Advertising + Marketing Magazine Malaysia - November 2016

NOVEMBER

2016

ED’S LETTER

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WE DON’T NEED TO BE ‘ON’ ALL THE TIME Monisha Rao, Senior Jounalist monishar@marketing-interactive.com Venus Hew, Senior Journalist venush@marketing-interactive.com Vivienne Tay, Journalist viviennet@marketing-interactive.com Editorial – International Inti Tam, Deputy Editor (Hong Kong) intit@marketing-interactive.com Production and Design Shahrom Kamarulzaman, Regional Art Director shahrom@lighthousemedia.com.sg Fauzie Rasid, Senior Designer fauzier@lighthousemedia.com.sg Advertising Sales Joven Barceñas, Director, Business Development & Strategy (Malaysia & Indonesia) jovenb@marketing-interactive.com Ong Yi Xuan, Trade Marketing Executive yixuano@marketing-interactive.com Advertising Sales - International Johnathan Tiang, Team Lead (Singapore) johnathant@marketing-interactive.com Sara Wan, Senior Sales Manager (Hong Kong) saraw@marketing-interactive.com Event Production and Marketing Hairol Salim, Regional Lead - Events and Training hairol@marketing-interactive.com Andrew Davy, Regional Marketing Lead andrewd@marketing-interactive.com Event Services Yeo Wei Qi, Regional Head of Events Services weiqi@marketing-interactive.com Circulation Executive Deborah Quek, Circulations Executive deborahq@marketing-interactive.com Finance Evelyn Wong, Regional Finance Director evelynw@lighthousemedia.com.sg

We know the huge role digital plays in our lives. No one can question it. But in a market such as Singapore, where we have an ageing population, it is worth taking a moment to consider offline channels as well.

Recently, my dad, who is hovering around the 60s age group, faced a difficult conversation over the phone when he was asked to retrieve information about an old car he owned. After speaking to several voiceautomated and real people on the other end of the line for at least a good 30 minutes, he was asked to head to a website to log on with a password to try and retrieve the information.

Unfortunately, in this instance with my intense work schedule, I wasn’t by his side to come to his aid.

Desperately, he told the operator he didn’t quite understand the process which was met by a long silence and another phone call.

Frustrating isn’t it?

I’m not saying our older folks are not a savvy bunch. There are those who are very IT literate. But there is also a digital disparity. And while I am all for educating the older generation with the wave of digital, I must admit I do understand, and sometimes shamefully, identify with their inertia.

I do think as a community we rely on digital a little too much and we are losing touch with the beauty of the offline world. The instant gratification nature of today is also making us a little bit impatient.

When internet services break down, we take to social media to rant until the minute they are up again. When an airline website crashes due to high demand, we move to the next best deal. When a device fails, we ditch the brand completely. Clearly, we are a demanding bunch to please.

So this month, I vowed to do something a little different. While I am addicted to the speed and adrenaline of our online daily newsletters, we’ve also kept a little special something for the print pages.

This month when you flip through the pages of the magazine you will find issues and articles that are covered offline first. And I hope to make that a constant.

Happy flipping!

Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

Editorial Rezwana Manjur, Editor rezwanam@marketing-interactive.com

Management Søren Beaulieu, Publisher sorenb@marketing-interactive.com Justin Randles, Group Managing Director jr@marketing-interactive.com Tony Kelly, Managing Director tk@marketing-interactive.com

Advertising + Marketing Malaysia is published 4 times per year

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For subscriptions, contact circulations at +65 6423 0329 or email subscriptions@marketing-interactive.com. COPYRIGHT & REPRINTS: All material printed in Advertising + Marketing Malaysia is protected under the copyright act. All rights reserved. No material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the prior written consent of the publisher and copyright holder. Permission may be requested through the Singapore office. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in Advertising + Marketing Malaysia are not necessarily the views of the publisher. Singapore: Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd 100C Pasir Panjang Road, #05-01 SLC House Singapore 118519 Tel: +65 6423 0329 Fax: +65 6423 0117 Hong Kong: Lighthouse Independent Media Ltd publisher of Marketing magazine 2/F, Connaught Harbourfront House, 35-36 Connaught Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2861 1882 Fax: +852 2861 1336 To subscribe to A+M Malaysia magazine, go to: www.marketing-interactive.com

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A MEMBER OF

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Rezwana Manjur Editor

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CONTENTS

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A MONTH IN NEWS A round up of a month of news from Malaysia and the region.

DESARU COAST GETS AGGRESSIVE WITH ITS APAC MARKETING TACTICS Venus Hew reports on how Desaru is looking to target families throughout the region.

WHY LVMH IS NOT SO AMAZED BY AMAZON Why the luxury brand doesn’t want to do business with the online retailer. Monisha Rao reports.

GIVING FANS THE RINGSIDE VIEW Sport marketing is a hot topic among broadcasters and sports franchises alike. Monisha Rao explores the fast pace development in technology which has helped propel the growth further.

16 ARE YOU SOCIAL ENOUGH? You may be social, but are you savvy? Rezwana Manjur speaks to the likes of NASA, Cathay Pacific

When simply broadcasting a match isn’t enough.

Read more in our sports marketing feature on page 12.

Airways and Jägermeister to find out what being social is all about.

22 CONTENT 360 MALAYSIA We hear from leading brands in Malaysia on what is plaguing them in the world of content.

26 MARKETING EVENTS AWARDS

DBS took home the crown at this year’s awards, but it was no easy journey. Read more about the awards here.

SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE!

10 8 What you’ll learn in this issue: >> How is live-streaming impacting the sporting world? >> The unexplored terrains of social media. >> Getting your content strategy on point.

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NEWS

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Havas launches Adcity Havas launched a new global network called Adcity focused on connecting brands and consumers across everyday life activities through both OOH and local cross-media communications. Adcity applies consumer understanding to data activation, media convergence, new technologies and client interactions. It operates across 35 offices via 300 experts across Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America. It will see additional offices opening in Europe, the US and Asia.

Brand-safe inventory Blis launched Blis Prime which offers access to high quality and brand-safe inventory which it claims will deliver “great campaign results”. Blis Prime gives advertisers a customisable marketplace guaranteeing access to high-end publishers, premium data and exclusive ad formats that aren’t available in the open market.

Global inventory from publishers such as News International and Forbes, combined with location data, is made available programmatically via exchange partners across the Blis Platform.

HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST?

GOING PLACES

PSB Academy launched its #psbgoplaces campaign which aims to promote its undergraduate programmes to recently graduated polytechnic students. The campaign looks to raise its profile as a premier tertiary educational institute.

Through the omni-channel campaign, students and lecturers fronted the campaign. The tonguein-cheek phrase “Raise the Bar, Go Places” was targeted at parents and prospective students who

drove to the undergraduate fair in June. The campaign was promoted at road shows, on print and on out-of-home channels and was amplified by earned media, digital and social media platforms. Around SG$200,000 was spent on bus wraps for this campaign.

Six weeks into the campaign, PSB Academy saw a 14% increase in leads generated over the same period last year, making up 32% of total leads accumulated in 2016.

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#unstereotype yourselves Unilever wanted to change the way women and men are portrayed in advertising through a new movement called “#unstereotype”. According to Aline Santos, executive VP of global marketing for Unilever, #unstereotype is about men as well as women. The global consumer goods company also urged marketers globally to be aware of the outdated stereotypes of gender that advertising still propagates.

Revlon snaps up Arden shares Revlon agreed to buy all of the outstanding shares of Elizabeth Arden for US$14 per share in cash, in a deal worth US$870 million. Benefits that Revlon is expected to enjoy include an expanded global footprint and a significant presence across all major beauty channels and categories, including the addition of Elizabeth Arden’s growing prestige skincare, colour cosmetics and fragrances.

The jewel in the crown Swarovski awarded its global media business to Havas Media, giving the agency responsibility for its account in more than 35 countries, including the US, China, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia, Canada, Spain, Mexico and Brazil. The scope of work will cover the full range of media, including social and programmatic. Havas will take over responsibilities from ZenithOptimedia, the incumbent agency for the past nine years, from January 2017.

Measuring digital advertising Oracle and Snapchat partnered up to measure the impact of digital advertising in the physical world. The two are looking to measure incremental store sales resulting from marketing campaigns run on Snapchat.

By analysing the impact of campaigns on in-store sales, Oracle Data Cloud will help consumer packaged goods advertisers quantify and improve their ongoing marketing efforts on Snapchat.

Dove’s aggressive approach Dove, a personal care brand owned by Unilever, announced a new spot accompanying its latest campaign #MyBeautyMySay, where it features stories of women of different backgrounds standing up for their own beauty. It also explored the act of how society uses their beauty against them and takes on an aggressive approach on how women should fight for themselves and not be subject to such judgments.

Fighting it out Abercrombie & Fitch sued Gap as the former claimed the hire of its new chief marketing officer Craig Brommers violated his non-compete clause. According to the lawsuit, Brommers, who had been a senior VP of marketing at the company for nearly three years, is prohibited from working for 12 retail competitors, including Gap, for a period of a year upon resigning from Abercrombie.

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NEWS

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AUDIT WATCH

THE BUSINESS OF AUDIT Asian Legal Business (ALB) is a monthly publication which reaches senior legal professionals and corporate business leaders from all business sectors and industries. It has a circulation of 40,000 and is distributed in Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

ALB combines news, research and analysis from professional legal journalists and expert opinions of senior industry professionals, along with market-leading data from Thomson Reuters. Each issue provides insights and contains in-depth features examining changes in legislation, important areas of practice, overseas jurisdictions and revealing profiles of major industry leaders.

It has been audited in the past and the team is preparing for the audit this year by the Audit Bureau of Circulation in Singapore. One of the biggest benefits of auditing for

UNHCR appoints Edelman UNHCR Hong Kong, a suboffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appointed Edelman as its marketing agency in Hong Kong. UNHCR was recording the highest levels of forced displacement on record leading up to World Refugee Day on 20 June. Edelman launched #itstartswithus, an integrated campaign with digital marketing at the heart to drive conversation in Hong Kong and Macau and generate leads and donors for UNHCR. Cleartrip gets creative India’s online travel company Cleartrip appointed Mullen Lintas (ML) to handle its creative duties.

These duties will be handled out of ML’s Bangalore office.

The agency was appointed after a multi-agency pitch and was chosen for presenting a communications strategy that was forward-looking and in line with the expectations of the company.

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a niche publication such as ALB is to establish genuine and believable circulation numbers.

“In recent years, magazine circulation quoted is in some ways an artificial figure. Auditing validates circulation because there are less things that can be hidden,” said Amantha Chia, publisher and head of sales and legal business, ASEAN and North Asia, Thomson Reuters.

Three-way partnership Dutch dairy product brand Friso China, Chinese internet giant Tencent and media agency Carat China announced a strategic partnership to develop new content to engage with Chinese consumers. The three parties will conduct co-operation around content marketing programmes such as Let Go, Baby, and work together to release a white paper on mothers and kids in the near future.

A new film fund Chinese internet giant Baidu set up a RMB2 billion (US$307.7 million) fund to invest in more than 30 films over the next two years.

The announcement was made during the Shanghai International Film Festival. Yongming Xu, general manager of Baidu Nuomi, said the company would fund at least 30 movies, including animated films, live action films and several targeting Chinese youth, hoping to earn billions at the box office.

The Simpsons go to China The Simpsons store has finally set foot in China. Its first theme store opened in Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun, featuring more than 125 exclusive merchandise items related to The Simpsons animated television series, a Gracie Films production in association with 20th Century Fox. Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products also announced the launch of three additional retail stores in Shanghai, Xi’an and Beijing during the second half of 2016.

A worldwide barrel hunt Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey rolled out “Jack Daniel’s Barrel Hunt”, a global scavenger hunt, as part of its 150th anniversary celebration. The first barrel hunt took place in the US on 1 July and visited over 50 countries in 90 days. The brand also provided clues via its local Facebook pages to help fans find the hidden whiskey barrels around the world to win the unique and specially designed prizes.

Strategic alliance Global mobile communications brand BlackBerry entered a strategic alliance with PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk (Emtek). It will provide cross-platform BBM users with access to enriched content and services. The partnership aims to advance BBM for the consumer market through a licensing agreement with Emtek Group that enables the company to develop new BBM applications and services for Android, iOS and Windows Phones.

Hilton launches in Xi’an Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Worldwide’s upscale global hotel brand, launched Hilton Garden Inn Xi’An/Hi-Tech Zone. This is the second Hilton Worldwide hotel in Xi’an after Hilton Xi’an. Owned by Yango Group and managed by Hilton Worldwide, the 276-room Hilton Garden Inn Xi’An/Hi-Tech Zone adds to Hilton Garden Inn’s portfolio of more than 675 hotels worldwide.

Finding a new balance New Balance appointed DeVries Global to lead its public relations and influencer engagement programmes in China. The agency will support New Balance on integrated brand communication campaigns, media and key opinion leader outreach, and social media management.

Andres Vejarano, regional managing director for Asia at DeVries Global, said the company was thrilled to assist in spreading the word on New Balance to a growing audience in China.

Remembering the past McDonald’s celebrated its latest Toy Museum which holds a large variety of toys, including 1,000 toys dating back to 1980, at City Plaza in Taikoo Shing. Through a four-day campaign, the fast-food chain partnered with DDB and Tribal Hong Kong to turn back time by recreating McDonald’s adverts from the past. The campaign was designed to inspire shared feelings of nostalgia with its authentic retro-look hailing from the 1990s.

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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DESARU COAST GETS AGGRESSIVE WITH ITS APAC MARKETING TACTICS Philip Whittaker, chief marketing officer of TAR&H, explains why the brand is launching regional campaigns for its Desaru Coast project. Venus Hew reports.

Set to be a big hit: Desaru Coast is looking to target families and is already running campaigns in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.

Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotels (TAR&H), the developer of Desaru Coast, is gearing up for some aggressive marketing campaigns. These campaigns will run primarily in Asia Pacific markets – Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.

Desaru Coast is Johor’s first and most luxurious multi-billion ringgit integrated destination resort. Industry players expect the project to boost tourist arrivals and golf enthusiasts, particularly from around the region. In a conversation with A+M, Philip Whittaker, chief marketing officer of TAR&H, said the projected target market was about 70% international and 30% domestic.

The developer launched its first marketing campaign in June this year with a TV spot on a Fox Sports channel to promote the first component of its project, launched to the public in September this year, “The Els Club Desaru Coast – The Ocean”.

The 27-hole golf course has been designed

by Ernie Els, with the remaining components to be open to the public in 2019.

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on Fox Sports’ coverage of major golf events commencing in July such as The Open Championship. This was followed by key golf tournaments such as the PGA Championship and the Barclays Championship,” he said.

But apart from attracting golf lovers, Whittaker added the company’s overall marketing efforts would be targeted across the region through “a comprehensive integrated campaign that includes above the line and below the line advertising such as broadcast, digital, print, press, regional in-flight advertising and outdoor advertising.”

The developer declined to comment when asked about the budget allocated to the marketing campaigns.

“We are excited for the potential that this premium integrated development can bring not only to Malaysia, but the region. With Asia Pacific fast becoming the world’s biggest regional travel market, Desaru Coast aims to provide a complete destination package, especially for discerning travellers in this region,” he said.

The next launch for the project will be The Els Club Desaru Coast – The Valley, an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Vijay

Singh, slated to open in early 2017. The Desaru Coast development includes a blend of globally renowned hotels and resorts such as The Westin Desaru Resort, a conference centre, a 27-hole and 18-hole golf course, a themed water park and a retail village.

There will also be a new addition of the Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast, and resort lifestyle residences developed by Malaysian developer UEM Sunrise. The whole development, which spans more than 3,900 acres and faces the South China Sea, will take about 15 to 20 years to complete.

TAR&H added its wide range of offerings have been built with a goal of providing something for everyone – from families with children to couples, golfers and those in the corporate segments.

TAR&H was established by the Malaysian government’s strategic investment fund, Khazanah Nasional. Apart from Desaru Coast, other key investment portfolios include Johor Iskandar’s LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort, Puteri Harbour, Hotel Jen Puteri Harbour, Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, Langkawi’s The Els Club Teluk Datai, KidZania Kuala Lumpur and KidZania Singapore.

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Lighthouse Events, the events management division of Lighthouse Independent Media, has been bringing Lighthouse’s conferences, awards shows and internal meetings to life since 2006 - over 40 events annually in multiple formats through numerous markets across Asia. Staffed by a team of experienced and dedicated event professionals, Lighthouse Events is commited to understanding and delivering its clients’ strategic objectives. Lighthouse Events has the expertise and experience to conceptualise and manage any customised event, making sure its clients’goals are met on every occasion.

Call us if you need a partner for: • Venue Sourcing • Destination Management • Event Conceptualisation • Supplier Management

• Registration Services • Branding & Graphic Design • Event Production/Logistics Support

Contact us with your event brief today.

NEWS ANALYSIS

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WHY LVMH IS NOT SO AMAZED BY AMAZON We look at why the luxury brand says it can’t do business with the online retailer – for now. Monisha Rao writes.

Flying solo: Luxury brand LVMH is refusing to join up with Amazon – and many players in the region agree with its thinking behind the move.

LVMH, a French multinational luxury goods conglomerate, is refusing to do business with Amazon, an online retailer. This is despite the fact Amazon has been fast growing its reach in the fashion and luxury segment bringing on board more accessible luxury brands such as Calvin Klein and Kate Spade.

According to an article on Reuters, LVMH’s chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony told investors that Amazon’s business does not match with the LVMH’s brand image. He was quoted as saying: “There is no way we can do business with them for the time being.”

Overall, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton recorded a 4% increase in revenue, reaching €26.3 billion for the first nine months of 2016. Organic revenue grew 5% compared with the same period in 2015. With added organic revenue growth, the third quarter saw an acceleration compared with the first half of the year. The company also said Asia, excluding Japan, showed a significant improvement 10 a d verti s i ng + marketi ng | N OV E M B E R 2016

during the quarter. Moreover, the selective retailing business group recorded organic revenue growth of 6% for the first nine months of 2016.

For the luxury conglomerate’s selective retailing business, Sephora continued to gain market share in all its markets and recorded double-digit revenue growth. Online sales rapidly increased in all regions and Sephora continued its store opening programme.

DFS navigated a difficult tourist environment in Asia, particularly in Macao and Hong Kong.

After Cambodia in the first half, DFS opened a new T Galleria in Venice in September, thus expanding its presence in major tourist destinations. When contacted by A+M, consultants in the space of e-commerce and luxury agreed with the Amazon move.

Linda Locke, creative director and CEO of Godmother, said the decision to not partner with Amazon was the right one as Amazon was too mass for an exclusive luxury brand

such as LVMH. Locke was previously marketing consultant at Club21.

“The luxury brand is extremely particular about how the brand is presented, including the associations, which would not be possible to manage on such a platform,” she said.

Echoing the same sentiment as Locke was Rajeev Balasubrahmanyam, CEO of Digital Predator. He said: “One is defined by the neighbourhood in which one lives; especially if it is a luxury brand.” He further explained that by associating with cheaper brands, luxury brands’ value can get diluted.

However, he was of the view that Amazon could be a way for LVMH’s second-hand goods to be shared.

“LVMH could institutionalise certification for its second-hand merchandise merchants on Amazon. This encourages transparency and consumer protection programmes.” This could be a way to tap into the data of LVMH aspirants who will one day buy first hand from the first party properties of the brand, he explained.

Gary Teo, regional technology director for VML Southeast Asia and India, said many times luxury brands hesitate to take the plunge into the e-commerce segment because e-commerce channels may not be well-equipped to extend the entire experience to the customer.

“E-commerce platforms tend to make brands very ‘approachable’, which at times goes against the luxury experiences that the brand wants to generate. The environment, thus, doesn’t provide luxury brands the opportunity to engage with their customers in multiple ways at this point,” he said.

He said that while Amazon may assure security of the brand, it is still perceived as a channel that is transactional, conveniencedriven and often price-sensitive.

However, not dismissing the fact that e-commerce cannot be ignored for long, he added that brands, publishers and platforms need to focus on insight, infrastructure and investment in customer experiences and the user interface.

“As creativity and systems in the digital world improve, there is a high likelihood for brands to be more willing to experiment in the space.”

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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CAN BUDGET 2017 MAKE MALAYSIA THE NEXT BIG DIGITAL HUB? How will the budget evolve Malaysia’s digital scene? Venus Hew finds out.

Bringing in the dollars: A digital free trade zone could boost Malaysia’s economy.

Last year, part of the Malaysia budget paid special attention to helping certain industries create quality content, but Budget 2017 will see more of a focus on digital. Going forward, Malaysia is set to introduce the world’s first digital free trade zone and digital hubs.

This is according to the nation’s Budget 2017 proposals announced recently. While there isn’t much detail yet on the digital free trade zone, many industry experts lauded the move spearheaded by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Serm Teck Choon, president of the Malaysian Digital Association (MDA), said that with more Malaysians buying things online these days, this initiative will help in boosting the whole e-commerce sector.

“Whether you are large corporations looking to start your e-commerce initiative, or an SME which is leveraging on digital, or even a consumer who wants to buy cheaper products online – you should benefit from the incentives, including tax exemptions, especially if this digital free trade zone works similarly to other free trade zones in the real world,” he said.

However, Serm, who also serves as the country head of CtrlShift Malaysia, also said that since the internet was a borderless world, the country should also have a road map in terms of fostering closer collaborations with the rest of the region. “Being a member of the Southeast Asian countries, how Malaysia leverages on this idea and works with other member countries to tackle the 600 million population in SEA is definitely crucial.

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“We should not ‘wait and see’. We should start to think about it, plan it and ultimately execute it with a long-term goal.” Echoing his positivity on the matter was Tervinderjit (TJ) Singh, research vice-president at Gartner, who said the allocation of RM162 million to the MDEC to encourage development in the e-commerce ecosystem, and RM200 million to stimulate startups, reinforces the government’s consistent commitment to support digital activities.

These budget allocations will provide the country with the infrastructure and services that will help to form the pillars in establishing digital businesses. He added the move was in line with Gartner’s prediction that by 2025, every industry would be transformed by digital business.

“Malaysia is on the right track to become a fully digitised internet economy.”

Jagdev Singh, tax leader at PwC Malaysia, said the concept of a digital free trade zone sounded “exciting” and hopefully would be a game changer for the country. He explained the existing MSC initiative certainly propelled Malaysia forward into the technology space, and it was time the nation had another catalyst to make it an attractive destination as a digital hub.

Cisco Malaysia’s Albert Chai added the setting up of more locations as a “Malaysia digital hub” would provide start-ups, innovators and technopreneurs with a platform to collaborate with like-minded digital organisations. It would create an ecosystem that would continuously bring fresh and disruptive ideas to the market, and accelerate the creation of new products

and services. But he added, Malaysia must also deal with another building block in its digitisation journey – cybersecurity. He stressed cybersecurity was a growing concern with more sophisticated threats that could hinder the adoption of innovative technologies in Malaysia.

“Cybersecurity can no longer be an afterthought for businesses and companies. It needs to be regarded as a pre-requisite in order to capture the US$24 trillion (RM100 trillion) potential value enabled by digitisation.”

According to Chai, effective cybersecurity strategies alone will have the potential to fuel an estimated US$5.3 trillion (RM22.55 trillion) in value in the private sector globally over the next decade. A third of this estimated value, US$1.7 trillion (RM7.1 trillion), will stem from the protection of intellectual property and the avoidance of data breach costs.

However, talent is an issue. To unlock the value from all these initiatives, he said Malaysia needed the right talent. “The introduction of a new pass category “Foreign knowledge tech entrepreneurs” is an encouraging measure as it will help us build a digital ready workforce swiftly, allowing our country to establish another critical foundation for a digitised Malaysia,” he said.

Meeting customer expectations Nick Lim, vice-president of ASEAN and Greater China at CA Technologies, raised another point – the application economy has significantly raised customer expectations and is bringing disruption to every industry. It also means companies can no longer continue with their status quo in order to own the customer experience. This is especially true in the digital era when businesses today are increasingly using software to innovate, differentiate their services and respond to customers’ needs in a highly demanding and fast-paced environment with greater agility and efficiency. “To succeed and leapfrog their competition in this digital era, it is imperative for businesses to integrate software into all aspects of their operations and embrace digital transformation,” Lim said, adding the latest digital budget proposals are expected to bode well for Malaysia’s digital transformation agenda.

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MARKETING FEATURE: SPORTS MARKETING

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Sports marketing, over the years, has evolved to become a hot topic among broadcasters and sports franchises alike. The fast paced development in technology has only propelled this growth further. Monisha Rao explores how sporting events now play a significant role in people’s lives, and how brands need to lift their game to appeal to these fans.

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MARKETING FEATURE: SPORTS MARKETING

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“We have noticed the storytelling format works the best among the audience. Audiences seem more interested in the lives of the athletes, and tend to draw inspiration from them. We, therefore, cannot just limit ourselves to putting on the ‘game’.”

Dino Jacinto M Laurena – head of integrated sports for ABS-CBN Corporation

Each year, the sports industry around the world creates historic moments, and 2016 was no different. While on the global front, Rio Olympics 2016 took the world by storm, in Asia the SEA games and F1 Grand Prix garnered mass attention. Sports events connect fans globally on a single platform.

According to a Nielsen study – “Southeast Asia’s Sports industry: Start-ups, Singapore and serious potential” – today, major investments have been made in the sports scene in Asia, and as such, the continent’s growing importance in global sport is clear.

While Asia has seen the emergence of sports such as hockey, cricket and football in recent years, mixed martial arts is one sport that is rapidly gaining traction.

At the recently organised Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Summit 2016 by ONE Championship, prominent athletes, sponsors and media companies in the region came together to address the evolution of the industry.

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said mixed martial arts was "Asia" in its truest sense, and has been widely recognised as the fastest growing sport around the world.

“While sports organisers all across the world continue to complain about declining sponsorships and declining viewership, MMA has tracked significant growth in the same arena,” he said.

One topic highly discussed was the live streaming of sporting events and the role broadcasters play. Craig Dobbs, head of acquisitions for Fox Sports at Fox Networks Group, said live streaming of sporting events was the future of television as it stirred emotions among viewers in real-time.

“Live platforms are an essential, and they cannot be replaced by any other medium,” he said adding that MMA, using the help of real-time experiences has created real-time experiences, “rendering all other sports form as artificial”.

Peter C.S. Kim, CEO of PKE Partners, said that in America an average person’s spending

per household on “live” sports has grown by 30%, while watching events on location has declined by about 9%.

Agreeing with him was Dino Jacinto M Laurena, head of integrated sports for ABSCBN Corporation who said “live” viewing had picked up because viewers today had FOMO (fear of missing out). Live streaming, hence, allows audiences to know what is happening in real-time while being in the comfort of their own home. “Everybody wants to share real-time events via social media,” he said.

He explained that sports content was the “very first reality television which came into existence”.

“We have realised that the audience today are emotionally connected to sports.

Therefore, as a company, we have been involved in understanding the business reach of sports with the help of various events and developing technology to connect better with the audience,” he said.

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MARKETING FEATURE: SPORTS MARKETING

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are already sports available on television, the concept of “live” sports continues to grow because “audiences want to live that particular milestone in sports”.

“They want to put themselves in the athlete’s shoes now and create real-time experiences for themselves.”

Choosing the right content Undoubtedly, there is tons of sports content today already out there.

A report by Nielsen states that in 2015 alone, there were more than 127,000 hours of sports programming available on broadcast and cable TV and more than 31 billion hours spent viewing sport, which is up 160% and 41%, respectively, from 2005.

So cutting through the clutter of content is a challenge.

Discussing what type of content actually works, ABS-CBN Corporation’s Laurena explained that when it comes to the sports marketing sector, regardless of the demographics, there are certain common denominators that come into play.

Relevance, he explained, was critical.

“We have noticed the storytelling format works the best among the audience. Audiences seem more interested in the lives of the athletes, and tend to draw inspiration from them. We, therefore, cannot just limit ourselves to putting on the ‘game’. This is why we try to conceptualise documentaries and talk shows,” he said. In the Philippines, he explained, audiences want to see athletes as real people.

While in the past, TV was the way to consume any and all sporting content, today, added screens have allowed consumers to watch their favourite sporting programmes in various ways.

Kim explained that short-form content had also gained mass popularity among the younger audience as they are continuously on the lookout for quick and easily available content. Mobile applications, websites, blogs, OTT and the like, seem to be the most preferred mode of content.

Agreeing with him, Laurena said: “We have noticed that sharing content on social media has become a part of the audience’s everyday life. This trend, therefore, must be efficiently optimised.”

Dobbs explained that as part of a media group, content creators need to think of content consumption as a whole and not just in the form of TV content.

“We are media captains, not TV captains.

We are an amalgamation of all the platforms that the users can connect with in today’s world,” he said. As such, with access to social media and other digital platforms, broadcasters today can no longer look at themselves in one light.

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Clearly, brands have realised the importance of this growing viewership in the sports arena and have made significant investment in tapping its true potential. According to the IEG Sponsorship Spending Report, brands will spend US$60.2 billion on sponsorship in 2016, an increase of 4.7% compared with 2015.

While North America seemed to remain the largest spender in 2015, the battle for second spot between Europe and Asia Pacific still continues. The report stated that over the past 10 years, APAC has closed the gap to US$0.9 billion from 2016 and will slowly grab second spot.

So what are some of the trends to watch out for? Deloitte Sports in its recent article identified business trends that may be seen in the sports marketing sector: • Over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms Major opportunities lie ahead for sports channels and broadcasters to tap revenue from OTT platforms. With the Millennials now inclined towards content on the go, this platform can be leveraged for the future of sports media. Its wide audience reach has made it popular among broadcasters.

• New sponsorship assets With space constraints in stadiums, teams and leagues are running out of space to lure sponsors. With this, the concept of sponsorship has gone beyond the traditional realm to adopt a new conventional strategy. New marketing and sponsorship assets are definitely on the way to connect sports fans on a global platform.

• The stadium of the future With the concept of the home viewing experience having evolved so drastically in the past, it is imperative for sports franchises to take note of it. In order to entice viewers from the comforts of their homes into stadiums, sports franchises will need to upgrade stadiums with the best technology to heighten fan engagement. Only the improvement in technological investment will attract home viewers into stadiums and create new experiences.

They need to think of mass reach be it through TV, online, social or mobile.

Finding star power balance Who doesn’t love seeing a celebrity? Celebrities, athletes, superstars and any prominent figures have their own advantages as it helps to attract the audience’s attention. Laurena explained however, that a balance was required.

While the term “superstar” might draw in audiences, this does not mean that you need to continuously engage the audience with the term, he said. Once the audience gets hooked on your channel with the help of these superstars, you must evolve them into brand ambassadors of the sport. A constant flow of content also needs to be created around them to keep audiences entertained.

Bashir Ahmad, an MMA fighter based out of Pakistan and the US, said the MMA as an organisation was still catching up in Asia, but it was starting to give recognition to its fighters.

“If you aren’t making use of social media to engage with your fans, you are losing out,” he said. He added sport, in general, was growing in Asia and players were vying for the short attention of fans in an immensely cluttered social space.

“While the window of opportunity for

players to reach out to the audience is still open in the world of social, it will soon close,” he said.

Brandon Michael Vera, a Filipino-American fighter, said audiences no longer perceived MMA athletes as just fighters, but rather as real humans. “They connect to us now on a personal basis and recognise us for the individuals that we are. This is one of our biggest achievements,” he said.

He added that it was more difficult, however, to gain a fan base in Asia, specifically for him, in the Philippines.

“It has been a lot more difficult to establish a fan base in the Philippines than in the US. I have been asking everyone why it is the case, and I have failed to get the answer,” he said.

But while engagement is crucial, one cannot be in the marketing industry without thinking return on investment and revenue.

Laurena, while expressing his opinion on the role of technology in user engagement, said that with the advent of virtual reality, viewers want to “see beyond the punch” in sporting events such as the MMA. He said in the near future, technology would provide a 360-degree view of sporting events, and this act of engagement would certainly generate a different stream of revenue for companies.

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MARKETING FEATURE: SOCIAL MEDIA

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While every organisation today, be it private or public, recognises the importance of being social, very few actually get their social engagement to the point where they have a community of brand ambassadors who can step in to save the brand during a crisis.

NASA is one brand which has been able to do that. During a recent conference organised

by Socialbakers called “Engage”, Veronica McGregor, news and social media manager of NASA, said a few years ago when a government organisation had to shut down all of NASA’s communications due to a political situation, its community came to its aid.

“We couldn’t work or post anything. So we put out a blanket statement on our social platforms saying that all our events were shut down and we wouldn’t be posting on social media.” She said what she and her team didn’t expect was that within an hour of this announcement, its social community came to its rescue.

“The public started seeing posts go with a hashtag #thingsnasamighttweet,” she said. But this wasn’t sent out by the employees of NASA. It was sent out by the NASA alumni.

It turns out that in preparation of the widely covered shutdown, this group of NASA enthusiasts created a Google spreadsheet and 18 a d verti s i ng + marketi ng | N OV E M B E R 2016

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assigned shifts of when they would post NASA updates on social media.

Since over the years they had been followers of NASA and ambassadors of the brand on various public forums, these folks knew where to look for information. Over 16 days this resulted in 15,000 posts by 4,400 users.

“We sat for 16 days and watched this go on. The news media soon noticed and started seeing that even though NASA’s communications were shut down, NASA news was going out one way or another, and it wasn’t us employees. We didn’t do a single one. That was our community taking care of us.”

Today, social media for NASA sits under public affairs.

“All NASA-related news needs to reach the widest public so social media just became a new thing under public affairs. In the past, it used to just be news media,” she said.

While in the past, communication was largely one way, she explained that opening up to the world of social allowed NASA to understand what its followers and fans were struggling to comprehend about space.

Answering that, of course, led to more conversations and engagement.

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the past, but when we started getting on social media, we got a lot of direct feedback. It was fabulous because we were able to answer people’s concerns,” she said.

NASA first got onto Twitter really early in 2008. Twitter was relatively new then.

“I had a Twitter account and I started tweeting in first person as though the rover by itself was posting a tweet. As soon as I tweeted it out, I started getting responses on what I will do or how I would land,” she said.

“We weren’t looking for customers, but rather coverage. We had seen across newspapers going out of business and reporters previously covering our missions being laid off. I was getting desperate to see how we could get our news of a mission due to land on Mars out to the American public easily on mobile phones,” she said.

Today, NASA’s Twitter has 19 million followers, but it still doesn’t have an advertising budget.

“We have never ever done a sponsored post. We have never paid for media and we are not allowed to use government funds for advertising. But what we have is great stories and videos to tell the public worldwide.”

Everything the brand does at NASA is in-house, including its videos. So how did NASA WWW. MARK E TING-IN TE RAC TI VE . C OM

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create such a strong following with close to no social media budget?

Well, it is in NASA’s DNA to start small with close to nothing and build around it, McGregor said.

“We go to space where there is very little to work with. We are known to make things happen,” she said.

But back here on earth, one way the brand does it is by actually meeting its brand enthusiasts. Since 2009, NASA has been inviting its social media followers to come to events and launches at NASA centres. It opens up 120 slots six weeks before the event depending on location, and entries come in from all over the world.

In 2009, NASA brought in more than 100 people and gave them a red-carpet experience, bringing its scientists and engineers on board and letting its fans experience what goes on behind the scenes. This was the start of its community.

Since then, there have been about 130 such events with six to seven thousand alumni members attending these events.

“These people are critical to us – they do what sometimes we can't do. They get the message out to their communities which we might not reach,” she said.

While it never actually goes out and actively asks celebrities to tweet about the brand, occasionally, NASA does use pop culture references in its tweets and these from time to time get picked up by celebrities.

It also reaches out to a diverse range of people from students to TV directors or producers to actors and writers to invite them to events to grow its reach.

“We also sometimes select someone with a big Twitter following,” she said.

“One such guest who was interested in an event had previously been on an MTV show and when we asked why he should be selected, he said a lot of his followers were teenage girls and we gasped. Do you know how hard it is for us to reach that audience of teenage girls?” she said.

When he tweeted to all his followers what questions to ask the NASA engineers, questions poured in.

“I have never seen so many teenage girls interested in NASA and asking questions! Many of them wanted to know how the women on the NASA team got there,” she said.

“What we have done is taken fans, followers and consumers of our photos and Facebook content or web page, and spoken to them directly. By doing so, we have made them empowered advocates and ambassadors for NASA. They go online and talk at events and spread the corporation’s popularity.

Empowering your fans is, hence, crucial.”

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U N D E R S TA N D I N G T H E S O C I A L C R E AT U R E We all know about the infamous Jägerbombs – you know, the drink you throw down before a big night out with your friends. Jägermeister has long had an image of being a party drink.

But that wasn’t necessarily what Brown-Forman Australia, distributors of the Jägermeister brand in Australia, wanted the alcohol brand to be known for. “For the past decade the Jägermeister brand got overshadowed by Jägerbombs. The brand was getting a perception which it didn’t want to stand for,” said senior brand manager Michael Bouda.

To change this, it had to create something that would catch the attention of its target audience of young adults aged 18-28. Looking around, most of its competitors were taking the usual route of promoting mixed drinks. Brown-Forman Australia didn’t want to do that.

“We had to do something that would grab their attention and make sure it cut through the clutter,” he said. Working with its social media agency Society, which is part of UM, Brown-Forman created the “Creatures of the Night” campaign for the Australian market.

It was a major content marketing campaign where the brand created and socialised archetypes of party animals, namely the “Suave Stag”, the “Dependable Wingman”, the “Reclusive Snow Leopard”, the “Dodging Fox” and the “Nocturnal night owl”. The brand created the content and asked blokes on social media to tag their friends who best embodied these archetypes. The campaign also drove engagement by providing people with social ammunation that sparked friendly banter on a night out and naturally infused their chat with branded content.

This helped build Jagermeister's core values. The social team also responded to comments in real-time, fuelling conversations even further. It also asked members of the public to prove how their crews embodied these archetypes to have their very own personalised illustration.

During the campaign period, the brand reached 88% of the target audience, of which 15% of the target audience interacted with the campaign. Overall purchase consideration increased 20% and sales increased 10% after eight years of decline.

In a separate conversation with A+M, Bouda said: “We looked around and used our common sense when coming up with the campaign. We observed the lives of our target audience and how they used social media.” He added that despite the campaign being launched nearly three years ago, it is still bringing in sales for the distributor. Currently, it has double-digital growth in the Australia market – about 20% above last year.

“We wanted to give Jägermeister a role to help spark a conversation.” This campaign, he added, was not “over branded” or pushing the brand message too hard. Yet the brand was presented in a way it should actually be consumed. “So, we launched it in a social setting and infused the branding in a more natural manner.”

While this campaign proved to be successful almost immediately, not all social campaigns are as lucky. To this, he explains, success should really depend on business goals and challenges. The challenge, however, was in managing expectations of senior management.

At times, stakeholders want to see ROI quickly, but brand-building takes time.

“For us, we were trying to change the perception which is heavily rooted in Jägermeister and the Jägerbombs to something else. Changing perceptions can take a few years,” he said. But for a new brand which simply wants to build awareness, the job is probably slightly easier than changing the already built brand equity and consumer belif.

“We are trying to educate customers that Jägermeister is so much more than Jägerbombs. So we thought, maybe if consumers are having fun and interacting with this campaign they will be more likely to listen,” he said. But at the end of the day, marketers must remember it is an investment, so results are expected.

Sometimes companies are afraid of being edgy or innovative. Other times, the marketers themselves are to be blamed for not living the life or understanding the life of the target audience on the ground. Bouda stressed nonetheless brands must dare to experiment based on insights on target audience’s lives. Then, thinking out of the box shouldn’t be so hard.

“We are not in a charity. We are in a business. So whatever you do, you should expect a return on investment.”

marketers to bring people together virtually or physically, the fans are likely to feel more a part of a community as well.

“It is amazing the magic that can happen by bringing them together. So you might not have spaceship, but your company has a fan base and they will probably think of themselves more

as fans if they are in the room with like-minded people,” she said. NASA, she added, is not trying to get “customers” through social media.

“What we have is a brand which is recognisable worldwide. The reaction for our brand is incredible; it is something people feel strongly and emotionally about.”

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Social media has changed how the world communicates – be it for a campaign, a product launch or even a dreaded crisis.

In fact, going forward it will change the rules of engagement in both everyday communication and crisis situations even more, said Dennis Owen, group manager of social media at Cathay Pacific Airways, who was speaking at the Socialbakers “Engage” Bali conference.

Last year, the brand faced its own terrifying crisis when its plane CX884 travelling from Hong Kong to Los Angeles had to make an emergency landing at a remote military airport in Alaska. This came after a smell of smoke was detected on board. During the scary situation, one passenger named Ethan Williams recorded a video of what was happening in the flight as the events were unfolding. This video was later circulated online and shortly after it was uploaded, it had more than 300 000 views. Currently, it has more than two million views and climbing.

“This video came out when the world didn’t yet have live video streaming such as Facebook Live,” Owen said. “These new features have changed our world drastically. Moreover, with the rise of smartphone penetration, most consumers are constantly taking videos and photos as well. Today, everyone is a reporter.

That’s just the reality we have to deal with in social media and crisis communication.”

Explaining the procedures that followed soon after the smoke smell was detected, he said that when such a situation occurs, the first move the captain makes is to change radio frequency to squat 7700. The second thing is to stabilise the plane and then depending on how long that takes, he contacts the base.

“But the moment the captain changes the radio frequency to squat 7700, this hits social media because of the numerous sites monitoring aircraft emergencies. News is already on social media before even the airline operations can hear about it,” Owen said.

In this particular incident, he said, it took only 60 seconds for flight monitoring websites to pick up the diversion news, and send a tweet out to the world of social. Since the reasons were not yet known, it was a tweet that carried the words “reason unknown”.

“The words ‘reason unknown’ draws a lot of interest,” he said, adding that this was when mainstream media also caught onto the news.

“Everyone likes to share news first. So these incidents can go viral very easily. We need to stay on top of it and communicate.”

Owen is also of the view that today, communication on a social channel takes precedence over traditional press releases during a crisis situation.

“The world is very different today for communication. In the past, it used to be about press releases and getting that out within the WWW.M A R K ET I N G - I N T ER A C T I V E.C O M

first hour. But that day is over. Today it is social media first,” he said.

During this crisis, in 48 hours the brand had nine social media posts and three press releases. He added that traditional news outlets have now lost the battle to the world of social.

As such, they are also on the lookout for news on social media.

“I think press releases are secondary to social media posts. But because traditional media is also under pressure to get news out quickly, the level of accuracy today can be somewhat compromised," he said. As such, brands need to watch who the media outlets are also speaking to on social.

“It is up to us as brands to understand how the fast change in social media affects us and how it affects communication during a period of a crisis.

“When there is a crisis, it passes. But in the world of digital and social media, the way the crisis was handled stays documented forever.

So the importance of communicating factually, I can’t stress enough,” Owen said.

He added that when you have a crisis, how

because there is a new tool doesn’t mean your community management will be completely different. You still need to create advocates to communicate on your behalf and drive consumers back to your social channels,” he said.

In a crisis, you need to lead the public back to your web page and your own social media sites – where the facts are and there is no speculation – brand ambassadors need to be planted and disseminated during a crisis situation.

“You need people on your behalf to lead the crowd back to the safe space,” he said.

Brands also need to actively monitor how the media shares news about your brand to the public and ensure accuracy – especially during a period of crisis where all parties are under tremendous pressure. He also added that brands should think about holding live videos of press conferences.

“You know people are going to be watching the news so wouldn’t you rather they watch it from your end which is accurate and factual?

Try to drive people to your own sites to get the

“When there is a crisis, it passes. But in the world of digital and social media, the way it was handled stays on forever.

So the importance of communicating factually, I can’t stress enough.”

Dennis Owen – group manager of social media at Cathay Pacific Airways

you communicate around the crisis can have more of a long-term brand impact than the actual situation.

“How you communicate is just as important, if not more important, to the brand in the long run. For us, we communicated quickly and effectively. But we were also lucky that the base we landed on had no Wi-Fi and neither did the plane. So when the customers began tweeting and taking to social media, they knew they were safe. As such, there wasn’t an extremely negative comment out of the hundreds out there,” he said.

“It is worth wondering what we would do if this happened today. Live video features such as Periscope and Facebook Live weren’t there in the past. But it is now. Ordinary people are using them during a crisis situation today,” he added.

As such, brands need to constantly re-evaluate their communication strategies during a crisis situation.

Be reactive and proactive Marketing and PR folks need to be reactive and monitor live videos, social media sites and conduct social listening for their brands.

But brands should not worry about new tools emerging every other day, said Owen. “Just

most accurate information,” he said. On the proactive side, marketers and communicators need to watch how other brands handle a crisis.

“When there is a crisis, go on social channels and see how other brands are reacting,” he said. Creating policies that suit your brand is also a must.

“Don’t wait or say I will think about it next year. Go out there and create your own policy around live feeds and how to handle it.”

Currently, Cathay has its own digital toolkit for a crisis communication.

“In my view, 99.5% of crisis will hit social media first and during a crisis you will be very busy. So you need to have a checklist in front of you. If you don’t have a crisis plan around digital and social, you should create one. Have this in place,” he said.

“If you have a crisis and you don’t handle it well in terms of communication, you will then have two problems on your hands. The crisis right now and the one going on in social media.

“But if you handle social media well, it can actually help you in the current crisis. So make sure you are doing it well and effectively.

“You will never be fully prepared for a crisis.

But the best way is to be prepared for that time.

Test and learn. Test and learn. Test and learn.”

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There is no doubt today that content marketing is the way forward, but making your content work for you is another ball game altogether. We check out what Malaysia’s top brand marketers are up to, and how they go the extra mile with their content marketing strategies.

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CHALLENGES FOR BSN AFTER THE RESOUNDING SUCCESS OF KUCING HAPPY Bank Simpanan Nasional’s (BSN) journey from a brand which was perceived by others as old, traditional or “laid back”, to one which resonated with the everyday man was not built in a day. In fact, it was a long journey fuelled by content. Creating content for the brand also meant facing a constant stream of trial and errors.

Speaking at A+M’s Content 360 Malaysia conference, Puspa Marina Omar, SVP of strategic communications at BSN, said that while management was quick to ask for justification and ROI, the role of content was not one which would lead to immediate results.

“You may not get ROI immediately with content, but content is about planting a seed in consumers’ minds. This is so that in the consumer’s subconscious somewhere, they know that your brand, and in our case BSN, exists in their mind,” she said. So while they might not spend with you immediately, you are in their frame of awareness and this will pay off in the long run, she explained.

“Get the engagement, get the reach and essentially build the relationship. You may get consumers coming to see you now, or you may not, but along the way you put the brand on their radar.”

Content creation, she argued, is not new.

It has been around for ages and is central to promoting your business. But the method in which content is now handled is different, primarily because the marketplace is changing, and hence, challenges that brands face in this current landscape are also evolving.

“All industries face the content creation problem as the space to stand out gets even more narrowed. “It is important for a brand to find its niche as customers no longer respond to a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Brands, as such, need to identify the challenges which are unique to themselves, their industry in particular, and especially within the organisation and business. For BSN, she added, it was about building relationships.

“At the end of the day, in the minds of Millennials, all financial products sound the same. A bank is a bank. For us in this industry, our clients don’t want just business solutions, they want more personal financing, and they want all that and more.”

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was done internally and externally, BSN took a long hard look to mine insights on what affected customers and its various stakeholders in the business. The brand found it had low brand recall. This was especially prevalent among the younger generation as they no longer felt they could resonate with BSN. This, said Omar, helped the brand come a long way.

“Get to know your customers and be intimate. Really know what makes them tick such as their likes and dislikes,” she said.

Before it underwent its major rebranding, BSN decided on the values it wanted to promote which were social togetherness and unity and resolved to make videos which showcased that. Its first project was #RojakBuah in 2014 which was set in conjunction with Merdeka. #RojakBuah was the first time BSN launched a digital campaign. The campaign garnered a reach of 2.8 million with an engagement rate of 50,000. It also had more than 300,000 views which was above the YouTube views benchmark of 8%. She added that while the company decided to try a new communication tactic, what it had to stay true to was its brand positioning, no matter the medium it chose to undertake.

“You must say the same thing, tell the same brand story and stay true to what the values and business propositions you are offering. If you do that, then along the line you will create trust and build relationships.”

Inspired by the success of the campaign, it decided to launch the (now very well known)

Kucing Happy, a six-part series which featured a talking cat. The video was a sensation with viewers. The response to Kucing Happy, said Omar, was beyond BSN’s imagination.

“We knew we would be doing six videos, but after the first three we realised we had to rewrite everything because the call to action was overwhelming. We had to respond to what was demanded from our audiences. “People didn’t believe that the spot came from the brand.”

While Kucing Happy garnered an amazing response for the brand, the next concern was figuring out how to sustain that momentum.

Consumer expectations of the brand and the content it produced were now sky high.

“Deciding on the concept of the video after Kuching Happy was a big challenge.”

While her management demanded a follow up to it, Omar and her team decided it was best they let viewers stay curious and put the series on pause for the time being. Instead, BSN decided to shift its content strategy to something else, in conjunction with the Hari Raya celebrations.

Pengacau Raya was born. BSN wanted to stay true to its beliefs in respecting diversity and appealing to Asians at large and had learnt from previous videos on what worked and what didn’t – even if it was small issues such as adding a translation from Malay to English and the like.

The video was inspired by real-life stories of people who married into different Malay cultures.

It featured a young man called Aloysius who was excited about his first Hari Raya.

From Omar’s point of view, the main takeaway from creating all the different videos over the past two years was finally creating content which resonated with consumers.

“It is all about trial and error. As you map your challenges and your objectives, don’t leave behind your gut feeling.

“It will tell you if something will work; and stay true to what you believe and how you want the company to be projected.”

She added staying alert to all that is surrounding you is also crucial. At the end of the day, she said it’s about being authentic and telling a story which keeps true to the organisation’s personality. A brand should not try to be something it is not as it needs to be able to create a sustainable campaign in the future.

“Say it in a manner that touches your viewers. Have an emotional connection to your viewers so you stay in their minds.”

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TRACKING YOUR CONTENT THE RIGHT WAY

While marketers and brands spend millions of dollars creating videos and content, they often forget the important step of amplifying the content. Jonathan Ye, head of social for mobile and emerging technologies at Marriott International, who was speaking at A+M’s Content 360 conference, highlighted that simply relying on organic reach hardly works in today’s world. Be it through the use of influencers or paid media, marketers need to extend their reach.

“If you don’t pay, you won’t reach anyone.

Organic reach doesn’t happen as much anymore. You need to create content, amplify it to reach new people, and then retarget them to drive ROI for your organisation,” he said.

It is now a must that marketers optimise, measure and track the success of their campaigns. He added that at the end of the day, content needs to resonate with people.

But many times, we also see companies trying to trend-jack for the sake of trend-jacking.

They create content that doesn’t mean 2 4 a d verti s i ng + marketi ng | N OV E M B E R 2016

much to their organisations or their targeted audiences, he said. That can result in a backlash.

One such example he gave was in Singapore, when train operator SMRT jumped on board to congratulate gold medallist swimmer Joseph Schooling when he won Singapore’s first gold medal at the Rio Olympics. The post highlighted his speed in swimming which resulted in commuters complaining Schooling was quicker than the train service.

Therefore, it is really vital for brands and marketers to create content that really matters and is relevant to the audience they are targeting. And not just for the sake of it.

How do you know when is the right time to create content?

A good content strategy will involve knowing your customers, creating smart content and then connecting everything, explained Ye. This also means crafting content that people actually care about and love. This can be done

essentially by using data, and “listening” to consumers to uncover opportunities to engage with audiences.

“It is about creating authentic stories and working with locals, be it baristas or fashion

“If you don’t pay, you won’t reach anyone. Organic reach doesn’t happen as much anymore.” designers. And then, creating content around that. Today, it is about creating content that adds value. It is no longer just about the brand first,” he said.

But while everyone knows the importance of authentic content, not everyone is able to create it well enough. Ye said the first step was always to build an emotional connection with them. Then, use data to get insights to understand who and where your customers are via platforms such as websites, apps and CRM. WWW. MARK E TING-IN TE RAC TI VE . C OM

He added Facebook was one company that does it well. “It’s a great advertising platform and no longer just a social media network.”

Social listening tools will also help in finding trends. In terms of search intent, marketers can also ask Google to obtain data such as places where people want to be the most, and create content around that, he added.

Christopher Ross de Cruz, Edelman’s associate director of corporate reputation, said that brands needed to be rigorous in listening to people that really matter.

“You can’t just have a content process and ignore everything else around you,” he said.

Also, while relevancy matters, so does the time, place and the mood. This was expanded further by Sea Yen Ong, vice-president of sales at Spotify, who said the holy grail of content marketing was about creating and bringing the right content together at the right time on the correct platforms.

“You can talk to someone at the right time, but they might not have the right mood to listen.

Listeners care about sound-tracking moments, so do brands,” he said.

Content, the low hanging fruit?

Grace Leong, corporate communications executive for Asia Pacific at Visa, added that content doesn’t stand alone. It needs channels.

But yet, she added, “content is the low hanging fruit you can play and experiment with”.

As such, she encourages brands to play around with new content ideas with new audiences while retaining the brand identity.

“If you are growing a brand, you don’t want to be the guy spending money, but not getting anywhere,” she said.

She added diversity was needed in a team, and as such, brands shouldn’t be afraid of hiring the young or those from different backgrounds.

They add a fresh perspective.

Ellina Roslan, senior manager of group marketing at Proton Holdings, said when Proton created its latest content push with local celebrities, it was experimenting a new way of doing things and did not have any set ROIs. For Proton’s latest campaign for Proton Persona, the Malaysian car brand kept to its Malaysian DNA and featured popular local actors Fazura and Zul Ariffin to promote the car.

The duo starred in an action-packed short film directed by Ghaz Abu Bakar. The promotional video which was four minutes and 35 seconds shows the two actors as undercover agents on a mission to steal Proton’s latest Persona which they plan to use to create a viral video. “We were not sure of the kind of reaction that we would receive from the WWW.M A R K ET I N G - I N T ER A C T I V E.C O M

The marketing world is starting to see more brands making major acquisitions and taking stakes in publishing firms. One such example would be the Rolling Stone, a leading voice of music and popular culture for nearly 50 years, which recently formed a partnership with BandLab Technologies, which took a 49% minority stake in Rolling Stone, alongside parent company Wenner Media.

As the world of content marketing grows, publishing firms are quickly catching the eye of marketers today. According to Hedvig Lyche, general manager of King Content, who was speaking at the A+M Content 360 Malaysia conference, ad buys are no longer enough to capture the audience’s attention. Rather, you need to own your own channel either by creating one or acquiring new ones.

“In owning their own channels, brands can own the complete conversation,” she said. This lets brands own the audience they want to reach out to.

“It is important to build your content on your own platforms to have control over the conversations occurring,” she said. She added, however, content marketing is not channel-centric or campaign-centric, it is a long-term investment.

“Don’t over push your products in a bid to use content marketing to reach your viewers. Content marketing is never just a campaign, it needs longevity,” she said.

While creating a permanent space to house brand content is important, the work behind creating it is also just as important, if not more important. “It’s not about creating a maximum amount of content. It is about creating a minimum amount with impact.”

Agreeing with Lyche was Ben Mahmud, head of retail marketing at Shell Malaysia, who explained that brands should become publishers to build brand love and resilience through the tough times. The brand recently took on content marketing as it celebrated its 125th year in the country.

He said Shell in Malaysia was initially viewed as “functional, premium, but distant”.

Hence, a brand reinvention was necessary and going into content was a necessary shift.

Using content, Shell Malaysia wanted to create emotionally and locally relevant communication materials. He said: “Consumers have become promiscuous when it comes to choosing brands.”

Hence, adopting a “spray and pray” mentality when it comes to traditional marketing is no longer good enough. You need to give them something more. Rather than enlist celebrities, Shell Malaysia decided to feature its own customers.

According to Mahmud, this was because real authentic stories had a higher resonance with the Malaysian public compared with celebrity endorsements. As such, the Shell #StationStories campaign was born. This saw the brand telling the stories of its customers rather than relying on a conventional brand campaign.

He said the brand wanted to emulate the “Humans of New York” feel so it focused on getting the customers’ stories out there.

“There was no storyboard and script, instead, we grabbed willing customers and asked them questions about their lives,” he said.

He added this tactic was used to make the campaign more authentic as opposed to one which seemed staged.

“You need to fulfil the spiritual needs of consumers aside from the functional ones.

Have a tone of voice and a personality to let the brand values shine through,” he said.

He added that when it comes to creating content, brands must be ready to spend on finding the “fanatics” of the brands and turning them into ambassadors. They must also be ready to invest on social media in-house and training their teams. Internally, he explained the importance in investing in community managers who are able to respond to all the comments.

community. People would either love it or hate it. It was a never-been-done-before approach to selling the USPs of a car,” she said.

Ultimately, she added, results were overwhelmingly positive. The Evolusi Persona teaser and short movie garnered 2.2 million views, over 27,000 shares, 97,000 reactions and gained more than 10,000 new fans on Facebook just within that month alone.

She added for her brand, Facebook was

the go-to platform where content is served, and the brand uses engagement rates and shares as key measures of success.

Also on the same note, Fionn Hyndman, commercial director for Asia Pacific at Outbrain, said if brand marketers don’t share their goals with their business partners, chances are those goals will not be met. As such an open conversation is necessary. “Don’t fly blind, it’s all about post-click analytics,” he said.

N OV E M B E R 201 6 | a dvert i s i ng + m a r ke t i ng 2 5

The Marketing Events Awards celebrate agencies in events and events marketing who are leading the charge across Southeast Asia, South Asia and the ANZ regions. This year we have a refreshed category line-up with an emphasis on digital. Carefully judged by more than 20 senior experts, the best performers were crowned “Event Marketer of the Year” and “Event Agency of the Year” at a gala ceremony on 7 October at Capella Singapore.

Take a look at the highlights from the night.

KELVIN TAN

DAWN LEE

Director of marketing, international A&W Restaurants

Director, corporate marketing Health Promotion Board

NADINA TYROPOLIS Brand activation director, Southeast Asia and Pacific Adidas Singapore

ELISA GABRIELLE SILBERT Head of global brand marketing ANZ Bank

MAUD MEIJBOOM-VAN WEL Marketing director Heineken Marketing Malaysia

MANU SETH Senior director of marketing – South Asia HTC

LI CHOO KWEK-PERROY Chief marketing officer AXA Singapore

CANDICE IYOG Vice-president, marketing and distribution Cebu Pacific Air

SUSAN LEE Head of activation, partnership and regions, marketing services Maxis

GOH THENG KIAT Chief marketing officer OCBC Bank

NORSIAH JURIANI JOHARI (JUJU) Managing director, consumer marketing CIMB Bank

KATHARINA POHL Head of marketing

LEE KIN SENG Director of marketing communications PARKROYAL on Pickering

KUNG SUAN AI Director of marketing Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

Cotton On Group

ARBIE ARTINIAN Head of marketing, Asia Pacific Electronic Arts

LOO HOEY THEEN Director of marketing Sunway Pyramid

ANDHINI PUTRI

RENAUD BESNARD

Head of marketing, Indonesia Facebook

Marketing director, APAC Uber

MELATI ABDUL HAI Senior director, marketing and communications Golden Arches Restaurants

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SCHRENE GOH Head, marketing communication, brand and digital U Mobile

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A NEW CHAMPION CROWNED

DBS was named Event Marketer of the Year in front of a crowd of more than 300 marketing and events professionals at the fifth annual Marketing Events Awards at Capella Singapore.

The bank won against more than 70 other organisations, walking away with four gold (Best Event – Ambience, Best Event – Branding, Best Event – Games/Contests and Best Event – Internal ); two silver (Best Event – Multi-Channel, Best Event – Sponsorship Activation; and three bronze awards (Best Event – Digital Integration, Best Event – Internal and Best Event – Use of Venue).

The wins were for several event campaigns, but it was the “DBS Marina Regatta 2016” that wowed the judges the most for branding, use of venue and digital integration, among other areas. For the fifth year, Singapore’s biggest water sports festival attracted more than 20,000 attendees and continued the bank’s aim to engage the community and promote Marina Bay under the theme “Live Awesome”.

Other top events for DBS included a SGWave competition for the PayLah! banking app and a B2B finance conference.

Following very closely on its heels was the National Youth Council with only one point separating them, according to the awards’ exponentialweighted point system, meaning four points are allocated for gold, two points for silver and one point for bronze.

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National Youth Council was awarded three gold, four silver and two bronze for the 11th Shine Festival 2016, an annual initiative to bring young people together under the theme this year of “Your Next Stage”.

Other high scoring brands in 2016 included AXA Singapore, Great Eastern Life and Jaguar Land Rover.

On the agency front, Pico Art International grabbed the title of Event Agency of the Year, bringing home the metal on behalf of clients, including Land Transport Authority, Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Singapore Future Exhibition. Its impressive trophy haul included four gold for Best Event – Community Service, Best Event – Government Sector, Best Event – Immersive Experience and Best Event – Use of Venue.

Pico had tough competition from agencies such as MLA, DSTNCT and FLY Entertainment who all put in solid performances to impress the jury.

The 2016 judging panel was made up of senior marketing experts from brands such as adidas, Uber, Heineken and Cotton On. A total of 86 trophies were presented to the leading event marketers, planners and agencies from across Southeast Asia, South Asia and ANZ. Marketing Events Awards 2016 was supported by partners SmsDome, Covetella, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Cellarmaster Wines, Graphiss Productions, Live!Studios and Epidemic Sound.

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EVENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR 2016 PICO ART INTERNATIONAL

EVENT MARKETER OF THE YEAR 2016 DBS BANK

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BEST EVENT – AMBIENCE

GOLD Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2016 Agency: MLA

SILVER Client: Unilever Singapore Campaign: Magnum Double: Magnum Mansion Agencies: Golin Singapore, Jack Morton Worldwide (Singapore)

BRONZE

BEST EVENT – ARTS AND CULTURE

GOLD Client: Select Group Campaign: The 50 Cents Fest Agency: Eventions Group Singapore

SILVER Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: The Events Artery

BRONZE

Client: Art and Performance Festival Melaka Campaign: Melaka Art and Performance Festival (MAPFest) 2015 Agency: E-Plus Entertainment Productions

Client: Art and Performance Festival Melaka Campaign: Melaka Art and Performance Festival (MAPFest) 2015 Agency: E-Plus Entertainment Productions

BEST EVENT – B2B

BEST EVENT – BRANDING

GOLD Client: AXA Singapore Campaign AXA Shield Agency: FLY Entertainment

SILVER Client: IBM Campaign IBM Connect Executive Xchange + Startup Xchange Agency: George P. Johnson

BRONZE Client: Under Armour Sports (SEA) Campaign: Under Armour Trade Event Agency: Mashwire

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GOLD Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2016 Agency: MLA

SILVER Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agencies: DSTNCT, Offset

BRONZE Client: MasterCard Campaign: MasterCard Legends Academy Agency: Octagon

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BEST EVENT – COMMUNITY SERVICE

GOLD Client: Land Transport Authority Campaign The Bus Carnival – Our Bus Journey Agency: Pico Art International

SILVER Client: Coway Campaign: Coway Beat The Heat Agency: Alpha245 Communications

BRONZE

BEST EVENT – CONSUMER

GOLD Client: Select Group Campaign: The 50 Cents Fest Agency: Eventions Group Singapore

SILVER Client: Marina Bay Sands Campaign: Epicurean Market

BRONZE

Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: DSTNCT

Client: Unilever Singapore Campaign: Cornetto Shake it Off Battle Agency: Golin Singapore

BEST EVENT – DIGITAL INTEGRATION

BEST EVENT – EXHIBITION

GOLD Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: DSTNCT

SILVER Client: ANZ Campaign: Novak’s World Agency: Octagon

BRONZE Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2016 Agencies: MLA, Performics

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GOLD Client: SkillsFuture Singapore Campaign: SkillsFuture Marketplace Agency: Experience Matters

SILVER Client: Ministry of Education Campaign: “Good Morning Cher: Our Schools, Our Teachers, Our Stories” SG50 Exhibition Agency: Milton Exhibits (Singapore)

BRONZE Client: HP PPS Asia Pacific Campaign: HP Consumer Partner Summit 2016 Agency: The Events Network

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BEST EVENT – GAMES/CONTESTS

GOLD Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS PayLah! S$100,000 SGWave Agency: Tribal DDB

SILVER Client: Unilever Indonesia Campaign: Rexona Gets Indonesia Moving with “AYO MOGER” Agencies: Opera Mediaworks, Mindshare

BRONZE

BEST EVENT – GOVERNMENT SECTOR

GOLD Client: Land Transport Authority Campaign: The Bus Carnival – Our Bus Journey Agency: Pico Art International

SILVER Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: The Events Artery

BRONZE

Client: Energizer Malaysia Campaign: Shop in the Dark Agency: Havas Kuala Lumpur

Client: Penang Global Tourism Campaign: Penang Trishaw Entourage Agency: Cake Experiential Communications (Asia)

BEST EVENT – HOME-GROWN

BEST EVENT – IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

GOLD Client: Great Eastern Life Campaign: Great Eastern Women’s Run 2015

SILVER Client: Eventscape Manila Agency: Elektromundo

BRONZE Client: Canon Singapore Agency: Canon Photomarathon XIII 2015

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GOLD Client: Singapore Future Exhibition Campaign: The Future of Us Exhibition Agency: Pico Art International

SILVER Client: Unilever Singapore Campaign: Magnum Double: Magnum Mansion Agencies: Golin Singapore, Jack Morton Worldwide (Singapore)

BRONZE Client: Twitter Campaign: Twitter #BuhayTwitter Agency: Excite

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BEST EVENT – INTERNAL

GOLD Client: DBS Bank Campaign: Battle of Champions Agency: 3radical

SILVER Client: AXA Singapore Campaign: AXA Shield Agency: FLY Entertainment

BRONZE

BEST EVENT – MULTI-CHANNEL

GOLD Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: DSTNCT

SILVER Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Asia Insights Conference 2016 Agencies: MLA, SPRG Singapore

BRONZE

Client: DBS Bank Campaign: “Cirque du Luxe – A Time to Dream” DBS 2015 D&D Agency: Milton Exhibits (Singapore)

Client: P&G Campaign: Downy Romance Hour Agency: Proximity Indonesia

BEST EVENT – POP-UP SHOP

BEST EVENT – PR/GUERILLA MARKETING STUNT

GOLD Client: Covetella Campaign: The Posh Pitstop (www.poshpitstop.com)

SILVER Client: Buro 24/7 Singapore Campaign: Buro 24/7 Pop Up Store Agency: R.S.V.P Agency

BRONZE Client: Penang Global Tourism Campaign: Penang Trishaw Entourage Agency: Cake Experiential Communications (Asia)

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GOLD Client: Changi Airport Group Campaign: Star Wars at Changi Airport

SILVER Client: Resorts World Sentosa Campaign: Universal Studios Singapore’s Halloween Horror Nights 5

BRONZE Client: Cotton On Campaign: 2016 CNY Campaign – Monkey Business Agencies: Fabulation, The Experience Architect

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BEST EVENT – PRESS/MEDIA

GOLD Client: AXA Singapore Campaign: AXA SmartFamily Agency: FLY Entertainment

SILVER Client: Pernod Ricard Singapore Campaign: Absolut Elyx Raw Lux Nights Agency: Whitewords

BRONZE

BEST EVENT – PRODUCT LAUNCH/RE-LAUNCH

GOLD Client: Jaguar Land Rover Campaign: Launch of the new F-Pace Agency: Mercury Events

SILVER Client: BMW Group Malaysia Campaign: Driving Luxury – Launch of G12 BMW 7 Series Agency: The Hot Shoe Show & Co

BRONZE

Client: Unilever Singapore Campaign: Magnum Double: Magnum Mansion Agencies: Golin Singapore, Jack Morton Worldwide (Singapore)

Client: Unilever Singapore Campaign: Cornetto Shake it Off Battle Agency: Golin Singapore

BEST EVENT – PRODUCTION

BEST EVENT – RETAIL

GOLD Client: Jaguar Land Rover Campaign: Launch of the Jaguar F Pace Agency: Mercury Events

SILVER Client: Under Amour Sports (SEA) Campaign: Under Armour Trade Event Agency: Mashwire

BRONZE Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: The Events Artery

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GOLD Client: Energizer Malaysia Campaign: Shop in the Dark Agency: Havas Kuala Lumpur

SILVER Client: Cotton On Campaign: 2016 CNY Campaign – Monkey Business Agencies: Fabulation, The Experience Architect

BRONZE Client: The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Campaign: The Shoppes Little Luxury Stars

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BEST EVENT – SOCIAL MEDIA

GOLD Client: Marina Bay Sands Campaign: Epicurean Market 2015

SILVER Client: Sime Darby Property Campaign: Subang Jaya 40th Anniversary Celebration – #SJ40 Agency: IPG Mediabrands

BRONZE

BEST EVENT – SPONSORSHIP ACTIVATION

GOLD Client: Standard Chartered Bank Campaign: Standard Chartered Trophy 2016; Liverpool Football Club sponsorship India activation Agencies: IBS, Blaq, PMG

SILVER Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2016 Agencies: MLA, Performics

BRONZE

Client: Asian Television Awards Campaign: #ATAturns20

Client: Great Eastern Life Campaign: Great Eastern Women’s Run 2015 Agency: Infinitus Productions

BEST EVENT – SPORTS

BEST EVENT – TARGETED COMMUNITY

GOLD Client: AIA Thailand Campaign: The Music Run™ by AIA Vitality Bangkok 2016 Agency: Exceed Sports & Entertainment

SILVER Client: Mizuno Singapore Campaign: Mizuno Ekiden 2016 Agency: Infinitus Productions

BRONZE Client: AIA Malaysia Campaign: The Music Run™ by AIA Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2015 Agency: Exceed Sports & Entertainment

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GOLD Client: Great Eastern Life Campaign: Great Eastern Women’s Run 2015 Agency: Infinitus Productions

SILVER Client: Unilever Singapore Campaign: Cornetto Shake it Off Battle Agency: Golin Singapore

BRONZE Client: Coway Campaign: Coway Beat The Heat Agency: Alpha245 Communications

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BEST EVENT – USE OF INFLUENCERS

GOLD Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: DSTNCT

SILVER Client: Marina Bay Sands Campaign: Sony Pictures Summit 2016

BRONZE

BEST EVENT – USE OF MOBILE

GOLD Client: Unilever Indonesia Campaign: Rexona Gets Indonesia Moving with “AYO MOGER” Agencies: Opera Mediaworks, Mindshare

SILVER Client: Unilever Philippines Campaign: Sunsilk Periscope & Facebook Live Agency: One Digital Media Group (1DMG)

BRONZE

Client: NESTLÉ Singapore Campaign: NESTLÉ NAN OPTIPRO 3. NURTURE YOUR CHILD Agency: Mashwire

Client: Singapore Marathon Campaign: Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore Mobile App Agency: Tata Consultancy Services

BEST EVENT – USE OF VENUE

BEST EVENT – VENUE EXPERIENCE

GOLD Client: Urban Redevelopment Authority Campaign: i Light Marina Bay 2016 Agency: Pico Art International

SILVER Client: National Youth Council Campaign: SHINE Festival 2016 Agency: The Events Artery

BRONZE Client: DBS Bank Campaign: DBS Marina Regatta 2016 Agency: MLA\

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GOLD Client: National University of Singapore Campaign: NUS Open Day 2016 at University Town

SILVER Client: SM Lifestyle Entertainment Campaign: SM Spells Magic with Disney

BRONZE Client: HP PPS Asia Pacific Campaign: HP Consumer Partner Summit 2016 Agency: The Events Network

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LAST WORD

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WHAT’S IN A NAME? Everything! Rezwana Manjur writes.

Recently I bought tickets for the wrong flight. Yup. On the 13th of October at 5am, I arrived with a healthy dose of caffeine already in my bloodstream to find out I had bought tickets to fly to Malaysia on the wrong day. My flight was scheduled to fly on the 20th – a week away from when I needed to fly.

Quickly, I ran to one of the on-ground staff at a rather popular budget airline to find out how I could salvage the situation. She said the only chance of help lay in the hands of the customer service folks. So I called the number handed to me. A chirpy automated voice greeted me and told me to summarise what I wanted in very specific words.

“Flight refund,” I said grimly.

The same Australian voice then proceeded to ask me my name on a first-name last-name basis.

“Like John Smith,” she urged.

“Rezwana Manjur,” I replied. She couldn’t catch that and so, very politely, she asked me to repeat.

“Rezwana Manjur,” I said again.

“Oh I didn’t catch that,” she said, and proceeded to once again ask me to repeat my name.

“Rezwana Manjur,” I said, frustrated. And then my automated friend gave up. She referred me to a customer care service operator. Long story WWW.M A R K ET I N G - I N T ER A C T I V E.C O M

short, by the time an actual human operator answered my call at 6am, I wasn’t the nicest of customers to her. And no, this was not just because I didn’t get a dime of my refund.

In fact, I’d like to believe (like most of you reading this post) that I am a rather nice customer under usual circumstances. I say my “pleases” and my “thank yous”. I try not to give waiters the stink eye if my food is late, even when I am “hangry”.

But what really annoyed me here was the sheer lack of cultural sensitivity. Here in Asia, you can’t possibly expect an easy name such as John Smith to come by often. Yes, we have a cosmopolitan culture and Caucasian sounding names, but we also have very ethnic ones too.

I am more than certain, there are many Asian names far more complicated than my own. I even dare say, I think many Caucasian names aren’t as simple as John Smith anymore either.

So, while I know this airline has been actively trying to embrace the local culture through many of its marketing tactics, which I was honestly impressed by, at that moment, I felt a little bit cheated (excuse the melodrama here).

And while I probably will still be a sucker for the next cheap promotion this airline offers, it has lost the star power in my eyes after this incident N OV E M B E R 201 6 | a dvert i s i ng + m a r ke t i ng 6 5