Tie-up heralds new era in mobile marketing
Tencent and Dentsu Aegis embark on global strategic partnership
A NEW era in mobile marketing is set to unfold with the recent tie-up between China’s leading Internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd and international advertising group Dentsu Aegis Network.
The global strategic partnership between the two will also allow brand owners to gain better, faster and more efficient data driven consumer insights to optimise their content creation in the fast world of mobile marketing.
The partnership also marks the commitment of both companies’ global leadership in capitalising the potentials of mobile marketing, thus paving the way for markets like Malaysia to follow suit, backed by strong leadership support from its global counterparts.
Tencent’s abundant collection of smart data is expected to empower Dentsu Aegis Network to deploy its capabilities in data analytics and brand marketing.
The partnership which was signed at the Cannes Lions Festival last week will at the same time see the creation of Dentsu Aegis Network X Tencent University programme to develop digital marketing professionals for the future by facilitating the sharing of best practices, in addition to promoting digital education and adoption.
The two groups will join forces to offer lectures on new business models, market trends and insights, and tech innovation.
For now, the collaboration is shaping up on home ground China, yet other markets where Dentsu Aegis is present, including Malaysia, are already looking forward to adopting and developing best practices from the global collaboration to boost their local mobile marketing capabilities.
Commenting on this partnership, Dentsu Aegis Network global CEO Jerry Buhlmann says he is confident that a closer relationship with Tencent in China as its strategic partner will drive innovative and market-leading solutions to better serve client needs.
Tencent senior executive vice president and chairman group marketing and global branding SY Lau notes:“Through this partnership, we hope to do more for the industry.
“The media and marketing industry needs a constant infusion of new talent with new mindsets. Together, we will merge marketing technology with the art of creativity to impact business goals.”
Since the first collaboration in 2015, the two partners have built a comprehensive framework for synergy and collaboration on data solutions. With the new cooperation arrangement, it will further the “cross-fertilisation” of competencies and form a united front within the marketing ecosystem.
The mobile penetration and growth in China and Malaysia are growing at rapid phases and in view of this trend, marketers are positioning their branding initiatives via mobile devices.
According to Mary Meeker’s 2017 Internet Trends Report, there were 700 million mobile internet users in China in 2016, while mobile internet consumption surpassed that of television in China. Mobile users in China spend more than 55% of their time online on Tencent platforms, including QQ, Qzone, Weixin, Tencent Video and Tencent News.
In Malaysia, with a total population of 31 million, the internet penetration rate is even higher at 71% of population online, or 22 million internet users, citing reports from We Are Social.
Almost all (96%) of these 22 million users are active mobile internet users, accessing the internet via mobile devices such as a smartphone. So it is not surprising to learn that data from Google shows that smartphone penetration in Malaysia currently stands at 80%, and is likely to continue to increase over time.
That said, with more Malaysians accessing the internet from smartphones, marketers now have a new avenue to tap into and harness the enormous amount of consumer data to deliver the right content to the right audience at the right time through the right channel, ultimately impacting business results.
Elaborating on the data and mobile trend, Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia chief data officer Sue-Anne Lim replies to a StarBizWeek email query: “Accessing and using data is increasingly key to building addressability with consumers, delivering personalisation at scale.
“Data is the basis of competitive advantage. Our partnership with Tencent represents a strong global leadership support and capability, which will allow us to further innovate in the data and mobile marketing space in Malaysia, be it talent, consultancy or tech support.
“Combine this with our ability to truly collaborate across our network of agencies to provide integrated marketing solutions to clients, we believe Dentsu Aegis is ripe to better service the needs and creating even more value for our clients.”
A look into the digital media advertising expenditure (adex) from Dentsu Aegis Network’s Global Ad Spend Report shows that advertisers in Malaysia are shifting advertising budgets to digital, as digital media is forecasted to increase 16.3% this year.
Digital media is indeed one of the main drivers of total local adex growth, buoyed by key trends such as strong penetration and higher usage of smartphones, as well as rapid growth of online videos. Thirty percent of the total digital media spend will be on mobile ads, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Vizeum Malaysia CEO Wong Siew Wai notes: “At present, 70% to 80% of typical digital buys are already on mobile ads. That is heading in the right direction, but these are often media or creative-led campaigns with mobile ad buys included in the media plan, only then ads are repurposed to work on different types of mobile devices.
“What we are championing now is moving brands from seeing mobile as a media channel to wider mobility experiences, thus creating new services, products or platforms for brands to engage more effectively with consumers today who no longer sees mobile phones as just a connectivity device but is becoming a remote control of our lives.” Vizeum Malaysia is a media agency within Dentsu Aegis Network.