BEIJING, China, Jan. 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Integrating the power of big data and people-centric insight to drive business growth is one of the biggest challenges facing brand marketers today.
Fortunately, this challenge has been answered by the Hylink LIFEMAX framework, which sees Hylink work with brands to create new propositions based on the lives of consumers. In doing so, consumers see real value through their associations with the brands.
As a leading digital media agency, Hylink uses this conceptualized approach to service its clients across the globe.
Headquartered in Beijing as an independent full service digital agency, Hylink has offices around the globe. These include Hong Kong, Seoul, Los Angeles and most recently a London office which was formally opened in November 2017. The company’s more than 300 clients include MNCs such as Ikea, P&G, Yum!, GM, Shanghai Disney Resort, and Estee Lauder.
Shifting the focus from position to purpose
The LIFEMAX approach focuses on helping brands, particularly those in the B2C sphere, shift their approach from "brand position" to "brand purpose".
"This means the key issue is no longer merely how to advertise the most appealing information about a brand," said Mr Su Tong, CEO and Founder of Hylink. "Rather, it requires us to seek to define consumer lifestyles and gain insight into the scenarios in their everyday lives."
He added that doing this will ensure brands engage with consumers to the fullest of their perception, boosting appreciation of the brand's value.
Mr Su broke down the detailed process as follows. Stage one involves nurturing opportunities for brands as identified by data-mining and studying the consumer’s lifestyle paradigm.
Stage two involves identifying the unique scenarios of the consumer’s everyday life, and then demonstrating how the brand can add value to the problem solving of these moments.
Once these demands in various product and service categories have been studied, they should be tied into the brand's DNA and value proposition.
This process is then cemented through conducting scenario-based user engagements with the aim of managing consumer perceptions and behavior, and steering it towards a particular brand or product. Creative solutions and media strategies can be deployed and executed. Success can then be evaluated in terms of media buying and consumer behavior.
Insightful results harnessing big data
While the LIFEMAX approach focuses on consumer stories, Hylink still leverages its ample resources in big data.
These fall under three main sources - Hylink's in-house data, data from brand partners, and third-party data. Taking this multi-faceted approach leads to a more rounded picture of consumer behavioral and semantic preferences.
At the same time, Hylink is not in the business of just collecting data for its own sake, according to Ms Delia Liu, Head of Strategic Planning at Hylink. Instead, data is used to divine the true motivations, demands and behaviors of consumers.
As an example of how Hylink leveraged semantic data mining to obtain consumer insights, Ms Liu points to Snow Beer, one of China's biggest beer brands.
While inputting expertise in Snow Beer's campaign, which aimed to get the brand to engage more closely with the younger generation, Hylink found through large-scale semantic data mining that people (especially at post-college, early-career stage) were inspired by the prospect of being accompanied on an intrepid journey to “bravely explore the world.”
“As such, our advice to Snow Beer was to avoid a superficial attempt to create a younger image, but rather plan a seed of self-empowerment in the heart of consumers,” said Ms Liu. “This also means matching the right brand IP to the scenarios where such inspirations are embraced.”
Ms Liu said the key takeaway of this case was that brands need a means to gain insight into the hearts of their consumers so as to be able to connect with them on a meaningful level.
Re-orienting brand perception
Another example is that of Estee Lauder. While it enjoys much high-end brand equity, Estee Lauder was facing the challenge of being perceived as for "established" women rather than for the younger generation.
Through data analysis, Hylink found that young ladies were heatedly discussing a hit TV show “三生三世十里桃花” ("A Love-story Through Three Lives") starring superstar Yang Mi, and expressing a strong willingness to imitate the looks on display among the major cast members.
"Hylink advised Estee Lauder to take advantage of the fact that their brand ambassador, Yang Mi, was cast in the key role, and to create a buzz by 'bringing the role into the real world,'" said Ms Shirley Chen, Vice President of Hylink and GM of Hylink Shanghai.
This saw the launch of a hashtag #shilitaohuazhuang (meaning "long-lasting charisma of peach-blossom make-up"; peach-blossom being a metaphor for love stories in China), and the concurrent launch of a lipstick shade that matched that of Yang Mi's.
The hashtag triggered 230 million views and over 1.17 million mentions. During the campaign timeframe, sales via online retailer TMall.com alone increased by 183%, causing the lipstick to sell out.
"What is key is to penetrate the scenarios and topic lines that young consumers are keen on, manage consumer perceptions accordingly, and steer their behavior towards the brand or product," said Ms Chen. "This is really what 'conversion' is all about."
Another case saw KFC trying to differentiate their desserts products from those of their competitors.
"Again, we disrupted the conventional thinking," said Ms. Liu. "By analyzing the lifestyles of young consumers through their social media and photo-sharing patterns, we found they have a strong demand for consuming food while engaging in entertainment activities such as watching movies or playing video games."
As such, Hylink helped KFC promote their desserts as being for enjoyment in scenarios "beyond the restaurant".
"This case vividly illustrates the importance and effectiveness of scenario-based decision-making and consumption-behavior management," Ms Liu said. "Brands should think outside of the box and be clear about scenarios that are often very different from traditional thinking."
Hylink continues to extend the reach of its consumer-centric approach through a number of initiatives. On January 5, 2018, the company announced its "China Business Data Engineering Institute" in cooperation with Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI).
New tech, new generation
Another key factor illustrated by the above examples is how Hylink combines advanced technology and machine learning (for example, in the analysis of consumers' social media posts) with a human-centric insight.
"Machines can aggregate data, analyze behavior patterns and help us identify underlying motives," said Mr Su. "What we do is about optimizing the heart-and-head relationship to bring our human insight to the data analysis performed by the machines."
Mr Su points out that the new generation of consumers contrasts with previous generations in that they are comfortable interacting in a "community of strangers" as facilitated by social media and mobile technology.
"Yes they prefer to be alone, but are they really lonely? No. The young generation still very much appreciates interaction with like-minded peers. It’s just that this is no longer necessarily fulfilled in the physical world but via the virtual world," said Mr Su. "This very new norm provides brands with unprecedented marketing and branding opportunities."
Su says that correctly reading these new norms and the way they impact consumer motivations, demands and desires provides brands with highly effective ways in which to engage with their consumers.
Inspiration to take action
With these new tools and approaches in mind, Mr Su has a number of suggestions for brands seeking to market more innovatively.
"Firstly, brands need to identify the individuals behind the various tribes, and then further map out their processes of cognition, motivations and sharing," he said.
"Reaching hearts is key," he continued. "The most effective way for marketers to do this is to enable the audience to put themselves in the shoes of the brand characters. When they identify in this way and become emotionally involved willing participants, they become fully connected and engaged."
When it comes to marketers seeking to optimize the effectiveness of the Hylink LIFEMAX approach, Ms Liu says they should have a "back to square one" mindset. "Brands need to know that no matter what branding formats are used, we essentially need to be responsible for the business at the core. In other words, marketers need to be aware that instead of being driven by brand exposure, brands are in fact driven by the 'consumer assets.'"
She also highlights the advantages of taking a joined-up approach. "We’ve found that different teams and departments need to align their thinking and orientation to be consumer-centric. Only then can content, data, technology and creative planning be used to empower the brands and integrate the closed-loop of brand management and marketing communications."
SOURCE: ZHIHUA MEDIA
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