Global digital agency, Valtech has promoted its Singapore and China managing director, Henri Petitet (pictured), to the newly created role of regional director for Asia Pacific. Petitet will be reporting to Olivier Padiou, group global COO, based in New York. This move signals the agency's commitment to growth and expansion in the region, the press statement read.
Petitet is a veteran of the digital industry, and has been with Valtech for over 24 years. Prior heading the Singapore and China operations, Petitet took on the role of sales director of Valtech France for a total of five years before moving to Singapore in 2014. According to Petitet, the focus in his new role is to leverage on its talents across Asia Pacific, and deliver first-in-class digital experiences to its clients and maximise market opportunities.
In a press statement, Padiou said that a strong presence in Asia Pacific is key in its overall business strategy. He added that the agency had many global clients asking it to have an even stronger presence and a solid understanding of the local markets in Asia.
"Conversely, we have many existing and potential clients from Asia looking for a global digital partner to help them grow and optimise performance globally. Therefore, strengthening our business operations in this market is a strategic imperative," Padiou added.
Vizeum Singapore, Havas Media Singapore and incumbent Wavemaker Singapore are tipped to be shortlisted in OCBC Bank’s media pitch, Marketing understands. The move follows a recent media pitch called last month, which also involves the brand’s subsidiary, Bank of Singapore.
OCBC Bank was not able to disclose the shortlisted agencies when contacted by Marketing.
It last appointed Maxus, which underwent a merger with MEC to form Wavemaker, as its media agency of record for its consumer banking services. Meanwhile, the incumbent on the Bank of Singapore account is Carat, which previously held both the OCBC and Bank of Singapore accounts for eight years.
In a previous statement to Marketing, Koh Ching Ching, head of group corporate communications, OCBC Bank, said that new digital solutions in media targeting and buying has given the bank the ability to communicate in innovative ways with highly targeted segments of our customers. As such, this has redefined the role of the media agency of the future.
“We therefore found it timely to explore how agencies can offer us sharper digital media capabilities, so we can keep applying fresh ideas to entities across the OCBC Group, including Bank of Singapore,” Koh said at the time.
The bank in recent years has been bolstering its digital and technological capabilities. Most recently, it launched artificial intelligence (AI) powered voice banking in collaboration with Google, following the launch of Google Home and Google Home Mini in Singapore. This allows consumers to speak to the Google Assistant on a smartphone or a Google Home device to initiate a conversation about the bank’s service offerings. In February this year, it launched a digital innovation using Siri, Apple’s virtual assistance.
Loob Holding will expand into the metro cities of India through its collaboration with World Iconic Brands Hospitality (WIB), a specialist franchise development company in India. As part of the partnership, WIB will open 140 Tealive stores in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore within the next five years. CEO of Loob Holding Bryan Loo (pictured) said the company sees a huge potential for its product in India as it is a tea loving country.
"We are happy to seal this partnership with WIB to be the first Malaysian bubble tea brand to enter the Indian market. We could not have chosen a better partner, as WIB is owned by Franchise India, which has a proven record of over 2 decades in the business," Loo added.
WIB founder Gaurav Marya described Tealive as an "ideal partner" to introduce a modern tea-culture to India. "I believe Tealive presents a huge opportunity in the country where people relate to the concept in a big way," Marya added. Tealive was launched early last year after Loob Holding gave up hold over the Chatime franchise, following a dispute with then franchisor La Kaffa International.
Speaking to A+M, Loo said the company is committed to expanding into six more countries in 2019, and have 100 stores in the region by 2020 mainly through its direct and franchise model. Besides India, the brand also launched in Vietnam last year, with the opening of two outlets in Ho Chi Minh City and aims to have 20 outlets in the city by this year. Tealive also expanded into Australia in 2017, appointing Melbourne-based independent agency The Sphere Agency (Sphere) as its global strategic partner. It is looking to open 10 stores in Australia this year and 50 by 2020.
According to Loo, distrupting the market is key for the company to maintain its leading position in Malaysia,while expanding into other markets, due to the "intense competition" it faces daily. To raise brand awareness and stand out among its competitors, Tealive injects "innovative and exciting products" into the markets it's operating in, be it for a limited time only or a long term basis. Loo said ultimately the company aims to build a unique brand positioning and create an emotional attachment to the brand.
"We want to be more than just a drink. We also want to motivate, encourage and make a difference in the lives of our consumers," he said.
Communication and its challenges
Loo, quite candidly, explains that the biggest challenge for the brand today, is understanding each market through the form of research and market observations, as well as the competitive environment.
Though these are neighbouring countries, they each hold very different consumer behaviours, taste profiles, values and preferences.
Getting the right message across on digital, in which it currently invests 40% of its budget, without having the essence of it lost in translation, is also an area the company is mindful of. As such, communication is a crucial factor between them and the franchisees.
Closer to home, another area where communication is a must is cross-departmental collaboration, especially between the operations and marketing teams. This is in a bid to ensure greater customer service, said Loo. To better monitor the performance of its outlets, the company is integrated a cloud-based POS machine with a business intelligence dashboard. Loob Holding is also in the process of using machine learning to achieve store inventory optimisation and replenishment.
Moving forward, Loo said the company plans to build upon its loyalty card programme - UNITEA - by integrating it globally, allowing consumers to enjoy the benefits at its stores worldwide. It also rolled out its Tealive Breakthrough Challenge, which will run for 12 months, encouraging followers to participate and showcase their breakthrough moments in life via short videos and social postings to inspire others.
Loo said marketers should always have sales goals in mind. "A good plan is able to stack up your brand messages towards it positioning in the market, and be able to translate strategy from online to offline. Basically, take a very 360 approach to your strategy," he added.
Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) announced that Roxy Limited, a subsidiary wholly-owned by New World Development company limited, has been awarded the right to develop and manage the integrated retail, dining and entertainment development in Skycity at Hong Kong International Airport.
The award follows an open tender exercise held earlier, which received a number of bids from local and international developers and retail operators.
Scheduled to be opened in phases from 2023 to 2027, the development, adjacent to HKIA’s passenger terminals, will provide a gross floor area of 350,000 square metres, with retail, dining and entertainment facilities for visitors and local residents.
Under the agreement, Roxy Limited will design, construct, finance and manage the development.
Apart from the development, a hotel is being developed on another site of Skycity, for which Regal Hotels Group has been awarded the development and management right earlier. The new hotel is scheduled to be opened in the year 2020-2021.
The passenger traffic at HKIA is projected to rise to more than 100 million by 2030 with the completion of the three-runway system.
The CEO of global sportswear brand adidas has disclosed that 10% of its branded products in Asia Pacific may be counterfeit – including products found online and in-store. Kasper Rorsted, CEO of adidas, confirmed the revelation to CNBC. He added that this is a major problem for the industry, which involves global retailers, especially in Asia.
This is despite the fact that adidas reported a 15% double-digit growth in its Asia market, driven primarily by a 26% increase in Great China. Sales for adidas-brand products increased 17%, with double-digit growth in running, training, basketball and Originals. Reebok-brand revenue was down 9%, but double-digit growth was observed Greater China, offset by declines in Japan and South Korea.
Marketing has reached out to adidas for comment.
Overall, the adidas brand saw an 11% growth, with the adidas’ women’s business continued to grow in double-digits, representing 25% of its total brand adidas business. Its sport performance grew by 11%, driven by increases in football, training and running. Its sport inspired range grew by 13% due to double-digit growth in footwear in apparel. E-commerce grew by 27%, driven by double-digit growth in most regions. Timing of its product launches also weighed on most of its e-commerce growth in Q1 2018.
“We had a successful start to the year that was fully in line with our expectations: Our high-quality top-line growth was driven by our strategic focus areas North America, Greater China and e-commerce,” Rorsted said in a statement on its financials.
Last year, Rorsted revealed that the brand would move away from TV advertising as part of its 2020 strategy, and now completely focus its marketing on digital platforms. This is with the aim to quadruple its e-commerce revenues by 2020. It also plans to increase revenues from US$1 billion to US$4.25 billion.
Last year, the adidas' director for global sports marketing for basketball James “Jim” Gatto got arrested for his involvement in college basketball fraud and corruption schemes. This included coaches, executives, advisers and several “affiliated” with the company.
Rosewood Hong Kong has appointed Simon Gilkes as director of sales and marketing. In this role, Gilkes will implement sales and marketing strategies as part of the pre-opening team for the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, based out of Hong Kong.
Having worked in hospitality over the past 18 years, he joins from sbe London (formally Morgans Hotel Group) where he oversaw three hotels in London as regional director of sales & marketing.
He began his career as part of the manager-in-development programme at The Boca Raton Resort and Club upon graduating from the University of Surrey. He then relocated to New York City and joined The Regency New York.
After spending over eight years in the United States, he returned to his city of origin to take up the role of director of corporate and leisure sales at The Savoy London.
“Simon is a vital addition to the Rosewood Hong Kong team, and we are delighted to have his valuable global expertise to steer sales and marketing strategies for the launch of our newest ultra-luxury property in Hong Kong,” said Marc Brugger, managing director of Rosewood Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has appointed Sinclair to handle PR and communications for the 2018 installment of Centrestage.
Taking place from 5-8 September at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the annual show serves as a promotion and launch platform for international brands, with a focus on Asian fashion labels and designers, to an international audience of trend makers through a programme of fashion shows, designer sharing sessions, an industry forum, trend forecast seminars and networking activities.
Sinclair will work with the HKTDC to strengthen brand awareness of the show and the HKTDC at a local and regional level.
“We certainly know our way around a large-scale event, too, and look forward to working closely with the HKTDC to showcase established and emerging Asian fashion brands to an audience of global trendsetters,” says Kiri Sinclair, founder and managing director of Sinclair.
Foodpanda aims to expand across Malaysia in 2018, following the expansion of its service into Johor Bahru in the past year. Meanwhile, it will also launch its 24-hour delivery service this month, in line with its mission to bring good food to consumers every day.
Sayantan Das, MD, foodpanda, said it wants to offer consumers with the convenience of satisfying their cravings from their favourite restaurants in the comfort of their homes at any time of the day. This comes as the company recently celebrated its six anniversary. A+M has reached out to foodpanda for additional details.
Last year, the company rebranded from orange to pink, following its acquisition by tech giant Delivery Hero in December 2016. While the iconic panda still remains at the forefront of its logo, it has been tweaked into a rounder and more “modern” version. According to the company, the new logo aims to be more memorable. Also, foodpanda’s font has also been updated to be more contemporary, which is in line with the brand’s new direction.
Laura Kantor, head of marketing, foodpanda said pink will be a strong differentiator for foodpanda to stand out in markets in which orange is used extensively throughout the cities´ landscapes. Pink is also the signature colour of its sister company foodora.
In 2017, foodpanda also launched a global campaign "The First Bite" across all online channels, namely social, display and CRM. “The First Bite” was fully conceptualised and produced in-house, in collaboration with photographer Robert Wunsch and director of photography Jonas Winter-Scholz.
The campaign highlights the universal excitement surrounding the first bite of food. The upbeat music was also specially created for the campaign, to mirror the video’s quick sequences and highlight the countless flavour explosions that take place. This was in a bid to highlight how consumers’ senses play a significant role when taking the first bite.
Foodpanda is available in more than 190 cities across 11 Asian and Central Europe countries globally, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Thailand, among others.
Magnum Malaysia has launched a new and innovative lifestyle game, Magnum LIFE, in conjunction with its golden anniversary. The game offers a grand prize of RM1,000 everyday for 20 years, and is introduced to serve the younger generation of players.
Following the move, the approach allows the winner to plan and manage their winnings better, without the fear of blowing their money all at once, the press statement read.
“This game offers life enhancing opportunities with worry-free money management,” he said. “Our market is young office workers who dream about travelling, the freedom to start their own businesses and to pursue their passions in life,” Dato’ Lawrence Lim Swee Lin, CEO of Magnum said.
Dato’ Lim also added that encouraging customers to play responsibly has always been one of Magnum’s core values. “By teaching them to also win responsibly, we are taking our corporate social responsibility to the next level," he said.
Rocket Internet-backed Global Savings Group (GSG) has launched CupoNation, its premium discount code portal, in Indonesia. The new portal looks to enable Indonesian users to save more on online shopping from leading retail stores and brands.
This follows the establishment of CupoNation in Malaysia (2016), Singapore (2013) and Australia (2014). Currently, GSG is globally operating over 100 digital portals and tools that offer a mix of product discovery, recommendations, deals and discounts. This is to help consumers take smarter shopping decisions while enabling advertisers to reach high-intent users at scale, the statement added.
CupoNation is also a fully mobile responsive service, providing a comprehensive range of online coupons and deals across 13 categories. These categories are supported by brands such as Lazada, Zalora, Tokopedia, Bhinneka, Matahari Mall, Blibli, Bukalapak, and more.
Igor Shapiro, managing director Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe, GSG, said that Indonesia has a fast growing economy with a fast-growing e-commerce market. With GSG’s strong team, global insights, and local synergies across the Southeast Asian markets, the company is confident about becoming the leading discount code portal in Indonesia in the next months.
“We are convinced that Indonesia is the best next market to launch this platform. The launch of CupoNation in Indonesia will not only benefit online shoppers but also help e-commerce players and advertisers in generating significant value by attracting ‘discount savvy users’ to their portals, thereby increasing revenues,” he added.
“We want to transform the way consumers buy and the way brands sell around the world. The launch of CupoNation in Indonesia is proof of our regional commitment, strengthening our position in the Southeast Asia Pacific markets and enhancing our global service offering, helping us to further improve our position as a global leading provider of commerce content solutions,” Andreas Fruth, managing director and co-founder of the Global Savings Group, said.
As early as January, Filipinos are browsing lifestyle options for the summer. According to Google Trends, millions are looking up fitness, fashion, and cooling products. Also top-of-mind are fast-food and travel, which reach the most number of searches around this time.
“Keywords used on Google Search and YouTube tell us that there are plenty of opportunities for business. Consumers are excited for summertime and brands can help them prep for their ideal experience”, says Google Philippines Industry Analyst Geia Lopez.
Fitting into the Filipino’s plans is only the first step to catch a break this summer. Geia recommends that businesses plan ahead with the rest of Pinoys, build association for the days of freedom and sunshine, and enable their target audience to explore their passion points.
Priming businesses for growth this summer
Brands can jumpstart their efforts at the beginning of the year, as in-season fashion, fitness programs, and sporting apparel become in demand. This also gives them ample time to join the summer preparation period and carve the role of their brands in the summer lifestyle.
“By taking note of the trends, businesses can offer services that consumers are actively searching for. Being online gives these enterprises the advantage of being accessible to their audiences,” Lopez notes.
Google offers free online listing for establishments with Google my Business. The platform makes vital information, including operation hours and address, easily discoverable through Search.
Besides sharing the most popular topics on the search engine, Google also offered insights on YouTube. The site reports that off-school-duty millennials, teens, and moms are enjoying unhurried time immersing in music, makeup, gaming, films, and TV series during summer. These audiences spend more time watching by as much as 32 percent, compared to other months.
Google points out that tutorial videos continue to gain traction. “How-to” videos have jumped from sixth to second in the most watched content on YouTube.
This suggests that Filipinos are willing to spend more time on content that appeals to their interests, giving much more flexibility in format and length of branded videos on the platform. Some summer video hits include hair transformation, eyebrow makeup, Minecraft, budots (dance beats), guitar lessons, and baking.
Lopez says, “Summer is a time when Filipinos pursue their interests. Marketers must be on the lookout for these passion points to help their target audience have the best, most productive summer.”
Digitas has elevated Matt Cullen (pictured left) and Gary Tranter (pictured right) to chief creative officers overseeing both the Digitas and Arcade brands. Cullen and Tranter will both report into Annette Male, CEO APAC and Ronald Ng, global chief creative officer, Digitas. Prior to the move, both were co-founders and CCOs at Arcade.
Meanwhile, Craig Howie has been appointed as the new executive creative director for Digitas Hong Kong. He will report into David Paysant, MD of Hong Kong as well as Tranter and Cullen.
Howie began his career in Singapore in 2000, and has since worked all across Asia from Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong with some of the leading agencies globally, including Commonwealth McCann, J. Walter Thompson, BBH, Fallon and Tribal DDB. He has worked global brands including Chevrolet, Bayer, Johnnie Walker, AXE, Levi’s, Mentos and Volkswagen to name a few.
“Having Tranter and Cullen onboard completes our data, tech and creative offering perfectly underpinning our new proposition around Truth, Connection and Wonder,” Annette Male, CEO APAC, Digitas, said.
“Howie has an impressive track record. We are inspired by the work he has done around the region and excited by what he can bring to the work at Digitas. His passion for connecting the dots between data, media, tech and creativity aligns perfectly with the big ambitions we set for our clients’ brands,” Cullen and Tranter said.
“Digitas has a great reputation, and some great clients in the region. I am excited by their unique capabilities around data as it opens up the creative opportunity in ways that will allow us to develop some exciting and differentiated work,” Howie added.
In 2014, Publicis Worldwide acquired a minority stake in home grown Singaporean agency Arcade. Nick Marrett, founding partner and CEO of Arcade would not confirm the size of the stake, but said he would continue to lead the agency. Arcade’s key clients include CLEAR, Closeup, Pond’s, Rexona, IKEA, Coca-Cola, Bango, WeChat and Google.
Entropia has appointed Pavan Kharbanda (pictured) as its partner, to expand its leadership line-up. In his new role, Kharbanda will be responsible for leading commerce, investor relations, expansion and media investments.
Prior his appointment, Kharbanda was head of Havas Media Group’s middle office for over a year. Before joining Havas, he served as the CFO of IPG Mediabrands in Asia alongside founder of Entropia, Prashant Kumar from 2012 to 2016. Before IPG, Kharbanda also worked with various companies such as Grey Global GroupSouth East Asia, Group-M in Sydney, and Ernst & Young in San Jose among others. According to Prashant Kumar, Kharbanda understands both value creation and value capture equally well, which is just the leadership Entropia savours.
“Kharbanda is one of his kind in our business – bold, brilliant, passionate and world-class. His joining the team means that each of our leaders have more time to focus on the product advantage, and business effectiveness for our clients,” Kumar added.
“It’s a homecoming of sorts for me. In the last 18 months, Entropia has led the industry in so many ways and grown from a start-up to, well, a grown up. I look forward to bring my own piece of future to Entropia and help take it to yet another level,” Kharbanda said.
In addition, Entropia has also launched two new campaigns for Wonda Coffee and Pepsico.
For Wonda Coffee, Entropia has helped to roll out its first toll-free lane, WondaLane in Kuala Lumpur in a bid to celebrate International Coffee Day, followed by JB and Penang as its next stop. The campaign is also launched to reward Wonda fans with a free toll, and drive product awareness for its latest product, Wonda Pet Bottle.
According to the agency, its target audience of working adults spend a long journey to their workplace everyday. On average, KL commuters spend an average of 53 minutes in traffic congestion on a daily basis, making toll one of the most relevant avenue for this campaign activation. This campaign lasted for a total of two days, with an estimated media cost below RM100k.
Meanwhile for Pepsico, a campaign titled "Drink the Future", was introduced to promote its new product, Pepsi Black, running from March to May 2018. The product launch follows its brand promise to bring consumers a zero-calorie product without compromising on the bold cola taste.
“Advances in research and technology has allowed for the creation of an unparalleled recipe and formula that keeps Pepsi delicious, providing a future where consumers can experience great cola taste with no calorie,” Santharuban T. Sundaram, vice president of marketing at Etika said.
Microsoft has extended its relationship with Dentsu Aegis Network for its global media planning and buying business. In a statement to Adweek, Microsoft corporate VP of brand, advertising and research Kathleen Hall confirmed the extension, adding that it followed a review of its global media agencies.
The Adweek report added that Wavemaker, Starcom and UM was also vying for the account, and a Dentsu Aegis Network team led by Carat was also in the pitch. Meanwhile, Omnicom did not pitch for the account due to an account conflict with Apple. The review also did not involve its creative business, currently held by m:united//McCann, the report added.
Marketing has reached out to Microsoft for comment. Dentsu Aegis Network declined to comment.
For the year of 2017, Microsoft sales and marketing expenses increased US$842 million or 6%. This was primarily due to LinkedIn expenses and increased investments in sales capacity for Microsoft’s commercial cloud, offset in part by a reduction in phone and marketing expenses. Advertising expense was US$1.5 billion, US$1.6 billion, and US$1.9 billion in fiscal years 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively.
Sales and marketing expenses include payroll, employee benefits, stock-based compensation expense, and other headcount-related expenses associated with sales and marketing personnel, and the costs of advertising, promotions, trade shows, seminars, and other programs.
Microsoft consolidated its agency roster in 2014, picking Interpublic Group (IPG) for creative and Dentsu Aegis Network for media planning, media buying and search advertising. At IPG, creative, localisation and deployment will be handled by various agency teams throughout IPG’s global network. Prior to the appointment, Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest handled media buying in the US while Interpublic’s UM handled the overseas markets.
Media Prima's subsidiary the New Straits Times Press Malaysia (NSTP) and Hong Leong Industries (HLI) are selling their entire stakes in Malaysian Newsprint Industries (MNI), which is primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of newsprint, to Asia Honour Hong Kong.
NSTP is selling its 21.36% stake in MNI for RM14.15 million, while HLI which owns 33.65% of the company is selling its stake for RM22.3 million. According to the bursa filings, the sale will allow Media Prima and HLI Group to recoup part of their investments in MNI.
Last August, news of MNI winding up broke, with Media Prima and HLI announcing that MNI could not continue its business as it had been operating under “very difficult market conditions, especially declining newsprint demand, and has incurred losses for the past three years".
Incorporated in Malaysia on 4 August 1976, MNI has two other shareholders, namely the Rimbunan Hijau Group, one of Malaysia’s largest multi-industry companies which owns an 11.34% stake and Norske Skog, one of the world’s largest producer of publication paper owning 33.65% stake. Rimbunan Hijau Group is controlled by Sarawak billionaire Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King.
MNI which operates a newsprint mill in Pahang’s Mentakab, is also the largest supplier for Media Chinese International, which published the Chinese newspapers such as Sin Chew Daily and Nanyang Siang Pau.
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has partnered with global travel content expert, LUXE City Guides to create tailored content for guests looking for an unforgettable and bespoke luxury travel experience.
The content will be produced across print and digital platforms, including a co-branded mobile app across 18 key destinations in Asia and the Middle East. This includes countries such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur Bali, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Sydney and Tokyo among others.
Created exclusively for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, the content will be available to InterContinental Ambassador members, and Club InterContinental guests. The guide features bespoke itineraries, offline maps with directions and geo-notifications highlighting attractions close by. In addition, it also covers information for dining, shopping, entertainment, spa and wellness, sourced by LUXE’s in-destination curators.
According to Tom Rowntree, vice president of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, the group understands that its guests value bespoke service and quality when staying with the hotel.
"Partnering with destination experts LUXE City Guides is like an extension of our exceptional concierge programme and offers impeccable itineraries and recommendations that are perfectly in line with the discerning needs of modern and sophisticated travellers, making their trips truly unforgettable,” Rowntree said.
“LUXE City Guides works with a network of plugged-in resident curators in each destination, ensuring that content is meticulously curated as personal suggestions that have been tried and tested by locals in the know. Thanks to this partnership, Club InterContinental guests and InterContinental Ambassador members staying at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts will be able to gain access to the best experiences in town, from off-the-beaten track haunts to the city’s finest restaurants,” Simon Westcott, CEO of LUXE added.
The relationship between marketing and procurement isn't always the smoothest. This is largely because of the constant debate between cost versus quality. Opening up about the intricate partnership between procurement and marketing, Charmaine Tan (pictured), procurement category manager, Asia Content, FrieslandCampina AMEA.
Tan explained that procurement teams are often fixated on cost simply because they are measured on it. "Just like how sales people are measured by the volume of customers they bring in, procurement is often measured on the savings they achieve," Tan said. When asked for tips on ensuring a preferred agency has a higher chance of getting selected, Tan said that ultimately with marketing sourcing or agency selections, marketers are ‘buying’ humans and their talents - rather than the agency.
It’s not always about the name of the agency but rather, the individuals working on the accounts.
For example, a marketer may like the talent they want to work with due to an appreciation of their skills, eye for detail or a keen understanding of what is happening in the social media scene. That being said, if the agency is able to meet the requirements and measurements determined for the appointment well, procurement does not have a reason to say no, Tan added.
“Let’s be real, it’s also about the relationships which go a long way. When marketing budgets are tight, there are certain folks you can ask favours from because you have a relationship with,” Tan explained.These are the talents worth fighting for.
She added that it is equally vital for marketers to become a "client of choice for agencies". She said, “Ultimately it is a relationship game. If you stay true to your selection criteria, and your 'favourite' agency is able to match up to that, I don't think the procurement team would say no."
Also consider which agency model suits you best
While selection criteria is key, another important consideration is being aware of which agency relationship model would best suit your marketing team and brand best. After knowing what your brand needs, marketers can decide whether or not they want to go with a single agency or multiple best in class agencies with different specialisations. Some brands may also prefer the holding company approach, Tan added.
“To take it a step further, marketers also need to look at how they organise their marketing teams among the different categories. This can differ based on a country-specific view, a regional view and a global point of view. It also depends on the constraints a brand has which also include resources,” Tan explained.
For example, brands with just a one man marketing team could consider a lead agency model. This allows the marketer to speak to one person which allows the lead agency to coordinate with other multiple best-in-class agencies.
At FrieslandCampina however, Tan said that procurement teams are measured on both savings (50%) and innovation and value add (50%). As such, effectiveness and efficiency of spend plays an important role in the procurement process.
"How you measure your procurement team drives their behaviour. Unfortunately, that is not something we can influence at our current level. It might be a global decision about how procurement is measured," Tan said.
That being said, making the most out of the marketing budget starts with marketers. This is because marketers have the control and ability to leverage agencies. As such, it is about unlocking the potential in agency partners to maximise the ROI, Tan said.
The FrieslandCampina way
At FrieslandCampina, the company uses an AQSCI model in its agency selection process. This includes Assurance of supply, Quality, Service, Cost and Innovation.
Assurance of Supply refers to the availability of supply of the marketing resources. This includes in cases of crisis and supplies shut down, which considers the availability of alternatives in such cases.
Next is Quality, which refers to the quality of the service and the work, extending to how well or how experienced the agency is. This can be determined based on what the agency tells a marketer during its credential presentation and their experience in serving clients in that specific industry, which is a quick way to measure quality.
The Service factor is determined on how quickly an agency comes back to the client, as well as their turnaround and lead time. This includes finding out if they have a dedicated team for specific tasks or a member of the senior management on the account. While quality may differ, it’s also about how the brand can ensure it gets the “rockstar” of the agency team while still working with the same budget.
The next factor is Cost, which needs to be competitive when bench-marked against other options. This can be determined also through historical spend. Lastly, Innovation is about the agency’s ability to have value added, and help the brand stretch its marketing dollar. This can be through new technologies or offering a beta testing stage to new technology where the brand is the first to gain access to new innovation.
The weight of the different AQSCI factors is also dependent on the brand and what it is looking for. Tan explained that for marketing teams undergoing the initial round of a request for proposal (RFP) stage, cost may not be as high a factor because what the marketer may be looking for is creativity and experience. As such, the priorities would differ depending on the pitch and brand objectives.
Maybank has allocated RM30 million to launch its FutureReady digital upskilling programme, which aims to increase employees' digital literacy and equip them with capabilities to ensure they remain relevant in the industry.
The mandatory training is part of the bank's continuous commitment to enable employees to meet customers' needs more effectively in the rapidly changing digital world. The programme covers six key areas - digital awareness, data-driven decision making, human-centred design, agile, future communication, as well as risk and governance in the digital world. FutureReady also offers employees the chance to be certified in new skills such as computer programming, data analytics and data science.
According to Maybank group president and CEO, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias (pictured), employees are empowered to take charge of their growth, undergo learning modules and participate in uniquely-created FutureReady Lab sessions to put their learnings into action. Maybank recognises that jobs within the banking industry are changing rapidly, and as such, sees the need to prepare its employees to be agile and adaptable to new tasks.
"We are also training our managers to facilitate the FutureReady skills learning in their respective teams because employees need to be encouraged and given the opportunities to experiment and apply the learnings to practice," he added.
Meanwhile, the bank's group chief human capital officer, Nora Manaf, said the bank also developed a variety of innovative programmes last year, such as the Maybank Immersion Programme, which enables employees to have a six-month internship with different start-ups and fintech companies to understand the different ways that technology is being used. It also developed a digital payments simulation known as the "Go Disrupt Challenge" and the Maybank Go Ahead Transform programme. These enable employees to experience new ways of working and learning.
This follows shortly after Maybank launched a re-imagined website for Maybank2u, which is expected to drive growth for its online banking transactions this year, increasing the number to 6.4 billion.
According to group chief strategy officer Michael Foong, the new website is part of the group’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its digital banking offering, in line with its strategic objective of becoming the digital bank of choice in the Southeast Asia region by 2020.
The newly-designed website will progressively roll out to the bank’s key markets such as Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Work is also underway for the new Maybank app, as part of the group’s mobile-first strategy.
Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers has made three senior appointments, including Joyce Wong as director of sales & marketing. The other appointments include the appointment of Allwyn D’souza and Bernard Kam, the hotel’s new resident manager and director of human resources, with immediate effect.
Commenting on the appointments, Charles Woo, Managing Director of Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers said, “Allwyn, Joyce and Bernard are seasoned hoteliers. With their solid experiences in the hospitality industry, we are confident that their exceptional insights will strengthen the teams and take the hotel to even greater heights.”
Joyce Wong joins Sheraton from her most recent role as director of marketing at Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel. Wong has over 20 years of experience across notable brands in driving sales and MICE business from previous appointments at Inter-Continental, Mandarin Oriental, Island Shangri-La, The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott in Hong Kong and mainland China.
“Perfectly positioned at the top of Kowloon’s legendary Golden mile with Victoria Harbour frontage, Sheraton has long been recognized as the pioneer of offering effortless experience and smart stays to the guests from various destinations,” said Joyce, “I am pleased and honoured to be part of the hotel and looking forward to the exciting possibilities and excellent potential ahead.”
In her new role, Joyce will oversee the Sales and Marketing division of this 782-room hotel with 15 event and conference spaces, encompasses proactive sales, event booking, marketing communications and reservations teams.
Netizens are lovin' it! McDonald's Malaysia has once again shown its creativity, jumping on the hype surrounding the new Avengers: Infinity War movie to promote its six-piece chicken McNuggets.
In a recent Facebook post, which garnered over 9.1k reactions, 7,272 shares and 2.7k comments at the time of writing, McDonald's wrote, "Wonder what all the fuss was about. All [six] of them were actually with us."
"Enjoy 6pc Chicken McNuggets today at your favourite McDonald’s! P.s. We promise the big purple dude won’t be there," it added. The Facebook post was in reference to the hullabaloo surrounding the race to stop Thanos - the purple dude in this case - from collecting all six infinity stones in the movie.
In a statement to A+M, marketing director Eugene Lee credited Leo Burnett Malaysia for being the brains behind the viral post, adding that McDonald's Malaysia is "very open" to such creative posts. He is also constantly encouraging its agency team members and even the marketing team at McDonald's to think differently.
"In the current age of content, delighting customers is the number one priority. No one cares if you shout advertisements at them. But they will care if you made them laugh or cry," Lee said. He added:
Customers will forget what you tell them, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
As such, it does not matter if it is a Facebook post or TV commercial, Lee said his goal at every single consumer touch-point is to make them feel something. This post surely struck a chord with consumers for Lee said that McDonald's witnessed a spike in nuggets sales after it was published.
Senior art director Jeff Ho and senior copywriter Jay Loh told A+M that they saw an opportunity to engage with consumers through something "fun and current" and they took the plunge. "Six Infinity Stones, six pieces of chicken McNuggets, it just clicked. Thankfully, our clients are great partners and very supportive of both big impactful ideas as well as simple small ones," they added.
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