RELIVE THE APAC SEARCH PARTY New to 2021, the APAC Search Awards celebrated the very best in PPC, SEO and Content Marketing from across the APAC region. As you know due to COVID-19 restrictions and concerns around travel, this year’s APAC Search Awards didn’t take place in Singapore the way we had planned. It was not our usual Search Awards party, but we hope you enjoyed the virtual celebrations and coming together online as much as we did, for one different but equally fantastic inaugural APAC Search Awards. The entry quality was extremely high, and we had an outstanding number of entries for the first year, which is testament to the quality and expertise the Search industry has to offer. Our thanks go out to our judges who had the unenviable task of shortlisting and deciding who went home with a prestigious trophy. We’d also like to take the opportunity to thank all of our sponsors and partners, who without their support, the APAC Search Awards would not be possible. We’ll see you hopefully in real life in Singapore in 2022! Nicky Wake Founder of the Search Awards
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FINALISTS Clearwater Agency & Lorraine Lea Getting Online in Style Megantic Megantic Renovates The Block Shop: Taking it from single to double storey! RED2 Digital & Marina Bay Sands Always On SEO Performance Content with ‘Seoul’: Winning the South Korean Traveller on NAVER StudioHawk & Daily Jocks Socks, Jocks & SEO StudioHawk & Auswide 4WD Off-Road to On-line StudioHawk & Lifespan Fitness Running Towards SEO Success StudioHawk & The Good Guys Keeping Prices Low &The Organic High
SILVER AWARD Adcore Australia & Princess Polly Search and Shopping
BEST USE OF SEARCH RETAIL / ECOMMERCE RED2 DIGITAL & MARINA BAY SANDS SUMMARY We are RED², a digital performance agency based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We specialise in digital strategy, search (SEM & SEO), performance marketing, social media, analytics and other online marketing tactics. We partner with our clients to create marketing that moves people. Whether that’s building rich online brands or pushing the boundaries of technology – we create extraordinary digital experiences. And we can do the same for you. We combine the agility of a start-up with the depth of a digital specialist. Our passion is for more than digital marketing tactics. We prefer solid digital strategies that transform your marketing activity – and your bottom line. We create results-driven work. Work that focuses on effectiveness, targeting and measurement from the start. That way, whatever seamless solution you choose, we push your investment to maximise your returns.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We all felt that this submission demonstrated great audience research which allowed them to understand their audience behaviour and create a fantastic strategy. Red2 Digital went beyond the normal and explored new channels to succeed as an agency. We truly felt this is a great case study about how to think outside the box and execute a well-crafted strategy. Well done!
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APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST USE OF SEARCH FINANCE Whirlwind & MoneyTap SUMMARY
FINALISTS A.P. Web Solutions & Intuitive Finance Capital Gains on Traffic! Infidigit & ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Improved Leads for major categories by 298%
At Whirlwind, we have been providing results-driven, end-to-end digital marketing solutions that have brought meaningful business growth for clients globally for the last 13 years. The SEO campaign for MoneyTap has been a unique and rewarding experience. MoneyTap, India’s first app-based credit line, had an ambitious target of reaching $250 Million in loan disbursement and wanted organic traffic to deliver 20% towards their target. With the finance and personal loan space being dominated by reputed banks and legacy financial institutions with years of SEO work, we had our work cut out for us. And so, we came up with a hyper-focused SEO strategy backed by deep user analysis to meet this target.
RED2 Digital & UBS Asset Management Singapore Winning in Search Financial Services Supercharging our B2B Always on SEO Strategy
Using advanced SEO techniques to drive high-intent organic traffic, we were able to contribute more than 25% ($67 Million) towards MoneyTap’s loan disbursal target – delivering true business impact.
Whirlwind & MoneyTap How an Advanced SEO Strategy Helped MoneyTap Cross $67 Million in Loan Disbursement
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
Winning this award is an honour for our agency and a testament to the hard work put into each campaign by our team. It also underlines our expertise in the field of SEO. We take this award with humility and as a responsibility to strive harder to deliver a deeper level of excellence to our clients.
We felt this was a really solid campaign that achieved excellent results. Working with any new company always has a number of challenges, especially from an SEO perspective, however, the results demonstrated that the work done was solid and more than exceeded the desired results. The video breakdown of the application was a fantastic addition to the submission and the written testimonial from the company was also excellent in support of the application.
BEST USE OF SEARCH TRAVEL / LEISURE Digital Minds & Luxury Escapes FINALISTS Digital Minds & Luxury Escapes Achieving travel success amid a global pandemic ForwardPMX & Marina Bay Sands Connecting the Dots from Online to Offline
SILVER AWARD RED2 Digital & Marina Bay Sands Always On SEO Performance Content with ‘Seoul’: Winning the South Korean Traveller on NAVER
SUMMARY Luxury Escapes is an Australian travel brand that offers discounted luxury travel packages throughout Australia and the rest of the world. Restrictions on travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 presented a huge challenge to the business. We were able to help navigate this challenge by identifying the opportune time to take advantage of improving sentiment, whilst also pivoting our creative messaging to aide conversions. Through analysis of search trend data, we were able to identify increasing travel interest within Australia in early May 2020 and launched a six-week test campaign shortly thereafter to capture this emerging demand. We focused purely on the domestic Australian market and took a highly segmented approach with regards to user destination interest and geo targeting. We also highlighted booking flexibility throughout our ad copy to help alleviate concerns around booking future travel. Over the course of the campaign, we achieved a ROAS of 14.83, well above the target of 8. Moreover, by the end of the campaign, total website revenue returned to 2019 levels. This was viewed as a remarkable result by Luxury Escapes, and a testament to the opportunity of continuing to leverage search intent signals during uncertain times.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We identified this winner as a great example of a business in a hard-hit sector, using marketing strategies to pivot and adapt. The submission demonstrated great ROAS and business indicators in comparison to competitors. We felt the great business outcomes with a small budget were particularly outstanding. Congratulations!
FINALISTS Infidigit Maximising Visibility and Business via SEO Living Online & Unios Illuminating the Asia Pacific RED2 Digital & UBS Asset Management Singapore Winning in Search Financial Services Supercharging our B2B Always on SEO Strategy Spicy Web & Fusion Power Systems TARS to send Fusion Power Systems Interstellar! StudioHawk & Sprintlaw Ready, Get Set, Go!
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST USE OF SEARCH B2B Infidigit SUMMARY Infidigit is a digital marketing company that specialises in SEO. Several brands have benefited from Infidigit’s data-driven consultations over the past few years. However, by May 2019, we faced a necessary challenge. Our prospective clients started mentioning that Infidigit’s website is not ranking for crucial keywords on SERPs such as ‘SEO agency’, despite being an SEO company. That was when we decided to focus our efforts on this long-cherished goal. Soon, plans were ideated upon, and we zeroed in on three objectives to improve visibility on SERPs as well as other mediums: • Increase Leads; • Increase Organic Traffic; • Become a market leader in Ecommerce SEO and other categories. Ambitious goals call for ambitious updates, and that is how a multi-faceted strategy was formulated. The strategy aimed at optimising four key aspects of the website that drove the expected results. Upon implementation of the multi-faceted strategy, the three central objectives were achieved with flying colours, catapulting Infidigit’s visibility to greater heights. In this process, Infidigit pushed the envelope of innovation to grow as well as educate fellow marketers. As a result, a foundation was laid to increase brand awareness that continues to grow.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We really appreciated that this winning campaign focused on the work the agency did for their own business. The campaign demonstrates really impressive results with great implementation and creativity plans. We all felt that it was excellent to see that basic SEO delivers amazing results when done right.
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FINALISTS Infidigit & Abentra Overcame The Pandemic With 6X Growth On Category Pages Local Digital & ActronAir Driving Customer Demand in A Developing Market (With A Little Help from NRL Star Michael Morgan) Megantic Megantic Renovates The Block Shop: Taking it from single to double storey! Rocket Agency & LIV Mirvac Launching the Build-to-Rent Revolution Spicy Web & iPantry How an emerging brand used the power of eCommerce to turn a downturn into an enormous growth opportunity StudioHawk & Selmar Institute of Education A Crash Course in SEO StudioHawk & Lifespan Fitness Running Towards SEO Success StudioHawk & The Good Guys Keeping Prices Low &The Organic High
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST USE OF SEARCH B2C Local Digital & ActronAir SUMMARY Local Digital is all about client results. No lock in contracts means we must win our client’s business each month. Our delivery team are fantastic and deliver month in and month out for our clients and earning their business each month is the ultimate validation for the team’s work. However, the absolute cherry on top is winning this award for a job well done – an acknowledgement of the great work done by the team.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges were in clear agreement that this winning entry offered the right amount of granularity in terms of what they demonstrated in their campaign. The entry demonstrated clearly laid out budgets and excellent work on the audience targeting, with a good level of detail included. All of which was supported by a lovely client testimonial. Fantastic work!
BEST USE OF SEARCH HEALTH A.P. Web Solutions & Cannvalate SUMMARY
FINALISTS A.P. Web Solutions & Cannvalate High on Traffic! Alpha Digital & My FootDr A Patient First Approach to Search
The success of Cannvalate’s campaign shows the power of a perfectly-executed strategy that incorporates KPI’s which are directly relevant to the business’ financials & bottom-line, targeted traffic with high purchase-intent and effective messaging that converts interested users into prospective buyers. By studying growing trends and understanding people’s queries related to medical cannabis, CBD oil, chronic pain and the evolving legislation around these topics, Cannvalate’s Organic strategy was poised for success. The A.P. Web Solutions team is thrilled to have achieved an explosive 12x increase in Clicks, a 24x increase in Impressions in just 6 months, and witnessing the impact of these metrics on the business.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The entire judging panel felt this submission was extremely well balanced and very detailed demonstrating a fantastic use of SEO and PPC. The entry showcased amazing results in a tightly regulated space and the return on investment for the client is strong considering the budget that was applied. Overall the judges were conclusive in awarding this particular entry as the winner.
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST USE OF SEARCH AUTOMOTIVE StudioHawk & WhichCar SUMMARY FINALISTS
In the competitive market for car content, WhichCar needed an intense series of optimisations and tactics to enable their writers to produce strong, data & author driven content to leverage search intent.
StudioHawk & WhichCar Fueling The SEO Tank
Through education WhichCar have seen massive organic results and keyword growth through optimising for EAT and are the go-to resource for car news, releases, and blogs.
Whirlwind & Bridgestone India How Bridgestone Achieved a 2023% ROAS with an Innovative Proximity– Based SEM Strategy
JUDGES’ COMMENTS Us judges felt keeping sustainability in mind, this winner was able to transform the content team to understand and create SEO-friendly content. The submission showcased a fantastic demonstration of client and agency working partnership which sets a clear example of how it should be done. Very well done!
BEST USE OF SEARCH REAL ESTATE & PROPERTY Rocket Agency & Wincrest Bespoke CATEGORY SPONSOR
SUMMARY Founded in 2006, Rocket is an independently owned Sydney-based digital marketing agency with 33 full-time staff.
FINALISTS A.P. Web Solutions & Intuitive Finance Capital Gains on Traffic! Rocket Agency & Wincrest Bespoke Selling Custom Homes in a Challenging Market StudioHawk & Industry Insider The Advocates for SEO
Our Company Mission is to foster An inclusive workplace where smart and driven people do the best work of their careers. If we deliver on this mission, then culture, profitability and quality of work naturally follow, all of which take precedence over growth for us. In December 2019, customer home builders Wincrest Bespoke outsourced the entirety of their digital marketing to Rocket. We’ve seen fantastic results with our integrated campaign and sales funnel optimisation in only 9 months.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We thought this was an amazing entry. We were particularly impressed with the strong cross channel strategy which shows the importance of having a presence along the journey which resulted in achieving excellent results. The submission was really well written and illustrated a fantastic strategy making it a worthy winner. Congratulations Rocket Agency!
BEST USE OF SEARCH FMCG Reprise Digital & Maggi Thailand SUMMARY Imagine searching for your brand name in Google and seeing an actress appear in the top search results. This was the challenge Maggi faced in Thailand, with a brand name that was homonymic with the nickname of a popular Thai actress (Maggie, a.k.a. Arpa Pawilai). Maggi was also experiencing the lowest ever month of organic search traffic at the start of the partnership with Reprise.
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But with a new website launch, the brand had the right building blocks to start growing their organic search performance. Besides reclaiming the top position in the Google by increasing Maggi’s branded share of voice, Reprise SEO were challenged with improving organic search traffic for a new website. With the start of the global pandemic fuelling a rise in searches around recipes, Reprise grasped the opportunity to help Maggi capture new audiences by targeting search demand in the cooking category. Reprise worked closely with Maggi’s IT and content teams to drive an astonishing 1,764% growth in monthly organic search traffic, reclaim their brand SERP from the Thai actress and cemented SEO as a key driver to inform content strategy and capture brand awareness.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges all felt that this submission displayed really impressive results delivered for the client through the execution of a solid SEO campaign. We felt it was excellent to see this entry setting out a benchmark of factors that they saw as affecting performance, and then working to improve on these in an organised and structured fashion. A very worthy winner, well done!
FINALISTS Alpha Digital & My FootDr A Patient First Approach to Search LT Network & Anytime Fitness Coffs Harbour Aggressive Local Area Growth Campaign For 24/7 Gym Red Search & Paul’s Rubbish Exponential Growth Through SEO & Content Resolution Digital & R.M. Williams Hyper Local Christmas Commerce Campaign Rocket Agency & Plus Fitness Get Back Into Fitness With Digital Whirlwind & Bridgestone India How Bridgestone Achieved a 2023% ROAS with an Innovative Proximity– Based SEM Strategy
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST LOCAL CAMPAIGN LT Network & Anytime Fitness Coffs Harbour SUMMARY LT Network delivers digital marketing solutions to all levels of franchise and multi-location organisations. We’re all about highly specialised location-based digital marketing. As an agency that caters exclusively to multi-location businesses, it’s our bread and butter. And we take pride in staying on the cutting edge of mobile adtech and franchising. Winning this award would be the perfect validation of what we’ve achieved to date in local area marketing and how we can set an example for everyone in the industry about the success you can achieve when you are client oriented, passionate and have the backing of an A class team.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We all felt that for a small local campaign, this winner definitely demonstrated some clearcut positive results. We particularly loved the part where the census was consulted for better demographic targeting. They demonstrated excellent work on leveraging trends that were happening and keeping in touch with the clients which made this submission a clear winner in this category.
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST LOW BUDGET CAMPAIGN Ambire & Value Flowers FINALISTS
SUMMARY
Ambire & Value Flowers Blooming on a Budget
Ambire is an independent digital marketing agency based in Neutral Bay, Sydney. The company was founded at the beginning of 2017 with the idea of providing a better solution for clients that need a dedicated, proactive team of digital experts.
LT Network & Snap Fitness Bendigo Brick and Mortar COVID Closure turned Digital Impact Growth campaign Spicy Web & Live Fish Bringing Fish To Attention During COVID-19 Spicy Web & Highrise Bikes Breaking out the brand Whirlwind & Jobsoid Scaling Organic User Signups Using a Content-led SEO Strategy
With exceptional growth in the last 3 years, fuelled by a strong passion for marketing, technology and innovation, we have now expanded to full-service and traditional media. Winning this award for us would mean achieving a longed-for accomplishment that would (hopefully) mark the beginning of our journey, rather than representing just a mere objective, and spark (even more) the desire of delivering the very best service, continuous improvement and pushing forward amongst the company and the team.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges were really impressed with this winning campaign given a really small budget was applied but still had a really excellent implementation strategy which helped achieve the client objectives. Really great work!
FINALISTS Alpha Digital & G.J. Gardner Homes Keeping the home building dream alive Clearwater Agency & Lorraine Lea “Getting Online in Style” G Squared & Eyecare Plus Driving bookings for one of Australia’s leading optometrists Local Digital & Pearson’s Florist Quadrupling Revenue With A Multi-Channel Approach Resolution Digital Australia & Volkswagen Accelerated Integrated Search Campaign Rocket Agency & LIV Mirvac Launching the Build-to-Rent Revolution Yellow New Zealand & The Pro Group Sell My TV Ad on Google
SILVER AWARD G Squared & ARB Generating real business results with omni-channel marketing
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN Rocket Agency & LIV Mirvac SUMMARY Founded in 2006, Rocket is an independently owned Sydney-based digital marketing agency with 33 full-time staff. Our Company Mission is to foster An inclusive workplace where smart and driven people do the best work of their careers. If we deliver on this mission, then culture, profitability and quality of work naturally follow, all of which take precedence over growth for us.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judging panel all thought this entry is a textbook example of how to run an integrated digital marketing campaign which was very smart from top to bottom, started with customer insight then worked outwards. We were all impressed by how the team-built creatives relevant for each stage of the strategy and made good use of the available formats on the media platforms they chose. Overall, this was a great entry and definitely a deserving winner!
APACSEARCHAWARDS MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN Megantic SUMMARY FINALISTS Megantic Megantic Renovates The Block Shop: Taking it from single to double storey! Rakuten Advertising & Flora and Fauna Winning In Shopping: Product Brand Segmentation Meets Smart Shopping Intelligence
Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2012 by Vancho and Zan, two highly skilled digital technicians, Megantic is a leading team of organic search specialists focusing on eCommerce. Fully bootstrapped, we have successfully grown the business from ground up, now helping 120+ eCommerce businesses in various verticals around Australia and expanding into New Zealand, Asia Pacific & Europe whilst holding ourselves accountable to our core values; attitude, loyalty, ethics and innovation. We’re extremely passionate about technical organic search and have forged a deep affinity and knowledge of eCommerce platforms and associated verticals along with a strong reputation. Winning such a prestigious award would be an amazing accolade for our dedicated and skilful team and an endorsement of our strategy and focus on delivering great results coupled with outstanding customer service. We’ve been growing The Block Shop’s organic search channel since May 2017. We advised, planned and executed a full platform migration to Magento2 (M2) Enterprise in July 2019 in conjunction with their development team. The M2 migration focus between July – Nov 2019 was to migrate SEO value from EE to M2, minimize organic traffic risk for the “The Block 2019 show” and deliver organic growth for 2020 using M2 functionalities.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We were really impressed with this winning entry as it is a truly great tech re-platform project, delivered very effectively with strong results. We particularly enjoyed going through the details of this campaign, all the small pieces, from FTEs, tools, costs, results, strategy. The submission displayed outstanding transparent work which is very impressive.
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FINALISTS Clearwater Agency & Lorraine Lea Getting Online in Style
APACSEARCHAWARDS Best PPC CAMPAIGN Clearwater Agency & Lorraine Lea SUMMARY Powered by data, fuelled by passion. We deliver market leading digital marketing campaigns that transform Australian businesses, large and small.
ForwardPMX & Marina Bay Sands Connecting the Dots from Online to Offline
Winning this award would recognise the incredible vision, work, dedication and achievement of our team and our client, working side by side to transform a 30 year old traditional Australian business into an online retail powerhouse.
G Squared & Cerrone Targeting high value customers to drive record sales
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
Spicy Web & iPantry How an emerging brand used the power of eCommerce to turn a downturn into an enormous growth opportunity
SILVER AWARD Mediahub Australia & Western Union APAC Achieving an Unfair Share of Attention in 2020 and Beyond
The judges felt this winner provided an excellent example of an older business adapting to a digital led model. The judges were extremely impressed with the use of a multichannel strategy with a low budget. This winner showcased an inspiring and thought provoking story throughout their submission making them a very worthy winner.
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FINALISTS Kimberly Clark Thailand & GroupM Huggies SEO campaign Local Digital & Pearson’s Florist Planting The Seed To Help Organic Results Bloom Megantic Megantic Renovates The Block Shop: Taking it from single to double storey! NO-BS Marketplace The Truth About Link Building Red Search & Paul’s Rubbish Exponential Growth Through SEO & Content RED2 Digital & Marina Bay Sands Always On SEO Performance Content with ‘Seoul’ Winning the South Korean Traveller on NAVER StudioHawk & The Good Guys Keeping Prices Low &The Organic High Whirlwind & MoneyTap How an Advanced SEO Strategy Helped MoneyTap Cross $67 Million in Loan Disbursement
APACSEARCHAWARDS Best SEO CAMPAIGN Red Search & Paul’s Rubbish SUMMARY Red Search is a Sydney-based specialist SEO agency. Together, we worked with one of our longeststanding clients to generate exponential SEO growth – despite already ranking in #1 positions on Google for their most competitive terms. Winning an APAC Search Award and more importantly, being recognised for our campaign would mean the world to us and our client. The results we’ve achieved has proven that barriers can always be broken with enough innovation, creativity and the right execution. The real-world value that our campaign has had on our client’s small business has been phenomenal. Being able to see a small business rapidly expand, hire more staff and leave a lasting impact in their respective industry is extremely rewarding. We believe, at its core, this is what makes our work truly worth it.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We felt this winner showcased an excellent uplift in the volume of keywords ranked after the campaign finished. We enjoyed the amount of detail on the objectives and the results. Overall the judges all agreed this was a very well executed campaign with some good out of the box thinking, on expanding the client footprint when it already ranked for the key terms. Well done, Red Search!
BEST USE OF CONTENT MARKETING RED2 Digital & Marina Bay Sands FINALISTS
SUMMARY
Living Online Forging A Content Powerhouse
We are RED², a digital performance agency based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We specialise in digital strategy, search (SEM & SEO), performance marketing, social media, analytics and other online marketing tactics.
Red Search & Paul’s Rubbish Exponential Growth Through SEO & Content RED2 Digital & Marina Bay Sands Always On SEO Performance Content with ‘Seoul’: Winning the South Korean Traveller on NAVER Zo Digital Japan Content Marketing Campaign on a Shoestring Budget
We partner with our clients to create marketing that moves people. Whether that’s building rich online brands or pushing the boundaries of technology – we create extraordinary digital experiences. And we can do the same for you. We combine the agility of a start-up with the depth of a digital specialist. Our passion is for more than digital marketing tactics. We prefer solid digital strategies that transform your marketing activity – and your bottom line. We create results-driven work. Work that focuses on effectiveness, targeting and measurement from the start. That way, whatever seamless solution you choose, we push your investment to maximise your returns.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges all agreed and commented on how this entry demonstrated great insights which guided the strategy, challenging the normal go to market approach and ultimately delivered fantastic results. We particularly enjoyed the time this winner spent to understand the audience and how they researched travel related bookings all of which really seemed to help find creative ways to reach an audience outside of the normal OTA approach.
FINALISTS Mediahub Australia & Western Union APAC Achieving an Unfair Share of Attention in 2020 and Beyond Megantic Megantic Renovates The Block Shop: Taking it from single to double storey! Rakuten Advertising & 2XU The Value of Multi-Channel: Enhancing Paid Search Performance Through Display Data
APACSEARCHAWARDS Best use of DATA Mediahub Australia & Western Union APAC SUMMARY In our ever more global society, the money transfer industry is a key service for those who are far from the ones they love and care for. Western Union are the market leader, transferring money between over 1 billion people in 200+ countries across thousands of remittance corridors, via 500,000 agent locations and locally translated a pps and websites. Technology and the digitisation of money is transforming the industry, creating an increasingly crowded space with strong new competitors. In this challenging environment, Western Union tasked Mediahub with driving a 20% increase in global digital customer acquisition on flat media investment.
Resolution Digital & Virgin Australia Match Made in Heaven
Our search activity required innovative uses of data as the key to gain competitive advantage in a hard-fought category. By combining proprietary and off the shelf data tools - machine learning, automation, attribution, plus controlled experimentation – we smashed the efficient frontier and proved the efficacy of our data-led approach.
Whirlwind & Bridgestone India How Bridgestone Achieved a 2023% ROAS with a Data: Driven ProximityBased SEM Strategy
Thanks to this strategy and bespoke solutions, Western Union in APAC achieved 40% above reg target. The success of the Western Union search campaign in such an aggressive industry is the result of brilliant team effort, integration with data and analytics specialists, and a great relationship with our client and partners.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We really appreciated the structured approach which was clearly applied throughout this entry. With so many possible variations, this predictive model is an interesting solution for complex campaign execution. We particularly enjoyed the great use of tools & technology to drive efficiency. The team clearly know their stuff and delivered good results which makes them an extremely worthy winner.
APACSEARCHAWARDS EAT.SLEEP.SEARCH.REPEAT. Best Software Innovation OnCrawl SUMMARY FINALISTS Back Azimuth Consulting HREFLang Builder OnCrawl Connecting the dots between technical SEO & data science PPC Samurai Automation Without Compromise TrueClicks PPC Auditing &Monitoring built for Teams
OnCrawl is a technical SEO platform powered by data science to help you make smarter SEO decisions. We help e-commerce websites, classifieds and online publishers to improve their organic traffic, rankings, and online revenues by opening Google’s black box. Driven by a strong tech spirit, OnCrawl gives search marketers easy access to the data they need by providing actionable dashboards and reports to support the entire search engine optimization process. Winning this award would be a huge achievement for our teams. It would highlight our dedication to make data science and AI a key asset for technical SEO and to show that it is not just another buzzword from the search industry.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We felt this agency have developed a cutting-edge tool for SEO! Bringing ML and Data science into the world of SEO is something we have not seen from any other products on the market which makes this software stand out against the rest. A truly innovative tool deserving of being crowned the winner in this category a huge well done.
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST PPC MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SUITE PPC Samurai SUMMARY PPC Samurai (PPCS) is a cutting-edge technology platform that enables agencies to combine their insight and knowledge with customised automation to enable paid search outcomes at scale.
FINALISTS PPC Samurai Automation Without Compromise TrueClicks PPC Auditing &Monitoring built for Teams
Based in Australia, but with agencies across the globe, PPC Samurai sets itself apart from other PPC Management suites with a different approach – we believe that agencies should be able to scale through automation without having to compromise. Winning this award would be meaningful for a company that is flying the flag of agencies who are trying to retain their USP in a highly competitive landscape; agencies who are eager to leverage automation but are passionate about adding human insight to their automated strategies. PPC Samurai agencies are solving the problem of how they implement automation while retaining what differentiates them in the marketplace. Recognition of a job well done from peers and highly regarded industry groups is so important for both agencies and platforms alike, and PPC Samurai would be thrilled to win an APAC Search Award in 2021.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judging panel all commented on how powerful this PPC tool is. This submission had an extremely high focus on efficient and optimzation innovation. We also really appreciated the thorough explanation of the tool which helped support this entry. Great work!
APACSEARCHAWARDS EAT.SLEEP.SEARCH.REPEAT. BEST SEO SOFTWARE SUITE OnCrawl SUMMARY FINALISTS NO-BS Marketplace Proprietary Marketplace Application for Link Building OnCrawl Connecting the dots between technical SEO & data science
OnCrawl is a technical SEO platform powered by data science to help you make smarter SEO decisions. We help e-commerce websites, classifieds and online publishers to improve their organic traffic, rankings, and online revenues by opening Google’s black box. Driven by a strong tech spirit, OnCrawl gives search marketers easy access to the data they need by providing actionable dashboards and reports to support the entire search engine optimization process. Winning this award would be a huge achievement for our teams. It would highlight our dedication to make data science and AI a key asset for technical SEO and to show that it is not just another buzzword from the search industry.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges all commented on how intuitive this platform is and feel it is truly one of a kind with very good data visualisations. We felt this submission is one of the few marketing tools we have seen that has a predictive element which was really impressive to see. The submission included an excellent use of case studies and used customer projects to show how the tool can be applied to resolve various business/seo issues. We all felt that bridging the gap between data science and technical SEO is huge, gathering data is one thing, but being able to transform it into actionable recommendations is remarkable.
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST SEARCH SOFTWARE TOOL TrueClicks SUMMARY FINALISTS Back Azimuth Consulting HREFLang Builder OnCrawl Connecting the dots between technical SEO &data science Swydo Swydo Reporting &Monitoring Platform TrueClicks PPC Auditing &Monitoring built for Teams
With TrueClicks, we’re building the PPC tool we wish we had during our agency years. First, we want to make sure our users never miss an issue or opportunity again in their Google Ads campaigns. We want to do this by going beyond regular analysis and optimization. Not just showing our users what they could do, but revealing what they should do, and in what order. We believe this is a more useful and more ambitious approach to creating software. We also believe the industry needs an independent third party that grades PPC accounts Agencies shouldn’t grade themselves or each other, and Google… well, they’ll be Google. In the end, everything we do has to fit our mission, which is “to set and raise the PPC quality standard.” Winning an APAC Search Award would be a fantastic endorsement and honor for this promising piece of search software, if we may say so ourselves ;-)
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges all felt it was fantastic to see that this winning entry focused not only on opportunity detection but on prioritisation. We loved the consolidation of all alerts and automation of auditing and the reference to time saving and helping search specialists identify quick insights to make optimization decisions at scale was particularly impressive. The interface is intuitive and data easy to sort making this a stand out entry.
APACSEARCHAWARDS EAT.SLEEP.SEARCH.REPEAT. BEST PPC AGENCY Adcore Australia SUMMARY
FINALISTS Adcore Australia ForwardPMX G Squared Spicy Web
Adcore Australia is fast becoming known in the industry as Australia’s premier boutique performance media tech agencies. Built on 15 years of PPC knowledge from our Israeli technology roots, we are pushing the bar higher when it comes to paid media and the sophistications required across this crucial channel given the competition to find customers and optimal ROI in every vertical across search, and shopping. Winning this award would mean everything for the hard work and sacrifice from every member in our team. We truly feel a deep connection with our clients and every day we bleed for them as if it were our own dollars were being spent across media that was requiring a return. Not only would this award mean so much for us, but importantly I believe it is also an award for our extremely valued clients who loyally stick with us each month and each year and help spread the word to their peers and connections. This one is just as much for them who have been there from the very early days when we were no one but a name, or a referral.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges were in complete agreement that this agency have shown impressive growth and are a deserving winner. It was amazing to see that despite covid issues they maintained their team, kept calm, found ways to work with clients to maintain the relationship over the spend. A really strong team which has displayed incredible results for their clients within the work examples provided within this submission. Keep doing what you are doing!
APACSEARCHAWARDS EAT.SLEEP.SEARCH.REPEAT. BEST SMALL SEO AGENCY A.P. Web Solutions SUMMARY
NO SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED
At A.P. Web Solutions, we believe in being specialists, not generalists. Our team of SEO & SEM specialists comprises of top-level professionals who have deep subject matter expertise and experience in one thing and one thing only: growing traffic through search engines. A client is not just a number to us and we do not outsource the actual work and link-building to overseas companies. We appreciate the recognition of specialist agencies at an international level through APAC Search awards and believe that specialisation is the way of the future in digital marketing and especially Search Marketing.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS As judges we were particularly impressed with the charity initiative demonstrated in this entry which stood out in a huge way. Overall this was an extremely detailed submission with some good results for clients and notable recent achievements. We were all in agreement that this agency most likely won’t stay small for very long. We are definitely excited to see what the future holds for you!
APACSEARCHAWARDS EAT.SLEEP.SEARCH.REPEAT. BEST LARGE SEO AGENCY Megantic SUMMARY
FINALISTS Clixpert Digital Agency Infidigit Consultants Megantic StudioHawk
Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2012 by Vancho and Zan, two highly skilled digital technicians, Megantic is a leading team of organic search specialists focusing on eCommerce. Fully bootstrapped, we have successfully grown the business from ground up, now helping 120+ eCommerce businesses in various verticals around Australia and expanding into New Zealand, Asia Pacific and Europe. We’re extremely passionate about technical organic search and have forged a deep affinity and knowledge of eCommerce platforms and associated verticals along with a strong reputation. Winning such a prestigious award would be an amazing accolade for our dedicated and skilful team and an endorsement of our strategy and focus on delivering great results coupled with outstanding customer service. As a team of close to 80 employees, we continue to hold ourselves accountable to delivering our core values; attitude, loyalty, ethics and innovation. Through immersive training and a supportive culture we are dedicated to employee engagement as well as professional and personal growth. Through our case studies and other award category submission we have articulated and demonstrated our experience, skills, knowledge and results as a leading SEO agency.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS The judges felt this winner outlined extremely great case studies and some very compelling reasons to win this award. The judges could clearly see a very people centric company culture is applied supported by great customer reviews which was great to see. We also felt in particular the way you dealt with Covid related challenges is exemplary and deserves recognition.
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST SMALL INTEGRATED SEARCH AGENCY Rocket Agency SUMMARY Founded in 2006, Rocket is an independently owned Sydney-based digital marketing agency with 33 full-time staff.
FINALISTS A.P. Web Solutions Living Online Local Digital Rocket Agency
Our Company Mission is to foster An inclusive workplace where smart and driven people do the best work of their careers. If we deliver on this mission, then culture, profitability and quality of work naturally follow, all of which take precedence over growth for us.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We love the ethos of this company. They have represented their agency very well from the perspective of the client, staff, and industry. The judges were blown away by this application given the difficulties faced by agencies this year in terms of both staff and client retention. Seeing the steps this agency have taken in order to support their clients with Covid 19 relief, as well as ensure they were able to keep their staff employed, was really, really fantastic. The supporting documents were absolutely stunning and really showed an additional level of commitment to the application process. Well done!
APACSEARCHAWARDS BEST LARGE INTEGRATED SEARCH AGENCY ForwardPMX SUMMARY ForwardPMX is a global data and technology-driven marketing services agency, serving as strategic business partners to over 300 diverse, world-class brands with visibility across the globe. We operate in 21 offices and 16 countries worldwide, with roots in key markets across Asia, North America, Europe, the Middle East and India.
NO SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED
ForwardPMX is a proud member of The Stagwell Group, which was born as the alternate to the traditional holding company, and now combines best-in-breed talent across marketing and digital transformation, communications, research and insight, media and technology to deliver holistic growth to enterprise brands and businesses.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS We felt the quality of this submission was outstanding! The winner included excellent examples of projects completed across the Asian region and supporting documents. This agency is an excellent example of what a global digital marketing agency should look like. From the high calibre of their cliental, which demonstrates in itself their authority and trust factor, to the outstanding results delivered in their detailed recent campaigns. Their honesty regarding the challenges set out by 2020 and their forward thinking, innovation and fortitude to overcome those challenges, not only for themselves as an agency, but for their clients, to ensure they stayed ahead of the game, is absolutely excellent. Not only are they a clear global leader in terms of large agencies, but an impeccable inspiration for small agencies, demonstrating what is achievable with growth, expansion and diversity.