The promotional marketing space is finally getting a much-needed recognition in the industry.
This year some of the most prestigious advertising festivals have added new categories reflecting the rapidly changing business environment.
Namely, D&AD debuted their first ever Experiential category; and Cannes introduced Brand Experience & Activation Lions and Creative eCommerce Lions under an all-encompassing brand-new Experience Track.
These changes are neither random nor transitory. They’re mirroring an increasing client demand for the accountability of ideas.
Something that shows like Effie or Dragons of Asia have been championing for years.
Virtually all of Dragons’ categories have conversion at their heart, covering the whole spectrum of promotional marketing, brand activation and brand experience.
We —at Geometry— have been honoured with the Network of the Year Red Dragon for third year in a row now; a testament to a strategic and creative approach that works across industries, geographies and disciplines.
We call this approach: Ideas for the moments that matter.
Today it’s easier than ever for people to actively ignore ads. And despite what digital gurus or media owners want us to believe, there’s no single tech platform or social media network that can address all brand issues.
It’s a very complex environment and there’s no-one-size-fits-all solution.
We look at our clients’ briefs with a wide-open lens and look for the bigger business opportunities beyond the primary request.
Then we use our deep knowledge of the local retail landscape and the shopper needs to identify the moments that really matter in making a long-lasting difference for the business, not just a sales spike.
These moments could be places, time of the day or time of the year, consumption occasions, and even a moment in someone’s life.
Not all moments are equal so we deep dive into the critical ones for the brand.
With that knowledge (backed by data and research) we look into the existing behaviour and how we can influence long lasting change.
Our ideas draw a great deal of inspiration from behavioural sciences, which learnings are embedded into our creative process.
One of our most recent examples of this approach was Popo’s Kitchen. A virtual restaurant that gave Uber Eats (a late comer in the HK delivery business) a local edge.
Using data, technology and creativity we changed busy young people’s food delivery habit, from depending on Western style fast food to traditional homemade recipes.
That’s how we manage to get a creative output so diverse, yet so consistent across brands, countries and capabilities: Tech-enabled promo caps in Australia, to help ‘bros’ enjoy a cricket game like never before.
Mobile-driven gifting to break and honour tradition during Chinese New Year, in Hong Kong.
A heart-warming social experiment in India. Launching a totally new product category and behaviour in Japan. A retailer-driven promo to boost sales in Malaysia.
A pop-up store in New Zealand to curve demand from milk to plant-based drinks.
And unconventional educational materials designed in Singapore to empower kids in Myanmar. Just to name a few of the top winners this year.
All teams across the region follow this common approach, which helps us not only in delivering a consistent product but also in sharing knowledge and resources.
We’re in a golden era for promotional marketing where everything is possible through technology and ideas are not limited to a specific format.
We hope these ideas for the moments that matter will keep helping shape the future of our industry..
Written by Dani Comar, Geometry’s APAC Regional ECD
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The Malaysian Marketing Conference & Festival 2024 at the Sime Darby Convention Centre is a TWO-day marketing event for all those in Marketing, Media, Advertising, PR, Digital, Data, and more….
The experience is on May 15 & 16, with Keynote Speakers, multiple tracks or Breakaway Sessions hosted by our booth partners who will show you the latest in the industry.
