Marketing

Performance advertising company Rakuten Advertising announced the appointment of Neil Cao to the position of Commercial Director, China. Based in Shanghai, Neil will be responsible for leading the Rakuten Advertising business across China by developing and implementing performance marketing strategies for clients and accelerating growth in the country.

Freshworks Inc., has announced that companies around the world have increased customer retention by using Freshworks’ conversational AI bots to automate communication with buyers through WhatsApp, Instagram Messaging, and Facebook Messenger. Companies like MTN Cameroon in Africa, Body & Fit in Europe and The Giving Movement in Dubai have elevated their customer support efficiency on Meta’s messaging platforms using Freshworks’ Freshchat™, Freshdesk™ and Freshsales™ products. With over two billion daily active WhatsApp users, nearly two billion daily active Facebook users, and more than two billion monthly active Instagram users, Meta provides the most popular messaging platforms.

Specsavers ANZ has promoted three of its most senior marketeers following significant brand growth and exceptional talent performance. Jane Hoban, Shaun Briggs and Dario Garma take on expanded leadership responsibilities as part of the ongoing growth of the marketing team. Jane Hoban (formerly Director of Marketing for Australia and New Zealand) has been promoted to Trading Director ANZ in recognition of her outstanding performance leading growth, customer acquisition and retention in a constantly changing market.

InMobi, a provider of content, monetisation, and marketing tech, has appointed Jaclyn Hadida as the Country Manager for ANZ. Jaclyn’s appointment comes as Richard O’Sullivan, formerly VP & GM for ANZ and VP Agency Partnerships in APAC, is elevated to a global role within InMobi as the VP of Open Exchange, focused on strategy and growth, based out of London.

This year’s Adobe report predicts four key creative themes spanning visual, design, and motion, that will significantly influence content across photography, videography, creative writing, social media platforms, blogs and more.

Australia’s digital advertising industry plays a significant role in the economy and general society, with a new report released recently findings say the industry is responsible for contributing a total economic value of $94 billion to GDP and supporting over 450,000 jobs.

Brightcove Inc., the trusted streaming technology company, announced it has entered into a strategic relationship with Magnite, the global independent sell-side advertising platform. Magnite will power advertising for any Brightcove customer, growing fill and delivery to increase customer revenue. Brightcove will also integrate the SpringServe ad server to provide publishers with greater control, insight, and transparency into available ad supply.

Meltwater, a global social and media intelligence and data analytics provider, released its “State of Social Media 2023” report, revealing Facebook remains the dominant social media platform for Asia Pacific (APAC) marketers, closely followed by LinkedIn and Instagram. Despite TikTok being named the fastest growing social media channel in the world, it seems it is yet to be leveraged by marketers at the same rate as those well-established platforms.

IAB Australia and the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) are collaborating to curate Powering DOOH 2023.  The one-day conference which will be held on 30 March 2023, will present practical content and high-level and strategic planning sessions around Programmatic OOH. Programmatic buying of OOH enhances any campaigns reach, targeting audiences engaged in the real world. Programmatic DOOH delivers highly visible campaigns at scale, reaching audiences in a receptive mindset. The OMA reports that Out of Home (OOH) revenue has rebounded in Q3 2022 to near pre-pandemic levels. Digital OOH revenue accounts for 62.5% of total revenue, having grown rapidly over the last five years from just 47.3% in 2017.

Australian digital product agency Transpire has joined CI&Ts global brand and ceased to trade as Transpire on December 9 2022. This follows CI&T’s acquisition of the company for AU$23.4 million (US$16.4 million) in September of this year. CI&T’s acquisition of Transpire followed a lengthy process in which CI&T analysed more than 120 possible targets.