Innity Offers Real-Time Bidding for its South East Asia and Hong Kong Audience Network‏

Innity yesterday announced a business alliance with D.A. Consortium Inc. (DAC) to effectively compete in the real-time bidding (RTB) arena across the region. Armed with the superior technology of DAC, Innity will offer demand-side platform (DSP), MarketOne® as well as sell-side platform (SSP), YIELD ONE™ services to its advertisers and publishers to radically increase the effectiveness of display campaigns.

As an RTB-enabled ad network, Innity will create incredible value for both advertisers and publishers alike. DAC’s advanced technology along with Innity’s high audience reach and premium quality inventory will allow advertisers to bid on – and purchase – online ad inventory on an impression by impression basis to reach specific audiences across Innity’s Audience Network, and in turn, drive higher ROI on campaigns. Innity will also allow publishers to select and choose the top advertisers for their site and increase monetization opportunities for their inventory.

Innity will officially launch MarketOne® and YIELD ONE™ in August in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, and eventually expanding to the whole ASEAN region.

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Creativeland Asia to revamp iconic brand Cinthol

Creativeland Asia has won the creative mandate to revamp Cinthol, one
of Godrej’s legendary personal care brands. As part of the mandate,
Creativeland is required to approach Cinthol with their fresh new
thinking while making it relevant for today’s consumer and their
needs.

Commenting on this development, Sajan RaJ Kurup, Founder & Creative
Chairman, Creativeland Asia said, “Godrej has shown immense faith in
Creativeland Asia. Working on Godrej Expert was an interesting
challenge and the response from our client/partners has been very
encouraging. Taking this partnership ahead, I am excited to work on
Cinthol. Right from the 1980s, Cinthol has been an iconic brand. We
all remember the days when popular celebrities such as Vinod Khanna
endorsed the brand. We need to simply recreate the magic and the
stature Cinthol enjoyed in the past.”

Commenting on this development, Sunil Kataria Head Sales & Marketing
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. “Creativeland Asia has a fresh and
creatively unique approach to brands. Cinthol is an iconic brand with
a huge potential. We look forward to a strong association with
Creativeland Asia as we work towards unlocking Cinthol’s immense
potential.”

Komli Media Raises $49.9 Million in Funding

Komli Media has raised SGD 49.9 million in its fourth and largest
round of funding to date. This financing will help further enhance its
aggressive growth which has helped the company become the largest
independent digital media network in the region.

Komli Media has now over 400 people across 18 offices globally and
services more than 1,000 active advertisers across APAC.

Experian Research Reveals Disconnect Between Singapore Marketers and Consumers

Research data reports that marketers are confident in their marketing strategies, but consumers disagree

According to research conducted by Experian, 82% of marketers in Singapore show confidence in the consistency of their brand messages. This confidence is highest amongst technology companies (87%) and lowest amongst marketers in the retail industry (72%).

Despite the confidence of marketers, only 61% of Singapore consumers think that companies integrate their communications well, pointing to a discrepancy between marketer perception and consumer behaviour.

As the growth of technology accelerates and new channels become instantaneously available, marketers are finding it difficult to cut through the clutter. Over half of marketers in Singapore (53%) acknowledged that it has become more difficult to get messages across to the right people. To overcome this challenge without overwhelming consumers with excess communication, 81% of marketers are becoming more selective in choosing channels that most effectively engage with their customers.

Channel preferences – Online vs. Print
Marketers believe that a company website is the most important source of information for customers to find out about a brand or product (78%). The second and third most important sources of information identified by marketers are social media channels and search engines (both at 57%).

Similarly, consumers also agree that a company website is the most valuable source of information (91%), followed by search engine results and advertising (75%) and social media channels like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (73%). However, there is a significant difference in the perception of print media’s importance. While marketers do not see it as an important tool (28%), consumers rated it as the second most valuable information source (86%).

Channels delivering the best return on investment
Singapore marketers ranked social media (95%), online advertising (89%) and brand experiences such as stunts and promotions, as “highly effective” or “effective” at delivering the best return on investment (ROI). However, despite marketers’ attention to digital channels, 63% reported that they had previously invested in a new digital approach that did not deliver the anticipated ROI. This was highest among online/digital companies (74%) and financial companies (68%). The key reasons for the failure of a new channel were the lack of understanding of both the target audience (26%) and the channel itself (23%).

Future areas of investment
Over the next 12 months, social media advertising and channel development are the most important areas for investment, with 80% of marketers indicating plans to increase ad spend in these areas. Other digital channels that are likely to receive a budget boost include online advertising (68%), online video advertising (51%) and email marketing (50%). Despite the increased focus on digital media, more than half (53%) of marketers plan to increase investment in traditional channels like print advertising. Similarly, in TV and radio, as much as 38% of marketers plan to increase ad spend.

In the recent years, Singaporean companies have been affected by the global financial crisis. Fortunately, the overall market has recovered strongly and marketers are slowly gaining access to budgets again. For many marketers, the main challenge is trying to identify the most effective use of budgets and determine which channel or combination of channels and campaign messages will deliver the greatest results. By understanding customer preferences, marketers in Singapore can better align their strategies and investment in marketing channels to ensure that they get seen and heard by the right people

GREY SINGAPORE Launches SOCIAL MEDIA-Led Campaign for METRO

Grey Singapore, along with Yolk, a Grey Group company, has developed a new campaign leveraging social media for Metro, Singapore’s locally owned department store in conjunction with its Great Singapore Sale. A social media led competition-based campaign was created and launched via Facebook and then Twitter, the third phase running on Pinterest has also been launched.

Following the tagline Grey Singapore created for Metro, ‘Whatever Your Mood’ the Pinterest promotion variation is “I’m in a queen of the re-pins kind of mood.” The competition urges fans to re-pin pictures from the Metro pin-board to go in the draw to win that product.

Metro is the first department store in Singapore to implement a Pinterest page and Benjamin Tan, Chief Executive Officer, Yolk, commented that he was happy to work with a brand willing to adopt all forms of social media.“Pinterest being such a visual platform is a great way for brands to showcase their product in a way that connects with their audience and doesn’t feel like ‘advertising’. In the case of Metro, Grey and Yolk have worked hard to create a fresher and younger approach to the campaigns to reach a wider section of the public, and the Pinterest campaign complements that theme nicely.” said Tan.

“Since implementing the first two phases of the campaign, Metro has seen their fan base on Twitter and Facebook grow significantly through using simple competition mechanics and attractive prizes for fans. We are sure the Pinterest campaign will only strengthen that fan base.”

The Great Singapore Sale campaign for Metro started on May 25th and will run until June 24th 2012.

ad:tech Singapore brings together the best and brightest minds

from the digital marketing industry across the region and this year’s programme is poised to be the best so far!

With ad:tech Singapore 2012 kicking off in less than a week, here are some of the highlights of this year’s conference.
This year’s theme ‘Driving Asia’s Digital Development’ focuses on how businesses can best engage and interact with the proliferating online population in the region. With this objective, the event offers attendees the chance to walk away with actionable insights that can be applied to the day-to-day life of a digital marketer.

“Attendance is expected to exceed 2,000, with a substantial increase in international visitors and the show floor will host twice the number of exhibitors compared to 2011,” Paul Beckley, Vice President, ad:tech Singapore. “We look forward to accommodating the largest gathering of digital elites here in Singapore and providing a central platform for the exchange of knowledge and best practices.”

The two-day conference will also feature seven keynote presentations and 36 breakout sessions, featuring top industry leaders including:
Keynote Speakers
Dr Jeffrey Cole, Director, Centre of the Digital Future, USC Annenberg School
Michael Lazerow, CEO & Founder, Buddy Media
Greg Dale, COO, comScore Inc.
Cliff Rosenberg, Managing Director, Australia & Southeast Asia, LinkedIn

Brand Case Study Presentation
· Leonardo O’Grady, Director ASEAN Integrated Marketing and Communications, Coca-cola
· Mandeep Grover, Regional Marketing Director, Acclarent, Johnson & Johnson Medical Asia Pacific
· Suryakant Pandey, Director, Biscuits, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods Inc
· Rudi Ramin, Regional Manager, Biscuits, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific
· Ajit Sivadasan, VP/GM Global Web Sales and Marketing, Lenovo
· B Karthik, Head of the Mahindra Brand Council, Mahindra Group

Special Events
LinkedIn will be hosting two seminars focusing on advertising opportunities (from display to the new follower ecosystem) and leveraging the LinkedIn platform to be more productive and successful as a community member.

Blugrapes will be conducting a complimentary educational workshop “All Things Social” which focuses on how to create and sustain a social community to boost marketing initiatives.

SingTel will host a workshop concentrating on the usage of online videos, mobile and in-app advertising as powerful digital marketing tools.

For the first time, e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) will host a job matching session for digital media employers to meet potential candidates face-to-face. To date, 8 employers are offering vacancies for exciting careers from account management (digital marketing) to game programming (interactive advertising).

Mr Gilbert Tan, Acting CEO of e2i, “With digital advertising fast becoming ‘mainstream’, and spending on interactive media gaining momentum, e2i wants to assist local practitioners gear up for this trend through networking sessions, deepening their competencies, and connecting them these new job opportunities.”

76% conduct online searches in two or more languages

It might be assumed that not many people conduct online searches in more than one language. However, results from a global survey undertaken by independent digital marketing agency Greenlight suggest quite the opposite, that a significant 76% do. Occupations one might most readily associate with the Internet – IT and Marketing – topped the list of those who are most likely to search in more than one language.

Greenlight’s global “Search & Social Survey (2011-2012)” asked 500 people – from students, law enforcement professionals, medical staff, accountants, lawyers to the unemployed, how they engage with online advertising, search engines, and social networks, in order to glean insight into how consumers engage with marketers today, and to formulate views on what the future might hold.

Some of the countries topping Greenlight’s chart are not entirely surprising – Belgium, for example, has three official languages. However, others, namely Italy and Spain, are not so obvious.“The fact that Italy and Spain top the chart with 100% of respondents claiming to search in multiple languages, despite reasonably homogenised language use, is possibly a testament to the position of English as the quasi-official language of Europe and the relative prevalence of English language web pages,” says Adam Bunn, director of search engine optimisation (SEO) at Greenlight.

Bunn points to data compiled by Greenlight in 2010. It showed the UK produced the most web pages per head in Europe at 17 pages per person, compared to 10 per person in Spain and just 6 per person in Italy. “Presumably as well as there being more English spam on the web, this also means there is more high quality English content to be searched for by Europeans as well,” says Bunn.

About Greenlight :
Greenlight is an independent digital marketing agency, providing Search and Social Media services. With over 100 blue-chip clients including Santander, New Look, Sky and ghd, Greenlight is a leader in the digital marketing space, recognized worldwide for its commitment to delivering record ROI for its clients. It publishes widely read industry reports, original research, speakers at trade events and delivers a highly respected digital marketing training programme via the Greenlight Academy. Founded in 2001, Greenlight is headquartered in London, with offices in New York. http://www.greenlightdigital.com

APPIES 2012 announces names of top regional marketers coming on board as advisory council and assessors

100 ‘LIVE’ campaigns from across 15 countries in Asia will vie to impress regional marketing heads and win APPIES 2012 Gold Medals. They will congregate in Singapore on July 26 & 27 at the National University of Singapore Society where the event, organised by the Institute of Advertising Singapore and sponsored by SingTel, will be held.

APPIES 2012 ADVISORY COUNCIL:
Ms Goh Shu Fen: Chairperson of APPIES & Principal of R3
Leanne Cutts: Vice President – Marketing, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific
Marit Kievit: Global Brand Director – Lux, at Unilever
Loren I Shuster: Country Director, Singapore & Emerging Markets at Google
Christiaan Ter Steege: Director (Digital Integration) – Integrated Marketing & Communications, Philips Asia Pacific
Wong Mei Wai: Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific Breweries Vietnam

APPIES 2012 ASSESSORS PANEL:
Lynette Ang: Senior VP & Head, Sales & Marketing, NTUC Income Insurance Co-operatives Ltd
Frantz Braha: VP, Samsonite Southeast Asia
Lito German: Marketing Director, BMW Group Asia
Debbie Goldingham: Head of Marketing – Southeast Asia, Mastercard Worldwide
Rohit Jawa: Senior VP – Global Market Operations, Unilever Asia
Ajay Kakar: Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group
Rohini Miglani: Director – Brand-Building Integrated Communication, Procter & Gamble Asia
Alvin Neo: Regional Director, Asia Pacific Medical Devices & Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson Asia Pac
Sophia Ng: Asst Chief Executive – Marketing Group, Singapore Tourism Board
Renate Noessler: General Manager, Marketing Audi Singapore
Corinne Ooi-Bremner: Brand & Category Director, Fonterra Brand (S) Pte Ltd, Asia & Middle East
Myrna Poon: Director – Marketing & Communications, Singapore Economic Development Board
Paddy Rangappa: Senior Director – Marketing, McDonald’s Asia Pacific
Sridhar Rangaswamy: Global Head – Marketing Services, Tata Communications
Sameer Satpathy: Executive VP & Head Marketing, Consumer Product Business, Marico Ltd (India)
Antony Wilson: Area Head of Marketing, Nokia Southeast Asia
Cecilia Wong: Regional Marketing Communications & Branding Director, Citibank APAC
Charmaine Wong-Han: Regional Franchise Director, Johnson & Johnson Asia Pacific

APPIES 2012 offers an unparalled networking and knowledge-sharing platform for the industry with its stellar congregation of inspiring marketing leaders and creative gurus.“The best ideas often come by exchanging knowledge with the best minds in the business. APPIES 2012 gets together some of the most brilliant regional marketers under one roof in its advisory council and assessors panel. These experts are winning the battle for consumers’ minds with their brands in Asia’s competitive markets, and will share their insights while judging 100 of the best regional marketing campaigns presented live over two days.” Ms Goh Shu Fen, Chairperson of APPIES & Co-Founder/Principal of R3

More names will be announced at a later date. For more information, please visit http://www.appies.asia
For enquires, please contact: Ms Jennifer Goh, Executive Director, Institute of Advertising Singapore.
Tel: 65 62208382 /jennifer@ias.org.sg

Singapore Effies Award Winners‏

The Institute of Advertising Singapore announced the winners of the 2012 Singapore Effies on Thursday, May 31st at The Stamford Ballroom, Raffles Convention Centre, to a record crowd. In total, 17 Effies were handed out, including four Gold, six Silver and seven Bronze Effies.

Omnicom’s DDB and OMD swept the 2012 Singapore Effies Awards with a combined total of 11 Effies, of the 17 awards handed out. DDB Worldwide collected three Gold, two Silver and one Bronze Effie, while OMD was awarded two Gold, two Silver and a Bronze.

Ben Lightfoot, Chairman of the Singapore Effies Chapter for 2012, and McCann Worldgroup Chairman, Singapore: “Congratulations to the 2012 winners! We’re extremely pleased with the number of entries we received, as well as the quality of work entered into the show. We know Singapore cares about Effectiveness, and as a result, it’s great to see our Gold winners are home-grown brands.”

Gold winners include:
Action for Aids, Singapore who collected two Gold accolades entitled, ‘The Love Karaoke’ and ‘Be Positive’, which were developed by DDB Worldwide and Ogilvy & Mather/ OMD Singapore respectively.

DBS Bank, ‘Expect the Unexpected’ created by DDB Worldwide / MPG Singapore and the final Gold was awarded to Health Promotion Board’s ‘Org & Raj’ developed by DDB Worldwide/ OMD Singapore.

Sponsored this year by StarHub, MediaCorp and the New York Times Group, the Singapore Effies 2012 honour the country’s most effective advertising campaigns. Marketers and agencies can view all winners through the IAS website, http://www.effies.sg.

DDB picked up an Effie for all six of its shortlisted entries and also walked away with the most number of Effies at the show. The agency was awarded three Gold Effies in recognition of its highly effective and creative campaigns for the Health Promotion Board’s Colorectal Cancer awareness campaign ‘Ong & Raj’, Action for AIDS’ awareness campaign ‘The Love Karaoke’ and DBS Bank’s insurance campaign ‘Expect the Unexpected’. The agency was also awarded two Silver Effies for McDonald’s Chinese New Year campaign ‘Imperfect Family’, and Brandtology’s ‘SG Party Time’ – a collaborative effort led by Tribal DDB. DDB’s creative campaign for StarHub’s ‘Musical Fitting Rooms’ took home a bronze Effie.

“Please believe me, it really doesn’t get any easier each year. But we love the Effies – it’s the heavyweight show for heavyweight clients. We are deeply indebted to our clients, and I’m very proud of our very hardworking, collaborative and ingenious team who keep pushing the limits of marketing creativity”, David Tang, President and CEO of DDB Group Singapore.

GOLD EFFIE
Category: Non Profit / Pro-Bono / Public Service
Campaign: Ong & Raj
Brand: Health Promotion Board
Advertiser: Health Promotion Board
Agency: DDB Group Singapore

GOLD EFFIE
Category: Education
Campaign: The Love Karaoke
Brand: Action for AIDS
Advertiser: Action for AIDS Singapore
Agency: DDB Group Singapore

GOLD EFFIE
Category: Financial Services (Products/ Services)
Campaign: Expect The Unexpected
Brand: DBS Bank
Advertiser: DBS Bank Ltd
Agency: DDB Group Singapore/Tribal DDB Singapore

SILVER EFFIE
Category: Corporate Reputation/ Professional Services
Campaign: SG Party Time
Brand: Brandtology
Advertiser: Brandtology Pte Ltd
Agency: DDB Group/Tribal DDB Singapore

SILVER EFFIE
Category: Fast Food, Casual Dining and Restaurants
Campaign: ‘Imperfect’ Family
Brand: McDonald’s
Advertiser: McDonald’s Restaurants Pte Ltd
Agency: DDB Group Singapore

BRONZE EFFIE
Category: Leisure Products/ Other Consumer Goods
Campaign: Musical Fitting Rooms
Brand: StarHub
Advertiser: StarHub Ltd
Agency: DDB Group Singapore

Leo Burnett Singapore Appoints Ted Lim as Chief Creative Officer

John Kyriakou, CEO, Leo Burnett Group Singapore has announced the appointment of Ted Lim as Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of the agency, which has seen tremendous growth in creativity and business over the past few years. One of the most reputable creative leaders in the Asia-Pac, Ted was with Naga DDB for two decades before leaving to start his own marketing communications agency WANTED.

Says Kyriakou,” In filling this role, we conducted a very thorough search for someone who is aligned with our focus on creativity and innovation. I spoke to a number of great candidates and was heartened to receive tremendous interest from around the world. With the help of Mark Tutssel, we finally decided on Ted Lim, from just across the border in Malaysia. Ted has all the qualities we looked for in a CCO. He has the respect of all the clients and agencies he has worked with, and is a naturally gifted creative talent who knows how to win when it comes to business and awards. He has nurtured many successful creative directors along the way, which are the best testaments to his strengths in building departments and individuals. Beyond all that, he’s just a genuinely nice guy. I have now spent quite some time with Ted and I couldn’t be more thrilled. He really is the right person at the right time for us.”

“Ted is one of the most respected creative leaders in the Asia Pacific region. He is an outstanding talent, with real business acumen. I am delighted he is joining Leo Burnett”, says Mark Tutssel, Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide.

“Singapore is definitely one of the most important markets in the region. Our office here plays a very strategic role for our key clients. We need mature and well-rounded creative leader to oversee our talented team and deliver against high expectations. With Ted’s impressive track record, I am confident that he will lead Leo Burnett Singapore to realize greater creative ambitions and business growth. He will also be a valuable addition to our Global Product Committee team which has led us to consistent success creatively across the globe.” says Jarek Ziebinski, President, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific.

Lim joins Leo Burnett from his own marketing communications agency WANTED which worked with clients, creative, digital, design, media and production agencies in Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Sydney. Prior to that, he spent 20 years with Naga DDB in Malaysia, helping the agency to win and grow over 50 accounts including DiGi, Perodua, Panasonic, Astro, Nippon Paint, Tourism Malaysia, Carlsberg, Mamee, BMW, Malaysia Airlines, Hong Leong Bank and Prudential Assurance.

The bread-and-award winner led Naga DDB to three Agency of the Year titles on the back of Malaysia’s first D&AD Yellow Pencil, 5 Cannes Lions, 4 Clio Awards, 2 One Show Pencils, the country’s only Asia-Pacific Effie, numerous AdFest and Spikes trophies. Naga DDB is Malaysia’s most consistently awarded ad agency in the last decade.

One of the most respected executive creative directors in the Asia-Pacific region, Lim has chaired and judged prestigious advertising award shows in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo and Istanbul.

He headed the Malaysian Chapter of AWARD School and lectured at DDB University. Copywriters and art directors who worked with him are now creative directors in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. The New York-based One Club appointed him recently as their ambassador for The One Show in Malaysia.