Global CEO of world’s hottest ad network joins Mumbrella360 Asia line-up – plus Google, client-agency behaviour, growth hacking

The global CEO of one of the most talked about new media agency networks, Scott Hagedorn of Hearts & Science, is to speak at the Mumbrella360 Asia three-day media and marketing conference – at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on November 7-9 – as an international keynote.

Named by The Wall Street Journal as one to watch in adland, Omnicom’s newest media agency network Hearts & Science launched in the United States in April last year. It took the market by surprise when it snatched the two biggest media accounts in North America with Procter & Gamble and AT&T – worth an estimated US$5bn.

Since then, Hearts & Science offices have opened in Canada, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, India and Dubai to service the MENA region. The New York-based Hagedorn is a 12-year Omnicom veteran, having led the PHD network in the US and was most recently CEO of Annalect, its data and analytics business.

Hearts & Science is based on the premise of combining data-driven planning and buying with content created to emotionally connect with consumers. Hagedon joins Mumbrella360 Asia to outline his vision for the media agency network – in his talk ‘Engineering and new era’, a session curated by Mumbrella Asia – and what agencies will need to do to break through to consumers and deliver better business results for clients.

Looking further into the future will be a session curated by Essence on ‘Advertising in 2030 – the mega-trends that will shape the industry’s future’. A panel including Google’s APAC head of media Grace Liau (formerly of Publicis Media), Essence CEO for APAC Kyoko Matsushita and Adcolony APAC managing director Vikas Gulati will consider the next stage of evolution for the ad industry. The session will discuss the mega-trends of tomorrow such as artificial intelligence, wearables and augmented reality as well as those dominant today like social media and user-generated content.

How will consumer needs, wants and media consumption evolve in the coming years? And how will marketing industry leaders adapt? The panel will also discuss the changing relationship between agencies and clients. Will it be Mad men vs Math men or can the two co-exist? And will advertising as we know it even exist come 2030?

Also on the programme will be a session, curated byTrinityP3, considering real-life anonymised case studies looking at ‘Client-agency behaviour. What’s acceptable and what’s not?’ A panel will discuss scenarios that actually happened and then ask the audience to vote on whether the agency and client in question behaved acceptably or not.

The examples will include everything from fraudulent invoicing to people being just damn rude, with the names withheld to protect those involved. Ultimately, the aim is to challenge the worst extremes of industry norms.

Appearing on the panel to represent both (client and agency) sides will be Susana Tsui, APAC CEO of PHD, and former Singapore KFC senior marketing director Virginia Ng. The scenarios will be posed by TrinityP3 business director (and ex-Mars marketing director) Julian Barrans. Meanwhile, TrinityP3 global CEO and founder Darren Woolley will moderate.

Doing more with less will be explored in the session ‘Growth hacking for marketing success’ – curated by the Asian Television Awards organisation. This panel discussion will look at examples of where companies have used their limited resources creatively to maximise return on investment. For in tough economic times, for most firms it is no longer achievable to put aside a large budget for marketing. A new mindset is needed in this new marketing landscape.

On the panel for this candid but constructive discussion of what works and what does not are One championship founder and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, RTL CBS Asia executive vice-president of programming Jennifer Batty, Asian Television Awards managing director Cindy Ng, Grab group vice-president of marketing Cheryl Goh and Zouk Consulting legal and marketing communications director Siqi Chung. The session will be moderated by Asian Television Awards marketing communications director James Chen.

But cost is not the only element high on the agenda for marketers. Another much-talked about topic is the geographical and cultural challenge of marketing across Asia. The session ‘Don’t be a chameleon – how marketers create consistency across multi-region markets’, curated by Williams Lea Tag, will look at the challenges faced by marketers in reaching across Asia’s myriad national markets. How do you localise a global campaign across a diverse range of markets?

Markets often characterised by wide cultural, economic and consumption trends. This coupled with a growing number of marketing channels can create obstacles to success. The panel of speakers will assess how brands can manage campaigns in local, regional, and global environments to ensure consistent brand messaging and a seamless customer experience.

J oining the panel will be Tiffany & Co. APAC vice-president of marketing and communications Erica Kerner (also chairwoman of the Marketing Society Singapore), Thomson Reuters head of marketing for Asia Geraldine Yip and Williams Lea Tag global head of marketing (and APAC marketing director) Hina Kotecha.

Changing tack, Lou Hoffman – founder and CEO of The Hoffman Agency – will deliver a presentation titled ‘Does the public relations industry really get storytelling?’ In the session curated by Mumbrella Asia, the San Francisco-based PR guru will challenge the accepted status quo within his own industry.

For as digital increasingly dominates our world, the PR industry rejoices. Social media. Corporate blogging. Online discovery. Thought leadership. Sponsored posts. All of the above depend on content. And who are the content people? The PR folk are the ones who supposedly communicate with substance, not clever slogans. So PR more than any other marcoms discipline should be in the perfect position to capitalise. Right?

While PR people say they get storytelling, the output suggests otherwise. There is too much ‘me, me, and here’s a little more on me’. Too many news releases crafted to suit the egos of internal stakeholders and not aligned with how journalists write stories. Consider one element that lifts any narrative, the anecdote. If someone were to audit the PR-generated content across the world, what per cent of that content would fall under the anecdotal umbrella? If you said 3 per cent, even that could prove to be optimistic.

This session will explore the state of storytelling in PR, the opportunity in front of the industry and how the PR professionals needs to change their mindset or witness the spoils going to those in the advertising world instead.

Further content announcements will follow in the coming weeks and months so keep an eye on the website for updates and sign up to our daily newsletter to ensure you are among the first to hear of new speakers and sessions.

For further information on the conference and to take advantage of our early bird ticket offer – a three-day conference pass for just $940 (including a saving of $195 on the normal ticket price) – go to the Mumbrella360 Asia website here .

And for information on the sponsorship and exhibition opportunities at the event, contact the publisher Dean Carroll on dean@mumbrella.asia or the head of sales Kris Chan on kris@mumbrella.asia.