PETALING JAYA: To gain momentum in an extremely challenging year hammered by the Covid-19, Universal McCann (UM) aims to future-proof itself by positioning itself as an agency that provides true integration of services.
The decision was made because local brands were impacted with many facing media budget constraints and shifting priorities.
Future-proofing is the process of anticipating the future and developing methods of minimising the effects of shocks and stresses of future events.
Audrey Chong, CEO of UM and Ensemble Worldwide told StarBiz that to capitalise on this future-proof proposition and gain market momentum, the agency’s focus was to level up partnerships with clients to support them in their digital transformation journey to adapt to the new needs of the day.
More than ever, she said brands looked towards UM’s future-proofing ambitions to help build brands that disrupt, rather than get disrupted. This future-proof proposition was demonstrated across key areas.
True data-led integration
As brands looked for solutions, UM’s response was to provide true integration across existing and prospective clients. Whilst the agency’s offerings were already moving into more non-traditional space, things took a fast track in 2020 and 2021.
“UM has always stood for ‘Better Science, Better Art, Better Outcomes’ – emphasising the optimisation of the art and science of communications to achieve business success for clients.
“This offering built on a foundation of data to drive insights and recommendations alongside a strong creative offering meant the agency could drive a truly holistic communications strategy for clients.
“The real value for clients lies in each part of the equation talking to one another, a distinctive and attention-grabbing proposition,” she said.
Rather than looking at the lockdown as an obstacle, Chong said the team worked with agility to think outside the box to build capabilities and data solutions that would shift opportunities towards privacy-compliant first-party data collection and segmenting audiences in a future-proof manner.
Consultancy as the central tenet
True partnerships with clients are anchored in the agency’s ability to pivot and evolve in line with market needs, she added.
This forward-looking direction meant that the agency took a consultative mindset to answer the bigger questions clients may have, outside of the day-to-day.
She said the new future-proof proposition affirms consultancy as the central tenet to the agency in 2021.
Chong said: “With this consultancy mindset in place, UM has adopted several tools and frameworks that business leads are trained on.
“This helps to shape their day-to-day conversations and accelerates service delivery across key growth areas for clients, including full funnel modelling, portfolio analysis and high value audiences,” she noted.
Full funnel modelling is a business analytics tool to understand consumers at each stage of the customer journey.
High value audiences involve identifying audiences in a sophisticated way to understand high potential segments of audiences that would provide best growth for the brand.
Digital acceleration
By bolstering services beyond media into analytics, content creation and e-commerce, UM has pushed the needle on digital projects, with diversified services growing exponentially in 2021.
With consumer journeys more digitally connected, UM’s focus has been on taking the lead in consumer journey planning and end-to-end experience mapping, opening the door for specialist teams to position their on-platform expertise. The is part of the agency’s holistic connected commerce solution that encompasses media, content, experience and retail.
Chong said: “This digital transformation in the new age has led to UM having conversations with clients with the longer-term in mind.
“Just as UM has reimagined itself for the future with the evolution of the agency proposition, so has the agency driven conversations with clients to stay ahead and act with agility to take up e-commerce solutions and digital shelf monitoring to navigate any future changes that might come its way.”
Shelf monitoring refers to real-time retail data for brands.
Innovation through crisis
To close the gap between the separate worlds of media and creative, she said UM Studios ensured that digital campaigns run better through precise audience targeting strategies and personalised creative messaging using real-time digital data.
UM Studios is the dedicated content creation division under the agency which specialises in addressable content.
“Similarly, as ground events came to a halt, it was time to get creative. Via the activation of virtual events combining the best of creative and digital elements, UM drove a range of virtual experiences to drive hype for brands.“As a result, the agency worked on several firsts such as a unique virtual town hall for a regional brand that involved building digital strategies, production and activation through innovative tech, scriptwriting and filming,” she said.
Finally, Chong said the ways in which storytelling was created was reimagined through data. UM’s use of data working closely with partners like Facebook and Google allow for reporting that pulls together audience retention metrics across a storyteller guide.
In this way, she said the craft of storytelling has become more precise and optimised, setting the agency’s services apart from traditional creative agencies.
The people
What truly gives future-proof life, according to Chong, is the team at UM, UM Studios and Ensemble Worldwide (UM’s creative arm).“While the pandemic changed ways of work at a rapid pace, so did the team rise to the occasion to meet the challenges.
“Building this future-proof DNA has been a work in progress for over a year, through steering thought leadership, growing spaces for conversations, and sharing best-in-class solutions to drive innovation.
“By nurturing openness and curiosity which helps contribute to the growth of client businesses, the future-proof culture, a collision of commerce and communities, comes together through the people of UM,” she added.