Happy holidays from MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, see you in 2024!

Dear reader,

Time flies and we’ve finally come to the tail end of 2023! It wasn’t an easy year for many of us as job losses ensued due to tough economic conditions. Budgets were cut, and plans were changed. But work and the industry hustle carried on as per usual, with new avenues found.

Inspired by your tenacity and resilience, at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, we also navigated the new world and made tweaks to our existing products to embrace the now. Most notably, this year we saw greater synergies between our Southeast Asia and North Asia teams.

For the first time ever, we brought our Digital Marketing Asia conference to Hong Kong and over the course of two days we heard case studies from across the region. We also hosted our first-ever networking event The Social Mixer in Hong Kong in June for our fellow industry players to catch up with each other and unlock opportunities.

Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, our flagship events such as Content 360 and Digital Marketing Asia continue to grow with attendees from all across Asia. To help PR folks better respond to the changing market dynamics, this year, after a very long time, PR Asia conference was also held physically both in Malaysia and Singapore, where we reached close to 300 PR professionals.

Our awards have also constantly evolved to reflect the changing dynamics of the industry, which saw the growth in entries and the addition of new categories in Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia.

On the content front, with the consumer attention span dwindling, short-form video content has proven its ability to captivate audiences for us. Leveraging on the trend, we have put out more video content through our #ExplainIt series to engage our SEA audiences and brought the column to Hong Kong for the first time, discussing topics such as talent crunch, why some brands still place PR under marketing, amongst others.

Last but not least, we are also expanding the ways in which we share our industry stories. We are diversifying our content by featuring more post event coverage and happenings across APAC on our Instagram channel. To ensure that you stay informed and up-to-date, we are actively leveraging our Telegram channel to disseminate a significant portion of our content. 

So that’s a roundup of what we’ve been focusing on. It has been a hectic year but we couldn’t have come to where we’re at without your invaluable support. Your continuous feedback, tip-offs, and ideas have played a crucial role in our growth and diversification. Even during challenging times, you have consistently shown up for us, participating in our awards, conferences, custom events, and masterclasses.

As we approach the end of the year and prepare to take a well-deserved break for introspection and rejuvenation, we extend our best wishes to you. Our office will be closed from 16 December 2023, to 1 January 2024. During this time, we hope you have a splendid holiday season with your loved ones, filled with joy and warmth. Merry Christmas and happy holidays from all of us!

With love,
The MARKETING-INTERACTIVE team