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Articles by Sophie Loras
2016 E-commerce predictions for Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia, the retail e-commerce market is a small one. For Sheji Ho, chief marketing officer, aCommerce, the rise in e-commerce in the region is not a matter of “if,” but “when.” Among the top e-commerce markets are China, the U.S., the U.K., Japan, South Korea and Scandinavia. Ho expects Southeast Asia to surpass most of those markets, becoming the third-largest in the world.
10 tips for Hollywood-style social storytelling
Brands should adopt Hollywood-style storytelling formulas to develop stand out content marketing strategies, a content specialist has told delegates at this year’s ClickZ Live Singapore conference. Using brand examples from Volvo, BMW and Abercrombie & Fitch, Ronald Vining, chief brandaffeine at Singapore-based agency BrandInflux, outlined the 10 ways content marketers can enhance their storytelling capabilities. He did this by asking, “What would Walt [Disney] do?
SapientNitro Is Redefining the Role of CMTO With Own University
Tired of searching for the next generation of chief marketing officers with skills in technology, SapientNitro’s global chief technology officer, Sheldon Monteiro, decided to build his own chief marketing technology officer (CMTO) university. A disconnect of communication between technologists and creatives enticed Monteiro to initiate the CMTO program, as he felt that this was causing a breakdown in storytelling across the industry.
Economic slowdown in China is facilitating a booming ecommerce sector
As Asia overtakes the U.S. and Europe as the world’s largest ecommerce market, key trends across the region are emerging. China became the world’s largest ecommerce market in 2015, surpassing the U.S. according to Forrester’s Asia Pacific Online Retail Forecast, 2015 to 2020. The report predicts that by 2020, China’s ecommerce market will be worth US$1.1 trillion. Ohad Hecht, chief operating officer, Emarsys, says there are no surprises in these forecasts.
Tweets of the Week: AMAs and Adele keep brands rocking, while also saying thanks
This week, Twitter was ablaze with celebrations of artistic achievements and Thanksgiving holiday tributes. Here’s a recap of some of our favorite brand messages from the Twitter-sphere. As the work week in the U.S. comes to an early close for Thanksgiving festivities, brands took to Twitter in anticipation of the holiday.
CMOs and CIOs need to be more aligned - new research
Marketing and IT functions need to work together more closely to achieve the quality of digital infrastructure their organizations need to succeed in an increasingly unforgiving world, according to new research published this week by ClickZ Intelligence. A survey of both senior marketing and IT professionals has revealed that there are significant differences between these two core business functions in their perception of organizational priorities and the quality of digital infrastructure.
How can marketing leaders create a digital mindset throughout their organisation?
So you want to be a marketing organisation that’s truly digital? While your company’s leadership may have a solid idea of what they want for the business in terms of digital transformation, in order to achieve it, they need to get every level of the organisation working towards that goal. The way to do that, says independent digital consultant Kate Hamer, is to create a ‘digital mindset’ throughout your organisation.
A guide to testing your paid social ads to enhance ROI
While display and paid search ads have their place in every digital marketing strategy, social media advertising is often an overlooked paid channel. Paid search is great at capturing user intent, but is a poor channel for proactive targeting customers, feeding the top of the funnel before the user has the purchasing intent.
Three fascinating talks from ClickZ Live: San Francisco [Video]
Presenting three of the most popular and interesting talks from our ClickZ Live event in San Francisco earlier this summer. Here we grant you exclusive access in the form of three videos, showcasing the latest insight and practical learning from three leading figures in digital marketing. Sit back, relax and give a warm armchair welcome to Alex Niehenke from Scale VP, Andrew Sherrard from T-Mobile and Simon Sproule from Aston Martin.
Google announces Optimize and Session Quality Score
Google has announced on its Analytics blog and at SMX East the launch of some intriguing updates to its Analytics platform, notably a free version of Optimize 360 and a new metric, Session Quality Score. Optimize 360 was launched as an enterprise-level product in March this year, and is essentially a landing page testing tool that allows site owners to test page layouts and copy without changing a page’s source code.
The three Vs of contact data: verify and validate for value
A new report from Informatica is highlighting the importance of clean contact data for marketers who want to ensure they are communicating effectively and providing the best possible experiences for their customers. The report – Contact Data Verification Strategies for Marketing and Sales [viewable here as PDF] – gives a good insight into the thoughts of US marketers leading the way with data-related strategy.
The natural evolution of digital for brands: becoming more human
It used to be that digital interactions portrayed in the Jetsons, on Star Trek and through KITT on Knight Rider were make-believe preserved for the television and big screen. However, with the rise of digital personal assistants in recent years like Cortana and Siri, and intelligent bots, what was once science fiction is quickly becoming fact.
Neuro Wants to Give Away 1 Million Bottles of ‘Sleep’ Drink
Santa Monica, California-based Neuro, a trendy drink maker whose products have been plugged by the likes of Elton John, Lady Gaga, and Adam Sandler, has launched a splashy digital campaign to help it reach an ambitious (and expensive) goal: give away 1 million bottles of its “Sleep” drink by the end of March. The privately held company produces a line of beverages that it claims help users function better, with names such as Bliss, Sonic, and Sleep.
How to become the intelligence thought leader for your organisation
For executives, keeping up to date with trends and events in your industry is crucial in order to ensure that your business and its strategy remains relevant. It can be a major challenge however, with constraints on time and so many sources of information to choose from. It’s easy to see why many senior executives simply don’t have the time to perform the detailed research tasks necessary to make sense of all this information.
Thought leadership as a strategy for innovation and growth
The fast pace of business in the digital age means that businesses (and business models) are shifting more rapidly than ever. New technologies and innovations can quickly sweep away well established and seeking solid business models within just a few years. There are plenty of such examples from the digital age, Blockbusters and Kodak to name just two.
Seven ways to future-proof your digital strategy
Nurcin Erdogan Loeffler, head of strategy and innovation, Vizeum China, outlines the seven ways businesses can future proof their digital strategies. With more than two years in China and a background in strategy, Nurcin Erdogan Loeffler shared her thoughts on future proofing a business strategy with the audience at ClickZ Live Shanghai.
Tencent's Emily Ma on the challenges for marketers in China
Emily Ma, product director of Tencent’s advertising platform products department, was a keynote speaker at ClickZ Live Shanghai where she discussed the challenges for advertisers in China. Ma has worked at Tencent for the past eight years where she is responsible for product planning from an advertiser’s point of view – understanding user behaviors and trends, while at the same time delivering products and services to targeted audiences.
7 ways to future proof you digital strategy
Nurcin Erdogan Loeffler, head of strategy and innovation, Vizeum China, outlines the seven ways businesses can future proof their digital strategies. With more than two years in China and a background in strategy, Nurcin Erdogan Loeffler shared her thoughts on future proofing a business strategy with the audience at ClickZ Live Shanghai.
Hello? Is it me you’re looking for? The problem with site search
Online consumers with intent to purchase only find what they’re looking for in 50% of ecommerce searches. That needs to change. eBay has one. As do Selfridges and Louboutin. Buried somewhere in the top right-hand corner of a website screen usually sits the site search box – a crucial element for the retailers’ homepages. It doesn’t take much browsing of retail websites to realise that site search has hardly evolved on some since 1999.
How can chief marketing officers use disruption to stay ahead?
Chief marketing officers have shared their views on technology, innovation and how they see their roles transforming into the near future at an exclusive breakfast at ClickZ Live Shanghai. A recent ClickZ intelligence report surveying our readers in the U.S., found that while 75% of respondents said they were familiar with digital transformation under half were yet to formulate a clear strategic plan.
The case of Skittles and how to react with real-time marketing
Every brand would love to see its hashtag trending on social media, but what if it’s for the least expected reason? Should you use real-time marketing to react? There was an interesting story on social media involving Donald Trump Jr. and a tweet that created an analogy between Syrian refugees and a bowl of Skittles. This was enough for Twitter users to fuel the discussion, create memes, send their responses, and eventually make #Skittles a trending topic.
How to test a website before you launch: a 28 point checklist
Three years ago, Mark Knowles wrote a thorough checklist for testing a website prior to its live launch. It was a very helpful guide, so we thought we’d update it for the current digital landscape. Here we present a guide on how to test a website, full of updated information and tips to make sure everything looks and works exactly as it should on launch day. Everyone has a role here, and that’s how the tasks have been divided – for Editors, Designers, Developers, SEOs and Network Administrators.
What does the modern marketer look like in a multichannel world?
In today’s multichannel world how can marketers use data to ensure the experience a customer receives is relevant to them? At ClickZ Live Shanghai, Kenneth Ning, business development director, Emarsys, explores the challenges marketers face in today’s data-swamped environment and how to use it to enhance multichannel personalized customer experiences. Emarsys works with more than 250 clients in the Asia Pacific region, across retail, ecommerce, fashion to publishing.
What Is ID and Verification and why is it such an integral part of digital life?
Identity and verification (ID&V) are two closely linked concepts that play an increasingly critical role in consumers’ day-to-day lives. Identification systems use a trusted ledger, process or token to identify a person or entity. Verification is answering the question “is this person who they say they are?” They are familiar to us in our everyday lives.
What is blocking Adblock Plus’s ambition?
Adblock Plus, which has led the growth of adblockers over the last couple of years, made a major announcement earlier this week that it hoped would establish it as an important player in the advertising technology ecosystem. Within 24 hours those plans appear to lie in tatters. Adblock Plus has an impressive user base and product, so what’s holding it back? We’ll take a look at what happened this week and its implication for publishers and advertisers.
How will the mass adoption of virtual reality disrupt media and advertising?
Alvin Wang Graylin, HTC China Regional President of Vive, explains how the mass adoption of virtual reality will disrupt media and advertising. (And why that adoption is probably going to start in China.) Graylin describes virtual reality (VR) advertisements as a way of being able to buy advertising in somebody’s dream. “It’s so real. It’s going to make all other media obsolete at some point,” he says.
Ubamarket launches supermarket shopping app
Ubamarket is a new app which aims to help customers to plan their supermarket shopping trips based on the location of items on their shopping list. Users can scan items to keep tally of the total purchase spend and even check out via the app. I’ve been asking Ubamarket CEO Will Broome and DMI International (which developed the app) president Magnus Jern, about the new app and the business model behind it.
Beyond Facebook: social media marketing opportunities in China and Japan
Twitter and Facebook are becoming more popular in Asia, but marketers operating in the region need to be aware of the many other made-for-Asia social media platforms. Here’s a list of some of the lesser-known platforms exploding in popularity across the Asia Pacific region. China’s Great Firewall means many western social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are blocked in China. As a result, China has it’s own homegrown counter-parts. Weibo is China’s equivalent to Twitter.
How SK-II blends ecommerce and social for improved brand perception
JD.com’s Joey Bian outlines how cosmetic giant SK-II blended data from two of China’s biggest ecommerce and social sites to improve both brand perception and ROI. Earlier this year, SK-II was one of a number of global brands selected to trial a new targeted advertising tool for the Chinese market, which draws on data from online retailer JD.com’s 188 million active purchase customers and the 800 million monthly active users (MAU) of Tencent’s social messaging app WeChat.
How to avoid being boring in B2B sales
Who said B2B sales have to be boring? Time to reconsider, aiming at a human connection, rather than old-fashioned sales pitches. Simona Pop, head of partnerships & global communications at InstaSupply talked about B2B sales in Beat the Buzz Nights by WeRSM and Audiense, explaining how the process can become more meaningful for both sides.
How to master Facebook advertising and targeting
Facebook advertising is becoming very useful, especially when you explore its potential and all its targeting options. Greg Gifford, Director of Search and Social at DealerOn, delivered a very informative presentation at Brighton SEO last week, describing all the advertising options that Facebook offers along with the impressive targeting you can achieve.
How to create your own segments in Google Analytics
Google Analytics comes with lots of standard reports and settings, but with a little customisation you can extract much more value. One way is to create custom reports, dashboards, and segments to interrogate your data in various different ways. In this post I’ll demonstrate how to create a custom segment, for the analytics beginners out there. Well, they offer some very useful insight which allows you to learn more about your audience behaviour.
Alibaba adds 9.9 wine and spirit event to its list of online shopping festivals
On September 9, Alibaba will add a 24-hour wine and spirit online shopping spree to its existing stable of popular consumer festivals. The new event has been dubbed Jiu Jiu and is being launched on the company’s B2C ecommerce marketplace, Tmall. Jack Ma, Alibaba’s chairman has become the king of online shopping festivals.
Seven easy rules for more effective email communication
No matter your industry, field, career, day-to-day responsibilities, or duties, communication is integral to your success. This is particularly true in SEO and link building, where communication is vital to educating clients, executing campaigns, securing links, and presentation of results. Email is perhaps the primary mode of communication in today’s digital world. If you can’t communicate well through email, you’re likely to struggle.
Programmatic advertising: what’s the difference between good and bad data?
Over the last decade, marketing has drastically shifted its foundation from innate intuition to calculated analysis. It shifted from an art form to a science. Strategies are now driven by unprejudiced analysts instead of committal creatives. More importantly, strategic data insights give each marketer the ability to provide the best experience possible for the customer. Yet one area of digital consistently lags behind the rest.
40 free digital marketing tools to help grow your business
If you’re just starting out with a business, or looking for tools to help you grow, there is a huge array of digital marketing tools, platforms and services available online. But if you have a small budget to work with or you aren’t sure which are the right tools for you to be investing your money into – or maybe you just want to bolster your digital marketing without spending too much – then how can you narrow your options down?
Remarketing: wouldn’t they just come back anyway?
A new starter in Team SaleCycle recently asked me the following question… “Wouldn’t they just come back anyway?” By ‘they’ my colleague meant ‘website visitors’ and to answer this question I need to clarify a few things: With any remarketing solution (AKA behavioral retargeting), target identified and anonymous visitors behave differently and therefore to answer the question we need to look at the behavior of each type of visitor separately. Let’s start with identified visitors first.
American Apparel: driving customer centricity in an omnichannel world
American Apparel’s chief digital officer discussed the future of retail, the importance of delivering value to the consumer, and strategies for an IoT and omnichannel world. Thoryn Stephens, chief digital officer, American Apparel, was speaking at ClickZ Live Hong Kong where he delivered a keynote presentation on how marketers can drive value to the consumer using data and technology. Here’s how: Stephens always wanted to be a rock star. Instead he became a molecular biologist.
A beginners guide to mobile payments, bitcoin, blockchain and robo-banking
How are mobile payments, bitcoin, blockchain and other financial services technologies enhancing the consumer purchase journey? A panel at ClickZ Live Hong Kong discussed this and the impact these disruptive technologies will have on the financial services industry going forward.
What's holding back CMOs in Asia?
APAC-based chief marketing officers meeting for an exclusive breakfast at ClickZ Live Hong Kong, have outlined some of the key challenges inhibiting transformation of the businesses they work for. Legacy issues, regional fragmentation, a lack of integration between departments, skills and talent shortages and a lack of confidence in being able to map and use data across all customer touchpoints, were some of the key concerns identified by the group.
Five ways analysts can take their skills to the next level
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As I’ve been writing about tools and tactics quite a bit lately, I thought for this month’s column I’d take a step back and share some ideas on how you can become a better analyst. And improving our analysis skills as marketers goes beyond broadening our career options and helping us be better at our craft. It should actually improve all areas of your life as a byproduct of nurturing our critical thinking skills. Some ideas follow that I apply in my own life and hope you’ll consider too.
By Adam Singer, Al Roberts, Ann Smarty Verified, Sophie Loras, Christopher Ratcliff Verified, Cedric Chambaz, Tereza Litsa
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ClickZ
Verified
What do the jobs of the future look like?
In the ‘future’ will your job be secure? For those in the insurance, healthcare, legal and a range of other sectors, it probably isn’t, says Edelman Digital’s Gavin Coombes. Forget being a doctor or a lawyer. In the not too distant future, a robot will be able to do these jobs – and do them even better than a human. This was the main theme of ‘Future Shock’, a presentation from Gavin Coombes, president, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Edelman Digital, at ClickZ Live Hong Kong.
How can you improve your display advertising performance?
In 2015, European businesses spent more than €10 billion on display advertising. Internet users spend 96% of their time engaged with content, and display gives advertisers the power to connect with them where they are. The introduction of developments like real-time bidding (RTB) have only added to its appeal, resulting in impressive market growth for display advertising.
Best price is no excuse for mediocre experience
The summer is upon us which means spare seats on trains, cold brew coffee and more ‘out of office’ responses than actual replies. In preparation for this year’s annual migration to European sunspots, Irish airline Ryanair dramatically simplified the number of baggage payment options from 108 to just 6. The initiative is part of the airline’s recovery plan, which began in 2013, prompted by declining profits and a reputation for dismal customer service. In a 2013 Which?
Content is king in the fight against ad blockers
Publishers dealing with the growing use of ad blockers haven’t had much to smile about lately, but according to research conducted by C3Research for the IAB, the majority of consumers using ad blockers can be convinced to uninstall them.
Ten most shared Olympic ads (so far)
Brands are constantly present on all the big events and this year’s Olympic Games couldn’t be an exception. So is is winning up to now? Well, Channel 4 tried a different approach this year, and this is paying off so far, making it the most shared ad of 2016 with its campaign “We’re The Superhumans”. The promotion of its Paralympics coverage led to more than 1,256,567 shares. “We’re The Superhumans” takes a fresh perspective, and viewers seemed to like this new approach.
Why cross-border ecommerce is still a great channel for foreign brands in China
Despite major regulatory changes to China’s ecommerce cross-border trade earlier this year, experts say the channel should still be included in an ecommerce strategy for this market. China’s cross-border ecommerce sector came to a grinding halt in April after new tax laws and regulations were announced. General items which had been taxed at around 10% suddenly faced new taxing categories of 15%, 30% and higher. Despite this, the outlook for cross-border ecommerce remains promising.
How to increase customer engagement with mobile wallets
One method of connecting with users on mobile, which most brands likely wouldn’t consider, is by using mobile wallets. Mobile wallets, despite being native to both iOS and Android, are still on their way up to becoming a mainstream payment method.
How can you persuade ad block users to turn them off?
As more and more users turn to ad blockers, is there a way publishers can convince them to turn them off? The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released the report “Ad Blocking: Who Blocks Ads, Why, and How to Win Them Back,” in an attempt to analyse the profile of users who install ad blockers and how publishers can convince them to turn them off.
Google’s power of censorship: who controls the controllers of the internet?
Imagine a world where Google has no secrets, where all search engines play fair, and where SEO doesn’t have to be synonymous with “page one.” Sound like a fairy tale? The Internet is often cast as the great democratizer, and Google its noble gate-keeper. There’s no doubt that search engines help us easily navigate the web, but we have to remember that Google is a corporation, not a public service. Our faith in its wisdom and guidance is based on little more than a carefully planned PR scheme.
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