#AOTYAwards 2021 spills: Kobe's secret in attracting talent lies in its 'kou bei' strategy

Kobe Global Technologies is a Singapore-grown influencer marketing agency that delivers consumer-first social media marketing campaigns. Enabled by patented AI technology to deliver influence, the agency has worked with brands such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's. It recently won the gold award for Influencer Agency of the Year at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's AOTY Awards 2021.

Co-founders Cha Lin (pictured left) and Evangeline Leong (pictured right) told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that advertisers should always keep an open mind in exploring non-traditional methods when it comes to marketing and also when using influencers. For example, having a call-to-action is something that marketers would always include in their campaigns to drive action from the customers.

​This interview is done as part of MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s winners' and finalists’ interview series for AOTY Awards 2021. To find out more about the awards, click here.

Tell us what these achievements mean for you?

Lin and Leong: We’re one of the rare pure influencer breeds and have sharpened our focus these years with 6,500 Southeast Asian influencers, deliver in local languages and cultures across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, proprietary influencer technology and influencer-centric frameworks, attracting influencer creative personnel. 

Unfortunately, we lose business when customers prefer "full-service" agencies that give convenience. But this award has ascertained our decision to focus on nothing but influencer marketing - giving us the specialized edge in executing influence with finesse. 

Getting the Influencer Agency Award of the Year (gold and local hero awards) for two consecutive years is a huge milestone for Kobe, as this year is only our fifth year of operation. I would say getting this award means a lot to me in three areas mainly on our team, customers and the industry. 

Within our team, most of us are Millennials and Gen Zs who are the best in class in social media, I can see them thriving in this industry. Because of their passion for social media, they display the courage to explore new concepts that have never been done before and having the humility to learn from the experiences during challenging times. Seeing how the team has grown from the very beginning when they step into this industry to being acknowledged by experts, really means the world to me.

For customers, this award validates our approach and strategy in this ever-changing influencer marketing industry. We have since launched a new product that helps SMEs condition the market with high volumes of authentic buzz together with our award win, called “Always on Kobe” and the traction has been encouraging. 

On an industry level, this is the start of our journey to positively change the negative perceptions that people have of this industry. For example, influencers only post promotional content only for the sake of monetary gain, but not with the true authenticity of sharing. That may be true to a certain extent for a small percentage of influencers, but with our experience of working with over 6,500 influencers across Southeast Asia, we have seen many of them creating content with passion because of a good fit between influencers and advertisers. With Kobe’s patented technology, we want to match advertisers to influencers with similar interests and passions, only then we can create content that is authentic and relevant.

What makes you proudest about being part of your agency?

Lin and Leong: I would say it's the company’s culture that makes me feel the proudest. That at Kobe they’d say: “Wow this is the only company that if I make a mistake I know it’ll be ok - and I know that the only failure is not having the courage to try”

To hear that from my team tells me that our company will only get more innovative on social media, create more value for customers and keep improving ourselves. 

What are some of the initiatives you have in place to ensure your staff feel proud to be associated with your agency?

Lin and Leong: There are many initiatives that we have put in place but there are three which I would like to share in particular. 

1. No approvals needed - you own your work. But we’re aligned in our vision and our values. My team knows more than me with regards to social media trends and features because they are always on it. Seeking approval will only result in a delayed execution because of the back and forth communication. Social media trends come and go very quickly, so speed is of the essence. I would rather they spend the time on the market and brings back valuable information of what works and what doesn’t.

2. Deep sharing - daily learning and weekly reflections. Within departments and across all-hands, a learning culture is deep-rooted within Kobe. There is only so much time in a day for one to learn, but when we share and combine all our learnings, the effect amplifies. The results are phenomenal from one learning to a dozen learnings per day to hundreds of learnings per week. 

3. “Game On” - is what we always say (to each other, and even on our media kits!) to challenge ourselves to always be “Playing to Win” and not “Playing not to lose”. This mindset has helped push the team to constantly be on the offence, exploring new campaign ideas that could help our clients achieve their marketing goals. In the social media world where it is changing so quickly, the “playing not to lose” mindset is a safe bet that could help brands to stay afloat in the sea of content. However, it could also be easily drowned out where consumers might not have a high brand recall. “Playing to Win” will ensure that the team is pushing the boundaries to go beyond the norm, coming up with ideas that could stick in the consumers’ minds. 

How are you attracting talent to your agency?

Lin and Leong: Word of mouth! Most are referred to us when someone within has an awesome experience. True to our company name, “Kou Bei”. Word of mouth is so powerful that it also helps us to connect with many awesome content creators and influencers. Right at the beginning, Kobe only had a handful of influencers in our database.

Through our patented technology where we can give influencers campaigns close to their interests and styles, this overall positive experience enables Kobe to get found by more influencers as one refers another to join us. I am very grateful that we can get a base of more than 6,500 influencers in our database to date. From our personal experience, this is also why I’m a firm believer of word of mouth marketing and believe that it would also help our clients to achieve meaningful brand building and engagement with their customers.

What are your hopes for the Singapore advertising scene in 2021?

Lin and Leong: It’s not an easy time for businesses - but most have already realised the magical powers of influence. How ads are being skipped on youtube all the time, and people are glued to good content with great context. The options are exciting - from live streaming, stories, reels to Tik Tok challenges.

Advertisers should keep an open mind in exploring non-traditional methods in marketing, and also in using influencers. For example, having call-to-action is something that marketers would always include in their campaigns to drive action from the customers.

However, in today’s fast-changing climate where consumers’ preferences can change quickly, we tried dropping all Call-to-actions in 1 influencer marketing campaign, though the objective was really to drive actions - and sales surged 300%. It was scary to take that move, but all worthwhile. It takes a lot of trial and error, but only by pushing boundaries and taking a creative leap, can we keep moving forward - further, better and stronger.