Speaker 1: Good morning everyone. Welcome to Executive Insights by Media Corp,
Speaker 1: trends you need to know. Now, this is the first
Speaker 1: Executive insights webinar for the year. And it's usually the
Speaker 1: one where we kind of, I hate to say, look
Speaker 1: into the crystal ball, but we kind of look at
Speaker 1: what's the year, how, what the year is shaping up
Speaker 1: like the year ahead. I invite a great panel who
Speaker 1: are here to kind of hold your hand a little
Speaker 1: bit and to give you the encouragement, um, for what
Speaker 1: you need to do, what you need to look at,
Speaker 1: need to.
Speaker 1: Get on the back of right away. So, let me
Speaker 1: start by introducing, um, my guest today. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: to have them on board. We've had some dry run
Speaker 1: sessions and I, looking at the content, I'm very excited
Speaker 1: for them to share. So, first of all, I want
Speaker 1: to say hi to Munas. Hi, Munas.
Speaker 1: Coming for our managing director of Southeast Asia for months.
Speaker 1: Then we have um Eric, Eric from um OMD. Hi, Eric.
Speaker 1: And then, of course, um.
Speaker 1: I'll say an old friend, Guan Hin, um, from, um,
Speaker 1: the One Club for Creativity, um, but also, Guan Hin,
Speaker 1: congratulations on your recent induction into the advertises um into
Speaker 1: the Association of Advertising and Marketing Singapore Hall of Fame, right? Um,
Speaker 1: one of the luminaries in, in the, in the Singapore
Speaker 1: advertising industry. So very proud to have them on board. Now,
Speaker 1: I am Tashan Toh. I actually head up commercial planning industry.
Speaker 1: Solutions for Media Corp. Um, we've been doing these webinars
Speaker 1: since COVID, and they've only gone from strength to strength. Um,
Speaker 1: if I'm not wrong, we've already had more than 150 speakers,
Speaker 1: and we've had, um, more than 6000 people who attended
Speaker 1: these webinars over the last couple of years. So, all
Speaker 1: of you who are in the room are in the
Speaker 1: right place, right? And we're gonna kick off the year
Speaker 1: of snake in a spectacular fashion in the next hour. Now,
Speaker 1: we've looked at the materials that
Speaker 1: We have, it's, I'm gonna say it's all very inspiring,
Speaker 1: but we're likely to run a little bit long today.
Speaker 1: When we did this session last year in the beginning
Speaker 1: of 2024, we said that there were three key things
Speaker 1: that you, we're going to see explode in 2024. 1
Speaker 1: was that social commerce is going to reign. So what
Speaker 1: we've seen is that in 2023, um, you know, GMV
Speaker 1: was estimated to be 1.6 billion, it's going to grow to.
Speaker 1: 1.4 billion. I think we can all say that since,
Speaker 1: you know, in the past year, we've seen all, we've
Speaker 1: seen this space grow. Um, the exact number, we're still
Speaker 1: trying to, we're still trying to triangulate and get a, uh,
Speaker 1: reading on it, um, as the year has just ended.
Speaker 1: But with the explosion of TikTok shop and all the
Speaker 1: live streams that you're seeing, I think we can all
Speaker 1: say that this is happening. OK? So, one call, correct.
Speaker 1: Second of all, short.
Speaker 1: From video content dominates, right? The rise of TikTok, I mean,
Speaker 1: even though TikTok's reach in Singapore is about 40 or 40, 45%, um,
Speaker 1: it is really a platform that continues to grow, um, nonstop,
Speaker 1: and which is why, you know, as they say, um,
Speaker 1: what do you call it, imitation is the best form
Speaker 1: of flattery. You've got other platforms that are now also
Speaker 1: going on short form content. Now, there is something that,
Speaker 1: that's been happening in China. Those of you who know, know,
Speaker 1: micro dramas have.
Speaker 1: Boomed, right? And happy to note that in Singapore, this
Speaker 1: trend is now catching on and bearing fruit. So, um,
Speaker 1: we've had two very successful micro dramas that in a
Speaker 1: span of, let's say, you know, 2 or 3 weeks
Speaker 1: have garnered 6 to 7 million views. So we know
Speaker 1: that this format works, and we're happy to have called it,
Speaker 1: and we're, and we're on, and we're on this, on
Speaker 1: this riding this wave. The third one,
Speaker 1: Is that gender of AI, you know, is the game changer.
Speaker 1: And um I think Guan Hin was invited to a futureproof,
Speaker 1: um session, a thought leadership session with us, and he
Speaker 1: shared a lot about this, about a year and a
Speaker 1: year and a half back, and this has, this is
Speaker 1: starting to bear fruit, and we see um all this happen,
Speaker 1: and I think um Munas, uh, everyone will talk a
Speaker 1: lot about a lot about.
Speaker 1: AI and what it can do for your business and
Speaker 1: how to utilize it. OK. So, I also wanted to
Speaker 1: give you a sense, you know, at Mediacorp, I get,
Speaker 1: I have the privilege of working with over 3000 brands.
Speaker 1: And these are some sound bites of what these brands
Speaker 1: are telling us, right? They want better in-show integration. They
Speaker 1: want the content, they want to be integrated, they don't
Speaker 1: want to be a logo mention or a product placement.
Speaker 1: They want their, their US.
Speaker 1: be in integrated into the storytelling itself, right? Clearly, everyone
Speaker 1: wants to collect social media data and they want to
Speaker 1: profile um their users. So this has also been a
Speaker 1: big ask from us. Um, many brands are saying, you know,
Speaker 1: with the way budgets are,
Speaker 1: Guys, branding budgets are, you know, shrunk, and everyone's going
Speaker 1: for mid-final conversion. In fact, we have many clients coming
Speaker 1: to us to say, OK, Tashan, I don't need you
Speaker 1: to convert. I need you to show me clear.
Speaker 1: Consideration, consideration lists. OK, so how are you gonna do
Speaker 1: this for me? Then clearly all that is, all this
Speaker 1: is coming on the back of demands for more content creation,
Speaker 1: clearly something that everyone in the room said, OK, where
Speaker 1: is that going? How can we do this? And um
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna say that much of this is being done,
Speaker 1: not with us saying that we know everything, but with us.
Speaker 1: You know, bringing in partners from throughout the industry because
Speaker 1: everyone's going to be a master of some skill in this,
Speaker 1: in this ecosystem and we can't do it alone. So
Speaker 1: with partners and as you will see, my partners in
Speaker 1: crime today are going to give you a great um
Speaker 1: showing of what's available out there. OK, now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: bring you to look, to look at some numbers. Now,
Speaker 1: look at these numbers. This is what we.
Speaker 1: Have triangulated to, you know, this is kind of the
Speaker 1: SG marketing budget spend graph in Singapore. So you've seen
Speaker 1: about 1.3 billion in 2019, it's kind of tapered down
Speaker 1: in 2023 to about 1.77 billion, we think.
Speaker 1: Right? But you, but what's more important here is look
Speaker 1: at the shifts. So search remains very, very strong. Content
Speaker 1: and commerce related social media and that has grown at
Speaker 1: a very, you know, strong caer, right? And that's coming
Speaker 1: really on the back of, you know, how brands are
Speaker 1: really looking at their pure display and inventory guys.
Speaker 1: Right? Now, not, not to say that that's, that's not
Speaker 1: important and I think Eric is gonna bring up that point,
Speaker 1: but it's about the fact that the reallocation has been
Speaker 1: happening where inventory is then being used to amplify the content, um,
Speaker 1: content commerce related social media, um, investments that you're making.
Speaker 1: OK. Now, with this, and so, so when I see
Speaker 1: the 1.77 billion, guys, I want you to know that
Speaker 1: makes my job really, really tough, right? Because all of
Speaker 1: you are demanding far more of the network. OK? But
Speaker 1: that's where, that's what wake, doesn't keep me up at night,
Speaker 1: but it wakes me up in the morning, right? And
Speaker 1: gets me back on the horse. OK, so the next
Speaker 1: chart is, I think this is the, the one that's looming.
Speaker 1: OK. We have this thing called the RTS that is
Speaker 1: launching in 2026. We've been having conversations with key brands
Speaker 1: since last year about how we, together with them, are
Speaker 1: going to partner to deal with this potential leakage of
Speaker 1: about 1.5 to $2 billion in um retail revenue.
Speaker 1: That's huge.
Speaker 1: Right? Because if I imagine 1.52 billion in retail, retail
Speaker 1: revenue leakage, if I take, let's say a 5%, you know,
Speaker 1: estimate of that in terms of what you would be
Speaker 1: spending on marketing out of your budget, right, from, from
Speaker 1: your cost of sale, you know, we're talking about $70
Speaker 1: million straight out of this market. So you guys are
Speaker 1: potentially in hot soup. We are also, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: walking the line on tenterhooks. So.
Speaker 1: The key here is we need to work together to
Speaker 1: make sure that we don't come out of this, this
Speaker 1: RTS opening worse off, or that we pivoted in some
Speaker 1: sort of an interesting innovative way.
Speaker 1: Right? To still secure the retail spends or the client
Speaker 1: or the consumer engagements in Singapore. Now, enough of this,
Speaker 1: enough of this. I hope this wasn't doom and gloom,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to just set the stage to say
Speaker 1: that this is what we're really looking at in the next,
Speaker 1: you know, 12 to 18 months, right? And I encourage
Speaker 1: all of you, if you've not.
Speaker 1: Thought about what how the RTS will affect your business
Speaker 1: in the next 6 to 8 months, please, please start
Speaker 1: putting it high up on your agenda. OK? So now
Speaker 1: with that, I wanted to hand over to Eric, um,
Speaker 1: you know, coming from the media landscape perspective to tell
Speaker 1: us some of his best, um, pieces of advice, tips
Speaker 1: and tricks of how to optimize for the year ahead. OK,
Speaker 1: so over to you, Eric.
Speaker 1: Alright, thank you, Dacheng, let's get straight into it. Um,
Speaker 1: I think firstly, the theme for 2025, uh, I feel
Speaker 1: it's less about making massive leaps and, and more about
Speaker 1: taking what already works and making it work smarter for you.
Speaker 1: I think you kind of touched on it just before.
Speaker 1: Whether you're an agency and advertiser or a vendor, I,
Speaker 1: the headline still really reads do more for less. So
Speaker 1: what is happening in the media landscape that can help
Speaker 1: us drive the effectiveness and deliver on that task that's
Speaker 1: been put on, uh, put on us?
Speaker 1: So we go to the next topic, or the first topic,
Speaker 1: which is the evolution of search. Now we're not quite
Speaker 1: there yet, but we are steadily sprinting towards this idea
Speaker 1: of the death of the 10 blue links. Now when
Speaker 1: I say 10 blue links, I'm referring to the stacked
Speaker 1: URLs um that we used to kind of get in
Speaker 1: our search engines, but this is evolving.
Speaker 1: Um, it's really being pushed by the expectations of users.
Speaker 1: Now if we look at, um, where we started back
Speaker 1: in the day, um, it was really about putting exact
Speaker 1: bullying search queries into your engine. Now you would typically
Speaker 1: flick through many pages before finding what you really need
Speaker 1: buried deep in the results. There were obviously other challenges
Speaker 1: during this period, such as poor ranking algorithms, limited indexing,
Speaker 1: but all that meant was a really poor clunky user experience.
Speaker 1: Now we're asking conversational queries to our search engines, so
Speaker 1: the way in which we're interacting with them is almost
Speaker 1: how you would type um something or how, how you
Speaker 1: would speak to a friend really, and you see it
Speaker 1: all the time, so mid conversation, you'll stop and ask
Speaker 1: and hang on, you know, uh we'll just go back
Speaker 1: one side, hang on our mermaids reel, and you pick
Speaker 1: up your phone and and type the exact question in
Speaker 1: and in the exact conversational tone, you get your response.
Speaker 1: Now, I grabbed a quote um from an article I'd
Speaker 1: read a while back, and I think most of us
Speaker 1: resonate with this, and the quote reads, I have to
Speaker 1: admit it, when browsing the internet, my patience has become low,
Speaker 1: like really low, and I demand nothing but accurate personalized
Speaker 1: answers fast, and they're right. I think we all kind
Speaker 1: of want this instant gratification from our search engines.
Speaker 1: Now if we go on to the next slide, we
Speaker 1: can have a look at what is driving the hunger
Speaker 1: for this immediate information. Two things worth highlighting, which I'm
Speaker 1: sure we're all across AI and social media.
Speaker 1: So I'll spend a couple of minutes if I can
Speaker 1: talking through those a little. Now AI search results have
Speaker 1: had a bit of a staggered approach in terms of
Speaker 1: their availability, um, and if you're not familiar with AI search,
Speaker 1: I put a reference in the middle, but it's, I'm
Speaker 1: referring to that overview that you can get in the
Speaker 1: top of your results. So here I've asked in a
Speaker 1: conversational way, what is a good pet for a small apartment.
Speaker 1: Now what I get is a succinct overview of the
Speaker 1: perfect pets for my tiny little apartment.
Speaker 1: Along as well with a snapshot of the key animals
Speaker 1: that were referenced in the overview so that I can
Speaker 1: learn more in case I wasn't familiar with them. Now
Speaker 1: this overview is being pulled from multiple different sources and
Speaker 1: content ecosystems to create what it deems as the snappiest
Speaker 1: response that can really help me. Now, this is obviously
Speaker 1: extremely helpful to people browsing, but what about us as advertisers?
Speaker 1: So perhaps if we change this search query to one
Speaker 1: about your specific product, um, and think about that for
Speaker 1: a second.
Speaker 1: As an advertiser, it's important to know how and why
Speaker 1: people are searching your category. Do they want to know
Speaker 1: what the best network coverage is? Do they wanna know
Speaker 1: what is the most value for money? Is it the
Speaker 1: most sustainable, what suits their lifestyle? Once you know what
Speaker 1: people need, and I'm sure everyone knows this already from
Speaker 1: the SDM and their current marketing activity, you then need
Speaker 1: to ensure that you have content in the right environments
Speaker 1: that answer these questions. That way AI is able to
Speaker 1: pull all of these pieces together.
Speaker 1: And put your products front and center in the perfect
Speaker 1: search result. Now, if we think about it from an
Speaker 1: FMCG brand as an example, where it's really difficult to
Speaker 1: win mental space, it's like quick turnaround product research, you'll
Speaker 1: need to have answers as to why you're the best
Speaker 1: in comparison websites and articles, online reviews, online forums, obviously,
Speaker 1: as well as your own website.
Speaker 1: Only then will you kind of top the top, uh,
Speaker 1: get to the top of the search uh search results.
Speaker 1: Now we're yet to hit mats velocity on AI overviews,
Speaker 1: so whilst I'm sure everyone here has a robust SEM approach,
Speaker 1: I think it's really time we think about how we
Speaker 1: can improve our content strategy to fuel product discovery. Um,
Speaker 1: we're also seeing product discovery on TikTok. Uh, we have
Speaker 1: a couple of stats here to show you on the
Speaker 1: next slide.
Speaker 1: Not only is it um evolving in search engines, we're
Speaker 1: really seeing a shift from typical search engines into TikTok, uh,
Speaker 1: specifically in our SEA region as well. I think Indonesia
Speaker 1: is one of the biggest globally.
Speaker 1: Now 20% of TikTok users in SEA are using the
Speaker 1: platform as their primary search tool, and not just because
Speaker 1: they're addicted to the platform, 56% of them are actually
Speaker 1: finding it more than traditional search engines. And Dasen spoke
Speaker 1: about TikTok Shop before. To be honest, you now have
Speaker 1: TikTok Search, all of your infeed, you have Shopable, so
Speaker 1: you have a complete marketing funnel within that ecosystem that
Speaker 1: we need to start considering.
Speaker 1: So the 3 things, yeah, Eric, we've also heard um
Speaker 1: some new improvements coming on the YouTube platform too, to,
Speaker 1: you know, to enable, to enable quick purchase, you know,
Speaker 1: in stream. So, yes, this space is really buzzing. Um,
Speaker 1: we're covering a lot, so I'm really gonna encourage everyone
Speaker 1: in the room that if you have a burning question,
Speaker 1: please go into the, the chat box or Q&A and
Speaker 1: type your questions in, right? And because we're reviewing them as,
Speaker 1: as we're presenting.
Speaker 1: And as moderator, so sometimes I can float your question
Speaker 1: out immediately. Thank you. Back to you, Eric.
Speaker 1: Yeah, cool. And just to, yeah, on your point, Dashane,
Speaker 1: I think like the influx of Shopable driven by TikTok shop,
Speaker 1: you have all of these platforms within this region that, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just e-commerce and, and shop attainment is, is crazy. Uh,
Speaker 1: the three things I'd say, uh, to take away from
Speaker 1: what we've spoken about diversify, so think holistically about your
Speaker 1: search strategy, uh, what we spoke about, what role does
Speaker 1: TikTok play, but really think about intent-based discovery, because that's
Speaker 1: what we're seeing.
Speaker 1: Content strategy, huge one, review it, make it easier for
Speaker 1: AI driven engines to interpret your brand's information accurately, uh,
Speaker 1: and monitor and monitor the evolution. I think with what
Speaker 1: was happening in TikTok in the US we saw like
Speaker 1: spikes in Xiaohongshu as an example, are people gonna start
Speaker 1: shifting to that and use that as a search engine,
Speaker 1: so we really need to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: Keep our eye on this um at the moment. Next topic,
Speaker 1: agentic error, um, simply means AI tools or agents talking
Speaker 1: to other AI agents. Now without getting into the details
Speaker 1: too deep, there is a bit of a line of
Speaker 1: separation between how traditional AI works and agentic AI.
Speaker 1: Put simply, traditional AI models simply respond to prompts or
Speaker 1: execute predefined tasks and they're quite rigid. Agentic AI uh
Speaker 1: is a scary AI it can talk with AI components,
Speaker 1: they can perceive the environment, plan and take actions, and
Speaker 1: even learn from experiences. Now I'd say most of the.
Speaker 1: Conversations and what you see in the trade press now
Speaker 1: about benefit workflow and driving efficiencies. So what do we
Speaker 1: need to know? Here we're looking at, um, basically the
Speaker 1: consumer lens. Again, it's all being driven by consumer expectations.
Speaker 1: People want to offload their digital errands and get more
Speaker 1: time back for themselves. They want responses that are more
Speaker 1: and more personalized, but they also still want to have, um,
Speaker 1: or feel like they're in control. So these three key
Speaker 1: behaviors are accelerating the adoption of AI agents and kind
Speaker 1: of why we need to keep our eye on it.
Speaker 1: Um, I'll give you an example on the next slide
Speaker 1: to help put it into context. Uh, this is a
Speaker 1: working example from a colleague, so he may be on
Speaker 1: the call. Um, as part of their role, they're always
Speaker 1: traveling within APAC.
Speaker 1: For those of you that travel frequently for work, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of admin that comes with it, templates
Speaker 1: that you need to fill for approvals and so on.
Speaker 1: Now what they've done is essentially create a multi-agent collaboration.
Speaker 1: So 3 agents that work together and curate a response
Speaker 1: that answers their needs and then can be put into
Speaker 1: a Need Excel for their EA to approve. Now when
Speaker 1: prompting Find me tickets to Sydney in March and the
Speaker 1: best hotel that's close to my office, it's all filtered
Speaker 1: through a supervisor agent.
Speaker 1: So this is the one that orchestrates and governs, and
Speaker 1: remember these all speak to each other, right? Now there's
Speaker 1: agents under that that understand the user's personal preference based
Speaker 1: on their history, um, their digital patterns, etc. One that
Speaker 1: understands airline price fluctuations, fill rates for specific flight paths,
Speaker 1: and another that knows the most talked about, uh, hotels
Speaker 1: for social clout and um also the most reasonable costs.
Speaker 1: So they all talk to each other.
Speaker 1: Pull the information together, send it to the supervisor agent,
Speaker 1: which then gets passed over to the person, they then
Speaker 1: can say, yep, go ahead and book it. It all
Speaker 1: gets dumped into um the template and sent to the EA.
Speaker 1: So it's easy to see how it works for consumers,
Speaker 1: but again, you know, what about us as advertisers? So
Speaker 1: in this scenario, um, if you're an airline, if you
Speaker 1: are a hotel, if you are travel insurance, if you
Speaker 1: are a taxi company,
Speaker 1: You need to be thinking about how these agents can
Speaker 1: help pull you into these options, so your brand again
Speaker 1: um is becoming front and center, and that's the challenge
Speaker 1: we need to prepare for. So 3 things, um, on this,
Speaker 1: I would say is examine and understand what large language
Speaker 1: models are saying about your brand. Um, it's really about
Speaker 1: knowing how we're being recommended in response to user questions,
Speaker 1: that's critical. Second is experiment with your search approach.
Speaker 1: I think experimenting with director agent strategies is something new
Speaker 1: for us, but something we'll need to be considering. Essentially,
Speaker 1: we'll need to know how we can win valuable digital
Speaker 1: shelf space, because based on, you know, the velocity of e-commerce,
Speaker 1: it's gonna get to a stage where AI is doing
Speaker 1: the shopping for us, scary, I know, but I think
Speaker 1: it's heading that way, um, and elevate our product data.
Speaker 1: So the, today's agents at least, they need information to
Speaker 1: be structured and detail, um, oriented.
Speaker 1: So we need to focus on attributes and descriptions that
Speaker 1: are optimized for AI agents to be able to, to
Speaker 1: take on board.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Eric, you're recommending that everyone do sort of,
Speaker 1: sort of a mind map, right, of, of potential of,
Speaker 1: of what their potential ecosystem looks like and how they
Speaker 1: can plug into partners.
Speaker 1: 100%, and I'd say like at the start we talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, AI and search, so that's one thing, there's
Speaker 1: AI searching, you know, the web ecosystem, but now we're
Speaker 1: thinking about, OK, how is, how are these agents um
Speaker 1: kind of collecting information, so you're 100% correct, it's like, alright,
Speaker 1: how
Speaker 1: How do I pull all of my um information and
Speaker 1: put it in the right ecosystem, so if it, it's
Speaker 1: either AI or if it's, you know, large language modeling,
Speaker 1: it's able to be collated and put front and center.
Speaker 1: So yeah, mind map 100%, big room, whiteboard, get all the,
Speaker 1: get all the pieces of paper on the, on the,
Speaker 1: on the wall.
Speaker 1: Alright, I think last one, I'll be quickly on this,
Speaker 1: it's the age of abundance, um, if we go on
Speaker 1: to the next slide, we talk about a few media
Speaker 1: planner complaints, but essentially a challenge we all talk about
Speaker 1: in agency land is the fragmentation of media. You, you
Speaker 1: can't stop hearing about it. And it's true. It's made
Speaker 1: it more difficult to plan as audiences are strewn across
Speaker 1: multiple environments, multiple devices. Um, something that I find quite
Speaker 1: common in Singapore is when faced with the challenge of
Speaker 1: spreading your budget into multiple channels, and I know we
Speaker 1: all hate spreading budgets thin.
Speaker 1: Clients sometimes opt to consolidate into 1 to 2 performance channels, um,
Speaker 1: obviously because you can see more immediate returns on your dollar.
Speaker 1: But what this fragmentation is really forcing us to do
Speaker 1: is consider how we plan for attention overreach. Now it
Speaker 1: can be done through planning for this idea of ecosystems,
Speaker 1: so think AV or screen strategies rather than channel silos.
Speaker 1: Now I've grabbed two graphs from Walk um on the
Speaker 1: next slide.
Speaker 1: Back in the old days, we used to call it
Speaker 1: the multiplier effect, but even now we still see when
Speaker 1: we execute an effective omni-channel campaign,
Speaker 1: There are multiple benefits, but in short, the messaging has
Speaker 1: a better chance of sticking with the consumer. Um, when
Speaker 1: omni-channel planning, we need to also be clear on the
Speaker 1: role of every element within our ecosystem, but furthermore, we
Speaker 1: need to know what the attention levels are of each
Speaker 1: of those to inform how we communicate, along with the
Speaker 1: long-term profit that they can deliver for us. So you
Speaker 1: can see clearly on the graph on the right that
Speaker 1: a smart screen or AV strategy can help,
Speaker 1: Build the reach on social, use your short form content
Speaker 1: that we've spoken about, but also you can use brand
Speaker 1: building and some of those other AV channels so that
Speaker 1: you can get, you know, a mix of that short-term
Speaker 1: and long-term, and obviously, yeah, brand is, I, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, brand is number one. So the three key
Speaker 1: takeouts I'd say in this regard are,
Speaker 1: Moving forward, I think it's important to not lose sight
Speaker 1: of omnichannel channel planning. Obviously it depends on your objectives
Speaker 1: and brief, but we need to start viewing um media
Speaker 1: ecosystems rather than channels in silos. Know what the attention
Speaker 1: decay is on all of your channels, your media agencies
Speaker 1: should know this.
Speaker 1: Also know that sometimes sacrificing reach in favor of attention
Speaker 1: can deliver you more effective gains, not just um in
Speaker 1: the long term but short as well. Um, if we
Speaker 1: have the time, but I know Mis and um Guan
Speaker 1: Hen are gonna talk about this, I'd love to talk
Speaker 1: about Story worlds, but essentially it's how all of these
Speaker 1: channels in your ecosystem can add something to the greatest
Speaker 1: story you're trying to sell. So if you are running
Speaker 1: longform brand in online video as an example, what is
Speaker 1: your short form social doing to extend and, you know,
Speaker 1: benefit that larger story?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the whistle tool for me.
Speaker 1: Well, Eric, you, you've kind of, kind of sped through
Speaker 1: everything that you've had to share. I'm, you know, and
Speaker 1: there were questions that were just buzzing along, and I'm,
Speaker 1: I'm very happy that you, you came to this point
Speaker 1: where I think very often humans like to think in
Speaker 1: terms of left and right, right or wrong, and all that. And,
Speaker 1: you know, for the longest time, I would say that
Speaker 1: if we live not in a world of or, but
Speaker 1: in a world of and, which is what I think
Speaker 1: Guan Hin will touch on a little bit later on,
Speaker 1: I think we'd be all.
Speaker 1: Better marketers, right? So there was a question about, you know,
Speaker 1: so where does the, what, how does Media Corp play
Speaker 1: in all of this or whatever. So, you know, in
Speaker 1: the same spirit as the animal of the year, the snake,
Speaker 1: I think we've become so incredibly flexible, knowing that, you know,
Speaker 1: a 32nd TV spot also works as, you know, um,
Speaker 1: some that could be transformed into something on radio, which
Speaker 1: could also be transformed into something on social. So, you know,
Speaker 1: with 33 platforms and more than 400 influencers and, you know,
Speaker 1: our studios and everything.
Speaker 1: You know, in the bag, we actually have flex, and
Speaker 1: we're no longer the, the Mediacorp of your, of your
Speaker 1: mom and dad anymore, right? Because we're looking at cutting
Speaker 1: edge solutions, understanding that it is not a world of or.
Speaker 1: You know, you need to do branding, but the branding
Speaker 1: really needs to drive consideration. The consideration needs to drive
Speaker 1: a conversion. And so we've got through the line solutions.
Speaker 1: And so, thank you for sharing that. And I want
Speaker 1: to then now turn the attention over to Munas.
Speaker 1: And who has some really good examples to share with us,
Speaker 1: especially in the social space. Hi Monas.
Speaker 1: Hi, thank you so much, uh, Dashin.
Speaker 1: Uh, I'm Munaan Boonstra, the managing director of Southeast Asia
Speaker 1: at Mons. We're an integrated agency driving creativity, media, technology,
Speaker 1: and innovation. So you can connect with me on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1: Happy to answer any questions you have in the future.
Speaker 1: At this and Munas has actually made time out of
Speaker 1: a very busy trip to Jakarta. So she's actually zooming
Speaker 1: out from Jakarta and I just love how integrated we
Speaker 1: can be on this online platform. So thank you so
Speaker 1: much for making time for us, Mua. No worries, thank you. OK,
Speaker 1: let's start with the next slide.
Speaker 1: So the pace of marketing has accelerated like never before, right? Um,
Speaker 1: driven by the explosive growth of social first content, uh,
Speaker 1: real-time engagement and the demand for hyper personalization.
Speaker 1: So what used to take months for brands to create
Speaker 1: campaigns now can happen in days or even hours. Yet,
Speaker 1: despite the speed, the reality is the marketing ecosystem is very,
Speaker 1: very tangled. This is the reality of what brand and
Speaker 1: marketing managers go through. The current model is very fragmented, complex,
Speaker 1: and layered, uh, involving multiple teams, agencies, and approval processes
Speaker 1: uh across various business units, products, regions and channels.
Speaker 1: So the result is very long production cycles, higher costs,
Speaker 1: and a slower go to market process. And like what
Speaker 1: Eric said earlier on, everybody wants lesser, better, cheaper, right? Production.
Speaker 1: He's the brand manager or marketeer, like all of you
Speaker 1: here and his call, you guys are drowning in endless workflows,
Speaker 1: approvals and production efficiencies. And a lot of that also
Speaker 1: really drains your budgets, right? So, but here's the game changer.
Speaker 1: Next slide.
Speaker 1: AI is rewriting the economics of social and advertising, right?
Speaker 1: So next slide.
Speaker 1: AI is, um, truly collapsing speed, cost, and creative volume
Speaker 1: through a powerful ecosystem of tools that assist. And you
Speaker 1: can use AI for copywriting and translation. So, of course,
Speaker 1: everyone's very familiar with chat GPT, but there are many,
Speaker 1: many others out there. Uh, also using AI for photography.
Speaker 1: So what used to be long photography sessions that are costly,
Speaker 1: takes days, times, edits, can now be done via AI.
Speaker 1: Uh, also simple AI background editing and changes for all
Speaker 1: of you who are going into e-commerce. Uh, also, with
Speaker 1: social first approach and digital approach, uh, you will need
Speaker 1: your campaigns to be in different sizes, right, to fit
Speaker 1: for IG, fit for TikTok. I mean, it's endless today, right?
Speaker 1: Hero banners, digital banners, whatever. So you can also now
Speaker 1: use AI to resize and adapt. So that speeds up
Speaker 1: the process by a lot.
Speaker 1: Um, and also using AI to do all the different
Speaker 1: versions for scale. So the result is better, faster, cheaper,
Speaker 1: marketing assets without compromising quality. Yay, for all marketeers. It's
Speaker 1: something that you guys want to hear. Um, now, with
Speaker 1: all this talk of AI, you might wonder, does creativity
Speaker 1: then disappear, right?
Speaker 1: Uh, quite the opposite. Uh, AI is not replacing creativity.
Speaker 1: In fact, it's amplifying it, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: Guan Hen will give you very, very good in-depth knowledge
Speaker 1: on that later. Here is a perfect example of how
Speaker 1: AI and human ingenuity can feel massive creativity and hyper
Speaker 1: personalization for a brand. So today's consumers crave hyper personalization
Speaker 1: and creativity because we're in this world of content, content, content, content, right?
Speaker 1: Everything has to be entertainment.
Speaker 1: So especially in this case for for Burger King, uh,
Speaker 1: which is the food and beverage industry, where taste is
Speaker 1: very personal and experience is everything, right? So gamification fuels
Speaker 1: engagement with interactive challenges and it rewards by increasing participation
Speaker 1: by about 48%. The, the thrill of competition and achievement
Speaker 1: keeps customers coming back for more, right? So that's that gamification,
Speaker 1: curiosity like, OK, what's next, what's next, you know.
Speaker 1: Um, so, AI is definitely reshaping marketing, right? Uh, a
Speaker 1: report shows that, um, 81% of consumers are open to
Speaker 1: AI-driven personalization that enhance their brand experience. So even though
Speaker 1: you know AI is probably the one that's delivering this
Speaker 1: to you, you're OK. You are absolutely OK with it already. So,
Speaker 1: Burger King took uh innovation.
Speaker 1: To the next level, whereby they developed an AI driven
Speaker 1: platform that lets users create unique Whopper ingredient combinations. You
Speaker 1: all know the Whopper, uh, through a bespoke web experience,
Speaker 1: leveraging advanced AI and diffusion-based technologies, whereby they then transform
Speaker 1: user-generated ideas into personalized AI generated ads with immersive thematic visuals,
Speaker 1: which are then expanded to social platforms. So,
Speaker 1: The result, it's a groundbreaking fusion of creativity, AI and
Speaker 1: gamification that redefines customer engagement. So let's watch how all
Speaker 1: this comes to life in the Burger King Million Dollar
Speaker 1: Whopper case study.
Speaker 1: No, you're here to make a whopper.
Speaker 1: I'm your trusty AI companion Grillio. Now how are you
Speaker 1: going to top your whopper?
Speaker 1: Oh, now we're talking.
Speaker 1: That could be a million dollar combination.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Look at what you've made
Speaker 1: No Whopper is complete without a world class ad. Let's
Speaker 1: crown your Whopper creation.
Speaker 1: This is my
Speaker 1: Cotton candy and other toppings with some gummy bear and
Speaker 1: licorice in there try and top that if you dare.
Speaker 1: your way
Speaker 1: How are you gonna top it?
Speaker 1: OK, so there's a question in Q&A, like how, how
Speaker 1: did AI campaigns, you know, bring value or sales? Well,
Speaker 1: this basically resulted in 2.93 million AI Whoppers created. Um,
Speaker 1: it created 1.27 million free Whopper UGC ads that went
Speaker 1: online on social media platforms, but most importantly, there was
Speaker 1: a massive surge of Whopper sales by 28%.
Speaker 1: So this goes to show that an AI driven campaign
Speaker 1: can lead to sales. Southeast Asia is one of the
Speaker 1: fastest growing digital markets, right? Driven by hyper-social mobile first consumers. We,
Speaker 1: we're all on the mobile, we're all on the apps, right?
Speaker 1: So to stay ahead, brands must expand beyond the usual Instagram, TikTok,
Speaker 1: and Facebook, just as what Eric had mentioned earlier on, right?
Speaker 1: Omnichannel marketing is very, very important.
Speaker 1: Um, so, but we need to tap into the unique
Speaker 1: strengths of the emerging and dominant social platforms in the region, right?
Speaker 1: Each platform serves a different purpose. Understanding the strength and
Speaker 1: role is key in maximizing engagement and impact. So take
Speaker 1: WhatsApp for example, while traditionally it's a messaging.
Speaker 1: A, it has evolved into a powerful social commerce tool,
Speaker 1: integrating even with AI chatbots for direct to consumer engagement.
Speaker 1: So this has also now become social commerce platform and
Speaker 1: also a social channel, WhatsApp, which is something we never
Speaker 1: thought would be possible, right? Uh, and in places like Singapore,
Speaker 1: Malaysia and Indonesia, especially, brands are definitely leveraging WhatsApp business
Speaker 1: as a lead generation channel, a conversational commerce tool, and
Speaker 1: customer service and retention driver.
Speaker 1: Again, this is something that's a huge thing and it's
Speaker 1: actually not even costly for businesses to do. So sometimes
Speaker 1: people think oh omnichannel like what Eric said, oh your
Speaker 1: budget be thinned out. That's not true. There are very
Speaker 1: cheap options, right? We have the rise of relatable uh influence, right?
Speaker 1: Local and micro nano influences are leading the way. So
Speaker 1: according to Meta, about 70% of Southeast Asia.
Speaker 1: consumers are relying on influencers before making a purchase. So
Speaker 1: Sephora here is a great example. They utilize local influencers
Speaker 1: in the TikTok and Instagram strategy. So forget macro, mega,
Speaker 1: or celebrity influencers. The real game changers today are actually
Speaker 1: the micro and nano influences. Uh, these are everyday people
Speaker 1: who are highly active on social media. That could be
Speaker 1: any of us, and
Speaker 1: We are deeply connected to the communities. You no longer
Speaker 1: need to have high followers to be this person. Why?
Speaker 1: Because higher engagement and authenticity and conversion rates is what
Speaker 1: gives consumers the trust for real voices over polished celebrity endorsements, right?
Speaker 1: So local micro and nano influencers, they connect directly with
Speaker 1: niche audiences for localized impact.
Speaker 1: So it is a very cost effective and scalable uh
Speaker 1: thing to do for brands. Uh, you can work with
Speaker 1: multiple influences uh to reach diverse demographics without breaking the bank.
Speaker 1: So, in this final example is how a brand turned
Speaker 1: a nobody to a brand icon, an absolute nobody. It
Speaker 1: could be any one of us, right?
Speaker 1: And this is a Cannes gold winning case study, uh,
Speaker 1: in a bold move, Mercado Libre, which is the Amazon
Speaker 1: or Shopee of Latin America, uh, they turned this absolute
Speaker 1: nobody into their own celebrity brand influencer without anyone realizing it, right?
Speaker 1: So with by infiltrating a popular TV show, so you
Speaker 1: guys can think of these ideas and contact Morp. No ads,
Speaker 1: no logo.
Speaker 1: Right? And, and this is the thing that they did,
Speaker 1: very unbrand. There was no ads, no logos, right? Something
Speaker 1: that we don't think works in marketing 101. It's just
Speaker 1: organic storytelling. They ended up educating millions about their brand,
Speaker 1: turning an absolute unknown figure into a viral social media sensation.
Speaker 1: This is the power of unbranded storytelling, providing, proving that
Speaker 1: sometimes going unbrand is the smartest way to build the brand.
Speaker 1: So I hope this inspired new ways for you guys
Speaker 1: to disrupt, engage and create brand love in unexpected places. Um,
Speaker 1: and next to Guan Hen, the creative maestro.
Speaker 1: Heyn. Wow, bring us home to a big finish. Yeah,
Speaker 1: fantastic presentation, Mona. Hey, um, I just wanted to say
Speaker 1: thanks Dashan for also introducing a great introduction for me
Speaker 1: and just want to let everyone know that Dashan is
Speaker 1: also a Hall of Fame for the media mongol, so
Speaker 1: congratulations to you.
Speaker 1: You know, it's been proven that creativity, right, can maximize
Speaker 1: with each dollar spent and to get the eyeballs needed
Speaker 1: to improve your ROI. You know, as Eric mentioned just now,
Speaker 1: how creativity can be used to beat the algorithms, which
Speaker 1: is fantastic. Creativity, as you know, we all know, has
Speaker 1: been the lifeblood of innovation. So in 2025, I think
Speaker 1: the way the brands connect with the audience is evolving
Speaker 1: rapidly as you
Speaker 1: You can see from both the presentations. And today, I'll
Speaker 1: explore three trends driving the most inspiring campaigns, right? Purpose
Speaker 1: driven innovation, AI driven personalization and gamification, paired with multi-sensorial
Speaker 1: engagement from award-winning examples from the Asia Asia Awards. So
Speaker 1: I'm the APEC regional director of the One Club and
Speaker 1: we do um you know, foster these.
Speaker 1: Creative awards and we hope to share as much as possible. Also,
Speaker 1: I'll be exploring from my book Collide embracing conflict to
Speaker 1: boost creativity, a bestselling penguin, and want to share with you,
Speaker 1: creativity doesn't come from a vacuum, it also comes from
Speaker 1: a friction, right, where unexpected ideas collide, technologies collide, cultural
Speaker 1: shifts collide, and innovation will, will just spark and expand.
Speaker 1: So let's go to the next slide. The first trend
Speaker 1: I want to talk about is purpose-driven innovation and social impact.
Speaker 1: You know, purpose is the new currency, right? Today's consumers
Speaker 1: demand brands for stand for something meaningful, right?
Speaker 1: So two examples I shared with you from Vaseline skin
Speaker 1: for skins done in Singapore for the region and to
Speaker 1: match burn burn victims who donated skin. And there is
Speaker 1: another example from New Zealand for pedigree adoptable campaigns to
Speaker 1: help shelter dogs to find homes, right?
Speaker 1: And these societal challenges isn't always easy, it's not very comfortable,
Speaker 1: but when brands step up to make these challenging spaces,
Speaker 1: they create powerful, authentic stories that resonate. So let's go
Speaker 1: to the next slide.
Speaker 1: This is an example for pedigree adoptable campaign and it's
Speaker 1: a perfect example. As you as you've seen from Muna's work, right,
Speaker 1: again using AI, but I thought this particular work not
Speaker 1: only won tons and tons and awards, right, it's using
Speaker 1: AI for purpose. It created
Speaker 1: Personalized at showcasing, shelter dog's personality and preference, and also
Speaker 1: potential adopters connected emotionally well to each dog's story, leading
Speaker 1: to increased um you know dogs being adopted. This campaign
Speaker 1: was a collision of compassion.
Speaker 1: And technology. So again, combining AI with emotional storytelling, pedigree
Speaker 1: made a a world-class impact, reinforcing the brand purpose. Let's
Speaker 1: watch the next case study. Purpose advertising.
Speaker 1: Pedigree and Nexus Studios present.
Speaker 1: Adaptable
Speaker 1: Adaptable uses machine learning to transform a basic photo of
Speaker 1: a shelter dog into studio quality photography.
Speaker 1: That shelter dog can then be inserted into any digital
Speaker 1: pedigree ad.
Speaker 1: Each ad directs people to a personalized landing page. Here
Speaker 1: they can learn more about the dog they just saw
Speaker 1: and when adopted, that dog is instantly dropped out of
Speaker 1: media rotation.
Speaker 1: Now every pedigree campaign can feature an adoptable dog
Speaker 2: near
Speaker 2: you. Adoptable uses an AI model that is trained to
Speaker 2: understand the exact visual composition and the nuance of the
Speaker 2: specific dog. Fur length, body shape and color identity can
Speaker 2: all be customized to match the individual dog waiting in
Speaker 2: the shelter, right down to its unique markings.
Speaker 2: And because the rig is fully augmentable, the dog can
Speaker 2: be positioned to suit any immediate format.
Speaker 1: But currently 1 in 5 adopted dogs are returned to shelters.
Speaker 1: Using geographic data like proximity to parks and household sizes,
Speaker 1: adoptable matches dogs to the locations that suit them best.
Speaker 1: We're using really bleeding edge technology that's never been done
Speaker 1: before to help us as an activist brand really move
Speaker 1: our purpose forward. Adoptable is transformational for us at Pedigree
Speaker 1: because it puts our purpose at the heart of everything
Speaker 1: that we do. Now, every $1 we spend on digital
Speaker 1: out of home will not only help to bring our
Speaker 1: products to the world, it will help bring adoptable dogs
Speaker 1: to the world too.
Speaker 1: The second trend is AI driven personalization and creative augmentation.
Speaker 1: You know, for example, campaigns like Play Library, which I'll
Speaker 1: share with you in a second, which turned literature into gamification,
Speaker 1: interactive experience, and the adoptable you just saw shows AI
Speaker 1: potential to create deeply personal and relevant stories.
Speaker 1: As you can see, right, AI doesn't really replace creativity,
Speaker 1: it enhances it. It allows us to analyze behavior and
Speaker 1: tailor make the experience in real time.
Speaker 1: And the most important thing is that we need to
Speaker 1: embrace um you know, AI. AI isn't creative on its own.
Speaker 1: I mean, AI is not going to take over our jobs,
Speaker 1: but people who know how to use AI will. The
Speaker 1: breakthrough comes through from the collision of AI's capabilities with
Speaker 1: human imagination.
Speaker 1: So the next slide is the example done in Singapore
Speaker 1: by um Lear, right, and it combines transforming literature into
Speaker 1: interactive experience. They turn static literature into interactive sensory experiences.
Speaker 1: So as you know, you know, book reading is not
Speaker 1: that popular. You see bookshops are closed.
Speaker 1: But this great example uses AI to employ large language
Speaker 1: models like JGBT train on extensive, you know, um, books,
Speaker 1: data sets, and the AI transform very linear, boring, um,
Speaker 1: you know, traditional storytelling into a game mission based on
Speaker 1: the key plots and character development. This campaign really demonstrates
Speaker 1: the power of creative collision between all traditional media like
Speaker 1: you know, books.
Speaker 1: Into new ways of playing with your customers using AI
Speaker 1: and this intersection really leads to fresh perspective, but most important,
Speaker 1: as you can see from this creativity, it's exciting, it's engaging,
Speaker 1: it will help hopefully improve your ROI. So let's watch this.
Speaker 1: Let's face it, kids don't read anymore. For decades, technology
Speaker 1: keeps giving them more tempting things to do. And now
Speaker 1: with AI teachers think it's the final blow to reading.
Speaker 1: I was absolutely panic. But what if the problem could
Speaker 1: become the solution? Introducing Playbrewery, an AI that turns books
Speaker 1: into something kids love the video game.
Speaker 1: And for this we hired someone who has read all
Speaker 1: the books in the world, Jet GBT. It is capable
Speaker 1: of telling famous stories preserving the original writing, the author's
Speaker 1: unique tone of voice, and character dialogues again and again.
Speaker 1: We've launched a custom built version of Chad GPT that
Speaker 1: deconstructs a linear plot into a branching story allowing readers
Speaker 1: to become players. Pick a book, Playbury will transform it,
Speaker 1: introducing characters and turning each scene into a mission. We
Speaker 1: want some graphics. I want some graphics.
Speaker 1: It will even prompt itself to generate Pixel art graphics
Speaker 1: for every step of the story. You choose or prompt
Speaker 1: how the story unfolds and it adapts to you. After
Speaker 1: a few chapters, Playbury offers to borrow the actual book
Speaker 1: for free from the library and read the full story.
Speaker 1: Launched in libraries across Singapore, it offers visitors a radically
Speaker 1: new way to read, extended to schools where kids could
Speaker 1: finally play games. Singapore was playing books and kept asking
Speaker 1: for more.
Speaker 2: It's interesting how the National Library of Singapore uses AI
Speaker 2: to transform the reading experience and uses gaming to appeal
Speaker 2: to readers, especially the younger ones.
Speaker 1: Playbury reimagines global education and reading, creating a more engaging
Speaker 1: and imaginative future in harmony with technology.
Speaker 1: How was it again? The book is better than the game. Honestly,
Speaker 1: we think it's both.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a fantastic idea from the park. And um
Speaker 1: so let's move on to the third and last trend,
Speaker 1: which is gamification and multi-sensory engagement.
Speaker 1: You know, in an era where we've seen from, you know,
Speaker 1: what's happening around the world, attention span is getting shorter
Speaker 1: and shorter. We need consumers to really capture, um, you know,
Speaker 1: we need our work to capture their attention and gamification
Speaker 1: taps in their love for play. So campaigns like Vaseline
Speaker 1: from ONM, virtual skins, gafiess meaningful causes,
Speaker 1: social impact, as you can see from the last two
Speaker 1: campaigns I've just shared with you, multi-sensory storytelling, you know,
Speaker 1: engaging the sight, sound, touch creates really emotional bonds and
Speaker 1: moments that audience will never ever forget. The magic comes
Speaker 1: from emerging entertainment with purpose, crafting experiences that are both
Speaker 1: joyful and meaningful.
Speaker 1: In the next slide, I want to share with you
Speaker 1: this Vaseline virtual skins, offering gamers a chance to help
Speaker 1: raise awareness for burn victims through an integrated in-game experience.
Speaker 1: You know, this game.
Speaker 1: Succeeded because it raised the collision of two seemingly unrelated worlds,
Speaker 1: the gaming and the social impact, right? And then when
Speaker 1: these collide, extraordinary experiences, creativity emerges.
Speaker 1: What connects these trends is their emotional impact, as you
Speaker 1: can see from these examples. Purpose engages the heart. You know,
Speaker 1: purpose doesn't need to be so big, right? People need
Speaker 1: to care about what they're selling because if people don't care,
Speaker 1: they'll never share. AI engages the mind and gamification taps
Speaker 1: into the joy of participation, right? Again, you know, all
Speaker 1: these come from a friction of unexpected ideas colliding.
Speaker 1: technology, in humanity, traditional and innovation, data and emotional. And
Speaker 1: that's where the magic happens. In conclusion, right? What does
Speaker 1: it mean for all of us, right? Be bold, right?
Speaker 1: That's what I'm sharing with you. Be authentic, be experimental,
Speaker 1: because when you align with clear purpose, authenticness happens. Make
Speaker 1: it real, make it relatable, make it relevant. Second, embrace AI.
Speaker 1: not as a competition, but as collaborator. You know, AI
Speaker 1: is not just called artificial intelligence. Let it be amplified imagination,
Speaker 1: amplified imagination, and finally, designed for play because joy brings
Speaker 1: deeper connection between your brand and your consumers with what
Speaker 1: Mona's section was all about, right? She speaks about gamification
Speaker 1: and that's so true.
Speaker 1: So, importantly, just embrace creative collisions because innovation thrives where ideas, cultures,
Speaker 1: and technology meet and collide and that's how we create
Speaker 1: future ready brands. Again, if you like to explore how
Speaker 1: your brands can be future ready, I'd love to help.
Speaker 1: Do connect with me on LinkedIn and I hope these
Speaker 1: trends will be relevant in what you're working on right now.
Speaker 1: Over to you, Dashin.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Um, one, thank you, thank you for that. Actually,
Speaker 1: I'm very happy you brought up the whole point about purpose, right?
Speaker 1: And it's the purpose of the brand. Many marketers focus
Speaker 1: on the fact that their purpose is to sell rather
Speaker 1: than what is the purpose of the brand, which actually
Speaker 1: is the thing that creates that emotional connection that allows
Speaker 1: you to storify, allows you to then.
Speaker 1: Connect with the audience and then eventually the outcome is
Speaker 1: that you will sell something, right? But we're so, um,
Speaker 1: because we're looking through the questions in the Q&A, I
Speaker 1: know we're running a little bit late, but I thought
Speaker 1: that there was one question that I kind of just
Speaker 1: wanted to throw out there before we close. Um, all
Speaker 1: of you who put in questions, thank you so much. We,
Speaker 1: we will send out an EDM post this.
Speaker 1: Session that will have all the answers um by the,
Speaker 1: by the relative by the, by the speakers, OK? So
Speaker 1: for all of you, so watch out for that. But
Speaker 1: the one question I wanted to ask, I wanted to
Speaker 1: put that out there about purpose, because there was one
Speaker 1: question that said, now the question is, how do people
Speaker 1: measure ROI in this world where attribution of
Speaker 1: Efforts is so difficult, given all the wall gardens for
Speaker 1: platforms and publishers. How can you be confident that it's
Speaker 1: a specific campaign that's causing uplift versus anything else that's
Speaker 1: going on? That's a very big question. I, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure how we're gonna answer this, but, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: going to throw this at Eric and have him take
Speaker 1: a stab at this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, tough question. Uh, I feel like, um, yeah, I,
Speaker 1: I'll give it a crack. Um, I think, look, measuring ROI, uh,
Speaker 1: it's always a tough one. It also depends on, you know,
Speaker 1: how deep into the funnel you're looking. Um, probably the
Speaker 1: best but most expensive way is to do some form
Speaker 1: of market mix modeling. Um, I'd say then if you
Speaker 1: don't do that, which is I think a lot of
Speaker 1: brands can't, if to be confident on your specific campaign,
Speaker 1: you probably first need to know your base levels. I
Speaker 1: know it's very difficult for us to,
Speaker 1: Isolate a specific campaign, especially for those that have always
Speaker 1: on running, but then you can start to like work
Speaker 1: in this world of proxies, and I think at least,
Speaker 1: you know, what we do, um, on Apple as well
Speaker 1: is we work with a lot of proxies also because
Speaker 1: we don't look at people's data. So I think it's
Speaker 1: really just figuring out what your base is, knowing what
Speaker 1: that key um objective or return is, and then looking
Speaker 1: at it that way, and then I mean AI for
Speaker 1: better audience engagement in multi-channel marketing.
Speaker 1: There's multiple ways in which you can do it. I
Speaker 1: think something that I'm doing right now is more from
Speaker 1: a discovery level. So using AI to really help me
Speaker 1: hone in on which audiences I should be reaching based
Speaker 1: on what I need, and then I kind of build
Speaker 1: um my insight development, my media strategy from, from there, yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, Eric Eric, just to add on to that, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, having, having privilege of working with all these
Speaker 1: brands that I that I get to work on, I
Speaker 1: will say, um, in response to that, that question, I
Speaker 1: will say those top tier market leading MNC global brands.
Speaker 1: You know, they're talking about 2030 different data signals that they're,
Speaker 1: that they're pulling together to form a picture. You know,
Speaker 1: we're not even talking about triangulation, right? So we're talking
Speaker 1: about it's so multi-touch point. So I, I will say
Speaker 1: that I fully agree with Eric, you need to know
Speaker 1: what your baselines are, then you need to kind of
Speaker 1: map out your, your, your plan over a year and
Speaker 1: with each.
Speaker 1: Engagement, have a specific data signal that you are looking
Speaker 1: out for, so that over time you're building a view
Speaker 1: on your ROI. You're, you're absolutely right, there is no one,
Speaker 1: you know, magic source of this ROI data. That's why
Speaker 1: um I know for my team, you know, we actively
Speaker 1: hire people from the data side of things because we
Speaker 1: need them to look at the data and be able to.
Speaker 1: Punch it and to then make it into a story that,
Speaker 1: that says one thing or another, right? Because, yeah, it
Speaker 1: all lies in data and how you're collecting it. So
Speaker 1: I fully agree with that. Um, we're at 11:04. I
Speaker 1: just wanted to, and, um, people are leaving the room, so,
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to close with one question to
Speaker 1: everyone on, on my panel. Um, we, and the question is,
Speaker 1: Now, panel.
Speaker 1: What will be keeping you awake?
Speaker 1: In 2025.
Speaker 1: What is the, what is that one thing that will
Speaker 1: be keeping you awake in 2025? Muna, do you want, Mona,
Speaker 1: do you want to start?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I hate myself for saying this, but it's
Speaker 1: how can we make it better, faster, cheaper for everyone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so. Um, um.
Speaker 1: It's um the fear of keeping up the change. Every
Speaker 1: time when I learn something, something new comes up and
Speaker 1: it's really tough to obviously learn restart again. So the
Speaker 1: fear of keeping up with the change. And I think
Speaker 1: on that one, I would say it's, let's all be
Speaker 1: kinder to ourselves. There really is a lot going on
Speaker 1: in the world. So unless you start from a point
Speaker 1: of
Speaker 1: You know, where you're kinder to yourself and giving yourself
Speaker 1: time to absorb information, rather than beating yourself up every
Speaker 1: day and looking in mirror, waking up, looking in the
Speaker 1: mirror and going, Why am I not there yet? I,
Speaker 1: I think you're, you're going to be the biggest block
Speaker 1: to your, your success and your progress. So I, I
Speaker 1: totally agree with you. I'm going in on that. You know, I,
Speaker 1: I fear that as well. Um.
Speaker 1: Um, but I have learned to be a little bit
Speaker 1: kinder to myself and say, OK, you know, there's some
Speaker 1: things that are, I must know now, there's some things
Speaker 1: that it's OK if I know next month. There are
Speaker 1: some things that are OK if I know 6 months
Speaker 1: from now, it's OK. You know, it will be OK,
Speaker 1: but just pace yourself, right, and not beat yourself up
Speaker 1: about it. Now, Eric, last but not least,
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, I think about it a lot at night,
Speaker 1: whether we need to rethink about how we reach people,
Speaker 1: is it less about reaching people with pure product and
Speaker 1: more about reaching people with product opinion. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of where my head's at these days, yeah.
Speaker 1: OK. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your time today. Thank you to all of you who,
Speaker 1: who came and joined us today for our first webinar
Speaker 1: of the year. I hope you enjoyed yourself, and I
Speaker 1: hope I've kept, um, to the promise that it was
Speaker 1: going to be a scintillating session. Um, I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: all the examples and I, I personally learned a lot.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, everyone, for attending.