Ogilvy & Mather invests in marketing analytics in Singapore

The centre will leverage the growing amount of online and offline data in order to derive insights for improved marketing planning and campaign performance optimisation, which will support all functions across Ogilvy from traditional ATL advertising, digital marketing, CRM, social and PR, according to the agency.

Kelvin Wong, EDB assistant managing director, said the new centre will help global brands penetrate Asian markets more effectively by translating consumer insights into customised, targeted and measurable marketing strategies.

“This is part of the EDB’s vision for Singapore as the leading marketing hub for Asia strategy, built on Pan-Asia consumer insights, media analytics and creative technology,” he said.

Data analytics currently provides information on traffic, bounce rate and original visitors, but marketers need much richer data to understand consumer behaviours and the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, said Will Adeney, Ogilvy & Mather’s vice president for marketing analytics in Asia-Pacific, who will lead the new centre.

The centre will be focused more on data like business metrics, traffic, leads and sales, and also on the kinds of events or campaigns that help turn visitors into consumers.

“Five years ago we were lucky to see 5 per cent of spend in this area from ‘data dependent organisations’,” Adeney told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “Today, there has been an over 15 per cent increase in clients’ budgets for data and analytics, and at least 5 per cent increase for companies that traditionally would never have looked at marketing ROI.”

Business leaders are generally receptive to becoming data driven in their thinking, but with regard to big data and getting to grips with the new social world, many still feel behind the curve, Adeney said.

“We seem to have clear traction in Singapore, where clients are not only willing to talk about the real data issues, but also asking for immediate help in developing understanding and data services,” Adeney continued.

Ogilvy & Mather Singapore has appointed Sutowo Wong as director of marketing analytics to lead the Singapore team. Wong was most recently with Deloitte as director of Deloitte Analytics.