Marketing Magazine SG - Jun 2014 by Marketing Magazine Group

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As a global leader in loyalty management, Aimia deploys a full suite of loyalty services across all industries, geographies and channels. We build and run loyalty programs for ourselves and for some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best brands. To see how our loyalty insights can deliver results for your business, visit us at aimia.com. Aimia, 1 Maritime Square #07-02, Harbourfront Centre (Lobby C), Singapore 099253 | T +65 6220 0005 ÂŠ 2014 Aimia Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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

Elizabeth Low, Deputy Editor elizabethl@marketing-interactive.com Rezwana Manjur, Senior Journalist rezwanam@marketing-interactive.com Editorial – International Matt Eaton, Editor (Hong Kong) matte@marketing-interactive.com Oliver Bayani, Editor (Philippines) oliverb@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 Che Winstrom, Sales Manager chew@marketing-interactive.com Johnathan Tiang, Account Manager johnathant@marketing-interactive.com Trina Choy, Account Manager trinac@marketing-interactive.com Advertising Sales – International Josi Yan, Sales Director (Hong Kong) josiy@marketing-interactive.com Events Yeo Wei Qi, Head, Events Services weiqi@marketing-interactive.com Marketing June Tan, Regional Marketing Executive junet@lighthousemedia.com.sg

The internet is a funny place and social media makes it funnier. Almost everything becomes a phenomenon within minutes and is forgotten within seconds. I am pretty much a part of this short memory span syndrome myself but increasingly, I’m having trust issues with the medium. You can be reading two reports at the same time – both nicely contradicting each other. In one, taking selfies can be a mental disorder, in the other, maybe not. In one, there can be quick tips to lose belly fat, the other can be trashing those tips or “busting myths” about losing belly fat. You know what I mean, right? There’s just too much information out there. Credible or not, I can’t say. It isn’t a big deal for me as a user; I can switch off whenever I want. The real problem is for brands which are constantly pushing content, be it ads, videos, Facebook posts, Instagram competitions or LinkedIn articles. How do you get noticed/read and trusted? Some brands enlist the help of celebrities or bloggers or word-of-mouth or user-generated content. But at the end of the day, these are a handful of strategies deployed by many brands. How do you differentiate yours? The answer

brings us back to one thing: creativity. Both in ideation as well as execution. The importance of creativity has been questioned since the advent of digital and since everything became, practically, on-demand. Time-to-market took prominence over wellthought out and tested methods in order to attract consumers in real-time. As an industry, our knee-jerk reaction was to upload TVCs online. Quite quickly we realised it wasn’t the right answer. There were many such short-cuts we took only to realise we have to get back to the drawing board and think about the basics again. As a result of all this, the role of the “traditional” creative agencies and creative directors also came under scrutiny. Creative capabilities began to be brought in-house by media agencies as well as clients, further stiffening competition for these agencies. What does all of this mean for the creative industry? Where is it headed? And, does it need a revival of sorts? We seek to find some answers in this edition. Happy reading. Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

Editorial Rayana Pandey, Editor rayanap@marketing-interactive.com

MANY QUESTIONS, BUT CAN WE FIND THE ANSWERS?

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

Marketing is published 12 times per year by Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd. Printed in Singapore on CTP process by Sun Rise Printing & Supplies Pte Ltd, 10 Admiralty Street, #06-20 North Link Building, Singapore 757695. Tel: (65) 6383 5290. MICA (P) 180/03/2009. For subscriptions, contact circulations at +65 6423 0329 or email subscriptions@marketing-interactive.com. COPYRIGHT & REPRINTS: All material printed in Marketing 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 office. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in Marketing 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 198755 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 Marketing magazine, go to: www.marketing-interactive.com

Rayana Pandey Editor

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CONTENTS FEA TU R ES 12 BRIEFS FROM HELL Briefs from hell are a common frustration for agencies. Here are seven ingredients for the brief from hell. Is yours one of them? Elizabeth Low writes.

14 MARKETING AND PROCUREMENT’S LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP Here’s how to bury the hatchet. Rezwana Manjur reports.

16 COCA-COLA’S FOREIGN WORKER GESTURE: SWEET OR ARTIFICIAL? The plight of foreign workers in Singapore is gaining increasing attention. Here’s what happened when Coke weighed in on the situation. Rezwana Manjur reports.

30 COVER FEATURE: A CREATIVE DIRECTOR’S CHANGING ROLE In an age of technology and rapid change, is the role of the traditional creative agency diminishing? What does it mean to be a creative director now? Elizabeth Low reports.

34 CREATIVE CATCH-UP PROFILES The industry’s top creative names give a tell-all of their careers.

OPINIONS

DE PA RT M E N T S

22 BRAND HEALTH CHECK: ALIBABA

4 NEWS

Can Alibaba clear its murky image for its huge global ambitions?

The IDA looks to introduce more telco operators; the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore looks to further regulate the beauty industry’s ads; SIA appoints Performics as its regional SEO/SEM agency; plus more.

24 AD WATCH/WEB WATCH BBDO and Proximity Singapore’s Primus Nair highlights AWARE’s Guardian Angel, while he thinks BMW’s M Button ad could have been done better. Meanwhile, Rapp Singapore’s Ed Cheong thinks Google’s Iron Fish search story was bang on.

25 DIRECT MAIL CASE STUDY Life Inspired mailed out keys to invite guests to an exclusive party. Here’s what the response was like.

SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE!

25 16 KEY TAKEAWAYS: >> The changing role of creative agencies and creative directors. >> How to write a good brief. >> How to improve the marketingprocurement relationship. W W W .MA R KET ING - INT ERAC TIVE . COM

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ON THE COVER: Art direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Edwin Tan — Lumina (www.animulstudio.com); Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – (www.michmakeover.com)

The call for strong creative directors is greater than ever. We talk to the Singapore ad industry’s biggest creative names, in a barefaced tell-all of their journey to the top in our Creative Catch-Up feature on page 34.

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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.

More competition for telcos The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) launched a public consultation to seek input from the industry and members of the public on proposals to introduce more telco operators. It is also looking into approaching mobile virtual network operators. These new introductions “can potentially offer consumers more choices of service providers, and may bring about greater vibrancy and competition in the mobile and wireless landscape,” IDA said.

Snapshot for the future Nikon consolidated its media, digital and social media duties under Maxus Singapore. Maxus Singapore is now responsible for helping Nikon to drive its integrated brand campaigns and will share social media duties with Vocanic, also part of GroupM. As part of its latest launch brand campaign, Nikon Singapore partnered with SPH Kiss92FM to get listeners to share their dreams and aspirations on air. Not so beautiful Beauty products and services have caused an increasing number of complaints in the past three years. The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) is now looking to speak to both industry professionals and media owners on further regulating the ads. In 2013 it received 78 complaints from the industry and about 70% of the ads ran on print media across both Chinese and English titles.

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All fired up Firefly, a full-service carrier, appointed PHD Malaysia as its media agency. The account was won following a pitch involving several agencies. The appointment will see PHD Malaysia as the agency of record for Firefly in the markets of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The scope of the account covers strategic media and communications planning and buying across all media platforms. Being in the loop Mindshare launched The Loop – a data-infused “war room” in Asia. The agency hopes that through the new offering, clients can make more collaborative and adaptive decisions across their paid, owned and earned marketing in real-time. Through The Loop, marketers can track consumer response, and competitive moves. Clients can adapt the usage of media channels and the content, based on this data in near real-time.

Bringing Line to life Mobile platform Line launched its ﬁrst pop-up store in Singapore to bring the “Line experience” to life. The store had an array of ofﬁcial Line merchandise available. As part of Line’s ongoing efforts to plan localised campaigns, Line Singapore also collaborated with retailer Uniqlo for a limited collection of 10 Uniqlo graphic T-shirts which were made available for sale.

Content is king Bloomberg Television launched a new brand marketing campaign in Singapore to highlight its regional business news content. The campaign will roll out in other key markets throughout the year. Bloomberg Television is featuring its latest campaign at Rafﬂes Place MRT Station with 192 posters. This follows a successful campaign where it debuted its pop-up studio at Rafﬂes Place in November 2013.

The guardian angel To help women combat harassment and alert emergency contacts when they face threats to their personal safety, JWT Singapore, in support of the Association of Women for Action and Research, launched the Guardian Angel personal safety accessory line. Designed in the shape of a halo, The Guardian Angel is a simple and elegant innovation which can be worn as a necklace or bracelet.

Cat power Singapore was the ﬁrst market to begin McDonald’s online Hello Kitty Bubbly World sales. McDonald’s launched a microsite just for the promotion. Despite the set being priced at a somewhat steep SG$80, the products pulled in such a huge response McDonald’s had to halt sales on the website for several hours because of extremely high trafﬁc.

Mixed signals It seems mixed martial arts (MMA) fans got mixed signals when the event organiser cancelled the tour to Singapore. The Singapore leg of the tour is part of the 11-city global tour. But was there an event to begin with? Ultimate Fighting Championship posted on its Facebook page about false advertising done by event organisers LAMC and Ch’i Life Studio Asia in Singapore.

PHD takes on MFLG account Mount Faber Leisure Group (MFLG) appointed PHD as its media agency. The contract is for a year with an option to extend for another. The agency is handling media planning and buying duties for the region. MFLG conﬁrmed the appointment to Marketing. Marketing understands the media account is worth about a million dollars. On track Volvo Trucks partnered with the National Geographic Channel to roll out its Asia 360° campaign. In the lead-up to the Asia launch of its new truck range in May, Volvo Trucks created a virtual journey from Singapore to South Korea. Users could follow through a microsite which featured the stories of three different personalities and a collection of stunning 360° panoramic shots in Asia.

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NEWS

Let the best man win Singapore Sports Council (SSC) posted a tender looking for a media agency. However, a spokesperson from the SSC clariﬁed the tender was open to all creative and media agencies. The appointed agency is required to plan, strategise, and execute media strategies and propose appropriate advertising media, co-ordinate and place media bookings for Sport Singapore’s programmes, initiatives and campaigns, inclusive of the 28th SEA Games. UM jumps on board International Enterprise Singapore appointed UM for strategic planning, negotiation and buying of key advertising spaces in the country and in relevant overseas markets. IE Singapore is the government agency tasked with driving Singapore’s external economy through spearheading the overseas growth of Singapore-based companies and promoting international trade. The appointment of the agency is for two years beginning in May.

A healthy start The Health Promotion Board launched a tender to appoint a creative agency. HPB said it “may appoint multiple contractors for creative development and implementation services for integrated marketing and communication”. The selected agency will be tasked to propose campaign strategies and mechanics to ensure all key objectives of future HPB campaigns are met and will also have to plan, advise and assist HPB.

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Sentosa appoints OMD Marketing understands the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) appointed OMD as its media agency for a two-year contract, with an option to extend for another. OMD is in charge of part of the Sentosa business, and will deal with branding, strategic planning and creative planning of future campaigns. The pitch was called in October 2013 and involved agencies such as Carat, GroupM and IPG.

BiC ﬁnds a new Host BiC Lighters and Pens appointed Host Singapore to manage its creative business for stationery for 2014. BiC Lighters and Pens has a range of products under its name, including lighters, stationery and shavers. Host will be managing its social media channels. The agency was appointed following a pitch for the APAC market. Host Singapore ofﬁcially launched in January 2013.

Girl power Clozette and StarWorld, FOX International Channels’ female entertainment channel, paired up to create an original shortform content production. The content, titled StyleSetter, is a two-minute interstitial covering the latest fashion and beauty trends as well as the venues and events industry in Asia. The clips air on StarWorld between TV programmes throughout the day and on all of StarWorld’s social media platforms.

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NEWS

More good stuff Goodstuph has bagged more business, being appointed the social media agency of record for Spa Esprit’s beauty brands – Strip, Browhaus and We Need A Hero. It will also work with several food brands under the company. The agency has been appointed for a year starting 1 May, with an account worth a ﬁve-ﬁgure sum, according to Goodstuph founder Pat Law (pictured).

Scooting away Scoot, the long-haul low-cost arm of the Singapore Airlines Group, appointed Performics as its regional SEO/SEM agency. Scoot conﬁrmed the appointment to Marketing. The agency was appointed following a pitch and is handling all the markets in which Scoot has a presence in. This includes Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. The appointment is for two years.

Sharp as a razor Beauty and health brand LAC Taut appointed digital agency Razorﬁsh to lead its digital strategy in Singapore. Razorﬁsh Singapore is tasked to evaluate and refocus LAC Taut’s marketing efforts towards more effective digital experiences and reengage younger audiences. The agency will also conduct a digital audit, identify focus areas and evaluate the business and digital landscape surrounding the brand in Singapore.

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Getting on board Millward Brown has made available a range of mobile solutions, allowing clients access to consumer opinions in real-time. This is to leverage the consumer shift to mobile. Millward Brown’s current solutions are retail experience; creative effectiveness; in-market performance; and media optimisation. Several of the agency’s clients such as Nestlé and Unilever have already started to go mobile with their research.

A Brilliant appointment Following a six-way pitch, Fundsupermart.com, an online unit distributor, appointed Brilliant as its regional agency for branding, advertising and strategic duties. Fundsupermart.com, which is also present in Malaysia, Hong Kong and India, is the online unit trust distribution arm of iFAST Financial. The agency appointment is the result of an across-the-board review, which started more than six months ago, to consolidate and strengthen the Fundsupermart. com brand.

Cloudy directions The Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) has criticised local telcos for not being transparent in the marketing of their 4G services. CASE executive director, Seah Seng Choon, said the telcos should be more transparent in the way they market 4G services rather than hide information in the “terms and conditions” sections. This comes following public confusion at ﬁnding out their 4G mobile plan might not guarantee them 4G services.

Looking inwards The Media Development Authority (MDA) is looking to gather national data on media consumption across all content platforms. MDA is working with local broadcasters to put together national data on local media consumption across free-to-air TV, cable TV, IPTV, online and mobile platforms. In the long run, it is hoping to reel in local audiences with better tailored content.

Education is key WDA launched a tender looking to appoint a panel of creative agencies to provide advertising, marketing and communications services. The agencies will be tasked to promote Continuing Education and Training (CET) and related programmes. The appointment is for two years, with the option to extend for another two years. A WDA spokesperson declined to comment on the worth of the account.

The secret is out Independent Singapore agency The Secret Little Agency (TSLA) won the global branding and creative account for chocolate brand, Awfully Chocolate. The agency will work with Synergy Foods in Hong Kong, the sole global distributor of the brand’s chocolate, bars and biscuits. The distributor will take care of the packaging and product development. TSLA will focus on brand-building. This is the ﬁrst global win for TSLA Hong Kong.

Refreshing the Lux brand Unilever’s skincare brand Lux underwent a revamp – launching its product packaging. The current campaign reflects the brand’s vision through consumer touch-points such as rich colours, luxuriant visuals, and merchandising displays with refreshed packaging. A global campaign is also running across TV, out-of-home, print and digital channels. This relaunch puts fine fragrance at the heart of all Lux’s beauty treats. A nurturing environment To build and nurture local talent, SMG Social, Starcom’s social and content division, has spearheaded an initiative called “SMG Social Connect” to train Singaporean students to be certified community managers. The initiative was put together with support from Singapore Polytechnic and Facebook. The course consists of a day-long training, a workshop element, brief and a presentation to the course organisers.

SEG appoints Reading Room Following a three-way pitch in early April, Spa Esprit Group (SEG) appointed digital agency Reading Room to handle the building and revamping of its websites for several brands under the group. These brands include Skinny Pizza, Tiong Bahru Bakery, Forty Hands, Qi Mantra, Spa Esprit and the group’s corporate website. It will also provide consultancy services on how digital marketing can help SEG fulﬁl its business objectives.

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Merging online and offline YouTube is making a big play to get its YouTube stars in the limelight. In a first for the online video channel, a spokesperson at YouTube said it was marketing its most popular content creators offline. This was aimed at pushing their demand online. YouTube is advertising on traditional media such as billboards, subway ads and local TV spots in the US and Tokyo. New initiatives LinkedIn launched three new initiatives to push content marketing. The features are Sponsored Updates Partners which provides brands and agencies with campaign management tools to manage and optimise Sponsored Updates campaigns. Meanwhile, the Content Partners Program manages the ongoing challenge of having enough quality content to share with audiences and the Sponsored InMail on Mobile allows marketers to engage targeted audiences with personalised content on mobile.

Beautifying Japan Arcade created an integrated campaign for the launch of Unilever’s Clear Hair & Scalp Care range in Japan across broadcast and print. With Japan facing signiﬁcant societal shifts, the emphasis is changing for women in the personal care market. The campaign platform, “Strong is beautiful”, is designed to map out a new territory for Japanese beauty that deliberately steps beyond the “kawaii” imagery.

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Microsoft chooses agencies Microsoft Corporation chose Interpublic Group (IPG) as its agency of record for advertising and global deployment, while Dentsu Aegis was appointed to handle media planning, media buying and search advertising. Creative, localisation and deployment will be handled by various agency teams throughout IPG’s global network. Dentsu Aegis will handle media planning across the company’s network.

A new look The Asian Food Channel (AFC) celebrated its 10th anniversary with a new logo and on-air look. This is the channel’s ﬁrst brand makeover since its launch in 2005. The array of dots was removed in the new AFC logo, but it retained the green typography with a spray of colour. The brand refresh has also reached online as AFC revamps it ofﬁcial website.

On the hunt Samsung Electronics called for a global, media, creative and digital pitch. This involves the Singapore market as well. R3, headquartered in Singapore, is also understood to be running the pitch. Starcom MediaVest Group handles the majority of Samsung’s global media business. The company’s creative partners include Leo Burnett and Cheil.

Living on the edge Edge Asia, a digital advertising group under Australia’s STW group, is continuing its aggressive expansion in the region, acquiring Indonesian digital agency Alpha Salmon. The partnership was formed with the intent of providing its clients in Southeast Asia with an extensive regional network. Alpha Salmon will continue to operate in the local Indonesian market.

HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST?

A STRAIGHT SHOOTER

Local agency @ccomplice recently sent out a direct mailer – with a fake gun in it – to its clients across multiple industries as a play on the agency’s name. It was sent to 35 clients. According to Tobias Wilson, its founder, the campaign resulted in a net 80% response rate. This was basically because the gun was able

to shock the clients with its realistic touch and feel. Wilson added for the stunt, the boxes cost SG$35 each while the guns were SG$20. Meanwhile, the printing cost was SG$5 and the custom dog tags that accompanied the gun, along with the accomplice face plate, were US$15. The total package cost about SG$75.

Getting sociable MSC Cruises appointed global social media agency We Are Social to develop its social media strategy. MSC Cruises is working with We Are Social Italy to strengthen the content strategy. We Are Social will activate an international team across eight markets to deﬁne and co-ordinate a creative approach consistent with each country’s needs. MSC Cruises aims to enhance its knowledge of the needs of travellers.

Round two In its second major global revamp, PayPal overhauled its brand identity, including the logo. The new look reflects PayPal’s simplicity, convenience and security, redesigned for today’s dynamic, mobile-first world. The brand identity was developed by design firm fuseproject and a global brand campaign, created by Havas Worldwide, has rolled out across multiple markets. The campaign is called “Powering the People Economy”.

Aussies brew up a campaign Dentsu Australia launched a new campaign for Kölsch, a Germanstyle beer brewed by the 4 Pines Brewing Company. The campaign, featuring print, point-of-sales, radio and a video, is based on the tangled history of Kölsch and takes a laconic Australian view of what was obviously a very serious matter to the original German brewers. The content piece was produced by Heckler, with animation director Mark Simpson leading the charge.

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NEWS

AUDIT WATCH

BILLIONAIRE BULLETIN SKIPS AUDIT Panda attack To mark the opening of design hub PMQ in June, creative firm AllRightsReserved brought the long-running worldwide exhibition tour of 1,600 “pandas” to Hong Kong in an attempt to connect creativity to conservation. After touring France, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan and nearly 100 exhibitions, the 1,600 pandas will land in Hong Kong for the first time. The “pandas” were made from recycled materials. A foxy move Fox International Channels locked in an international partnership on M. Night Shyamalan’s new suspense-filled 10-episode event thriller Wayward Pines. FIC will control all rights outside of the US to become exclusive first-window broadcaster in its 125 country universe as well as the exclusive international sales arm. For the first time, FIC also assumed direct sales responsibility for all international television windows, non-linear and home entertainment rights.

Getting personal The Wall Street Journal unveiled #WSJbe, its biggest multi-media brand effort across Asia Paciﬁc to date, speaking to readers’ aspirations, with inspirations driven by a skeleton crew from its Asia editorial team. Targeting consumer and trade media, the campaign adopts a heavy storytelling approach featuring personal stories and aspirations behind four key journalists’ career paths. The campaign runs on TV, print, online and OOH channels.

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New entrants Two Chinese companies – CCTV and Baidu – entered ZenithOptimedia’s top 30 global media owners ranking list this year, the ﬁrst time any company from China has done so. They join Brazil’s Globo as the only companies based in emerging markets on the list. The top media owner is Google, which is by some distance the world’s largest media owner, with revenues 47% higher than the second-largest, DirecTV.

A candid moment Fujiﬁlm launched a TV and print ad campaign for its latest X-T1 camera. The campaign aired on TV and was shown on screens in the lobbies of ofﬁce buildings. Print ads featuring stills of the TVC have appeared in newspapers and magazines, while out-of-home ads for bus billboards and MTR stations were also released. The ads were produced by creative agency Metta Communications.

A delicate divorce A US$35 billion plan to create the world’s largest advertising holding group was abandoned. Publicis and Omnicom jointly announced that they have terminated their proposed “merger of equals” by mutual agreement. The French-US alliance has been on shaky ground for several months. Tax problems and a reluctance from China regulators to green light the deal had dented the plan to create adland’s biggest agency holding group.

Billionaire.com launched its Singapore edition of the publication late last year. Targeting the “ultra high-net-worth” community, the Billionaire Bulletin is distributed to super wealthy individuals globally. The publication will have five issues this year: May, June, September, November and a December/January 2015 issue. A spokesperson told Marketing the publication would be skipping the circulation audit process. “Our strategy isn’t focused on reaching millions of readers, but rather, reaching readers worth hundreds of millions – or more,” said the spokesperson. “The traditional audit plays to the strengths of traditional publishers, whose focus is quantity, not quality of readers. Ours is a sniper rifle, rather than a scattergun approach. And we

Y&R consolidates Y&R consolidated the agency’s retail and shopper marketing capabilities into a single, uniﬁed network: Labstore. Y&R’s other retail and shopper capabilities such as IdeaWorks are now under the Labstore network. In Asia, Y&R Labstore made its debut in Thailand and the Philippines. Jon Bird, co-founder of Y&R’s retail marketing agency, IdeaWorks, is now global managing director.

Getting a grip Following accusations of false advertising, Vibram - the maker of the toe gripping shoe - agreed to settle a class action lawsuit. Postsettlement, the company will not be able to make claims that the FiveFingers footwear is effective in strengthening muscles or reducing injury without scientiﬁc backing to prove the claims.

are able to verifiably prove that we are reaching precisely the audience we say we are.” It claims a global total print run of 40,000 with tailored editions to particular parts of the world: US 20,000; UK/EMEA 11,000; Singapore/Hong Kong 7,000; and China (in simplified Chinese) 2,000. The publication runs in partnership with Wealth-X. For advertisers, it is targeting key brands in the luxury, fashion, watches, jewellery, cars, travel and hospitality sectors. It also will provide pro-bono space to certain charities and NGOs.

Where’s the drama? Samsung launched two TV commercials inspired from Korean TV dramas to tap the Hong Kong and China markets. The spots are designed to reinforce the traits of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Gear Fit.

A long term relationship The International Olympic Committee (IOC) handed NBCUniversal (NBCU) the broadcast rights in the USA for the Olympic Games up until 2032. NBCU acquired the broadcast rights across free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile. The agreement is from 2021 to 2032 and is valued at US$ 7.65 billion with an additional US$ 100 million signing bonus set aside for the promotion of Olympism and the Olympic values.

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NEW WORK .................................................................................................................................................................................................................

1 Campaign Global Perspectives. Local Insights. Brief Bloomberg Television launched a new brand marketing campaign in Singapore to highlight its regional business news content. The new brand campaign will highlight Bloomberg TV Asia’s key personalities in Asia, and feature issues that matter to people on the street. The campaign will roll out in other key markets throughout the year. Client

Bloomberg Television

Creative

In-house

Media

Kinetic Worldwide

2 Campaign Nescafé White Coffee 2014 Brief Nestlé rolled out a new TVC to position Nescafé White Coffee as the premium white coffee brand in the market. The script aimed to evoke a sense of nostalgia among viewers and to strengthen the campaign further, a street activation aspect was launched where brand ambassadors riding customised Nescafé White Coffee bicycles were deployed to give away free samples. Client

Nestlé

Creative

Visibility Design

Media

N/A

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3 Campaign Everyone’s Home Ground Brief Building on the anticipation and excitement of BPL football fans in Singapore, Carlsberg created Everyone’s Home Ground where football fans could experience the football frenzy with Carlsberg. More than just a get-together of football fans and consumers, Everyone’s Home Ground was an exclusive and premier live screening event where Carlsberg amplified the experience with giant TV screens, deluxe couches and an overall VIP experience. To promote this event online and offline, Carlsberg ran ads on various OOH platforms, including buses, bus shelters, train stations and the giant TV screen at Chevron House to highlight the Carlsberg TVC. Client

Carlsberg Singapore

Creative

Havas Worldwide Singapore

Media

OMD

4 Campaign JWEL Launch Brief The campaign promotes the five classic ice-cream flavours and is currently running on radio, OOH and print. Also, commuters have been enjoying a free “royal” shuttle service that looped from Plaza Singapura, the Singapore Management University’s School of Business to the Istana. This “royal bus” was a SBS transit bus which had undergone a complete makeover with the help of Moove Media and F&N Creameries Singapore. This was meant to drum up publicity for its latest offering – JWEL, from the Ice Cream Empire.

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Client

F&N Creameries Singapore

Creative

Ogilvy RedWorks

Media

Mindshare

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5/6/2014 5:12:30 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

HOW TO WRITE A ‘MONSTER’ BRIEF Briefs from hell are a common frustration for agencies. Here are seven ingredients for the brief from hell. Is yours one of them? Elizabeth Low writes. Earlier this year, I was speaking to a marketer who had just called an open pitch. In the short few minutes asking for details on the pitch, this marketer clearly seemed to check all the boxes on how to give a “monster” brief. Here’s how the conversation went: Me: “Hi, I hear you’re calling a pitch for XXX. Can you give me a few details?” Marketer: “Yes, we want someone to buy space on online media, paid media, social media for our campaign.” Me: “Which part of the business is this for?” Marketer: “You can go on our website and look at any of our core businesses and choose one. Actually, we’re more interested in seeing what the agencies come up with and going through that.” Me: “Well, what’s the main objective?” Marketer: “Basically we want someone who has contacts to Google and Facebook because we don’t know anyone there.”

the rules of the game as the process progresses, regardless of how much time and effort the agencies have invested thus far. “I remember one a few years ago where the budget was slashed and then the senior decision-makers disappeared from the process at the last moment. “Having had teams across the region prepare a fully loaded top-tier proposal that

was based on the original scenario, we were left holding the bag and there was absolutely no contrition at the client end. “We had flown in key leaders from top Asia Pacific markets and suddenly found ourselves meeting with a single marketing manager who explained that ‘things have suddenly changed’. Obviously that kind of ‘bait and switch’ is toxic to the prospect company’s reputation,” says Pickard.

An open tender had been called for this. I ended the phone call thinking that any agency that tried to pick up this business would be left 10 times more frustrated than I was. Unfortunately, “monster” briefs are common in the industry, as senior industry executives share their frustrations on the things clients do in briefs in this article. Marketers, take note – here’s how to tell if your brief needs tweaking: 1. No indication of budget Several industry executives highlight the issue of not indicating the budget on a brief. “The first sign of trouble is when there’s no budget range provided, which often signals that the prospect will be deciding the outcome on commoditised price more than on creative quality,” said Bob Pickard, chairman of Huntsworth Asia Pacific. 2. The ever evolving brief Multiple changes of the brief over a long period is another problem, said Lars Voedisch, founder of PRecious Communications. Added Pickard: “The worst briefs change

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5/6/2014 3:56:49 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

3. The “up to the agency” brief “Some of the bad habits I have witnessed include the cut and paste mentality – where someone takes a past brief and then literally cuts and pastes its components onto a new one without regard to its relevance,” said Lionel Goh, client service director for Havas Worldwide. “This means that some irrelevant information to the current project is included and it sends us on a wild goose chase that ultimately wastes time for all parties.” The worst things you could say to an agency? “Up to you’, ‘Agency to recommend’ and my personal favourite: ‘I am not sure what we want, but I will know it when I see it’,” Goh added. “The worst brief I have ever worked on (and I still keep a copy) had on the cover of a 10-plus page document: ‘Objective: Generally to create awareness.’ “That said, while it was the worst

“The worst things you could say to an agency? “Up to you’, ‘Agency to recommend’ and my personal favourite: ‘I am not sure what we want, but I will know it when I see it” Lionel Goh — client service director for Havas Worldwide

brief, it turned out to be one of the most profitable projects I had the privilege of working on.” 4. The beauty parade Spamming out a brief to a dozen or more agencies is another bad sign, say agency professionals. Calling it a “beauty parade”, Huntsworth’s Pickard said it was disconcerting for a pitching agency. However, so far in the local market, this is not uncommon. Several larger government tenders, as well as the major brand assignments,

have been known to have anywhere up to a dozen agencies or more. For example, Scoot reputedly pulled in up to 30 agencies when the budget carrier called its first pitch. 5. The “top secret” brief A big frustration is when clients get too secretive with their company’s strategies, not wanting to give away confidential information. While this is understandable, don’t take this too far in a brief. “There was one brief that was too secretive about its company’s strategy and direction – just indicating that it was a major shift and the brand strategy should support that,” said Voedisch, highlighting one of the worst briefs he’s encountered. “Be clear in the objectives of what you want to achieve. Provide some guidance either on the deliverables or budget.” 6. The internal client war If it isn’t difficult enough trying to understand what the client wants, it’s worse when they don’t know what they want because of internal conflict. When dissonance between internal stakeholders comes up – for example, in communications and marketing, those are more ingredients for a bad brief, said Tarun Deo, managing director of Golin Harris, Southeast Asia and Singapore. “Both have a different view of the results they seek and so the brief is unclear and muddled, with the agency trying to cope with the politics of it all.” 7. The bloody boring brief Another ingredient for a bad brief is when the client only wants to play it safe, asking for repetitive work – resulting in a completely uninspiring brief. Sure the agency will do it, but you can expect zero enthusiasm and even less creativity. Deo adds a note to agencies as well – if you don’t like the brief, hold out for something better. “Good agencies respond to good briefs – we live in the days of good agencies being in a position to pick and choose who they would like to work for, so prospects need to think of their briefs as tools to attract the best agencies and not just assume that if we put ‘something’ out there the best will come,” he said.

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5/6/2014 3:56:50 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

5 REASONS WHY THE PROCUREMENT GUY HATES YOU Marketing and procurement – a classic love-hate relationship. Here’s how to bury the hatchet, writes Rezwana Manjur.

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5/6/2014 4:40:54 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

I had a taste of the classic love-hate relationship, hate more than love, of course, between marketing and procurement, as I sat between two professionals from these functions. In an ideal world, marketing and procurement should work hand-in-hand; complement each other; work towards profitability and all the good things in the world you can think of. The reality is a tad bit different though. Yes, the relationship between procurement and marketing is somewhat improving, but the tension remains. In a candid conversation with several senior procurement specialists in the industry, I asked them what annoyed them about their marketing departments. Here’s what they said: 1. The last minute stroke of genius Procurement: “Most last-minute requests are not entertained or welcomed as internal purchasers will require months of planning ahead of time. Marketers always have demands made in that last minute and this is a challenge for the procurement team as orders have already been placed way ahead.” Marketer: “But the marketing function is somewhat reactive. Sometimes you see a campaign by your competitors and you just need to beat them and gain back the interest of

your consumer. So you need to make alterations to the plan you have already set in motion. Also, competition is so high, especially in a market like Singapore, that pressure is always there to churn out something faster. The rise of real-time marketing also doesn’t help make things easier as the pressure is on to engage the consumer now, like right now.” 2. The mentality to spend and not save The conversation went on. Procurement: “If marketers are able to provide us with specific numbers and details way ahead of a promotion, we are able to buy the goods in bulk. That would save us a lot of expenditure in the long run.” Marketer: “From time to time a last-minute change in colours or packaging materials will affect the promotions. Sometimes the bigger picture is only clearer nearer to the date execution.” Another senior marketer chipped in: “The procurement teams are always first to buy into the cheapest option. Even when an experienced vendor can do a job far more quickly and efficiently, the procurement team goes for the one that costs less.” 3. Not sticking to the plan Much like the first point above, another

procurement specialist criticised marketers for being far too fickle. Every other day there is a new demand – a new creative epiphany. Procurement guys like to plan out their steps and this burst of creativity interrupts their natural work flow. 4. Too much drama Said one procurement department: “From time to time we have requests from the marketing department that a certain component needs to be updated and that it’s a life and death situation if they do not get it. “It’s never a life or death situation as we have come to understand. It’s just bad planning.” Cut the drama, guys. 5. Promising the moon Promising the moon during pitches? How about checking with the procurement teams once? Sometimes agencies and even marketers make unrealistic demands for campaigns. For the procurement teams on both sides, it is all about logistics and feasibility. Often the agency gets carried away promising campaigns that are simply tough, if not impossible, to execute. (And agencies, aren’t you guilty of this?) “We are not here to kill dreams but hey, being realistic helps!” said the procurement professional.

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5/6/2014 4:40:56 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

COCA-COLA’S FOREIGN WORKER GESTURE: SWEET OR ARTIFICIAL? The plight of foreign workers in Singapore is gaining increasing attention. Here’s what happened when Coke weighed in on the situation. Rezwana Manjur reports. really bad working conditions in Singapore, on the long-term, not.” Marketing spoke to several senior PR executives for their take. Even they were divided.

A touchy situation: It looks like Coca-Cola hit a nerve with its gesture.

Late last year, orderly Singapore saw its first riot in many years, as foreign workers rioted in Little India, shocking the nation and consequently sparking a furious debate on its foreign worker situation. While this later led to a series of high-profile court cases and the workers involved were repatriated, it threw a harsh spotlight on the struggles of these foreign workers to locals. It was likely with this in mind that Coca-Cola decided to weigh in on the situation, partnering the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) to perform a kind act for foreign workers. Using remote-controlled drones, it dropped off boxes of Coke to more than 2500 workers around Singapore, said Coca-Cola’s agency Ogilvy & Mather Singapore, who created the campaign. The project had locals writing messages of gratitude to workers at high-rise construction sites throughout the country and tying them to the cans; 2,734 photos of individuals with their handwritten notes were delivered on the cans to as high as the 35th storey of construction sites in a surprise treat to workers. This was done over March and April. Themed “Happiness from the Skies,” the project sought to build bridges between Singaporeans and the city-state’s 1.3 million migrant worker population – about one third

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of the country’s entire workforce. Before the deliveries, SKM volunteers reached out to Singaporeans, asking them to write supportive messages for the workers. “At Coca-Cola we are in the business of sharing happiness all around the world. So when Ogilvy came to us with the innovative idea of combining Coke with drone technology to connect two segments of the community - who rarely interact - to share a special moment of happiness, we could not resist the temptation to give it a go,” said Leonardo O’Grady, ASEAN director of integrated marketing communications for Coca-Cola Singapore. Eugene Cheong, chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific, said: “Construction workers, in particular, tend to be ‘invisible’ as they are working in areas that are not accessible to the average person. So in order to appreciate them, we first need to see them.” While some loved the campaign and praised Coke’s gesture, it also drew a strong response from critics for being a publicity stunt. For example, commentor Marie B said on the article published by Marketing: [sic] “To whoever finds this ‘kind’ or ‘nice’ or ‘cute’ (aw) : you must be kidding, first the fact that they could not even send a human to go give them the cans while saying hello is really weird, second Coke is certainly what they needed to improve their

PR value versus genuine value Scott Pettet, VP of APAC at Lewis PR, said while this was a great stunt, “it falls squarely into the category of stunt because it places more emphasis on form over function”. For example, he said, Coke could have delivered thousands more cans by truck, but would that have had the same PR impact? “Of course not,” he said. However, Jamie Morse, managing director of Hill+Knowlton, was more positive about the move. “The mere fact that so many people are talking about the worker conditions today than before is an indicator of the campaign’s success.” Hopefully, he added, those in power would now be talking more about the issues affecting migrant workers. In Coke’s defence, it is after all the job of governments and regulatory bodies to address worker conditions, not that of corporates, added Morse. “It would be unfair to be cynical about brands which look to particular social issues as a means to further their image. As people we want to get involved in social causes to feel good about ourselves just as much as to help others,” said Morse, adding there isn’t anything inherently wrong with brands doing the same. Mylinh Cheung, managing director of Epic PR, also added that while this was a stunt, it was still a well thought through activation that was value-based.“The issues plaguing foreign workers are far too deep and complicated to try and resolve overnight, “said Cheung. Tarun Deo, managing director of GolinHarris, Southeast Asia and Singapore, said the success could be attributed to the campaign’s simplicity that fitted with Coke’s Happiness campaign while falling in line with Singapore Kindness Movement’s agenda. Coke could not be reached at the time of publishing for further comment.

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5/6/2014 5:59:50 PM

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NEWS ANALYSIS

7 LESSONS FROM THE WORLD’S TOP BRANDS An analysis of the fortunes of some of the world’s most famous brands by Millward Brown has revealed seven key approaches companies can use to boost their brand value. Jennifer Chan writes.

The secret sauce: What made the world’s top brands famous?

An analysis of the fortunes of some of the world’s most famous brands by Millward Brown has revealed seven key approaches companies can use to boost their brand value. Based on the performance of brands such as Apple, Amazon and Visa over eight years of the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, these learnings demonstrate the power of the annual ranking and its ability to identify brands that are making waves. The lessons are based on the fortunes

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of clusters of similar and often competing companies such as Vodafone, Samsung and Nokia, and demonstrate how a brand and its portrayal via communications have been critical to company financial success. Identify a human truth. You can rise incredibly fast, but when you get it wrong you can fall equally quickly. Apple’s rapid rise from No.29 in the first BrandZ rankings in 2006, with a brand value of US$16 billion, to No.1 in 2012, with a

value of US$183 billion, comes off the back of a universal truth that people want technology to work simply and easily. By contrast, Nokia lost its consumer connection at around the same time, thinking its then-superior technology would be enough to beat the challenge of the iPhone. It has since dropped from US$44 billion at No.9 in 2008 to US$10.7 billion and No.81 in 2011, exiting the rankings altogether in 2012. Make your own connection. You can only

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10/6/2014 10:44:25 AM

NEWS ANALYSIS

go so far as a fast-follower, but ultimately to be a great marketer you need your own connection. Samsung has risen remarkably far and fast, and has had flashes of marketing excellence, including the recent Oscar selfie campaign. As a brand, though, it still has an opportunity to unearth its own universal truth. When it does, it should continue its rise from its No.30 position in the 2013 rankings with a brand value of US$21.4 billion. Technological superiority on its own is not everything. In fact it’s not even 90%, because people aren’t rational. The technological gap between Apple, Samsung and their competitors is fairly small, but their relative business fortunes have been miles apart. The significant difference is brand love and an affinity with consumers driven by Apple and Samsung’s ability to meet the needs of consumers in a way that is meaningful. International expansion isn’t the only way to grow. Quite often, leveraging your brand into other categories can be more effective. Walmart’s purchasing power hasn’t ensured a smooth global expansion and its BrandZ ranking has declined slightly over the past eight years, ranking No.18 with a brand value of US$36.2 billion in 2013. Other retail brands have driven

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brand growth by expanding their footprint into other categories, most notably with Amazon’s stretch from books to appliances to universal retailer.

important. Visa has been particularly successful moving from No.36 and US$16.3 billion in 2009 to a spot in the BrandZ 2013 top 10, at No.9, with a value of US$56 billion.

Disruptive innovation and reinventing yourself drives tremendous growth in almost every market. Disruptive innovation is the spiritual heartland of Amazon, which has changed the way we buy and in the process, moved from No.92 in 2007 to No.14 and a brand value of US$45.7 billion in 2013. Other brands have also taken a similar path, including Vodafone, which is now moving from a provider of mobile services to a rounded broadcast provider focused on Europe and BT, entering the ranking at No.94 in 2013 and storming up as a result of successful expansion beyond calls and lines into broadband, television and finally entertainment and sports.

Learn to live locally. Simply because you are from one country doesn’t mean you can’t also be a local brand in another. Some of the most iconic American brands such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have successfully transcended their origins to become global brands that feel local around the world. McDonald’s and Coke have become part of the community wherever they operate and connect via their universal truths such as Coke’s “Happiness” message. This strategy has helped both brands retain top 10 positions (and further gained places) even as the brand value required to stay in the top 10 has increased by 18%. “Smart marketers seek to learn from the successes of their peers and avoid the failings of brands that have ceased to be as effective,” said Anastasia Kourovskaia, vice-president of EMEA at Millward Brown Optimor. “This analysis of the BrandZ top 100 data over eight years highlights essential learnings that all brands need take on board. The path to brand growth isn’t always obvious and marketers sometimes need to look beyond the day-to-day business to see the wider opportunities.”

Often your competitors aren’t who you think. The success of Visa and MasterCard demonstrates that brands don’t compete only against those that provide the same services. Quite often, key competitors come from areas where they can provide substitute services and products. For Visa, MasterCard and American Express, the common enemy over the past few decades has been cash and cheques; however, slowly but surely, both are becoming less

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5/6/2014 5:42:55 PM

MARKET SPOTLIGHT: EUROPE

EUROPE’S FOOD MARKETERS GET HEALTHY A global move to reduce unhealthy food marketing to children has been sweeping through the various regions and it appears to be bearing fruit in Europe. Elizabeth Low reports.

In 2013, the World Health Organisation (WHO) sharply criticised the food industry for marketing unhealthy products to children, calling the move “disastrously effective” at fuelling a worldwide obesity epidemic. It pointed out junk food had been linked to obesity related health issues, with companies even using technology to target these products to kids. “Children are surrounded by ads urging them to consume highfat, high-sugar, high-salt foods, even when they are in places where they should be protected, such as schools and sports facilities,” said Zsuzsanna Jakab, the director of the WHO’s regional unit for Europe, in an article by website Think Progress. The WHO had tracked advertising for sugary drinks, sweetened breakfast cereals, cookies, candy, snacks and fast-food outlets and found television is still the most common medium for these ads, and that children are especially vulnerable to that strategy because “they cannot always distinguish between advertisements and cartoons like adults can”. But it looks like the situation is seeing progress. According to newly released data by the EU Pledge, European children are exposed to signiﬁcantly less food marketing than in 2005. The pledge, which represents 20 companies (pictured, right) and more than 80% of food ad spend in the EU, has these companies committing to change the products they advertise to children under the age of 12. The commitment was made in the context of the European Commission’s “Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health”. Stephan Loerke, the managing director of World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), said these studies were showing European children were seeing less food ads on TV, especially for products not fulﬁlling strict nutrition criteria. “This is important, given children still spend far more time in front of TV than any other media. Going forward, we are delighted to be implementing even stricter common criteria while ensuring our commitments apply equally across other media channels, including digital,” he said. Loerke added that effective coverage of online and company owned websites was critical to ensure the continued effectiveness of the selfregulatory initiative.

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Independent data from Accenture Media Management also shows how the world’s biggest food brands have signiﬁcantly changed the products they advertise to children in the European Union since 2005 on TV. The results demonstrate how brands are either voluntarily pulling out of or only advertising products that meet strict nutrition criteria during children’s programming and that children are being exposed to considerably less advertising for all food products across all TV programming, said a WFA report. The latest data also shows how, on average across all EU markets since 2005, that children are exposed to 31% less ads for EU pledge products on TV across all programming. They see 47% less ads for products that do not meet the nutrition criteria and 82% less for products not meeting the criteria in and around children’s programmes. Companies’ overall compliance rate with their commitments on TV was 98.1%. The commitments also extend to schools, children’s print publications, online advertising and company owned websites. For company owned websites, the European Advertising Standards Alliance veriﬁed 343 websites across the EU to check whether companies were directly targeting children under 12 with products not meeting the nutrition criteria. They found 22 websites to be in breach, meaning a total compliance rate of 94%.

Companies involved in the EU Pledge Source: WFA

Last year, the companies announced the development of even stricter common nutrition criteria that would determine, where applicable, what products can be advertised to children under 12. This criteria will come into force at the end of 2014. The group also announced the fast-food service restaurant, the Quick Group, joining the initiative.

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5/6/2014 5:59:22 PM

OPINION: BRAND HEALTH CHECK

OPENING UP TO THE WORLD SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS DATA: Revenue

Year ended March 31:

Nine months ended December 31:

2012 RMB

2013 RMB

2012 RMB

2013 RMB

China commerce

11,990

13,322

14,883

14,492

International commerce

10,570

11,742

12,906

12,546

Cloud computing and Internet infrastructure

10,627

11,807

13,011

12,658

Others

8,714

9,867

11,344

11,059

Total

1,913

1,940

1,667

1,599

DIAGNOSIS Keith Timimi Chairman VML Qais

Bob Pickard Chairman, Asia Pacific Huntsworth plc

The big clean up: Can Alibaba clear its murky image for its huge global ambitions?

In what could have been the largest technology debut yet, Alibaba gave investors a closer look at the e-commerce juggernaut in an IPO prospectus last month. While the world marvelled at its vast size, the issue of trust inevitably came up. But in the business it’s in, can Alibaba inspire investors’ trust and play on the global stage? For example, one of its key businesses, its Taobao site, was listed on the US Trade Representative’s “notorious market” list for piracy and counterfeit offenders. While it has since been taken from the list, the business is undeniably difficult to police. And Alibaba has been taking tough measures to root out its murky image. Even as it headed towards its IPO, founder Jack Ma was stepping up efforts to clean house. Acknowledging this in its IPO filing, the group admitted the perception that its sites were cluttered with counterfeit items could hurt its ability to win over customers, investors and US retail partners. According to The Guardian, some security experts even say the Chinese group’s stricter standards on piracy and fake goods may surpass those of Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc. It’s not stopping there. The group is also getting serious with its image, hiring Jim Wilkinson, a senior PepsiCo executive, who also worked for the US government, as its new head of international corporate communications, according to The Wall Street Journal. Can Alibaba clean up its image and attain its global ambitions? Time will tell, but it looks like it is certainly headed that way.

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Let’s cut to the chase: Barring any skeletons in the closet, Alibaba is one of the most impressive companies that has ever been built. In my view, it would lag behind only Apple, Google, Samsung and IBM in the technology world in terms of impact and potential. Yes, it is more important than Facebook. How many companies do you know with a 102-year plan? How many “local” companies are there who have a mission to “make it easier to do business across the world”? How many companies write their IPO letters to employees, asking them to prepare for “unparalleled ruthlessness and pressure”? Alibaba is a hero for the Asian internet community, living proof that both innovation and scale can be built in our neck of the woods. I would suspect that, for the same reason it excites us, it worries some in the West. My advice to Alibaba is to better tell its story, so the world gets to know (and admire) it as a brand. Its Chinese heritage will arouse suspicion in some quarters. This can be overcome by clarity of communication, backed by consistency of action. Alibaba believes in “customer first, employees second, shareholders third”. It will become increasingly hard to live by its principles when it comes under pressures from the IPO. It will need to maintain a really strong inner compass to keep to that vision. I for one, hope they can do it.

Today, Alibaba still has a relatively low profile outside of China, but that is already changing very quickly. Alibaba is seen as a large and growing Chinese e-commerce player with global-scale ambitions. In addition to the usual “laundry list” of concerns on ethics, transparency, security and respect for intellectual property, Alibaba will face fears about what to many will be its surprisingly gigantic scale. It has a magnificent opportunity to build a global brand with a positive image through social media. But it needs to craft its corporate communications wisely. Some Chinese companies have exploded onto the world stage for negative reasons, seen to be imitating on cheap price rather than innovating based on quality. Alibaba has a fascinating story to tell and a clever business strategy to explain. But it needs to talk about more than just how it plans to leverage the vast size of the domestic market. In Jack Ma, it has a compelling leader whose persona travels better across national borders compared with other Chinese corporate leaders, who have often shied away from the limelight. At a time when global brands are expected to act like people and not like things, in Ma, it has someone who personifies the company. But he needs to be careful what he says, so as not to gratuitously stimulate fear about what could be perceived as another Chinese giant’s conquering ambitions.

TREATMENT Timimi’s tonic: • Clear communication of its story. • Consistency of action. • Principle-led vision.

Pickard’s pill: • Build a positive image on social media. • Be careful about how it positions itself. • Focus on an international stage instead of the US.

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5/6/2014 5:33:13 PM

Korea Tourism Organization and Korea MICE Bureau take pride in establishing Korea as the premier destination for MICE visitors. For more information and assistance in holding your events in Korea, please contact KTO (Singapore office) at +65- 6533 0441 or email:koreamice.singapore@gmail.com

OPINION: AD WATCH/WEB WATCH

Primus Nair Group creative director BBDO and Proximity Singapore

AD WATCH HOT: Guardian Angel

NOT: Yeo’s – BMW M Button

This year has seen an explosion in wearable tech. From Bluetooth watches to Google’s own Glass, we’ve seen tons of devices targeted at giving you faster access to information. The Guardian Angel bracelet (or necklace), however, is a little different. Designed for the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), it is an accessory designed to send an SOS text and GPS location of the wearer to a friend or family member in the event of an emergency. It can also place a fake call to your own phone to help you duck out of uncomfortable situations (handy, if you work in advertising). And while the overall presentation could use a little polish, it’s a simple, elegant idea that could prove very effective. Nice.

This one is a little bit of a letdown. BMW has an interesting story to tell with its fabled M button. One push and it gives your car a kick in the pants, in terms of power. Great. Creatively, that’s really rich territory. The route they’ve gone with, however, seems a little odd. It depicts a man surprising his wife by creating a button that transforms his living room from austere to Austin Powers. The message of a button completely changing the characteristics of something is clear enough, but the execution trades excitement for something bordering on cheesy. Which is a shame because there is a lot to say about the product and a real emotional benefit that comes with it. And while I can appreciate that it’s part of a bigger Pleasure Points campaign, I think they could have possibly made more of it.

Ed Cheong Creative director Rapp Singapore

WEB WATCH HOT: Google: Iron Fish

NOT: STB – See where the world is heading

The best stuff makes things matter. And makes me pretty envious right after. Just like most Google Search stories, this piece is charming. But what stood out was the brutally simple innovation at its core. Without giving much away if you haven’t seen it – a man uses cultural beliefs to make something that matters to impoverished Cambodians. The end result was bang on brand and lived up to the DNA of Google. The brand didn’t have to drum up its functionality. The action spoke quite loudly enough.

This one’s easy. Matter of fact, it’s such an obvious choice it almost feels like I’m kicking someone who’s already down. But if by now you’ve not seen this promo film for STB, I wouldn’t wish to spoil it for you either. The one star I’ve given is for the saving grace that is Singapore’s gorgeous backdrop. Cheesy daytime TV dialogue, awful directing, and a surprise pregnancy had all the makings of a bad comedic skit. Pretty ironically the film’s message is to see where the world is heading. Because sadly, at the time of writing, this viral film is busy heading around the world.

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DIRECT MAIL CASE STUDY

PUTTING ON A GOOD SHOW Life Inspired mailed out keys to invite guests to an exclusive party. Here’s what the response was like.

The right key: This direct mailer helped Life Inspired pull a full-capacity crowd.

At Life Inspired, we have always wanted to bring to life the experiences of our shows on air. With the launch of our new series Million Dollar Listing season one, which is being shown in Asia for the first time, we wanted to bring the essence of the show to life. Million Dollar Listing centres on three real estate agents in New York – Fredrik Eklund, Ryan Serhant and Michael Lorber – and follows them as they wheel and deal luxurious properties in the city. Not only are these young men successful, they are also aggressive, wellgroomed and charming. The exclusive invite-only Million Dollar Listing Viewing Party marked the first of its kind for Life Inspired in Singapore as we brought to life the New York experience to our viewers. The design idea behind the direct mailer invitation card was to capture the essence of the show – New York City as the backdrop. The invitation card served as a teaser as to what was to come at the party.

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The invitation card itself was with a minimalist and chic look, inspired by the modern New York skyline. In addition to the card, each guest received a key they would bring to the party to unlock their “Million Dollar Listing”. At the party, there was a “door” that guests could unlock with their key and this added to the whole experience of unlocking a dream home, just like how the agents in the series do with their respective clients. At the party, guests had the New York experience with New York street signs on every table, hors d’oeuvres with landmark names and even a mini-lighted Empire Tower. Tasty cocktails named after the three star agents were served throughout the night. Guests could also view episode one of the series in a special viewing room. Celebrity attendees that night included Andrea Savage, Jaymee Ong, Jason Godfrey and Sonia Davison.

THE MAIL Objective: To tease guests invited to the Million Dollar

Listing Viewing Party Idea: Real estate, the main essence of the show.

Results: The exclusive invite-only party for 50 guests. We had a total of 65 guests that were intrigued by the key that came with the invitation card.

Juliana Foo Marketing director, LI TV Asia

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MARKETING’S AGENCY OF THE YEAR 2014 DATE: 15 May 2014 VENUE: Shangri-la Hotel Singapore 1 Robert Woolfrey, managing director, APAC, Millennial Media, handing out awards for the Mobile Marketing Agency of the Year. 2 The teams from Dentsu Möbius and Millennial Media. 3 Team Blugrapes. 4 Team Govt bagging the Local Hero award for Digital Marketing Agency of the Year.

5 Team Flamingo taking home the bronze award for Market Research Agency of the Year. 6 & 7 Selfies on stage were the latest trend spotted on AOTY night. 8 Edelman winning the gold award for Public Relations. 9 Overall Agency of the Year went to Ogilvy & Mather. 10 ZenithOptimedia wins the Overall Creative Ideas MARKie. 11 Team Nielsen taking home the gold award for Market Research Agency of the Year.

12 Yolk(at)Grey takes home the MARKie for Best Idea – Web Design. 13 Amcasia! wins the Local Hero award for Event Marketing Agency of the Year. 14 The stage set for the big night. 15 Guests mingling. 16 Truck from Dino Media at the event. 17 Trophies for the night.

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Thank you.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something you say to the person who helped you open that door, returned you your change or perhaps changed your life. Whatever role youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve played in our lives, we sincerely thank you.

www.freef low.com.sg vimeo.com/freef lowproductions www.facebook.com/freef lowproductions

Thank you.

www.freef low.com.sg vimeo.com/freef lowproductions www.facebook.com/freef lowproductions

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CREATIVE CATCH-UP

“THE CREATIVE AGENCY’S TRADITIONAL ROLE AS IDEA GENERATORS FOR A BRAND HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY DIMINISHED. AS HAS THEIR TRADITIONAL COMPLEMENTARY ROLE AS IDEA EXECUTORS.” RICHARD BLEASDALE REGIONAL MANAGING PARTNER FOR ASIA PACIFIC AT ROTH OBSERVATORY INTERNATIONAL

f you’ve been drawing inspiration to be a creative director from all the episodes you’ve watched of Don Draper in Mad Men, you may want to think again. The role of a creative director is likely the most challenging one in the industry right now. Perhaps the best way to look at this is to start with some context: looking at the wider role of the traditional creative agency – which is facing the same pressing dilemma. In the past, the roles for creative agencies, media agencies and public relations agencies sat well on their own side of the fence. But these days, media buying and public relations agencies are winning creative awards and hiring creative directors. As for clients, more of them are taking the best creatives in-house. Then there is the rise of technology in driving creativity. With the rise of online platforms allowing consumers to become creators easily, brands are also quick to harness this. Take for example, the move to crowd-sourcing for campaigns. Major

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brands such as Coca-Cola and BMW have taken to this, reporting good success for such campaigns. In one example, Coca-Cola worked with crowd-sourcing agency eYeka to reach out to the latter’s community of creators to ask for ideas for a China campaign. Coca-Cola’s Leonardo O’Grady told eMarketer in an interview this move pulled in “thousands of new ideas from a global community of creative individuals”.

The role of the creative agency Industry watchers believe this signals the diminishing of the traditional creative agency as we know it. Richard Bleasdale, regional managing partner for Asia Paciﬁc at Roth Observatory International, says: “Clearly today, ‘creative’ is not the sole domain of a director, a department or even an agency. Technological and cultural change has driven real creative freedom. Ideas can, and do, come from anywhere. And often the best ones come from a brand’s consumers or its employees – and not from an agency.”

“So the creative agency’s traditional role as idea generators for a brand has been significantly diminished. As has their traditional complementary role as idea executors.” However, the call for creativity in building businesses remains high and the creative agency’s other traditional roles – idea curation and storytelling – are more in demand than ever. In this area is where the opportunity lies. “We see an opportunity for ‘creative agencies’ to apply their creative problem-solving skills at a higher level inside organisations by looking to solve bigger business rather than just marketing challenges,” Bleasdale says. Michael Chadwick, brand strategy director for Asia Pacific at Mondelēz International, echoed the same views, saying the value of creativity is on the rise. “The recognition that it’s a fundamental contributor to brand and business performance is growing; at Mondelēz International we know it is one of the key drivers of ROI,” he says. In terms of finding the right talent, nurturing it and creating the

conditions for creativity to happen, these are not easy to come by – and those that can – will be heavily sought after. However, his next words easily serve as a caveat to creative agencies. “I think the main shift is that most clients are now just more open to the idea that this kind of talent and creativity might be found anywhere – it’s not the sole preserve of an ad agency anymore. “That’s a good thing because you raise the bar on quality and you get a greater diversity of thinking. And for the best agencies – and the best creative talents within those agencies – it’s not a threat because they have a greater than fair share of this kind of talent and creativity.” Adds Darren Woolley, managing director of marketing management consultancy TrinityP3: “For many agencies that continue to deﬁne creativity in terms of advertising alone (be that digital or not) are diminishing. It is because businesses are today faced with great complexity and complex issues and problems and they are looking for creative solutions because traditional approaches are proving much less effective.”

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CREATIVE CATCH-UP

What happens to the role of the creative director? This raises several questions: What becomes of the role of the creative director then? “It’s possibly the hardest one in the industry right now,” Bleasdale says. The role continues to change dramatically, with creative directors constantly pulled by opposing forces. The list of requirements is long: The need to get closer to their clients; be close to the consumers; the ability to create great ideas and curate someone else’s great ideas; the challenge to get closer to their clients’ business issues; the challenge to understand and manage ﬁnancials; and the need to grow and retain great talent. “It’s a real left brain right brain struggle – and we see it getting tougher before it gets easier,” Bleasdale says. Perhaps as a bizarre twist to the role, last year saw the trend of companies such as Intel, BlackBerry and Polaroid making high-proﬁle

appointments of pop stars such as Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga as their “creative directors”. While these are seemingly more of a publicity stunt, trends such as this only throw more ambiguity into the rapidly evolving nature of the creative director’s role. Here’s why the role is so challenging. Traditionally, the role of the creative director has been to ensure the standard of creative advertising is maintained. And the problem is with measuring that. “This is usually measured against the arbitrary peer judgement of creative awards as a measure of their success in this task, even if it requires creating fake campaigns to achieve that,” Woolley says. “In the majority of agencies, the creative director, their reputation, their credentials and their awardingwinning ability are primarily used to draw creative talent to the agency.” On a market basis, only a relative few creative directors have the

reputation that extends beyond the advertising industry into marketing and makes a difference in drawing business to the agency. “The best, of course, rise rapidly to a regional and global role because they have been identiﬁed as having this ability to draw clients to the agency and this is then leveraged on a wider platform,” Woolley says. But just as in the case of creative agencies, while creative directors’ roles become more demanding, the call for good creative leads becomes even more pressing for organisations. Just like creative agencies, the role looks set to take on more of a focus on idea curation and storytelling skills being applied to larger business problems and challenges, rather than just marketing communications problems and challenges, says Bleasdale. “Therefore, the CD retains a crucial role in shaping the quality of thinking, quality of interactions and quality of solutions that brands

and businesses are developing,” Bleasdale says. “As someone a lot smarter than me said over 50 years ago: ‘Creativity remains the most powerful driving force in business’.” Mondelēz’s Chadwick echoes the same opinion: “Creative leaders who know how to guide, shape and build brands are always going to be at the centre of any conversation.” In closing, perhaps this scene from Mad Men best sums up the need for strong creative directors. In season four, legendary creative Don Draper is in a crisis of epic proportions. He is facing a client exodus; partners squabbling, and having to make massive redundancies. In short, he’s in every agency leader’s worst nightmare. When his trusted copywriter asks him what the agency should do, he utters, very philosophically: “We’re gonna sit at our desks typing while the walls fall down around us. Because we’re the least important, most important thing there is.”

“I THINK THE MAIN SHIFT IS THAT MOST CLIENTS ARE NOW JUST MORE OPEN TO THE IDEA THAT THIS KIND OF TALENT AND CREATIVITY MIGHT BE FOUND ANYWHERE – IT’S NOT THE SOLE PRESERVE OF AN AD AGENCY ANYMORE.” MICHAEL CHADWICK BRAND STRATEGY DIRECTOR FOR ASIA PACIFIC AT MONDELĒZ INTERNATIONAL W WWWW.MA W .MARKETING R KET ING - INT - INTER ERAC TIVE A C TIVE . COM . COM

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CREATIVE CATCH-UP

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While advertising has come a long way from crude, homemaker-style stereotypes of women in the 1950s, has it really lost its obsession with feminine stereotyping? Rezwana Manjur reports.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

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If you are a woman reading this article and the image of the Sheryl Sandberg-type power mum doesn’t resonate with you, well, you could always be a domestic goddess; or the vixen embodying every man’s desire. If all else fails, you could always be the insecure everyday woman just trying to find happiness. Whichever you pick, it looks like advertising has a type for you. A decade ago, when Dove launched its incredible “Real Beauty” campaign with the help of advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, the public lauded the diversity of the women depicted. But since banking on that strategy 10 years later, it looks like it could be wearing thin. The criticism surrounding its latest campaign, “Patches”, could be revealing – perhaps it’s been playing the image of the insecure woman for far too long. The ad “Patches” showed an “experiment”, which saw an authority figure in the form of psychologist Ann Kearney, who studies body image issues, bringing in women to talk about their insecurities. She then gives the women a revolutionary beauty drug which works like a nicotine patch and asks them to document the results. Miraculously, the women feel beautiful. The campaign drew criticism: Are women so stereotypically insecure to fall for such a simple prank? There are more local examples. Late last year, the Ministry of Defence, in an attempt to recruit women into the army, sent out direct mailers in the form of a fake mirror and eye-shadow palette. The envelope said: “Discover shades of green that bring out the best in you.” Local women’s rights group AWARE slammed the ad as portraying an inaccurate and offensive stereotype about women and called the army’s use of make-up and mirrors to appeal to women “trivialising”. Jolene Tan, programmes and communications senior manager at AWARE Singapore, says that today some ads “explicitly rely on damaging and insulting stereotypes about women”. “Many ads, even if they are not so openly contemptuous of women, seek to promote insecurities in women and girls. Often these are based on appearance, suggesting that women and girls are – and should feel – inadequate unless the shapes and sizes of their bodies or specific body parts meet certain narrow-minded standards,” Tan says. She added it was common knowledge that most images of women used in advertising were heavily airbrushed or edited to conform to a “rigid view” of what female bodies and faces should look like. WHAT’S WRONG WITH STEREOTYPES? Marketers and advertisers are aware the roles and social stature of women are changing quickly, and they need to keep up. JWT’s global planning director Atika Malik says advertisers are well aware that clichéd images of a woman in a spotless home or waiting on her family or being sensual is in no way reflective of the complexity of modern women’s lives.

Dove's Patches campaign touched on women's body issues.

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CHART A

CHART B

Charts A & B Source: Microsoft & Ogilvy Digital Divas 2013

While marketers are trying to communicate with women in a more authentic way, the real danger lies in simply replacing one stereotype for another – the perfect housewife for the multitasking mother, the pin-up girl for the hair-swishing vixen. This is not necessarily reflecting the changes in their lives in a nuanced way. “Insights need to be rooted in the real world – and that world is changing fast every day. There are stereotypes of women that haven’t changed in years and their repeated usage proves that we as an industry don’t really understand our audience. Stereotypes are pretty dangerous for an industry that is built on human understanding,” she says. “Women aren’t just one homogenous group and most campaigns are probably still painting women in general with brushstrokes that are much too broad.” Farrokh Madon, chief creative officer of Young &Rubicam, is also of a similar stand. He says it is human nature to put everything into boxes. This is what often leads to stereotypes. “However, while the world evolves, sometimes perceptions don’t keep pace. Some of the advertising directed at women is cringe worthy. It’s almost as if someone had wrapped women up in cotton wool and said: ‘Thou shall not evolve.’ This must stop,” Madon says. In fact, clients today should no longer ask to be seen as talking exclusively to women, says Madon. Marketers should not have a specific communication targeted at women because this shows they are being seen in a different light. While a brand can have touch-point differences – based on an area women are more likely to frequent, it is no longer a necessity that a different set of communications be created just to target women.

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For example, according to Generation Asia, a study by Y&R in partnership with VML Qais covering 34,000 people across 10 countries, 47% of them prefer powerful vehicles, similar to men. “So when marketers try to suddenly talk to women speciﬁcally, the communication may sound patronising,” Madon says. Sirpa Ikola, a senior marketer at HTC, in an earlier conversation with Marketing, said HTC as a brand would also be making a move into acquiring more of the female demographic. So when asked what were some of the mistakes and pitfalls she would be looking out for, she explained one of the mistakes brands usually made was over-simplifying messages to attract female buyers. “A marketer should never make a woman feel like she will not understand or ‘get it’ if they don’t simplify the beneﬁt or the product messages,” Ikola says. Like Madon, she is also of the view that a marketer’s aim cannot just be to get a woman to buy the product, but rather provide an amazing personal experience. The experience should touch the woman in her multiple roles as a daughter, sister, mother, businesswoman and professional. “Personally, I feel it is a shame that many brands ignore the fact that women love the ‘entire shopping experience’ not just the buying,” Ikola says. DOES STEREOTYPING ACTUALLY WORK THEN? Despite all the arguments – the answer is still yes. One such industry where it has worked is in the perfume advertising and make-up industry. Through the images portrayed in the communication of these campaigns, women are not just sold the product, but rather a sense of “hope” of the image portrayed, said Ikola. Madon also agrees that when executed right and with taste, stereotyping can be made to work for a brand. Humour is one such way. “If you play on a cliché, give it your own twist to break out of a stereotype,” Madon says. For example, when a marketer uses a stereotype normally implied on women and imposes it on men, you not only add some humour – you also break the tension. Nonetheless, you have to be careful of not further perpetuating the stereotype. RELATING TO THE AUDIENCE The lines of stereotyping can blur with what is known as generalisation. With the cost of expenditure rising, marketers are often under pressure of stretching out their dollars in the short time they have to reach consumers. Take, for example, a 30-second TVC – in less than a minute, the

Online is the best way to reach Singaporean women

Source: Carat CCS Benchmark study 2012

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Ministry of Defence's direct mail campaign to women

marketer is tasked to engage the target customer, tell a compelling story and have a call to action. In crunch time a little generalisation is helpful for the brand to quickly identify with its target demographic. But it is when done badly that generalisation crosses over to the dark side of stereotyping. One well-played generalisation says Madon was P&G’s “Thank You Mums” campaign which saw immense success when it launched in London in 2012. “We all owe a huge debt to our mums. So if the ‘stereotype’ is true, by all means use it. Glorify mums. They are most certainly worth it.” P&G was a sponsor of the London Olympics, but combining sport with a raft of products aimed at housewives seemed odd as there was no obvious connection – except that behind every athlete is a mother who wants the best for their children. The marketers at P&G fast realised it was the mums who helped future stars reach their potential and they wanted to show appreciation for all of these mums. Hence, for the Olympics, P&G’s communication focused on it being the “Proud Sponsor of Mums”. All of P&G’s products were communicated in a way to make any mother’s life easier. According to numbers provided by P&G’s media agency, MediaCom, the campaign generated more than 20,000 “Thank you, Mum” stories and increased the campaign awareness eight-fold. P&G’s TV ROI was up 60% on single brand activity and sales of participating brands rose by 5%. In Poland and Central Europe, P&G reached 42% brand awareness, overtaking L’Oréal, Henkel and Unilever, and its e-commerce sales reached its highest ever mark of a positive 320%. SO WHAT DO WOMEN WANT? A question not only men, but marketers are scratching their heads over: What works with women? Honestly, should a brand stereotype women in ads? Perhaps. And there is no hard and fast rule on what works, which is why it looks like stereotyping will still be around. But one safe point is to associate with good. Twenty-ﬁrst century women strongly believe they can make a difference in this world, and in general, they evaluate brands strongly through what they believe the brands stand for, said a study by Carat.

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MARKETING TO WOMEN USING HIGH HEELED WARRIORS INSIGHTS WHAT WOMEN WATCH NBCUniversal knows that women are conquering the world … one stiletto step at a time. Thus, the global entertainment powerhouse commissioned High Heeled Warriors – an in-depth psychographic study by research partner Ipsos – that explores the different lifestyle habits, motivations and aspirations of the modern urban woman. Based on insights and analyses gathered from a sample of 3,000 females aged 20 to 44 in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong, the study showed how advertisers and Pay-TV operators can better understand, connect and engage this highly coveted demographic. One of the key highlights is that women in Asia can be classified into five unique and colourful identities that define them as consumers: career-oriented trailblazers; family focused heart-warmers; spontaneous passionistas; stability loving peacekeepers or people-savvy social-siders.

But whichever category one might relate most to, all five segments share a common desire in their TV viewing diets: a craving for content that is first, fresh and fabulous. Programming on NBCUniversal’s bouquet of regional channels reaffirms this. Popular general entertainment channel DIVA Universal showcases some of the hottest and most-talked about programmes around the globe, such as fashion-forward reality franchise The Face, the intense cooking competition My Kitchen Rules and the fast-tracked legal drama Suits. Meanwhile, E! – the pulse of pop culture, and a social-sider’s haven – has extended its “Express From Hollywood” campaign to its sensational flagship reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians, which will now premiere 48 hours after the US. The High Heeled Warriors campaign established NBCUniversal’s position as the network of choice for advertisers targeting female consumers. We know women – they watch us.

TRAILBLAZERS Motto: “I want to stand out from the crowd”

HEART-WARMERS Motto: “Money can’t buy the happiness that family brings”

Proﬁle: • Ambitious, competitive, progressive, unique. • Motivated by power and recognition. • Career-oriented; Big spender. • Pushes her limits; constantly challenges herself. • Consumes media and entertainment on multiple platforms.

Proﬁle: • Caring, loyal, supportive. • Motivated by family and a sense of belonging. • Work-life balance important, but family is still priority.

Highlights: • US$364: Average amount spent on beauty products. Highest spender on personal care. • US$2,000: Average amount spent on luxury products. Favourite brands include Chanel and Mulberry. • No.1 biggest risk-taker in ﬁnancial planning. Most likely to own stocks and shares.

Highlights: • 83% do grocery shopping weekly, more than any other segment. • 77% with at least one car in her household, with preference for family centric brands such as Toyota and Honda. • 64% rely on Pay-TV for information on what to spend on.

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PASSIONISTAS Motto: “I want to live in the moment and have no regrets”

PEACEKEEPERS Motto: “I want a simple life: calm, stable and predictable”

Proﬁle: • Adventurous, spontaneous, assertive. • Motivated by career and opportunities to see the world and living it up. • Wants to be independent. • Lives for the moment.

Proﬁle: • Traditional and harmonious. • Desires stability and simplicity. • Looks for quality. • Fiercely loyal to favourite brands and TV shows.

Highlights: • US$1,800: Average annual spend on luxury goods. More likely to consider brands such as Prada and Céline. • US$620: Average last spend on consumer electronics. • 25%: Percentage of passionistas who own stocks and shares. She has a relatively greater appetite for risk and variety in her ﬁnancial portfolio.

Highlights: • US$1,700: Average spend on luxury items, with preference for brands with heritage and history such as Gucci, LV and Chanel. • 86%: Percentage of peacekeepers with a savings account. This segment is the least satisfied with financial services available. • 82%: Percentage that turn to Pay-TV as the top means of watching TV shows. SOCIAL-SIDERS Motto: “Life is great! I love my friends and I enjoy making new ones” Profile: • Social, optimistic, content. • Wide social circle. • TV viewing is considered to be a social activity. • Enjoys pop culture-centric series such as E! News and Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Highlights: • 93%: Percentage with a savings account. • 40%: Percentage who watch TV in their friends’ homes. • 454: Average number of Facebook friends – the highest among segments.

About NBCUniversal Universal Networks International is one of the world’s premier entertainment portfolios, delivering quality content and compelling brands to over 176 territories around the world. The brands in the portfolio include Universal Channel, Syfy, 13th Street Universal, Studio Universal, E! Entertainment Television, The Style Network, DIVA Universal, Telemundo and Golf Channel. Universal Networks International is a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast Corporation.

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CASE STUDY

THEY ARE HIGH HEELED WARRIORS From August to October 2013, as homage to the inspiring and influential High Heeled Warriors of Asia, DIVA Universal and Hugo Boss, along with official digital partner, MSN, presented the High Heeled Warrior Awards. The High Heeled Warrior Awards aimed to recognise and celebrate women living in Asia, from any age bracket, who contributed and created a positive impact in their community in one way or another. The awards highlighted the importance in the roles which women play in society – from business, arts, entertainment, community service and education. “The roles that women play today have great impact on the lives of people around them and in society,” said Christine Fellowes, managing director for Asia Pacific at Universal Networks International. “We believe women in Asia are High Heeled Warriors as they face growing expectations with increasing intelligence, independence and power. As the entertainment network that brings global brands women love and look up to, High Heeled Warriors Awards is our avenue of honouring women around us and their laudable achievements in life.” The 2013 winners included Tjin Lee for the Entrepreneurship category and Lisa Surihani in Arts and Entertainment. For the Community and Service category, Mary Soan, and Jasmine Ong Kim Li in the Unsung Heroes category. All these women inspire others and their influence is real and evident in the impact they play in society, propelling a nation and its people towards the future, be it in business, arts and entertainment or community service. Through lending its support to the awards, luxury fashion and fragrance brand Hugo Boss and Boss Jour associates with women who approach life expectations with increasing power and capability.

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RADIO BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR 2014

WITH A BIG PRESENCE IN SINGAPORE, RADIO IS STILL GOING STRONG GIVEN ITS RESILIENCE AND APTITUDE FOR INNOVATION. IN THIS YEAR’S RANKINGS, MARKETERS IN SINGAPORE TELL US THE RADIO STATIONS THAT BEST HELP THEM REACH THEIR TARGET AUDIENCE.

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RADIO BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR 2014

METHODOLOGY How did we achieve this? The Radio Rankings were derived from questions in Marketing Research’s annual Media Spend Benchmarking Survey. Marketing Research employed an online questionnaire and surveyed its database of client advertisers and marketing services agency professionals. All answers given by respondents were considered by Marketing when finalising the rankings. Quality recipients and respondents More than 700 respondents participated in the Media Spend Benchmarking Survey. Genuine advertising decision-makers and influencers across key agency-using industries were well represented as were agency professionals from various marketing services categories. Nearly 87% of client advertiser-side respondents were managerlevel decision-makers and above, with 10% from the most senior ranks of client advertisers – CEOs, MDs or GMs – and another 18% were VPs or director-level marketers. The majority of the respondents from the agency side were CEOs, MDs or GMs (32%), 16% were marketing personnel, while 23% were sales personnel. The remaining 29% were operations, creative and media personnel. Advertisers from major and local international banks, FMCG companies, property and construction, IT and telecommunication firms, as well as those from travel and tourism companies participated in the survey. Agency professionals across the marketing services spectrum were also well represented.

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RADIO BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR 2014

1) CLASS 95FM

Once again MediaCorp’s Class 95FM came in first for Radio Broadcaster of the Year. Despite major changes being made in the station’s programming – marketers still preferred the station as their top choice for targeting consumers. This year there have been several bold programming manoeuvres since the creative team of Georgina Chang, vice-president of

English Programming and Maggie Lim, assistant programme director, assumed stewardship of the 24-year-old station. On 27 August 2013, the revamp of the Morning Express saw Glenn Ong and Joe Augustin pair up for the morning show. This new combination piqued strong reactions from listeners. The menu board on this station also includes

“Your Best 5” with Jeremy Ratnam, while Class 95FM’s Nights with Bobby (Tonelli) is another new addition to the station. Recently with the introduction of Class95TV, the station now takes on a visual connection for its listeners. The station also connects with listeners through new outreach activities such as the “Private Party” series. The deejays interact with listeners at the most talked about venues such as ME@OUE, SuperTree (by Indochine), the Asian Civilisations Museum and onboard a yacht, bound for a private island. With an emphasis on cultivating on-ground activation and an on-site presence, Class 95FM also secured first-time advertisers such as Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. During this campaign, listeners were sent to the Middle Eastern paradise for a week of exploration. Music offerings on Class 95FM have also been renewed with a key focus on the 1990s and current chart favourites to reflect the taste of the target group of PMEBs aged 25 to 40. Class 95FM continues to lead radio listening for the masses with a powerful playlist of hot hits, and fresh innovative ways of engaging the community with rich experiences.

among marketers and a well-liked choice among listeners above the age of 30. This is largely because the station is big on lifestyle and news.

The station also gets listeners talking through its many call-in programmes. Main advertisers of the station include government agencies, private education providers, health supplement distributors and manufacturers, healthcare providers and property agencies. Last year the station launched four new weekend talk shows: You and the Law, Road Trip, Pet Project, and The Good Life, with each catering to a different set of audience interests and sponsorship opportunities. It also enhanced its health-related content offering last year.

Coming third in this year’s Radio Broadcaster of the Year was Gold 90.5FM. To boost its positioning, The Flying Dutchman joined Vernetta Lopez on the morning drive-time show on 20 August 2013. Both were previously from Class 95FM. Some major campaigns for the radio station included The Gold Ball “A Viennese Affair” held on 26 January 2013 – a first for Singapore to host the internationally acclaimed Schoenbrunn Palace Orchestra. The event was attended by 500 guests and it was an evening where dance and music came together in a grand style.

It also held an outdoor movie screening where listeners drove in to catch Hollywood blockbusters Pacific Rim and Jack the Giant Slayer on 14 and 15 December 2013 at the F1 Village. This was sponsored by Nissan and HBO with more than 250 cars enjoying this old-school experience. The station added Porsche, The Westin Singapore, Riverbank (UOL Group), Sky Habitat, Alex Residences, The Face Shop, Trichokare, City Gas, Eu Yan Sang, Kleenex, AXA Insurance, Parkway East Hospital and others as advertisers. It targets PMEBs aged 35 years and above.

2) 938LIVE

Coming in at second position once again this year was 938LIVE. It is Singapore’s only English news-talk station. Over the years, the station has proven to be a popular choice 3) GOLD 90.5FM

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RADIO BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR 2014

4) KISS92FM

Clinching fourth position this year is Kiss92FM. The radio station continues to target women aged 35 to 44 who have families. The station intends on being associated as a fun, inspirational, female and family oriented station. For all of its contests, its keeps these core values in mind and the station prides itself on offering informative content for the modern, driven and savvy woman. Much of its content revolves around travel, health, beauty, wellness and parenting topics. According to the station, its advertisers have shown enthusiastic interest. Having a womancentric focus is in line with several of its clients’ objectives of reaching out to a target audience which is independent, driven and always on the look out for experiences or premium products.

Events organised by the station in collaboration with clients also allow opportunities for fans to spend time with family or for the females to pamper themselves. For example, for the Opel GTC Giveaway, in a bid to drive awareness about the launch of the Opel GTC, the car brand worked with the station to give away a car. Fans had to listen out for a cue on air, log onto the Kiss92 mobile app and tap on the Opel car image, and answer a simple question for their chance to enter the draw to win the Opel GTC. More than 17,000 entries were received in two weeks. Programming director Jamie Meldrum said going forward the station hoped to engage not only fans, but clients with more innovative and creative campaign collaborations.

5) 987FM

Dropping one position to fifth this year is 987FM. This year the station has chosen to reinvent its Morning Drive show from January 2014. Sonia Chew and Joakim Gomez were enlisted to form Singapore’s youngest morning pair on a new show, The Wake Up Call. The radio station also became one of the first stations with a dedicated digital executive in Nic Shields. Shields has been tasked specifically to engage listeners on the social media front, making 987FM one of the most engaged radio stations in Singapore. Currently the station boasts a reach of more than 180,000 fans on Facebook and almost 50,000 followers on Twitter. The station also prides itself on breaking new barriers in the radio landscape. The station’s visual arm, 987TV, has redefined the

radio landscape by launching an online TV star talent search in 2013 with several spoof videos featuring the DJs. This has led to 987TV garnering more than 21,000 subscribers with an excess of 5.1 million views. In April 2014, 987FM created Singapore’s first ever National Lip Syncing Championships. The event saw many of Singapore’s best lip sync performers and the winner bagged a trip to Las Vegas to watch the Queen of Lip Syncing, Britney Spears herself. Over the year, the hip young channel bagged many new advertisers. Some of these included HTC, Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch InBev), AirAsia, Sjora (Nestlé) and Airbnb. The channel is known to target listeners who are aged between 15 to 29.

6) Y.E.S. 93.3FM

MediaCorp’s Y.E.S. 93.3FM bags sixth spot in this year’s rankings. Apart from strengthening ties with traditional banking, petroleum, electronics and retail clients, one of the station’s DJs, Peifen, also became the spokesperson for a new product line, Atorrege AD+ (Betime

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Marketing). It has also upped the ante in youth engagement, being co-organisers of Campus SuperStar and Project SuperStar, and staging its own DJ hunt named The Voice of Y.E.S. 93.3FM. MediaCorp artistes Romeo Tan and Zhang Zhenhuan, both named the top 10 Male

Artistes at the recent Star Awards, are currently co-hosting the night belt with Chen Ning. 2014 is the year the station is dedicated to promoting new local acts by increasing airplay, special interview capsules and event exposures. The station also sees 2014 as another adventurous year as it organises its inaugural Cycle to Supper event in June, aside from staging three birthday events in seven days to mark the station’s anniversary in January. In the third quarter of the year, it will be launching 933TV, an online television channel providing catch-up interviews and exclusive online content featuring celebrities and DJs. Canon is said to be the station’s first client onboard, with 933TV providing creative event coverage to effectively reach a wider audience.

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RADIO BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR 2014

7) POWER 98FM

SAFRA Radio-owned Power 98FM retains its seventh spot in this year’s rankings. The station’s advertising includes Singapore Kindness Movement, NTUC, The Grandstand, Costa Cruises, Sentosa, Ford, Garnier and various Unilever brands. The English cosmopolitan radio station plays a wide range of music spanning from the 1990s favourites to today’s hits. Targeting fun-loving 20 to 35-year-old working adults, the station serves a variety of everyday content, including travel, food, movies and more. The station launched a new weekday evening drive-time show called The Ex Factor in June last year, which the station calls the first radio show of its kind in Singapore. The show, led by exes DJ Mister Young and DJ Jacqui, will showcase how the dynamic duo take it out on each other in their own quirky ways, bringing a surprise to listeners at every turn. In #ExesSpoof, they give familiar tunes a creative, hilarious twist creating original spoof songs. New personas named Bee Geok and Geok Bee were also introduced to listeners. As the alter egos of the host, they entertain listeners with the joys and woes of a typical Singaporean couple. Treating its listeners to a fun and vibrant ride with DJ JK and DJ Mike, The Night Drive show was launched in August 2013. The partnership between the energetic JK and the sophisticated Mike is seen to be the epitome of zany meets classy. With the introduction of WhatsApp and its mobile app, Power 98FM is looking to continue to amplify its on-air content in the digital space by leveraging on popular social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

8) LUSH 99.5FM

MediaCorp’s Lush came in eighth place again in this year’s rankings. A secondary target of creative youths aged 15-20 was defined, aside from maintaining its core audience of PMEBs aged 25-45. Some of its recent advertisers include Seasonal Tastes’ Brunch Beats (The Westin Singapore) featuring the first live outdoor broadcast of a DJ set in Singapore; Kluje.com, AirAsia, and partnerships with Lo & Behold for Tanjong Beach Club’s Full Steam Ahead parties and Loof’s vinyl-only sets at Wax On Wax Off.

9) HOT FM91.3

In January 2014, the station underwent a rebrand, including a change in tag line to “Your Indie Music Station”, updated music programming to a mix of indie and electronica, and the addition of several new presenters and curators, including Rozz on the Evening Lush; the Lush Life with Tracy Phillips; and The Art of Lush with Loretta Chen. Campaigns were also geared towards discerning yet open-minded indie music lovers, including Lush as the official radio station for St Jerome’s Laneway Music Festival 2014; The Great Coachella Giveaway and the ongoing #lushloveslocal Twitter campaign, where original music from Singapore is highlighted on air and online in a searchable hashtag database. The campaign also aims to support the scene through a series of music and art events, which kick-started with Singapore Songbird and Weish at Common Man Coffee Roasters in April. Lush 99.5FM also supports Singapore talent through musician-curated programmes such as the Lush List, and showcasing the best local DJs in multiple genres on the Lush Mix.

SPH UnionWorks’ HOT FM91.3 comes in at number nine in this year’s rankings. With the target audience of those between 18 and 30, the station has introduced the latest radio innovation, HOTFM Control, which allows listeners to take control of their music and decide what they want to hear in real-time. They are able to do so by accessing the station’s website or downloading the HOTFM Control mobile app. In late March, HOT FM91.3 worked with WWF for “Earth Hour 2014” involving the cast of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at The Float@ Marina Bay. With the partnership, it also brought a surprise to a local secondary school with the appearance of Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx during its school assembly. Partnering with Budweiser, HOT FM91.3 conducted the Budweiser Penalty Shoot-Out in which 12 lucky radio fans fought for one exclusive VIP spot to watch the semi-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup live in Brazil. The penalty shoot-out was done at Clarke Quay and it involved the station’s DJ, Shan Wee, as the goalkeeper. HOT FM91.3 recently wrapped up an eight-week reality radio promotion in search of Singapore’s Hottest BFF. Three sets of “best friends” or BFFs had to go through weekly challenges such as dodgeball, paintball and eating a cow’s brain and tongue to win a Contiki 12-day European Discovery trip, hitting eight countries, including the cities of Paris, Amsterdam and Rome worth more than $10,000. Its new advertisers include Contiki, Police Eyewear, National Youth Council and Budweiser.

Expat Radio 96.3XFM grabs a position in the top 10 this year. Formerly known as the International Channel in 1998 and relaunched on 18 August 2008 as Expat Radio 96.3XFM, the station hopes to reinforce its role in providing content variety for the expatriate communities in Singapore. It is known to be Singapore’s only radio station with Japanese, French, German, Hindi and Korean languages presented. It targets mainly the expatriate community based in Singapore and those who want a “cosmopolitan view of the world”.

The Japanese programmes are presented by the DJs of FM 96.3 Smile Wave; the French programmes are relayed “live” off the satellite feeds of Radio France Internationale; the German programmes are from Deutsche Welle; and the Hindi programmes are presented by the RJs of Masti 96.3 FM. Some of its newest advertisers include Singapore Airlines and DBS Bank. The station also saw a new team on board as it brought on Lynette Tan as producer or presenter and Lyn Saadon as music director late last year.

10) EXPAT RADIO 96.3XFM

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EVENTS

TRADITIONAL MEDIA STILL WORKS – IF YOU DO IT RIGHT Around 91% of consumers will not discard direct mail out of hand, and keep it for reference. But here’s how it can work better. What shone through at the recent Marketing magazine and DMrocket’s networking event was that traditional media still very much has a place in marketing campaigns. According to Lisa Watson, commercial business development manager at HP Asia Pacific and chairman of the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore, for the past five years 58 MARKETING J UNE 201 4

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marketing has skewed very heavily towards digital investments; and only now have marketers begun to realise that because consumers haven’t entirely abandoned traditional media, they can’t either. But this doesn’t mean that traditional media still works as it did five years ago: marketers have to update their offerings to keep them in sync with the digital age. To this end, Marketing and

DMrocket hosted a networking event at Cook & Brew. The event, hosted by Marketing’s Singapore editor Rayana Pandey and sponsored by DMrocket, saw attendance from brands such as Chanel, Citibank and NTUC, among others. The guests heard Watson share successful direct mail campaigns that have involved the use WWW. M ARKE TI N G- I N TE RAC TI VE . C OM

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EVENTS

of technology and found out more about how DMrocket is updating its offerings to marketers. Attendees also stood the chance to win a Samsung Galaxy S5, an iPad Air or a Google Glass worth $1,500. Watson presented two case studies on how direct mail was successfully combined with technology. The first focused on Keds Kids, a children’s fashion line. A campaign that the company ran in Israel saw promotional postcards being mailed out to parents offering the opportunity for their children to appear on a personalised cover of the Keds catalogue. Parents were to submit pictures on the Keds Facebook page, and the personalised catalogues could be collected in-store. Mothers who participated in the campaign spent an W W W .MA R KET ING - INT ERAC TIVE . COM

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average of $50 more in-store, making the campaign a financial success. Watson’s second case study focused on GLS, an American printing company with a heavy focus on direct mail. To make its direct mailers more interesting, it mailed humorous comic strips depicting its sales reps (Digital Dude for the male reps and Digital Diva for the females) coming to the rescue of frustrated clients. Each comic was personalised to the client and the sales representative. Through augmented reality, the mailer linked to a timelapse video of GLS’ new printing press being assembled – an important selling point for its client base. This campaign was also purported to increase sales for GLS, as the company has continued with it. Lim Kian Peng, chief sales officer and executive vice-president at SingPost, closed the presentation by detailing SingPost’s new offerings to marketers.

According to Lim, “studies have shown that direct mail has always been an effective channel for driving customers to a business”. The latest survey by TNS Singapore in September 2013 showed 91% (of consumers) will not discard direct mail out of hand, and will keep it for reference (and that) 83% enjoy receiving and reading relevant promotional direct mail. Thus, to keep direct mail relevant and to update its offerings, SingPost is introducing four new offerings to marketers – ScanDelight, Sample Store, Marketing Lab and the DMrocket augmented reality application. For those who are interested in investigating these further, more information can be found at the DMrocket website at www.dmrocket.com. J UN E 2 01 4 M ARKE TI N G 5 9

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how to keep them loyal

John - Australia v 55 years old v a premium customer of AUS Financial, which manages 70% of his investment

find full answers in Epsilon’s 2013 Consumer Loyalty Study

Shireen - India v 23 years old v shops 2-3 times a month v often listens to friends’ recommendations

Epsilon’s 2013 Consumer Loyalty Study An analysis of customer engagement that enriches loyalty

Wei - China

Misako - Japan

v 34 years old v a member of MaxMiles for 7 years v enjoys being treated like a valued customer

v 41 years old v a housewife with 2 children v always opens emails from her preferred grocery store for relevant offers

s-Country Epsilon Cros lty Study Loya Consumer CHINA

Epsilon Cro Consum ss-Country er Loya lty Stud CHINA y October 2012

13 Epsilon’s Epsilon 2013 ’s 2013 13silon’sS20 Ep y dy n’s 20 yns y tuConsumer CLoyalty Loyalty Stud onsumStudy er Loya Epsilo mer Co Lo altumer lty Stud u China Australia s n o y C India Japan

y 2013

Januar

January 2013

January

Read more about other consumer attitudes and views about loyalty in a series of reports from Epsilon.

Alliance Data FHC, Inc., trading as Epsilon International

EpsilonIntl_A4_Loyalty_Print_29-01-2013.indd 1

October

2013

DOWNLOAD THE REPORTS AT www.epsilon.com/loyalty2013

Connect with us Follow us @EpsilonAPAC Join our group Epsilon Asia Pacific 关注Epsilon艾司隆

1/29/13 11:56 PM

SENIOR APPOINTMENTS

ABOUT AMBITION

Ambition is a leading global boutique recruitment business with coverage across Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and United Kingdom. Founded and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1999, the company has grown to become a prominent specialist player within marketing recruitment. For more information, please visit www.ambition.com.sg.

REGIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LEAD F 12 0-5',% 31',#11 F 6!#**#,2 *-,% 2#0+ ! 0##0 -..-023,'27 F -+.#2'2'4# 0#+3,#0 2'-, . !) %# 30 !*'#,2B + 0)#2',% 2#!&,-*-%7 4#,"-0 '1 #6. ,"',% '21 0# !& ," '1 *--)',% $-0 , #6.#0'#,!#" 31',#11 "#4#*-.#0 5'2&', 2&# "'%'2 * "4#02'1',% ',"31207@ #.-02',% 2- 2&# -$ 31',#11 #4#*-.+#,2A 7-3 5'** + , %# ,#5 ," #6'12',% 120 2#%'! 0#* 2'-,1&'.1 ', 2&# 0#%'-,A ',!*3"',% 4#22',% ,#5 . 02,#0 -..-023,'2'#1A ,#%-2' 2',% 2#0+1 ," !-,20 !21A ," + ',2 ',',% 1#,'-0 *#4#* . 02,#0 #,% %#+#,21@ -3 5'** "#4#*-. 31',#11 .* ,1 ," !--0"', 2# 5'2& ',2#0, * ," #62#0, * 12 )#&-*"#01A !-,"3!2 "3# "'*'%#,!# -, ,#5 "'%'2 * + 0)#2',% . 02,#01 ," 2#!&,-*-%'#1 1 5#** 1 #4 *3 2# !-+. ,7`1 *-,% 2#0+ 120 2#%'! .* ,1 $-0 2&# 0#%'-,@ - /3 *'$7A ',"'4'"3 *1 +312 .-11#11B F 0#!-%,'1#" "#%0## ', 31',#11A -++3,'! 2'-,1 -0 #/3'4 *#,2 F 1-*'" 5-0)',% ),-5*#"%# -$ 2&# "'%'2 * "4#02'1',% #!-1712#+ ," #6'12',% ,#25-0) ', " 2#!&,-*-%7 F #6!#**#,2 !-++3,'! 2'-, ," 50'22#, 1)'**1 F #6.#0'#,!# 5'2& i, ,!' * +-"#**',% ," 0#4#,3# $-0#! 12',% Contact Richel Hidalgo on (65) 6854 5606 or email richel.hidalgo@ambition.com.sg quoting reference number RTH25626.

REGIONAL SALES MANAGER F Regional SE Asia Opportunity F 0-5',% !-+. ,7 5'2& 120-,% ! 0##0 .0-1.#!21 F utkAkkk ," ulmkAkkk ~ -,31 30 !*'#,2 '1 *# "',% *- * ',# -+. ,7 5'2& 1-+# -$ 2&# 5-0*"Â?1 #12Q),-5, 0 ,"1 1-*" ', -4#0 sk !-3,20'#1@ '2& $302&#0 %0-52& ', 2&# 1' 0#%'-, 2&#7 0# !300#,2*7 0#!03'2',% $-0 &'%& .-2#,2' * #%'-, * *#1 , %#0 2- *# " 2&# 1 *#1 #$$-02 !0-11 o )#7 1' + 0)#21@ #.-02',% ',2- 2&# #,#0 * , %#0A 7-3 5'** 2 )# 0#1.-,1' '*'27 $-0 + 6'+'1',% 1 *#1 %0-52& 5'2&', 2&# 0#%'-, 7 !&'#4',% "'120' 32'-,A 4-*3+#A ,#2 1 *#1A ," %0-11 .0-i2 2 0%#21 !0-11 ** 0#2 '* ," 5&-*#1 *# !& ,,#*1@ -!31',% -, 2&# o )#7 + 0)#21 -321'"# -$ ',% .-0# 7-3 5'** *# " 2&# "#4#*-.+#,2 -$ 2&# 1 *#1 120 2#%7A -5, Â?', !-3,207Â? #6#!32'-, ," 2 )# !!-3,2 '*'27 $-0 + ',2 ',',% 0#* 2'-,1&'.1 ," .#0$-0+',% ,#%-2' 2'-,1 5'2& "'120' 32-01 ," !312-+#01 2- !&'#4# 0-32# 2- + 0)#2 ," 0 ," - (#!2'4#1@ -30 0#1.-,1' '*'2'#1 5'** *1- #62#," 2- 5-0)',% 5'2& !312-+#0 1#04'!# 2# + 2- #,130# 1+--2& 13..*7A ',4-'!',% ," . 7+#,2@ - /3 *'$7A ',"'4'"3 *1 +312 .-11#11B F )#7 !!-3,21 #6.#0'#,!#C 1#**',% ',2- 13.#0+ 0)#21G&7.#0+ 0)#21 F 2 *# 12 p 7# 01 -$ 1 *#1 #6.#0'#,!# F #6.#0'#,!# $0-+ * 0%# +3*2', 2'-, * F #6.#0'#,!# ," . 11'-, $-0 5',# G *'/3-0 F &3,%#0 ," "0'4# 2- + )#1 1 *#1 ," #6!##" 2 0%#21 F 0#%'-, * #6.#0'#,!# '1 , "4 ,2 %# 32 ,-2 ,#!#11 07 Contact Matthew Gardner on (65) 6854 5633 or email matthew.gardner@ambition.com.sg quoting reference number MXG23242.

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SENIOR APPOINTMENTS

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SENIOR APPOINTMENTS

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CAREERS

CAREER PATH Freddie Covington International marketing director Twitter

First job? My first job was working as a strategic analyst in New York for a consulting firm that was part of Havas Worldwide. First job in advertising/ marketing? After two years in

consulting, I became a strategic planner at Young & Rubicam in New York working on the AT&T business. I called my mum saying I had landed a job at Madison Avenue and she cried; she thought “Madison Ave” was a department store! Best job? Being a mum to my

two kids. They have taught me everything about managing expectations, speaking clearly and simply, being honest and leading with values and compassion. Perks of your current job?

Working for a brand everybody loves gets you a lot of unexpected perks – I once had my crushed Panama hat repaired for free in Hollywood, I was upgraded on a flight because the clerk saw I had a Twitter logo on my laptop, and I usually get a big smile whenever people see my business card! Worst job? Bad jobs are those

where people want to see you fail. Marketing professionals you admire? I still admire my very

first boss Dr Larry Chiagouris! He used to have me grade his PhD student papers so I could check out the programme without paying! I admire my current boss Shailesh Rao at Twitter, who is very wise. Best career advice you’ve been given? Lead with your

heart. Why a career in marketing?

I love people. For me, marketing is all about culture, trends and making people dream. If you weren’t in marketing, what would you be? An opera

singer, but my daughter says I sound like a “congested hippo” every time I try my rendition of “Happy” … ouch!

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JOB SHUFFLE There have been several senior management departures at MediaCorp. Philip Koh, managing director of the convergent media division, along with head of strategic marketing, Patrick Yong, were known to be serving their notice. MediaCorp responded to the story, confirming the exits of both. More senior exits took place this year as well, such as the head of digital enterprise Nick Fawbert after a five-month stint. TBWA’s Digital Arts Network (DAN) hired Eero Aalto as business director, while Rukshan Perera was hired as director of operations. Aalto joined DAN from a Finland independent digital agency, Into-Digital, where he was CEO for five years. Aalto was both partner and board member of Into-Digital’s parent company, Into ja Ida. Before joining DAN, Perera was head of strategy and planning at WPP’s digital agency Possible. RajDeepak Das was appointed chief creative officer for Leo Burnett Group India. In his new role as CCO for the operations covering Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, Das will be based in Mumbai and will work closely with Saurabh Varma, CEO of Leo Burnett Group India. Das brings global experience and a creativity focus to help satisfy client needs and promote new creative products. Havas Media Group appointed Anwesh Bose to the newly created role of managing director

of Arena Indonesia. In this role, he will report to Riadi Sugihtani, CEO of Havas Media Group, Indonesia. Bose joins the agency from DDB India, where he was the senior vice-president and business head with a responsibility for media and digital business. Omnicom Media Group Thailand appointed Suphanee Dechaburananon as senior consultant. In the role, her focus will be on strengthening the trading and investment function of the network, across clients from OMD, PHD and M2M. She joins Omnicom Media Group from GroupM Thailand, where she was chairwoman. She has been part of the local media and marketing industry for more than 30 years. Mead Johnson appointed Angeli Beltran director of digital marketing and CRM. She exited her position as managing director of JobsDB. com in April. She was in her last role for more than a year, first joining JobsDB.com in November 2012. In her current role, she reports directly to vice-president of marketing for Asia, Jerson Uy. Before that she co-founded Dentsu Möbius with current lead James Hawkins. Turner International Asia Pacific appointed Marianne Lee vice-president of content and general entertainment. Lee will define and execute content and channel strategy for Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific’s general entertainment brands. Reporting to Ricky Ow, president of Turner International Asia Pacific, she

will focus on TCM Turner Classic Movies, truTV and WarnerTV. Social relationship platform HootSuite appointed Ajai Sehgal chief technology officer. He brings expertise in building high-growth, high-volume development organisations to his role at HootSuite, heading the company’s team of software engineers and driving product strategy. He boasts more than 18 years of product and technology experience, having most recently worked as vice-president of product and technology at Groupon. FutureBrand appointed Susie Hunt to chair its Asia Pacific operations, with responsibility for its offices in Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney. Hunt has spent the majority of her career in Asia and is based in Singapore. Most recently, she co-founded the Singapore and Londonheadquartered brand experience consultancy HuntHaggarty, whose clients include Google, Dell, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Motorola. Havas Worldwide Singapore appointed Andrew Hook as executive creative director to oversee the creative operations of the agency. Hook replaces Victor Ng who recently exited the agency. He was last creative director for DDB Singapore where he led the creative output for the Health Promotion Board. Before that, he spent several years at Batey Ads working on Singapore Airlines.

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LAST WORD

WHY BEING A CREATIVE DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY MAKE YOU CREATIVE Tobias Wilson of @ccomplice rants his frustrations with the world of creativity.

Is creativity a commodity?

Many years ago, a prospective client told me that creativity was a commodity. As a young buck I didn’t get the gravitas of that comment, but as a bitter old agency guy I now do – and it burns my soul. First, let’s start with the term “creative”. In the real world, the dictionary explains it as: cre・a・tive – [kreeey-tiv] – characterised by originality of thought; having or showing imagination: a creative mind. In our industry we also refer to pieces of work as “creative” whether it be a print ad, EDM, display banner or a website. We also refer to the people who create these works as creatives. These are generally the sneaker-wearing, T-shirt-rocking folks who listen to brand new electronic devices on oversized headphones peeping through black-rimmed glasses. So did my client mean that the creative executions were a commodity or was it in reference to the people? Sadly, he could have meant both. This brings me to my point – a creative is not creativity. Be it in print or human form. Very few people, and therefore the work they produce, are truly creative. It’s the same way that playing the guitar doesn’t make you Jimi Hendrix. There are too many in the industry who talk the talk, churn out some

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“creative”, get it signed off, buy the new iPhone and earn the moniker “creative”. It’s the consumers who are left to deal with the fallout of the average campaigns that are signed off by clients – which are becoming easier and easier to block from their existence. A truly creative EDM is not just an EDM. The same way a Ferrari is not just a car. A truly creative banner is not a banner, the same way a Patek Philippe is not just a watch. In a society so driven by brands and material possessions, I ﬁnd it hard to believe these same people can go to work and totally throw that value set out the window. Owning 10 Hondas does not get you a Ferrari, no matter how much of a “good deal” you got. At the same time, putting together these Hondas doesn’t make you Enzo Ferrari. So the next time you ask a “creative” for some “creativity”, or as a “creative” you’re asked for some “creativity” please think about what you’re really going to produce. Are you prepared to put another cheap, beat-up old “Honda” into the market, or are you going to market a brand new Ferrari? The choice is yours – and trust me, your consumers will thank you with results and your boss will thank you with bonuses.

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