Business

Saturday May 2, 2009

Bates 141 creating change on two levels

By LEE KIAN SEONG


EVEN through local advertising spending is expected to drop this year in line with the projected decrease in global expenditure, Bates 141 Malaysia is still seeing pockets of opportunities and it wants to be digital savvy in helping its clients.

Managing director Wong Fatt Weng says the marketing communications company sees things from a unique perspective and is gearing up to create “change” for its clients and for itself, as per its its tagline: We are The Change Agency.

Wong Fatt Weng (left) and Adrian Ng aims to create more compelling messages and create online methods for their clients.

“In our thinking framework, we understand and interpret the changes which will affect our clients’ brand,” he says, adding that the company has its own consumer intelligence tools to spot and interpret those changes.

The company gathers consumers’ feedback through methods like interviews and online forum and uses the findings or insights to help its clients engage with the consumers.

“We appraise how the brand can engage consumers based on the changes that we have identified,” he tells StarBizWeek in an interview.

The group, which has 62 employees, offers services such as brand strategy development, mainstream advertising, event management, digital solutions, merchandising, public relations, field marketing and trade marketing.

Its clients include Exim Bank, F&N, GSC, Honda, Maybank, Shell and Visa.

Bates 141, its holding company, is a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed WPP Group plc.

On its revenue performance, Wong says the company grew last year but he declines to disclose the figure.

“This year is more uncertain but there are pockets of opportunities. We have to be more realistic and not trying to be too ambitious,” he says, adding that the company expects to maintain its growth like last year, driven by new and existing customers, its business model and aggressiveness in marketing its services.

On its activation business, he says there are opportunities for the company to grow and shopper marketing is one of the areas that is untapped by the company.

“Shopper marketing is where you try to connect the consumer at the touch points in the stores (whether supermarkets, hypermarkets or smaller outlets),” he says.

Wong says that shopper marketing requires investment in shopper insights and creating relevant skills in creative development. It also includes the understanding of retail channels and structural engineering of displays.

“Another area we’re looking at is driving revenue in streets marketing – taking the brand to the street,” he says.

According to Wong, the company is looking at certain areas where it needs to improve its capability, especially digital development.

“We need to understand the online channel and find out how can we create more compelling messages and creative online methods for our clients’ brand,” he says.

He says the challenge is on how to leverage on the digital base to build brand equity with the consumers, not just to create fun games or websites.

“It is more interactive and it brings the brand value out and connect to the consumers.”

Adrian Ng, Bates 141 Malaysia general manager, says digital is going beyond just the website as things are changing so fast.

“We need to know what is going on and how it will affect us. Regionally, there is a big initiative to make ourselves be as digital savvy as we can.”

Wong does not deny that the market is difficult this year and the ad spending will drop for the year.

“The market is going to soften further and we will not see any recovery in the short term,” he says, adding that the adspend for the year would be flat, if not decline.

He says there will be a shift in advertising spending in the hard times and it expects a shift from spending which is visible (captured by Nielsen) to non-visible channels such as public relations and events.

“Advertisers are moving to the areas where they can get up close and personal with the consumers,” he says.

On the spending of its clients, Wong says: “Some of our clients are in fact very aggressive currently and they are continuing with their spending as they believe that it is great to build brand and drive market share in hard times.”

He points out that some brands are expected to reduce their ad spending such as automotive and to some extent, financial institution and property.

“Categories that are more resilient like fast-moving consumer goods and telcos are still spending,” he notes.

He says observing consumer behaviour is essential in marketing, as we need to find out whether the change is affecting the brands or categories and the companies can change their strategies accordingly.

“The ability to spot, understand and interpret the changes in consumer behaviour is important. By understanding this, companies can create opportunities and re-engage the consumers, supported by the change that we have identified and drive the ideation.”

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