Computer appointed Mirum Asia Pacific for global marketing duties on its PC business. ASUS confirmed the win to A+M and added the agency would help create a global toolkit to execute campaigns across all platforms, spanning digital and traditional media. The appointment came following a pitch. Mirum will lead the account, backed by a joint Mirum-J. Walter Thompson agency team.

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NEWS

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AUDIT WATCH

YACHTSTYLE LOOKS TO AUDIT Earlier this year, Lux Inc Media took over the publishing of YACHTstyle magazine, planning an aggressive expansion across the region in conjunction with the launch of its new corporate website.

It will move from a quarterly publication to a bimonthly publication starting in 2016 with the February/March issue; in line with Lux Inc Media’s other title, luxury property magazine PALACE, going bimonthly starting from the January/ February issue.

Both magazines will also be printed out of Singapore in addition to Hong Kong. In addition to the increased visibility of the magazines, Lux Inc Media also launched its new corporate website, catering to visitors looking for a concise picture of Lux Inc Media’s platforms, events, affiliated partners and network.

“We continue to be encouraged

Google+ shrinks Google is dismantling some of its Google+ services. Bradley Horowitz, VP of streams, photos and sharing, has admitted that Google “made a few choices that, in hindsight, we’ve needed to rethink”, and will be making some important changes to its Google+ platform. For example, the company will be making some additions to its Google+ services, while shuffling some of its tools to other Google platforms and products.

Mobile moments The New York Times has revealed plans to expand its mobile ad platform to focus on key moments of a user’s day. The solution, called “mobile moments”, will feature targeted short stories called screenplays that will be created by T Brand Studio, The Times’ commercial content group.

Available on The Times’ core smartphone apps and mobile web, mobile moments have been designed to make the reader experience more integrated.

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by the positive response from the market since we announced the acquisition of YACHTstyle,” said Gael Burlot, CEO & publisher of Lux Inc Media.

Meanwhile, Burlot added that while a circulation audit was on the cards, this would not take place until 2016, when the publication “reaches a full cruising speed”. As of now the publication partners Wealth-X, where the latter screens and qualifies the publication’s database of readers, subscribers, and people met during its events to help it focus on strong potential leads.

A malvertising attack Yahoo users were infected with malware by a malvertising campaign. Security company Malwarebytes Labs uncovered the malware. Jérôme Segura, a senior security researcher at Malwarebytes, said the attack began when AdJuggler, a trusted advertiser and partner of Yahoo for ad distribution, “got abused by rogue advertisers that uploaded a malicious ad that got displayed on the main site”.

Mindshare launches FAST WPP-owned media agency Mindshare APAC launched a solution suite which aims to provide data-led, adaptive marketing services to brands.

Called FAST, or future adaptive specialist team, the service comprises six services that clients can choose from or use as an integrated solution. Mindshare has gathered digital specialists from across the network to create five FAST hubs, located in Singapore, London, New York, Shanghai and Mexico City.

Share a feeling Beverage company Coca-Cola launched the latest instalment of its “Share A Coke” campaign with “Share A Feeling”. Catered to the Southeast Asian markets, the campaign encourages Millennials to express themselves via emoticons on Coke cans and bottles. The multi-market integrated campaign began in July, and was first seen in Vietnam.

The campaign is being rolled out across ASEAN markets over the next 12 months.

Cohn & Wolfe appointed Cohn & Wolfe has been appointed

by Unit4, an enterprise applications supplier, and IO, a data centreas-a-service provider. The agency will manage an integrated communications programme for IO and a comprehensive media relations strategy for Unit4. Cohn & Wolfe will develop a targeted media relations strategy designed to raise Unit4’s profile with smallto-medium-sized businesses and enterprises in these sectors.

Meanwhile, the agency will help increase IO’s mindshare within the industry.

FIFA told to shape up Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have pressurised football’s governing body FIFA to clean up its act in the aftermath of the corruption scandal that shook the football community.

Both companies demanded that an independent third-party commission be established to oversee reform of the organisation.

Coca-Cola released a statement saying that a presence of a thirdparty commission would provide the most credible approach to reforming FIFA.

Twitter launches new service Twitter launched a new event targeting service for advertisers called event targeting. The new feature will allow advertisers to reach audiences interested in their events as users can now activate around live moments.

Available to all Twitter advertisers globally, event targeting helps advertisers plan around their events by using three primary tools: the event calendar, event insights and event activation.

Social investment Tech giant Yahoo announced plans to buy community driven social commerce website Polyvore.

Combined, Yahoo said Polyvore would power native shopping ads that drive traffic and sales to retailers. With more than 20 million unique monthly visitors, Polyvore will accelerate Yahoo’s mavens growth strategy (mobile, video, native, social) through its offerings in social, native and mobile.

Polyvore’s community powered content is curated and actionable for shoppers and will enhance the full portfolio of Yahoo’s digital magazines and verticals.

Financial Times sold British publisher Pearson sold its flagship business newspaper the Financial Times to Japanese digital media group Nikkei. The FT Group, which includes the Financial Times, has been sold for £844 million in cash, but will not include the company’s 50% stake in The Economist Group. The FT Group includes the FT newspaper, FT.com, How to Spend It, FT Labs, FTChinese, the Confidentials and Financial Publishing (including The Banker, Investors Chronicle, MandateWire and others.

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7/10/2015 9:57:54 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

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THE STATE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MALAYSIA As Malaysia crosses its Independence Day on 31st August 2015, let’s look back at some of the key highlights and happenings in the social media sphere that are uniquely Malaysian.

What makes Malaysia unique when it comes to social media?

For many of us, our earliest and fondest memories of social content from Malaysia are probably the beautifully crafted television commercials by the late Yasmin Ahmad for Malaysia’s largest oil and gas company PETRONAS. Released during major festive holidays, these ads have gone viral on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.

The execution of the ads was simple, heartwarming, and she never failed to touch the hearts of the audiences.

With values such as friendship, family and filial piety; and universal story themes that centre around family, reunion and nostalgia, it came as no surprise why Yasmin’s ads resonated so well with Malaysians, resulting in her huge influence on social media. In fact more than half of the top 10 YouTube ads from Malaysia earlier this year were of similar topics.

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As Malaysia crossed its Independence Day on 31 August 2015, let’s look back at some of the key highlights and happenings in the social media sphere that are uniquely Malaysian.

Malaysia Boleh With nearly 19 million users online, Malaysia has a social media penetration of 64%, which is considered one of the highest in this region – second only to Singapore. Marketers view the social media landscape in Malaysia as vibrant, with most of the Malaysian population turning to social media platforms to have their voices heard.

For example, Malaysians have turned to social media giant Facebook to address one of the most controversial topics faced by the country: racism.

In a video campaign, aptly titled “Are Malaysians Racist?”, launched last year by

Naga DDB and Malay Mail Online during Malaysia Day, it was shown that Malaysians of different racial backgrounds refused to make stereotypical and racist comments about their fellow countrymen of other races in exchange for money.

Not only did the video garner more than 150,000 likes in less than two days, it also inspired a similar project initiated by a group of college kids.

Recent statistics have shown that Facebook is still the social media network of choice for Malaysians. This is followed closely

by Instagram and then Twitter. While brands such as Starbucks Malaysia, Red Bull Malaysia and AirAsia are reaping the benefits of social media for being early adopters in the digital scene, we can expect more brands to lean towards the big social media platforms to better engage with their consumers.

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#staystrong Looking back, 2014 was probably one of the most challenging years for Malaysia, with Malaysia Airlines (MAS) encountering two major air disasters – the disappearance of MH370 and the crash of MH17. However, during this period, the display of support by Malaysians on social media was a true testament to their character.

Many turned to Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #prayforMH370 to offer their thoughts and prayers for the missing passengers and their next of kin.

The airline MAS also turned to Twitter and paid tribute to those who were affected during the MH17 crash with a tweet, “Tough times do not last, tough people do #staystrong”, accompanied by the image of two flight attendants holding hands.

Interestingly, what was meant to be an internal message to staff soon became viral with nearly 3,000 retweets and more than 1,200 likes within the first 12 hours after the tweet went live.

The #staystrong hashtag that went viral served as an impactful and powerful reminder to the locals of what it truly means to uphold the spirit of unity as a Malaysian in times of crisis.

Malaysia’s e-commerce booms Apart from advocating social awareness, we are also seeing an increasing number of Malaysians making use of social media in their purchasing decisions.

Findings from a recent survey by Adobe suggested that as many as 70% of Malaysians turn to brands’ social media platforms to research and find out more about the products before making a purchase.

This was evident as the top Facebook pages tracked in Malaysia were found to be of consumer brands such as McDonald’s, KFC, Head and Shoulders, Visa, etc.

Malaysia is embracing mobile commerce in a big way, with expectations of the industry to make up almost 60% of the total e-commerce market by this year.

Messaging chat apps such as LINE and WeChat will be a big driver of this trend, as the country has also established itself as one of the highest adopters of such messaging chat apps. LINE, for example, reached 10 million users in Malaysia mid-last year and WeChat tracked a 95% smartphone penetration rate with Malaysian users in May this year.

These messaging apps have also evolved beyond their basic functions of just mobile messaging to become more interactive social media platforms for brands to engage with their customers directly on a more personal level.

For example, LINE Shopping Malaysia,

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which was launched two years ago, has already partnered with retail brands such as Rakuten, Groupon, Lazada and Zalora. As for WeChat, it has been working with brands in Malaysia such as Chatime and Domino’s Pizza to extend deals and rewards to their users.

The next wave While the state of social in Malaysia may still be in its early days, the influence of social media is undeniable among the locals, especially as social media continues to evolve more rapidly and the marketplace becomes even more saturated with the rise of multiple social media platforms.

Furthermore, the smartphone penetration rate is set to increase even further in Malaysia, complemented by a stronger internet infrastructure. As Malaysians are becoming more mobile-centric, access to social media on the move through smart devices will continue to grow.

It is unsurprising to know the mobile space will only continue to evolve further at an accelerated rate, but will also be watched closely by many marketers as it plays an even larger role in consumers’ day-to-day lives.

The writer is Yvonne Tey, marketing director of Hootsuite.

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WHAT MALAYSIANS WERE TALKING ABOUT OVER THE MERDEKA WEEKEND Here are some digital campaigns launched for the National Day. Noreen Ismail writes.

A look at Malaysia’s way of celebrating its National Day.

It was quite a politically charged long weekend with the Bersih 4.0 rally coinciding with the lead-up to Malaysia’s National Day on 31 August.

Focusing on the top conversations from 28 August to 31 August, “Bersih” had 127, 556 mentions with 75% from Malaysia; 12% from Indonesia; 4% from the United States; 2% from the UK and 1% from Australia.

On the other hand, the word “Merdeka” garnered 70,977 mentions on social media with the bulk of them coming from Malaysia at 84%, Indonesia at 5%, United States at 3% and United Kingdom at 3%, according to media monitoring platform Meltwater.

Among brands, Meltwater ranked Google, Petronas and Maybank as the top three brands that were most talked about online during the long weekend.

In addition, the top three digital initiatives most talked about were by PETRONAS’ #akrab (watch the video below), Maybank’s #MyMaybank and Lazada’s #UnitySale respectively. In #akrab, which means “closeness”, the ad highlighted the

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importance of friendship and the close ties that transcend language and culture.

Meanwhile, here were the other digital campaigns launched for National Day. Maxis This ad by telecommunications giant Maxis encouraged the individual to look beyond the self and care for fellow Malaysians.

It featured the inspiring true story of 80-yearold Uncle San, Ranau earthquake mountain guides and hundreds of other Malaysians who looked past their differences to help others in times of trouble. Be inspired by these acts of kindness: Tenaga Nasional Another company that jumped on unifying the nation was petroleum firm Tenaga Nasional.

Aligning with the government-initiated campaign #sehatisejiwa (one heart, one spirit), the oil firm launched a similar digital initiative.

The campaign rallied the public to make a collective effort in elevating the lives of citizens.

According to Meltwater, this government-led hashtag garnered 51, 595 mentions on social media.

— Di Tenaga Nasional, kami sentiasa berusaha meningkatkan kehidupan rakyat. Dalam memastikan setiap insan menikmati...

— Posted by TNB Careline on Thursday, August 27, 2015 Eco World Development Group Malaysian property developer Eco World Development Group and The Star partnered to launch the #AnakAnakMalaysia campaign where we saw #AnakAnakMalaysia wristbands distributed across Malaysia along with copies of The Star.

The campaign ran across radio and online until 16 September. The Star readers could snap a photo with the wristband and share what it meant to be Malaysian with the hashtag #AnakAnakMalaysia. These photos were then collated and shared in a specially created website.

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MALAYSIAN GOVT STOPS ADVERTISERS FROM USING “MERDEKA” IN CAMPAIGNS According to an MCMC memo, ad agencies should refrain from using the word “merdeka” in their ads. Noreen Ismail writes.

Malaysians gathered in a sea of yellow for the Bersih 4.0 rally in various cities across the globe leading up to Merdeka Day, which is the celebration of Malaysia’s independence.

The rally was organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) and was supported by a coalition of the three largest opposition parties in Malaysia along with other small political parties and social organisations.

Individuals took part in the protest to show support for a more transparent and democratic government. Beginning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the rally sparked similar peaceful protests in Melbourne, Sydney and New York.

As Malaysians united in the lead-up to the country’s 58th National Day to celebrate the Peninsula’s independence, a memo from the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC) was sent to advertising agencies to omit the word “Merdeka” from their ads.

The advisory requested any words relating

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to independence or “Merdeka” must be changed to “Happy National Day” or “Selamat Hari Kebangsaan”. Advertisers were to also refrain from mentioning the number 58 – the number of years since Malaysia’s independence from British rule.

Here is the screenshot of the original email, first posted on online site Cilisos: According to news site The Malay Mail Online, MCMC released a statement explaining the initiative to omit the word “Merdeka” as a means to “strengthen ties among the people, regardless if they were from the peninsula, Sabah or Sarawak because August 31, 1957 focuses on the independence of Malaya whereas September 16, 1963 is felt more by Sabah and Sarawak”.

A quick check by A+M showed that most Malaysian brands that launched National Day campaigns, which celebrated all things Malaysian, created hashtags unique to their ad campaigns. However, some such as MyTeksi (or

GrabTaxi) still used the banned word Merdeka.

Does Merdeka really mean anything?What is Merdeka? While the current sentiment in our country isn’t as positive as it should be, we would like Malaysians to celebrate the little Merdekas in our lives. What are your little Merdeka moments? We’d love to hear how you celebrate them everyday. Tell us below.

Posted by MyTeksi on Friday, August 21, 2015 A+M has reached out to MCMC and GrabTaxi for a statement.

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7/10/2015 11:09:24 PM

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LOCALISATION AND PERSONALISATION KEY TO STANDING OUT Pamela Knaggs, marketing manager, Singapore and Malaysia of Skyscanner tells Ambrish Bandalkul how the travel search engine carved out a niche in a commoditised market.

Price transparency, the emergence of lowcost airlines and disruption from the internet have completely commoditised the travel market.

A+M spoke to Pamela Knaggs, marketing manager for Singapore and Malaysia at travel search engine Skyscanner, to find out what it did to carve out a place in the travel business.

Skyscanner has been operating in Malaysia since 2011 with skyscanner.com.my. [Knaggs is a judge at the third annual Marketing Excellence Awards] A+M: In markets where price comparisons are extremely easy, is branding even important, or is scale the only way to compete?

Knaggs: While branding and scale are both important, we’ve focused hard on defining and maintaining our USP. What we aim to do is make travel planning as simple as possible; more than branding and scale, localisation has been crucial for our success, especially in a fragmented market such as APAC. It is important that we constantly develop our product fit with different travellers across the region to drive relevancy, usability and growth, while taking into account the travellers’ feedback. For example, we saw that our Malaysian audience was comfortable browsing in English so we switched the default language from Bahasa Melayu to English. We saw an immediate decrease in bounce rate and an improvement in conversions to the site.

A+M: In your business to what extent does branding and awareness matter over individual relationships?

Knaggs: We’re all about being customer-first.

As a start-up, individual relationships are key to the foundations of brand-building in a saturated market. Our strategy in APAC emphasises local traditions, knowledge, culture and trends. The team understands the local needs and social behaviours of the different markets, including

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Standing out: What’s the best way to make your presence felt in a crowded marketplace?

Malaysia – remaining cognisant of the massive market diversity and continuing to be actively pursuing multi-speed in each market across the APAC region.

We’re taking all the things that have built the Skyscanner you see today – unbiased comprehensive coverage, proprietary technology, strong localisation – and taking that on its natural progression to bring a full travel offering for all types of travellers.

A+M: How has Skyscanner made its product sticky?

Knaggs: We know travellers want to know the final price upfront, and not be stricken by unwelcome surprises such as hidden fees. It’s our job to build tools to make the travel booking process more efficient and seamless.

Users come back at scale as we work to offer the most comprehensive coverage in the world – with more than 1,200 global partners across flights, hotels and car hire.

Travellers who have flexible travel dates can make use of our “whole month or year” search functionality, and sign up for “price alerts” to

monitor flight prices directly from their inbox. To further fuel Malaysians’ wanderlust, our “search everywhere” feature aims to inspire and see where in the world their budget might take them.

A+M: In terms of marketing tactics such as SEO, media relations, etc, what’s worked in Malaysia in helping you stand out from the competition?

For Malaysia, our traffic has been steadily increasing despite no marketing and/or promotional spend – most of our traffic has been directed from organic channels. Our team has since focused its efforts on writing and uploading relevant SEO landing pages – resulting in a significant increase in organic to our site as well as to our travel features and news site.

We believe that educating key stakeholders such as media and influencers about Skyscanner is key in Malaysia. By educating the media and influencers on the travellers’ problems that Skyscanner is trying to solve, they will in turn benefit their viewers/readers so they can confidently find the best travel options.

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#McWHOPPER STUNT: WHO TAKES HOME THE CROWN? Here’s the brand that got the most love on social media following the #McWhopper stunt.

Rezwana Manjur writes.

Time to make peace? Burger King and McDonald’s were at it yet again, this time to celebrate Peace day.

Burger King versus McDonald’s – the war continues.

Unless you were living under a rock, you have probably heard of the awesome publicity stunt Burger King recently pulled. The fast-food giant took out full page ads asking long-time rival McDonald’s to work with it in creating a burger called #McWhopper to celebrate Peace Day. McDonald’s, unfortunately, wasn’t going to bite. Steve Easterbrook, its current CEO, politely declined.

Nonetheless the stunt had consumers excited. While many supported Burger King’s idea of the #McWhopper, others chided the fast-food giant for trivialising Peace Day. Over on McDonald’s end, several consumers expressed unhappiness for the brand not being a sport in creating this mega burger.

In a conversation with A+M, a spokesperson from media intelligence solutions company Meltwater said that according to its research Burger King was coming out on top in gaining some brand love from consumers.

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McDonald’s

Burger King

Positive total hits:

21856

13442

Neutral total hits:

70035

42614

Negative total hits:

30276

9668

Total hits:

122167

65724

Here’s a breakdown of the data from 26 August to 28 August: Meltwater’s data also showed the hashtag #McWhopper was by far the most trending with 42,335 mentions, followed by “Peace Day” with 6,261 mentions. Coming in third was the “McWhopper Proposal” with 5062 mentions.

Meanwhile, data from Amobee suggested that McDonald’s claims that there were better ways to celebrate Peace Day were not totally without merit. Between August 26 to 27, both McDonald’s and Burger King were twice as much associated with the hypothetical McWhopper than with Peace Day. “The modest, but good-intentioned

proposal has undoubtedly helped lift awareness of both brands, but Burger King is seeing the most reward with increased 529% positive sentiment on Twitter around their open letter to McDonald’s, while turning sentiment around the brand from a net negative to a net positive,” said a spokesperson from Amobee.

The data added that even though Easterbrook politely declined to play along with the Burger King idea in a reply on the brand’s page on Facebook, the overall volume of tweets around McDonald’s increased by 78%.

Of which the volume of positive tweets only increased by 5% around the brand.

Ouch – now that’s a burn.

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HERE’S ONE UNLIKELY BRAND WHICH PARTNERED BK FOR #PEACEDAY Here is what the two got up to. Rezwana Manjur writes.

So what if McDonald’s snubbed Burger King’s proposal for the #McWhopper (sobs)?

Many others are vying for that spot to work with the fast food chain.

Burger King, following the rejection, is rolling up its sleeve and getting down to work, partnering up with some of the smaller fast food chains to create the ultimate burger. Burger King said it will work with a few of the interested smaller chains on its pop-up Peace Day shop.

Already lined up for the deal are brands such as Denny’s, Krystal, Wayback Burgers and Giraffas who no doubt will be boosting their brand image riding on the back of Burger King’s fame.

While it made complete sense for these smaller players to get in the game, an unlikely proposal came from social media management platform Hootsuite. Hootsuite, in its letter to Burger King said, it is looking to volunteer its services and spread peace day messages.

Aww, that’s a sweet offer. Let’s see what this unlikely pair gets up to.

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7/10/2015 11:07:51 PM

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CROSS-BORDER AGENCY EXPANSION: IS THE INTEREST MUTUAL? A+M asks industry players who have expanded in both Singapore and Malaysia the feasibility and the pros and cons of such a business move. Noreen Ismail writes.

Return trip: Are agencies in Singapore and Malaysia finding it easy to expand their presence on the other side of the border?

With our long shared history and cultural heritage, it may seem like cross-border agency expansion across Singapore and Malaysia is a natural progression for independent agencies seeking to grow their footprint in the region.

With digital agency Lion & Lion announcing its fourth regional outfit in Singapore and social media firm Yellow Mango, newly minted in the Little Red Dot, will we see more and more Malaysian agencies entering Singapore and vice-versa?

In a separate conversation with A+M, Warren Tan, CEO of VLT, also expressed interest in expanding into the Singapore market.

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Meanwhile, Singapore-based creative shop GOVT has also recently opened in Malaysia, starting with clients such as Tourism Malaysia, Pernod Ricard Malaysia and Airbnb Malaysia.

Delving into the topic of cross-border expansion, we spoke to some industry players about what makes such a business move enticing, and if there is mutual love on both sides of the causeway when it comes to revenue opportunities and growth.

What’s going in Singapore’s favour?

According to Lion & Lion’s managing director Sumit Ramchandani there are three factors

that make Singapore an attractive expansion location for the digital agency.

“In terms of digital maturity, it is one of the top in the world; behaviour of people in Singapore reveals that they are more willing to go digital.”

Also, as a known regional hub of various multi-national corporations, Singapore is an ideal option for the agency to tap into the regional budgets of international firms that have a presence in the country.

“Establishing good relations with the right people can potentially open up doors for us. In Singapore we’d have access to a firm’s regional

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budget, and open doors to other markets as well where the marketing spend might be more country specific,” he said Third, Singapore’s entrepreneurial environment makes it a friendly test bed location for new businesses. With various government initiatives aimed at supporting start-ups and small and medium enterprises, the country continues to be a fertile spot for agencies to expand and experiment in the market.

Launching its fourth office in the region in Singapore, Ramchandani said to expand into a diverse market such as Singapore from a more homogenous one required a high level of maturity in the field.

Once an agency ensures its suite of services can match a more sophisticated market’s current business offerings, it should tap on the close proximity of its neighbouring countries when narrowing options for business expansion.

Alvin Kok, founder of Yellow Mango Communications, also cited economic prosperity as one of the factors that makes Singapore a business magnet. Furthermore, he said the booming marketing and advertising industry, in spite of its small-market size, translates to more growth and opportunities.

“Singapore’s economic growth has a lot more potential as it is also faster and more stable as compared to Malaysia’s,” he said.

Cultural similarities For Yellow Mango, it chose Singapore because of the cultural and linguistic similarities between the two countries which allowed for a smooth transition for the agency.

Kok said: “Our agency is strong in English and Malay languages so Singapore was the closest to expand. We were offered to expand in Thailand since we have a client in Bangkok, but we weren’t ready for that because language can be a potential barrier for this in the Thai market.”

Leon Lai, group managing director of GOVT, also agreed the proximity, language and culture played vital roles in selecting Malaysia as the agency’s first location outside of Singapore.

Aside from meeting the requests of his Malaysian clients, Lai said expanding in Malaysia was a natural fit for the agency.

“I think the biggest factor was in the culture, the other ASEAN countries are a little bit more different.”

On the other hand, Pat Law, founder of Goodstuph, says proximity and culture are the very reasons why the agency feels it’s not necessary to have a local representative or office in Malaysia.

“If the cultures were very different then we might consider it. Setting up in Malaysia would

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“Our agency is strong in English and Malay languages so Singapore was the closest to expand. We were offered to expand in Thailand since we have a client in Bangkok, but we weren’t ready for that because language can be a potential barrier for this in the Thai market.”

Alvin Kok - founder of Yellow Mango Communications

also mean looking at a co-partner,” Law said.

Challenges for Singapore and Malaysia Economic challenges such as the rapidly falling Malaysian ringgit has led to investors pulling out from the Malaysian market thereby affecting overall business spend.

“So it is a risk that business owners need to be willing to take on when expanding into the market,” Leon Lai said.

Moreover, there are other internal framework issues to consider before starting up in a different market.

“With regards to remuneration, wages are about 20% higher (talking about dollar for dollar value here) than Singapore, so you have to factor that in your business plan,” Lai said.

According to Gary Tang, founder of The Media Shop, economic stability and client demand were lacking in Malaysia. As for the media landscape, the huge cultural differences makes the agency hesitant about entering the market.

Another challenge for Malaysia is that of talent. Sonya Madeira, founder and managing partner of Rice Communications, says a reason she hasn’t had a direct presence in Malaysia is because of the talent drain the country faces.

“Many of Malaysia’s highly sought-after talents are now moving to Singapore,” she said.

On the other hand, the key challenge for Malaysian agencies expanding into Singapore is the high operational costs borne by the agencies as compared to their cross-border counterparts. Ramchandani also highlighted that tightening laws on hiring foreign talent can put a damper on an agency that is eager to access and recruit high-quality talent.

“Now we don’t have a free hand in hiring anymore, as compared to two years ago.”

For Yellow Mango, the agency has had a hard time establishing its brand because Singapore companies are still reluctant to work with a Malaysian agency, citing discrepancies in the transfer of knowledge between the markets.

For example, most Singapore brands are not convinced that what has worked in Malaysia could work in the Singapore market as well, Alvin said.

“But as with any company starting up in a new locale, we have to work in establishing

ourselves and I’m confident that we will adapt accordingly.”

To remedy this perceived lack of trust, the company is investing in cross-training of its staff.

Possible solutions As for GOVT’s Lai, having a Malaysian partner onboard its team helped to ease the transition into the market.

“If you feel you have a unique business offering that you can provide in Malaysia, I think that it should be a valid consideration. After all, the market and therefore, opportunities, are much bigger than Singapore.

“Although the current exchange rate is not the most ideal, we shouldn’t forget that the primary aim should not be to convert your earnings into SG dollars.”

For Law, she explained that in considering a Malaysian outfit, it would make more business sense to use Malaysia for its production.

“For us, even though we service clients in Malaysia, the ideation process comes from Singapore whereas the production is done in Malaysia.”

Meanwhile, Tang feels having a partner in the market is a more feasible idea.

“We were looking to explore the Malaysia market some time last year and at that point we touched base with several independent media agencies to understand the market. We felt it would be more feasible to partner up with an agency rather than set up completely on our own.

“The Malaysian media scene is more relationship-based so it would be much easier to have an on-ground individual who is familiar.

As a Singaporean, it was difficult for us to operate in a market which is so relationshipbased.”

According to Madeira, servicing clients for Rice has been easy enough from here.

“When we first started we had clients that were headquartered in KL and we would fly down there every two weeks to have meetings.

For us it didn’t make sense to have someone on the ground.

“However, if a client, regional or local, is really looking to heavily invest in the Malaysia market then I would try to convince my staff or find an amazing multi-faceted partner there.”

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UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ON MOBILE Click-through and conversion rates are the weak points of marketers. Noreen Ismail writes.

Mobile marketing is no longer an option today and digital marketers in Asia Pacific understand this fully. It is now an indispensable tool for engaging customers and sustaining interaction with the audience. But how well do marketers actually understand their consumers?

According to the Adobe Digital Index Best of the Best Benchmark 2015, digital marketers in Asia Pacific continue to excel in mobile marketing. With more than 2.5 billion mobile users, marketers in Asia Pacific are focused on prioritising mobile in their overall marketing strategy.

Mobile-first business transformation is being led by Asia Pacific, as the region outpaces the United States on smartphone visits. SEA saw double-digit increases year-over-year in their share of smartphone visits, with an 18% increase for best of the best websites and an 11% increase for average websites.

However, where the region’s marketers fell behind in their mobile strategy was in conversion rates.

According to the study, this indicated a lack of understanding from marketers in consumer mobile and desktop activity and possible friction in the process and experience. Clickthrough rates were also weak in SEA. This showed a lack of alignment between consumer intent and advertising execution.

“It’s clear mobile optimisation is no longer an option, and if businesses are under-skilled in mobile development, it will put them at a severe disadvantage,” said Tamara Gaffney, director at Adobe Digital Index.

“APAC is dominating when it comes to smartphone and tablet visits. We’re seeing the best websites in APAC coming out ahead of the United States, with more than 50% of their visitors coming from smartphones, and increasingly high success rates in areas like consumption and stickiness. The data is telling us that delivering seamless experiences across devices is the key to acquisition and engagement.”

The index compares the overall average versus the top 20% websites on six key per-

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Source: Adobe Digital Index Best of the Best Benchmark 2015

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formance indicators across eight regions: Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Southeast Asia (SEA), India, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, Japan and the United States. Key per formance indicators are smartphone and tablet traf fic, stick rate, visits-per-visitor, time spent, conversion rate and click-through rate. Here is an example of how to use the graphs below: Are you ready to see how your company is performing in the market? Here’s a look at some insights to gauge how well your market is doing: Share of smartphone visits As consumers continue to reply more and more on their phones to be connected, mobile optimisation has become a necessity for brands.

The best companies in South Korea lead for smartphone usage.

Share of tablet visits Southeast Asia sees the highest share of traffic from tablets. Marketers should make device optimisation a key since tablet visitors tend to consume more video content.

Stickiness Stickiness – the ability to attract and satisfy the consumer so their visits last more than one page – is a critical metric for mobile marketing success. How can marketers improve stickiness? Optimise paths based on device and

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context and align reach-based adver tising with specific audiences.

Visit rate (visits per visitor per month) More visits per visitor equates to loyalty and reduced acquisition costs – a big win for marketers. Loyal visitors are key to markets as they convert at a higher rate and contribute more to brand health.

Conver sion Hong Kong, SEA and China show the weakest conversation rates. Marketers need to understand that conversion requires understanding what activities consumers use mobile and desktop for and eliminating any friction in the process.

Consumption India and SEA see the most time spent on sites.

Longer visits can lead to engagement and loyal visitors, which may also increase upsell and adver tising oppor tunities. However, it may be related to confusion and dif ficult navigation and this should be tracked with pathing.

Click-through-rate (CTR) CTR indicates the alignment between consumer intent and adver tising execution. Acquisition via search is weakest in Japan and SEA. An improved CTR increases return on advertising spend and stretches budgets fur ther for additional acquisition activities.

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7/10/2015 11:06:30 PM

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5 THINGS TO NOTE WHEN ENGAGING YOUR AUDIENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA When marketers are bogged down with too much information, there is a chance that they might under-utilise the data that is available to them. Noreen Ismail writes.

Tips and tricks: Bearing these few points in mind will go a long way in carving a solid social media presence for your brand.

In a world where everyone can be “worldfamous in 15 minutes”, you would think brands would be quick to pick up on the importance of reacting quickly on social media. Alas, according to John Box (pictured), executive director of Meltwater Asia Pacific, some brands are still guilty of slow reaction when it comes to their communication strategy on social media.

Given the wealth of information and data available today, brands and marketers in particular are presented with the mammoth task of sifting through the conversations on social media to spot real-time overall trends that are happening.

“One mistake that potentially happens is that marketers get a little bit bogged down by

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the data so they manually start sifting through the information and start looking at every post and every article, as opposed to looking at the overall trends that might actually be appearing,” he said.

Box recommended media monitoring tools for companies to address this issue and keep track of social media.

When marketers are overwhelmed by too much information, there is a chance they may underutilise the data that is available to them. This problem may impede a brand’s responsiveness and expediency on social media.

Box gave an example of a consumer backlash against Amazon when it did not

respond in a timely manner to customers’ queries regarding the rankings of gay and lesbian books on its site.

“If they had the proper tools in place to look at that information, they could have quickly responded and given a very personal, authentic and transparent message to diffuse the situation as opposed to looking at the issue and doing a lot of internal work and mining through all that data to figure out what it had done wrong.”

Don Anderson, managing director of We Are Social Singapore, agreed that expediency was critical when it came to a social media response. He said: “The inability of some brands to respond effectively and in a timely manner often comes down to their internal set-

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up. Have they recognised the shift in behaviours around information sharing and consumption?”

Low-cost airline Firefly recently came under fire for its lack of responsiveness on social media after a Malaysian comedian posted a complaint about the carrier on his Facebook page.

According to Anderson, companies should consider investing in their social media infrastructure – a combination of people, training, tools and planning – to provide the flexibility to respond quickly to situations that call for urgency.

“And, above all, are they actually listening and analysing the conversations in social around their brand, competitors and the particular issues at hand?” Anderson said.

Nevertheless, brands should not be overreliant on data and there should be a balanced approach when it comes to putting together a social media strategy. Companies should tap on the training and expertise of their people to create new content that appeals to the masses, Box said.

Brands that excel in their social media approach are likely those that are investing in social media solutions and frameworks.

Anderson added: “Brands that go to the extent of building ‘digital command’ or ‘social listening’ centres to monitor behaviours of their stakeholders and conversations include names such as AXA Indonesia, MetLife, Intel and MasterCard.”

“These brands are using physical assets and digital investments to drive change within their businesses, and instil among their staff – from top to bottom – the need to be ‘always on’ and in step with the conversation and interests of consumers and clients,” Anderson said.

Keeping up with the conversation is key for any brand interested in sharpening its social media presence.

“Of course these days, what’s said on Twitter, Facebook or blogs is at least as important as what’s said in the newspapers.

So our role has evolved to also cover the social media sphere, providing our clients with more of the complete picture which is the news from online news as well as social media,” Box said .

Along with this advice, Box shared five tips on how brands could effectively engage on social media.

Set small goals and try to achieve them Though there is no dearth of social media channels and platforms, it is important to note that various companies differ in their goals and how they set about to achieve them. The path to a successful social media strategy is often unique to an organisation.

For this reason, Box said: “As a marketer,

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you have to go across the different stakeholders in your company – whether it be the social media team, marketing team, or the C-suite – and think carefully about what it is you’re trying to achieve: Is it to get more likes on Facebook, or more followers on Twitter or to get more engagement with your brand?”

A marketer should also rethink the kind of metrics he is going to use when it comes to setting goals. Box advised that a company should steer clear of the more “vanity metrics” which is counting the number of likes a brand has on its pages.

“A more viable metric would be more actionable and interactive ones such as monitoring the number of shares, app mentions and retweets on social media.”

times in this rapidly changing media sphere.

“It would be good if you can partner with a company which has a large presence and the ability to work directly with the likes of Facebook and Twitter, so if they change their application programme interfaces (API) or the way you can access their data, or whatever the case may be, that you are well placed to get the best out of those channels.” Choosing the wrong partner, he warned, might impede the organisation’s scalability.

Select the right people The right infrastructure should include a well-trained team with a range of expertise that is applicable to social media. Because investments in social and digital media are still

“The inability of some brands to respond effectively and in a timely manner often comes down to their internal setup. Have they recognised the shift in behaviours around information sharing and consumption?”

Don Anderson - managing director of We Are Social Singapore

Start listening to the conversations This has to link back with the goals that have been initially set.

“Listening is not just about looking at your brand,” Box said.

When it comes to shaping a brand’s social media strategy, it is also pertinent to study the talking points in the industry to benchmark the company’s social media strategy against its competitors. Hence, listening to the right conversations, along with having the right tools in place to gather insights, is crucial for a successful social media strategy.

Use the right tools Due to the ever-evolving nature of the social media landscape, it may be difficult for a brand to cut through the large amount of information available. Marketers especially may get bogged down in the data, making it even more challenging to spot overall trends in the market place.

For this reason, Box advised that brands should look into investing in media monitoring tools to help them identify and utilise the right platforms to help the brand achieve its goals.

“There are so many tools that are out there in the world, there’s almost a new one coming out every single day. You have to be sure the one that you are picking is the best fit with your goals, your brand and what you are looking to achieve.”

Another thing to look out for, according to Box, is to select a tool that can scale with the brand as an organisation and move with the

a fairly new phenomenon, companies should equip its talent with the necessary skills in order to maximise on its return on investment.

Box explained: “The social media landscape is something a lot of people are still learning about and it is really good to have the right expertise in place. Whether that’s an agency that you are using or in-house, you have to make sure they have the proper training and expertise and access to the proper tools that you have access to.”

Close the feedback loop For a social media strategy to succeed, it is crucial to close the feedback loop.

“After you have listened to the conversations and engaged with your audience and so on, you should be looking at the effectiveness of that,” Box said.

For example, brands should review their online initiatives to see if they have met their goals. Moving forward, brands should also be open to making changes to their strategy if a tried and tested methodology did not pan out as expected.

“Because there are so many different ways that you can do this and so many different platforms that you can engage across, it’s important not to be afraid to try different platforms to see what yields the best results.

“And then again, not being afraid to benchmark against the competition and take good things from what other people in the market place are doing in order to optimise your campaigns based on that.”

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“WHAT DOES SA CREATTIVE DIR RECTOR KN NOW ABO OUT RUNNING TH HE BUSIN NESS?” SOME THINK CREATIVE DIRECTORS CANNOT RUN A BUSINESS. FIGHTING THIS PERCEPTION ARE SOME OF THE ECDs WE SPOKE TO. REZWANA MANJUR WRITES.

Last month we raised a question: Do ECDs make successful agency CEOs? As a follow-up to that story, A+M spoke to a number of other ECDs who now helm an agency with complete P&L responsibilities. From facing challenges of perceptions to the daunting task of uniting the agency as one team, these CEOs have faced it all. While these challenges may not be very different from what most CEOs face, being creative leads in their past lives makes this transition a bit more nuanced.

According to David Smail, chairman and ECD of BBDO Vietnam, the biggest struggles when evolving from an ECD gig to an agency leadership role are external factors and the

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“Being the CEO doesn’t suddenly change the fact that the quality of the agency’s IP is all that really matters.”

Josh Moore – ECD and CEO, Y&R New Zealand

perception of them being “simply a creative guy”.

Over time, the dual role has also opened his eyes to factors such as the office environment and the agency being a place individuals would want to thrive in, he says.

He adds that wearing the dual role requires him to “care more holistically about different elements of the business” – which is something he now embraces. Not only does it make him care about coming up with a great communication idea, but also getting the work

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executed on time. “It’s caring that we have a viable business, and making some considered decisions that may have real impacts. Caring more about making sure our people are being taken care of, with things like good health insurance (my mum always badgers me about that one), and caring that our people have ample time away from work with family and friends,” he says.

For Josh Moore, ECD and CEO of Y&R New Zealand, the biggest struggle was in learning to balance strategic, creative and client responsibilities.

“You’re pulled in every direction and while it’s extremely energising, it’s also unsustainable,” he says. The trick, he adds, is to quickly determine where your energy should be directed, that is, in the order of your priorities.

“Being the CEO doesn’t suddenly change the fact that the quality of the agency’s IP is all that really matters. Great ideas in the market define the agency brand, generating ROI for our clients and, in turn, organic revenue growth for us. New business opportunities quickly follow,” he says.

Meanwhile, recently appointed CEO of Leo Burnett Singapore, Chris Chiu, says what has helped him immensely in the transition was already having been in the Exco management of Leo Burnett Singapore during his ECD days.

Hence, the usual transition woes of having to familiarise oneself with the business parts was not overwhelming – having been a part of those conversations from day one.

“Sure, there are some administrative parts that are markedly different from doing a creative review or hiring a creative team, but it’s all pretty logical once you roll up your sleeves and get into the thick of it. ” Chris Chiu – CEO, Leo Burnett Singapore

views and sceptics are therefore only natural, but getting rid of the sceptics isn’t always the best option.

As Tan Kien Eng, CEO of Leo Burnett Malaysia, says: “I chose not to fire anyone, but instead worked with existing resources, even the sceptics. I focused on being firm, set high standards with the promise of rewards and recognition for team members when collective goals were achieved.”

Tan took on the role of CEO in 2009. Tan was also previously holding the role of ECD of Arc Worldwide.

For Tan there were some self-imposed challenges such as how to unite a complex agency structure with many different heads of departments and senior people into one team.

There was also the urgent need to transform a traditional ad agency into an enterprising and contemporary solutions-focused creative agency.

“We were and still continue to explore different ways on how we can deliver the business growth to sustain our momentum. Not to mention the development of our people as

Hence, be careful of what you wish for,” Tan says.

One advice Smail gives to any creative professional aiming to take on the top role is to conscientiously be strict with time. The role often requires him being pulled in several directions, while trying to maintain a consistent course.

“My advice to anyone, and myself on a daily basis, is to be conscientiously strict with time.

Making sure I proactively allot time for doing the management tasks, time for doing ‘the work’, time for clients, partners and the crew, and just as tantamount, time for caring about the people in life away from the job,” he says.

He doesn’t care much about the prejudice that creatives don’t have the acumen to the shoppe. It’s a misconception, he says, adding he was never a big believer of the left brain/right brain theory.

“I presume our brains are much more complex apparatuses than that. I like to think that we all have different pockets of neural talent in our grey matter, regardless of which hemisphere they may reside. It’s just a matter of being able to throw a switch every so often.”

“I presume our brains are much more complex apparatuses than that.

I like to think that we all have different pockets of neural talent in our grey matter, regardless of which hemisphere they may reside. It’s just a matter of being able to throw a switch every so often.”

David Smail – chairman and ECD, BBDO Vietnam

He adds when it came to meeting clients, even before he was appointed CEO, frequent meet-ups were a must for him. This familiarity helped make any possible transition friction, on either side, a little more seamless.

“Sure, there are some administrative parts that are markedly different from doing a creative review or hiring a creative team, but it’s all pretty logical once you roll up your sleeves and get into the thick of it,” he says.

And managing people is a big part of that transition. Once at the helm, these creative leads, who were pretty much focused on just one aspect of the agency, now need to consider all other teams equally and vice versa. Biased

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well to meet future demands – all very exciting,” Tan says.

Advice to those aiming for the role To put it simply, as an ECD you spend 80% of your time on the creative product, creating ideas to solving “positive” problems and the balance of 20% on administration.

“As a CEO you end up with 80% of your time dealing with people (which can be most challenging at times), business and another 20% to ensure we have the best work leaving our doors. But that’s not all, on top of the 80% and 20% you need another 50% to find ways to constantly reinvent yourself and the agency.

Y&R’s Moore adds that in the dual role, a CEO from an ECD background should use their judgment as an ECD to protect that great work even more than you could previously.

“How you go about that will be different for every ECD making the transition, but if you keep great ideas and great effectiveness as your key focus, you’ll find your way,” he says.

Leo Burnett’s Chiu adds: “Sounds terribly clichéd, but it’s so very true – you’ve got to thrive on what you’re doing. If you look at it as a job and just that, you’ll bring the wrong kind of energy to the organisation and that will be toxic.

Very quickly.”

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8/10/2015 5:32:11 PM

26–27 November Four Seasons Hotel Singapore

SOUTHEAST ASIA’S LARGEST PR FORUM IS BACK FOR ITS 3RD EDITION We’re back with the third edition of our highly popular PR Asia conference.

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8/10/2015 5:38:38 PM

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HOW TO APPOINT AN AGENCY CEO If you have been around the industry a reasonable amount of time then you will have seen spectacular failures and conversely very successful appointments.

No matter how much rigour is applied to the decision-making process, there is no magical success formula.

The basic premise of the CEO appointment has to be that the person has both hard and soft “skills”, personality and temperament for the role. This doesn’t mean the smartest person or the most creative – these usually end up being the wrong choice for the CEO role. Hence, those choosing the CEO need to evaluate the candidates on having the following critical qualities.

1. Ability to analyse and evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses and build a leadership team that fills the gaps.

2. Builds a culture that is open, transparent and supportive.

3. Sees the big picture, but is not afraid to get into the detail.

4. Allows discussion and debate on issues, but once completed ensures the decision made is followed.

5. Always makes timely decisions – and they don’t always have to be right.

6. An ability to delegate, but ensures the result is delivered.

7. Commands respect from across the agency.

But the CEO role is different to any other role in an agency as it can truly shape an agency.

Factoring in the “external” issues that influence the decision to appoint a CEO is a must. These key factors would be: • Industry disruption – global and local The marketing communications industry is going through tremendous changes. A CEO must be able to fully understand how these industry changes impact the agency and quickly determine how the agency needs to change to meet the needs and take advantage of them.

• The size of the agency The bigger it is, the more complexity, administration, scrutiny of numbers and the more the CEO is pulled into other issues rather than focus on the clients and the work.

• The type of agency A stand-alone creative agency has quite different challenges to a highly integrated agency. The ability of the CEO to add value to the agency will therefore depend on how much they understand the complete capabilities the agency has - especially for the more integrated agencies with deep digital capabilities.

•

Local and network management complexity Some of the bigger networks have complex regional and local structures and some can be highly political in nature. The CEO needs to know how to navigate this complexity, building support for their office’s key decisions, while avoiding getting stuck in any regional politics or delayed decision-making.

None of the above indicates whether a creative or suit would be more successful as a CEO. Those responsible for the CEO appointment have to clearly understand their agency’s needs and evaluate which candidates can best meet them.

The writer is Paul Davies, managing partner of Roth Observatory International.

WHY CREATIVE AGENCY CEOS NEED NOT COME FROM CREATIVE BACKGROUNDS As an ex-creative director who has been running his own successful consulting business for the past 15 years I find the concept of a creative leader acting as a business leader not such a huge stretch.

When I was at Grey Advertising the management identified my business acumen and suggested that I should give up my creative role and step across into account management to learn the “business”.

Perhaps that was because the general manager at the time had done that and subsequently went on to become the chairman of Grey Worldwide, ANZ. There are two factors at work in this issue. The first is the perceived under performance of the current agency management and leadership.

The second is a growing belief that the way forward is with greater innovation and focus on creativity and who better to lead this than the ECD. The real issue here is the fact the market is dominated by holding companies which deliver growth and

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financial performance through acquisition.

At the same time they have responded poorly to the changing needs of their clients and the downward pressure on fees from procurement.

The role of the CEO in this situation is to toe the company line and to try and squeeze revenue growth through any means possible, and subsequently, profitability largely through cost-cutting. (Some could cynically say that making the ECD the CEO effectively halves the two largest agency salary costs). In this culture there is little opportunity for the investment in innovation and creativity beyond delivering a product the advertiser will pay for.

Having said that, there are some outstanding creative agency business leaders, in the networks and especially in the independents, some of who were not ECDs, yet they are creative and innovative in their management style.

The second point is that creativity is not the domain of the ECD alone. While agencies maintain this to be true, the fact there is a

creative department and this is led by an executive creative director infers that this is the only source of creativity.

In today’s business environment, business leadership requires creative and innovative thinking to create new visions, manage the business transformation and progression and solve the issues that arise with staff and clients.

Sometimes these skills sit with the ECD, t. But they if they have the aptitude for it. can also be found in many others on is: too. Perhaps a better question ghly should creativity be more highly ncy valued in appointing an agency CEO? Because then it opens the opportunity for creative ive leadership beyond the creative department. d Darren Woolley, founder and global CEO of TrinityP3

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7/10/2015 11:01:56 PM

BRANDED CONTENT

ASTRO RADIO ATTUNED TO WHAT MALAYSIANS WANT A&M caught up with TH Chong, Chief Commercial Officer of Astro Radio.

How is Astro Radio currently positioned in the minds of its listeners and advertisers?

Radio remains one of the most far-reaching mediums in Malaysia, with a penetration level of 93% of Malaysians aged 10 and above.

It is a known fact that radio is a personal medium with a high level of listener loyalty as compared to other media, with its ability to build rapport and affinity over time with listeners.

The recent surge in consuming radio content on personal devices makes radio an even stronger proposition today, with the advent and growth of smartphones, tablets and wearables.

Beyond question, the media industry today is more exciting than ever before, with the vast changes in consumption patterns, new technologies and everevolving devices that connect to content in ways previously unimaginable.

With our recently launched all-Malaysian music and content service Raku, for instance, our listeners aren’t confined to hearing their favourite music and bands in their cars, homes or offices. They can stream live and on-demand radio programming or music straight to their smart devices.

The key to continue building a strong relationship with listeners is to stay tapped into the current needs, while anticipating listening and device or platform trends. To date 12.6 million listeners tune into our nine FM stations on a weekly basis, an impressive ratio compared with the total population of 30 million.

For the advertisers, Astro Radio remains plugged into the pulse of the audience, with constant research that provides the very latest insights into the audience listening patterns and behaviours.

Most importantly, Astro Radio will continue to develop compelling content,

“We are always looking out for brands that work well with each of our respective stations and their listeners. A symbiotic working relationship that benefits both parties is necessary for the delivery of effective communication strategies that are impactful and memorable.”

which is available to our listeners, when, how and where they want it. We are also able to offer our advertisers targeted radio solutions to cater to the

Our strategy is to strengthen the leadership position of our No.1 stations such

profile of our listeners as well as bundle our offerings using an integrated

as ERA fm, MY FM, hitz fm and THR Raaga while at the same time continuing

360-approach to include TV, radio, digital platforms and on-ground event

to strengthen Sinar FM, THR Gegar, MIX fm, Lite FM and MELODY FM in their

activation. This is made possible by creating data-backed advertising inventory

respective languages and target listeners

through user profiling, behavioural data and user activity. Furthermore, Raku helps us grab the most relevant data important to us and to our advertisers in exchange for free content.

What are some of the key milestones this year for Astro Radio and what is your outlook of the market?

Astro’s radio stations continue to lead in all main languages. Four out of our nine FM stations are the top stations in their respective language segments. (‘000)

4,835

3, 3,715 , 5

1,757

2,034

398

1,229

281

286

1,963

15%

18%

6%

55%

Unique Visitors to Astro Radio Website(mil)

3.9 2.3 0

2

4

6

8

10

Our share of radio advertising (radex) grew from 60% in FY15 to 61% in We launched Raku in April 2015, our very own online streaming music

9%

service, and within months, Raku

63%

20-29

67%

54%

17%

13%

63%

53%

48%

30-39

6.6

H1FY16, while our share of listenership stood at 12.6 million.

A G E (%)

10-19

8.7

Page Views to Astro Radio Website (mil)

18%

16%

40-49

20%

21%

17%

23%

50+

7%

16%

16%

23%

Base: All People Aged 10+ *Source: Nielsen Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) – Survey 1, 2015

76%

listening content across multiple platforms, and engaging targeted listeners

25%

17%

15%

4%

15%

54%

has had over 100,000 downloads.

Our successes are attributed to our strategy of delivering compelling while serving our advertisers with creative solutions that deliver desired results

18% 20%

We expect this trend to continue this year.

How does Astro Radio effectively align itself with the right clientele for the delivery of effective communication campaigns?

Astro Radio constantly capitalises on the myriad number of ways available

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BRANDED CONTENT to reach the full potential for radio as an effective brand and marketing

digital products as innovative solutions for our clients, Astro Radio has become

communication medium. Besides the usual 30-second commercials and

the choice platform for clients to give their brands the exposure they need.

segment sponsorships, brands have started using radio innovatively in recent times. This includes branded content, events association, talent association

If one was to be asked 10 to 15 years ago how radio would feature in today’s

and endorsements, leads-generating radio online properties and many more.

marketing communications mix, the answer would likely be a bleak one. How

We are always looking out for brands that work well with each of our

has radio managed to hold its own in such a challenging environment?

respective stations and their listeners. A symbiotic working relationship that

Radio is a wheel that is constantly turning and a communications tool that’s

benefits both parties is necessary for the delivery of effective communication

always evolving, and the same goes for Astro Radio. With online streaming and

strategies that are impactful and memorable. Our recent wins of various

on-demand radio, we remain committed to innovating our programming and our

industry awards were results of a shared vision between us and advertisers.

advertising platforms.

There are three fundamental criteria that ensure a successful radio

The “brick-and-mortar” 30-second commercial is still an effective way of

campaign. These are:

bringing brand messages to the intended consumers, especially for tactical or

–

An advertising message that resonates with the intended target

promotional campaigns that call for immediate consumer action. Consumers

consumers.

today are inundated with various advertising messages on multiple platforms

Ads that are broadcast/aired/streamed at the right time by the right station

across different locations and times. What has changed and will continue to

or platform.

change are creative ways to deliver the intended brand messages and the media-

Ads that are able to generate the desired consumer perception and actions.

buying approach of brand owners and agencies.

– –

Through our Raku music streaming and on-demand radio service, which features the hosts and programmes of all our stations, we are able to provide a free service to all Malaysians by offering spot and targeted ads. This offers our advertisers a focused, high-value way of reaching their core customers and offers our listeners the same free radio they are accustomed to. We are offering a brand our listeners know and trust, with more relevant and up-to-date content and music, and on multiple platforms to meet the needs of a consumer segment that is dynamic and always on the go.

Tell us about some of Astro Radio’s recent award-winning campaigns and why they were so successful.

Astro Radio has attained many awards throughout the years, a testament to our commitment and passion towards delivering only the best campaigns that resonate with our targeted demographic. Two notable campaigns worth highlighting were the AirAsia Great 13th Anniversary Challenge (Best Event by a How does Astro Radio consistently meet the evolving needs and daunting

Media Owner, silver) and #MYCyberSALE (Best Media Solution – Digital, bronze)

objectives of its clients?

at the Spark Awards 2015.

Astro Radio’s many successful campaigns are realised by retaining the best

The AirAsia campaign continues to be one of the most fondly talked about

creative minds in the industry. Our collaborative working style, which emphasises

triumphs on radio among consumers and insiders. Using customised solutions

teamwork, trust and tolerance for diverging opinions, is a trifecta that has always

we were able to help MDeC’s #MYCyberSALE campaign record RM67 million in

worked well in transforming a client’s brief into award-winning projects that are

sales, and earned acknowledgment of “Best Use of Radio” from Advertising +

memorable. In addition, out-of-the-box thinking and the passion to solve clients’

Marketing Magazine in its Agency of the Year Awards 2015.

needs have helped us deliver memorable sound bites, dazzling videos and graphics, and entertaining promos, among others.

Part of our success is our continued investment and development of talent.

We have some of the best talent in the industry – such as Johan Raja Lawak from ERA fm, Ean from hitz fm and Jack Lim from MY FM, all of whom played a key role in their respective station’s DNA. Additionally, our network continues to offer on-air, on-ground and specific mobile, online and device technologies to enhance the value of radio to our partners and clients. Leveraging on the strength of our

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IN THE FUTURE ... MORE TARGETED A spray and pray approach when it comes to marketing will spell doom for brands. A marketing strategy, which has a solid understanding of the objective, the target audience and their preferences, will have a higher chance of meeting with success.

... MORE SOCIAL ... MORE CONTENT-DRIVEN At the heart of it all will be content and not ads. Marketers will continue to create ads, but less of them going forward as the focus shifts to engagement beyond just awareness.

We are beginning to see dedicated resources put in place for content – both creation and dissemination – and this trend will only grow.

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This isn’t just about media, or worse, only Facebook. It is about businesses becoming social to the core.

We are seeing the growth of a sharing economy which is social in its import. This is driven primarily by the tectonic shift that’s happened in how consumers share and digest information. They talk about your brand to their network of influence be it a complaint or a compliment or both. Brands have got to be where they are. And which social media should they look at? Follow the consumer.

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... MORE MOBILE Again, 2016 may not be the year of mobile, but it will be one that will see an increased adoption of mobile in marketing’s mainstream.

As eMarketer in its latest study said: “The global mobile advertising market will hit two significant milestones in 2016, surpassing $100 billion in spending and accounting for more than 50% of all digital ad expenditure for the first time.”

The $101.37 billion to be spent on ads served to mobile phones and tablets worldwide next year, represents a nearly 430% increase from 2013, it said. Markets such as US and China will drive this in the short term.

... MORE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC Marketing will have to keep aside its obsession with media – both new and old – and understand the customer journey to map the touch-points. A website, a Facebook page, an Instagram feed for the sake of having it will do no good to the brand. Becoming customerobsessive and keeping brand values in mind will be the way to go.

... MORE PERSONALISED And all of this will help marketers personalise messages and experiences for an audience by understanding their personas. The rise of the internet of things is changing the relationship consumers have with the devices around them and for marketers this presents a world of opportunities for brands.

On top of that, marketing automation tools and programmatic buying will also make life easier for marketers. More than half of global digital media buys will be programmatic by 2017 and we will see programmatic come to TV as well.

The benefits of automations are many as well – from email and campaign management to nurturing and segmentation, as well as creating efficiencies throughout the marketing process.

According to research by MarketsandMarkets, marketing automation software revenues worldwide will grow to US$5.50 billion in 2019, up from US$3.65 billion in 2014.

According to Magna Global, worldwide programmatic ad spending will reach US$32.6 billion by 2017, with the US accounting for 50% of the total. Marketers will have to have a keen eye on where to spend.

... MORE (RIGHT) DATA-DRIVEN Data will not be the panacea for marketing, but the right use of data will be. With the amount of data out there and more being generated every minute, marketers will have to be smart about what they are looking at and deriving insights from. Garbage in, garbage out, is what they need to remember. Merely collecting data won’t be enough as well. Technology has made storing, searching through and segmenting data relatively easier, but making it work smartly, will be the job of marketers and they will have to do more and more of it, going forward.

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... MORE ENCOMPASSING Lastly, marketing will have to be more about “us” and less about “me”. As digital and data change the way businesses need to operate, marketing will find itself talking more and more to counterparts in IT, customer service, sales, product, finance and even HR. Silos will have to be brought down and whether or not this happens next year, we will see more of this going forward.

In this edition, we look at what marketers themselves think is the future of marketing. Read on.

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THE ALGORITHMIC MARKETING REVOLUTION e’re living in a world increasingly controlled by intelligent algorithms.

The algorithm for the personalisation and recommendation of movies used by movie rental site Netflix is now responsible for 60% of rentals from the site. It is astounding that an equation that can literally be written on the back of an envelope, generates more than US$3 billion of Netflix’s revenue. British AI firm Epagogix uses algorithms to analyse a new movie’s script along with the box office takings of similar films to predict how much money it will make.

Chicago-based Narrative Science pulls financial data from a variety of public and private sources to automatically generate equity research reports. The HR software firm Evolv helps employers predict when an employee is most likely to leave their job and the profile of employees that tend to perform much higher than others.

A major basis for competition in the future will increasingly be the algorithms embedded in products and services.

John Zysman, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, declared that we were in the midst of the fourth services transformation, when the application of machine intelligence to service activities would transform the services economy, altering how activities were conducted, and how value was created.

These automated processes will displace people, but will also complement human intelligence and knowledge.

The crucial issue for marketers in this era will be how to harness machine intelligence to develop consumer insights and apply them in automated customer interactions.

Since the 1960s with the first appearance of marketing science, one can distinguish three degrees of application of machine intelligence to marketing. At the first degree, marketers make decisions with limited use

of analytics and marketing campaigns are handcrafted and executed manually.

At the second degree, marketers make analytically supported decisions, but marketing campaigns are still designed and executed manually. At the third degree, machines take on the fully automated decisioning and execution of customer interactions, while marketers focus on strategy development. Amazon.com is a poster child of this world of frictionless commerce mediated by machine intelligence.

In any given week, Amazon has to price and promote more than 250 million products lying in 89 warehouses to 240 million customers.

To optimise its marketing activities at this level of scale and complexity, Amazon boosted its artificial-intelligence chops by setting up several machine-learning research groups in cities such as Bangalore, Seattle, Palo Alto, California and Berlin.

While the algorithmic marketing revolution may have begun, many organisations are still

A MAJOR BASIS FOR COMPETITION IN THE FUTURE WILL INCREASINGLY BE THE ALGORITHMS EMBEDDED IN PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.

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neglecting the benefits that digitisation can bring to their operations.

I believe that many organisations will still enjoy first-mover advantages in their industries if they start now.

Marketers at all levels of seniority will also do well to review their quantitative toolkit.

Traditional MBA-level marketing courses are woefully inadequate to prepare marketers for the challenges of algorithmic marketing.

In the near future, marketers will need to have at least a conceptual grasp of marketing science techniques such as correspondence analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, choice modelling, market mix modelling, time series analysis and experimental design.

Former IBM chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano spoke of a future dominated by the three I’s – instrumentation of our physical environment; interconnectedness through ubiquitous wireless networks; and machine intelligence.

These overarching trends will pave a way for industries, cities and entire societies to be more productive and efficient. The three I’s are driving the algorithmic marketing revolution, and I invite all future-oriented marketers to join me in this exciting journey.

The writer is George Chua, head of intelligence of Celcom.

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OF RELEVANCE AND THE NEED FOR SPEED t is impossible to pin down the future, especially for an area as large as marketing. However, judging from recent statistics, trends and analysis, it boils down to a couple of things – first, the need to stay relevant to stakeholders; and second, the need for speed – to keep up with the rapidly evolving consumer consumption patterns.

Aside from product-driven mechanics, wooing the right customer requires applying suitable engagement and service models and prioritising their interests – all highly critical in capturing mindshare. This includes understanding their preferred means of communication and how information is applied to different groups of individuals. Overall, consumer emotional profiling is imperative to

I can tell you that our customers prefer to converse with us about the uniqueness of ASEAN capital cities than about credit card deals! And why shouldn’t they? And we must engage. In general, it has everything to do with building greater connectivity with the customer so the next time they choose, they choose a brand that has made an emotional connection with them, a brand they like.

That’s the power of relevance.

NEED FOR SPEED

ON STAYING RELEVANT As we know, today’s consumers are far more informed than before. The plethora of messages from multiple touchpoints, across traditional print to mobile and digital mediums can be overwhelming. Pairing this with the widespread commoditisation of products across industries allows today’s consumers the ability to make purchases at an ultimately competitive price point.

This is particularly prevalent in the banking industry, where it is no longer the case of customers being at the mercy of bankers for loans, instead, bankers now have to proactively woo the right customer.

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heighten engagement and to ensure relevance.

Having said that, the old school avenue of “throwing money at the problem” is no longer relevant. A new revolution around content will come to the forefront – the need to ensure the marketing professional’s number one focus must be to connect with the customer at all levels – and the most effective way to do so is through the provision of relevant content.

While content proliferation is widespread, especially with social media, the marketeers focus will very much shift to content design and development. Gone are the days where banks only talk about banking, or technology companies only about technology.

THE NOTION OF SPEED WILL ALSO HASTEN MEASURES WITH REGARDS TO MEASUREMENT OF MARKETING SPEND

To stay relevant, speed comes into play, bringing about my second point. In these times, if marketeers fail to stay up to pace, they become irrelevant and very quickly drop out of the consumer mind space – in essence, if you’re behind, you’re out. However, the challenge with speed is not so much directed at bandwidth or software design per se – but more about how marketing strategies evolve with a singular focus of building teams with the ability to move at speed.

I risk being controversial when I say that the old school adage of having lots of people sitting around a table discussing positioning strategy will likely be replaced by empowered small teams figuring out the right “conversations” to have with specific customer segments, creating the right content to start those conversations and distributing that content – all done at speed.

The notion of speed will also hasten measures with regards to measurement of marketing spend – something that will likely increase in popularity given the metrics now available on numerous distribution channels.

As established upfront, it is impossible to pin down the future of marketing, but one thing that is undeniable is what is happening around us today. And if we can somehow distil those trends into buckets, we can then populate a canvas as to what marketing organisations and the individuals within it need to look like.

Finally, I am marketer. I am also a consumer. And the two buckets I am betting on are relevance and speed.

The writer is Effendy Shahul Hamid, CEO, group asset management and investments/ group chief marketing and communications officer, CIMB.

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WILL YOU DELIVER VALUE ON THE GO? nless you were living in exile in a faraway forest for the past five years, you’d probably know the world of marketing is changing at warp speed. This trend will only continue given the continuous consumer landscape changes, thanks largely to the slew of technological enhancements. So, armed with my favourite octopus and crystal ball, here’s a look into the future of marketing.

MOBILE WILL TAKE CENTRE STAGE From cell phones to smartphones, tablets to wearable gadgets, the evolution of mobile devices is one of the prime factors influencing the marketing world. As the focus is shifting to smaller screens, brands will be able to strike up a more personalised relationship with their customers by leveraging mobility. The ability to deliver “value” on the go will become the critical success factor as customers look for convenience, speed and simplicity in living their lives.

CUSTOMER DATA WILL BE EVER MORE POWERFUL In the not so distant past, media ratings companies were the main sources of information about preferences, image ratings and behaviour of an anonymous sampling of audiences.

Fast-forward to the current day and digital and performance analytics firms are growing in numbers and do the same thing (and more) with digital content. But whether it’s in 1985 or 2015, the limitation of this approach remains the same: You can’t really attribute the data back to the actual customer, nor can you tie it all together to tell cohesive customer stories.

Marketers of the future need real-time access to anything they want to know about customer segments, their lifestyle and behaviours and the ability to unify it into one complete picture of the customer. This approach creates the potential to extend a brand’s reach and build more relevant customer relationships.

WORD OF MOUTH WILL DRIVE EVIDENCE-BASED HONESTY Customers’ relatively new ability to share their brand experiences to massive online audiences has completely changed the game when it comes to influencing buying decisions. After all, would you not be tempted to check reviews of products and services that thousands of consumers have used, testifying first-hand to their effectiveness?

Customers trust stories from complete strangers far more than they trust the stories brands tell. Consumer reviews keep brands honest. While a brand still has to provide the emotional appeal audiences want, marketers must also deliver fact-based reasons to buy that will meet the approval of vigilante reviewers.

PERSONALISED CONTENT WILL BE DELIVERED AT SCALE What started a few years ago as the ideal “end state” model is now a reality. Some companies have shown evidence that it is possible to deliver the personalised experience consumers yearn for and do it at scale.

The days of hiring an agency to just create a few high-impact ads and broadcast them out to millions of people are long over.

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Now, marketers need a mix of insightful and authentic content as well as a carefully mapped out list of channels that will deliver personalised content wherever the customer happens to be.

Technology underpins this possibility, providing the means to bring together data from multiple sources to get an accurate view of the customer – and then to use those insights to personalise experiences.

Technology is also what will make it possible to increase the impact of that experience by delivering it contextually, that is, at the right time and in the right place.

IT WILL ALL BE ABOUT THE EXECUTION While the four points above are changes brought about by technological enhancements, one thing will not change – the need to have a flawless execution.

For that, the brand owner’s involvement is critical.

It used to be that if you had a budget, you could just hand over all of your marketing, advertising or public relations and sit back and “unleash the magic”.

The problem with this, and where we are going in the future, is that smarter, faster, relevant communications and advertising requires participation from the client.

To do this, CMOs have to roll up their sleeves to lead the way. It becomes the business of CMOs to get involved in how SMS, eDMs and Facebook postings are curated, just to name a few. These touchpoints are central to the brand positioning and personality.

All of the above trends, coupled with the disciplines of digital marketing, e-commerce, analytics and customer experience management, all make up the responsibilities of the CMO. It’s an exciting time to be a CMO. There’s no “school” that teaches what the CMO of the future needs to know – it requires on-the-job inventing.

Here’s a challenge to fellow CMOs – will you step up and masterfully blend the best technology solutions with the most creative communications to deliver the most measurable ROI, resulting in the best customer experiences we’ve ever had?

The writer is Eric Wong, head of customer franchise, Citibank Berhad, Malaysia.

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7/10/2015 9:52:06 PM

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NOT THE TIME TO SWITCH OFF Over the years, the marketing industry has been grappling to find an answer that depicts the future of TV advertising. With all the noise that digital media is killing the traditional platforms, brands are quick to jump onto that crowded bandwagon, while shifting away from linear TV advertising.

It sounds like it makes sense, especially when there is a report card with clicks, views, likes and shares to make us look smart to the bosses. We can’t deny too that there are also others who feel the pressure of not wanting to be seen like an old maid trying to catch up with the times. Naturally, digital becomes the way to go.

Perhaps, we may have overlooked a couple of fundamental principles of why people watch TV in the first place. It is the same reason that got us hooked on YouTube. It is the content that matters. If done well enough to drive simultaneous viewing, any content would have the ability to create an event that gives people something to talk about.

That is why TV is still the most powerful medium to hit the masses and create a strong emotional response.

This ability comes from the years of expertise in developing and distributing engaging content for the audience. We know what’s a hit; and if it’s a hit, there will be viewers.

Don’t get me wrong though. We are not isolating TV as the sole channel to get to your consumers. In fact, every channel – be it TV, digital, print, radio or outdoor – should not exist in silos.

However, the unique capability of TV amassing a huge audience simultaneously presents a strong case for brands to deliver content that is capable of capturing audience interest, and subsequently generating greater conversation across online and social media.

The approach is especially relevant in the context of Malaysia. Basically, the general population here does not only consist of the ones who are privileged. There is a bigger market out there – and this includes the makcik who sells pisang goreng in Temerloh, yet decides the best shampoo, toiletries, snacks and detergent for her family. Not forgetting, beauty products for herself too.

Take the Malay audience for example.

The Malay market alone comprises 80% of mass premium consumers living in the market centres, other urban, as well as rural areas.

Their psychographic and buying behaviours may vary, but we can’t deny that each of them exhibit a varying degree of cross-platform media consumption – not just digital alone, but traditional channels, including free-to-air TV, radio and newspapers.

A recent Nielsen study1 also validated that Malaysians still regard TV advertising as the top source of influence when buying new products (46%), coming second after word-of-mouth and ahead of in-store, internet and social media.

Imagine leaving TV out of the equation, or not being able to effectively integrate your marketing channels, how much of that lucrative opportunity would have gone to waste?

In short, brands that adopt the TV-first approach, supported by a considerable amplification across digital and online media, are proven to experience a major impact on their business.

Last year, Cadbury Malaysia relied heavily on TV channels to deliver its content as it addressed the nationwide halal crisis that affected the brand. With TV coverage from news to talk shows reaching about 13.6 million Malay viewers, the catastrophe was successfully contained and sales recovered to 50% by December 2014.

THE CAPABILITY OF TV AMASSING A HUGE AUDIENCE SIMULTANEOUSLY MAKES A STRONG CASE FOR BRANDS TO DELIVER CONTENT THAT IS CAPABLE OF CAPTURING AUDIENCE INTEREST, AND GENERATING GREATER CONVERSATION ONLINE AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

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Nippon Paint implemented the “Tolong Rumahku!” campaign to give back to homeowners and convey its brand promise to rejuvenate the environment. Branded content on TV3’s Deko Idaman was initiated to educate consumers on how to fix complications facing homeowners. A digital strategy was embedded to complement the campaign, which altogether earned the brand incremental sales of 181%.

These brands and the respective agencies won awards at the Malaysian Media Awards this year. Both are welldeserved recognition of the effective impact these campaigns had on specific business challenges with TV playing a major role. It is a testament of not just content as king, but distribution as the kingmaker.

To this end, the bottom line is that linear TV advertising will continue to be relevant in Malaysia. It just needs to continuously stay ahead of time, deliver content that touches people’s souls, and be creative in connecting brands with their audience through a set of co-operative platforms.

1 Nielsen’s Global New Product Innovation Survey, June 2015

The writer is Ahmad Izham Omar, chief executive officer of Television Networks, Media Prima Berhad.

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CREATE ACTS, NOT JUST ADS t Leo Burnett, we believe that it is only by gaining a deep understanding of people – how they think, feel and behave, and why they do so – that we can truly design creativity that engages with people and helps brands play more meaningful roles with a purpose in people’s lives.

Evidence of the effectiveness of HumanKind among our clients’ brands is abundant in Leo Burnett’s multiple wins across all categories, year after year, with: Malaysian Creative Agency of the Year (AOY), Malaysian Digital AOY, Southeast Asia PR AOY, and silver for the inaugural Southeast Asia Specialist AOY at the Campaign Asia Agency of the Year 2014 awards.

Moreover, Leo Burnett Malaysia also won the Overall AOY, Brand Consultancy of the Year, Creative AOY, Digital AOY, Direct Marketing AOY, Event Marketing AOY, PR AOY, Mobile Marketing AOY and silver for Social Media AOY at A + M’s Marketing Agency of the Year Awards consecutively in 2014 and 2015.

Among the many initiatives, Leo Burnett Worldwide’s Cannes Predictions was created in 1987 with the aim to raise the level of creativity of its people. This prediction has a 84% accuracy in identifying the winners year after year, and is a good barometer and indication of the trends for the industry in 2015 for the years ahead.

BRANDS ARE MAKING THE WORLD A SAFER PLACE Brands seize the opportunity to couple creativity and cutting-edge tech to serve a higher human purpose. For example, Samsung changed the way people drive with “safety trucks” where a wireless camera was built into the front of a truck, which then transmitted a view of the road to a video wall of four monitors at the rear of the vehicle, helping drivers behind the truck see what hazards may lay ahead.

SCREENS ON STEROIDS The proliferation of screens demand more content from marketers and challenges them to develop new ways to connect with audiences. This year’s submission demonstrated high levels of interactivity

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that set the path for twoway screens of the future.

Honda’s “The Other Side” transformed the passive activity of watching YouTube into an engaging experience.

During the course of the film, viewers discovered that pressing the R key would reveal a hidden narrative beneath the surface. This campaign deftly conveyed the dual personalities of the car.

STORIES, NOT STORYTELLING

THIS YEAR’S SUBMISSION DEMONSTRATED HIGH LEVELS OF INTERACTIVITY THAT SET THE PATH FOR TWO-WAY SCREENS OF THE FUTURE.

This year, we saw a host of fascinating stories, beautifully told. People love stories that are intriguing, captivating and charming. John Lewis’ “Monty the Penguin” captured the imagination of the nation with amplification and activation.

SHATTERING STEREOTYPES Marketing is widely acknowledged to have

the power to shape culture.

Marketing also brings forth recognition of social issues such as gender inequality or prejudice. Procter & Gamble’s #LikeAGirl ignited a cultural movement, and ultimately, boosted self-confidence in girls everywhere.

LIGHTNING IN A BUCKET

The summer of 2014 witnessed a global social behaviour phenomenon with the simple act of pouring a bucket of ice water on one’s head and challenging friends and family to do the same. It grew to be one of the biggest movements the internet has ever seen. The ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge” successfully raised $220 million for ALS research with more than 17 million videos generated.

The writer is Tan Kien Eng, chief executive officer, Leo Burnett Group Malaysia.

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THE

FUTURIST

STORY TELL, STORY SELL one are the days when you could just walk up to your customers and say, “Hey, this new product of ours is great for you!” It is also not enough to simply advertise your products and services on media channels, and expect your audience to take a second look at them.

As businesses become more competitive and technology advances incessantly, there are many ways through which people can access information.

Whether or not they decide it is worth paying attention to is another aspect of marketing to be addressed.

Buyers today need not rely solely upon the information provided by your sales reps; they may be so adept at online “surfing” that online reviews have become a more trusted source of advice before they choose to make a purchase. Individuals have become more discerning in the way they evaluate information and make decisions, and your marketing strategies will likewise need to account for this to be more effective.

There is a saying that goes, “Those who tell the stories rule the world”, and I could not

agree more. Some might say that Facebook, YouTube or mobile applications are the future of marketing but, regardless of what tactics you use, they are irrelevant if you do not have quality and relevant content, and a clearly defined target audience.

Given the annual billions now pouring into “content marketing” – where businesses publish content instead of buying advertisements – it is clear that while the story can be told in different ways, the storyline is always more important.

Content marketing, from a public relations perspective, is considered another marketing strategy. Often, writing about the challenges faced by customers is a strategy to position a company’s thought leadership.

Buyers may tune out of information that comes across as “hard sell”, compared to one that is presented to genuinely fulfil a need or want. It is now also different from the past, when people purchased only if they had the means to spend, or waited until they did.

Conscientious clients will not even look at your marketing content if its primary goal appears to just sell products or services.

Great marketing content should be able to

influence a person to behave differently or take time to digest the information presented.

From the perspective of healthcare, it is no longer the case where patients would seek advice from their doctor, get a prescription, and follow through their medication course. Patients today expect more and seek empowerment; they want to have a meaningful conversation with their doctors and exchange feedback on their options and seek more information to manage their disease.

This is one of the trends we notice among patients who would like to have a say with their doctors. Patients today demand to know more than ever about the medication given to them, and conduct their own independent information search to make informed choices.

Therefore how we create and distribute our content needs to be done differently as well.

At Pfizer, we educate and inform the public through various content marketing campaigns whether through video, written or digital format, all of which can be easily accessed by the public on disease awareness. What we always try to achieve is to deliver quality and relevant content through different channels to help our customers navigate and find the correct ways of treating their health conditions.

Another trend we notice among Malaysian patients today is that many expect added value. To serve this purpose, the team at Pfizer recently developed a mobile application called “Pfizer CV Timer” that promotes adherence to a medical regime for patients having heart conditions.

This mobile application is designed to remind patients about taking their medicine on time, and encourage them to complete their regime by rewarding them with a free health-screening.

While it is paramount to create great content that will educate our audience, we lose out on a huge potential customer base if we do not leverage on the technology available today that reaches out to the masses.

With all things being equal, those who tell better stories win more people to their cause.

And with great technology, those who tell the stories might just rule the world altogether.

The writer is Azwar Kamarudin, director, corporate affairs, health and values at Pfizer.

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A ‘DIGITAL DAWN’ he past few weeks in any marketer’s book has been a blur. It is not every day that you launch a new ultra-luxury Rolls-Royce model.

Furthermore, to launch it online for the first time was a novelty.

Yet, back in the 1900s, founder Charles Rolls broke the mould by not using posters or advertisements to sell his cars. Customers had to “experience” them, after which they would be “sold” on the quality, refinement and excellence in engineering.

Fast forward to the present. The average age of the Rolls-Royce customer has dropped from 53 to 45 in a matter of only five years thanks to our advanced luxury saloon Ghost and the fastback coupé Wraith, the most powerful Rolls-Royce ever built.

Our customers are global citizens, almost entirely online and mobile. Digital engagement is a “need”, not a “want” – we call this phenomenon “online oxygen”. For us to remain true to our promise of being customer-oriented and effortless, we have to embrace digital.

We currently have one of the largest followings on social media of any luxury automotive brand. We are present on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, for example. Since the beginning of this year

we have quadrupled our Instagram following to more than 400,000, and we see further qualitative growth.

But more than social media, the reason we focus on digital is because we see this playing a strategic role in the future of marketing for Rolls-Royce.

Our approach to digital innovation is not new to the brand. Some six years ago, we had already incorporated digital into our marketing as a matter of course. We made available a Rolls-Royce phantom app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch to experience the fascination of our bespoke offering in a truly immersive way.

Clients and Rolls-Royce enthusiasts can design virtual models with unique paint and interior trim combinations.

When you have a palette of 44,000 bespoke colours to choose from, you need to let a customer experiment!

Using the device’s camera, customers can capture, for exam example, the colour of a favou favourite nail varnish then apply it directly to ex the exterior of their “virtual” Rolls-Royce.

M More recently our efforts to go digital a have accelerated.

At our “Inside Rolls-Royce” public exhibitions around the world, the “Insid Rolls-Royce App” used the latest “Inside Beaco technology to unlock interactive Beacon conte as visitors moved through the multicontent senso installations. sensory It transcends the boundaries of “physical” and “d “digital”; it becomes a “phygital” exper experience.

It engages visitors in a completely differe way, but is also effortless to operate, different

which is one of our brand’s key values.

Earlier this year at the global debut of Wraith “Inspired by Fashion” in New York, we used Periscope, an app that allows live streaming and interaction in real-time.

We are embracing the digital age, weaving our business into technology and vice versa. We are constantly challenging ourselves to break new ground to engage our audiences.

Most recently, we launched the new RollsRoyce Dawn in a pure online campaign. After a staged social media blackout 24 hours before the launch – with the tag line “It is always darkest before the … Dawn” – thousands of journalists across the world watched a live online streaming of our chief executive Torsten Müller-Ötvös and renowned personality Jodie Kidd presenting this seductive convertible in all its luscious glory.

History has spoken – we trended number one on Google’s global news trends – the highest business-related trend for the day.

What’s next? In the ultra-luxury segment we recognise that customers are extremely discerning individuals and therefore we need to deliver equally unique experiences.

An example is our recently re-engineered website. It is designed to be mobile first, fully responsive and focused on engagement.

Incorporating an element of a luxury journal, it will not just be a website about cars, but the “hub for luxury”. For us “Rolls-Royce is a luxury brand that happens to make cars”, rather than the other way round.

In short, we are an ultra-luxury brand entering a new dawn (pun intended), and we invite everyone to be a part of this exciting experience.

BACK IN THE 1900S, FOUNDER CHARLES ROLLS BROKE THE MOULD BY NOT USING POSTERS OR ADVERTISEMENTS TO SELL HIS CARS. CUSTOMERS HAD TO “EXPERIENCE” THEM, AFTER WHICH THEY WOULD BE “SOLD” ON THE QUALITY, REFINEMENT AND EXCELLENCE IN ENGINEERING.

The writer is Marc Mielau, general manager of global marketing at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE #... AND SOCIAL SELLING ow are we going to engage our customers or employees? What must we do to improve brand recall? Which platform should we utilise to communicate our successful projects?

Those are just some of the many burning questions that pop up in my mind these days as I am on my way to work. And I am sure this applies to almost every one of us marketing and communication professionals. We are always on the lookout for the next big thing. We are always on the hunt for what’s around the corner, and it seems like the answer has always been right in front of us … on our phones.

I’m talking about #. Yes, that symbol at the bottom right hand corner of your smartphone. It is commonly known as the hashtag now and it amazes me at how the

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# phenomenon has taken over the world by storm. We now see hashtags as the first place to find information on the latest news and events on a global scale. Be it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, WeChat, they are everywhere.

The availability and high take-up rates of mobile phones have also caused this craze to escalate. According to social media agency We Are Social, mobile social is also the hottest digital trend in Asia and the Pacific at the moment, with the number of people in the region accessing social media from mobile devices jumping an impressive 32% in the past year, to reach 900 million, which is almost three times the population size of the US. Current trends suggest that mobile social users will exceed one billion by early Q4 2015.

What does this mean for marketing and communication professionals?

Brin Bringing in sales through social media is always a lot harder when it comes to B2B. Unlike our o B2C counterparts, our customers are not going to be swayed to purchase our elevator elevators or work with our chemical plants merely tthrough seeing several posts about our prod products on social media.

Som Sometimes, our products have technical specific cations that will require us to explain in more than 140 characters. So how do we market ourselves better and communicate our services serv and brand to our customers?

Social selling s is the key, especially in Asia and the Pacifi Pac c where “Guanxi” or relationships play a h huge part in securing sales.

Som Sometimes, all it takes is a personal touch to give our o customers a little nudge in the right dir direction. And the hashtag can play a critical p part in social selling.

Man Many people underestimate the power of socia social selling. Social selling through social media m outlets is a popular way to stay connect connected with your customers. It is also a good way to reach out to potential ones.

Howeve However, it’s hard to automate messaging in social media m and most sales teams do not care ab about helping out in generating content.

Som Some companies manage to break through this tough barrier though, for example example, IBM. Ass Assisted by consulting group Mason Zimbler, it was able to implement a social selling programme p for its inside sales team resulting in a quadruple in sales.

Once it had identified its target audience,

it was able to monitor social channels based on the hashtags and hot topics within the category. After training its sales team on how to join in the online conversation on these topics, the team was left to engage with potential buyers and drive prospective buyers to their personal digital profiles.

At ThyssenKrupp, we recognise the importance of building relationships with our customers, especially in Asia and the Pacific. The high penetration levels of social media and mobile phones in our 19 markets also means that social selling is one of the next few steps for our marketing and communication teams.

Today, many of our 27,000 employees in Asia and the Pacific are on social media platforms and we are encouraging them to participate in our activities online.

From internal campaigns with hashtags to producing content on our corporate blog #engineered, our employees are starting to understand how social media can be incorporated in our daily work and the importance of a personal brand.

To encourage our employees to be savvier on these platforms, we have also incorporated these functions in our social intranet and made our sites responsive so as to allow our employees to continue engaging with our content in any environment and setting.

Having all these platforms in place is not enough. It is also important to have tracking in place to ensure that at the end of the day, there are analytics and measurable results to show that the social selling and activities we are doing eventually translates into better engagement or has an impact on sales.

It is only then will you be able to get the buy-in from the management to do more.

Although it is just a start for ThyssenKrupp, all these steps have helped us with engagement levels, allowed us to showcase the future of engineering in a fun and exciting way to customers, employees and potential talents, and convince some of our seniors that social media is essential in today’s complex world.

So what are you waiting for? #WEareThyssenKrupp #BeTheFutureOfMarketing #BeASocialSeller The writer is Tino Fritsch, head of communications for Asia Pacific at ThyssenKrupp Singapore.

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THE PROBLEM WITH AGENCIES AND TECH VENDORS: THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS OF MARKETING t’s the greatest challenge facing the marketing world today and can be summarised in three points: 1. Agencies don’t understand brands, and continually complain about costcutting, bad briefs and bad clients.

2. Brands struggle to find and work with quality agencies, and are overwhelmed by tech companies trying to sell “solutions” that don’t actually solve their real problems.

3. Tech vendors focus only on trying to sell their product without really understanding how marketing teams operate or what agencies need to do to succeed with clients.

are instead product or tech people who are fascinated by the tech and don’t really have the time or inclination to understand how marketing really works.

•

INSIDE THE MIND OF A MARKETER Keep in mind the context of agencies losing sight of their core focus, and tech companies never being truly grounded in marketing, we can get into the head to understand the motivation of marketers.

•

that are supposed to solve problems, but instead create bigger issues in operationalising the platforms and having to make significant organisational change.

Marketers are terrible at change management. Agencies and tech vendors also don’t address this or help with this at all. It’s the major reason there’s “no budget” available for campaigns or tech, or that you get a “no” to that proposal.

Less than 10% of a marketer’s time is spent thinking about agencies, creative,

The problem is the business of marketing is not understood.

IDENTIFYING WHY THIS IS A PROBLEM To understand this and why it’s important, we need to get into the mindset of brands and marketers. This is the right place to start because marketers are the customer – the ones that hold the key to budgets for both agencies and tech vendors. Marketers run pitches, RFPs and campaigns. But before going there, let’s look at the other players: agencies and tech companies.

Agencies should understand that their role, and their entire existence, should be dedicated to help marketers do their job well. This basic point seems to have been lost somewhere along the way. Perhaps it’s been the disruption of technology and digital that’s caused agencies to try to branch out into trying to develop products (too often a distraction), or it could be the rapidly draining talent pool that no longer finds advertising or media particularly fulfilling. There are many reasons, but regardless, agencies have lost sight of their core purpose and to a lesser extent, their business model.

Technology companies (selling solutions such as marketing automation, CRM, analytics, social listening, etc) are much newer to the marketing game. Many leaders in these companies come from fundamentally different backgrounds – they are not marketers, but

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There are 12 facts you need to understand about marketers: • Marketers don’t really care about ads.

They do advertising all the time, but no marketer will ever have KPIs/objectives based on doing advertising.

• Marketers’ KPIs (and remuneration and motivation) are based on increasing company revenue and market share, cutting costs, lifting the brand and making customers happy (among other things).

• Creativity is a nice to have. It is super cool to sit in meetings and see a great idea come together, but results always trump the idea.

• Digital scares most marketers. This fear has left an opening that tech vendors are exploiting – selling “shiny widgets”

•

•

•

ads, media selection or campaigns.

For tech vendors, it’s much less than 5%. It’s not that these things are not important, it’s just that’s not what a marketer does.

A marketer’s job is dominated by building internal relationships, getting buy-in from stakeholders, endless meetings (on sales, numbers, data, etc) and doing lots of (internal) presentations.

A marketer’s main tools are spreadsheets and PowerPoints, not storyboards and tech platforms.

Marketing budgets are fluid and often tied to pre-planned activities. Budgets change every quarter based on revenue/profit results. For every new idea presented, something has to be cut.

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•

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Marketers want to understand the change in the media landscape, how customers are buying their products and what the future looks like. But they are time-poor and don’t know who to trust to help them.

Marketing is not easy. Agencies and tech vendors do not make it easier.

Overall, there’s very little effort to understand each other (on all sides). For example, when is the last time (if ever), a business or marketing plan was shared by the brand to the agency or partner? Do agencies and tech partners ask to see it?

FUTURIST

2. Building an activity plan to get there.

3. Reporting on the progress towards the goals (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually).

4. Putting in place the right marketing capability (people, process, platforms and partners) to support the brand’s growth.

The business of marketing is what the brand’s marketing team does on a day-to-day basis to achieve the four points above.

WHERE IS THE DISCONNECT? The problem is that most of the time agencies, tech companies and partners simply don’t understand the four basics of the business of marketing. Agencies tend to focus very stubbornly on point two (the activity plan), but occasionally play in the other three areas (increasingly so in point four). Tech vendors only focus on the capability piece, and neglect almost all of the other areas. The reasons for the disconnect is simple. For agencies they are: • Still stuck in the mindset of asking for briefs, happy to be working on campaigns

SO WHAT IS THE BUSINESS OF MARKETING? The business of marketing is strategically easy to grasp – it’s mapping out where the company/product is today, then looking at the short-term goals (quarterly, annual) and the long-term goals (two years-plus) to see what the brand value, sales, market share, profit and customer satisfaction is going to look like.

A marketer has four roles in this: 1. Helping set these objectives (internally with senior management, sales, product and support teams).

•

•

that are tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Reactive and burnt out by sharing ideas that never get implemented. This is because client marketers don’t know how to receive innovation or new ideas, often because they are not presented correctly or in a way that’s easy to implement.

Trying to solve business problems with advertising.

For tech companies, the traps they fall into are: • Trying to sell their product as the answer to many problems, without understanding the context or objectives of the marketer.

One prolific industry that does this is social intelligence/social listening – it’s important, but what problem does it exactly solve? Will it help our team make another $100m in sales? And if so, how • Focusing far too much on product features over (customised, specific) benefits.

• Neglecting completely the change management element of all new tech programmes. This is critical because it’s not just implementing the tech, but it’s

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more important to train staff, get rid of the old tech and previous processes that this solution is replacing, get a new process in place, update everyone’s KPIs, etc.

Generally having underdeveloped communication and empathy skills (replaced by strong sales skills).

•

HOW DO WE FIX THESE PROBLEMS AND WORK TOGETHER? There’s no easy fixes to these problems as many of them are cultural and are now deeply ingrained in marketing behaviours. Following the suggestions below will help.

For marketers: • Objectives: Share as much information as possible – your marketing plan, budgets (if you value transparency and are under NDA), sales targets and your personal objectives/KPIs. • Include your agency and partners in on the longterm vision.

• Be clear about what it is going to take to get your promotion or pay rise.

A basic rule of thumb is that you’ll probably get a promotion for bringing in $100m in new revenue, probably not for winning a gold at Cannes.

• State up front what you can say “yes” to, and where you need to influence others.

• Tell your partners about the approval process that you need to go through to get a new idea implemented.

• Invite your agencies to ask for volunteers to work on your business. Passion trumps experience, and you need the most motivated people working on your business.

• Consider having “open days” where agencies and partners can meet your stakeholders and understand how the business runs (for example, go to a factory where the products are made, visit a retail store or bank branch, sit down with customers).

•

context and why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Make the briefing process as easy as possible, but understand that you need to create other occasions for you to talk to marketing clients. If you truly understand their motivations, create opportunities for them to talk about them, and if you can work to support them, you’ll win.

Understand that no matter how amazing your idea, it means nothing if the client can’t go through a change management process internally to get it approved. Put a greater focus on how they can implement the idea, as well as how much money it might make for the brand. Ideally, an idea would be broken into four elements: First, the actual creative/media idea; but also time and capability you need to put in and what the client needs to put in to make it happen; business results (sales, margin, market share, brand); and support material for the approvals that are needed (e.g. a PowerPoint presentation customised to other internal stakeholders that makes saying yes very easy to your client).

• Build a stakeholder map of your client. Who are they, how they prefer to be communicated with (faceto-face, WhatsApp, call, etc), what are their motivations.

Then map out that person’s stakeholders and who they need to influence. It’s a very handy cheatsheet to understand how to sell-in new ideas and programmes.

Learn more about the client’s marketing capability requirements. Develop a plan that gives you context on their technology or plans to buy technology, level of their people’s marketing skills and skill gaps, how they leverage data, etc. This will put you in the driver’s seat in discussions with tech and media partners in the future and will open up new revenue streams.

Most importantly, build trust. If you’re a brief-taker, then your agency is a commodity and the decisions about you will be price-driven. If you can build trust with individual marketers you become a partner and will see tangible value.

IT’S CRITICAL TO REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW MARKETERS THINK AND WHAT THEY DO IN THEIR DAY-TODAY JOBS. IF AGENCIES AND TECH VENDORS CAN UNDERSTAND THEIR MOTIVATIONS AND OBJECTIVES, WE ALL WIN.

For agencies: • Objectives: Please ask your client for the long-term objectives and sales targets.

Insist on it. You need to understand the

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•

•

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For tech vendors: • Objectives: Please ask your client for the long-term objectives and sales targets.

Just keep in mind it’s a tougher sell to ask either your marketing or agency client than it is for an agency to ask for from their client.

• Take the time to understand your clients and what their technology plans are.

Rarely is something so unique that a brand won’t have it. Brands have a lot of technology and platforms and it’s often the case that you’re trying to dislodge and incumbent partner. You’ll only do that based on being concrete about achieving the marketer’s objectives/KPIs, not by saying your product is better.

• Understand the day-in-the-life of a marketer. Really understand what they go through in the business of marketing.

• The change management process is critical. Like agencies, focus on how they can implement the idea, as well as how much money it might make for the brand or agency.

• Play nice with agencies and media companies. Build a partnership on trust and mutual benefit. Marketers trust them more than they trust you. There are often long-standing relationships between them, with trust being built over many years. Most marketing tech companies are less than 10 years old and marketers don’t know whether you will fail, or whether you’ll be bought by another competitor that we don’t want to work with, or even whether the product will be relevant in 12 months time.

• Sell less and talk more. The majority of the time an approach by a tech vendor feels like it’s a numbers game, with generic intro emails or a thinly veiled attempt to socialise disguised as a sales call or a connection via LinkedIn that leads to an immediate (and inappropriate) sales pitch.

Be genuine, use the brand’s real data and case studies from the same industry to become more relevant in the discussion.

It’s critical to really understand how marketers think and what they do in their day-to-day jobs. If agencies and tech vendors can understand their motivations and objectives, we all win.

The writer is Damien Cummings, global head of digital marketing for Standard Chartered Bank.

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TO ADDRESS THE GREATEST CHALLENGES OF PERFORMANCE MARKETING, WE ORGANISED OUR INAUGURAL CONFERENCE ON THE TOPIC WHICH SAW OVER 120 MARKETING PROFESSIONALS ATTEND AND DISCUSS THEIR CHALLENGES. HERE’S A RECAP OF WHAT WENT ON DURING THE DAY.

THE DISCONNECT BETWEEN REALITY AND EXPECTATIONS While daunting for many marketers, programmatic buying drastically improves a brand’s ad targeting capabilities and optimises marketing spend. It is not only here to stay, but is fast becoming the future of marketing.

So, why do marketers remain wary of it?

According to Eddy Chan (pictured), marketing technology leader at Kimberly-Clark APAC, what marketers are actually struggling with is not just confined to the technicalities of programmatic buying, but rather connecting the reality of the situation to their preconceived marketing expectations.

“The problem lies in wanting massive transformation. You can’t do that. It has to be bite-sized. It is all about educating the market – it is about how it will help you to engage better with your audience,” he said.

“If you want to go with a big bang, no one

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will understand what you are doing and by the time you decide on a strategy, it will be too late in the game.”

He was speaking at Marketing’s inaugural Performance Marketing 2015 forum.

Getting programmatic up and running needs the support of senior management to ensure the entire company is on board with the function. If your senior management doesn’t push for the integration of programmatic buying into the marketing mix, most likely the rest of the company will not see the importance of it.

“You need support from top management who will need to find time to understand it. If a head of the region, who manages multiple countries, can find time to try and understand and get updates on programmatic, the rest of the company will also quickly adapt and understand the importance of the function,” Chan added.

Fail fast and learn fast How a marketer should approach programmatic is through embracing speed and quick learning.

Test a few things at one go, learn and move on from it, advised Chan.

Kimberly-Clark, in a bid to remain ahead of the game, decided to make a move into programmatic in the APAC market this year.

The brand has already experimented with programmatic buying capabilities in the US market two years ago and has had experience in the Europe market for about a year and a half.

Nonetheless, the mosaic of markets in APAC truly presented a challenge for the brand.

“If we were to sit and wait for the right partner, solution and segments we would still be just sitting still. So we put that aside and said let’s out the key pieces we need. We need the right data, the right DSP and right agency for us to work with. Focus on those pieces and get out to market as fast as possible,” Chan said.

Chan admitted APAC is still a tricky and challenging market for the company because of the different maturity levels in each market.

Kimberly-Clark is still in the midst of learning to adapt and “play around with the pieces” to find a right fit for markets such as China which have

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low, big disruptive advertising can no longer survive in today’s marketing mix. Those who look to disrupt will have to face extinction, added Dias.

So how to adopt an “always on” mentality?

Essentially, brands need to create many small ideas that stitch together to form one big idea. At the end of the day, the always-on journey has to be made up of valuable content that will range from campaign messaging to deeper brand experiences.

Rather than bombard them with information, Dias added that smaller “lightweight interactions over time” can lead to consumers building deep, emotional connections.

“Campaigns do not need to give away all the information at one go, but rather marketers need to learn to hold information back so as to be able to engage the consumer through different points of the campaign journey,” Dias said.

While ads around new product launches will continue to exist, in the realm of programmatic, it is essential to create a “flow” and keep the conversation going at the numerous available touch-points. huge growth potential and also the smaller, but more mature markets such as Singapore. And, of course, everything else in between cannot possibly go unnoticed.

But the common ground across all APAC markets remains that in all the markets digital spend is on the rise.

“We needed to move into programmatic to ensure future-ready thinking. Programmatic TV is the next frontier and it is coming. If you think about TV budgets, it costs a lot and we wanted to make sure we were not playing catch up with programmatic TV when it finally hits,” Chan said.

Speaking of a lesson Kimberly-Clark learned in Korea five years ago, Chan said the company spent nearly two years building up its market share when it failed to take up e-commerce quickly enough. From the leading market share holder, it dropped to number five in just two years.

“We were heavily invested in retail and supermarkets and thought the e-commerce boom wouldn’t hit us. The next few years were very painful, but now e-commerce contributes to about 35% to 40% of our revenue. That’s the story we want to avoid with programmatic,” he said.

Recognise what you can and can’t do Learning where you lack and learning to fill those spots with external partners is vital. KimberlyClark knew the in-house capabilities it had having worked with programmatic in markets

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such as Europe and America, but replicating the success in APAC required a different strategy because of the diversity of the markets.

“We knew we were not a tech company and we needed to focus on what we knew and could do. We partnered with Mindshare, our agency, to run our trading desk and find the right tools with DSP and data providers and started with that. That allowed our marketers to get back to what they did and understanding our customers.”

Being always on Programmatic is also today forcing marketers into being “always on”, said Cedric Dias, head of digital marketing for OCBC Bank. Marketing has moved from product era to marketing era to what is now known as the relationship era. The metrics of success today are no longer centred around brand visibility or awareness, but rather engagement and reach.

With programmatic making targeted audience reach that much easier, fostering sustainable relationships with the right mix of content that will resonate is vital.

Where marketers are failing is their unwillingness to move away from the “one big ultimate” marketing campaign syndrome.

“We end up hoping to have something like Volvo’s Epic Split. But that’s not always possible. Most of the time, we end up with something that gets a little bit of visibility and then dies out,” Dias said.

With attention spans being at an all-time

Know the pitfalls For KCC, investing in the right data and paying for the quality was also of utmost importance when pushing programmatic out in the region.

But as with many organisations, KCC was wary on how to actually protect itself in the world of programmatic.

Chan advises that brands keep in mind four key points: – Buying third-party data: Is there quality data in the market? In most markets, Chan said it was a challenge. The data will not be 100% accurate or clean and it is an issue most companies still grapple with.

– Brand safety: As a family brand, it is important for Kimberly-Clark to have its brand name appearing in the correct family-friendly websites. Brands should be wary of where their ads are appearing. Currently, Kimberley-Clark relies on its media partners to ensure ads are not misplaced.

– Viewability: How do you know your target audience is really seeing the ads? Unlike traditional media, brands should also find ways to ensure the data is clean and ads are being viewed by the right demographic in their entirety.

– On-target audience verification: While the solution is still an imperfect one, buying data has no guarantees. Neither is buying audience verification, but it is a start.

“Programmatic is a long-term commitment.

That’s a decision we made and we know we need to invest to make it work,” Chan said.

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GETTING PERFORMANCE MARKETING RIGHT Performance marketing – it’s the term on everyone’s lips, but what exactly defines performance?

The first step to defining performance marketing is figuring out what it means to you as a marketer. Is it about sales, leads, awareness or purchase intent? You as a marketer have the power to define what performance marketing means to you, said Chiradeep Gupta, global media director of Unilever, speaking at Advertising+Marketing’s inaugural Performance Marketing 2015 forum.

For Unilever, the overall marketing philosophy has always been about “crafting brands for life”.

“Performance from Unilever’s perspective is about building brand love through unlocking the market’s potential. At the end of the day everything we do is to get brand love and to get there we have to unlock the magic,” Gupta said.

The marketing world today is much more connected and data rich. That is the standard operating environment for most companies across industries. Historically, however, there have always been two distinct worlds in the marketing function – branding and performance. While branding folks were more concerned about impression and views, the performance team defined success through clicks and acquisition.

“The output is essentially the same. Both want to sell. But the route is different,” he said.

He added that in the past two years, the two worlds between performance and branding have also been blurring as more and more consumers embrace the online world. The rise of the digital world is also making brands more accountable for their actions.

Fields such as e-commerce also make it much easier for marketers to understand what actually drives conversions, and mobile has pushed for the need for accountability in media because of its highly personalised nature.

So how exactly does a company drive accountability in its media spend?

The answer is in three steps for Unilever.

Getting the basics right The first step is in getting your basics right and creating a point of connection with the consumer.

“We are a FMCG business. Despite all we do, it is still all about ensuring we have beautiful creatives that communicate effectively. That is the fundamental about everything we do.

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We want to create beautiful communication,” Gupta said.

Once you have a great communication strategy in place, it is all about verification and understanding who the messages are going out to. With so many targeting tools out there, there is more pressure to reach the right person because the right person is from whom the brands will get the bang from the buck.

“Who is the right person for your brand?

As we go more into the programmatic space, we need to stitch more pieces together and verification becomes incredibly important.”

The next point of concern is viewability.

How do you ensure people are actually seeing your ads? All these are functions of the basics to drive more accountability of the medium itself.

Once you have done that, it is all about driving actions, explained Gupta Changing perspectives internally – the way you approach campaigns Driving actions has a lot to do with driving change internally in the way campaigns and consumers are approached.

Building relationships The focus, internally, has to move from transactions to building relationships with consumers. It is no longer sustainable for any business to think of one point of interaction or a single click. It is all about multiple interactions and how marketers can build a long-term relationship with their target audiences.

“Move away from the short-term mentality of now to a long-term relationship model. The returns are much higher and of more value,” Gupta said.

Value-added services Another change needed is in moving from “price-point-based” thinking to a “value-added service” thinking. Traditionally marketers tend to focus on price points and build campaigns around this. But the key is in moving towards optimising value.

Non linear touch-points Consumer journeys have dramatically changed over the years. Traditionally, the journey used to be from awareness to interest to desire to action and it was a linear journey. But today it is all over the place with multiple touch-points.

“This is because of the high fragmentation of media and the level of interactions consumers have with the media channels. There are more routes to the final purchase today. Every media has a role to play in the consumer journey – it is not about the last place or end point where you are making a conversation, every single touchpoint online and offline has a part to pay.”

Outcomes not outputs According to Gupta, too often marketers are too focused on outputs and not outcomes.

Outputs, consisting of reach, frequency and exposure, are important factors, but should not outshine outcomes.

Leveraging data – intent and content “Mediums such as e-commerce today have really made tracking easier. We have to ask ourselves what we are doing from the data with so much data out there. How are we using data to really power our communications and leveraging on data.”

He added that using data from search was a great way to understand consumers and find out their intent. When a consumer is on the hunt and is searching for something, that’s the highest order of intent and marketers need to strike while the iron is hot – being quick to identify trends and find commonalities in the way consumers search to ensure the highest optimisation rate.

Next is using content to supplement this intent which can lead to conversions and transactions from the retailer’s perspective.

“Look at intent and power with content and close the circle with some sort of redemption.”

But what is important is being agile in the way this content is created. Factors and variables such as time, place, situation and weather should also be factored in when creating the content. It is important to not bombard consumers with the same messaging, but rather to give variety, advised Gupta.

“As the world moves more programmatic there’s an element on real-time data that will power it.

“But at the end of the day, for every dollar we spend on whichever medium, it is about how and what we get in return in terms of value.

“It’s a matter of choice – increased spend on one platform is taking money from another.

Hence, the return on investment is ultimately what helps us decide where we want to spend our marketing dollars.”

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TIPS ON CROSS-DEVICE MEASUREMENT FOR MARKETERS Marketers should use attribution models in order to close the gaps in capabilitylags measurement, said Manmeet S Bhatia (pictured), digital marketing manager at Lenovo, speaking at A+M’s Performance Marketing 2015 forum.

An attribution model requires an accurate measurement across devices and channels so marketers can craft their media strategy according to the optimal customer interaction path. And for an attribution model to succeed, marketers have to be able to carry out crossdevice tracking, which is the ability to match and track users across their various devices.

Cross-device tracking can provide data which provides brands with an unprecedented targeting opportunity, Bhatia said, adding that having more users online also means more devices and more data.

“Having ‘more’ means that you have to be cautious about how you use data and have good tech partners on hand,” he warned.

Issues with relying too much on cookies Because consumers are multi-taskers who may switch between and across devices at any given time, traditional methods of tracking such as cookies may not be entirely reliable in today’s hi-tech milieu.

“The moment you close your browser on mobile, cookies can’t track much because they weaken. The cookies also can’t read the multiple apps on your mobile. There are some partners that can crack cookies across devices – but it’s challenging and there is no one-sizefits-all solution,” he said.

Cookies’ limited capabilities on mobile shows that they are not able to catch up with consumers’ needs.

Consumers are media multi-taskers while cookies are not.

Cookies, given their limited utility in a mobile and app-driven environment, can no longer keep up. For this reason, agencies and advertisers are anxious to find the best way to capture cross-device data.

Given the majority of media consumption is screen-based, consumers move between multiple devices to accomplish their goals with 90% of people using multiple screens sequentially, Bhatia explained.

Search continues to dominate as the most common way consumers continue from one device to another. Hence, cross-device

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measurement is a crucial metric for brands to engage their audience more effectively.

Testifying to the popularity of cross-device usage, Bhatia said: “At Lenovo we launched a direct response campaign and we saw a good mix of both desktop and mobile conversation, but more so on desktop.”

So what should a cross-device measurement look like?

“The concept of cross-device is expanding to potentially include anything that gives off a signal,” he said.

There are two ways to track consumers on multiple device platforms: Deterministic and probabilistic.

The deterministic way involves authenticated log-ins from consumers. The tactic requires scale in order to be effective and can be seen from the likes of Google, Facebook and Apple.

The other method, probabilistic, which gives a 70% accuracy rate, is a tactic achieved by algorithmically analysing thousands of different anonymous data points – device type, operating system, location data associated with bid requests, time of day and a host of others

as done by Drawbridge, Tapad and BlueCava.

According to Bhatia, understanding the metrics that most accurately measure performance marketing can guide marketing and media-buying decisions based on clear objectives.

“When you have a clear objective, you can track to use the metrics accordingly,” Bhatia said.

To ensure a higher success rate, marketers need to determine their metrics of success and reporting needs. For example, instead of utilising a variety of metrics such as CPA, CPE or CPM simultaneously, marketers would do well when they aim to focus on tracking data that best fits their business goals.

After creating analysis and recommendations from cross-device data, marketers should tie back their findings to the attribution model. Lastly, Bhatia recommended the results be shared and applied according to where spending is funnelled.

In aligning marketing objectives with a brand’s business goals, Bhatia advised: “In order to track everything effectively, marketers must possess a multi-dimensional approach in executing their digital strategy.”

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THE PROGRAMMATIC LANDSCAPE IN CHINA According to eMarketer, 83% of all digital media buys will be programmatic by 2017. Given the likely trend, interest around the subject is only natural and more so, in a market such as China.

There are a few key underlining trends here.

The digital marketing ecosystem continues to undergo a significant transformation, given the rise of data-driven marketing. Mobile, social, video, audience targeting/RTB and other technologies have gained strategic importance in recent years.

At our recently organised Performance Marketing 2015 forum, Raymond Teoh, general manager of SEA at iClick Interactive, shared with the audience the state of programmatic buying in China and what marketers across the region could learn from it.

An overview of the Chinese market reveals these facts:

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Over 668 million internet users with a penetration rate of 49%.

• Around 594 million mobile internet users, which is about 89% of total internet users.

• Ad spend in mobile reached US$14 billion in 2015 with an expected 80% YOY growth.

While the numbers are in its favour, China faces challenges of a fragmented landscape which is very different from the West.

“Digital marketers are overwhelmed with choices and often feel that there’s no clear path to making the right ones. Moreover, the complexity of buying has a waterfall effect on the complexity of campaign measurement,” Teoh said.

On top of this, there are transparency issues marketers have to deal with. Lean-forward buyers are increasingly treating transparency as a required element of display management. The

dramatic rise in inventory has made the issue of understanding and managing quality more pressing than ever before.

The traditional approach to media planning is no longer viable.

On the contrary, programmatic promises to segment target audiences more effectively delivering higher ROI to help advertisers justify increased spend. Marketers can demand maximum CPM rates through auction-based pricing, advertising demand, control premium and efficient remnant inventory.

“Brands can also minimise unsold inventory, understand subscribers and optimise content to grow high-value audiences while targeting new subscribers and boosting premium exposure,” Teoh said.

The Chinese market is one of the biggest and toughest markets for many global brands and many want to enter it as a means to grow their business, but how can global marketers successfully break into the Chinese programmatic market?

• Inventory: Most programmatic buying inventory is available through China-only exchanges. Many private video exchanges only integrate with high-quality DSPs. • Product: A good comprehensive DSP should have a top-notch campaign set up with reporting features.

• Data: Find a trusted partner that can support first-party data re-targeting and dynamic creative optimisation.

• Algorithm: Data-driven algorithm optimisation is critical for marketers, with the ability to optimise campaign performance for branding and direct response advertising.

• Experience in serving global brands: Find a trusted partner who works with large numbers of global brands, and agencies who can understand issues such as brand safety and audience insights.

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JUDGES Kelvin Tan, chief marketing officer, A&W Restaurants, Indonesia Nadina Tyropoli, brand activation director, Southeast Asia and Pacific, adidas Schrene Goh, head of ancillary marketing, AirAsia Louise Eyres, group GM of marketing, ANZ Bank Nick Hickford, general manager – marketing and innovation, Bulla Dairy Foods Australia Maneet Jolly, general manager of marketing, Castrol India Essa Alvi, associate GM of marketing, Colgate Palmolive Pakistan Clarence Lin, vice-president, group strategic marketing and communications, DBS Bank Karmin Jah Jah, director of marketing, Dell Asia Pacific and Japan Betty Chan, director of marketing, Four Seasons Resorts Thailand Mainak Dhar, managing director, General Mills India Soriano Nicanor Lazaro, head, student recruitment, admissions and partnerships, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore Deepali Naair, chief marketing officer, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Deborah Goldingham, head of marketing, Southeast Asia, MasterCard Ben Foo, marketing director, McDonald’s Malaysia Jo Mitchell, head of marketing, McDonald’s NZ Dr Jens Niedzielski, group director of marketing communications, Minor Hotel Group Trent Young, head of marketing, Nestlé Garland Mak, deputy general manager of international marketing, Nikon Singapore Amir Widjaya, SVP, head of marketing, PermataBank Indonesia Tessa Er, vice-president, resort marketing, Resorts World Sentosa Sarah-Jane Smith, senior manager, marcom and resident relations, SC Global Developments Georgina Williams, director of marketing and communications, ANZ, SilverNeedle Hospitality Charlotte Schraa, general manager, marketing and communications, Telstra

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THE REGION’S TOP EVENTS HONOURED AT MARKETING EVENTS AWARDS

William Grant & Sons and its agency GOODSTUPH rose comfortably to the top position at the fourth annual Marketing Events Awards in Singapore.

More than 300 senior event marketers and planners from across South Asia, Southeast Asia and ANZ came together to celebrate the year’s leading events at the Grand Hyatt Singapore.

Competition was tough, but the 127-year-old Scottish distiller and its Singaporean agency trumped the other finalists with a trophy tally of five gold awards, two silver and two bronze across nine categories to take out the coveted titles of Event Marketer of the Year and Event Agency of the Year for 2015.

William Grant & Sons and GOODSTUPH scored for two main events, “The Valley of the Deer” luxury experience for the Glenfiddich brand and the “Grant’s – It’s the Ship” party.

Awarded four gold for Best Digital Integration, Best Event Ambience (Consumer), Best Event Production and Best Multi-Channel Campaign, one silver for Best Event for the Press/Media and one bronze for Best Use of Technology “The Valley of the Deer” experience brought the whisky distillery experience to the Malaysian market through highly immersive experiences.

This included the integration of new interactive touch-based technology with traditional whisky tours, drawing on the brand’s long heritage and story. Held at the Carcosa Seri Negara colonial mansions in Kuala Lumpur, the four-day event received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the thousands of guests who attended and surpassed the brand’s objectives, securing its position in the challenging Malaysian market.

The “Grant’s – It’s the Ship” event took on a different approach to elevate the Grant’s whisky brand among young working men in Southeast Asia.

William Grant & Sons capitalised on Asia’s largest party cruise, “It’s the Ship”, to build the brand image using party lovers and a lively young crowd by offering them epic experiences. The promise to partygoers was: “You provide the company. We provide the courage.” Through unique games called “broments” and 96 hours of brand exposure with on-ship branding, activations and activities, Grant’s whisky became the

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drink of choice and well and truly established itself in the minds of the target market.

It also saw the team bag one gold for Best Sponsorship Activation, one silver for Best Event for a Targeted Community and one bronze for Best Event for a Product Launch/Relaunch.

DBS Bank was the second-highest scoring brand of the night with a trophy haul that included four gold for Best B2B Event, Best Digital Integration (B2B), Best Home-Grown Event, Best Venue Experience and two bronze for Best B2B Event and Best Use of Venue. This gave it a score of 18 according to the awards’ standard exponential-weighted point system (four points for gold, two points for silver and one point for bronze).

The DBS Marina Regatta 2015 event impressed the jury with its conceptualisation, strategy and overall results. The fourth edition of the dragon boating competition and water sports festival attracted about 24,000 attendees over three consecutive weekends.

This year grew on the successes of previous editions under the theme of “Ignite the bay!” and lived up to its position as “Singapore’s biggest water sports festival” with sensory experiences, offline-online integration, art installations and many activations on land as well as the water races to increase awareness of water sports in Singapore beyond just the dragon boating community.

Other high-scoring brands at the awards included Sport Singapore for the 28th SEA Games; The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands for its Christmas and luxury relaunch campaigns; Asia Pacific Breweries for Heineken’s “The Transporter” and “Cities Festival” party events; the Google high-tech “Closer” experience and the “Great Eastern Women’s Run.” On the agency front, Pico Art International, Golin Singapore, Jack Morton Worldwide, The Events Artery, Make Studios and iris worldwide (Singapore) achieved impressive results for their brands’ events.

All winners were carefully determined by a panel of senior marketing professionals from leading brands that included adidas, General Mills, MasterCard, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Nikon and more.

A total of 92 trophies were awarded to the region’s best events and The Marketing Events Awards 2015 was supported by partners Grand Hyatt Singapore, Choice Wines International and Peroni Nastro Azzurro.

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EVENT MARKETER OF THE YEAR | WILLIAM GRANT & SONS

What the winner had to say: “At William Grant & Sons, freedom to lose embodies our marketing philosophy – the prerogative to push boundaries and take calculated risks in an incubated environment, the attitude of family before team, before individuals and the tenacity to break ceilings is what we believe creates experiential campaigns that consistently exceed conceptual brilliance and bridges commercial realism. We strive as individual levers, but within a system that continuously evolves and develops and we achieve as a team, as a family.”

– Marcus Low, regional marketing manager, Southeast Asia and third party markets, William Grant & Sons (Singapore)

EVENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR | GOODSTUPH

What the winner had to say: “At GOODSTUPH, we create not just events, but events in social networks and communities, held in social places. An event, while it lives on the ground for the moment that it is activated, lives for a much longer time online and in social headspaces.

Events are an integral part to social influence, as they create content. So when piecing these experiences together, you aren’t only thinking about the product, but the experience of the consumer every step of the way. They say a picture paints a thousand words, but an experience, much more.”

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BEST ARTS EVENT

BEST B2B EVENT

GOLD

Client: National Gallery Singapore Campaign: Naked Museum Agency: DeVries Global

GOLD

Client: DBS Bank Campaign: I Remember Broadway Agency: The Events Artery

SILVER

Client: National Youth Council, Singapore Campaign: SHINE Festival 2015 – #BuildYourWorld Agency: The Events Artery

SILVER

Client: Hewlett Packard (HP) Campaign: HP Consumer Partner Summit 2015 Agency: PMG Asia Pacific

BRONZE

Client: National Gallery Singapore Campaign: Portraits of the People Agency: Pico Art International

BRONZE

Client: DBS Bank Brand: DBS Asian Insights Campaign: Asian Insights 2015 – Igniting Possibilities for the Asia of Tomorrow Agency: MLA

BEST CONSISTENCY IN BRANDING

BEST CONSUMER EVENT

GOLD

Client: Canon Singapore Campaign: Canon PhotoMarathon XII 2014

GOLD

Client: Sport Singapore Campaign: 28th SEA Games

SILVER

Client: SC Asset Campaign: Farm Rak by SC Asset Agency: amcasia! Thailand

SILVER

Client: Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore Brand: Heineken Campaign: Heineken Green Room: The Transporter Agency: iris worldwide (Singapore)

BRONZE

Client: MasterCard Campaign: MasterCard® Legends Academy 2014 Agency: Octagon

BRONZE

Client: Parkway Pantai Brand: Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital Campaign: Hospital Land Agency: Cum. m+d

BEST DIGITAL INTEGRATION (B2B)

BEST DIGITAL INTEGRATION (CONSUMER)

GOLD

Client: DBS Bank Brand: Asian Insights Campaign: Asian Insights 2015 – Igniting Possibilities for the Asia of Tomorrow Agencies: Havas, CNBC, Aegis Media Digital Asia Pacific, Switch, Clickr Media

GOLD

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Glenfiddich Campaign: The Valley of the Deer Agencies: GOODSTUPH, Make Studios

SILVER

Client: Hewlett Packard (HP) Campaign: HP Consumer Partner Summit 2015 Agency: PMG Asia Pacific

SILVER

Client: Google Brand: Google+ Campaign: Closer Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

BRONZE

Client: Ageing Asia Campaign: 6th Ageing Asia Innovation Forum 2015

BRONZE

Client: Canon Singapore Brand: Canon Campaign: EOS World Agency: Dentsu Singapore

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BEST EVENT AMBIENCE (B2B)

BEST EVENT AMBIENCE (CONSUMER)

GOLD

Client: Twitter Campaign: #EastMeetsWest Agency: George P. Johnson (Singapore)

GOLD

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Glenfiddich Campaign: The Valley of the Deer Agencies: GOODSTUPH, Make Studios, Pico Art

SILVER

Client: Hewlett Packard (HP) Campaign: HP Consumer Partner Summit 2015 Agencies: PMG Asia Pacific, The Events Network

SILVER

Client: Unilever Singapore Brand: Magnum Campaign: The World’s First Magnum Infinity Playground Agency: Golin Singapore

BRONZE

Client: Pernod Ricard Singapore Brand: Aberlour Single Malt Whisky Campaign: Launch of Aberlour Agency: Whitewords

BRONZE

Client: Sport Singapore Campaign: SEA Games Carnival @ Sports Hub Agencies: Unusual Productions, Adventurer’s

BEST EVENT FOR A PRODUCT LAUNCH/RELAUNCH

BEST EVENT FOR A TARGETED COMMUNITY

GOLD

Client: Unilever Singapore Brand: Magnum Campaign: The World’s First Magnum Infinity Playground Agency: Golin Singapore

GOLD

Client: National Youth Council, Singapore Campaign: SHINE Festival 2015 – #BuildYourWorld Agency: The Events Artery

SILVER

Client: Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore Brand: Heineken Campaign: Winning the City Back From Competition Agency: iris worldwide (Singapore)

SILVER

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Grant’s Blended Scotch Whisky Campaign: Grant’s – It’s The Ship Agency: GOODSTUPH

BRONZE

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Grant’s Blended Scotch Whisky Campaign: Grant’s – It’s The Ship Agency: GOODSTUPH

BRONZE

Client: Mead Johnson Nutrition (M) Brand: Enfagrow A+ Campaign: Enfagrow A+ Brain Expo 2015 Agency: Cake Experiential Communications (Asia)

BEST EVENT FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE

BEST EVENT FOR THE PRESS/MEDIA

GOLD

Client: Housing & Development Board Brand: SG Heart Map Campaign: SG Heart Map Agencies: Pico Art International, Black Design, Ong & Ong

GOLD

Client: Unilever Singapore Brand: Magnum Campaign: The World’s First Magnum Infinity Playground Agency: Golin Singapore

SILVER

Client: Toyota Campaign: Toyota Classics Agency: Dentsu Singapore

SILVER

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Glenfiddich Campaign: The Valley of the Deer Agencies: Ketchum Singapore, Text 100 Malaysia, GOODSTUPH

BRONZE

Client: Watsons Malaysia Campaign: Move Your Body Zumba Fitness Agency: The Hot Shoe Show & Co.

BRONZE

Client: Unilever Philippines Brand: Knorr Campaign: Knorr Lutong Nanay (the Wonders of MomCooked Meals) Agencies: Ogilvy, Bridges PR

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BEST EVENT PRODUCTION

BEST EVENT WEBSITE

GOLD

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Glenfiddich Campaign: The Valley of the Deer Agencies: GOODSTUPH, Pico Art

GOLD

Client: Toyota Campaign: Toyota Classics Agency: Dentsu Singapore

SILVER

Client: Sport Singapore Campaign: SEA Games Carnival @ Sports Hub Agencies: Unusual Productions, Adventurer’s

SILVER

Client: amc experience!

Campaign: 24SEVENS FOOTBALL

BRONZE

Client: Unilever Singapore Brand: Magnum Campaign: The World’s First Magnum Infinity Playground Agency: Golin Singapore

BRONZE

Client: Ogilvy & Mather Brand: ogilvydo Campaign: ogilvydo Cannes Lions Channel

BEST EXHIBITION EVENT

BEST GOVERNMENT SECTOR EVENT

GOLD

Client: Housing & Development Board Brand: SG Heart Map Campaign: SG Heart Map Agencies: Pico Art International, Black Design, Ong & Ong

GOLD

Client: Sport Singapore Campaign: 28th SEA Games

SILVER

Client: Mead Johnson Nutrition (M) Brand: Enfagrow A+ Campaign: Enfagrow A+ Brain Expo 2015 Agency: Cake Experiential Communications (Asia)

SILVER

Client: Land Transport Authority Campaign: Transport & You(th) Hackathon

BRONZE

Client: Science Centre Singapore in partnership with Newman Entertainment Campaign: Human Body Experience Exhibition Agency: Golin Singapore

BRONZE

Client: Housing & Development Board Campaign: SG Heart Map Agencies: Pico Art International, Black Design, Ong & Ong

BEST HOME-GROWN EVENT

BEST MULTI-CHANNEL CAMPAIGN

GOLD

Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2015

GOLD

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Glenfiddich Campaign: The Valley of the Deer Agencies: GOODSTUPH, Ketchum

SILVER

Client: Great Eastern Life Brand: Great Eastern Women’s Run Campaign: Great Eastern Women’s Run 2014

SILVER

Client: Procter & Gamble Indonesia Brand: Downy Campaign: Downy Rekindling the Passion Agency: MediaCom Indonesia

BRONZE

Client: Canon Singapore Campaign: Canon PhotoMarathon XII 2014

BRONZE

Client: Science Centre Singapore Campaign: Transformers 30th Anniversary Exhibition Agency: Golin Singapore

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BEST POP-UP SHOP

BEST PR/GUERRILLA MARKETING STUNT

GOLD

Client: Unilever Brand: Sunsilk Campaign: Sunsilk Pop-Up Salon Agency: Mindshare

GOLD

Client: ONE Championship Campaign: ONE: WARRIOR’S QUEST

SILVER

Client: ZALORA Singapore, Jade-E Services Singapore Campaign: ZALORA Click-and-Mortar Pop-up at Orchard ION

SILVER

Client: Vanilla Luxury Campaign: Valentine Vendetta

BRONZE

Client: Nestlé Malaysia Campaign: Lebih Nilai, Lebih Funtastik Agency: The Hot Shoe Show & Co.

BRONZE

Client: Tune Group Campaign: Penalty Kick Redemption Agency: Moving Walls

BEST SPONSORSHIP ACTIVATION

BEST SPORTS-ORIENTED EVENT

GOLD

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Grant’s Blended Scotch Whisky Campaign: Grant’s – It’s The Ship Agency: GOODSTUPH

GOLD

Client: Great Eastern Life Brand: Great Eastern Women’s Run Campaign: Great Eastern Women’s Run 2014

SILVER

Client: Great Eastern Life Brand: Great Eastern Women’s Run Campaign: Great Eastern Women’s Run 2014

SILVER

Client: HSBC Campaign: HSBC Women’s Champions 2015 Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

BRONZE

Client: HSBC Campaign: HSBC Women’s Champions 2015 Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

BRONZE

Client: MasterCard Campaign: MasterCard® Legends Academy 2014 Agency: Octagon

BEST USE OF INFLUENCERS

BEST USE OF MALLS/SHOPPING CENTRES

GOLD

Client: The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Campaign: Celebrate the Spirit of Giving at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

GOLD

Client: The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Campaign: Celebrate the Spirit of Giving at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

SILVER

Client: MasterCard Campaign: MasterCard Priceless New Year’s Eve (featuring Hugh Jackman) Agency: Octagon

SILVER

Client: The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Campaign: The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Luxury Relaunch: Discover Your Key to a World of Luxury

BRONZE

Client: Procter & Gamble Brand: SK-II Campaign: SK-II #changedestiny Google+ Hangout with Cate Blanchett in collaboration with Luxola.com Agency: DeVries Global

BRONZE

Client: C. K. Tang Ltd Brand: TANGS Campaign: Shop For Good 2014

W W W .MA R KET ING - INT ERAC TIVE . COM

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BEST USE OF RETAIL/IN-STORE MARKETING

BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

GOLD

Client: TGV Cinemas Campaign: Frozen Sing-A-Long

GOLD

Client: Spectrum Worldwide & Standard Chartered Bank Campaign: Standard Chartered Marathon 2015 – Digital Queue Agency: Socialyse – Havas Media

SILVER

Client: Procter & Gamble Brand: SK-II Campaign: SK-II #changedestiny Museum 2015 Agency: DeVries Global

SILVER

Client: Google Brand: Google+ Campaign: Closer Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

BRONZE

Client: Citibank Singapore Campaign: Surprise And Delight – Citibank Chinese New Year Campaign 2015 Agency: 360 Communications

BRONZE

Client: Sport Singapore – Singapore Southeast Asian Games Organising Committee (SINGSOC) Campaign: 28th SEA Games Agency: Starcom Mediavest Group Singapore

BEST USE OF TECHNOLOGY

BEST USE OF VENUE

GOLD

Client: Google Brand: Google+ Campaign: Closer Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

GOLD

Client: Art & Performance Festival Melaka Campaign: Melaka Art & Performance Festival (MAPFest) 2014 Agency: E-Plus Entertainment Productions (M)

SILVER

Client: Shell Campaign: Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 Agency: Imagination

SILVER

Client: National Youth Council, Singapore Campaign: SHINE Festival 2015 – #BuildYourWorld Agency: The Events Artery

BRONZE

Client: William Grant & Sons Brand: Glenfiddich Campaign: The Valley of the Deer Agencies: GOODSTUPH, Make Studios

BRONZE

Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2015 Agency: MLA

BEST VENUE EXPERIENCE

MOST IMMERSIVE EVENT EXPERIENCE

GOLD

Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2015 Agency: MLA

GOLD

Client: Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore Brand: Heineken Campaign: Heineken Green Room: The Transporter Agency: iris worldwide (Singapore)

SILVER

Client: Grand Hyatt Singapore Campaign: LivingGrand for the Chinese New Year Agency: Art-Management.com

SILVER

Client: Shell Campaign: Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 Agency: Imagination

BRONZE

Client: Scoot Campaign: Garang in the Air – Garang for Singapore Agencies: FLY Entertainment, Publicis

BRONZE

Client: Lenovo Campaign: Light and Seek: How a tablet illuminated a city Agency: We Are Social Singapore

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www.marketing-interactive.com/b2b-marketing/sg

TAKE YOUR B2B GAME TO THE NEXT LEVEL Tired of attending conferences geared mostly on B2C techniques and practices? If so, then look no further. B2B Asia , the ultimate forum for B2B professionals, is back for its second year, to provide you with all the intelligence you need to succeed.

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Lennard Kwek

Nilesh Shah

Maneesh Sah

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Saurabh Singhal Senior Director - Marketing, Channels and Strategic Alliances, APAC Jabra

Michelle Toy Head of Marketing and Communications, Asia Pacific BNP Paribas Securities Services

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Samuel Christopher

Richard Bowcutt

Amjad Shahabuddin

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Senior vice president - APAC, commercial marine Rolls-Royce

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3-4 DECEMBER PULLMAN JAKARTA INDONESIA THAMRIN CBD

RealisE your brand's Digital Potential With the Indonesian consumer becoming more tech savy by the day, brands need to embrace digital marketing or fall further behind. They need to be aware of all the tools available in their digital arsenal - from social, to mobile, to content, to targeted programmatic and digital loyalty practices - and how to fully utilise them for maximum ROI. Enter Digital Marketing Indonesia, the country's one stop shop for marketers wishing to stay up to speed on all the latest trend and opportunities in digital.

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Early-bird Rates (Till 30 October) Client-side: USD699 Solutions Providers: USD999

To learn more and view the agenda, visit: www.marketing-interactive.com/digital-marketing/id/

Exhibitor

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For more information, contact Nadiah Jamaludin, project manager at +65 6423 0329 or nadiahj@marketing-interactive.com