Campaign360 2021: Continuing coverage

Here our editors are sharing real-time highlights from Campaign360, taking place online May 4 through 6. This page is presented in liveblog style, with the most recent items being added at the top. You can see the full agenda here, and see all our editorial coverage of the conference here.

Thursday, May 6

HIGHLIGHTS REEL
Posted at 1:05 pm

Campaign360 has ended. Thank you to all attendees, speakers, sponsors and production staff who made the event possible. We look forward to seeing you for Campaign360 2022 next year—hopefully in person.

CAPTURING THE SILVER GENERATION
Posted at 11.36 am

"As we see our demographic shift, we’re also seeing that the [silver] generation of users may be a bit different from the typical users that we serve. Our push into Shopee Premium would be able to bring in more branded products, and our push into Shopee Mall to get more brands to come into the platform is also a testament to that. These users are less price-sensitive, but they want to say: ‘I want to be able to buy from an authentic brand’ or to be able to get better service. From an assortment building and convenience point of view, we are making steps towards that."

—Ian Ho, regional managing director at Shopee, on tapping into the silver generation's consumer needs 

LOCAL CLIENTS ARE LEAST PREPARED
Posted at 10.30am

"I think the degree [of readiness] varies [when it comes to first party data]. So you've obviously got global clients, you've got regional clients, and you've got local clients. For global multinationals, with such a transformational change that needs to be structured and defined, a lot of this is perhaps kicked off or strategised and implemented from HQ. So for those clients, then there is almost a preset way of what they're intending to do. Then you've got the regional clients, who work with a lot of technology partners to govern or garner insights, but they can be relatively fragmented...And then you've got the local clients who are primarily a little bit smaller in a single market. And I guess this is where then, very honestly, they are still currently running around trying to figure out what they should do, what's the level of investment needed, and if they are going to be ready to put in that level of investment needed and still get to see ROI, in the path of structuring and enabling their first party data."

—Arshan Saha, CEO APAC, Xaxis

THE AD INDUSTRY'S RESPONSIBILITY IN ENSURING AI IS ETHICAL
Posted at 10.20am

"Bias is all around from many innocent, and perhaps not so innocent sources, and you absolutely need to be on top of it. It has real implications and harmful effects on people's lives. I believe quite passionately that it's important to tackle bias, prejudice and any form of discrimination in machine learning, because the technology we're developing now is shaping the future. And we need to make sure that it's shaped in line with the ethics and values of the kind of society that we want to live in. We're all responsible for that as a society. However, as marketeers, advertisers, content producers and communication specialists, I believe our role in the development and use of technology is exceptionally important. Ours is a powerful platform for reaching people, sharing ideas, and shaping minds. But with that comes responsibility. A lot of responsibility."

—Alex Meaden, academic on the ethics of social media and technology

IT'S ALL ABOUT TRUST
Posted at 10.10am

"The long-term thrust in every market is roughly the same, and consumer privacy literacy in every market is going to become more common. At the same time, it’s less about East vs West, but more about seeking consumer trust. When you have that trust, people will choose to share whether it’s their personal information or experiences. But you need to earn that trust to have that value exchange. So there are regional and market contexts and regulations but it ultimately comes down to trust."

—Kyoko Matsushita, global CEO at Essence, on East vs West consumer mindset on privacy 

DEATH OF THE GLOBAL APPROVAL?
Posted at 10:00am

"Anyone who’s watching right now is probably thinking ‘this is my life’. I’d like to think that as the new generation comes into leadership roles, we start thinking about how the world is different and about respecting our colleagues. The companies that [are effective] are the ones that have trust for their local markets. And the companies that are the worst are the ones that try to centralise everything."

—Musa Tariq, global CMO of GoFundMe, on companies [especially in the East] having to seek global approval for client work. 

DO ADVERTISERS REALLY CARE ABOUT DOING THE RIGHT THING?
Posted at 9.40am

"Generally speaking I think advertisers want to do the right thing. They want to do right by their consumers, they want to do right by their communities, they want to do right by their brands. But ultimately, when many of these advertisers are for-profit businesses, and they have certain tools in their tool shed that are able to be cost-effective ROI drivers, it becomes a more complex conversation around how to approach that investment.

"I think a lot of the events we saw, especially last year within the US, there were obviously major calls for racial justice and calls for corporate brands to actually take a stand and really get off the sidelines. I think we learned a few things without that within that process. First off: brands generally want to be on the right side of history, and in line with that, when popular opinion is shifting, it actually makes sense for for-profit businesses to shift with that opinion. So whilst there is a lot of goodwill and intention, I'm sure, behind a lot of advertiser decisions and how they use their funding, I think ultimately, it was also probably a for-profit decision.

"I think advertisers are well intentioned, but I think when you conflate responsibility with ROI, it really varies. And it's up to that brand to essentially determine what's their value set, and what's the best way to align to that, while still meeting their goals for their stakeholders."

—Elijah Harris, global head of social, Mediabrands

Wednesday, May 5

DESIGNED TO ADDICT
Posted at 4:43 pm

"We know that these platforms are designed to addict. And we're putting someone who doesn't have a fully developed brain into a situation where they're very likely to get addicted... I think it's really important to note that although social-media organisations have rules in place, saying that you can't be on the platforms. A third of kids in APAC have a social media account. And it's either Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook as being the most popular. The frightening thing is that Facebook is skewing slightly towards girls. The fact is that, you know, 7 year olds are still getting through onto Facebook."

—Amanda Abel, child psychologist, speaking about use of social media by children, who lack a fully developed executive function

TWO TAKES ON MARKETING VIDEO CONTENT ACROSS DIVERSE INDIA
Posted at 5:05 pm

“The diversity, of course, is there. However, the fundamentals remain the same. Emotions are forming, everyone feels fear and anxiety and inspiration and jealousy. No matter whether there is a gentleman is sitting somewhere in somewhere in a small town in Tamil Nadu or he's sitting in Delhi, the emotions are seen for everyone and the fundamentals of communication are the same. Of course that environment is different, the context is different, what you're trying to say to them is different. And you tweak things, according to according to that.  It’s a diverse country but do you really want to talk to everyone? Most times, the answer is ‘no’. At least with digital, there are so many tools that you can tap to send the data in any number of ways, and sort of make sure you're talking to the person who you want to talk to.”

—Ankit Sharma, national creative director, Jio Creative Labs 

“The beauty of digital is you're able to specify your target audience, you're able to specify your cities and we're able to run campaigns for diverse products at the same time. Having said that, I think we do more ‘mindset marketing’, which means mapping using your analytics, understanding what kind of people would be interested across the country and seeing the show. And those people need not reside in a particular city and need not be a particular age and need not be a particular set ABC. I think all those marketing matrix are now ancient.

I've seen this when we've launched a particular show with people across ages talking about it, or alternative storytelling about the LGBT community or about a woman finding herself. We discover how women across the globe are talking about it and not only women but men as well. So this is more about what kind of people will be interested in watching the show -we call that phenomenon mindset marketing and we do it continuously.”

—Divya Dixit, SVP, Revenue & Marketing, ALTBalaji 

RESISTING DUAL CITIZENSHIP
Posted at 3:31 pm

“We have been investing very strongly in our management training program, and now we've got people who are dedicated to ecommerce as soon as they enter the company. But at the same time, we have a very large organization that has grown up in the brick-and-mortar and conventional analog world. We don't want to create dual citizenship, with people who are of the new world and people who are of the old world. So we are also upgrading a lot of our brick-and-mortar people with digital capabilities. We helped them during the pandemic to open stores online. So these people are becoming as digital as required, and over a period of time we'll move talent across from offline to online.”

—Umesh Phadke, president director, L’Oreal Indonesia 

FROM THE OLD WILD WEST TO A NEW MORAL COMPASS BY 2030
Posted at 3.17pm

“For the better part of 20 years, brands and agencies have really been the winners of this one-sided relationship playing out in the digital Wild West. We've almost looked away from our moral obligations to self-regulate. The government stepped in and we got surprised. And then even with GDPR we continue to try and find ways around it. So new models of ethical data regulation are on the rise whether we like it or not. As 2020 has shown, consumers now expect brands to have a mobile compass—to have a purpose.

“So if you’re a brand or a marketing support services company in the industry, you have a responsibility to proactively and transparently influence how it has to be shared and managed. But to be honest, more than that, it's something you have to do to survive. Don't stick your head in the sand like many have done. Don't just be part of this new data privacy-first world. Don’t play catch up. Actually help to create it. How we choose to do this will shape the moral parameters of the future of the digital world. And 2030 is not a long way away."

—Dominic Powers, head of growth APAC, Dentsu 

IS 4,000 PIECES OF CONTENT, TOO MUCH CONTENT?
Posted at 2.40pm

"The only way you can optimise your media investments as of now is by working on your lifetime value...The opportunity is to create brands that are recognised easily that talk to the emotional side as much as the functional side...The creative aspect is critical, consistent brands that are easy to recognise, because when I create 4,000 pieces of content to target audiences in multiple touchpoints, it is critical to be clear about my assets."

"[This is not self defeating] because we are not pushing it, people are pulling it. We don’t create content because we want people to see what we want them to see, we are listening to them and creating content...The more you know your platforms, your touchpoints, your consumer journey, the better organised you become in terms of creation and optimisation and machine and data learning—the more content you create."

—Yves Briantais, VP of marketing APAC, Colgate-Palmolive

Tuesday, May 4

HOW MANY TOILET SEATS DOES ONE NEED?
Posted at 4.51pm

"We should celebrate the demise of the cookie. We took tools that were meant for social participation and became extremely good at interrupting people. No matter what data we get, no matter how effective our marketing can be, as an industry, we continue to use it to keep interrupting.

"And I think the demise of the cookie will force a certain need for creativity and engagement and the seek for attention as well as reinstate trust back with the consumer. How prepared are we as an industry? The answer is about 50%. We need to figure out a way to not sell somebody a toilet seat just because they bought one the day before, and data tells us they’re in the business of toilet seats. But I don’t think there are many human beings that need two toilet seats in two days."

—Rupen Desai, global CMO, Dole

KEEPING UP WITH THE CONSUMER
Posted at 4.17pm

“Everything boils down to the relationship with the consumer. I would argue that in today’s world and with the pace with which we’re moving, the consumer is as smart if not smarter, or as fast if not faster than the actual brand or marketer. So the questions around that are: Is contextual targeting going to be one of the key things that we can use in the short-term? How do brands need to evolve their first-party data? Are predictive solutions going to come into play?"

—Rochelle Chhaya, CEO Thailand, Omnicom Media Group

STRONG BUY-IN FOR PERSONALISATION
Posted at 3.53 pm

"Businesses will benefit greatly by strengthening direct relationships with their consumers and using first-party data can help marketers and publishers better understand customer needs. And we know now that people expect personalisation as a standard service. A study showed that 54% of participants and 70% of millennials are willing to share personal information if it were used for personalised experiences."

—Jessica Martin, head of privacy APAC, Google 

A BROKEN SYSTEM?
Posted at 3.24 pm

"We need to regulate privacy globally, and advertising needs earn its way into people’s lives. And then they're going to start to give more. I think when you do that, and the value exchange starts to actually work out a little bit better, than you can start to see the ecosystem thriving. And I think right now, that value exchange is probably little bit broken."

—Christian Juhl, Global CEO, GroupM

PUBLISHERS SITTING PRETTY?
Posted at 3:15 pm

"One of the key things that will just go away with cookies will be the persistence of identity. And persistence of identity is what allows a brand to understand, Is that my customer? Have I spoken to them before? Where in the funnel are they? How efficient am I being at moving them down that funnel...

"Publishers are really well placed to be able to deliver that back to brands, because we own the first-party relationship with all of the people that are in our environment. And the good publishers are creating really rounded profiles about those users. So brands can leverage those platforms to be the guardians of that relationship for them. And they can ask, Hey, how many of your users have we actually spoken to? Where? How much do they understand our message? And what would be the most effective way to shift and move those users down that funnel?"

—Ian Hocking, vice president, digital, South China Morning Post 

NO LAURELS TO REST ON
Posted at 2:44 pm

"It's not as if as an industry we have covered ourselves in glory."

—Ashutosh Srivastava, APAC CEO of GroupM, speaking in this session about how well brands and agencies have done so far in terms of delivering value in exchange for consumer data, and how much work remains.

PRIVACY, NOT JUST A CHORE
Posted at 2:28 pm

"Adopting privacy is not just about obeying the rules. It's about creating a fair value exchange with the public, one that they enjoy and want to take part in. That's the secret sauce for brands winning in this new regime."

—David Porter, VP Global Media, Unilever and APAC regional VP, WFA, speaking in Campaign360's opening session
 

PEEK AT EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH
Posted at 2 pm

As Campaign360 kicks off, check out this just published peek at the exclusive and comprehensive research being discussed in detail in the first session. The full survey, which comes to you from Campaign, Forrester and the World Federation of Advertisers, will be downloadable for attendees of Campaign360, and will be available for Campaign Asia-Pacific members. If you haven't already registered for Campaign360, you can do so here. To get access to Campaign's member-only research, become a member here.