Tag: MarTech

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Marketing transformation agency GrowthOps Asia and martech company Anchora have joined forces to complete three significant projects for Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of Malaysia Airlines and FlyFirefly. These projects have improved MAG’s marketing capabilities, enabling a more personalised and data-driven customer experience.

Under the direction of Ivan Gan, digital transformation senior manager, and Sambhav Jain, director of martech at Anchora, the collaboration focused on unifying customer data, migrating to advanced marketing platforms, and streamlining marketing automation.

The partnership implemented the Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform (RT-CDP) for MAG, consolidating data from sources such as loyalty programs, CRM systems, booking portals, e-commerce platforms, third-party platforms, websites and mobile apps. This integration eliminated data silos across applications within the organisation, providing a comprehensive view of each customer.

Moreover, the partnership also led one of the first migrations to Adobe Campaign Managed Cloud (ACMC) v8 for MAG. Despite the complexity of the transition, close collaboration with Adobe and MAG ensured a smooth migration.

The third project completed by the partnership was the successful migration of Firefly from Insider to Adobe Campaign Managed Cloud, ensuring continuity in marketing campaigns. This migration streamlined MAG’s marketing technology stack and enabled Firefly to utilise ACC’s advanced capabilities.

“Our goal was to ensure MAG could deliver targeted campaigns based on comprehensive customer insights. By unifying their data, we enabled MAG to execute personalised campaigns seamlessly across channels, which is already paying dividends in terms of efficiency and accuracy for their marketing team,” Jain said.

Clarence Lee, group chief digital officer at MAG, commented, “The collaboration has significantly advanced our digital capabilities, enabling us to better understand and engage with our customers, thereby driving long-term business success. The successful delivery of these projects underscores our commitment to innovation and strategic digital transformation.”

Simon Dale, vice president for Asia at Adobe said, “Today, travellers across the world demand seamless and tailored experiences across multiple touchpoints, whether digital or over the counter. At Adobe, we’re proud to enable Malaysia Aviation Group in their mission of delivering hyper-personalized and real-time travel experiences through Adobe Experience Cloud and Real-Time Customer Data Platform. It is exciting to see this collaboration lead the way for the industry on digital transformation and standout traveller experiences.”

Luke Evans, founder of Anchora, concludes, “Partnering with Malaysia Aviation Group on these three projects has been a pivotal experience for Anchora. These initiatives highlight our commitment to leveraging advanced martech solutions to drive customer engagement and business growth. Working closely with MAG and GrowthOps Asia has underscored the importance of collaboration in navigating complex technological transitions and achieving impactful results.”

These projects illustrate Anchora’s commitment to leveraging martech solutions to enhance business potential. Through this partnership, MAG is now positioned to offer a more unified and enriched customer experience, fostering greater customer engagement and loyalty.

Tng Boon Keong, regional head of consulting for GrowthOps Asia, stated, “By leveraging the strengths of GrowthOps Asia and Anchora, we have significantly enhanced our martech infrastructure offering. This collaboration has empowered us to execute complex marketing initiatives with greater precision and effectiveness, ultimately driving better results for Malaysia Aviation Group and enriching our customer experience.”

The promise of martech has never been more enticing. From customer relationship management (CRM) systems to advanced analytics and automation tools, martech solutions offer the potential to enhance customer experiences, offer ‘mass personalisation’ and drive customer acquisition and business growth.

However, the Arktic Fox 2024 Digital, Marketing & eComm in Focus study reveals a troubling reality: many marketers are struggling to make full use of the martech tools now at their disposal.

According to the study, many marketers are struggling with data management in general and martech in particular. Billy Loizou, Asia Pacific area vice president at Amperity, isn’t surprised many marketing and marketing-adjacent professionals feel under growing pressure. “Marketers want to take advantage of the available tools, but they are struggling to execute,” he notes. “This is hardly a new situation, but when you add in factors such as the rise of Gen AI, imminent reforms to the Privacy Act, flat marketing budgets, and Google changing its mind on deprecating third-party cookies, it’s not surprising so many CMOs are nervous.”

You’ll need martech’s to hit your KPIs

Marketers’ focus unsurprisingly remains on business growth – 77% of respondents said it was a key strategic priority.

Growth is tied to customer acquisition, which came in second (48%) on the list of priorities.

So far, so unsurprising. But subsequent priorities reveal marketers hope to fatten the bottom line by leveraging technology. The third most common priority (42%) was “Building our customer data strategy and better utilising our first-party data”, and the equal fourth (36%) was “Digital transformation”.

The study also revealed marketers and digital leaders remain focused on achieving goals that are only feasible with martech tools. Personalisation was classified as “important” or “very important” by 72% of respondents, who were also firmly committed to CX management (87%), online sales and lead generation (77%) and martech utilisation (76%).

In other words, if they don’t have the right martech tools and staff who understand how to use those tools, most marketers won’t be able to achieve their business goals.

Man vs machine
There’s a consensus that marketers and digital professionals aren’t making the most of martech solutions, but there’s debate about why that’s the case.

The easy explanation for the underutilisation of martech is the much-discussed skills gap. It’s certainly the case that martech can be challenging to master and often requires a solid understanding of data analytics, customer segmentation and automation workflows. 

For marketers who lack a technical background, navigating these complexities can be daunting. Plus, as new tools and platforms emerge, marketers must continually update their skills to stay relevant.

But the problem seems to run deeper than a lack of staff capable of using increasingly sophisticated and powerful technological tools, Loizou argues. The first point he makes is that confusion continues to exist around what different marketing technologies are used for.

“The study showed that CRMs and marketing automation platforms still get most of the attention and investment,” Loizou says. “But those aren’t tools that solve the ‘messy data’ issues that so many businesses still confront. It’s Consumer Data Platforms (CDPs) that do that and provide an enterprise-unified view, which can solve many of the other challenges businesses now face.” 

The need for a CDP ties into another issue Loizou argues the study highlighted – CMOs having spent big on tech stacks that have subsequently failed to meet expectations.

The rise of best-of-breed solutions

“To grossly oversimplify, the approach in the past was to buy the equivalent of a turnkey, off-the-shelf, full-stack solution from a big-name tech company,” Loizou says. “Given that 80% of respondents in the 2024 study reported their utilisation of martech was ‘average’, ‘low’ or ‘very low’, that doesn’t seem to have worked out well. The understandable but ill-advised reaction is to devote fewer resources to martech and martech staff training. That’s happening to some extent, with only 12% of respondents reporting they plan to increase their martech budget over the next 12 months.

“But the noteworthy development is the declining popularity of single-vendor solutions. When asked about their plans for future martech investments, 14% said they were leaning towards a single vendor, 29% claimed they were open-minded, and a whopping 57% stated they were leaning towards ‘best-of-breed’ solutions.” 

All that noted, Teresa Sperti, the founder and director of Arktic Fox, says organisations usually have plenty of room for improvement regarding training. “When we undertake digital training sessions or partner with clients on strategy, it’s not uncommon for us to explain where the organisation’s data resides and help them connect the dots around their martech ecosystem,” she says. “Brands that have built strong internal capabilities and robust foundations in data and tech are thriving, while others are finding it difficult to shift gears.”

Don’t fall for ‘shiny new toy’ syndrome
“In recent times, we’ve seen around a 1000 new martech ‘solutions’ hit the market every year, and there are now more than 11,000 of them out there,” Loizou notes. “With so many tools available, each touting benefits more remarkable than the last, it can be tempting to fall victim to ‘shiny new toy’ syndrome. But my advice is to prioritise simplicity and integration and focus on what’s most important – delivering the kind of industry-leading CX that will keep your existing customers loyal and attract plenty of new ones.” 

Consolidation, co-option and communication
At the launch of her report, Sperti expanded on why she believed there had been a downward trend in martech utilisation in recent years. After reiterating the point that less than one in five marketers reported that their martech utilisation is currently “strong” or “semi-strong”, Sperti noted, “More than 80% believe that they have average, low or very, very low utilisation. And we are spending a lot of money on this as an industry, so that should create a few alarm bells for people. So why is this occurring?

“There are a few causes. The first is a stack creep issue. I buy a few platforms and then providers’ product roadmaps evolve. As a result, I end up with a whole lot of features and functionality that I already have in another platform or that I simply don’t need. 

“And the second cause is more around gaps in skills and capability of team members. ‘martech strategy and implementation’ was identified as the third biggest skill gap across the country within teams for the second year running. So, of course, we have a gap in our ability to effectively utilise the tech.”

Deena Coleman, group general manager, digital & marketing at Accent Group, backed up Sperti’s argument, pointing to the centrality of (well-utilised) martech at her organisation.

“As we’ve been reviewing our strategic business goals and how we’re going to get growth over the years, for us, it’s been looking at: OK, have we got the right technology? And have we got the right data foundations?

“We need to get that data foundation right, get the customer view right, and make sure that it’s really clear across the business and within the brands because we are a complex business… So, bringing on a new customer data platform and getting that at the crux of everything we do, then building everything out around it, is very important for us.”

Coleman had the following advice for those marketers struggling to win over corporate decision-makers. “I always take the approach of, ‘What is keeping executives – or anyone I need to bring along on a journey – up at night?’ Once you hone in on that point, you can get them aligned to what you’re doing from a digital transformation point of view. [You focus on how digital transformation] will help them do things such as hit their EBIT numbers.”

Coleman also recommends keeping it simple. “Remove the tech jargon because sometimes if you overcomplicate it in that space, you lose people along the way. So it’s about education, the alignment with what they’re trying to do, and bringing people along on the journey.”

If you’re reading this article, you’ve surely already Googled or ChatGPTed, ‘What’s a composable technology architecture?’. You’ve no doubt also been researching SaaS platforms to integrate with the dream of creating an ideal architecture that will solve all your problems and convert all your customers.

While this might sound too good to be true, it’s now within reach with proper planning, thorough research and some common sense. (I’ve spent years both buying and selling software, so I believe I’m qualified to express an opinion on the issue.)

Before diving into the nitty gritty of composing a martech stack, let’s sketch out what ‘composable’ means and how it relates to things such as MACH and Event-driven martech.

What is MACH?
MACH stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. These four principles can guide organisations in selecting and implementing technology in a way that facilitates flexibility and scalability.

Microservices: Microservices architecture means breaking down applications into smaller, independent services that can be developed, deployed and scaled independently. This approach allows businesses to add or update features without disrupting the entire system.

For instance, if you’re a loyalty platform provider, you might need a system that allows you to add new loyalty programs or features as your business evolves – without overhauling the entire platform.

API-first: An API-first approach means designing software so that APIs are the primary way of interacting with the system. This promotes integration and modularity, allowing different systems to communicate and work together seamlessly. APIs enable you to call on specific components and services as needed, supporting a staged approach to building your tech stack.

Cloud-native: Cloud-native technologies leverage cloud computing frameworks to ensure scalability, flexibility and resilience. Whether you use AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud, the key is that your services are always accessible and can scale according to demand. Cloud-native applications are designed to take advantage of the cloud’s capabilities, offering enhanced performance and reliability.

Headless: Headless architecture separates the back end from the front end, allowing developers to manage content and functionalities independently of the user interface. This means you can update back-end services without affecting the customer-facing parts of your application. In a martech context, headless systems enable you to deliver personalised experiences to customers while maintaining the flexibility to adapt and evolve your back-end systems.

How to go about your due diligence
Now that we’ve defined the MACH principles, let’s cover how to research, assess and buy the most appropriate martech solutions for your organisation.

Step 1: Research
You’ve built a strategy, pitched it to your senior leadership team (SLT), and received approval and a budget. Your first step is, of course, to thoroughly research potential vendors and platforms. You may wish to consult reports from the likes of Forrester and Gartner. Such reports are usually of some value, but you should keep in mind the companies behind these reports may have conflicting financial incentives.

Focus on the four pillars of lifecycle marketing: Acquisition, Data/Analytics, Activation and Retention. For each pillar, identify 3-5 top vendors. Look for vendors that align with your organisation’s strategy and that can deliver the capabilities it needs.

When evaluating vendors, consider the following:

  • API library: Does the vendor provide a comprehensive API library that allows easy integration with your existing systems?
  • Event-driven: Can the platform respond to real-time events and trigger actions based on customer behaviour?
  • Composable: Can the platform be easily integrated and adapted to fit into your overall architecture?
  • Customer references: Ask for references from customers in your region who have used the platform. This will give you a better understanding of its real-world applications and performance.

Step 2: Assess
Once you have whittled down your shortlist, the next step is to assess vendors’ suitability based on your specific needs and user journeys. Instead of jumping straight into demos, focus on defining the customer experiences you want to achieve. Outline the user journeys critical to your strategy and provide these to the vendors. Ask them to showcase how their solutions can support and enhance these journeys.

A trustworthy vendor will be able to demonstrate their capabilities in the context of your specific use cases. They should be able to provide case studies and examples that show how their technology can solve for each step in the customer journey.

Step 3: Buy
One of the most common mistakes organisations make during the buying process is focusing solely on price without considering the long-term value and alignment with their strategy. Price is important, but it should not be the sole determining factor.

When negotiating with vendors, consider the following:

  • Scalability: Does the vendor’s pricing model scale with your success? Ensure that the cost structure supports growth and doesn’t become a burden as you expand.
  • Budget: Does the pricing model fit within your budget constraints? Understand this early in the process to avoid surprises later.
  • Procurement involvement: Involve your procurement team early in the process. They bring a neutral perspective and can help ensure that the terms of the deal are fair and beneficial for both parties.
  • IT involvement: Involve your IT team heavily when assessing the technical integrity of the vendor’s solution. In-house staff can help identify potential issues and ensure that the technology aligns with your IT strategy.

Key takeaways
To summarise, here’s the five-step process I recommend if you are planning on buying any martech this financial year:

  1. Define your strategy based on customer journeys: Start with a clear understanding of the customer experiences you want to create and use this to guide your decisions.
  2. Adhere to a set of clear principles: Whether it’s a lifecycle marketing lens or a MACH architecture lens, apply clear principles to your strategy to ensure coherence and alignment.
  3. Take your time: Building a successful martech stack is a long-term investment, so it’s worth investing time and effort in researching, assessing and buying the right solutions. The more you rush the process, the more risk there is you’ll make a suboptimal choice.
  4. Be transparent: Share your vision and requirements with potential vendors. Transparency helps build trust and ensures that both parties are aligned in their goals.
  5. Don’t hesitate to get guidance: If you’re out of your depth, seek guidance from the experts who specialise in this kind of thing. (You’ve undoubtedly got enough on your plate without needing to do a deep dive into the latest developments in martech solutions.) 

It’s really not as hard as you think
By following the principles of the MACH architecture and focusing on customer journeys, your organisation can build a martech stack that’s flexible, scalable and future-proof. (Or at least as future-proofed as is feasible.)

Always remember that the goal is to compose a well-orchestrated system that enhances your ability to engage and retain customers. With the right approach, you could well reach a state of ‘martech stack nirvana’ and drive long-term success for your business. 

This thought leadership is written by Miles Toolin, Leading Enterprise Solutions APAC at Eagle Eye

Singapore – Marketing Technology Awards, MARKETECH APAC’s latest initiative to recognise the groundbreaking achievements in marketing technology within the region, has officially unveiled the first roster of its official jury panel for its upcoming awards ceremony. 

Composed of a wide variety of seasoned and leading marketing professionals in the Asia-Pacific region, the panel embodies a wealth of expertise and experience to carefully evaluate submissions in every category. 

The first lineup of jury members includes: 

  • Dibin Raj, Global Head of Marketing Technology and Operations at Broadridge
  • Prashant Sukhwani, VP for Marketing at Burger King India 
  • Bea Atienza, Marketing Director, Impactful Brand Experience at Colgate-Palmolive
  • Stanley Toh, General Manager, Customer Engagements and Communications at Cycle & Carriage
  • Jason Huan, Chief Marketing Officer at Endowus
  • Rochelle Vandenberghe, Chief Marketing and Digital Business Officer at FWD Insurance
  • Raymund Villanueva, Chief Marketing Officer at GoTyme Bank
  • Nausicaa Charrier, Marketing and Communication Director, Singapore & Malaysia at Moët Hennessy Diageo
  • Tiffany Tang, Marketing Director of Health & Hygiene – Malaysia, Singapore & Vietnam at Reckitt
  • Jyane Quek, Global Head, Marketing Strategy for Consumers, Private and Business Banking at Standard Chartered Bank
  • Neha Bhasin, Regional Director of Marketing and Communications at ZALORA Group

There are 45 curated and enterable sub-categories under the four main categories; brand collaboration, martech, industry leader, and team. The categories guarantee comprehensive coverage and highlight specific specialisations within the realm of marketing technology.

 The ‘Brand Collaboration Categories’ invite submissions from brands that have showcased exceptional utilisation of technology to drive successful marketing campaigns. Martech agencies boasting platforms with robust technological capabilities are encouraged to submit under the ‘Martech Categories’.

Simultaneously, the ‘Industry Leader Categories’ welcome leaders who have demonstrated outstanding contributions, influence, and impact on their respective industries. The ‘Team Categories’ recognise tech teams that have seamlessly merged technical expertise with innovation to deliver exemplary solutions.

Aside from enterable categories, the Marketing Technology Awards also feature three ‘Grand Prix’ awards that are not for entry. Winners for the following awards will be determined by cumulative points that show their consistent excellence across the awards program. 

The judging criteria for the awards are as follows:

Brand Collaboration: Objective (10%), Tech Selection Process (10%), Tech Implementation (30%),  Results (50%) 

Martech: Tech Capabilities (25%), Innovation (30%), Case Studies (45%)

Industry Leaders: Business Contributions (40%), Leadership (40%), Industry Influence (20%)

Teams: Team Culture (30%), Business Innovation (30%), Team Performance (40%)

The Marketing Technology Awards is an inaugural event that aims to shine a spotlight on brands, agencies, and martech companies that have played a transformative and innovative role in shaping the marketing landscape. 

This year, MARKETECH APAC is bringing the awards ceremony to the place where tradition and innovation converge in a vibrant melting pot, Singapore. 

Joven Barceñas, founder and CEO of MARKETECH APAC, said, “What inspired the creation of the Marketing Technology Awards was the genuine desire to acknowledge and celebrate the role of tech in the marketing industry. The Marketing Technology Awards strives to represent each of the key markets in the Asia Pacific. The composition of the grand jury reflects a commitment to diversity, ensuring that perspectives from various regions and sectors are represented in the judging process.”

“There will be 5 judging groups: 2 for the Brand Collaboration categories, 2 for the MarTech categories, and 1 for the Industry Leaders and Team categories. We made sure that each region in the Asia Pacific is well represented in each judging group. Each group will be composed of a head of jury and 6 jury members. The head of jury will audit the results and ensure impartiality and integrity in the judging process,” he added. 

Key dates related to the awards ceremony this 2024 are as follows:

Entry Submission – until June 28, 2024 

Judging Period – July 8-19 2024

Gala Dinner and Awarding Ceremony – September 27, 2024

The nomination fee is US$249 (early-bird rate), applicable until April 30, 2024. After which, the standard fee of US$349 applies.

Head over to the official event site for the complete details. Interested parties can contact MARKETECH APAC’s team about the nomination process and sponsorship opportunities at [email protected].

A recent survey reveals that CMOs around the world are optimistic and confident about Gen AI’s future ability to enhance productivity and create competitive advantage. In fact, seventy per cent are already using Gen AI and 19 per cent are testing it. 

However, for many consumer brands, the divide between expectations and reality looms large. Marketers envisioning a seamless, magical customer experience must recognise that AI’s effectiveness depends on high-quality underlying data. Without that, the AI falls flat, leaving marketers grappling with a less-than-magical reality.

What AI-powered marketing with poor data quality looks like

Let’s take a closer look at what AI-powered marketing with poor data quality could look like. Say I’m a customer of a general sports apparel and outdoor store, and I’m planning for my upcoming annual winter ski trip. I’m excited to use the personal shopper AI to give me an experience that’s easy and customised to me.

I need to fill in some gaps in my ski wardrobe, so I ask the personal shopper AI to suggest some items to purchase. But the AI is creating its responses based on data about me that’s been scattered across the brand’s multiple systems. Without a clear picture of who I am, it asks me for some basic information that it should already know. Slightly annoying… I’m used to entering my info when I shop online, but I was hoping the AI upgrade to the experience would make things easier for me. 

Because my data is so disconnected, the AI concierge only has an order associated with my name from two years ago, which was actually a gift. Without a full picture of me, this personal shopper AI is unable to generate accurate insights and ends up sharing recommendations that aren’t helpful.

Ultimately this subpar experience makes me less excited about purchasing from this brand, and I decide to go elsewhere. 

The culprit behind a disconnected and impersonal generative AI experience is data quality — poor data quality = poor customer experience. 

What AI-powered marketing with clean data looks like

Now, let’s revisit this outdoor sports retailer scenario, but imagine that the personal shopper AI is powered by accurate, unified data that has a complete history of my interactions with the brand from first purchase to last return. 

I enter my first question, and I get a super-personalised and friendly response, already starting to create the experience of a one-on-one connection with a helpful sales associate. It automatically references my shopping history and connects my past purchases to my current shopping needs. 

Based on my prompts and responses, the concierge provides a tailored set of recommendations to fill in my ski wardrobe along with direct links to purchase. The AI is then able to generate sophisticated insights about me as a customer and even make predictions about the types of products I might want to buy based on my past purchases, driving up the likelihood of me purchasing and potentially even expanding my basket to buy additional items. 

Within the experience, I am able to actually use the concierge to order without having to navigate elsewhere. I also know my returns or any future purchases will be incorporated into my profile. 

Because it knew my history and preferences, Generative AI was able to create a buying experience for me that was super personalised and convenient. This is a brand I will keep returning to for future purchases.

In other words, when it comes to AI for marketing, better data = better results.

So how do you actually address the data quality challenge? And what could that look like in this new world of AI?

Solving the data quality problem

The critical first element to powering an effective AI strategy is a unified customer data foundation. The tricky part is that accurately unifying customer data is hard due to its scale and complexity — most consumers have at least two email addresses, have moved over eleven times in their lifetimes and use an average of five channels (or if they are millennials or Gen Z, it’s actually twelve channels).

Many familiar approaches to unifying customer data are rules-based and use deterministic/fuzzy matching, but these methods are rigid and break down when data doesn’t match perfectly. This, in turn, creates an inaccurate customer profile that can actually miss a huge portion of a customer’s lifetime history with the brand and not account for recent purchases or changes of contact information. 

A better way to build a unified data foundation actually involves using AI models (a different flavour of AI than generative AI for marketing) to find the connections between data points to tell if they belong to the same person with the same nuance and flexibility of a human but at massive scale. 

When your customer data tools can use AI to unify every touchpoint in the customer journey from first interaction to last purchase and beyond (loyalty, email, website data, etc…), the result is a comprehensive customer profile that tells you who your customers are and how they interact with your brand. 

How data quality in generative AI drives growth

For the most part, marketers have access to the same set of generative AI tools, therefore, the fuel you input will become your differentiator. 

Data quality to power AI provides benefits in three areas: 

  • Customer experiences that stand out — more personalised, creative offers, better customer service interactions, a smoother end-to-end experience, etc.
  • Operational efficiency gains for your teams — faster time to market, less manual intervention, better ROI on campaigns, etc.
  • Reduced compute costs — better-informed AI doesn’t need to go back and forth with the user, which saves on racking up API calls that quickly get expensive

As generative AI tools for marketing continue to evolve, they bring the promise of getting back to the level of one-to-one personalisation that customers would expect in their favourite stores, but now at a massive scale. That won’t happen on its own, though — brands need to provide AI tools with accurate customer data to bring the AI magic to life. 

The dos and don’ts of AI in marketing

AI is a helpful sidekick to many industries, especially marketing — as long as it’s leveraged appropriately. Here’s a quick ‘cheat-sheet’ to help marketers on their Gen AI journey:

Do:

  • Be explicit about the specific use cases where you plan to use data and AI and specify the expected outcomes. What results do you expect to achieve?

  • Carefully evaluate if Gen AI is the most appropriate tool for your specific use case.

  • Prioritise data quality and comprehensiveness — establishing a unified customer data foundation is essential for an effective AI strategy.

Don’t:

  • Rush to implement Gen AI across all areas. Start with a manageable, human-in-the-loop use case, such as generating subject lines.

This thought leadership piece is written by Joyce Gordon, Head of Generative AI, Amperity.

Malaysia – ADA, Asia’s digital marketing agency, has announced a partnership with Cycle & Carriage, an automotive manufacturer that serves Malaysia’s affluent and high-affluent segments. Together, they intend to incorporate artificial intelligence and natural language processing (AI/NLP) technology into their conversational interactions on the martech stack.

Cycle & Carriage and ADA have partnered to launch a strategic effort that will use AI/NLP technology to improve customer experience. This expanded reach demonstrates Cycle & Carriage’s commitment to staying creative and utilising digital solutions to improve its capacity for providing customer support. 

The staff at ADA has worked closely with Cycle & Carriage, fully comprehending their company needs and objectives. They have developed specialised digital solutions to address problems and seize opportunities in the automobile sector. Cycle & Carriage is now able to take advantage of ADA’s expertise in AI/NLP integration, automated customer support systems, and data-driven marketing tactics due to this cooperative effort. 

Cycle & Carriage plans to leverage ADA’s experience even further in order to increase opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, increase the reach of CTWA campaigns, and maximise the efficiency of media and digital marketing.

Cycle & Carriage is the first customer at the CES to use ADA’s AI/NLP services. Cycle & Carriage hopes to increase the reach and effect of CTWA initiatives by working together with ADA Marketing Service on a continuous basis. By utilising the most recent martech products. 

Speaking about the partnership, Stephen Tan, general manager, head of marketing, Cycle & Carriage, said, “We are incredibly grateful for ADA’s unwavering dedication and support throughout the WABA migration journey. ADA’s commitment to excellence and innovative solutions has truly elevated our customer experience and positioned us for success in the digital landscape. We look forward to continuing our partnership and achieving even greater milestones together.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Southeast Asian martech firm OpenMinds Group has officially announced their partnership with the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU), a private Malaysian university that aims to bring out the next generation of creative talent to the industry.

Through this partnership called ‘OpenCreative’, OpenMinds Group and Asia Pacific University will be working together in developing creative content production in the digital space for Malaysian SMEs.

Under the guidance of OpenMinds’ experienced creative leads, APU students will play an active role in creating content marketing products for SMEs, aiming to provide students with practical real-world experiences, in addition to meticulous quality checks to allow the students to improve and ensure that their work will comply with the highest standards.

The services offered by OpenCreative include creative content creation, such as copywriting, short videos, and graphic design. Additionally, custom content calendars and content advisory services are also available, with packages starting from as low as RM 1500 per month. These new services under OpenCreative, allow SMEs to tap into the experience and process that OpenMinds Group has developed.

The end goal of this project is to empower the creative community, regardless of professional experience, while also setting a better standard of quality for creative content among Malaysian SMEs in the digital space. This also perfectly aligns with Malaysia’s goal of upskilling its youths through experiential learning and real-world skill development to increase graduate and overall workforce employability.

Talking about the partnership, Dr. Ho Chin Kuan, vice chancellor of APU, said, “We are excited about our partnership with OpenMinds Group as it aligns with APU’s mission of empowering graduates with the skills needed to excel in global business and society.”

“Specifically focusing on technology, innovation, and creativity, this collaboration aims to equip students with the practical skills essential for making meaningful contributions to their industries, subsequently enhancing their employability. We look forward to the positive impact this partnership will bring to both of our operations”, he added. 

Meanwhile, Randy Too, director of OpenCreative and co-founder of OpenMinds Group, commented, “Collaborating with APU to enhance creative content production will not only aid Malaysian SMEs in spearheading digital transformation but will also establish a new standard for the quality of creative content in the country. We are honoured to work with the talented students at APU and anticipate creating a generation of independent creative individuals in the future.”

Singapore – The impact of martech on the marketing scene is profound, as these companies enable businesses to navigate the complexities of the digital age. By leveraging advanced technologies, marketers can better understand consumer behaviour, tailor their messages to specific segments, and measure the success of their campaigns with unprecedented precision. This not only enhances the overall efficiency of marketing efforts but also contributes to a more personalised and engaging experience for consumers. 

As the marketing ecosystem continues to evolve, martech companies play a pivotal role in shaping its trajectory. The recognition of martech products and services is crucial in today’s competitive landscape, as businesses that embrace these technologies gain a strategic advantage in reaching and resonating with their target audience, ultimately driving growth and maximising return on investment.

With this, MARKETECH APAC is proud to announce the launch of its inaugural “Marketing Technology Awards” aiming to recognise the groundbreaking achievements in marketing technology, uniting the brands and tech organisations within the region’s marketing community. Moreover, the awards aim to celebrate the impact of various technologies in the marketing industry across Asia-Pacific.

Whether you’re a leading tech powerhouse pushing the limits or a brand redefining strategies through tech, the awards programme is crafted to spotlight and applaud your distinctive contributions to the industry. With its 48 enterable categories–comprised of brand collaboration, martech, industry leader, and team categories–the awards guarantee comprehensive coverage, highlighting specific specialisations within the realm of marketing technology. 

The judging criteria for the awards are as follows:

  • Brand Collaboration: Results (50%), Tech Implementation (30%), Tech Selection Process (10%), Objective (10%)
  • Martech: Case Studies (45%), Innovation (30%), Tech Capabilities (25%)
  • Industry Leaders: Business Contributions (40%), Leadership (40%), Case Studies (20%)
  • Teams: Team Performance (40%), Team Culture (30%), Business Innovation (30%)

The awards night is happening in September in Singapore this year. Entry for the awards will commence in June this year, with the judging process happening in July. Finalists will be announced in August this year.

The categories where entities can submit include:

Brand Collaboration Categories
1. Best Use of AdTech Platform

2. Best Use of Content Marketing Platform

3. Best Use of Customer Data Platform

4. Best Use of Customer Engagement Platform

5. Best Use of Customer Experience Platform

6. Best Use of CRM Platform

7. Best Use of Data Analytics and Insights Platform

8. Best Use of Email Marketing Software

9. Best Use of Event Marketing Platform

10. Best Use of Influencer Marketing Platform

11. Best Use of Marketing Analytics Platform

12. Best Use of Marketing AI Solution

13. Best Use of Marketing Automation Platform

14. Best Use of Marketing Project Management Tool

15. Best Use of Mobile Marketing Platform

16. Best Use of Retail Media

17. Best Use of Search Engine Optimisation Software

18. Best Use of Social Listening and Monitoring Tool

19. Best Use of Social Media Management Tool

MarTech Categories

1. Best AdTech Platform

2. Best Content Marketing Platform

3. Best Customer Data Platform

4. Best Customer Engagement Platform

5. Best Customer Experience Platform

6. Best CRM Platform

7. Best Data Analytics and Insights Platform

8. Best Email Marketing Software

9. Best Event Marketing Platform

10. Best Influencer Marketing Platform

11. Best Marketing Analytics Platform

12. Best Marketing AI Solution

13. Best Marketing Automation Platform

14. Best Marketing Project Management Tool

15. Best Mobile Marketing Platform

16. Best Retail Media

17. Best Search Engine Optimisation Software

18. Best Social Listening and Monitoring Tool

19. Best Social Media Management Tool

Industry Leaders Categories
1. Chief Marketing Officer of the Year (Brand)

2. Chief Technology Officer of the Year (Brand)

3. Solutions Tech Leader of the Year

4. Sales Leader for Tech of the Year

5. Marketing Leader for Tech of the Year

Team Categories

1. Marketing Team of the Year (Brand)

2. Tech Team of the Year (Brand)

3. Tech Commercial Team of the Year

4. Tech Customer Success of the Year

5. MarTech Product Innovation Team of the Year

Grand Prix (Not for Entry) 

1. Brand of the Year

2. MarTech of the Year

Teddy Cambosa, regional editor at MARKETECH APAC, said, “In the grand theatre of marketing, the stage is set for brilliance as the spotlight shines on martech innovation. At this awards show, we aim to celebrate the visionaries and trailblazers who, with their groundbreaking technologies, turn data into symphonies of success. It’s not just about winning accolades; it’s about orchestrating the future of marketing with the transformative power of martech, where every innovation is a note that resonates in the melody of industry excellence.”

Meanwhile, Joven Barceñas, founder and CEO at MARKETECH APAC, commented, “MARKETECH APAC stands at the intersection of marketing and technology, as reflected in our name – where marketing meets technology, giving rise to MARKETECH.

The inauguration of the Marketing Technology Awards underscores our unwavering dedication to fostering a unified marketing community in the Asia Pacific region. Through this initiative, we aim to recognise and applaud brands across the region for their adept utilisation of marketing technology, while also shining a spotlight on martech companies that have played a transformative and innovative role in shaping the marketing landscape.

We take pride in being pioneers, having established the inaugural awards platform exclusively dedicated to celebrating the pivotal role of technology in the marketing industry.”

To learn how to be a part of this inaugural award series, click HERE to learn more about the Marketing Technology Awards.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Joven Barceñas at [email protected]; for judging opportunities, please contact Zyra Kate Capilastique at [email protected]; and for nominations, please contact Ivy Diane Alamo at [email protected]. 

A while ago, an ex-client approached, seeking assistance with their organisation’s marketing data strategy. What began as a routine data audit turned into a thrilling journey through a labyrinth of data chaos. Each team had a tech solution for practically ‘everything,’ resulting in a heavily siloed data landscape. Despite having an abundance of data, they couldn’t leverage it. They were bloated!

The martech bloat

Gartner research tells us that martech investment takes up 25% of marketing budgets but just 33% of features and capabilities are actually utilised. Now, assessing utilisation objectively and realistically is a challenge but it paints a picture of brands being over-sold to by vendors, making buying decisions without really understanding the customers experience they want to deliver, and propagating siloes and operational inefficiency.

With predictions that CMOs will continue to increase their martech investments in 2024, this problem will likely only get worse.

What causes MarTech bloat at organisations?

Reasons aplenty, but it mostly boils down to 3 things:

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  1. Strategic goals and martech misalignment a.k.a Did not need this tool:
  • Poor martech investment decisions are often driven by “love this cool feature” rather than strategic objectives. The investment decision rarely involves taking a step back and assessing if the feature or capability aligns with their customer experience goals, or with the stated business and marketing objectives. Reality catches up in a few quarters when it’s time to demonstrate ROI from the investment.
  • Marketers could perceive martech as a silver bullet that can solve marketing and growth problems. A prevalent example is solving for poor lead conversion rates by onboarding a leads management platform, while the real solution could be fixing the quality of leads generated.
  1. Lack of a framework to evaluate, compare and select the right martech:
  • The proliferation of martech tools and solutions brings with it the problem of too many choices for marketers. Finding the needle in the haystack is already quite challenging but finding the ‘right’ needle is exponentially more complicated. Without a solid evaluation and governance framework, it can go awry.
  • Lack of a framework lets subjectivity creep in. Choosing a martech platform because the person selling it was nicer and amicable sounds trivial, but it happens more often than most people think. There’s a reason why sales and account managers form a majority of the workforce at martech companies.
  1. Internal integration and adoption challenges: 
  • Lack of an organisation-wide tech governance strategy looping in cross-functional stakeholders – Without cross-functional buy-in or visibility, every team tries to solve their problems their own way leading to redundancy.
  • Incompatibility with internal systems and data architecture because the IT team was not in the loop or was brought in too late.
  • Lack of enthusiasm from other functions because they had very little say in the choice of platform.
  • Lack of expertise to drive adoption and usage or attrition.

How could CMOs leverage their martech for better customer & brand outcomes in 2024?

Simon Spyer, CEO – Data Driven Marketing at Iris says, “We’re now in the Post martech era – brands have made choices on their tech stack and, with the sector increasingly commoditised, now is the time to double down on building audience participation through compelling customer experiences enabled by martech. Setting this as the north star will help brands shorten the path to value on their tech investments and most importantly deliver brand-led experiences that get their customers doing their marketing.”

Here are 5 things CMOs and marketers should do to make the right martech choices:

  1. Envision a 3-year marketing roadmap, set high-level goals to be attained by the end of each year, and identify capabilities needed to achieve those goals. Evaluate every martech choice in the context of these identified capabilities. The three-year view forces long-term thinking, helps commit resources, while allowing enough time to measure ROI at scale. Importantly, percolate the process down to your team at different levels.
  1. Develop a unified Customer Experience and Marketing data strategy encompassing the views and needs of stakeholders across the organisation. Map out the customer journey, identify internal (Ex: Customer support, Account management) and customer-facing touchpoints where martech is expected to play a role. Having this worked out drastically reduces the time for new platform adoption and utilisation.
  1. Devise a framework to measure success and ROI – Create your own heuristic. Share them with the martech vendor to set expectations and understand what it takes to achieve the outcome. Set up a governance process to review progress monthly during the early stages and every quarter once things stabilise. Some key questions you might want to ask yourself:
  1. What’s the capability or key decision enabled by this martech solution?
  2. Does it work well with current tools and systems? 
  3. Do any of the current tools offer the same capability?
  4. What are the expected outcomes if this were to be successful?
  5. What KPIs are expected to improve? By how much? In what time frame?
  6. Projected ROI in terms of money, productivity, and opportunity cost?
  1. Engage with key cross-functional stakeholders at every step. Involve them early. These stakeholders could be the ones contributing to the platform (Ex, data team), the ones supporting the implementation and integration of the platform (Ex, IT team), or the team that’s ultimately going to be using the platform and be responsible for outcomes (Ex: Creative team or Customer Support). While a user-friendly interface might be necessary for one stakeholder, performance and latency might be critical factors for the other. The earlier these priorities are identified, the better.
  1. And finally, resist the urge to go after the latest in town. Encourage team members to think of What-if scenarios or the next best alternative.

2024 is going to be a year of reckoning for martech. To leverage its full potential and demonstrate value, CMOs and marketing leaders must step back, create a martech framework that works for them and be the person to champion it at their organisation.

This article is written by Sathya Anand, Digital Strategy Director at Iris Singapore.

The insight is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series under What’s NEXT 2023-2024. What’s NEXT 2023-2024 is a multi-platform industry initiative which features marketing and industry leaders in APAC sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year.

Manila, Philippines – Omnichannel digital agency Skyrocket Studios has announced the launch of TechStack.ph, a subsidiary dedicated to empowering businesses with bespoke marketing and e-commerce solutions. 

The launch of TechStack.ph is a result of Skyrocket Studios’ strategic partnerships with leading SaaS platforms in the dynamic marketing and e-commerce industry.

Specifically, the initiative aims to be an unparalleled one-stop destination for cutting-edge technology that caters to diverse business needs, including mobile measurement, marketing automation, customer data management, customer engagement, and comprehensive e-commerce enablement. 

Furthermore, these features encompass an array of essential solutions such as e-commerce platforms, secure payment gateways, efficient order fulfilment, streamlined operations, loyalty programs, and effective promotional tactics.

Khalil Cala, head of business development and partnerships at TechStack.ph, commented, “TechStack is more than just the solutions and platforms we’ve partnered with. We share a mission to create value and growth for organisations that need marketing and e-commerce support.”

“Our partners’ solutions are tried, tested, and proven to deliver results each time—the ultimate satisfaction we get is being able to pass these solutions to aspiring businesses of all sizes in the Philippines,” he added.