Singapore – Recognizing the need for brands to transition from the traditional dependence on ‘cookies’ for their digital advertising to a privacy-centric method, MARKETECH APAC, the news content platform dedicated to the advertising and marketing industry in the APAC region, has recently conducted its webinar last 2 June to spur the dialogue on the topic. It provided marketers and advertisers in Asia a view of the best practices they can adopt for their transition to a new internet landscape that is fast putting the premium on consumer privacy. The virtual event on Wednesday also uncovered firsthand insights from marketing professionals in Asia with a panel that saw the gathering of esteemed leaders from the industries of insurance, digital payments and fast food. 

In the first half of the webinar, Creative & Media Innovation in Asia | Preparing your brand for a cookieless world, Travis Teo, co-founder and executive director of Adzymic, presented a discussion on the status quo of third-party cookie usage in marketing and the challenges and opportunities it would leave once they are finally phased out in 2022. 

Meanwhile, in the said panel discussion, industry practitioners shared their experiences as they shift away from cookie targeting techniques. Marketing leaders from Payoneer, Burger King, and Income discussed the strategies they are employing to get ready for the not-so-distant future. 

Privacy-centricity and creative technology: modern marketing techniques for the new cookieless era

In the first presentation, Teo discussed a three-pronged approach that brands can follow to continue driving campaign performance in the post-cookie world: how to sustain accurate audience targeting, where should the ads appear, and how creative messaging strategies should shift to adapt to the new targeting methods. 

He discussed in detail the key alternatives to third-party cookies, sharing the pros and cons of Google’s cohort-based interest targeting, and first-party data targeting methods through hashed/anonymized email addresses or first-party cookie collection. Other considerations discussed were the scale of universal ID adoption of online publishers, accessibility of second-party data from publishers and leveraging adtech to scale up on creative testing and performance. 

Round table discussion on how brands are preparing for transition

The panelists included Tanushri Rastogi, brand and media lead at Burger King Indonesia; Anny Huang, head of digital business at Income; and Eileen Borromeo, head of marketing for Southeast Asia & Pakistan at Payoneer; with the session moderated by Peggy Koh, head of growth and client success at Adzymic

Through the lens of the panelists’ unique business environments, the group discussed how they are sharpening focus on capturing quality first-party customer data via consumer mobile apps or BTL events, and investing in martech stacks that include data management platforms to run campaigns. They concluded by sharing client perspectives on the expectations they had of media agency or martech partners to be knowledgeable and proactive in making recommendations for future-ready methods of running campaigns.

The webinar was conducted under MARKETECH APAC’s webinar series Inside Innovation, in partnership with Adzymic, which attracted a total of 396 registrations across Asia and ANZ.

On-demand access to the webinar is now available. Register here to get your access.

Singapore – MARKETECH APAC, the APAC-wide news outlet dedicated to the marketing and advertising industry in the region, is launching a webinar that aims to prepare brands for the impending change in digital advertising: audience retargeting in a cookieless and privacy-first world. 

Cookies have long stood as the cornerstone for brands’ advertising efforts, and now that the industry is gearing up to foray into a privacy-first digital space, brands and companies remain in the dark on how they can achieve the best of both worlds – keeping consumers’ privacy intact while attaining campaign performance and driving conversions. 

Leading web browser Google Chrome has already announced its intentions to block third-party cookies by 2022, joining the pack, Firefox and Safari; and with this on the horizon, MARKETECH APAC aims to create a dialogue that would open the floor for brands and advertisers in Asia to discuss the best practices and approaches in maintaining creativity and innovation all the while adhering to safe measures in monitoring audiences’ browsing behavior and preferences. 

Titled ‘Creative & Media Innovation in Asia: Preparing your brand for a cookieless world’, MARKETECH APAC has roped in esteemed marketing leaders from various industries for a panel that would discuss the importance of first-party data and how brands in Asia are doing their share of adapting to the emerging privacy-first internet, and how tech agencies and brands can best navigate this new type of digital environment. 

The panel includes Eileen Borromeo, head of marketing of financial services company Payoneer for Southeast Asia and Pakistan, and Anny Huang, head of digital business of Singapore-based insurance company Income. Joining them is Travis Teo, executive director of Asia-wide ad tech Adzymic

Within the webinar, Teo will also be delivering a presentation that aims to dig deep on the landscape of programmatic advertising amid a new cookieless digital space. The presentation also aims to shed light on how programmatic creatives can fit into overall media strategy and process and will explore the topic of ‘Hacking programmatic display’, exploring how creative innovation and variation drive performance. 

Shaina Teope, regional editor of MARKETECH APAC, commented, “Just like ‘old habits’, we need to make way for new ones, especially if it has stopped serving peoples’ best interests, and this has been the case for digital advertising. For a long time, the use of cookies has only been benefitting best the brands and companies in hitting their campaign and sales objectives and it is time to draw the line. This webinar is positioned to help advertisers to take the necessary first step – and that is to recognize the problem and immerse in the conversation of how we can not only learn to adapt to a privacy-first digital advertising but the ways brands can be the very agents of the transformation into using first-party cookies.”

Meanwhile, Teo, who will be one of the speakers in the webinar, said, “Every change in the digital advertising landscape brings new opportunities and innovation to the space, despite the challenges and unknowns. While moving to a cookieless world remains an uncharted territory for most brands, it provides a great opportunity to reboot old practices and move to a more sustainable and responsible way of audience targeting, and re-focus on how creatives can help provide the necessary cut-through. I’m also keen to discuss with brands the practices and approaches they can adopt to best transit to a cookieless digital environment.” 

The webinar will be held on 2 June at 2 pm SGT. You can register for the event here.

Holidays are truly around the corner and Christmas-related news has already peeped in to make its way to the top stories, where a global household production name warms hearts with its latest Christmas ad.

Another year-end special also entered the list for the month, with a rewards platform in Singapore announcing a new face for its brand on the 11.11 sale event. 

Stories from marketing tech platforms also turned heads, where two – a global and an Asia-focused firm – announced recent expansions.

Meanwhile, marketing leaders never fail to entice readers, with a feature on a digital head from a leading integrated marketing communications agency in the Philippines making it to the top 5. 

Based on Google Analytics from 16 October to 15 November, these are the top newsmakers for the month.

Top 5: Disney UK’s global Christmas ad puts Filipino family culture in the spotlight

Disney in the UK has released its latest Christmas ad titled “From our family to yours,” and to much of Filipinos’ surprise, the production studios decided to forefront the Philippines’ family culture and Christmas traditions. 

The ad is about a “lola” or grandmother who misses spending time with her granddaughter who has grown mature and has less time for the family. In the video, Lola and her granddaughter bond over making a “parol” or the colorful Christmas lantern in the Philippines. 

Disney UK said the ad is also part of its celebration of the 40th partnership anniversary with children charity foundation Make A Wish, where a portion of the sales from the digital purchase of the video’s official soundtrack “Love Is A Compass” and a limited edition vintage Mickey Mouse soft doll is donated to the foundation.

Both Filipino and international viewers loved the ad, where the video has currently garnered 2.7 million views on YouTube.

Top 4: ShopBack Singapore taps local comic veteran as first ambassador

The headquarters of rewards and discovery platform ShopBack has announced its very first brand ambassador – comedy veteran Kumar.

Kumar is an Indian Singaporean comedian, television host, and drag queen, who made his name performing in the now-defunct cabaret nightclub Boom Boom Room during the late 1990s.

The partnership between ShopBack and Kumar is set to run for a year, which already began in the 11.11 sale event of the platform, and slated to continue through the year-end and next year.

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, ShopBack Singapore’s Head of Marketing Imran Mohamad shared what makes Kumar perfect for the brand. 

“We believe that Kumar has the same values as us, he’s all about love, authenticity, [and] inclusivity, and we tend to speak the same language,” he said.

He added, “Together with Kumar, we believe that sky’s the limit, that we could really reach out to Singaporeans young and old, to tell them, you are not left behind, and you can shop smarter, [save] more, [earn] more with ShopBack.” 

Top 3: Executive Director of MullenLowe Treyna’s digital arm on #MARKETECHMondays

Last October, Raffy Bariso, the executive director of Philippine integrated marketing agency MullenLowe Treyna graced the #MARKETECHMondays interview, where he shared some meaningful advice about leadership and his insights on the digital landscape in the pandemic. 

As cliche as it may sound during this time, Raffy said “the pandemic is the biggest disruptor.”

“There’s so much innovation to do, and needed during the pandemic crisis, and I can just imagine how everything sped up in terms of the velocity when the pandemic hit us. I’m already doing a lot in terms of digital marketing, [but] imagine, all of my brands pivoting double time for this season,” he shared. 

As heads of digital arm TAPS or MullenLowe Treyna’s Technology and Platform Services, Raffy spearheads services which is mainly the use of creative technology to answer clients’ marketing challenges, coming up with products that leverage the firm’s expertise in strategic narrative, content and media, PR, activations, and production.

As a leader, he believes in the power of “vision.”

“I had to set [a] vision for my team. [This] sets the tone and direction for everybody, and [from them], I have to sell that vision, [so that] I can build that trust, and they can get behind my goals,” he said.

Top 2: Global experience analytics platform Contentsquare expands to APAC

International-wide experience analytics company Contentsquare has recently announced its APAC expansion; and with new offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Sydney, it has unveiled two key executives at the helm. 

Former senior head at Microsoft David Bochsler has been appointed as regional managing director for APAC, while former head of CRM Marketing for food delivery platform Deliveroo Frazer Adnam is tapped as country manager for ANZ.

Contentsquare’s platform captures every in-page interaction and micro-gesture to understand and analyze customer behavior. It provides teams a digital experience stack that supports the full cycle of digital improvement with available scores, visualizations, and recommendations. 

Sharing his insight on the state of user experience (UX), David said, “Increasingly, we are seeing a shift to brands wanting to deliver not just more sales, but a better online experience for their visitors, which in many cases is the only experience that the customer has with that brand. So UX is at the top of the priority list in 2020.” 

Meanwhile, new ANZ country manager Frazer said that what he likes about Contentsquare is its ability to locate revenue fast and at scale, and its ability to visualize data. 

“When I first saw the Contentsquare platform, I was just so excited about the technology. I was the decision-maker on the brand side that Contentsquare would have traditionally sold to. I thought, ‘this solves problems that I literally would have needed five people to solve,” he said.

Top 1: Ad-tech Adzymic enters Hong Kong, Thailand, and Japan market

The top story for the month comes from the same field of marketing tech – Asia-focused ad-tech Adzymic’s further expansion to Asia, with new markets in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Japan. 

Prior to the expansion, Adzymic has already been operating in countries Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Its flagship solution is the Dynamic Creative Management Platform which functions as advertising transformation of physical to digital media, such as banners, carousel ads and social display ads, allowing advertisers to create ads without the need for coding experience. 

Co-founder and executive director Ken Wong shared to MARKETECH APAC what made the company reach out to the new markets. 

“Programmatic media has become increasingly important in these three markets. Before the pandemic, we saw that many Thai and Hong Kong companies have already adapted to the digital and programmatic media platforms, [and] during this pandemic, they have diversified their digital presence even more rapidly. We saw that they already had some quick traction with the local businesses,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Ken said the company entered Japan because it has “always been an appealing market, which is one of the world’s largest advertising markets of the US and China.”

Watch the MARKETECH APAC REPORTS of these top five stories, with exclusive appearance and commentary from the newsmakers themselves.

This is in collaboration with Malaysia-based media company The Full Frontal.

Singapore – With a goal towards a larger ad market target, Singapore-based ad-tech company Adzymic has joined hands with branding and ad-tech firms in Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan to bring its full suite of dynamic creative solutions to advertisers. This comes after the company’s  expansion to Australia and India in 2019.

One of the company’s flagship advertisement solutions is the ‘Dynamic Creative Management Platform’ which functions as advertising transformation of physical to digital media, such as banners, carousel ads and social display ads, allowing advertisers to create ads without the need for coding experience. The company also offers a ‘Smart Tag’ technology, which enables advertisers to create personal ads through behavior tracking, machine learning algorithms, and updates.

For Hong Kong and Thailand, the company has officially tied up with Maadtech Global, a programming integrator solutions company, while also partnering with another Thai firm Spikebrand, a branding solutions company. Meanwhile for its Japan expansion, a collaboration has been forged with Atlas Associates, a local-based ad-tech startup focused on social networking site (SNS) management tools.

“Asia is expected to surpass North America as the biggest ad spender globally by 2021. 4 Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand are very exciting for us, both from a creative and growth perspective. They are known for their incredibly creative ads, and together with our partners’ local knowledge and network, we will deliver high impact campaigns with brands and agencies,” said Kenniess Wong, co-founder and executive director of Adzymic.

Adzymic, since its founding, has been involved with large brand partnerships, including DBS, Sony Pictures, Toyota and Esplanade Singapore.