Tag: Digital marketing

Manila, Philippines – The pandemic has turned the way brands engage with consumers on its head. With people cooped up in their homes, digital has not only become the platform to deliver creative and interactive experiences but has become the channel that answers best to consumers’ bounds and capabilities in a physically-challenged environment.

The question now is what’s next for digital marketing? How do we go from here and what future trends in digital marketing must brands set their eyes on? 

With a brand new year fast approaching, MARKETECH APAC, the digital publication dedicated to the marketing and ad industry in the Asia-Pacific, is launching a webinar for the Philippines that aims to give brands a headstart on the next big thing in digital marketing and what marketers and advertisers can do to stay on top of the game in 2022 and beyond.

MARKETECH APAC launches webinar to uncover future-proof marketing strategies for marketers in the Philippines

Gathering an esteemed group of marketing leaders from top Philippine brands AirAsia, Canon Philippines, and Max’s Restaurant, the webinar ‘What’s NEXT: Digital Marketing in the Philippines’ aims to present a future-oriented conversation on digital marketing strategies with a unique perspective from the Philippine industry. 

The panel which includes Allenie Caccam, head of marketing at AirAsia Philippines; Anvey Factora, head of marketing communications, e-commerce and retail, of Canon Philippines; and Mark De Joya, chief operating officer of Max’s Restaurant, will be discussing the state of personalization, the heart of every creative and strategic digital marketing implementation, in the new normal and the next. 

The panel discussion will be moderated by Marilyn Romero-Ventenilla, senior director for communications and marketing of Teleperformance Philippines.

Romero-Ventenilla commented, “In today’s world where physical distance does not mean customers and brands need to be socially and emotionally distant from each other, seamless interaction and meaningful personalized experiences will be key. Innovations around digital marketing will allow organizations to deliver services and interactions tailored to the needs of the market anytime, anywhere.”

The said marketing leaders will be going back to the ‘why’ of personalization and trace it from there – which personalization strategies work best for Philippine consumers and what comes next for the future of personalization. Most of all, leaders will be unraveling the best practices and fitting plans of action for brands to adapt to these foreseen changes. 

‘What’s NEXT: Digital Marketing in the Philippines’ will be held virtually on December 2, 2021 at 3 pm Philippine Time.

Travis Teo, the co-founder and executive director of adtech Adzymic, will be giving a presentation on the role of technology in delivering engaging creatives and how to best harness present advancements in adtech for optimal campaign performance. 

Teo commented, “The programmatic media space is one where audience targeting can be highly specific, and campaign performance determined by the richness of data available for machines to learn and improve. To thrive in this environment, it is important to consider using adtech to scale up on creative personalization and format variants for testing and optimization. We look forward to discussing some of these creative strategies with the Filipino marketing community at our upcoming forum.”

Meanwhile, Shaina Teope, MARKETECH APAC’s regional editor, said, “Digital is now deeply ingrained in consumers’ lives and while brands and marketers have at this point penetrated the interactive platform, the question to be answered now is, what should brands do next to stay within digital consumers’ radar? This industry conversation aims to help firm up their foresight into 2022 and beyond.”

Secure your spot for the webinar here. 

‘What’s NEXT: Digital Marketing in the Philippines’ is open to all marketers and advertisers looking to get actionable insights and expert guidance on how to future-proof their digital marketing strategies this 2022 and beyond. The webinar is also dedicated to any brand eyeing to enter and win in the Philippine market.

Sydney, Australia – Digital marketing agency Tug has been reappointed by Budget Direct Insurance in Singapore and one of its brands EasyCompare in Thailand, with an expansion of its remit to include content and UX.

Budget Direct Insurance is an online digital insurance company and part of an international insurance group providing insurance solutions worldwide. EasyCompare Thailand is one of its brands and is an online car insurance comparison website and broker in Thailand. 

Tug was first engaged by the two more than 12 months ago to manage link acquisition and competitor analysis to boost their local search rankings. In addition to extending its initial engagement, Tug will also work on on-page optimization, content strategy, creation, and UX to further grow both brands in each country.

The agency said it will increase site engagement for the two brands by incorporating thought leadership pieces, data-driven content, and infographics to drive overall expertise, authority, and trustworthiness which are key factors for a successful SEO strategy.

Simon Birch, CEO of Budget Direct Insurance, said, “Tug has the capability and experience to deliver effective strategic thinking and implementation of search optimization, more than most in our region. I’m delighted we are not only continuing our relationship with them, but expanding its range of services to ensure Budget Direct Insurance and EasyCompare Thailand continue to be top of mind for consumers.”

Tug’s CEO Nick Beck commented, “Having built a successful partnership with both teams, we’re delighted that our engagement has been extended and expanded. As we continue to grow the Tug network across Southeast Asia, we look forward to establishing an on the ground presence in Singapore and bringing our expertise to more businesses early next year.”

Tug will be managing the business from its Sydney office, with plans to open a regional Southeast Asia hub in Singapore during the first quarter of 2022, joining its network of offices in Toronto, London, and Berlin.

Tug has also recently announced acquiring the SEO mandate of resto booking platform Dish Cult and also an extended remit for software firm LEAP to add global media business. 

Sydney, Australia – Fintech startup for human resources, Paytime, has appointed Agnes Media, the measurement-first agency, to manage its performance media and digital marketing to help increase the brand’s market share as an earned wage access provider.

Paytime is an Australian-owned company that provides businesses with a free tech platform offering employees the ability to access their earned wages at any time in the month.

The appointment comes after Agnes Media was referred by board member Fran Ereira, the former country director of leading global payment and shopping service at Klarna for Australia, which the agency also works with.

Charlotte Ward, Agnes Media’s CEO, said that Paytime is a highly innovative business that seeks to overcome the financial stresses and mental health issues caused by an inability for employees to access their pay when it’s needed most.

“Similar brands have seen high success in the USA and UK, and we’re excited to be a part of Paytime’s growth in Australia to provide greater access to pay for workers, by their employers,” said Ward.

The founder and CEO of Paytime, Steven Furman, said that financial and mental stress is widespread and impacted employees are less productive, engaged, and loyal to their employer, and with half of the Australian workers impacted, Paytime partners with companies to empower, educate and equip their employees by giving them access to their salary when they need it.

“Coupled with financial and mental health tools, the fintech’s platform offers an all in one, holistic financial, and mental wellbeing solution without any additional work for payroll. As a fairly new entrant into the HR fintech space, we look forward to working with Agnes Media to build our brand and drive engagement across digital channels,” said Furman.

Ereira also commented, “Having witnessed first hand how Charlotte and the team at Agnes Media can deliver real return on media investment, I was delighted to connect them with Paytime. I know they will bring their same passion and expertise as Paytime penetrates the market.”

This year, Agnes Media has also been working with clients including Zolo, Australia’s first profit-for-purpose tech-cycling company, Jace Legal, the commercial law and conveyancing business, and Re-Play UK, the sustainable tableware brand.

Malaysia – Food & Beverage company Loob Holding in Malaysia, which owns the local bubble tea brand, Tealive, has announced a new head of digital marketing, Fabian Khaw. 

Khaw previously comes from smart urban development in Malaysia, i-City, where he held the position of digital marketing manager. In the said role, he oversaw the digital portal of i-City’s theme park, and was responsible for managing the theme park’s ad spend to bring in 6- to 7- digit RM revenue. 

For the new position at Loob Holding, Khaw shared to MARKETECH APAC that he will be providing the vision and leadership for the strategic development of all the brands’ digital marketing landscape and to ensure the delivery of an excellent and innovative digital experience to all of its existing and future customers.

Loob Holding owns a wide portfolio of F&B brands. Aside from Tealive, it also manages brands Bask Bear Coffee, Gindaco, Define Food, KoKoKai, and SodaXpress. Khaw will be handling the said entire portfolio to drive its digital presence. 

Khaw shared that he is charged with the responsibility of enhancing the omnichannel strategy of the brands to allow more touchpoints for the end users. Besides this, he will also be planning the necessary infrastructure to capture first-party data in preparing for a cookieless world.

“I am super excited to work closely with the leadership team and marketing team for the next phase of growth for Tealive and the other brands under Loob Holdings. I look forward to driving the digital front and unlocking further growth through new and existing channels.,” said Khaw. 

He added, “In this current economic situation where retail is no longer the main channel of purchase, people want the same self-service experience from a touch of their fingertips, and we can achieve that through a strong digital infrastructure.” 

With digitization as the top driver of brands and consumer companies in the current period’s physically-deprived lifestyle, Khaw said that the key challenge for digital marketing teams, specifically for F&B brands, is setting clear tracking and measurement of the performance for every dollar spent in advertising when it comes to driving customers to the retail front and also to the delivery partners. 

“As a marketeer, having this information is crucial for us to determine the most effective channel to acquire customers. With that said, I see an equal opportunity for brands, from big to small, new or old, to capitalize on many social media platforms that didn’t exist 5 to 10 years ago to reach the end users,” said Khaw. 

Khaw will be reporting directly to Loob Holding’s CEO, Bryan Loo. 

In line with the ongoing pandemic situation, Loo said they see the need to strengthen their digital presence and to create an omnichannel strategy that will allow for customers to reach their brands in any method that is most convenient to them. 

“We want someone who not only leads us on the digital front, but also to have someone who shares our Loob core values which are teamwork, entrepreneurial, honesty, and passion. Fabian brings both of that in a single package,” said Loo.

You might think that marketing is the same whether you’re targeting consumers or other businesses, however, it’s important to approach B2B marketing with a tailored approach. Businesses and organizations have different motivators for end-user consumers and often require a unique strategy around messaging, positioning, and creative.

Target audiences in the B2B space are making major purchases and partnership decisions on behalf of their organization. The money they spend isn’t their own, so they are often more price-sensitive while seeking a product or service that they can trust. Time and efficiency are important to them, and so the path to purchase should be as frictionless as possible.

Here are the top 3 things we recommend when shaping your B2B digital marketing strategy.

Always testing

Testing is vital for identifying niche target audiences. While you may choose to test what you already assume, it can also help to uncover new opportunities and learnings. Channels, messaging and targeting can all be investigated to optimize campaign performance. There should also always be some element of testing going on, whatever you do. It can be tempting to test early and run with it. However, macro factors, whether they be political, cultural, or technological changes, can influence purchase behaviors and so we recommend an ‘always on’ testing approach.

Clear frameworks to test and learn, in order to identify what is being tested, is highly important. As an agency, Agnes Media builds rigorous testing frameworks to ensure insights are robust and reliable.

The B2B digital media landscape can be competitive and expensive to play in. When each purchase is major, leads become more valuable. Testing helps to mitigate costs by providing constant feedback and creating a more targeted approach. Opportunities can be identified so that media spend is more finely tuned.

Ensure your brand is always testing whether it’s a new channel, tactic, style of messaging, or creative format to ensure you are always maximizing efficiencies from your budgets while identifying what resonates with your audiences. This will then improve ROI, provide valuable insights for the wider business that can be applied elsewhere while driving business growth and market share.

Know where to be

Content is key to ensuring your brand is front and center during the discovery phase of your prospects. B2B customers are usually very busy decision-makers, so it is important you’re providing quality content and engaging them by using the right channels. Regardless of the industry, trade publications can play an important role in reaching your core audiences. These sites are often connected to engaged social media profiles and mailing lists, meaning your message has a greater chance of being seen and remembered.

Customized content can be developed that aligns your brand to the needs of your audience. There are a variety of content syndication partners we recommend who put your branded content in front of a highly targeted audience and generate relevant leads in the process

Link in the sales team

For most B2B performance campaigns, the data ends once a lead is generated and the sale continues offline. It’s common for this lead to then be owned by a person in the sales team. To get the most out of your campaign, it’s vital that a process is established for getting sales team feedback, so that manual optimizations can be made. 100 leads that are wrong are less valuable than one high quality lead that is spot on.

It is further worth noting that due to the value of one lead, media budgets need to align with this. If a lead is worth $10k to a brand then that business should invest more than $10k to seek multiple leads and the CPL (cost per lead) will decrease over time.

The best way for connecting lead generation feedback to sales is to utilize a scorecard and to manually update it. For example, downloading a whitepaper might be automatically worth +10, but having a phone call with someone who has registered their details and finding out they are the decision maker in their business should be scored even higher. When the sales team are encouraged to share feedback on leads generated through digital channels it ultimately benefits them as their leads will only get stronger and stronger, as the marketing channels are optimized to drive the greatest outcome.

Marketing to business customers requires a unique approach. It’s tempting to apply a comfortable B2C strategy to your business campaign, however, this is expensive and inefficient. From capturing their attention to generating and nurturing the lead, B2B campaigns need to consider the attitudes and behaviors of both key decision makers and influencers and how these differ from a B2C prospect.

This article was written by Charlotte Ward, director of Agnes Media.
Agnes Media is a measurement-first marketing agency that drives profitable business outcomes through effective and data-based marketing efforts️.

Santa Monica, California – Global media, marketing, and technology company Entravision Communications has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MediaDonuts, a digital marketing performance and branding company with operations across seven countries in the Asia Pacific region. 

Entravision serves clients throughout the United States and in more than 20 countries across Latin America, Europe, and Asia, and according to Entravision, its acquisition of MediaDonuts is the next key step in the company’s plan to become a leading marketing technology service provider in the world’s highest growth economies. 

Entravision said that Southeast Asia represents a company milestone, as it will be tapping into a new consumer market that represents nearly 700 million people, where according to the company, 400 million of which are digitally connected. MediaDonuts’ presence in the region spans five markets – in Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand aside from its HQ in the Lion City. 

MediaDonuts was founded in 2010 and offers extensive digital advertising capabilities through its strategic partnerships with major global media and technology platforms. 

Walter Ulloa, chairman and CEO of Entravision, said that the acquisition is a natural fit with the overall digital and global transformation strategy of Entravision’s business. Ulloa continued that the company has always focused on providing advertising solutions in high-growth markets and partnering with the strongest media and technology platforms in the world. 

“We believe that the incorporation of MediaDonuts into the Entravision platform adds leadership, sales operations, and digital offerings that will further propel our digital efforts,” said Ulloa. 

Pieter-Jan de Kroon, co-founder and CEO of MediaDonuts, said that when the company was founded, the agency aimed to build a digital marketing and performance service enterprise that could seamlessly connect advertisers and agencies with their target audiences. Through the years, de Kroon said they are confident that by crafting an ideal mix of partnerships, including some of the world’s largest social and entertainment networks, it has done just that and more. 

“With our business positioned for success, we are excited to now have the opportunity to join the global digital platform Entravision has built over the past decade. I am confident in the many commercial, technological, and product development synergies our business will achieve going forward as a combined entity,” said de Kroon. 

Meanwhile, Entravision’s Chief Digital, Strategy and Accountability Officer, Juan Saldívar, commented, “We are very excited to welcome Pieter-Jan and the entire MediaDonuts team to the Entravision family. With a global digital platform now poised to reach and serve clients in 32 countries, we are confident the addition of MediaDonuts will further enhance our service offerings and help drive our continued global growth.” 

The acquisition is anticipated to close around 1 July 2021. Upon the completion of the transaction, all MediaDonuts employees will remain with the company, and de Kroon will continue to serve as CEO of the business based out of its headquarters in Singapore. 

Singapore – Signet Armorlite AMERA, the parent company of KODAK Lens, has chosen Asian digital marketing agency Lion & Lion to manage and develop its social media communications globally. Lion & Lion is headquartered in Malaysia with offices in Singapore and Indonesia. The selection by the global brand has specifically called on the agency’s Singapore arm.

KODAK Lens is the prescription glasses brand of the main imaging technology brand KODAK and is a full-service prescription lens provider which offers consumers a wide range of lenses. 

Lion & Lion shared that the new integrated digital and social campaign it has conceptualized for the brand is designed to raise its brand awareness and to connect it with its target audience.

KODAK Lens’ brand promise is for consumers to “See the Colors of Life.” Cheelip Ong, regional chief creative officer at Lion & Lion, said that for the campaign, the agency will be using the theme of ‘the most vivid moments of life’ in which the colors of life will be “defined by the moments and emotions that are seen vividly through the eyes of KODAK Lens’ users.”

“We want our audience to experience how KODAK Lens can help them see the joyful moments of life with even more sharpness and vividness, by presenting life’s big moments, giant gestures, and grand emotions with memorability and clarity,” said Ong. 

Lion & Lion Singapore is inked to execute a one-year social media campaign in the different markets of KODAK Lens, such as Southeast Asia, China, Africa, Russia, and more. The content developed for the campaign was specifically selected for its relevance across different cultures to provide easy adoption within each target market. 

Chien Chiang, managing director at Signet Armorlite AMERA, commented on what made them choose Lion & Lion. 

“[The agency] presented a creative solution that was very much aligned with what we wanted to showcase globally for KODAK Lens, namely clarity, vividness, and celebrating the possibilities that life has to offer.”

Chiang added, “Furthermore, their expertise in relating to a digital generation means that they will be able to build and strengthen that essential emotive connection internationally while staying true to the KODAK brand legacy.”

Meanwhile, Steven Ghoos, managing director of the agency’s arm in Singapore, opined, “We are excited to work with a world-class brand like KODAK Lens, bringing the product experience to life through emotional storytelling. With the fast-paced social media and digital revolution that we are living in, the emotionality of being able to share life’s moments, big and small, is even more relevant today and we look forward to helping KODAK Lens tell that story.” 

Singapore – As customer experience (CX) company Astute Solutions and digital marketing company Socialbakers recently announced a merger of their business entities, both companies have announced the brand launch of Emplifi, which will be catering to a middle ground of services centered on CX strategies for digital marketing purposes.

Emplifi will give organizations the tools they need to connect social media marketing, customer care, and social commerce to address critical customer experience gaps. Its entry into the CX scene comes with a whole list of existing clients from both Astute Solutions and Socialbakers such as McDonalds, Delta Air Lines and Ford Motor Company. 

According to both companies, Emplifi was born out of the need to better connect brands and their customers. With constant shifts in consumer behaviors and rising customer expectations across channels, brands need a unified approach to customer experience management. Consumers now prefer instant convenience and speed as evidenced by a surge in interest in social shopping, social care, and digital self-service. 

Mark Zablan, CEO at Emplifi explains that the brand reflects the company’s mission to help their customers better empathize with their customers and amplify their brand experiences – wherever they might be.

“Customer expectations are shifting fast and brands need to be able to respond quickly with powerful, empathetic experiences. As customers turn to more social and digital means to connect, communicate and transact, Emplifi is well positioned to help brands succeed today and scale for new channels tomorrow,” Zablan said.

The brand launch comes in timing as the social commerce industry in particular has exploded, as social media orders in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam more than doubled in the first half of 2020. According to data from Bain & Co, social commerce accounted for 44% (US$47.96b) of Southeast Asia’s US$109b e-commerce revenue last year. 

Meanwhile social media videos have emerged as a key channel for product discovery. Almost 8 in 10 Southeast Asians watch videos on social media while 66% have created or interacted with videos on these platforms. This has led to a rise in live-stream shopping in the region. According to iKala, the share of retailers who used live-selling techniques increased nearly 13% to 67% between the first and second quarter of 2020. 

Lastly, brands have taken notice and are doubling their social media ad spend. In Q1 2021, marketers spent 60% more on Facebook and Instagram advertising globally as compared to the same period last year. The growth in ad spend has led to an increase in ad costs. In Southeast Asia, ad costs grew by as much as 66% year-on-year.

Mumbai, India – Social Beat, an independent digital agency in India, has announced the launch of ‘Decoding the Digital Jungle’, a book that dives deep into the world of digital marketing, and presents a comprehensive guide on how brands can leverage it to drive business results. 

‘Decoding the Digital Jungle’ is the brainchild of three established digital marketers – Vikas Chawla, David Appasamy, and Nandita Raman – who have carefully crafted and curated this practical guide filled with actionable information and case studies.

Raman is the agency’s AVP of SEO & content marketing, while Appasamy is the agency’s head of brand & strategy. Chawla, meanwhile, co-founded the Social Beat. The agency was established in 2012 and was positioned to be a digital growth partner for hyperscaling startups and top brands in India, such as teleconsult mFine, loan company Rupeek, mobile payments, and commerce Paytm, and merchant platform Pinelabs. 

Raman said the book is aimed at any brand marketer that wants answers to the hard-hitting questions of “Why should people buy my product?” “Why do I need to engage with consumers?” or “Why should consumers choose me over my competitors?”

The book has 21 chapters, with the meat of the book separated into two main parts: Owned Media and Paid Media. For Owned Media, the book discusses how to improve one’s findability through SEO and content, how to make user experience a key to success, as well as leveraging storytelling on videos and crafting a social media strategy. 

For Paid Media, on the other hand, the book touches on how to choose the right platforms and also presents a discussion on the relatively new type of marketing on the internet – influencer marketing. 

Social Beat said that the book is more than just a guide but also aims to underscore the importance of how interconnected our lives are with the digital world, and how businesses simply cannot succeed any longer without navigating through this digital data-driven jungle. 

“Consumer behavior has transformed fundamentally with widespread internet access and penetration even in remote areas. So, we decided to write this book to enable CXOs, marketers, brand managers, and students to understand its power and demystify this vast digital jungle,” said Appasamy.

At its core, ‘Decoding the Digital Jungle’ presents a guide on how to best approach each of the digital marketing funnel. In the book, ‘Upper Funnel’ would be dealing with brand building and being able to get the right message across your consumers on who you really are and what you have to offer. 

Meanwhile, ‘Middle Funnel’ would refer to the implementation proper of digital marketing strategies, and on how brands can earn audiences’ trust with the proper channels and direction. 

Last but not the least, with ‘Lower Funnel’, the book aims to enlighten brands on how they can go further the extra mile and obtain loyalty from existing consumers. Under it are discussions on intent-based marketing and the rise of online marketplaces and streaming platforms. 

Chawla said, “The book explores in-depth, the nuances of brand storytelling, exploring new digital and social platforms, leveraging a brand’s online assets to boost digital presence, and proven customer acquisition tactics to reach out to wider audiences. We wanted to help users successfully navigate through this never-ending digital Savannah.” 

The book is priced at Rs. 499 and can be bought on Amazon. 

Singapore – As Singapore braces for the reopening of the China market, Singapore fintech Aleta Planet has formed a joint venture (JV) with software development Fooyo to offer digital marketing and e-commerce solutions to meet rising demand from Singapore businesses preparing for the reopening of the China market.

The JV, called AP Studios, will develop digital tools that will help merchants provide a richer, more interactive payment experience as well as engage their customers through the popular WeChat marketing platform in China.

With AP Studios, Aleta Planet, which is already connecting merchants to the UnionPay network in China and in 179 markets globally, will be able to offer a comprehensive and seamless marketing payment solution to these merchants.

AP Studios’ tools, which range from payment checkout webpages and chatbots to WeChat/Alipay mini programs, crowd-control monitoring solutions and interactive tourism apps, can be customized for merchants in retail, medical, education, tourism, government and other industries.

A variety of apps can be created in the WeChat mini program. For example, one app promotes F&B merchants through a food trail itinerary where customers can pre-order food and read reviews; another offers virtual campus tours of a list of universities to foreign students and allows them to pay for school expenses and course fees within the mini program.

Fooyo was founded by Li Shaohuan in 2014 and three former schoolmates from the National University of Singapore namely Fooyo’s Co-Founder and Senior Project Manager, Liu Yangfan and Fooyo’s Co-Founder and CTO, Chen Zeyu.

Ryan Gwee, founder and group chairman at Aleta Planet said, “Everything we do as a fintech company is about innovation and getting the best talent to partner us. Shaohuan and his team have tremendous talent, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and app design, and we are excited to launch AP Studios with Fooyo to expand our suite of digital marketing tools.

He also added that many of their clients have expressed the need for an all-in-one solution that will grow their digital presence in China. They believe that this venture will provide them with a holistic and comprehensive e-commerce solution to achieve targets more efficiently.

“Aleta Planet has always been open to exploring new areas of cooperation. This is part of our growth strategy to expand beyond payments to cover other services related to checkout, digital marketing, customer experience and engagement,” Gwee added.

Shaohuan will head AP Studios as managing director of the solutions team, under the Aleta Planet Group. The team’s combined expertise in AI, big data solutions, robotics and cloud computing has enabled Fooyo to clinch several government-commissioned projects.

“This joint venture between a growing fintech company and a smart SaaS solution company will have an amplification effect for both our businesses. It is going to be a win-win solution. We aim to work with more industries and expand to countries beyond Singapore together,” he stated.