Tech MVP 2022: Felix Chang, Digitas

Felix Chang

General manager
Digitas
Taiwan

With a passion for technology, consumer behaviour, media and data analytics, Felix Chang is ideally suited to help brands find smarter marketing methods and solutions.  Armed with a MSc in Information Systems, Chang also studied social psychology and began his career in market research before joining Zenith Taiwan in 2015 to lead the business transformation team. His transformational work using technology earned him a spot on the Campaign 40 under 40 list for 2019, the same year he became Publicis Media’s head of strategy in Taiwan. By introducing new billings-boosting services such as dynamic content automation, social commerce and virtual shopping, Chang was selected to lead the operations of the newly set-up Digitas Taiwan agency in 2021.

One doesn’t have to look far to see Chang’s innate ability to pioneer new technologies while working with new partners. In 2017, he joined start-up Bravo Ideas to introduce an interactive video solution for the movie Alien:Convenant, in which, viewers on Facebook could select their own story path, leading him to win his first ROI Excellence Award. In 2018, whilst influencer marketing was booming, Chang worked with Meta business partner Tagnology to build a platform that not only collects and analyses Instagram content, but applies the proprietary algorithm he wrote called EMV (Earned Media Valuation). It leverages natural language processing (NLP) to gauge the quality of influencer engagements. and helped Publicis Media launch their own influencer marketing practice. In yet another example Felix worked with data analytic startup LnData in 2019-20 to develop a system that gives brands advance warning on whether certain social discussions might impact their sales performance. Using continuous tracking, NLP and statistical modelling, the solution was awarded Gold at the Festival of Media APAC as well as Silver in annual Global Zenith Excellence Awards.

His exceptional work for clients continued with Digitas in 2021. Chang entered the field of virtual commerce to help Samsung Taiwan build their first virtual store for the launch of the S21 smartphone, winning awards from the Festival of Media, MMA Smarties and Campaign’s Digital Media Awards. Moreover, he created a proprietary tool called Six Degrees that analyses social media content for commonality to identify potential trends that brands can leverage. Introduced in late 2021, it helped Publicis Groupe win the Mercedes-Benz omni-agency pitch.

When helping key clients transform through technology, a big part of the job is helping to guide clients through the process. This is where Chang really excels, by not merely selling or introducing new technologies, but helping clients truly understand how they will help. This includes being realistic with clients on pros and cons, recognising net benefits over perfection to ensure progress is steady and continual.

Chang’s desire to educate is further evident in the many marketing events where speaks on innovation and brings expertise together from different sectors to learn from one another. Over the past few years, he has held an annual roadshow bringing startups from the fields of virtual reality, influencer marketing, visual recognition and dynamic creative alongside academics professors to investigate and apply the latest trends for potential client solutions.