Seismic shifts have been taking place in digital marketing in Southeast Asia over the last few years that have began impacting how online advertising campaigns are constructed, deployed, and measured. Marketers can now actively influence and enable consumer purchases. They can drive e-commerce and offline retail sales revenue, create sales leads, and make significant contributions to customer relationship management (CRM). We’ve been witnessing this happen domestically here in U.S. with affiliate programs like Commission Junction, social network advertising on sites like Facebook, and with search engine advertising giants Google and Bing with their ad platforms. Just how does the advertising landscape in Asia shape up though?
Created and launched in Thailand in 2006, Admax Network has quickly become the leading online advertising network in Southeast Asia with offices now in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. According to Malay newspaper The Star, Admax Network accounts for some of the highest percentage of ad network spend in the Southeast Asia region with high-profile clients like Malaysian Airlines, Nestle, DiGi, U Mobile, Nokia, Honda, Prudential, Singapore Tourism Board, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Dell.
Their impressive portfolio expands beyond just that of their clients too. Earlier this year Facebook appointed Admax as their official sales rep in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. Given the shear size of Facebook in that region, Admax seems quite happy serving as the B2B liaison for online advertising. Stephen Dolan, Commercial Director of Facebook said this of the alliance: “Admax has an exceptional understanding of the Southeast Asian market, and their solid on-the-ground presence will provide brands with strong local support to successfully implement their marketing campaigns.” (Martin)
Admax’s network combines over 4,600 of the region’s top local and international websites. They’ve executed thousands of campaigns and their brand is recognized as a respected partner for dozens and dozens of advertisers, agencies and publishers alike. I’ve summed below all of their core competencies and strategic pillars.
Customer Service
Admax believes in the building and fostering of long-term partner and client relationships. They built their business on delivering top-notch service and they attribute their low client attrition rate to their outstanding service. Their website states that every client is assigned a dedicated account manager who works closely to ensure that their ad campaigns reach the desired results.
Optimized Results
Their Adrenaline platform is the backbone of their advertising platform. When a client provides them with multiple ad creatives, this system determines which one drives the best results. In addition, they can optimize a campaign across several websites to ensure that specific campaign goals are being met. In short, their ad optimization is based on the following: reaching the most unique users, banner clicks, display frequency, and the actions or conversions the user takes (typically either sales or registrations).
Reporting
Admax only works with advertisers and agencies that have secure logins in place where each client’s campaign dashboard can be monitored for progress. Each login is client specific so that all current and future campaigns are visible, along with any campaigns that may be pending an upcoming launch. With the ability to export reports directly from the dashboard, Admax makes campaign monitoring and reporting easy.
Targeted Audience
Admax claims to reach over 86.3 million people across 4,600 websites in Southeast Asia. Their network combines the best local language websites with the most popular international ones, allowing clients to reach their target audience no matter where they spend their time online. They serve ads in 15 different vertical channels like Business, Youth, Women and Travel – all of which allow their clients to effectively target environments that are contextually relevant to their brand and message. Each ad placement is individually categorized by their media team to ensure that the actual page (where the ad is displayed) matches the desired environment.
Admax Certified Inventory
Admax strives to give their customers confidence in displaying their brand in network that are certified. This makes for an inventory that is brand-safe, relevant and transparent. Additionally, their media specialists hand-vet every single website and webpage before awarding their publishers with their Admax Inventory Certification. The Admax team also routinely monitors their inventory to ensure ongoing compliance of the certified program.
As far as I can tell with the research I’ve done, Admax has done astoundingly well for themselves. Though a young company, Admax seems to be in the right place at the right time. Digital marketing is heating up all over the globe with more and more people gaining access to the Internet each day. The Southeast Asian region is definitely one to watch in the coming years with regards to online advertising.
References
Rick Martin. (April 13, 2011). Facebook Appoints Admax as Official Sales Rep in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. In Penn Olson – In Asia Tech News For The World. Retrieved November 8, 2011, from http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/04/13/facebook-appoints-admax-as-official-sales-rep-in-indonesia-philippines-and-thailand/.
Undefined. (September 19, 2009). Emergence of online ad networks. In The Star Online. Retrieved November 8, 2011, from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4715493&sec=business.
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