Tag: Consumer insight

California, USA – S4Capital’s operating brand Media.Monks, a digital-first, data-led advertising and marketing services company, has launched ‘Persona.Flow,’ a professional managed service that gives brand marketers the ability to talk to their data. According to the agency, said solution addresses a unique need within enterprise AI workflows by converting owned customer data into dynamic consumer personas. Said transformation then allows marketers to interact in real-time, significantly augmenting their speed to market.

The ‘Persona.Flow’ solution offers a user-friendly interface to help brands streamline strategy workflows, increase their precision, and democratise deep data insights. Its core technology is driven by a robust retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) framework that synergises brand-owned data and factual data from extensive consumer and market research libraries provided in partnership with data-driven marketing firm Claritas. 

Moreover, the solution negates the need for the weeks of planning and deliberation that are commonly associated with building consumer intelligence. The service amplifies speed to market by delivering detailed, granular insights in real-time and in natural language, making it easier than ever to respond to market trends as they emerge.

According to Media.Monks, owning a comprehensive dataset is crucial for brands to future-proof themselves and stay competitive in today’s data-intensive and AI-dominated creative landscape, and with ‘Persona.Flow’, it serves as a reliable, single source of truth for all of a brand’s marketing data, fostering the discovery of new creative concepts that may in turn generate further data based on their performance with real audiences.

“As a consultative AI partner, Media.Monks aids brands in leading the new economy and becoming AI-first through the deployment of customised solutions. Unhindered by traditional agency compartmentalisation, Media.Monks’ in-house team of data scientists, machine learning engineers, and creatives boast profound expertise in AI and machine learning technologies. Consistently at the forefront of integrating and applying these technologies, Media.Monks is pioneering a revolutionary commercial model for the marketing and advertising industry that addresses brands’ most urgent commercial requirements,” the agency stated.

Malaysia – The Malaysian body of The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) has announced that it will be holding the ‘4As Consumer Insights Workshop’ on 16 June, a one-day masterclass about insight training. 

The workshop is an independent initiative of the industry body in Malaysia with the goal of raising industry standards and fostering continuous professional development for agency talent.

‘4As Consumer Insights Workshop’ is intended to provide account planners, account managers, and creatives with key skills in three areas – Understanding insights to a deeper level than others in the industry; Learning how to uncover, hone, and write more compelling insights that will catapult brand relevancy; Understanding what not an insight is and why data is different from insight.

“If marketing is about meeting customer needs profitably, then insight is the key tool that drives marketing. Products deliver functional needs. Brands also deliver emotional needs. The very best marketers and marketing companies invest in trying to understand their customers better than their competition. If you can uncover and tap into an enduring insight, you have created a sustainable brand. Thus, insight is the backbone of all marketing,” said Khairudin Rahim, 4As CEO.

The workshop will be conducted by Paul Arnold, an IPA UK-endorsed trainer with extensive experience in account management and planning for Saatchi’s and Grey for over 30 years, working across a large range of international brands, and winning five EuroEffies for Campaign Effectiveness. A

In addition, Arnold is also a trained Psychologist, with an MBA, an MSc in Organisational Change, as well as being a certified coach.

“Once again, the 4As is striving to provide our industry professionals with access to leading edge, bespoke and highly relevant training that’s not available anywhere else,” said Khairudin. 

“Additionally, we have sought out people like Paul Arnold and other IPA (UK) certified trainers who are the ‘cream of the crop’ to conduct this training, with the goal of raising the standard of competency across the industry,” he concluded.

Just this April, the organisation has elected its council office bearers who will serve the body for the next two years. Havas Group’s group managing director Andrew Lee has been re-elected as president whilst Ryusuke Oda, managing director of Hakuhodo Malaysia, has been named as new vice president.

Singapore — Over the last few years, consumers have adapted to drastically different routines. Due to this, the fundamentals of shopping have evolved, from their discovery of new brands and products, to how they evaluate and complete a purchase. Brands in Singapore need to understand the role of channels, advertising, and understanding shopper trends to create meaningful engagement with their shoppers, as reported by global adtech company Criteo.

The report found that shoppers are increasingly fusing their online and in-store habits to make purchases. The most popular habit of purchase among Singaporeans in 2021 was purchasing on an app, accounting for 86%, followed by browsing products online then purchasing them in a retail store, with 85%.

According to another one of the report’s findings, 63% of shoppers in Singapore say they would search directly on a retailer or brand’s website if they know specifically the item they are looking to buy, and 57% said that this would be their first place to search if they know the type of item they want to purchase.

On the other hand, only 17% would use search engines if they knew the item they wanted to purchase, and 23% would use search engines if they knew the type of item they wanted to purchase, respectively.

Taranjeet Singh, managing director of Criteo Southeast Asia and India, explained, “In a very technologically advanced market like Singapore, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has increased the number of touchpoints that brands have with consumers, resulting in more ways for shoppers to discover and buy products online.”

The report cites that a big reason for this is that shoppers are getting more value from retailer and brand websites, with 1 in 3 shoppers in Singapore saying that they have seen improvements in searching for products and finding what they are looking for on retailer and brand websites.

Shoppers go all the way a step further to leave a positive review about a good customer experience, with 77% of respondents saying this, meanwhile, 74% recommend a brand to someone based on whether they had a good experience. The converse has also been reported, with 62% of shoppers in Singapore saying they have told someone about a negative experience they had, and 52% leaving a negative review after a negative customer experience, in the last six months.

Across age groups, most shoppers confirmed that they click on ads while online, and buy products recommended to them in ads. This is especially true for Gen Z and Millennial shoppers, where 77% and 79% respectively affirmed these behaviours.

Singh added, “Our latest Shopper Survey findings reveal that while online channels remain in demand, physical stores continue to play an important role in the shopping journey as a source of immediate fulfilment with in-store offers, proximity and urgency continuing to drive shopper visits.”

On the topic of advertising’s role in the shopper choices, Singh, explained, “With recent trends indicating that shoppers appreciate the value of addressability in advertising – as brands recommend better and more relevant products that they would like to purchase – and now see it as a good way to discover new brands and products to purchase, retailers should explore how they can reach their target audience through a robust first-party data plan and commerce media strategy, supported by the right advertising solutions that can help them achieve their campaign outcomes and business goals.”

The report also stated that while discounts and offers remain the top incentive for shoppers to purchase, with 96% of shoppers indicating that this is important, shoppers have cited the importance of other benefits that they look out for, such as free shipping which accounts for 96%, a good range of products available on the platform tallies to 94%, high-quality product images with 93%, and a quick and easy check out process that accounts for 93%.

Singapore – Adzymic, the adtech company that provides AI-driven creative personalization, has announced the launch of their Smart Survey solution. The new survey-based display ad format allows marketers to capture customer insights or take a pulse check on campaigns within a matter of days.

The solution is easily set up on the Adzymic platform and banner ads containing the survey will run on programmatic display inventory, targeting specific audience groups. Results are tracked on the Adzymic dashboard giving insights to advertisers in real-time.

The company said pilot use cases of Smart Survey have included advertisers seeking to measure full-funnel campaign effectiveness, brand lift, third-party audience validation, and audience insights. Adzymic shared media agency Mindshare in India has been one of its early adopters who used the solution for its client, PepsiCo.

“As brands continue to increase investments in programmatic media to drive awareness and purchase intent, we seek to provide a more cost-effective method to measure campaign performance beyond basic metrics like clicks and impressions,” said Travis Teo, co-founder and executive director of Adzymic. 

“Smart Survey offers the added advantages of allowing brands to run anonymous surveys that contain 2-3 multiple-choice questions. The ads appear as native content on web pages and are relatively less intrusive,” added Teo.

The Smart Survey solution is now available to advertisers in scalable packages, with self-serve options, creative supported packages, or managed services. Adzymic said Smart Surveys executed under managed services come with a guaranteed number of respondents to give significant results for advertisers.

Earlier in October, Adzymic, which has a major presence in Asia, announced that it has expanded to Latin America (LATAM) through strategic partnerships with consultant for programmatic media, Grupo Digital Soul, and marketing solution for digital advertising, Latin Interactive. 

Manila, Philippines – Consumer intelligence company Talkwalker is now providing TikTok data in its Consumer Intelligence Acceleration Platform™.

Through the new offering, Talkwalker will be analyzing short videos from any TikTok account which will allow businesses to discover critical insights on how consumers are interacting with their brand on the social media platform.

The intel provider refers to data that over half, or 63% of TikTok’s users are under 30, and believes that the insights through their new service will enable brands to connect with an audience that is growing in “both size and significance.”

Talkwalker’s CEO Tod Nielsen said that TikTok has taken the world by storm.

“Now, we’re able to bring our clients’ data from this trendsetting platform, providing them with a clear understanding of what makes the TikTok generation tick. By combining this with other data from all the major social media platforms, we’re giving brands the most comprehensive and actionable consumer intelligence available,” said Nielsen.

Brands will be able to use the platform to measure the impact of their campaigns, monitor competitor activities, identify and analyze the impact of brand influencers, and find the videos that are driving brand conversations.

Brands will also be able to use Talkwalker’s proprietary image recognition technology to identify logos, objects, and scenes within posts, enabling them to understand how consumers are interacting with their brand in real-time.

The latest boost to its offerings follows the company’s recent announcement of acquiring consumer and cultural insight platform discover.ai.

Marketing companies are recognizing the short-video platform’s power as a platform in attracting a wide consumer base. Just recently, advertising agency dentsu in APAC has also unveiled a special partnership with TikTok to deliver media and creative capabilities that will help brands elevate their engagement on the short-video platform.

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – Dattel Asia, an ASEAN consumer data & analytics company, has recently launched UPLIFT Malaysia – an initiative to empower 10,000 businesses by offering them a free consumer data & training package. 

A total of RM 50M has been allotted for the program, where each free package’s worth equates to RM 5K (US$1,223). The package will provide businesses with actionable insights on the latest consumer behavior as well as exclusive training on how to grow one’s business with data. 

The company said the initiative was developed with the aim to help individuals who have lost jobs or businesses that are being impacted by the recent economic downturn to recuperate sustainably.

Businesses’ access to the package is subject to approval. Applications for the UPLIFT data fund are open to any individuals or companies on its website, especially those interested in consumer-facing business such as retail, fashion, and F&B as well as fitness, beauty, and health, or snacks.

Upon review, successful applicants will receive access to the package as well as weekly updates on consumers’ COVID-19 sentiment and behaviors. Access to the package is only limited to the first 10,000 eligible applicants.

Ashran Dato’ Ghazi, CEO, Dattel Asia

Dattel Asia shared that one of the inspirations for the program was when CEO Ashran Dato’ Ghazi met many entrepreneurs struggling with the abrupt shift in consumers’ behavior due to COVID-19 outbreak. 

“The behavioral shifts caused many consumer-facing businesses uncertain about how, or even if, they should respond to the changes. With so many changes happening at an unprecedented rate, companies do not have the necessary insights that are up-to-date and comprehensive for them to pivot their business or marketing strategy,” Dattel Asia said in a press statement.

Dattel Asia has partnered with several powerhouses in the industry for the program such as university network BAC Education Group, business process outsourcing firm Transcosmos Malaysia, and ZBRA Business Research & Analytics. 

UPLIFT has also gained the support of government-supported entrepreneurial capacity building agency Institut Keusahawanan Negara (INSKEN), business academy and venture builder Owners Circle, and the and the country’s Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC) Kementerian Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi. Dattel Asia hopes more industry players will come forward and contribute to the initiative.