AOY Insights is a series celebrating some of the top wins from Campaign Asia-Pacific's Agency of the Year awards. Join us as we take a closer look at the entries that struck gold this year.
Key Wins: Vietnam Creative Agency of the Year, Vietnam Digital Innovation Agency of the Year (Gold)
Tough times affect companies in several ways — the most common is a scaling back of ambitions and hunkering down until the worst is over. Marketing wisdom gleaned from numerous downturns is that companies that scale up during these times, stand to gain disproportionately once they end.
Leo Burnett Vietnam decided to put this frequently repeated but seldom practised mantra to work, and the results speak for themselves.
Growing at double digits, Leo Burnett Vietnam is outpacing its home country’s GDP (forecasted at 5.5% in early 2024 per World Bank reports). Making the double-digit growth even more creditable is the fact that the agency delivered this in a year in which ad spends declined significantly.
The agency strategized to go against the trend and committed to greatness, building on four growth pillars:
Bold creativity with massive scale: Leo Burnett Vietnam pursued fewer brands but bigger, better and bolder brand initiatives to generate an immense impact.
A clearly defined purpose: The agency believed that strong brand equity resonates deeper with people - particularly through tough times, and agency can help to raise the value of the brands even more.
Increased investment in emerging channels and technology: The agency actively engaged in social commerce using affiliate marketing and emerging technologies to convert interest into sales.
Greater investment in people: To ensure its people and processes are ready for the business to scale, the agency hired talent with proven track record while simultaneously training and upskilling the current workforce.
Amid this transformation, Leo Burnett Vietnam uncovered a contradiction that's eroding the core of the country’s digital revolution. Despite investments in digital scaling new heights, engagement rates were falling. Leo Burnett Vietnam believed this was because of the commoditisation of the customer experience; AI being used in a sub-optimal manner; and the in-store experience becoming transactional ecommerce, with brands and retailers losing sight of the opportunity to build a lasting relationship. Leo Burnett Vietnam built its award-winning digital innovation strategy on going against the grain: offering unique customer experiences; bringing a much-needed infusion of creativity into technology and platforms and finally highlighting and empowering brands amid an stringent focus on ROI.
This resulted in many boundary pushing campaigns — for instance, creating a real-time proximity-based platform for Heineken allowing millennial and Gen Z to connect with nearby people who shared their interests.
The results: Leo Burnett Vietnam achieved a 100% retention of its existing clients, and a 91% success rate for new business pitches and for talent retention.
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