ED’S LETTER ................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Rezwana Manjur, Deputy Editor rezwanam@marketing-interactive.com Noreen Ismail, Journalist noreeni@marketing-interactive.com Editorial – International Matt Eaton, Editor (Hong Kong) matte@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 Johnathan Tiang, Sales Manager johnathant@marketing-interactive.com Ee Kai Li, Account Manager kailie@marketing-interactive.com Erica Loh, Account Manager erical@marketing-interactive.com Grace Goh, Account Manager graceg@marketing-interactive.com Laura Lai, Account Manager laural@marketing-interactive.com Ong Yi Xuan, Advertising Sales Coordinator yixuano@marketing-interactive.com Advertising Sales - International Sara Wan, Senior Sales Manager (Hong Kong) saraw@marketing-interactive.com Events Yeo Wei Qi, Regional Head of Events Services weiqi@marketing-interactive.com Circulation Executive Deborah Quek, Circulations Executive deborahq@marketing-interactive.com
“It’s a trend we see every year,” says those who have been in the marketing industry for a long time, regarding budget cuts in Q1 and Q4. Every year starts with tight budgets given the way events have unfolded in the economy in recent times; they loosen up somewhere in the middle and tighten again towards Q4 in preparation for the next year. All this thanks to the economic turbulence we have continued to see since 2007. I know most of you seasoned professionals will be nodding reading this. Perhaps the only certainty about global economies is the current uncertainty. No stranger to this trend, the marketing and advertising industry seems to have wrapped its head around the expected fluctuations. While on one hand clients are beginning to consider zero-based budgeting for marketing – think Unilever – agencies have started restructuring to get integration right, while continuing to achieve cost efficiencies – think Publicis. A few things are clear. Budgets will continue to move towards digital marketing which will, in turn, continue to see more integration with traditional mediums. Social and mobile will dominate marketing plans in organisations where they haven’t already and marketing will continue to become a broader company agenda than just that of a department.
Sales and marketing will inch closer at an unprecedented rate thanks to e-commerce and this will lead to many silos being torn down – between sales and marketing, IT and marketing, and so on. One other theme seems to be certain. Competition among traditional ad agencies will hit breaking point this year, given a series of interesting acquisitions we have seen thus far. PwC acquiring independent Hong Kong agency Fluid and IBM snapping up Resource/ Ammirati – its first acquisition of a digital marketing creative agency all signal towards the new normal. It will be the agencies that will feel the need to innovate more than anyone else in the industry. In this edition we ask marketers to pen down what they think will be the key themes for marketing this year. The answers ranged from content to mobile to integration to managing personal brands before anything else. We had fun compiling this edition, hope you have fun reading it too! Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com
Editorial Rayana Pandey, Editor rayanap@marketing-interactive.com
GLOBAL ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY: THE NEW NORMAL
Finance Evelyn Wong, Regional Finance Director evelynw@lighthousemedia.com.sg Management Søren Beaulieu, Publisher sorenb@marketing-interactive.com Tony Kelly, Editorial Director tk@marketing-interactive.com Justin Randles, Group Managing Director jr@marketing-interactive.com
Marketing is published 12 times per year by Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd. Printed in Singapore on CTP process by Sun Rise Printing & Supplies Pte Ltd, 10 Admiralty Street, #06-20 North Link Building, Singapore 757695. Tel: (65) 6383 5290. MICA (P) 180/03/2009. For subscriptions, contact circulations at +65 6423 0329 or email subscriptions@marketing-interactive.com. COPYRIGHT & REPRINTS: All material printed in Marketing 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 Marketing are not necessarily the views of the publisher. Singapore: Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd 100C Pasir Panjang Road, #05-01 See Hoy Chan Hub, Singapore 118519 198755 Tel: +65 6423 0329 Fax: +65 6423 0117 Hong Kong: Lighthouse Independent Media Ltd Unit A, 7/F, Wah Kit Commercial Building 302 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2861 1882 Fax: +852 2861 1336 To subscribe to Marketing magazine, go to: www.marketing-interactive.com
Rayana Pandey Editor
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