Fleishman-Hillard joins with iSoftStone to boost digital capabilities

Fleishman-Hillard will leverage iSoftStone’s capabilities in data analytics, cloud computing, mobile and internet technologies to create and execute marketing campaigns that find, attract, engage and convert consumers across different platforms, especially Web, email, social media and mobile.

“With insights from data, we can help clients adjust their communications in a way that drives repeat purchases,” said Li Hong (pictured), Fleishman-Hillard’s president for China. “With iSoftStone solutions, we will be able to identify target customers more accurately and incentivise them more effectively.”

The partnership will allows the agency to "narrow the gap" between what clients promise in their customer relationship management (CRM) programmes and what those programmes actually deliver, across paid, earned, shared or owned media, he added.

With more than 500 million Internet users and 1 billion mobile-phone users, China presents enormous growth opportunities across a wide range of new digital technologies to connect with consumers. Total expenditure of digital advertising topped US$5 billion last year, out of a US$47.6 billion total, surpassing traditional newspaper advertising.

“Our partnership with iSoftStone allows us to leverage this wave of digital marketing,” said Lynne Anne Davis, Fleishman-Hillard president for Asia Pacific.

She noted that the arrangement has already paid off. “We have won two contracts," she said. "One enables clients to track digital consumers’ online behaviour, with which we can provide real-time interfaces with purposeful campaign messages to generate leads on an e-commerce platform.”

The other campaign targets a group of medical doctors and skincare experts and dermatologists. “We’re also developing strategies to drive social media traffic through microbloggers, community websites, celebrities and other fan groups to various platforms,” she added.

iSoftStone's solutions can be integrated with office automation (OA) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, said T.W. Liu, chairman and CEO of iSoftStone. “Through the solutions, we also provide full digital marketing services across the entire customer engagement lifecycle.”