Marketing Magazine SG - Sep 2015

MARKETING MAGAZINE SINGAPORE EDITION

THE ART & SCIENCE OF CONNECTING WITH CONSUMERS

SINGAPORE

SEPTEMBER 2015

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SEPTEMBER 2015

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WHY AREN’T MORE CREATIVE DIRECTORS BECOMING AGENCY CEOs? PAGE 26

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

Editorial Rayana Pandey, Editor rayanap@marketing-interactive.com Rezwana Manjur, Deputy Editor rezwanam@marketing-interactive.com Noreen Ismail, Journalist noreeni@marketing-interactive.com Editorial – International Matt Eaton, Editor (Hong Kong) matte@marketing-interactive.com Production and Design Shahrom Kamarulzaman, Regional Art Director shahrom@lighthousemedia.com.sg Fauzie Rasid, Senior Designer fauzier@lighthousemedia.com.sg Advertising Sales – Singapore & Malaysia Johnathan Tiang, Senior Account Manager johnathant@marketing-interactive.com Ee Kai Li, Account Manager kailie@marketing-interactive.com Grace Goh, Account Manager graceg@marketing-interactive.com Jocelyn Ma, Account Manager jocelynm@marketing-interactive.com Ong Yi Xuan, Advertising Sales Coordinator yixuano@marketing-interactive.com Advertising Sales – International Josi Yan, Sales Director (Hong Kong) josiy@marketing-interactive.com Events Yeo Wei Qi, Regional Head of Events Services weiqi@marketing-interactive.com

Often when talking to industry friends, those who were in advertising in the late 1980s to 1990s, I hear stories of the glory days this profession has seen – I mean ad agencies, and creatives in particular. There was no media agency back then anyway.

Stories of the hassled suit heckling with the crazy creative director on one hand, and the client on the other, of the late hours they put in, the rounds made to the client office (remember, there was no internet then) and the intern who was nothing more than a delivery guy.

It was stressful, indeed, but there’s a smile on their faces thinking of those days.

“It was good fun,” one of them says, reminiscing about the crazy parties which ran late into the night and perhaps even until the wee hours of the morning. While partying hard is still pretty much core to the agency life, it’s just not the same anymore.

What was even more remarkable about that era was the camaraderie forged, most of which lasted years or continues to do so now – to the point there are alumni all over the world.

Talk to a former Ogilvy or a Publicis employee from that era, and you will know what I mean.

“It’s no longer the same,” another says and the rest nod in agreement. And we began to figure out why. Is it because marketing now has become more of a science than an art?

Or because the competition has grown and businesses evolved in general, so much so that the client-agency relationship no longer feels personal? Or because the given economic conditions have put so much pressure on marketing ROI that it’s sucked the fun out of advertising? Or is it the need for marketing to be more data-driven and calculative?

It is perhaps all of the above.

The Mad Men era is gone and for the lack of a better term, I call it the “corporatisation” of agencies. The look and feel of an ad agency is no longer the same. And some of their offices could well pass for an accounting firm now.

Is it possible to bring the fun back into the agencies? Or is the change irreversible? I may sound like a pessimist here, but those were the days, really.

Cut to the present, things are fast-paced, much more organised and definitely techdriven. What will make agencies as fun as they used to be is a tough question to answer, but getting the culture right – amid the current realities – is a top priority for any agency CEO. In this edition we interview a different breed of CEOs – those who have been creative heads before. What are their challenges? What perceptions are they fighting and how are they building the right culture in their agency? Read on to find out more.

Enjoy the edition.

Circulation Executive Deborah Quek, Circulations Executive deborahq@marketing-interactive.com Finance Evelyn Wong, Regional Finance Director evelynw@lighthousemedia.com.sg Management Søren Beaulieu, Publisher sorenb@marketing-interactive.com Tony Kelly, Editorial Director tk@marketing-interactive.com Justin Randles, Group Managing Director jr@marketing-interactive.com

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

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

THOSE WERE THE DAYS ...

Rayana Pandey Editor

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CONTENTS

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4 A MONTH IN NEWS 12 AD WATCH & WEB WATCH Why Shaun Sho of Neighbor is not impressed with Uncle Sim’s So simple campaign but gives a thumbs up to IKEA’s Improve Your Private Life and what Lee Kai Xin of Wild thinks of gothere.sg and streetdirectory.com.sg.

14 FOUR TAKEAWAYS FOR BRANDS FROM GOOGLE’S NEW HOLDING COMPANY ALPHABET. Is this the way forward for companies in managing new technology revenue streams? Elizabeth Low reports.

17 MALAYSIA AIRLINES’ BRANDING CHALLENGES What are some of the major hurdles the airline needs to overcome? Rezwana Manjur writes.

20 STRATEGIES TO BEST ENGAGE INFLUENCERS Social listening can help brands understand the sentiments of their influencers and customers.

What are some of the concerns surrounding a creative director taking on a CEO role?

Marketing explores what it takes to be a great CEO in a creative ad agency. page 26.

22 GLOBAL MARKET CRASH: SILVER LININGS IN AN OTHERWISE GLOOMY CLOUD. What does the current market fluctuation mean for marketing? Rezwana Manjur and Rayana Pandey report.

26 SHOULD MORE ECDS DEMAND THE CEO ROLE? Do creative folks really have what it takes to lead ad agencies and make effective CEOs? Rezwana Manjur finds out.

32 PROFILE: SPA ESPRIT’S CYNTHIA CHUA Owner of brands such as Strip and Tiong Bahru Bakery, Spa Esprit’s Cynthia Chua shares with Elizabeth Low her take on branding.

34 OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA OF THE YEAR Take a look at some of the biggest players in the OOH scene in Singapore.

62 PERFORMANCE MARKETING 2015 Performance marketing – it’s the term on everyone’s lips, but what exactly defines performance? Find out what industry leaders had to say.

SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE!

17 14 KEY TAKEAWAYS: >> Why ECDs can be great agency CEOs. >> Key branding lessons for your brand. >> Tips to getting programmatic right.

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NEWS

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

Cosmopolitan C litt li shuts h t d down Cosmopolitan Singapore is set to cease operations after four years in the Singapore market.

The last issue will be its October 2015 copy. A spokesperson from SPH Magazines confirmed the news to Marketing adding that Cosmopolitan Singapore was “launched in a crowded lifestyle market” and “as a business model, the magazine is not sustainable”. All permanent staff members of the magazine will be redeployed within the company.

New possibilities The Health Promotion Board (HPB) appointed Possible Worldwide as its digital marketing agency, following a pitch.

According to GeBIZ, six agencies were vying for the account, including Cheil, Grey Group, GroupM, Havas Worldwide and Tribal Worldwide. The agency is contracted for three years. It is tasked to work on the formulation of a digital strategy for HPB’s digital assets.

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Degussa appoints UM Degussa, a German retailer specialising in precious metals, appointed UM Singapore as its agency of record for media planning and buying. As a firsttime advertiser in Singapore and Asia, the company did not hold a pitch for the account. The agency is contracted for one year, with an option to renew. The account covers the Singapore market only, but with a prospect of expanding to APAC. UM is tasked to manage Degussa’s performance marketing strategies.

A new tomorrow Shaun Quek, ex-founder of the defunct advertising agency The Local, opened a new creative firm called TMRW. The newly minted agency has created its own Facebook page, with a profile picture bearing what seems to be the agency’s logo, and a website with the domain www.tmrw.com.sg. One of its clients includes beauty brand Fresh which previously had an account with The Local. TMRW is tasked to manage the brand’s Facebook page.

Skills for the future Government body Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) opened a tender for a branding consultancy. Providing both brand consultancy and advertising services, the appointed agency will be tasked to co-develop WDA’s SkillsFuture campaign research with a WDAappointed research company.

SkillsFuture is an initiative aimed at developing an integrated system of education, training and career progression for Singaporeans.

The agency will handle the desktop audit of the SkillsFuture brand and conduct brand-relevant research results.

Watch this space Extra Space Asia Self Storage appointed local independent agency The Media Shop (TMS) as its media agency for its integrated marketing efforts in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Korea.

The agency will overlook strategic planning and buying duties for the self-storage operator. Extra Space joins TMS’ list of clients such as NETS, Toshiba Electronics Asia, CA Technologies, Regus, Ekornes and Wargaming.net.

Growing locally StarHub is set to step up local content with a fresh round of funding from the Media Development Authority (MDA) under its Public Service Broadcast Contestable Funds Scheme (PCFS) for 2015. Altogether, the funding amounts to SG$10 million, according to The Straits Times. With this funding, StarHub is commissioning more than 80 hours of original local productions.

StarHub is also allocating part of this year’s funding to commission short-form content.

Art appreciation The National Gallery Singapore and M&C Saatchi launched the gallery’s first nationwide campaign titled “My Masterpiece” in the lead-up to the gallery’s official opening in late 2015. The campaign aims to broaden art’s appeal by presenting modern Southeast Asian art in a way that makes the art accessible to all. “My Masterpiece” features advocates of the gallery from various fields by sharing insights about a particular piece of art.

Patriotic planes Iconic Singapore brand Singapore Airlines made an appearance at the National Day parade. The SIA Airbus A380 took part in the National Day Parade (NDP) as the country turned 50 with an aerial flypast on 9 August. It was the first time SIA had participated in the NDP flypast. It made its flypast over the Marina Bay area at the closing of the Vintage Parade segment of the show.

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NEWS

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Nikon snaps up new agency Nikon Singapore appointed ZenithOptimedia as its media agency. The agency will be responsible for all media planning and buying duties in Singapore.

The incumbent agency on the account was Maxus in Singapore. “We believe that the integrated digital, offline and social capabilities of ZenithOptimedia will greatly enhance our strategic communication activities,” said Sunny Ng, senior manager of the imaging group marketing division of Nikon.

Big spend by CapitaLand Real estate company CapitaLand is investing more than SG$120 million in the Beijing-based online apartment-sharing platform Tujia. Dubbed as the Chinese equivalent of the US home-rental website Airbnb, Tujia is valued at more than US$1 billion and caters to travellers looking for alternatives to hotels, for vacations as well as business travel within and outside of China. The new joint venture will see Ascott operate serviced apartments in China using a new brand.

W launches in Singapore UK-based PR agency W has launched in Singapore. W’s Singapore office is led by Annabel Fox, who took up the role of managing director. As the founding director of W’s London operation, Fox helped shape W’s DNA from the very beginning in 2009, before moving to Asia to develop extensive experience in the region. W’s founding clients in Singapore include Microsoft-backed AppNexus, UK street food phenomenon MEATliquor and Asian entertainment group, Attica.

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

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

National pride Investment company Temasek Holdings rolled out its latest campaign called “Growing with the Nation” in conjunction with Singapore’s jubilee celebrations.

Created by independent agency Formul8, the TVC for the campaign launched digitally on Temasek’s YouTube channel on 1 August. Maxus handled media duties for the campaign. The ad follows a day in the life of a family, capturing the daughter’s reactions and greetings to those around her.

A sell off In a statement on the SGX, Singtel said it had entered into and “completed a share purchase agreement to sell its entire 30% shareholding in Abacus Travel Systems (ATS) to Abacus International”.

ATS provides marketing and distribution of travel-related services through online airline computerised reservation systems. The aggregate value of the consideration paid to Singtel under the transaction was US$3 million.

Breaking bread BreadTalk appointed social and mobile agency KRDS Singapore as its digital agency of record for two of its brands. The appointment came following a pitch. The account covers the Singapore market and KRDS is tasked to handle the full gamut of social media services for the company’s BreadTalk and Toast Box brands. In 2014, Publicis was appointed to handle the account for one year.

Red hot appointment Online supermarket and delivery platform RedMart has appointed PR agency Bell Pottinger on a retainer basis. Bell Pottinger is tasked to handle the Singapore market and any of RedMart’s prospective markets. The agency will also support RedMart’s business expansions and raise awareness of the brand. Roger Egan, CEO of RedMart, said: “We believe the agency’s strategic communications advice will be invaluable in helping support the development of the business.”

Getting monitored Local socio-political site the Mothership.sg was notified by the MDA that it met the criteria for an individual licence and will be moved to an individual licensing framework. Under the licensing regulations, the site’s editors will need to comply with MDA’s regulations should articles need to be pulled down due to sensitivities. In a statement to Marketing, an MDA spokesperson said Mothership.sg acknowledged MDA’s notification to be individually licensed.

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

A hefty fine The Media Development Authority (MDA) fined SingNet SG$90,000 for its Singtel pay-TV disruption on 3 February 2015. The incident lasted nearly two hours and affected about 11,000 Singtel TV subscribers across Singapore.

According to a statement from MDA, customers were unable to boot-up their set-top boxes or access on-demand content.

Investigations revealed SingNet was first alerted to the service disruption by customers calling its hotline.

RedMart launches Marketplace Singapore online supermarket RedMart 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.

The company launched its marketing efforts for Marketplace on 15 August, beginning with Google AdWords, said Jose Silva, director of Marketplace at RedMart. It plans to start incorporating the Marketplace offering into its marketing communications.

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NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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TELLING THE TALE OF SINGAPORE’S HISTORY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEWS

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AUDIT WATCH

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

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

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

“We continue to be encouraged

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

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

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

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

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

Cohn & Wolfe appointed Cohn & Wolfe has been appointed

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

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

CORRECTION In the August edition of Marketing Magazine, the story “Is a strong social media strategy humanising Singapore’s political leaders?” referred to Minister Mentor Lee as Minister Mentor Yew. Marketing regrets this inadvertent error.

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AUDIT WATCH

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

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

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

“We continue to be encouraged

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

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

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

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

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

Cohn & Wolfe appointed Cohn & Wolfe has been appointed

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

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

CORRECTION In the August edition of Marketing Magazine, the story “Is a strong social media strategy humanising Singapore’s political leaders?” referred to Minister Mentor Lee as Minister Mentor Yew. Marketing regrets this inadvertent error.

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

1 Campaign Flying Reimagined Brief “Flying Reimagined” aims to deliver an elevated sense of beauty, artistry and enlightenment by making viewers “feel” the ideas, the connections, the materials, the creativity, the freshness and the excitement, and also the tangible personal benefits of how Etihad Airways has reimagined flying. The global campaign reflects Etihad Airways’ ongoing efforts to push boundaries and break away from convention – by leading the way in innovation, design, style and hospitality, and taking inspiration from the world to provide a superlative inflight experience for guests. It consists of a TVC starring Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman shown on global TV stations and social media in 60 and 30-second formats, with still versions of the campaign appearing in print, digital and on outdoor channels.

Client

Etihad Airways

Creative

M&C Saatchi Australia

Media

MediaCom

1

2 Campaign Uncle Sim’s “So simple” tips Brief The campaign has been developed to communicate the benefits of using Visa payWave so there will be a higher penetration of contactless payments in Singapore. Visa aims to introduce Visa payWave across more categories so Singaporeans can use this mode of payment in their daily lives. The Uncle Sim campaign highlights how consumers can buy daily necessities across Singapore in a simple and convenient manner without having to fumble for cash. This campaign will run in Singapore and has been specially created with a local context. An ongoing campaign, it rolls out on TV, OOH, digital, cinema and social media platforms.

Client

Visa Singapore

Creative

BBDO and Proximity Singapore

Media

OMD

2

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3 Campaign Real Love Never Stops Brief The campaign was launched with a heart-warming video interview, which reveals the daily challenges faced by Singaporean working mothers. AIA Singapore has initiated it with the aim to reinforce its commitment to help families in Singapore at every stage of their journey through life. As the Real Life Company, AIA Singapore also highlights its focus on fostering strong relationships with its customers through the campaign. It runs in Singapore on PR and social media until 1 October.

Client

AIA Singapore

Creative

Water’s Edge

Media

Starcom Mediavest Group

3

4 Campaign Live in Levi’s Brief The campaign, built around the “Live In Levi’s” theme, features singer Alicia Keys. She lends her voice and style to the Levi’s brand for the debut of its new women’s denim collection.

The campaign spans digital and social platforms with the hashtags #LiveInLevis and #LadiesInLevis and on TV, cinema and print globally.

It aims to engage and activate consumers through real-life and virtual events, as well as mobile and in-store experiences. It runs until the end of September.

Client

Levi’s

Creative

Draftfcb Worldwide and The House Worldwide Levi’s in-house; Mediaedge

Media

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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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OPINION: AD WATCH/WEB WATCH

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Shaun Sho Creative director Neighbor

AD WATCH HOT: IKEA’s Improve Your Private Life

NOT: Uncle Sim’s “So simple”

In the past five months, not many ads have been as memorable as this one. Continuing from the success of its previous ad campaign, BookBook (an iPhone ad parody), it is a hilarious successor centred on a great idea and crafted through an excellent combination of art direction, editing, clever writing, acting and soundtrack selections. The TVC by IKEA is filled with comical acting interjected with laughable puns one after another, beginning with the introduction of IKEA’s shelf help guru’s name, Fille Güte (a mock Swedish name pronounced as “feel good”), and ending with “Always believe in your shelf”. It is fundamentally successful in communicating the benefits of IKEA’s products in improving the private lives of consumers with an entertainment value that simply begs one to re-watch it again and again.

In contrast, the recent VISA (payWave) ad campaign seems to miss the mark. The concept is smart by focusing on the idea of easy payment to correlate with simple, useful daily tips shared by Uncle Sim. However, the script and overall execution of the ad leaves the viewer feeling “meh”. While Uncle Sim in a typical setting of friends and strangers is a sound option, the supposedly intentional over-the-top expression and cheesy dialogue easily distracts the viewer from the core idea. On platforms such as YouTube where skipping ads is an easy option, the video lacks the immediate appeal to encourage the full viewing of the ad. It is evident in the percentage of viewers who gave it the thumbs down on YouTube. Overall, it has the potential to be a great ad because of its simple and pliable concept, but it requires some more work.

Lee Kai Xin Interactive director Wild

WEB WATCH HOT: gothere.sg

NOT: streetdirectory.com.sg

This website has a clear simplistic design with only one call to action (CTA). It boasts modern-looking icons and the green background is pleasing to the eyes. From here, we can tell the designer of the website is aware that users go to the website to look for directions, and will only key in searches such as “amk station”, “from amk station to tpy station”; hence there’s only one main field for the user to key in.

After I hit enter, I am immediately given the fastest route, cost and the pins on the map. The site also recognises Singlish and abbreviations, making it even easier for users to key in things such as “yck and amk”. Though there are ads on the site, they do not cover up the main information on the site.

To begin with, the site’s interface is not clean. There are too many images vying for the user’s attention. Although the map in the centre is the biggest, users can get distracted by the big ad on the right, the various CTA buttons littered around, and that big FB “share” button (and this is one irritating problem most websites have – they tend to spam the FB “share” and “like” buttons everywhere). When I type “amk to redhill mrt”, I am brought to a page with three confusing search results. Oh, and clicking on these links actually brings me to nowhere (maybe it’s a bug, the links are not working). Moreover, the search box does not recognise abbreviations, so you have to type the long form or select from their list. The site is consistently heavy and is significantly slow when it loads.

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DIRECT MAIL CASE STUDY

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BOSSINI UPS ITS IMAGE How a simple creative innovation in a traditional press kit led to great results for Bossini.

With many companies sending out digital press kits these days, Bossini added a new spin on the conventional media kit, in line with the unveiling of its new Image Store at Suntec City. The brand customised a unique press kit to capture the attention of the media and depict a visual story highlighting key elements offered at its latest store.

Unlike the traditional press kit folders, it was made of kraft material topped with a synthetic grass finishing on its cover.

The design was inspired by the concept of “nature” – predominant within the interior design of the new Image Store, evident in unique touches such as the feature of different species of synthetic grass on key pillars and

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walls to provide a relaxing and fresh shopping environment.

Besides information on the new store, each press kit also contained a stylish and eco-friendly wooden flash drive engraved with Bossini’s logo to reinforce the nature theme.

Furthermore, the press kit was delivered in a canvas tote bag specially designed by Bossini to celebrate the new Image Store opening. In line with the green concept, the canvas tote bag was adorned with tropical leaf features As part of the new store opening campaign, Bossini also organised a private preview event for its VIP members where shoppers were given priority to purchase new collections and enjoy attractive in-store exclusive promotions.

To further raise awareness of its latest Image Store opening, Bossini also engaged in advertising via print media as well as bus façade advertising, plying the routes along Orchard Road and the downtown belt around Suntec City.

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.

Jasmine Chua Marketing executive Bossini Singapore

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4 TAKEAWAYS FOR BRANDS FROM GOOGLE’S NEW HOLDING COMPANY ALPHABET What did Google’s massive restructure to Alphabet Inc have to teach the marketing industry?

Elizabeth Low reports

In case you haven’t heard the recent big news from Google’s huge reorganisation, here’s what’s happening.

Google is separating its highly profitable search and advertising business from its more experimental businesses. Its management has created a holding company, Alphabet Inc, that will manage all its businesses – including biotech and wearables businesses such as Calico, Nest and Fiber.

Google itself will be a subsidiary of Alphabet, consisting of all its search and advertising businesses, also the largest and most profitable part of its business. It will be led

by Sundar Pichai, who has been in charge of

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product and engineering for Google’s internet businesses. All Google shares will also convert to Alphabet Inc shares, without a change in the number of shares.

Google’s overall revenue for 2014 was US$66 billion, of which the search and advertising business pulled in 89% of the revenue.

The current leadership of Google will become the leadership of Alphabet Inc: Larry Page will become the chief executive officer; Sergey Brin, the president; Eric E. Schmidt, the executive chairman; Ruth Porat, the senior vice-president and chief financial officer; and David C. Drummond, the senior vice-president

of corporate development, chief legal officer and secretary.

Page, Brin, Schmidt and Drummond will transition to these roles from their respective roles at Google, whereas Porat will also retain her role as the CFO of Google, according to the SEC filing of the new holding group.

Here’s an excerpt from the blog post by Larry Page.

What is Alphabet? Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies. The largest of which, of course, is Google. This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main internet products contained in Alphabet instead. What do we mean by far afield? Good examples are our health efforts: Life Sciences (that works on the glucose-sensing contact lens), and Calico (focused on longevity). Fundamentally, we believe this allows us more management scale, as we can run things independently that aren’t very related.

Alphabet is about businesses prospering through strong leaders and independence. In general, our model is to have a strong CEO who runs each business, with Sergey and me in service to them as needed. We will rigorously handle capital allocation and work to make sure each business is executing well. We’ll also make sure we have a great CEO for each business, and we’ll determine their compensation. In addition, with this new structure we plan to implement segment reporting for our Q4 results, where Google financials will be provided separately than those for the rest of Alphabet businesses as a whole.

This new structure will allow us to keep tremendous focus on the extraordinary opportunities we have inside of Google. A key part of this is Sundar Pichai. Sundar has been saying the things I would have said (and

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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sometimes better!) for quite some time now, and I’ve been tremendously enjoying our work together. He has really stepped up since October of last year, when he took on product and engineering responsibility for our internet businesses. Sergey and I have been super excited about his progress and dedication to the company. And it is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google. I feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google and this frees up time for me to continue to scale our aspirations. I have been spending quite a bit of time with Sundar, helping him and the company in any way I can, and I will of course continue to do that. Google itself is also making all sorts of new products, and I know Sundar will always be focused on innovation – continuing to stretch boundaries.

I know he deeply cares that we can continue to make big strides on our core mission to organise the world’s information. Recent launches like Google Photos and Google Now using machine learning are amazing progress.

Google also has some services that are run with their own identity, like YouTube. Susan is doing a great job as CEO, running a strong brand and driving incredible growth.

Sergey and I are seriously in the business of starting new things. Alphabet will also include our X lab, which incubates new efforts like Wing, our drone delivery effort. We are also stoked about growing our investment arms, Ventures and Capital, as part of this new structure.

Alphabet Inc will replace Google Inc as the publicly traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights.

Google will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Our two classes of shares will continue to trade on NASDAQ as GOOGL and GOOG. For Sergey and me this is a very exciting new chapter in the life of Google– the birth of Alphabet. We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity’s most important innovations, and is the core of how we index with Google search! We also like that it means alpha-bet (Alpha is investment return above benchmark), which we strive for! I should add that we are not intending for this to be a big consumer brand with related products – the whole point is that Alphabet companies should have independence and develop their own brands.

We are excited about ...

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“Google has become a much more diverse business outside of its core range of internet services. Investments in medical science, self-driving cars, robots and even space exploration is well beyond its original search and media business. It gives them more room to spin off into innovation projects while giving better visibility to the industry and investors around the the performance of its core Google business.”

Roy Capon - Asia Pacific CEO of DigitasLBi.

• • •

Getting more ambitious things done.

Taking the long-term view.

Empowering great entrepreneurs and companies to flourish.

Investing at the scale of the opportunities and resources we see.

Improving the transparency and oversight of what we’re doing.

Making Google even better through greater focus.

And hopefully ... as a result of all this, improving the lives of as many people as we can.

ship” brand. Now, the way Google is moving is more like the way Elon Musk is running his firms SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity separately, keeping risk apart from the revenue-spinning Tesla, says Ryan Lim, founder of digital consultancy QED. Also, acquired businesses may not want to be housed under the Google brand, added Lim. With many major companies and brands today such as Intel, adidas and Facebook looking to play in this space, is this the way forward for companies in managing new technology revenue streams?

What could be better? No wonder we are excited to get to work with everyone in the Alphabet family. Don’t worry, we’re still getting used to the name too!

Other than the fact it’s a major player in the digital landscape, Google’s move bears further significance for major brands and companies as well. Here are the top takeaways from the creation of Alphabet Inc.

3. The maturation of the search business and the “traditionalisation” of digital This new restructure also means that the search business is finally mature enough to stand on its own, says Lim. “Take a look at those businesses Google classifies as traditional. How many of us and our businesses have even dipped their toes well enough into things like mobile, video, search and advertising?” asks Dayal, stating his surprise at how behind most businesses are “when it comes to stuff we consider mature already”.

• • • •

1. “Risky” businesses are good enough for Wall Street The new structure will have its “riskier businesses” reporting in separate management. With companies attempting to monetise new technologies such as wearables, the Internet of Things (IoT), biotech, among others, many also struggle with managing the risk from these in their business model Google’s move bears food for thought that such businesses are good enough to now have separate management and report to Wall Street, suggests Rachit Dayal, founder of digital consultancy Happy Marketer. Should businesses seriously start thinking beyond and into the world of internet of things and wearable devices?

2. Managing the risks in new technology In the past, the way Google operated was more like the way P&G and Unilever did, running several businesses under a single holding company, all reporting to a “mother

4. More innovation, more acquisitions?

Finally, this only means one thing: Innovation and acquisitions can be expected to increase at Alphabet.

“Google has become a much more diverse business outside of its core range of internet services. Investments in medical science, selfdriving cars, robots and even space exploration is well beyond its original search and media business. It gives them more room to spin off into innovation projects while giving better visibility to the industry and investors around the the performance of its core Google business,” said Roy Capon, the Asia Pacific CEO of DigitasLBi. The move frees up Google/Alphabet’s management to keep on innovating, adds Lim.

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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MALAYSIA AIRLINES’ BRANDING CHALLENGES Malaysia Airlines’ Dean Dacko speaks up on the beleaguered airline’s branding struggles amid its restructure. Rezwana Manjur reports.

Back to the drawing board: MAS knows it has a tough job ahead to inject a new life into its brand.

Malaysia Airlines is no stranger to media scrutiny.

In the past two years, the airline has had its name splashed across every major publication with industry experts from marketing to aviation to security scrutinising every move it makes.

Millions of people today are still following every word the airline utters as the mystery of its airline MH370 goes unresolved.

“That kind of scrutiny can force you to not move, but we knew we had to move,” said Dean Dacko, CMO of Malaysia Airlines, who was speaking at the Adobe Digital Marketing Symposium 2015. [Dacko has since moved on

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from MAS.] He was quick to admit the past two years for the airline had not been easy ones, describing the entire journey as a “blur” and somewhat “surreal”. In the first 10 days after the MH370 tragedy, the company saw a huge commercial impact with 10 straight days of an average of 100,000 cancellations a day.

“The commercial impact was absolutely devastating and the magnitude of it was unbelievable. But more dramatic was the emotional component of the event impacting over 500 lives along with the staff members and colleagues we personally knew and worked with,” he said.

“Some days we could not believe what was happening to us. We went from managing one crisis to the second crisis of MH17, to moving into totally recreating and the redevelopment of an entire organisation. All of which were across a relatively short period of time.”

Challenges of creating a refreshed identity According to Dacko, because of the current restructuring of various MAS operations, the budget for rebranding is yet to be determined.

However, he shared that a strategic brand steering committee had been created comprising of various teams internally and

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externally (including stakeholders) and agencies to develop this new visual identity.

MAS recently appointed M&C Saatchi Malaysia as its master creative agency, and handed its brand identity task to recreate its logo and the visual aspects of the aircraft livery to a Singapore-based shop called Profit.

The agency, which beat 18 other branding agencies, including several big network names, will be helping MAS develop its brand strategy and visual components of the new logo.

For its rebranding, MAS is also looking to actively involve its staff members across various teams and departments so as to garner realtime feedback on various aspects. The airline is investing its time into creating employee “brand ambassadors” who can give guidance on the new MAS direction.

“The commercial impact was absolutely devastating and the magnitude of it was unbelievable. But more dramatic was the emotional component of the event impacting over 500 lives along with the staff members and colleagues we personally knew and worked with.”

Dean Dacko - CMO of Malaysia Airlines

“We are fully aware that in the process of launching that new identity we will need the full support of its team of 14,000. They will be the first ones leveraged with going out and promoting our new brand. So we need to engage them early on in the process. The new brand identity is not just something we present to them, but rather something they are involved in creating. That’s part of our process now, to really engage and involve our staff.”

However, the exact process is still undetermined as the organisation is in the midst of restarting things under new management.

The rebranding process, added Dacko, will be one which is drawn out and carefully thought through because of the strong ties the airline has with the Malaysian people and its principal stakeholders.

“This rebranding is done not only from a financial standpoint, but rather keeping in mind the 42 years of history MAS has had with our audience. The airline is very much ingrained with the culture of Malaysia. They refer to us as

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a Malaysian icon and that is true. Changing and moving that is something that requires back and forth engagement, dialogue and serious thought.”

He reiterated that outside of Malaysia, the airline’s loyalty also runs deep with non-resident Malaysians because of the emotional warmth and support associated with the brand.

“One of the very first times that people travelled out of Malaysia was on MAS and they remember how warm and comforting it was for them. That’s not a feeling that goes away.

When we talk about possibly creating a new brand that would change that relationship, we really need to take seriously the emotional ties beyond the reality of the commercial component of it.”

If the revamped identity falls short of the public’s expectations, one of the major risks would be losing the supporters of the brand and potentially turning them into the airline’s biggest detractors.

“It is very easy to just create a logo, but there is so much that goes beyond it. So on 1 September when we launch a new identity, rather than a new image, it will be the start of our new journey of evolution with tweaks and changes being made along the way.”

MAS’ digital evolution Early last year, when Dacko spoke to Marketing, the airline was in the midst of making a big push into digital. MAS was then looking to move 70% of its marketing budget to digital. In 2013, the split was 50-50 between traditional and digital.

Before that, MAS’ marketing was completely tactical.

We ask Dacko where in the digital evolution journey the brand stands at, now. Currently MAS’ marketing split between digital and traditional stands at 60-40, he said.

“The speed and pace of what we have done towards digital has slowed because of the nature of events we have faced over the past two years which has led us to balance a lot more of our investments across a lot of channels,” he said.

While MAS has kept up its presence and velocity in making digital its primary channel of communication, it has probably not reached its earlier stated goals, Dacko admits.

The brand is nonetheless still as dedicated to moving in that direction and he remains firm in growing the investments being made into digital.

This commitment and need for digital was further reiterated in the first three weeks of MH370 going missing. From a digital platform perspective, MAS saw three major spikes in its

website hits after the disaster. On a usual day, the website would take about 2000-3000 hits a second, but on those days it was tracking up to 230,000 hits per second.

“All the things we have leveraged in our communication, were never built on the premise of us facing a crisis such as the ones we faced.

It was built purely for a business transformation process,” he said.

He explained the digital investments the brand made only four weeks before the tragic event of MH370 going missing was purely due to commercial reasons because the airline saw that it needed to move from a traditional environment to a digital one.

“Had we not made the new digital investments, our whole infrastructure would have collapsed. It was all the new technology and tools and resources we had just built that allowed us to move forward and continue engaging with audiences worldwide. It was never in the context of preparing for a crisis.”

Lessons learnt Nonetheless, Dacko is positive his marketing team, and he personally, learnt a fair bit from the tragedies. Today, the brand is much more customer-centric and engaged on social media in an authentic way. Slowly, Dacko said, he sees consumer sentiment and trust growing.

No doubt in some markets such as China, the damage is bigger and it has been harder to gain back trust. But in Malaysia, the public has been immensely supportive.

One such early signs of support came from MAS’ #staystrong campaigns. The campaign was initially created to send a message to its internal staff to stay strong and fight through the calamities. But soon after, it was picked up by the public where consumers started communicating to the brand showing their love and support.

This, according to Dacko, was one of the pivotal moments that led him and his team to really open their eyes to the impact of social media being the backbone of modern communication.

The open dialogue with consumers is now something that has really taken root and MAS and the marketing team have been quick to capitalise and communicate on the platform.

“The reason for consumers having trust and confidence to fly the airline is based on the level of engagement we can create for them.

“On digital, you can’t afford to go halfway.

You can’t be timid. The reality is that you have to make a commitment and you have to be real and authentic in communicating digitally.

Otherwise the audience will see through it.”

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4 STRATEGIES TO BEST ENGAGE INFLUENCERS Social listening can help brands understand the sentiments of their influencers and customers. even better product offerings with the insightful feedback that we receive at a minimum cost.

Ongoing social listening can also help brands to understand the needs and sentiments of their influencers and customers, which enables them to customise better their influencer outreach programme that is aligned to the business’ needs.

Aligning for growth: Brands must ensure influencers are aligned with their objectives.

While influencer engagement isn’t new to marketers today, social media has broadened its definition, and shaped how brands are working with relevant key industry opinion leaders.

That said, of course, the new found flexibility also opens doors of risks: for example, the recent Gushcloud saga questioned the credibility of influencers and brands’ guideline compliance with the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS), leading ASAS to begin drafting a new set of guidelines to include social media advertising.

Therefore, it is important brands be more aware of their influencer engagement strategies.

Here are four quick important tips on how brands should best engage influencers.

1. Redefine influencers It has become clearer as influencer marketing evolves, a brand’s popularity does not equate to its influence on customers. A key opinion leader (KOL) or an influencer need not always be a celebrity; it can also be someone who carries influence over others, in either opinions or purchasing decisions.

One way to determine whether the influencer is suitable to represent your brand is by using social listening tools that are available online.

They are effective in identifying key influencers more accurately for brands, with the functionality of tracking closely on their daily conversations, follower base, brand preferences, and more. It is important to find out more information about your influencers first before engaging with them,

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as they may end up doing more harm to your brand.

For example, your influencer could be waxing lyrical about two competing brands at the same time; or does not seem genuine in his or her brand encounter sharing. To sum up, the three most important attributes when shortlisting key influencers for your brand is relevance, reach and resonance.

2. Customised approach When reaching out to influencers, it is important to remember not to focus on the number of influencers your brand engages with. Instead, it is the quality of relationship that you establish with your influencers that matters. Brands are better off establishing relationships with longtail or mid-range influencers who have smaller communities, but are consistently in touch with their fans and have better engagements with them. This allows you to also create a more intimate relationship with your customers, which encourages them to be more active and loyal to the brand.

Partnering with the right influencer can control your brand’s reputation, influence customers’ purchase behaviour and even potentially be the gatekeepers to your audiences.

Take for example our Hootsuite ambassador programme, aimed at organising grassroots campaigns and building authentic relationships with people. The programme has helped to shape and strengthen our brand presence – both online and offline – and also allowed us to create

3. Freedom to create While your marketing team has key visions and brand messaging defined around a particular brand campaign, let’s not forget to give your KOLs the creative freedom and flexibility when it comes to content creation and advocacy tactics. Less brand control tends to give these influencers more autonomy with better online content duration and tendency to advocate for you brand.

That being said, your brand also needs to do its due diligence in providing engaged influencers with the relevant assets and campaign information, as well as the right level of support and attention to ensure they fully understand your brand’s offering(s). Together with the customisation of your marketing approach, you can ensure your influencers are not uploading similar content at the same time.

4. Authenticity is key Last, but not least, authenticity is the key to creating loyalty for any brand. There should be transparency and alignment between your brand’s activities and those of influencers.

However, as influencer marketing is still evolving, the ethical values surrounding this relatively new form of online marketing are not as clearly defined as traditional media or advertising. A recent article debating the ethics and credibility of food bloggers and influencers has surfaced, questioning the code of conduct and common practice of the industry sector.

While it is still up to the brand or influencer to disclose the relationship between the two parties prominently, it is best for brands, influencers and consumers to ensure that there is a level of transparency and trust built across all communications to prevent any potential issues or misunderstanding from arising.

The contributor is Yvonne Tey, marketing director of APAC for Hootsuite.

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GLOBAL MARKET CRASH: SILVER LININGS IN AN OTHERWISE GLOOMY CLOUD Trillions of dollars were wiped off the value of global stock markets recently, but the message from many in the industry was “don’t panic”. Rezwana Manjur and Rayana Pandey report.

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Recently, we saw some of the biggest drops on Asian stocks markets since March 2011, a sharp reaction to a slowing Chinese economy.

But while the world’s second largest economy is showing signs of a significant slowdown, consumer spending, particularly among China’s growing middle class, remains strong.

“We shouldn’t lose confidence in the economic growth prospects of China and the globe,” commentary from a state-run Economic Information Daily, said today.

“The global stock plunge was more likely

“I think it’s more of a strong correction than a crash. Typically marketing spends get affected by the stock market when there’s a overall dip in consumer spending and confidence on the one hand and company’s ability to invest, on the other.”

Sandipan Roy - regional strategy director at Isobar

caused by emotions rather than fundamentals.”

Fundamentals are not as bad as many of today’s headlines might suggest.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was among the world’s top CEO to reassure investors that its business in China remained strong.

In an email to CNBC, Cook said Apple’s business was doing just fine.

“I get updates on our performance in China every day...and I can tell you that we have continued to experience strong growth for our business in China through July and August,” Cook wrote.

That accelerated growth has come from increased iPhone activations over the past few weeks, along with the company’s App store in China having its best performance of the year over the past two weeks.

“I continue to believe that China represents an unprecedented opportunity over the long term as LTE penetration is very low and most importantly the growth of the middle class over the next several years will be huge.”

On the other hand, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, asked his employees to be “very sensitive” to customers because of the stress they may be feeling over the crashing stock market.

He wrote an email to all of the company’s retail employees (known as “partners”) and managers: “Today’s financial market volatility, combined with great political uncertainty both at home and abroad, will undoubtedly have an effect on consumer confidence and perhaps even our customers’ attitudes and behavior. Our customers are likely to experience an increased level of anxiety and concern…Let’s be very sensitive to the pressures our customers may be feeling, and do everything we can to individually and collectively exceed their expectations,” Schultz also assured the employees in the email, “our growth plans for the future of our company will not be impacted by the turmoil of the financial markets. We will positively manage through today’s challenging environment just as we have positively navigated through challenging moments in the past.”

What’s the impact on marketing?

Closer to home, industry players echoed the same sentiment. On the effects of the crash on marketing spends, speaking to Marketing, Sandipan Roy, regional strategy director at Isobar said: “I think it’s more of a strong correction than a crash. Typically marketing spends get affected by the stock market when there’s a overall dip in consumer spending and confidence on the one hand and company’s ability to invest, on the other.”

According to Roy, there isn’t much evidence to indicate if consumer spending levels would

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be massively impacted unless this sustains for a longish period.

However, the crash will affect confidence levels, especially in countries like China where retail investors were being encouraged by their govt to invest in the stock market. Companies that are looking to expand will also get affected, by this correction, as they would have lesser opportunity to get money. And China and Asia is full of companies wanting to expand. Tim Cook has said that there hasn’t been too much impact in China, given the iphone activation figures.

So lets just go with someone who knows his stuff. Unless this continues for a longish time, there wouldn’t be too much impact on marketing spends.

But at the same time there is a warning for marketers. Stock markets and a constant look at maximising share holder returns encourages short-termism. “If because of a correction or a crash, companies are under pressure to increase shareholder returns on a short-term basis, then that would definitely have a negative impact on marketing spends,” Roy added.

Moreover, the Chinese stock market volatility itself isn’t the main issue in terms of Chinese market dynamics, although it obviously has some impact on confidence. More important and worrying are the slowdown of GDP growth and resulting government policy such as the devaluation of the Yuan.

According to Stuart Clark, client managing partner, APAC, IPG Mediabrands, the weaker Yuan might scare some advertisers in categories such as outbound travel or luxury goods (which is already suffering from the government focus on corruption) as it affects affordability.

Conversely, companies manufacturing in China are likely to benefit from the devaluation as they become more price competitive vs foreign manufacturers – both domestically and overseas.

“We see a lot of campaigns still running as normal but with a cautious eye on the next 6 months. We haven’t seen marketers slashing budgets in response to the “flash crash” but there is definitely a sense of caution about what happens next and that is likely to be reflected in how advertisers approach commitments for the rest of the year,” he added.

Clark’s views are supported by the reports released by Magna Global earlier in June which pointed to the slowing down of Chinese economy and the subsequent slowing down of ad spend growth.

In 2014, China grew by +10.5% to $45.9bn, and is expected to grow by +8.1% in 2015 to reach $49.7bn. China is the second largest global advertising market behind the United States and all eyes are on the second-largest ad market on the planet.

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DIFFICULTIES IN DATA ANALYSIS FORCE MARKETERS TO TURN TO TRADITIONAL MEASUREMENTS Due to the difficulties in understanding real-time data, many marketers are falling back on traditional measurements.

Who is using it?

35%

of marketing professionals are managing real-time data as part of their role

By Country Indonesia

39%

Thailand

38%

India

37%

Malaysia

34%

Australia

32%

China

39%

South Korea

27%

Source: TNS Marketing Monitor

Finding it hard to really understand data?

Well, you are not alone.

While local businesses today have much more data at their disposal, new research from global research consultancy TNS reveals that many are failing to use the information to help them make informed decisions.

According to the TNS Marketing Monitor, a survey of more than 2,700 marketing

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professionals across Asia Pacific showed that much of this data analysis trickles down into the marketing department with almost one in three marketers (29%) in Singapore now managing real-time data as part of their role.

However, more than three quarters (77%) of marketers in Singapore admit they find it difficult to integrate data from different sources. With so much data available, marketers know they

should be able to make decisions in real-time, but many are struggling to integrate traditional and digital measurements.

Jon Foged, managing director at TNS Singapore, explained that many businesses were overwhelmed by the volume of data.

He added that new digital and social media channels were increasing pressure on marketers to think, analyse and respond in

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real-time. Despite the push on digital and data, one worrying trend the study spotted was that because of the difficulties of understanding real-time data, many marketers are falling back on traditional measurements.

According to the survey, sales uplift metrics are still used as the number one way of evaluating the success of marketing campaigns.

“Despite their importance, these metrics are retrospective and do not empower businesses to track the ongoing reception of campaigns, react to live issues and make the changes that could nudge their marketing activity in a more favourable direction,” Foged said.

In addition, current market research methods are not helping marketers make quick and informed decisions.

Analysis is viewed as “not actionable enough” (77%) and “too slow” (also 77%) to be of use, according to the marketers surveyed in Singapore.

The survey highlighted that two out of three marketers (67%) were frustrated with the lack of predictive insight provided by traditional market research.

New methods are showing that digital data, when integrated correctly, can not only help make real-time decisions, but can also predict brand equity.

Nitin Nishandar, managing director of brand and communications for Asia Pacific at TNS, added: “The difficulties in extracting valuable insight from data means that marketers have a rear-view mirror approach, only understanding their performance and brand equity weeks or even months afterwards. Real-time data needs to deliver real-time value otherwise it’s just distracting noise.”

Nonetheless, Singaporean businesses are investing more in data-driven digital platforms and tracking systems to help them understand the challenging online landscape.

In APAC, Singapore is leading the way, with 55% of marketers using social media monitoring when making marketing decisions, with Malaysia closely behind at 50%.

Despite having some of the most advanced social media platforms in the world, China is lagging behind, with only one in three (30%) monitoring this data.

Nishandar added: “As the pace of change accelerates across the region, we need to start using data to gaze into the future, not just measure the here and now.

“Tracking social and search data to form the basis of a predictive spine delivers insight months ahead of survey data or sales figures.

This gives marketers the power to anticipate changes to brand equity in time to actually do something about it.”

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SHOULD MORE ECDs DEMAND THE CEO ROLE?

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WHILE THE FORMER IS ABUNDANT IN ANY AGENCY’S CREATIVE DEPARTMENT, THE MISCONCEPTION IS THAT CREATIVE FOLKS DO NOT NECESSARILY HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN THE NUMBERS GAME. REZWANA MANJUR WRITES. W W W .MA R KET ING - INT ERAC TIVE . COM

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Appointing a CEO is never easy.

The CEO role, especially in the arena of advertising, is one which requires a delicate balance of understanding creativity and the game of numbers. While the former is abundant in any agency’s creative department, the misconception is that creative folks do not necessarily have what it takes to win the numbers game.

One agency that recently challenged this notion was Leo Burnett Asia Pacific. The agency handed Chris Chiu, chief creative officer of the agency’s Singapore operations, the CEO role. The appointment will see Chiu lead the agency in a dual capacity of CEO and creative head.

Just next door, the agency’s Malaysia operations is also being led by Tan Kien Eng, who took on the role in 2009. Much like Chiu, Tan also came from a creative background, holding the role of ECD of Arc Worldwide before the CEO role. Both Tan and Chiu report to Jarek

qualities and the ability to set a clear vision for the company.

“I have met many well-educated, smart, talented people who lack the determination and energy to be a successful CEO. I strongly believe that it really isn’t about what you know, but what you can do to achieve success in today’s hyper competitive world. Attitude, energy and determination are key. This is especially true for a CEO, or any leader,” he said.

In many organisations, the CEO is the face of the business and has to be a great storyteller. This is where creatives can play to their strengths, explained Priya Bala, regional director of specialist marketing, digital and creative industry recruiter font.

By nature, a creative director’s problemsolving approach is likely to be different from a suit’s, and hence, these creative folks will not be restricted by what they have seen or done before.

given to impulse. One creates process and the other tries to take it apart. This is the inherent discord in our business, but it is a necessary one,” he said.

He added that whether you were a suit or a creative who had been saddled with the job, recognising this conflict was necessary to harness it positively.

“If you can, hire a top-notch management guru as your personal coach. It’s a minefield out there and everyone needs a Yoda.”

Confessions of an ex ECD-turned CEO Linda Locke spoke to Marketing about her experiences prior to her current role of marketing consultant of Club 21.

Locke held the role of CEO and executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi for more than 13 years. She was also chairman and regional ECD of Leo Burnett for nine years.

Much like Bala, she is of the view that CEOs of ad agencies needed a right mix of strong

“As an industry that has created some of the most innovative and creative works, we operate in a surprisingly rigid and traditional set up that we seemed to have worked ourselves into over the years. The real paradox lies in the fact there are so few creatives sitting in the top positions in leading ad agency businesses.”

Jarek Ziebinski – president, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific.

Ziebinski, president for Leo Burnett Asia Pacific.

We ask Ziebinski if the agency has a soft spot for its creative folks and sees a special talent that its creative folks harbour. He said: “As an industry that has created some of the most innovative and creative works, we operate in a surprisingly rigid and traditional set up that we seemed to have worked ourselves into over the years.”

The real paradox, he added, lies in the fact there are so few creatives sitting in the top positions in leading ad agency businesses.

“If you think about it, our industry was built by creative leaders. From Leo Burnett and Ogilvy, to Dan Wieden or David Droga, they all shared the same beginnings as creatives and entrepreneurs. It is therefore rather bizarre there seems to be a perception in our industry that questions the effectiveness of creative leaders as CEOs.” Short comings of an ECD-turned CEO According to Ziebinski, there really are no stark points of differences when it comes to challenges in taking on the CEO role.

Whether an individual comes from a creative background or not, business acumen will be needed to excel in the role of a CEO. What he specifically looks out for is leadership

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Where they are likely to struggle, said Bala, was in management and strategic business skills. Good creative work alone will not ensure the success of an agency. A CEO in the ad industry needs to also be able to manage P&L, staff, clients and have a “holistic view of all the moving parts of the operation they may not enjoy”.

Another point of challenge for an ECDturned CEO might be with the relinquishment of control over the creative department.

“I have heard of some agencies facing bottlenecks because the CEO/ECD wants to have the final approval. But because he has not worked with the teams in the creative process, coming in at the end and wanting things changed ends up delaying the output and causing a lot of frustration,” Bala said.

In a conversation with Marketing, S P Lee, who has been the managing director and ECD of Dentsu Malaysia since August 2005, said the role essentially required a right-brain person to do a left-brain job.

“Going from ECD to CEO is the fastest way to lose your sense of humour. All creative businesses thrive on chaos, and how successful you are depends on how well you organise the chaos. One is risk-averse and the other seeks risks. One believes in discipline, the other is

business, finance and strategic skills.

Most of all, ECDs, who have decided to don the CEO role, need good people management and leadership aptitude, communication and organisational capabilities.

“Not many would be able to compartmentalise the roles to function optimally and have enough perspective. Equally, not many creatives make good creative directors for many of the same reasons,” Locke said.

When asked what she would have done differently in hindsight, Locke didn’t feel like there was a whole lot. She added that despite the doubled hard work and stress levels, the role came with its own set of pros.

As both creative lead and CEO, an individual in this role has the ability to truly shape an agency and decide on favouring the quality of the creative product over money, especially when it will lead to more new business.

Meanwhile, when it comes to briefs, the CEO/ECD can also look at both the business implications and problems, as well as give the strategic and creative input that can potentially lead to more focused creative work.

She said: I would, however, have told my younger self to delegate the work a bit more, so there are less monkeys on your back.

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

Marketing spoke to a number of other ECDs who now helm an agency with complete P&L responsibilities. From facing challenges of perceptions to the daunting task of uniting the agency as one team, these CEOs have faced it all. While these challenges may not be very different from what most CEOs face, being creative leads in their past lives makes this transition a bit more nuanced.

According to David Smail, chairman and ECD of BBDO Vietnam, the biggest struggles when evolving from an ECD gig to an agency leadership role are external factors and the perception of them being “simply a creative guy”.

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

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

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

He adds that wearing the dual role

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

David Smail – chairman and ECD, BBDO Vietnam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Very quickly.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Commands respect from across the agency.

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

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

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

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

•

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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financial performance through acquisition.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PROFILE

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HOW BR ANDING B U I LT S PA ESPRIT’S EMPIRE Sp a E spri t ’s founder Cy nthia Chua f ight s the c ase for proper inves t ment in branding w hen i t comes to building her busines s es.

Eliz ab eth Low w r i tes

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PROFILE

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It’s been almost two decades since Spa Esprit founder Cynthia Chua launched the spa brand in 1996 on Singapore shores.

Today, Spa Esprit has grown into a beauty and F&B empire that spans 16 brands, and is present in nine cities, including its home base of Singapore, as well as New York, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok.

Brands under the Spa Esprit Group should be familiar to most Singaporeans: wax parlour Strip, eyebrow grooming brand Browhaus, as well as food and beverage brands such as Tippling Club, Skinny Pizza, 40 Hands, Open Door Policy, Tiong Bahru Bakery, Common Man Coffee

Roasters, Bochinche and the newest brand, Open Farm Community, among many others.

While each brand has its distinct theme, one thing runs throughout all Spa Esprit brands – novel designs, cheeky ads and creative retail concepts.

In a highly commoditised market such as spa treatments, Chua attributes part of the business’ success to its distinctive branding. For example, Strip has been marked by cheeky and sometimes controversial ads, some of which the brand has even had to apologise for. Since then, this is also the approach taken for each new café or food brand launched.

“To me, branding and design is important – 20% of revenues go into it. For other business owners, they see it as a cost – why invest 10% that will never come back? But to me I believe this is commercially viable,” she says.

“I think about what I want to see when I enter a place. We treat a beauty salon like a fashion parlour – there’s always an element of discovery to it, there’s art, there’s design. We use this to connect with customers. To us it’s a necessity, while others may not see it that way.”

Taking Strip as an example, each new outlet has SG$150,000 to SG$200,000 invested in outfittings, campaign designs and finishings.

While she did not elaborate on specific returns this brought, she says this helped to establish the brand in consumers minds. Marketing, meanwhile, takes up about 5% of revenues.

Also, most of its creative and marketing duties are done in-house by the Spa Esprit team. It only recently started looking for agency help, hiring Goodstuph for social media and Reading Room for digital. “It’s always good to learn from others what we can do better,” she adds, on looking to agencies for inspiration.

“Branding and design is always a box that needs to be ticked. My branding and design is a reflection of how I think. And we can’t repeat designs.”

As of last year, Chua says the group pulled in SG$100 million in profit, with the highest earning brands being Strip and Browhaus.

Advice on launching new brands Chua is open about brands that she has launched that have failed, for example, a fashion brand Potion at Paragon and health food concept 12 x 12.

She says she generally has at least “25 ideas in her head at once”, but one must be careful about deciding when to bring an idea to life as a business. For example, food trends are progressive, says Chua, talking about keeping her food brands fresh.

“What consumers wanted two years ago is not what they would want today.”

Chua doles out two pieces of advice on building a business and marketing. One vital thing is having strong partners in the business.

“Many brands fail as they don’t know what the resources they need.

For example, I would not be able to run Open Farm Community if I didn’t have modern farmers.”

Second, a marketing message should be clear, uncomplicated and not too “high up” for consumers to relate to.

“We start a new brand as a response to what the community looks for. And the interpretation is important. You need something physical to show people what you have done.

“For example, we started Open Farm Community since people are getting more curious about where their food comes from – that’s when we started it. I saw how Singaporeans love new things, and how modern farming was coming together.”

Interestingly enough, Chua used to work in marketing when she began her career. But she claims she detested the nine to five job and office politics, and went into real estate to get the capital needed to eventually start her own business.

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Look around you. Chances are most of the ads that grab your attention run on OOH platforms. These gentle giants of advertising have not only proven to be tech-savvy, but also command your attention in the least intrusive way possible.

In this report, we take a look at which OOH media owners have most earned the love of marketers in Singapore.

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OUT OF HOME MEDIA OF THE YEAR ................................................................................................................................................................................................................

METHODOLOGY HOW DID WE ACHIEVE THIS? The OOH rankings were derived from questions in Marketing’s annual Media Spend Benchmarking Survey. Marketing Research employed an online questionnaire and surveyed its database of client advertisers and marketing services agency professionals. All answers given by respondents were considered by Marketing when finalising the rankings.

QUALITY RECIPIENTS AND RESPONDENTS More than 750 respondents participated in the Media Spend Benchmarking Survey. Genuine advertising decision-makers and influencers across key agency-using industries were well represented as were agency professionals from various marketing services. Nearly 96% of client advertiser-side respondents were manager-level decision-makers and above with more than 14% from the most senior ranks of client advertisers and another 47% were VPs or director-level marketers.

The majority of the respondents from the agency side were CEOs, MDs and GMs (49%), 40% were marketing personnel and 10% creative and media personnel.

Advertisers from major and local international banks, FMCG companies, property and construction, IT and telecommunications firms, as well as those from travel and tourism companies participated in the survey.

Agency professionals across the marketing services spectrum were also well represented.

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OUT OF HOME MEDIA OF THE YEAR ................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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JCDECAUX

Crowned king of OOH media once again this year is JCDecaux. The company has added on several noticeable offerings over the past year and deepened its ties with its key stakeholders.

In August 2014, JCDecaux launched a world-class digital media format in T1 Changi Airport called the iconic Digital Towers. Since

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its launch, the Digital Towers has welcomed majors advertisers such as Bvlgari, Christian Dior Couture, HSBC and Mitsubishi Electric.

Meanwhile, across the airport, other advertisers such as Apple, ANZ, Bvlgari, Chanel, Christian Dior, DFS, Dunhill, Financial Times, Huawei, Mitsubishi Electric, Salvatore Ferragamo and UOB have also utilised its various spaces to target travellers.

In February 2015, JCDecaux strengthened

its partnership with ION Orchard shopping mall by becoming the sole exclusive media partner for all its in-mall advertising sites. The exclusive partnership will see JCDecaux investing in digital media offerings and creating a highly targeted digital media inventory in Orchard Road’s best shopping corridor.

It kick-started the first phase of enhancements in July with a network of new 80-inch digital screens: the “Digital Fashion Network”. Tenants, including Clarins, Mikimoto and TAG Heuer, were the inaugural advertisers on the new digital network.

To target business decision-makers and PMEBs with high spending power, JCDecaux also clinched an exclusive agreement with The Sail Residences for the subterranean advertising spaces. The media owner maintains its position in the industry with three long-term cinema partners, namely Cathay, Filmgarde and Eng Wah which recently opened a 10-screen cineplex at 321 Clementi.

In the first half of 2015, JCDecaux welcomed five new advertisers to its large format billboards along Keppel Road. These advertisers are Magnum Ice Cream, Schroders, Esso, Samsung and Apple. To keep up with its ever-growing client list, the company reappointed Lydia Lee as airport sales director and Janet Loh as Singapore sales director.

as the new commercial director. Currently, Clear Channel’s key advertisers include Honda, Mentos and Fitbit.

Some of the more notable campaigns that launched on Clear Channel’s OOH platforms included Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign which allowed personalisation on its OOH adverts.

Adidas also launched its mobile-enabled OOH campaign, adidas Climacool anti-

perspirant, on the Clear Channel platforms and offered samples to commuters through a simple tap or scan of the smartphones with the panel.

Recently, Ant-Man by Walt Disney was also featured on the platform in a comical manner where the superhero Ant-Man was seen lifting up the six-sheet poster. Walt Disney also launched a campaign for Inside Out that featured dynamic digital creatives that were weather-triggered come rain or shine.

CLEAR CHANNEL

Coming in at number two is Clear Channel Singapore. Earlier this year, Clear Channel won the contract to manage the outdoor advertising space at Peranakan Place Complex, expanding its OOH presence on Orchard Road.

It also introduced a new media format named The Wrap which spreads across two display sheet panels spanning over 2.7m in length by 1.3m in height. The Wrap can also be found at sites located in the heart of the city and key regional hubs. Meanwhile, Clear Channel is looking to launch Play in the fourth quarter of this year. Play is expected to be the largest digital OOH expansion in Singapore.

Beefing up its business, Clear Channel Singapore hired Alison Lim, whose specialty lies in delivering operational excellence, as head of business operations for Clear Channel Singapore.

Meanwhile, senior marketing manager of the agency Sing Yee, with almost a decade of experience in CCS, was promoted to marketing director. She now leads the marketing team and assumes overall responsibilities for marketing communications, research and insights, mobile and digital developments, among other duties.

The company also hired Lynn Tan as operations director and welcomed Linda Tay

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OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA OF THE YEAR

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JCDECAUX

Crowned king of OOH media once again this year is JCDecaux. The company has added on several noticeable offerings over the past year and deepened its ties with its key stakeholders.

In August 2014, JCDecaux launched a world-class digital media format in T1 Changi Airport called the iconic Digital Towers. Since

2

its launch, the Digital Towers has welcomed majors advertisers such as Bvlgari, Christian Dior Couture, HSBC and Mitsubishi Electric.

Meanwhile, across the airport, other advertisers such as Apple, ANZ, Bvlgari, Chanel, Christian Dior, DFS, Dunhill, Financial Times, Huawei, Mitsubishi Electric, Salvatore Ferragamo and UOB have also utilised its various spaces to target travellers.

In February 2015, JCDecaux strengthened

its partnership with ION Orchard shopping mall by becoming the sole exclusive media partner for all its in-mall advertising sites. The exclusive partnership will see JCDecaux investing in digital media offerings and creating a highly targeted digital media inventory in Orchard Road’s best shopping corridor.

It kick-started the first phase of enhancements in July with a network of new 80-inch digital screens: the “Digital Fashion Network”. Tenants, including Clarins, Mikimoto and TAG Heuer, were the inaugural advertisers on the new digital network.

To target business decision-makers and PMEBs with high spending power, JCDecaux also clinched an exclusive agreement with The Sail Residences for the subterranean advertising spaces. The media owner maintains its position in the industry with three long-term cinema partners, namely Cathay, Filmgarde and Eng Wah which recently opened a 10-screen cineplex at 321 Clementi.

In the first half of 2015, JCDecaux welcomed five new advertisers to its large format billboards along Keppel Road. These advertisers are Magnum Ice Cream, Schroders, Esso, Samsung and Apple. To keep up with its ever-growing client list, the company reappointed Lydia Lee as airport sales director and Janet Loh as Singapore sales director.

as the new commercial director. Currently, Clear Channel’s key advertisers include Honda, Mentos and Fitbit.

Some of the more notable campaigns that launched on Clear Channel’s OOH platforms included Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign which allowed personalisation on its OOH adverts.

Adidas also launched its mobile-enabled OOH campaign, adidas Climacool anti-

perspirant, on the Clear Channel platforms and offered samples to commuters through a simple tap or scan of the smartphones with the panel.

Recently, Ant-Man by Walt Disney was also featured on the platform in a comical manner where the superhero Ant-Man was seen lifting up the six-sheet poster. Walt Disney also launched a campaign for Inside Out that featured dynamic digital creatives that were weather-triggered come rain or shine.

CLEAR CHANNEL

Coming in at number two is Clear Channel Singapore. Earlier this year, Clear Channel won the contract to manage the outdoor advertising space at Peranakan Place Complex, expanding its OOH presence on Orchard Road.

It also introduced a new media format named The Wrap which spreads across two display sheet panels spanning over 2.7m in length by 1.3m in height. The Wrap can also be found at sites located in the heart of the city and key regional hubs. Meanwhile, Clear Channel is looking to launch Play in the fourth quarter of this year. Play is expected to be the largest digital OOH expansion in Singapore.

Beefing up its business, Clear Channel Singapore hired Alison Lim, whose specialty lies in delivering operational excellence, as head of business operations for Clear Channel Singapore.

Meanwhile, senior marketing manager of the agency Sing Yee, with almost a decade of experience in CCS, was promoted to marketing director. She now leads the marketing team and assumes overall responsibilities for marketing communications, research and insights, mobile and digital developments, among other duties.

The company also hired Lynn Tan as operations director and welcomed Linda Tay

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2015 JCD Marketing Magazine Advert.pdf

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12/8/15

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THANK YOU FOR VOTING US BEST OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA COMPANY IN SINGAPORE Since 1999, JCDecaux Singapore has been the local arm of the Number One Outdoor Advertising Company in the world, JCDecaux. We are committed to bringing excellence to the Out-Of-Home medium through product innovation, high quality design, maintenance and the best locations.

Our advertising portfolio includes Singapore Changi Airport, Premium Shopping Malls and Linkways, Large Format Billboards and Cinema Advertising. www.jcdecaux.com.sg

OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA OF THE YEAR

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MEDIACORP OOH

With out-of-home veteran Henry Goh at the helm, the MediaCorp OOH unit had an amazing year as it underwent a refresh and focused on a few key areas. This year MediaCorp OOH takes the number three spot in the rankings.

This past year, MediaCorp OOH aimed to help clients increase their visibility factor through engaging and experiential campaigns.

It also aimed to improve its own products and media solutions, reducing production costs and adopting a collaborative approach with clients, partners and stakeholders. As a result, MediaCorp OOH Media has seen the launch of several reformatted platforms.

One of the most interesting campaigns it did was for its client Unilever. As part of its Magnum Infinity ice-cream launch, the brand partnered with MediaCorp OOH Media to install a few interactive bus panels that incorporated digital technology. Upon going through the motion of picking up a Magnum ice-cream, participants were then taken on a virtual “swing” at the top of a building.

The company also saw an increase in experiential campaigns with its fleet of onthe-move billboard trucks. Morphing into a mobile gallery, its trucks were used by the

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SMRT MEDIA

Coming in at number four is SMRT Media which is the advertising arm of SMRT Corporation.

SMRT Media manages and markets the out-ofhome advertising solutions in the SMRT network, covering the North South, East West and Circle Lines as well as the Bukit Panjang Light Rapid Transit (LRT).

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National Heritage Board for the celebration of “200 Years of Healthcare in Singapore”, a travelling exhibition that captured Singapore’s advancement in healthcare from a rudimentary system to a world-renowned medical hub.

MediaCorp OOH Media strengthened its team with a few new hires with outdoor sales experience.

Other than Goh, Philip Goh came on board

in September 2014 to anchor the business development team with his vast experience from the FMCG industry. Most recently, OOH Media promoted Patrick Ong from its OOH Media sales team to assistant vice-president of sales.

MediaCorp OOH Media also brought in several new advertisers with the likes of Samsung, Malaysia Tourism, Bayer’s Coppertone and Bank of China.

SMRT Media claims its suite of outdoor platforms offers brands extensive presence and unparalleled brand visibility. Meanwhile, its digital innovations enable marketers to create experiential and inspiring campaigns. In marrying technology and creativity, SMRT Media is able to continuously transform its assets into innovative channels.

Late last year, The Walt Disney Company, through the Disneymedia+ team, worked with

SMRT for an 18-month collaboration to bring Disney into the SMRT public transport, retail and digital networks. Both companies engaged commuters and customers through SMRT’s transit network, and also at the Kallang Wave Mall in the Singapore Sports Hub and SMRT’s e-shop, iMOB Shop.

Earlier this year, Huawei launched two new campaigns on SMRT Media’s new interactive platform for the launch of its latest phone, Honor 4X and the “Catch me if you can snap & win” campaign. The technology is a result of a collaboration between SMRT Media, A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), A*STAR’s technology transfer arm, ETPL, and local small and medium-size enterprise (SME) large-format printer Film Screen to create and launch an illuminated doubledecker bus that featured eLumiNEX. eLumiNEX is large-format back lit film technology. It allows for the illumination of large-format print surfaces for out-of-home advertising.

SMRT Media also recently appointed Glenn Seetoh as assistant general manager.

He joined SMRT Media from MediaCorp where he was VP of group sales and marketing.

Prior to his appointment, he was with leading OOH, print and broadcast media companies, where he drove sales, marketing, business development and partnership management.

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GOLDEN VILLAGE

Taking fifth spot in this year’s OOH Media of the Year rankings is Golden Village.

In the past year, a range of advertisers have benefited from Golden Village’s diverse product offerings which allows them to easily target different customer segments and profiles.

An example of an advertiser benefiting from Golden Village’s product offering was Nespresso. Through the campaign, Nespresso targeted gold class patrons and in addition to buying screen ads, Nespresso held an onground activation targeting gold class customers by inserting a promotional leaflet in their ticket sleeves. The call-to-action, inserted as part of the campaign, also promoted the brand’s new coffee flavour and encouraged the gifting of Nespresso machines.

Another interesting campaign done in collaboration with Golden Village cinemas was with local brand Fragrance Bak Kwa. Apart from just screening its ads in the cinema halls, the OOH media owner also included an on-ground activation where patrons got to enjoy discounts at Fragrance Bak Kwa by consumers using ticket stubs images. This callto-action initiative allowed Fragrance Bak Kwa to direct traffic to its stores and added an additional

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benefit for patrons of Golden Village when they purchased movie tickets.

Key advertisers for Golden Village include major brands such as VISA, StarHub, DBS and NTUC Income. The team at Golden Village has also been working with several new brand owners such as mobile brand Oppo, Tokio Marine, Lake Life EC, Reebok, Lacoste, Tupperware, Mount

Faber, Mercedes-Benz, ECCO, MDA, Gillette, Bonia, Kose, Embry-Riddle, Metap, Sentosa Luge, Zuji, Far East Organization, Airbnb, MCL Land, IKEA and MCI. While the team has not seen any new hires, Katherine Lim, previously senior account manager, has taken on added responsibilities as group head of media sales.

demands to attract and engage target audiences.

Most recently, Tenet Sompo Insurance launched a campaign combining “trick art” and social media to lure audience’s participation and awareness to its product offerings. In addition, for the Oscars, HBO recreated the red carpet event along the linkway, enhanced with interviews, photo opportunities and paparazzi flashes; and other campaigns improvised with sequential LED displays, 3D displays and interactive screens by global brands such as Natixis Global Asset, Citibank and Schroders Investment. Through

SPHMBO’s integrated sales efforts within the SPH group, the agency saw many new brands such as Apple, Qatar Airways, Marina Bay Sands, Turkish Airlines, Zara, McDonald’s, LG, and a wider suite of product sectors on its OOH platforms. Moving ahead, SPHMBO will continue to focus on strategic sites and increase its OOH product offerings to the marketplace.

SPH MEDIABOX OFFICE

Taking sixth spot this year is SPH MediaBox Office (SPHMBO), the out-of-home media arm of Singapore Press Holdings. In the past year, SPHMBO has continued to firm and expand its foothold in the CBD by acquiring exclusive rights to the advertisement sites at one of Singapore’s most prestigious underground pedestrian networks.

This extended reach connects from its own flagship screen at Chevron House, through Ocean Financial Centre, One Raffles Quay to Marina Bay Link Mall. Large and iconic sites such as Rendezvous Hotel and Bugis Village have also been added to its portfolio.

As part of its growth strategy, the Chevron House and Toa Payoh Hub outdoor LED screens were revamped to be bigger, sharper and brighter in display, the platform owner said.

New branding space opportunities, equipped with backlightings, was made available for advertisers who wished to further amplify their brand presence in the hub. StreetSine Singapore was the first to capitalise on this new feature.

Besides expanding its product portfolio, SPHMBO continuously offered creative displays and executions on traditional wallscapes along the underground linkways to meet advertisers’

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OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA OF THE YEAR

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MOOVE MEDIA

Moove Media claims seventh spot this year.

As the advertising arm of ComfortDelGro the platform owner has had plenty of new creative campaigns in the past 12 months. With fun and colours, multi-sensory experiences and creativity, Moove aims to reach out and captivate commuters on the move. Key organisations involved in Moove’s advertising come from sectors such as banking, schools, FMCG and entertainment.

One of its campaigns this year included Eva Air which launched a SBS Transit Hello Kitty concept double-deck bus as a part of its Hello Kitty Jet Launch campaign with Moove. The Facebook post garnered more than 1,300 likes and more than 4,700 shares within 10 days.

Another campaign was a multi-platform one launched for Sentosa’s Wings of Time show in July 2014 which involved a sculptured 3D top on taxis. In addition, Moove and SAFRA Radio teamed up for the first time to bring its two anchor radio stations to Ang Mo Kio, Bedok and Boon Lay bus interchanges with specially designed electronics to ensure prominent sound quality to liven up the commuters experience.

Unilever Singapore also launched an inaugural ad campaign where a 35-metre square

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wallscape ad at North East Line, Dhoby Ghaut Station, emitted a refreshing flowery scent to commuters at the station.

In addition, ComfortDelGro, along with Moove, launched the “My Little Red Dot My Home”, a “Red Dot” initiative in support of Singapore’s jubilee celebrations. “Spot Me” was pasted on buses, taxis, trains and

bus hubs to effectively spread this message (#SpotMeRedDot).

Meanwhile, for the jubilee year, Moove launched its iconic cows SG50 Moove Cows which represented Coolie, Rickshaw Man, Kacang Puteh Man, Satay Man, Ma Jie, Samsui Woman, Nyonya and Wayang – eight pioneers who helped build Singapore into a strong and prosperous nation. Moving forward, Moove aims to provide an array of solutions for clients’ marketing campaigns.

FOCUS MEDIA

Clinching eighth spot is Focus Media. This past year, the company has expanded its business portfolio to include big-format out-of-home sites. These sites include LED screens at One Raffles Place, a digital screen at Orchard Gateway underpass and a static large format site at Bharat Building, 3 Raffles Place, which faces the Raffles green.

On top of the new additions, Focus Media locations can be found at elevator lobbies of premium office and commercial buildings located in the prime business districts in Singapore to reach the highly desired, but hardest-to-reach groups of business executives in a captive environment.

It continues to operate a vast in-store digital network that provides a point-of-sale advertising platform for brands sold at leading retail chain stores in Singapore. For its commercial network, the media owner is at more than 500 locations and buildings with traffic of about 3.77 million PMEBs on a daily basis. It has also expanded its Watsons retail network to more than 80 stores nationwide.

According to the agency, it is “the most sizeable operator in Singapore for deploying flat-panel displays at the elevator lobbies of

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office and commercial buildings”. The company also operates the digital in-store networks for Watsons Personal Care stores in Singapore.

The agency promoted its sales director Bernard Tan to the role of assistant general manager.

Key campaigns in the past year on its commercial network included work for brands such as M1, AXA, Exxon Mobil, Sony Mobile, HSBC and Nikkei, among many others.

Some key advertisers that are partnering with Focus Media this year include government agencies such as the Public Utilities Board for its “Save Water” campaign, National Crime Prevention Council, Ministry of Communication and Information and Land Transport Authority.

Meanwhile, clients from the private sector added to the agency’s list this year are Shiseido, Tourism Northern Territory, M2 Academy, Pokka and Burger King to name a few.

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OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA OF THE YEAR

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MEDIATECH

Mediatech clinches ninth spot this year. The past year saw the agency focusing strategically on expanding and developing new OOH digital formats in key locations.

As of today, it is the leader in outdoor digital LED screens in locations such as Orchard and Bugis, the company said, in addition to a greater market share and an even stronger presence in OOH digital LED screens.

To establish a greater outdoor presence in

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Orchard Road, the media owner acquired the largest LED screen at a main junction which is located at New Robinsons Orchard at Heeren.

The flagship $40 million platform commands

a striking presence, offering advertisers a multi-sensory canvas to showcase their latest offerings with thought-provoking vitality and defined quality, the media owner said.

With its sheer size, high footfall traffic and cutting-edge technology, the platform is a premium and targeted spot for advertisers who are looking to make an impact on the millions of people who patronise the area.

On the cinema front, apart from its success with IMAX, more exciting new Shaw cineplexes are in the pipeline; one of them was the launch of Shaw Cinemas at the new Seletar Mall and the next will be the launch of Shaw Cinemas at the upcoming Watertown in Punggol.

Mediatech worked with numerous advertisers in the past year, notably Tourism Malaysia, leveraging on the extensive reach of the Robinsons Orchard platform to communicate its latest tourism offerings in Malaysia as part of its 2014 “Malaysia – Truly Asia” campaign.

The campaign’s objective was to introduce and create mass awareness of discovering the beauty of Malaysia.

Key advertisers working with Mediatech this year included luxury labels such as Lamborghini, MasterPass, Tissot, Coach, Chanel, Burberry, Givenchy, Bvlgari, Cartier and TAG Heuer, among others.

representation in eight countries, according to the agency.

Actmedia also provides a complete suite of innovative in-store media products and solutions that are specifically designed to engage shoppers through sensorial-based mechanisms, the agency said.

For example, these in-store media devices are placed strategically within key touch-points in the retail outlets, as required by its clients.

The agency’s work and innovative ideas

have made it both a marketer and retail partner that aims to achieve strong brand recognition and sales uplift for brands.

At the same time, the agency boasts consistent revenue growth and high profit margins that have rewarded its stakeholders in the business, the agency said. With an estimated total of 36 million consumers passing through the doors of OMG Asia’s retail network annually, ActMedia aims to continue being the leading communications provider in Asia Pacific.

ACTMEDIA

ActMedia takes 10th spot this year. ActMedia Singapore was incorporated in March 1996. As a media planning and buying agency, it prides itself on being an in-store marketing specialist.

With its various media networks, it offers a portfolio of advertising and marketing services.

One of its offerings includes the on-shelf advertising format, ShelfVision Banner.

In addition to this, ActMedia also offers in-store radio advertising in supermarket destinations such as FairPrice. It also offers on-shelf advertising, ShelfTalker TV, in grocery retailer Giant.

Aside from its media offerings, ActMedia also provides a suite of marketing services such as walking ads and bicycle ads to offer brands a street presence as well as in-store sampling and demonstration.

These services tie in with services from its events arm Demo Power which provides events management capabilities. Beginning operations in Asia in 1995, Demo Power established itself as the pioneer in providing professional “in-store product demonstration” services in the region.

Its customised total brand experience campaigns earned it the accolade of the largest “in-store demonstration” agency in Asia with

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DBS took home the coveted title of L&E 2015 Brand of the Year at the third edition of the Loyalty & Engagement Awards. This year the awards were even bigger and better as

Marketing opened entries from across Asia Pacific, encompassing the South Asia and ANZ regions as well. What emerged was truly cutting-edge work from across the region. Here’s a look at all that went on during the awards.

JUDGES Orapan Hongchintakul, director of digital marketing – global marketing luxury and upscale brands, Accor Hotels Mark Kelly, head of rewards and loyalty, ANZ Bank Australia Allan Florendo, director for marketing and distribution, loyalty division, Cebu Pacific Air Jeanette Lai, head of regional CRM, Club 21 Pascal Ly, CEO, Credit Bureau Cambodia Danish Rahman, head of marketing, Indonesia, Danone Nutricia Justin Cheah, head of strategic partnerships, DiGi Telecommunications Gerrit Kruger, director of branding and loyalty marketing, Dusit International, Thailand Danielle Siauw, head of marketing (retail, CRM, M&E-commerce), EpiCentre Norman Tan, global marketing manager (digital and CRM), Fonterra Brands Singapore Chinmay Malaviya, co-founder and VP of business development (global), foodpanda Ed Pasion, head – loyalty programmes group/marketing services, Jollibee Worldwide Services Nadeem Amin, regional digital marketing manager | ANZ, Asia Pacific, South Africa, Kellogg’s Australia Deepshikha Kiyawat, sector marketing director, family care, Asia Pacific, Kimberly-Clark Nazia Hayat, global engagement programmes manager, WW social media team, Lenovo Singapore Frank Bornemann, head of marketing, loyalty programmes and provider management, Asia Pacific, Lufthansa German Airlines Michelle Wong, director of CRM and analytics, McDonald’s APMEA, LLC Jason Ling, director of global e-commerce, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Angeli Beltran, director of digital marketing and CRM, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Asia Pacific Kittisak Eh Chuei, director of loyalty marketing, Pan Pacific Hotels Group James Liao, vice-president, customer strategy, Prudential Assurance Singapore Dylan Wang, head of new media engagement, Republic of Singapore Navy Richard See HL, head of marketing, Myanmar, Samsung Nur Azura Yacob, assistant general manager, loyalty marketing, Telekom Malaysia Ming Liao, head of digital and consumer engagement marketing, Unilever China Henry Christian, CRM manager, Wing Tai Retail

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DBS named Loyalty & Engagement 2015 Brand of the Year

The third edition of the Loyalty & Engagement Awards this year was even bigger and better as we opened entries from across Asia Pacific, encompassing the South Asia and ANZ regions as well. What emerged was truly cutting-edge work from across the region.

With stellar results across multiple award categories, this year DBS took home the coveted title of L&E 2015 Brand of the Year – fending off stiff competition from other finalists. DBS picked up three golds for Best Use of Consumer Insights/Data Analytics, Best Customer Experience and Best Employee Engagement Strategy, one silver in Best CardBased Loyalty Programme and two bronze in the Best Employee Engagement Strategy and Best Use of Loyalty-Related Technology categories.

NTUC Link came in a strong second with an impressive two gold and two silver in highly competitive categories such as Best CardBased Loyalty Programme, Best Partnership

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in a Loyalty Programme and Best Use of Rewards & Incentives, and Most Innovative Loyalty Programme respectively.

Overall, the competition was tough with many brands scoring equal points on the awards standard exponential-weighted points system. (Four points for gold, two points for silver and one point for bronze). All entries were judged by a panel of senior APAC loyalty and relationship marketers and industry experts.

The “Red Cross Connection” campaign was popular among the judges and gave Singapore Red Cross two golds in the Best Use of Direct Marketing, Best Use of Cocreation/Crowd Sourcing and one silver in Best Use of Mobile categories respectively.

Another impressive contender was InterContinental Hotels Group which won two golds for Best Regional Loyalty Marketing Campaign and Best CRM Strategy and one bronze in Best Use of Rewards & Incentives for its “2014 IHG Multi-brand Into the Nights

Campaign – AMEA” campaign.

Other high-scoring brands included Del Monte Philippines, Watsons Malaysia and IKEA Malaysia.

This year, three agencies were indisputably the best performing agencies for the segments Loyalty, Engagement and Relationship marketing respectively. This year, once again CPR Vision Management walked away with the Loyalty Agency of the Year for its work on the SilverNeedle Select campaign, Dentsu Singapore bagged the Engagement Agency of the Year and MRM//McCann Singapore won the overall Relationship Marketing Agency of the Year.

A total of 83 trophies were awarded to the most talented campaigns from Asia Pacific’s Loyalty, Engagement and Relationship Marketing industry.

The Loyalty and Engagement Awards 2015 were sponsored by Edenred and supported by partners Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Choice Wines.

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L&E 2015 BRAND OF THE YEAR

DBS Bank

What the winner had to say: “It is an honour to be recognised for our efforts in the increasingly competitive customer loyalty and engagement space and to have won the coveted Brand of the Year award. This award inspires us to do better as we continue to making banking more intuitive and interactive, faster and simpler. Since the launch of the POSB Everyday Card in 2005, we have grown our base to over 500,000 card members. We would like to thank our card members for their continued support and for making the POSB Everyday Card Singapore’s favourite credit card.”

– Anthony Seow, head of cards and unsecured loans, Consumer Banking Group, DBS Bank

LOYALTY AGENCY OF THE YEAR

CPR Vision

What the winner had to say: “It’s always an honour to receive such a well-respected award and to win three years in a row is truly an accolade that we are proud of. This year was tougher with more than 20 countries vying for top spot, and to win four awards, including Loyalty Agency of the Year, reaffirms that we are on the right track and have a well-oiled machine, product and service. We have a fabulous, passionate team, and we are also very grateful to have such loyal and supportive clients.”

– Cameron Richards, CEO, of CPR Vision

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ENGAGEMENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR

Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore

What the winner had to say: “It is becoming increasingly harder for brands to shine on various platforms as many users generate content of their own. We’ve always believed in pushing the marketing and branding envelope to engage our audiences through crowd support, crowdsourcing, co-creation and collaboration. We are heartened that, today, our efforts have been recognised. Winning Engagement Agency of the Year is testament to having the right infrastructure of resources in place – a team that gives their all for the success of Dentsu Singapore.”

– Rosalynn Tay, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING AGENCY OF THE YEAR

MRM//McCann Worldwide, Singapore

What the winner had to say: “We’re particularly delighted to be recognised as the Relationship Marketing Agency of The Year. At MRM//McCann, our mission is to help brands play meaningful roles in the lives of consumers, through the application of creativity, technology and performance. I can think of no better demonstration of the word ‘meaningful’ than being recognised for helping brands to create profitable and mutually beneficial relationships with consumers over time.”

– Nicholas Handel, managing director, MRM//McCann Worldwide, Singapore

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BEST ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR A MALE AUDIENCE

GOLD Client: Shell India Markets Campaign: Shell Mechanic Samriddhi Programme Agency: Times Internet SILVER Client: Canon Singapore BRONZE Client: ONE Championship

BEST USE OF BRAND ADVOCACY

BEST ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR A FEMALE AUDIENCE

GOLD Client: Del Monte Philippines Campaign: Del Monte Kitchenomics Branded App Agency: GMA Marketing and Productions

SILVER Client: Celcom BRONZE Client: Sanrio Hello Kitty Town

BEST USE OF CO-CREATION/CROWD SOURCING

GOLD Client: IKEA Malaysia Campaign: IKEA BookBook Agency: PHD Malaysia

GOLD Client: Singapore Red Cross Society Campaign: Red Cross Connection Agency: MRM//McCANN Singapore

SILVER Client: Alaska Milk Corporation

SILVER Client: National Gallery Singapore

BRONZE Client: FrogAsia

BRONZE Client: Moving Walls

BEST USE OF EXPERIENTIAL/LIVE MARKETING

BEST ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY BY A GOVERNMENT/COMMUNITY

GOLD Client: Lenovo Campaign: Lenovo “Light and Seek” Agency: We Are Social Singapore

GOLD Client: Tourism Authority of Thailand Campaign: I Hate Thailand Agency: The Leo Burnett Group Thailand

SILVER Client: Shell

SILVER Client: Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF)

BRONZE Client: Google

BRONZE Client: Land Transport Authority

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BEST ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY BY A MEDIA OWNER

BEST USE OF GAMES/CONTESTS/QUIZZES

GOLD Client: MediaCorp Campaign: MeClub

GOLD Client: United Overseas Bank Campaign: UOB Toss & Win – Go Paperless, Go Online & Win Cash Agency: Germs Digital

SILVER Client: GMA Marketing and Productions

SILVER Client: William Grant & Sons

BRONZE Client: Clozette

BRONZE Client: Uniqlo

BEST USE OF INTEGRATED MEDIA CAMPAIGN

BEST EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

GOLD Client: Watsons Malaysia Campaign: Watsons Empower Consumers to Get Married!

Agency: OMD Malaysia

GOLD Client: DBS Bank Campaign: People Excellence Programme

SILVER Client: ZALORA SEA

SILVER Client: KidZania Kuala Lumpur

BRONZE Client: Land Transport Authority

BRONZE Client: DBS Bank

BEST USE OF CSR

BEST CARD-BASED LOYALTY PROGRAMME

GOLD Client: Toyota Campaign: Toyota Classics Agency: Dentsu Singapore

GOLD Client: NTUC Link Campaign: Plus! Programme

SILVER Client: Shell

SILVER Client: DBS Bank

BRONZE Client: GMA Marketing and Productions

BRONZE Client: Watsons Malaysia

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BEST PARTNERSHIP IN A LOYALTY PROGRAMME

BEST USE OF LOYALTY-RELATED TECHNOLOGY

GOLD Client: NTUC Link Campaign: Plus Visa

GOLD Client: SilverNeedle Hospitality Campaign: SilverNeedle Select Agency: CPR Vision Management

SILVER Client: Malaysian Airline System

SILVER Client: Syngenta Asia Pacific

BRONZE Client: StarHub

BRONZE Client: DBS Bank

BEST USE OF REWARDS & INCENTIVES

BEST REGIONAL LOYALTY MARKETING CAMPAIGN

GOLD Client: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Campaign: ANZ Optimum World MasterCard Launch Agency: Whybin Singapore and PHD

GOLD Client: InterContinental Hotels Group Campaign: 2014 IHG Multi-brand Into the Nights Campaign - AMEA Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide Singapore

SILVER Client: NTUC Link

SILVER Client: SilverNeedle Hospitality

BRONZE Client: InterContinental Hotels Group Client: TGV Cinemas

BRONZE Client: Think BIG Digital

LOYALTY PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR

MOST INNOVATIVE LOYALTY PROGRAMME

GOLD Client: StarHub Campaign: StarHub Rewards Programme

GOLD Client: SilverNeedle Hospitality Campaign: SilverNeedle Select Agency: CPR Vision Management

SILVER Client: Canon Singapore

SILVER Client: NTUC Link

BRONZE Client: Think BIG Digital

BRONZE Client: Citibank Singapore

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BEST CRM STRATEGY

BEST USE OF CONSUMER INSIGHTS/DATA ANALYTICS

GOLD Client: InterContinental Hotels Group Campaign: 2014 IHG Multi-brand Into the Nights Campaign – AMEA Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide Singapore

GOLD Client: DBS Bank Campaign: Effortless Banking

SILVER Client: Dell

SILVER Client: Google

BRONZE Client: Pizza Hut Singapore

BRONZE Client: MasterCard

BEST USE OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING – B2B

BEST USE OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING – B2C

GOLD Client: ZALORA SEA Campaign: Seller Relationship Management Programme

GOLD Client: Hindustan Unilever Campaign: Kan Khajura Tesan Agency: PHD India

SILVER Client: Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific

SILVER Client: William Grant & Sons

BRONZE Client: Syngenta Asia Pacific

BRONZE Client: Burger King Malaysia

BEST USE OF SOCIAL

BEST USE OF MOBILE

GOLD Client: Toyota Campaign: Waku Doki Agency: Dentsu Singapore

GOLD Client: Citibank Singapore Campaign: SMS Cash Redemption Campaign Agency: Splash Interactive

SILVER Client: Think BIG Digital

SILVER Client: Singapore Red Cross Society

BRONZE Client: StarHub

BRONZE Client: Reckitt Benckiser (M)

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BEST USE OF DIRECT MARKETING

BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

GOLD Client: Singapore Red Cross Society Campaign: Red Cross Connection Agency: MRM//McCANN Singapore

GOLD Client: DBS Bank Campaign: Regionalisation of BusinessCare

SILVER Client: Courts Malaysia

SILVER Client: HTC

BRONZE Client: IKEA Malaysia

BRONZE Client: Watsons Malaysia

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The second annual Spark Awards was bigger and better as it encompassed new markets such as Australia, New Zealand and all of South Asia. It saw GMA Marketing and Productions beat the competition to be crowned the overall Best in Show for 2015. Here’s a list of all the winners of the night.

JUDGES Anwesh Bose, managing director, Arena Media Indonesia (Havas Media Group) Stanley Toh, director, media and publicity, Central Provident Fund Board Phyllis Chua, executive director, City Life Advertising Audrey Kuah, chief client officer, Dentsu Aegis Network Southeast Asia Mitsuyuki Nakamura, president, Southeast Asia, Dentsu Media and chief executive officer, Dentsu Media Thailand Qaiser Bachani, director of media, Asia, Middle East, Africa, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Imogen Hewitt, head of strategy, Havas Media Australia Shamsuddin Jasani, managing director, Isobar India June Wang, general manager, K-Gic Advertising, Desh Balakrishnan, managing director, Maxus Singapore Silas Lewis-Meilus, director, digital media lead, McDonald’s APME A Rajat Basra, CEO, Omnicom Media Group Indonesia Hari Shankar Chandrasekharan, head of APAC – paid media, PayPal Patricia Choa, head of media planning and operations, ASE AN, Procter & Gamble Patricia Goh, managing director, Starcom Mediavest Group Singapore Sonia Serrao, chief manager, media planning and buying, Tata Global Beverages Jessica Toh, co-founder/managing partner, The Media Shop Group Chiradeep Gupta, global media director, Unilever Dennis Perez, head of media, Unilever Philippines Desmond Teo, group managing director, Vibes Communications Divya Ramaswamy, director, performance marketing, Wego John Ng, head of media innovation, ZenithOptimedia, APAC Helen Lee, managing director, ZenithOptimedia Singapore

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BEST IN SHOW GMA MARKETING AND PRODUCTIONS

GMA shines bright at Spark Awards 2015 GMA Marketing and Productions blitzed the competition at the second annual Spark Awards for Media Excellence in Singapore and was crowned the overall Best in Show for 2015.

The main platform for media owners across South Asia, Southeast Asia and ANZ to showcase their solutions and services for advertisers, the awards saw a crowd of more than 200 excited finalists gather at the Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel to see if their company would take home the top awards. All entries were carefully evaluated by a high-profile panel of 23 media professionals.

Standing out from the crowd, GMA Marketing and Productions was awarded seven gold – for Best App by a Media Owner, Best Corporate Branding by a Media Owner, Best Engagement Strategy, Best Media Solution – Digital, Best Programme Promotion, Best Use of Branded Content by a Media Owner and Best Content Team.

The Philippine media owner also picked up three silver (Best Media Solution – Digital, Best Media Solution – TV/Online Video and Best Use of Branded Content by a Media Owner) and rounded out the impressive trophy haul with two bronze (Best Campaign by a Media Owner and Most Improved Offering by a Media Owner).

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Campaigns which struck gold for GMA included the Del Monte Kitchenomics App and the coverage of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight which took place in May this year.

Three weeks in the lead-up to the fight, GMA launched the “People’s Champ” campaign and movement, calling on viewers to get behind Manny Pacquiao with all Filipinos armed with the hashtag #GoManny.

The integrated campaign incorporated television, radio, print, out-of-home and digital media platforms. Despite waiving exclusive rights for the event and the simulcast coverage of the fight across the three major Philippine networks, GMA’s campaign ensured it had the largest audience share, was the preferred online medium for content on the fight and received overwhelming support across social media with #GoManny.

Tied in second place was Moving Walls and last year’s champion ABS-CBN Corporation. Both media owners scored a total of 13 points according to the awards’ standard exponential-weighted points system (four points for gold, two points for silver and one point for bronze).

Winning campaigns for ABS-CBN included the 360 App, a customised real-time trade kit built for media buyers and media planners

to keep updated on ABS-CBN’s expanding media properties.

With more than 80 multimedia channels open for advertisers, the app offers a costeffective, digital savvy solution for clients to find the best match and platform for their brands.

Also scoring highly among ABS-CBN’s submissions was another key event in the Philippine calendar this year, the Papal visit with the “Pope, Thank You sa Malasakit” (Pope, thank you for your compassion) integrated campaign. It was driven by the aim to spread Pope Francis’ message of compassion to the Filipinos following recent disasters such as Super Typhoon Haiyan.

Moving Walls celebrated wins for solutions that included “Moving Insights” which incorporated eye-ball tracking and measurement software to deliver accurate metrics of its digital out-of-home screens and solutions for clients.

Other media champs with stellar performances in 2015 included Summit Media, BBC Worldwide, Big Tree Outdoor, Astro and Seven West Media and Yahoo7.

It was a tight competition and a total of 73 trophies were awarded to the leading media owners across the regions at the ceremony.

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BEST APP BY A MEDIA OWNER

BEST CAMPAIGN BY A MEDIA OWNER

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: Del Monte Kitchenomics Branded Content & Companion Mobile App

Media owner: Clear Channel Singapore Campaign/programme/project: Crime Prevention Anti-Scam

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: ABS-CBN Corporation Campaign/programme/project: ABS-CBN 360 App

Media owner: ABS-CBN Corporation Campaign/programme/project: Isang Bayan Para Kay Pacman

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: Singapore Press Holdings Campaign/programme/project: FastJobs

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: Del Monte Kitchenomics Branded Content & Companion Mobile App

BEST CORPORATE BRANDING BY A MEDIA OWNER

BEST ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: Share The Love

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: Kapuso Milyonaryo (One-at-Heart Millionaire)

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Tickled Media Campaign/programme/project: theAsianparent Father’s Day Photo Contest Most Special Dad moment

Media owner: Big Tree Outdoor Campaign/programme/project: Wonda 5D LRT

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: Moving Walls Campaign/programme/project: Love Generator Challenge

Media owner: Turner International India Campaign/programme/project: #SelfieInSpace

BEST EVENT BY A MEDIA OWNER

BEST INSIGHTS AND RESEARCH PROJECT BY A MEDIA OWNER

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: Moving Walls Campaign/programme/project: Love Generator Challenge

Media owner: BBC World Singapore Campaign/programme/project: C-Suites and HNWIs news consumption mindsets and drivers ... decoded!

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Astro Radio Campaign/programme/project: AirAsia Great 13th Anniversary Challenge

Media owner: Moving Walls Campaign/programme/project: Moving Insights

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: Mongoose Publishing Campaign/programme/project: Time Out Dine Out 2015

Media owner: Rappler Campaign/programme/project: #StartMoNa

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BEST LAUNCH/RE-LAUNCH BY A MEDIA OWNER

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – DIGITAL

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: Summit Media Campaign/programme/project: Cosmo Beauty Crush

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: Del Monte Kitchenomics Branded Content & Companion Mobile App

SILVER SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: BBC Worldwide Limited Campaign/programme/project: Re-launch of the new BBC Travel website

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: #GoManny: Pacquiao-Mayweather Fight Campaign

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: MediaCorp Campaign/programme/project: 938LIVE re-launch

Media owner: Astro Radio Campaign/programme/project: MyCyberSale

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – EXPERIENTIAL

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – INTEGRATED MEDIA

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: Big Tree Outdoor Campaign/programme/project: Wonda 5D LRT

Media owner: ABS-CBN Corporation Campaign/programme/project: Pope Thank You sa Malasakit: A Message from a Grateful Nation

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Moving Walls Campaign/programme/project: Love Generator Challenge

Media owner: ABS-CBN Corporation Campaign/programme/project: Isang Bayan Para Kay Pacman

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: OOH Media Campaign/programme/project: Samsonite Red

Media owner: Astro Malaysia Campaign/programme/project: Kosong Kosong

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – MOBILE

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – OUT OF HOME

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: InMobi Campaign/programme/project: Unilever “Sunsilk Pop Up Salon”

Media owner: Big Tree Outdoor Campaign/programme/project: Wonda 5D LRT

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Millennial Media Campaign/programme/project: Dove Samson D Campaign

Media owner: MBO Cinemas Campaign/programme/project: “Taken 3” Gets Real with DiGi Samsung Note 4 Launch

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: Near Campaign/programme/project: Audi – The Art of Progress

Media owner: Clear Channel Singapore Campaign/programme/project: Share A Coke Singapore

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BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – PRINT

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – RADIO

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: Star Media Group Campaign/programme/project: Mountain Dew Neon Edition

Media owner: Astro Radio Campaign/programme/project: Krew Kari Laksa – Celebrating The Underdog That Became Number 1

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Summit Media Campaign/programme/project: Cosmo@Work (The After-Call Edit)

Media owner: Astro Radio Campaign/programme/project: Hitz 124 With Inti Sureskore

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: New Straits Times & BH Campaign/programme/project: Orange Campaign

Media owner: SPH Radio Campaign/programme/project: Experience Macau

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – SOCIAL MEDIA

BEST MEDIA SOLUTION – TV/ONLINE VIDEO

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: Astro Malaysia Campaign/programme/project: #kosongkosong

Media owner: NBCUniversal Campaign/programme/project: Aznil’s LA Selfies

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Turner International India Campaign/programme/project: #SelfieInSpace

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: Share The Love

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: ABS-CBN Corporation Campaign/programme/project: Book of Thanks

Media owner: TubeMogul Campaign/programme/project: Software For Brand Advertising

BEST PROGRAMME PROMOTION

BEST USE OF BRANDED CONTENT BY A MEDIA OWNER

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: #GoManny: Pacquiao-Mayweather Fight Campaign

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: GMA Christmas Short Films: Happiest Pinoy

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Astro Malaysia Campaign/programme/project: Maharaja Lawak Mega 2014

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: GMA Christmas Short Films: Santa

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: Turner International India Campaign/programme/project: #SelfieInSpace

Media owner: ABS-CBN Corporation Campaign/programme/project: Love Is On

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BEST WEBSITE BY A MEDIA OWNER

MOST IMPROVED OFFERING BY A MEDIA OWNER

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: BBC Worldwide Limited Campaign/programme/project: Re-launch of the new BBC Travel website

Media owner: Seven West Media and Yahoo7 Campaign/programme/project: Revolutionising Live Streaming

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Mongoose Publishing Campaign/programme/project: www.timeoutsingapore.com

Media owner: Singapore Press Holdings Campaign/programme/project: AsiaOne mobile and iPad apps

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: Star Media Group Campaign/programme/project: The Star Online: Malaysia’s Best English News Website

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc Campaign/programme/project: Del Monte Kitchenomics Branded Content & Companion Mobile App

MOST INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY

BEST COMMERCIAL TEAM

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: Seven West Media and Yahoo7 Campaign/programme/project: Revolutionising Live Streaming

Media owner: SPH Radio

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Moving Walls Campaign/programme/project: Moving Insights

Media owner: Ink Publishing

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: SMRT Media Campaign/programme/project: SMRT Media’s Illuminated Double-Decker Bus

Media owner: SMRT Media, iMOB Shop

BEST CONTENT TEAM

BEST CREATIVE TEAM

GOLD

GOLD

Media owner: GMA Marketing and Productions, Inc

Media owner: Summit Media

SILVER

SILVER

Media owner: Summit Media

Media owner: Moving Walls

BRONZE

BRONZE

Media owner: ABS-CBN Corporation

Media owner: TubeMogul

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

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

So, why do marketers remain wary of it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So how to adopt an “always on” mentality?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With attention spans being at an all-time

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Programmatic is a long-term commitment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The answer is in three steps for Unilever.

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

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

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We want to create beautiful communication,” Gupta said.

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

“Who is the right person for your brand?

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

The next point of concern is viewability.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Consumers are media multi-taskers while cookies are not.

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

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

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

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

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

So what should a cross-device measurement look like?

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

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

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

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

as done by Drawbridge, Tapad and BlueCava.

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are a few key underlining trends here.

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

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

An overview of the Chinese market reveals these facts:

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•

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

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

• Ad spend in mobile reached US$14 billion in 2015 with an expected 80% YOY growth.

While the numbers are in its favour, China faces challenges of a fragmented landscape which is very different from the West.

“Digital marketers are overwhelmed with choices and often feel that there’s no clear path to making the right ones. Moreover, the complexity of buying has a waterfall effect on the complexity of campaign measurement,” Teoh said.

On top of this, there are transparency issues marketers have to deal with. Lean-forward buyers are increasingly treating transparency as a required element of display management. The

dramatic rise in inventory has made the issue of understanding and managing quality more pressing than ever before.

The traditional approach to media planning is no longer viable.

On the contrary, programmatic promises to segment target audiences more effectively delivering higher ROI to help advertisers justify increased spend. Marketers can demand maximum CPM rates through auction-based pricing, advertising demand, control premium and efficient remnant inventory.

“Brands can also minimise unsold inventory, understand subscribers and optimise content to grow high-value audiences while targeting new subscribers and boosting premium exposure,” Teoh said.

The Chinese market is one of the biggest and toughest markets for many global brands and many want to enter it as a means to grow their business, but how can global marketers successfully break into the Chinese programmatic market?

• Inventory: Most programmatic buying inventory is available through China-only exchanges. Many private video exchanges only integrate with high-quality DSPs. • Product: A good comprehensive DSP should have a top-notch campaign set up with reporting features.

• Data: Find a trusted partner that can support first-party data re-targeting and dynamic creative optimisation.

• Algorithm: Data-driven algorithm optimisation is critical for marketers, with the ability to optimise campaign performance for branding and direct response advertising.

• Experience in serving global brands: Find a trusted partner who works with large numbers of global brands, and agencies who can understand issues such as brand safety and audience insights.

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CAREERS

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CAREER PATH Yuko Saito Managing director Criteo Southeast Asia

First job? Out of college, corporate planning and business development at Sony.

First job in advertising/ marketing? With Criteo

actually, when I started three years ago, and more by accident.

Best job? Current job. I helped launch Criteo’s business in a very exciting region – Southeast Asia.

Perks of your current job?

Travelling to different parts of SEA, Taiwan, Hong Kong and India, meeting new people, learning about other cultures, and discovering new things.

Worst job? During high school

as a hotel housekeeping maid and waiting at restaurants – much toil with little reward.

Marketing professionals you admire? Today’s marketers

because they have a tough job.

Best career advice you’ve been given? “Go do it. Not

taking a risk is the biggest risk.”

These words impacted me greatly.

Back then, I was getting into the mode of, “I’m too old to start something new”. Funny because I was 25 years old and thinking like that.

JOB SHUFFLE Asia Pacific Digital, whose APD subsidiary is active across the Asia Pacific region, made new appointments on its board, bringing on Laura Ashton and Mark Dalgleish. Meanwhile, Ashton is the Singapore-based head of APAC and global relationship marketing at A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries. Dalgleish is a Sydney-based digital marketing entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in marketing and communications.

Possible Singapore hired Pei Pei Ng as its executive creative director. The agency also hired Desiree Wu as director of talent and marketing and Dixi Chern as digital strategic planner. Previously from Mirum, Ng has experience in advertising, direct marketing and digital disciplines, having worked with top brands, including Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore Airlines, Diageo, MasterCard, Unilever and P&G.

Why a career in marketing?

Criteo’s solutions help marketers deliver more sales. So I see myself as having a career in business building through marketing technology solutions.

If you weren’t in marketing, what would you be? I love

what I do so I can’t imagine doing anything else. Perhaps I would have pursued music.

I admire how musicians’ performances can have a profound emotional impact.

How do you wind down? A

nice meal and a conversation with close friends. Exercising, going for a massage, and spending a lazy weekend afternoon with my two cats.

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Airbnb hired Brian Irving as global marketing director, reporting to CMO Jonathan Mildenhall. Irving will be responsible for leading and managing the brand, including advertising, marketing communications, strategic partnerships and social media efforts globally. He has more than 15 years of experience building brands and marketing communications for companies such as Google, Apple, Levi’s, and GM. He joined Airbnb from Google, where he was the senior marketing director.

IPG Mediabrands’ new global CEO Henry Tajer has created a senior worldwide role focused on product innovation and hired Starcom MediaVest Group’s (SMG) director of global experience product to take the new position.

John Sintras was appointed as IPG Mediabrands’ president of global business development and product innovation in a New York-based position that will see him report to Tajer. Sintras has been a member of SMG’s global leadership council since 2007.

One month after the company expanded his remit, Rohit Ohri, CEO of Dentsu Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, has quit his post. He will join Interpublic Group’s creative agency FCB Ulka India as group chairman and CEO. According to The Economic Times, he will take up the new assignment in January 2016, as Nagesh Alai, FCB Ulka’s current CEO and group chairman, will assume the role of global vice-chairman at FCB. Global creative network iris appointed Dean Reinhard as creative technology director. He will lead creative tech and iris’ innovation agenda across the APAC region.

He previously held the position of creative technology lead at Leo Burnett Singapore, and worked on a number of advertising projects in Australia with agencies such as Ogilvy, M&C Saatchi and BBDO Melbourne.

Bacardi promoted Fabio Di Giammarco to global vicepresident for Bacardi rum. In this role, he will be responsible for the

Bacardi rum brand’s marketing efforts globally, including enhancing brand equity, positioning, advertising, packaging and pricing. He reports to Mauricio Vergara, CMO of North America and global lead for Bacardi rum and Grey Goose vodka.

DWA, the global marketing agency specialising in the technology sector, named Phil Talbot as managing partner. Talbot will be responsible for the evolution of DWA’s service offerings to stay ahead of a rapidly changing communications market.

As managing partner, Talbot will work closely with the executive board and the DWA network’s leaders to define and deliver cutting-edge services to clients.

Saatchi & Saatchi has made two key global executive leadership appointments.

Jeff Geisler was hired as chief marketing officer and Carol Miller-Repetto as chief operating officer for the Procter & Gamble business. In their new roles, the two executives will join Robert Senior, worldwide CEO, and Pablo Del Campo, worldwide creative director, on the global leadership team.

DigitasLBi hired Annette Male as MD for Singapore and SEA to bolster its capabilities and drive business growth in the region.

Based in Singapore, Male reports to Roy Capon, CEO of APAC DigitasLBi. She is tasked to drive value and digital transformation for DigitasLBi clients’ businesses in Singapore, SEA and several APAC markets such as Australia, China, India, Japan and Hong Kong.

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LAST WORD

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MEDIA RELATIONS VS. PUBLIC RELATIONS – WHICH SIDE OF THE FENCE ARE YOU ON? PR doesn’t stand for “press release” (for many, this may be a revelation), rants one PR professional.

Most PR people I know are in the former (myself included). We all come from a traditional comms background. To us, getting full page coverage in a national daily or a TV spot is a big feat. I have such coverage to my credit too. It made my boss happy. It even made the journalists happy; they had queued for months to get an interview with my CEO and then put that interview on their LinkedIn. I have also had the experience of hosting large-scale press conferences, product launches, consumer campaigns with speakers, slide decks, announcements and quotes, press releases, followed by a multi-slide coverage report. But what comes after that?

How did this change the perception about our company? How many people even read the article or watched the clip? How many people actively pushed the content out, recommending it to their friends or colleagues? And who are these people? In which way did it influence their perception about my company? How influential are they in their own circle of friends? Ultimately, if PR is all about managing public perception, how effective were the PR efforts?

Typically, PR outcomes are measured by their coverage and tonality, not effectiveness. In the era when digital media is diversifying and technology makes every piece of content measurable, very few companies are actually trying to manage perceptions through tailored or effective public relations strategies.

The comms profession has, for the longest time, been about media relations, not public relations. We are all able to manage relationships with journalists, but when it comes to managing public relationships, that

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is a different ball game altogether. I am not saying traditional media is not relevant, but with the rise of social media and citizen journalism, mass communications experts can truly return to the original definition of PR and manage relationships with a wider audience base to influence them with communications messages.

This needs a seismic shift in the way PR is perceived and practised, or even taught. Our clients and CEOs need to change their own perception and expectations of PR and begin to ask questions about how to make company PR efforts more effective.

We ourselves must evolve – whether it is by using the power of technology to measure the effectiveness of our communications efforts; or by becoming adept at every aspect of social media, content marketing and search marketing techniques; developing training modules to acquaint our colleagues of what brings the best outcome for PR or perhaps even investing in brand perception research as a starting point to be able to develop more effective PR strategies.

PR doesn’t stand for “press release” (for many, this may be a revelation).

So it shouldn’t be measured against a coverage report and clippings. If we want to become equal partners in the business decision-making process, we must become better understood to be more respected.

For starters, it is not enough to just have work “PR-ed” somewhere if it is not effective in impacting the target audience.

The writer is a senior PR professional in a major MNC.

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16/9/2015 8:13:27 PM

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18/9/2015 4:26:03 PM

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