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ISSUE 212 (SEPT-OCT)
THE 2017 DRAGONS OF MALAYSIA & ASIA FINALISTS! p27
MEET OUR DIGITAL FRONTRUNNERS p39 THE BEST OF GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING RETURNS p46
The age of digital addiction:
BEN’S NEW REALITY FOR TONTON LOH BEN JERN
GENERAL MANAGER tonton
KDN NO. PP15776/03/2013 (033405)
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We are MDEC, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation. We champion the Malaysia’s digital economy. Our role is to build a vibrant digital economy and ensure that Malaysia plays a leading part in the global digital revolution. We are passionate about digital technology and its potential to transform the future of our nation and the world. MDEC. Connecting businesses and people to their digital future.
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WINDS OF CHANGE AND PROGRESS
By Malati Siniah, malati@adoimagazine.com
There has been plenty going on in the market this past few months - companies merging, magazine titles closing down and new companies being formed. While no industry can escape from challenging times it is during these times creative muscles are strengthened and the innovators rise up triumphantly from the ashes. In this issue, we feature two trailblazers in the online space for our special ‘Digital Frontrunners’ section. 2
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One thing is clear about our two front runners is the bold changes they dare to embark on and the diversification happening within both companies. Be sure to flip to page 39 to read their updates…. In our new cover story, we speak to the man who is taking tonton to the next level. Loh Ben Jern, an innovator with a passion for digital is helping Media Prima become a game changer in the OTT space. From the company’s regional expansion to leveraging on its new ambassadors
to tap into the mass market, Ben shares further on how he stays relevant in today’s cluttered media space. This former radio announcer is making waves and in my interview, he shares how his past experience has helped him in his role today… Turn to page 11 to find out more… Change is happening on our end too, I myself am penning my last editor’s note for the magazine as I embark on a new challenge on the marketing side. Having covered the changes in
the industry for the past few years I’m excited to continue my journey in this space. Although I will be leaving, MARKETING will continue to be an important staple in my life from industry updates on www. marketingmagazine.my to the new ideas gained from international speakers at our industry events. There are exciting new changes you will soon see from MARKETING which will shake up the industry and I’m excited to see what my mentor Prof. Ham and the team will come up with next. I hope this issue will bring some change into your marketing executions and until then see you on LinkedIn!
ISSUE 212 (SEPT-OCT017)
Regional CEO Harmandar Singh ham@adoimagazine.com Chief Content Officer Malati Siniah malati@adoimagazine.com
COVER STORY
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Business Development Manager Jarrod Sunil Solomon jarrod@adoimagazine.com Art Director Chemical Ali ali@adoimagazine.com Designer Tham Fook Wai wai@adoimagazine.com Subscriptions Ruby Lim ruby@ham.com.my Photography & Digital Imaging DL Studio No 7, Jalan PJU 3/50, Sunway Damansara 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor D.E. Malaysia tel +603 7880 6380 / 6386, email: studiodl@pd.jaring.my
It was easy to warm up to tonton’s General Manager Loh Ben Jern. Apart from his friendly demeanour I felt like I knew Ben much longer than the few minutes we had been introduced, mainly because of his unmistakable voice...
Ben's VR Goggles is courtesy of VR LAB SS2. Watch the cover come to life by downloading the MARKETING AR app on Google Playstore.
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Mccain Goh, mccain1982@yahoo.com
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THE CYCLING IS ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE I have been one of those guys who has been beating the drum for digital advertising since the mid-1990s; a rhythm that most agency chiefs and advertisers have heard with bemusement the way a parent might listen to a child who thinks they are playing with a rock band in front of a sold out audience. I’ve stepped up to the microphone and shouted that “online is the future” for all of these years (decades!)...
Web & Digital Manager Saravana Kumaa
MARKETING magazine is published by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 603-7726 2588 Fax: 603-7722 5712 www.marketingmagazine.com.my
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02 WINDS OF CHANGE AND PROGRESS There has been plenty going on in the market this past few months companies merging, magazine titles closing down and new companies being formed. While no industry can escape from challenging times it is during these times creative muscles...
39
DIGITAL FRONTRUNNER
TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS THROUGH SMART MARKETING The changing tide of – consumer behaviour, media consumption, lifestyle – have all resulted in the death of companies and even industries....
POWERSUITS 2.0
TAILOR MAKING YOUR AGENCY’S POWERSUITS
44 BEST GLOBAL DIGITAL
BRINGING CONTENT MARKETING TO GREATER HEIGHTS Now in its 7th year this year’s Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference did not disappoint with thoughtprovoking insights, brand new content marketing strategies and a host of best in class campaign case studies....
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An Account Manager is not made in a year or two. It takes a long time to come to grips with one of the most difficult (and most times thankless) jobs in the advertising industry....
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APPIES CAMPAIGN
ACTIVATING BISKIDZ WITH EJEN ALI In this creative partnership, iconic Malaysian company MAMEE-Double Decker collaborated with Malaysia’s largest integrated media network, Media Prima for its latest product launch...
19 MUSIC MARKETING
CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE DURING MOMENTS THAT MATTER
Music plays an integral part in our daily lives. Even if we realise it or not, there is a song (or a playlist) to represent each moment of our lives...
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ACTIVATING BISKIDZ BRAND: MAMEE MONSTER BISKIDZ IN this creative partnership, iconic Malaysian company MAMEE-Double Decker collaborated with Malaysia’s largest integrated media network, Media Prima for its latest product launch.
CHALLENGE
The increasing preference towards healthy snacks is driving food manufacturers to respond to this evolving need by introducing nutritious product choices. In October 2016, MAMEEDouble Decker – well recognised for a wide variety of favourite food and beverages among Malaysians ranging from MAMEE Monster snack to instant noodles, beverages, chips and more – made its foray into nutritious biscuit category with MAMEE Monster Biskidz. Driven by its continued product innovation, Biskidz is the first biscuit in Malaysia that is fortified with DHA, as well as calcium and vitamins crucial to support child’s development. The new 8
product nevertheless had to navigate through a saturated market and strong competition from existing brands that are already popular among children (e.g. Tiger Biskuat, Apollo, Choki Choki). A new entrant into the category the MAMEE Monster brand took on the challenge of convincing parents it was a worthy contender. Biskidz not only needs to cut through the clutter and steal consumer spending from other brands but also generate demand from kids and acceptance from parents.
INSIGHT, STRATEGY AND IDEAS
Thinking beyond its proposition, the ultimate task was to create and reinforce a positive connection for Biskidz with children and parents. MAMEEDouble Decker entered into a collaboration with Media Prima Television Networks through a clever integration of Biskidz in the world of Ejen Ali – a new animated series about a wimpy boy turned secret
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agent on a journey of discovering his true potential. The collaboration bodes in well with Biskidz brand promise, “Kuasai iMameeginasi”
capitalising on a character that fuels children’s imagination to be that smart and heroic companion that saves the day- the same reason why cartoons like
Ben10 and Boboiboy are ever so successful among kids. The campaign was brought to life through a multiscreen exposure and engagement series
appies case study
Z WITH EJEN ALI "Driven by its continued product innovation, Biskidz is the first biscuit in Malaysia that is fortified with DHA, as well as calcium and vitamins crucial to support child’s development..."
tapping into the reality of children’s behaviour – the top 2 activities they do for fun are watching TV (82%) and playing mobile games (73%)
Apart from TVC and breakers across the programme segment on TV3 to boost maximum awareness, it also involved the branding of Ejen Ali mobile game
app as MAMEE Monster Biskidz’s World, where the MAMEE Monster icon and special Biskidz features were incorporated into the app. To deepen the association with smart behaviours, the campaign also released a unique series of branded capsules that inspire problemsolving skills with every bite of Biskidz leading to an a-ha moment. They were made relevant by tapping on to some of the most current news and hot
topics i.e. badminton, school bullies and mathematical questions, as well as a public service announcement on cyber safety. Similar exposure and engagement were also extended online, where Biskidz dominated Media Prima’s digital platform, tonton and across social media.
RESULTS AND EFFECTIVENESS
The campaign successfully set Biskidz on an excellent track with an average monthon-month sales growth
of 38% (Oct 2016-Mar 2017). The demand was so strong that Biskidz was constantly out of stock. Within 3 months, Mamee Monster Biskidz seized the no 2 spot in the plain sweet biscuit category. The results were closely attributed to the mass awareness from the collective initiatives, including the Ejen Ali series that charts over 2 million TV viewers on a weekly basis and branded capsules that received over 200,000 online views. Notably, the MAMEE Monster Biskidz’s World app recorded over 60,000 users in 4 weeks and subsequently retaining over 50,000 monthly average users (Nov 2016-Jan 2017). The app, which was awarded 3 golds and 1 bronze at the recent Mob-ex Awrds 2017, and a gold at the recent APPIES Malaysia awards also demonstrated an evidence of acceptance from parents, whereby 76% of the total downloads came from adults aged 25-54 years old securing the app for their children. ISSUE212SEPT-OCT
9
say what “MOBILE IS MORE THAN TEXT OR COPY, IT IS CREATING EXPERIENCES THAT SPEAK TO PEOPLE. WHEN YOU ARE SCROLLING THROUGH YOUR FEED WHAT MAKES YOU PAUSE, WHAT MAKES YOU STOP, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK? AND EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T PAUSE WHAT MAKES YOU REMEMBER?” SHERYL SANDBERG, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (COO) OF FACEBOOK WAS QUOTED IN MARKETINGWEEK.
“IN THE NEXT YEAR, I THINK YOU’LL SEE THE MATURATION OF THE DIGITAL ADVERTISING PRODUCTS ON AMAZON, WHICH WILL MEAN EARLY GAINS FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS, FOLLOWED BY A RAPID RISE IN COMPETITION AS MORE PLAYERS GET TO KNOW HOW TO LEVERAGE THE ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY EFFECTIVELY, AND THEN IN THE CROWDED SPACE IT WILL BECOME A LOT HARDER FOR BRANDS TO WIN AND CREATE ROI,”
“IN OUR HALF-YEAR REPORT, THERE WERE THREE KEY THINGS WE FOCUSED ON THAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT AS CHALLENGES TO THE BUSINESS. THE FIRST IS, “ARE GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK GOING TO EAT OUR LUNCH?” I DON’T THINK IT’S THAT. THE SECOND IS CONSULTANCIES. WHERE THE CONSULTANCIES HAVE BEEN DISRUPTIVE OR EFFECTIVE IS THAT THEY DO GO TO CLIENTS AND SAY, “YOU’RE SPENDING TOO MUCH MONEY.” WHICH LEADS US TO THE REAL CAUSE OF WHAT WE HAVE SEEN IN THE LAST TWO QUARTERS, WHICH IS THE IMPACT OF CHEAP MONEY CREATING POOLS OF CAPITAL USED BY THE ZEROBASED BUDGETERS, LIKE 3G CAPITAL OR COTY, AND THEN ACTIVIST INVESTORS. THAT’S PUTTING TREMENDOUS SHORTTERM PRESSURE ON OUR BUSINESS.” MARTIN SORRELL, WPP CEO RESPONDED TO THE COMPANY’S FALLING STOCKS IN AN INTERVIEW WITH ADEXCHANGER
JASON HARTLEY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND NATIONAL HEAD OF SEARCH AND PAID SEARCH AT DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY 360I
“BY 2020, TARGETED ADS BASED ON DEMOGRAPHY WILL BE REPLACED WITH PERSONALIZED ADS FOR EACH CONSUMER ON EACH DEVICE. THIS IS GREATLY HELPED BY CONSUMERS THEMSELVES, ESPECIALLY MILLENNIALS WHO ARE OPEN TO VOLUNTARILY SHARING AND PROVIDING DATA THROUGH CHANNELS LIKE FACEBOOK, GMAIL AND TWITTER.” AMIT TIWARI, VICE-PRESIDENT - MARKETING FOR HAVELLS INDIA SHARED IN AN ARTICLE IN AFAQS.
10 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT BEN By Malati Siniah
LOH BEN JERN
GENERAL MANAGER tonton
It was easy to warm up to tonton’s General Manager Loh Ben Jern. Apart from his friendly demeanour I felt like I knew Ben much longer than the few minutes we had been introduced, mainly because of his unmistakable voice.
ON DEMAND
ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT Now to others, this might sound strange but when your interviewee had been a radio personality for close to 10 years, you would know what I mean. I remember listening to Ben’s cheerful and upbeat voice while I was on the road every morning. Hence upon first meeting him for the interview, it was as if we knew each other for ages. Whilst his role today as the driving force behind Media Prima’s OTT service is very different from his time at the radio studio, his passion for content and staying relevant in today’s cluttered media space remains the same. From its regional expansion to tapping into the mass market, Ben shares with us his journey at tonton so far and how he plans on reaching out to new audience segments for the streaming service.
This year marked a significant shift in tonton’s direction whereby you are no longer looking at
Malaysia but reaching out to a regional audience. Earlier in April, you inked a deal with Singtel to enter into Singapore and most recently was your Brunei expansion via DST. What are some of the insights you have learnt on consumer content consumption from regional markets? Content consumption across the board is generally similar to Malaysia. Why? We are talking to almost the same group of audience. The only skew of difference is the kind of devices used to consume the content. In Singapore, for example, there is a huge demand for Big Screen TVs and the dominating operating system is Apple’s iOS. When you think about it, it’s the same Mass Malay community that is consuming the content. In Malaysia, it’s the complete opposite where Android devices dominate. We invested in plenty of research to study not only the market but also the
12 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
device profile of our consumers. People who are on the iPhone vs Android have completely different personality profiles eg: iOS users are more simplistic, they value brands more than Android users and also tend to have higher expectations. These learnings help us to make more informed decisions when conducting our marketing activities in new markets. Our latest market, Brunei is now our 2nd highest content consuming city for tonton after Kuala Lumpur. Even our launch event, held in the same stadium the likes of Michel Jackson and Whitney Houston performed in was filled
to the brim with over 10,000 attendees. You see, tonton’s target is the mass audience which is why we chose our tonton ambassadors who could speak to this crowd such as Datuk Seri Vida (DSV), Ayda Jebat, Redza Rosli and Thomas & Jack. What is great is that our ambassadors have a fan base beyond Malaysia which is why they pull in the crowd at even our regional launches. DSV is a truly unique case as our arrangement with her is part sponsorship and partnership. She is a perfect spokesperson as not only is she someone with a larger than life personality but she also relates extremely
well to the core tonton audience. At the immigration counter in Brunei for example, the officers in the counter actually stopped their work for a few minutes so that they could have a selfie with her!
She is definitely savvy in building her brand and an influencer in her own right with over 1.5 million followers on Instagram. I understand you have also worked on some tonton originals with DSV? Yes, it’s a very symbiotic relationship between tonton and DSV. She is undoubtedly big with her products and has been growing her profile on her own.
cover story
To assist in this we have launched a few programmes with her. We were the first to launch her viral song “I am me” through tonton which gained hundreds and thousands of views plus likes across multiple social platforms and more recently, “Casa mewah DSV” which invites the audience to have a peek into her lifestyle. At tonton, we are constantly
experimenting with production and acquisition of the right content that fits the audience. Last year alone we launched 30 original drama series, 10 pre-TV binge titles (up to 6 months ahead of TV) and over 125 live events in HD.
Coming up with engaging content is a challenge to all players. How is tonton planning to win the content game? From a regional perspective, we have struck content collaborations to come up with original series which is relevant to each
market. In Singapore for example, we are in talks with Singtel - which has its own branded content arm - to create an original series to look at the haunted mansions in Singapore. We are also exploring Season 2 of ‘Reban Ayam’ (Chicken Coup) – a tonton original which puts two celebrities together to chase after chickens but this time with a Korean & Singaporean twist. Another new initiative by tonton is our recent collaboration with popular YouTube sensation JinnyboyTV. This is for our first ‘tonton original movie’, By MY Side which has started screening in 21 cinemas nationwide since Malaysia Day. Shortly after which, the full movie will be made available on tonton and various international platforms worldwide. Why YouTubers? We know that tonton is strong with the mass audience – 90% of the consumption today comes from that market. The question is how do we try and reach out to the urban audience? tonton’s strategy moving forward is
... TONTON’S CORE AUDIENCE IS BETWEEN 25-35 YEARS, I WOULDN’T WANT THIS TO SHIFT BUT THIS GROUP WILL GET OLDER AND I WANT TO GET THE KIDS TO START TALKING ABOUT US. OUR COLLABORATION WITH JINNYBOY IS OUR FIRST STEP TO DOING THIS AND PLENTY OF BUZZ WAS CREATED... to bring in more urban content to our audiences. Our first trial was with Red Bull where we worked together to bring in more extreme sports related content, a little dive into eSports earlier in the year with our partnership with ESL One Gaming to stream the DOTA2 championship which had a prize pool of 250,000 USD. tonton’s core audience is between 25-35 years old. The key is to sustain this group while getting millennials and the younger generation to start talking about us. Our collaboration with JinnyBoy is our first step in doing this and had resulted in sold out screens across multiple cinemas and the official hastag #ByMYSideTheMovie trending in the first few days of opening. The question on my mind is always how we can reach out to an even larger audience base.
Moving forward, we plan on collaborating with more social influencers both in Malaysia and regionally. This strategy plays a big role in tonton being a more local and personal OTT service.
How are brands currently collaborating with tonton? We are very much into co-content production with brands. The potential of brand collaboration with advertisers is limit-less as we have advertising options targeting both our paid (VIP) and free users. One of our new offerings is where brands have the option of sponsoring an entire rail of content that is targeted to a specific genre, event or emotion. This was taken up by Sen Heng, Clear & Wall’s Ice Cream during the recent 29th SEA Games. As you can imagine, tapping into the wealth of content by Media ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 13
14 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
cover story
Meet the team behind tonton
... IN THE FUTURE THEY WILL BE LOOKING AT THE EQUIPMENT ITSELF WHICH IS DRIVING THEIR VIEWING EXPERIENCE, VR AND HDR ARE SOMETHING MALAYSIANS MIGHT WANT IN THE FUTURE...
Prima, brands can curate specific content themes comedy, sports, drama - which suit their product messaging.
How has the Malaysian consumers’ appetite towards digital content changed? They are definitely more open towards paying a specific amount for premium content. From a subscription perspective, in the first 3 months of the year (2017), we were able to generate the same amount of revenue compared to the full 12 months of the previous year. Another interesting learning for us came from our Ramadhan campaign this year where we played with the price point. tonton has a monthly price point for RM10. We did a promotion with Google Play and gave a 50% discount which resulted in a 300% increase in subscriptions! We are trying to understand if it’s the price point or if users tend to get excited when there is a
promotion. Playing around with these parameters, we hope to eventually come up with a price which fits every Malaysian. If the price is low enough consumers may not think twice about parting with their money for convenience and premium content. This truly is an experimental period for us to evaluate the right content and price point fit for tonton. Technology is also in the mix tonton is striving to provide customers with faster streaming, higher video quality coupled with lower data consumption for a better viewing experience and cost savings for the user. tonton is currently experimenting with 5.1 surround audio; with 4K, VR and HDR adaptation in the not so distant future.
How was it when you first joined tonton? My transition from radio announcer to tech was not
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 15
cover story too much of a shocker simply because I came from an IT background. Even when I was a radio announcer, I was also consulting Media Prima Radio Networks on their digital strategies so it was a pretty smooth transition. One key learning is that I’m constantly trying to understand the way the mass community thinks through the team and our engagement with the audience which is incredibly unique. Before, I would have never thought of
"MEDIA PRIMA IS DRIVING TONTON TO THE FOREFRONT - AND THE TEAM IS RISING TO THE OCCASION. THIS IS JUST TESTAMENT AS TO WHERE THE GROUP IS GOING TO NEXT, I SEE A VERY BIG FUTURE – A VERY BRIGHT FUTURE FOR THE GROUP.
engaging people like Ayda Jebat and DSV as they are of a completely different market! Instead, I would be connecting with more urban celebrities like Yuna, Sona One, Hunny Madu and others. One of the craziest thing which I think about today was the purchase of the VIP chair which is a primary feature at our ground events and business cards. It was a hefty investment costing thousands but my boss Airin Zainul said to me, “Trust me, the mass
Over 30,000 hours of local & international entertainment Ayda Jebat
2010 Launched as a “FREE” AVOD service -pre-roll Ads
Dato’ Seri Vida
community will love it because of its regal look.” The next thing you know, the hype is created at our events and this chair has become a celebrity. People pay money just to sit on this chair to take photographs with the many celebrities who attend our events. Marketing to the mass audience is dramatically different especially in consumption patterns, method of approach, colour schemes, language – it’s a really
Redza Rosli
Thomas & Jack
1.5+million app downloads and growing… Result? Subscription trend Annual by product 1%
Daily 16% Weekly 23%
Over 7.3 million users and growing (as of Sept 2017)
20 April 2016 tonton new look Monthly 60%
30 original dramas series produced by Media Prima & tonton 16 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
10 pre-tv binge titles available up to 6 months before TV
15-18 thousand new users weekly 125 LIVE HD events football, concerts, award shows, reality shows & more!
STUDIo8
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 17
cover story
long list. When you understand your target audience, your product will naturally sell.
How has your past experience in radio helped you in your current role? One of the biggest things I learnt from radio (9 and a half years) is the culture of being quick. When you are on radio everything is very now, now, now. If tomorrow there was a chicken running across the road which turned into an ostrich, I promise you radio will be all over it in an instant. The environment at first was different because due to its television roots, tonton was not in an ‘on demand’ environment but a linear model instead. When I got into tonton I realised that all these processes don’t work with the environment that we are in today. This is why tonton is a tiny bit unique within Media Prima as we have a dedicated team of designers, editors, content, support, PR
I’M REALLY... ENJOYING THIS AS WHEN THERE IS SUCH A TRANSFORMATION, THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIMENT, AND WITH THAT COMES A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO UNCOVER UNSEEN THINGS, SUCH AS WHAT WE ARE it’s all about insights, DOING TODAY WITH data modelling and how TONTON.... we can improve our and technology as we have to be nimble enough to quickly move on. My learnings of being agile and thinking on the spot from being a breakfast jock definitely helps me in my role today.
Ben you were on the cover of MARKETING a few years back and like you mentioned earlier you had two hats, radio announcer and driving digital change for the company. Having seen the company evolution
18 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
throughout the years how has the group’s strategy shifted? I think that this is the most exciting time to be in Media Prima. Listening to the different initiatives and projects we are doing is reflective of the company’s transformation which also touches every point of the business. We are becoming a very data-driven business. We even hired data scientists. Before this, having a database and a team of IT people was important but then what? Today
services and offerings through hard-data-facts. Media Prima is also becoming very technologically inclined and I can attest from the investments the group has made. In the previous mindset, it’d be to set aside a budget, sub-contract, build and that’s it. Today, the story is very different. tonton and our sister company Media Prima Digital has its own set of developers. Technology is constantly evolving and we need people to constantly develop and improve on the service. There is no end-ofdevelopment period.
In the past year itself you can see how Media Prima has changed with the group’s major acquisition of Rev Asia and the exciting things we are doing in the gaming and app space. Usually, change is difficult when the top does not agree, but today I can assure you from the highest levels of management - from the previous Group MD Dato’ Seri Amrin to the current Datuk Kamal Khalid - these guys are thinking digital first. Everything from KPIs to mindset have totally changed – it’s no longer about exposure. Today, it’s all about the views, conversions and engagement.
music marketing
MUSIC plays an integral part in our daily lives. Even if we realise it or not, there is a song (or a playlist) to represent each moment of our lives. These moments can be as simple as having a shower before heading to work or preparing for a night out in town. Music reflects who we are, what we are doing and how we are feeling in any given moment. And thanks to music streaming services, people are listening to music and amplifying these moments more than ever. On Spotify, there are now over 140 million users spending more than 2 hours per day on the platform and are listening to over 2 billion playlists (and counting) to soundtrack these everyday moments. Taking this into consideration, Spotify is launching their latest native ad experience, Branded Moments, a first-to-market ad
CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE DURING MOMENTS THAT MATTER
solution enabling brands to engage their audience in real-time moments. MAKING MOMENTS MATTER FOR YOUR BRAND For the streaming generation (a key audience group for many brands), waking up each day with the world’s music at your fingertips is the new norm. Spotify has become a life-curation
tool, enhancing daily activities like commuting or working out, social occasions like partying and gaming, or major milestones like birthdays or weddings. With Branded Moments, it is now possible for advertisers to reach out to their target audience at the right moment (and when it matters the most). Leveraging on first-hand data that is available on the music streaming platform, Spotify is
able to help identify what the brand’s target audience is doing, and providing the brand the opportunity to own that moment and bring value to their customer that is timely and relevant. Moments that advertisers are able to “own” include Chill, Focus, Party and Workout. Branded Moments go beyond the usual ‘sponsored by’ announcement by connecting the brand
to the activity that the Spotify user is about to start. With Branded Moments, advertisers and marketers alike will be able to: • Reach your audience at the moment of highest relevance. • Build brand love by unlocking 30 minutes of uninterrupted music. • Tell your brand’s story with guaranteed SOV over a series of sequential mobile display ads. Major brands including Gatorade, Bacardi and Bose have adopted this innovative ad format in selected markets where Spotify is available. It is time for your brand to connect with your target audience when it matters the most. For more information on how you can capture your customers during key moments, contact CtrlShift and Spotify at my-sales@spotify.com
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 19
THE CYCLING IS ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE by Josh Sklar, President of Heresy, Author of “Digital Doesn’t Matter (and other advertising heresies)” josh@heresy.co, @ chiefheretic, http:// heresy.co, http:// digitaldoesntmatter.com
I have been one of those guys who has been beating the drum for digital advertising since the mid-1990s; a rhythm that most agency chiefs and advertisers have heard with bemusement the way a parent might listen to a child who thinks they are playing with a rock band in front of a sold out audience. I’ve stepped up to the microphone and shouted that “online is the future” for all of these years (decades!) only to be met with
20 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
near constant derision or incredulous replies that let me know clearly that most think it’s “interesting,” but brands will never be built on the Internet and the ~US$500 billion in ad sales will always mostly come from above-theline channels. Over the past 10 years, online budgets have been growing a bit (in some cases more than a bit), but the prevailing sentiment has still been that television will always
be the primary driver and all of this computer stuff has failed to move the needle in any measureable way, despite the plethora of analytical tools available to examine said needle. Whereas optimism has peaked now and then with a few new efforts that, in turn, piqued curiosity from marketing and agency managers, the cyclic ups and downs of results have caused major brands like P&G to pull their funding
away from platforms such as Facebook, with numerous others following suit. Now, the data has come in that says traditional advertising is moving downward in record numbers and is unlikely to roll back upwards this time, for the first time. You may have seen WPP’s stock plunge 11.5% in August on news that ad spending is experiencing a significant slowdown to the extent that traditional advertising
online FLUX
... NOW, THE DATA HAS COME IN THAT SAYS TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING IS MOVING DOWNWARD IN RECORD NUMBERS AND IS UNLIKELY TO ROLL BACK UPWARDS... dropped to its lowest point since the global recession circa 2009. In fact, it is projected to fall 7% this year and keep on in a free fall throughout 2018 while online has pushed overall advertising in the US up 8% just this past quarter. It actually accounted for 128% of that gain, thanks mostly to Google and, of course, Facebook with its over 2 billion active monthly users (yup, 27% of the population of the planet – and rising). Digital advertising is growing at a rate of 28% and is beginning to have a significant influence in the way audiences expect to consume content anywhere. Although Facebook has been experimenting with mid-roll ads in their videos
that interrupt the experience, the storytelling, and the emotion in a manner that the production companies have not yet accounted for (unlike with television), most online videos have absolutely no interruptions (unlike with television). This “freedom” that comes from watching on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Snapchat, Periscope, and so on is causing the viewer drop off of traditional television. The response? Starting in September, channels like Fox Sports will begin to experiment with YouTube-modeled 6-second spots during broadcasts of their highest-rated programs: games, including Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League
Soccer (MLS), and the National Football League (NFL) in an attempt to mollify audiences that have increasingly less patience while still attempting to put out memorable branded messaging to pay for everything. Because there will be less inventory and competition, they are raising the fees to around US$75,000 per micro-ad. The question is whether or not advertisers will see and understand the value and queue up to book the spots. The real issue that matters to us agency folk – and possibly one of the reasons agencies have been so reluctant to push digital – is that it cuts into media buying and even production profits. While
listening for the death knell of traditional agencies is absolutely premature, this is the first time that the trends show that there should be very real concern that things have to change significantly if they are to see a future. So far, they’ve been able to dismiss the “Is this the end of advertising as we know it?!” headlines, year after year, because it was mostly speculation, but as with the warnings about climate change, they don’t want to be the skeptical Republican Texan politicians that scoffed to the point they were caught with their pants down when Hurricane Harvey came a-callin’ and wiped out the 4th largest city in the United States.
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 21
case study
THE WORLD’S FIRST INNOVA MAGAZINE COVER SPURS SO Here’s what happened when MARKETING and Etika decided to celebrate their anniversaries…
“Personalisation is the key to unlocking brand love but doing it using a conventional medium and at this scale is the Holy Grail..."
NO strangers to being at the helm of many advertising and publishing firsts, Etika along with MARKETING magazine decided it was time to go beyond the ad and publishing history of Malaysia by attempting to produce 3,000 copies of the magazine each with a personalised cover of 3,000 of the most creative and innovative minds in the country. And what better time to pull off such a feat than during their anniversaries. It all started with a brave and bold idea from Etika who posed the question, “What if we could wake the industry up by creating something that has never been attempted before, the world’s first personalised cover delivered to 3,000 of the movers and shakers in Malaysia’s advertising and marketing ecosystem?” Not afraid to push the envelope, a bold idea such as this is
22 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
not uncommon for Etika who has made several innovative media innovations of late. Including the partnership with The Star to create a special jacket with an LED button that you could switch on, a game changing Drone Hunt mobile game for Mountain Dew and who could forget the constant stream of videos online which came from surprised 7-Eleven customers who heard the Wonda Coffee jingle when opening the store’s fridge door. Spearheading this bold initiative from Etika was Santharuban, Vice President of Marketing who shared, “It’s never been done before, but I am sure we can find ways around it” were the exact words from Ham when I first asked him if a personalized cover was possible. Sure enough, he and his team did find a way around it! Kudos to the MARKETING magazine team for rolling this out,
it surely was not easy and required a lot of hard work and resources which Ham and his team put into this project!” In the two months that have passed since the special edition issue was released, MARKETING saw a spike in the number of new followers on its Facebook page totalling to 3,560 from May 22 to July 28. Contributing to the spur in talkability and engagement, were
posts by visitors which racked in 5,926 likes across 40 posts shared on both the timelines of MARKETING and its founder & Regional CEO, Professor Harmandar Singh. Accounting for social media chatter generated through overall sharing on Facebook activity were 811 comments. At the risk of sounding cliche, the numbers are indicative of general receptiveness to personalisation. And
ATIVE PERSONALISED SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ to push the envelope
for a project of this scope and scale, the numbers don’t lie. “This is the first time in our 20 years of publishing we have undertaken a project of this scale, from content to production and distribution. Etika inspired us to bring the art of personalised marketing to life to thousands of our readers. A true world record in publishing history. It took us more than 3 months and a dedicated team of
15 experts working almost 24/7 to create this unprecedented record, which would not have been possible without Etika’s quest for excellence,” said Professor Ham. “Personalisation is the key to unlocking brand love but doing it using a conventional medium and at this scale is the Holy Grail. At ENTROPIA, we are proud to be a part of bringing this pathbreaking idea to life for Etika, who have always pushed the envelope in innovation and we extend a heartfelt thanks to MARKETING for their painstaking work and patience. Heartiest congratulations to ETIKA and MARKETING for their anniversaries. This will be remembered for a long time to come,” said Ramakrishnan C.N., Partner at ENTROPIA who supported the project. Here is what some industry leaders had to say on this groundbreaking initiative….. “MARKETING’s personalised cover has taken the industry by storm. It is a brilliant idea, and not only showed how relevant
individualised content can trigger massive response on social media, but also that impossible is nothing. If there is a will, there is a way. If there is an idea, there is an execution. And with that, hats off to Etika and MARKETING for being brave enough to do the impossible. I love the way they weaved their brand stories into the narrative. ” Andreas Vogiatzakis, CEO of Havas Media Group Malaysia “Another brilliant sleight of hand.... and special thanks to the gals and guys at Etika, for yet again pushing the boundaries of advertising and publishing innovation - keep up the great work!” Claudian Navin Stanislaus, Head of Advertising & Promotions, BABA Products “It’s funny that you always put the brands you work on in magazines but never expect to see the people behind the work being recognised. Kudos to Etika and MARKETING for recognising all those who pour so much of their heart and soul into brands and advertising. I’ve always wanted to be on the front cover of a magazine and they made my dream come true.” VJ Anand, Executive Creative Director, BBDO Malaysia. ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 23
NEWS DHEERAJ RAINA NOW ADPARLOR MD
‘GEMPAK’ GETS A FACELIFT Malaysia’s number one entertainment portal is now decked out with a fresh look that’s targeted to catch the eye and keep the attention of Malay Millennials or ‘Malaynnials’ (young adults between 18 to 34 years old) throughout the Klang Valley. Head of Branding, Malay Marketing & Gempak, Raja Jastina Arshad said, “‘Gempak’, our popular Malay entertainment service launched in June 2012, continues to engage and entertain over 55 million unique visitors from the day it was introduced up till today. The latest statistic for the month of Jan – July 2017 marked that we’ve reached more than 20 million unique visitors. Whilst on the digital views, we’ve achieved 1.1 billion views accumulatively (via website, YouTube and Facebook), with 264 million views from Jan – July 2017 respectively.”
Accessible online via www.gempak. com or by downloading the free ‘Gempak App’ for Android and iPhone users, ‘Gempak’ offers a myriad of exclusive content including videos, the latest in news and entertainment, tips and tutorials, current lifestyle updates, and the best of local and international television series. Curret potential market opportunities can be created from the 5.21 million tech-savvy ‘Malaynnials’, who are active on new media platforms, demanding instant ‘on demand’ content from around the globe via a borderless digital ecosystem. ‘Gempak’ recognized that 88% of its users accessing the internet via smart devices or mobile, lean towards User Generated Content (UGC), hence ‘Gempak’ aims to increase its content assets of the like to attract users to continue staying connected online, and making the ‘Gempak’ digital platform the go-to medium for them.
As a pioneer of digital content, ‘Gempak’ will introduce more ‘freemium’ content or free premium quality content, for users to enjoy. Echoing the notion that ‘Gempak’ offers the best deals to clusters of advertisers and corporations, General Manager of Blaze Digital, Jayaram Nagaraj said “Digital marketing is now seen as the preferred medium for many companies today. ‘Gempak’ offers flexibility in meeting the demands of advertising, providing tailored solutions to the specifications advertisers want. We are equipped with a team of creative minds, and state-of-the-art facilities to build exclusive content as requested by advertisers within the timeline given. Furthermore, ‘Gempak’ has access to a myriad of popular homegrown talents that can be featured in content they wish to market in the digital space. Against such a backdrop, I am confident ‘Gempak’ is the best platform for all brands to be featured on.”
AMP LAUNCHES IN MALAYSIA WITH SEVEN LEADING PUBLISHERS CtrlShift, an audience solutions company, has launched the region’s first independent private marketplace for digital advertising, called “AMP” – Asia’s By-Invitation Marketplace for Premium Inventory. AMP launches in Malaysia with seven leading publishers –MediaPrimaDigital, Star Media Group Berhad, RevAsia, MalayMail Online, SinChew Online, Tantannews.com and Cari.my – offering marketers access to over 11 million monthly unique visitors in the country. 24 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
Mindshare’s General Manager and Head of Strategy Dheeraj Raina resurfaces at AdParlor as part of its Malaysia senior leadership team expansion plans. The strengthening of the team is the result of AdParlor’s growing presence in the market and subsequent bid to enhance capabilities. Dheeraj Raina, who joins as Managing Director, has over 11 years of industry experience in leadership positions, most recently at Mindshare Malaysia, where he was responsible for driving digital product strategy. At AdParlor, Dheeraj will be responsible for driving the consultancy arm of the business forward and overseeing the development of new creative services. “Brands in Malaysia face the challenge of speaking to consumers personally, which requires an unprecedented
CtrlShift plans to roll out AMP in other markets beginning with Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. Reza Behnam, Co-founder & Executive Chairman at CtrlShift, said, “AMP is the answer to a strong call from APAC marketers to have access to audiences through a curated pool of high-quality inventory from leading publishers. With AMP, they can be assured that they are getting a competitive, auction-derived price for brandsafe inventory while having the benefit of targeting nuanced audience profiles." “The premium inventory, until recently mostly purchased by marketers directly from individual publishers, is now available in a
NEWS
SGAG AND MGAG UNDER HEPMIL MEDIA GROUP GETS AN ADDED BOOST combination of human analysis and consultancy backed by hard data” said Matt Sutton, CEO, AdParlor Asia Pacific. “Dheeraj and his team possesses the high-level strategic insight of working with global brands, and deep consumer understanding that comes with being in-market. With them, AdParlor will deliver a data-driven service to advise our clients on their digital strategy, and enable them to execute.” “Malaysia is not a one-size-fitsall market,” said Dheeraj. “Greater customisation and personalisation helps marketers to build brand love. I look forward to building on the bedrock of AdParlor’s data and proprietary technology to enhance targeting precision, quality and
transparency for marketers, in addition to expanding what we can offer to our clients.” Joining Dheeraj are Faraz Khan and Shyam Ravishankar as Account Directors, and Eileen Khor as Head of Creative Services. AdParlor in Malaysia will be the first in the region to introduce an in-house creative services team, led by Khor, who joins the the company from Loki Media. Digital specialists Khan and Ravishankar will be responsible for driving the Axiata and direct advertiser business respectively. AdParlor Asia Pacific is an insights-led digital consultancy offering strategic planning and execution with technology at the core.
secure, scalable and automated environment. While we are meeting marketers’ needs, we are also championing the interests of premium publishers in our region, offering a competitive alternative to the current duopoly (Facebook and Google).” Reza added. In France, Spain and the US, publishers’ alliances have been formed to address the challenges faced by marketers – data transparency, brand safety, fake news – and publishers – undervalued inventory, competition from bigger publishers, the
duopoly of Facebook and Google. The company states in its release that AMP provides a neutral and unbiased space to showcase the offerings by publishers. CtrlShift works with publishers to build their programmatic expertise around the AMP platform, and with agencies to facilitate the integration of the platform with agency trading desks. AMP can also generate insights such as details on audience value and demand, yield analysis and individual campaign learnings.
Hepmil Media Group (Hepmil), owner of SGAG and MGAG and one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing content producers, has recently secured SGD$1.3 million in PreSeries A funding through angel investors on 5 September 2017. The funds raised will be channelled towards international expansion efforts and product development. This will allow Hepmil to bring its core expertise of creating fun, localised digital content into various Southeast Asian markets, while creating sponsored content for brands as a business model. There will also be a concurrent focus on the augmentation of platforms and audience data applications. The angel investors, whose backgrounds span various industries, disciplines and geographies, were strategically selected to accelerate the Group’s market expansion efforts. With this new injection of funds, former Ad-man Jeffrey Seah will also take on new responsibilities as the Vice Chairman of the board. He will work to enable quick entry into new markets and deepen footprints in existing markets. Both the SGAG and MGAG platforms are on a mission to bring localised content to Singaporeans and Malaysians. Mak and Ang, the duo behind Hepmil, were recently recognised in Forbes Asia’s 30 under 30 and have set their sights on establishing their position as a burgeoning entertainment content platform.
ZENITH MEDIA MALAYSIA STRIKES A NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH GOALS101 Understanding that brands now have the opportunity to optimize their marketing spends through a more targeted approach, Zenith Media Malaysia has entered into a strategic partnership with marketing technology venture Goals101. Goals101 aims at introducing purchasebased intelligence to make marketing more measurable and relevant for brands. It helps brands to intelligently select and target the most potent customers through various data cuts and proprietary machine learning algorithms. “The concept of purchase behavior driven marketing in its true form is being introduced for the first time in Asia by Goals101. Having partnered with the largest banks in India, it has so far been an equally exciting journey in Malaysia.“ Gerald Miranda (pictured), CEO of Zenith Media commented, “The feedback from brands has been very positive as Goals101 gives them the opportunity to connect with relevant customer segments in a most efficient manner.” ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 25
creative showcase UMAN: WHALECREAMOS CLIENT UMAN AGENCY CREAMOS COUNTRY COLOMBIA CREATIVE DIRECTOR JORGE MONTOYA ART DIRECTORS BRYAN OLAYA, MAIRA REINA COPYWRITER SANTIAGO ALVAREZ
AMP is a marketplace of the most premium inventory in Southeast Asia, bringing a curated list of elite publishers together to offer best-in-quality audience segments to marketers. AMP delivers this promise through partnerships with publishers such as MediaPrimaDigital, Star Media Group Bhd, RevAsia, MalayMail Online, SinChew Online, Tantannews.com, Cari.my and more – offering marketers access to over 11 million monthly unique visitors in the country.
An auction-based, audience-enriched platform, AMP allows marketers to bid for relevant audiences while ensuring that ads will appear only in brand safe environments. Prestige, by invitation only
Brand safe: Premium Environment
High Priority
Multi-channel
Impactful Ad Units
Comprehensive Reports
High Viewability
Data Driven Optimisation
Visit amppmp.com or contact us at amp.support@ctrlshift.com now!
marketing2017 strategy DRAGONS
OF ASIA
2017 DRAGONS OF MALAYSIA
THE 2017
DRAGONS OF
MALAYSIA & ASIA FINALISTS!
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 27
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2017 DRAGONS OF MALAYSIA
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ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 29
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2017 DRAGONS OF MALAYSIA
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2017 DRAGONS OF ASIA FINALISTS
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BEST SMALL BUDGET CAMPAIGN
ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL NEW ZEALAND CAMPAIGN STEINLAGER TOKYO DRY CLIENT LION
ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL AUSTRALIA WITH OGILVY SYDNEY CAMPAIGN AQIUM – STOP THE GERM SWAP CLIENT EGO PHARMACEUTICALS
BEST BRAND TRIAL OR SALES GENERATION CAMPAIGN ENTRANT PHD INDIA CAMPAIGN SURF EXCEL MATIC LIQUID - PORUBPO CLIENT SURF EXCEL
BEST SOCIAL MEDIA OR WORD OF MOUTH CAMPAIGN ENTRANT LEO BURNETT / ARC WORLDWIDE MALAYSIA CAMPAIGN #3BITESCHALLENGE CLIENT GERBANG ALAF RESTAURANTS
BEST USE OF MEDIA BEST USE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS ENTRANT MEDIACOM / MINTERACTION THAILAND CAMPAIGN DEADFEED CLIENT THAIHEALTH
ENTRANT PULP STRATEGY COMMUNICATIONS INDIA CAMPAIGN EK KADAM UNNATI KI AUR CLIENT INTEL INDIA
BEST PRODUCT LAUNCH OR RE-LAUNCH CAMPAIGN ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL MALAYSIA CAMPAIGN PLAY.DOVE REPEAT CLIENT UNILEVER MALAYSIA
BEST CAUSE, CHARITY MARKETING OR PUBLIC SECTOR CAMPAIGN ENTRANT WUNDERMAN-BIENALTO AUSTRALIA CAMPAIGN INTERACTIVE BUILDINGS CLIENT NSW PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT
BEST ENTERTAINMENT CAMPAIGN ENTRANT DDB MUDRA GROUP INDIA CAMPAIGN PREMIER FUTSAL CLIENT PREMIER FUTSAL
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 37
2017 DRAGONS
OF ASIA
FINALISTS THE BEST CAMPAIGNS BY COUNTRY
AUSTRALIA ENTRANT WUNDERMAN-BIENALTO AUSTRALIA CLIENT NSW PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT
CAMBODIA ENTRANT HAVAS RIVERORCHID CAMBODIA CLIENT CHEVRON CAMBODIA
CHINA ENTRANT WUNDERMAN SHANGHAI CHINA CLIENT WILDAID
HONG KONG ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL HONG KONG CLIENT COLOMBIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT & WILDBOND HONG KONG
INDIA ENTRANT DDB MUDRA GROUP INDIA CLIENT PREMIER FUTSAL
PHILIPPINES ENTRANT SM PRIME HOLDINGS PHILIPPINES CLIENT SM CARES INDONESIA ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL INDONESIA CLIENT KRAFTHEINZ
JAPAN ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL JAPAN CLIENT JAGUAR LAND ROVER JAPANT
KOREA ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL KOREA CLIENT AB-INBEV
MALAYSIA ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL MALAYSIA CLIENT MAMEE-DOUBLE DECKER MALAYSIA RUSSIA ENTRANT INITIATIVE RUSSIA CAMPAIGN ZOLOTOY STANDARD FAMILY CLIENT UNILEVER RUSSIA
SRI LANKA ENTRANT BENCHMARK INNOVATION SRI LANKA CLIENT SONY SINGAPORE SRI LANKA
TAIWAN ENTRANT MEC TAIWAN CLIENT PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION
38 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
SINGAPORE ENTRANT DIGITAL ARTS NETWORK SINGAPORE CLIENT MASTERCARD
NEW ZEALAND ENTRANT GEOMETRY GLOBAL NEW ZEALAND CLIENT LION
THAILAND ENTRANT MEDIACOM / MINTERACTION THAILAND CLIENT THAIHEALTH
TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS THROUGH SMART MARKETING The changing tide of – consumer behaviour, media consumption, lifestyle – have all resulted in the death of companies and even industries. Rising up triumphantly from the ashes, however, are a string of digital frontrunners who have their fingers on the consumer’s pulse and are adapting to current changes. In this issue, we feature two change makers who are transforming the online space with their cuttingedge technologies and ideas…..
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 39
HOW ONE OF MALAYSIA’S PIONEER ONLINE PORTAL STAYS RELEVANT JUST say the name Lowyat.NET what pops into the mind is a vibrant tech-savvy community whose forums usually pop up on the front page of Google when you type in a question on the local market. However, that is one of the many communities successfully built by Lowyat MSC the parent company behind sites such as Lipstiq.com, Hype.MY, Autofreaks. com, Wanista.com, Hangat.com and Stadium.MY which boasts a combined monthly reach of over 6 million unique visitors. Lowyat MSC Group CEO Mr Vijandren Ramadass spends most of his professional time spearheading Lowyat MSC’s growth through the creation of new content sites, diversifying their online offerings and pushing original content in multiple formats which are relevant to the local market. “One thing that we have done, and has worked really well is sharing relevant content across different media channels depending on who we are looking to reach out to. We also sell these key demographics to our clients, so while they might be investing in a
Sumitra Venugopal, Vice President - Brand Strategy for Lowyat MSC
single content platform, we also share their campaigns on our other social platforms if we feel they fit into their target demographics.” Vijandren shared. However looking beyond the content space, Lowyat MSC has also embarked on several strategic partnerships as part of diversifying its businesses and income streams. One of this partnership includes social media marketing agency PersonEDGE (PE), “PE has successfully made its presence known as one of the top social marketing agencies in Malaysia with major clients to boast such as SK II, Asus, Nivea, Dior, and other well-known global brands. With digital media growing
40 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
at a significant rate in the country, and the increasing use of mobile devices particularly among the younger generation, the focus now is more on digitaldriven campaigns, combining both online and social media formats,” Vijandren told us while adding that the partnership marked the group’s first foray into this space. The company also ventured into the events space through a collaboration with Creative Event AgencyWIZU who has worked with numerous top brands including DHL, Rev Asia, P&G and Petron. However content still remains as the companies’ main lifeblood and even till today it is coming up with new platforms
to better serve the connected Malaysian user. “Hangat.com started in early 2017 as the new brainchild in the family. It is a pit-stop where people are able to read up on their favourite Malaysian celebrities movie premieres and spoilers, up-to-date local fashion and beauty trends and tips and trending news. This site is a localisation initiative to cater for the Malaysian market and we are envisioning it to reach the mass Malaysian market by year-end,” added Sumitra Venugopal, Vice President - Brand Strategy for Lowyat MSC. Sumitra added that
the company remains focused on generating relevant content which is customised to the platform it is being distributed on. “Our content is designed to be consumed across multiple platforms for our readers on-the-go be it Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. In that manner, we have had robust and accelerated business growth on our digital platform.” With its eye on innovation and passion for the digital space, Lowyat MSC is definitely holding its own in a rapidly growing marketplace, as we look forward to seeing what is next for this digital frontrunner.
IT’s hard to imagine that dimsum will soon reach its one-year mark. We remember attending the launch of The Star Media Group’s videoon-demand subscription service who back then surprised many with the announcement it would be boldly marching forward into this brand new media space. “We will be offering the best Asian content on SVOD service from our curated library sourced from all over the region. The content will mainly be drama series from Taiwan, Japan, China, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia,” Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Star Media Group, Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai proudly declared at their brand launch late last year. And ever since then dimsum has been charging full steam ahead with smart content partnership with players across the region. Earlier in March, the company announced its partnership with five international media networks- CITVC (China), Shanghai Wings Media Co,.Ltd (China), TV Asahi (Japan), MediaQuiz (Hong Kong) and MediaCorp (Singapore). This was then followed by the announcement of launching its first branded VOD content from Oh!K, a Turner Asia Pacific channel. Focused on bringing in, even more, content from Asia
: that is streamin (From left to right) Mr Roy Tan Kong Weng , Group Chief Operating Officer (Digital) at Star Media Group Berhad; Embassy of the People's Republic of China to Malaysia, Chief of Political Section First Secretary Ms. Qian Jun Jun; YB Datuk Seri Ir. Dr. Wee Ka Siong, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department; Dato’ Fu Ah Kiow, Chairman, Star Media Group Berhad; Ms. He Xiao Lan, Vice President of Oriental Pearl Group and General Manager of Shanghai Wings Media; Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Star Media Group.
onto its platform the company then joined forces on a content exchange partnership with Shanghai Media Group to bring the best Malaysian and Chinese content to each other’s audience for two years. During the signing of the MOU Vice-president of Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group and general manager of Shanghai Wings Media He Xiaolan said the Chinese group was keen to broadcast Malaysian content on its BesTV. However the company is not only settling in with building a wealth of content, the company has
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also innovated on the technological front making available to its user’s new avenues of viewing its content. Another one of its initial ventures was to allow the service to be supported on Google Chromecast and Apple Airplay which will allow subscribers to cast shows on dimsum directly from smartphones, tablets or laptops onto TV screens. Sharing her insights on this, dimsum’s chief marketing officer Lam Swee Kim said,“Video streaming is becoming more and more relevant as consumers take to mobile devices
“Over 90% of dimsum subscribers access their content on mobile devices and that’s why we are extending its features for our subscribers..."
Dimsum's key offerings
A digital offering ng hot… An innovative collaboration between Etika and Dimsum's Lam Swee Kim and Santharuban T.Sundaram
as their source of entertainment,” “Over 90% of dimsum subscribers access their content on mobile devices and that’s why we are extending its features for our subscribers. They can enjoy premium content in high definition (HD) at an affordable price and stream to TVs.” The company also prides itself in bringing the latest content from all over Asia this
includes the simulcast of Chinese dramas, Thai idol dramas, Taiwanese variety and entertainment shows. This allows the same day and date of content available from the country of origin. All of these initiatives have not gone unnoticed as advertisers have already begun partnering with the platform. Its first advertiser to come on board was Etika Sdn Bhd which during Chinese New Year gave 60 days free access to dimsum.my with every purchase of a 300ml carton of either Pepsi, Revive or 7Up. With a stamp of approval from advertisers and a thirst to keep on innovating, dimsum is one platform not be overlooked. We look forward to seeing even more digital innovations by the platform in the upcoming years ahead. ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 43
TAILOR MAK AGENCY’S P AN Account Manager is not made in a year or two. It takes a long time to come to grips with one of the most difficult (and most times thankless) jobs in the advertising industry. On the 13th and 14th September 2017, 17 vibrant young account executives attended the PowerSuit 3.0 Account Management Workshop by Omar Shaari, CEO of Dentsu One. Apart from leading the agency which is part of Dentsu Aegis Network, throughout his 25 years in the advertising field Omar has not only worked with global networks but also founded his own agency which later got acquired by a US-
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based ad agency network. Throughout the 2-day training, participants gained the insights from Omar’s illustrious career and among many things, learnt how to write a good brief, improving your pitch scores and more. Tapping into the experiences of other Powersuits who have written the success stories of their agencies and brands, the workshop also featured Adrian Sng, MD of MullenLowe Malaysia, Tony Savarimuthu - CEO, Dentsu LHS Sdn Bhd and John D Chacko - President & VP Asia, International Advertising Association (IAA) in an electrifying panel session
power suit workshop
ING YOUR OWERSUITS on Day 2. Check out what some of the participants had to say: “A very good workshop for an Account Executive. I will recommend my boss to send our Account Executives from the agency to this workshop” - Janet Lau, Senior Account Manager. “Feel motivated to work harder and smarter to succeed in the industry. Definitely will recommend this to my colleagues because the basics is very important as it will determine who you are or what you will become in future” - Khairul Akmal, Account Executives. “I’ve always tried to find answers about how to be better
at account management. I’ve Googled, I’ve read books but it’s great that we have this kind of workshop. It answers all questions. I would definitely recommend this workshop to my colleagues”- Nur Hidayah, Brand Catalyst. “Overall I think it is inspiring that we get to learn about the insights to the industry through these industry leaders, trainer and panelists” – Nathan Yap, Brand Catalyst. The PowerSuit Account Management Workshop was organized by MARKETING Magazine. For more information on our upcoming conferences and events visit www. marketingmagazine.com.my
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 45
BRINGING MARKETIN GREATER Now in its 7th year this year’s Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference did not disappoint with thoughtprovoking insights, brand new content marketing strategies and a host of best in class campaign case studies. The full-day event brought together the world’s best content creators who shared solid strategies on how the attending agency folk and brand marketers could improve their campaign executions. The conference kicked off with content marketing veteran Hando Sinisalu, reputable marketing journalist, researcher, founder and CEO of Best Marketing International giving an overview of the topic and sharing his observations in the space. Having produced and managed over 200 conferences in 24 46 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
countries, the secret to Hando’s success is always having great content. “Content marketing is not a campaign, it does not have a start and end date,” was Hando’s short and sweet insight which drew a rousing applause from the crowded room on how marketers should change their mindsets of how content marketing should be done. According to Hando if you looked at content marketing as a longterm game having the right strategy, measurement and having it integrated within your other marketing activities is key. Content marketing to him should never exist in isolation, “Content marketing should give answers to the questions sales people get from their customers.”
For the album: (from right) Hando Sinisalu, Kyoko Yonezawa and Scott Gray who spoke at the conference, together with the turbanned stranger at Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference.
G CONTENT NG TO HEIGHTS
Collaboration between departments was key to achieving more effective results, quoting the Cannes award-winning campaign ‘Beauty Tips by Reshma’ a social justice campaign that managed to achieve global buzz despite its small budget. “The combination of relevant content coupled with an effective PR strategy was what made this campaign work. Departments should begin collaborating and talking more to achieve more effective results,” Hando shared. The conference also featured talks from global storytellers including Scott Gray, Experience Director, Mirum South Africa and Kyoko Yonezawa, Creative Technologist and member of Dentsu Lab Tokyo.
“CONTENT MARKETING SHOULD GIVE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS SALES PEOPLE GET FROM THEIR CUSTOMERS” -HANDO
Both shared with the attendees’ successful campaign examples from their respective markets. In her presentation, Kyoko showcased how the agency was combining the latest technological innovations to tell a more engaging brand story. Among the gamechanging case studies she presented included ‘Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989’, ‘Play Air’ for Olympus, ‘The Space Hangout’ and more. The day’s event ended with an hourlong panel discussion on ‘Keeping your brand protected in today’s highly unregulated online environment’ moderated by MARKETING’s Chief Content Officer Malati Siniah and featured vibrant leaders in the marketing industry namely Jayram Gopinath Nagaraj or better known as Junior, General Manager of Astro’s newly launched digital marketing arm Blaze Digital; Chris Wee, Group Head of Strategy, REV Asia Lam Swee Kim, CMO dimsum.my and SMG Entertainment and Tanvi Singh, Lead Strategist at Isobar. They discussed the wakeup call for brands when earlier in this year over 200 brands including HSBC, J&J and Toyota called for a boycott against YouTube and Google for allowing their ads to appear next to controversial content. It’s not only global brands which have ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 47
... THE WORD ALLAH ON THE SOLES COSTING THE COMPANY OVER HALF A MILLION IN LOSSES AND GLOBALLY, THE BIGGEST ADVERTISER IN THE US ANNOUNCING THAT IT WOULD BE CUTTING ITS DIGITAL AD SPEND BY UP TO USD140 MILLION... taken a hit, local brands are also facing this issue - MAS ads being shown on websites supporting terrorism, famous shoemaker Bata announced that the fake news circulating on the internet alleging that the company was selling school shoes inscribed with the word Allah on the soles costing the company over half a million in losses and globally the biggest advertiser in the US announcing that it would be cutting its digital ad spend by up to USD140 million. The reason? Online ad effectiveness and brand safety concerns… Having spoken about digital content all day the panel session aimed at addressing a key issue surrounding the ad and marketing industry: With more players entering the digital space, how can you keep your brand safe? Our team of experts were in unison with their opinion that brand safety was indeed very important and they were investing more into their platforms to ensure the safety of their client’s brands.
Junior, who looks after a host of digital publications under Astro shared more on how the company has invested in the latest technologies and tool to maintain a brand safe environment for their clients. Kim, on the other hand, shared more on an industrywide initiative she was working on with Malaysia’s communications and multimedia industry regulator MCMC together with other industry players to stop the growing number of piracy sites in Malaysia. It was a rousing debate which left audiences with deeper insights on creating a brand safe environment together with a better understanding on how various players were innovating in this space. The Best of Global Digital Marketing conference was organized by MARKETING Magazine. For more information on our upcoming conferences and events visit www. marketingmagazine. com.my
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It was a full day of learning, discussing and sharing of ideas
Chris Wee of REV Asia shared his take on digital content creation Dimsum's CMO Lam Swee Kim highlights the rise of illegal sites hosting pirated content
Jayaram (Junior), GM of Blaze Digital Malaysia highlighted the exciting innovations taking place
MARKETING's Malati Siniah (far left) panel moderating on Brand Safety
When leaders meet: Prof. Ham together with industry heavyweights John Chacko and LB's Tan Kien Eng
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 49
INFLUENCER
FUELLING A N GENERATION TALENTS THE SKY’S THE LIMIT FOR NEW ENTERTAINMENT START UP, ROCKETFUEL
By Malati Siniah
There is a new start up in town which is set to rock the local entertainment scene. Fuelled by a thirst for the extraordinary coupled with the technological knowhow and a passion for creativity, this is a talent management company for today’s digital generation. You see there is nothing ordinary about Rocketfuel
50 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
Entertainment, from the titles on their name cards to the company’s mission statement. MARKETING spoke to Rocketfuel’s new Admiral, a veteran in the entertainment scene, Moots, who has worn multiple hats from radio announcer, digital strategist to becoming the lead vocalist for South East Asia’s most celebrated band Pop Shuvit.
WHAT IS ROCKETFUEL?
We are a talent management company with a digital edge. Essentially we represent today’s talents in all facets of their career. We cover talent management, training and development, conventional and nonconventional talent services including digital content creation, brand management and more.
We mainly have three divisions which are Rocketfuel network (digital content creation), Rocketfuel Records (Music label) and Rocketfuel Talent (360 talent management) and we provide a multitude of services that cuts across the creative and digital space.
NEW N OF UNDER ROCKETFUEL, YOU GUYS HAVE SOME OF THE NATIONS BIGGEST TALENTS INCLUDING ZIZAN RAZAK (2.55 MILLION FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER / 4.3 MILLION FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM) AND LISA SURIHANI (3.78 MILLION FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER / 3 MILLION FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM) HAVE YOU ALREADY BEGUN WORKING TOGETHER WITH THESE TALENTS?
We have already been working together with these influencers on various brand campaigns and collaborating with them to build their digital footprint through
content creation. Take Zizan for example he is currently preparing for his role in Polis Evo 2. To get himself in a fighting fit form, sports brand New Balance has not only sponsored him their apparel for his training but also gotten Astro’s Datuk Jake Abdullah (who is also a New Balance ambassador) to train him for his role. So far the traction has been great with Zizan’s fans following and encouraging him throughout his fitness journey. In terms of brand collaboration, this is the type of engagement we are looking at doing, one which is relevant to their lifestyle and the
platforms they are pushing it out on. Apart from working together with brands, we are also working together with our talents to expand their brand
presence on multiple platforms. With Zizan we are also working together with him to build his digital content with several new series are in the pipeline for
his YouTube channel (Zizanology) and also merchandising for him with the Rocketfuel brand. Stay tuned! ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 51
WILL THE CONTENT CREATION AND MERCHANDISING BE DONE BY ROCKETFUEL IN-HOUSE?
Yes they will be done in house and leading the creative direction will be Eddy Lim who has been in the creative industry for many years. Not only will Eddy be collaborating with the talents to create new content products together, but he will also be in charge of developing their merchandisingsomething he is no stranger to having founded the local streetwear brand Mutha Puaka. We have exciting things in the pipeline including a new rap-cypher series on YouTube with Joe Flizzow, a puppet created by us that has already been making waves online with over 1.2 million views on social media called Harry Kok Siew Yok and many more!
YOU ALREADY HAVE POPULAR REGIONAL TALENTS SUCH AS SINGAPOREAN ACTOR AARON AZIZ UNDER THE GROUP, BUT BEYOND MAINSTREAM TALENTS, I UNDERSTAND ROCKETFUEL IS ALSO IN THE BUSINESS OF DISCOVERING NEW REGIONAL TALENTS AND HELPING THEM DEVELOP THEIR CAREERS. HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS? The aspiration
Rocketfuel Commodores and Admiral consisting of Raqeem Brian, Valerine Saini, Eddy Lim and Moots!
"WE BUILD AND CREATE IPS WITH TALENTS AND ASSIST TALENTS WHO HAVE CREATED THEIR OWN IPS WITH THE RIGHT RESOURCES..."
The space cowboys of the Rocketfuel network that create mobile first digital content and other intergalactic entertainment
-MOOTS
for us is also to build regional footprints and look beyond Malaysia. Rocketfuel’s first regional talent is Chaleeda Gilbert, a 16-year-old Thai-British actress and singer from Thailand who released her first Thai single on 18 August and hit over 1.3 million views on YouTube in just over 10 days. Her first English single will be released regionally in October. Already a darling with advertisers she has worked with brands including Cornetto, KitKat and Ribena as a talent. As we grow her career further we plan to
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introduce her into new markets and push her beyond just Thailand, getting her into music festivals in Hong Kong and Australia. Thanks to social media everyone can publish content, however what we do is tap into their potential and through our network of contacts provide them with the best opportunities, both online and offline, to develop their careers. Another fresh face we have signed on is Lina who is a singer and actress from Japan. She can sing in languages other than her mother tongue and so we are
working with her on some Malay content which we plan to release soon. You see, to us, at the end of the day it’s all about finding likeminded individuals who have the passion and a strong business acumen to work towards the same goals.
CONTENT REMAINS KING AND APART FROM TALENT MANAGEMENT CONTENT CREATION IS INTEGRAL TO ROCKETFUEL’S BUSINESS. CAN YOU SHARE A BIT MORE ON BUSINESS?
On the content side,
we treat ourselves as a multi-platform network working with content creators. We build and create IPs with talents and assist talents who have created their own IPs with the right resources. For example, Harvinth Skin who is well known for his popular bite sized comedy skits on Instagram has recently signed with us and we are working together with him to expand his brand to other platforms such as his YouTube channels where we will be co creating more originals with him.
INFLUENCER
Actor and rapper Zizan Razak with over 4.3 million followers on Instagram is the star of the year’s biggest movie Abang Long Fadil 2 and his single ‘chentaku’ with Sona One is on heavy rotation on the airwaves
Singer Hazama will be releasing his second single “Aku bukan Dewa” featuring Altimet and created quite a stir recently when his busking pengemis social experiment went viral on social media
Actress Lisa Surihani with 3 million followers on Instagram has been recently appointed the new United Nations International Children's Fund (Unicef) Malaysia ambassador for advocacy on the rights of children
Chaleeda Gilbert is the latest addition to the Rocketfuel family and is the first regional act on the roster. She will be releasing her first English single “Mind over matter” regionally in October
gap between countries in Asia and bring Asian culture to Asians.
WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING TO TAP INTO THE NEW GENERATION OF CONTENT CREATORS?
Harry Kok is 42 from Batu Gajah and has since moved to Cheras to become a social media star and Mat Pet is 22 from Kampong Baru and is out looking for true love
We are also working with Joe Flizzow on an exciting new series on his YouTube page called ’Enam belas baris’ where 3 rappers in every episode will perform at Joe’s popular
barber shop. With Joe’s popularity, despite this show being uniquely Malaysian it definitely has the potential of getting regional interest. Our goal with our content is to bridge the
We are constantly thinking about this which is why the solution for this was integrated into our new office space’s very design. Ignite will be our ‘creator space’ or as we like to call it the clubhouse. Every fortnight we plan to have clubhouse sessions with the general public and get them to shoot content with/for us. We will get our partners and talents to come in and drive these sessions, eg: Hitz. fm comes in to create content with the fans in which all of the content
will be uploaded onto the Ignite channel. If it’s good enough we will put it up on the platform, if it’s not we’ll give it to them. We see this is a great opportunity for us to identify and incubate new talents, not just front facing talents but those behind the scenes as well- videographers, editors, etc. Eddie has also been conducting workshops namely the ‘Kiss my Astronaut’ session which was done recently at the KoolerLumpur Festival with talents such as - Ryan from Hitz. In the future, we plan to do plenty more youth engagement via workshops in colleges. We want to focus on building brand awareness among that community. Once we are
cool with the youths they all will want to be a part of us. Tell me who today wouldn’t want to work with either Google or Facebook. That is the type of Entertainment Company we are building, the kind where everyone right after school says, I want to be a part of this.
Rocketfuel is definitely shooting for the stars and at the speed this young start up is moving it seems like that might be in their reach very soon. To find out more on Roketfuel’s offerings, stay updated on their activities and read the company’s unique mission statement visit: www.rocketfuelent.com
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 53
MEASURING success in performance advertising is simple when you’re only using one platform. To gain a competitive edge, marketers commonly run campaigns using more than one marketing solution or provider. This, however, tends to complicate how you can effectively measure the campaign results as implementing different approaches will bring about different outcomes. Let’s use an example of a common performance-based approach. A modern marketer will use the following 3 methods simultaneously: AdWords, personalised retargeting and display campaigns. Within these models, they can utilise multiple channels as well (e.g. social, mobile). And finally, they may even use more than one provider for the same solution, for example, when using multiple retargeting approach. In most cases, our judgment is often (unwisely) reduced to how many clicks every solution generates. This can be a wrong metric, leading to poor decision-making and results being far from reality. According to a CMO Council study, 84% of Asia Pacific marketers are using some form of
3 TIPS FOR MAR THE EFFECTIVEN
By Chandra Kuncara, Country Director Southeast Asia at RTB House
technology to analyse and report on their campaigns, but only 4% believe they are doing a good job in measuring return on investment. On that note, here are 3 bulletproof success indicators marketers can consider
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when tracking the effectiveness of advertising activities.
#1 MEASURE CONVERSION COST PER SEGMENT
Most marketers today are still using a channel-based
approach – it primarily tracks and reports on output-based statistics like visits and inquiries. While these are useful measurements, they may not the most effective when it comes to judge performancebased results.
The first step when analysing marketing activities run by many providers is to find a way to measure the cost of each action in comparison, rather than just checking visits or clicks. However, metrics shown in different tools,
digital marketing
RKETERS TO TRACK ENESS OF ADS especially retargeting panels, may not be directly comparable to each other. Marketers should hence use an analytical tool such as Google Analytics to accurately calculate the results for each source. The trick here is to dig deeper into your statistics, and calculate conversion cost per each segment of users. Only by knowing that, you can easily estimate the average cost for a single conversion generated by the most important users. These are users who have never make purchases on the website, or returning visitors or buyers. By measuring your conversions per segment, you’ll get a clearer view on your
ad spend ROI, as well as map out the best performing source of your conversions.
#2 MEASURE ROAS/ ROI
Every marketer wants to see a return on investment and should optimise advertising activities with that metric in mind. The reason is simple, knowing the relation of profit generated by ads and cost of those ads, we can easily judge how ads contribute to our business growth. By checking ROAS (return on ad spend), you can decide how much volume is needed to be profitable, and where to focus your time and budget. If you can determine
to scenarios to pay more for a conversion for greater returns, you’ll optimise your existing budget to give a bigger bang for your buck. However, in the case of multiple channel approach, you’ll need to ensure that each conversion is reported only once so that you don’t need to pay a few times for 1 success. At the end of the day it will then be more clear what to do in order to improve your overall effectiveness. In other words, if you keep marketing activities cost-efficient and effective, it is better to split your marketing budget on last-click – which means that the direct channel will be paid.
Remember that growing your budget should only be done once you figure out how to calculate and optimise ROAS. Therefore, no matter what marketing activity your company is using, or how you grow your ad spend, your total ROIs will have better chances with every subsequent campaign.
#3 MEASURE RESULTS PER DEVICE
Marketers are always looking for ways to deal with increasing competitive pressures. By using many different sources, they have dozens of advertising options which can alter how and where the company’s message is displayed. When we engage in an advertising technology provider, it is important to take note that we should check not only general results, but also take a closer look and compare the data per every device. By doing so, marketers can gain a valuable metric that tells us what are the
best methods to attract potential buyers across different channels such as desktop, mobile and even TV, how these channels perform and what is its individual ROAS. Marketers can then plan separate advertising activities or cross-device campaigns based on this metric to better meet business goals. For the best business results, marketers should look into engaging multiple channels and providers while making sure that they complement each other. This translates into higher complexity in measuring results and thus, marketers will need to know and understand their metrics of choice. By knowing which channel or advertising technology provider contributed to the final business results (ROAS and Devices), marketers can better plan and execute future marketing strategies at an optimal level.
ISSUE212SEPT-OCT 55
BUSAN (WAS)
By Alvin Ng, Freelance Creative Director
And the winners are…
This year marked the 10th anniversary of Ad Stars in Busan and as it turned out, it just gets better year on year. For the uninitiated, Ad Stars is probably the only advertising award show (that I know of) where submissions are free. That’s right, free. But that’s not all. There’s also two USD10,000 awards up for grabs. I’m starting to sound like a late night smart shop commercial. That’s a great incentive though, wouldn’t you agree? On to the judging. I had the great honour of being a preliminary judge for the second time, having been one last year as well. The format itself is as fair as can be. There were over 120 preliminary judges from around the world. Each of us are given a set amount of entries to judge online. Our task was to filter and provide the final judges with a respectable shortlist. The quality and high standards of work
If you’re ever in South Korea, make sure to try this Bulgogi Burger at Lotteria
The event hall is huuuge!!! The free section gives students a chance to get a taste of the event.
coming out from our industry bodes well for the future and this year saw worthy gold and grand prix winners across all categories. Some of my favourite campaigns included Pedigree Child Replacement Programme by Colenso BBDO New Zealand, Meet Graham by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Correcting
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History by TBWA Santiago Mangada Puno Philippines, The Unusual Football Field Project by CJ WORX Thailand, Nike Unlimited Stadium by BBH Singapore, Afterlife by TBWA Sri Lanka, DOT by Serviceplan South Korea, A.I Versus M.I by Leo Burnett Malaysia, Pepsi Strong: Momotaro Episode 4 by Alt.vfx Australia, Scrabble Keyboard by Cheil Hong
There were many speakers throughout the day
awards watch
S) NOT BOSAN Proof that I was there
... The quality and high standards of work coming out from our industry bodes well for the future and this year saw worthy gold and grand prix winners across all categories...
I was forced to do this by that fella in the white shirt, Jeremy Yeoh of Naga DDB
Thanks to Jay of ThinkTank for being a great host at the rooftop after party
Kong and Build The Future by Ogilvy Group Thailand. A big congrats to the teams from Leo Burnett who bagged 2 silvers and 1 bronze, Naga DDB Tribal with 2 bronze and BBDO with 1 bronze and 2 crystals. You have raised the Malaysian banner high during awards night. “You have raised the Malaysian banner high during awards night.” They’ve set a pretty good benchmark for the rest of us and we must try our best as a country to do better next year. I do hope that more agencies will send young creatives to ad stars next year as it is hugely inspiring to see some of the best work coming out of Asia.
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creative showcase
SMART FORTWO: ALREADY TURNED - ZOMBIE CLIENT DAIMLER AG, SMART MBD AGENCY BBDO DÜSSELDORF COUNTRY GERMANY CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICERS WOLFGANG SCHNEIDER, TON HOLLANDER CREATIVE DIRECTOR JACOBO CONCEJO ART DIRECTOR MARTINO MONTI COPYWRITER SCHAKIR ISLAMOW ILLUSTRATOR JESÚS FERNÁNDEZ 58 MARKETINGISSUE212SEPT-OCT
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creative showcase
0826 BREWERY: HONEY BEER CLIENT 0826 BREWERY AGENCY OGILVY & MATHER COUNTRY HONDURAS CREATIVE DIRECTOR SEBASTIAN BULLORINI ART DIRECTOR CÉSAR MIRALDA COPYWRITER DEBORAH MEJÍA CREATIVE DIRECTOR/ ART DIRECTOR CÉSAR CHINCHILLA, WANDA CÁLIX ILLUSTRATOR OSCAR RAMOS
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THE CREATIVE PRIZE JUDGED BY JOURNALISTS Jury includes: +Design (GR) • AdAsia (SG) • Adformatie (NL) • Adobo Magazine (PH) • Adweek (US) • ArabAd (LB) • Best Marketing (EE) • Brain (JP) • Brand News (IT) • Briefing (PT)• Bulb! (CL) • Campaign Brief (AU) • Codigo Jan-ken-po (PE) • Creative Review (GB) • Digiday (US) • exchange4media (IN) • Extradienst (AT) • Fast Company (US) • Horizont (DE) • IMJ & Adworld.ie (IE) • Influencia (FR) • Insider LATAM (AR) • Kampanje (NO) • Kreativ (HU) • Lürzer’s Int’l Archive (AT) • M+AD! (NZ) • Majalah Marketing (ID)• MAM Marketing&Media (CZ) • Markedsføring (DK) • Marketing Directo (ES) • Marketing Magazin (SI) • Marketing Magazine (MY) • Marketing Tribune (NL) • Marketing Türkiye (TR) • Marketing Week (GR) • Markkinointi & Mainonta (FI) • MarkLives.com (ZA) • MarkMedia.ro (RO) • Media Marketing (BA) • Media Marketing (BE) • Modern Advertising (CN) • NC Nuova Comunicazione (IT) • Neo (MX) • New Moment (RS) • P&M (CO) • Persönlich (CH) • Press (PL) • Pub (BE) • Pubblicità Italia (IT) • Reporte Publicidad (AR) • Resumé (SE) • Shots (UK) • Sostav Ukraine (UA) • Sostav.ru (RU) • Strategie (CZ) • Stratégie (SK) • Stratégies (FR) • Strategy (CA) • The Arabian Marketer (UAE) • The Drum (GB) • The Economic Times (IN) • W&V (DE) • WerbeWoche (CH) • Worldofad.asia (CAS)
ENTER AT WWW.EPICA-AWARDS.COM