Tag: Creative agency

Sydney, Australia – Independent creative agency SLIK in Australia has unveiled four key appointments across management, creative, and production.

Taking the role of general manager is Sarah Wood who’s had 18 years of experience in the integrated marketing and creative industry, having spent 12 of those years at experience design agency, Imagination. Her role will focus on developing insights and strategies for SLIK that will drive the agency’s growth and direction across commercial, creative, client, and culture.

Meanwhile, assuming the position of senior art director is Randle Juan who brings a wealth of experience in art direction, digital design, and motion. Juan has worked with both specialist boutique and larger agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Naked. 

For the role, Juan teams up with SLIK’s new Senior Copywriter Sophia East. East comes from a customer experience background, having spent seven years at CX agency MercerBell working on end-to-end campaigns for clients including Qantas, Toyota, Allianz, and American Express. 

Meanwhile, with big name brands like Google and Sainsburys under his portfolio, Kyle Blanshard joins the SLIK team as head of production. Blanshard recently returned from the UK where he spent over 12 years working in management roles at production houses and creative agencies such as Warp, Gramafilm, and Pulse. 

Cooper LaPlanche, SLIK’s director and co-founder, commented, “We’re excited to welcome such a diverse range of talent and energy to the team. All four new hires bring fresh perspectives and are already making an impact here at SLIK, as well as with our clients.”

SLIK’s portfolio includes brands from the charity, food and beverage, finance, and music industry with notable new clients including Active Super, Redkite, and Bupa

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Multinational Malaysian telecommunications company Axiata has recently appointed advertising company dentsu in Malaysia as its creative agency of record, effective by December this year.

The agency was tasked by Axiata in building its brand equity aligned to its strategic purpose of ‘Advancing Asia’, which is the company’s objective of being the best in the region in terms of innovation, connectivity and talent. Furthermore, dentsu will be providing end-to-end communications support for Axiata to strengthen its reputation with key stakeholders across the region.

Axiata’s appointment of dentsu Malaysia comes in retrospect of the need to elevate its growth as a trusted regional brand, its brand plans will require a targeted mix of campaigns focused on technology and innovation thought leadership, employer branding, good governance, credibility, sustainability, diversity, nation-building, and digital inclusion.

Kunal Roy, CEO of dentsu Creative, said, “We feel deeply honored and privileged to partner with a client that is so alike in our values and our purpose; we look forward to bringing alive Axiata’s purpose of ‘Advancing Asia’ with meaningful innovation and experiences. As Axiata continues to champion progress across Asia, dentsu is committed to partnering with Axiata using creativity as a force for lasting good everywhere, in every way.”

Meanwhile, Dato’ Izzaddin Idris, president and Group CEO at Axiata, commented, “As one of the largest diversified telco groups serving emerging markets in Asia, Axiata is well-positioned and anchored to support digital inclusion and progress in a time when governments, businesses, and societies turn to technology and digital innovation to drive recovery and growth. We look forward to dentsu’s best work to support our regional momentum and aspirations as The Next Generation Digital Champion by 2024.”

For Kien Eng Tan, CEO of dentsu Malaysia, they are thrilled to win Axiata’s mandate, which is not only a recognition of their creative excellence but a demonstration of how the agency can deliver impactful ideas, through a strong collaboration with their client.

“We look forward to leveraging our inclusive Consumer Vision 2030 to unlock opportunities for growth through integrated solutions that are real-time, data-driven and tech-enabled. I am proud of our team, the work we do is our people’s mission and pride — each employee at dentsu is fearless in embracing the invitation to the never before,” Tan concluded.

Shanghai, China – Creative agency and consulting company Wunderman Thompson in China has recently bolstered its leadership team with the appointment of Raymond Chin as chief creative officer and Joyce Ling as chief strategy officer.

With 20 years of experience, Chin has used creative innovation to propel many brands’ digital transformation. Having previously served as digital creative director at advertising company J Walter Thompson in Shanghai from 2008 to 2013, Chin returns to the Wunderman Thompson network after serving as Accenture Interactive’s chief experience officer, leading subsidiary ad agency Droga5 in creating a more meaningful and targeted customer experience for brands.

“Brand creativity should not be just about communication but should also cover all dimensions of brand experience from product, service to CX innovations. It’s why I am excited to return to Wunderman Thompson, an agency that believes in this experience-driven approach,” Chin said regarding his appointment.

Meanwhile, Ling was previously the chief strategy officer for J. Walter Thompson for Greater China and was also previously chief strategy officer at ad agency network McCann Worldgroup in China, and vice president of strategy at digital consulting company Publicis.Sapient.

Having 20 years of experience in both traditional and digital advertising in China under her belt, Ling’s experience spans industries, including technology, luxury goods, FMCG, health, tourism, and lifestyle. She has worked on more than 100 brands, including Nestle, Michael Kors, LVMH, Heineken, Unilever and more.

“It’s very exciting to be back at the Wunderman Thompson network. I look forward to enhancing our strategic offerings to set up for client success, together with a team of driven and passionate talents.” Ling said pertaining to her appointment.

Both will serve under the leadership of Carter Chow, chief executive officer at Wunderman Thompson China.

“Their experiences since their previous tenure at J Walter Thompson have mirrored our growth as an agency network, and we are glad for the opportunity to work together again. I am certain that both Raymond and Joyce will further our growth as a future-focused agency and look forward to the collision of inspiration and ideas,” Chow concluded.

The greater foundations of any successful business or agency nowadays are no longer confined within the spaces of how well the agency clinches large accounts for their work, or how much awards the campaigns and works they made with their clients have acquired. Instead, the modern face of an agency has always been this intrinsic web of ascertaining ‘memorable’ and ‘relevant’ campaigns, creating an inclusive environment for creative talents, as well as keeping in mind its greater role for the betterment of the society, economically and sustainably.

Despite the complexity of these tasks modern agencies would need now to face, there are quite a number of agencies who continue to strive for this modern agency ideology. In addition, many of these agencies add their own flair of strategies and methodologies to live up to these expectations, and truly make a lasting impression not just to clients, but to the society as well.

Such is the mantra of Malaysia-based agency DreamsKingdoms, founded and currently led by Yenkai “Yens” Chong, whose primary objective to date is to aid local small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) to be the next generation of multinational companies (MNCs). For the agency, this includes preparing for BMI or the so-called ‘branding and marketing integration’, enabling them to shift their mindset to be ready and confident in realizing their full potential.

“In the running, DreamsKingdoms will share its creative expertise for the local SMEs to flourish by driving performance-driven branding and marketing skills forward to clients. The company’s expert experience having worked with a broad portfolio of global brands will surely be used as a key instrument in influencing the country’s SMEs, adopting the way a multinational corporation (MNC) markets its brand,” Yens shared in an interview with MARKETECH APAC.

Utilization of gamification strategies to boost team productivity

Gone are the days when the facet of a business management strategy is all about the intensity and number of the outputs, but rather affording a similar value on the need for team members to execute their skills and creative prowess well in order to create campaigns that impress more and last longer.

For Yens, part of that strategy in improving the productivity mantra is creating gamification strategies in order to boost work output from team members not just by the physical count but by the value and the message of the creative work to be embodied by the client. 

For instance, the agency has its own proprietary platform called ‘GamePlan’, which encourages the team to continuously upgrade their skills by being able to collect ‘gems’, ‘coins’, as well client’s ‘love’; these, in turn, will enable the agency’s team members to qualify for the promotion and have them in exchange of rewards as well. 

“It’s like playing a game while you are working. That’s what motivates people from young to old age, to have a clear path of where their performance is and improve on the area that they are behind,” Yens stated.

He believes that success should be implemented in a new way and measured by key results through the genuine creativeness and lasting impression an output leaves for the client and viewers, especially as a thought leader in the creative industry.

“Creatives are always being underrated in the growth of a business. Eventually, we are not being defined as a professional and always being put as the last choice to grow a business. We are building a creative eco-system that combines small individual specific skills that are nothing when viewed individually but integrated together, it becomes a result-driven source of power,” he added.

A self-taught pattern to empower DreamsKingdoms’ clients

Patterns and methodologies are the true core of any agency to succeed, and for Yens, part of the agency’s own pattern or model relies on what he calls the “ABCDE Energy,” which constitutes, Attract Attention, Bold Branding, Consumer Connection, Design Desire, and Extraordinary Experience.

An integral part of the pattern to work it out fully is always think about who gets to react and use it, hence the factor Attract Attention. If you can get audiences’ attention, you would have gained a listener. Attention has become the new currency not only for brand success but with anything they wish to convey.

Of course, part of the reason why audiences stick to a brand is that they find a particular brand to be creating a particular impression on them. With Bold Branding, it explains that people don’t buy what you do, people buy why brands do it. With the audience’s attention attracted, next is to capture their belief in why you do what you do through powerful brand purpose. 

Once the brand establishes a striking impression with their audience, in order for them to stay in the longer run, they need to ascertain Consumer Connection. Listen, understand, connect and engage. The future belongs to those who are able to align and connect with the power of empathy with their consumer, as trust builds relationships, and relationships drive action. 

And while we’re at it, Design Desire is another factor to include, making the product or service inclusive and appealing to the consumer. The motivating force behind raving fans. Consumers buy when they believe in your core purpose and would want to be part of the change you promise to bring them.

Lastly, as with any big brands that have lasted for ages, Extraordinary Experience is dubbed as the ‘extra spice’ to complete the audience-brand relationship. Defined as the lifetime memory that anchors the mind & heart, this is built upon the foundations of endless choices of what’s available and what’s possible getting smaller, consumer expectations are what set the extraordinary from the norm.

Yens believes that every global successful brand becomes successful through a pattern. From years of deep experience, he discovered a pattern that will help shape a brand through achieving more likeability, shareability, and lovability.

“Always practice that ‘CIA’ mentality: Always Curious, Imagineering, and Assessing’. This comes with the constant goal of creating the next breakthrough. Since day one, I have constantly reviewed my capabilities and relevancy to the changes in the industry. For me, there’s always a mission unfulfilled as long as there’s imagination yet to be discovered,” Yens explained regarding the formulation of the agency pattern.

Sharing through digital content: A tale of video series

Agencies don’t just thrive under the fact that they are just all about their craft and output, sometimes its members go the extra mile in ascertaining the vision of their company, which is for the greater benefit of their clients, helping them to create an impact at a larger society level. From creating non-profit organizations catered to help those in the community, creating a network of influencers to spread a certain message, all these strategies are tackled by creative leaders nowadays who wish to not only create an impact but also affect disruption for the greater good. 

In Yens’ case, one of his ways to ascertain that vision of aiding others is through constant sharing, specifically through digital content.

A screengrab on one of the many videos Yens uploads on his personal branded Facebook page.

He currently runs a personal branded Facebook page, where he uploads short video content sharing people various local-centric marketing concepts such as branding, advertising campaigns and migrating traditional business online.

The greater reason that makes these videos so inclined to CSR principles is that Yens’ sharing video content empowers especially local-based SMEs who aspire to be the ‘next big thing’. And as true to the mantra of the DreamsKingdoms’ vision of empowering this sector, , these videos speak truly of their aspirations of aiding SMEs towards their continued growth as a business.

This educational strategy from Yens best reflects his perspective and personality as a thought leader, where he states that “as a leader, entrepreneurs don’t read books, they use books.” He also added that we don’t lack knowledge or information, but, rather, we only lack simplified concepts that could easily be understood and shared to everyone, understandable and shareable.

A vision for the future of SMEs as the next MNCs

Part of the greater vision by DreamsKingdoms and Yens includes developing their mission of assisting 100 potential Malaysian SMEs to achieve excellent brand status. The company believes that this initiative will be able to help elevate the country’s SME sector as a whole, as well as promote good entrepreneurship spirit and product innovation.

Furthermore, the company also seeks to assist more Malaysian services, products, and businesses to thrive in the market by leveraging the company’s knowledge, skills, and expertise in branding and marketing strategy.

“The mission to grow SMEs will be elevated to be a permanent positioning of the company in order to get closer to achieving the status of being the country’s top performance-driven branding consultancy company,” Yens added.

In order to achieve this task, the agency will be sharing its creative expertise for the local SMEs to flourish by championing performance-driven branding and marketing skills. The company’s expert experience having worked with a broad portfolio of global brands will surely be used as a key instrument in influencing the country’s SMEs, adopting the way a multinational corporation (MNC) markets its brand.

Yens believes that to achieve impact, creativity in any brand growth should be simple. One of his well-known quotes is, “Think like MNCs, Act Like SMEs,” which means that businesses should have the insight and a vision big enough like MNCs, while incorporating the speed of SMEs. With this, businesses will be able to adapt to the changes in the environment.

Sydney, Australia – Sydney-based creative agency BMF has recently promoted its current group creative director Pia Chauduri to the new role of executive creative director, 18 months after Chaudhuri first joined the agency.

Her new role reflects her extensive portfolio of award-winning work, having worked in the industry for over 17 years in specialist creative, experiential, digital, PR and social agencies. In her time at BMF as group creative director, she has been behind some of the agency’s best work and has been responsible for securing a number of recent new business wins.

Furthermore, her work at BMF also included securing a pitch to retain the Department of Social Services account in leading the government’s long-term behavior change campaign to tackle domestic violence. She also creatively led other COVID-19 related campaigns, as well as work with financial services company BPAY for its brand platform, and the Department of Heath’s campaign ‘How’s Your Head’, which tackles mental health.

Speaking about her appointment, she said, “It’s not often you start at an agency and feel immediately at home, but BMF is just one of those places. The team, the culture, the work, are all standout. 18 months later, I’m excited and humbled to have been given this opportunity, and look forward to being part of BMF’s next chapter.”

In addition to her work at BMF, she is also passionate about creating an industry of inclusivity and equality. Driving diversity initiatives internally at BMF, Pia has shaped the making of ‘The Acknowledgement Project’, a short film acknowledging the Gadigal people, an indigenous group in Australia, as custodians of the land Aussies live, walk and breathe on today. The film was launched internally during National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) week, an observance of the indigenous people who had lived in Australia.

Alex Derwin, chief creative officer of BMF, commented, “Pia has made a huge impact since her first day at BMF. She’s courageous, principled, and has impeccable taste – all the ingredients to be not just a creative leader, but a leader in our business, and for our culture. She’s a role model to everyone here, and I couldn’t be happier to be working alongside her in taking BMF into the future.”

New Delhi, India – Creative agency BBDO India has announced the appointment of Krishna Mani as the new chief creative officer for BBDO Delhi.

He brings more than 18 years of experience and solid heritage of brand work. He previously worked with Ogilvy India, as he created distinctive work across many brands, from home appliance company Voltas Ac to year-on-year creating refreshingly clever work for Sprite India, as well as KFC and Pizza Hut. In addition, he also had a brief stint at dentsu, working with brands such as motor company TVS and automobile brand Toyota.

Krishna has nurtured and guided young teams to find their distinctive voice and grow. He believes learning and unlearning is crucial to remain forever young and relevant in advertising.

Talking about Mani’s appointment, Josy Paul, chairman and CCO at BBDO India, said “Krishna’s work is legendary, his craft is brilliant, and his focus on where advertising is going is exciting. Together we’ll hit the sweet spot where the media meets the idea. Along with our youthful and diverse talent, we believe Krishna Mani will create greater value for our clients as he pushes the industry forward.”

Meanwhile, Suraja Kishore, CEO at BBDO India, commented , “For us at BBDO we seek leaders who are not so much like-minded as like-hearted, in Mani we discovered an Empath Creative. He understands the power of human confessions in unlocking the creative charge that a brand needs.”

He added, “We are certain that Mani will add immense value to BBDO’s equity, and in partnership with Nikhil Mahajan- who heads our Delhi operations, he will make the BBDO offering to our clients stronger and will create work that will drive growth for our clients.”

Speaking about his appointment and new role, he shared, “I’ve always admired the work BBDO has created. It’s real, rooted in brands and culturally so relevant. A chance to work and learn from mentors like Josy and Suraja was not to be missed.”

California, USA – Social media platform and Internet forum site Reddit has announced the launch of KarmaLab, the platform’s first-ever creative strategy agency designed for advertisers in response to scaling their ads business across the United States and globally.

KarmaLab was previously operating under Reddit’s Creative Strategy function, and its transition as a sole creative agency is an effort to bolster its creative strategy offering with more dedicated resources as Reddit’s Ads business continues to grow and attract best-in-class talent.

KarmaLab is a team of creative and strategic minds — those who know the ins and outs of Reddit and are backed by media, marketing, and ad industry experience that make them uniquely positioned to guide and collaborate with brands as they find their home on Reddit and in culture.

It is aimed to be a full-service creative strategy agency to deliver campaigns that resonate with and add value to Reddit users and offerings include social listening and trends reports, step-by-step community management, creative workshops, bespoke 360 campaign development, and more.

According to Will Cady, global director of Reddit’s KarmaLab, the recent months have demonstrated more than ever the impact and influence of Reddit’s passionate communities in the cultural zeitgeist. Furthermore, Cady added that there is amazing potential and opportunities for brands to be part of the internet’s most relevant and authentic conversations, but with more than 100,000 communities on Reddit, some wonder where to start.

“Our mission is to help every brand discover how to contribute authentically, meaningfully, and effectively to the communities that matter most to them and their audiences — we turn curiosity into understanding, and signals into strategies,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Jen Wong, chief operating officer at Reddit, commented, “KarmaLab is a long term investment in industry-leading creative strategy for all Reddit advertisers, and will allow us to serve clients with more dedicated resources and diverse skill sets as more brands find their home on the platform.”

Sydney, Australia – In response to widening its brand experience offering to potential clients, creative agency Orchard has announced three new senior hires namely Gina Hughes as experience director, Alyson Wales as brand experience director and David Mugford as associate digital creative director.

Hughes has been in the industry for over 20 years, leading clients through human-centered design processes to create remarkable customer experiences. She has previously worked as an experience design director at Ogilvy for six years.

Meanwhile, Wales’ career began in the UK, founded in direct marketing and brand building. Since 1999, Wales has worked with some of Australia’s biggest brands and agencies, her client portfolio including The Economist, Tesco Clubcard, Roche, Telstra, among others. She was recently the strategy lead at Ogilvy, where she handled the account of American Express. 

Lastly, Mugford specializes in user interface design and experience, art direction and concept development, with a particular passion for crafting digital experiences that combine creativity and technology. He joins the team with over 10 years of experience, both locally and internationally, across major brands including Volkswagen, Uber, Target, Telstra, among others.

Speaking about the recent appointments, Tim Condrick, creative director at Orchard, said, “Orchard has always been a digital leader in Australia, always at the forefront, constantly adapting and changing to meet future challenges – bringing someone as talented and experienced as David on board continues that tradition and supercharges our ability and determination to invent better.”

Meanwhile, Mikaela Crimmins, head of experience at Orchard, commented, “Orchard has always been the home of different shaped ideas and this requires people who think about brands as not only promises but experiences too. Gina and Alyson strengthen an already diverse mix of thinkers, and bring to Orchard the right amount of experience and spirit we love.”

Sydney, Australia – The Australian arm of automotive brand Audi has released a new campaign promoting the all-electric Audi e-tron Sportback aimed at pushing the boundaries of local and sustainable travel.

Titled ‘Electric Eye’, the campaign is a film reel of six minutes and narrates the travel journals of Australian photographer Woody Gooch. The travel, composed of a 3,500 km, 10-day road-trip, starts from Rainbow Beach in subtropical Queensland, the journeyman and photographer drove across the New South Wales border through the laid-back town of Byron Bay, down to the Snowy Mountains region, and finally back up to Sydney via the South Coast of New South Wales.

For Gooch, it was the perfect way to reconnect with his native Australia after years spent in other parts of the world. Aligning with his own ‘tread-lightly ethos’, the road-trip gave the Sunshine Coast-based photographer the opportunity to rediscover the riches of the country, while catching up with old friends and making new ones along the way.

https://youtu.be/41gBhxxyJE0

“Returning to Australia and exploring this place has opened up my imagination. There are so many things I had forgotten about this place – its sights, sounds, smells. This trip has literally reactivated my senses,” Gooch stated.

The campaign also saw people who Gooch had worked throughout the journey, including free surfer Josie Prendergrast, chefs David Moyle and Mark Labrooy, free diver Madison “Shark Girl” Stewart and marine biologist Lucas Handley, as well as riding horses with farmer Nick Kirschner.

‘Electric Eye’ is produced by creative studio Convicts, and is done in partnership with creative agency We Are Social, as well as with post-production studio Heckler.

“A short film like this serves two purposes for our brand. It perfectly aligns with the interests of our audience by focusing on relevant topics such as creativity, sustainability, and travel; whilst simultaneously working to showcase the charging infrastructure currently available around the country,” said Nikki Warburton, chief customer and marketing officer at Audi Australia.

Released coincidentally during the observance of Earth Day, Audi Australia’s campaign demonstrates that the Audi e-tron Sportback is ready to take on longer journeys this year, despite being an electric car.

Manila, Philippines – As the company celebrates its 40th anniversary, Filipino bakery Julie’s Bakeshop has launched a new campaign with local-based creative agency GIGIL, centered around the theme of dealing with ageist remarks toward middle-aged women, or the so-called ‘tita shamers’ – tita being the Filipino equivalent of an aunt. 

The campaign opens as two titas are seen doing exercises in a gym. They are then mocked by a man who begins to blurt out discriminatory remarks such as telling them that the aerobics section is on the other side of the building, or chiding them to take care of their manicured nails, as well as mocking them to take their prescribed medication. Then Auntie Julie, the face of Julie’s Bakeshop, enters the scene and ‘kneads’ the man to become dough and then baked into bread.

Ending with a message of #StopTitaShaming (#StopAuntieShaming), the campaign aims to remind that that despite being relatively in their 40s, the titas are still capable of doing things, just like how Julie’s Bakeshop is committed to baking fresh bread after 40 years since its establishment in 1981.

“When you say ‘Auntie,’ it doesn’t automatically mean you’re talking about women who are stuffy and formal. Aunties can be cool and very dynamic. Our founder, Mrs. Julie Gandionco, was already in her 50s when she decided to start her own bakeshop. Now it’s grown to a network of more than 450 stores all over the Philippines,” said Marc San Juan, national marketing head of Julie’s Bakeshop.

To date, the film has garnered more than 1.8 million views on their Facebook page alone, with 20k shares across the platform.