8 data-driven ways to get lucky this Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year comes early this year, which means brands are competing more than ever over a shorter time for consumer attention post-Christmas.  So, what’s the best way to make an impact while doubling down for CNY sales?  It’s all about data!  Here are eight data-driven ways to increase the luck of your advertising bets this festive season, all while avoiding mah-jong and casinos: Mix it up with MMM ATL, BTL, OOH, digital, mobile – what marketing hand will ace your sales targets?  Start by looking at as much of your past marketing data as possible to see what really moved the business KPI needle.  Under the guidance of market mix modelling (MMM) experts, you can identify what ads correlate to business boosts. Similarly, leveraging past non-conversion big data for “total attribution” can tell you what you should really attribute marketing success to. CRM/CDP – Start with who you already know Work with sales to identify your existing customers out of your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Customer Data Platform (CDP).  With that data, you can then use media to activate against it – targeting those existing customers or new “lookalikes” based on a variety of audience behaviour characteristics. Practice personalisation Even the most basic data, phone/computer model or source site, can provide digital ad or website landing page personalization opportunities through martech like Adobe Target.  As you’d expect, personalisation drives significant engagement/conversion rate increases, which is one of the reasons for the latest dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) hype. Creative craft matters The popularity of DCO is indicative of the belief that creative still matters, even if templates are increasingly utilised.  However, past media performance data can be the key to what creative elements matter the most.  For instance, during Google’s first APAC agency network hackathon last year, my winning team was able to leverage the Vision API on big data to identify colours (Christmas and CNY red, anyone?), imagery and copy which correlated with superior brand media performance for our client. Perfect programmatic Despite continued criticism related to transparency, programmatic makes sense for almost all digital advertisers.  It is essential to acquire the best impressions for the best price.  Of course, the more data a brand can bring to the table via a CDP/DMP (data management platform) or publishers offer via a private marketplace, the better activation results possible. Promote partnerships In particular for smaller advertisers, promotional and data partnerships with bigger players can help cut through the clutter, essentially drafting behind someone else’s brand equity and larger customer base.  Of course, partnerships with data enrichment companies (i.e. Experian, BlueKai, etc.) add a great deal of value as well, enhancing a brand’s ability to segment and effectively activate audiences. Leverage location Having recently come off Singapore Airlines’ non-stop San Francisco flight, the importance of location and captive traveller audiences is particularly top of mind during the holiday period.  In China, CNY results in what has been deemed the “largest annual human migration in the world.”  To maximise the eyeballs on your ad, ensure you’re where your audience is when they’re thinking of CNY, which makes transport OOH a key focal point. Maximise mobile The Dentsu Aegis Network’s recently released 2019 ad spend forecast predicts 58% of APAC spend will now be delivered through mobile devices, with 75% of digital ad spend in China on mobile.  Advertisers not shifting their budgets accordingly are missing out, especially during a time when CNY celebrators around the region have their eyes glued to their phones to avoid yet another “when are you getting married” question from grandma. Making the most of the right data is essential for all of the lucky eight recommendations.  But as with most things in life, it’s much easier to say than do!  Partnering with a marketing agency group of data experts first is crucial.  Garbage in leads to garbage out with data essentially worthless unless its turned into useful information and subsequent insights. So, make the most of your ads this CNY – and the rest of the year – by turning your marketing data into clutter-countering gold even the God of Wealth would envy! The writer is Ben Wightman, head of data strategy, Dentsu Aegis Network, Asia Pacific. (Photo courtesy: 123RF)