Ad tech firm Turn launches Asia-Pacific office in Hong Kong

Turn is an advertising technology company specialising in real-time bidding (RTB), online ad targeting and analytics. 

"Turn is committed to providing marketers with global solutions that deliver real-time insights about customers, and execute sophisticated, multi-channel digital advertising campaigns with precision,” explained Bill Demas, president and CEO of Turn.

The regional office in Hong Kong is Turn's first in the region and its accompanied by the launch of the company's fifth datacentre, also located in Hong Kong. Co-location and datacentre services will be provided by Telstra. 

The datacentre, said Deng, showcased the firm's commitment to the region. "We’re committed and very heavily invested in the region," Deng told Campaign Asia-Pacific adding that Turn has adopted a build-then-sell approach. 

"Asia-Pacific's digital spending and ad market is huge for Turn, we've already established ourselves in all other regions in the world and Asia's the big investment," she said. 

Although Turn is new to the region, Deng believes it is unique in the scope and breadth of the services it offers. 

According to Deng, Turn already has a global relationship with media specialist groups Omnicom, IPG Mediabrands and the Aegis group. Its demand-side platform (DSP) is connected with all the major exchanges, such as Doubleclick Ad Exchange, Rubicon and Ad Meld. 

Deng joins Turn from Yahoo where she was senior director of advertising sales and marketplaces for APAC. In this role, she developed the region’s advertiser, publisher, and product strategies and drove end-to-end go-to-market plans.

Bernard Chan, co-founder of Koi Creations and former regional director at Yahoo also joins as acting as advisor to its board of directors. Prior to founding Koi, he was regional director of network and platform at Yahoo, where he managed their display advertising network and exchange businesses in Asia.

For Asia-Pacific inventory, Turn has established a relationship with Emerge Digital. Overall, Turn will provide its APAC customers with access to 17 inventory and 6 data services at launch. 

Turn has signed on its first customer in the region, performance advertising agency iClick Interactive.  “Consumers in the APAC region drive some of the highest online usage numbers and this creates a huge demand for brands and marketers looking for insight about the behaviours of their target audience," commented Sammy Hsieh, founder and CEO of iClick Interactive. "With Turn as part of our solution, we can empower our customers with unprecedented reach and various targeting capabilities which are essential in driving sustainable ROI.”