Digital Marketing Asia 2018 highlights industry trends and disruptions for Filipino marketers

More than 250 digital marketers and marketing professionals attended Digital Marketing Asia 2018 held last July 26 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila. Produced by Marketing Magazine, with editions in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, it was the first time that the event was held in the Philippines.
A stellar lineup of experts shared their experiences and case studies and gave game-changing tips and vital information on how one can ride the tide of digital transformation and make it work for their respective organizations.

Cindy Burdette, Head of B2B Sales and Growth for STORM Technologies, started the event with a talk on “How Digital Transformation Can Revolutionize Marketing.” Burdette cautioned that that while constantly flowing information can be a guide in forming marketing campaigns, the marketing professional must not lose sight of the key element that can make him succeed: namely personal interaction with the customer. The next speaker, Gary Viray, CEO of Propelrr, pointed out that it is equally import to “Transform Digital Marketing into a Framework that Works” in his talk of the same name.

John Rubio, Country Director of Facebook, impressed the audience with his talk on “Why Messaging Matters.” Brand promotion through instant messaging is becoming more popular, as Rubio gave relevant tips on how marketers can make their campaigns through the messaging apps highly successful. Gen Wang-Lizares, Head of Consumer Experience of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, gave a talk on “B2B Hacks: Slaying B2B on Digital This 2018.” She said that marketers should not underestimate Millennial managers in addressing their B2B customers because they have a lot of influence on their senior bosses.

Nix Eniego, Marketing Head of Sprout Solutions, captivated the crowd by revealing “Instagram’s Marketing Secrets.” He debunked some of the myths usually associated with the social media crowd, such as using innumerable hashtags to attract a large number of followers, and that Instagram is used mainly by Millennials. He said, “It is fast approaching Facebook status.” Lilit Reyes, Executive Director for Possibilities of the Bent & Buzz / DDB Group, enlivened the crowd with his talk on video marketing. Creating a short movie-like video can connect to the crowd because of its insights on the human condition. He said, “Human stories are our business. Let the human truth be the hot button. How do you make your video viral? Provide human insights.”

Arthur Policarpio, Co-founder and CEO of Mobext Philippines, gave several pointers on how marketers can “Rethink Approach Towards Mobile.” One trend that is catching on is gaming. Another is the emergence of platforms like IGTV that create long-form content.

Still another trend to watch out for is “local search which is growing,” said Policarpio. “They are becoming more granular. People may be searching for your business in specific locations. Bernard San Juan, the General Manager of TrueLogic Online Solutions, unraveled the mystery of the ever-evolving search algorithms in “SEO Ranking Factors in 2018: What’s Important and What’s Not.” He said that quality content is “still the single most powerful ranking factor around”, and the traits that make up quality are as follows: “Original, informative, media rich, answers questions, makes the audience better, allows people to interact, and evokes trust.”

Philips Yu, the Head of eWallets of Philippine Seven Corporation, illustrated the synergy between “Offline 2 Online: Leveraging Offline Assets to Bridge the Online World.” The hard truth he pointed out was that “clicks may be nice but not necessarily pay the bills, and clients want results.” Analysis is constant to bridge these two worlds. Yu said to take note of what “consumers buy, the bills they pay, where they did remittance, and the paying platforms they used.”
The event closed with a panel on influencer marketing that captivated the crowd the last two hours of the day. The three panelists gave a short case study before addressing the foremost questions on people’s minds such as how one chooses an influencer, and the factors that do create one.

The first panelist, Ace Gapuz, CEO of Blogapalooza, clarified that influencer marketing is simply not inviting an influencer to an event but working with influencers in communicating the value proposition of the brand. Kankan Ramos-Lim, COO of Arriba Digital, underlined the importance of aligning the influencer with the brand’s overall marketing campaign. She said, “Integrate influencer marketing in all the touchpoints of your customer journey. Finally, Mina Cruz, Founder and Senior Partner of i55 Talent House, emphasized that influencer marketing has a responsible dimension. She said, “Influencer marketing is also about understanding responsibility and acting with accountability.”

The event ended on a high note with many looking forward to the next event, Analytics Conference 2018. Sponsors for Digital Marketing Asia included adbrix, DMHQ, and Sodexo. For updates on next year’s edition, visit https://www.marketing-interactive.com/digital-marketing/ph/.

ADVT