Australia – Global marketing agency TEAM LEWIS has bolstered its B2B technology credentials with a trio of retainer client wins in Australia, including global professional services and technology company Cognizant, hot cloud storage provider Wasabi Technologies, and automated endpoint management platform NinjaOne, following competitive pitches.
Noted by the local industry knowledge and enthusiasm brought by the team in respect to their businesses, each of the global tech leaders identified TEAM LEWIS Australia as their ideal partner to provide strategic consultancy and implementation across their communications efforts in Australia and New Zealand.
Lauren Bogoshian, senior director of global communications at NinjaOne, said, “TEAM LEWIS has surpassed our expectations. Not only has our public relations program exceeded our goals, but the team also works as an extension of our own. TEAM LEWIS is hungry to drive success, consistently bringing creative ideas to the table and providing strategic guidance that’s allowed us to build meaningful awareness for our brand. Not to mention, their grit is unmatched, and they make the work fun.”
Meanwhile, Natassia Culp, global corporate communications lead at Wasabi Technologies, shared similar sentiments, stating, “TEAM LEWIS impressed us from the start. They’ve transformed our storytelling across ANZ, securing continuous thought leadership opportunities to help Wasabi grow its share of voice in that region. Their client relations are top notch, always operating with a can-do attitude with positive, insightful discussions with Wasabi leadership and their comms team stakeholders.”
Referencing TEAM LEWIS’ long-term partnership with Cognizant in the Benelux region, Sarah Douglas, senior director of communications for EMEA & APJ at Cognizant, commented, “We have worked with TEAM LEWIS in other markets for a number of years, so when we decided to seek a new agency partner in Australia, TEAM LEWIS was the obvious choice. From the get-go, the team’s enthusiasm, strong media relationships and strategic insights have helped us drive meaningful coverage and increase brand visibility. They’ve become a true extension of our team, and we are excited to continue building on this momentum.”
This announcement marks the latest in a series of recent B2B-focused client wins for the agency – including projects with behavioural biometrics fraud detector BioCatch, location mapping company HERE Technologies, ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), and APCS (Asia Pacific Cities Summit) – continuing to expand on TEAM LEWIS’ B2B heritage.
Martin Harkin, managing director at TEAM LEWIS Australia, said, “The calibre of global technology clients that are trusting us with their communications strategies in Australia and New Zealand is a real testament to the quality of personnel we have working at TEAM LEWIS and makes me incredibly proud.”
He added, “We are so excited to keep building on the legacy of TEAM LEWIS’ founding, while simultaneously growing into other sectors and services. It’s not just the quality of these brands coming on board with us, but the relationships we have already built with the people working there that really excites me for the future work we will be delivering together.”
Sydney, Australia– Mediabrands, the media and marketing solutions division of Interpublic Group has announced the launch of the media industry’s first major transformation of automated systems for more than two decades. To bring the 20-month project to life, Mediabrands partnered with global software company UI Path, and information and technology services company, Cognizant. The transition fully automates repetitive manual tasks across Initiative and UM using robotic technology, providing an enhanced career path for talent and a stronger value proposition for clients.
The game changing transformation marks a complete automation of all systems and processes, firmly cementing Mediabrands in a unique space ahead of its competitors and is supported by a bespoke Centre of Excellence allowing the agencies to tap into the capability.
Mark Coad, CEO of Mediabrands, said the results of the transformation positions Mediabrands as a true innovation leader, having now advanced or improved many of the investment and partnership practices that have been in place for the last twenty years.
“The uncomfortable truth is the media industry has not changed the way it works for more than two decades. Our transformation unburdens our people of the time-consuming and tedious tasks of day-to-day operations and frees them up to do intelligent, creative work that drives growth,” Coad said.
“For those of us who have been in the media hot seat for a long time, we know it’s pretty tough starting out in media agencies. By investing heavily in finding ways to remove some of the less glamourous and more menial tasks from daily workloads, gives our people time to spend learning and developing in areas that drive business growth. Yes of course this benefits our business but more importantly it provides opportunities for our people to improve their career path and self-esteem growth,” Coad added.
Key business tasks have been automated to make processes more seamless, accurate and timely allowing teams to add value with their strategic input and creativity and provide a stronger value proposition for clients.
Coad concluded, “Staff turnover remains a key on-going problem across the industry and the future will be won by the group who can deliver true career value, and improved career pathing. If you are working for a media agency still riddled with repetitive menial tasks like loadings, TV campaign tracking and post analysis, etc. – then you are putting your career development into slow motion, and not using the bright mind you were recruited for. Our Young Guns now have confirmation that Mediabrands offers a great career path.”
Meanwhile, Geoff Clarke, Mediabrands’ project leader, shared that the transformation was a true collaboration between Mediabrands and its technology automation and software development partners, and he was excited to see the results of nearly two years of development finally come to fruition quickly yielding obvious benefits to staff and clients.
“There is no doubt the complexities of our industry continue to rise so as an industry leader we have proactively changed what we do, to improve what we produce. This has meant implementing significant transformation to prepare our people for a new era in media,” Clarke said.
Clarke adds, “The robotic technology facilitates time for our team to produce higher quality work, which has a direct roll-on effect to increase the value of individual IP, increase craft skill diversity across each business and creates opportunity to shift client relationships from largely a commodity-based arrangement to a true business partnership,” he said.
Recent data extracted across several of the Mediabrands automated solutions (BOTs) since launch, has saved more than 3,300 hours automating nearly 13,000 tasks that were previously manually completed. The program is on track to deliver more than 25,000 saved hours across the next 12 months.
Clarke continued, “By modernising and automating the way in which our media buying services are managed and recorded, we provide more efficient and timely services for clients. Our series of BOTS make up the only end-to-end solution that works across the buy/book/pay aspect of media agencies – and is the only one in existence in the industry. It makes a major statement to the market.”
This month, MARKETECH APAC truly lived up to its name. For the top 5 stories this September, we saw a diverse set of newsmakers hailing from around the APAC region.
The top stories were identified based on Google Analytics from August 17 to September 15. In the list, two great brands from Southeast Asia and East Asia flexed their creative prowess to showcase novel brand marketing moves. Marketing leaders also continue to dominate the list; a marketing executive from South Asia recounted her almost two-decade marketing journey, another one, an APAC business director filled us in on a growing buying trend that no one saw coming amid the pandemic, while a significant appointment from ANZ also grabbed people’s attention this month.
Top 5: Shopee gets fictional character Phua Chu Kang as new face of the brand
Ever since eCommerce platform Shopee was launched, it has only been putting its trust to big, international names to represent its brand – that would be Kpop girl band Blackpink and professional footballer Cristian Ronaldo. During its 9.9 super sale, the brand decided to show what hyper localization really means by getting not just any local personality, but a deeply rooted cultural icon – sitcom character Phua Chu Kang.
Phua Chu Kang, played by actor Gurmit Singh, is the title character of the longest-running sitcom by network Mediacorp, which revolves around the misadventures of the Phu family.
The show ran from 1996-2007, and within that time, Singaporeans grew to love the eccentric, overly confident, and yellow-boots wearing contractor. So what has truly made the Shopee team go for this rather unconventional stint?
Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Head of Marketing Tiger Wang said, “The [appointment] marks another milestone for us as we continue to build on the hyper-localized approach and deepen our engagement with the local audiences. Phua Chu Kang is a household name and a celebrity, [and] local icon. His ability to resonate with and unite local communities aligns with Shopee’s vision, making him the best choice for us.”
Top 4: Hong Kong-based Towngas cooking academy extends its expertise to YouTube
Amid in-person limitations during the ongoing pandemic, many brands and businesses alike have turned to the virtual side of things. Take Hong Kong-based cooking school Towngas Cooking Centre as an example. The culinary academy which has flame cooking at the core of its program, has gotten things rolling this September as it forayed to YouTube this month, and it doesn’t stop at that. It has a bunch of high-caliber celebrity chefs to boot, tapped to showcase the school’s virtual sessions.
Healthy Monday, French Wednesday, Culinary Tips4U, and Star Chef Weekend and Sunday Mom & Dad are just some of the quirky-titled lessons that are slated for its YouTube viewers.
General Manager for Retail Marketing & Sales Catherine Wong said that the occurrence of COVID has definitely pushed Hong Kongers to prefer home-cooked meals to dining out, and this is what ultimately brought the brand to make the most out of the situation.
Jasrita’s marketing expertise expands almost two decades, where she’s worked with a list of well-known brands such as consumer product giant Procter & Gamble, hospitality brand Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, and television media company NDTV before having focused entirely on brand and marketing for healthcare services.
Currently, she is the assistant vice president for healthcare provider Fortis Healthcare in India. When we sat down with Jasrita during her #MARKETECHMondays episode, she shared some very helpful advice that could be very well treated as a guiding light to budding marketers.
“I just have two things to say to [marketers]; the first is, please never forget why you decided to become a marketer. There would be times in your journey when you’re feeling low, but constantly remind yourself [your why], [which is] because you want to be your consumer’s voice inside your organization,” said Jasrita.
‘The second is keep upgrading; it’s nobody else’s responsibility to upgrade your skills. Because your consumer is going to keep changing; there are new avenues, [mediums], [and] new platforms. You have to have their pulse,” added Jasrita.
Top 2: Stella Berry’s take on a new phenomenon in shopping amid the pandemic
Have you heard of revenge shopping? We bet not, but we too are sure that it would be a term soon to ring bells. In a nutshell, revenge shopping goes hand in hand with luxury shopping. It is a phenomenon that sees luxury stores opening their doors to shopping-starved consumers looking to avenge their months spent holed up at home during the lockdown.
This month, Regional Business Director of mobile advertising solutions Adludio, Stella Berry dedicated a full thought leadership article on the buying trend.
Stella said that it is a testament to the unique relationship consumers have with luxury.
“No one could have predicted that after months of lockdown, the need for luxury goods has resulted in long queues outside of boutiques. This phenomenon is the result of brands, really making the effort in continuing to engage with people even during the lockdown,’ shared Stella.
All looking positive for brands and consumers, but Stella also puts out a caution.
“Returning to business as usual at this [rapidly] accelerated pace could bring about a negative impact [on] the environment, and consequences on sustainability. So luxury marketers need to find their balance to ensure the brand continues to remain sustainable, but also well-loved,” said Stella.
Top 1: Cognizant ANZ ropes in former PwC executive Jane Livesey
Livesey breathes and lives IT. At PwC, she led over 800 IT professionals for the company’s technology consulting practice team in Australia; while for 12 years, she served as tech managing director for Accenture. With a seasoned IT experience under her belt, Livesey has also become an active advocate for women in the field of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, or STEAM.
It hasn’t been very long since Jane settled into the role, and as we checked up on her, she shared with us, “It’s been great to join Cognizant and hit the ground running in Australia and New Zealand. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had conversations with both our clients and our teams. At Cognizant, we are focused on how to enable organizations in ANZ to keep on top of era-defining innovations and drive growth in the face of continuous technological and market changes. As CEO of ANZ, my priority is to provide local enterprises and governments with high-quality, market-leading digital transformation capabilities that enhance the lives of people and support digital-first.”
Watch the MARKETECH APAC REPORTS of these top five stories, with exclusive appearance and commentary from the newsmakers themselves.
If you have interesting stories, thought-leadership pieces, and case studies in the area of marketing, technology, media platforms, and SME, please send us an email at [email protected]. Who knows your story could be part of our top 5 next month.
Sydney, Australia – International professional services Cognizant has announced that it has appointed former managing partner of PwC, Jane Livesey as its newest CEO for Cognizant Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). She starts assuming the role on Aug. 31, 2020.
At PwC, Livesey led over 800 IT professionals for the company’s technology consulting practice team in Australia.
Livesey’s professional credentials also trail back to being a tech managing director for Accenture ANZ with a lengthy service of 12 years.
“We are delighted to welcome Jane to Cognizant. We are confident that her extensive technology consulting experience, client centricity, [and] leadership qualities and personal brand will help us grow our business exponentially in Australia-New Zealand,” Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries said.
As a recognized advocate for women in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics), Livesay said that in line with Cognizant’s commitment to society, one of her priorities is to leverage the company’s collective passion, experience, and skills to support community programs as everyone continues to navigate the impacts of the pandemic.”
“I am delighted to be a part of Cognizant and look forward to enabling businesses and institutions in ANZ to keep on top of era-defining innovations and drive growth in the face of continuous technological and market changes,” saidLivesey.
“My priority is to provide ANZ enterprises and governments with high-quality, market-leading digital transformation capabilities that enhance the lives of people,” she added.
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