Pernod Ricard Asia names AnalogFolk Hong Kong as lead digital agency

HONG KONG - Following a year of work together, Pernod Ricard Asia has named AnalogFolk Hong Kong as its lead digital agency for the region.

The agency's remit will include ongoing digital marketing strategy and consultation across Asia for Pernod Ricard’s regional team. There was no incumbent. The agency, which is based in Hong Kong but has plans to expand across Asia, has officially been in operation since June last year; Pernod Ricard Asia was its first client.

In the last year, the agency helped the brand launch its pilot Bar Stars platform (in partnership with The Media Village), and is preparing to launch a second "release" of the platform.

AnalogFolk has also worked with the regional client team to create a multi-brand "social acceleration program" that is now rolling out across APAC and beyond.

MD and founding partner Chris Ryan told Campaign Asia-Pacific that this social-mentorship program was part of a global effort by the client to boost its digital fluency.

"This really was about much more than digital marketing," Ryan said. "It is a modular learning program run as an action-oriented workshop, which covers everything from helping to establish a clear social purpose to helping set out key operational considerations. It is designed to help Pernod Ricard become a social business, not just a social-marketing company."

The training amounts to an "incredibly intense" transfer of skills from the agency to the client, which results not only in ready-to-go plans but a lasting advantage, he said.

"If Pernod Ricard were to remain over-reliant on agencies to help them perform in digital, they will not improve themselves," Ryan said. "That is what drives their acceleration program."

The agency has adapted the program for different markets, including China, where AnalogFolk recently hired Jocelyn Liipfert Lam as strategy director and Summer Yang as strategy manager.

”The AnalogFolk team has been able to offer a high calibre of strategic thinking across both major projects—in social marketing and in UX and Design—with great results," said Glen Brasington, Pernod Ricard's VP of marketing for Asia-Pacific. "Throughout our work together, AnalogFolk have shown great interest in achieving the best possible results with us, and in transferring their skills to our teams in the region”.

In this Campaign Asia-Pacific video from November 2015, Brasington explains the first phase of the Bar Stars program: