Brett King, Modem Media regional director, Asia, said: "We are in discussion to form a joint-venture for expansion on the mainland. We should be ready (to enter the China market) in the next three to six months."
"When we started out in '96, we were very execution-focused, but over the last few months we have focused more on the strategic side and on educating the customer on the channel and how you can integrate and get significant ROI,
said King.
The agency's client roster includes Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong Tourism Board. King said key clients today were putting about five per cent of advertising budgets into interactive work. "Ideally, 10 per cent would be great, but clients can get a great deal more out of five per cent than they can with any other media,
he said.
Modem Media will also focus on launching email marketing campaigns for clients.
"For Shangri La, we took their newsletter for their loyalty programme online. The newsletter, which cost HK$4 million offline, saw costs reduced by 75 per cent. And the added benefit of that was an increase in traffic.
We see electronic direct mail as a very strong part of the business in Asia this year,
said King.
