Transparent programmatic and data-driven agency Bidmath has appointed Rakesh Singh (pictured) as Vietnam Country Manager and APAC Commercial Head.

Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Singh will be responsible for leading the new business and solutions in the fast growing country of Vietnam plus commercial partnerships across the APAC region. We took some time to find out more about him and his predictions for the future of online advertising.

What is your role at Bidmath and which city do you work in?

My role at BIDMATH is to spearhead the business growth in Vietnam & APAC markets. Our Solutions at BIDMATH are powered by Data driven marketing experts, Data Scientists, Analysts and Advanced Digital Marketing Professionals with an audience first approach. While I would be based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam my focus would be growth across  APAC markets including Vietnam.

 
What did you do prior to joining Bidmath?

Prior to joining Bidmath I was heading Havas Media group for 5 years in vietnam and then had a brief stint with a new multibillion dollar hospitality group project called Hoiana hotels & resorts in Central Vietnam heading its digital marketing / transformation, branding & communications. In my career span of more than 18 years, I have always been associated with large media & communications Industry having worked with  agencies like Group M (mindshare & Mediacom), Omnicom Publicis and Havas Media Group across Asia & Africa markets with more than 10+ years in senior leadership roles. 

What do you believe is the largest opportunity for brands in Vietnam?

The share of Programmatic advertising in several emerging markets in APAC is much lower than that of mature markets where more than 80% of the digital spend is bought programmatically. The primary reason for this is the lack of exposure of Brands to the several benefits of programmatic advertising and this is largely due to inefficiency and lack of capabilities prevailing within the industry primarily driven by traditional media agencies who are struggling to move from the traditional media buying approach to the new audience buying approach driven by Data & Technology. 

With the advancement of technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) programmatic is now playing a significant role in the digital marketing ecosystem and with our huge expertise in this area, BIDMATH is well placed to spearhead the growth in the region. 

What are the key game changers that you believe to be the future of online? 

Digital acceleration faced during the pandemic has now reinforced brands to fast track their dependence on Data & Technology. Here are some of the Game changing digital marketing trends for 2022 & beyond : 

• Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: AI wave will take on every aspect of our lives in the future.
• Metaverse: Metaverse has made social commerce possible with a network of realities.  
• Livestream Commerce: More brands will choose social media platforms to showcase their products live and the audience is able to buy the product live itself. 
• Augmented reality: We will see acceleration in Brands using  AR  to elevate the consumer experience and increase sales. 
• Voice Search Optimisation : 55% of the teenagers use voice search every day and  with More and more brands  now talking to Genz & Millennials, voice search will gain massive importance in future.

• Programmatic Advertising :  Programmatic Advertising is rapidly increasing every year and is predicted to be used for a huge majority of display advertising in the next couple of years.

1. 1. Chatbots : More and more brands & businesses will leverage the use of chatbots to engage with customers and drive them towards the purchase funnel. 
   2. Marketing Automation: Automation drastically uplifted the industry in the last year and is going to be one of the major digital marketing trends in 2022 & beyond
   3. Micro Influencers : A digital marketing trend that is going to explore new horizons is definitely Influencer Marketing. 

• Shoppable Content: With more and more brands now aiming for a quicker purchase cycle, Shoppable Content would gain priority with content- picture, video, or article, including a direct link to a buyout portal and make every engagement transaction led. 

What are the main barriers for brands looking to achieve true data-driven personalisation today?

Lack of resources, Skills and knowledge are among the key barriers for brands to achieve personalization goals. According to a survey by Marketingweek, over half (65%) of marketers in Asia Pacific do only basic or segmentation-based personalization of communications or none at all, with less than a tenth (8%) fully personalizing the customer experience across channels. 

While the vast majority of marketers understand the positive impact data-driven marketing can have on customer relationships and ROI, they lack the capabilities, knowledge and confidence needed to utilize the abundance of data available to them. 

Another challenge for brands is that effective personalization requires more than repeated ad targeting. For an effective data driven personalization to succeed the messaging has to be contextually relevant and personalized rather than repetitive. 

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I think the most interesting thing about me is my association with Digital marketing started way back in 2000 during Pre-Google & Facebook era  when Yahoo.com, Yahoo messenger, Orkut and MSN were  the popular search, social and Instant messenger platforms and Search Optimization & Creative banner optimizations which is now automated were then handled manually and rigorously by our technical teams. 

Another interesting thing about me is that I consider myself an emerging market specialist having had the opportunity to work across several emerging markets like  India, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa and Vietnam.  

With the rapidly accelerating technology advances in digital marketing, the recognized value of data and increasing data literacy among Brands & marketers I’m looking forward to many more interesting experiences in the near future.