Singapore – The majority of marketers in Singapore are embracing AI, with 78% having experimented with or fully implemented AI into their workflows, according to a report by global technology company and AI customer relationship management platform Salesforce.
However, data from Salesforce’s report also suggests that many Singaporean marketers lack a solid data foundation, which hinders their success optimising their AI usage with only 21% being fully satisfied with their ability to unify customer data sources.
Going into more detail, the majority of Singaporeans using AI are focused on generating content, automating customer interactions, and improving customer segmentation or lookalike audience modelling.
On the other hand, this quest for unified, real-time data is more critical and challenging for marketers, with only 42% having access to real-time data to execute a campaign – the lowest globally, and with 57% needing the IT department’s help to do so.
In terms of other key local insights, there is no shortage of data sources, but putting that data to work is a challenge for marketers in Singapore, especially when it demands a holistic or long-term view of data. 49% of these marketers are tracking customer lifetime value (CTV), whilst 84% say they have a clear view into marketing’s impact on revenue.
Companies are also increasingly turning to strategies like ABM and loyalty programs for better acquisition and retention. Yet many of these programs’ information sources remain disjointed, as does the customer experience.
60% of Singaporean marketers say that loyalty data is fully integrated across all touchpoints, whilst only 35% say loyalty program functionalities are accessible across all touchpoints. Meanwhile, 50% of B2B marketers use ABM for customer acquisition, around half use it for upselling (50%) and cross-selling (53%).
To meet rising customer expectations around personalisation, marketers are moving beyond broad audience segmentations, like location or age, to more specific identifiers like individual preferences or past interactions. There is also a difference between how the highest and lowest performing marketing teams adapt. High performers fully personalise across an average of 6 channels, compared with underperformers who fully personalise across 2.
Lastly, the report stated that marketers in Singapore are most concerned about improving marketing ROI in a highly competitive landscape, yet their biggest struggle lies in both measuring results and engaging with customers in real time.
Talking about the report, Wendy Walker, vice president of marketing for Salesforce ASEAN, said, “As Marketers, we are used to the pressure of needing to do more with less whilst meeting the increasing expectations of consumers – especially around personalisation. And so it’s no wonder that we are leading the way with integrating AI. AI makes personalisation at scale a reality, while also driving greater opportunity for brand consistency and storytelling at every touchpoint and fuelling efficiency for our teams.”
“However, as we embrace this technology, what becomes critical is the need for the data we work with to be unified across systems, to give us a comprehensive view of customer engagements. Technology should empower creativity, allowing marketers to deliver meaningful and relevant content to their audiences; this is only possible with trusted data,” she added.
Tag: Industry Insights
Singapore – The emergence of seamless retail, with digital transformation propelling remarkable advancements in the sector, has put the customer squarely at the centre of attention, marking a new era.
With this, concepts such as multichannel and omnichannel, have lost their relevance, with a highly customer-centric approach taking the lead, according to a report by KPMG Asia Pacific and GS1 which examined how businesses and consumers in the Asia Pacific are embracing these seamless commerce strategies across diverse markets and geographies.
The report notes that once a differentiator, seamless retail – encompassing a brand’s ability to recognize and integrate the customer journey across multiple platforms and services – is now a baseline expectation in a majority of the markets surveyed, making it the new benchmark for tomorrow’s sellers.
The expectation is that social media, delivery innovations, apps, websites, automated messaging, and other digital interactions – all seamlessly integrate with traditional brick- and-mortar stores.
Highlights of the report include six key trends transforming retail, with retailers progressively expected to deliver on seamless retail, through integrated, connected capabilities to meet consumers on their terms.
Firstly, the report highlighted key priorities that consumers are looking for when choosing a platform, which are a wide variety of products and fast, reliable delivery amidst an e-commerce landscape in the region marked by a lack of a dominant platform. This comes alongside the prevalent application of AI in enhancing the relevance and accuracy of product recommendations, though there are concerns among consumers around privacy and lack of human interaction.
The report also highlighted trends such as social commerce gaining popularity among Gen Z, with fast-paced platforms such as TikTok, the consistent prominence of digital payment platforms as digital e-wallets gain traction in APAC, the recognition of loyalty programs for data collection, and sustainability placing itself forward as the baseline of marketing.
Notably, the report also stated that consumer expenditure is likely to start slowing down in APAC this year. With consumers feeling the impacts of rising costs, some markets are seeing muted growth while others are experiencing downtrends. Therefore there is a greater need for retailers to know how to better engage consumers in the current climate and beyond to gain market share, particularly as consumers recalibrate their spending.
Talking about the findings, Anson Bailey, head of consumer & retail, for KPMG in Asia Pacific, said, “PuttIng consumers first by adopting seamless, connected capabilities across the en4re organisation is no longer just a competitive edge, but a necessity for those who want to lead the market. ‘Navigating the Future of Seamless Commerce’ seeks to play a key role for the industry to identify opportunities, spurring innovation to better develop more successful customer experiences and journey maps.”
Meanwhile, Patrik Jonasson, senior director of global retail at GS1, commented, “Product sustainability, supply chain transparency, and circularity are becoming central to overall business operations. Soon, ESG reporting will be indistinguishable from the need for a seamless exchange of trusted product data. Companies will need to exchange information that is trusted and can be understood by all of the actors across today’s complex global supply chains, including the consumer.”
Singapore – B2B marketing leaders in the APAC region are displaying renewed optimism, with nine in 10 bullish in their teams’ ability to drive revenue in the upcoming year, according to a new research report from LinkedIn.
The LinkedIn report further reveals that approximately three-quarters of B2B marketers in APAC (74%) anticipate budget increases.
According to the report, despite 74% of B2B CMOs in APAC finding it challenging to prioritise reaching buyers amidst numerous demands, the majority (91%) affirm that success hinges on relationship building. Hence, fostering “collective confidence” among purchasing decision-makers is deemed crucial for the forthcoming year.
To establish strong connections with the buyer group and maintain a top-of-mind presence, creativity is crucial. The report found that nearly three-quarters (74%) of B2B marketing leaders in APAC are prioritising bolder creative strategies, with 62% noting that these efforts significantly enhance brand engagement and drive conversions.
Marketing professionals globally are also leading the charge on AI adoption and building AI proficiency as they look to improve ROI.
The LinkedIn report showed that in APAC, two-thirds (67%) of B2B marketing leaders are leveraging generative AI applications in their marketing efforts, reporting significant improvements in productivity (41%), faster content creation (37%), and cost efficiencies (33%).
LinkedIn data also found a 142x increase in LinkedIn members globally adding AI literacy skills to their profiles, with marketers topping this list. ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is the fastest-growing digital skill for CMOs globally, based on the skills CMOs have added to their LinkedIn profiles in the past year.
To help B2B marketers reach and engage all members of the buying group and build collective confidence, LinkedIn also introduced new products, including ‘The Wire Programme’ and expanded AI capabilities in ‘Accelerate’.
With video uploads on LinkedIn rising by 45% year-over-year, LinkedIn is piloting the ‘Wire Program’—a new initiative enabling brands to run in-stream video ads alongside content from trusted publishers. The programme is currently being tested with select publishers, including Barron’s, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Forbes, LinkedIn News, MarketWatch, NBCUniversal, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and Yahoo! Finance, to help marketers reach the growing audience of digital video consumers.
The Wire Programme will be available in all languages for global advertisers seeking to sponsor content with these publishers, although EU member targeting will not be available at launch.
LinkedIn is also enhancing its AI-driven campaign creation and optimisation tool, ‘Accelerate’. Marketers can now craft engaging creatives using Microsoft Designer and fine-tune their targeting by excluding specific companies and third-party lists. Additionally, they can receive expert guidance from the new AI marketing assistant. Advertisers using Accelerate are achieving 15% greater campaign efficiency and reducing cost per action by 52% compared to traditional campaigns.
Accelerate’s new features include the integration of Microsoft Designer, enabling marketers to easily build and customise creatives. Additionally, AI will be used to merge brand data, such as customer lists and conversion data, with LinkedIn’s platform data to identify individuals most likely to engage with ad campaigns. The AI marketing assistant further enhances campaign building by offering recommendations, such as adding data sources for better targeting, and assisting with tasks like budget adjustments.
Matt Tindale, head of enterprise for APAC at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, said, “Cultivating meaningful relationships is key to influencing the buying behaviour of B2B decision-makers. This is especially true for APAC, where decisions involve lengthy consideration and are driven by emotion. To develop this “collective confidence” amongst those involved in B2B purchasing, brand building through bolder creative campaigns will drive success in the year ahead.”
“Under the pressure of budget cuts and the constant need to prove ROI over the past year, APAC B2B marketing leaders are turning to generative AI and displaying renewed energy in boosting content creation and productivity to push brand building. In addition to improving memorability, this will enable them to uncover new audiences and boost campaign performance,” he added.
Meanwhile, John Rudaizky, global chief brand and marketing officer at EY, shared, “In a rapidly changing market, brand building, creativity, and confidence are key to influencing buying groups. B2B marketing is no different from consumer marketing in the sense that engaging emotionally and with creativity are essential, with LinkedIn providing the perfect environment to talk directly to clients and talent alike.”
Sean Johnston, VP for advertising at Closed Loop, also commented, “Accelerate campaigns far surpassed the lead conversion performance we saw from even our best-performing manual audiences for Calendly. The lead form completion rate increased over 3X and delivered a 66% cheaper cost per lead (CPL). The higher conversion rates and more efficient CPLs really convinced me this works.”
Accelerate campaigns are gradually ramping up for customers globally and will be available to all customers in the coming months. Accelerate is available in all languages in Campaign Manager, but AI-generated creatives are currently available in English only.
In the industry’s continued quest to find new channels to deliver effective campaigns to consumers, retail media networks (RMNs) have proven to be able to cut through the noise and able to stand out to consumers and deliver results. This is especially evident with the continued popularity of RMNs for marketers in Southeast Asia, with the latest report from GrabAds and Kantar noting that advertising spend on RMNs in the region is forecast to grow US$4.b by 2030.
The report also highlighted the importance of superapps in boosting RMN ad spend amongst SEA marketers, stating that superapp RMNs are well-positioned to serve the consumer needs with their O2O full-funnel ecosystem powered by first-party data.
To better understand how RMNs became a popular advertising platform for marketers in the region–and how brands and advertisers should approach them–MARKETECH APAC recently spoke exclusively to Ken Mandel, regional managing director and head of GrabAds and brand insights at Grab to learn more about the benefits of RMNs for advertisers and what case studies should the industry note in terms of RMN application.
Understanding regional factors that amplified RMNs
For Mandel, while retail media networks (RMNs) development differ from one region to another, he noted that Southeast Asia’s fast-growing digital economy and increasingly tech-savvy population primed for speed and convenience have made the region a fertile ground for the rapid growth of retail media networks (RMNs).
This is then highlighted by their recent study alongside Kantar that noted the total advertising (ad) spend on RMNs in Southeast Asia is projected to grow by 8% year-on-year in 2024, with year-on-year growth forecasted to be higher or consistent with global growth figures till 2030.
“Such market nuances are shaped by consumer preferences and behaviour. For instance, our study shows that 2 out of 3 Southeast Asians surveyed prioritise having products and services on-demand. This suggests that consumers in the region demand seamless, convenient experiences that get desired products into their hands quickly,” he stated.
He also noted how superapps much like Grab have also emerged as an integral aspect of consumers’ daily lives, and are able to seamlessly bridge the entire retail experience from discovery to purchase and delivery.
“One in two Southeast Asians utilises superapps for their everyday online and offline activities, according to our study with Kantar. The integrated RMN ecosystem with its multiple services allows RMNs to collect first-party transaction data across the platform beyond simply purchasing habits, providing holistic user understanding for brands to build more effective targeting parameters,” Mandel added.
How RMNs are delivering effective advertising campaigns
To begin with, Mandel notes that RMNs allow brands and advertisers to benefit from a full-funnel sales flywheel that achieves both top and bottom-funnel objectives. For him, they are powered by first-party transaction data and solution-oriented ads, allowing advertisers to serve highly relevant ads to customers that meet their needs and behaviour across their buying journey.
“Essentially, RMN ads reach consumers who are already in a buying or discovery mindset and provide a suitable product solution for the right occasion. As a result, consumers are more receptive towards RMN ads, as they are perceived as less intrusive and more trustworthy,” he explained.
It is also worth noting that in the same study they conducted alongside Kantar, it noted that RMNs ranked first in online media channel equity, which measures consumers’ receptivity to advertising messages across different online media channels.
“RMNs are able to deliver strong performance marketing results, thanks to three key ingredients – first-party data, a sizable audience and the ability to close the loop between consumer intent and purchase. This means that advertisers can attribute sales to their media dollars,” he also stated.
Mandel also highlighted how superapp RMNs in particular can reach and measure both offline and online behaviours and transactions, thanks to their unique online-to-offline ecosystems.
For instance, on Grab’s case, they were able to work with juice brand Sunquick to serve ad banners offering a free sample of Sunquick’s new Mango cordial. Through this campaign, clicking into the ads would take shoppers to GrabMart where everyone who bought an item would have a bottle of Sunquick Mango cordial added to their basket. Moreover, they have also worked with DBS when they curated an omnichannel campaign with offline fleet ads and in-transit online ads on the Grab app.
“Superapp RMNs are not just pure performance marketing channels. According to the latest Grab Food and Delivery Trends 2023 report, 66% of our consumers come to Grab without a specific store in mind, and 91% of them have used the Grab app to discover new restaurants or stores. This means that consumers also leverage RMNs for discovery, which opens up opportunities for upper-funnel brand building,” he said.
Understanding how superapp RMNs are supporting contextual advertising
Speaking of superapps, Mandel notes that the integrated RMN ecosystem with its multiple services on superapps allows RMNs to collect first-party transaction data across the platform beyond simply purchasing habits, providing holistic user understanding for brands to build more effective targeting parameters.
Moreover, it is also worth mentioning that the superapp’s integrated payment systems also make it possible to track offline transactions if users pay using the platform, allowing brands to better attribute sales to advertising dollars.
“Superapp RMNs like Grab bridge the online to offline with their comprehensive ecosystem. GrabAds offers advertisers offline assets such as product sampling, in-car branding or car wraps to deliver an integrated campaign across multiple channels. This is key to designing more effective ad campaigns as our report with Kantar reveals that using both online and offline channels improves positive ad receptivity by 5%,” he explained.
He also added how superapps are able to provide first-party transaction data, which reflects the true commercial intention of a consumer. For them, this helps brands and advertisers identify consumer personas and audience segments based on actual behaviour and transactions.
In their own case, they have identified so-called ‘Chief Family Officers; (CFOs) as a specific, high-value segment of their users on the Grab platform based on indicative purchasing behaviour. According to Mandel, their behaviour within their app offers many opportunities for advertisers to do so, since they spend 2.1 times more monthly and use delivery services 1.9 times more frequently than the average Grab user.
“Advertisers looking to reach CFOs can consider promoting family-related products catering to their needs. Ultimately, high-resolution user profiling with superapp RMNs allows brands to create more targeted campaigns that resonate with specific user segments,” he said.
Advice for advertisers tapping RMNs for the first time
“if you’re not in the game, you can’t play”: this was the number one advice Mandel offered to brands if they want to explore RMNs for the first time. For him, whilst RMNs provide a lucrative opportunity for advertisers to expand their reach, one should also know their perfect RMN match.
“It is also important to partner with the right RMN players. While there are diverse retail media platforms in Southeast Asia, advertisers should look out for three key ingredients when deciding which platform to work with: first-party data, a sizable audience and the ability to ‘close the loop’,” he said.
Mandel also added, “Most importantly, brands should not focus only on bottom-funnel opportunities. RMNs are full-funnel solutions, and advertisers should consider how they can utilise the capabilities of RMNs across the funnel with the consumer in the middle.”
With RMNs continuing to be a promising advertising platform for marketers in Southeast Asia, it’s also important to understand that tapping into this new type of platform requires both an understanding of how your brand would be relevant to users, especially those who are using superapps on a regular basis. With consumer behaviour being more manifested on online platforms, RMNs–whether on social media or on e-commerce platforms–is a great opportunity for advertisers to ride on whilst understanding better consumers on a contextual basis.
Singapore – With Mother’s Day coming close, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Singaporeans think that it is an occasion to be celebrated, according to the latest data from marketing research firm YouGov.
On the other hand, 15% of Singaporeans tend to believe that it is an occasion that people would not celebrate if it weren’t for social pressure from friends or family. A small percentage (5%) also tend to see it as more of a celebration due to pressure from brands.
Moreover, data from YouGov suggests that younger Singaporeans are more likely than older adults to consider Mother’s Day a legitimate event. 71% of Singaporeans who are Gen Z consider the day to be a proper occasion, compared to 24% who say otherwise.
This is in comparison to 62% of Gen X and 68% of baby boomers seeing Mother’s Day as a proper occasion, as do about 60% of millennials.
In general, Singaporeans were found more likely to believe that Mother’s Day is a proper celebration when compared to other days, such as, Father’s Day (61%), New Year’s eve (59%), dating anniversaries (28%), Valentine’s Day or International Women’s Day (24% each).
Only when compared to birthdays and wedding anniversaries, Singaporeans are less likely to consider it as a proper occasion for celebration. Thinking about the occasion this year, 55% of Singaporeans say they plan to celebrate Mother’s Day, with 41% of even those who believe Mother’s Day is celebrated because of social pressure intending to mark the day this year, as opposed to the 36% who will not.
When it comes to how they want the occasion celebrated, giving gifts is considered as the most ideal way to celebrate Mother’s Day (48%), followed by arranging an outing or vacation (46%), preparing a home cooked meal (40%), and taking over all household chores from them for a day (35%).
Comparatively, fewer Singaporeans consider giving a bouquet of flowers (28%), a heartfelt card (26%) or an amazing spa or wellness activity (21%) as a way to mark this special day.
2024 hasn’t been an easy year. Tight marketing budgets, a challenging digital advertising landscape, and the crunching of third-party cookies — there are plenty of hurdles for digital marketers. But with challenge comes opportunity, and smart marketers can use them to do more with less.
This article covers some of the biggest trends that will shake and shape the digital marketing industry this year, based on Brandwatch’s latest Digital Marketing Trends report. We’ll cover how you can use them in your digital marketing strategy.
Trend: Marketers embracing AI
AI’s the secret sauce, but even robots need a human touch.
Mentions of AI are everywhere. Game-changing companies, such as OpenAI and Midjourney, are disrupting industries and making headlines regularly with new features and developments.
AI will change the way we work in the near future, and companies that don’t embrace AI will be left behind. This year, marketers will need to figure out how to apply AI to their marketing efforts without losing the human factor.
In September 2023, Brandwatch asked 516 marketing professionals about their predictions for the biggest digital marketing trends in 2024, and a staggering 92% said that integrating AI into their marketing will be the number one trend. The industry is seeing a significant shift, with marketers redefining their strategies to improve their results with AI technologies.
And discussions about the challenges and opportunities of AI are massive. From November 2022 to November 2023, over 1.64 million articles were published, generating over 55.8 million total engagements. Interestingly, articles over 3,000 words in length receive a higher engagement rate than shorter articles. This could indicate that readers are really interested in learning more about the topic.
What do marketers care about when it comes to AI and marketing? Mentions of SEO and content creation increased by over 90% in conversations among marketers on X and Reddit.
The analysis shows that AI can help in a variety of marketing activities. This year, we’ll see marketers implementing AI as an integral part of almost all their activities and becoming more sophisticated about how to use AI for the best business outcomes.
Pro tip
Don’t forget the human touch when implementing AI, or you risk losing your brand’s voice and, ultimately, your customers. For inspiration, you can keep up with the latest AI trends by monitoring online conversations.
Trend: Personalisation as the customer magnet
The marketing persona is dead.
Many brands are in the same boat – trying to win customers in highly competitive markets. Standing out from the crowd and getting consumers’ attention is getting harder. And turning one-time customers into loyal customers is even more tough.
This is where personalisation comes in. Brands that deliver a superior, tailored customer experience are more likely to convert new customers into repeat customers. In one survey, 60% of consumers said a personalised shopping experience made them want to return and buy again.
But here’s the thing: Consumers not only appreciate personalised marketing, they expect it. When consumers share more personal information with a brand, they expect a more personalised experience in return. In fact, three-quarters of customers expect personalisation after a company asks them for personal information.
There are many ways to personalise a customer’s experience. For example, offering special offers to celebrate a customer’s birthday is an easy way to surprise and delight on a personal level. Another is to offer personalised products. Let’s take the British brand Skin + Me as an example. The cosmetics brand not only offers personalised packaging of its products, but customers can also consult a dermatologist to get the skincare products that best suit their needs.
Pro tip
Keeping your customers happy and engaged is critical to a long-lasting relationship. Implementing well-crafted loyalty programs can effectively entice customers back while demonstrating appreciation, ultimately nurturing lasting connections.
Trend: Creativity wins consumer attention
Creativity is the neon sign in a sea of greyscale.
In today’s world, getting consumers’ attention takes a lot of work. The average American is exposed to between 4,000 – 10,000 ads every day. This information overload makes it difficult for content marketers to cut through the noise.
Getting information across as quickly as possible is key, and short-form video will continue to be the tool of choice for marketers. Whether it’s Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, or YouTube Shorts, marketers will become more sophisticated in how they incorporate video content into their content strategy to get their message across in a matter of seconds.
Content marketers will also have to get more creative to grab consumers’ attention. With the human attention span shrinking to shorter than that of a goldfish, content marketers need to shake things up. In 2024, more experiential and interactive content campaigns will keep consumers entertained.
Mars Wrigley, for example, ran a campaign in November 2022 that capitalised on the controversy surrounding one of its products. According to Mars, 40% of consumers hate their Bounty chocolate, and the brand used this insight to run a “No Bounty” campaign, announcing that they would be removing Bounties from their Celebrations box.
Lovers and haters alike took to social media to post their opinions and memes, and the campaign quickly went viral. Online conversations about Bounty and Mars catapulted to nearly 29k mentions in November 2022, and over 24k people were talking about the Bounty affair. In total, the campaign generated nearly 75 billion impressions.
Pro tip
Keeping it simple and short is the recipe for success. Remember to get the most important information into the first few seconds of your video. Look at your existing content and repurpose it into short, snappy videos.
Trend: Social listening powers strategy
Social listening is the secret weapon for marketing strategists.
Did you know that only 1.5% of online discussions about brands and their products and services come from brands themselves? With social media users worldwide expected to reach 5.17 billion by 2024, social networks are becoming an even larger pool of consumer opinions and insights.
Brands that don’t monitor these online conversations miss a huge source of what consumers are saying about their products and services. They also miss insights into how consumers feel about competitors and their barriers to purchase. These unsolicited online consumer conversations contain valuable insights for marketing departments as well as customer services and product development teams.
With social listening tools, marketers can gather real-time consumer insights that can help them optimise their marketing strategies to become more customer-centric. In Brandwatch’s survey of 516 marketing professionals, 76% agreed that social listening tools will be used to inform marketing strategies in 2024.
With insights from social data, marketers can see how their campaigns are being received and use the unsolicited feedback to optimise their current and future campaigns. They can see which content performs best, which products customers love, and what their pain points are. They can benchmark their brand awareness against competitors and identify threats and opportunities.
Pro tip
Stay ahead of the competition by using social listening to discover the latest market insights, consumer trends, and emerging competitors. Regularly monitor the conversations around your competitors to identify opportunities and optimise your marketing strategy.
The biggest digital marketing trends for 2024
Consumer behaviour and preferences are constantly changing. It’s a universal truth that brands need to adapt and refine their marketing strategy constantly to stand out in a competitive landscape.
Whether implementing new AI technologies or experimenting with video content, it’s crucial to prioritise the customer’s perspective. Understanding the value these initiatives offer to your audience is key to staying ahead.
A customer-centric approach should be at the core of your marketing strategy, and tracking consumer opinions with social listening tools will be key to staying ahead of the competition.
Interested in more digital marketing trends that will have an impact in 2024? Read the full report to find out more.
This article is written by Emily Smith, Content Marketing Manager at Brandwatch.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Daler Kendzhaev, most recently the head of Annalect Malaysia, has been promoted to managing director for investment and specialist solutions at Omnicom Media Group (OMG) Malaysia. In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Kendzhaev said the new role will see him work with partners and vendors on the investment and partnerships front and manage OMG’s specialist solutions – Annalect, TransAct, and Digital Performance.
Kendzhaev’s newly created role comes as OMG believes it can unlock better solutions for clients through centring the capabilities of investment partnership, specialist solutions, and data under one leadership.
He added that the role is about continuing the momentum OMG has already built by enhancing the agency network’s current relationship with partners through a connected and collaborative strategy, with a singular focus on delivering holistic and innovative products. This will be done while continuing in the area of future-facing data and tech solutions.
As OMG has great ambitions to drive momentum for clients and partners, Kendzhaev said the goal for the next six to 12 months is to improve the synergy between the investment and partnership teams and to meet clients’ needs in the rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.
“At Omnicom Media Group, we are poised to take an active role in developing and delivering the incremental value to our clients through these investment solutions, and also advancing our performance value for our clients,” he added.
Kendzhaev spent nearly four years as head of Annalect Malaysia during which he oversaw the increased adoption of Omni, Omnicom’s industry-leading marketing orchestration and insights platform, across OMG Malaysia and its agency brands.
Under his leadership, Annalect was hungry for growth and adopted a first-mover mindset. “We treated Annalect in Malaysia like a start-up within a large organisation. We had great support from our regional teams that allowed us to achieve really great results in various areas within the group,” Kendzhaev explained.
Some of the initiatives Annalect have worked on include solutions around data automation and visualisation, as well as consulting and enabling marketing tech for brands. OMG also obtained Google Analytics (GA) partner status in Malaysia with certified specialist team to assist clients in their GA4 migration journey.
Understanding industry challenges and opportunities in media investments
When asked about the challenges and opportunities in the media investment space, Kendzhaev said one thing that stands out is the complexity of the measurement metrics in the industry today, which leads to other growth areas.
“In Malaysia, we don’t really have an aligned way of measuring media investments both in the offline world with different methodologies for mediums like TV, especially when it comes to the return on investment. Moreover, there is also a complete lack of measurement in digital, which leads to lot of dysfunctions in decision-making for advertisers,” he explained.
He added, “The upcoming changes in the digital ecosystem without [third-party] cookies is going to add complexity when it comes to digital measurement. Marketers and businesses, are urged to focus on understanding the true impact of media investments on brand equity, sales or other business metrics that are important.”
OMG believes that the cookieless future is one part of where the industry is headed in a privacy-first world. Effective advertising is powered by a variety of signals, with traditional signals like cookies being one of them. With traditional signals deprecating soon due to high privacy concerns, the industry needs to consider new developments like Google PAIR and The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0.
“Let’s take advantage of it. With this connected role, we can move at a faster pace with our clients,” Kendzhaev added.
He also noted that industry collaboration would be ideal in forming strategies and ideas and getting consensus in measurement approach. Nonetheless, OMG has been working on different solutions surrounding connected measurement, future signals, and the digital ecosystem.
“[These solutions] focus on solving measurement issues for various levels such as strategic management decisions down to the day-to-day operational tactics as well. That’s one of the key elements we are focused on in our business” he said.
Considering yet another delay from Google on phasing out third-party cookies, Kendzhaev explained that the whole idea behind the deprecation is to have a privacy-safe environment for advertising and not solely rely on traditional signals like third-party cookies. Given the news, he said marketers should continue progressing towards a privacy-centric approach to advertising.
“We are taking a comprehensive approach, which has been ongoing for a couple of years. Our approach starts with an audit, understanding where the clients are and the goals, they would like to achieve leveraging marketing tech. With that audit, we recommend solutions that are bespoke to the brand, that go across different elements: starting from having the right measurement framework in place, data collection and storage in the privacy-compliant way, to derive insights and improve consumer relationship,” Kendzhaev explained.
This ties in with building a privacy-safe environment and creating a unified view of the customer through UIDs. “Some of the clients that we work with have already started this journey. The delay also means advertisers have additional time to prepare for the change” he added.
T-shaped skill sets and optimism about the future
Talent is another key area Kendzhaev believes is crucial to the industry’s growth and it is important to have T-shaped skillsets in data and tech. “You want to understand how media works so you can bring value to what we do on a day-to-day basis and create solutions that will be more relevant to businesses today. Whether it’s the brands or advertisers or agencies or even vendors, we need to pay attention and invest more in terms of the talent, as well as upskilling them in understanding of what’s happening in the ecosystem that’s going to be critical,” he explained.
Despite all these challenges, he remains optimistic about the ever-changing media landscape.
“At OMG, we are constantly on the lookout for new partnerships driving that unique proposition and incremental value for our clients. Everything that we do within our partnerships has always had elements of how we can create unique value for our clients and that’s something that we’ve been central to our approach,” he concluded.
Singapore – After serving as the chief marketing officer of HSBC’s PayMe for three years, Jaslin Goh announced her transition into a new industry as she was appointed as the new vice president of marketing at foodpanda. The move, which officially took effect in March this year, saw her heading the regional marketing function for foodpanda and will be working closely with local marketing directors to drive growth and brand love across Asia.
For our next Top Story of the year, we spoke with Goh a month into her new role to learn more about her marketing goals with foodpanda, how she managed to shift to a new industry, and what q-commerce marketing capabilities the industry can expect more from one of the region’s largest food delivery companies.
Putting an emphasis on marketing growth
One of the key points Goh noted was that her varied marketing background across multiple marketing specialisations had enabled her a big-picture approach in marketing and that her detailed knowledge into the various disciplines helped to drive topline growth and bottom-line success.
She also highlighted that marketing for her requires right brain and left brain thinking, noting that in foodpanda, marketing is a science.
“We put a lot of emphasis on driving growth through moving levers around multiple variables to enable us to gain market share. Left-brain attributes like having quantitative and strong analytical skills is an important skill set in any tech role. Complementing this with right-brain specialisation in creative thinking would enable a marketing individual to thrive,” she explained.
Goh added, “By combining the two, we can drive stronger emotional bonding with our various marketing and campaign initiatives while achieving our growth targets, as we work to bring the foodpanda Asia brand to the next level.”
She also notes that while her previous role was in fintech and foodpanda is in the space of food delivery and quick commerce (q-commerce), she sees both having similarities in terms of being the conduit between demand and supply in the market. Goh also added that what makes foodpanda unique is the added element of more players in the ecosystem: customers, riders, and merchant partners.
“Customer and merchant partner acquisitions, and moving them through the lifecycle is evidently important to growing the business. In foodpanda, my scope covers performance marketing, growth marketing, brand marketing, media, research CRM, pricing and incentives with a strong regional and local marketing team. I work closely with the team to continually find efficient methods to acquire new customers and move them through the lifecycle. This includes activating, retaining, and reactivating customers through in-app, CRM, EDM and other owned channels. My varied marketing background across multiple marketing specialisations enables a big-picture approach and my detailed knowledge into the various disciplines helps to drive topline growth and bottomline success.”
Pushing forward amidst q-commerce competition, drastic consumer behaviour changes
Goh understands that q-commerce continues to grow post-Covid, as consumers have gotten used to the convenience and access to quality and value items from the comfort of their couch. With this, more players will emerge and there will naturally be increasing competition for better products and ordering experience.
“Consumers have also become more savvy and price conscious. With inflationary rises, they are willing to put in extra effort to get products at cheaper prices, such as Hong Kong consumers going into mainland China for grocery purchases. We can observe a similar phenomenon in Singapore where consumers head into Johor Bahru to buy household items,” she explained.
With these drastic changes, she advises retailers to take into consideration external factors such as price differential, the overall retail experience and preferred social activities in their marketing plans.
“There will also be an added focus on reliability, speed, and customer service – as well as ensuring a wide range of variety for customers. E-commerce and q-commerce will need to continue optimising their business through big data user analysis, psychological pricing, product assortment to ensure the best mix that helps achieve the business KPIs,” she added.
In terms of what foodpanda is targeting next year, Goh hints of more strategic partnerships this year, where its collaborations with big grocery chains and mass brands were launched with great success. She also added that in lieu of riding on consumers’ habits of going to their preferred grocery and personal care brands, they have made it even more convenient for consumers to do such thing by providing quick delivery services.
“This creates a win-win situation where grocery and personal care partners can rely on a stable fleet of delivery partners whilst focusing on what they do best, while boosting the variety of retailers that consumers can shop from on the foodpanda platform. We have also seen a strong demand for fresh produce in some of our markets – with many appreciating the service that pandamart offers: hyperfast, hyperfresh produce delivered conveniently at any time of the day. We will continue to optimise our business strategies to keep abreast of market needs as they evolve,” she concluded.
As part of Singapore’s continued roll-out of its “Made in Singapore” global tourism campaign, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has tapped BBH Singapore and The Shophouse @ Publicis to launch a global outdoor advertising campaign that focused on highlighting some of the country’s unique and multifaceted offerings and provides a whimsical take on three iconic Singapore experiences.
Moreover, this campaign–which was rolled out in the cities of New York, London, Shanghai, Mumbai and Jakarta–is an extension of the current “Made in Singapore” campaign that replaced the “SingapoReimagine” recovery campaign. Much like the outdoor campaigns, this main campaign put into spotlight quintessentially Singapore experiences, from iconic attractions to hidden gems, that turn ordinary moments into extraordinary ones.
For our latest Top Story story of this year, we spoke with Khairul Mondzi, executive creative director at BBH Singapore to learn more about the creative process for this outdoor campaign, and what’s next for their campaign work with STB for its “Made in Singapore” campaign.
On strategically executing the campaign at a global level
One of the first things Mondzi pointed out was that for this campaign, they strategically rolled out the campaign at select global cities in order to drive higher interest for the campaign, which in turn will drive more engagement for STB.
“This strategic selection aims to raise awareness and drive heightened interest for the campaign among our key target audiences, catalysing earned coverage for the ‘Made in Singapore’ campaign in iconic media capitals of USA and UK, while fostering a greater push for recovery in top target markets of China, India and Indonesia for destination Singapore,” he explained.
For Mondzi, the ‘Made in Singapore’ global campaign puts a fresh spin on the Passion Made Possible destination brand, spotlighting how ordinary moments are made extraordinary in Singapore. Moreover, their goal was to bring to life the city’s rich tapestry of experiences and craft a compelling narrative that captivates audiences with both imagination and allure, utilising large, high-impact immersive formats such as anamorphic 3D billboards.
“Through this medium, we expanded upon our initial launch film and key visuals, extending our message into a new dimension. While digital and social media remain integral components of our strategy, the inclusion of a 3D billboard in OOH advertising provides prominent visibility and drives conversations. This approach not only effectively communicated our campaign’s essence but also offered consumers a fresh perspective, drawing them closer to the heart of our message with a deeper brand connection,” he explained.
On elevating STB’s tourism message, what’s next for their creative partnership
For Mondzi, the narrative unveiled in these outdoor billboards provides a flavour of the extraordinary experiences that Singapore welcomes visitors with, adding that everything people know about the Gardens, Performance Art and Window Shopping takes a surprising turn and is presented in an immersive way in this campaign.
“The anamorphic 3D technology provided that larger-than-life scale and magic, showcasing Singapore’s unique twist through the awe-inspiring Supertrees, the flair and artistry of a hawker cooking up a storm and plating chilli crab, and the celebration of Singapore’s Peranakan culture embodied by a skilled artisan meticulously crafting a traditional slipper within a charming shophouse setting,” he said.
When asked about what’s next for their work with STB, he notes that there will be more specific marketing campaigns throughout the years to tell the Singaporean story. One example of yet another campaign they recently launched with STB is the ‘World’s Best Mice City’, which features Singapore as a destination where business events can create and leave a positive and lasting impact.
Launched in March 2024, the campaign showcases how Singapore enables meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) event organisers and delegates to positively impact the industry, society, and environment, by turning possibilities into reality.
“‘Made in Singapore’ is our campaign platform, envisaged to be further brought to life through global marketing campaigns, that will be rolled out in the coming years to sharpen the way we tell the Singapore story, with ‘Made in Singapore’ at the heart of everything,” he concluded.
Singapore – Jaren Loy, currently the head of digital growth (grocery) at FairPrice Group, has announced that he will be undertaking new duties in his current role at the company, more specifically focusing on the company’s retail media strategies.
In an exclusive conversation with MARKETECH APAC, Loy noted that he will take charge of spearheading strategic initiatives for FairPrice Group aimed at enhancing the efficacy and reach of their retail media endeavours.
“This will encompass orchestrating the implementation of data-driven advertising strategies, cultivating synergistic partnerships with key stakeholders, overseeing the optimization of advertising channels, and fostering innovation to stay ahead of industry trends,” he explained.
When asked about the specific strategies he will focus on, Loy said he is particularly eager to prioritize the development of innovative advertising solutions that capitalize on FairPrice Group’s extensive first-party data assets.
“By leveraging this data, advertisers can create highly personalized and relevant campaigns that resonate with our customers,” he added.
Prior to leading FairPrice Group’s digital growth for its grocery division, he also lead the company’s omnichannel and O2O marketing strategies. It is worth noting that during his time as lead of omnichannel marketing at the company when FairPrice Group announced a partnership with The Trade Desk to provide brands on The Trade Desk’s platform with insights on the impact of their digital advertising campaigns across offline and online sales channels.
“Drawing from my experience in growth and omnichannel roles at FairPrice Group, I intend to bring a strategic focus on maximizing the value of our first-party data in the new advertising landscape. This includes identifying key customer segments, refining targeting algorithms, and optimizing ad placements to deliver maximum impact for advertisers,” Loy said when asked on his reflections from his previous positions at FairPrice Group.
When asked about current challenges on the retail media landscape, he said, “I think one of the main challenges and opportunities for marketers lies in adapting to a cookie-less environment. By leveraging FairPrice Group’s robust first-party data ecosystem, advertisers can overcome this challenge by directly targeting relevant audiences based on real-time insights and behavioral patterns.”
He also added that with the industry’s current movement towards first-party data, he adds that as an industry leader, FairPrice Group is committed to staying ahead of the curve in the evolving retail media landscape.
“In 2024 and beyond, we anticipate a shift towards more privacy-centric advertising solutions, which aligns with our focus on safeguarding customer data and delivering a seamless, personalized shopping experience. Through strategic investments in data analytics, technology infrastructure, and partnership development, FairPrice Group aims to empower advertisers to thrive in this new era of digital marketing,” he concluded.