Tag: Marketing

“Sell me this pen.”

When I first came across this line in ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’, it resonated with me so much for one simple reason – the salespeople in the movie that were tasked with selling the pen were all making the same exact mistake of highlighting the product specifications and benefits. 

“This pen looks beautiful.”

“This pen has an excellent grip.”

“This pen can last you for 3 years.”

That was exactly what I was facing with my sales team at that time. Sitting in those meetings, it was evident that the customers were not keen on taking our products simply because they were carrying other brands that already had the same quality as ours. Then I realised that the marketing materials accompanying the intended sale were no better – it was still all about promoting the quality, the specifications, and nothing else. Ironically, both sales and marketing were aligned and singing the same tune – but we were not just touching the customers at the right places.

Unfortunately, that same scenario in a movie that is almost 10 years old still applies to B2B marketing today – companies still shout on the rooftops how good they are but never truly showing customers that they understand them and their needs. 

Nobody cares about your products and services except you

At present, the sales and marketing dynamics have changed, but it is evident that some B2B marketers are still hanging on to the idea that they should continuously talk about how ‘good’ their products and services are.

The simple insight to this situation – no, you don’t have to.

The truth is – nobody cares about your products and services except you. 

There is a reason why your competitors are called “competitors”. Simply, they offer the same products and services as you and they target the same customer pool as you. This means that whatever you can do, they can do the same equally or even better. Thus, what is the point of telling your customers that you have good products and services?

With the market being so competitive nowadays, you need to ask – what truly differentiates you from your competitors when both offer the same quality and price?

Understanding your ‘B2B’ customers

The biggest misconception about B2B marketing is that we are only marketing to businesses. Well, technically, that is not wrong; however, let me offer you another point of view with this question: who makes the decisions for the businesses? 

That is correct – the key decision-makers of these very companies are still humans. These ‘humans’ you are trying to market to will be the ones to decide whether your products and services ‘make the cut’, and they will do that through a litmus test of these three questions:

Are you able to: 

  1. Take away their pain;
  2. Improve profits;
  3. Achieve their business objectives. 

Once you realise this is the case, you are en route to success!

Winning the hearts and minds

Because we are still marketing to people, we need to target two important areas – their hearts and their minds.

This refers to the roles that both emotion and information play in connecting with your customers. They think with their hearts when they resonate with your products and services and they think with their brains when they know they are achieving their business objectives with them. 

For example, in the decision-making process of a B2B customer, it is clear that while he/she does consider rational reasoning like price and quality, emotional factors do indeed play an equally important role.

You are here to provide a solution, not a product or a service

Your customers know what their problems are and want to find someone they know they can trust. As such, it’s vital that you spend time with your existing customers to find some common answers – and then craft the best marketing communications from there: 

  • What is your biggest challenge?
  • Why is it important that you have this solution now?
  • How difficult is it to have been trying to solve this challenge?
  • What are you looking for to make this challenge go away?

When you’re able to deep dive into the intent, you’re able to speak their language and, thus, resonate with them. They will be able to see you as one of their own: a trusted partner who is here to provide, not a product or service, but a solution. 

The winning ways

Famous business speaker Simon Sinek has created an excellent framework known as ‘The Golden Circle’ which comprises 3 pillars – the ‘what’, the ‘how’, and the ‘why’. 

Traditionally, B2B marketing follows the same exact order just given. Take, for example, a company that sells services to a building owner: 

  1. What – We have security, cleaning, and a wide range of services to look after your building;
  2. How – With a workforce of 1,000 strong, we will be able to help you look after your building;
  3. Why – Choose us because we look after over 50 companies and we have 20 years of experience.

But if we start using the framework where the ‘why’ ultimately drives your proposition and messaging as well as in showing your customers that your products and services are ‘solutions’, it now becomes this:

  1. Why – It takes a lot of effort and time to look after your building. We understand you need to free up resources and time to focus on the more important aspects of your business. With over 20 years of experience helping over 50 building owners maintain their priorities and focus, we are here to help;
  2. How – We first start with understanding your key objectives and priorities. Then we personalise a solution meant to help you achieve it and share insights with you on how to overcome these challenges. Lastly, our 1,000-strong workforce is one of the largest in the country and that helps us dedicate the appropriate amount of personnel to work with you.
  3. What – We have a wide range of security, cleaning, and other solutions for you to pick from and customise according to your needs. You will also expect a host of benefits such as minimising costs by up to 20%, optimising workflow efficiency by up to 15%, etc.

In this way, your customer now has an idea of how you can help them solve their pain points.

BE A PARTNER, NOT A VENDOR

For a B2B customer, the buying journey can have a longer gestation period, therefore it makes even more sense as the B2B marketer to take the time to understand your customers, understand their pain, and give them solutions that help solve their problems. 

Uncover your ‘why’s’ and you will find the purpose in your marketing – that you are not here to simply market your products and services; you are here to be a partner to your customers and support their journey towards achieving their business objectives.

This article is written by Donovan Chee, Head of Marketing & Communications at BUREAU VERITAS for SEA.

The insight is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series under What’s NEXT 2023. What’s NEXT 2023 is a multi-platform industry initiative which features marketing and industry leaders in APAC sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year.

If you are a marketing leader and have insights that you’d like to share on upcoming trends and practices in marketing, please reach out to [email protected] for an opportunity to be part of the series. 

Singapore – As it gains more traction and public knowledge, the metaverse space opens limitless possibilities for brands and businesses alike. But because many still seem to be intimidated by its concept, how will marketers be able to instil their metaverse activations in their consumers and audiences? 

MARKETECH APAC, in partnership with consumer intelligence platform Talkwalker, gathered industry leaders to give light to this question through its recent webinar titled, ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Metaverse Marketing Activations in APAC’. Benjamin Soubies, managing director for APAC and Japan for Talkwalker, delivered a keynote presentation that tackled how metaverse can be leveraged to effectively engage communities. 

In his presentation, Soubies shared that the metaverse has paved the way for people to create connections that are even further engaging and with it, brands may be able to reach their consumers and potential consumers in more ways than earlier imagined. He also shared about the metaverse conversation hotspots in the APAC region, different ways brands are engaging their communities in the space, key features of metaverse brand campaigns, and the metaverse-gaming connection, amongst others.

“As more players join in the game, it is extremely important to leverage consumer insights in order to identify the most promising opportunities in the metaverse that you should be investing in,” he said.

To further discuss the topic, a panel discussion was conducted which was joined by industry leaders Ramakrishnan C.N., managing director for SEA and metaverse lead at Accenture Song, Amrita Mallik, vice president of HSBC, and Chris Gurney, group creative director for APAC at Virtue Worldwide. Each of them discussed the trends, opportunities, and challenges, amongst others, that the metaverse space presents to the marketing industry.

The experts also shared their insights on how to activate marketing campaigns in the space through their perspectives from the brand and agency sides as well as some metaverse marketing initiatives that have proven to be successful.

The webinar was attended by 180 professionals from various industries such as marketing, advertising, banking, and technologies, amongst others. Brands and companies ePLDT,  Inc., Estée Lauder, Metrobank, Netflix, Nielsen, Philips, Publicis Groupe, TBWA, The Coca-Cola Company, and VICE also took part in the event. The top markets present were Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. 

Concluding the webinar, MARKETECH APAC’s Founder & CEO Joven Barceñas, who also hosted the webinar and moderated the panel discussion, remarked, “We began the discussion with the goal of discovering the different challenges and opportunities in the metaverse that await brands and agencies as we enter the new year filled with new trends. I am sure our audiences looking to adopt the virtual space are more than excited to explore the opportunities we’ve talked about.”

Soubies further commented, ”I hope the webinar gave some clarity to brands out there who are contemplating their own 2023 metaverse activations. After discussing the ways brands can engage communities in the metaverse, and hearing from our expert panelists on trends, opportunities and challenges in the space, it will be exciting to see how the newer players find their spot in the metaverse.” 

He also added that in order to succeed, brands and marketers must ensure that they have a solid understanding of their consumers to create “relevant and impactful” metaverse experiences.

Learn more about marketing leaders’ insights on metaverse by getting your on-demand access to the webinar here.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysian banking company RHB Bank, in collaboration with creative agency FCB SHOUT, has released a new campaign titled ‘The Extra Mile’ highlighting the former’s customer-first culture and service excellence values.

The campaign features a short film inspired by the true story of two RHB staff from Kuala Kangsar, who travelled 140 kilometres to Gerik during the pandemic to help a bedridden customer withdraw his Employees Provident Fund for medical expenses.

Speaking about the campaign, Group Chief Marketing Officer of RHB Group Abdul Sani Abdul Murad said, “We knew right from the get-go that a commercial about RHB’s commitment in providing service excellence has to be based on a true story of our staff, because the RHB  brand that Malaysians have come to know and love is not built by the numbers in our annual report or the products that we have, but by our people.”

He added that the campaign is aimed at showing the public the “unsung heroes” of the company, who go beyond their call of duty by providing the best service possible.

Meanwhile, Tjer, FCB SHOUT’s head of creative, added, “The pressure on us was immense because we had to do justice to such an incredible true story. We could’ve taken the easy way out by simply producing a documentary, but to stay true to the work that the agency has been creating for RHB over the years, we took up the challenge to produce a commercial that contains a cornucopia of entertainment, emotions and unexpected twists.”

Tjer also thanked their production partners D’Moving Pictures and Grand Theft Records for making the campaign possible. 

“While brand commercials about service excellence are neither new nor rare, what makes ‘The Extra Mile’ such a uniquely powerful story is the fact that it’s based on a true story. This film is proof that RHB is a bank that truly walks the talk,” FCB SHOUT’s Co-Owner and Chief Creative Officer Ong Shi Ping, concluded.

RHB Bank has also previously released creative advertisements to celebrate Eid/Hari Raya and Chinese New Year.

Manila, Philippines – Every time a year nears its end, marketing and advertising leaders are always on the lookout for what they must anticipate next. And whilst challenges may be ahead – especially coming from a post-pandemic era – come with them are also fresh opportunities raring to be activated. Nonetheless, for both to be conquered, we would need a deeper understanding of strategies based on the forecasted trends and behaviours in the industry this coming 2023.

As the world begins to open from the folds of the pandemic, marketers need to take in the learnings of the past two years and use it to push forward. But in an industry increasingly shifting due to the fluidity of consumer behaviour, marketers need strategic and intelligent foresight to ensure that the right direction is being coursed through. 

For the first time ever, marketing-centric digital media for APAC,  MARKETECH APAC, launches What’s NEXT 2023: Marketing in Asia Pacific – its first foray into a hybrid conference. The 2-day conference, which will be held from February 28, 2023 to March 1, 2023, aims at gathering some of the biggest marketing leaders in Asia-Pacific to discuss the various opportunities across a wide range of marketing sub-industries.

What’s NEXT 2023: Marketing in Asia Pacific is part of MARKETECH APAC’s What’s NEXT 2023, a four-month-long festival that discusses how marketers can prepare for the upcoming year of marketing opportunities and challenges through the perspective of various marketing leaders and through various mediums.

Some of the topics included in the conference are neuromarketing, composable commerce, customer engagement, metaverse marketing, cookie-less advertising, branding strategy, content marketing, and influencer marketing, among others. The first day (February 28) will be held both at Crowne Plaza Galleria in Manila, Philippines and virtually at the same time, while the second day (March 1) will be held virtually only.

The lineup for the marketing leaders that will be speaking at the conference includes:

  • Gino Riola, chief marketing officer at Allianz PNB Life
  • Mary Eunice Lodripas, associate director for marketing at Ascott International Management Philippines
  • Diana Boo; chief marketing officer at Boost
  • Bea Atienza; impactful brand experience lead at Colgate-Palmolive
  • Denice Sy, chief sales and marketing officer at Ever Bilena Cosmetics
  • Sheila Paul, chief marketing officer at Home Credit Philippines
  • Mark Opao, communications planning partner for APAC and META at Kaspersky
  • Waikuan Wong, global head of marketing at Malaysia Airlines
  • Weldon Fung, social solutions lead for Southeast Asia at Meltwater
  • Anna Henwood, chief executive officer at Stickybeak

What’s NEXT 2023: Marketing in Asia Pacific is sponsored by Carousell, Hubilo, Meltwater, and Stickybeak.

Check out the full agenda of the What’s NEXT 2023: Marketing in Asia Pacific conference here.

Interested industry leaders may contact Katherine Sy at [email protected] for speaking opportunities and Joven Barceñas at [email protected] for sponsorship opportunities. For general inquiries, contact us at [email protected].

Singapore – To support its growth strategy across the Asia-Pacific region, IT company Fujitsu has named its new head of marketing for APAC, Jezmynn Koh-Turner. This is a comeback for Koh-Turner who previously joined the company back in 1999. 

Koh-Turner will be based in Singapore, joining Fujitsu’s APAC leadership team. She will be focusing on supporting the company’s regional business strategy and building the Fujitsu Uvance brand.

She is expected to bring over two decades of marketing and communications experience in enterprise tech and SaaS companies across APAC, ASEAN, Greater China, North Asia, South Asia, and Australian markets in the new role.

Prior to joining Fujitsu, Koh-Turner was most recently director of marketing for APAC and MEA for SaaS solutions provider Jedox AG. Throughout her experience, she’s also held marketing and communication leadership roles at SingTel, F5 Networks, and Commvault, amongst others. 

When Koh-Turner first joined Fujitsu in 1999, she supported go-to-market strategies at Fujitsu Asia, with a role that spanned for seven years. 

On re-joining Fujitsu, she said, “I am very pleased to have re-joined Fujitsu during such an exciting period of transformation and I look forward to collaborating with the Global Marketing team and the Asia Pacific organization to support Fujitsu’s growth strategy and bring to life our purpose-led strategic direction and focus.”

Graeme Beardsell, chief executive officer of Fujitsu Asia Pacific also said, “With extensive experience in the enterprise technology market across the Asia Pacific region, she is the ideal executive to lead our Asia Pacific marketing team as we look to elevate our position as a trusted digital transformation (DX) and sustainability transformation (SX) company in the region.”

Vice Head of Global Marketing at Fujitsu Dr. Laura Bonamici also expressed her excitement to work with Koh-Turner in supporting the business strategy and financial objectives for the APAC region and building the Fujitsu Uvance brand.

“She is passionate about driving integrated marketing and communications strategies to generate market awareness, shift perception and impact purchase consideration, and will no doubt be a great asset to our company,” Bonamici added.

Fujitsu is a leading business and IT solutions provider, offering services drawn from five key technologies: computing, networks, AI, data and security, and converging technologies.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Chayenne Tan has announced that she is joining financial services company Standard Chartered as its head of consumer, private, and business banking–according to her LinkedIn profile.

She was previously with CIMB, where she was the head of sustainable finance for consumer banking. She also previously held other marketing roles in CIMB, including director of performance marketing and director of consumer marketing, among others.

Some of her work in CIMB revolved around growth marketing, integrated marketing, remarketing, martech, performance marketing, and brand management. 

Prior to joining CIMB, she was also the head of strategic planning and integrated marketing at marketing agency ROOTS Asia Pacific, where she worked with clients such as Adidas, Unilever, HTC, and Goodyear, amongst others.

In addition, she’s held other marketing and communications-related roles at companies Deloitte, Hong Leong Bank, and Siemens.
Standard Chartered recently teamed up with NTUC in Singapore and Bukalapak in Indonesia to launch respective new digital banking services in each market.

Singapore – POND’s, the skin care brand under Unilever, has teamed up with e-commerce platform Shopee to launch an interactive campaign ‘#PondsGlowStage’ to take Shopee users’ online shopping experience to the next level through interactive games, exclusive promotions and discounts on POND’S products and, for the first-time ever, to win limited edition non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The #PondsGlowStage NFT is an exclusive, first-of-its-kind digital collectible designed by artist Rifqi Ardiansyah. Fans will have a chance to redeem this exclusive NFT when they purchase POND’S products during the promotions. The NFT will give them access to exclusive benefits such as being the first to receive alerts on POND’S latest product releases and value deals in the future. 

During the special event, consumers can play the interactive POND’S Glow Stage Catch Game and earn points to redeem special giveaways. Players just need to tap and hold the shopping basket to catch as many of the falling POND’S products and elements they can within the time limit – all while avoiding harmful skin spots. 

Jopa Malantic, who was recently named as the global brand director at POND’S, said, “We are always seeking out the most innovative and engaging experiences for our consumers. As such we are thrilled to partner with Shopee once again – this time to offer the #PondsGlowStage, featuring the e-commerce platform’s first ever NFT Gift with Purchase.” 

He added, “In addition to providing the chance to win a limited edition NFT, #PondsGlowStage offers a fantastic interactive experience for our fans to engage with the brand and learn more about how our decades of science-backed expertise can help resolve their skin issues.”

Meanwhile, Pavan Challa, director of regional brand partnerships at Shopee, commented, “We are happy to deepen our long-standing partnership with POND’S through this new campaign, which is Shopee’s first collaboration with a brand for an NFT giveaway. Shopee continues to develop and explore new ways to engage and excite our users, and help our brand partners deepen their engagement with shoppers. As we continue to grow the beauty category on Shopee Mall, we look forward to working closely with brands such as POND’S to bring more innovative and exciting experiences to shoppers.”

Singapore – On 8 November, marketing leaders from APAC gathered in an industry discussion to share expert insights into the continuously evolving channel of influencer marketing, and the creator economy that’s sprung from it. 

Influencers – whether macro, micro, or nano – have long been used by brands alongside other more traditional forms of advertising, as a means to build authentic and relatable engagement between audiences on social. As the industry continues to develop, the important question on everyone’s mind is, ‘what can we expect next from influencer marketing?’. 

In a recent event hosted by MARKETECH APAC in partnership with influencer marketing platform Vamp, the What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC webinar brought together leaders representing the brand, tech, and agency side. Our experts imparted their top tips for influencer marketing, highlighting what trends we can expect to see moving into 2023. 

The webinar began with a presentation from Aaron Brooks, co-founder and president of Vamp, who later joined a panel discussion that included Ruben Ahmed, director of marketing for HP Australia & New Zealand; Isabel Falco, chief digital & marketing officer of L’Oréal Philippines, and Jonathan Gerard, the head of production of VaynerMedia Asia Pacific. 

In his presentation, Brooks gave an overview of the influencer marketing landscape. He discussed the forecasted growth and investment expected into the channel, the key factors powering the creator economy, and how creator content is being activated to drive outcomes at each stage of the marketing funnel. In addition, the presentation touched on the different elements critical to deploying a successful influencer marketing strategy such as the essentiality of video, recruiting creators with a ‘squad’ mentality, and the importance of representation and advocacy. 

The panel discussion—moderated by Shaina Teope, regional editor of MARKETECH APAC, gave the industry experts an opportunity to share how influencer marketing is being leveraged from the perspective of their brands, and how they’ve been involved to date in the creator economy. 

Ahmed, Brooks, Falco, and Gerard discussed how the demand for key opinion leaders (KOLs) is moving brand engagement into co-creation and collaborating on social strategies. The panel explored ideas around how brands can stand out in their content direction amidst the growing saturation of ‘me too’ content. 

Important takeaways for marketers emerged such as the best approach to managing and maintaining brand-creator collaborations, moving away from creating inauthentic ‘ads’, using influencer marketing for advocacy-driven initiatives, as well as understanding the purpose of each social platform in delivering creator content. Our experts rounded up the discussion with examples of how influencer marketing has become a vital part of an always-on performance marketing channel strategy for their brand. 

Overall, the webinar drew 168 attendees out of 598 registrations. Those who participated came from a variety of industries, including retail, e-commerce, travel & hospitality, consumer products, financial services, F&B, and media & entertainment. 

The top markets represented were Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, as well as the US. More specifically, those who took part were from brands and companies Danone, Electrolux; Love, Bonito; Netflix, Ninja Van, OPPO, Philippine Seven Corporation, Pomelo Fashion, RedDoorz, and Summit Media.

Teope commented, “We may think we’ve exhausted the best out of influencer marketing, but with the emergence of popular content formats such as short-form video, we’re attracting new audiences towards creator content. With this industry discussion, we had a diverse and well-represented panel who gave us actionable insights into how the influencer marketing landscape will continue to evolve. The webinar is an essential guide to helping us all prepare for what’s to come next in this exciting space.” 

“In a challenging economic climate, brands should approach influencers as a scaling mechanism to help you reach every consumer type and every sub-niche audience,” says Brooks. “Find those creators who are advocates of your brand already. Don’t be afraid to be bold and go outside of the confines of conventional advertising as you start building out your influencer marketing strategies for 2023 and beyond.”

If you missed out on the live session, there’s still time to dive into the content presented by our industry experts. As we enter a brand new year, don’t miss out on this insight-filled industry discussion. Register HERE to access and watch the on-demand version. 

Singapore – With social restrictions gradually easing down and the world slowly returning to normal, we are now realising the full potential of the phygital world: a space that brings a combination of digital and physical experiences. From SMEs and institutions to large enterprises, this blended experience is being incorporated into their day-to-day operations because of its numerous advantages.

The year 2022 saw the marketing industry flourishing in more ways than one. This includes the rise of influencer and content marketing, the continuous boom of the e-commerce space, and the metaverse getting more known in the digital world, amongst others. But amidst this upward trajectory, there are still challenges that the marketing industry will face and will have to overcome now that hybrid marketing strategies are in place. 

MARKETECH APAC, in its quest to share key trends, insights, and relevant predictions for the preparation of the marketing community for 2023, has brought back its future-oriented industry series – but now much broader and larger to give the community a 360-degree view of what to expect in the coming year. ‘What’s NEXT 2023’ now comprises of four main pillars – article, interview, webinar, and conference –  and to kick the series off, the digital media starts with the launch of its thought leadership article series. 

The article leg of the industry series features the views, predictions, and some tips from various marketing leaders across APAC on different industry-relevant topics for 2023 and beyond. This includes exclusive written insights on integrated campaigns, personalisation, and B2B marketing, amongst others. 

Part of the series is Andrea Chuang, head of marketing for Malaysia-based used car platform myTukar, who will be discussing the importance of integrated campaigns and things to consider in doing these campaigns; and Jan Harling, director of new customer acquisition for APAC at foodpanda, who will be sharing his knowledge about personalised marketing and what brands need to know about their consumers. He will also be providing tips on how media and creatives can work together for their personalisation initiatives, and how to target consumers in a world that’s becoming less targetable.

Check out the initial line-up of published insights by marketing leaders under the series:

Kick-starting the article series, Amperity’s Area Vice President Billy Loizou explained the consequences of having fragmented customer data for businesses. He also enumerated three reasons why a great identity resolution strategy is a must-have for brands.

Click here to read the full article.

In this insightful read, James Campbell, regional manager of SnapLogic for ANZ, stressed why it is important to incorporate intelligent practices into companies’ data integration, how vital it is to leverage modern technology, and how automation helps enterprises deliver and achieve their goals, amongst other things. 

Click here to read the full article.

With tech companies and governing bodies making stronger restrictions when it comes to data privacy, businesses might find it harder to access customer data. In this article, Billy Loizou, area vice president of Amperity, shares how you can empower your business despite the stricter privacy rules, unlock the value of customer data to drive growth, and use ‘messy’ data to make the year 2023 for your business a success.

Click here to read the full article.

At present, B2B marketers still believe that they should always talk about how ‘good’ their products and services are. Donovan Chee, head of marketing and communications for SEA at Bureau Veritas says that marketers don’t have to do this, and instead learn to understand their customers and “win their hearts and minds,” amongst other tips.

Click here to read the full article.

The fifth installment of this series features Negar Mokhtarnia, director of product at Australian retail brand Pet Circle, weighing the importance of focusing on customer lifetime value over customer acquisition for e-commerce companies. She also shared her own take on leveraging data to boost brands’ customer experience and establishing a relational e-commerce experience to ensure sustainable growth.

Click here to read the full article.

Consumers today expect brands to be more vocal about social movements and contentious topics, which puts the responsibility to brands being an advent of change. In this article, Aaron Brooks, co-founder of influencer marketing platform Vamp, gives his insights on purpose-driven marketing, why it is important, the value of authenticity, its four key elements, and some advice for brands looking to leverage this approach.

Click here to read the full article.

Conventional business knowledge implies that sales and marketing should be tied together to drive profit and define a brand’s success. In this piece, Mark Opao, communications planning partner at Kaspersky for APAC explains why the two are hard to fuse and exposes the underlying realities of marrying Brand Building and Sales Promotion.

Click here to read the full article.

In the post-pandemic era, we just might see economic environments and market situations evolving. So, how can companies leverage these evolutions? Hongchia How, vice president of Appier for APAC answers this question by enumerating three MarTech strategies that can help companies seize great business opportunities and make smarter business decisions.

Click here to read the full article.

Asia-Pacific’s share of the global connected cars market reached 42% in 2020, and is anticipated to register a CAGR of more than 19% in the coming years. But how can this drive the growth of media tech platforms? Sharon Soh, chief planning and audience officer at UM APAC shares with us how, as well as its impact on brands and marketers in this thought-leadership piece.

Click here to read the full article.

As data and measurement becomes a cross-functional effort with marketing research and technology teammates – how can marketing lead the way in being more agile and achieving more success? Anna Henwood, CEO of Stickybeak shares how creating a mindset of experimentation and team collaboration – with your customer deciding if your hypothesis is right.

Click here to read the full article.

With many companies investing in customer data platforms and data agency partners, the real question is how marketers can make the most out of it? Antony Yiu, chief executive officer at PHD Hong Kong explains the process on how marketers can make their first-party data ‘dance’ in harmony and bring impactful revenue to someone’s business.

Click here to read the full article.

In an era of increasingly targeted marketing and limited budgets, how can brands effectively reduce wastage and improve performance by ensuring that their ads reach the right audience? This is the question that Jan Harling, chief executive officer at Virtus Asia Consulting asks in this latest article, centered around the topic of personalised marketing.

Click here to read the full article.

Watch this space as we update this article with details and links for other What’s NEXT 2023 thought-leadership articles.

If you are a marketing leader and would like to share your insights and predictions under the series, email us at [email protected].

Seattle, Washington – Amazon has begun laying off employees in its devices group, following reports saying that the company plans to lay off 10,000 employees in corporate and technology roles.

According to TechCrunch, the layoffs would represent 3% of its corporate employees, making it the company’s largest layoffs in its history. The company has already announced plans to freeze hiring for corporate roles in its retail business.

The report follows the recent shutting down of some services, products, warehouses, and even its roving delivery robots of the company, after its disappointing third-quarter earnings report in October, which caused shares to fall more than 13%, bringing their year-to-date stock decline to about 41%.

CNBC also obtained some documents stating, ‘voluntary severance’ was also offered to some employees in some divisions as the company seeks ways to reduce its headcount beyond the massive layoffs already underway. This is said to be the ‘first step’ in realigning Amazon’s businesses, implying that more layoffs may occur in the near future.

The company’s unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment was announced on their website. The company decided to consolidate some teams and programs, resulting in the elimination of some roles.

Dave Limp, senior vice president of devices & services at Amazon said, “It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the devices and services org as a result. I am incredibly proud of the team we have built and to see even one valued team member leave is never an outcome any of us want.”

Limp added, “We notified impacted employees yesterday, and will continue to work closely with each individual to provide support, including assisting in finding new roles. While I know this news is tough to digest, I do want to emphasise that the devices & services organisation remains an important area of investment for Amazon, and we will continue to invent on behalf of our customers.”

Shares have plummeted and closed down about 2% following the reports of layoffs.

The report comes on the heels of layoffs at other big tech companies. Meta announced the layoff of over 13% of its workforce, or over 11,000 employees, and Twitter laid off roughly half of its workforce.