While the technical definition of viewability is still being debated within the industry, it is increasingly clear to many that poor viewability – the opportunity for a served impression to be seen— is bad business for everyone. Not only does the client fail to advance their business aims, the advertising industry shrinks a little every time a client loses faith in this industry.
Evidently, the wrong solution to this problem is to wait for an industry consensus to emerge before enforcing better viewability. Marketers and agencies should act now to ensure that advertising budgets are spent on better ad spaces on the internet:
1. Select inventory with rated viewability
Programmatic trading desks can select inventory by ad positions or with predicted viewability levels. While the pool of rated inventory will be restrictive and costs will increase, everyone will have more assurance that ads can be seen by genuine users.
Currently, it is the industry organisations in more mature programmatic markets like the United States and the United Kingdom that have led the standardisation efforts on viewability definitions. They have helped to popularise the notion that viewability is having fifty percent of an advertisement in a viewable portion of a browser for a continuous one second. However imperfect this definition is, having some form of measure is better than none at all.
The choice of KPIs affect optimisation strategies and decision-making. When chosen correctly, it can be an insightful metric for the effectiveness of a campaign. If chosen wrongly, it becomes an off-the-mark distraction.
A common concern is that the cost of viewable impressions is higher than the regular cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM). However, that is not an apples to apples comparison since the latter does not account for viewability. Until viewability becomes the industry norm, it would be important to specify that the KPI should include only viewable impressions, and then to compare performances based on similar inventory.
3. Curate the sites on which the ads are served
Serving ads across the network can be a cost-effective way of reaching a mass audience and finding new potential user segments. Site reports can then be run to show where the ads have been served and clicked. A quick visit to each site on that list should also provide a cognitive gauge of the viewability of the ad spaces available.
Conscientiously keeping track of effective sites will result in a curated list of sites with some measure of demonstrated viewability. While this may sound laborious, complementary systems can be established to simplify the process. For that reason, Amnet has set up an in-house site measurement system that is based on actual campaign performance. This, along with viewability reports from third party partners, provides a good alternative reference to publisher self-assessments of their own inventory.
Ultimately, an ad has to be visible to even exist. While many other factors contribute to whether audiences move from looking over to seeing the ads, getting better ad spaces is already half the battle won.
The writer is Anna Chan, managing director of Amnet Asia, the programmatic trading desk of Dentsu Aegis Network.
Social networks are an essential part of the marketing mix. Brands can utilise the 15+ social networks dominating the Asia-Pacific market to leverage consumer behaviour and purchase intention to generate real-time exposure across multiple screens.
But as usage continues to grow – with 967 million social network users in Asia-Pacific expected by 2016 – marketers are faced with the challenge of reaching the right audience on the right device, with relevant messaging. What’s more, social media marketing is not always free of charge, often requiring paid social amplification to cut through the noise and gain vital consumer attention.
While each social network requires a unique strategy, there are a number of best practices marketers can keep in mind before launching a social media campaign.
Step 1: Define marketing goals
Social media allows marketers to execute campaigns easily and instantly, but this makes it tempting to rush in and optimise to the wrong metric. Fans, likes, shares and retweets may not equate to actual purchases and need to be evaluated differently. For maximum impact, it’s crucial that marketers identify their overall goals before creating and launching a campaign. Possible goals include: gaining new social fans or followers; increasing brand engagement; acquiring new sales leads; driving purchases; or increasing interaction with users.
Different goals or objectives mean different social advertising channels and buying and bidding strategies for optimising campaigns. These goals need to be clearly established before marketers choose the appropriate types of ads, placements, and targeting options.
For example, marketers looking to drive brand awareness will benefit from promoted content that incorporates a reward – such as a discount code – and creative that represents the brand’s personality and values. For marketers looking to increase conversions and sales, targeted paid advertising is the route to go. Successful paid social ads should incorporate a strong call to action, reward consumers for engaging, and employ a creative visual that grabs attention in seconds.
Step 2: Understand the data potential
One of the major benefits of social advertising is the robust audience data generated by social networks. However, data for data’s sake is not enough. Marketers must be able to understand social media statistics and gain actionable insights from them to optimise their campaigns and achieve maximum ROI.
Demographic and intent data should be used in such a way that campaign briefs change based on real-time signals. A/B testing – essentially splitting ads in a segmented approach – answers deep marketing questions about the consumer and how and when to best to engage with them. In Asia, where smartphone use is the highest in the world, a granular approach is key to winning attention and building brand loyalty.
Marketers should also use advanced third party ad servers and analytics tools such as Sizmek and Google Analytics to measure all parts of the customer journey. Utilising a social advertising management tool that integrates with third-party tracking platforms will combine previously siloed data sets into useable insights to improve the entire marketing plan. Social advertising tools allow marketers to onboard their own first party data, including CRM lists or cookie data, to track the lifetime value of a user and remarket to individuals with dynamic personalised messaging.
Step 3: Create personalised, localised content
Marketers should ensure messaging is specifically tailored to the target audience, social platform and country. Repurposing content and strategy will lead to failed campaigns with poor performance. Regardless of a marketer’s desire to pay a premium for exposure, all social platforms have a quality score that influence the algorithms that determine ad placement and price. On Facebook, this is now represented as a 1-10 relevance score that should be used by buyers to improve optimisation and targeting decisions.
Step 4: Select the right technology partner
Putting together a social media strategy may sound complex, but with the right technology partner, brands can execute large-scale campaigns across multiple social platforms with ease. Marketers should look for a technology partner that has access to native social network data for advanced analytics and targeting, and works across a variety of formats including display, mobile, and video. A marketing operating system with an integrated social advertising platform is able to serve these diverse ad formats across multiple social and native marketing networks – from a single point of creation – to deliver scale and efficiency. It allows marketers to manage disparate campaigns – from engagement and direct response to mobile – and enables testing and optimisation to ensure marketers achieve their marketing goals.
As social network use continues to grow throughout Asia-Pacific, it becomes an increasingly important marketing tool for brands to reach relevant consumers. As long as marketers set clear goals before creating campaigns, invest in tools to help them translate data into actionable insights and take the time to create and test tailored content for targeted audiences – all steps that the right technology partner can assist with – social media will become a vital and dynamic advertising channel.
The writer is Niraj Nagpal, director of business development APAC, MediaMath
Sing Tao News Corporation has announced a redemption strategy to encourage readers to redeem a free copy of East Week at select convenience stores.
The promotion asks reader to cut out the logo on the final issue of Sudden Weekly, which comes out today, and exchange it for a free copy of its East Week magazine.
Sing Tao announced the deal on East Week's Facebook page and its official website, which describes the time and store location where the magazine redemption is available.
[caption id="attachment_105973" align="alignnone" width="600"] The final issue of Sudden Weekly magazine[/caption]
The post garnered 145 shares, 63 likes and 85 comments in one day, most of which were negative.
One comment, which said East Week will suffer the same fate as Sudden Weekly, netted more than 300 likes - more than the original post itself.
Another commenter suggested cigarettes would be a more popular redemption prize than a free copy of East Week. Others simply describe the strategy as "cheap".
Oreo Flute Wafer reimagined as a long, sweet and crispy tunnel filled with wonders in a bid to reach China’s young female consumers.
The series of animated films, created by FCB Shanghai, will get a heavy push on social media, backed by its “Wonderfilled” premise and plays on the idea of “Where will it take you?”.
The films feature an alien using an Oreo Flute Wafer to kidnap a girl from Earth, a cupid dog accidentally flying into Oreo Flute Wafer in his sleep and a gluttonous cow falling through the Oreo Flute Wafer.
The ads are meant to take consumers to a world filled with wonders and inspire them to unleash their wildest imagination.
“We’d like to inspire consumers to open up their minds, break out the inner child, and feel the simple joy of sharing. We had a lot of fun working on the campaign,” David Seah, group creative director of FCB Shanghai, said.
Few stories this year have captured public attention more than the killing of Cecil the Lion, the iconic feline in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. The account of Cecil’s killing are now well known but the public outrage is worth examining from a corporate and brand perspective for the trends that emerge.
1. The context and nuance matter
Conservation issues and animal cruelty issues often don't converge with such clarity to create such global outrage. We saw the uproar over the dog meat festival in China which is an animal cruelty issue. We see conservation activists deplore shark finning and commercial whaling. People care but these causes haven’t has as big an emotional connection because they occur in the high seas or the grasslands. In this case the lion killed wasn’t just an animal, he was Cecil. Cecil was a celebrity and the subject of an Oxford University tracking study who brought joy to people. The narrative here is Cecil was "murdered" and has become a martyr in the cause of prevention of animal cruelty and conservation.
Humanity has been robbed of an irreplaceable living creature. That is the strategic context this story appears and unlike shark finning, this story produces a sense of outrage that can now be leveraged into action for prevention of further acts because it is so indefensible. It’s become an epic tale of good and evil personified. Corporates and brands need to understand the details and nuances of any issue are now so unique that identifying any differentiators is crucial to adopting the correct tonality in a response.
2. A good story told well needs clear heroes and villains, names and faces
Who kills a celebrity lion for sport? A macho big game hunter in the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt or Ernest Hemmingway? No, Cecil was murdered by a dentist from Minnesota. These stark contrasts highlight the outrage and fuel the controversy. The story of Cecil and his killer Dr. Walter J. Palmer should be contrasted with that of Sabrina Corgatelli.
She’s the Idaho accountant actively defending big-game hunting who posted photos of herself in front of a freshly killed giraffe shot while on holiday in South Africa. Her actions may be equally outrageous but she’s dismissed her critics as “haters”. Perhaps she’s better prepared by assessing the previous reaction. But the animals she’s shot for sport are anonymous. There’s no personalization in her situation. Corporates need to be empathetic and sensitive to the underlying personal circumstances driving any issue.
3. Online vigilantism is now the norm
Protesters camped outside Dr. Walter J. Palmer’s Bloomington Minnesota office and posted signs at the entrance which read “Rot in Hell” and “We are Cecil”. The latter is a reference to the “We are Charlie” signs held in solidarity around the world for the 12 people shot dead following the terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Online activists published the dentist’s phone number and attacked him on his practice’s Facebook page. Comedians Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Kimmel used their respective celebrity to attack the dentist’s character and even his manhood. This is now a reality that all brands must face. There are no quick fixes when emotions run this high. Every story now references key themes from the last big global online outrage and builds on them.
4. Everyone in your ecosystem plays a role in shaping the narrative
Ever heard of Itai Dzamara? He’s the Zimbabwean human rights activist abducted by five armed men near his home March 9th who has not been heard from since. The government denies allegations of any involvement. Zimbabwe is a country that consistently scores low in global human rights and transparency indices. But the country was quick to charge the guide who lead the hunt and is demanding the extradition of Dr. Walter J. Palmer’s. Cecil’s death is providing Zimbabwe with a platform to present a different side of its itself—that of a caring country that acts quickly to deal with social issues of global significance. Three major US airlines this week announced they will ban shipment of all animal trophies. Other international airlines had previously banned the practice without fanfare. It’s vital for corporates and brands to understand that containment of issues now requires a much wider understanding of their stakeholders’ views on various issues.
5. Personal conduct impacts professional reputation more than ever
Dr. Walter J. Palmer is a private citizen and went big game hunting in a private capacity. But in every media and online reference his profession has been highlighted. His practice has been attacked in both the real and virtual worlds. Big game hunting once held a mystique in popular culture with such luminaries as writer Ernest Hemingway and President Teddy Roosevelt seen as archetypes of masculinity and bravery for their participation in hunts. Now it’s now seen as something shameful, cowardly and evil. Corporates and brands need to understand that private conduct plays a huge role in shaping public perceptions. What individuals now do in their private time is coming under greater scrutiny and affecting their professional reputations and brands. The killing of Cecil the Lion raised awareness of key conservation and animal cruelty issues sparking worldwide outrage. The trends this story reveals serve as a cautionary tale for corporates and brands.
Ray Rudowski is Regional Director of Crisis Planning & Training for Edelman Hong Kong.
HKTVmall's massive takeover of the MTR this week is not just about scale, it's also a perfect showcase of why media placement is just as important as the creative component.
In an unprecedented move in Hong Kong's ad market, and a first in the MTR's history for scale by a single advertiser, the campaign has taken over a total of 3298 ad panels and 119 tracks across 51 MTR stations for two weeks to back the geographically varied "HKTVmall Summer Giveaway” promotion, presented with a dash of local humour.
In an interview with Marketing, Anonymous founder Sandy Chan, the creative agency behind the ads, revealed that the entire campaign, from brainstorming to execution, was completed within a month.
"It was a crazy month for all of us," Chan said.
Created by five illustrators, the 51 geographically-linked visuals are tailor-made according to the characteristics of different areas.
For example, the creative visuals at Tsim Sha Tsui station humorously feature the legendary “Suzi of Tsim Sha Tsui” and abundance of “Sushi bars” to illustrate its giveaway of sumptuous sashimi airfreight from Tsukiji.
Meanwhile, the ad creative at Wong Tai Sin station is a series of “Missing Chicken” notices from “Wong Tai Sin Temple”, as the premium giveaway for shoppers and residents in Wong Tai Sin is two packs of Ginseng Chicken Soup from Korea.
The version at Wan Chai Station trackside features a hairy crab walking sideway through the streets of Wan Chai district like a tram, to convey its giveaway premium of a fresh hairy crab airfreight from Japan for the shoppers in Wan Chai.
For Airport Express Hong Kong Station, the campaign visuals focus on Honeydew, due to its Cantonese pronunciation resembling “Don't Die”, which has been perfectly adopted to convey the "Never Die" spirit of Hong Kong people. Naturally freshly airfreight Japanese Honeydew is the premium giveaway to online shoppers in the vicinity of Hong Kong Station.
This massive effort comes down to one simple purpose - "to make Hong Kong people to take first step into e-commerce in a short period".
"E-commerce is still in its infancy in Hong Kong compared to the rest of the world. So in order to encourage online buying behaviour, we kick off the campaign with gift incentives that we believe is the best way to elicit public interest in online shopping."
This overwhelming MTR takeover is just the first wave as part of a month-long campaign, following with a brand-focused second phase and a product-driven wrap-up phase spanning more outdoor spaces and print, a project that costs HKTVmall some HK$30 million.
Chan said the figure is not big in comparison with spot prices on television, meaning TVB; notably, HKTVmall would not be allowed to advertise on the free-to-air TV channel.
"This is the main reason why HKTVmall has to build such a large-scale outdoor ad."
In a rare move, the creative component in the campaign is developed based on media placement being brokered by Shih Wing-ching, the investor of the campaign's media agency The Bread Digital, with a fair discount rate.
"There're no campaign brief when Ricky (HKTVmall Chairman) asked me to take the project. By that time he already had all the empty ad spaces for two weeks, but no idea what to fill them up with," she said.
"Creative and media used to operate under the one roof; but since the 1990's, media separated from advertising. It’s very unhealthy as a good ad campaign requires seamless collaboration between creative and media.
"We rarely see this kind of ad in Hong Kong now."
Chan has worked with HKTV Chairman Ricky Wong on and off for more than a decade, on various creative projects going back to his time Hong Kong Broadband Network.
"Most of the time, a good campaign is based on a trusting client-agency relationship, and that takes time and practice."
Despite his impenitent persona, Wong is an ideal client to Chan as "he gives me a free hand to be creative," she said.
"Ricky is a very strong-minded boss that would go straight towards what he wants. This campaign would not have been a success in such a short time without Ricky 's open-mindedness and the cooperative attitude from JCDecaux."
She added using illustration as the campaign's main visuals allows more room for error in term of visual effects, such as colour tones.
Compass Visa is upping its content marketing game with a new campaign using a special welcome gift SJCam WIFI Camera to create a set of three videos led by four celebrity-athletes, spanning online and print.
https://vimeo.com/135836062
Developed by CMRS, each episode will invite at least two different representatives from different athletic fields to challenge the strength of another KOLs. It aims to drive audience to share a stronger affinity to the videos and making the video content go viral.
The first and second episode has unveiled and starring boxer Rex Tso (曹星如) and free style football player Lyson Sze (施寶盛). The video content was produced with SJCAM in first person view to deliver a special experience to the audience and drive sharing.
With the launch of first episode, popular sport pages such as Sportroad, Football express and football fans world were committed to support and share the video with Compass Visa page, while the third and fourth episode features former journalist Ryan Lau (柳俊江) and rock climber Lisa Cheng (鄭麗莎).
“Instead of simply putting our resources into a video that is based on ‘selling of an acquisition gift’, which is creating the main bulk of clutter in the very competitive credit card marketing landscape - the strategy that COMPASS VISA has undertaken is one that focuses on creation of content to the video, enticing customers to view and share via Facebook or word-of-mouth sharing to give the video added reach," said Calvin Ng, head of Compass Visa.
"With this strategic focus to the video content on SJCAM, it gave us the opportunity to ‘own’ and build on the leverages of online media, instead of simply ‘renting’ it.”
As Hongkongers are growing more health conscious, Manulife Asia has introduced a new activity-tracking programme - ManulifeMOVE - with insurance solutions which aim to reward customers who maintain active lifestyles with discounted premiums.
The programme can be accessed through mobile apps or online, uses data from Manulife-provided fitness trackers, allowing members to track their activity progress against set goals.
By reaching simple goals, members can enjoy premium discounts tied to recently launched health protection solutions in Hong Kong.
“The beauty of ManulifeMOVE is its simplicity. It’s an easy-to-use program that rewards customers for being healthy and insured,” said Jason Dehni, CMO of Manulife Asia.
“Every time our customers move; whether they’re walking, running, skipping, or even just taking the stairs instead of an escalator, they have the opportunity to save on their annual premiums.”
The concept of ManulifeMOVE and rewarding members through their fitness trackers was drawn directly from the company’s customer research into how younger, tech-savvy consumers want insurance to work for them.
“Hong Kong is a bustling international city, yet most people here aren’t physically active enough and this has obvious health implications,” added Michael Huddart, Manulife’s executive vice president and general manager for Greater China.
“In launching ManulifeMOVE, we want to play a proactive role in being part of the solution, and encourage people to move more and rewarding them for doing so.”
A multi-media campaign for ManulfeMOVE kicks off today to drive public awareness. Developed by Dentsu Hong Kong and PHD Hong Kong, the campaign is supported by local celebrity Pakho Chau (周柏豪), who exemplifies healthy lifestyle.
Airbnb has hired Brian Irving as global marketing director, reporting to CMO Jonathan Mildenhall.
Irving (pictured) will be responsible for leading and managing the brand, including advertising, marketing communications, strategic partnerships, and social media efforts globally. Irving joins Airbnb with over 15 years of experience building brands and marketing communications for companies such as Google, Apple, Levi’s, and GM.
He joins Airbnb from Google, where he was the senior marketing director responsible for running global marketing for Google Play. During his time at Google, Irving handled brand marketing efforts for the launch of Google Play and sparked notable partnerships with Christopher Nolan and Paramount to launch the film “Interstellar.”
Before joining Google, he was acting co-CMO and vice president of global digital marketing for the Levi’s Brand at Levi Strauss & Co. Prior to that, Irving worked at Apple, where he led the execution and planning of globally integrated marketing communications programs for iPhone, in addition to leading Apple’s global CRM program. Irving has also worked at agencies such as Digitas and Rapp.
“Irving has delivered amazing creative work for some of the most prominent and culturally iconic companies and we’re delighted to have him join us,” said Mildenhall. “While he has already made a name for himself, his experience, passion and drive will help us continue to build our brand, create meaningful marketing campaigns and help make us an iconic brand in our own right.”
Alibaba Group and Suning Commerce Group have struck a deal that will see Alibaba investing approximately RMB28.3 billion for a 19.99% stake in Suning.
With the investment, Alibaba will be the second-largest shareholder in the consumer electronics retail chain.
Concurrent with Alibaba’s investment in Suning, Suning will invest up to RMB14 billion (US$2.28 billion) to subscribe for up to 27.8 million newly issued ordinary shares of Alibaba.
After the investment, Suning will hold approximately a 1.1% interest in Alibaba’s enlarged issued and outstanding share capital.
The strategic collaboration between Alibaba and Suning marks a milestone that signals the further integration of digital and offline retail.
By cooperating, Alibaba and Suning will be able to provide holistic and more convenient shopping experiences, as well as superior customer service to users looking to purchase online and through mobile devices.
As part of the transaction, Alibaba and Suning have entered into a strategic collaboration agreement to build on synergies in e-commerce, logistics and incremental business through joint omni-channel initiatives.
Under the collaboration, Suning will open a flagship store on Alibaba’s Tmall.com platform, focusing on consumer electronics, home appliances and baby products.
The store will offer high-quality product offerings at attractive prices and an unparalleled superior shopping experience. Suning’s flagship store will be a major win for Tmall.com, and reflects Tmall’s status as the premiere platform for brands and retailers who wish to establish their online presence and direct engagement with customers.
In the area of logistics, Suning will become a partner of Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics affiliate and Suning’s logistics services cover almost all of the 2,800 counties and districts in China.
Capitalizing on Suning’s extensive network of offline stores and leveraging Alibaba’s edge in data technology, both parties can explore online-to-offline and offline-to-online commerce opportunities that better serve customer needs and preferences.
Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group, said: “Over the past two decades, e-commerce has become an inextricable part of the lives of Chinese consumers, and this new alliance brings forth a new commerce model that fully integrates online and offline.
“This alliance will benefit consumers and merchants by cultivating an open and transparent integrated ecosystem that will be the backbone of the future economy.”
Suning chairman Zhang Jindong commented: “The collaboration between Alibaba and Suning is a milestone in China’s retail industry and its influence on e-commerce and offline retailing will be enormous. This collaboration signals a new trend in the Internet age: Strengthening China’s traditional industries by leveraging the power of Internet. It will also help transform China’s manufacturing industry and broaden the global horizons of Chinese brands.”
Consummation of Alibaba’s investment in Suning and the investment by Suning in Alibaba are subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and, in the case of the investment by Alibaba in Suning, the approval of the shareholders of Suning.
Along with advertising all the things a new smartphone can do, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 launch is also highlighting the thinness and lightness of its new gadget.
To cut through the ad clutter, Samsung and Cheil have crafted ambience advertising to allow participants to personally experience the lightness and thinness of the new model by juxtaposing it with some light and thin everyday objects through interactive activations on digital and print.
The ad first appears on the front pages of several local newspapers enticing people to scan a QR code which links to the Samsung Tab S2 Facebook page. A guessing game will be triggered on the page where participants will be tasked to guess how many newspapers equal the weight of a Samsung Tab S2. Winners will be sent a Pacific Coffee discount coupon immediately through Facebook.
The idea is also available on mobile.
The concept is supported by a series of ambient outdoor ads with face-to-face activation, where passers-by can see and hold the device to guess the weight and thinness.
This includes an interactive LED screen at New Town Plaza showcasing the animated game, followed by the Sha Tin and Tseung Kwan O Shopping Centres spanning the weekends from 7 to 16 August.
At the experimental area, passers-by will be explained the “things that are used as a comparison” idea with a real device in hand. They can guess the weight and thinness of the smartphone by comparing the new model with a range of light and thin everyday objects such as pencils, macaroons, cupcakes, film, credit cards, passports and mouse pads to name a few.
Results will be unveiled on the screen showing a weighing scale. For those who can guess the correct number of items to match the real weight or thinness of the device will be entitled to prizes by sharing the result on Facebook.
Credit:
Creative: Cheil
Account directors: Jam Lee and Wilson Wong.
Account managers: Sammi Chan and Karen Lam
Account executives: Bethany Siu and Queenie Mo
Executive creative directors: Paul Chan and SP Ong
Creative directors: Paul Lim and Fung Chan
Art directors: Ivan Au and Toby Hong
Media: Starcom
In case you haven't heard the massive news from Google's a massive reorganisation this morning, 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 product and engineering for Google's Internet businesses. All Google shares will also convert to Alphabet Inc shares, without change in number of shares.
Google's overall revenue for 2014 was US$66 billion, of which, the search and advertising business pulled in 89% of revenue.
Current leadership of Google will become the leadership of Alphabet Inc: Larry Page will become the chief executive officer of Alphabet; Sergey Brin will become the president of Alphabet, Eric E. Schmidt will become the executive chairman of Alphabet; Ruth Porat will become the senior vice president and chief financial officer of Alphabet and David C. Drummond will become the senior vice president, corporate development, chief legal officer and secretary of Alphabet. Larry, Sergey, Eric and David will transition to these roles from their respective roles at Google, whereas Ruth 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 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 organize 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...
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.
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.
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, amongst 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 now 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, into the world of Internet of Things and Wearable Devices?
2. Managing new technologies' risks 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 "mothership" 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 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, Facebook and more looking to play in this space, is this the way forward for companies in managing new technology revenue streams?
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, Advertising?" asks Dayal, founder of digital consultancy Happy Marketer, stating his surprise at how behind most businesses are "when it comes to stuff we consider mature already", through the business' training sessions.
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 it's core range of internet services. Investments in medical science, self-driving cars, robots and even space exploration is well beyond it's 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 it's core Google business," said Asia Pacific CEO of DigitasLbi, Roy Capon.
The move frees up Google/Alphabet's management to keep on innovating, adds Lim.
Fimmick has turned its customer relationship management (CRM) team into an independent company - Fimmick CRM.
Based on a social and data-driven CRM model, the new agency allows clients to identify their key advocates and consumers more effectively, intelligently and accurately.
More and more retailers are searching for business partners who can offer more than the traditional 1.0 CRM model.
Through Fimmick’s recent partnership with ClusterTech, one of the largest data mining companies in the region, Fimmick CRM will transform how retailers engage with their loyal customers and brand advocates using social, mobile, big data analysis and cloud to drive businesses and engagement with their customers.
This is aimed to push not only their spending power, but more importantly, their influential power to make sure customers will engage.
Fimmick CEO Kenny Yiu (pictured middle) explained: “The number of services that Fimmick offers has been growing and many of our projects now involve CRM. The social element is the starting point of modern CRM projects in helping businesses and e-commerce keep pace with upcoming trends.”
He said Hong Kong brands and companies dealing with big data are worried that they do not know how to match their data with their consumers. The current CRM model needs to focus on analysing customer value using RFM (recency, frequency and monetary value) and VAS (viral power, activeness and sentiment).
"By combining both RFM and VAS, you can identify different types of customers with the ultimate goal of driving advocates.
“Keeping track of factors such as customer behavior, social interactions, external factors and click throughs, we know when it is the best time to post and get consumers’ attention; these are the types of data that drives in revenue."
Willy Lai (pictured left), business director of Fimmick, added that the CRM model in the market has now changed.
"No longer is it the one-to-one marketing model, but rather one-to-one-to-many through the power of influencers. We love to see high engagement rates and the spread of comments and discussions to build a brand’s reputation”.
Matthew Lee, head of CRM at Fimmick, added: “Wristlets and all kinds of wearables are constantly collecting personal data of someone’s lifestyle and habits. With the internet, as well as all the data information and the revolutionary technology we have, we can easily match social with CRM to create a new idea that Hong Kong markets have not yet discovered."
"I foresee the strong power and synergy between Social and CRM, it’s what the digital marketing industry needs now."
GHC Asia has promoted Jessie Gogan to account director.
Working in GHC Hong Kong office and heading up a team of six, Gogan is responsible for a number of F&B, design and travel clients, providing strategic counsel and driving creative communication campaigns across Hong Kong and APAC.
Gogan has been with the company since last year working most recently as senior account manager on clients across the luxury lifestyle and design sectors including Aqua Restaurant Group, Berry Bros. & Rudd, Tom Dixon and luxury Fiji resort, Laucala Island.
Prior to that, she was based in London as senior account manager at luxury lifestyle agency Halpern, handling clients such as Tiffany & Co., Hotel Chocolat, UGG Australia, Center Parcs and L.K Bennett.
Commenting on the appointment, Gogan said: "Working with a dynamic team, I look forward to continue to drive creative and value add PR campaigns for our clients across a range of sectors. It’s exciting to move up a gear working with like-minded people who have passion, energy and a flair for communications."
Local agency Up & Up celebrates its 12th year running in Singapore this year. A familiar name in the independents scene, founder and managing director Anand Vathiyar tells Marketing about the highs and lows of being an independent.
When was the precise moment you knew you wanted to do something on your own? My wife and I had plans to work in China but SARS put paid to that. So while bumming around, an ex-agency buddy asked me to help him out with a pitch. That’s how I was introduced to the independent agency model. It looked easy (yes, I was that naïve!) and we won quite a few pitches together. One day I got a call from another friend (later turned-StanChart-client) who wanted help on the Manhattan card launch because their main agency was chockablock. The catch was I had to be a registered entity to be paid as a vendor (she didn’t know my other friend well enough) so I spoke to two of my art director friends who were at the crossroads of their careers and…that’s how Up was born. Circumstance more than a serenity-now moment.
Which year did you first start up? Who was the first client you had on board? We registered the company on 19 July 2003, on Kwan Ying’s birthday (I’m slightly superstitious) and while technically, we started off by working with StanChart on several projects, to us Uppers (that's what we call ourselves) Discovery Channel is considered our first proper account because it didn’t just fall into our laps. We pitched and won it against MNCs and retained it for close to 5 years. It helped that the Discovery clients were some of the nicest clients one could start an agency with (thank you Kevin Dickie, Penny Hill and Harry Tan). They were warm, engaging and receptive to our ideas, good pay masters and even submitted our work for awards and paid for medals and trophies when we won! A client like that today would get a shrine in their names.
What makes your agency stand out? I know many agencies have a credo or that is supposed to set them apart. Some create their own OB markers (like no pitching). And some like Abbott Mead Vickers even went as far as to say they appeal to that one type of consumer. I wouldn’t dismiss all of it as BS but market realities dictate hubris, especially here in Singapore.
For me, small agencies in Singapore are no different from small law firms or medical practices in that they are usually founded by that one senior counsel or that one specialist (brutal truth - there is no such thing as an equally yoked partnership). And clients come to you or get referred to you because of who you are and the knowledge, experience and expertise you bring to the table. It’s as simple as that.
The challenge then is for you to set a standard and ensure your agency can deliver on it consistently while keeping clients happy beyond ad hoc projects and most important of all, create a culture that makes everyone who passes through your doors feel like they were part of something bigger than themselves. I’d like to believe that Up has managed to do most of the above fairly well in the last 12 years.
What was one of the toughest moments in running your agency? How did you overcome it? Like many small agencies, we have had our fair share of tough moments. From getting stiffed by clients (try $450k from one client!) to losing key accounts etc but to me the toughest moments have been people-related.
We are a people-business more than an ideas-business because you need people to make anything happen. So when people I invest in whole-heartedly turn out to be self-serving individuals or worse, develop a misguided sense of entitlement…those are the toughest moments in running your own agency. You feel let down. You even feel like asking these characters ‘where do you get the ego/sense of entitlement?’ but then you take a step back and become more contemplative. There will always be people who will disappoint you just as there will always be people who will warm your heart. In my 12 years at Up, the people who warm my heart have been far, far greater.
Were you afraid of failing? How did you handle it? If you can make peace with the worst case scenario, there is nothing to fear.
How does it feel like to be your own boss? Could you ever work for someone else again? The little pick-me-up of being your own boss comes at a very high cost that only business owners know/understand. There are more stressful ‘own boss’ days than there are rewarding ‘own boss’ days and I can totally understand why some people just pack it in and go back to MNC life again. If I were to do it, it would only be if my new boss is someone I truly admire and the challenge is irresistible.
Pluses and Minuses of being independent The minuses are easy. If you think winning a business in a competitive Singaporean market is tough, try keeping that piece of business. It’s tougher. Add to that growing client expectations, unreasonable young talents with unrealistic expectations, overall talent crunch and the perennial cash flow issue with bills, bills and more bills.
Plus points…there are a few but I would single out one in particular. It’s when you get a text, a call, email or chance upon an ex-staff or ex-intern who tells you what a pleasure it was working at your agency and how to some extent, working at your agency has ‘spoiled’ it for them because they keep expecting a similar sort of environment and culture everywhere they go. Being able to create, manage and maintain such a spirit and culture – that's the biggest plus of being independent (soft strains of ‘My way’ by Sinatra).
When you first started out, how did you market your agency? How did you get clients on board? We never marketed ourselves aggressively when we started out. Could be because we are Asians and we would rather let our work speak for us? Or the fact that trade publications back then were inconsistent and totally unreliable?
Today, there are highly visible trade publications like Marketing plus there’s social media. Every start up/small agency seems to have a marketing plan and a social media strategy to market itself, taking every opportunity to blow up whatever minor achievement of theirs - from the hiring of a tea lady to staging this and viral that. Some small agencies have even built ‘global reputations’ this way. It’s not like we will quibble if people write about us but we don’t crave validation. We believe the best way to get new clients is for our existing clients or previous clients to tell others about us and how committed we are with each brief. Call us old-fashioned.
What was your first experience in the ad world? How do you think that shaped you? I’m a TV-addict. I grew up with commercials and jingles but my first experience in the ad world was when I was in university. I was late for a movie at Lido when I saw an advertising exhibition on at Isetan. As late as I was, I stopped to watch some of the TVCs. I will not forget this one Anti-Aids TVC. A pencil writes the word ‘AIDS’, gets flipped over and the word is rubbed off by its eraser head. A super then says ‘Use a rubber.’ So simple and so good. It got me piqued and I started looking at ads with intent there after till I discovered Volume 6 of the One Show. I borrowed it from my cousin who was in production and I read every ad in that annual, even using a magnifying glass to read the unreadable bodycopy. It became my Bible and I’d say my early writing was heavily influenced by it. Patrick Low, Mark Fong and Jim Aitchison subsequently stepped up to the pulpit to shape my career and to some extent, my life.
What have you taken away from your years in the ad world and implemented in your current business?
People work for people, not companies.
What is the one thing start-ups need to remember in this market? There will be a smarter/faster/cheaper/crasser/hungrier/more mercenary* start up tomorrow.
What is one piece of advice you’d give anyone wanting to make it out on their own? Be grateful.
To the client who takes a chance on you. To your colleagues who are going to burn the midnight oil because you want to impress your clients. To your industry partners who are game to extend their services and their understanding. To your friends and family who will be subjected to your incessant pleas for help for just about everything from social ‘Likes’ to lordknowswhat. And to anyone who does the smallest anything for you out of the goodness of his/her heart.
Be grateful. And say ‘thank you’ as often as you can. And mean it.
Would you be open to buyout? I don’t want to be coy and say ‘it depends’. We have had our offers and we turned them down previously, maybe foolishly. 12 years on maybe it’s too late.
The question is why would a big agency want to buy out a small agency? For its accounts? Maybe but I don’t see another Batey Ads-SIA/STB/UOB type of situation happening again (look how that worked out anyhoo). Could it be proprietary assets, especially Content or Digital, but if a small agency had those, they would be better off speaking to a VC than selling out to a network or bigger agency (bye-bye advertising forever!).
So that only leaves the most plausible explanation – they want you (in a convoluted way) and your staff. For any number of reasons from setting up shop here to beefing up creative reputations overnight (think Sapient Nitro) to making inroads into an account etc. All of which means, you the independent guy would have to be answerable to some bean counter at a stage of your career/life when you are probably done being beholden to others. Screw that!
Founding Year: 2003
Founded by: Anand A Vathiyar, Eric Siow, Daniel George Wan
First team: Anand A Vathiyar, Eric Siow, Daniel George Wan, Rachel Tan
First Client: Discovery Channel
Claim to Fame: 6 years on MOE during which we won Grand Prix at SPH Ink Awards, Campaign of the Year at Hall of Fame, Best TVC at Viewer’s Choice and then some.
Clients worked on: 12 years worth…trust us, it’s a long list.
Five year plan: To convert every Upper into a golfer so we can have the first-ever Up Golf Championship, with a bald Tiger Woods as my caddie.
Deviga Doreraja, PR manager at Legoland Malaysia Resort is leaving her role at the company as of today.
As PR manager, she was responsible for creating and executing overall media strategy in launching the first Legoland Resort in Asia.
Prior to her role at Legoland – which she held for three years – Doreraja was PR manager at Havas Worldwide for almost two years. Before that, she was account director at JWT for two years.
A spokesperson at Legoland told A+M that the company is in the process of finding a replacement for Doreraja.
Malaysian telco Celcom has launched a new ad campaign once again using Usain Bolt as the face of the campaign. This time, Bolt is promoting the lightning fast “Non stop internet”. Bolt was last featured in the networks ad campaign in 2013.
The ad campaign, created by ad agency M&C Saatchi runs across TV and is also running online and on social media channels.
The 360-campaign kicked off with a TV commercial that featured a baton being passed with great speed, precision and timing between Usain Bolt, a horse rider and a cyclist in a non-stop relay race. The commercial ends with Usain Bolt passing the baton back to the cyclist who then speeds off to form a “Blue Infinity” symbol, conveying the message of Non-Stop Internet.
Filming took place over a 10-day period in Kingston, Jamaica and Los Angeles, with the Malaysian production team working closely with their Jamaican and American counterparts to produce the TV commercial.
Take a look at the campaign:
https://youtu.be/tP9dtZXzSxk
In 2013, the telco chose the fastest man on earth Usain Bolt as its speed icon in its ‘Celcom’s Fastest Territory’ campaign to promote the 4G LTE service. Besides Bolt, other speed icons to anchor the campaign was Marvel cartoon character Flash and cheetah.
Today, marketers are facing more challenges than ever. In a borderless, interconnected and hypercompetitive market, customer needs and demands are becoming more specific. To maintain sustainable competitive advantage, organisations need to constantly evolve and differentiate against their competitors. When quality, cost and productivity become a common standard and are no longer sources of competitive advantage, organisations are searching for sustainable differentiation in the market place.
Retaining and growing existing customers are as important as acquiring new customers. It is important for organisations to understand their customers from multiple perspectives and customise the services in such a way so as to develop long-term and lasting relationship through personalised, relevant and timely interactions.
The importance of having a long term relationship is no longer the privilege of the few; rather, it is an important driver today, built into organisational structure, practices and culture. Organisations are focusing on developing an effective and efficient long term relationship with their customers based on increased satisfaction, trust, commitment and loyalty. Certainly, there is a shift in the focus of marketing from the conventional transactional marketing towards Relationship Marketing.
Relationship Marketing serves as a critical bridge to enable firms to stay competitive through the help of personalisation, digitalisation and data analytics. Organisations can grow their relationship assets through various Loyalty and Engagement programs with the help of myriad of advanced database technologies, analytics and omni-channel marketing.
In recent years, an increasing number of organisations are integrating relationship marketing strategies into their business operations. There is no short-cut to achieving quick success in relationship marketing initiatives in an organisation. Organisations must understand that relationship knowledge is built over period of time. Once relational knowledge is developed, only then lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with customers can be established.
The Loyalty and Engagement finalists are flag bearers of the industry and the market. These agencies have brought forward the creativity and strategies to create innovative loyalty and engagement programs for their clients. It is the result of their passion and dedication to deliver not only the best but also take the industry forward.
Thewriter is JB Ray, managing director, Edenred Singapore.
