CReATION: Beyond Interactive sets up Stateside 'Net practice in Asia with Grey Network

<p>Cutting to the quick of Asia's Internet revolution is a claim </p><p>today's Web shops make with seemingly careless abandon. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Proving that cyber-success need not be a muddy puddle, one newcomer, </p><p>Beyond Interactive, has pledged to deliver the hard and fast benchmarks </p><p>for 'Net creative. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Carving out standalone status from its parent, the Grey Advertising </p><p>network, Beyond is shipping 'time-worn' advertising secrets from its </p><p>stateside cousin, set up three years ago and snapped up by Grey in July </p><p>last year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Lots of Interactive agencies start-off with a traditional agency set-up </p><p>- according to client's requests they have to pool their strengths just </p><p>designing a website," Beyond Interactive general manager Kenny Wong told </p><p>CReATION. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We're specialising in online advertising - we'll leave website </p><p>developments and recommendations for ecommerce to Grey Interactive." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Paring down the 'Net essentials, BI advocates knowledge management as </p><p>the secret to campaign optimisation on the fly. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Achieving the best ROI for the client is very different from the CPM </p><p>and brand equity model - CPM is just a tool to calculate, but it's not </p><p>the objective," said Mr Wong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Focusing on what co-founder and Asia-Pacific CEO Viveca Chan termed </p><p>"Beyond's edge" - knowledge management - local staffers have, for the </p><p>last six months, been streaming to BI's Michigan headquarters to </p><p>train. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>While hires of up to 60 fresh graduates a week are standard fodder in </p><p>the US, Asia, she said, required a fresh - albeit US-influenced - </p><p>approach. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"You try to hire 60 (experienced) people out here and you can't get them </p><p>- we're recruiting graduates and if they go through the training system, </p><p>they come out experts in six months' time." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>According to Mr Wong, training, youth and the Internet are creative </p><p>sparring partners that click. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"These staffers have a vision of the Internet and when they're talking </p><p>to a 40-year-old marketing director who rarely, if ever, surfs the 'Net, </p><p>he listens to their advice," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Nevertheless, servicing Web creative, media planning, buying, </p><p>optimisation and permission marketing entails more than expert staffers, </p><p>especially when the clients themselves are in the dark. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We were in China two weeks ago and the level of understanding made us </p><p>realise that we're going to have a tough job ahead of us," Ms Chan told </p><p>CReATION. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Questions like, 'what's optimisation, what's ad serving, why do I need </p><p>ad serving?' plague even sophisticated clients in Hong Kong - they just </p><p>don't get it." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Highlighting the "apples and oranges" divide between click-throughs and </p><p>pageviews, Beyond Interactive was, she noted, a back-end operation. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We look at the cost-per-action and then work backwards - we know that </p><p>how much money you spend can generate how many results, so we start off </p><p>with a benchmark," she said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Banishing the mystique of "after the click-through", the shop is busy </p><p>setting up its own third party ad serving. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Right now, ads are 'served' and clients have a report (on </p><p>click-throughs), but they don't know what to do with it," said Mr </p><p>Wong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Attracting Hong Kong portal client, 36.com, plus Volkswagen, in its </p><p>soon-to-opened China office, BI is championing the SAR as its regional </p><p>strategic hub. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Opening its Beijing shop on April 17, Shanghai and Guangzhou are set to </p><p>follow in quick succession, with London set for Q3. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Everyone will tell you they have global network just because they have </p><p>their name on the door, but if it's not a global practice, it's not a </p><p>global brand," said Ms Chan. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>