[report] indian marketers are ready to adopt and integrate digital marketing in their businesses

© Copyright CMO Council. All Rights Reserved. 2012

DIGITAL MARKETING pERfoRMANcE DASHBoARD

ApAcExecutive Summary

APAC DIGITAL MARKETING PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD TM | REPORT

2© Copyright CMO Council. All Rights Reserved. 2012

Abstract

Introduction

Summary of Key Findings

APAC Digital Marketing Performance Dashboard

Expert Perspective From Adobe

Top ROI Metrics of APAC Marketers

Leadership Committee

About the CMO Council

About Adobe

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4

6

12

14

17

18

22

22

CONTENTS



With some of the highest levels of social media penetration, mobile device ownership, and Internet connectivity in the world, developed and emerging Asian markets are ripe for more innovative, efficient, and adept interactive engagement. However, the rapidly evolving nature of digital marketing presents increased challenges, with many marketers struggling to integrate digital components in a way that is efficient, effective, and measurable.

In the study titled “APAC Digital Marketing Performance Dashboard,” conducted by the CMO Council in partnership with Adobe Systems, in-region marketers express high hopes for digital, but struggle with limited budgets and a region-wide lack of talent and advanced training that may be holding back advancement in the digital maturity model. Further, the challenges in balancing true online digital marketing programs often mandated by global HQ strategies conflict with regional consumer mandates for more fully mobile experiences.

Unlike many global marketers, APAC marketers have a keen understanding of where mobile fits into the digital mix but have yet to find the optimal strategy to truly advance and capitalize on automating and drawing insights and intelligence from the channels. Across the region, the mindset around digital is rooted in traditional advertising strategies, measures, and return metrics, monitoring clicks and views over engagement and revenue.

The report that follows is the culmination of a six-month program that explored the state of digital marketing across the APAC region in order to benchmark levels of adoption, traction, and success. The study aimed to track progress and improvements in digital marketing adoption, management understanding, organizational proficiency, operational effectiveness, infrastructure development, tools/platform usage, and integration and alignment with offline marketing efforts. The study will also provide insight into obstacles, country differences, performance measurement metrics, and best practices across the region while considering the business case for digital marketing investments.

In total, 295 senior marketers operating in APAC took part in an online quantitative survey. Additionally, the CMO Council interviewed 23 brand leaders from companies including Toyota, 20th Century Fox, Tupperware, Citi Group, Cigna, Nokia, and Yahoo!, among many others. The surveys and interviews were conducted through the second and third quarters of 2012.

abSTraCT



In a digital adoption model that outlines three key stages of digital adoption as crawl-walk-run, marketers in the APAC region are taking their first walking strides, albeit on wobbly knees. And even in the face of some significant challenges as many struggle to advance, there is a clear desire to start running. A stage behind advanced digital markets like North America or Europe, APAC is being pushed forward thanks in large part to a consumer base that lives highly digital—if not almost entirely mobile—lives.

According to an overwhelming majority (93 percent) of marketing executives who took part in the survey for this report, digital marketing can create competitive advantage for a company. Digital marketing strategies are viewed as key channels to a more customer-centric and responsive organization (52 percent) and enablers to more efficient and cost-effective engagement (51 percent).

However, only 6 percent of marketers working in the APAC region believe they have a very high level of digital marketing proficiency. In fact, the majority (40 percent) feel they either need improvement or are lagging behind. When asked to assess their organization’s position on the digital maturity index, 44 percent of marketers admitted they were still exploring the possibilities, but more than 30 percent believe they are followers or lagging behind the pack.

The implication of this lag in digital advancement is that while consumers in the region continue to advance in their adoption, consumption, and dependence on digital engagements, marketers are struggling to provide targeted, intelligent, and personalized experiences that can have a direct impact on the success of the business.

Why Worry About DemAnD DigitAl?

When looking across the landscape of digital in APAC, what emerges quickly is that the numbers cannot be viewed in a vacuum. Take the user population statistics, for example. Asia has the largest percentage of worldwide Internet users (40 percent) by population but only has 21 percent Internet penetration. According to a study by the ADMA, there are 1 billion users online, but dig deeper and you will see that 620 million of these users are searching on mobile Internet.

According to the Radicati Group, there are 3.3 billion email accounts globally, with nearly half of those accounts located in Asia. However, due to broadband infrastructure limitations, government regulations, localization challenges, and language barriers, in addition to a consumer culture that is reluctant to hand over email addresses to businesses, email adoption and return in Asia have traditionally been low.

With 2012 global advertising spend estimated to be in the area of $465.5 billion (Strategy Analytics), estimates that China is set to become the world’s second-largest advertising market in 2013 and second-largest digital advertising market (eMarketer's “Global Media Intelligence Report”) the following year, behind the U.S., are staggering and a bit sobering. The report goes on to estimate that global digital ad spend for 2012 is forecasted to top $105 billion, with APAC accounting for $27.63 billion, trailing North America ($40.3 billion) and Western Europe ($28 billion).

Digital spend is clearly on the rise, especially in the more developed Asian markets, and APAC already leads the world in mobile ad spend, which is expected to be around $2.6 billion this year—a large chunk of the $6.6 billion expected to be spent on global mobile advertising.

Mobile, in some cases even more than digital or broadband Internet access, is reinventing how consumers and businesses interact and engage across the APAC region. Broadband infrastructure limitations and a population that does not have ready access to computers restrict many markets in the region. This has made mobile the ubiquitous channel to access data, content, and experiences.

iNTrOduCTiON



According to eMarketer, APAC will be home to some 2.15 billion mobile phone users this year—nearly 55 percent of the global total—and will represent nearly 60 percent of all mobile phone users by 2016.

Adoption of smartphones, especially in more developed markets, is on the rise, replacing the easily accessible feature phones that are dominant in regions like India. According to a study by Google, more than half of the population in Australia owns a smartphone, and 20 percent of the Japanese population uses smartphones. In markets where smartphone use is rising, so is the consumption of mobile content. For example, the Google study learned that in China, 54 percent of smartphone owners would rather give up their TV than their smartphone. China also represents the largest smartphone market in the world, receiving 22 percent of global smartphone shipments. The region also recorded staggering growth in smartphone adoption, with an annual growth of 81 percent compared to just 5 percent in the U.S.

Asian consumers are changing their consumption patterns in line with these shifts in technology. According to a 2011 report from Nielsen, nine out of 10 people in Southeast Asia watch free-to-air TV, but online access has grown rapidly in reach and influence in the last decade. This increasing dependence on Internet-enabled devices has pushed the region to surpass Europe and western markets in the consumption of television, video, and online content via mobile devices. And these users aren’t just using one device at a time, as Nielsen reports that “media multitasking”—accessing the Internet while watching television—occurs multiple times per week.

Social media is also gaining momentum, albeit faster in emerging Asian markets than in more established markets like Japan. Forty percent of online consumers in the region view product reviews as part of their purchasing decisions, and 60 percent of consumers in markets including Vietnam, China, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia openly admit that social media has influenced their purchasing decisions.

But the reality is that traditional media—especially television, print, and radio—continue to be the leading channels. While 12 percent of adults in Singapore indicate they have read at least one of the local dallies in a digital format, 70 percent of respondents in the Nielsen survey continue to read traditional print papers.



globAl VieW

This clash of traditional and digital media is a challenge that marketers in the U.S. and Europe have already faced and are continuing to advance and improve along the adoption curve. Consider the top findings from the CMO Council’s own “Integrate to Accelerate Digital Marketing Value” study. According to the primarily North American and European marketers who participated in the study, most corporate management teams are fully supportive of digital marketing investments.

While 20 percent of marketers state they have a mandate and budget to execute, 42 percent say they have strong interest and active support at a line-of-business level, and 18 percent note that it is an agenda item they have to address with their CEO, CIO, and CFO. However, there were some notable holdouts as some 23 percent of survey participants report their management is still trying to understand where digital marketing fits within the overall business.

When asked where they believed their companies sat on the scale of digital marketing maturity, 44 percent of marketers said they were still evaluating options. And much like the results seen in APAC, 22 percent said they were following the pack, while 10 percent believed they were lagging behind. On the surface, one could assume that the markets were evenly paced—that is, until you look at why the global audience feels it is lagging or still exploring.

According to the global audience, they are being challenged to integrate digital campaigns across a multitude of channels, but moreover, they are challenged to integrate the data and intelligence that are being gathered through these campaigns to create a data-led personalization engine that will drive deeper, more targeted and personalized engagements with their customer base. Global marketers believe they are being held back in advancing their digital strategies because of challenges in fully integrating internal and external data, identifying the digital platforms that deliver the greatest value and return, and securing the budget required to sustain these projects.

But the reality is that the global markets—especially in North America and Europe—are dealing with a customer base that is more developed in broadband Internet engagement and expects a higher level of personalization and targeted content in their online exchanges. However, this is also a market where mobile has taken a back seat to social.

When looking at the progression of digital marketing, it may be unfair to compare the APAC market to the rest of the world. Asia is rife with mobile consumers, already gobbling up rich media and content via mobile Internet. It is also a region challenged by its own spectrum of marketing maturity that

Summary Of KEy fiNdiNgS

SOURCE: “Integrate to Accelerate Digital Marketing Value”



ranges from the advertising-dominant mindsets to those who are brand-poor but data-rich. Because of this variance, it stands to reason that APAC needs its own digital maturity model that looks across campaign execution, technology adoption, and overall respect and authority of marketers within the region’s C-suites.

APAC DigitAl mArketing mAturity

In a market often driven by where and how the competition is advancing, marketers in APAC must leap from crawl to run in order to keep pace with global marketing mandates and strategies. In order to stay competitive globally, APAC marketers must shift from seeing digital as a more effective advertising channel. And we are already seeing challenges and confusion emerging as globally developed marketing and brand strategies are being delivered to regional teams to localize and execute.

buDget limitAtions

What hangs in the balance, most evidently, is budget. According to the study, 37 percent of marketers currently invest less than 10 percent of their overall marketing budget to some form of digital marketing, including email, web, social media, eCommerce, mobile, etc. More than half of marketers cite budget constraints as a key limitation to their digital success.

Marketers are investing, many driven by mandates from global headquarters that are demanding increased utilization of digital experiences that can be better measured and analyzed. According to respondents, 63 percent of marketers attribute the increase in spending and senior support to a recognition that the customer prefers and, in some cases, is demanding more digitally connected experiences. But the productivity, visibility, and increased accountability that come with digital are also bonuses for many C-suites.

“There is tremendous support from senior management, but they want to ensure that we have a good strategy from the start, says Pieter-bas Vos, CMO of ING-BOB Life Insurance. “People are interested in testing as long as there is not a lot of money at stake. However, building online platforms requires a lot of investment that is not there at the moment.”

This trend of testing and piloting is a popular one. When asked about the levels of senior management support, 30 percent of respondents said their leadership was in favor of piloting and testing new digital channels and programs, but 21 percent of respondents were either struggling to convince leadership of the value and opportunity in digital or dealing with senior leaders who were still wedded to traditional marketing practices.

"In a lot of companies, CMOs are still very traditional and prefer to use traditional tools rather than branching out, but this will be key to engaging consumers moving forward,” says Nhat Nguyen, Country Manager for Vietnam Heinz.

What is also striking is how little support marketing seems to be getting from key functional partners like sales, the channel, IT, and line of business heads. In a stark contrast to global findings where 42 percent of global marketers have seen strong support from line of business heads, APAC counterparts seem far less willing to support marketing’s digital transformation agenda. Only 15 percent of respondents feel that sales or channel partners support a push for additional investment in digital, while only 20 percent of marketers believe that line of business leaders are behind increased digital spend. Without the support and partnership from these key functions, marketing will continue to struggle to make a business case for increased investment and resource allocation.

But there is indication that budgets are slowly increasing. While across APAC most marketers are spending less than 25 percent of total marketing budgets on digital engagements, nearly half of those surveyed believe that their budgets will increase in the coming year. Some 47 percent of respondents



anticipate spend on digital to rise to between 10 and 24 percent of spend, while an additional 22 percent believe their budgets will increase to between 25 and 49 percent of spend.

Oftentimes marketers are required to sell digital internally, which is more often than not exacerbated by the need to convince an older, more traditional, risk-adverse audience.

“It is difficult to explain that you can’t only think about digital in terms of return on investment; you have to look at return on insights,” explains Sameer Kaul, Vice President of Marketing for Dr Lal PathLabs in India. “We also had to work with physicians because many of them are around 50 years of age and are not very comfortable with the technology.”

But in order to advance digital performance, marketers will need to make the case and continue to invest in digital platforms and solutions. Industry experts point to a best-practice benchmark of spend on par with 50 percent of marketing spend being allocated to digital campaigns, channels and management (see Adobe commentary on page 14). In order to reach these levels of spend, marketers will need to solidify strategy and back up the call for increased investment with solid measures that deliver clear business cases, provide visibility into marketing operational improvements and efficiencies, and deliver a return on investment. Unfortunately, strategy (or the lack of a comprehensive strategy) may be one of the most significant challenges Asia-Pacific marketers must overcome.

struggling With strAtegy

According to 29 percent of respondents, strategy is developed and executed from a global head office, but a growing number indicate that there is a power shift in the air. While a significant number of marketers still indicate that strategy is developed globally and then localized and executed at the regional or country level, strategy development and execution are increasingly moving to the responsibility of the country or regional heads. There is also an indication that strategy development is in the hands of an increasingly influential senior leader, as 47 percent say that the CMO (or head of marketing, as may be more regionally appropriate) is at the helm of owning and driving digital.

Over the past several years, many in marketing noted a shift in strategy development being reigned in from the regions as a more “plan globally, act locally” line of thinking emerged. Digital may be speeding this strategy evolution as respondents indicate that while overall marketing strategy may be set at a global level, channels where language, culture, and preference will dramatically shift execution—such as social media—are set at a regional level, led by the country head of marketing (39 percent) rather than the global head (17 percent).

But social media, the channel that 52 percent of APAC marketers see as a top priority for the next year, seems to be the anomaly. As it did in the U.S. and Europe a few years ago, social has emerged as the next hot trend for marketers as consumer consumption and use patterns are sharply on the rise. Even in regions where Internet access is sparse, mobile connectivity to social is on the rise and helping properties like Facebook take off at alarming rates. Korea, once thought to be one of the last hold-outs in the adoption of Facebook and Twitter, has started to make a turn, as users are adding to their already voracious social appetites (the Korea-based Cyworld boasts more than 25 million users, and an estimated 90 percent of the Korean population regularly blogs).

When asked to map digital marketing allocations, social media emerges among the top four budget holders. While email and search will both see healthy investment, social media will see allocations across driving community growth and advertising. This mirrors the explosive budget climb that social made globally over the past three years, experiencing double-digit growth in budget year over year since 2008.

The core challenge across the region appears to be in developing strategies and campaigns that can continue to steer away from traditional campaigns (and campaign metrics) while developing



integrated, connected, and aligned customer experience strategies. Regional marketers even admit that strategy may not be their strong suit as 43 percent of regional marketers admit that their challenge to develop a more comprehensive, connected digital marketing strategy has been the top issue when executing digital campaigns.

Marketers are also challenged to make a business case for digital marketing spend (40 percent), as well as understanding and identifying the resources needed (39 percent). And while budget still tops the list of constraints (53 percent), it must be noted that 37 percent of marketers in the region feel they are struggling to determine the best technology and solutions to support digital.

“Banks are basically software companies of the 21st century, but we have finite resources,” says Caleb Hunt, CMO of Citibank Japan Ltd. “I think the single largest constraint in our ability to move as quickly as we’d like is the availability of technology resources.”

But the majority of marketers believe they have a strong digital marketing champion on the senior team who will help push the digital agenda forward, including Diane Ho, Head of Marketing in APAC for Jones Lang LaSalle, who shares, “We have good senior management support, and I think that’s primarily because we are showing measurements around what has been effective.”

mAnAging the tAlent gAP

The bigger challenges do not seem to lie in support levels, but more in support staff as talent to execute digital, mobile, and social campaigns is scarce in the region. From budget to bring on senior staff to training to educate existing staff, APAC marketers are looking for a wealth of talent that, as of right now, does not exist.

Talent acquisition, training, and access to the right skills and expertise are clear issues across every region in Asia, and for nearly half of the survey respondents, they are the top challenges that marketers have experienced when trying to advance digital marketing within their organization.

“In the Indian market, we are challenged with a lack of good talent to build up our digital marketing teams, as well as a lack of individuals at the local level who have a good understanding of digital,” says Namrita Sehgal, Director of Internet Marketing for Taj Hotels, Resorts, and Palaces.

For the most part, marketers believe that the skill set of their current marketing organization is improving (33 percent) but that there is still considerable room for improvement. Many also feel constrained by the lack of budget to bring on the right level of senior talent to lead these digital teams. The fact is that only 13 percent of marketers felt they had the right team in place with the right level of experience and skills.

According to Argha Sen, Head of Marketing and CRM for Toys R Us–Asia, while others in the region may struggle to identify the best tools and technologies, his challenge is to advance the skills of his team so they have the knowledge, confidence, and ability to most effectively leverage the technologies available to them. He notes, “Some people are more advanced than others, so we have to make a great deal of effort to move everyone forward. Unlike many companies who are still learning about the platforms, our challenges revolve around people and processes.”

This lackluster talent pool also extends to the agencies in place to manage digital. Most marketers in the region are managing multiple agencies (39 percent) that each oversee a different part of the digital marketing process—including web campaigns, social, online advertising, mobile, etc. Another 33 percent of marketers are managing a pool of agencies that work on individual projects with no formal continuity agreement with any of the agency resources.



This patchwork of resources has become a more cumbersome and complex matrix to oversee, which is being translated into unimpressive results. Three out of four marketers surveyed admit that agency effectiveness is moderate at best, conceding that their partners are good in some areas but weak in others. Only 13 percent of respondents gave their agency partners rave reviews, saying that their partners understood the strategy and execution requirements and could measure their results well.

A neeD for mArketing metriCs

Unfortunately, it is the inability of marketers to effectively measure and demonstrate clear return that is so often the top reason why risk-adverse C-suite leaders do not approve marketing budgets. While 72 percent of regional marketers are using digital marketing analytics to report on the impact and return of their programs, the level of sophistication and depth of measurement do come into question. Of those marketers who are actively measuring digital programs, only 3 percent feel they are excelling in their ability to measure value and return.

Among the key measures that marketers are looking at to validate the value of digital marketing are:

• Website performance (72 percent)

• Click-through rates (69 percent)

• Response rates (68 percent)

• Conversion rates (62 percent)

But what is more telling is where marketers in the region are less likely to measure:

• Average order value/cost per sale (19 percent)

• Customer lifetime value (12 percent)

• Upsell and cross-sell activities (11 percent)

• Customer churn levels (10 percent)

As global marketers adopt measures that link back to revenue-driving metrics, APAC marketers are struggling to move beyond surface-level KPIs that simply report clicks, views, and baseline consumption. And as measures are being reviewed, there is more focus on applying traditional advertising measures that look at cost per click versus the impact of digital engagement on the customer experience that can boost the bottom line.

Data is often also being overlooked as a key byproduct of digital. When asked how well marketers are leveraging data that is generated through digital channels, 35 percent said that data was being used to report on KPIs. As 15 percent admitted that they were struggling to manage the volume of data coming into their systems, 10 percent are just archiving data but do not know what to do with it at this time. Only 5 percent of APAC marketers see data as a key competitive differentiator that can be used and integrated throughout the marketing life cycle.

ConClusion

What emerges from the audit and best-practice interviews is that there are key attributes that many digital leaders have worked through to advance digital as a core business driver for competitive advantage. These key elements have all emerged as topics that must be identified and discussed in any organization to maximize digital impact, effectiveness, and return. They include:

1. Adoption: Marketers must understand where the roadblocks and traditional thinkers exist and change digital engagement perceptions. Through measured wins and business-



driving success, senior leadership—even those who only operate on a strict KPI and ROI value sheet—will see and clearly understand the value of digital marketing performance improvements and investments.

2. talent: The region does not lack bright minds looking to advance their knowledge and skill base, but training on advancements in technologies, strategies, and analytics will be a requirement. Even for the most senior marketers, having a heightened knowledge about how content, engagements, and channels converge to create a more robust, personalized, and dynamic digital experience can mean the difference between dunce and dynamo.

3. innovation: The matrix in Asia is a loose collection of digitally powered advertising channels. But where global marketers are seeing incredible response, return, and value from digital is through the more bi-directional exchange of content and insights. Marketers in the region must be connected to technology updates and trends in digital engagement that can map and track their consumers’ behaviors. In this new age of a mobile consumer that can initiate with and disconnect from a brand at their discretion, marketers must be ahead of the curve in identifying the new platforms and operational systems that optimize the digital experience.

4. intelligence: Data is not just for justifying budget. As more marketers look to push the needle with personalization, targeting, and segmentation strategies as a route to developing more meaningful engagements between brand and customer, data cannot simply sit in silos collecting dust. Regional marketers must look to advancements being made, albeit slowly, in regions like North America and Europe to set the pace for analytics and intelligence rather than looking to regional competitors for guidance.

5. Adjustments: Across key regional markets, there is an even more detailed adoption curve as mature digital marketing countries like Singapore and India are facing issues around talent and advancing analytics, while countries less forward in their marketing maturity like Korea are still challenged to make a business case for key technology, campaign and platform investments. What is paramount to remember is that even in the face of these differences, there is a singular belief that optimizing digital engagements and experiences will create a competitive advantage for a brand and is bring driven by customer demand and expectation. Laggard regions must make adjustments in everything from budget allocations to talent development to keep pace with advancing demand.

By understanding each of these core phases needed to advance digital marketing performance, APAC marketers can start to identify where and how digital can and must evolve within their organizations.

APAC DIGITAL MARKETING PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD TM | REpoRT


The infographic that follows illustrates the state of digital marketing adoption across theAsia-Pacifi c region with respect to four key areas: mindset, marketing readiness, organizational alignment, and marketing skills. All ratings are on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest.The overall rating for each category is an average of the four key indicators beneath each measure. The ratings of the individual countries are then depicted below, with the highest rating for each measure appearing in that rating's specifi ed color. As you can see, the mindset around digital adoption is strong across the region as a whole, but talent, readiness to implement, and organizational alignment must improve in order to capitalize on these eff orts.

apaC digiTal marKETiNg pErfOrmaNCE daShbOard



The Next Steps to SuccessBy Mark Phibbs, Senior Director, Marketing, APAC, Adobe Systems

The signs are all looking good. Sixty percent of executive teams across Asia-Pacific show strong support for digital marketing, recognizing the rapid shift in customer preference for digital engagement and on-demand interaction. Forty-five percent of business leaders are driven by competitor adoption, concerned they might fall behind in the race for new markets and growth.

With such compelling market drivers, never before has there been an opportunity like this for marketers to leverage interest and demand, secure investment and resources, and lead their businesses into the digital era.

Ultimately, the success or failure of digital marketing will be determined by the customer. Sixty-three of respondents in the survey for this report said customer preference for digital engagement is driving the shift in their organization. Companies see digital as crucial in enabling them to be customer-centric and responsive, particularly with the adoption of mobile and social.

However, the overwhelming challenge for marketers in APAC is whether they have the skills and resources they need to build a bulletproof business case and demonstrate return on investment. This study shows a significant disconnect between that goal and today’s reality.

According to the marketers of Asia-Pacific, 59 percent of their business leaders support digital marketing because they expect it to provide a greater level of accountability and transparency. The expectation is clear—but can marketers deliver?

Ability to meAsure roi

The good news is that marketers are measuring digital results. In fact, 72 percent of APAC marketers are leveraging analytics and reporting technologies, with Australia and Korea proving to be the most advanced in the region, with more than 84 percent usage. The notable exception is China, where only one in three of companies has measurement technology in place.

However, the bad news is that marketers are not delivering the report that really counts in the opinion of senior management. Only 19 percent of APAC marketers rate their ability to measure ROI as excellent or very good. Forty-one percent believe they are getting better, while a further 38 percent feel they are poor or need improvement.

mArketers Are not meAsuring business imPACt

Marketers in Asia-Pacific are clearly taking steps to prioritize gathering rudimentary metrics, at the very least. The top three most popular things to measure among marketers are website traffic (72 percent), click-through rates (69 percent), and response rates (68 percent).

What’s not top of mind are ROI metrics. Less than 25 percent of marketers are measuring critical data such as revenue per customer, cost per sale, return on ad spend, or channel ROI. Only 43 percent of marketers are measuring ROI even at the specific campaign level, and this metric ranks ninth out of 25 items on the overall list of what’s being measured. The Adobe APAC Digital Marketing Performance Dashboard for 2012 clearly shows a lack of alignment between marketing measurement and strategic business goals.

ExpErT COmmENTary frOm adObE



mArketing inVestment: the buDget mix

When it comes to allocating budget, this year, marketers continue to prioritise digital marketing initiatives that are more traditional. Website content and optimization receive the majority of budget allocation with 82 percent, followed by email campaigns at 63 percent, search engine optimization (SEO) at 61 percent, and social, search, and display at 45 percent.

Thirty-four percent of APAC marketers plan to invest in analytics and insights this year, with Korea the highest in this respect at 60 percent, Hong Kong at 38 percent, and Australia at 35 percent. China recorded a significantly low result, with only 14 percent of its marketers intending to boost analytics and insight investments this year.

lACk of DeDiCAteD resourCes Will Continue to imPeDe Ability to builD strAtegy AnD DemonstrAte roi

In almost 50 percent of companies, the APAC region or country teams hold primary responsibility for the development of their organization’s digital strategy and execution. However, investment in dedicated teams and headcount remains very low across the region as only 25 percent report that they have a dedicated senior digital marketing or interactive marketing director owning the program.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that an aggregate 74 percent of companies rate their current proficiency in delivering a digital go-to-market model as just moderate or needing improvement.

Only 15 percent of companies felt they had the right teams in place, with 49 percent of companies citing lack of in-house digital expertise as their greatest challenge. Only 13 percent of companies across APAC have dedicated and experienced resources to provide marketing analysis.

With such a lack of internal resources available, APAC marketers rely heavily on their agencies, as 72 percent are using multiple agencies to manage disparate channels within the marketing mix, so it’s not unusual for one company to engage different agencies for social, digital advertising, and website management. Ironically, the diversity and duplication of agencies only adds to the difficulty of achieving a holistic, integrated, analytic view incorporating measurement and optimization across all digital channels.

One of the outcomes of this is that data is not being mined and applied strategically to understand customer behavior and optimize their experience, but rather at a very tactical level to report on KPIs—which, as we’ve already noted, tend to be fairly basic.

next stePs

It’s clear that the critical next step ahead for APAC marketers on the road to digital performance is to be able to build a business case for simultaneous investment in three areas:

• Appoint dedicated, senior digital marketing leaders to own the marketing strategy alignment to key business drivers. It’s particularly important to make sure your organization is measuring the right elements in order to demonstrate ROI.

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DigitAl inVestment in APAC:2012 Versus 2013



• Bring in dedicated analytics resources to drive the shift from tactical KPI measurement and ensure the organization is leveraging data for continual optimization.

• Continued investment in measurement and optimization technologies.

Marketers of Asia-Pacific: You have the attention and support of your business leaders and with that, you are seeing increased investment. You have an the opportunity like never before to lead strategy and drive significant business outcomes, but now is the time to fight for investment in the teams and infrastructure that will help drive your success.



AnonymousHead of Customer Marketing and Global Services Anonymous Mobile Technology Company

Bronwyn Heys Marketing Director 20th Century Fox–Australia

Frederic MoraillonVice President, Marketing Akamai Technologies

Nicki Kenyon Managing Director (Formerly) Asia Rooms

Junior Cho Vice President of Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer Cigna International–Korea

Caleb Hunt Chief Marketing Officer Citibank Japan Ltd.

Alicia SeahSenior Vice President, Marketing & Public Relations Commonwealth Travel

Sameer KaulVice President, Marketing Dr Lal PathLabs

Helene BlanchetteHead of the 1:1 Experience Service, Go-to-Market Strategy Fuji Xerox–Asia-Pacific

Anthony MurrayDirector HeathGate Medical-Australia

Anonymous Honda Siel Cars India Limited

Sujit GanguliHead of Marketing ICICI Bank

Pieter-bas Vos Chief Marketing Officer ING-BOB Life Insurance

Diane Ho Head of Marketing, Asia-Pacific Jones Lang LaSalle

Kathryn IllyHead of Marketing Macquarie Private Wealth–Australia

Basker RangachariChief Marketing Officer Standard Chartered Bank–Hong Kong and Northeast Asia

Namrita Sehgal Director, Internet MarketingTaj Hotels, Resorts, and Palaces

Barry Money General Manager, Retail Development Toyota–Australia

Argha SenHead of Marketing & CRM Toys R Us–Asia

Anshu BagaiHead of Marketing Tupperware–India

Nhat Nguyen Country Managert Vietnam Heinz

Jai Singh Senior Director, JANZ Strategy & Marketing Operations Vistaprint

Nitin Mathur Senior Director, Head of Marketings Yahoo! India and Southeast Asia

lEadErShip COmmiTTEE



What is your title?

how large is your company?

Chief Marketing Officer

Head of Marketing

SVP/EVP of Marketing

VP of Marketing and Sales

VP of Marketing

VP of Marketing Operations

Director of Marketing

VP of Corporate Marketing Communciations

Director of Corporate/Marketing Communications

Other

Less than $50 million

$51 million to $100 million




$751 million to $1 billion

$1.1 billion to $5 billion

Greater than $5 billion

12%

16%

9%

8%

19%

1%

25%

1%

1%

8%

11%

7%

8%

7%

7%

22%

24%

14%

dEmOgraphiCS



What best describes your company's industry sector?

Chemicals

Construction

Consumer Durables

Education

Electronics and Miscellaneous Technology

Energy

Entertainment

Financial Services

Food and Beverages

Government

Information Technology

Insurance

Life Sciences

Manufacturing

Media and Publishing

Packaged Goods

Professional Services

Retail

Telecommunications

Transportation

Travel and Hospitality

Utilities

Other

1%

2%

1%

1%

5%

1%

1%

16%

2%

1%

15%

4%

2%

2%

7%

1%

3%

9%

8%

2%

10%

1%

4%



in what country are you located?

Australia

China

Hong Kong

Singapore

Korea

India

Other

27%

11%

11%

15%

10%

18%

9%



The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership, and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide range of global industries. The CMO Council's 6,000 members control more than $300 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include more than 20,000 global executives in more than 100 countries covering multiple industries, segments, and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, India, Middle East, and Africa. The CMO Council's strategic interest groups include the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), LoyaltyLeaders.org, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, Customer Experience Board, Market Sense-Ability Center, Digital Marketing Performance Institute, GeoBranding Center, the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME), and the cause-directed research initiative, Pause to Support a Cause. More information on the CMO Council is available at www.cmocouncil.org.

About Adobe systems incorporated

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com. Keep up to date with news and views from APAC digital marketers on the Adobe Digital Dialogue blog at blogs.adobe.com/digitaldialogue/. Join APAC marketers on the Digital Dialogue Asia-Pacific LinkedIn group. Follow Adobe Digital Marketing Suite news and updates via @AdobemktgCloud.

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