Marketing Magazine SG - Mar 2016

MARKETING MAGAZINE SINGAPORE EDITION

THE ART & SCIENCE OF CONNECTING WITH CONSUMERS

SINGAPORE

MARCH 2016

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Rezwana Manjur, Deputy Editor rezwanam@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 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 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

In the final season of my favourite TV show Mad Men, Roger Sterling, founding partner of Sterling Cooper & Partners, sells his agency to the big boys at McCann.

During the episode, the semi-drunk and jaded Sterling says: “This business doesn’t have feelings. You get bought. You get sold.

You get fired. An account moves, you move.”

Ironic, when it’s evident that it’s an emotional Sterling saying so. But we know what he is pointing to – the “corporatisation of advertising – a change that will brutally put business first, emotions second.

Ironic again, as that’s what brands are trying to achieve today with their customers – an emotional connection.

That’s where marketing differs from any other function in the boardroom. While keeping its business hat on, it is expected to form a long-lasting connection with consumers, understand what their wants and their customer journeys are, and in turn, add value to their lives.

And building that bond can’t simply be an external goal. It is as much internal as outward-focused.

You need to love and be emotionally invested in your job. The long hours are tough, clients can be tougher, campaigns can be complicated and budgets, well let’s not go there.

Without passion, great camaraderie and a solid team, chances of survival are close to zero.

Emotions are what the industry has been trying to get right all along. Think back on any great (or not-so-great) piece of work – what you will recall is not the marketer or the agency behind it, but the emotion it stirred up.

Nigel Hollis, chief global analyst at Millward Brown, takes it a step further saying that often, either tears or smiles are associated with good

ads. The fact is, every ad stirs an emotion. So even though our responses may not be intensely positive or intensely negative, they still are emotional.

Emotions are what drive us to change.

Last month, we saw and felt plenty of them.

We shared the frustrations of local fans when celebrity sweetheart Rebecca Lim duped the public on social media into thinking she was retiring – just for a marketing stunt.

This then raised the question of how far marketers can push the envelope when it comes to tugging at our heartstrings.

We also saw the local creative community outraged due to the demands of a government agency which forced the client to amend the demands; and forced other government agencies to reevaluate their procurement procedures.

Emotions have the ability to bring about real change and as much as numbers and data have their part to play, EQ shouldn’t take a back seat.

And in this edition, we discuss just that.

Happy reading!

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

WHY EMOTIONS ARE VITAL IN THE BUSINESS OF MARKETING

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

Rezwana Manjur Deputy editor

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CONTENTS

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

14 THE DAWN OF THE DIGITAL CMO The day will come sooner than we think for digital CMOs. Rezwana Manjur writes.

18 MAS’ REBRANDING: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CLIENTS CHANGE THEIR MINDS? With Malaysia Airlines’ rebranding now on the back-burner, is the airline losing credibility within its partner ecosystem? Rezwana Manjur finds out.

20 CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH TO WINNING NEW BUSINESS? You want to impress a client? Here are some key truths about getting their attention.

26 WHY MARKETING ROLES ARE NEGLECTED

BY SINGAPOREANS Fresh into the role, Gale Choong, of Unilever, talks about how she keeps her eye on the prize and her head in the game.

Why is it so hard to fill marketing roles with locals? Rezwana Manjur investigates.

28 PROFILE: GALE CHOONG, UNILEVER SINGAPORE’S HEAD OF MARKETING Gale Choong speaks to Rezwana Manjur on the struggles of a modern day marketer and what modern day marketing means to her.

32 REINVENTING THE WORLD OF RETAIL 38 ZERO-BASED BUDGETING: IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETING? Soon after Unilever said it would adopt this approach, discussions around zero-based budgeting have been aplenty. Rayana Pandey looks at the pros and cons of this approach.

46 MOB-EX AWARDS 2016 Read all about Audi and Publicis Singapore’s big wins at the Mob-Ex Awards 2016.

SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE!

18 14 KEY TAKEAWAYS: >> Challenges modern day marketers face. >> Why retail has to look beyond transactions. >> Tips to luring locals into marketing.

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ON THE COVER: Art Direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Edwin Tan — Lumina (www.animulstudio.com); Makeup & Hair: Nikki Fu using Urban Decay and Redken.(www.nikkifu.com)

Can the retail industry pull out of the gloom and doom successfully? Rezwana Manjur explores.

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NEWS

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WANT MORE BREAKING NEWS? SCAN THE CODE TO FIND OUT WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE INDUSTRY.

Joining forces Singapore-based PR firm Fulford Public Relations and Hong Kong communications agency Brand Rapport partnered up to create a new entity called Roco Communications. The tie-up aims to provide clients with sponsorship, communications and experiential marketing services across the Asia region.

The change reflects the new management and ownership of the agency, as well as a service offering that extends beyond traditional public relations.

A great IDEO Hakuhodo DY Holdings announced its strategic operating unit Kyu was investing in IDEO, a renowned design and innovation firm based in the US. It now has a 30% equity stake in the company.

IDEO has global offices in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Chicago, London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.

Hakuhodo also has the option to purchase a majority interest at a future date.

Esquire launches website Esquire Singapore launched a new website, esq.sg. Leveraging the skill and expertise of Esquire Singapore’s editorial team and combined with Esquire’s expert contributors based around the globe, esq.sg publishes daily features on style, watches, entertainment, women and all things for men at their best, in the engaging and immersive manner the magazine is famous for.

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For the greater good The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) appointed Asia PR Werkz for the management of public relations and online engagement for Total Defence 2016. Total Defence 2016 was a campaign organised to raise Singaporeans’ awareness of Total Defence. Asia PR Werkz developed and executed an integrated communication strategy that included media management and which oversaw the campaign’s online engagement efforts.

Dating help Local dating app Paktor appointed Asia PR Werkz on a retainer contract as its PR agency of record, following a pitch. The agency is tasked to manage the three brands under Paktor: namely Paktor (the mobile dating app), GaiGai (a bespoke dating agency) and Fleek (an image consultancy firm). It will work with Paktor on overall marketing and brand strategy and initiatives, public and media relations, digital and social media.

New content hub Independent PR agency SPRG launched a content hub – SPRG Newsroom – in its Singapore office. A culmination of the agency’s plans for the past three years, SPRG first made the leap into the ATL space in 2013 in an effort to hone its capabilities and prepare for the rise of content platforms. Facebook’s move from being owned to paid media signalled the need for change, said Edwin Yeo, GM of Singapore.

Fiji targets Singapore Tourism Fiji launched a new branding campaign. Called “Where Happiness Finds You”, the OOH campaign ran on Clear Channel’s bus and taxi shelters.

The campaign used images of Fiji to inspire Singaporeans to put Fiji on top of their next travel list. The campaign targeted professionals living and working in these prime and high-traffic locations. The campaign ran on Clear Channel mediums for four weeks until 24 February 2016.

Grabbing some attention As part of its rebranding efforts in introducing Grab, the transport app company took over static sites from Chevron House, Ocean Financial Centre to One Raffles Quay to showcase its new logo.

The spaces were “painted green” with SPHMBO’s large and bold green wall stickers placed at Chevron House. Ocean Financial Centre was also filled with its vibrant green and core message: “GrabTaxi is now known as Grab.”

OCBC opens its vault OCBC Bank set up a new financial technology (Fintech) unit called “The Open Vault at OCBC” to drive the ideation, prototyping and deployment of new technologies, innovative commercial business models and solutions. Led by Pranav Seth, OCBC Bank’s head of e-business and business transformation, The Open Vault at OCBC is focused on opening the bank’s doors to external innovation and ideas.

Taking its best shot mOOnshot digital, a boutique digital agency for premium and luxury brands, entered into a partnership with The Luxury Network Singapore, a private and invitation-only B2B club for premier brands and organisations.

The strategic partnership aims to fuel high-end brands with digital competence to grow and sustain in this digital era. The partnership also facilitates collaborations and opens new avenues for growth for its elite members.

AsiaMalls appoints Hoffman Property management company AsiaMalls Management appointed The Hoffman Agency Singapore as its public relations agency for the duration of 2016, with work that commenced in January.

The appointment came after AsiaMalls sought to increase the media presence of its brand in the Singapore market. The agency now handles all press and brand enquiries for AsiaMalls. AsiaMalls Management manages six malls and one office building in Singapore.

Havas absorbs Siren Havas Worldwide Singapore absorbed the Siren brand as it looks to offer clients one agency with a specialist PR, content and social communications team. The move sees strategic planning, creative, PR, social marketing, and content development all working together holistically, with group MD Andrea Conyard and GM Anna Chew both reporting to SEA CEO, Levent Guenes.

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New digital LED screen SPHMBO, the out-of-home advertising arm of Singapore Press Holdings Limited, relaunched its 313@somerset facade advertising space with a brand new digital LED screen.

Situated prominently along Orchard Road, the coveted and unblocked screen sees sharper display resolutions capable of conveying any messages effectively to the outdoor audience day and night. In conjunction with the relaunch, SPHMBO rolled out a Valentine’s Day wefie contest to promote interaction with consumers.

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Visa launches payment service Global payments company Visa launched its online payment service Visa Checkout in Singapore. The service is currently accepted at online retailers in Singapore, including Golden Village, Spizza, Cold Storage, Guardian, Giant, Aviva and comGateway. More retailers across a variety of industries, including online travel agency Zuji and supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice, are set to come on board in the next few months.

Local help DSTNCT and Duo Studio are selected by AsiaMalls as its new social media agencies of record.

The youth-led creative start-ups will jointly manage social media marketing efforts across all six of AsiaMalls’ platforms with effect from January 2016. The pitch was held last year in December.

This was a first for AsiaMalls which has appointed an AOR for all six malls.

A new restructure Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and Media Development Authority (MDA) reorganised into two new agencies: namely the Government Technology Organisation of Singapore (GTO) and the Infocommunications and Media Development Authority (IMDA). The restructuring followed the launch in August 2015 of the Infocomm Media 2025 plan, the first integrated industry development plan for the infocommunications and media sectors. The formation of the new entities aims to recognise the importance of the “digital economy”.

Showing some vision Asia PR Werkz was appointed

by Qingjian Realty for the launch of The Visionaire, an upcoming executive condominium in Sembawang. The agency is hired for a period of six months.

The agency is tasked to develop and execute the PR strategy for the Visionaire leading up to the launch, targeted at aspiring EC homeowners in Singapore. The account is led by director Ginny Ann-Oh. Revamped news Mediacorp appointed VML Qais Singapore and Aperto to undertake a major upgrade of Channel NewsAsia’s digital properties. The move came following a tender process that invited digital marketing and design agencies from around the world. New apps and a responsive website will be built from the ground up, with the user-centric design and experience to be developed

by VML Qais Singapore.

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Another successful Moove After the success of its Jewel Taxis, Moove Media extended the same concept on SBS Transit’s single deck buses. The Moove Jewel Bus came fitted with twodimensional advertisement boards on each side of its rooftop. The boards are about six metres in length with LED lights. They light up when the bus captain switches the headlights on, ensuring visibility even at night.

Banking on Performics DBS Bank appointed Performics as its new agency of record following a pitch from September last year. The appointment started in February 2016 for two years. The account covers the Singapore market only. Performics is responsible for DBS’ online and offline buys in Singapore. Lim Bee Bee, head of marketing, consumer banking group Singapore for DBS Bank, told Marketing: “Throughout the pitch process, the Performics team stood out for their deep understanding of performancebased marketing.”

New specialised team launched J. Walter Thompson and Mirum Singapore launched the Social Team, a new social media offering that provides clients access to digital, analytics, content, strategy and creative expertise across both agencies through one specialised team.

The Social Team is headed up

by Ivan Ng and Kimberley Olsen, who joined Mirum in January 2015 to set up a specialist department to drive the agency’s social business.

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Japan, Singapore join forces The Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) entered into a memorandum of co-operation (MOC) that aims to drive greater awareness of both popular tourist destinations and build stronger two-way tourism traffic. This is the first MOC between both organisations. The occasion also marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Singapore. A tourism logo was jointly developed featuring Hello Kitty and Dori-tan.

Epic moments Local bank DBS invited the public to share their memories and aspirations at the National Gallery through a social media activation. The social media campaign called “DBS Singapore Gallery Epic Moments” ran on Facebook and Instagram. On 16 January, about 30 Singaporeans were also invited to participate in a unique community collaboration, where they recreated their special life moments or formed new memories with their families and friends.

Changi reappoints JWT Changi Airport Group (CAG) reappointed JWT Singapore as its creative AOR for another three years, after a pitch that involved eight agencies. CAG also appointed social influence marketing agency GOODSTUPH as its social media agency of record. JWT will continue its role in advancing the brand’s communication vision across all parts of the business, including operations, commercial and air hub services.

Brighter prospects Starwood Hotels & Resorts Asia appointed iProspect as its content marketing agency for APAC following a pitch. The appointment comes ahead of the brand launching a new content hub which iProspect will be assisting in creating. Starwood has confirmed the win to Marketing, but declined to comment further. Starwood also clarified that the pitch was a closed door one and was by invite only.

Cleo Singapore to continue SPH Magazines confirmed in a statement that despite Cleo Australia making plans to cease publishing the Australian edition of the title this year, the Singapore edition will be not affected.

Cleo Malaysia and Indonesia will also continue its local publications of Cleo. The title first came under SPH Magazines when it acquired ACP Singapore in 2011. SPH Magazines then took over full ownership of the Cleo titles for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Lonely hipsters To help lonely hipsters find true love, Magners launched Tinster – a dating app which boldly promises to create “bespoke connections between bespoke people”. Shot in Singapore and produced by Qrious Lab, a film was released on 18 January on the Magners Asia Facebook page, and seeded via social channels. The new tongue-incheek campaign, produced by Host Singapore, featured an online film and a microsite, where like-minded individuals with similar interests can connect with one another.

SingPost integrates Singapore Post (SingPost) integrated its e-commerce division, SingPost e-commerce, with leading US-based e-commerce providers TradeGlobal Holdings, which SingPost recently acquired, and Jagged Peak to launch SP Commerce. The new business unit aims to build a global e-commerce logistics solution and to provide access to China and the rest of the Asia Pacific markets. SP Commerce, an omnichannel enablement for global brands and retailers, facilitates commerce between geographies.

No complications IKEA launched a Valentine’s Day campaign on Facebook for those who believe love is complicated.

“For those who believe that love is complicated, IKEA has the solution to get you through Valentine’s this year. Introducing the IKEA love manual – for troubleshooting your relationship woes,” IKEA said. The campaign ran in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand and was created with the help of BBH Asia Pacific.

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New partnership for JWT J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) has inked a strategic partnership with Mio Global – a wearable technology company.

The Mio partnership is overseen by the agency’s innovation group.

The unique alliance with Mio gives JWT the ability to communicate directly, connect and innovate with one of the technology sensor brands. Mio recently unveiled PAI, a groundbreaking algorithm which finally makes sense of heart rate data for the ordinary consumer.

Brash new strategy With the rapid rise of financial technology (FinTech), the Bank of East Asia (BEA) opened its first BEA innovation centre in Hong Kong to underscore its digitised banking services with the help of branding agency Brash. BEA has partnered with Brash to create a brand experience strategy that resonates its ambitions of creating a digital omni-channel retail banking experience in the region.

New technology approach Group M’s Maxus Worldwide launched Maxus Technology Consulting, a new division which advises businesses on the most effective use of technology in their marketing programmes.

The consultancy will utilise a rigorous proprietary framework and methodology, based upon established management consultancy approaches. The approach will consider a client’s existing marketing technology framework, along with its specific business objectives, to identify the most effective future-facing marketing technology strategies.

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Yahoo cuts workforce Search giant Yahoo is cutting 15% of its workforce as it looks to reduce operating expenses by more than US$400 million by the end of 2016. To that end, Yahoo plans to also exit five offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Milan. It’s expected that most of these changes will take place in Q1, but by the end of 2016, the company anticipates having about 9,000 less employees and fewer than 1,000 contractors.

New identity MullenLowe Group unveiled plans for its new global corporate identity. This followed the formation of the network from the merger of IPG agencies Mullen in the US with global creative network Lowe and Partners.

The new brand identity aims to position MullenLowe Group as a global creative boutique, with a challenger approach delivered through a “hyper bundled operating model”. The MullenLowe Group network consists of four main brands: MullenLowe, MullenLowe Profero, MullenLowe Mediahub and MullenLowe Open.

Pharma win Pfizer moved a portion of its media buying business to IPG Mediabrands in Hong Kong, including some pharmaceutical brands previously held by Mindshare. Among the bigger names from its stable of pharmaceutical products are Viagra and Metamucil, however, cardiovascular products Lipitor, Norvasc, along with Harmonet, were also part of the deal. Maxus already holds the bulk of Pfizer’s over-the-counter consumer products, including Centrum.

Generous packages on offer 21st Century Fox is looking to cut costs by US$250 million and will offer a “generous benefit package” to staff who voluntarily resign by 23 May. An internal memo stated the move was in response to rapid industry changes and that colleagues who fit a specific set of criteria will be offered a “generous benefit package” if they decide to voluntarily resign.

Global approach Coca-Cola CMO Marcos de Quinto revealed a new “one brand” global marketing strategy that has united Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life under the one iconic Coca-Cola brand positioning. The shift, unveiled globally out of Paris, was first trialled in the UK in 2015. It is now being rolled out across the globe.

WeChat launches wallet WeChat Pay launched its latest WeChat wallet in Hong Kong. The in-app payment supports payments for tickets, transportation services and travel products. Users can also benefit from a list of partnerships with local merchants that provide exclusive promotions and campaigns, including discounted tickets for local theme parks and sightseeing spots.

More markets for BBDO BBDO was awarded creative duties for seven more MetLife Asia markets: China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The appointment comes two years after BBDO Hong Kong secured the MetLife account in August 2014. Work will commence with BBDO offices tasked to help build a differentiated MetLife brand in Asia. Omnicom Media Group is responsible for strategic media buying and planning across all communication channels for MetLife for the above markets.

HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST?

WHERE HAPPINESS FINDS YOU

In conjunction with the launch of Fiji Airways’ direct flights from Singapore to Fiji, Tourism Fiji launched a new branding campaign.

Called “Where Happiness Finds You”, the OOH campaign ran on Clear Channel’s bus and taxi shelters. The campaign used images of Fiji to inspire Singaporeans to put Fiji on top of their next travel getaways list.

Through one of Clear Channel’s latest formats, the wrap, Tourism Fiji created a visual treat at 40 carefully selected bus or taxi shelters in the Central Business District and Orchard region.

The campaign targeted professionals living and working in these prime and high-traffic locations. It cost about SG$9000 to produce 40 wraps.

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Sony hands out business Sony concluded its global media agency business with a chunk of its business now sitting with UM and MediaCom. Marketing understands that in APAC the duties for Sony Pictures are split between OMD and UM. Incumbents UM will also be handling duties in the Singapore market which is its APAC hub.

Meanwhile, globally, MediaCom handles the business for electronics, Playstation and mobile.

Merger completed ComScore announced that it completed a merger with Rentrak and the two were now one as the “new comScore”. The company said it would use a massive data scale to establish “new currencies” for understanding consumers’ multi-screen behaviour, and provide a more precise understanding of brand and consumer behaviour. “This merger brings together two great entrepreneurial companies that invented their respective fields and their respective trusted currencies,” said Serge Matta, CEO of comScore.

Stylish partner Hugo Boss, the German premium fashion brand, appointed SapientNitro, part of the Publicis.

Sapient platform, as its new digital lead agency. Together, both partners aim to enhance the omni-channel experience for consumers and redefine how content and commerce can be merged across channels.

At the core of the partnership, SapientNitro will run the brand’s digital platforms, including the primary website hugoboss.com.

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Cutting ties German sportswear company adidas AG is said to have cut sponsorship ties with the International Association of Athletics Federations following the scandal currently plaguing the sport. This means that the sporting giant may end its sponsorship deal nearly four years early, according to the BBC. Adidas’ 11-year deal with the organisation made it the biggest sponsor of the athletics’ governing body.

Data partnership Dentsu Aegis Network China formed a strategic partnership with UnionPay Smart, a China UnionPay company specialising in big data applications. Combining the existing big data analytics of UnionPay Smart, with advertising and user browsing behavioural insights from Dentsu Aegis Network, the two parties will codevelop and operate a precision brand marketing platform for advertising to provide data-driven marketing solutions for brands.

Dragonair rebrands Cathay Pacific rebranded its wholly owned subsidiary Dragonair as Cathay Dragon to strengthen connectivity with Mainland China. The two brands remain as separate airlines, operating under their own licences, but will now be much more aligned. The rebranding, said Cathay, aims to capitalise on the parent company’s international brand recognition and leverage on Dragon’s connectivity into Mainland China – one of the world’s fastest growing business and leisure travel markets.

AUDIT WATCH

LOOKING FOR CREDIBILITY On 1 January 2016, publishing house Global Business Press renamed its Asian Defence & Diplomacy to Asian Defence Technology (ADT).

ADT was fi rst launched in 1994 and the magazine decided to begin the audit process in early 2014.

The magazine has eight issues a year. Currently the total average circulation per issue of ADT is 10,826 and is audited by the ABC. According to Siva Sachi, chief operating officer of Global Business Press, the organisation decided to enter the audit process to increase the credibility of the magazine in the eyes of advertisers and garner their confidence with the circulation ADT claims to have.

“Advertisers want to know they are getting a good return on their investment. Therefore, every reader of a publication has a value to the advertiser. Publishers are then

Glowing roses To mark Valentine’s Day, AllRightsReserved, along with five other local parties, transformed two iconic landmarks in Hong Kong into a sea of glowing roses, as part of a global art initiative “Light Rose Garden”. Originating from Korea, the exhibition was made up of 25,000 glow-inthe-dark roses installed with LED lights. This romantic set-up generated a huge buzz since it was displayed outside the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.

Start-up programme Publicis Groupe rolled out Publicis90 to celebrate its 90th anniversary by selecting 90 start-ups in the digital field to mentor and fund. To take part, projects can be submitted via the Publicis90 platform. The programme is open to students, new start-ups, entrepreneurs or even Publicis employees anywhere in the world. The project is managed by Maxime Baffert, CEO of Proximedia.

motivated to claim a greatly inflated circulation in order to justify the return to the advertiser,” Sachi said.

He added if a publication was audited, then the advertiser was confident that the claim on the circulation was true as it had been verified by a reputable third-party audit bureau such as the ABC.

Rocking new deal Sporting apparel brand Under Armour partnered with actor, producer and global superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to create a range of products across footwear, apparel and accessories as well as support its connected fitness initiatives.

This partnership includes the collaborative development of original content, inspired by the actor’s lifestyle, fitness regimen, and philanthropic initiatives.

Johnson plays an integral role in the promotion of Under Armour’s connected fitness platforms, including the recently debuted Under Armour HealthBox and Record application.

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1 Campaign Giant Brief The campaign was conceptualised to create brand awareness for Singapore’s latest insurance entrant, China Life Insurance. Being China’s largest insurance company, the concept sought to position the gargantuan in the minds of the target audience as a “Giant of Life Insurance” via its 2.29 metre brand ambassador and basketball icon, Yao Ming. The island-wide campaign ran in print, outof-home and on online platforms.

Client

China Life Insurance Singapore

Creative

Addiction Advertising

Media

Bioperfect

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2 Campaign “Ready for Life: both now and later.”

Brief Manulife Singapore launched a new brand campaign encouraging everyone in Singapore to be “Ready for Life: both now and later”. The integrated campaign, developed with creative partner Tribal Worldwide Singapore, will extend across multiple media channels, including print, out-of home, digital and social.

Client

Manulife Singapore

Creative

Tribal Worldwide Singapore

Media

Maxus Singapore

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NEW WORK ................................................................................................................................................................................................................

3 Campaign CPF New Members Programme Brief The CPF Board (CPFB) introduced its new members programme to connect with and seed appreciation for the CPF system in new CPF members who have just started working regularly. CPFB also took the opportunity to equip them with relevant CPF information across multiple platforms, such as an introductory booklet, electronic mailers, talks and the CPF starter app.

Client

Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board

Creative

Wild Advertising & Marketing

Media

MediaCom

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4 Campaign Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League season Brief The S.League and SMRT Commercial inked a deal to promote Singapore’s only professional sports league. This collaboration will bring Singapore football and clubs closer to more than two million passengers across the SMRT transport network – in formats such as S.League concept trains and video content – showing goals and highlights on the screens, as well as localised club advertisements in strategic MRT stations.

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Client

Football Association of Singapore S.League

Creative

SMRT Media

Media

SMRT Media

SUBMISSIONS PLEASE SEND US YOUR BEST NEW WORK REGULARLY IN HIGH-RES JPEG OR PDF TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THESE PAGES. EMAIL RAYANAP@MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.COM

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29/2/2016 7:32:14 PM

OPINION: AD WATCH/WEB WATCH

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Shaun Quek Managing director TMRW

AD WATCH HOT: StarHub Home by Homes

NOT: Hertz

Having high expectations of the creatives developed in commemoration of our Golden Jubilee, nothing really revealed a facet of Singapore that we had not seen before. And this was despite the sheer amount of SG50 work that was paraded everywhere. But call me sentimental (or patriotic), this piece stood out simply because it celebrated all I love about what I do: people. The idea to give visibility to these folks we typically do not see in our day-to-day life, people who are sometimes even forgotten in society was a brilliant one; no one should be left behind as we marked one of the biggest celebrations in our short history. I also felt this subtly became the perfect tribute to the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his legacy – this is home truly, where I know I must be.

“When there are troubles to go through; we’ll find a way to start anew; there is comfort in the knowledge; that home’s about its people too.”

Delivered from the heart, straight to the gut. #allthefeels #allthewins.

Isolating icons such as the Big Ben clock tower and House of Parliament at the edge of London, this ad pokes fun at the fact that people rush to London just to see these very attractions, while not realising there is so much more to English culture than just its famous tourist sites. These other aspects of English culture literally fall off the map.

Consumers should venture beyond, and for that they need wheels. Up against the famously convenient London tube system and an equally impressive network of railways and trains that connect people out of the city, any car rental company would already be at a disadvantage.

This ad unfortunately becomes restrictive in that it requires a lot of thought to arrive at this conclusion. It doesn’t value-add its target audience; it neither promises a service nor alludes to its product and is confusing at first glance.

Pat Law Founder GOODSTUPH

WEB WATCH HOT: www.gebiz.gov.sg

NOT: www.hpb.gov.sg

Finally, the awkward teenager with a civilisation of terrible acne finally comes of age.

All suits assigned to tracking government tenders rejoice!

First, the website finally understands her visitors. Let’s face it, none of us visit GeBIZ to watch a corporate video.

Upon arrival at the website, you see what you need – a big-ass search bar that allows you to key in the tender document number and download the brief your boss wants on his desk the next day. For the overzealous, there’s even a function to search on tenders issued as of the day called “today’s opportunities”. To top it off, there’s even a virtual assistant called Jamie you can speak to, engineered with pre-determined search queries, and a badass AI with attitude! I asked, “Are you single”, only to be told by Jamie, “I am sorry, but that is a bit personal to answer”.

Brilliant, simply brilliant.

The website feels like a bunch of marketing people gave up trying to convince top management why their website is dated, or perhaps the budget got massively cut, and they cannot afford to download a free template from the internet which quite easily could beat its current layout hands down.

Apart from the annoying carousel banners that are used to please every noble stakeholder within HPB and their health initiatives, the website is peppered with unnecessary functions. The option to select three different font sizes is embarrassing in a world where fonts are to be responsive. And that button to pause a banner – are you kidding me? The section on videos is funny though. I’m glad HPB has a sense of humour. Sure, there are visitors who would visit HPB so they can view a video named corporate video.htm. I kid you not. That is, indeed, the selected image frame for their video screen.

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DIRECT MAIL CASE STUDY

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BBC GETS IN YOUR FACE The BBC shows marketers across Asia that the truth about content marketing is staring them in the face.

Facing a new future: The BBC’s research has enabled it to find out the true emotional responses from viewers.

While brands are investing more into content marketing, no one can confidently measure how effective a content marketing piece is.

Well, until now. BBC’s direct marketing piece showcased the organisation’s new research which used state-of-the-art facial coding technology to understand the emotional impact of content-led marketing and show its effectiveness.

No other similar research has been conducted by any publisher before. In its research, the BBC asked 5,153 digital consumers of English language international news across Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, US, Canada and Germany to view content on bbc.com. Facial movements were recorded on

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a second by second basis and then coded into six possible emotions: sadness, puzzlement, happiness, fear, rejection and surprise.

This enabled the BBC to find out the emotional response of each person and how they truly felt about the content they were viewing – rather than just relying on traditional analytics such as dwell time and page views.

The concept of the DM piece centred around the insight that one’s natural (facial) reaction is a more accurate reflection of one’s feelings towards the advertisement than a solicited comment. The DM piece aimed to simply deliver the key research findings on an eye-catching mirror with key facts printed on it and an audio visual screen within the pack which played a short video summarising the key findings from the research.

The DM piece was targeted at brand marketers and media agency staff who are already investing in content marketing or plan to in the future. Alongside the DM piece, we also issued a press release to the trade press and also hosted a launch event in Singapore for trade audiences and clients. So far, it has received

about a 10% response from the event in the form of enquires. With future events planned for Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, a total of 250 pieces will be distributed across Asia.

THE MAIL Objective: To showcase the BBC’s new research which uses facial recognition technology to show the effectiveness of content-led marketing.

Target audience Brand marketers and media agency staff who are already investing in content marketing or plan to in the future.

Results: A 10% response from the Singapore event in terms of enquiries.

Terri Seow Vice-president, marketing and insights, APAC, BBC World News

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29/2/2016 7:36:19 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

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THE DAWN OF THE DIGITAL CMO The day will come sooner than we think for digital CMOs. Rezwana Manjur writes.

The rise of the digital CMO is imminent. And it is going to happen probably sooner than we think.

In a conversation with Marketing, Wendy Heng, associate director of sales and marketing, healthcare, supply chain and procurement, at recruitment firm Robert Walters, says by simply observing how consumers interact with brands, it is evident it will be beneficial for companies if CMOs came from a digital background.

While she believes this revolution may happen as soon as the next five years, she is quick to admit that for more traditional organisations such as FMCG brands this may take a little longer. However, at this point of the game, finding good digital marketers across most industries, she says, is still a challenge.

“Digital marketing is up and coming – and a lot of roles we recruit for are based on either broad-based digital marketing managers or specialist roles such as a SEO specialist, social media and digital analyst. However in this arena, Singapore is still relatively young compared to markets such as the US and UK and it’s a struggle to find the right talent,” she says.

So where does one find great digital talent?

According to Heng, clients looking to make marketing hires in Singapore generally prefer those with regional exposure and with both client and agency side experience.

But when it comes to digital they are more open. When clients come knocking on her door for good digital candidates, Heng often tries to convince them to pull in talent from the agency side because agencies have stronger talent pools.

Geographically as well, clients are also more willing to take in candidates who may not have worked in the region because digital capabilities are not bounded by locations.

Nonetheless, a good sign seems to be that currently 82% of overseas Singaporeans are keen to return home given the right incentives after gaining overseas exposure.

This number, according to a recent Robert Walters study, cuts across industries such as sales and marketing, accounting and finance, compliance, human resources, information technology, sales and marketing, banking and financial services and technical healthcare.

Heng explains this could be because there

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The changing landscape: The rise of the digital CMO indicates a huge shift in marketing.

is a huge shift in focus in APAC and Singapore which has many APAC and regional structures in place.

“Many returning locals and foreign talent alike, move here for greater exposure and opportunities. Being the APAC hub, in Singapore you really get more market exposure,” she says.

Keeping the talent is still a challenge Heng admits she has learnt to accept the fact that people no longer stay in companies for decades. While in areas such as marketing or in-house communications, the average lifespan is about three years, in digital it is as low as

18 months. “It used to floor me when people moved in just 18 months, but in the world of digital, people are driven by things they are able to do. So while some companies might sell Millennials the dream of going digital, they might not be able to evolve fast enough, and hence, people move,” she says.

She explains that Millennials are also always looking for the next big challenge and this may come as often as every two to three months.

“Millennials are not as interested in depth as breadth, and for many, progression is not vertical it is about making or experiencing something different,” she says.

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1/3/2016 5:12:15 PM

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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TIPS ON HOW TO SPOT DOPPELGÄNGER SITES Noreen Ismail says there are a number of ways to recognise doppelgänger sites.

Government bodies are having a tough time lately dealing with an advent of fake sites.

The Work Development Agency recently had to issue an official statement on its Facebook

page, warning users of two doppelgänger sites that have used its SkillsFuture initiative to set up URLs that might confuse the public.

The rise of bogus sites spinning off

from government agencies is not a new phenomenon. In Singapore alone, last year, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) were examples of

Worrying times: The rise of bogus sites spinning off from government agencies is not a new phenomenon and consumers need to be on the lookout.

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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government ministries plagued by technological disruptions. What followed was a series of fake websites posing as the aforementioned parties, aggravating the ordeal.

The common nature of these bogus sites is they tend to prompt the user to log in or register in order to gather personal data while confusing the public.

Naturally, the affected parties must act fast to nip the situation in the bud. In the case of WDA’s hijacked SkillsFuture brand, Kelly Ho, lawyer and managing director for Kel LLC, said that some possible options for the government

“Prior to a launch, companies need to put in place a robust plan to ensure that consumers know how to recognise the correct website. If it is a big launch, they also need to anticipate phishing attacks and also look at buying the URLs of similar sounding websites to ensure that customers who mistakenly go to these web addresses are redirected accordingly.”

John Bai — director of security response, Symantec.

agency to consider were: 1. Commence an action in court for trademark infringement and/or passing off.

2. For “.sg” domain names, submit a complaint to the Singapore Network Information Centre, a wholly owned subsidiary of IDA. If WDA succeeds, then the domain name will have to be cancelled or transferred to WDA. 3. For non “.sg” domain names, submit a complaint to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

WDA can commence the court action and/ or submit the complaints arguing the following grounds: (i) The registrant’s domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which WDA has rights. (ii) The registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name. (iii) The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

Prevention is always better than cure John Bai, director of security response at Symantec, said that education was a key component when it comes to protecting a brand’s website. While doppelgänger websites may not always be fraudulent in nature, it is important for consumers to be aware of the official website they should be referring to.

“Prior to a launch, companies need to put in place a robust plan to ensure that consumers know how to recognise the correct website.

If it is a big launch, they also need to anticipate phishing attacks and also look at buying the URLs of similar sounding websites to ensure that customers who mistakenly go to these web addresses are redirected accordingly.”

He pointed out that many of the current phishing techniques rely on driving customers to spoofed websites to capture personal information.

“As such, technology such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Extended Validation (EV) SSL are critical in fighting phishing and

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other forms of cybercrime by encrypting sensitive information and helping customers authenticate your site.”

He also shared the following tips on how to spot doppelgänger websites: • Incorrect address Always check the address bar and verify that all is as it should be. If you are suspicious, do a domain Whois look up to see who owns the domain. The result will tell you the registrar (company that the domain was purchased through), when it was created, when it expires as well as contact details.

•

Check domain name Another easy way is to check the domain name in Google – if you type the domain name into Google, if it is a real site, there should be links to that website from other websites. If only the domain comes up and no other search result appears for that domain name, then it is very suspicious.

•

Check if the login, create account, and payment pages are secure Many fake or doppelgänger sites will not bother to buy an SSL certificate. SSL certificates secure the transfer of your data when you submit sensitive information (creating an account, or submitting payment info) and cost money. A scam site, quite often, will not bother with an SSL certificate, as the site will likely be shut down within a couple months after the fraud has been reported.

•

Beware of links shared via email Users should not use links in an email to connect to a website unless they are absolutely sure they are authentic. Instead, open a new browser window and type the URL directly into the address bar. Often a phishing or doppelgänger website will look identical to the original – look at the address bar to make sure that this is the case.

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1/3/2016 5:56:36 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

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MAS’ REBRANDING IN LIMBO: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CLIENTS CHANGE THEIR MINDS? With Malaysia Airlines’ rebranding now on the back-burner, is the airline losing credibility within its partner ecosystem? Rezwana Manjur finds out.

Grounded: Malaysia Airlines’ rebranding exercise has come to a grinding halt.

According to Malaysia’s state investment firm Khazanah Nasional, the much awaited rebranding of Malaysia Airlines may not actually happen – at least not in the near future.

In an article on the Malaysian Insider, Khazanah’s managing director Tan Sri Datuk Azman Mokhtar was quoted as saying the airline had to fix its basics and have a strong foundation before launching a rebranding exercise.

“To be honest, I do not feel [the rebranding exercise] is important now and also it is not a priority,” he was quoted saying.

Marketing has reached out to MAS for confirmation and more details on the decision.

The quote comes in direct contradiction to several articles published in both the local and global press. Branding alone, was a topic several high ranking executives in the company – from former CMO Dean Dacko to newly appointed CEO Christoph Mueller – spoke about.

The statement also comes after months of pitching conducted by the airline for a new branding and advertising partner. The highprofiled pitch drew the attention of the 4As in Malaysia which asked MAS to pay a pitch fee.

The branding pitch alone saw big network agencies from Singapore and Malaysia take part. Ultimately, following months of speculation, branding agency Prophet bagged branding duties, while M&C Saatchi took on the contract as its main master creative agency.

Speaking under anonymity, one

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branding lead involved in the pitch expressed disappointment on the matter saying that a number of agencies had put in substantial efforts and MAS had in fact demanded a significant amount of work to be done from the agencies during the rounds of pitching.

While some may argue that a name change or a logo redesign is an expensive feat for the airline to undertake at this point, he countered it by saying rebranding is never just about a name change, it is more to do with finding the airline’s spirit, identity and an overarching idea.

While the discussion for the name change was brought up during the pitching session, his team was against the idea, he said.

“But nonetheless, we were too deep into the pitching process to pull out. The worst thing they could do is change a name because it automatically seems like they are hiding something. MAS never needed a name change.”

He added that at a time when the airline should be working to build its trust with consumers and the industry, this move doesn’t help build credibility in its partner ecosystem.

A case of broken trust?

Darren Woolley, founder and global CEO of TrinityP3, however, thinks an isolated situation such as this will not damage the reputation of the brand anymore significantly than it already is.

Client marketers do from time to time launch a pitch that is not completed. In Singapore, under

anonymity, several agencies have told Marketing that government agencies such as HPB, HDB and NCPG have garnered such a reputation.

“This is usually when the marketing team races to the market place in a knee-jerk reaction and without a clear, concise and agreed procurement strategy and plan,” Woolley said.

He adds the danger for brands which make this mistake regularly, however, is the market becomes suspicious. While you will find agencies that will want to pitch, the quality and calibre of the agencies declines as more reputable agencies make the decision to not waste their time.

“The bigger impact is on the professional reputation of the marketing lead. While sometimes the failure to achieve an outcome may not be their fault directly, they are tarred with the poor reputation,” he said.

Paul Davies, managing partner of Roth Observatory International, was of the view that should after a pitch, the client choose to terminate their contract with the agency after appointing them, it would definitely damage their reputation in the marketing industry.

“I suspect it would make the marketing industry be a little sceptical on future initiatives by the brand where they look for agency support.

It also shows a level of internal disarray or disconnect which does not bode well as they try and turn around MAS,” Davies said.

Compensation for terminated contracts?

Moreover, should a client choose to terminate a contract with the agency after appointing them because of internal reasons, both Davies and Woolley say compensation is necessary.

But Davies adds for large organisations, pitches can take a long time to complete and by the time the agency is appointed the market situation can have changed substantially.

“We also need to appreciate clients also put a significant amount of time and effort into a pitch – even when using a search and selection consultant. So it is not a decision they make lightly and if a decision is to stop or not appoint an agency is made, it is more often than not for very good reasons,” he said.

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2/3/2016 5:03:17 PM

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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THE FORMULA BEHIND WINNING NEW BUSINESS You want to impress a client? Here are some key truths about getting their attention.

But if it doesn’t help sell a product, it makes the innovation futile for the marketer.”

However, clients acknowledge they are equally guilty as they try to adopt a “test and learn approach”, but blame the agency when the initiative fails. It’s a learning curve for both parties and understanding the intention behind the requested innovation can help in closing the gaps.

Make a list: There are a number of things clients look for when choosing an agency.

In times of growing fragmentation of agencies, shrinking budgets and less reliance on AORs, it’s making it tough for clients to choose their agency partners. Furthermore, there is often a disconnect on what clients want and what agencies think clients want.

In the Agency Scope study conducted by R3, where the top 300 CMOs of the region were interviewed to get a perspective on their evolving needs and their views on agencies, it was discovered 26% of clients change agencies because of a “lack of effectiveness” while a “lack of creativity” was second at 21%.

In 2010, less than one-third of clients put importance on effectiveness. Changing times, changing needs.

So what exactly are clients looking for when they run a pitch these days? How do clients choose an agency that works best for them?

Here are some key truths – straight from the horse’s mouth.

Truth No. 1: Agencies don’t ask enough questions Agencies overestimate how much they know about the client brief and business and fail to use the opportunity to ask clients more questions about the business objectives and plans. Second-guessing the client is one of the biggest pitfalls that can cause the agency to lose at the pitch, or even an existing client.

Gaurav Gupta, marketing director for ASEAN at Kimberly-Clark, advises agencies to: “Talk more. Simply ask the right questions.”

Truth No. 2: Doing work that is right Clients don’t always know what they want. They

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may only think they do. The onus lies on the agency to present work that is right – right by the consumer, right for the business and right for the brand.

“If I had to choose between award-winning work versus effective work I will use effective work. Every time,” says Charmaine Wong, marketing consultant at Pizza Hut Restaurants Asia.

Truth No. 3: It’s never just about the money Phei Yeng Han, procurement category manager for commercial at Fonterra Brands, put it very well when she counselled agencies that “clients are willing to pay if agencies help solve real-life problems”.

Market volatility is a world problem. An agency response which helps address that issue will stand a higher chance at winning the business. Understanding the business challenges is a very critical capability that Fonterra looks for when choosing its agencies.

Truth 4: Innovation is not a buzzword for clients It can be frustrating for agencies when clients demand innovation, but upon sharing the ideas they are accused of “pushing it too far”.

Advice from marketers is that clients truly desire innovation, but it must be innovation within the context of the business and the brand and not “innovation for innovation sake”.

Ideas need to be pitched correctly – is it a brand-building idea or a business delivery one?

Gupta said: “Digital allows for tracking of various intermediary KPIs, like app downloads for example, which gets agency folks excited.

Truth 5: Chemistry can be gauged at a pitch.

It’s not just a gut instinct. Clients judge chemistry at the pitch based on the attributes below: 1. Can the teams engage the clients with the right discussions and questions?

2. Can the agencies challenge the clients in a way that is constructive?

3. Are the agency team members order takers or thinkers? This is judged in Q&A sessions as well as in response to the pitch challenge.

4. Did the agency demonstrate a passion for the business?

Truth 6: Case studies should be positioned strategically Clients review case study submissions based on the criteria below: 1. Distance between the case study and team, that is, if work is done out of New York and showcased in a Singapore pitch, it would carry little or no value for clients.

2. Similar industry or target audience, that is, examples of work from a similar category or similar target audience is appreciated, for example, a telco who wants to sell more pre-paid cards will like to see a case on youth engagement from an unrelated category.

3. Team behind the work. If the case study was done by at least one of the team members present in the pitch meeting, it carries a lot of weight.

Final piece of advice – move beyond transactions and engage the clients in a strategic business conversation. That is sure to get their attention.

The writer is Seema Punwani, a principal consultant with R3.

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1/3/2016 5:56:24 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

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HOW TO UNBLOCK AD BLOCKING Ad blocking will become more prevalent unless advertisers come up with ways to entertain consumers, says Matt Eaton.

Hitting the wall with ad blockers: Brands need to give consumers a good user experience to deter them from blocking your ads.

Much has been made of the rise and rise of ad blocking technology, thanks probably to tech giants such as Apple which are slowly bending to consumers’ growing dislike of invasive and disruptive online ads. But don’t rush to call it an “adblockalypse” just yet.

In its 2016 digital forecast, social@Ogilvy says ad blocker usage has exploded. Even before Apple released iOS 9, which supports such technology, usage had been growing at a rate of more than 40% year-on-year, with few signs of it slowing down.

Driven by a desire for greater privacy control and stopping page load-bloat, some predict there are now 198 million active ad block users around the world, costing publishers nearly $22 billion during 2015.

For mobile and tablet users, the story may not be as dramatic. In its annual digital forecast, Deloitte Global predicts a mere 0.3% of all mobile device owners (tablets included) will use an ad blocker by the end of 2016. This is likely to place less than US$100 million (0.1%) of the US$70 billion mobile advertising (smartphones and tablets) market at risk.

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But while such low figures may not set off alarm bells, the demographic make-up of people using such technology should.

Increasingly, it’s savvy Millennials who are severely disrupting traditional models of digital marketing, consuming fewer banner ads and threatening existing online advertising models.

How do you get around it? One immediate solution is native advertising, or content marketing, and making sure that the content being created is for specific audience interests.

“That’s not merely a Facebook, Twitter or Apple news feed,” social@ogilvy research noted. “It means earning attention – space and scale wherever audience members chose to consume information.”

Speaking at SOPA’s Media Insiders series last month, Nicola Yates, channel planning director and head of Cathay Pacific global media, said it was a major challenge advertisers should sit up and take notice of.

“I think advertisers are ignoring it, but the next generation will start blocking. Advertising is not relevant for them. Millennials have an attention span of seconds and if you don’t

capture that and if you fail to evolve and work it out, ad blockers will rise.”

Henry Heung, director of strategic partner relations at Google, added it was important to understand why ad-blocker technology had grown so fast. He said it was up to the industry as a whole to ensure a good mobile and desktop experience was a key priority.

“If I myself have a bad experience on PC or on mobile, it may push you towards this. It’s our responsibility to make sure we deliver a good user experience. It’s something we collectively need to figure out.”

Finally, the earned mode of advertising also offers other ways to gain rewards.

“If you give something of value to the consumer they are more likely to engage.

Advertisers and brands are very inward looking and genuinely believe people care about brands. People don’t. We are selfish, we want to be entertained and we are pushed for time,” Yates said.

“This is where content comes in. You just have to be there at different touch-points and give them something interesting.”

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1/3/2016 5:56:15 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

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ARE WE TOO SEXY FOR OURSELVES? Ad land appears to be split on the “We Are #WomenNotObjects” spot. Noreen Ismail finds out why.

Sex versus sexism: The #WomenNotObjects ad has created plenty of opinions on the objectification of women in ads.

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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A New York-based ad executive called Madonna Badger created and released a two and a half minute video to take issue with the way women are portrayed in ads. The spot “We Are #WomenNotObjects” has been making the rounds on the internet for several weeks since its launch on 11 January.

The ad is on a mission to spark online conversations about the objectification of women in ads. Women, who are posed alongside the sales of various products and paraphernalia, have been subjugated and reduced to mere objects, the viral video claims.

“Honestly, as a female, sometimes I think we really push this whole feminist stance too far. So there’s tits and ass, what’s wrong with looking at a nice rack? It sure beats looking at a hairy ass or a flabby paunch right?”

Fiona Bartholomeusz – managing director of Formul8

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The video features a montage of ads – which have been historically designed to promote and sell products – that have portrayed women either baring their skin and assets or posing suggestively next to marketing messages targeted to get the viewer to buy a product.

In marketing speak, these ads are normally used to “shorten the conversion cycle”.

For a video aimed at addressing the sexist nature of ads that are shown to the masses, it was uploaded as an “age-restricted” post.

Jolene Tan, programmes and communications senior manager at gender advocacy group AWARE Singapore, says that advertisers should remember that women make up a large segment of the consumer market. An ad that treats women as objects of ridicule rather than people, alienates this consumer segment.

“Women have been pushing back against sexual objectification in marketing for a long time. Just last year, an AWARE member succeeded in having a sexist ad taken down at Orchard Road. And for some years now, our annual tongue-in-cheek Alamak! Awards have highlighted many instances of sexist and objectifying ads.”

Tan gives the campaign her nod of approval.

“It’s always good to have more voices against sexism and objectification.”

Valerie Cheng, previously COO of JWT, adds: “Most of what’s mentioned in the video is true, but sadly I don’t think this campaign will do enough to change things immediately.

“Works like these stems from many factors such as the mindset of the creator and we know it takes a lot to change one’s mind and attitude.”

On the other side of the fence is managing director of indie ad agency Formul8, Fiona Bartholomeusz.

“Honestly, as a female, sometimes I think we really push this whole feminist stance too far. So there’s tits and ass, what’s wrong with looking at a nice rack? It sure beats looking at a hairy ass or a flabby paunch right?”

She points out the double standards that persist when discussing the objectification of women and men.

“How many Calvin Klein ads have we seen with washboard abs or Armani underwear ads with Beckham’s junk in full view and it is fine to ogle that?

“Sex sells and unfortunately the female body is just that much more attractive to look at than a man’s.”

The ad medley includes well-known brands such as Burger King, Marc Jacobs and DirecTV, among others. Tom Ford campaigns, which are

famous for their risqué art direction, have also come under fire in the video. The designer’s propensity to sexualise his work in these campaigns, Bartholomeusz argues, adds to his brand’s allure.

“We are all, in reality, sexual beings; acknowledgement and expression of that is hard to stomach for some. Some puritanical types will baulk no doubt, but that’s why we have advertising censorship groups that protect the innocence of the masses.

“Some ads I do agree, however, are tasteless and just out to shock, (blow job sandwiches for one), but as we all know, today’s ad is tomorrow’s fish and chips wrapper.

“Understand that reality never sells. In theory we all want to be proponents of ‘the truth’ – but can we handle it? Ads sell because they feed into our ambitions/hopes for a better life/body/finances/relationship, etc … it’s time we come to terms with that.”

When asked if sexism topics should be explored in advertising, Cheng says the space is suitable as long as there is an audience for the conversation to take place.

“If more people openly detest such ads, clients and agencies will stop because it is not working. Clients and agencies with a good moral fibre will also naturally never resort to demeaning women or anyone, even men, for commercial reasons,” Cheng says.

“Unless your client is the Playboy Magazine, there are more creative avenues you can explore. Don’t be lazy. More women in the agency can help to do a sense-check on sensitivity because sometimes, it’s not just the image, it can be the message or even the core of the idea.”

Cheng says brands should be more conscious of their audience.

“Unless your campaign is confined within the male toilet (still someone might Instagram it), it is likely to travel even beyond this country.”

Meanwhile, AWARE’s Tan shares some basic tips for advertisers to avoid alienating women: 1. Don’t reduce women to faceless and disembodied body parts.

2. Don’t use images of women simply as decorative elements, especially heavily sexualised images that have nothing to do with the product or service being sold.

3. Represent more diverse women in your advertising – are your models only white or Chinese? What about a range of body types, not just thin women? Going beyond narrow forms of representation can help you really stand out and speak to a broader market.

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29/2/2016 7:36:05 PM

NEWS ANALYSIS

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PEPSI’S NEW EXPERIMENTAL BAR: WILL IT WORK? Will Pepsi’s new Kola House help the brand connect with the next generation? Noreen Ismail finds out.

Pepsi has ventured into the hospitality and F&B scene with the upcoming launch of Kola House.

The company described it as “the first experimental kola bar, restaurant, lounge and event space to open in the US market”. This first-of-its-kind hospitality venture is set to open its doors in spring 2016, with its flagship location in New York City’s Meatpacking District.

Kola House seeks to brand colas as a premium item, and its consumption a prime experience, going as far as introducing a full artisanal menu that offers “specialty plates inspired by the kola nut”.

“We wanted to create a modern hub for consumers to share social and immersive experiences that were anchored in the exploration of our cola’s artisanal craft and flavour,” Seth Kaufman, chief marketing officer, PepsiCo North America Beverages, said in a press statement.

“The Kola House represents a new space for us to support our consumer-first approach to drive authenticity and innovation around our beverage offerings and ideals.”

The flagship location will also serve as a transformative event space for pop culture moments in music, art, style, film, sports and more.

Pepsi is leveraging its broad partnership with Live Nation to help build a special music series, Live at the Kola House, which will serve as tent pole moments throughout its year-long programming.

Branching into hospitality The company’s move into hospitality comes on the back of a reported 5% decline in net revenue and a 10% decline in operating profit, according to its Q3 financials released last year.

Commenting on the brand’s experimental foray into hospitality, Nick Foley, president for SE Asia Pacific and Japan at Landor Associates, said: “It’s fresh and vibrant. Quite different to what we’ve come to expect from Pepsi. As to how relevant it is to the brand’s target audience remains to be seen. Certainly, I don’t believe it will damage the brand.”

The move’s impact on the company’s

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Drink up: Pepsi is hoping its new bar will see consumers share social and immersive experiences.

bottom line depends on how much consumers are prepared to pay for the Kola House experience.

This is a classic premiumisation strategy from Pepsi. If they get the offer right, and generate sustainable levels of patronage to the venue, then it could create profitable streams of income for a brand in its maturity.

Mahesh Neelakantan, founder and CEO of Newton, agreed with Foley’s view.

“I think it’s amazing that a global brand like Pepsi is venturing into this space – they have already made the headlines and are grabbing a lot of attention especially from marketers and the media.

“I am equally happy to hear that this isn’t just a pop-up store and is here to stay.

“I am sure Kola House will allow them to engage consumers directly, co-create concepts and marketing programmes with them, test NPD initiatives and reward the participating consumers with experiences that will be unique and bespoke.”

He hopes the initiative will trigger a lot of similar initiatives by other brands.

“Keeping the brand experience central is a way to tell a multi-dimensional story. Not only that, every offline interaction will be beamed online via the consumer’s social spaces – which in turn will attract more interest and engagement.”

Neelakantan said the Kola House initiative was similar to companies investing in R&D and design labs, in addition to its self-designed offline to online experiences and engagement.

Though it’s uncertain if the move could translate into immediate sales impacting the bottom line – it will definitely help the brand pump up its equity and brand love, impacting its bottom line in the long run.

“While it may not directly translate to sales I believe this will heap returns in many more ways directly impacting the brand imagery and connection with its core audience.”

He added this move could open up various possibilities and create trends in food pairing or rituals in beverage consumption.

This will ultimately drive brand stories which will definitely resonate with the youth.

“This is exactly what Pepsi intends to do to connect with the next generation.”

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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WITH A NEW CDO, CAN NIKE TAKE DIGITAL TO A NEW LEVEL? Does a brand such as Nike, already lauded for being tech-savvy, really need a chief digital officer? Rezwana Manjur explores.

On the move: Can a new digital lead at Nike take the brand to new heights, especially in the area of data?

Nike is accelerating its digital strategy and has hired Adam Sussman to take on the responsibility.

Sussman, who is the brand’s first chief digital officer, will lead the team responsible for the development of industry leading digital products and services across Nike.com, Nike+ and its digital platforms.

His team will drive Nike’s consumer engagement, and more importantly, he will be an essential player in helping Nike attain its goal of reaching US$50 billion in revenue by the end of FY20.

Nike, undoubtedly, has been lauded as one of the leading brands that marketers and agencies look up to. This is not just because of the brand’s immense creativity in products and promotions, but also its ability to embrace the world of digital. So this then begs the question: for a brand already so digitally savvy, does it really need yet another digital officer?

Tuomas Peltoniemi, president of TBWA’s Digital Arts Network (DAN), is of the view that sometimes large organisations find it hard to connect the dots in order to capitalise on digital opportunities. While for Nike, integrating digital across the various silos of marketing and products is not much of a problem, it makes sense for the brand to put someone in place to connect the dots.

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He adds: “In the future there will be more digital natives in all executive positions. For Nike it’s more about staying at the top rather than catching up.”

What’s interesting, he says, is this role sits under the brand team since Nike is generally used to innovating in the products space. But clearly competition in the sporting world is heating up.

“A role such as this is to drive innovation for the brand rather than product, especially as emerging brands such as Under Armour catch up,” he says.

A second go at wearables?

Under Armour, as Peltoniemi rightly points out, has over the years made huge strides in areas such as Wearables, and according to an article in Fortune, the brand has spent almost US$700 million on technology acquisitions to lead in this space. Wearables, unfortunately, is an avenue Nike exited from in 2014 just before they became big.

Neeraj Gulati, managing director of Ingenuity at IPG Mediabrands Malaysia, says that today almost all industries, and especially the productfocused industries, are moving towards creating a customised experience for consumers and technology makes it happen at scale.

“Nike was the leader in the wearable space

with the Fuel band. But, somehow, after that one initiative, it became apparent that they never had a proper roadmap or couldn’t focus enough to execute it,” he says.

Nonetheless, at the heart of the brand today is a data lab and this data helps create an experience which drives loyalty and purchase.

“I believe Nike will soon be launching more into wearables and will be opening access to the data they have. With a new CDO on the team, the company can potentially focus strongly on creating an ecosystem built around the athlete’s data which goes way beyond the Nike we know today,” he adds.

His views may become a reality given Trevor Edwards, president of Nike Brand, has pointed out that 2016 is going to be a big year for the brand. He added Sussman’s wealth of experience in digital, consumer technology and strategy leadership makes him the “perfect person to tackle tomorrow’s challenges today”.

Sussman’s background is a diversified one cutting across multiple positions in the interactive gaming and entertainment industries such as EA Mobile and Disney Interactive.

“Sussman is just as passionate about solving a problem for one athlete as he is introducing that innovation to a global community. 2016 promises to be a big year for the world of Nike digital, and this is just the beginning,” Edwards said.

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NEWS ANALYSIS

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WHY MARKETING ROLES ARE NEGLECTED BY SINGAPOREANS Why is it so hard to fill marketing roles with locals? Rezwana Manjur finds out.

Plenty of seats available: Companies are finding it difficult to find marketing talent in Singapore.

Marketing jobs are not easy to fill and talk of retaining good talent in Singapore is an ongoing one.

Recently, the latest job vacancy report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed that marketing was one of the top 10 PMETs (professional, managerial, executive and technical) occupations with the highest number of vacancies unfilled for at least six months.

While the overall number of job vacancies

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“Given the movement of job seekers in Singapore, there is a lack of depth in experienced candidates. Candidates are often moving jobs before seeing campaigns or projects through to a stage where they can implement, review and enhance their offering.”

Jacqui Barratt – director at recruitment firm Font

declined over the year to 60,000 in September 2015, amid softer economic conditions,

commercial and marketing sales executives remained the top job that was hardest to fill

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Table A5: Top Ten Occupations With The Highest Number Of Vacancies Unfilled For At Least Six Months, 2015 (As At September) Position Unfilled For At Least Six Months

Position Unfilled For At Least Six Months

Occupation

Occupation

PMETs

Number

Incidence (%)

Number

Incidence (%)

4,800

19.7

Non-PMETs

16,430

54.6

Enrolled/Assistant Nurse (Excluding Registered Nurse)

420

92.3

Security Guard

1,440

71.7

Commercial & Marketing Sales Executive

240

21.9

Waiter

1,410

69.5

Registered Nurse & Other Nursing Professional

210

57.0

Shop Sales Assistant

1,120

61.9

Chef

160

66.2

Receptionist, Customer Service & Information Clerk

720

36.9

Restaurant Manager

150

59.6

Cook

640

63.6

Software, Web & Multimedia Developer

140

22.2

Sales Supervisor

540

92.0

Management Executive

130

10.2

Cleaner & Helper In Hotels & Related Establishments

530

73.6

Operations Officer (Except Transport Operations)

120

13.2

Cleaner In Other Establishments

530

83.5

Financial/ Investment Advisor

110

30.6

Food Service Counter Attendant

440

45.4

Sales & Marketing Manager

100

15.2

Heavy Truck & Lorry Driver

420

62.2

Note: Some detailed occupations within the top ten are not listed to maintain confidentiality of information provided by respondents.

Table A6: Top Ten PMET Occupations With The Highest Number Of Vacancies Hard To Fill By Locals, 2015 (As At September)

Occupation

Vacancies Hard To Fill By Locals

Top Three Reasons For Hard-To-Fill Vacancies

Number

Incidence (%)

10,260

42.1

Commercial & Marketing Sales Executive

450

41.8

Software, Web & Multimedia Developer

430

67.8

1. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (52.4%) 2. Lack The Necessary Specialised Skills (28.1%) 3. Find Pay Unattractive (22.0%)

Enrolled/ Assistant Nurse (Excluding Registered Nurse)

420

92.3

1. Competition For Local Candidates From Other Employers Is Too Stiff (61.8%) 2. Prefer Shorter Workweek (40.1%) 3. Find Pay Unattractive (36.5%)

Management Executive

340

25.7

1. Find Pay Unattractive (41.2%) 2. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (30.7%) 3. Prefer Not To Do Shift Work (25.7%)

Registered Nurse & Other Nursing Professional

330

89.2

1. Competition For Local Candidates From Other Employers Is Too Stiff (73.5%) 2. Prefer Not To Do Shift Work (34.0%) 3. Prefer Shorter Workweek (31.0%)

Operations Officer (Except Transport Operations)

300

33.1

1. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (34.1%) 2. Find Pay Unattractive (30.8%) 3. Lack The Right Personality Traits, Work Attitude And Motivation For The Job (23.7%)

Mechanical Engineering Technician

300

62.5

1. Find Pay Unattractive (61.3%) 2. Prefer Shorter Workweek (27.9%) 3. Find The Working Environment Not Conducive (25.9%)

Electronics Engineer

260

67.6

1. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (49.4%) 2. Lack The Necessary Specialised Skills (33.6%) 3. Find Pay Unattractive (30.9%)

Systems Analyst

230

44,1

1. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (54.7%) 2. Lack The Necessary Specialised Skills (30.7%) 3. Find Pay Unattractive (20.9%)

Civil Engineer

220

43.9

1. Find The Working Environment Not Conducive (36.5%) 2. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (32.0%) 3. Lack The Necessary Qualifications (27.0%)

PMETs

1. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (36.4%) 2. Find Pay Unattractive (30.9%) 3. Competition For Local Candidates From Other Employers Is Too Stiff (21.4%) 1. Find Pay Unattractive (40.2%) 2. Lack The Necessary Work Experience (36.6%) 3. Lack The Right Personality Traits, Work Attitude And Motivation For The Job (27.9%)

Notes: (1) Figures in parenthesis are expressed as a percentage of vacancies hard to fill by locals in the respective occupations.

(2) Some detailed occupations within the top ten are not listed to maintain confidentiality of information provided by respondents.

Source: Ministry of Manpower Job Vacancies 2015

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by locals. The MOM study cited unattractive pay and the lack of necessary experience as key reasons why marketing roles were harder to fill.

In a conversation with Marketing, Jacqui Barratt, director at recruitment firm Font, explained that when there is such a low unemployment level and more jobs than people, the talent pool is often in the driver’s seat, giving them the ability to pick and choose what they want.

“The MOM table quotes unattractive pay structures as one of the key reasons for the job vacancies. If this is the case in a sales and marketing environment, recruiters are less likely to be able to entice someone from their current situation, especially within the sales arena where performance is so closely linked to remuneration,” she said.

Pay can’t be the only driver as then the solution is only short-term.

Employers will then need to look into what they are able to offer to make their organisation a place of choice and drive their employment brand. Most marketing organisations today are also striving to be more competitive; increasing productivity and profitability with the resources they have.

There is also a gap between employers and employees. While the latter might want more pay, the former would then expect greater results with less investment in training.

Barratt adds this problem is not unique to the marketing field, but it is further highlighted given the sales aspect and result-oriented deliverables associated with the field.

“Given the movement of job seekers in Singapore, there is a lack of depth in experienced candidates. Candidates are often moving jobs before seeing campaigns or projects through to a stage where they can implement, review and enhance their offering,” she said.

Hence, many candidates are missing rounding out their skill sets and depth of experience that comes from time.

In an earlier interview, Wendy Heng, associate director of sales and marketing, healthcare, supply chain and procurement at recruitment firm Robert Walters, also echoed a similar stance saying that talent today no longer stays in companies for decades.

While in areas such as marketing or inhouse communications, the average lifespan is about three years; in digital it’s as low as 18 months.

Hence, finding good talent in sales and marketing, and especially digital marketing, remains a challenge.

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PROFILE

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FRESH INTO THE ROLE, GALE CHOONG, HEAD OF MARKETING AT U N I LE V E R S I N G A P O R E , S PE A K S TO R E Z WA N A M A N J U R O N T H E S T R U G G L E S O F A M O D E R N DAY M A R K E T E R A N D H OW S H E

We sat down for a chat after what seemed to have been a long day for Gale Choong, head of marketing at Unilever Singapore. Seeing a couple of green Watsons bags I asked: shopping?

“No, retail visit,” came the answer. Choong, fresh into the role, was on the way back from a retail stake-out at Watsons where the store was having its members day.

“I typically do store visits frequently. Today was a members-only day with huge discounts on products, so I wanted to check out how my competition is faring,” she says.

A competitive marketer with about 10 years of experience, she explains that on any average day, it may be hard to see the movement of products off the shelves. But on exclusive days such as this, she gets to gauge first-hand what the competition is up to.

After all, she adds, the key to any good marketing is observation.

“There is no point in us marketers being boxed up in our cosy offices and on our comfy chairs,” she says.

“We have to speak the language of consumers and be in tune with what is happening on the ground. I do store visits, home visits, talk to retailers and if I take public transport, I make sure to observe passengers behaviour. You need to observe.”

Coming into the role late in 2015 was not an easy task for Choong. The FMCG giant was facing a challenging year with soft growth in Singapore. Choong, who leads a team of 12 in Singapore, looks over all four verticals of Unilever’s products – namely, personal care, home care, food and refreshment.

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"WITH LEGAL IT IS A LWAYS A B L AC K OR WHITE. THERE I S N O G R E Y. B U T US MARKETERS, WE LOVE THE GREY AREAS AND OFTEN AT TA C K T H E G R E Y."

Art Direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Edwin Tan — Lumina Photography (www.animulstudio.com); Makeup & Hair: Nikki Fu using Urban Decay and Redken.(www.nikkifu.com)

KEEPS AHEAD OF THE GAME.

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PROFILE

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Last year, several incidents regionally could have contributed to the company’s soft growth. The long drawn out haze period could have been a reason behind the drop in the number of visitors to the retail fronts.

Another major factor that could have led to retail stores in Singapore taking a hit last year was the drop in the Malaysian ringgit. According to Choong, many local customers were also seen flocking to Malaysia and stocking up on their household products during this period.

So, how does she manage “drinking from the fire hose”? Well, there are many meetings to begin with, comes the answer as she laughs. The learning curve is steep, she says.

“I’m a comeback kid having worked in Unilever early on in my career and my personal philosophy is to see each brand as my own little business,” she says, adding this is why she enjoys the challenge.

Before her role at Unilever, she was marketing manager of dairies at F&N Foods for more than a year. Before that she was marketing manager at L’Oréal Paris where she handled the full scope of brand management for the L’Oréal Paris brands.

Choong believes in pushing the boundaries – she states that as a society, we have often been taught in our education system to follow the norms. What marketers need to do today is push this boundary and live in the grey – that is where, after all, marketing excels.

In a big organisation, of course, certain processes always need to be in place. But Choong is not afraid to challenge these norms if need be, she says. So does legal tie her hands?

“Well, in all my 10 years across various organisations, they have all tried,” she laughs.

But if there is something she truly believes in, Choong says she will not back down.

“I will stand my ground and wait for the higher management to step in.

With legal it is always a black or white. There is no grey. But us marketers, we love the grey areas and often attack the grey. We thrive in the grey. So that’s the challenge marketers in general struggle with legal teams.”

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So how does one overcome this tussle? The answer is being able to find the middle ground and that isn’t a bad thing at all.

“We have a lot of ongoing conversations with our legal team. We are pretty amicable and it is not a battlefield. Legal is important as it will ultimately help bring us back to line and the occasional friction with marketing helps to push boundaries of creativity as well,” she says.

Challenges of being a marketer Being a marketer today is not by any means simple. While various firms boast being able to track ROI, no one has a holistic offering, says Choong.

As it is, it’s hard to grab consumers’ attention and media fragmentation is at an all-time high. On top of that, various media companies have their own measurement systems and metrics.

“We work with our media agency and media owners, but the struggle is a lot of these measurement tools are not complete. Each medium also has its own way of measurement, but unfortunately there is no one metric that cuts across the board. In some areas there are gaps, in others there are overlaps. Marketers are simply doing the best they can with what they have,” she says.

Another area of difficulty is balancing a company’s KPI with innovation.

Innovation is a buzzword taking over the industry right now, but at the end of the day, despite all the glitz and glamour, marketers are expected to focus on the finances and the numbers.

Hence, many a time, they would rather embark on a path well-trodden rather than one which could potentially cause a loss.

“Sometimes we are so bogged down by the hard KPIs and we are so focused on hitting those numbers, we forget to take risks. But as marketers, we should lead the path of change and do things differently.

So I believe we should set aside some budget, even if just a little bit, to explore these newer areas,” she says.

“After all, if you want to be a great marketer, you need to be both a peasant and a poet. You need to be able to crunch your numbers hard, but still have the flare and creativity of a poet.”

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2/3/2016 5:30:46 PM

MARKETING FEATURE: RETAIL MARKETING

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MARKETING FEATURE: RETAIL MARKETING

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T. M U OO S O L G D S FIN I TH R F O NJU T A OU A M LL AN U Y P EZW R ST ? R U LY D L IN L SFU I TA ES E R CC E U TH M S N O CA DO D AN

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MARKETING FEATURE: RETAIL MARKETING

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the rejuvenation of the Civic District.

As for Orchard Central, Mavis Seow, chief operating officer of the retail business group at Far East Organization, owners of the mall, told Marketing the space would be reconfigured to include new escalators and walkways to “optimise accessibility and improve the shopping experience”.

There is no doubt, the shopping experience today is no longer what it used to be, even just five years ago. All this, coupled with the boom of e-commerce, has led to retailers facing cutthroat competition.

The problem of declining footfalls is not confined to Singapore alone, but is a global phenomenon, explains Amy Kean, the regional strategy lead at Mindshare APAC. These days putting the customer first means something totally different than just a few years ago.

Where once it was about specialist skills, efficiency, remembering a customer’s regular purchase or even knowing their name, now the

market is led by competitive value and offering that “wow” factor that so many shoppers are starting to demand.

There have also been a number of recent disruptors in the market seeking to redefine what the term shopping means in Singapore.

Today, shoppers are placing a greater focus on the experience and added value rather than the straightforward transaction that many outlets offer. Hence, modern retail needs to be all about the experience.

Experiencing the space In a dense and cluttered market such as Singapore, the correct usage of space and maximising the mall space is vital.

“Modern retail needs to reflect the early conceptual showrooms introduced by IKEA and Apple, but on a smaller scale,” Kean says.

She explains the concept of showrooming is starting to take off, but it’s still very early days.

The PACT space at Orchard Central is one

“Singapore has one of the most active commerce populations in the world, and online we have a wealth of insight about paths to purchase and baskets, as well as the social layer of brand love insight that social media offers.

But it’s within the bricks and mortar stores where the real ignorance lies.”

Amy Kean – regional strategy lead at Mindshare APAC

19.4%

Walk into a mall on a Saturday afternoon and chances are, that darling outfit you’ve been eyeing has been snatched and there is a queue a mile long for the fitting room. Or you’re fighting for just a sliver of a second to step in and have a conversation with the tech expert on the latest wearable. He, on the other hand, remains distracted by five other customers just like yourself, all waiting to talk to him.

Now come back to the same mall again on a Wednesday afternoon. It is a different story.

The mall is now a ghost town.

This is no breaking news – we all know the retail marketing arena is and has over the years been facing a challenging time. Rentals remain sky high and the competition is stiff with a dense number of brands in a single area. While malls may seem packed on weekends, is it enough to cover for the vast emptiness of weekdays?

Last year in Singapore, several iconic malls such as Funan DigitaLife Mall and Orchard Central found themselves in a need to revamp, presumably, in a bid to win back consumers.

CapitaLand Mall Trust Management Limited’s (CMTML) Funan DigitaLife, known to be an iconic mall for gadgets and all things digital, situated in one of Singapore’s busiest districts, said it would be morphing into an “experiential creative hub”.

Without explaining further, CMTML claimed the retail space would be used as a collaborative platform to connect retail, cultural, learning and business opportunities, and play a big part in

er Am No

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Am tin

US

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3.8% 3.6%

4.6% 5.2% 3.1% 6.0%

8.5% 2.0% -0.6% -2.2% -3.2%

La

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Pa c rA sia he Ot

Ho C ng hin Ko a/ ng

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50

0%

UK

0.3% 0.7%

4.0% 3.1%

3.9% 2.8% 4.6% 5.0%

1.9% 2.6%

4.1% 2.1% 2.4% 3.3%

6.5% 2.9% 3.8%

3.7% 5.7% 2.3% 2.7%

2.6% 3.2%

4.9% 4.3% 2.8% 4.3%

5%

5.6% 6.4%

10%

6.6% 6.1%

10.5%

10.4%

15%

4.5% 4.5% 3.0% 6.2%

13.4%

15.7%

16.1%

20%

FY2009-2014 retail revenue CAGR²

FY2014 retail revenue growth

FY2014 net profit margin

FY2014 ROA

Results reflect Top 250 companies headquartered in each region/country ¹ Sales-weighted, currency-adjusted composites ² Compound annual growth rate ³ Results for Other Asia Pacific include China/Hong Kong Source: Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2016 - Navigating the new digital divide

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MARKETING FEATURE: RETAIL MARKETING

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such disrupter, with the store claiming to be responsible for changing the local landscape by challenging and reinventing traditional notions of retail in Singapore. The PACT defines itself as a “destination emporium” and a network of spaces and cross-over interests rolled into one retail and F&B experience.

“Every single one of its retailers focuses first on customer experience and this model is set to increase in Singapore over the next 24 months,” Kean says.

Soon, she says, we will be seeing fashion retailers with blow-dry bars, furniture stores with artisan coffee shops and even toy stores with tech-powered augmented reality games and shows.

“In an over-saturated market and an online ecosystem that thrives on value, it’s getting harder and harder for retailers to stand out and get regular custom – providing your customer with an extra personalised experience could be the difference between flash in the pan and long-term loyalty,” she says.

Chris Martell, managing director of Geometry Global, says the role of a store has now evolved to a point where it needs to keep up with shopper expectations and behaviour.

And while one recipe may work for one retail area, it is important to note that all retail outlets should not have the same treatment. Even if it’s the same brand, there should be points of differentiation to ensure customers are visiting the other outlets as well.

Giving the example of Orchard Central, Martell explains the mall space has the opportunity of improvement, seeing how architecturally, its corridors, sight lines and ceiling heights are more constricted than other malls.

“More open, fluid spaces attract the strolling shopper,” he says, adding that Orchard Central stores also tend to be more transactional with ample opportunities to improve on all fronts, including size, visual merchandising and staff and customer interaction.

“These less-than-satisfactory traits push shoppers to seek out more engaging, experiential spaces,” Martell says.

As for Funan DigitaLife, he is of the view that even though Funan is an old mall, the shoppers visiting Funan are usually there to “deal hunt”.

“Funan’s weakness, however, is the growth of online purchasing. Once lower prices can be found online, why bother walking around a mall at all?” he questions.

Source: www.visitpact.com

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No breathing space?

Singapore has long marketed itself as a prime shopping destination. According to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) shopping is part and parcel of every tourist’s trip to

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MARKETING FEATURE: RETAIL MARKETING

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Retail revenue growth analysis by region/country

Top 250

25.3%

Africa/Middle East

31.9%

42.8%

12.5%

87.5%

Asia Pacific

32.1%

34.0%

28.6%

39.3%

Japan Other Asia Pacific1

36.0% 35.7%

35.7% 30.4%

Europe

36.6%

33.0%

12.5%

Germany

46.7% 43.7%

43.8% 50.0%

UK

31.3%

11.1%

Latin America

55.6%

North America

18.4%

US

19.0%

0%

28.6%

13.3%

40.0%

France

32.1%

36.0%

28.0%

China/Hong Kong

33.9%

33.3% 51.7%

29.9%

20% FY2014 % companies with negative annual growth

49.4%

31.6% 40%

18.7%

60%

80%

FY2014 % companies with positive, but lower annual growth

100%

FY2014 % companies with faster annual growth

Source: Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2016 - Navigating the new digital divide

Singapore, and remains a major contributor to tourism receipts, comprising 17.5% of total tourism receipts in 2014.

In 2015, STB also launched a SG$20 million Golden Jubilee marketing campaign anchored on shopping and supported by attractive fly, stay, eat and play deals to drive conversion and spend.

The same year, S Iswaran, the second minister for trade and industry, said the government would work closely with industry stakeholders to rejuvenate the area and “enliven and showcase the Singapore lifestyle and cultural precincts”.

“While offerings in Singapore’s retail arena are driven largely by market forces, we hope to see a more diversified retail scene that appeals to a wide range of visitors. From the marketing perspective, STB is profiling more Singapore designers and products to visitors as a point of differentiation to increase spend,” said Ranita Sundramoorthy, director of attractions, dining and retail at the Singapore Tourism Board.

She added that besides Orchard Road, which remains a top visitor attraction, more and more tourists are now exploring precincts with distinctive characters such Haji Lane and Dempsey Village. As such, STB’s marketing efforts are also geared towards enabling visitors to know more about such hidden gems.

Embracing the new Still, despite the talk of data and the power it possesses, the single biggest challenge retail

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“In an over-saturated market and an online ecosystem that thrives on value, it’s getting harder and harder for retailers to stand out and get regular custom – providing your customer with an extra personalised experience could be the difference between flash in the pan and long-term loyalty.”

Amy Kean – regional strategy lead at Mindshare APAC

marketers in Singapore face today is a lack of data and understanding about their regular offline customers. Not enough is known about these consumers, their purchase habits, instore journeys and what drives them to buy one brand over another in a store.

“Singapore has one of the most active commerce populations in the world, and online we have a wealth of insight about paths to purchase and baskets, as well as the social layer of brand love insight that social media offers. But it’s within the bricks and mortar stores where the real ignorance lies,” Kean says.

This is why recent innovations in retail have included the introduction of beacon technology.

This technology allows shop owners to interact with and learn about their offline shoppers, via their smartphones.

In theory, beacons allow retailers to track what customers are doing in their store, who they are, and what products they are likely to buy based on previous behaviours. The technology

also allows retailers to send personalised push messages to each customer, prompting them to buy a product or informing them of a special offer.

However, despite sounding like the holy grail, there are currently a few restrictions to beacon technology. For example, customers must have the retail brand’s app downloaded and the bluetooth switched on and these restrictions can mean that retailers are only dealing with a fraction of consumers walking through their stores.

Mindshare, via its own shopper data business arm Shop+, has to date experimented a huge amount with this technology – most notably with Nestlé and FairPrice, using iBeacons in-store, alongside the FairPrice app, to learn about the regular in-store journeys that customers were taking.

This has helped in mapping out shopping habits of consumers and serving relevant push notification messages to them via their phone, explains Kean.

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MARKETING FEATURE: RETAIL MARKETING

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Product sector profiles, FY2014

Level of globalization by product sector, FY2014 250

Number of companies

Top 250

Average retail revenue (US$M)

250

Share of top 250 companies

Share of top 250 revenue

% of retail revenue Average # from foreign of countries operations

% singlecountry operators

250

US$17,913

100.0%

100.0%

23.4%

10.4

34.0%

48

US$9,082

19.2%

9.7%

31.6%

25.9

14.6%

126

US$23,712

50.4%

66.7%

22.2%

5.3

41.3%

Hardlines and leisure goods

54

US$12,998

21.6%

15.7%

24.5%

8.1

33.3%

Diversified

22

US$16,033

8.8%

7.9%

22.2%

11.4

36.4%

Apparel and accessories Fast-moving consumer goods

FY2009-2014 composite compound annual growth rate in retail revenue

4.9%

Composite net profit margin

US$4.48

2.8%

trillion US$17.91 billion average size of Top 250 (retail revenue)

aggregate retail revenue of Top 250 Top 250 retailers with foreign operations minimum retail revenue required to be among Top 250

66.0%

US$3.65 billion

composite year-over-year retail revenue growth

4.3%

average number of countries in which Top 250 companies have retail operations

4.3% composite return on assets

23.4%

10.4

percent of Top 250 retail revenue from foreign operations

Source: Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2016 - Navigating the new digital divide

“Given the relatively small amount of people that meet the requirements of having the app and Bluetooth turned on, it’s not necessarily the

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advertising itself that has the most value, instead it is the learnings you can get from essentially watching your customers every day and being

able to start predicting their behaviours,” Kean says.

Once offline retailers begin to understand this, then the future of the landscape in Singapore will be a lot more informed, and relevant to the shopper.

Regardless of its struggles, traditional retail is here to stay, says Mahesh Neelakantan, founder and CEO of specialist shopper marketing agency in Malaysia, Newton – The Activation Company (TAC).

“It may need to reinvent itself to integrate digital and data-driven marketing to improve delivery, efficiency and customer experience, but there will be clear spaces for both online and offline retail to exist,” he says.

Going forward, pop-up retail is an area that will become more mainstream with brands using it as part of their mix, he predicts.

Echoing Kean’s views, he adds that areas such as beacon usage, mobile first and mobile wallet and integrating digital technology to aid conversion and purchase, will no longer be a “nice to have”, but vital for any retail marketer.

Other recent challenges facing retail is the perception of online being cheaper than traditional retail. In some categories, especially luxury, fashion and consumer durables, people are browsing through brick and mortar stores for the “touch-and-feel” experience and human interaction, only to head online to get the cheaper deal.

“This temporary trend is largely owing to large online stores armed with VC money – buying market share at the expense of the traditional store. If the industry sees retail more as a brand rather than a channel – then the future is very bright,” he says.

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2/3/2016 6:06:06 PM

MARKETING FEATURE: ZERO-BASED BUDGETING

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SOON AFTER UNILEVER SAID IT WOULD ADOPT THIS APPROACH, DISCUSSIONS AROUND ZERO-BASED BUDGETING HAVE BEEN APLENTY. RAYANA PANDEY LOOKS AT THE PROS AND CONS OF THIS APPROACH.

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MARKETING FEATURE: ZERO-BASED BUDGETING

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In January this year, Unilever CEO Paul Polman announced the company would roll out zero-based budgeting globally – a move it had tested in Thailand last year, which cut down the spending by two percentage points as a share of sales.

Polman was reported as saying: “We are further strengthening our innovation funnel while shortening innovation cycle times, stepping up our digital capabilities and rolling out a global zero-based budgeting programme.”

It would be a mistake to see this purely as a cost-cutting or budget reduction move.

Yes it assures a certain level of efficiency, but it is really just another approach to budgeting.

A bigger reality is that a whopping majority of companies do not follow it; a handful of those who do include Kraft Heinz, Mondelēz and P&G. There are views for and against zero-based budgeting. In this article we take a look at what it actually means for marketing and what the industry thinks about it.

Zero-based budgeting and traditional budgeting are almost the polar opposite approaches. The former requires the building (and justification) of the annual budget from the bottom up – starting with no predetermined budget amount – while the latter assumes the budget from the previous year is a given and the final budget is justified on the variances (up or down) from the prior year’s budget and is usually based on an extrapolation of its revenue/sales projections.

In zero-based budgeting, first you forget about the total spend and where that spend was allocated last year – hence, the zero.

Second, the marketing team does its research, constructs its marketing plan and concludes it with a budget in which it asks for a certain amount of investment and promises a specific return for that investment.

Senior management reviews the plan and either grants the amount or pushes back and asks the team to make changes.

According to Paul Davies, managing partner of Asia Pacific for Roth Observatory International, the zero-based budgeting approach is a better way to budget as long as the organisation has the time to undertake it, can support the effort required and/or generate or have access to the research/data needed.

However, a mix of both may work well for some companies, that is, they undertake a zerobased budget every few years and in between use a more traditional approach. Davies, collates a list of pros and cons of zero-based budgeting: Pros • Efficient allocation of resources as it’s

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“They [agencies] will also have less visibility on the scope of work (and thus resourcing needs) and it can make fee negotiations very tight. If the new plans mean a restructuring of their teams/resource level this can be very difficult to conclude.”

Paul Davies – managing partner of Asia Pacific for Roth Observatory International

• • •

• • • • • •

based on needs, requirements and benefits rather than history.

Drives managers to find cost-effective or innovative ways to improve operations.

Detects inflated budgets.

Increases staff motivation by providing greater initiative and responsibility in decision-making.

Increases communication, collaboration and co-ordination within the organisation.

Identifies and eliminates wasteful and obsolete operations.

Identifies opportunities for outsourcing.

Forces cost centres to identify their mission and their relationship to overall goals.

Facilitates a more effective delegation of authority.

Zero-based budgeting helps in identifying areas of wasteful expenditure, and if desired, can also be used for suggesting alternative courses of action.

Cons • More time consuming than incremental budgeting.

• Justifying every line item can be problematic for departments with intangible outputs.

• Requires specific training due to increased complexity versus incremental budgeting.

• In a large organisation, the amount of information backing up the budgeting process may be overwhelming.

We asked what some of the brands in Singapore are doing. Local bank OCBC operates on a hybrid model. The marketing team at OCBC

supports the business on many fronts and one of the most important is the day-to-day marketing operations for its branches, ATMs and service communications.

Budgeting for these day-to-day activities is very much based on expected volume in relation to its customer base and the activities that drive them to the various touch-points. For these, budgeting is more efficient from historical baselines.

Zero-based budgeting is used for strategic initiatives and major campaigns which start from the strategic intent of the campaign, the target customers and the design of the campaign activities.

“There needs to be a robust process to allow flexibility in the redeployment of budgets if certain activities show good returns to expenses. This could be a potential shortfall of zero-based budgeting, but it frees up planning from budget boundaries and could lead to great ideation and campaigns. This can be overcome if a portion of the budget is flexible and redeployment is a priority,” says Goh Theng Kiat, chief marketing officer at OCBC Bank.

However, a possible pitfall could be the suboptimal execution of successful campaigns if they are under budgeted.

If the marketing team encounters rigid budgeting perimeters and slow movement of marketing funds to continue supporting a successful campaign, the campaign could be under-funded, resulting in its effectiveness not being fully maximised.

“Marketing teams using a zero-based

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WHY ZERO-BASED BUDGETING IS MAKING A COMEBACK An August 2015 white paper by McKinsey for private equity firms states the number of companies publicly referring to zero-based budgeting has exploded over the past few years, including such disparate companies as Alcoa, Boston Scientific, Jarden Corporation, and Quiksilver (exhibit).

It’s not only big companies that have taken to ZBB; businesses of all sizes are taking the leap. For example, B&G Foods – a US-based multi-brand company with $850 million in annual sales and less than $100 million in sales, general and administrative expenses – has recently adopted ZBB. It’s becoming clear that ZBB can be effective across industries, in companies big and small, and under both public and private ownership, it said.

McKinsey traced the origins of this form of budgeting to an article published in 1970 by Peter A. Pyhrr in the Harvard Business Review and it soon gained a following. However, over the past half century, the tool became dogged by misperceptions and faded into obscurity.

Forty six years after its creation, ZBB is making a comeback, McKinsey states, adding that private equity firms and others are finding it a useful framework to reset a company’s default mode of operating and drive sustainable cost efficiency.

“This time around, ZBB seems likely to stick: the new incarnation is more likely to become a widespread norm than to fade into the ether. For ZBB 2.0, this may be just the beginning,” McKinsey said.

ZERO-BASE BUDGETING IS BACK Number of companies mentioning zero-base budgeting on quarterly earnings calls 90

62

14

2013 1

2014

2015

Projected based on year-to-date mentions.

Source: Seeking Alpha; McKinsey analysis

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budgeting approach need to put in place flexible planning processes to nimbly redeploy resources and have a good understanding of business priorities to allocate resources to optimise their marketing budgets,” he says.

“Zero-based budgeting could also lead to short-term thinking for quick results, while compromising longer term strategic investments.”

In Rod Strother’s experience, back in the days he was at Lenovo, his team was asked one year to work with “no restrictions” on the budget. At the end of the day, it spent a lot of time putting it all together, and were ultimately given a number to work with. Strother is now VP of digital transformation at StarHub. “Might sound like a waste of time, but it puts us in a great position to say what was low/medium/high impact versus the business objectives and therefore, we knew what should be included in the budget. We also used it when we were faced with budget cuts during the year,” he says.

But the onus is on marketers to plan together and then sell the plan.

“If they’re simply going to the agency and asking them to do the ZBB then they’re fairly ineffective as a marketer – which tells the leadership something about their people,” he says.

“There is a caveat to this though. You do need some parameters – previous spend for instance – otherwise you’ve got absolutely no limitations on what you propose. But as long as you can justify what your ROI is going to be from the investment then perhaps parameters is not something that applies.”

Implications for marketing agencies A number of agencies have used and perhaps are still using this approach for their own budgeting. From the perspective of clients using it, the challenge to an agency is that it creates more uncertainty as they are not (or only partially) involved in the budgeting process and so any changes can be a complete surprise.

“They will also have less visibility on the scope of work (and thus resourcing needs) and it can make fee negotiations very tight.

If the new plans mean a restructuring of their teams/resource level this can be very difficult to conclude,” Davies says.

Conversely, if the client involves the agency in the process, they may think the first proposal for the budget/scope they develop is what they are going to get – so they try and resource and start thinking about activity at that level.

“Agencies generally don’t seem to grasp the concept of an iterative budget process,” he adds.

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3/3/2016 12:30:31 PM

MARKETING FEATURE: AGENCY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

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A DEMANDING BRIEF BY A GOVERNMENT BODY HAD THE INDUSTRY UP IN ARMS AND BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE AN AGE-OLD QUESTION ON WHETHER CLIENTS AND AGENCIES CAN EVER REALLY BE EQUALS

BY REZWANA MANJUR

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The emergence of a brief by a local school demanding “unlimited changes” was a rude awakening to both the creative community in Singapore, as well as government agencies.

It brought back the age-old argument of clients simply treating agency partners like commoditised vendors.

In mid-February this year, making its rounds on social media and among the design community was a Facebook post by Kelley Cheng, founder and creative director of design consultancy, The Press Room, showing three separate images of a brief by a government

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body. The images showed the government body asking for an unlimited number of changes on a piece of work.

The post ignited the fury of local creatives and attracted media attention from several mainstream publications. Shortly after the incident, the Ministry of Finance put out a statement saying it had looked into the matter and agreed it was unfair to expect suppliers to agree to unlimited changes.

“MOF will issue a circular to remind all government agencies of standing procurement principles, which includes ensuring that all

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MARKETING FEATURE: AGENCY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

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procurement specifications are reasonable and fair,” read the statement.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education agreed that the number of iterations should be reasonable and cannot be unlimited. It added this specification of “unlimited changes” has been removed from the school’s Invitationto-Quote. The DesignSingapore Council was then roped in with MOF to advise government agencies on the guidelines of best practices for government procurement of design services.

Simply an honest brief?

While the brief had the design community riled for its demanding nature, it is worth considering this could simply have been a very honest brief.

It is not surprising for anyone in the advertising arena to find demanding clients who insist on extensive work from their agency partners. Often agencies are burning the midnight oil trying to accommodate last-minute tweaks by the client. What probably stood out this time was the “unlimited changes” had been written into the brief.

Fiona Bartholomeusz, managing director of Formul8, agrees this demand is not an uncommon one – and not exclusive to government agencies, but rather cuts across industries.

“I once had a client demand 96 rounds of change. What is different is this particular brief

states it in writing,” she says, adding that while you can have a contract stating the number of changes allowed, clients can always argue the changes are minor or label you as a difficult agency if you argue not to make the changes free of cost.

“There will always be an idiot agency that will bend over backwards to please such a client.”

She explained that some clients see ad agencies as simple vendors selling commoditised services and that agencies should take some of the blame for allowing clients to think they can take advantage of their agency partners.

“Clients don’t treat other professional services partners in this manner. Why do ad agencies then allow themselves to be treated this way?” she questions.

Patrick Low, founder of Goodfellas, adds: “You can’t put such stipulations in black and white.”

While he agrees that such demands are common from clients, it is risky for an agency to work with such a client – especially if the agency hasn’t got any prior relationship with the client.

“It opens up a can of worms. If the entire industry can come together and avoid going for such a pitch, then we can protect ourselves. If you pitch for an account like this, you have to do so with your eyes open,” Low says.

Paul Davies, managing partner of Roth Observatory International, however, defended government bodies saying that in his experience, they generally have been on the lookout for fair and reasonable commercial conditions and working relationships.

Nonetheless, he agrees this particular brief was neither fair nor reasonable. It would not make for a productive partnership over time.

“My understanding of the government strategy to recruitment is that they look to hire people who are or will become specialists in their respective government department area first,” he says.

The downside of this approach is that in some areas (such as marketing), the government bodies can lack the expertise needed – especially when undertaking a particular task or activity for the first or maybe even the second time.

“What some government bodies have done to counteract this lack of expertise is to use consultants such as ourselves to complement them and provide that expertise and ongoing development,” Davies says.

He adds, nonetheless, with regard to government tenders, agencies participating can often state their exceptions, issues or conditions.

“Without exception I have found that the government body will be open to discussion

“I once had a client demand 96 rounds of change.

What is different is this particular brief states it in writing.”

Fiona Bartholomeusz – managing director of Formul8

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“When it comes to such briefs, the best thing would be to forget pitching for it. If you participate, you are encouraging such behaviour.”

Bernard Chan – CEO of 4As.

and creating fair and reasonable circumstances for both parties,” he says.

Stifling creativity?

The situation also put the spotlight on local industry body 4As. Several industry players questioned: What is 4As doing about it?

Addressing its stance on this, Bernard Chan, CEO of 4As, says the 4As mission remains to preserve the value of creativity.

However, good creatives have their fair share of technical requirements – one of which is putting out a good brief.

“The pressure should be on clients to create good briefs because it is a competitive market.

Without a good brief, you will not get good work making you lose out to your competitors,” Chan says. He adds that clients need to fast realise the value of the creative process.

Chan adds that 4As, through its shows, the Crowbar Awards, Singapore Media Awards and NexGen, tries to promote good briefs and pitch ethics. “When it comes to such briefs, the best thing would be to forget pitching for it. If you participate, you are encouraging such behaviour,” he adds.

The situation also elicited a response from Singapore’s trades union congress, NTUC’s online creative community U Creative. The organisation initiated the first step by organising a learning session on producing good briefs to get a conversation rolling.

On its Facebook page, NTUC’s U Creative said: “We believe most such cases arise from a lack of understanding and proper training on what constitutes a fair creative services procurement brief.

“An effective and fair brief should be mindful of both the client expectations and the creative effort to meet such expectations. As part of the creative and media community, U Creative acknowledges that this is a gap that needs to be addressed.”

Vivek Kumar, director, U Creative and U Future Leaders, NTUC, also told Marketing that today many creative professionals face challenges of vague requirements and terms, and this is “an ill-informed practice” that seems to be pervasive in both the public and private sectors.

NTUC also encouraged the creative community to recommend clients and other

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industry partners to attend this and other such sessions.

Goh Shu Fen, president of the Institute of Advertising Singapore, which is one of U Creative’s partners, says the reality of the situation is that most clients have been

getting away with free iterations – government included. This is because the service level agreement signed by agencies does not stipulate parameters to that level, and agencies do not push hard enough to set boundaries.

Goh added building in unlimited iterations is “really a cop out” as it almost always destroys creativity and passion for the work, and produces unnoticed mediocre campaigns.

“The bigger issue is not about reasonableness, it’s about effectiveness. How will demanding unlimited changes create better ideas and deliver more impact?” she says.

SEVEN SIGNS OF A BAD BRIEF 1. No indication of budget It is troubling when there is no budget range provided. This usually signals that the prospect will be deciding the outcome on commoditised price more than on creative quality.

2. The ever evolving brief Multiple changes of the brief over a long period is another problem. This could mean the client is unsure of what he or she wants. Often the worst briefs change the rules of the game as the process progresses. The “bait and switch” method is also toxic to the prospect company’s reputation.

3. The “up to the agency” brief The worst things you could say to an agency? “Up to you”, “Agency to recommend”, and of course, “I am not sure what we want, but I will know it when I see it”. As a marketer you have to have a clear vision of what you want your brand to represent. While the agency is there to help those dreams come true or fine-tune your vision, by no means should the agency decide your vision for you.

4. The beauty parade Spamming out a brief to a dozen or more agencies is another bad sign and is disconcerting for a pitching agency. However, this is not uncommon. The local larger government tenders as well as the major brand assignments have been known to have as many as a dozen or more agencies.

5. The “top secret” brief A big frustration is when clients get too secretive with their company’s strategies, not wanting to give away confidential information. While this is understandable, don’t take this too far in a brief. If the agency does not have a client objective or some guidance either on the deliverables or budget, chances are the work presented will also be mediocre.

6. The internal client war If it isn’t difficult enough trying to understand what the client wants, it is worse when they don’t know what they want because of internal conflict. When dissonance between internal stakeholders comes, those are more ingredients for a brief, as often the brief is unclear and muddled with the agency trying to cope with the politics of it all.

7. The bloody boring brief Another ingredient for a bad brief is when the client only wants to play it safe, asking for repetitive work – resulting in a completely uninspiring brief. Sure the agency will do it, but you can expect zero enthusiasm and even less creativity. At the end of it, good agencies respond to good briefs.

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2/3/2016 3:47:53 PM

Held at the Pan Pacific Singapore, the fourth annual Mob-Ex Awards saw Audi Singapore overcome tough competition to win the coveted overall brand title. On the agency front, Publicis came out on top as At a Singapore gala dinner at Singapore’s Mandarin Orchard Hotel, the Best in Show – Agency/Solution Provider for 2016 DBS Bank whizzed its way to bag the top honour wowing an audience of more than Of 300.

Here’s a look at the Mob-Ex Awards as the Mob-Ex Best Show – Brand at what went on during the awards night.

2015.

On the agency front, Codigo wowed

the more than 300-strong audience grabbing the Best of Show – Agency honour. Here’s a recap Florence Yap, engagement lead (digital customer, marketing and sales practice), Accenture Consulting of the awards night.

JUDGING PANEL

Eric Chang, head of brand and digital, AIA Malaysia

Rudy Hamdani, head of digital and channel management, ANZ Bank Indonesia Daniel Chong, senior deputy director, digital and social media, Central Provident Fund Board Stephanie Myers, vice-president, digital channels, HSBC Vivek Malhotra, vice-president of marketing, Idea Cellular Richa Goswami, regional head of digital, Johnson & Johnson Juliana Chu, director of digital, Asia Pacific, Kimberly-Clark Joey Alarilla, director and regional digital officer, Manulife Asia Aizuddin Danian Izham Cheong, head of group digital media management, Maybank Mark Wheeler, director of digital – Australia and New Zealand, McDonald’s Corporation Anthony Green, director of digital development, Minor Hotel Group Roy Heong, vice-president, e-business, OCBC Bank Malaysia Amit Tiwari, director country head, media and digital, Philips India Pawarana Ann Suwanjindar, senior vice-president – digital marketing, Siam Commercial Bank Lee Yen Ming, head of digital marketing, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Harry Lowes, general manager, digital marketing, Telstra Vittoria O’Connor, APAC loyalty and digital director, The Body Shop Adeline-Ausy Setiawan, managing director, Unilever Enterprise Indonesia Divya Ramaswamy, vice-president of digital marketing, Wego

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AUDI AND PUBLICIS SCORE THE TOP PRIZES AT MOB-EX 2016

Audi Singapore was awarded the overall brand title at the fourth annual Mob-Ex Awards at the Pan Pacific Singapore. With a total prize pool of four gold, two silver and two bronze across categories that included Best Campaign – Original Content, Best Campaign – Mobile for an Event, and Best Campaign – Innovation, Audi trumped the competition in front of a crowd of more than 300, with the runner-up Scoot Airlines taking home two gold and three silver awards.

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Last year’s champion DBS Bank and runner-up Australia and New Zealand Banking Group followed closely both earning 13 points according to the awards’ exponential-weighted points system, meaning four points were allocated for gold, two points for silver and one point for bronze.

Audi’s “A Drive Back in Time” campaign impressed the jury and clinched it the overall prize with its combination of nostalgia and modern technology. To recognise Singapore’s

50th anniversary the brand offered an immersive virtual reality experience through a mobile app called the “SG50 Time Machine” which allowed users to experience what Singapore’s streets looked like in 1965, with a main event taking place between 17 and 25 October 2015.

Publicis Singapore, the agency for both Audi and Scoot’s campaigns, came out on top as the Best in Show – Agency/Solution Provider for 2016 with a trophy haul of six gold, five silver and two bronze. A very close competition saw MRM//McCann Singapore, with its wins for The Hershey Company and National Gallery Singapore, and Ruder Finn Asia who scored for Grab and the HappyFresh campaigns, tied in second place.

The Mob-Ex Awards proudly celebrates excellence and innovation in mobile marketing across South Asia, Southeast Asia and ANZ. A panel of digital experts from leading brands such as HSBC, Johnson & Johnson, KimberlyClark, McDonald’s and Unilever determined this year’s winners from a pool of 300-plus entries.

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BEST IN SHOW – BRAND Audi Singapore

WHAT THE WINNER HAD TO SAY:

“The project was born from an innovative idea that both represented the Audi brand as well as Singapore. It was definitely an audacious project which required a lot of work, and success was not guaranteed. We are so proud of being here today. It is a great recognition to bold thinking and all the efforts the team and our partners have put in.”

– Anna Bory, GM, marketing, Audi Singapore

BEST IN SHOW – AGENCY/SOLUTION PROVIDER Publicis Singapore

WHAT THE WINNER HAD TO SAY:

“An agency is nothing without its client partners. We are recognised here today because we have clients who are like family. There aren’t a lot of brave clients in Singapore and we’re fortunate to be working with some of them. Also a big thanks to the team at Publicis for leading the change together with our clients.”

– Lou Dela Pena, CEO, Publicis Singapore

BEST TEAM – IN-HOUSE

BEST TEAM – SOLUTION PROVIDER

Client: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

Agency: Digital Arts Network

Client: Eaton

Agency: Airwave APAC

Client: Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care

Agency: Publicis Nurun Singapore

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BEST APP – COMMUNITY SERVICE Client: SP Services

Client: Celcom Agency: M&C Saatchi

Client: Health Promotion Board

BEST APP – CREATIVITY Client: OCBC Bank Brand: OCBC OneTouch™ Agencies: Isobar, Carat, iProspect, McCann

Client: National Gallery Singapore Agency: MRM//McCann Singapore

Client: Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board Agency: Wild Advertising & Marketing

BEST APP – GOVERNMENT Client: Health Promotion Board

Client: Sport Singapore

Client: Telekom Malaysia Brand: TM SME Agency: Lowe Malaysia

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BEST APP – CONSUMER BRAND Client: DBS Bank

Client: Grab Agency: Ruder Finn Asia

Client: OCBC Bank Brand: OCBC OneTouch™ Agencies: Isobar, Carat, iProspect, McCann

BEST APP – GAMES Client: DBS Bank Agency: 3radical

Client: DBS Bank

Client: MEASAT Broadcast Network System Brand: Astro Ceria Agency: Compass Interactive

BEST APP – MEDIA OWNER Client: PropertyGuru

Client: MEASAT Broadcast Network System Brand: Astro Ceria Agency: Compass Interactive

Client: The Business Times

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BEST APP – UTILITY Client: Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board Agency: Wild Advertising & Marketing

Client: OCBC Bank Brand: OCBC OneTouch™ Agencies: Isobar, Carat, iProspect, McCann

Client: Health Promotion Board

BEST CAMPAIGN – CRM LOYALTY AND ENGAGEMENT Client: ZALORA South East Asia

BEST CAMPAIGN – BRAND AWARENESS Client: Grab Agency: APD

Client: Scoot Airlines Brand: Scoot Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: NTUC Income Agency: Germs Singapore

BEST CAMPAIGN – DIRECT RESPONSE Client: MasterCard Agency: Digital Arts Network

Client: HappyFresh Agency: Ruder Finn Asia

Client: Scoot Airlines Brand: Scoot Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Max’s Group Inc. Brand: Krispy Kreme Philippines Agency: Mobext Philippines

Client: DBS Bank Agency: 3radical

BEST CAMPAIGN – IN-APP ADVERTISING Client: Monetary Authority of Singapore Brand: MoneySENSE Agency: Addiction Advertising

Client: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

Client: Procter & Gamble Singapore Brand: SK-ll Agencies: Millennial Media, Mediacom Singapore

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BEST CAMPAIGN – INCENTIVES AND REWARDS Client: L’Oréal Malaysia Brand: Kiehl’s Agency: Compass Interactive

Client: Scoot Airlines Brand: Scoot Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Thai Health Promotion Foundation Agency: Lunch Communications

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BEST CAMPAIGN – INFORMATIVE USE OF MOBILE Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Eaton Brand: Eaton PowerSource

Client: Hewlett-Packard (HP) Agency: PMG ASIA PACIFIC

BEST CAMPAIGN – INTEGRATION OF MOBILE Client: The Coca Cola Company Brand: Coca Cola Agency: Mediacom Singapore

BEST CAMPAIGN – INNOVATION Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: The Hershey Company Brand: Hershey Agency: MRM//McCann Singapore

Client: Google Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

BEST CAMPAIGN – LOCATION-BASED MARKETING Client: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Mount Faber Leisure Group Agencies: PHD Singapore, Airwave

Client: Syngenta Asia Pacific Agency: Edenred Singapore

Client: Standard Chartered Bank Brand: Standard Chartered Marathon Agencies: OMD Singapore, Airwave

BEST CAMPAIGN – MOBILE FOR AN EVENT Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

BEST CAMPAIGN – MOBILE LAUNCH/RE-LAUNCH Client: Grab Agency: Ruder Finn Asia

Client: Unilever Singapore Brand: Sunsilk Agencies: InMobi, Mindshare Singapore

Client: HappyFresh Agency: Ruder Finn Asia

Client: Hewlett-Packard (HP) Brand: Hewlett-Packard (HP) Enterprise Services Agencies: PHD Singapore, Airwave

Client: AskmeBazaar Agency: Opera Mediaworks

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BEST CAMPAIGN – ORIGINAL CONTENT Client: NTUC Income Agency: Germs Singapore

Client: Pond’s Indonesia Agencies: Opera Mediaworks, Mindshare Indonesia

Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

BEST CAMPAIGN – SEARCH Client: Sport Singapore

BEST CAMPAIGN – RESEARCH AND INSIGHTS Client: Google Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

Client: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

Client: DBS Bank Agencies: MLA, Aegis Media Digital Asia Pacific, HAVAS, CNBC

BEST CAMPAIGN – SOCIAL PLATFORM Client: Scoot Airlines Brand: Scoot Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Transitions® Optical Agency: iProspect Singapore

Client: Mondelēz Brand: Oreo Agency: FCB/Kuala Lumpur

Client: KDU University College Brand: KDU University College & KDU College Agency: Maxus Communications Malaysia

Client: The Hershey Company Brand: Hershey Agency: MRM//McCann Singapore

BEST CAMPAIGN – TABLETS Client: National Gallery Singapore Agency: MRM//McCann Singapore

Client: Celcom Agency: M&C Saatchi (M)

Client: Singapore Tourism Board Agency: KRDS Singapore

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BEST CAMPAIGN – USE OF MULTIPLE MOBILE CHANNELS Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

Client: Health Promotion Board Brand: HealthHub Agencies: DDB Group Singapore, MEC Singapore

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BEST CAMPAIGN – USER EXPERIENCE Client: ComfortDelGro Agency: Codigo

BEST CAMPAIGN – VIDEO/RICH MEDIA Client: DBS Bank Agencies: MLA, Aegis Media Digital Asia Pacific, HAVAS, CNBC

Client: Singapore Tourism Board Agency: KRDS Singapore

Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Audi Singapore Brand: Audi Agency: Publicis Singapore

Client: Unilever Malaysia Brand: Vaseline Agency: Immerse Group

BEST CAMPAIGN – VIRAL MARKETING Client: Scoot Airlines Brand: Scoot Agency: Publicis Singapore

BEST SOLUTION – MCOMMERCE Client: HappyFresh Agency: Ruder Finn Asia

Client: The Hershey Company Brand: Hershey Agency: MRM//McCann Singapore

Client: McDonald’s APMEA

Client: Unilever Indonesia Brand: AXE Agency: OgilvyOne Indonesia

Client: Standard Chartered Bank

BEST SOLUTION – MOBILE ADVERTISING Client: Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board Agency: Wild Advertising & Marketing

Client: The Hershey Company Brand: Hershey Agency: MRM//McCann Singapore

Client: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

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BEST SOLUTION – MOBILE SITE Client: Unilever Malaysia Brand: Vaseline Agency: Immerse Group

Client: Big Apps Idea Brand: MOREREWARDZ.COM

Client: The Hershey Company Brand: Hershey Agency: MRM//McCann Singapore

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CAREERS

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CAREER PATH

JOB SHUFFLE

Bjorn Sprengers CMO Propertyguru.com

First job?

Strategy consulting at Arthur D. Little.

First job in advertising/ marketing?

Marketing manager for Philips Oral Healthcare EMEA. Best job?

Current job. PropertyGuru has a very strong sense of purpose – helping people find the home they always dreamed of. That purpose comes with a healthy ambition to win, great values and lots of opportunities for all of our people to take initiatives, to fail, to learn and to succeed … as a team.

Perks of your current job

To be at the basis of what will definitely become a household brand in property in Southeast Asia. That’s a deeply motivating thought.

Worst job?

Dishwasher at an Italian restaurant in my home town.

I think that’s where I lost my appetite for Italian food.

Marketing professionals you admire?

Tony Fernandes. My favourite brand in Southeast Asia is Air Asia. It’s not a business that gets everything right. But it is a brand which has vision and personality.

Best career advice you’ve been given?

Schedule time every day to look out of the window. Perhaps it is an in-office version of mediation.

Why a career in marketing?

In hindsight it is probably fair to say that career happened a bit by coincidence. That first job triggered my curiosity in how the dots in a company need to be connected in order to win.

How do you wind down?

I love spending time with my wife and my daughter Liv and son Melle.

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Dentsu Aegis Network’s trading desk Amnet appointed Joshua Lee to the role of platforms and technology lead for Amnet Asia. As part of the Amnet Asia management team, he is responsible for driving platform strategies and the assessment, adoption and measurement of various DSP and DMP platforms.

He reports to Anna Chan, managing director of Amnet Asia, and works closely with John Thankamony, head of operations and analytics.

ABS-CBN Corporation appointed Cory Vidanes its chief operating officer of broadcast, effective 1 February, 2016. She will continue to lead and oversee the total channel programming, artist development, on-air operations, events management, and overall revenue and profit delivery of Channel 2. She will manage the development of new concepts for Channel 2 and the ABS-CBN TVplus channels, Yey, CineMo and Knowledge Channel.

Havas promoted Asiya Bakht to the group’s director of marketing and communications for Asia Pacific. The move follows the consolidation of the marketing communications function in other key markets in Asia Pacific such as Australia, China, India and the Philippines.

She will be responsible for driving marketing and communications for all creative, media and specialist brands of Havas Asia, which include the flagship brands Havas Worldwide and Havas Media.

Carat Asia Pacific appointed Kevin Walsh to managing director of Carat Asia Pacific. In this newly created role, he is responsible for driving and ensuring excellence in client service and product delivery for all clients. Before this, he was the chief digital officer at Carat Asia Pacific, where he spearheaded successful integrated and innovative digital solutions that helped clients achieve their business objectives.

WPP’s media agency Mindshare appointed Jacob Kvist to the role of chief investment officer. He was previously CEO of GroupM Vietnam. Ed Thesiger takes over as CEO of the Vietnam office in addition to his role as CEO of GroupM Indonesia. Kvist is tasked to handle Mindshare’s trading and investment strategy for the region.

He will work with regional media, data and tech partners to ensure Mindshare’s multi-local trading strategies are up-to-date.

OMD International appointed Jo Stevenson as head of digital.

In this regional role, she will work across key global accounts and will be responsible for driving thought leadership and the digital strategy. Working closely with the account teams, she will play a key role in mapping digital initiatives for OMD International clients. She joined OMD International from Dentsu Aegis Network’s media investment arm, Amplifi, based out of London.

MediaCom appointed Simon Broderick as chief investment officer of Asia Pacific, taking

over from Matthew Wigham who will be transitioning to a new role within GroupM. Joining from his most recent role with Kinetic Worldwide as the APAC investment director, he will work with MediaCom’s regional and local marketing teams across Asia Pacific to build and nurture the agency’s already strong trading and investment product.

Shopping app Carousell hired Chai Jia Jih as vice-president of international. His role is effective from 2 March. In this role, he will lead international growth to accelerate Carousell’s expansion worldwide, as well as support financial strategy and planning.

Lenovo appointed Kenneth Low as its marketing lead for Southeast Asia.

He is tasked with driving Lenovo’s brand growth across the PC, mobile and enterprise business.

His scope includes driving social media and digital engagement, demand generation campaigns, PR and retail. He reports to Nick Reynolds, APAC CMO, and replaces Rivy Soh who held the role for two years.

Twitter appointed Leslie Berland as its chief marketing officer. The news came shortly after the social media giant saw four of its top executives leaving the company. As CMO, he is responsible for the company’s global consumer, product, and sales marketing. Before Twitter, he was EVP of global advertising, marketing and digital partnerships at American Express.

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LAST WORD

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WHY OUR LINKEDIN PROFILES LACK BUZZ LinkedIn reveals buzzwords marketers are most guilty of overusing when describing themselves.

A list to avoid: How many of the top 10 buzzwords on LinkedIn are you guilty of using?

In this industry we love using buzzwords to describe campaigns or the next big initiative – think #bigdata #innovation #omnichannel.

But have you thought about the words you as marketers use to describe yourselves?

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, has done a quick analysis of the top most overused buzzwords in LinkedIn profiles of marketers in the Asia Pacific. LinkedIn analysed the profile summaries of marketers in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore to compile the list.

The list reveals “creative”, “passionate” and “strategic” as the most overused buzzwords among marketers in the region, while other offenders included “successful”, “motivated” and “innovative”.

The top 10 buzzwords in the LinkedIn profiles of Asia Pacific-based marketers for 2016 are: 1. Creative 2. Passionate 3. Strategic 4. Successful 5. Motivated 6. Driven 7. Leadership 8. Innovative 9. Track record 10. Dynamic Roger Pua, Linkedin’s senior director of corporate communications for Asia Pacific, said: “Actions speak louder than words. Instead of building their LinkedIn profiles with overused buzzwords, we encourage our members to think about how they can stand out from the crowd and differentiate themselves, such as substantiating their work and achievements with concrete examples such as awards, presentations, research papers, and so forth.”

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Remember too, that a picture says a thousand words, so let’s put an end to tired and overused buzzwords.

LinkedIn is also encouraging professionals to think about the terms and phrases they use in their profile summary and take the time to rejuvenate their LinkedIn profile.

Here are some tips from the team for those looking to create their perfect profile: 1. Stand out from the crowd: Your summary is the first thing people look at after your profile picture. You may know you’re capable of demonstrating “leadership” with a “great track record”, but too many buzzwords make it hard for your profile to stand out. Use examples of your experience, focus on how you’ve demonstrated leadership with specific examples and highlight those great results with real numbers.

2. A picture is worth a thousand words: Instead of saying you’re “creative”, why not show people by including presentations, design work and projects you take pride in? Remember, you’ve only got five to 10 seconds to impress.

3. Share views and news: So you have “extensive experience and great communication skills”? Tell the world by publishing a post on LinkedIn. By offering your opinions on industry matters, you’re positioning yourself as a thought leader and sharing your knowledge.

4. Get to know people like you: If you want to show you are “motivated” about succeeding in your industry, join a group. Share your thoughts on news or articles to show you care about the sector and widen your network. Members who are active in groups get 15 times more profile views than members who don’t take part.

5. Recommend a friend: If you think someone’s “exceptional”, why not say it? Spend time writing meaningful recommendations using specific examples. Not only does this show you really know them, it also means they are more likely to return the favour. A couple of glowing recommendations are worth a hundred buzzwords.

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