Asia leads global regions in marketer-agency integration: R3

To compile the report, R3 reviewed hundreds of submitted cases from around the world to identify 40 of the most creative and effective integrated campaigns developed in the last year.

The final 40 highlights the best practices from Asia from brands such as Chivas, Head & Shoulders, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Mastercard, MTV, Amway, Tata, Singtel, SPC, Colgate and IDLC.

Asia, an area with 60 per cent of the world’s population, contributed 35 per cent of the final winners. The strongest performing countries China, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia and Bangladesh. 

On the other end of the spectrum, Latin America lagged with only three per cent. The reason, according to R3, is that there are fewer traditional barriers to break down between Asia’s marketers and their agencies.

The Asian region has always been quick to embrace trends and adapt to them, said R3's Paull, adding that clients in Asia are particularly demanding with regards to tangible results.

“An Asian marketer doesn’t care as much about Facebook Likes or Twitter followers; he needs to show his boss the money,” Paull added.

All cases were judged on four basic criteria in order to qualify: outstanding integrated work, breakthrough creative strategies and executions, outcome-oriented working processes, and deliverables of clear brand KPIs.

This Chivas' case study in China, is an example of a case study from Asia that ticked all the right boxes. In this campaign, the whisky brand tapped grassroots cinematic talent to create a campaign that showcases the unique allure of Hong Kong.

Here's a summary:

Background

The whisky category in Hong Kong was changing. Sales of blended, mass-market brands were slowing at the expense of more expensive, character-led single malt brands. In this environment of increasing consumer sophistication, Chivas, led by Chivas12, faced declining brand relevance and flattening sales. The campaign had to deliver against three objectives: brand reappraisal, image improvement, and sales growth. And this had to be achieved in the face of a shrinking marketing budget.

The Idea

Chivas sought to engage consumer’s aspirations, both for themselves and for their city. Film seemed the natural choice given its rich history in expressing Hong Kong’s creativity. Chivas and their team called the idea “Crowd Crew”.  The movement hoped to inspire film-makers at a grass roots level — thereby giving Chivas a platform to activate. The subsequently recruited film-makers and crew were crowd-sourced entirely from the Hong Kong audience.

Through the medium of film, Chivas could bring their values of style, substance, and charisma to life. Media touch points included branded content, social media, OOH, pop-up cinema, and PR events.

The Process

As lead agency, Geometry acted as Chivas’ contact for operations and finance. A cross-agency team convened in the Geometry office to resolve issues as the idea evolved into a fully integrated campaign.

Social@Ogilvy and Ogilvy PR developed and planted stories. Ogilvy PR advised filmmaker recruitment based on credibility, media and PR value. The campaign received coverage from the likes of Cosmopolitan and HYPETRAK—a huge boon given the 80% media budget reduction from the previous year.

Mindshare identified online and offline channels to showcase branded content.

Redworks team produced video and photography content.

The Results

This partnership resulted in one of the most successful campaigns for Chivas ever, surpassing all business, marketing and campaign objectives. The partnership continues for the next phase.

Chivas saw significant increases in image improvement, brand reappraisal (21 per cent YOY) and sales volume (up 37 per cent, +20 per cent year-on-year).

Chivas’ Facebook community experienced 50 per cent growth, reaching 60,000 unique consumers per day with 1.2 million minutes of video. They averaged 50 “likes” per post.

The campaign also received industry awards: the WPP Integration award, Marketing Magazine’s Excellence Award, PMAA: Best of the Best in Hong Kong and PMAA: Gold for Social Media.

Here's a full list of all the campaigns from Asia that made the top 40 list