Following an almost full year of dramatic decline, the global marketing industry ended 2020 in growth

LONDON, Jan 29, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – WARC has today released an annual review of its Global Marketing Index (GMI) over the 12 months of 2020. WARC's GMI provides a unique monthly indicator of the state of the global marketing industry, by tracking and analysing current conditions among 1000+ marketers, including marketing budgets, trading conditions and staffing levels. This is accompanied by key WARC global advertising spend data.













Following a year of disruption brought on by the global pandemic, the key takeaways highlighted in WARC's GMI review of 2020 report are:

1. Recovery is apparent across most GMI indices as businesses gain confidence in economies across the world

Over the last 12 months, the GMI has seen the greatest fluctuation in its history. The Headline Global Marketing Index, a summary of how the marketing industry is faring globally, reflects the volatility of 2020.

The year began in slight decline, with a dramatic drop over the first half of the year, reaching an all time low in May at 19.7 as a result of the effects of COVID-19.

Since then, as optimism for an emergence from the pandemic has grown, the index has returned to growth. The year ended with three consecutive months of increased growth rate finishing at 55.4 largely driven by markets across APAC and the Americas, with the pace of recovery slower in Europe.

2. The index for marketing budgets saw both its lifetime high and low index values in 2020

The overall index for global marketing budgets mirrored the trends of the Headline Global Marketing Index. Budgets reached an all time low of 13.4 in May, but as economies started to recover, by December, they were at a value of 57.8 with APAC showing the biggest growth rate.

WARC Data forecasts indicate that it will take at least two years for the global advertising market to fully recover.

When broken down by medium, digital and mobile are the clear drivers of growth from August onwards, driven by the boom in e-commerce as a result of global lockdowns. Digital budgets ended at an index value of 67.4 and mobile at 67.0.

TV remains a resilient channel. After returning to growth in October, it ended the year on 56.0. Although radio, OOH and press budgets have started a slow recovery, the indices for these channels have remained in decline.

3. APAC ended the year with the strongest index levels, showing increased rates of growth across most indices going into 2021

When broken down by region, the GMI indices show the varying confidence levels across the world.

APAC's increase in growth rate in the final few months of 2020 was rapid, whereas the Americas showed steadier growth over the second half of the year, with a particularly strong staffing index compared to other regions. Europe only returned to growth at the end of 2020, but is set for further challenges in 2021 as a result of Brexit and the ongoing second wave of COVID-19.

Summing up, Zoe McCready, Research Executive, WARC, says: "The Global Marketing Index trends through 2020 reflect the volatility seen over the past 12 months as advertising budgets were slashed as a result of the global pandemic. Yet the possibility of emerging from the pandemic and increasing business adaptation to the 'new normal' has seen all regions come back into growth for 2021, with APAC seeing the biggest increase in growth rate.

WARC's monthly GMI data provide a unique early look at the health of the marketing industry, and point to the ongoing strength of digital and mobile channels into 2021, driven by the continued rise of e-commerce as COVID-19 lockdowns continue in many countries."

A complimentary copy of WARC's "Global Marketing Index: A review of 2020" is available to download on lp.warc.com/GMI-report-2020.html. The GMI monthly reports are available by subscription. The next GMI report will be released on 28 January. View on www.warc.com/data/global-marketing-index for more information.

Marketers currently working for a brand owners, media owners, creative or media agencies – or any other organisation serving the marketing industry – can apply to take part in the monthly GMI panel. Find out more on www.warc.com/data/global-marketing-index/register.

Contact:
Amanda Benfell Head of PR & Press +44 20 7467 8125 amanda.benfell@warc.com



Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

AppsFlyer Appoints 20-year Technology Veteran as New Vice President for Sales for SEAPAC

SINGAPORE, Jan 27, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Today, AppsFlyer (https://www.appsflyer.com/), the global attribution, and marketing analytics leader, has appointed Joen van Driel as the company's new Vice President for Sales for Southeast Asia-Pacific (SEAPAC). This appointment builds on AppsFlyer's focus on Southeast Asia, India, Japan, and Korea; a high-growth market altogether with more than 663 million new mobile internet users to be added by 2025, according to a GSMA report (https://www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/asiapacific/).



Joen van Driel



With over twenty years of background in strategic technology sales, Joen brings his extensive experience across sales management, strategy, and business development to AppsFlyer's Southeast Asia-Pacific team. Joen also spent the last 17 years based in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines, working in leadership positions at Oracle, Google Cloud, Adobe, and Salesforce.com, with deep experience providing results-driven solutions for these top-notch technology firms.

Starting from February and based in AppsFlyer's SEAPAC hub in Bangkok, Joen will play a key role in driving results and a long-term strategy for the company, while focusing on new customer successes and developing a high-performing sales team.

"Despite the impact of 2020, AppsFlyer has continued to excel, not only in SEAPAC but globally, and I am honored to work alongside talented individuals in the team to further advance our sales efforts and assert AppsFlyer's dominance in the region. AppsFlyer is well-positioned to help marketers transform their businesses, and the mobile marketing industry continues to expand with the use of mobile apps wildly increasing day by day. I look forward to what lies ahead," said Joen van Driel, Vice President of Sales, SEAPAC, AppsFlyer.

Ronen Mense, President and Managing Director, AppsFlyer APAC says, "We are looking forward to Joen bringing his exceptional transformational leadership skills to the AppsFlyer APAC team. He will play a critical role in leading, building, training, managing the world-class talented, motivated, highly consultative sales team while also implementing comprehensive plans and sales enablement functions to set the team for further success. Joen's dynamic experience makes him the perfect fit for the role with a track record of over-performance within the tech space."

About AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer, the global attribution leader, empowers marketers to grow their business and innovate with a suite of comprehensive measurement and analytics solutions. Built around privacy by design, AppsFlyer takes a customer-centric approach to help 12,000+ brands and 7,000+ technology partners make better business decisions every day. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com

Media Contacts
Debbie Beins
PRecious Communications on behalf of AppsFlyer
appsflyer@preciouscomms.com

Press Contact For AppsFlyer in APAC:
Nico Marco
nico.marco@appsflyer.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

UK Advertising spend to recover faster than key international markets in 2021

LONDON, Jan 26, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – The latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report expects the UK's ad market to grow by 15.2% this year, an upgrade of 0.8 percentage points from the last forecast in October 2020. The preliminary estimate for growth in 2020 now stands at -7.9% with adspend of GBP 23.17bn – a marked improvement (+6.6 percentage points) since the last outlook owing mostly to brighter prospects for online platforms.









The new forecasts show that the UK's ad market will make up for 2020's decline and accelerate further into growth this year, reaching a total of GBP 26.69bn – above the previous high of GBP 25.37bn recorded in 2019. Further, the decline seen in the UK's ad market during 2020 is estimated to be softer than the global rate (-10.2%) and that of the rest of Europe (-13.7%). The UK's projected ad market growth in 2021 is also expected to be ahead of key international markets, with the US expected to grow 3.8%, Germany 9.3%, Europe (excluding UK) 8.8%, and China 10.3%.

Internet adspend leads to stronger Q3 2020 performance

The latest dataset includes actual figures for Q3 2020 and predictions for the coming eight quarters. The key findings show that UK adspend fell 3.3% to GBP 5.9bn in Q3 2020. This was far better than the -17.9% forecast in October 2020, owing mostly to better-than-expected internet growth. Internet spend rose 10.1% to GBP 4.2bn during the quarter, buoyed by a 14.5% rise in search spend (which in turn was driven by e-commerce advertising). Overall, UK adspend was down 11.1% over the first nine months of 2020, at GBP 16.2bn.

Fast growth forecast for all media in 2021

Double-digit growth is expected across most media sectors in 2021 – and even triple-figure growth in the case of cinema. Particularly strong results are expected in cinema at 228.4% and reflective of the fact the sector was closed for most of 2020; digital out of home at 53.6%, traditional out of home at 37.7%, and video on demand at 21.2%.

Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association commented: "The latest figures from the AA/WARC Report come as welcome news at the beginning of the year. Not only does the data show the overall decline expected in 2020 may be less than feared, but the recovery in 2021 will be stronger than we would have dared hope even a few months ago. With the vaccine rollout accelerating and a Brexit trade deal in place, the 2021 business outlook is brightening, reflected by these new forecasts showing a stronger and quicker recovery in adspend, with a stronger rebound than in other large economies. With every GBP 1 of advertising spend generating GBP 6 of GDP, this is good news for jobs and growth in the wider economy."

James McDonald, Head of Data Content, WARC commented: "The latest market data show that the largest online properties were shielded from the worst of the industry downturn last year. Indeed, with consumption and commerce migrating online during the pandemic, the results show that ad money followed to these platforms' benefit.

"Paid search – which accounts for over a third of all advertising spend in the UK – was the format that gained most from a surging e-commerce sector. Ancillary research by WARC shows that online sales recorded a six-year leap in penetration in 2020, as e-commerce's share of all UK retail value rose by 8.4 percentage points to 27.6%. This rate was ahead of China (24.9%) and double that of the US (13.4%) last year.

"The outlook for the year ahead is bullish, reflecting greater certainty around Brexit and the potential for the vaccination programme to unlock economic growth. We now believe that the ad market can overcorrect in these circumstances to top its 2019 peak, though large parts of the industry remain in a fragile state."

A sample copy of this latest report is available to download on lp.warc.com/Expenditure-report-sample-Q3-2020.html.

The Advertising Association/WARC quarterly Expenditure Report is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in the UK with data and forecasts for different media going back to 1982.

Contact:
Amanda Benfell Head of PR & Press +44 20 7467 8125 amanda.benfell@warc.com



Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Marketing in a polarized nation: Providing trust, truth and sanctuary creates a pathway for US brands

LONDON, Jan 26, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – As the United States welcomed a new president, there remains concern among citizens and brands about the country's deep polarization. WARC's first Spotlight US series, "Marketing in a polarized nation," explores how brands can chart a path forward.

While some brands embrace polarization, WARC explains how most Americans are actually moderate, and many are looking to brands for trust, truth and even sanctuary during a time that remains disruptive.

WARC Spotlight US is a new bimonthly series, with each edition focused on a timely topic geared towards helping brands market effectively in the US. The series is a capsule collection of expert commentary and insights, tackling each topic from a range of angles. Contributors to the series are highly-regarded industry professionals offering the latest advice into what's working.

Launching with the theme 'Marketing in a polarized nation', this first Spotlight US includes eight exclusive and diverse pieces bringing together varying points of view and research for brands to draw on at a time of disruption.

Cathy Taylor, US Commissioning Editor, WARC, says: "This quote by the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan made a comeback during the Trump years: "You are entitled to your opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts." A lot of the current polarization emanates from America currently being a nation that cannot agree on its own facts. The challenge for brands is to reach customers with such varying beliefs and attitudes."

"While there are no easy answers, some themes have emerged from this first edition of our Spotlight US series, such as the changing nature of influencers. As a growing share of Americans feel corporations should use their influence to impact important issues, how brands respond to current times will greatly influence where customers spend their hard-earned dollars, as will their ability to build and maintain trust."

WARC's Spotlight US "Marketing in a polarized nation" consists of the following pieces:

– Interview with renowned political marketing strategist Mark Penn on why the US is actually moderate. View on www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/Renowned_political_strategist_Mark_Penn_on_why_the_US_is_actually_moderate/4023

– Kirsten Maryott, Strategy Director, Wieden+Kennedy, explains why polarization, for brands, is a good thing. She says: "Polarization in politics and beyond – gives us passion groups. When it's clear what a brand stands for, and what they stand against, things get interesting." Read on www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/Polarization_why_for_brands_its_a_good_thing/4022

'It's not just political: The cross-currents buffeting US consumers' is an article by Victoria Sakal, Managing Director, Brand Intelligence, on the role of brands in a post-election world.

– Shawn Francis, Head of Creative, WeAreSocial NY, addresses the role of influencers in his piece 'Polarization in the U.S. is fueling a new wave of reliable, authentic influencers.'

– Anita Schillhorn, Director of Strategy, McKinney LA, looks at what unifies Americans in her article 'After the riot: How brands can respond to an ever-changing US political climate.'

– In 'US consumers voted for stability over disruption, and that has implications for brands' J.Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Kantar discusses consumer tension around disruption.

– Avin Narasimhan, US Head of Communications Planning, PHD looks at why "Brands need values, not politics."

– Read WARC's Cathy Taylor's opinion piece detailing the report's key themes and why they create a pathway for brands on www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/Trust_truth_and_sanctuary_create_a_pathway_for_US_brands_in_a_polarized_nation/4024.

The topic for WARC's next bimonthly Spotlight US, to be released in March, is US media spend and strategy. Spotlight US complements WARC's Spotlight Southeast Asia (www.warc.com/reports/SpotlightSoutheastAsia), India (www.warc.com/reports/SpotlightIndia) and Australia (www.warc.com/reports/SpotlightAustralia) series, with further market-specific Spotlights being released over the coming months.

Contact:
Contact: Amanda Benfell Head of PR & Press +44 20 7467 8125 amanda.benfell@warc.com



Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

New LeadsRx Ecosystem Attribution Product Enables Transparency Between Online Marketplaces and Their Trusted Partners within a First-Party Data Framework

Portland, OR, Jan 19, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – LeadsRx, a marketing analytics company, announced the availability of LeadsRx Ecosystem Attribution(TM) – the first comprehensive platform that maps the customer journey and performs attribution analysis across the websites of network owners and their trusted partners promoting and selling products and services within an industry ecosystem.





Marketing ecosystems are composed of network owners and their partners. In this model, partners sell and promote a product or service, while network owners perform collaborative marketing and are paid a fee to do so by the partner. This is a cooperative relationship, but a single network owner often performs marketing for multiple, even hundreds or thousands, of partners. An ecosystem is formed when multiple competing networks strive to earn the business of partners. Examples of network owners include companies like Zillow, Auto Trader, NZI, and Domino's Pizza, and they function within an ecosystem for real estate, vehicle sales, dentists, insurance brokers and agents, and franchises.

LeadsRx Ecosystem Attribution, with its innovative distributed attribution pixel technology, allows a network owner to electronically share first-party consumer behavior data in real-time with its trusted partners through an authenticated backbone. When combined with the partner's own first-party data, this results in a complete and accurate picture of the collaborative customer journey leading to shared insights and transparent accountability.

"Online marketplaces, directories, and franchised operations all struggle to show the real value they provide to their partners," said AJ Brown, CEO and co-founder of LeadsRx. "This is a billion-dollar problem for these collaborative marketers who otherwise can only communicate self-reported stats that may not be believed by their partners; by using the LeadsRx distributed attribution pixel, network owners can demonstrate their value in a transparent and trusted way, while also levelling the competitive landscape among network owners and other advertising channels."

Until now, these network marketplaces and their partners have lacked the unbiased analytics and multi-channel data sharing capabilities that LeadsRx Ecosystem Attribution provides. Their current advertising and marketing tech-tools lack the ability to shed light and measure the performance of complex collaborative marketing relationships or provide the performance transparency an entire ecosystem requires.

The Problem with Attribution Across Networks

Currently, owners of a network diligently promote and advertise products and services provided by trusted partners, but they are unable to prove that their efforts are paying off with sales conversions. With network owners on one end and selling partners on the other, capturing an accurate customer journey and attribution analysis across this ecosystem requires collaboration and cooperation among the players.

"When ecosystem players use shared technology like LeadsRx Ecosystem Attribution, network owners can electronically add to the chain of events on a consumer's path to purchase," stated Brown. "This provides much-needed transparency and accountability to spark marketing performance and well-spent budgets."

LeadsRx Ecosystem Attribution makes collaborative marketing and data sharing across marketplaces between network owners and partners possible with new distributed pixel technology. For more information about LeadsRx Ecosystem Attribution, read more about the problem network owners are facing. https://pr.report/htaCs8Fn

About LeadsRx

A fast innovator and a marketer's choice for 5,000-plus global and local brands, LeadsRx is an unrivalled multi-touch attribution SaaS platform. Powered by a unique Universal Conversion Tracking Pixel(TM), LeadsRx provides an impartial view of customer journeys, giving each advertising touchpoint proper weight and credit including broadcast media. Founded by marketers, LeadsRx enables companies of any size to elevate marketing performance in a framework that is easily understood delivering sustainable return on ad spend (ROAS). To learn more about how LeadsRx can support you in marketing transformation visit LeadsRx.com. Connect with LeadsRx on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. https://leadsrx.com/

– Twitter: https://twitter.com/leadsrx
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadsrx/
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leadsrx/

For more information
Jeff Fishburn
Fishburn PR for LeadsRx
jeff@fishburnpr.com

SOURCE: LeadsRx

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

CITIC Telecom CPC Expands ASEAN Points of Presence to support Regional Proliferation of Innovative Technology Businesses and Smart Cities

SINGAPORE, Jan 12, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), has recently completed its Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta network gateway deployments for its TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid (SD-WAN, Software Defined Wide Area Network) enterprise connectivity solution.

These latest SD-WAN gateways, powered by VMware, follow CITIC Telecom CPC's ongoing initiatives to anticipate and address demand for innovative, high performance, and agile Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions in the fastest-growing markets in ASEAN. In 2016 the company expanded Russian and Eastern European coverage to serve its customers better, encompassing CITIC Telecom CPC's full range of end-to-end managed services, including MPLS, cloud, and managed network security solutions.

By further enhancing the footprint and capacity of TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid in ASEAN, CITIC Telecom CPC (CPC) is catering to the significantly growing base of Innovative Technology Businesses and Smart Cities being created in the region. TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid's ASEAN coverage now includes Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Jakarta.

"We have always focused on identifying and serving the most important needs in the most important market segments," said Mr. Taylor Lam, Senior Vice President of Product Development & Management from CITIC Telecom CPC. "Within a year of its launch, TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid already covers nearly 50 gateways across 49 cities in 15 countries, including six (6) in Southeast Asia. These new ASEAN gateways in Malaysia and Indonesia underscore our commitment to ASEAN customers and highlight our continued strong SD-WAN partnership with VMware. More network gateways translate to better link quality, lower latency and overall improved performance."

With TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid, a fully managed and better secured SD-WAN connectivity solution, customers can leverage the most cost-effective bandwidth available without compromising QoS delivery. Enterprises can dynamically create hybrid networks that bind multiple access technologies into single logical paths, taking advantage of MPLS linkages' reliability, security, and performance, yet limiting associated expenses. Network traffic is steered intelligently on optimal paths at the best times to increase performance and reduce costs. It improves business agility, application performance, bandwidth conservation and maximizes business application accessibility. TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid achieves these compelling advantages without requiring the high traditional costs, additional in-house staffing or other ongoing overhead expenses, often prohibitive for companies with tight budgets and timeframes. IT managers also gain more visibility, traffic routing control, rapid deployment and recovery, all with almost zero on-site IT personnel.

The new Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta network gateways significantly enhance TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid performance across ASEAN, long popular as an ideal region for world leading technology companies expanding physical presence. In particular, Singapore's political and legal stability and transparency have attracted considerable investment from MNCs and global technology pioneers to the city-state, including purchasing significant real property in the central business district and establishing innovation research labs. ASEAN as a whole is receiving increasing venture capital from around the world.

"A huge percentage of the ASEAN population is digitally savvy," said Mr. Derek Ung, General Manager, Enterprise Sales, CITIC Telecom CPC. "Companies and people are eager to embrace and enjoy new technological products and services. ASEAN is still relatively under-represented in terms of tech startups. The potential for solutions that support all these new businesses and government projects especially smart city initiatives is huge, and creates opportunities for win/win/win for our company, our partners such as VMware, and our customers."

The latest Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is setting out the framework for becoming the largest free trade area in the world. It is a potential window to reshape the future of trade as well as to propel enterprises to capitalize new opportunities across Asia Pacific. Further, analyst research has pointed to potentially immense ASEAN growth of its digital economy to some $300 billion over the next five years, likely encompassing multiple areas including smart products and services in mobility, e-commerce, travel, social media, telecommunications and even healthcare, the latter driven by telehealth demands in Southeast Asian countries lacking sufficient medical workers, and COVID-19 social distancing impacts. The "Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025" has also forecast up to $625 billion in annual economic impact in ASEAN by 2030, through disruptive technologies such as mobile Internet, Big Data, Cloud and Internet of Things applications.

"We may also see tremendous growth in fintech as the financial sector leverages new connectivity and computing technologies to innovate banking and investment services," added Derek, CPC. "Manufacturing is yet another area that will evolve, with many regional companies relocating or building out their supply chain in ASEAN. With our latest gateway deployment, we want to be ready to serve our customers in ASEAN and those moving to ASEAN."

The new ASEAN gateways for TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid fortify CITIC Telecom CPC's ability to maintain its high-quality SLA commitment to ASEAN enterprise customers, enabling high network performance without compromising on responsiveness or reliability. The enhanced network capacity is also crucial for the region's emerging new digital businesses and smart cities, including the New Normal "Work From Home" approach being adopted worldwide. Robust network performance without sluggishness or outages is especially relevant for organizations migrating applications and workloads to cloud platforms via business digitalization initiatives.

"We are very excited to partner with CITIC Telecom CPC and help them deliver TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid to ASEAN customers," said Abe Ankumah, senior director, SD-WAN and SASE Business, VMware. "VMware SD-WAN Gateways are a unique and key component of our architecture, and for even the most demanding connectivity requirements, enterprises will be well-supported by the many high-performance gateways deployed by CITIC Telecom CPC throughout this region."

"We are fully committed to the long-term success of our customers," said Taylor, CPC. "From Q1 2021, we plan to expand our network gateways to 10 more cities including in the Philippines, to ensure that we deliver the best experience to our customers."

About CITIC Telecom CPC
We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(Tm) cloud computing solutions.

As a leading Global Local ICT Solutions Partner with worldwide footprint across East to West and native presence, we truly live our motto, "Innovation Never Stops." Being a preferred Digital Society Enabler, we lead our key markets at the forefront of pioneering ICT development, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into real-world value for our customers, helping them achieve higher productivity, agility, cost-efficiency, and ultimately, Digital Globalization.

As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017 ICT-related certifications, CITIC Telecom CPC delivers on our superior quality commitment through a broad global self-managed infrastructure encompassing some of the highest growth markets in Asia, Europe and America, with over 140 points of presence, 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations Centers.

For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com

VMware, and VMware SD-WAN are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contact:

June Tay
CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
(65) 6692 8357
Email: june.tay@citictel-cpc.com


Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

WARC Effectiveness Awards 2021, in association with LIONS, are launched

LONDON, Jan 12, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness, has today launched The WARC Effectiveness Awards in association with LIONS (www.canneslions.com/enter/awards), a new worldwide competition showcasing the best marketing campaigns that deliver business results.







Shining the spotlight on greatness, these awards are unique for being the first to integrate the WARC/LIONS Creative Effectiveness Ladder, a universal framework of the six approaches for using strategy and creativity to drive specific marketing outcomes. It provides a consistent approach and shared language for benchmarking effectiveness globally.

Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades as well as Special Awards honouring particular areas of excellence will be awarded to best-in-class work across six categories:

Customer Experience: awarding new ways of engaging with consumers and innovative experiences created to connect and immerse on the path to commercial success.

Collaboration & Culture: awarding strategies and instances of brands entering or impacting on culture that can demonstrate a business outcome.

Sustained Growth: for campaigns that have invested in building a brand over time (12 months or more).

Instant Impact: for short-term campaigns (with a duration of six months or less) that led directly to a sales increase.

Brand Purpose: for marketing initiatives that have successfully embraced a brand purpose and achieved commercial success as well as benefit for the wider community.

Business-to-Business: awarding effective campaigns from one business targeting another.

Each category will be judged by a high-calibre panel, including senior marketers from some of the world's biggest brands and top agency professionals and specialists from around the globe. They will judge and score submissions based on their objectives, insight and strategic thinking, implementation, business effects and lessons learned.

James Hurman, Founding Partner of Previously Unavailable, who developed the WARC/LIONS Creative Effectiveness Ladder in 2020 (www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/a-masterclass-in-creative-effectiveness/3766), will preside over the use of the Ladder as part of the judging process.

Unique to these awards, shortlisted and winning entrants will receive feedback using the ladder as a reference point. A learnings report will also be published to help drive businesses and the industry forward.

Paul Coxhill, Managing Director, WARC, says: "Drawing on WARC's evidence-based expertise and global approach, the WARC Effectiveness Awards will provide the industry with a universal marketing benchmark like no other to shine a light on great effective marketing.

"Additionally, the invaluable feedback that will be given to shortlisted and winning entrants will enable them to consistently produce highly effective creative campaigns and initiatives."

The WARC Effectiveness Awards are open to submissions from any country and communications discipline and the entry fee has been waived for 2021. Papers will be accepted from 15 February until 01 April. Jury chairs will be announced on 18 January and full juries early February. The six shortlists will be announced in May and the winners will be announced at Cannes Lions in June.

More information on the new WARC Effectiveness Awards is available on www.warc.com/awards/effectiveness.

Contact:
Amanda Benfell Head of PR & Press +44 20 7467 8125 amanda.benfell@warc.com



Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

SPRG Achieves Progress On Various Fronts Despite Toughest Year In Decades

HONG KONG, Jan 4, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Strategic Public Relations Group ("SPRG" or the "Group") has finished 2020 in fine shape despite the many challenges the pandemic posed during the past year. This was largely attributable to the SPRGers, who have continued to provide professional and exceptional quality services to clients during these difficult times, along with its commitment to acting as a good corporate citizen and giving back to the community. These values form the most fundamental part of the Group's DNA, enabling its success over the past 25 years.

Richard Tsang, Chairman of SPRG said, "Talent has always been our most important asset since our establishment in 1995. As a result, we have chosen to act in defiance of the poor market conditions, never considering cutting our talent investment. As was announced in early February, following discussion with all the regional heads, we made the decision that no layoffs or salary cuts would result from COVID-19. This is because we are determined to be a responsible employer and will therefore try our very best to protect everyone's job, particularly during the most trying and unpredictable time in decades."

The Group's success is well earned, as evidenced by 29 awards won last year. SPRG is particularly proud to have received the Public Relations Agency of the Year Gold award in Asia, Australia and New Zealand at the 17th Annual International Business Awards for the seventh consecutive year. In addition to the financial campaign category in which SPRG is a regular winner, the Group's most awarded marketing case of late – "Colour of Europe" has amassed a total of six awards in 2020! Moreover, SPRG devised a successful promotion strategy for Enabling Festival 2019, which also earned three prestigious accolades in the region. These campaigns perfectly illustrate the forward-thinking and adaptable nature of SPRG's communication strategy under the digital era.

At the forefront of the Group's expansion of professional practices is the launch of SPRG's new joint-venture company – Montieth SPRG, located in Hong Kong. The new joint venture will serve the financial and professional services, fintech and renewable energy sectors, amongst others. Montieth SPRG will benefit greatly from the co-owner, Montieth & Company, and its broad base of U.S., Canadian and European clients that are eager to enter or expand their market share in the Asia-Pacific market, as well as the local networks and resources which SPRG can provide.

SPRG has been giving back to society via its own NGO over the past five years, in addition to the pro bono services it provides to local communities and various industries and associations. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Group has fully utilised its connections and resources to contribute to the battle against the virus, having raised nearly US$80,000 worth of in-kind donations. This included giving away masks, sanitisers, food and necessities to over 7,950 people in need.

About Strategic Public Relations Group ("SPRG")
SPRG is one of the largest public relations networks in Asia Pacific and the largest public relations consultancy in Hong Kong.

It has more than 290 professionals working from 15 wholly-owned offices, as well as an associate company in Australia, all providing clients with integrated communication services. With affiliates around the world and PROI Worldwide partners, SPRG can help clients access over 165 cities globally.

Since its founding in 1995, SPRG has proved to be an investor relations and financial communications specialist. It has also become a leader in IPO communications in Hong Kong, having completed 477 new listing campaigns to date. Furthermore, SPRG has more than 170 listed company retainer clients and maintains a highly diversified portfolio of multinational and local financial institution clients. Indicative of SPRG's diverse yet exceptional corporate communications capabilities, it advises clients on public, investor, media and government relations, corporate and marketing communications, issues and crisis communication management, event management and digital marketing, as well as provides media and presentation skills training, design and content creation, and editorial support.

SPRG has garnered over 420 prominent awards in the client campaign and agency categories, including "Network/Agency of the Year" titles from The Holmes Report, Campaign/PRWeek, Marketing magazine, The Stevie and Communication Director; all serve as testament to SPRG's dedication to excellence.

For more information on SPRG and its services visit: www.sprg.asia

Enquiries
Strategic Public Relations Group
Eveline WAN
Tel: (852) 2864 4822
Email: eveline.wan@sprg.com.hk
Website: www.sprg.asia
Member Companies: Hong Kong | Beijing | Shanghai | Guangzhou | Taiwan | Singapore | Malaysia | Australia


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CloserStill MediaWins a Hat-trick at the Prestigious Association of Event Organisers Excellence Awards

LONDON, Dec 16, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – The Association of Event Organisers (AEO) the trade body representing trade and consumer events honoured CloserStill Media last week with 3 industry awards of excellence – Best Organiser Team, Best International Show Asia Pacific and Best International Show Americas.

Organiser Team of the Year was earned by CloserStill's Operations Team, the AEO judges praised the impressive team, who delivered a diverse range, and ever-growing portfolio of events. The team pulled out all the stops, overcoming huge challenges, to deliver the 2019 events.

Best International Show – Asia Pacific was won by CloserStill's Singapore Tech event, the judging panel commented that the event showed a clear and measurable growth strategy which enabled it to achieve spectacular results.

Best International Show – Americas was awarded to DevLearn 2019, the judges remarked that the fantastic and highly successful event was led by a passionate team, that clearly demonstrated a key understanding of its audience's needs.

Since CloserStill was founded, it has earnt 8 AEO Excellence Awards, and has won more industry awards than any other company in the exhibition industry.

"Whilst running live events seems a long time ago, we are delighted to win 3 AEO awards and to be reminded by the leading body of just how amazing our teams are. We have achieved so much in our first decade and will continue to do so through having great brands, partners and employees. The pandemic will not stop us!," says Alexia Maycock, Chief Marketing Officer at CloserStill Media.

About CloserStill Media

CloserStill Media run more than 70 events in the UK and international markets including the United States, Germany, France, Spain and Singapore.

CloserStill is of the world's fastest-growing exhibition businesses, running best of class events in the learning, medical & healthcare, technology and veterinary sectors. In the last 10 years, it has won over 50 major industry awards, including the coveted 'Best Business Exhibition' seven times, featured in The Sunday Times 100 Best Places to Work (2018 & 2019), been voted by members of the Association of Exhibition Organisers as the 'Most Respected Company' in the exhibition Industry.

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

CITIC Telecom CPC won Asia Communication Awards 2020

SINGAPORE, Dec 10, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK:1883), is honored to announce the winning of "Digital Transformation Project of the Year" at the Asia Communication Awards (ACA) 2020 which applauds and recognizes the company for its innovative way to transform services by integrating augmented reality into business processes with DataHOUSE(TM) AR Remote Hand Service.





The ACA organized by Total Telecom is one of the top telecom industry awards in this region. ACA recognized companies and individuals for outstanding achievements and innovation that contribute to the development of the telecom industry.

During the award ceremony, Harry Baldock, Editor of Total Telecom commended that DataHOUSE(TM) AR Remote Hand Service gives field engineers access to information in real time to help them perform complicated operation according to customer own internal IT procedure. The winning solution leverage Augmented Reality to dramatically transform field engineering operations, streamlining installation, maintenance and troubleshooting processes

"CITIC Telecom CPC is very proud to receive the Asia Communication Award 2020 for our DataHOUSE(TM) AR Remote Hand Service. DataHOUSE(TM) AR Remote Hand Service enables enterprise to maintain operation in exceptional circumstances, it also allows field engineers across multiple locations to overcome the challenges of time zone, language, distance and skillset in a multi-technology environment." said Mr. Esmond Li, CEO of CITIC Telecom CPC. "In challenging time like now, we aim to deliver a "Global-Local" value proposition, giving our customer access to our carrier-class global infrastructure and world-class expertise."

Moving forward, CITIC Telecom CPC will continue to enhance DataHOUSE(TM) AR Remote Hand Service by expanding the range of supported vendor equipment and adding Artificial Intelligence capability for even more intelligent diagnoses. "As a trusted ICT solution partner, we are confident that we will be able to help our customers to drive their digital transformation journey with our innovation solution and extensive service coverage." Mr Li added.

About the awards
Organized by Total Telecom, Asia Communication Awards 2020 has become the independent mark of excellence for telecoms in Asia and has fostered a platform to recognize Asia's Telecoms Superstars.

Marking its 10th year anniversary, Asia Communication Awards is the region's longest-running and most prestigious industry award designed especially for the telecoms industry. 2020 has been an exciting year for the telecom industry, Asia Communication Awards aims to celebrate flexibility and innovation together with telecom industry coming together to deliver robust connectivity that keep the modern society moving forward.

For more information about CITIC Telecom CPC's awards and recognition, visit
https://www.citictel-cpc.com/EN/HK/Pages/about-us-accreditation

About CITIC Telecom CPC
We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(TM) cloud computing solutions.

As a leading Global Local ICT Solutions Partner with worldwide footprint across East to West and native presence, we truly live our motto, "Innovation Never Stops." Being a preferred Digital Society Enabler, we lead our key markets at the forefront of pioneering ICT development, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into real-world value for our customers, helping them achieve higher productivity, agility, cost-efficiency, and ultimately, Digital Globalization.

As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017 ICT-related certifications, CITIC Telecom CPC delivers on our superior quality commitment through a broad global self-managed infrastructure encompassing some of the highest growth markets in Asia, Europe and America, with over 140 points of presence, 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations Centers.

For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com

Media Contact:
June Tay
CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
(65) 6692 8357
Email: june.tay@citictel-cpc.com


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