Marketing Magazine SG - Jun 2016 by Marketing Magazine Group

MARKETING MAGAZINE SINGAPORE EDITION

JUNE 2016

SINGAPORE SINGAPORE

JUNE 2016 2016 JUNE

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MARKETING MAGAZINE SINGAPORE EDITION

THE ART ART & & SCIENCE SCIENCE OF OF CONNECTING CONNECTING WITH WITH CONSUMERS CONSUMERS THE

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Epsilon International, a trading name of Alliance Data, FHC, Inc.

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

Rezwana Manjur, Deputy Editor rezwanam@marketing-interactive.com Vivienne Tay, Journalist viviennet@marketing-interactive.com Editorial – International Inti Tam, Deputy Editor (Hong Kong) intit@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 Johnathan Tiang, Sales Manager johnathant@marketing-interactive.com Ee Kai Li, Account Manager kailie@marketing-interactive.com Erica Loh, Account Manager erical@marketing-interactive.com Laura Lai, Account Manager laural@marketing-interactive.com Ong Yi Xuan, Advertising Sales Coordinator yixuano@marketing-interactive.com Advertising Sales - International Sara Wan, Senior Sales Manager (Hong Kong) saraw@marketing-interactive.com Event Production Hairol Salim, Regional Lead - Events and Training hairol@marketing-interactive.com Event Services Yeo Wei Qi, Regional Head of Events Services weiqi@marketing-interactive.com Circulation Executive Deborah Quek, Circulations Executive deborahq@marketing-interactive.com Finance Evelyn Wong, Regional Finance Director evelynw@lighthousemedia.com.sg Management Søren Beaulieu, Publisher sorenb@marketing-interactive.com

If there is one term that summarises all that businesses (and marketing) are aiming to create, it is the customer experience. All-encompassing, yet elusive, the customer experience is something brands are trying hard to crack. And this is what differentiates the successful ones from others. The deﬁnition of what it is has also changed over the years. No longer just an in-store and after-sales consideration, the customer experience is a priority throughout the shopper journey now. In fact, recent ﬁndings from a survey by Epsilon and Econsultancy showed the majority of 350 client-side marketers and their suppliers in Asia viewed their approach to customer experience as “not very advanced”. In this case, the marketers felt the biggest barrier to offering better service was the growing complexity of the customer experience and digital touch-points. However, agencies argued it’s down to a lack of overall strategy. The challenge for all companies of any scale is to harness both technology and the human touch to forge deeper connections with every customer. The industry must truly focus on moving from a product-centric to a customer-centric approach. According to John Mellor, VP of strategy and business development and marketing for Adobe digital marketing, speaking recently at the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, “getting to know customers in an intimate manner changes awareness to experience and leads to an emotional connection”. This is the level of relationship all brands should be aspiring to.

Creating the ultimate end-to-end experience for your customers seems to come down to personalisation and integration. This is far easier said than done. From structuring a customer-centric organisational culture to strategising for mobile-ﬁrst user experiences and breaking down barriers to securing the most relevant data, everything must work together like clockwork. Customer experience isn’t just the work of one department, it requires companies to tear down silos and work as one team with common goals and vision. Therefore, at this year’s Customer Experience conference, we focused on how marketers can bring together loyalty programmes, CRM systems and engagement channels to build a more holistic customer experience and understand what it is their customers want. This month, read all about customer experience, what it truly means and how it ties in with data, analytics and customer loyalty. Enjoy the edition.

Justin Randles, Group Managing Director jr@marketing-interactive.com Tony Kelly, Managing Director tk@marketing-interactive.com

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

GETTING THE EXPERIENCE RIGHT

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

Rezwana Manjur Deputy editor

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CONTENTS

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4 A MONTH IN NEWS A round up of a month of news from Singapore and the region.

16 DIGITAL WALLET SPACE HEATS UP AS APPLE PAY MAKES SINGAPORE DEBUT Rayana Pandey looks at some of the barriers to the adoption of Apple Pay.

20 WHY SINGAPORE IS DEEMED THE ‘FAILURE MARKET’ FOR DECATHLON Here’s why the brand can afford to fail in Singapore. Rezwana Manjur reports.

22 MARIGOLD’S PEEL FRESH FAUX PAS: HOW BRANDS CAN BETTER ALIGN WITH INFLUENCERS Vivienne Tay reports on why working with influencers has risks and what to keep in mind.

26 DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT FOR BRANDS Creating the perfect experience is easier said than done. This month’s issue sheds light on creating unique experiences for your consumers.

Global brands such as Laneige and Subway are riding the Korean wave to raise brand awareness. Vivienne Tay writes.

32 MASTER REPORT: DATA, ANALYTICS AND MIX MANAGEMENT How data is changing the game of loyalty and what role does analytics play in it? Our latest Master Report sheds light on some of the trends in this space.

40 MASTER REPORT: B2B MARKETING Our Master Report looks at some of the new ways of keeping ahead of the competition in the world of B2B sales and marketing.

46 CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Earning customer loyalty and retaining it is not easy. Here’s how some of the most famous brands are doing it.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS: >> What to take note of when engaging influencers. >> Garnering loyalty in a market where it is diminishing. >> What are customers really looking for when interacting with brands? W W W .MA R KET ING - INT ERAC TIVE . COM

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NEWS

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

Upgrading programmatic skills MediaMath launched its training and education arm New Marketing Institute in Asia Pacific. It brings to APAC courses and certification programmes that will help train aspiring marketers or professionals across different levels of digital marketing proficiency to grasp and embrace programmatic techniques and technologies. Touting a localised approach, the programme starts with in-person classroom training in Singapore, and live online courses accessible by all markets.

Taking control of your destiny Ahead of Labour Day, NTUC launched a rebranding campaign for NTUC membership and networks with the theme, “Be More”. The campaign, created in-house, aimed to change a “Just be/accept what fate dictates” or “things have always been like this” mindset to one where a person can take control and “Be More” of what’s possible. Press ads were launched for the new outreach programme, which will be followed up with digital and social communications and other initiatives.

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A collective of creators Brand New Media launched “creator collective”, a new industry educational and engagement programme which looks to facilitate a new generation of commercial online content creators in Singapore. It will see a partnership between Brand New Media Global and Asia Content Marketing Association and is hoping to reach out to more than 200 online content creators in Singapore. It is supported under the Media Development Authority of Singapore’s “creators’ space” initiative.

Tech Mahindra joins with WSJ Tech Mahindra, a global provider of digital and IT services, has inked a three-year partnership with WSJ Custom Studios, the custom content marketing division of The Wall Street Journal. They will develop a multimedia customcontent programme called “In the Future”, which aims to drive conversations and illustrate the potential beneﬁts of growing connectivity. It involves the creation of original stories and video spanning print and digital media, mobile, social media and event executions.

Luring in the #NextJen Hotel Jen has partnered with DigitasLBi to showcase young and upcoming talent, artists and artisans, local start-up products and services. The campaign #NextJen invites guests to be part of the new concept, making the hotel a platform for a new generation and inspiring guests with #ThatJenFeeling. It also includes a series of online ads and other short videos that showcase the new brand positioning.

IE wraps up media pitch International Enterprise (IE) Singapore appointed Havas Media Singapore as its media agency of record. Havas Media Singapore will handle IE Singapore’s traditional media planning and buying, as well as supporting the brand’s digital media strategy. The agency was appointed on the basis of its understanding of the business and its incisive data-driven consumer insights. The incumbent on the account was UM. A treasured collaboration Singapore’s National Museum collaborated with the British Museum to add a contemporary twist to the “Treasures of the World” ad campaign – its latest blockbuster exhibition. Created by Blak Labs, the campaign encourages visitors to explore history with a fresh perspective. It runs across key outdoor sites in town, together with strategic social media initiatives, following a win by Blak Labs via a government tender last year.

Audi’s ambitious new campaign Audi launched its super car R8 with a content marketing push and a large scale on-ground event done in conjunction with its agency Publicis to execute both the content marketing and event aspects. It was the biggest driving event ever organised in Singapore, with 14 cars ﬂown in from Germany with instructors, along with a dedicated circuit for the event to allow the public to try the cars out. OCBC goes biometric OCBC Bank has introduced a business banking mobile app that uses biometric authentication to perform tasks. Customers can view balances for business accounts, including current accounts and time deposits. They can check the status of incoming and outgoing funds and view business debit card transactions. It leverages on Apple’s Touch ID technology and allows users to access their account balances and transactional activities using ﬁngerprint recognition. AIA wins hearts of locals AIA Singapore’s latest video for its “Savest” campaign features a humourous and heartwarming spot which follows the paths two boys individually take to acquire the amount of money needed to buy a set of colour pencils to impress a female classmate – in what seems like an adorable love rivalry. The Savest campaign also earlier launched an OOH execution with lenticular technology.

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NEWS

WSH’s workplace campaign Through an evocative and emotional story of a father and daughter’s relationship, the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council’s 2016 National WSH Campaign launched a campaign to shed light on the emotional distress and the damage and impact a workplace accident can cause. The ﬁlm, which is based on a true incident, was directed by Singaporean director Royston Tan and created by Grey. An Unruly manifesto Video ad tech company Unruly and global media agency Mindshare unveiled a manifesto for brands looking to beat ad blockers, ahead of the Mindshare APAC Leadership conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. The APAC “Future Video Manifesto” advises advertisers on how to futureproof their video advertising and deal with the rise in ad-blocking, predicted to wipe off $41.4 billion from the global economy in 2016.

A Juicy new fragrance Juicy Couture partnered outof-home advertising company JCDecaux to launch its latest fragrance, Viva La Juicy Rosé. This was via JCDecaux’s digital, static and 3D displays, particularly throughout the 45-second dwelling period on the escalators at ION Orchard, Digital Dragon’s Tail advertising site. It was JCDecaux’s second showcase with customised 3D displays installed at the Digital Dragon’s Tail. The spot played featured Victoria’s Secret angel Candice Swanepoel.

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PDPC fines offenders The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) took enforcement actions against several organisations for breaching data protection obligations under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). Five organisations, including notable brands such as K Box, Challenger and Metro, were issued directions (four included financial penalties), while six others were issued warnings. This is the first time the PDPC has issued decisive action in response to personal data protection.

Getting emotive PepsiCo launched a set of 26 emoticons in Singapore featured on Pepsi bottles and cans for its latest Pepsimoji campaign. Partnering with Moove Media, it transformed a wall at the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station along SBS Transit’s north east line into an augmented reality screen. Colloquial Singaporean English expressions such as “Blur like Sotong”, “Kan Chiong Spider”, and “Chope” were included to suit the local culture.

Coke GIFs the feeling Coca-Cola’s global “Taste the Feeling” campaign kicked off in Singapore with interactive digital screens by Clear Channel which utilises colour detection to trigger a photo-taking session with Coke. The cameras, inbuilt into the screens, are programmed to cue commuters to take a series of photos with overlays of a Coke bottle for a memorable GIF image, downloadable through a QR code and available selectively on a microsite.

10,000 downloads for OneWealth Just a month after launching its OneWealth app, OCBC garnered more than 10,000 app downloads, getting into the top 10 position on the App Store within two weeks. The integrated campaign was targeted at all Singaporeans to help give the bank a direct point of view of the market along with insights into potential content personalisation. OCBC worked with McCann, Isobar and Maxus for the executions which ran for three months.

Watch Out!

HubSpot opens in Singapore HubSpot officially opened its Singapore office and will hire 150 Singapore-based employees over the next three years. It is the second HubSpot office in Asia Pacific and acts as the company’s regional headquarters. HubSpot first came to Asia Pacific in 2014 in an effort to extend HubSpot’s global reach and make an impact with the many mid-market companies and data-driven marketing and sales professionals in the region.

SPH gets creative with print SPH livened up its print medium by tying it with digital through moving advertisements on the electronic version of the newspaper for smart phones and tablets. Upon being touched, these ads immediately produce call-to-action buttons that allows readers to call, message or go to advertisers’ websites. Currently the function is available for The Straits Times and My Paper. Plans are underway to make news stories and pictures more interactive for smart devices.

www.MaxToon.com.sg

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Lighthouse Events, the events management division of Lighthouse Independent Media, has been bringing Lighthouse’s conferences, awards shows and internal meetings to life since 2006 - over 40 events annually in multiple formats through numerous markets across Asia. Staffed by a team of experienced and dedicated event professionals, Lighthouse Events is commited to understanding and delivering its clients’ strategic objectives. Lighthouse Events has the expertise and experience to conceptualise and manage any customised event, making sure its clients’goals are met on every occasion. Call us if you need a partner for:• Venue Sourcing • Destination Management • Event Conceptualization • Supplier Management

• Registration Services • Branding & Graphic Design • Event Production/Logistics Support

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NEWS

Suzuki picks Jaab Global Suzuki Singapore partnered with Jaab Global for its new car launch. The appointment came following a pitch. The agency is helping in the launch of the all-new Suzuki SOLIO and campaigns are set to roll out mid-year. Currently, no time frame has been slated. Earlier in the year, the agency picked up the creative duties for Singapore’s popular F&B destination CHIJMES. Raising the state of digital Global digital agency Mirum Asia is providing access to Forrester Research’s Digital Maturity Assessment Tool to help clients assess their overall digital readiness. Through its third-party evaluation scorecards, Mirum hopes to help clients by providing step-by-step recommendations on how to raise digital capabilities. The network was formed in 2015 following the consolidation of XM Asia Paciﬁc and 10 other digital agencies in J. Walter Thompson’s global network.

Singtel takes extreme steps Singtel and Ogilvy & Mather released a ﬁlm, Data ExStream, which demonstrates the speed, coverage, reliability and low latency of the Singtel mobile network by putting it to three extreme tests in real-world conditions. Conceptualised by O&M Singapore to make the typically invisible network visible, this is the ﬁrst time that a local telecommunications network has been tested in such a unique manner.

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PR Werkz wins new clients Asia PR Werkz has bagged several new clients this year, including being the social media agency for the Central Narcotics Bureau, under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The team is utilising different social media platforms to foster anti-drug attitudes among the youth. The agency is also executing Gem Residences’ PR strategy for the highly anticipated “new gem” in Toa Payoh. The wins come as the agency turns 20 this year.

Taking care of your skin To encourage office workers in Singapore to take better care of their skin, Himalaya Herbals launched its hot office thermal kit (HOT) along with a “nourishing skin for work” campaign. It was accompanied by two YouTube videos which are available on its microsite with the social media hashtag #WhyOfficeSoCold. The campaign also cleverly features a polar bear and an office lady stripping, dubbing it the NSFW (nourishing skin for work).

Starcom bags RedMart Online supermarket and delivery platform RedMart has picked Starcom Singapore to lead its media business. Starcom’s scope of work includes driving brand awareness and the campaign in 2016. Last year RedMart appointed Bell Pottinger as its PR agency. It also launched Marketplace – a platform for independent sellers to list and sell their products to RedMart’s growing base of customers using the company’s delivery network.

AsNTM and Guvera ink new deal Brand-funded music streaming service Guvera inked a deal with Asia’s Next Top Model (AsNTM), which airs on StarWorld. The partnership sees Guvera featured in AsNTM season 4, showcasing its expertise through curation of the runway music. To further leverage the partnership with AsNTM, Guvera partnered with Shazam to add a layer of interactivity to both its TV commercials and vignettes that air as part of their AsNTM sponsorship.

A Brand New Mandarin Edutainment Channel For Kids

FWD picks Saatchi & Saatchi Insurance brand FWD Singapore appointed Saatchi & Saatchi as its agency of record, effective immediately. Saatchi & Saatchi will handle through the line communications for the launch of a challenger brand which promises to “disrupt the local insurance scene by redeﬁning the customer experience.” The appointment was announced after a month-long closed pitch involving ﬁve agencies, and follows recent client wins at sister creative agencies, Publicis Singapore and Leo Burnett. A learning curve The Learning Lab appointed Happy Marketer as its digital marketing agency of record. Happy Marketer is providing web analytics, inbound marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimisation, and lead nurturing and digital advertising services for the national provider of academic enrichment and tutorial services. The agency is also focusing on creating brand awareness through targeted digital campaigns as well as invest in conversion optimisation to drive lead generation.

www.MaxToon.com.sg

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10/6/2016 2:32:26 PM

NEWS

HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST?

REDISCOVERING TULIPMANIA

Starbucks being sued A woman from Chicago is suing Starbucks for US$5 million for false advertising, claiming the coffee giant is under ﬁlling its beverages by adding too much ice. Hence, consumers are overpaying for their caffeine ﬁx. The plaintiff, Stacy Pincus, alleges Starbucks “has engaged in the practice of misrepresenting” the amount of cold drink a customer will receive. Starbucks, in a statement to Reuters, called the lawsuit “without merit”.

A bumper idea In what could be seen as Google’s answer to Vine and getting consumers to see ads rather than skip them on YouTube, it is introducing Bumper ads – a new six-second video format, sold through the AdWords auction on a CPM basis. The six-second ads will not be skippable. One of the early testers was Atlantic Records which used Bumpers to launch English band Rudimental’s second album. A social cause Ogilvy & Mather, Hong Kong Shark Foundation and WildAid produced a hard-hitting video that targets Hongkongers’ vast consumption of shark fin soup. The gory film, which aired on YouTube and Facebook, shows a Hong Kong bride and groom on their wedding day cutting off a shark’s fin on a boat.

Gardens by the Bay collaborated with Mediacorp OOH Media to raise awareness for its tulip floral display. Called “Tulipmania – Rediscovered”, the display involves tulips set along a Persian-style backdrop. The key highlight of the campaign was the use of extended creative 6-sheet bus shelter panels designed to look like a Persian arch leading to a tulip garden.

Additionally, 3D tulip patches cover the bottom of the panels for a Turkish floral aesthetic. The panels were located near tourist centric areas such as Fullerton Hotel, Midpoint Orchard and Lucky Plaza, as well as a few heartland hubs such as Toa Payoh Central, United Square and Tampines. The cost of the execution for the five panels was about SG$25,000.

MOTIVATE & PERFORM

Drive Motivation & Performance

Build Brand Value

Drive Sales & Results

Increase Share of Wallet

CONNECT & ENGAGE

Enjoy Rewarding Experiences

CRM & PRM

Data Profiling & Analytics

Rewards & Incentives

Here at Edenred, we aspire to deliver innovative relationship marketing strategies to create rewarding experiences. Learn more on how you can achieve positive connections to lasting customer relationships.

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Aspiration for Progress & Performance

Drive Customer Satisfaction

Nurture Lasting Partnerships

www.edenred.com.sg info-sg@edenred.com +65 6229 8686

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NEWS

Closer bonds IPG has consolidated two of its agency brands to create a uniﬁed offering for clients. IPG’s MullenLowe Group merged two media entities – Mediahub and Profero Performance – to create a global media shop under the MullenLowe Mediahub banner. MullenLowe Mediahub now has a sizeable presence in the two largest US media markets – New York and Los Angeles.

Revenue drop Waning sales of the iPhone saw Apple post its ﬁrst quarterly revenue drop in more than a decade. The technology giant reported quarterly sales of US$50.5 billion – down from $58 billion last year – the ﬁrst fall in sales for the company since 2003.

Displays of strength P&G released a new spot tying in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, which focuses on the strength of mothers in various difficulties and how they protect their children. The video Strong shows the simple truth that the daily courage mums show, echoes at critical times throughout their kids’ lives. It builds to the moment each child summons their own courage at the Olympic Games. Let’s take a selfie Anheuser-Busch’s flagship brand Budweiser brought selfie obsession to a whole new level. The “Budweiser 3D Selfie” campaign used technology and creativity to offer a unique mobile experience on WeChat. Working with the central campaign idea of “Unleash the true you”, OgilvyOne Shanghai transformed users’ self-portraits into dynamic 3D creations reflecting different personality traits of the users.

AUDIT WATCH

SBR’S ONGOING REVIEW

Singapore Business Review (SBR) is a bimonthly printed publication with a focus on business matters such as management advice, relevant news updates and economic opinion. It has been around since 2003. SBR is being audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation in Singapore; its last audit was in 2014 with a circulation of 24,737 copies

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monthly. According to SBR , the auditing process was done to give a wider and more comprehensive perspective of its share in the market. “Auditing has given us a more illustrative view of our market share and has injected the magazine with a boost of confidence for advertisers and event clients,” a spokesperson from the SBR team said.

Riding a trend KFC went from offline to online to appeal to the post-90s generation in China. KFC struck a strategic partnership with Tencent’s instant messaging platform QQ, that saw the opening of the first QQ-themed KFC restaurant in Shenzhen Book City CBD Store. Under the partnership, the two brands will collaborate in social and e-commerce areas. The first global online KFC store connected to Tencent’s QQ Wallet is also set to launch.

Available At No Extra Cost To All StarHub TV Customers!*

A marvellous partnership Audi and Marvel Entertainment teamed up once again for its newest blockbuster, Captain America: Civil War, which was released in Hong Kong on 28 April. The partnership included an exclusive digital video called The Chase, which was directed by the ﬁlm’s directors Anthony and Joe Russo. Audi previewed a pivotal scene featuring its allnew Audi SQ7. Additionally, the campaign included a 30-second commercial. A star is born Continuing an aggressive acquisition strategy, Dentsu Aegis Network acquired a mobile and online retail commerce agency in Shanghai. VeryStar Internet Science and Technology will become part of DAN’s digital agency Isobar China and will be known as “VeryStar – Linked by Isobar”. Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Paciﬁc, said China was now the largest e-commerce market in the world and this was a key capability for the group.

*A HD-enabled set-top box is required to view MaxToon HD

www.MaxToon.com.sg

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

1 Campaign Evian Baby Bay Brief In this short ﬁlm, produced by evian and BETC Paris, a surfer falls when taking on a wave, then wakes up on a beach surrounded by stylish, cool and incredibly young surfers. It points to the serving of evian in its only bar on the beach as a reason. The campaign is also accompanied by a virtual reality application designed by agency Versus Fully Tailored Creation in partnership with Quiksilver. Client

evian

Creative

BETC

Media

BETC

2 Campaign Bring out the bold Brief As opposed to the usual mouthwash ads which typically rely on product claims and oral health, Listerine teamed up with J. Walter Thompson to launch a new campaign across Asia that instead connects the brand to consumers’ lifestyles. Armed with the insight that Listerine users seem to have a little extra edge to them, it designed “the study of bold”, which found that Listerine users live bolder lives. Client

Listerine/J&J

Creative

J. Walter Thompson Singapore

Media

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3 Campaign OCBC Voyage Brief OCBC Bank launched a new campaign for the OCBC Voyage Credit Card. The campaign is led by a ﬁlm developed by Isobar Singapore, and is running on TV, YouTube and other digital channels. As the latest entrant in the “miles card” market, the OCBC Voyage Card extends beyond redeeming ﬂights with a personal concierge service called Voyage Exchange. It allows customers to redeem Voyage Miles for any travel experience, on any airline, anytime of the year, without being subjected to wait lists and blackout periods. Client

OCBC

Creative

Isobar

Media

Maxus

4 Campaign Peel Off & Take Off to Darwin, Australia Brief SilkAir transformed a wall at the Ocean Financial Centre underpass to reﬂect images of Darwin through an interactive wall mural with a digital screen providing a visual experience of activities one can do in Darwin. Highlighted places of interest were Mindil Beach, Litchﬁeld and Kakadu National Park and Katherine Gorge. Parts of the wall were also intentionally layered with pixelated stickers with a call to action for passing consumers to peel them off. A lucky draw code was revealed behind each sticker for a chance to win four return tickets to Darwin in SilkAir’s Go Darwin lucky draw.

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Client

SilkAir

Creative

DDB

Media

OMD

SUBMISSIONS PLEASE SEND US YOUR BEST NEW WORK REGULARLY IN HIGH-RES JPEG OR PDF TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THESE PAGES. EMAIL RAYANAP@MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.COM

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9/6/2016 10:25:36 AM

OPINION: AD WATCH/WEB WATCH

Anthony Tham Creative partner ZOO Group Singapore

AD WATCH HOT: Audi – Driver’s Emotion Dashboard An experiential marketing piece that sets up drivers on a series of closedcourse test drives – but with a slight twist. Point of view, driver’s expression, speed, g-force, track position, heartbeat and perspiration are all recorded and visualised into an online dashboard for replay and sharing purposes. The advertiser opted for a nontraditional advertising route, and also infused tech and persuasion into an effective integrated campaign. One of the most powerful persuasion methods, in which any auto salesperson will attest to, is the adage: “If a customer agrees to a test drive, you’ve probably sold the car.” By collecting the biometric performances into a visualisation, it helps to further reinforce the non-conscious feelings during the test drives – providing an afﬁrmation for the test-drivers on how well they have enjoyed the drive. Results are evident in the form of positive sentiments on the various social media channels.

NOT: OSIM – uDiva Celebrates Mums This is a Mother’s Day thematic campaign driven by a series of social experiments. The campaign is beautifully shot and produced and dialogues from the supposed realworld talent were narrated coherently. However, the problem with the fad in sad-vertising is, most are evoking sad emotions as a form of psychological manipulation. It is used merely as a borrowed interest technique to sneak in the product at the end of the long-form emotional spot. The spots could have beneﬁted from more contextual storylines with the product tightly weaved-in, as opposed to being used as a mere prop. The construct of the ad being a social experiment, could be better if it results in an unexpected insight. Last, to be perceived as a more genuine celebration of mums, perhaps, the hard-sell call-to-action can be dialled down a notch. Especially so, when the brand is already the market leader in its category.

Keith Byrne Creative lead DigitasLBi

WEB WATCH HOT: inthejungle.com

NOT: yoursingapore.com

I grew up watching the Jungle Book on video. Yes video! So when I heard Disney was remaking Rudyard Kipling’s classic story, I did what any “jungle nerd” would do – I google searched “Jungle Book” and came across the ﬁlm’s ofﬁcial site, www. inthejungle.com. Put very simply, this site is awesome. Immersive, full of interesting socially connected content, beautifully illustrated, with an elegant sound design. I could go on and on and I did, spending quite a bit of time exploring the site. The only let down was when I went to show a friend the site on my phone and the mobile experience was considerably different to that on a desktop. All the beautiful elements were reduced to a standard Tumblr feed, (the platform the site was built on). With that being said, Disney and Watson/DG should be commended on creating something truly special.

Having recently relocated to Singapore from London I was like most newbies in a new city, looking for things to do in my new home. So I visited www. yoursingapore.com and quickly left. Why? The site is ﬁne, fairly functional and does the job, but I found the experience on both mobile and desktop very clunky. Articles were slow to load, sections were poorly laid out and overall there seemed to be a lack of simplicity on show. More is not more, it’s frustrating.

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9/6/2016 5:05:52 PM

Epsilon International, a trading name of Alliance Data, FHC, Inc.

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5/23/2016 4:10:13 PM

DIRECT MAIL CASE STUDY

RAISING THE STANDARD OF CREDIT CARD LAUNCH Standard Chartered created a travel-themed direct mailer that showed life as an adventure.

Around the world: How Standard Chartered leveraged travel to grab the media’s attention.

Standard Chartered Bank launched its new Standard Chartered Visa Inﬁnite Credit Card in March 2016. Targeted at the afﬂuent, the card features a stellar collection of rewards and bespoke privileges. From an outstanding miles programme, complimentary VIP airport lounge access to

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exclusive preferential rates for private jet and yacht hires, the card gives privileged access to life’s elite indulgences, bar none. As part of the launch, it organised an exclusive media-only luncheon at The Fullerton Bay Hotel, one of the exclusive partners. To ignite a sense of adventure and drum up the card’s key and best-in-class travel benefits, the bank partnered with Addiction Advertising to conceptualise a creative invite. In true Standard Chartered Bank style, the creative DM was big on interaction and engagement with the recipient. Hand-delivered in a scroll holder, the travel-themed DM featured the campaign’s tag line, “Life is an adventure”, accompanied with a personalised invitation carrying the value proposition, “Go further with Standard Chartered Visa Infinite”. On opening the scroll holder, a scratch map was unveiled, prompting the recipient to scratch off the countries they had travelled to. This is, after all, an infinite credit card with an accelerated “miles earn rate” and with benefits curated especially for the luxury traveller.

THE MAIL Objective To create an interesting and creative invitation for the launch of the Standard Chartered Visa Inﬁnite Credit Card that expounded on its best-in-class travel privileges and beneﬁts.

Target audience Media folk.

Results There was a good turnout at the exclusive luncheon. Recipients provided positive feedback that the creative invite was one of the more interesting invitations they had received; with one sharing she was inspired to travel the world, and started scratching out the countries she had visited upon unveiling the map.

Carol Chan Senior corporate and business communications manager, Standard Chartered Bank Singapore

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DIRECT MAIL CASE STUDY

EDITOR’S DIRECT MAIL PICK In this special column, we look at some of 2015’s creative direct mailers that caught our attention.

THE MAIL Objective: The objective was to get the attention of the invitees and encourage them to RSVP to our event.

Idea: This media invite was directed at mainstream media – from print media to online media.

Results: Out of the total direct mailers sent, more than 50% attended the event. The attendance received from key newspapers, magazines and online sites for the event was heartening.

THE MAIL Objective: To create suspense for the launch and invite media and bloggers to the media launch of Heineken Extra Cold in Singapore.

Target audience: The media invite was directed at mainstream media – from print to online – and bloggers.

Results: This resulted in Heineken reaching out to an audience of 1.5 million via social media, and a 92% attendance rate for the media event.

THE MAIL Objective: To capture the attention of the media and highlight the unique nature concept of Bossini’s new Image Store at Suntec City and garner press coverage.

Target audience: The press kit was targeted at print and online media in Singapore, as well as Bossini’s corporate partners.

Results: A total of 190 VIP guests attended Bossini’s event on 10 July 2015.

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9/6/2016 12:38:59 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

DIGITAL WALLET SPACE HEATS UP AS APPLE PAY MAKES SINGAPORE DEBUT What are some of the barriers to the adoption of digital wallets? Rayana Pandey ﬁnds out.

Good news: Consumers stand to gain from the digital wallet war as providers compete for a greater share of the wallet.

Apple has launched its much-awaited mobile payment and digital wallet service Apply Pay in Singapore with American Express. In a statement, Apple said the service was available for eligible American Expressissued credit cards in Singapore, while other banks such as DBS Bank, UOB and Standard Chartered will also provide the service in the coming months. Visa credit card customers can also avail the offering in a few months from now, according to its website. As of now, participating merchants include NTUC FairPrice, Starbucks, Uniqlo and the Din Tai Fung restaurant. In the pipeline are other brands such as Giant, Breadtalk, 7-Eleven, Cold Storage and Marketplace. To pay, customers need to simply hold their iPhones near the contactless reader with their ﬁnger on Touch ID. Or they can double-click the home button when the iPhone is locked to access the wallet and quickly make purchases. “Your card number is never stored on your device, and when you pay, your credit card

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numbers are never sent to merchants. Apple Pay assigns a unique number for each purchase, so your payments stay private and secure,” says Apple on its website. Experts are of the view the digital wallet space is set to heat up. “There is further fragmentation expected in the mobile payments market and this means consumers can choose from a wider variety of digital wallet providers. Consumers stand to gain from the digital wallet war as providers compete for a greater share of the wallet,” said Forrester researcher Zhi Ying Ng. Apple Pay’s adoption may not be as fast as expected, according to Ng. “The use of contactless card payments is increasing in Singapore, and consumers are comfortable with using it, but there are signiﬁcant barriers to consumer adoption of digital wallets today and it will take time before these wallets become more convenient for customers and they realise the beneﬁts and additional value that digital wallets bring.”

She also warned that ﬁnancial institutions should not simply cede the digital wallet relationship to Apple Pay, but think carefully about the sources of value that a partnership will bring, and the terms that the partner offers. According to Clement Teo, Forrester’s senior analyst, the consumer adoption of Apple Pay will depend on the customer experience and how easy, effective and enjoyable it is to use. “Apple Pay will be a strong alternative to the Android ecosystem, which doesn’t look like it has strong uptake locally yet – the recent announcement by LTA for EZ-Link top-up is limiting,” he said. Apple Pay increases the number of use cases for payments, offers a less fragmented OS ecosystem, and enlarges the pool of players in the payments ecosystem, for example, credit card players are also partners. While it may not be the ultimate standard, it will be a major one for mobile payments – especially with the growing adoption of wearables like the Apple Watch,” Teo said.

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NEWS ANALYSIS

SHOULD AGENCIES BE WORRIED WITH MUELLER LEAVING MAS? The move comes in the midst of a media agency pitch. What should agencies be wary of at this point? Rezwana Manjur ﬁnds out.

Hitting turbulence: Can MAS and its agency partners still fl y high under new leadership?

Come September this year, MAS’ highly acclaimed CEO Christoph Mueller will be stepping down – a move that has certainly raised eyebrows for the already struggling brand. What makes the situation even more questionable, is the fact he is exiting before completing the three-year contract. The statement released from Khazanah did not give much clarity to the matter, stating merely it was “due to a change in his personal circumstances”. Mueller, who is known to be a star in the airline aviation industry, after successfully turning the fate around for Irish ﬂag carrier Aer Lingus, joined the MAS team in 2015. He was brought in to revive the beleaguered airline’s image following the tragedies of MH370 and MH17. With Mueller on board, the airline was certainly making waves. In the short year under his direction, he cut about 6000 jobs to streamline MAS operations. Simultaneously, he

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also hired several senior-level executives such as COO Peter Bellew and head of marketing Charles McKee. The airline was also mulling over the idea of a complete brand revamp which drew in several of the region’s biggest advertising agencies. According to The Guardian, the revamp was slated to take place in September 2015. But all plans came to a halt when Malaysia’s state investment ﬁrm Khazanah Nasional in January announced the much-awaited rebranding of Malaysia Airline might not actually happen – at least not in the near future. Currently the airline is also in the midst of a media pitch. Speaking under anonymity, one media agency individual eyeing the business told Marketing the untimely exit was worrying. “Marketing and media are critical pillars going forward for the success of Malaysia Airlines’ turnaround. With a relatively new creative agency and now a media pitch going

on, the question of stability and long-term vision and deliverables is bound to creep in,” he said. Meanwhile, Seema Punwani, a principal consultant with R3, also said that usually a change in leadership at the top leads to a review of business priorities – which would mean a change in expectations from the agencies. As such, agencies should ask the right questions during the pitch process to get clarity on clients’ business priorities and their role in the process. “The CEO’s role is critical in shaping the brand and vision – especially for a company like Malaysian Airlines which has gone through a very tough phase, both in its brand and business efforts,” she said, adding the CEO’s exit at this critical juncture would mean that agencies need to brace themselves for a potential change in direction. “They would need to be nimble in their response and strategic in their advice.” Nick Foley, president of the Southeast Asia and Pacific regions at Landor, also added: “Mueller had just about started to turn the airline around and had returned the airline to profit – albeit small in size – in recent months. We don’t know the full reason for Mueller’s departure other than the official Khazanah line. From an outsiders perspective, it felt like Mueller was gaining traction. On current perceptions, I cannot see how Mueller leaving MAS will help the airline’s recovery.” MAS, Foley said, needs to look for a new CEO with a firm resolve to see the job through for the next five years because changing CEOs on a constant basis rarely works. “The question now is: not what skills the new CEO should posses, but what MAS is prepared to do differently. “It can sometimes feel like the CEO is being made the scapegoat for circumstances beyond his or her control. Full service airlines make a big deal of ‘loyalty programmes’, yet when it comes to MAS being to loyal to a new CEO who was having a positive impact on the airline, one could be wondering where its loyalty was to Mueller.”

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10/6/2016 2:35:12 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

CAN LOCAL TELCOS AFFORD TO RAISE THE PRICE ON UEFA MATCHES? With TV viewership already dwindling, can the local telcos really afford to price their packages so high? Vivienne Tay explores.

Balancing act: Telcos need to weigh the direct commercial pros of a price-hike versus the inevitable criticism from customers.

Football frenzy is hitting Singapore as the 2016 UEFA European Championship looks to air on local TV screens on 10 June 2016. Ahead of the matches, local telco Singtel has priced its package at SG$88, about SG$20 more than when it aired in 2012 for SG$69.55. Singtel’s pricing, unfortunately, has caught the attention of local consumers as well as

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radio personalities. A quick conversation with listeners by Mediacorp DJs, known affectionately as “The Muttons”, indicated that customers would rather steam online than pay the steep price to the telcos. No doubt that over the years with digital streaming so readily available and the rise of ondemand services, TV viewership has been on a

downward spiral. With such high pricing placed by the telcos, do they run the risk of alienating themselves from consumers even more? According to a Singtel spokesperson, it is looking to draw in fans by bundling the Copa America Centenario USA 2016 together with the UEFA Euro 2016. These are two of the world’s most popular international football

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9/6/2016 12:35:46 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

tournaments. “While customers have the option to pay a single à la carte price to get access to the two football tournaments, we encourage customers to sign-up or renew their contracts so they can watch all the matches of the two tournaments for free. In addition, as a bonus, these customers can also watch all matches from the two tournaments for free on the Singtel TV GO app anytime, anywhere,” she said. In a conversation with Marketing, Lin Shu Fen, head of family segment and HubLife at StarHub, said in a bid to ensure customers were coming back to its services and to keep

“Unfortunately, Singtel is just one of the many channels that UEFA sells content to and it is a bidding system so prices will increase from time to time to justify the investment. However, Singtel did not communicate the pricing rationale well to its customers, hence, it is difficult for the latter to understand the context.” Lawrence Chong – chief executive officer of Consulus

Moreover, for those who do not have a StarHub TV subscription, the telco also rolled out two packages for the mobile platform called Go Select and Go Sports. “With our data analytics and knowledge of our customers, we are able to curate and recommend accurately the content that is popular and relevant to our customer segments. And package them with an easy user experience,” Lin said. Industry views Lawrence Chong, chief executive ofﬁcer of Consulus, said that in such cases telcos are stuck in the middle. “Unfortunately, Singtel is just one of the many channels that UEFA sells content to and it is a bidding system so prices will increase from time to time to justify the investment. However, Singtel did not communicate the pricing rationale well to its customers, hence, it is difﬁcult for the latter to understand the context,” he said. Chong added that as such, consumers will

continue to see the telcos as a monopolising force and find other ways to watch their favourite game. Singtel needs to find a creative way to strike the right balance to manage business costs and customer expectations. If there’s one learning from the fierce recent activity in the streaming and OTT space, it’s that consumers are increasingly willing to pay for the content they’re passionate about – as long as it’s in the form and on the format of their choosing, according to Jamie Lewin, head of innovation for Mindshare APAC. “While no discerning consumer wants, or even expects, to see inflation in goods and services they purchase, it’s a reality of supply and demand. That said, Singtel, and indeed any content licensee, needs to carefully weigh the direct commercial pros of a price-hike versus the cons of (inevitably) negative brand perception,” he said, adding that: “And a word of caution to Singtel – there’s no such thing as a silent football fan.”

STREET TALK Marketing also spoke to several members of the public on their thoughts. Members of the public seemed split on the pricing with some asking for pay-per-view facilities, with others saying the pricing wasn’t too steep for hard-core fans. Danesh Charlie, 41, said: “I personally would not pay because the match timings are way off from our time zone and it’s not a great competition like the Champions League. It’s losing its luster. I’d rather see pay per view for selected games. That would be more appealing.” Nyi Nyi Thet, 25, however, added he would still pay for the package because convenience is deﬁnitely a big draw. “I would also like to be less dependent on internet speed as opposed to streaming the matches live online. However, as I don’t have the time to watch the matches late at night due to different time zones, I would have to give this a miss.” up with changing consumption habits, the telco has been delivering content on multi-screen platforms. It no longer focuses on delivering products simply on the TV screen, but rather layers them across its available platforms. However, StarHub was unable to share with Marketing its pricing details. Currently it has a dedicated online streaming service app.

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Agreeing with Thet, Victor Tay, 59, said for hard-core football enthusiasts, the price was still reasonable because of the love of the game. “I prefer to watch the sport on a big HD screen with no intermittent disruptions while the match is ongoing. Plus, I can see action replays and comfort is at its highest.”

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10/6/2016 2:36:23 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

WHY SINGAPORE IS DEEMED THE ‘FAILURE MARKET’ FOR DECATHLON It is not easy to break into a new market when you are selling products that people don’t actually need. Rezwana Manjur reports. French sporting house Decathlon is a relatively young player on the local retail scene, opening up its store earlier this year. The brand entered the retail scene at a point many established players were pulling out. The launch came after it had already established an e-commerce practice for nearly two and a half years to “painstakingly” understand and collect consumer data from the market. It is safe to say when Decathlon started up in Southeast Asia, the public did not really know it was a sports retailer. This, admits Clarence Chew, head of marketing and communications at Decathlon, was one of the biggest problems. “E-commerce is not easy and was a struggle when you are selling products that people don’t actually need. People didn’t care about us. If they saw online that the product was too cheap, they would think it isn’t of quality; too expensive, and they wouldn’t want to spend. So our problem was how do we tell customers we are here?” he said at a recent event hosted by OgilvyOne called “Delivering consumer value in an era of disruption”. The brand decided to be part of the discovery process using a multi-channel approach. It was wherever consumers were looking and it ensured it was part of the consumer journey. What also helped Chew in this process was the senior management was able to see e-commerce as part of the customer journey and not as a separate entity from the retail function. As such, the goal was more synergistic. “It wasn’t a push, but rather a pull factor for us that drew customers.” Another big sigh of relief for Chew was when he was able to successfully convince senior management to make Singapore a “failure market” for the brand and use it as a test bed for all things new and shiny in the digital landscape. After all, failure is vital to any great discovery and innovation. “In Singapore, I can do whatever I want

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Taking risks: Clarence Chew tells why Singapore is the perfect country to test new technology.

with any budget I want. And I will not be blamed if it fails.” Chew explained the country was chosen for its dense and diverse population. The citystate structure worked to the brand’s benefit and there was a healthy mix of old and young and locals and expatriates. This helped the brand see the contrast between old-school marketing tactics and new shiny toys and figure out what really worked. “Singapore is a nice drawing board. Chances are if it works here, all the other countries like Malaysia and Indonesia will all eventually embrace it,” he added. But for every other country, clarified Chew, he would still need to meet the regular KPIs and carry out customised marketing. Bringing change internally Another challenge Chew faces, is getting people on board to try new ideas. “Even if you have a CEO willing to adopt stuff, you have

many other people in the organisation who don’t know and don’t care or won’t agree.” Agreeing with him was panellist Tony Menezes, VP of cognitive solutions at IBM, who also added the country’s safe nature helped companies come up with creative solutions and ideas without as high a fear of intellectual theft. Ultimately, even if technology is available, companies need to be willing to embrace it. “Companies need to recognise the disruptive idea will come from day to day interaction with customers and employees. Figure out how to tap into that source,” he said. For IBM, even today, the company is holding a new contest where employees can come up with ideas to make the company a cognitive company across industries. IBM has 50 ideas from it, which will come down to 10 to potentially explore. Ultimately, the culture of innovation has to be embraced across all levels from top to front-line in a company. When asked by the audience if building relationships is tough in a disruptive world, he said: “Brands that have an afﬁliation with consumers and communicate clearly how they plan to protect personal data, will earn the trust of consumers.” He explained the commonalities among the many brand hacks and online breaches in recent years show that leading companies address the problems head-on and share a direct strategy with consumers rather than sit idle. “If consumers know that when they opt in they will get something in return from the brand and the brand is clear about it, they will get more trust.” And sometimes the best way to do this is to ask. As Todd Kurie, VP of marketing at RedMart, who was also on the panel, said: “Even relatively old-school tactics like surveys can go a long way to show you are listening.” He added the brand is a huge believer in simply asking consumers what they want

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NEWS ANALYSIS

INSTAGRAM’S LOGO CHANGE: ARE USERS OVERREACTING? Is the new logo really that bad? Vivienne Tay writes.

Changing times: According to one agency CEO, online brands are constantly evolving, tweaking, testing, failing and retrying.

Following its recent introduction of an algorithmic feed which led to a public outcry, Instagram has made yet another big decision – to change its skeuomorphic app logo to a simpler and flatter design. This includes an updated icon with a new unified set of icons for its recently added functions Boomerang, Hyperlapse and Layout. Its user interface was also refreshed with a simpler, more consistent design to bring increased focus to the photos and videos of its users. According to an Instagram spokesperson, the change reflects Instagram’s evolution from a place to edit and share photos to a global community of interests where people share content and connect with one another. “We’ve been inspired by all the ways the community has grown and changed, and we wanted to create something that reflects how vibrant and diverse storytelling on Instagram has become,” the press statement read. As always, the logo has attracted both love and scorn – mostly scorn – from the court of public opinion. But doesn’t that always seem to be the case? We are, after all, creatures of habit and resistant to change. In an earlier conversation with Marketing, Dragon Rouge’s, CEO Jean-Baptiste Danet noted that when it comes to rebranding exercises, usually the design community is harder on its peers than everyday consumers.

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So we asked several other branding players if the design community is too hard on its peers. Graham Hitchmough, CEO of South and Southeast Asia for Brand Union, said branding and design professionals should be happy that global brand revamps, such as Instagram’s logo change, have shifted from business page stories to front page news and are now a matter of public debate. This clearly shows the public is opening up to the world of advertising. Was the logo change necessary? According to Hitchmough, online brands such as Uber, Google and Instagram, are not made of the same DNA as big global players, and as such, they are more ready to evolve when they feel the need. These brands are constantly evolving and redeﬁning their image. “Online brands don’t put their head in the lion’s mouth of change once in every decade and hope for the best. They are constantly evolving, tweaking, testing, failing and retrying. This is the gospel of Google, Instagram, Spotify, Uber and all the other brands trying to change the planet one line of code at a time.” To Hitchmough, the old-school camera icon was not as relatable to the younger generation under 20, who is fast becoming a growing proportion of the users. To them a camera is merely the little lens on the back of

their smartphone. The real significance of this change, he added, is in the user experience, which is better, cleaner, more sophisticated and removes friction points to even better impact and access images – which is what Instagram should be all about. “But don’t get too attached to it. Because for these brands shaping the way we experience, share and interact, change is really the only constant,” he said. Jonathan Bonsey, principal creative and executive officer of The Bonsey Design Partnership, said usually a logo change represented a shift in the underlying business model, technology or market it seeks to address. Moreover, Instagram’s new technology was not reflected in the previous identity. “The Instagram logo was distinct, but old,” he said. It was necessary for Instagram to catch up with other brands and preserve its longevity and huge user base. “While everyone else’s app has become simplified and flattened, Instagram’s remained willfully retro and reassuringly cute. But the brand is more than a collection of 1970s style filters.” He added the evolution was necessary to reflect the new technologies that the application promises.

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10/6/2016 2:37:24 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

MARIGOLD’S PEEL FRESH FAUX PAS: HOW BRANDS CAN BETTER ALIGN WITH INFLUENCERS A look at some of the ways brands can exercise caution when it comes to selecting an inﬂuencer. Vivienne Tay reports.

A double-edged sword: Brands need to be extra careful when it comes to using influencers to promote their products.

A recent Marigold campaign copped flak for its blatant use of influencers to promote its beverages. The campaign drew criticism for its impractical nature, with one of the influencers going as far to say that she carries a carton of the juice with her wherever she goes. Most hum the same tune that Peel Fresh products be consumed because the weather is getting hotter. Some of the notable reactions come from Mothership, Independent Singapore and fitness online store Movement First SG’s Facebook

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post, which has garnered around 450 reactions and 440 shares. The campaign is a reminder for brands to exercise more caution when it comes to selecting an influencer who aligns well with their brand image. The importance of brand training According to Kimberley Olsen, business lead of Mirum x JWT’s The Social Team, brands need to ensure that proper briefing sessions are conducted among appointed influencers to highlight a product’s unique selling points.

“Before content is posted by the inﬂuencer, vetting of posts is crucial to ensure that while the original messaging is coming from the inﬂuencer’s point of view, the brand messaging itself does not get mistranslated,” Olsen said. However, brand training and education is something which takes time and often requires a brand book to get familiarised with the dos and don’ts when mentioning a brand, added Ryan Lim, principal consultant and founding partner of QED Consulting. “Most brands cannot afford the time, and hence, tend to skip the required brand training,”

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NEWS ANALYSIS

Lim said. Allowing influencers the freedom and creative licence has its merits, such as message authenticity. Unfortunately, this can come at a price where the messaging does not always align with the brand’s values and position. To Lim, this is a risk that brands have to consider taking when it comes to using influencers. Relevance and authenticity are paramount To public relations expert Edwin Yeo, general manager of SPRG Singapore, authenticity is key and not asking the influencer to do something which is “completely against their DNA”. He stresses that brands should ensure their PR personnel are on board at all times, as PR professionals are experienced with dealing with journalists in getting authentic coverage. He draws similarities between journalists and influencers. “You should also probably consider the credibility of the influencer in what you’re trying to sell. That’s often a grey line because some brands would consider influencers as ‘celebrities’, but a better approach is probably to treat them as ‘media’,” he said. He implores brands to look past social media reach and think hard about the lifestyle the influencer leads and if that is representative of the brand’s values. You wouldn’t ask a crime journalist to write something about your soap, no matter how popular that journalist is. This isn’t that different. Agreeing with Yeo’s sentiments on not hiring an influencer solely based on their mass reach, is Olsen. She recommends influencers who are passionate and fit the brand’s lifestyle. “Get a better insight to make sure they have the right target audience that you’re after. Analyse each influencer’s network of followers – are they people who are likely to spend, or are they simply engaging with comments that are only directed at the influencer?” she said. Don’t try to pass off advertising as a real review “Let the product speak for itself and its great value (if any). It’s definitely the harder, but more credible route,” Lim added, differentiating advertising and genuine product reviews. Genuine reviews often require brands to send products to reviewers without paying them to say anything biased, which allows them to review a product fairly. “If the brand needs awareness quick, perhaps advertising is a much better and honourable route than trying to force credibility with awareness to the product in this case.” He cautions that faking credibility is unwise as it is easily detectable in this age of intense public scrutiny and the crowdsourcing of cyber detective work.

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“You wouldn’t ask a crime journalist tto write it something about your soap, no matter how popular that journalist is. This isn’t that different.” Edwin Yeo – general manager of SPRG Singapore.

“Be authentic, be transparent and you don’t need to slap an ‘advertorial’ tag to it. People get that influencers need to make money as well, but fans hate it when you try to pass off advertising as real,” Yeo said. Prepare to manage a potential backlash Olsen observed a lack of community management in the reply to comments from fans on the “I Love Peel Fresh” page, although daily community management was done on its other posts. She advises that an official statement highlighting concerns from fans would have been a better way to close the issue. “Never delete comments or leave them unattended as this would, in a majority of situations, spiral to a bigger crisis that will only turn your brand into the next trending topic of social media mockery,” Olsen said. Can such cases be rectified? According to Lim, the current age of social media

is starving for authenticity. He recommends taking an ethical route and coming clean as there will be sufﬁcient online folks who will appreciate the step in rebuilding credibility. “Do right to do well. It’s not mutually exclusive,” he added. Yeo on the other hand, feels that with the short attention span of the internet, there really isn’t a need to rectify the issue for the case of Marigold. Taking the NTUC Income example, he adds that the Rebecca Lim saga did not take away the fact that the ad campaign was pretty good, and NTUC made up for it with a strong creative campaign. “At the end of the day, all Peel Fresh wanted to say was that it’s a good drink for the hot weather. If they really believe in that, then continue to bang that message home. The snarky press made the message a little less believable, but nothing a good creative campaign and a robust sampling exercise can’t reinforce,” Yeo concluded.

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9/6/2016 12:27:07 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

MITSUBISHI’S APOLOGY: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE? Should Mitsubishi be forgiven for its mistakes? Rezwana Manjur asks the question. reputable brands now need to stand up and be transparent about their testing methods. They need to distance themselves from the growing list of brands for whom any admissions of wrongdoing are far too little and too late. “It’s now likely that a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ mentality will emerge among car buyers and distributors in which, rather than sit tight and risk guilt by association, any manufacturer with an unimpeachable record will need to proactively demonstrate the fact,” he said.

Second in line: After Volkswagen, it was Mitsubishi’s turn to be caught up in a scandal.

A recent Reuters news article stated that Japanese car-maker Mitsubishi was unlikely to issue an earnings forecast for the current ﬁnancial year. This was largely attributed to the news that it was manipulating fuel economy data. This immediately resulted in shares dropping by more than 15%. The brand came clean on the matter after being forced into admission by Nissan to which it supplied more than 468,000 cars to, according to a report on Bloomberg. Mitsubishi in a press statement said: “We express deep apologies to all of our customers and stakeholders for this issue.” Moreover, in a press conference held in Tokyo, company leads, along with Mitsubishi Motors president Tetsuro Aikawa, bowed as a sign of apology at the start of a press conference and admitted the act was intentional. The entire incident resounds back to the Volkswagen incident in 2015 which forced the resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn. Back when the Volkswagen scandal happened, speaking under anonymity, one Italian car brand marketer told Marketing the practice was a common one for the automotive industry, describing it as a “well kept secret”. He added the entire incident would force

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the automotive industry forward – forcing many players to air their dirty laundry. Branding and PR experts Marketing spoke to, however, were quick to unanimously say Mitsubishi should, in fact, “not get special treatment” from consumers – despite its quick admission and apology. This was simply because the brand was forced into admission by Nissan. There was no way out of the matter, but to admit guilt. Lars Voedisch, principal consultant and managing director of PRecious Communications, said: “Quickly admitting to it, indicates that either they knew about it, or it was so obvious that it’s surprising it didn’t come out earlier.” However, he added, the upside to the quick conﬁrmation meant it could be in control of the situation and reduce the room for speculation. “Everyone, however, will still remember the ﬁrst brand to get caught – in this case VW. With every additional manufacturer getting exposed or stepping forward, the attention will be less. So there isn’t really a big incentive for brands to come out on their own,” Voedisch said. Branding agency lead Graham Hitchmough, CEO of Brand Union South and Southeast Asia, agreed with Voedisch saying

Will this lead to more brands admitting their flaws? Scott Pettet, Lewis APAC vice-president, said while the short-term damage was very apparent with share prices dwindling, the long-term damage could be even greater because of an erosion in trust with consumers. “Just as with VW, it will take Mitsubishi a long time to rebuild this trust. It will be interesting to see how many other car brands suffer similar fates as I suspect these types of practices are not isolated. Due to the potential losses however, it’s unlikely a brand will disclose this sort of misconduct unless their hand is being forced.” Voedisch advised that with Mitsubishi and Nissan having to admit to false admission declarations, now would actually be a good time for other brands, who have a similar issue but haven’t publicly spoken about it to speak up. Then, the whole issue would become an overarching industry matter and not brand speciﬁc. “If you know it will hit the public, better to have it come out on your terms. At least you’re seen as proactively admitting and directly presenting an action plan rather than being recognised as having tried to hide a known wrongdoing.” Graham Drew, creative director of Grey Malaysia, added if a brand can be the breaker of the story it makes a big difference. “You have far greater control of the narrative – rather than being caught out, you’re showing responsibility and a will to rectify. Trust is the number one commodity for any brand. People can forgive mistakes, pre-meditated deception is something else entirely.”

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NEWS ANALYSIS

WILL ALIBABA’S E-COMMERCE PROGRAMME IN SINGAPORE STAND OUT? In a market such as Singapore, already cluttered with various players, does Alibaba’s e-commerce and entrepreneurial programme stand a chance? Vivienne Tay ﬁnds out.

The Alibaba brand is something that should not be trifled with, especially with the growing importance of e-commerce. Banking on the trend, Alibaba opened up a six-day course on entrepreneurship and e-commerce targeting SMEs. This is the first time the course is being offered outside of China by the Alibaba Business school – a joint venture by the Alibaba Group and Hangzhou Normal University – of which famed Alibaba Group’s founder Jack Ma is the chairman. The course costs a hefty SG$8,800 and the first three days are held in the Singapore Management University and the next three at Hangzhou Normal University. The fees do not cover flight and accommodation costs. Nonetheless, according to a recent report in The Straits Times, the course has already seen close to fifty sign ups. Clearly, the demand for education in the e-commerce field is strong and Alibaba’s offering shows a welcomed urgency to adopt new skills and mindsets in the region. “We are seeing a large number of new nontraditional training providers from Hyper Island to

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Google raising the temperature for companies around the urgency to adopt new skills and new mindsets, and become more entrepreneurial and take digital change more seriously in this region,” said Jonathan Briggs, co-founder and academic director at Hyper Island. Hyper Island also offers courses for the marketing and advertising industry. He added that this showed the maturing of Alibaba of its role in the market. When asked if this would be a competitor to courses offered by Hyper Island, he said the Alibaba offer is likely to be different, but complementary to what Hyper Island offers. “As a whole, it is good news for Singaporeans who are looking to upskill and remain relevant in the digital economy,” he added. Chloe Neo, managing director of OMD Singapore, said the move not only showed Alibaba’s strategic move in market expansion and globalisation, but also the opportunity to recruit more users while creating value through education. It also adds a new dimension to current e-learning courses available.

“The current e-learning offers focus on digital thought-leadership and marketing, while Alibaba fills the gap in digital entrepreneurship and e-commerce. Singapore is definitely the right launch pad with our demand for education, high technology adoption and the government push for overseas expansion of businesses,” she said. “This could be a significant initiative to spur the e-commerce scene locally.” According to Julian Chow, account manager and digital consultant at Text100, while this can help consumers into getting the courses they need specifically to meet their business objectives, the real challenge is that there are so many options today (from institutions such as Hyper Island and General Assembly to pure online platforms such as Udemy and Coursera). “The Alibaba Business School would really need to stand out in terms of the value proposition they’re bringing to the table, which in this case, seems to be tapping on Alibaba’s e-commerce heritage to differentiate the course from the rest of the offerings out there.”

Image: 123rf.com

All about education: The demand for education in the e-commerce field is strong which is important to build new skills and mindsets in the region.

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10/6/2016 2:39:24 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT FOR BRANDS Global brands such as Laneige and Subway are riding the Korean wave to raise brand awareness. Vivienne Tay reports.

Riding the wave of popularity: Several brands have used Descendants of the Sun to increase their profile and sales.

Korean hit TV show Descendants of the Sun (DOTS) has been making waves worldwide, and some global brands have been riding that tsunami to success.

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Unlike most Korean drama serials which are scripted and ﬁlmed days before being shown, DOTS was fully pre-produced before its airing in order to meet new Chinese guidelines imposed

on foreign dramas. However, the series has copped ﬂak for blatant product placement. According to Kim Si Hyung, the series’ director of photography, the new guidelines have

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NEWS ANALYSIS

made it difﬁcult to secure revenue from TV advertising, resulting in a heavy reliance on product placement to cover production costs. Kim shared this in an interview on KBS2 TV’s web talk show Got TV. According to AsiaOne, the revenue from product placement reached a staggering KRW 3 billion (SG$3.5 million). Starring Song Hye Kyo and Song Joong Ki, the military romance melodrama starts in Seoul, but progresses to a ﬁctional country, where military personnel and medical staff work hand-

to become a global hit. The show has done so well that new three-part special episodes ran from 20-24 April 2016 to satisfy fans suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Before these new episodes, a total of 16 episodes were aired on KBS2 TV.

“The association with a wildly successful Korean drama such as DOTS, and its artists, has definitely given a boost in brand awareness as we are seeing an increase in online searches and an uplift in the traffic and sales to stores, especially so for the home country of South Korea.”

Laneige Song Hye Kyo, the female lead in DOTS, is also a Laneige brand ambassador. In a statement to Marketing, Doreen Chia, brand manager of Laneige Singapore, shared the positive impact the Korean drama had on its brand awareness and products. “As the lead actress is our brand ambassador, DOTS has deﬁnitely increased the awareness of the brand with its high viewership,” she said. This has translated into boosting sales and expanding its customer base to reach those who have never used its products. “We have seen a spike in sales for the colours of the Laneige Two Tone Lip Bar featured in the show and have seen an increase in the number of visitors on the brand website.” According to an email statement to The Korea Herald/Asia News Network from Laneige’s parent company AmorePaciﬁc, the number of times the lipstick worn by Song was searched on the internet had surged 11 times more than usual since the airing of the drama. “The lipstick (Laneige’s Two Tone Lip Bar) became a bestseller in March and has sold out in some stores,” it said.

Eileen Lau – marketing manager of Subway Southeast Asia and South Korea.

in-hand to tackle disaster situations. According to the Yonhap News Agency, ratings shot to the 30% range in just a few weeks, outperforming My Love from the Star, the last Korean drama

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How has the series helped brands? Brands that are associated with the series have reported a rise in sales following the placements, giving DOTS a push in revenue which allowed it to surpass My Love from the Star as well. For example, Subway and Laneige said they had seen a rise in sales revenue and brand awareness as the show took off.

Subway According to Eileen Lau, marketing manager of Subway Southeast Asia and South Korea, Subway Korea saw a rise in customers following the airing of the drama. “The association with a wildly successful Korean drama such as DOTS, and its artists, has deﬁnitely given a boost in brand awareness as we are seeing an increase in online searches and an uplift in the trafﬁc and sales to stores, especially so for the home country of South Korea,” Lau said. The brand is exploring an integrated approach with Korean dramas, such as looking at on-ground opportunities with the drama’s

cast, conceptualising themed promotional offers and more. It is also open to cross-regional collaborations for titles that have achieved success across Asia. Viu, a Hong Kong-based Korean entertainment streaming platform which streams DOTS for free, also reported a rise in app downloads and page views during the running of the series. “Based on our earlier research, 53% of online viewers surveyed in Singapore watch Korean dramas on a regular basis. The recent interest and surge in views on our platforms show that Singapore has indeed a strong demand for Korean content,” said Anson Tan, general manager of digital media Singapore for PCCW Media, which owns Viu. According to a statement given by Viu to Marketing, video views increased about ﬁvefold during the period when DOTS was running on its platform. This was also further supported by the increase in its app installation which rose by 2.5 times. “The high smartphone penetration here further enables fans to easily meet their Korean drama needs with either streaming or download options via Viu. We are excited to see such strong growth and engagement from the viewers, as this validates our strategy to bring localised premium Asian content to Singapore,” Tan said. K-value for brands For brands such as Laneige, product placement not only increases exposure to those unfamiliar with the brand, but also reaches out to a different demographic depending on the genre of the drama. “Riding on the popularity of the show, we can amplify the effect through postings on social media platforms to emphasise the featured products, as well as using point-ofsale materials to highlight the products and the show,” Chia said. For brands such as Subway, product placement is part of the marketing mix as a means to attract new customers through fans of the drama and establish the brand in other regions, in this case Asia. Lau added: “Luck is a critical factor in a drama’s success as well, as our decision to buy into a drama is often just a calculated risk. For popular hits like DOTS, we saw a spillover effect to the rest of the Asian countries. “The effectiveness of such a strategy depends on the success of the drama, the amount of exposure, as well as the stage of brand development in each market.”

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PROFILE

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PROFILE

Shiseido Hong Kong president Morgan Tan explains how a threeyear brand overhaul is making the 144-year-old business relevant again. Jennifer Chan writes

From a sales director at Lane Crawford, Lab Concept vice-president to now the Shiseido Hong Kong president, luxury fashion veteran Morgan Tan seems to have lived a glamorous life. But the reality behind these big titles may not be as enviable as it appears. Just like her boss Masahiko Uotani, appointed Shiseido president and CEO two years ago, Tan joins Shiseido Hong Kong with a big task to keep a sinking ship afloat. It’s no secret that the first western-style pharmacy in Japan, established in 1872, has been in the wilderness for a decade, suffering from slow sales growth and shrinking domestic market share by -14% as of 2014. In the company’s latest annual report, president and CEO Uotani highlighted the challenges that have long troubled the 144-yearold business, which is failing to stay relevant to constantly changing consumers and markets. To address the problem, the new management team announced an ambitious and long-term sales acceleration strategy – Vision 2020 – targeting more than ¥1 trillion in sales by 2020 from last year’s ¥778 billion. “Given that the world is going through globalisation and the rise of the Millennial, we thought that it was important to set a new vision to prepare ourselves for the next 100 years,” says Tan from the Shiseido office in Kowloon Bay. One key effort to achieve this “visionary” W W W .MA R KET ING - INT ERAC TIVE . COM

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goal is a brand overhaul that spans 88 markets globally, while looking to stay relevant with the skincare routine for women at any age around the world. Launched in January, the three-year makeover includes a new brand name “Shiseido Ginza Tokyo”, a refreshed brand philosophy of “empathy”, a worldwide campaign that highlights the diversity of races, a string of digital enhancement plans as well as a renovation of its outlets. The revamped logo is a mixture of legacy and modernity in which Ginza, a district in Japan where Shiseido originated from, and Tokyo, where Shiseido is now based, are added to emphasise the brand’s international image while honouring its heritage. “Because of digital, the world has become so much smaller; today’s women have a lot in common across the world, and they want to share,” she says. “The term ‘empathy’ is our way of saying – I know you are beautiful, and you know she’s beautiful; together, we celebrate. Shiseido aims to become a vehicle for women to feel good about themselves and to show appreciation to others.” To deliver this message, a lot has been put into strengthening the brand’s digital presence to tap into young females around the age of 25. “When you talk about the new generation, we see them engaging in digital in a different way – they want to share.” J UN E 2 01 6 M ARKE TI N G 2 9

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PROFILE

“People don’t buy make-up and skincare products separately, they tend to mix and match. Just like fashion.” Digital is like a current of electricity; it’s not something fancy, it depends on how we use it to communicate. Like many brands, Shiseido is primarily focused on social media outlets to build a rapport with consumers. But social media can be a double-edged sword if executed incorrectly. Higher exposure on social media means a higher chance of getting caught up in a PR crisis. “Companies should not just react to a crisis, but to underline and address it, managing it in a more holistic way.” Social media will continue to test companies, and the maturity on how they manage it. “It’ll be interesting to see how companies evolve because engagement is playing such an important role. How far would you allow that engagement until it becomes disrespectful or negative, and what is negative, are some big topics.” The rapid growth of digital and social 3 0 MA R KET ING J UNE 201 6

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media has been pushing brands to move into e-commerce. But Shiseido is taking it slowly, with its online business available only in the US, Japan and China, a market where 15% of its transactions comes from online. In Hong Kong, Shiseido’s digital commerce strategy is incorporated as an integral part of the customer journey in the form of digital receipts, service reservations or subscriptions. “E-commerce is not just going online, making a purchase and receiving a shipping; it should be part of a holistic digital experience. “Everybody uses a smartphone first thing in the morning, so how to use mobile as a channel is going to be critical. Digital commerce is not necessarily a shopping channel, but a communication channel. Companies still definitely need to focus on digital, but it’s not necessarily going to be e-commerce.” Women may love to shop for fashion and accessories online, Tan adds, but beauty products is another story. “E-commerce for skincare products in

Hong Kong is not impossible, but we’ll take it step by step.” To support its digital transformation, the Hong Kong office is looking to set up a digital team to spearhead all digital-related practices, sitting on top of its CRM and IT divisions. Together, the teams will be responsible for a big digital facelift with a new mobile application coming up, which will play an even bigger role than its website in connecting customers online. “People go on websites to search for store locations, new products or to make a booking. Until we have a clear strategy for e-commerce I don’t think it’s necessary to tamper with the site. The app becomes a nice bridge for customers to tap into and find out information that’s relevant for them. It facilitates the cascading of information.” To tie in with the new brand philosophy of “empathy”, maintaining a consistent branding image across online and offline is a major part of the brand rejuvenation, Tan says. On that note, Hong Kong will be one of the first markets to have brand expression in a physical format, incorporating what it calls a “social counter”, inspired by the famous “Apple table”, in two to three Shiseido physical outlets, and beauty counters to better connect visitors with front-line staff and its products. The new counter design will see less fixtures and boundaries blocking shoppers from entering its territories in order to make visitors feel like they are already part of the counter without walking through the fixtures. The idea is referenced on how women shop today, Tan stresses. “People don’t buy make-up and skincare products separately, they tend to mix and match. Just like fashion – people normally take up the whole outfit; I think department stores probably need to rethink how they merchandise.” Indeed, a strategy review seems to be becoming necessary for retailers in Hong Kong, as the retail market has taken a hard blow following the decline of big-spending Mainland tourists. In 2015, 37% of Shiseido customers were from China, yet, this is a number that Tan considers low. “Given the recent climate, Shiseido is less disposed to the risk. The majority of our business has always been from locals, which is a testimony to our attention to customer service. We put in a lot of effort to ensure our front-line staff are always patient and won’t rush through a transaction. They are going to help customers find the perfect products for their skins. “Especially now when times are tough, we have to make sure we have a solid foundation in place.” WWW. M ARKE TI N G- I N TE RAC TI VE . C OM

9/6/2016 10:35:05 AM

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Customer loyalty is not solely the job of marketing; it is an organisationwide eï¬&#x20AC;ort to become truly customer-centric. What then are the key ingredients of building a loyal customer base? This Master Report explains. BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

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There are several studies pointing to how retaining a customer is a lot cheaper than acquiring new ones, and unsurprisingly so. Building a loyal base of customers is a brand’s foremost priority and it can do so in multiple ways. But in an age where consumers are spoilt for choice and somewhat fickle in what they choose to buy, what can brands do? From rewards, points to discounts and customers getting first dibs, there are a myriad ways to keep a customer coming back for more, but merely having those add-ons is not enough. The basics and everyday attributes such as customer service are more critical. Recently, Kadence carried out research looking at benefit programmes in Singapore. It learned that in the telecommunications, auto, insurance, airline, bank, credit card and food and beverage sectors, more than 50% of Singaporeans felt that a company had to offer some sort of benefit programme to even be considered for their business. Furthermore, a whopping 91% of Singaporeans considered benefit programmes when selecting a product or service provider. It found that six in 10 Singaporeans had taken their business from one company to another – purely to take advantage of a benefits programme. “If you don’t have a programme in place, start one – no matter how simple,” it said. These programmes are integral to business acquisition, but what about their role in generating loyalty? The academic community isn’t fully aligned on the long-term retention benefits of such programmes; however, they agree that tier or thresholdbased programmes such as, “buy 10 coffees get one free” or “travel 50,000 miles a year to maintain elite status” are proven to deliver an increase in purchase frequency, Kadence said.

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A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH Best practices in customer retention remain unchanged; brands must deliver good value, quality and service – time and time again. Brands are moving into dangerous territory if they become fixated on acquisition and forget to keep existing customers happy – happy enough to become your advocates. In fact, in Singapore, 68% of consumers have switched service providers in the past year due to poor customer service, with retailers, banks and internet service providers being the worst offenders. According to research from Accenture, nearly 83% of consumers in Singapore prefer human interaction over using digital channels to solve customer services issues. In Singapore, the estimated cost of customers switching because of poor service is US$26 billion. The Accenture Strategy report, “Digital disconnect in customer engagement”, is based on the company’s 11th annual global consumer pulse research, which gauges the experiences and attitudes of 24,489 consumers worldwide about marketing, sales and customer services. Some 350 consumers in Singapore were included in the sample. “Companies have lost sight of the importance of human interaction and often make it too difficult for consumers to get the right level of help and service that they need,” said Alison Kennedy, managing director, ASEAN, Accenture Strategy. And here is one example when brands are clearly overdoing digital. “Companies wrongly assume that their digital-only customers are their most profitable, and that customer service is a cost. Consequently,

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Another 39% say they would rather go to a store ﬁrst than use digital channels to get advice on the best products and services. “Singapore companies have reached a tipping point in their customers’ digital intensity and need to rebalance their digital and traditional customer services investments if they want to improve loyalty, differentiate themselves and drive growth,” Kennedy said. “Companies abandon the human connection at their own risk and are facing the need to rebuild it to deliver the varied and tailored outcomes that customers demand.” IMPROVING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE The Accenture Strategy report reveals there is huge room for improvement in the delivery of today’s customer services. About 76% of consumers admit it is frustrating dealing with a company that does not make it easy to do business with them. Another 74% expect customer service to be easier and more convenient, while 69% want it to be faster. Complaining on social media about a poor customer experience is the norm for nearly half (47%) of consumers, who admit to taking to social channels to vent. Once a provider loses a customer, 52% of consumers will not return. However, there are measures companies can take to hold onto them. Around 84% of “switchers” feel the company could have done something to retain them. About 81% report that if companies could provide customers with better live or in-person customer service, it would have impacted their decision to switch providers.

Source: Accenture

they over invest in digital technologies and channels and lose their most proﬁtable customers – multi-channel customers – who want experiences that cover both digital and traditional channels,” he added. About 47% of consumers say they are even willing to pay a higher price for goods and services if it ensures a better level of service. Physical or in-store experiences are also highly valued among consumers. Some 57% agree that in-store service is the best channel for getting a tailored experience, and half (50%) say they are more willing to be sold new or upgraded products when receiving face-to-face service compared with online.

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HOW LEADERS OF CUSTOMER SERVICES SUCCEED Organisations that want to rebalance their digital and traditional customer service channels should look to: 1. Put the human and physical elements back into customer services: Companies should rethink their investment strategy to focus on delivering satisfying customer experiences – not methods of interaction – and ensure the channel management approach delivers integrated experiences. 2. Make it easy for customers to switch channels to get the experiences they want: Build customer service channels that enable consumers to fluidly move from digital to human interaction to get the outcomes they desire. 3. Root out toxicity: Define and address the most toxic customer experiences across all channels. These experiences can directly impact profitability. Identify the experiences that have the greatest potential downside and leverage those insights to guide an investment strategy. 4. Guarantee personal data security: 87% of consumers say it is extremely important that companies protect the privacy of their personal information. By not selling or sharing customer data with other companies, and guaranteeing that safeguards are in place to protect it, consumers will be more willing to hand over personal information which can be leveraged to deliver better experiences. Building loyalty, therefore, is a task more complex than what it may seem on the surface. It is a result of every part of the business pulling its weight in becoming truly customer-centric, as opposed to simply running a loyalty marketing programme. More on that in our following pages of this Master Report.

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THE FUTURE OF REWARDS HOW REWARDS WILL HELP BUILD REAL RELATIONSHIPS A recent round of interviews with over a dozen Aimia loyalty experts revealed the top ﬁve challenges and opportunities inherent in the future of rewards design.

3. Personal relevance in a reward design. The era of “one-size-ﬁts-all” reward catalogues is drawing to a close. The next era of reward design will feature a customised, personalised reward experience based on customer transaction, earning and redemption data. Whether it’s building

Top Five Opportunities

Researching the psychology around “thank you” and the psychology of rewards

Experience as a reward

Personal relevance in reward design

Renewed focus on soft beneﬁts

Innovative reward models

The many deﬁnitions of rewards

The role of rewards is undervalued

The transparency of rewards value

The trend to “instant” rewards

The ease-to-value equation

Top Five Challenges

TOP FIVE OPPORTUNITIES 1. Researching the psychology around “thank you” and the psychology of rewards. Understanding what factors drive a customer to earn and redeem within programmes, and how redemption influences future buying behaviour, will become critical to marketing success. What psychological levers drive consumers to collect currency? How important is it to say “thank you?” How does a successful first redemption impact customer lifetime value? Are multiple redeemers even more valuable? Can we create dynamic psychological profiles of customers – savvy shoppers, experience seekers, savers, etc – and build reward portfolios that better target these groups? What is the impact of redemption on brand reputation? How can the latest findings of neuroscience help drive reward portfolio design? By better understanding what psychological drivers underpin loyalty programme activity, we can improve both the outcome and the profitability of our loyalty programmes. 2. Customer experience as a reward. The flip side of the confusing and evolving definition of rewards is the opportunity to broaden the definition to one that encompasses the use of data to improve the customer experience, personalise reward offers, and recognise valuable customer segments – next-generation rewards that form the foundation of real relationships. To seize on this opportunity, leverage customer-centric data to drive better product relevancy, improve the in-store experience, and recognise top-tier customers. Rewarding your customers with an improved experience will build emotional loyalty that lasts.

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an Amazon-style recommendation engine into your reward catalogue, delivering exclusive and tailored rewards to top customers, or leveraging your analytics prowess to offer rewards based on distinctive customer life stages, loyalty marketers now possess the building blocks to bring the personalisation of rewards to an entirely new level. Personalisation should also extend to the redemption experience itself, so that customers earn rewards at the time and place of their choosing. 4. A renewed focus on soft benefits. Marketers traditionally focus on the hard benefits side of the reward value proposition for the simple reason that currency programmes and economic rewards drive shortterm behaviour change. However, as the best customers increasingly demand soft benefits – recognition, exclusive access and services, tiered benefits for top segments – the loyalty programmes of tomorrow will feature a renewed focus on the soft side of the equation. The power of recognition elements to build long-term emotional loyalty will prove a difference-maker for the world’s leading programmes. 5. Reward model innovation. The industry leaders of tomorrow will develop new reward models that take customer recognition and rewards into the 21st century. Whether it’s incorporating dynamic pricing in reward points value; to accessing distressed inventories – theatre, sporting events and concert tickets, for example – and delivering these rewards in real-time; to building networks of local redemption partners; to building entirely new non-points based programme models; to creating a true virtual currency;

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TOP CMO VALUE DRIVERS FOR REWARDS Average score (1=not important; 2=nice to have; 3=important; 4=critical)

3.1

2.9

Have a single point of contact manage all my rewards suppliers

Easily change my catalog of rewards (e.g. for tests/pilots)

3.0

2.9

Reduce the cost of rewards by using data-driven optimization (e.g. promoting high perceived value/low cost merchandise to individual members)

Enable multi-tendered redemptions (e.g. points and cash)

3.1

3.0

2.4

Reduce the cost of rewards by leveraging an at-scale supplier

Access a broad range of rewards (e.g. air travel, merchandise, sports tickets, unique experiences)

Allow my loyalty program members to redeem outside my catalog (e.g. on amazon.com, at restaurants)

3.3 Increase loyalty program member engagement through an attractive rewards proposition (e.g. personalized rewards)

3.2 Outsource activities that are not core to my business (e.g. fulfillment)

3.0 Source: Proprietary Loyalty survey with 71 CMOs, January 2014

Total average

these and many other innovations in loyalty programme design will help marketers build real relationships with their best customers. While innovation, new technology, and changing consumer demands will fuel the next generation of reward design, some truths remain eternal: That customers are motivated by recognition and reward; that some customers are more valuable than others and thus deserving of special offers and service; and that real relationships are built on a foundation of trust, commitment and reciprocity. Far from serving to bribe customers for their loyalty, rewards will continue to serve as the mechanism by which brands demonstrate their loyalty to their best customers. TOP FIVE CHALLENGES 1. The many definitions of “rewards”. The term “rewards” has become a catch-all term encompassing everything from promotional currency to short-term promotions and discounts. Because of this confusion, many marketers still consider rewards as a form of bribery, with no impact on the customer relationship. Leaders in reward design and insight must develop a definition of rewards that stresses their role in building real relationships by making business more personal. 2. In building real relationships, rewards are undervalued. Marketers tend to underestimate the value of rewards in building relationships. This underestimation happens for two reasons: One, because marketers often choose reward fulfillment partners based almost solely on price,

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they tend to discount the value of effective rewards design; and two, the hype surrounding the potential of “big data” often obscures the role of reward and recognition in building relationships. After all, for many customers, reward redemption represents one of the few points in the customer journey when brand loyalty delivers a tangible return. The ability to leverage redemption behaviour to predict future customer value offers untapped potential for marketers. 3. The increasing transparency of rewards value. The ubiquity of loyalty programmes in mature markets has led to a savvier generation of consumers more willing and able to “do the math” when choosing which programmes to participate in, and they have more tools at their disposal to do so. As a result, the “perceived value” gap in rewards, which historically has driven programme profitability, is shrinking. To combat this trend, marketers should seek new rewards that build perceived value back into the equation. 4. The trend to instant rewards. Aimia’s own Millennial loyalty research revealed what marketers are now learning on the front lines: Fully aware of the value of their loyalty, Generation Y consumers now demand both immediate gratification and increased reward value – an equation that marketers find difficult to balance. This evolution has led to a focus on low-cost instant rewards, discounts and cash-back programmes. While instant rewards can be an important tool in the marketing toolbox, marketers shouldn’t discount the power of promotional

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currency to both motivate incremental behaviour and deliver long-term customer value. 5. The changing ease-vs-value equation. Marketers have long struggled with the “ease vs value” equation of reward design, which states the ease with which a programme member earns and redeems for a reward should be less than or equal to the perceived value of that reward. A related concept is a programme’s “earn velocity” – the speed with which a member can earn a meaningful reward – which often dictates the level of programme engagement. Thanks to the advent of smartphones, consumers now demand seamless, multi-channel earning and redemption, as well as rewards of increasing value – a double-whammy for the bottom line of most loyalty programmes. DATA-DRIVEN REWARDS DESIGN When designing a rewards catalogue, a number of key questions require answers. How many rewards do you need in the catalogue? What categories of rewards will you include? What price ranges do you need, and how many rewards do you need at each price interval? How generous should you be to each customer segment? How do you ensure that your best customers feel rewarded? Aimia has led the way in using redemption and programme behavioural data to help answer these questions in a way that optimises programme value for both members and the programme sponsor. Key data sources and analytical approaches include: •

•

Historical redemption data: Analysing redemption patterns by segment can help you devise the optimal number of items in your reward catalogue. Benchmark redemption mix: Competitive and cross-industry reward catalogue analysis helps you devise the proper category mix, as well as the number of rewards within each category. Earn distributions: By calculating customer yearly spend and earn distributions by segment, you can understand customer reach to properly “price” items by point cost and build in perceived reward value, aspirational appeal and attainability. Points modelling: Points price modelling can help you predict category and item popularity; ensure that your most proﬁtable customers earn more rewards value; discourage redemption of low-value rewards; generate a healthier redemption mix; and encourage redemption of rewards with high perceived value.

An analytical approach to reward catalogue design can be as sophisticated as your expertise and resources allow. What’s clear, however, is the age of the one-size-ﬁts-all reward catalogue has ended. Today, marketers understand that reward catalogues are among your most valuable tools for building real relationships with your best customers. THE LIFETIME VALUE OF REDEEMERS If there was ever any doubt that reward redemption can help brands build stronger loyalty, then Aimia’s analytical research into the behaviour of reward programme members helps bring that truism to life. Because we operate or partner in coalition programmes around the globe, as well as design and operate proprietary programmes for some of the world’s leading brands, we’re able to gather deep insights into member redemption activity. Analytical insight into this behaviour reveals the bottom-line value of reward programme sponsorship: Members spend more, remain loyal

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longer, and exhibit greater lifetime value than non-members. Here are just a few data points to consider: • Analysis of redemption and spending patterns of loyalty coalition members demonstrates a clear correlation between the size of a member’s first redemption and their long-term value to the coalition sponsor. • An Aimia health check of a large retail banking client’s loyalty programme revealed the average credit card spend of a redeemer indexes 153% higher than the credit card spend of non-redeemers – meaning the bank’s credit card is front-of-wallet for redeemers. The higher the profitability of the cardholder segment, the greater the exhibited gap in spend between the redeemers and non-redeemers. Top redeemers, meanwhile, exhibited the longest tenure of all customer segments. • Another client’s credit card portfolio analysis revealed that early redemption is a strong predictor of future member value – provided the member earns the points through spending, rather than through bonus-point promotions. High potential members redeem within the first 100 days; they spend more and stay longer than average members. Non-bonus redeemers spend about twice as much as bonus redeemers, and churn at significantly lower rates. These data points tell the tale: Reward redemption encourages consumers to engage in profitable, sustainable and value-added relationships with their favourite brands. The flip side of rewards redemption is, however, increased incremental programme costs, as members redeem points and rewards are sourced and delivered. To control programme costs, operators may be tempted to encourage breakage – the percentage of programme points that are earned, but never redeemed – to improve programme profitability. But as Aimia group chief executive Rupert Duchesne said recently in an interview with the Business News Network: “What we actually want is for people to use the points and the miles. And the reason for that is that once you use them, you get a great experience, and you earn faster subsequently. Velocity through the programme is more important than breakage.”

ABOUT AIMIA Aimia Inc. is the world’s largest loyalty and analytics company. We provide our clients with the customer insights to make smarter business decisions and build relevant, rewarding and long-term relationships, evolving the value exchange to the mutual benefit of both our clients and consumers. We do this through our own coalition loyalty programmes such as Aeroplan in Canada and Nectar in UK, and through the provision of loyalty strategy, programme development, implementation and management services underpinned by leading products and technology platforms such as the Aimia Loyalty Platform and Smart Button, and through our analytics and insights business, including Intelligent Shopper Solutions. We own stakes in loyalty programmes, such as Club Premier in Mexico, Air Miles Middle East and AirAsia’s BIG loyalty programme. We have industry-leading expertise in the FMCG, retail, financial services, and travel industries globally to deliver against unique needs. For more information, visit www.aimia.com or email enquiries.asiapacific@aimia.com

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There are many changes that are redefining how B2B brands market themselves to buyers. From content to customer experience to account-based marketing, marketers in this space need to keep up with all these changes. Our latest Master Report dives into some of these critical developments.

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Considered to be a different marketing ballgame altogether until recently, B2B marketing has begun to show strains of similarity with B2C. The evolving marketing landscape is affecting the buyer behaviour as well as purchase patterns, across both the disciplines of marketing. The consumerisation of B2B has long been discussed – the need for B2B marketers to treat their audience as personas and not mere buyers, understanding their needs and offering relevant solutions is crucial. From being specification-driven to being customer-centric. Using data to uncover what’s underneath and making marketing more and more aligned with sales, while keeping in mind the ideal customer experience on every step of the journey is now a priority for all B2B marketers. Last year, a McKinsey Quarterly article said B2B companies across industries are moving towards journey-based sales strategies. They are charting decision journeys by customer segment and drilling down on customer expectations and needs at each stage of the journey, tackling the difficult process of reallocating sales and marketing resources to the activities most likely to influence decisions and changing organisational structures to ramp up collaboration between marketing and sales. In a past interview with Marketing, Amjad Shahabuddin, global marketing manager for aviation lubricants at Shell Eastern Petroleum, said for B2B marketers, walking in the shoes of sales partners is extremely critical. Successful B2B marketers invest the time to build sales alliances and regularly go out in the field with them, he said. This helps to outline what kind of sales tools and materials are required. Hence, the output the marketing team develops is valued by the sales team and helps the customer understand the benefits.

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It also helps in providing a good understanding of the gaps the sales team may have in competencies and helps to develop training content to fill them. It also aids in capturing competitive intelligence as often sales teams enjoy a great relationship with the buying units and spending time with them gives the marketer first-hand knowledge which generally does not come from looking at databases in the office. As such, integration with sales and other stakeholders will continue to grow in importance. Another big area of focus in the journey-based strategies will be to create the ideal customer experience for B2B buyers. A recent report by Kapost, a B2B marketing platform, highlights what B2B marketers are focusing on. A snapshot of the results of the survey highlights can be seen in the infographic. According to the report, which surveyed 316 B2B marketing professionals, three ingredients are crucial for marketers to come up with a great customer experience. Consistency: In the report, 85% of B2B marketers agree that consistency across content, teams and channels is the backbone of an effective customer experience. About 26% cite a lack of consistency across channels as a barrier to success. Visibility: A lack of visibility into initiatives, timelines and deliverables across teams is an issue said B2B marketers who responded to the survey. When one team doesn’t know what another is doing, inefficiency, redundancy and mixed messages are the result. Process: Inefficient processes are reported as the top barrier to successful

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customer experience by 49% of respondents to the survey. Part of this issue may be due to the fact that the marketers who rate themselves as less effective have neither a documented strategy nor clear business objectives.

Takeaways 12%

Only of B2B marketers rate themselves consistent customer experience

processes, tracking and reporting the right metrics, of alignment across internal teams are the

Lead generation and revenue were ranked as the top two marketing priorities, yet only 41% of

B2B marketers consider their organization to be truly data-driven

85% of B2B marketers

top three barriers to success

agree that consistency across content, teams, and channels is the backbone experience

83% of top performers

take a buyer-centric approach to content

and lack

have a documented CX strategy in place

75% of B2B marketers 92% of top performers

80% of respondents who ranked themselves as “very at delivering a consistent customer experience have a process for internally crowdsourcing ideas, compared to only 40% of respondents who ranked

56% of B2B marketers are directly responsible for revenue at their organization

have a shared editorial calendar for planning marketing initiatives, compared to 11% of respondents who are “not at

56% of B2B marketers don’t feel like they have visibility into initiatives, timelines, and deliverables across teams

Top performers areover 3X more likely to have visibility into initiatives, timelines, and deliverables across teams

Which marketing programs are you investing in this year? 81%

Content marketing

64%

Social marketing

50%

Events

50%

Inbound marketing

50%

SEO/SEM

49%

Digital advertising

33%

Account-based marketing (ABM)

30%

Customer advocacy

26%

Data integration

20%

Referral marketing

17%

Print advertising

16%

Post-sale marketing

14%

Agile marketing

What are your top three marketing priorities?

48%

67%

Revenue/ROI

Lead generation

47% Brand awareness

Source: Kapost’s B2B Customer Experience Benchmark Report 2016.

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Enabling all of that will be content which will remain a crucial focus for marketers in the B2B space going forward. At our B2B Marketing Conference, Rashish Pandey, director of marketing for APAC at Cisco Systems, shared a few questions marketers should have top-of-mind when coming up with content. • Does this content help my customer do his job better? • Is this timely? Marketers get wedded to the idea of a content calendar, but does that calendar have scope for “breaking news” moments that happen every day? How quickly can they turn around and capitalise on those situations? • Is the content ﬁndable? • Is it inspiring in a way that makes the buyer stop and think? The fundamental challenge with content marketing, he says, is the number of avenues where content needs to be deployed. From newsletters, websites, events, social media – the demand to push compelling content is high. There is also an increased need to feed this beast on a regular basis. Almost half of organisations post something once a week. So, how do you get around to building such compelling content? “It takes an army to create the compelling content,” Pandey said, adding it’s not that the content does not exist in the organisation, it exists in silos. “As marketers, it is not our job only to create content, but to be an orchestrator of content that resides in the silos of the organisation.” Sharing some more tips on how brands should approach content, Priyanka Nath, digital and social media lead for South Asia at Dell, in a previous interview with Marketing, recommended the following: • Be altruistic. Share genuine insights, demystify the complex, and help your audience to connect the dots across seemingly disparate topics. • Don’t expect your audience to come to you. Be clear on how and where your audience gathers information and make sure you’re present on these channels. • Build in opportunities to extend the life cycle of content. For example, the high number of registration dropouts from live webinars has now made on-demand webcasts a necessity. • Remember that great content can come from anywhere in your organisation: create a series of digestible nuggets from long-form copy (for example, press releases) as well as live content (for example, event keynotes by subject matter experts). • Ensure your content is suited to the device and screen it is viewed on. This is painstakingly obvious, but still not de rigueur. • Remember that 58% of B2B buyers engage with peers during the decision-making process, so ensure your content is easy to distribute and share. • Understand the role played by your content in the decision-making process. Is it a conversation starter, sustainer or closer? What actions would you expect the prospect to take next? This is critical to selecting the right channels and the performance metrics. • Take an unbiased view on how differentiated your content truly is and provide access accordingly. There is a clear relationship between this perceived value and a prospect’s motivation to share contact details or start a conversation with you.

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WHY B2B MARKETERS SHOULD HARNESS THE POWER OF ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING NOW

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a marketing technique that’s about identifying and targeting with personalised messages the accounts that matter the most to your organisation’s goals. It’s designed to focus on, attract (clients and prospects), engage, convert and measure the progress of your campaigns. According to Demandbase, one of the world’s premier marketing agencies, 71% of B2B organisations are interested in ABM, are testing it or are already using it, while 96% of B2B marketers, who have used ABM, report a positive impact on their marketing’s success. This points to ABM becoming the default marketing technique that companies use ﬁrst before anything else. Thanks to its incredibly attractive ROI, marketers are attempting to use ABM on all the accounts their companies care about, regardless of size or vertical. This is because, based on the Pareto principle (the 80-20 rule which is the core of ABM), nearly 80% of sales comes from 20% of your customer base – customers you’re targeting with ABM. These customers require (and sometimes even demand) your understanding of their business, and to provide them with tailored solutions. Instead of targeting a wide range of customers hovering at the top of the funnel, you target those companies that have the potential to yield the best results. This ensures your effort-to-yield ratio is as attractive as your ROI.

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However, for ABM to do its work, your organisation should be aligned internally. Your sales teams and your marketing teams should work as one. This means the messaging from them has to be organised and carefully choreographed to be identical from the ﬁrst to the last touch. While ABM’s concept is straightforward – identify important accounts, and sell personalised messages accordingly – pulling it off requires some effort on your part. Follow these ﬁve steps to ensure a successful campaign.

1. ACCOUNT SELECTION This is the first, and perhaps the most important step, as it sets the pace for the rest of the campaign. Build a target list comprising companies with the most potential to your business. The people on this list can include customers, prospects, partners or a mix of all three of these categories. Here, you’re essentially flipping the traditional sales funnel around. Instead of casting a wide net, you focus with pinpoint accuracy on the right people in target accounts. According to Marketo, you are now identifying, expanding, engaging and advocating. This helps to increase your pipeline, improves sales and marketing alignment, yielding more qualified leads.

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2. ANALYSIS Next, conduct further analysis to identify your accounts by industry, revenue (or size), current use of what you’re selling, and whether or not they’re even worth spending more time on for a deeper analysis. Once you’re done here, you go on to analyse the stakeholders that are important to your campaign. Acquire data about these people through your existing sales and marketing database, through top-of-thefunnel (TOFU) campaigns or databases from third-party agencies (such as the GetIT Intellibase).

3. PLAN ABM WORKFLOW After your data has been processed, come up with a lead score. This involves ranking your potential prospects according to the business perceived value each lead has. The resulting score will determine the receiving function your lead will get in order of priority. High ranking prospects should receive direct contact from the sales team, while low ranking prospects will get a phone call from your tele-prospecting team. Following that, strategise on how you want to reach your prospects, by coming up with a workflow (communication blueprint, touch-point map, and so on). This workflow will help you understand more about the campaign, discover gaps and figure out the key CTAs and destinations for the whole plan or subset, for example, by audience or communication objectives).

4. CONTENT AND MESSAGING This is the meat of the ABM campaign. Your content. Develop accountspecific messaging based on the needs, competitive advantage, positioning strategy and the USPs of your clients. In other words, personalised content. At this point, conducting a content audit will minimise the amount of work necessary. Stock-checking and identifying usable existing content for specific accounts saves you both time and money. This step is easily done by mapping content with target personas, channels (selected during the workflow planning and procurement process stages).

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Once you’ve identified reusable content, you’ll be able to find the gaps that require content to fill – content that’s either fresh, repurposed or curated from other sources.

5. ACTIVATION Once the content is ready, you can deploy it according to your strategic workflow. It can be on an account-specific microsite or a site segment development. Follow up with account-specific email campaigns to known contacts, and perhaps a LinkedIn InMail campaign for unknown contacts. For unidentified leads and prospects, rely on targeted display advertisements (Google Display Network, Twitter, Facebook) to reach them. To get better mileage out of your campaigns, you can conduct account-specific nurturing through digital content nurturing or accountspecific workshops or breakfast briefings. To tie the whole campaign together you can use highly specialised tools in project management (Basecamp), analytics (Google Analytics), reporting (Tableau) and optimisation (SharpSpring). With a judicious use of these tools, coupled with a strict adhesion to your plan, you’ll be able to target your potential leads and prospects with pinpoint accuracy, leading to higher conversion rates and better ROI.

THE ABM SHIP IS STILL WAITING FOR YOU With all these processes and tools at your disposal, there’s really no better time than now to start experimenting with ABM, so you can see for yourself the incredible improvement this technique will bring to your marketing campaigns. However, bear in mind the onus is still on you to create innovative, personalised marketing programmes in order to achieve maximum efﬁcacy. This report is brought to you by Leo Boon Yeow from GetIT Comms.

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Digital, data and social are inevitable parts of the marketing equation today, but how exactly they fit into a holistic picture of the customer experience remains a challenge. We find ourselves asking why customers are becoming less loyal and have we lost sight of what the customer actually wants and how they want to engage with our brands? It is for this reason our Customer Experience conference this year focused on collaboration and engagement in the areas of technology and innovation; the new-age customer; building a customer-centric organisation; and redefining loyalty and CRM. Read on to see what was discussed at the conference here.

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PREMIUMISE TO DIFFERENTIATE YOUR BRAND EXPERIENCE a new spin on how customers can experience a product. Taking Somersby “Somerita” for example, the serving ritual of placing the drink in a glass in an innovative manner as opposed to simply serving it in its bottle enhances the perception of the drink. “There are no changes in the intrinsic – but it allows the brand to be the hero,” Sharma said. This makes it unique within its product category and differentiates it from competition, setting apart the difference between premium priced versus ‘regular’ cider. “Somersby Somerita is an example of taking a cider and putting a cocktail price on it,” Sharma added.

Premiumisation is the key to growing your brand in an increasingly customer-centric world, said Priyadarshini Sharma, group commercial brand director of Carlsberg Breweries. Sharma was speaking at Marketing‘s twoday Customer Experience 2016 conference held at Suntec Convention centre. Sharma (pictured) explained premiumisation is the act of getting consumers to “pay for more familiar experiences”. Customers today are looking to be delighted in their experience and as such customer satisfaction is just the price of entry and not enough to win. “Consumers don’t need to be dissatisfied – if someone else will delight them, they will spend their money there because the customer just wants better things,” Sharma said. She added the rise in demand for premium goods and services is due to two things namely, (1) The significant rise in household per capita wealth due to changing lifestyles and (2) The increasing propensity to reflect status based on the brands and products chosen . Additionally, for companies it’s important to premiumise because eventually there will be no more markets left to emerge. In the past, business growth could be driven by footprint expansion. But in the future, with no more countries and new markets left to ‘emerge’, premiumisation will be the key way to drive growth. Sharma also referred to the phenomenon Michael Silverstein has called, “Death in the

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Middle” whereby consumers are either trading down for the best deals possible for everyday products, or spending high to get the best experience or product that money can buy. As such staying in the middle ground will result in a brand losing relevance. “Stop trying to play the middle ground – it is shifting to one end of the spectrum or the other”, Sharma said. Sharma also outlined ways to navigate premiumisation and improve offerings to consumers. Product Innovation Product innovation is important in driving strong intrinsic differentiation when it comes to premiumising your offering. Coupled with strong pricing to support the imagery, Sharma shared Somersby Rose’ cider as one of the case studies which took this approach, being marketed as the “champagne of ciders”. Colour and packaging changes can also make a brand look more luxurious compared to competitors. Packaging can also help excite customers with a novelty. This was the case for one of its beers, Tuborg, which “upgraded” its iconic ringpull bottle caps with coloured ones – driving new news and a more exciting consumer experience. Rituals Driving customer experience through new rituals can also be another way brands can put

Multi-sensory experience Investing well on channels which drive customer experience is also something which can pay off because it gives the brand the ability to control the type of experience you want customers to have. Sharma drove home the importance of having a multi-sensory customer experience. She explained application of concept store principles to on or off trade environments can provide an intimate brand experience due to sensorial differentiation. A Carlsberg campaign which took off in the United Kingdom was the draft beer billboard, which created a sensory and even social experience by giving users the power of control by allowing them to pour themselves a cup of draft Carlsberg beer. Ultimately, this hands control over to the consumer and makes them feel part of the brand. Align all value chains Sharma closed her speech with three key things she recommends to drive superior customer experiences and premiumisation. First and foremost, ensure the whole organisation is aligned towards the vision of customer experiences to be delivered – avoid silo thinking. Secondly, focus on your key touch points where consumer experience really matters and will make a difference. And last but not the least, Continue to attack the category like an “outsider” – it inculcates fresh thinking and innovative solutions. Startups, according to Sharma, do this particular well.

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THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: A BALANCING ACT BETWEEN EMOTIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL While data is a big part of understanding a customer today, marketers must remember that when you torture data, it can be twisted and turned into the narrative you want it to tell you. Hence, the importance of face-to-face conversations are very much alive and marketers should be wary of an over reliance on data. Today, connecting with a customer is a balancing game of being emotional and functional, along with the right mix of data and real on-ground conversations. All of these are needed to really figure out the underlying painpoints customers face, explained Howie Lau, CMO of StarHub, who was speaking at the Customer Experience Conference 2016. “Data will tell you what you want it to tell you. Customers will tell you what they want to tell you. It is your job as a marketer to figure out what the real issue is,” Lau (pictured) said. Customers today are well-informed, wellversed and very vocal. While most marketers would like to believe they have the power to influence what the customers know and see, this is hardly ever the case, he added. As such, especially in the telco business, connecting with their emotional side really matters, he explained. “If you are not addressing the emotional side of things and are purely functional, it may not be sufficient,” he said. But there is no hard and fast rule for how much emotional and functional elements are needed in your messaging. You simply need to take a look at both lenses when talking to consumers. “When someone goes to a bank to get a loan, the functional aspect might be the loan itself, but the emotional aspect is that he is looking to build a house for his family and make a life. It is the bank’s duty to make him feel safe and understood,” he said. Seconding him was Cameron Richards, founder and CEO of CPR Vision. He questioned how organisations could create an exceptional customer experience without actually knowing what their consumers wanted or speaking directly to them. He added that today 90% of brands charter a CRM strategy based on what they think their customers want rather than listening to them. “No matter how robotic, technologically advanced or sophisticated we become, no robot can replace the human element when it comes to true customer engagement. Don’t be

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static,” he warned, adding that the key to the best relationships centre around asking the right questions. He also said that to establish strong relationships brands should ask customers to be part of the solution rather than being part of the problem. This will help to later establish common ground and understand the behaviour, emotional triggers and drivers of consumers. In his experience, he added, 86% of customers would pay more for a better customer experience. “Empower your customers, and they become more emotive and supportive of your brand,” he said. Don’t be overly reliant on new technology In the past, tech used to be a vertical and was seen as a tool for productivity. Today, it is an embedded consultant across all industries. According to Lau, the average Singaporean has 3.3 connected devices and 25% of them have five or more such devices. However, Lau noted it was easy to go overboard with all the shiny new digital playthings in the tech world today. He outlined three crucial questions any company must ask before embracing and adopting new technology: 1. Is it relevant for customers in an outsidein approach? 2. Does it help in my business and drive purpose? 3. Is it complementary for my brand? Does it work with my brand DNA? “Find tech that lets you marry what customers are looking for, is beneficial to your business and is complementary to your brand. If you want to lead you have got to try new things, but you also need to know where to draw the line,” he said. He added that while tech is growing at an exponential rate, the importance of face-to-face conversations and observations should not be undermined. Giving an example of his past experience, he said while away on assignment to grow business in Vietnam, he realised the power of observation. His sales companions in Vietnam could easily identify customers looking to buy the product from those simply fishing for the best deals. This was simply based on the satchels the customers were carrying.

“The dong came in small denominations so those carrying the satchel were ready for purchase with their bag full of money. The conversation the sales folks had to have was simply to convince them to convert and purchase,” Lau said. Meanwhile, the ones without satchels were given a sheet to explain the functional aspects of the products. Most recently, he also met with several retailer partners in Singapore for lunch. “Through a simple conversation I learnt that the front part of Little India generally has more Indians and the back part has more Bangladeshis. We learnt that our advertising and messaging, hence, had to be slightly different,” Lau said. At the end of the day, said Lau, to really ﬁnd out what customers are looking for is all about purely talking, observing and listening. “We know that 50% of all our advertising spend is wasted, we just don’t know which part. So literally, my advice is to go out there and try and embrace the culture of trying and failing quickly.”

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WHAT DOES THE AGE OF THE CONSUMER REALLY MEAN? It is widely accepted that today we are living in the “age of the consumer”. This has prompted brands across all industries to recognise the importance of customers and placing them at the centre of decision-making. Discussing what the “age of the consumer” really means during a recent panel discussion Marketing’s Customer Experience at Conference 2016, was Christina Lim, director of brand and marketing at NTUC FairPrice Cooperative. Joining her on the panel was Tomasz Kurczyk, digital transformation director at AXA Singapore, and Stephanie Myers, a senior marketing professional with both client and agency side experience. Lim said: “It is a time where profitability is a result of customer happiness. It is an age where the customers are the CEOs.” Also putting customers in the driver’s seat is the onset of social media. The court of public opinion is now a daunting one for most marketers as they become far more cautious in their decisions impacting consumers. But this is not to say brands have lost all control over the influence they have on consumers. More than ever today, consumers are willing to give up more information about themselves for a seamless and convenient experience. With the abundance of data offered up to organisations today, marketers now can not only understand consumers better, but also shape and influence their choices, said the panellists. According to Kurczyk, having intimate relationships and knowledge about customers is now a must, given the increasing tools and technology present in the market today. What the trick is, is in finding the right balance and not invading the privacy of customers. “The crucial part is not to cross the line to becoming creepy. The journey is in finding the right balance so the customer does not feel like you are stalking him/her,” he said. He added this could sometimes be an issue for more advanced organisations as they are able to analyse the customer a little too precisely. Meeting expectations In the age of the customer, expectations are sky high. Consumers expect their experiences with brands to be smooth sailing at every touch-point. As such, brands need to pay even more attention to micro-moments. Any good moment is a chance for the brand to tell a good

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story which will stick to the customers’ positive memory. Similarly, every moment in crisis is also a chance for a brand to redeﬁne itself. “I think the challenge for us now is not so much catching up with the competition, which we are worried about as well, but rather catching up with the customer,” Lim said. She added that brands needed to maintain their promises and constantly deliver on them to make sure advocacies are built. Lim added that rather than constantly investing marketing dollars to acquire new

audiences, brands should leverage on opportunities to work with various service providers and partnerships already established in the market. Moreover, more marketers should consider involving customers to be part of a solution and to try out new initiatives, said Lim. This helps build brand afﬁnity with its target base and build tolerance as customers can better understand the motives behind the change, Lim said. There is a need to make the customer feel

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like they have a choice and there is a seeking of their input and making certain changes. Customers want to know they have a say in some of the changes and decisions the brand is making.

Meanwhile, Kurczyk said engagement and ongoing conversations help consumers to understand your brand and choices. “What is important is not to disappoint. If we can deliver a seamless experience, customers will appreciate it as this is good enough.” Taking personalisation to scale Panellists agreed that when it comes to personalised experiences, it is more often than not a psychological trigger. According to Lim, for her business of selling

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packaged goods, personalisation is really making sure you have the kind of price that customers want. For other industries, it could be the effectiveness of the service platform. On taking personalisation to suit a large scale of consumer, Lim points out the issue could be an expensive one. Lim gives the example of Tesco, which is known for taking a personalised approach by acquiring information from its Clubcard membership database, to send personalised emails on incentives and offers to its customers, on products they would purchase. Lim said while this was a great initiative, customising every offer can be difficult to execute, especially with the additional challenges when tapping on email communication, despite looking into clusters of customer behaviour from an analytics standpoint. Ultimately, if you want to be truly customercentric, you will have to customise your offer for select groups of customers. Otherwise you will get paralysis from analysis. Panellists also agreed that scaling up personalisation would require the help of a third party vendor. This is especially given the increasingly specified digital skill sets and tools needed for successful engagement with consumers. “I think it is essential to have your partners, because digital skill sets these days are so incredibly specialised, and the tools that we need are so incredibly specialised. It is unrealistic to think an average organisation can bring all that in-house. We need to appreciate where we are and the kind of help we need,” Myers said. The flip side to that is that if organisations become over reliant, maybe it is time to build a team or extend the department because a good balance for ownership and for governance is needed to truly serve the brand. Starting point in a brand’s digital transformation It depends on how ambitious you want to be as an organisation, said panelists. “You need to decide if you want to be at the cutting-edge of innovation and disrupt business models through innovation in your space or be early adopters, or play it safe,” Kurczyk said. He added there was no hard and fast rule and a plan should be mapped out based on a company’s business objectives. “Some just want to maintain their position, there isn’t a high need to be experimental or venture too far into the space of unknown experimentation and testing,” he added. When asked on catering to the ageing population in Singapore and balancing the technology uptake, Lim said: “There is always

a debate in our organisation on being careful in moving too quickly into digital marketing as a lot of our customers are older and are not always as well-versed in technology. But we know it is just a matter of time before they try new things.” As such, the brand makes an effort to build awareness as to how technology can be used to make the lives of customers easier. But she notes, embracing digital is vital in a world where customers are time-starved. “The world itself is complex, so we should aim to make it simpler, hence, that is the starting point,” Lim said. Taking payment options as an example, having a self-checkout system now gives NTUC FairPrice consumers the option on how they wish to navigate queues. For those with smaller baskets this is particularly effective as they are able to get out of the store even quicker. “Take Tesco for example, they did an R&D project in 2014 in Berlin using virtual reality goggles to navigate the store and shop. Imagine no screaming kids. The starting point is always customers,” Lim added, stressing that a brand should always place their customers at the centre of the experience. Mani Padmanabhan, country manager for Southeast Asia and India at SSI, added that for marketers to cut through they needed to use the data available to target consumers better. Data, at the end of the day, should be used in a way to ﬁll the gaps in your marketing plan, said Daniel Hughes, head of data science at DigitasLBI. In a world with abundant data, marketers should ﬁnd ways on how to create value with the data present. The perfect experience On anticipating what comprises the perfect customer experience and how marketers should prepare for it, the panel agreed there is no such thing as the perfect customer experience. “What helps is the recognition that customers will always view themselves as most important. For an organisation to succeed, it needs to make sure it continues to use that as a navigator of future decisions and preparing your organisation for cultural changes,” Lim said. Kurczyk recommends breaking the silos in the organisation and using the customer journey in supporting day to day operations in different departments. He also mentions the importance in utilising and adopting the right technologies relevant to the business and its consumers, but at the same time recognise that some experiences cannot be substituted with technology. He said: “Deliver the value of the experience, but make sure the bottom line is not corrupted.”

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DON’T TAKE TRADITIONAL CHANNELS FOR GRANTED

Every day, bright shiny new tools in the digital world pop up. So much so that today, email has almost become one of the older forms of digital communications. Meanwhile, mediums such as print, TV and OOH have now been deemed archaic. Trying as hard as they can to innovate and incorporate new digital technology, they are still labelled as “traditional” advertising channels. However, Rodney Tay, vice-president of digital sales and solutions at Mediacorp, said that despite all the new technology present, the way older mediums can keep relevant is by putting up a great piece of content. No matter what the medium might be. Tay was speaking at the recent Customer Experience Conference 2016. He further added that in ensuring your marketing strategy ﬁts with consumer needs, brands and advertisers need to acknowledge that consumers today do not want to be sold to. They want to buy into your communication. Agreeing with Tay’s sentiments, Per Caroe, global evangelist at IBM Commerce, said brands should focus on making a viewing experience a continuous and organic process.

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As such, when mixing older mediums with newer ones, he advised there be no “jarring experiences” on the consumer’s end. Maximising your email strategy According to Caroe, some challenges to email marketing are quality of the email database, poor measurement and analytics, lack of skills and training and lack of relevant content and integration. When using email marketing in your communication strategy, personalising your approach is essential. He stressed the need for a strong database with clean data to ensure marketers are delivering the right customised message to the right person. “Adding intelligence to your database is a good measure and can allow you to ﬁgure out who is a hot or a cold lead,” he said. “The richer your master database is, the more powerful, relevant and personal you’ll be”. Marketing automation should also be in the minds of all marketers today as it can easily help any email marketing campaign. Email has been one of the frontrunners in reaching consumers since the introduction

of the internet, said Caroe. When asked a question from the audience on the relevance of email marketing today given the rise of social media, he said there was not much cause for concern – especially in the B2B world. Social is fun and effective, but the reality is that the impact on real businesses of social is negligible and there aren’t any studies to prove otherwise. “Email is still the number one way to communicate with people, will be for years,” he said, further adding this also applies to the younger generations. OOH gains traction in Singapore While OOH as a medium may have been around for decades in America and Europe, it is a relatively new form of advertising in Singapore, explained Henry Goh, head of OOH media at Mediacorp. This was because OOH advertising was banned in Singapore in the 1970s as the Urban Redevelopment Authority was tasked to clean up the streets. “Somewhere in the early 1970s, postVietnam war, the Singapore government banned OOH advertising because we were

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on the course of nation building and urban planning,” he said. Eventually with the ministerial WTO event in 1996 – and with the large outdoor screen at the venue supporting the event – it gave rise to further opportunities for outdoor. The introduction of OOH made its way from the introduction of substantial digital screens in the central business district to stickers found on public transportation. As such the medium is very much alive and constantly innovating in modern-day Singapore, he explained. He added that strategies which were found to be effective in OOH advertising include zonal targeting, sampling and call-to-action campaigns which centre around dictating travel patterns and reaping revenue from them. Knowing your consumers’ feelings and attitudes also helps cater to the ads. One example mentioned was the use of job employment ads placed in the evening to reach frustrated employees. It is the same for travel advertisements during the holiday season. “No matter what, when you are at a bus shelter, you will look up to see which bus is coming. There’s a lot of opportunities for us to grab eyeballs in that way,” he said. Understanding the customer psyche Much like Goh, stressing on the importance of understanding the customer psyche was Samy Mardolker, senior vice-president of marketing research at ORC International. “There is a difference between ‘gut-based research’ and ‘research-based gut’. You need research-based gut, invest more in it, invest the time and think of different ways on how you can mine that insight.” The former means to conduct research based on current perceived notions or “gut feelings”, the latter is the opposite where you use research as a background to influence your marketing decisions. Here are his five tips to help “end the marketing winter”. 1. Type of journey – even though there is no one set journey in behavioural economics, brands can still decide the type of journey experience for their customers. 2. Build empathy – look at pain-points and the types of emotions associated such as stress or anxiety and find ways to alleviate that. 3. Override choice – nudge your customer rather than cause a stir. Help in simplifying their decisions. 4. Design choice – for an enhanced experience. Learn through experiments and research instead of only relying on experience.

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Don’t expect monogamy from your loyal customers Is loyalty dead? Probably not. But is it monogamous? Also, probably not. In a market driven by competition and where consumers are pampered with price cuts and bold bright discounts, their relationships with brands are no longer as long as they once used to be. Agreeing to this was Madhav Nayak, marketing director for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand at Unilever. He says in the FMCG industry, there is a lot of talk that consumers are not seeking long-term relationships with brands and are just “light users” of a brand. Hence, one of the questions plaguing marketers is how to ensure consumers are using their brands more often. “In an era where people are struggling to make a relationship with each other, it is a big assumption to make that consumers are waiting for brands to reach out and forge a relationship with them,” he said. Chances are today, your consumers who are buying your products are also purchasing your competitors, said Wong Wan Ling, consulting and strategic marketer for banking and technology sectors. A person purchasing a Coke today might very well be purchasing a bottle of Pepsi another day. A Burger King dinner doesn’t mean no McDonald’s breakfast a week later. “Marketers sometimes assume that loyalty is a monogamous relationship. Unfortunately, in the real world, loyalty can be polygamous. Just because I use one brand of shampoo doesn’t mean I don’t have other brands on my shelf,” Wong said. But does that mean loyalty is now gone? No, said Wong. It simply means the frequency of purchase has reduced, but the loyalty is still there. Marketers should be ready to share their loyal customers. “You shouldn’t be looking for sole relationships, but rather, higher share of mind and frequency,” she added. Martin Benda, global strategic development senior manager at Aimia, explained that loyalty is not dead, but the rules to playing the loyalty game have changed. “Loyalty is not for everyone. It is not for every industry. But the concept of transaction and being rewarded is still alive,” Benda said. Today, loyalty means different things to different consumers, but ultimately, marketers should sift through their customer data and profiles to use loyalty as a way to develop a relationship to reward your high-value customers. Wong is of the view that the concept of “earn and burn” loyalty points is probably gone. Loyalty can breed only in an emotive context, but brands in certain sectors cannot forget the transactional elements. “The reality for payments and banking sectors is that financial transaction loyalty is still important to the banks. The more they transact the more money they make. Transactional loyalty is thus important to the companies in the banking industry,” she said. But experts agreed that at the end of the day loyalty should not be used to fix a broken relationship with consumers. The basics need to be in place first, and products must deliver on their brand promise. Nayak said one of the most neglected parts of loyalty was product quality. That is what will, at the end of the day, keep a marketer’s consumer base loyal. “As yourselves, are you delivering on what you said and are you delighting your consumer? Every time you offer something, you make a promise. If you do, people will buy you. If you don’t, you are punished. It is as fundamental as that,” he said. He added that people today are time-starved and don’t have time for false claims, and smoke and mirrors. He also said for his industry, finding powerful motivators are far more effective in driving loyalty than monetary incentives. “We promote a lot and so do our competitors. The differentiation comes when we find something that our consumers identify with and finding that becomes a huge competitive advantage. The emotional connection matters.”

5. Don’t try to be a magic solution – there is no magic solution when it comes to behavioural economics. “Invest effort in learning about your customer

and be inspired by all the new things happening because it is not easy to come up with a penetrating insight. Rethink how you are connecting to consumers,” Mardolker said.

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INFLUENCERS ARE GREAT, BUT YOU NEED A SOUND STRATEGY FIRST As marketing evolves and becomes more of a two-way conversation, brands must be careful in how they choose influencers. For Aldrina Thirunagaran, assistant vicepresident of digital marketing at OCBC Bank, recruiting and managing influencers is a matter of two things – authenticity and trust. There are celebrities that have a huge following, but that alone may not be enough of a reason for your brand to associate with them. More than the numbers, what matters is their credibility and relevance to the brand persona, she believes. Sharing her thoughts at the recent Customer Experience Conference 2016, she explained why influencers are great, but that brands need a sound strategy first. Is the trust in influencers waning? With the recent Marigold Peel Fresh’s influencer campaign and NTUC Rebecca Lim debacle coming under fire, it has signalled how tricky using influencers can be and how it places brands in a vulnerable position. The Marigold campaign drew criticism for its impractical nature, with one of the influencers going as far to say that she carries a carton of the juice with her wherever she goes. As for Rebecca Lim, in an NTUC campaign, she announced her retirement on Instagram and asked fans to be happy for her. Little did her fans know, it was just a publicity stunt, and therefore it backfired. “Today’s audience is incredibly smart, incredibly savvy and it shows that whatever you put out there has to cut through the clutter in a genuine and authentic way,” Thirunagaran said. In both the aforementioned cases, what the celebrities said put their authenticity at risk. To the digital marketing native, a successful marketing campaign involving influencers has only one parameter – sincerity. “It boils down to authenticity and them being real, content being real and genuine. It has to be for the benefit and good of the customer. That is something that will cut through the clutter,” she said. According to Thirunagaran, a campaign is a marriage between what the brand presents to its audience and how they choose to do so. Whether or not a brand utilises influencers, she urges that its ethos has to be relatable and authentic.

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Consumers are searching for the truth, and they want truth in everything that is presented to them. The need for authenticity and authentic content is very real. She also pointed out the trust factor, where the audience has to be able to trust the influencers who are touting the brand as their own. “It is a battleground and you have the most brutal of audiences out there. There are ‘trolls’, and if you put out a particular message or execution that does not resonate well, people are quick to be vocal about it,” she said. Take influencers seriously Being in the business of building relationships with consumers, it is equally important brands build relationships with influencers as well, as it really is a partnership. Talking about OCBC’s two widely successful partnerships with local celebrities Michelle Chong and Pornsak, she said they have gone on to speak for the brand at various events and on social media. “Out of all the various media types – paid, owned, earned – one of the most valuable is earned media because that is where you are getting advocates for your brand,” Thirunagaran said. However, a deep understanding of the target audience precedes all of this, as it helps to select the right kind of content as well as the influencer for the audience. For Thirunagaran, it boils down to the objective of the campaign; a brand should then tailor its content and collaterals accordingly. “There are different avenues and channels, and life for a marketer can get hard when it

comes to content, but at the end of day it boils down to the kind of messaging and how that messaging is delivered to your customer,” she said. Measuring the effectiveness of an influencer-led campaign should be done on a constant basis. For Thirunagaran, the important thing is to test and customise as you go. “It is something which has to be fluid and never stops. Keep tracking the data and use it to gain insights as you go along. Always try the AB test to see how your audience responds to it,” she said. Spotting trends and movements for storytelling Thirunagaran pointed out a trend called the #Goals movement, a well-known example of Taylor Swift and her clique of equally famous singer friends such as Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding and Victoria’s Secret Angels Lily Aldridge and Karlie Kloss, who appeared in her music video Bad Blood. “You call them the #BBFSquad. There are so many hashtags: #squadgoals, #brandgoals, #lifegoals. It is all tapping into that particular movement where brands are leveraging on celebrities and influencers to get their messages across,” she said. Lastly, she urged that brands need to have a story, perhaps much like sport. There are winners and losers, there is also overcoming a lot of adversity and emotions. Similarly, brands need to incorporate those elements in their storytelling. “That’s how the magic is created,” Thirunagaran said.

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CAREERS

CAREER PATH Kersie Koh Co-founder and creative director Clozette

First job?

Information system officer with the National Computer Board and second to the National Library Board where I did a mix of IT project management and a bit of coding. First job in advertising/ marketing?

I was with Oracle, as regional marketing manager, co-ordinating regional technology and applications campaigns. Best job?

My current of course. Clozette, a fashion social network, was started up five years ago by four of us ex-colleagues from CNET Networks. Perks of your current job?

It combines all that I’m passionate about – technology, internet, new media, photography, branding, content creation and people. Marketing professionals you admire?

Christopher Bailey, of Burberry, for his digital innovations. Best career advice you’ve been given?

Two that I hold close to my heart are: “Prepare early and practise hard” – in other words, don’t procrastinate! “If it is important enough, you’ll find a way” – in other words, stop whining and just do it! Why a career in marketing?

I find it exhilarating the way good content can evoke positive emotions and affect decisions. It combines the appreciation of art and the tenacity of a good execution. It is a fun challenge for me. If you weren’t in marketing, what would you be?

Product development. Actually my key role in Clozette is product development for our site with our tech team, content and community development.

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JOB SHUFFLE Communications agency Text100 appointed Lee Nugent as managing director of consulting and strategy for Asia Pacific. His remit is to accelerate the agency’s growth in integrated consulting. Previously, he was CEO of the Nelson Bostock Group in London, where he led the diversification of the business. He drove the agency’s transformation from a standalone PR firm to an integrated communications group. Global creative network iris appointed former director of brand strategy at Buzzfeed, Digby Lewis, to a lead role within a newly formed global content division – Content that POPS. The specialist proposition is focused on the creation, production and distribution of content to deliver better value to consumers and clients. Lewis reports to Matthew Kershaw, who joined the team as managing director of Content in November 2015. Richard Fraser has taken on the role of president of BBDO Southeast Asia. This is in addition to his current role as Proximity Worldwide’s regional managing director for Asia, Middle East and Africa. He is based in Singapore and extends his responsibilities across the six BBDO offices in Southeast Asia. In the new role, he reports to Jean-Paul Burge, chairman and CEO of BBDO Asia. International media and advertising services company Publicitas appointed Andy Vogel to the role of head of global digital product. As Publicitas invests more in its

digital strategy on a global scale going forward, he will be responsible for introducing the company’s innovative digital advertising formats to its worldwide customers. He will be responsible for developing and implementing new digital marketing strategies and products. Sizmek hired Po Yean Ng as director of operations of APAC. She is tasked with implementing efﬁcient practices across its media, trading and programmatic strategy teams. She joins Sizmek with more than 16 years of digital advertising experience. In her former role as account management director for Smaato, she led a team that managed partnerships with demand-side platforms and ad networks in the region. Rahul Welde, VP of media at Unilever in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Russia, is moving to London as global VP of digital transformation. He joined the consumer products giant in 1991, working across a variety of roles such as business manager – popular foods, regional commercial manager, sales and operations manager, media director – Unilever South Asia, general manager – media services HUL, and many others. Ben Welsh, creative chairman of M&C Saatchi Asia, moved to DDB Australia to take on the role of chief creative ofﬁcer. He took

on the creative chairman role with M&C Saatchi in October last year to focus on pitching for both international and national brands in each region. He was handling markets such as Singapore, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Tokyo, while being based in Australia. Mediacorp named Ernest Wong as a board director and chairmandesignate. He served as Mediacorp’s group chief executive officer and board director from October 2000 to September 2005. Before that, he was a non-executive director of its board from April 1994 to September 2000. iProspect, the leading global digital performance agency, appointed Flemming Kaasgaard as regional business director for Asia Pacific. He is based in the Singapore office. In his newly created role, He will be serving as regional business director, spearheading the B2B offering in Asia Pacific and driving improved performance across key clients in the region. Scripps Networks Interactive created a new international leadership position with Derek Chang being promoted to head of International Lifestyle Channels. Chang, who is currently the managing director of APAC, will continue to report to Jim Samples, president of International. Since joining the company, Chang has successfully led the integration of the Asian Food Channel into the Scripps Networks fold.

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LAST WORD

BEYONCÉ – A MUSICAL GENIUS OR A MARKETING MAESTRO? Beyoncé is obviously quite aware of her brand and takes it very seriously. Rezwana Manjur shares her opinions on the diva.

At the top of her game: Beyoncé is very shrewd when it comes to marketing herself and her music.

Beyoncé is back with Lemonade to quench the thirst of gossip among her fans. Unless you have no access to social media, or the world wide web in general, you probably know about Beyoncé’s latest album Lemonade, which is also the name of her movie which premiered on HBO. If you are a rookie “Beyhive” (that’s what Beyoncé fans are known as), we have you covered. Here’s a short synopsis of what is going on. Lemonade is Beyoncé’s sixth album and the “visual album” recently premiered on HBO. It talks about the hardships of marriage and a cheating husband. Soon after the premiere, the album was also available to be streamed only on Tidal, a subscription-based music streaming service run by her husband Jay Z. Ironic, as many think the album supposedly points ﬁngers at her husband and his alleged extra-marital affairs. As reported on The New Yorker, Tidal at the start of April was not even in the top 500 apps on the US iOS charts. But soon after the album dropped, it got pushed to number two. According to the article, this spike was also backed by the death of music legend Prince whose music was only available for streaming on Tidal. Despite being launched with little hint or publicity, the album has taken the world by storm. Most of the media coverage is around “the other woman” Queen B hints to in her lyrics, and this has left the Beyhive community playing detective. This begs the question: Is Beyoncé a music maestro or a marketing genius, or both?

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As we reported in 2013 Beyoncé took similar tactics to market her ﬁfth album – the surprise element and visual storytelling works in her favour. Of course, having an engaged community of a gazillion fans also helps. Beyoncé, obviously, is quite aware of her brand and takes it very seriously. There’s no other reason why she walks around with a “visual director” who captures practically “every waking moment of hers,” said an article in GQ. Moreover, last year she also got her publicist to email Buzzfeed to remove some of her unﬂattering photographs from the Super Bowl. Moreover, post all the speculation, a source came out to Page Six saying the album isn’t actually about their relationship, but rather just a marketing stunt. In Page Six, the source was quoted as saying: “They develop these storylines to sell albums. Lemonade is a movie crafted to drive sales. “Jay and Beyoncé are entertainers at the top of their game. Do you think Jay would release her album on [his own label] Tidal if it really was all about him? He is 100% behind this.” “They’re marketing masters,” another source added. Makes your head spin, doesn’t it? After hours of speculation and debating, as a fan, I must admit I am a little disappointed, but as a marketing journalist, I am awed. Kudos to Beyoncé and you know as they say … when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

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