Report Technology and ongoing digital transformation have shaken up marketing, with the APAC region at the forefront of change. But is this shake-up itself about to be shaken up? With key trends emerging globally, is it time for the regions marketers to accept that, sometimes, it is traditional appeals to the consumer that truly count and not just the latest platform? The speed read The role of technology in delivering for the consumer is changing Words: Fred Attewill G lobally, a host of long-gestating developments in the marketing industry have come to a head in 2018. Buffeted by rapidly changing tech, ethical and social environments, marketing professionals need to stay head of the curve if the sector is to maintain its integrity. Its time to take a 360-degree view of marketing, and of consumer needs. As Dan Salzman, global head of media at HP, said in Cannes in June: Each category of marketing is going through a reckoning. Many of the leading trends of recent years are facing a backlash. One inescapable example is the increasing scrutiny of influencer marketing, which burst onto the scene when Instagram the preferred platform for social media stars with large followings took off. Now, the rise of pods of influencers small groups that agree to work together and can skew engagement data as well as bots and the buying of followers, have left the influencer phenomenon tarnished. Many marketers have been left wondering what they are getting for their money. The development perhaps a natural point in the hype cycle is big news across Asia, where social media influence has previously been seen as a great new hope. Three years ago, influencer marketing was growing in scale. Now, people are looking at it critically. Its a natural shaking out, Salzman said. Other industry heavyweights joined the fray, with Unilever CMO Keith Weed announcing that the consumer giant will shun influencers who buy followers. In February, Weed threatened to pull Unilever advertising spend from Google and Facebook unless the tech giants drained the swamp (as he likened the digital supply chain to) and worked to combat extremist and illegal content. The industry was also dragged into the Cambridge Analytica scandal, with the data breach potentially having major repercussions for Facebook as a marketing tool. All year, the rise of ad blockers together with the growing intolerance of media such as auto-playing video ads and pop-ups has challenged the industry to adopt a less intrusive, and more effective, approach. One innovation to watch is permission-based marketing and, specifically, the rise of user-initiated video. This allows consumers to choose to watch a video ad in exchange for a reward, such as access to gated content, and data suggests it is the most accepted ad format among consumers. These trends will only intensify in 2019, but the coming year will also present golden opportunities to marketers who seize on positive developments. Brands and the wider industry simply cannot isolate themselves from social, political and environmental movements that are taking much of the world by storm and, indeed, they should do their utmost to understand, harness and capitalise on them. Incentivised permission-based marketing is a growing sector Todays consumers want to participate, not be talked at When consumers add their own values to them, brands are boosted Tomorrows optimal brands are purposeful and socially conscious Rediscovering purpose Brand purpose and social impact have been hot topics in global branding for some time now, but uptake and impact in Asia has been reasonably limited, says Chris Dobson, managing consultant at Hong Kong experience design consultancy The Labs. With growing populations, strains on infrastructure, agriculture and resources, climate change, wealth disparity, and a back-drop of geo-political protectionism and tension, I really believe the time has come for brands in Asia to embrace the idea of being more purposeful. Brands that manage to capture the zeitgeist of snowballing movements amplified by social media can reap phenomenal rewards, Dobson argues. A resurgence of big, brave creative brand ideas are needed. Dobson points to the recent Nike campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick. The American footballer gained global fame for controversially kneeling down when the national anthem was played before games, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Using Kaepernick in the campaign reinforced Nikes history of brave, non-conformist creative thinking, says Dobson. The campaign is hard to fault, and once the inevitable backlash has subsided, people will remember Nike as being on the right side of history of being brave, of standing for something, of being what we aspire to be ourselves. There is unbelievable power in that. Big, bold ideas remind marketers of the power of creativity and of the role brands can play as positive contributors to society, Dobson adds, and will serve to strengthen the position of the brand among socially responsible millennials. Celebrity sells, sometimes Maneesh Choudhary, managing director of Kantar Millward Brown in Beijing and Guangzhou, urges brands to look at the long-term impact of celebrity tie-ups. Matching the brand character with the celebrity character is key, he says, citing Nestl Milkas work with Chinese singer Zhang Yixing nicknamed Little Sheep by his fans as a good example. This matching of personality becomes even more relevant for Chinas lower social tiers, where the personality of the celebrity should be down to earth and relatable to the people, who are less advertising literate, and looking for rational and simple marketing messages. Understanding the synergy between a brand and the consumer is essential for the brand to stay relevant and this means they must appreciate the wider context of consumer engagement. Its about getting under the skin of the brand and the skin of the consumer, and understanding how the two of those fit into the context of everyday life, says Lucille Essey, VP, executive creative director, at brand experience agency Jack Morton Worldwide in Hong Kong. For example, how does a luxury brand stay relevant in a society where things such as the #MeToo and #StickItToSexism movements have become such issues? Added to that, you have consumer awareness of ethical practices of how clothes are made. So youve got to know how to approach all of that without having to be overt about it and still help your brand to be relevant. Deliver emotion Echoing another strength of several previous Nike campaigns in the region, Essey highlights emotion as a seminal way to build meaningful engagement one that will only gain greater traction in the year ahead. Its heart first, she says. Thats the one thing that will never change in marketing. If you make people feel something, they will have an experience. Dont tell them things, dont show them things give them the opportunity to feel it. Experiential professionals need to understand live events if they want to harness them to build a brand, she cautions. Its no longer OK to invite people to come and observe something. Its got to be an invitation to actively participate in a meaningful way. Guests must also be able to influence the outcome of events and curate their own experience, she says. What the consumer walks away feeling is how they will assess or give their personal value to the brand. These consumers can then help extend the life of the campaign on social media. Experience counts One standout recent example of staging a memorable experience was the agencys launch of BMWs X2 crossover vehicle in Beijing,in June. Essey says the campaign, which centred on a pieceof immersive theatre, highlighted key lessons about experiential campaigns. Pushing the boundaries, breaking convention and allowing guests to create their own story all contributed towards the events success. What is standout about the car, apart from being available in gold, is the spirit that it represents and embodies, and thats what we sold to the consumer, she says. We took them on a very personal, cathartic journey, where there was no separation between them and the performers. During the launch event, guests including media donned face masks and white lab coats for full anonymity. We took the guests through a mirror maze to disorientate them and bring them into the present moment. They then went into a space where they engaged with actors, and the story revolved around a mundane life where they were zombies and robots and the call to action was to go against that and put your personal desires first. Guests eventually smashed down a wall before the car was revealed but that was not the end of the event. The experience continued to another space. Now that they had unlearned everything, they got to define their own rules and choose how daring they wanted to be. We symbolised that spirit to be different and set your own parameters through a physical, anatomically correct, three-metre high gold heart. The social media traction was incredible. Strategy beyond the concept Central to the conception of such experiences are ideas but Essey is keen to stress that the ideas that can lead to viral campaigns must be based on real insights. Ideas not grounded in insight lack meaning, she says. Theres got to be science behind it and thats why its not one person coming up with an idea; its a team. The role of strategy and strategic thinkers is the bedrock of good creative. Its that insight and communication thats going to drive your idea and make it mean something. Top 8 consumer Teamwork and integration within companies are trends in Asia crucial to optimising customer experience. They will also prevent compelling messages and strategies from being grounded by internal politics and siloed mentalities. In a complex, connected world, companies today need to look at integration in a new way, Dobson says. If you are a true customer-centric brand, its about the development of compelling experience propositions, and the alignment of the whole business behind it not just piecemeal delivery of experience-driven tactics. This, to me, is the future of integration. Not the integration of idea and channel, but the integration of purpose, proposition and internal teams on the client side, supported by an integrated creative team that considers the way the brand is expressed and experienced through places, people, platforms and products. A place for technology The role of technology in delivering for the customer is evolving, too. With the ever-greater adoption of sophisticated devices and media, even cutting-edge augmented reality (AR) programmes are no longer standout attractions of a campaign. Instead, technology is increasingly being used to simplify life for the consumer. While having the latest, shiny new platform, app or customer tool can be great in the short term, its time for brands to start taking a longer view, and looking at how technology can be applied to create more elegant, fluid and frictionless customer journeys, Dobson says. I think a more refined approach that uses data to predict needs and the invisible hand of technology to deliver it is required. The job of brands today is to use data and technology to make life simpler; to make customers return, to win a greater share of their wallet, and to make them want to refer you to their friends. As companies grapple with maintaining consistency for consumers across multiple channels, there is still huge scope for many businesses in the region to improve their digital marketing strategy. Earlier this year, Deloittes Asia-Pacific commerce report revealed that 80 per cent of businesses indicated higher customer engagement than five years ago, but more than half have lost revenue or sales through inadequate commerce platforms. Dobson tips progressive web apps which provide much of the functionality of an app without the need to download or update it to be increasingly pivotal in transforming consumers experience of physical spaces in 2019. For retailers, mall owners, developers, museums or public spaces, consumers ability to log on to a Wi-Fi network and instantly access an interface that helps them navigate, learn, explore and enhance their journey is a very compelling proposition. Combined with the ongoing advances in AR platforms, and their ability to create connected, social experience, I can see a lot of very interesting, customer-centric applications. The optimal brand will increasingly combine all of these elements, he says. It should be purposeful and socially conscious in its design and actions, brave in its creativity, but customercentric and simple in the way it seeks to use technology and data. That, to me, sounds like a brand Id like to engage with, buy from, and tell my friends about. cim.co.uk/exchange Its about getting under the skin of the brand and the skin of the consumer, and understanding how the two of those fit into the context of everyday life Lucille Essey, creative director, Jack Morton Worldwide