Content: the H20 of marketing – the Asia Pacific perspectiveHow rethinking strategy and streamlining operations is helping organizations maximize the value of their digital content

Having compelling digital content has become a global organizational priority as digital media allows consumers anytime and anywhere to take more control of their relationships with brands. Content that clearly resonates with the consumer has the power to bring brands, products, and services to life, and drive tangible outcomes for businesses.

Accenture’s global survey, Content: the H20 of Marketing, confirms that just like their global counterparts, the majority of marketers in Asia Pacific (APAC) are already well aware of the power of real-time, rapidly available digital content to build customer demand and lock in loyalty.

However, our research also shows that companies in the region still need to do some work to maximize the value of their digital content, from rethinking who owns a company’s content strategy to streamlining day-to-day operations.

Executive summary

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Japan South Korea

World China

Singapore

Australia

44%

45% 48%

47%

54%

8%

The APAC market: digitally savvy, diverse and rapidly evolving

APAC is one of the world’s most attractive markets, where young, dynamic, and increasingly affluent consumers eagerly embrace innovation and change. Not only have digital technologies already become a core part of the consumer purchasing process here, the hunger for mobile and smartphone services is growing exponentially. Research from eMarketer indicates that by 2015, Asia Pacific already had more than a billion smartphone users.1, with China alone double that of US.

So to what extent do enterprises in the region see the value of producing content for these digitally savvy consumers?

Our survey shows that most (75 percent) organizations have already embraced digital content as a tangible asset, with the majority of large businesses spending more than US$50 million annually on content management alone.

Most are also not hesitating to create their own content, although this trend tends to be more marked in certain areas. For instance, 78 percent of our respondents in Korea and 62 percent in China say most of the content they produce is local, though organizations in both markets predict that two years from now they will be producing more global content.

Yet despite this firm embrace of content as an asset, fewer than half of the marketers we surveyed believe that investing in it will actually help them achieve their business objectives. (see figure 1).

Figure 1: Less than half of the marketers surveyed (except for Australia) report that they are very confident that their digital content investments will achieve business objectives

1 “Asia-Pacific Boasts More Than 1 Billion Smartphone Users,” e-Marketer, September 16, 2015; http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Asia-Pacific-Boasts-More-Than-1-Billion-Smartphone-Users/1012984

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Figure 2: More than 40% admit that they have more content than their marketing organizations can effectively manage.

Why should this be so? Our research reveals that many marketers feel they don’t have the right strategy, tools or talent to produce effective content. More than half say they feel bogged down in the operational details of how best to manage the production process. Most have not yet come up with a clear path to industrializing their content-related operations so they can produce the amount of content they believe they need.

Furthermore, almost one in two marketers report feeling overwhelmed by the whole process (see figure 2) – 68 percent of respondents in Australia, for instance, say they feel that they have more content than their marketing teams can effectively manage.

Perhaps this response from APAC’s marketers isn’t so surprising: after all, this is an area with extremely diverse multicultural, multilingual systems and divergent economic situations. These create significant challenges to anyone hoping to produce content that’s relevant and applicable right across the region.

Localizing content effectively isn’t the only issue. Established Asian brands are facing the challenges of navigating increasingly complicated global digital behaviour from Instagram to Tmall, and globalizing brands like Alibaba looking to expand their global footprint are faced with how just to address cultural difference. Brands now have to contend with “governing” digital content

effectively to scale, a term typically used by the non-marketing side of the business.

At the same time, the range of platforms where brands need to engage in APAC is increasingly diverging. In the mobile space alone, multiple social messaging services like KakaoTalk, LINE, and WeChat are fast emerging as an alternative distribution channel for advertisements, applications (apps), and goods and services in the region – and each comes with its own distinct ecosystem in terms of what works when it comes to digital content production.

Japan South Korea

World China

Singapore

Australia

48%

50% 38%

40%

68%

42%

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Identifying roadblocks

To win this diverse, fast-moving environment, companies in APAC need to stay on their toes, responding to trends straight away and adapting their business models to suit. However, our research shows that many have not kept pace. In fact, our survey found that only 53 percent of respondents are confident that their content strategy can meet current and future needs.

Reasons for this vary, but our research shows that a lack of clarity around the entire process of content production – from creation to delivery – is a common problem. For example, many companies haven’t adapted their business models so they can respond effectively to ‘multiscreen’ consumer behaviors, delivering precisely-targeted, consistently engaging digital content across a range of channels. Instead, they fall back on a more traditional, less sophisticated publishing model, which hampers their ability to deliver an optimal user experience efficiently and at speed. Sixty-six percent of respondents in Japan, for instance,

admit that they feel they could be much faster when executing digital content.

At the same time, when it comes to implementing the digital tools that could make their content production more effective, many enterprises report that their technology is silo-ed and too cumbersome for cross-channel customer experiences. What’s more, an overwhelming majority (83 percent) of respondents feel that their organization’s marketing and IT departments need to be better aligned (See figure 3).

Japan South Korea

World China

Singapore

Australia

78% 92% 90%

82% 73%84%

Figure 3: 83% of APAC respondents feel the need for better alignment with IT, as marketing today relies more on technology than ever before.

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Japan South Korea

World China

Singapore

Australia

74% 84%

83%76%

80%

80%

Figure 4: This reflects a rapidly accelerating trend as more than 80 percent predict that two years from now they will spend even more time on operational details than they do today.

Clearly, effectively managing an enterprise’s production of digital content is key to unlocking its power. It needs to start with a recognition by everyone that content, and the use of it, sits at the heart of every successful digital strategy.

But who should set the agenda here? APAC survey respondents recognize the need for direction from the top down when it comes to content, with the vast majority (90 percent) feeling that C-level executives should set the content strategy.

However, companies differ in their view as to which executive should take the helm in this regard. For example, respondents in Korea feel a chief digital officer should be responsible for content strategy, whereas those in China feel it’s the chief operating officer who should take the lead.

Across the board, there is concern over the operational burden that comes when a company lacks a clear content strategy – a concern that’s as intense for APAC enterprises as it is for their global peers. In most cases, more than 70 percent worry

that two years from now, they will need to spend even more time on managing and streamlining their content production processes than they do today.

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Applying a clear solution

It’s clear that while digital content in APAC presents tremendous opportunities for marketers, the key is to step out of the traditional mindset of how content fits into the organization.

Rather than placing themselves at the mercy of the marketing campaign cycle, the website, or the product, when it comes to content, organizations need to treat content as a first-class citizen. Viewing the creation, production, and distribution of content as a key activity in itself, in need of not only creativity but discipline, instead of just an afterthought, is a first step to optimizing its value. Coming up with a content lifecycle management approach is an important second step.

Adopting such an approach frees up organizations to think about how channels, technologies, and resources can be aligned to optimize the benefits of the content they’re producing.

Successful organizations who have adopted this way of thinking, of funnelling creativity through a funnel of discipline, inevitably start to see more clearly where content is adding value to the marketing cycle and where value is being eroded. This is also where solutions to scalability can start to emerge, based on a clearer understanding of where organizations can draw on their diverse, multicultural networks to drive creativity, and where consolidation is essential to drive efficiency.

While there will be many challenges, we should all be encouraged by the possibilities opening up for the region. We hope that by reading this report and its recommendations in detail it will help your business consider its next steps.

For more information, please contact:

Irwin Limirwin.lim@accenture.comManaging Director, Content Lead APAC

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About Accenture Interactive About Accenture

Accenture Interactive helps the world’s leading brands delight their customers and drive superior marketing performance across the full multichannel customer experience. As part of Accenture Digital, Accenture Interactive works with over 28,000 Accenture professionals dedicated to serving marketing and digital clients, to offer integrated, industrialized and industry-driven digital transformation and marketing services. Follow @AccentureSocial or visit accenture.com/interactive.

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