Hong Kong – TBWA\Hong Kong has launched its commerce offering TBWA\Commerce, in partnership with sister agency The Integer Group, the commerce agency headquartered in the U.S. and a key member of Omnicom Commerce Group.
Integer is a leading commerce agency focused on driving business growth results and opportunities through retail marketing, e-commerce & social commerce, connected commerce media, and brand communications & activation, as well as retail experience design, and technology & innovation. The agency’s clients include world-leading brands like AT&T, FedEx, Frito-Lay, Michelin, Nestlé, P&G, PepsiCo, and Starbucks.
TBWA\Commerce will leverage Integer’s e-commerce expertise to center its offering around e-retail, specifically on HKTVMall, Hong Kong’s online shopping platform.
Jan Cho, TBWA\Hong Kong’s managing director, commented that surprisingly, the e-commerce landscape in Hong Kong is less advanced than most developed countries because of its prolific and highly concentrated retail presence, which previously provided the unchallenged shopping convenience.
“But Covid upended the landscape and gave rise to a late, yet rapid e-comm boom from direct to consumer (DTC), social commerce to marketplace,” Cho said.
According to the agency, HKTVMall is one platform that has benefited significantly with the marketplace’s Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) more than doubling to HK$5.95b or almost US$800m in just a year and which is still climbing.
The agency said that despite the speed in development, marketplace commerce remains an unfamiliar territory for many Hong Kong brands, and like most e-commerce platforms, HKTVMall has its own layers and set of rules that feel foreign to most marketers, which can initially be intimidating.
Anne Chan, the agency’s head of digital and commerce, said, “HKTVMall is a fantastic platform for brands. Its volume of traffic, diversity of customers, promotion support, and online-to-offline (O2O) presence are second to none in the region.”
Chan shares that they’ve spent a great deal of R&D time to understand the inner workings, hidden codes, and rules of the platform. Chan said they believed they’ve cracked the ‘codes’ with the help of Integer’s expertise and the suite of tools from HKTVMall.
Cho added, “We’ve tried and tested [the] methodologies we’ve developed with actual businesses on HKTVMall, which have proven to be very effective. We’re confident we can advise any marketers to boost conversion, and the impact would usually be seen in a matter of months.”
TBWA\Commerce sits alongside other specialized offerings to provide full-funnel support to brands, namely, Disruption\Consulting which is catered to data-led business planning, DxD or which stands for design & experience planning, and BOLT, the agency’s in-house film production.
The commerce offering will pioneer in Hong Kong but planning for expansion across other APAC markets is already underway.
Terence Ling, head of strategy at TBWA\Hong Kong, commented, “We have made heavy investment of resources to develop this proprietary capability. Brands can take advantage of our unique experience and know-how leapfrogging the competition.”
Ling said that while the immediate focus is on HKTVMall, brands can access the agency’s ‘ePlaces’ offering to map their growth strategy across the digital ecosystem.
