Content Marketing Agency of the Year Singapore 2016

Gold: DENTSU SINGAPOREOwned by : Dentsu Aegis NetworkHeaded by : Rosalynn Tay, chief executive officer, Dentsu Aegis SingaporeTaking home the gold this year is Dentsu Singapore for the Content Marketing category. 2015 was the year that many industry pundits termed the “year of convergence” as clients gravitated towards a single agency model to ease the burden of managing multiple agencies, given the fragmented media landscape.As a leading integrated agency, Dentsu Singapore seized the opportunity to diff erentiate itself. Dentsu Singapore not only focused on delivering upstream business solutions and solving real business problems for clients, but worked harder to help them translate campaigns into results.And the agency was not shy to showcase its achievements. New business wins were featured across digital and offl ine mediums to further portray its achievements as well as new appointments. In fact, 2015 saw Dentsu Singapore win a number of new clients ranging from leading public sector organisations, upscale hospitality to healthcare and travel industries.This diverse client base is a testament to Dentsu Singapore’s ability to create and deliver successful campaigns for prominent global brands. The agency streamlined its thinking process to bring out Dentsu Singapore’s vision to “innovate the way brands are built”. From proprietary brand innovation tools, to digitisation of day to day work, Dentsu Singapore is moving upstream. The agency streamlined its thinking process to bring out Dentsu Singapore’s vision to “innovate the way brands are built”.From proprietary brand innovation tools, to digitisation of day to day work, Dentsu Singapore is moving upstream. The year 2015 saw the fruits of these efforts as the agency won more commercial and government businesses, expanded its existing client scope, and upped its service offerings across the board.[gallery link="file" ids="140279,140429,140276,140275,140273"]Silver: PUBLICISOwned by : Publicis GroupeHeaded by : Lou Dela Pena, chief executive officer2015 saw an increasingly competitive landscape, challenging Publicis’ outlook for the year. This was because in the area of content marketing, creative agencies in Singapore were facing competitive pressure on two fronts.On one end, independent specialist shops were and still are stealing share with competitive pricing and incredible agility on delivery; and on the other, media and PR agencies are fast attacking content creation briefs in an effort to grow their own share of the pie.Publicis Singapore responded by building a new content marketing integration model. This bagged it the silver award this year. How this integration works is the agency examined how content could play a role in each brief, and looked for opportunities to take client briefs beyond their original scope. This led to more diverse approaches to briefs and problem-solving, as well as content solutions that delivered amazing for clients.The integration model allowed the agency to have content driving multiple marketing agendas. Singapore was established as a centre of excellence in digital marketing, excelling in social, digital and content marketing, and in turn, growing its specialist services in healthcare, luxury and technology consultation.   The agency also revisited its effectiveness, and set a new standard for success.[gallery link="file" ids="140442,140443,140444"]Bronze: KING CONTENTOwned by : IsentiaHeaded by : Peter Bakkar, head of AsiaTaking home the bronze award in 2015 is King Content. With more and more businesses in the region discovering the value of content marketing in driving their business goals, King Content Singapore has carved out a comfortable position for itself.The agency has more than doubled in size. It hired five new staff , witnessed a tremendous growth in regular accounts and added several blue-chip names to its portfolio. Globally, its acquisition by Isentia has also strengthened its position in the content marketing industry.The combined effort of the two agencies now off ers a 360-degree indepth solution across the entire content marketing ecosystem, providing the tools and capabilities to disrupt the industry through the combination of technology, creativity and strategy.With Isentia providing the analytics tools and platforms for social listening and SEO development, and King Content providing the entire suite of content marketing solutions, it is now a one-stop digital service provider. From market and customer insights, analysis and building strategy to producing relevant content, leveraging amplification channels and providing in-depth post research and intelligence.The agency also opened offices in Hong Kong and Perth, in addition to its offices in London, New York, Melbourne, Singapore and Sydney.[gallery link="file" ids="140446,140447,140448"]Local Hero: QED CONSULTINGOwned by: IndependentHeaded by: Ryan Lim, principal consultant and founding partner, Natasha Zhao and Freda Kwok, principal consultantsQED Consulting is a digital management consultancy that helps businesses and organisations leverage on digital opportunities more effectively and drive growth by bridging the art of business with the science of digital. It is also the winner of the Local Hero award this year for the Content Marketing category.The agency expanded its portfolio in 2015 beyond Singapore to Malaysia and the Philippines.The growth was spurred by an increase in awareness and investment by organisations in the region in owning their content and digital communications capabilities. This need aligned with the offerings of QED – a proponent and expert at helping businesses develop their internal competencies to better integrate digital.Last year the agency saw no departures. In fact, an additional headcount of operations executive was added. QED’s principal consultants – Ryan Lim, Natasha Zhao and Freda Kwok – are the drivers of both client acquisition and strategy development. They also jointly develop the various proprietary tools and frameworks that QED uses as the foundation of its practice.They are supported by a team of consultants and executives who oversee research and share responsibilities for managing projects.FINALISTSADDICTION ADVERTISINGOwned by: IndependentHeaded by: Lionel Lim, managing director2015 was a wonderful year for Addiction Advertising, with a 100% retention rate for key clients such as the National Healthcare Group, Agency for Integrated Care, National Addictions Management Service (NAMS), Hotel Properties Limited, OCBC Bank (corporate communications) and SMRT Corporation (employer branding).BRAND NEW MEDIAOwned by: IndependentHeaded by: Damien Bray, CEO, Asia PacificAnother fierce competitor in the content marketing space is BNM. BNM created a new structure for content marketing execution. The first was strategy and ideation where content concepts and engagement plans deliver ROI targets, meet commercial goals.GETIT COMMSOwned by: IndependentHeaded by: Anol Bhattacharya, chief executive officer and directorAlso taking a spot as a finalist is GetIT Comms. The agency is a Singapore-based B2B technology marketing solution provider, specialising in content-driven go-to-market solutions, such as demand generation and account-based marketing. It specialises in content marketing using infographics, e-books, visual explainers, sales enablement and interactive explorations.KRDS SINGAPOREOwned by: KRDS SASHeaded by: Preetham Venkky, directorKRDS Singapore had a great year, making it to the finalists list after just three years in the local market. First founded in 2008, the agency has expanded from an initial headcount of 10 to 120 employees, opening seven new offices throughout Europe and Asia.MEDIATROPYOwned by: IndependentHeaded by: Astrid Boulle and Pierre De Luca, co-foundersMaking the finals this year is Mediatropy. Last year was one of the best years for the agency since being created in 2011 as it enjoyed a growth which mounted to more than double the previous year. In 2015, marketers demonstrated a heavy interest in developing their content strategy.TRIBAL WORLDWIDE SINGAPOREOwned by : Omnicom GroupHeaded by : Jeff Cheong, president, Asia and head of2015 saw Tribal Worldwide continuing its efforts to strengthen its position as a communication agency which creates work that influences mindshare, purchase and loyalty. Its focus for the past year was helping clients’ businesses to close the gap between social media and commerce, delving deep into content creation and distribution.Agency of the Year 2016 is organised by Marketing and sponsored by The X Collective, BBC, CPR Vision, SSI, DMRocket, Mediacorp OOH Media, NBCUniversal International Networks. Partners for the event include SmsDome, Cellarmasters Wine, Graphiss Productions, Live!Studios and Peroni Nastro Azzurro.