While data is a big part of understanding a customer today, marketers must remember that when you torture a data, it can be twisted and turned into the narrative you want it to tell you. Hence the importance of face-to-face conversations are very much alive and marketers should be wary of over reliance on data.

Today connecting with a customer is about a balancing game of being emotional and functional along with the right mix of data and real on-ground conversations. All of these are needed to really figure out the underlying pain points customer face, explained Howie Lau, CMO of StarHub who was speaking at the Customer Experience Conference 2016.

"Data will tell you what you want it to tell you. Customers will tell you what they want to tell you. It is your job as a marketer to figure out what the real issue is," Lau (pictured) said.

Customers today are well informed, well versed and very much vocal. While most marketers would like to believe that they have the power to influence what the customers know and see, this is hardly ever the case, added Lau. As such, especially in the telco business, connecting with their emotional side really matters, explained Lau.

"If you are not addressing the emotional side of things and are purely functional, it may not be sufficient," Lau said. But there is no hard and fast rule for how much emotional and functional elements need to be in your messaging. You simply need to take a look at both lenses when talking to consumers.

“When someone goes to a bank to get a loan, the functional aspect might be the loan itself, but the emotional aspect is that he is looking to build a house for his family and make a life. It is the bank’s duty to make him feel safe and understood,” Lau said.

Seconding him was Cameron Richards, founder and CEO of CPR Vision. He questioned how organsiations could create an exceptional customer experience without actually knowing what their consumers want or speaking directly to them.

He added that today 90% of brands charter a CRM strategy based on what they think their customers want rather than listening to them.

“No matter how robotic, technologically advanced or sophisticated we become, no robot can replace the human element when it comes to true customer engagement. Don’t be statistic,” he warned, adding that the key to the best relationships centre around asking the right questions.

Richards also said that to establish strong relationships brands should ask customers to be part of the solution rather than being part of the problem. This will only help to later establish common ground and understand the behaviour, emotional triggers and drivers of consuners. In his experience, he added,  86% of customers would pay more for a better customer experience.

"Empower your customers, and they become more emotive and supportive of your brand,” he added.

Don’t be overly reliant on new technology

In the past, tech used to be a vertical and was seen as a tool for productivity. Today it is an embedded consultant across all industries. According to Lau, the average Singaporean has 3.3 connected devices and 25% of them have five or more such devices.

However, Lau noted it is easy to go overboard with all the shiny new digital play-things in the tech world today. He outlined three crucial questions any company must ask before embracing and adopting new technology:

1. Is it relevant for customer in an outside in approach?
2. Does it help in my business and drive purpose?
3. Is it complimentary for my brand? Does it work with my brand DNA?

“Find tech that lets you marry what customers are looking for and benefit to business and complimentary to brand. If you want to lead you have got to try new things but you also need to know where to draw the line,” he said.

He added that while tech is growing at an exponential rate, the importance of face-to-face conversation and observation should not be undermined.  Giving an example of his past experience, he said while away on assignment to grow business in Vietnam, he realised the power of observation.

His sales companions in Vietnam could easily identify customers looking to buy the product from those simply fishing for the best deals. This was simply based on the satchels the customers were carrying.

“The dong came in small denominations so those carrying the satchel were ready for purchase with their bag full of money. The conversation the sales folks had to have was simply to convince them to convert and purchase,”  Lau said. Meanwhile, the ones without satchels were given a sheet to explain the functional aspects of the products.

Most recently, he also met with several retailer partners in Singapore for lunch.

“Through simple conversation I learnt that front part of Little India generally has more Indians and back part has more Bangladeshis. We learnt that our advertising and messaging hence had to be slightly different,” Lau said. At the end of the day, said Lau, to really find out what customers are looking for is all about purely about talking, observing and listening.

"We know that 50% of all our advertising spend is wasted, we just don’t know which part. So literally, my advice is to go out there and try and embrace the culture of trying and failing quickly," he added.

(Read also: Premiumise to differentiate your brand experience)

Life in Singapore can be hectic. People are always on the go, even consuming their entertainment while on the move. KIX 360, the streaming action entertainment channel and Singtel TV have announced an exclusive collaboration with taxi-hailing service Grab, to offer its riders in Singapore free GrabHitch rides every Friday until 10 June.

During those four Fridays, GrabHitch riders can get a complimentary ride using the promo code “KIX360ACTION” via the Grab app (one ride per person per week). A few lucky people will also get the chance to ride in one of KIX 360’s “action cars” an Aston Martin, a Ferrari, a Maserati, or a Porsche driven by an action hero.

While cruising in the “action cars,” passengers can check out KIX 360’s mix of combat sports, reality TV series and action movies via Singtel TV GO. KIX 360 is one of the Live Channels offered on Singtel TV GO. KIX 360 is the streaming version of the pay TV channel KIX HD (Singtel TV channel 309), the ultimate destination for action entertainment in Asia.

KIX 360 is offering an exciting slate of new programs in May and June for action fans in Singapore. Such programs include LuchaUnderground, the sensational Mexican professional wrestling event brought to you by mega-producer Mark Burnett and hit director Robert Rodriguez; Bellator MMA: Bellator 149, the first and exclusive MMA event featuring an electrifying bout between combat sports legends Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie; and Top Gear USA, the U.S. edition of the most well-known and popular automotive show in the world.

One cannot think of the success of the independents agency scene in Singapore without thinking of TSLA. TSLA, or The Secret Little Agency, has been around for nine years now working with major local and international clients.  Marketing sat down with Nicholas Ye, founder of the agency to hear his story.

When was the precise moment you knew you wanted to do something on your own?

When I was 19. I was thinking “Holy crap. This place (Singapore) is dull. That was 2007.”

Economically we were amazing as a country. That didn’t seem to translate culturally into art, fashion, music design and advertising which we were content to import wholesale from the west. The advertising industry then, seemed perpetually occupied trying to scam each other (and the world!) with more fake work that no one needed. Meanwhile, our brightest creative talent didn’t have the futures to match their ambitions in Asia and many didn’t want to return home.

So instead of complaining about how broken everything was, we started TSLA.

Which year did you first start up? Who was the first client you had on board?

We started in 2007. One of our first clients was Transitions Optical who is still a client of ours today.

What makes your agency stand out

Our combined force of will. When we get behind something, someone, an idea, product or service…there is an unmistakable surge of passion and courage that is just infectious and transformative in its ability to move the needle from good to great.

We go to great lengths to assimilate creativity into the blood stream, sales force, marketing team of every client we work with so that creativity becomes a necessity for success, instead of a nice-to-have.

What was one of the toughest moments in running your agency? How did you overcome it?

Three years ago, we made a difficult decision to break up the classic union of art director and copywriter, and instead filled the creative department with more diverse skillsets that included engineers, architects, experience designers and technologists. It was a difficult decision and an expensive experiment that ate into our bottom line for 2 whole quarters and represented a huge fiscal risk with no immediate upside.

On the inside, the creative team suddenly had new skills and services at its disposal. Experience designers and prototypers who worked effortlessly in CAD and Rhino, were working alongside our integrated producers to prototype the machines we were proposing.

UX designers found new allies with our planners, charting new user profiles and journeys for our client Gobear.com And eventually, two quarters later the investment returned itself three-fold with our evolved creative department retaining our creative incumbency on EDB. That was two tough quarters which we overcame by keeping our eye on the work and not on the bottom line.

It’s tough to make decisions that change the core of how you know business to be done knowing that it could put the rice bowls of the people you value at risk.

Were you afraid of failing? How did you handle it?

We look for two traits in every person that joins TSLA and in our clients.

1) Be Human

2) Be Fearless

The latter is harder to achieve because you get more scared with age. You get more scared with experience. You get more scared when life just piles on the bills and pressures. And when you’re scared, you can’t be awesome. We stay fearless by surrounding ourselves with people who make our worlds and our futures brighter. It is a certain optimism that a rare few have.

How does it feel like to be your own boss? Could you ever work for someone else again?

Starting something and being your own boss are 2 different things. I am technically my own boss, yet if the people closest to me chose not to cooperate, I would be absolutely helpless. We are always working for someone.

In this industry, it is typically clients, who also have bosses, so yes, I could work for someone so long as that person has a compelling vision and an ambition that is larger than mine; or that helps me get to my own ambitions faster.

Pluses and minuses of being independent

We think of independence much more in spirit and ethos then in the technical sense. There are many independents that operate like slow, lumbering hulks, and many global agencies who still feel, fresh, agile and independent in spirit.

A big plus of being independent that we can mess with our model at great speed, and reiterate toward greatness whenever we like.

A minus? We have to work harder to find new, world-class talent. Many here in Asia, don’t squint hard enough. They see our independence as a minus, and you get written off fast.

When you first started out, how did you market your agency? How did you get clients on board?

We did very few pieces of highly-visible work, that mattered. That was the only marketing for the agency when TSLA first started. No website. No cards. No proper office even. We got clients on board because they saw how much we did with how little and started imagining the possibilities. 9 years on, that still hasn’t changed.

What was your first experience in the ad world? How do you think that shaped you? 

My first three months as an intern at TBWA saw me being moved three times. First sharing a room with an amazing art and copy team (Marcus Rebeschini & Robert Kleman), then to the studio where I met my 1st partner in crime and lastly into the CEO’s office (it was Johan Fourie’s office) for a week to help with an internal communications project.

I went on to join a newly founded BBH Singapore, and got to experience that same direct interaction with the talented team there. That exposure to diverse ends of the agency and to senior level management really left a deep impression on me. What to do, what not to do. How to do it better. It all came crashing together in my 18 year old head.

What have you taken away from your years in the ad world and implemented in your current business?

Life is much bigger than advertising. We can never be too absorbed by the bubble of this industry, because the best creations are always inspired by a well lived life. Our best work is in itself, a response to culture. You can’t respond or create culture if you’re not cultured.

That it pays handsomely to put the work, before the money. Our work is the ultimate return of investment to the agency, because successful work, makes successful clients who will eventually have more than enough to pay you back when they’re doing well. All structures, functions and talent within TSLA exist to prioritise work before any and everything else.

“Spend your time talking about ideas. Not people.” was something I read awhile ago, and has stuck with me since. So we try to find people who like talking about ideas not people, to work with us at TSLA. Life’s too short for politics and for people who politic.

What is the one thing start-ups need to remember in this market?

Be clear of the value you offer. Know what makes you unique and make certain to make this known in everything that you do. There’s too much noise in the market now. Too much grey and no black.

What is one piece of advice you’d give anyone wanting to make it out on their own?

Go out and break things. Ignore the haters and trolls. When it feels crazy, and everyone is telling you are delusional and that you are surely going to fail – that is exactly when you need to step out and do it.

Would you be open to buyout?

Yes – but never in spirit.

Five year plan for the agency?

Our focus these next few months (not even years) is on accelerating TSLA’s ambition to influence the world from Asia by increasing our global creative footprint. This will see us expanding into China and soon into the west. Watch this space?

(Gallery available on web)
First team/Founders: Mavis Neo, Nicholas Ye
First client:           Transitions Optical
Founding year:   2007
Claim to fame: The Department of Appropriate Behaviour for Fox International Channels, FX; TSLA is Marketing Magazine’s, Creative Agency of the Year 2015.
Clients worked on: Economic Development Board, Unilever, Nike, Evian, Netflix, Gobear, Singapore Tourism Board

Mindshare has appointed Maneesheel Gautam to the role of digital leader of Southeast Asia.

Gautam has over 16 years of multi-function media experience across disciplines and countries. He will focus on strengthening FAST (Future Adaptive Specialist Team), Mindshare’s unique service offering aimed at building sector-specific solutions for marketers to drive marketing and media actions using real-time insights.

He is also responsible for the growth of the Agency’s performance business in SEA.

In his new role, Maneesheel will report to Himanshu Shekhar, CEO of Mindshare Southeast Asia, and work closely with the Mindshare Asia Pacific team. Himanshu said:

“Gautam played a key role in driving Mindshare and our clients’ digital ambition in the market. His great work not only won industry awards for the agency, but also helped grow Indonesia’s digital sector overall. I have no doubt that he will achieve even more in his new role.”

FleishmanHillard has appointed Rachel “Lichi” Hsueh as managing director and partner, client service for FleishmanHillard in China.

In this newly created role, Hsueh will oversee client service and business development for its offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

Based in Shanghai, she also joins the leadership team of FleishmanHillard in China, working closely with president Li Hong and market leaders Jerry Zou and Miranda Cai.

A well-rounded counselor, Hsueh brings more than 18 years of leadership, client and business expansion experience in Greater China’s PR industry. Through her work with leading brands in the technology and financial services sectors, she has deep expertise in managing sensitive issues, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate affairs.

Previous roles include group general manager of corporate communications at Elite PR, FleishmanHillard’s Taiwan affiliate, where Hsueh worked for more than 10 years. Most recently, Hsueh served as managing director at Golin Taiwan.

“There is great potential and demand for our services in China,” said Lynne Anne Davis, FleishmanHillard’s president of Asia Pacific. “We are thrilled to welcome such a seasoned practitioner as Lichi into this pivotal role that will further enhance our client service and propel our business in this strategic market.”

Resorts World Sentosa is looking to make transactions easier for Chinese visitors by allowing them to carry out transactions on their smartphones. Chinese visitors at Resorts World Sentosa can now make fast, secure and contactless mobile payments using their Alipay application.

This strategic collaboration seeks to bring about greater convenience and appeal to Chinese visitors, and position Alipay as everyone’s preferred global lifestyle mobile app. According to RWS, with large numbers of tourists from China visiting Resorts World Sentosa every year, it is important to stay ahead of technology and reinvent visitor experiences to remain as the destination of choice.

Resorts World Sentosa also announced a strategic collaboration with Ant Financial Services Group where Alipay – China’s largest mobile payment provider – is appointed Resorts World Sentosa’s preferred partner for China. This comes as the destination resort strengthens its strategy of growing its important cross-border Chinese business. Resorts World Sentosa and Alipay will also roll out joint travel packages and promotions, as part of the partnership, exclusively for Alipay users.

Meanwhile, Alipay is also named the official partner of SEA Aquarium and Resorts World Theatre. Alipay onsite payment terminals are now made available at more than 110 locations around Resorts World Sentosa and more services at the resort will progressively become Alipay-enabled across its hotels, dining, retail and entertainment.

Chinese tourists will experience an unprecedented visitor experience at Resorts World Sentosa that is fast, seamless and secure. These services include scanning of QR or barcodes on their Alipay mobile application to pay for purchases, booking attraction tickets online and storing the electronic admission passes conveniently on their smartphones, and online-to-offline (O2O) redemption deals on Alipay.

Great Eastern teamed up with SPHMBO on an out-of-home campaign featuring Instagram contest winners for its #RetireGreat campaign along with their heart-warming retirement dreams.

The campaign provides a glimpse of how to achieve a great retirement through Great Eastern’s suite of retirement solutions. It dresses up the walls at the Ocean Financial Centre linkway to showcase the selected winners, along with a digital wall mural.

The digital wall showcases how the winners have an opportunity to live out a slice of their retirement dreams supported by Great Eastern and sharing of tips to spur consumers on their thoughts for their retirement.

“With this campaign, using real-life stories and heart-warming aspirations, we hope to spur consumers to start planning early for their retirement. At Great Eastern, we have a comprehensive suite of holistic retirement solutions. Recognising the growing trend of consumers spending more time assessing content on-the-go, our campaign focused on reaching out to them through online as well as outdoor media platforms." Colin Chan, chief marketing officer of Great Eastern Life Assurance said.

Lost your wallet? Having a date night? Or perhaps you're stuck on the couch after drinking too much chardonnay. Whatever the scenario, food delivery startup Deliveroo is hoping to remedy the situation with a new service to help Hong Kongers survive some of the daily struggles we all face.

This coming weekend from 27 to 29 of May, Deliveroo will be listening to the cries of Hong Kongers and answering them with free meals using a #DeliverooSOS initiative, rolled out across Facebook and Instagram.

A series of six different hashtags including #WorkRage, #Hungover, #Heartbreak and #GetTogether have been created and users must comment on Deliveroo’s SOS posts for a chance to win free meals.

The campaign is the first to roll out under a new partnership with PR firm Edelman Hong Kong, which was awarded the business earlier this year.

The campaign also seeks to highlight Deliveroo’s delivery zones, which now span Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hung Hom and Whampoa.

Online food delivery services in Hong Kong have ramped up over the past two years with the likes of Deliveroo and Foodpanda making significant investments to grab a share of what is expected to be a HK$400 million business in 2016.

Deliveroo was founded in 2013 by William Shu and Greg Orlowski and has raised $200 million from investors including Accel, DST Global, Greenoaks Capital, Hoxton Ventures and Index Ventures.

Since launching in Hong Kong, Deliveroo has built up a significant social media presence which on Facebook sits at more than 232,000 and another 2,680 on Instagram.

PROI Worldwide, the world’s largest network of independent communications agencies, has named Richard Tsang as global chairman.

Tsang, chairman of Strategic Public Relations Group, will be the first Asia-based head of PROI Worldwide since the organisation’s inception in 1970.

It's a natural move for Tsang, who has been heavily involved with PROI since 2009, serving as chairman of APAC global development group and vice-chairman its Asia Pacific operations between 2009 and 2012.

“I am extremely honoured to be the first global chairman to come from the APAC Region,” he said of his appointment.

“PROI Worldwide is already the global benchmark in terms of the number of PR professionals under its roof, the scope of services provided and the depth and breadth of network coverage. As the new chairman, my mission will be to help PROI Worldwide scale new heights by developing it into one of the world's most recognisable brands.”

Tsang currently holds over 50 board, committee and advisory positions in various business, religious, education and non-governmental organisations.

In this digital age, one would believe that the printed form was surely turning obsolete. From the decline in newspaper subscriptions to the growth of iBooks and Kindle, reducing paper and going digital was the only way forward.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case when it came to bank statements. UOB has made available the subscription to e-statements for all its customers with storage up to five years (so you can still retrieve back-dated statements any time you need).

No more bulky filing, no paper wastage. Sounds simple and convenient, yet there was still a group of loyal customers who felt more secure with a physical, tangible document which they could file away. After all, it was a habit built over time. Why change it when it doesn’t need to be changed?

Naturally, these customers did not have email addresses we could reach them at. The best way to reach them was through direct mail. The most counter-intuitive approach to selling the benefi t of e-statements, one would say. Using paper to un-sell paper statements.

And everyone knows how this mail is treated – after all, with over one in two Singaporeans receiving a mailer at least once a week with messages ranging from virility enhancements to credit card deals, direct mail has gone the way of e-mail spam – often crumpled up and tossed in the trash.

Our challenge: How do we use “junk mail” to get customers to reduce “junk mail”? In the advent of social engagement, we decided to capitalise on social events. Leveraging off the annual Earth Day celebrations, UOB encouraged Singaporeans to save trees by going “e-” in the most unconventional way possible – a piece of junk mail that could grow into a plant.

We embedded flower seeds into our direct mail with instructions on how customers could turn the mailer into a potted plant and grow a little tree of their own, while learning about the benefi ts of going “e-”, including subscriptions to e-statements. This served as a unique visual reminder to customers on e-statement subscription, while cleverly using a trendy social occasion to increase talk-ability of this service.

To amplify this campaign, customers could promote their efforts on Facebook through a “social tree” – an electronic tree that kept growing as more and more subscriptions were garnered. In the first week alone, UOB received over 11,000 e-statement subscriptions.

Not too bad, for a piece of paper that started out as trash.

The writer is  Lian Ju Han, Senior vice-president, head, strategic segment, digital and wealth banking marketing, UOB.

The Direct Mail Case Study is brought to you by Marketing Magazine in association with DMrocket.

Eight Partnership and Cathay Pacific have launched a new brand, design and communications strategy for Marco Polo Club, the loyalty programme of Hong Kong’s global airline.

Developed in close collaboration with the Marco Polo Club team, the strategy aims to revitalise the brand, placing greater emphasis and pride in the sense of belonging and highlighting the diversity of its membership. The effort is part of the premium carrier’s ongoing long-term rebranding process. Eight introduced a more refined approach to the design and developed a brand strategy that intends to recapture the romance of travel for the airline’s most loyal passengers.

“The rebrand marks a shift away from frequency to focus on recognition and relationships,” says Maria Arango, senior brand consultant at Eight Partnership.

“We are refining the way the Marco Polo Club is experienced and just as importantly, celebrating a peer group by elevating the way we communicate and interact with them.”

Highlights of Eight’s work for Marco Polo Club are new designs for the membership cards, digital communications and bespoke accessories. The Marco Polo Club refresh also includes more exclusive content produced for members. This content, including a series of books profiling the club’s members from a range of backgrounds, aims to be a source of inspiration and cultivates the feeling of being part of a notable and distinctive group of people.

“The design and content we have created is a contemporary take on the original intent of the Marco Polo Club,” says Iain Richardson, Executive Creative Director at Eight Partnership. “The brand has become more refined and more elegant, with premium items that align with the interests of the club’s well-travelled and well-informed membership.”

https://youtu.be/OI6SYxV8n1g

Last year Cathay Pacific General Manager for Marketing, Loyalty Programmes and CRM, Julian Lyden, announced changes to the Marco Polo Club as part of an overall effort to improve the airline’s relationship with its members, and include an updated visual identity as well as new lounge experience.

Joining the likes of The Social Network which chronicles the early formation days of social media powerhouse Facebook is none other than fast food conglomerate McDonald's as it gets its own biopic featuring its founder, Ray Kroc.

Loaded with imagery showcasing its signature golden arches, the film is set to show the journey of the brand. The film stars acting heavy weight Michael Keaton who has gained critical acclaim from movies such as Birdman and most recently Spotlight. 

According to director John Lee Hancock, in a statement given to The New York Times, McDonald’s “has made no attempt to interfere with The Founder” which would risk a higher promotion of the film. McDonald's is known to be protective over its intellectual property, showing in various lawsuits since the 1960s, a prominent one being the Norman McDonald's Country Drive-Inn suit which saw the misuse of its golden arches.

Watch the trailer for The Founder here:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX2uz2XYkbo[/embed]

The movie will premiere in August this year in US. Will you be catching the movie?

Global toy and baby products retailer Toys“R”Us, Inc. has appointed Andre Javes as president, Toys“R”Us, Asia Pacific, directly reporting to chairman and CEO Dave Brandon.

In this role, he will oversee all operations and business activities for the company’s growing number of stores in Japan, Southeast Asia, Greater China and Australia, and he will be responsible for the profitability and success of the company in these markets.

A seasoned retail executive with more than 30 years of merchandising and management experience, Javes most recently served as managing director, Toys“R”Us, Southeast Asia and Greater China, where he oversaw all operations and business activities for the company’s more than 170 wholly owned stores and approximately 2,500 employees in Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Prior to joining Toys“R”Us, Javes served as chief executive officer at Anaconda Group Pty from 2009 to 2012, where he managed a retail chain of camping, outdoor and adventure gear stores across Australia.

“Since joining Toys“R”Us, Andre has made significant contributions to the continued growth and success of our business throughout Asia and Australia,” said Mr. Brandon.

“With his extensive retail background, drive for results, commitment to building and leading high-performing teams and proven track record, we expect to further grow and strengthen our brands’ position in the global marketplace.”

Talking to your customers is very much like playing the dating game, Chai Hui Fung, marketing director of Nando's Chickenland Malaysia said. Chai was speaking at A+M’s recent Digital marketing Malaysia 2016 conference.

For Nando's, the flirty tone the brand takes is somewhat cool and subtle.

“We want to stay cool. Our communication has never been too direct, it is a little bit subtle with a hint of humour that makes you wonder what it is,” Chai (pictured) explained.

But Nandos’ brand personality is also a complicated one, Chai admits.  The brand comes with two contrasting elements to its identity. On one hand it has to be fiery and challenging much like its famous peri-peri sauce but on the other it also needs to be comforting for friends and family to congregate.

“We like to discover new ideas and challenge the status quo. So, our communication always pushes the boundaries. It is unpredictable and exciting. Our communication also comes with humourous elements. At the same time, we want to be welcoming and focus on keeping people together. So, as much as we like to push boundaries, we actually don’t want to come across as arrogant and mean,” she added.

As such, the brand needs to find the balance between being cheeky and genuine and authentic.

“Building emotional connections with our customers is not just about creating a piece of content and posting it on Facebook. It is about establishing a connection with our customers on a day-to-day basis. We want the customers to feel we know and care for them. These result in a lifetime relationship,” she added.

Chai shares six different laws of emotional connection the brand swears by in the digital world.

Be you. Be natural.

Chai said it is important for brands to act like a “real person with emotions” and use the language consumers are familiar with. Her team also actively avoids sounding corporatised. One such way is by changing from responding with “we” to “I”.

Nando's also actively stays away from phrases such as “Dear customer” and “We would like to inform you…”.

Make the customer your friend

Your brand should sound like someone who chose its customer - much like how a person would choose friends. Your online messaging should be warm and friendly and not too serious.  Nando's also chooses to act like a friend by not hard selling or asking consumers directly to come eat at its restaurants directly. Much like how you wouldn’t force a friend to come over if he or she wasn’t interested to.

“It is almost like flirting with a girl. Imagine when you want to date a girl, how would you approach it? You want to be sincere, you want to be polite and curious about her. But you don’t want to sound too aggressive and over the top,” Chai said.

She urges marketers to think of how they actually want to start a conversation with consumers, just like how they would with a person of romantic interest. Moreover, identify who are your brand lovers and engage with them to build a relationship.

“It is just like our personal social network. We have different levels of friends on our social media pages. There are different levels of closeness of friends. Just remember, your engagement with the customer must always make them feel like it is genuine,” she said.

Be relevant

Brands must stay current and identify topics that resonate with the emotions of community as well as society and expresses its own opinion. This opinion needs to be relevant to the majority of its consumers online and offline.

While it is important to not be taking any sides, a brand must be quick to say what the audiences are already thinking.

“If you are too slow, you become irrelevant. At the end of the day, we want to be seen as smart and not doing things just for attention,” Chai explains.

However, she warns that while being relevant to your customers is important. A brand should not forget its own personality. The trick is to balance between being the brand and what the customers are interested without trying too hard.

“Just because your consumers are sharing cat videos doesn’t mean you need to be too. If you can’t turn an interesting content into something relevant for your brand, then that is just a random post which does nothing for your brand,” she said.  The content posted needs to be not only relevant to your customer but also relevant to your brand.

“We create content, based on the emotional attributes, think about what are the emotions and feelings you want to be sent out using your content, not based on what we want to sell first,” she said. Having the right content strategy is also vital.

“There are some topics that are a no go and we don’t touch on. An important factor for pushing the boundaries is having a game plan and a direction set internally,” Chai added.

Delighting our customers

Delight our customer with a personal touch, added Chai. Nando's often engages the customers actively in photo-taking, conversations and random surprises.

“We observe the conversation, look at what consumers are talking about and sometimes selectively, send them a gift to surprise them,” said Chai. It is important to be aware of what the customer is up to and check if the customer is talking about your brand beyond your own channels.

Be available and responsive

When the customer is having a problem and tells the brand on its social media platforms, Chai makes sure if a promise to an action is made, it is kept.

“Always listen to what the customers are saying and respond with action. Look at what the customers are talking about and act on it. When you truly listen to someone, you’ll gain their trust, and more importantly, their respect,” she said.

Nando's also uses social listening tools to listen to what is being talked about, to manage its reputation, and identify gaps that the brand can work on. Moreover, it uses social listening tools to be responsive when crisis hits.

“Don’t hide from mistakes. React quickly by being honest, transparent, and consistent and stick to the facts,” she added.

Listen.Listen.Listen

Listening can open up doors for any brand. The opportunity to get noticed in the social media world is small and can change virtually everything.

“We need to stay relevant and belong at the customers’ pace. Understand what are your customers’ values and what they lean to,” Chai said.  As such the brand constantly engages on feedback from consumers, staff and management to keep ahead of its competitors and on top of its business.

福莱公关任命Rachel “Lichi” Hsueh为福莱中国客户服务董事总经理兼合作伙伴。

在这个新设立的职位上，Hsueh将负责其在北京和上海办事处的客户服务和业务发展。

Hsueh将常驻上海，并加入福莱的中国领导团队，与福莱公关（中国）总裁李宏，以及业务主管邹众和蔡闵容紧密合作。

Hsueh是一位经验丰富的咨询师，在大中华区公关领导、客户和业务拓展领域拥有18年经验，曾服务多个技术和金融服务行业领先品牌，在处理敏感问题、并购和公司事务方面拥有深厚的专业知识。

她曾在福莱台湾子公司Elite PR工作超过10年，并担任企业通信集团总经理。上任新职位前，她担任高诚公关台湾常务董事。

福莱亚太区总裁施颖妍说：「我们在中国的业务拥有巨大的潜力，需求殷切。我们很高兴Lichi这样一位经验丰富的业界人才能担当这个举足轻重的角色，她的加盟将进一步提升我们的客户服务，并推动我们的业务在这一战略市场的发展。」

国际玩具和婴儿用品零售商玩具“反”斗城公司宣布任命Andre Javes为玩具“反”斗城亚太区总裁，直接向主席及首席执行官Dave Brandon汇报。

在其新职位上，他将负责玩具“反”斗城在日本、东南亚、大中华区和澳大利亚市场不断增长的零售店的所有运营和业务活动，推动这些市场的盈利增长和公司成功发展。

拥有超过30年的销售和管理经验，Javes上任新职位前担任玩具“反”斗城大中华及东南亚地区董事总经理，负责公司在文莱、中国、香港、马来西亚、新加坡、台湾和泰国的170多家全资直营店的运营和业务活动，以及管理近2,500名员工。

加入玩具“反”斗城之前，Javes于2009至2012年担任Anaconda Group Pty首席执行官，负责管理澳大利亚地区的露营、户外和探险装备连锁零售店。

Brandon说：「自加入玩具”反“斗城以来，Andre为我们在亚洲和澳大利亚地区的业务持续增长和成功作出了显著的贡献。他拥有丰富的零售背景，重视实效，并致力于建设和带领高绩效的团队和良好的业绩，我们期待他进一步发展和加强我们的品牌在全球市场的地位。」

McCann Worldgroup Japan has appointed Michel Mommejat as managing director, digital, data & Technology.He was last SVP and partner, managing director of digital engagement at FleishmanHillard for over a year.

Mommejat comes with over 20 years of experience and a career spanning from Europe to Asia, in a range of global, regional and local roles. He has been appointed to oversee business transformation and the digitisation of the McCann Worldgroup companies to maximise potential in a fully integrated, digital era.

He relocates from Singapore and will report directly to Charles Cadell, representative director, president & CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan (and president, McCann Worlgroup Asia Pacific).

Mommejat has been a critical player in driving the digital acceleration and data transformation of several organisations and brands both in B2C and B2B categories. He is no stranger to Japan, where he previously was a founding member of TEQUILA and Integer and spent six years in Tokyo.

As part of his regional engagements at Wunderman, AdPeople and more recently at FleishmanHillard, Mommejat has been very involved in the Japanese market supporting Japanese clients and business development as well as launching new digital offerings and integrated solutions.

Mommejat said: “Japan is a fascinating market, the next five years will drive further innovation in terms of convergence of disciplines as well as deeper media integration through data. Driving the strategic integration of digital, social, data and technology across all entities of McCann Worldgroup in Japan for our global and local clients is a very inspiring goal.”

国际玩具和婴儿用品零售商玩具“反”斗城公司宣布任命Andre Javes为玩具“反”斗城亚太区总裁，直接向主席及首席执行官Dave Brandon汇报。

在其新职位上，他将负责玩具“反”斗城在日本、东南亚、大中华区和澳大利亚市场不断增长的零售店的所有运营和业务活动，推动这些市场的盈利增长和公司成功发展。

拥有超过30年的销售和管理经验，Javes上任新职位前担任玩具“反”斗城大中华及东南亚地区董事总经理，负责公司在文莱、中国、香港、马来西亚、新加坡、台湾和泰国的170多家全资直营店的运营和业务活动，以及管理近2,500名员工。

加入玩具“反”斗城之前，Javes于2009至2012年担任Anaconda Group Pty首席执行官，负责管理澳大利亚地区的露营、户外和探险装备连锁零售店。

Brandon说：「自加入玩具”反“斗城以来，Andre为我们在亚洲和澳大利亚地区的业务持续增长和成功作出了显著的贡献。他拥有丰富的零售背景，重视实效，并致力于建设和带领高绩效的团队和良好的业绩，我们期待他进一步发展和加强我们的品牌在全球市场的地位。」

Dentsu Singapore, part of Dentsu Aegis Network, has been awarded duties for both Land Transport Authority (LTA) and National Environment Agency (NEA) .

LTA has retained Dentsu for the Graciousness campaign, following a two-year collaboration, while NEA has appointed the agency to undertake the communications strategy for 2016 Clean and Green Singapore campaign.

Following the success of its Graciousness campaign which features five cartoon figures including Move-in Martin and Stand-up Stacey, LTA has once again appointed Dentsu Singapore to be its creative partner to work on the continuous strategic communications and media planning for the next phase of the campaign. The campaign will also be supported by Dentsu Singapore’s sister agency – Dentsu Mobius Media (DM2), with its digital and media expertise.

Building on its strong public sector campaign expertise, the winning streak continues with the addition of NEA to Dentsu Singapore’s client roster. The agency will provide strategic communications design for the Clean and Green Singapore campaign, leveraging multiple media channels to promote public awareness and positive action towards living an environmentally responsible and sustainable life in Singapore.

“We are delighted to continue the LTA partnership,” Rosalynn Tay, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore and Dentsu Singapore said.

“Being chosen as the agency for NEA’s Clean and Green Singapore campaign is also another exciting partnership. Our agency has been a part of various public sector campaigns and are now especially thrilled to help drive awareness in the green agenda, promoting a sustainable lifestyle for the country that will yield positive long term impact for future generations,” she added.

DBS is looking to improve the experience of callers into its customer centre by introducing biometric authentication in Singapore.

This technology leverages the fact that humans have a unique voice print, similar to the fingerprint, which can be used to verify the customer. Its introduction will further reduce the time customers spend on authentication by between 20 and 40 seconds. Instead of having to remember passwords and answers to security questions, customers can be verified in 15 seconds or less as they speak to customer service officers (CSOs).

Lena Low, executive director of customer centre at DBS said, “This is really about making banking joyful and delighting our customers. Voice biometrics is also more secure as customers do not have to worry about remembering their PIN or speaking about personal information in public when on the phone with CSOs.”

She explained customers with a sore throat or who have to speak in a noisy area would still be verifiable as their voices are profiled by a number of identifiers such as speed of speech, cadence and pronunciation. Voice print cannot be reverse engineered once stored.

Jeremy Soo, head of consumer banking group (Singapore) at DBS, “We design our banking services to be innovative and nimble to address customer needs, as well as to provide an intuitive and interactive banking experience. With voice biometrics, customers will no longer need to remember different passwords and answers to security questions. We seek to seamlessly integrate banking into our customers’ everyday lives and this new capability will offer them an effortless and more secure way to access banking services.”

The initiative follows on from the bank’s launch of an enhanced dynamic interactive voice response (IVR) system at the customer centre in December 2015. Customers who find themselves in urgent situations such as when their credit card transaction is rejected, need not worry about having to go through tedious menu options.

They will immediately be routed to the bank’s CSOs, skipping all menu options. The CSOs will have all the information related to the event on screen, sparing customers the need to explain their situation, and there is less anxiety on their part.

Voice biometrics and IVR will save DBS customers a significant amount of time given the bank receives more than five million calls each year from its consumer banking customers in Singapore. This is in line with the bank’s belief in making banking convenient for customers so they can live more – that is, do the things that matter to them.