Gurgaon, India – Performance marketing company DangleAds has appointed Rakesh Kumar as its newest director of sales, where he will be responsible for building the mobile performance marketing business, as well as being involved in mobile strategy, team development and crafting a roadmap for the growth of mobile business.

The strategic hire in the business team is in line with DangleAds renewed focus on its global expansion and brand building across the digital ecosystem to drive business growth, customer acquisition, product innovation and greater adoption of performance marketing.

Kumar joins DangleAds with over 13 years of extensive experience in digital marketing, content, programmatic, premium audience monetization, and other marketing experiences. He was previously associated with Xapads Media, where he was positioned as AGM Sales, as well as working with Admobly, ValueFirst Digital and Httpool.

Speaking about his appointment, he said, “I am really excited to be a part of DangleAds Technology. I am looking forward to the challenge that comes along with this opportunity and to being able to contribute to its growth by bringing new business with the help of my unique perspective, wide networking and more than a decade long experience across the digital spectrum.” 

He added, “We are in the business of helping our partners succeed and to ensure that we have made significant advancements in data science, technology and processes to reach the desired goal.”

Meanwhile, Pulkit Narayan, founder and CEO at DangleAds, commented, “We are expanding into global markets and have also increased our product portfolio. We are on a resilient progression trail and with such promising progress, we felt the need to strengthen our business team that could lead us to desired future campaigns and success.” 

He added, “We require good talent who can help grow our business many folds and provide us great market penetration in different vertices. I am delighted to have Rakesh in my team and confident that his rich experience and skill – set would help us in building DangleAds as a market leader in performance marketing and lead us on a growth path in India and abroad.”

Malaysia – The Malaysia arm of Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group, Inc., has announced that it has partnered with Google to enhance the agency’s suite of performance marketing capabilities.

Through the collaboration, OMG Malaysia will be able to gain access to Google’s beta tools, elevate its Google Marketing Platform expertise, and nurture employees’ skills through a series of curated training programs conducted by Google. OMG said the move fosters its vision to offer top-notch performance marketing campaigns for clients.

The shift in focus, OMG Malaysia said, is in response to a substantial number of clients prioritizing budget on Google Ads campaigns. The agency shared it will be creating customized advanced tools to analyze, optimize, and automate campaigns. One of the capabilities will be providing real-time data on overall account health and zooming into specific features to improve the efficiency of campaigns and results for clients. 

The partnership will also be offering tools to reduce time spent on analysis and boost optimization, which could result in a decrease in campaigns turnaround time by up to 30%. Besides aiding clients in their digital transformation journey with customized tools, the partnership will also focus on developing the skills of the OMG team. The collaboration will enable OMG to leverage a curated Google training curriculum to empower new OMG employees with Google-centric skills. 

“Our media agency partners continue to be a core component to the digital advertising ecosystem. We’re pleased to collaborate with OMG to invest in the key areas of operational efficiencies and nurturing future digital talent. I am very proud to be on this journey with OMG and together we hope to deliver greater impact to customers’ business and marketing objectives,” said Marc Woo, managing director of Google Malaysia & Frontier Markets.

Eileen Ooi, COO of OMG Malaysia, commented, “It is always great to be able to grow and transform with a partner that shares our same ambitions and leans in effectively to make it happen. Omnicom Media Group creates solutions to not only address our clients or agency goals but also focus on driving a bigger force which pushes boundaries in the way we operate, accelerate campaigns for our clients, and address the talent gaps in the industry. We look forward to continuing to grow together and shape the industry forward.”

At the Think Search Award paneled by Google and industry experts, OMG Malaysia was actually awarded the Best use of Google Search: Agency of the Year. OMG Malaysia was recognized for displaying Search excellence by focusing on advanced analytics-driven approach for its campaigns.

Sydney, Australia – Independent advertising agency The Hallway has announced the launch of its newest performance marketing division called The Hallway Performance Digital (THPD). It will be focused on creative content optimized for direct response digital channels.

The new division will offer performance creative development, social content production, paid media strategy and buying as well as reporting frameworks.

THPD has developed a proprietary model that determines clients’ growth programs based on their level of investment. These programs are mapped out and tested models for ideal results, based on previous commercial success across customer bases. 

Speaking about the new division, Jules Hall, CEO at The Hallway, said that by launching the new division, they get to have the best of breed offerings, optimized to client’s unique context, as well as supported with the efficiency of a single back office infrastructure at the group level.

“The Hallway was an early mover in data-driven creative content. Having run major programs for the likes of ANZ, Google and Dexus we’ve built a really deep understanding of the best ways to create this type of work. It’s a rapid turnaround, highly automated creative process. This is very different to the strategically-led brand and advertising work we are creating,” Hall said.

To mark the new division, The Hallway has promoted Chris Murphy to the role of general manager of THPD, where he will manage the independent agency’s existing digital media clients as well as a soon to be announced payment platform and automotive brand.

Murphy has been with The Hallway for two years, holding senior leadership roles, managing and growing some of the agency’s largest clients.

“I am also delighted to be able to promote from within. Chris has consistently demonstrated strong leadership and is ideally placed to ensure THPD, and the clients we represent, will thrive,” Hall said about the new promotion.

Speaking about his promotion, Murphy said, “I’m delighted to have been entrusted to lead our team of digital-first thinkers. The proprietary and proven growth programs we have developed empower brands to see around corners and make more informed strategic marketing decisions. The outcome is high performance results, delivered with speed and efficiency.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Luxury automotive brand Maserati in Malaysia has tapped performance marketing agency Aforemention for a six-month remit. The agency has been tasked to localize its global ‘Brutal Beauty’ marketing campaign along with a slew of tactical executions.

‘Brutal Beauty’ is the global awareness campaign for the new Levante SUV in 2021 set by Maserati’s HQ in Modena, Italy. The campaign localized by the agency will be called ‘Momentum’, and speaking to MARKETECH APAC, a spokesperson from FOREFRONT, Aforemention’s parent company, shared that for the localization, additional assets will be introduced, featuring city skylines and local destinations to evoke a sense of ‘wanderlust’ and to occupy domestic travel moments.

In addition, Aforemention will be overseeing Maserati Malaysia’s social media accounts, including performance marketing duties such as social media ads and content strategy.

Darien Mah, founder of FOREFRONT Group, said that there is a growing need for automotive brands to establish a digital presence as more consumers are shifting towards a virtual car-buying experience, with most of the decision-making moments happening online.

“We are honored and excited to ride with Maserati Malaysia along with this digital momentum,” said Mah. 

The agency shared that the campaign ‘Momentum’ has been made as a social-first platform that caters to automotive marketing trends that have been accelerated in the new normal. The concept of the campaign aims to incite optimism via the digital ads space, with creative assets that visualize the ‘resilience’ and ‘fighting’ spirit of Malaysians as the nation accelerates towards ‘brighter’ days. 

Jihan Malik, head of marketing and communications at Naza Italia, the importer of Maserati in Malaysia, commented that it is important to recognize and respond to rapid digital shifts in order to stay relevant. 

“With state borders reopening, being present is an opportunity to spread positivity amidst changing times. As such, working with an agency that shares our passion and understands our brand is key to effectively connecting with our audience,” Malik said. 

Sylvester Hiew, partner at Aforemention, remarked, “A partnership with one of the world’s top luxury automotive brands is an opportunity for us to reaffirm our commitment to deliver effectiveness-driven marketing solutions.”

At the start of the year, FOREFRONT was also the one who unveiled the first virtual launch of automotive brand Hyundai in Malaysia, to showcase its car models ‘Kona’ and ‘Sonata’.

Singapore – Creative and communications network dentsu in Asia-Pacific and leading short-video platform TikTok has newly forged a regional partnership, aimed at driving media and commerce excellence for clients. The partnership, which has already been kickstarted in SEA, will enable dentsu clients to leverage TikTok’s strengths as a platform to deliver best-in-class capabilities across commerce, creativity, and creator marketing to drive brand outcomes at scale.

A key aspect of the partnership is the ‘Test with TikTok’ program which brings together leading performance specialists from dentsu and product innovators from TikTok to test several performance and commerce hypotheses on the platform.

With a fixed set of exclusive clients on the pipeline, dentsu clients will enjoy access to new features and best practice optimization opportunities on TikTok to uncover new learnings. The agency said that efforts around this initiative are already underway where select dentsu clients are currently participating in an exclusive hypothesis test around the effectiveness of different audience strategies on the platform.

Delilah Chan, head of channel revenue partnerships for SEA at TikTok, shared that through the collaboration, dentsu’s clients will be getting custom product testing opportunities, giving them actionable insights that present advantage when developing growth strategies on the TikTok platform.

“We are delighted to partner with dentsu as by complementing the strengths of our two organizations – TikTok’s product and platform capabilities with dentsu’s world-class performance and commerce capabilities, we can truly put the needs of the clients at the heart of our partnership,” said Chan.

Sunil Naryani, dentsu APAC’s president for product, commercials & partnerships, further shared that more than 10 client tests are already in the works and the longer-term objective is for these tests and best practices to culminate into client-centric commerce and performance strategies on the TikTok platform. 

“Genuine commitment between dentsu and TikTok has allowed us to expand our partnership beyond standard training programs into progressive and tangible areas of product testing for performance and commerce outcomes. We appreciate the strong collaboration from TikTok with dentsu advertisers for exclusive hypothesis testing and generating actionable insights on their platform through the ‘Test with TikTok’ program,” said Naryani.

The APAC division of dentsu has also recently announced a new integrated solution focused on gaming. The new ‘dentsu gaming’ aims to bring together the extensive gaming heritage and expertise of the dentsu Japan network with the global scale and specialist capabilities within dentsu international. 

Singapore –  Independent marketing cloud company, InMobi, has just announced the acquisition of Appsumer, performance insights platform for mobile app advertisers, to bring unified intelligence to mobile marketing and deeper understanding of marketing effectiveness.

Appsumer offers marketers no-code integrations with more than 100 marketing channels, customizable dashboards for clients to build and track goals and KPIs, and daily processing of marketing data for more accurate measurement and informed decision making. Through the acquisition, Appsumer’s self-serve technology platform, intellectual property, and team will support InMobi’s end-to-end content, monetization, and marketing stack, as well as empower marketers to assess their performance marketing spend all in one place. 

With third-party identifiers losing their dominance, which complicates the measurement and attribution process, it’s more important than ever that marketers have a clean, crisp view of how their marketing channels are performing. Appsumer’s workspace will allow customers a single source of truth to track performance, analyze results, and use that data to plan more effective campaigns.

Furthermore, InMobi and Appsumer will be building an operating system that makes understanding user acquisition funnels easier by using AI to build predictive capabilities into the platform, helping growth marketers more quickly experiment and iterate to optimize results from their user acquisition strategies.

Shumel Lais, Appsumer’s CEO and founder, will also be joining InMobi and will continue to lead the division, charting its future growth path and product roadmap. The full Appsumer team will be joining InMobi to ensure client service continuity and further develop and support the analytics and automation offering under the InMobi umbrella.

Commenting on the acquisition, Lais said that joining forces with InMobi potentially represents an exponential growth path for their pioneering technology.

“I’m excited that Appsumer has the opportunity to get into the hands of even more developers and marketing teams worldwide to leverage our best of breed offering, making it the default home for growth marketing,” said Lais.

Meanwhile, Abhay Singhal, the co-founder of InMobi Group and CEO of InMobi Marketing Solutions, shared that Appsumer brings a next-generation approach for advertisers to better understand the efficacy of their marketing efforts across multiple channels that growth marketing teams employ daily. 

“The solution makes it easy to map all mobile performance media investment to business outcomes. Shumel and his team are well-known industry leaders and visionaries in their field and will play an instrumental role in driving InMobi’s next wave of growth and innovation,” said Singhal.

Appsumer will continue to operate independently as a subsidiary within the global InMobi organizational structure.

The acquisition of Appsumer comes after the recent launch of InMobi’s InMobi Telco, aimed at helping mobile carriers and handset manufacturers optimize their customer experiences and diversify their revenue streams.

Sydney, Australia – Digital marketing agency Agnes Media has appointed former Googler Riya Mukherjee as senior performance manager, as the agency continues to experience new client growth.

Having spent almost a decade at Google in India, culminating in her promotion to program manager and support expert, Mukherjee moved to Sydney in 2018 to become performance specialist at Columbus and then senior digital performance marketing manager at Alley.

Mukherjee will lead the performance planning at independent measurement-first agency Agnes Media, working across its diverse and expanding client base.

Agnes Media founder and director, Charlotte Ward said, “We are very excited to have Riya join our team and bring her infectious positive energy and fantastic knowledge, skill-set, and experience along with her.”

Ward added, “Riya will assist with managing our existing client base, overseeing the development of our expanding team while helping us grow as an agency as we build our ever-growing portfolio. The role will see Riya lead the performance planning for our clients, in addition to working alongside me in client service.”

Mukherjee said, “I’m excited to work with an agency that really understands the need to connect media performance with achieving business objectives and tying them together. This is so essential but something many agencies forget about, so I am looking forward to bringing measurement-led solutions to Agnes’ exciting clients as well as the future brands we bring on board. I’m a firm believer of marketing with compassion, and that’s one of the core values at Agnes.”

Agnes Media launched in 2020 with leading global payment and shopping service Klarna as a foundation client, with the agency managing their co-marketing performance activity. They also work with Zolo, Australia’s first profit-for-purpose tech-cycling company, Jace Legal, a commercial law and conveyancing business, and Re-Play UK, a sustainable tableware brand.