Republic Polytechnic (RP) and Maxus Singapore have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in a bid to produce high calibre talent for the marketing research industry. This marks the collaboration of both entities in the delivery of insights, digital and content as well as visualisation.
The MoU signing follows the recent expansion of RP’s market research lab, which specialises in determining consumer behaviour and research. Brands which have already jumped on board the lab include Dyson, L’Oreal and Oppo, to name a few, to gain access to focus group studies conducted with the student population of RP. The lab includes a physiological testing centre which includes facilities such as eye trackers and face readers to test reactions towards different ad formats.
According to Desh Balakrishnan, managing director of Maxus Singapore, during the signing ceremony, Maxus Singapore aims to collaborate with RP in producing solutions in the areas of marketing and research. This includes diversified research methods. Through the partnership, RP students were also involved as part of the talent development initiatives for the industry. This is to encourage hands-on industry experience with RP students.
Telekom Malaysia (TM) has unveiled a video commercial titled "Forever Our Pride" to rally support for athletes competing in the SEA Games and Paralympic Games, and remind consumers of the hardships in the quest for national sporting glory.
The commercial will be aired on TV and cinemas nationwide.
https://youtu.be/JZQAyqCqfUg
According to Izlyn Ramli, VP, group brand and communication, TM will offer multiple platforms for consumers to engage with, follow and share the moments the SEA Games.
Among the digital platforms is the "Kuala Lumpur 2017 Official Channel” on YouTube, which will not only showcase the games but also inspirational stories of Malaysian athletes and communities. TM will also host a microsite specially for the games to provide fans with information about the events. On-ground activities will also be carried out nationwide to engage local sports fans.
The telco will be offering high speed Internet connectivity and broadcast facilities at the media centre, international broadcast centre and Malaysia Organising Committee Secretariat rooms in all 38 sports venues. This is to allow accurate, real-time coverage, as well as dissemination of results to local and international sports fans. To provide fans with a better experience, webe, TM's Centre of Excellence for Mobility, has also expanded its service coverage at Stadium Negara and the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre.
“TM is very honoured to be powering the national team by connecting Malaysians and communicating the national spirit through TM Team Malaysia, which we hope will give our athletes the boost when it is most needed because we believe in their potentials. The athletes and the Malaysians inspired by them have a positive amplifier effect on us as a nation and how we can transform our youth through sports," Ramli said.
In a bid to engage with Malaysians, the 2017 SEA Games organisers have also released a special edition Facebook sticker pack, featuring tiger mascot Rimau. The pack comprises 16 stickers which showcase expressions such as "Wah caya lah", "Bangkit bersama", "Do your best" and "Fired up", that can be used for Facebook statuses and comments.
With an ever-growing demand for consumer reach, today’s marketing world might as well be Westeros. GoT fans, you know what we're talking about. Competition, treachery, and earning loyalty are all at the forefront of our industry.
Competition is scary. There is always a risk that someone will do what we do faster and better, becoming so powerful that they take control over the King’s Landing of marketing. But even if you are a lone Targaryen or a privileged Tyrell or Lannister, there is always a way to turn your e-shop into a moneymaking empire with the right technologies and strategic planning in performance-based marketing activities.
#1 Winter is Coming – competition is a natural way to develop your business
Do not rest on your laurels – the primary rule for building any empire. Thinking you are safe is as dangerous in King’s Landing as it is in performance marketing. Growing a business today requires a lay of the land, command of innovative technologies, and new strategies that adapt to the digital world.
By keeping online business in a perpetual state of the Stark’s House Motto “Winter is Coming”, owners can retain a competitive edge, benchmarking business performance to operate at maximum. In order to make strategic moves that will give you a sustainable competitive edge, there must be valuable information that you can analyse.
The Night’s Watch in Game of Thrones serves the purpose of watching over Westeros’ greatest threat, and alerting the kingdom to any threats such as the White Walkers. In digital marketing, there are similar tools that help identify the potential threats and opportunities, allowing business owners to react to changes in their market, audience or competitive pressures.
But is your marketing safeguard a Samwell Tarly or a Jon Snow?
Competition within your own business providers ensures the best results. There are a ton of marketing and remarketing solution providers out there, but an effective Night’s Watch means you have all the cards in play and know how they perform.
For instance, multiple retargeting and social retargeting are just some of the new ways to ensure your campaigns work to their full potential. When using multiple retargeting strategies, all of your providers must focus on delivering transparent and effective results. With additional data streams, you can benchmark the average effective costs of sale (COS) between the service providers, as well as other measures.
#2 Choose your alliance wisely – make your activities more goal-oriented
When competition is not present, we often resort to laziness, which can be destructive to our motivation. Robert Baratheon’s storyline is the result of laziness creeping up, as other Lords sit and wait to usurp power. The candidates to the Iron Throne boost their strength by banding together with the right allies (House Baratheon-House Lannister or previously Lannister-Tyrell, just to name a few), while identifying – and crushing – the competition.
In the real world, you also need good allies to succeed. Whether these are vendors, technology providers, or consultants, your success relies upon people outside of your company.
Modern companies use a multiple-strategy building alliances wisely with many tech providers. They focus not only on a short-time perspective but also a long-term approach to remind old visitors (brand awareness) or to bring back visitors during peak sales periods (seasonal purchasing). It helps keep a brand top-of-mind as users browse the Internet, and likely keeps those visitors coming back if they did make a purchase in the past.
When considering what allies to choose, remember that different retargeters offer different flexibility in your goal strategies. You can have different short-term goals determined by your mid- and long-term display marketing assumptions. Making deals with more than one and having many alternatives brings better results.
#3 “Once you have accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you.”
In the Game of Thrones, only Jon Snow gets a second chance at life. When a potential customer is dropped from targeting, or when you are not optimising your digital campaigns, you are slowly losing them to competitor marketers that are faster and smarter at reaching them.
By mastering multiple-retargeting strategies, you can cover your weak spots and stay at the forefront of commercial competition.
Today, almost every e-commerce player uses retargeting as a way to multiply their revenue. But it comes down to how smart your approach is. Because every retargeter is different – they may use completely different algorithms, user segmentation, and unique creatives – they bring wildly different results.
One tool may be better in reaching a certain group of users, while another will be more effective when appealing to another group of potential buyers. It comes down to algorithms in the end, so mastering a multiple retargeting approach (or at least using two) will ideally yield results that do not overlap with the first provider, while covering the weaknesses of the other.
#4 “Every flight begins with a fall.”
Crafting a retargeting strategy that beats out the competition is not easy. It takes weeks or months of iteration, data analysis, and some failure, to get to the point where optimization finally becomes possible. Once those painful points are overcome (and they can easily be beaten), your business will experience hyper-optimized revenue growth without injecting any more ad spend or budget towards your goals.
Circles.Life has responded to the recent negative feedback it has gotten over its latest ad campaign. The telco was criticised by several netizens for the visual style and language it took for the campaign, which resembles advertisements which push social causes.
One netizen, Hazirah Mohamad, shared online, her exchange with the company following a complaint she had launched over the ad, calling it “insensitive and dismissive of a real global problem”. However, other netizens defended the brand.
Addressing other similar complaints on social media, Circles.Life thanked netizens for bringing its ad to attention, and said it would take note of its feedback, and “include it to the next round of process updates”. When asked about the backlash, a Circles.Life spokesperson shared that the company had no further comment on the matter. It confirmed that it worked with VML for the campaign, which ran on platforms such as OOH as well as Facebook.
Another aspect of the campaign is also a survey the company did on data deprivation. As such, it pushed the telco’s 20 GB for SG$20 Data plus option, which targeted “data deprived Singaporeans” who may not realise they need more data.
“Our data deprivation movement aims to bring awareness to the fact that Singapore has been deprived in mobile data offerings. Our users consume on average 8GB of data each month, twice the claimed national average,” the spokesperson said.
This is not the first time the company has engaged in bold marketing campaigns. In March this year, the online telco pulled a marketing stunt which saw the vandalising of “competitor” out of home assets. The “competitor” in question was SGMobile, a fake company it created claiming to be Singapore’s “fourth telco”.
This was to poke fun of the existing data packages using SGMobile, and build up to the Circles.Life campaign. The company also engaged influencers Youtiao666 to be the “vandals” involved in the campaign.
What do creatives in the industry think of the ad?
In a conversation with Marketing, renowned creative director Farrokh Madon, who has worked with the likes of McCann Erickson, BBDO, M&C Saatchi, JWT, Y&R and several other creative firms, said the ad was distasteful in how it equated data deprivation with starvation.
“One isn't necessary to live, the other is. It really trivialises a serious issue - Hunger - and shows insensitivity towards unfortunate hungry people,” Madon said. When it comes to utilising real issues in advertising, Madon added that it wasn’t about whether a brand should take issues, instead, it’s about what the brand does with it as it what shows the brand’s character.
A brand is like a person. When you show insensitivity, you depict your brand as one with bad taste. And that can never be desirable.
Meanwhile, Patrick Low, founder and creative partner at Goodfellas Consultancy is of the view that the campaign touches on a relevant issue encountered by mobile users. He added that it is based on the insight that mobile users are constantly needing more data. In addition, the choice of the word “Hunger” is deliberate to provoke thought and action.
"The fact that the talents are dressed in first world comfort further highlights its intent and should not be misconstrued as an attempt to exploit poverty," Low said, he added:
We need to lighten up as a nation or risk becoming third world in our thinking.
Casey Loh, creative chief of The Clan (formerly known as GOVT KL), added, however felt that the ad was not one which was that offensive.
“I don’t think it is such a big deal because they used images of sad-looking Singaporeans, and not actual poverty-stricken children or old folks,” Loh explained.
How can brands strike the balance?
While every ad aims to be memorable, Madon explained that brands need to be memorable for the right reasons.
"For example, plastering a big four-letter word across your ad would get you attention, but whether not it is the right attention begs the question. Are you going to achieve this positive memorability by sounding insensitive? That's a good filter to look through before you communicate,” Madon said.
He added that comedians could be a good guide as to look at when banking on sensitive topics as they are able to touch on serious subjects but make light of it in a humorous fashion.
As a brand if you don't come across as compassionate and caring, at least be genuinely funny and entertaining. But please don't leave a bad taste in the mouth.
Meanwhile, Loh added that brands often face challenges to adopt world issues for commercial purposes, Loh said. As such, sometimes, it might just be wiser to stay away from sensitive issues such as this in marketing, if your audiences are not able to handle it.
Finnish-based company HMD Global, which now licenses Nokia's brand, has just launched the long-awaited flagship android smartphone Nokia 8 in London.
Priced at €599 (around HK$5,500), Nokia 8 will be available in Europe from September, potentially ahead of Apple's new iPhone and Samsung's new Galaxy Note 8 smartphone which are also set to be launched next month.
It has a 5.3-inch display (2560 x 1440), and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. Its colours includes matte silver, polished blue, matte blue, and polished copper.
While HMD Global has released eight devices in the last eight months, including five feature phones and three smartphones, the new flagship smartphone confirms HMD Global's ambitions to establish itself as a major mobile player.
"We think with the Nokia brand and the combination of industry leading performance as well as immersive and innovative consumer experience, we will be immediately able to make a mark in the high end segment," Florian Seiche, acting chief executive of HMD Global, told CNBC in an interview ahead of the launch.
However, Seiche added that Nokia 8 would not launch in the U.S. or China. It would, on the other hand, launch in countries which are accustomed to higher average selling prices of phones.
Apple has plans to invest approximately US$1 billion in original programming over the next 12 months, which could potentially result in as many as 10 original shows by the end of 2017. This is in a bid to boost efforts to go up against networks such as HBO, as well as the video streaming services of Netflix and Amazon, according to multiple media reports.
A new team led by Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, former Sony Corporation TV executives, will produce and buy TV shows and films for Apple Music and future video streaming products, reported Bloomberg. Both report to Eddy Cue, Apple services chief, and will be based in Los Angeles. Former president of WGN America cable network, Matt Cherniss, was also appointed to lead development and reports to Erlicht and Van Amburg.
This follows the company's recent move to ramp up its entry into the video scene through reality shows such as "Planet of the Apps" and "Carpool Karaoke", which plays into Apple's ambitions to double revenue by 2020 from its services business including Apple Music and App Store. While the increased budget is sizeable for Apple in terms of services, it is dwarfed by Netflix's expenditures of US$6 billion on programming in 2017, according to media reports, with next year's budget increasing to US$7 billion.
Apple recently appointed Isabel Ge Mahe to the newly created role of vice president and managing director of Greater China. She will be based in Shanghai to lead the team based in China, and reports directly to CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams. It also plans to open a new data centre in China's Guizhou province, as part of a US$1 billion investment in the area.
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has revoked or suspended the licences of tobacco retailers which sold cigarettes to minors under the age of 18 years old. One retailer had its licence revoked for selling cigarettes to a minor wearing a school uniform. Meanwhile, the others were suspended between May to July this year for tobacco sales to minors.
The retailer with a revoked licence is Value Supermart for its 301 Serangoon Avenue 2 branch. It will no longer be able to sell tobacco products. Meanwhile, the remaining 12 retailers were caught selling tobacco products to minors for the first time, leading to a suspension of its licence for six months.
The 12 retailers are 326 Coffee Shop at 326 Woodlands Street 32, 151 Coffee & Tea at 151 Serangoon North Avenue 2, Sri Kumaran Mini Mart at 557 Jurong West Street 42, Angel Supermart at 326 Woodlands Street 52, Kopitiam Investment at 108 Punggol Field, H & N Mini-Mart at 620 Hougang Avenue 8, Good Price Hub at 135 Jurong Gateway Road, Chin Ju Heng Mini Supermarket at 835 Tampines Street 83, Jaya Ambiga Trading at 176 Boon Lay Drive, Zeng Mao Sheng at 716 Yishun Street 71, Fortune Supermarket at 780 Woodlands Crescent and Zhong Guo Chao Shi at 418 Yishun Avenue 11.
The retailers were caught following ground surveillance and enforcement activities. All 13 sellers did not ask for any form of identification to check the buyers’ age. The retailers also claimed that they were busy or that the minors “looked older than they were”.
“Sellers take the risk of contravening the laws if they assess age by mere physical appearance of the buyer,” the statement read.
From 2015 to date, 53 tobacco retail licences were suspended and nine were revoked by HSA. The Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act states that anyone caught selling tobacco products to persons below the age of 18 is liable to penalties. This includes fines depending on the number of offences as well as the suspension or revoking of tobacco retail licences. Any outlet found to sell tobacco products to under-18 minors in school uniform and those under the age of 12 will have its licence revoked, even at the first offence.
The enforcement follows news in March which saw Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) revealing that it will look to standardise tobacco packaging. This is along with proposing legislative changes to Parliament within a year to raise the minimum legal age for sale of tobacco products to minors, from 18 to 21 years, a change which will be phased in over a few years.
Cathay Pacific reported its worst first-half loss in at least two decades of HK$2.05 billion in the first six months of 2017 and said it did not see conditions improving for the rest of the year, as it continues to lose customers to competitors.
The company's passenger revenue in the first six months of 2017 was HK$32.1 billion, a decrease of 3.9% compared to the same period in 2016.
“We do not expect the operating environment in the second half of 2017 to improve materially,” Cathay Pacific's chairman John Slosar said in the statement.
“In particular, the passenger business will continue to be affected by strong competition from other airlines and our results are expected to be adversely affected by higher fuel prices and our fuel hedging positions.”
Meanwhile, Slosar said a “stellar performance” at Cathay's cargo business helped ease some of the pain, thanks to strong demand for exports from China and the rest of Asia combined with global e-commerce growth.
Companies like China Eastern and China Southern Airlines are offering direct services to Europe and the United States from the mainland, while budget carriers like Spring Airlines have targeted regional travellers, undermining Cathay's position.
The airline is also losing premium travellers as it comes under pressure from Middle East rivals which are expanding into Asia and offer more luxurious touches.
“Broadly speaking, we have no plans to start a low-cost airline,” said Rupert Hogg to Bloomberg, who took over as Cathay's chief executive on 1 May.
“But we compete with low cost carriers on lots of different routes and clearly we have to have a proposition that price sensitive travelers, new travelers and first time travelers find attractive and prefer to fly on our airline relative to the alternatives.”
Meanwhile, under the new management, the airline has sought to regain lost ground through an overhaul that included a three-year transformation programme, hundreds of staff layoffs and other cost reduction efforts.
The reorganisation had resulted in HK$244 million in redundancy costs, Cathay said. It also made gains of HK$830 million from share disposals.
AirAsia has brought on board the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) for its #GirlsCanDoAnything campaign, as part of the budget airline's latest effort in empowering young women.
The airline hosted a group of 84 underprivileged female students at AirAsia RedQ for a motivational sharing session with AirAsia female pilots, engineers and senior management staff. The students who were invited by the agency institution under the ministry, hail from different backgrounds and were also given a special tour at the pioneering low-cost airline’s headquarters.
Also present at the sharing session were YB Dato' Sri Rohani Abdul Karim, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Aireen Omar, CEO of AirAsia and Zamani Bin Mohd Rafique, director of government relations at AirAsia.
“Through the #GirlsCanDoAnything campaign, we aim to empower young girls to dream big, to inspire them not to limit themselves and dare to choose their desired career paths in any field. At AirAsia, everyone here stands an equal chance to chase after their dreams. We have female pilots and aircraft engineers soaring high in this male-dominated field," Omar said.
“We have conducted sessions such as this with over 400 female students, and we are very honoured to be able to work with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development to have a special session with the minister herself. By exposing the girls to successful women from various backgrounds, creating a platform for them to chat and mingle with these inspiring individuals, we hope the young generations will understand that girls can do anything,” she added.
“It is my great hope that the girls will take the opportunity to interact with many of the successful women here and make their visit a fruitful one. It is also important to develop leaderships and courage amongst these young generations, to prepare them to thrive in the future," Karim said.
"Today, women play an important role in economic and country development. We as women should have courage in every step we take, if you think you can do it, then work towards it and do not give up. The ministry will continue to support such initiatives that will benefit women's development, economic development and contribute to the country,” she added.
Launched in 2016, the #GirlsCanDoAnything campaign is a women empowerment initiative driven by AirAsia to inspire young female talents in realising their dreams. Led by its female CEO Omar, the campaign features AirAsia female all-stars from various departments and positions as a real example of girls can do anything.
While creative agencies are engrossed in wow-ing the market, satisfied with the likes and views gained from the masses, the bedrock of advertising - communications for business to get the marketing message to consumer - is buried in oblivion. In the meantime, global consultancies such as Accenture and Deloitte are showing their ambition in encroaching on the advertising business, stirring up competition among agencies.
How should agencies revolve their current practice in order to evolve, and hence outrun the new rivals?
Given the uprising of digital marketing, the performance of marketing campaigns become scalable and measurable. Agencies are racking their brains to achieve KPIs through innovative means with various marketing stacks. On the other hand, marketers stress their competitor’s actions and follow on their heels, while ignoring the brand essence and its own strategy, as well as consumer behavior. Agencies often pay much attention to creative execution, and neglect the brand strategy. Seemingly, all eyes are on creating the wow effect instead of ensuring that the marketing message is accurately conveyed to the target audience, and offering solutions to clients and customers.
Creativity is of course essential to marketing success, but it is merely a part of the solution that clients need. Clients now want more than creative ideas from agencies. They are looking for someone who can offer them both creative and business strategies. Consultancies are alert to the market needs, favoured by their deep background in business strategy and enterprise technology, and they enrich themselves with converging business models of consulting and creative agencies.
Nevertheless, creative agencies still have a competitive edge to fend off consultancies owing to their culture, flexibility and risk-taking. To respond to the changing market, it’s time for agencies to evolve by investing more in technical talents, from business strategists to creative specialists and digital professionals. These people can build platforms which offer a wide array of marketing and technical services to answer clients' needs - by using consulting to understand the deep-rooted problems that clients might face, and by using creativity to offer solutions and drive sales for the brand.
Look at how AXA benefited from the converging business model. Its car insurance business entered the mainland market and faced keen competition. To get attention from its target audience, a detailed survey was conducted to understand consumer behavior and the brand’s market position. After research and analysis, AXA realised although there was a large group of people that purchased car insurance, they seldom benefited from the insurance plans, since the majority of the time people do not get into car accidents, meaning most of the consumers had never actually made an insurance claim. AXA then innovatively offered rewards for safe road users, which was great news to non-claimants, and called the target audience to action.
To move beyond the conventional role of offering creative campaigns to clients, agencies have to equip themselves with business insights and knowledge. They have to evolve - by combining the creative strategist with the business consultant to get to know the brand and present the brand as a lively person that really communicates with the audience and solves their problems. By converging creative and consulting business models, agencies will be capable of growing in the ever-changing competitive arena.
HARMAN International (HARMAN) is boosting its marketing outreach for its lifestyle audio offerings in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region, with an estimated marketing spend of over US$10 million this year, an increase of 20% more than last year.
“Due to the annual double digit percentage sales growth of HARMAN Lifestyle Audio products (JBL, Harman Kardon and AKG), we plan to increase advertising and promotional spend in Southeast Asia (such as Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok, Philippines and Thailand), Australia and New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea by more than 20% versus previous fiscal year, exceeding US$10 million for the first time,” the company exclusively told A+M.
The US-based company was acquired by Samsung Electronics in an US$8 billion deal in March 2017. It will amplify its marketing efforts through major campaigns and product launches throughout the year, as well as shine the spotlight on its key lifestyle audio brands including JBL, AKG and Harman Kardon.
HARMAN will also be kicking off its first-ever series of brand partnerships and event activations with JBL at The Color Run on 23 September in Singapore. The next campaign will be the 5KM JBL Fun Run in Kuala Lampur on 30 September. Other past campaigns in the region include Bangkok's Unique JBL new headphone launch in November last year, Harman Australia's end user promotion trip to Vegas in conjunction with JBL Festival and University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) 79th season basketball finals sponsorship.
“We’re truly excited to be an integral part of the growth of the lifestyle audio industry in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region. As a company that is admired by audiophiles and musicians the world over, we aim to elevate HARMAN International to the next level through extensive marketing efforts that showcase the diversity and distinctiveness of our powerhouse range of audio brands," Grace Koh, vice president and general manager of lifestyle audio for Asia Pacific at HARMAN International, said.
“The JBL brand is all about exhilarating experiences that spark fun and spontaneous moments. We saw an opportunity with The Color Run as it is a one-of-a-kind event that perfectly encapsulates the intensity of pure joy from these very moments," Chang Seng Hock, brand activation director of lifestyle audio for Asia Pacific at HARMAN International, said.
"The run has also built a massive following amongst our target group and we are beyond thrilled to be a part of it. Through this, we hope to be able to reinforce JBL’s energetic brand positioning and its affinity with authentic experiences,” he added.
Music company Yamaha has made a public apology to a customer who enrolled in one of its music school programmes. This follows public backlash over a flute instructor who refused to continue teaching a young student with autism. Marketing has reached out to Yamaha for comment.
The exchange was shared online by the student’s father, Ivan Lim, the editor of SPRG Newsroom. In a lengthy Facebook post detailing the sequence of events, Lim called out the Yamaha Contempo Music School for abruptly cancelling his son’s flute lessons under short notice. He also detailed a heated exchange that was caused at the school. This was the result of the Lim family’s realisation that the reason for the instructor’s cancellation of lessons was due to the fact that the student had autism.
Online public reaction was swift, with many netizens taking the side of Lim and his family. This resulted in the music company issuing an apology, according to multiple news reports.
In a statement to The Straits Times, a spokesperson for Yamaha Contempo Music School said it had investigated the incident, seeking Lim's forgiveness.
The spokesperson also apologised for the actions of its staff and music instructor, stating that it was not acceptable for a child, parent or grandparent to go through the situation which occurred. It was also clarified that the staff at the school’s reception were also unaware of Lim’s son’s condition at the point of enrollment. Lim has also since confirmed that the school has offered a full refund.
In the past 12 months, global multinational companies have been looking to respond to concerns that they have lost control of media activity. This extends to 35 companies with a total annual marketing spend of more than $30 billion globally.
This was according to new research by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) which found global brands making or having plans to make major and extensive changes to their media governance practices. This was across a wide range of areas.
According to the report, more active management of media issues now involves brand safety, viewability and ad fraud as well as the transparency issues raised by the ANA’s reports from K2 and Ebiquity. The survey was conducted in May this year and saw 73% per cent of respondents having global roles. The rest were in regional roles covering Europe, North America and APAC.
Overall, transparency remained top priority for 47% companies surveyed. Brand safety is also moving up in terms of priority, with 70% of companies adding that the issue has been escalated in the last 12 months.
With regards to transparency, 65% of companies sought to improve internal capabilities through the hire of a head of programmatic, among other moves. More than 70% of companies have amended their media agency contracts and 58% have included terms that define agency status as agent or principle at law.
When it comes to ad fraud, many companies surveyed are also taking actions. 55% are now limiting run of exchange buys, 43% are shifting away from using CPM as their key metric in favour of business outcomes. Meanwhile, 40% are developing in-house resource to help tackle ad fraud.
On the topic of viewability, only now are 63% of companies investing in viewable impressions which meet industry standards, while 37% have devised their own viewability criteria.
For brand safety, 74% of companies have suspended their investments in ad networks, citing unnecessary risks to brands. In addition, 14% of companies have plans to follow suit. 89% currently limit or plan to limit investment in ad networks that do not allow use of third-party verification.
The report’s findings come to no surprise for Lynette Ang, chief marketing officer at Sentosa Development Corporation. She said:
In today’s increasingly fragmented media scene, marketers need to better account for their media investments.
This comes with the advent of digital mediums being a significant factor, Ang explained.
“Gone are the days of traditional tracking of media spend and ROI. We need to get better and sharper at understanding what our media monies are ‘buying’ us, and whether we have been effective in these investments,” Ang said.
When it comes to brand safety, Ang added that the brand recognises the certain need to safeguard the reputation of the brand. In doing so, it adopts a whitelist/blacklist approach.
“Overall, I believe regular digital audits by professional and independent third parties will assist us in assessing these areas of concerns. This is not just in terms of performance, but also in the areas of safety and fraud,” Ang added.
In a conversation with Marketing, Greg Paull, R3’s co-founder and principal, said that the results from the WFA report is similar to what is currently being seen in Southeast Asia. He added:
“It should be a wakeup call for any local or regional marketer.”
Citing a famous John Wanamaker comment from 100 years ago, Paull added that the phrase "Only half of my advertising is working" is never more relevant today. This is because in many cases only half of advertising is even being seen.
“Markets and agencies need to come to the table together to resolve these issues. This needs joint action on transparency, viewability and safety,” Paull said.
Agreeing with Paull was Muhammad Yousoff, head of digital for Southeast Asia at Ebiquity, said that many advertisers in the region are now starting to question if they have fallen victim to the transparency watch-outs.
“But they do not know where and how to start addressing, or even identifying them,” Yousoff explained.
He added that in many instances, advertisers also worry about the external relationships that are at risk. Meanwhile, there have been a number of advertisers who have reduced spending on digital and even paused activity on programmatic. This was while investigations and audits are carried out to evaluate the brand safety measures on their business.
“A year on, we are looking at a very different advertiser. This is a savvier, knowledge-hungry and braver client who is increasingly immersing themselves in this complex issue. This requires technical expertise, relationship management skills and a value attached that is too large to ignore,” Yusoff explained.
He added that the report also helps to generate awareness about a topic that has been “swept under the rug” for too long. It would also be viewed by many other advertisers globally as a call-to-action to at least start considering the implications non-transparent media practices.
“The areas raised are just the tip of the iceberg as most people think it mainly covers the buying aspects of media. Transparency can be an issue on many other aspects on media, from planning to evaluation as well as governance on data ownership,” Yusoff added.
What should brands look out for changing media practices?
The first step for advertisers to revamp media practices would be to familiarise themselves on the issues on transparency, said Ebiquity's Yusoff. Advertisers should also conduct a self-assessment on their transparency levels, hire a media specialist in the organisation and find a partner or consultant to assist in the journey.
"Most advertisers don’t know what they don’t know, hence external help might be required to give an accurate view of what needs to be addressed," Yousoff said, adding that marketers should also develop a strategy or roadmap to resolve the transparency gaps and ensure they bring their media agency along in this journey.
Marketers and agencies also need to set common goals and key performance indicators (KPI), according to R3’s Paull.
“Without the right KPI’s and transparency, marketers will just choose an alternative path. This is not going to be in the industry’s interest,” Paull added.
MEC Singapore’s former managing director Sharon Soh has taken on a new role as regional strategy director at IPG Mediabrands APAC, a move confirmed by the agency. She reports to Matt Scotton, regional chief strategy officer, who took on the role in September last year.
She will lead communications and connections strategy, product development and thought leadership across IPG's regional client base, working closely with the regional strategy team, research, tools, analytics and digital disciplines to ensure 360 degree thinking. This will be across all 13 APAC markets.
Soh departed MEC Singapore in January this year. Prior to the appointment, Soh was MD of MEC Singapore since 2012. She took over the role from Connie Chan, who in turn took on the role as MD of global solutions for the APAC region, the international media arm of MEC.
During her tenure, she was responsible for the people, product and portfolio of clients in Singapore. Before her role as MD, Soh was strategic planning lead for MEC Singapore and Global Solutions for four years, focusing on providing strategic counsel for key clients such as Singtel, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Daimler, Sony and Economic Development Board. She was also involved in the application of MEC’s integrated planning process across the organisation. This is to ensure teams integrate digital and content into their communication solutions.
Soh also held the role of general manager from 2005 to 2008, leading new business pitches and overseeing the Singapore team. She has also held roles such as group account director of Singapore and business director for MC2, executing campaigns for clients such as Daimler, Cycle & Carriage, Coca-Cola Far East, Warner Bros, Warner Music, DHL. Under Soh’s leadership, the agency executed multiple media campaigns for major clients such as Health Promotion Board, Parkway Medical, Sentosa, Caltex and Mercedes Benz.
Following Soh’s departure, MEC Global named Allison Coley as its new managing director of both its MEC Singapore and MEC Global Solutions Asia Pacific divisions. This also saw MEC Global Solutions MD Connie Chan taking on a new role as chief client officer for APAC.
“We are thrilled to have Soh join the team, she is a first class operator and has a reputation for driving clients business with strategic thinking and products. I’m excited to be working with her to drive our strategic capability across the region," Scotton said.
"After taking a short break, I am excited to be returning to our dynamic and fast evolving media business. I am even more thrilled to be joining an energetic and growing network such as IPG Mediabrands that puts a real focus on strategic leadership. I look forward to working closely with Scotton and the APAC team to strengthen our strategic capability, and ultimately deliver great work and results to our clients," Soh said.
GBA Corporation has appointed media agency BPN, under IPG Mediabrands as its new agency. The appointment will also include solutions from Ansible, the mobile and technology agency of IPG Mediabrands, to provide web and mobile solutions as well as digital creative.
GBA Corporation’s core activities are centered on the sales and marketing of FMCG products with warehousing and logistic support, and the group was looking for an agency partner to provide a holistic offering for the brands it works with. With over 25 years in the market in Malaysia, GBA Corporation has built numerous brands into market leaders, working with brands like Ferrero Roche, Wrigley’s, San Remo Pasta, Tabasco and Fisherman’s Friend.
Commenting on the partnership, Mohan Alagappar, COO of GBA Corp said, “BPN has demonstrated foresight in how our brands should move forward in an integrated approach beyond media planning, and we are very excited to have them on board as our new partners.”
The appointment commences August 2017.This recent appointment is amongst a series of new business wins by BPN following the appointment of Southern Lion in April 2017.
Managing director of BPN, Darren Yuen said, “We are truly proud to have secured this win in such an integrated fashion. The ambition of GBA Corp is aligned with how we see brands growing for the future”.
One in five commercial emails worldwide fails to reach its intended target, according to the 2017 Deliverability Benchmark Report from data solutions provider Return Path.
The research was conducted using a representative sample of more than 2 billion promotional email messages sent to consumers in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions between April 2016 and June 2017. Industry results are based on global consumer data consisting of over 17,000 commercial senders, two million consumer panellists, and over two billion commercial email messages sent to Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and AOL users in the same time period..
Result reveals that only 80% of email is delivered to the inbox, while the remainder —a full 20% is diverted to spam folders or gets blocked altogether.
Marketers sending to Hong Kong had the highest reported inbox placement average with 92% — a decrease of 3% points from the previous period analysed.
Meanwhile messages to Singapore mailboxes had an average inbox placement rate of 88%, slightly less than the previous period.
Graphic source: Return Path
The report’s findings are relatively consistent with the company’s 2016 and 2015 benchmarks, which reported a 79% global inbox placement rate. While this rate has improved slightly in the past year, the significant percentage of filtered messages means that marketers are still missing out on a valuable opportunity to drive meaningful revenue from the email channel.
“Email remains the most popular and effective channel available to marketers, so it’s more important than ever to get it right. If your emails aren’t reaching the inbox, you’re missing out on an opportunity to build relationships and generate ROI,” said Return Path president George Bilbrey.
“But email filtering continues to evolve, as mailbox providers apply increasingly sophisticated algorithms to deliver only the content their users truly want.”
Email marketers in the US saw the lowest inbox placement of any country analysed, with just 77% of messages reaching subscribers, up from 73% in 2016. Meanwhile Canadian marketers achieved one of the highest inbox placement rates in this study, with an average of 90%.
Looking at inbox placement by industry, the best results were found in sectors with strong account-based consumer relationships such as banking & finance (94%), distribution & manufacturing (92%), and travel (90%).
Performance Motors Limited (PML) has appointed Leo Burnett Singapore as its creative agency. This will be for a period of one year, a PML spokesperson told Marketing. It also follows the appointment of the agency for regional creative duties in July for a period of three years. Moving forward, the agency will support PML and BMW Asia in creating local campaigns around launches and special events.
The account moves from incumbent Ogilvy & Mather Singapore, which has been working with the brand since 2014. Marketing understands in the last round, the agencies shortlisted were Blk J, formul8, Leo Burnett and Ogilvy. Also invited to the chemistry round, were agencies Havas and manghamgaxiola mcgarrybowen. The pitch was first launched in March this year and managed by R3.
The move also follows the recent departure of BMW Asia's director of marketing Sonja Piontek, who was replaced by Brenda Pek, an appointment effective on 1 October 2017. Prior to the appointment, Pek was responsible for network development for BMW Asia. BMW Asia has confirmed Piontek’s departure and Pek’s appointment.
Mini Asia, a subsidiary of BMW, is currently on the lookout for a creative agency partner. This followed the resignation of incumbent, GOVT Singapore, citing “creative differences”. BMW Asia confirmed that a closed pitch for a creative agency in Singapore has just begun.
Edelman has appointed Tantri Kadiman-Beekelaar (pictured left) as head of corporate, and Geeta Ramachanran (pictured right) as business director, brand, in Indonesia.
In her new role, Kadiman-Beekelaar will drive strategy and operations. This is coupled with building capacity of the team in reputation management, financial communications, crisis and issues management. She reports to Raymond Siva, country head, Edelman Indonesia.
According to a press statement, Kadiman-Beekelaar’s appointment is also part of Edelman’s move to add depth and strengthen its corporate team in Indonesia. It also follows the firm’s streamlined offering into two practices, namely brand and reputation.
Prior to joining Edelman Indonesia, Kadiman-Beekelaar was communications director at a local communications advisory consultancy in Indonesia. Prior to that, she was the head of corporate communications and sustainability at Triputra Agro Persada Indonesia, where she led the company’s sustainability strategies to enhance brand equity and support the long-term growth of the company. She was also the marketing director Indonesia for Bosch & Siemens Appliances Group Indonesia.
Meanwhile as business director, Ramachanran will be responsible for strengthening relationships with existing clients as well as growing the practice’s roster of Edelman’s global clients operating in Indonesia. She reports to Bobby Arthawan, head of brands in Indonesia.
Her experience includes key positions in FOX Communications, Essence-Burson Communications, and Fleishman-Hillard, and as account director at Text100. Before Edelman Indonesia, Ramachanran was senior consultant at Samhoud.
According to Siva, Ramachanran will work alongside Harry Deje, who was recently hired from Burson-Masteller also as business director.
“Communications marketing gives the firm an added dimension to offer creative and integrated communications solutions, based on consumer data and insights. I look forward to building the team and sharing our capabilities and proven solutions to benefit the companies and organisations in Indonesia,” Kadiman-Beekelaar said.
“We see communication as a form of brand-building, contributing to relations with customers and its markets. Communications marketing can help brands achieve their goals, and I am excited to join the Edelman Indonesia team and to explore this growing market,” Ramachanran said.
