In a Converging World, Look to Asia

“Go mobile or go home” is the key message to marketers from a Dentsu Aegis and Economist Corporate Network (ECN) whitepaper looking at the convergence of mobile, social and e-commerce in the Asia-Pacific region.

Asia is home to 57 percent of the world’s population, 53 percent of its Internet users and 58 percent of its mobile subscriptions. Currently, there are 3.3 mobile phone subscriptions in Asia – around one mobile per person – but by 2019, that number will increase to 4.3 billion, or 117 mobiles for every 100 people.

As a result, Asia will play an even more important role in shaping how global companies use digital platforms to engage consumers, according to the report’s author, Justin Wood, chief economist at the Economist Corporate Network (ECN). He points to the region’s many existing innovative technology companies, such as China’s Alibaba and India’s FlipKart in e-commerce, Samsung and Xiaomi in mobile, and Tencent and Weibo in social media.

Because Asian markets are leading the adoption of mobile Internet platforms, there’s a great potential for businesses to seamlessly drive customers from the point of engagement to the point of transaction for sales, says Arvind Sethumadhavan, chief innovation officer at Dentsu Aegis Network, Asia Pacific.  

“We are witnessing a mobile-first approach in people’s behavior and the solutions being developed,” Sethumadhavan says. “Companies need to view Asia as pilot markets to future proof their business models and a hotbed for innovation prototyping.”

As mobile continues to displace PCs, more platforms and apps will continue to be designed for mobile-only. At Facebook, for example, 90 percent of users in Asia access the platform via mobile devices, says Dan Neary, vice president of Facebook, Asia Pacific.

According to the report, 73 percent of Facebook’s advertising revenue came from mobile in the first quarter of 2015, up from 59 percent in the first quarter of 2014.

“By definition, if you work with Facebook, you are a mobile marketer,” Neary says. “If you’re building content for Facebook news feed, you’re building for mobile. It’s at the center of everything we do.”

Michelle Guthrie, managing director for Google, Asia, says brands that are dragging their feet when it comes to mobile spend.

“If you look at where people are consuming media, it isn’t on TV anymore, particularly if you look at anyone under the age of 25,” she says. “Yet, 40 to 50 percent of advertising spend is still going to traditional TV channels, so there’s a big mismatch.”

The report recommends marketers begin by adjusting content and marketing messages appropriate for smaller screens and new types of devices. Anthony Ho, marketing director at Mondelez, Greater China, points out that consumers change as they embrace mobile. 

“They become much less passive consumers of content and much more interactive,” Ho says. “We have to understand that and change our content accordingly.”

Image via Thinkstock / Dentsu Aegis Network

*CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated mobile subscription in Asia is at 8 percent. The correct figure is 58 percent.