Grey accelerates pace in bid for interactive excellence with GRM

Grey Worldwide has set up Grey Relationship Management (GRM) ahead of the expected convergence of new and traditional media. The move - which utilises the resources of Grey Direct, Grey Interactive, Beyond Interactive and Web Insight - gives the agency a more holistic approach to advertising in the new world order. Ms Viveca Chan - Grey Hong Kong and China chairman and CEO, and Beyond Interactive Asia-Pacific co-founder and CEO - who has been spearheading Grey's drive for interactive excellence in the region over the past few years said that GRM was more than a simple play on words. "CRM is too wide a concept because it includes hardware and software. We need to focus on communications, which is what we know best," Ms Chan told MEDIA. "This includes understanding CRM, tailor-making campaigns and programmes leading towards a full CRM strategy and on and off line strategic consultancy." While convergence might seem some way off for Asia-Pacific, Ms Chan has been instrumental in putting into place resources before they were needed such as Grey Interactive and Beyond Interactive in order to keep pace with market developments. In the West, however, convergence has begun. In the US, for instance, there is TiVO - a 'black box' connected to the Internet which acts as a super VCR machine. The UK has a similar service offered by iTV. In effect, this means that a growing number of people will be able to pick and choose their own shows to create their own television channel. But the killer application, according to Ms Chan, is that people can screen out the advertising. Multinationals, therefore, have to work closely with the TV stations since research shows that two-thirds of ads are ignored in the traditional media anyway. Because of this, Ms Chan declared that "mass marketing is dead". "We need to think how to personalise and customise because people are expecting offers for 'me' and not for everyone else," she said. "Branding originally was about creating awareness and interest. Then it was about promises. Now it's all about solutions and experiences." The result of this was that there must be a strong focus on customer relationship management to ensure best practice at all levels in order to deliver what Ms Chan described as "lifetime value" for consumers. "It comes down to tracking, optimisation, delivering relevant offers to individuals and, most importantly, to maintain continuous dialogue," she said. Meanwhile, Grey Worldwide's Asia-Pacific income in 2000 was higher than at any time in its 37-year history. Compared with 1999, its income last year jumped 20 per cent to USdollars 92.4 million. Driving this growth were new assignments from existing clients such as British American Tobacco, Mars and Seagram. The agency also won more than 100 new accounts, including Swire Coca-Cola's non-carbonated beverage portfolio in Hong Kong; Founder Computers in China; The Lippo Group and five of its companies in Indonesia; Nissan and Del Monte in the Philippines; BPL Mobile in India; Sizzler in Thailand; Time.com in Malaysia; and Unisys for the entire region. Asia-Pacific president Eric Rosenkranz attributed the company's growth to two key factors: its expertise in integrated communications and its strong and growing reputation for creativity. "As one of the earliest proponents of this strategy, we've built a network of nine partner companies which are successful, long-standing practitioners of the art - and science - of integrated marketing. (See also page 14.)

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