Shawn Lim, journalist Asia Pacific, is joined by Alexandra Vogler, senior director, P&G e-commerce Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Adela Jiang, FMCG, health & beauty category lead and regional brand Partnerships at Shopee to discuss why Olay turned to Shopee to up its e-commerce game across Asia Pacific. This session will see Alexandra and Adela share their takes on how to reach and engage with female consumers across South East Asia, encouraging them to take on the challenges of ‘adulting‘ and invest in skincare products.

India is one of the world’s most important market to crack, with over 1 billion potential customers at stake. This has not been lost on global behemoth Amazon, which has been innovating in the market for almost seven years. The Drum speaks to Ravi Desai, director, mass & brand marketing, Amazon India about how the brand plans to serve its customers.

As the world gradually eases its way out of lockdown, how are retailers having to innovate and think beyond the transaction to give the best possible customer experience?

Experience is the new brand; brands are no longer defined only by their products, but the experience they create for their customers. By combining the user-focus of an experience design company, the technology skills of a software consultancy and the creative thinking of an advertising agency, B2B brands can create amazing digital experiences that build strong customer relationships. This session looks at the digital transformation journey of global pharmaceutical and services brand Clinigen to learn how Omobono helped it deliver on its brand promise of “Right medicine, right patient, right time” by putting the customer first and creating a digital experience that centred on understanding the buying journey, creating a bigger business impact by getting to market quickly while working around legacy systems.

Have changes in consumer habits post-pandemic fueled growth within the e-commerce and video advertising sectors? Is this finally the right time for advertisers to embrace formats such as shoppable video? It is undeniable that consumers who were once reticent to use online shopping platforms have now been forced to push past the fear and inertia, and online shopping in now part of their everyday lives. What implications will these changes have for 2021 and beyond?

Deft co-founders Ian Crocombe and Niran Vinod, formerly of Facebook and Instagram respectively, share the key strategies on successful social commerce for retailers. They will take you through the crucial differences between winning and losing on the platforms. Gain not only practical advice on how you can be more profitable from social commerce, but also learn from innovative activations from Gucci, Sephora and Walmart.

The last 12 months have been a hard year for marketing agencies. Budgets have been cut while staff have been marooned at home. But it’s also been a time of opportunity, as companies across the country began their own digital transformation campaigns. And the UK’s digital agencies have risen to the challenge.

At The Drum, we publish the voices and stories of digital marketers every day. But we wanted to grasp the impact of this year on the digital agency sector as a whole – and understand the state of the digital marketing nation. So, over the last few months, we’ve undertaken a new sector-wide research project: The Drum UK Digital Census. Our expert research team has polled digital agencies, clients and staff, in a comprehensive survey of the UK’s digital agency sector.

In this session, we'll finally be revealing the agencies named as the best digital shops in the country when we unveil our Elite List, a ranking of the best agencies across all three Census categories. We'll also be chatting with the top-ranked agencies in the Elite List about what they've learned from doing business amid the chaos of the last twelve months.

Barbie owner Mattel has found success with a multichannel, digital strategy that puts diversity, engagement and fun for kids and their parents at its heart. The Drum catches up with Barbie’s top marketer Lisa McKnight to find out how the brand is evolving its storytelling for a digital age, with a focus on social media, apps and smart technology.

With the demise of the third-party cookie imminent on both chrome and within the Apple mobile ecosystem, there are seismic changes on the horizon that may challenge advertisers’ abilities to reach consumers and threaten publishers’ already fragile revenue streams. How should we best prepare for these changes? How do we best protect the open web? And, how can common IDs provide a solution that is actually better than the current third-party cookie ecosystem? The Drum and Media Math explore all of these questions, their implications and how best to choose new identity partners.

Digital transformation is the Holy Grail of contemporary business. All companies know they need to achieve it, but some aren’t aware how data collaboration can help them achieve this. In some cases, they are drowning in data, but it isn’t useful because it’s disparate, siloed, or of questionable quality. How can we educate executives and make the business case to the C-suite for what might at first seem like a daunting subject area? And how can data collaboration factor into the touchpaper issue of consumer privacy?

Thriving in the cookieless world will see experts discuss the impact, challenges and opportunities of adapting to a cookieless world. In the light of Google’s announcement that Chrome will join Safari and Firefox is blocking them next year. We’ll explore how a leading publisher, senior brand marketers and media agency executive are approaching this new landscape, discussing topics such as the growing importance of 1P data, different approaches to contextual advertising as well as how to ethically identify and connect with your consumers.

According to the Association of National Advertisers, adoption of Connected TV (CTV) is likely to increase by 82% within the next three years. This is reflected by the 70% growth in advertising spend in CTV in 2020 and this is which is expected to grow again this year.
With its potential to unlock the benefits of mass reach, combined with the power of dynamic data and depth of targeting, it’s essential to understand that marketers grasp this exciting revolution in digital media. In this session, we will explore all that CTV has to offer including the latest trends, insights and how the sophistication in data analytics is being used to benefit both the advertiser and add value to the customer. With CTV primed to be an essential part of tomorrow’s CMO’s armoury, this is a session not to be missed.

While Google, Facebook, and Apple continue to make decisions on how and what data can be used, it is the marketer who is truly being held responsible and the first to be blamed when things go wrong, and we should be. As marketers, it’s our job to build one-to-one relationships with our consumers, gain their trust and their consent, gather their preferences, and treat their data with integrity. In this conversation with Tim Glomb, VP of Content at Cheetah Digital, he will tap into his 20+ years of experience as a brand marketer and technology leader.

As brands continually look for new routes to market with a direct to consumer relationship, we are witnessing the emergence of the subscription economy. We will be exploring this shift across a variety of sectors and giving insights into how these companies are reinventing their proposition, and deepening emotional engagement with customers.

Whilst the automotive industry shrunk by 30% during the last year, car brands have been pivoting and shaking up the traditional car buying process through innovative D2C solutions and models. Join us to hear what has worked so far, the lessons learned and how the sector will continue to evolve during 2021.

When the pandemic kicked off last year, leaving pubs closed and supermarket shelves empty, alcohol brands - like everyone else - quickly turned to digital channels to get their products to customers. Babe Wine, the canned wine startup was quick to capitalize on the trend, seizing the opportunity to grow its digital audience. For older booze brands like Ballantine's, it was a perfect window to build its brand and get back to being entrepreneurial. 12 months on how are the DTC strategies of these drinks' brands shaping up? Is it a long-term strategy or a short-lived trend? The Drum catches up with an upstart and one drinks titan to make sense of the market.

Behind every business lies a group of individuals. And every individual, even in a work or business context, is a consumer in his or her own right. In these increasingly digital times, brands are forever looking for new and effective ways to reach their customers. But they have perhaps overlooked an opportunity to reach them via a traditionally B2B platform.

Leveraging the findings from LinkedIn’s recent Meet the Member Research Study (July 2020), this discussion will explore how marketers can communicate with audiences in an environment where they are more receptive, more ambitious and have a greater intent and propensity to spend. How can brands tap into the consumer mindset, when their target audience feels the least like a consumer? How can high value consumer goods brands increase sales through marketing in a different way? – standing out from the crowd, in a somewhat uncrowded space?

With lively debate among key guest speakers, and using success stories from the high value consumer industries, we will uncover how brands are unlocking the considerable B2C opportunity on the LinkedIn platform.

From TikTok to email and search, brands who invest in getting to know their customers by nurturing digital intimacy are best poised to capture attention and win in the channels that dominate our time. Marketers who invest in correctly leveraging data, reading the signals and understanding their consumers are better positioned to deliver the kind of unique, meaningful experiences within today’s media landscape. In this panel, we’ll discuss how brands can earn their customers’ trust, build intimacy, and develop activations that convert true brand believers.

No industry was impacted more than the airlines this year but AirAsia took this opportunity to pivot into the technology space, launching media and technology solutions for its customers. It's super app ambitions are the ultimate digital transformation and AirAsia chief growth officer, Ravi Shakar, shares this story with the Drum.

Against the backdrop of a continuously changing retail landscape, how can brands channel agility for marketing and sales success? The Drum sits down with MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group's expert- marketing efficiency, Ralf Schweitzer, and Mark Gooding, Neustar’s head of business development to discuss how to drive growth in the face of massive changes in the retail world. With tangible examples on how MMS transformed their marketing and measurement teams and strategies, we will uncover how a more data-driven, agile marketing practice is the key to success in uncertain times.

In this session we will cover:
• The marketing journey and shift to agile marketing
• The wider retail landscape and the challenges faced
• The impact of COVID on the retail ecosystem
• The current state of play
• A look to the future

Creative teams have typically relied on building client relationships in person, but the pandemic has flipped this on its head. Client relationships are now built online, and what differentiates your agency from the competition is speed, agility and quality of service you can deliver to clients - some of whom you’ve likely never met in person.

For agencies this has been the silver lining of the pandemic. While many were wary of change, change has meant creativity is no longer confined to the four walls of a meeting room, and that agencies can now grow their team and client base without location, or geographical constraints.

To find out how the technology is helping leading agencies do just this, Andy Wilson, director, media – Dropbox, John Scrivener, managing director - Abbeycomp IT Solutions, Alex Wares, managing director, UK – Transmission and Liz Roche, GM & chief strategy officer - Havas CX helia unpack the impact of remote working on MarTech and creative agencies.

Join the discussion to find out how the right tech stack can help your agency grow, and enable a future of collaboration and creativity, anytime, anywhere, without compromising productivity or speed.

Binging or streaming TV is now a way of life, and even a point of pride, among consumers. But how do you reach these highly engaged viewers? An unfamiliar territory for those trapped in the old ways of buying TV advertising.This session will take a practical look at how brands and agencies can reach their audience through connected TV advertising, and benefit from more advanced targeting and measurement capabilities.

As the demise of the third-party cookie approaches fast, advanced contextual solutions will come to the fore. But, what exactly are the new formats that are emerging? What challenges do they face, particularly regarding what will be a renewed focus on privacy and how does the knotty issue of measurement help drive real value?

Come celebrate with The Drum & special guests as we reveal the winners of The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising 2021. The show will be shorter than the live event, around 40 minutes and we will run through the categories announcing only the highly commended entries and the winners. We will be showcasing some of the incredible award winning work and speaking to a few of our judges as well. After the show, all the nominees, highly commended and winners will be online at www.digitaladvertisingawards.com as well as an article on thedrum.com which will highlight the award winners. Our social channels will also be active too, so make sure you're following us @thedrum #TheDrumAwardsGood luck and enjoy the show!

Brands and organizations are increasingly expected to drive marketing messages forward with purpose at its heart. How can imagery and video be used to achieve this authentically, driving an emotional connection with audiences?
In this session, industry experts will discuss the power of communication with purpose at the core.