Content-marketing association ramps up, plans benchmark survey

The ACMA, which began in June 2013 as a more “informal” gathering of people interested in content marketing, is expanding in response to growing interest from the industry. 

The non-profit association aims to help drive awareness, discussion and best practices in content marketing across the region, with the ambition of the discipline claiming 10 per cent of all marketing expenditure by 2020.

“Content marketing is fast evolving in the region, and there is a lot of misunderstanding of what it actually entails—or even means,” said Don Anderson, association chair and managing director of board member We Are Social. “As more interest has been expressed in the community, particularly among other content creation providers, we’ve adopted a more formal structure including a defined chartered and board.”

Several key hires in the content space in the early part of 2015 signal a growing trend towards the discipline. For example, in March Carat Asia-Pacific appointed Adam Bow to drive the agency’s content strategy in the region.

“More and more marketers are looking for strong content to support their media strategy,” said Sean O’Brien, CEO at Carat Asia Pacific. “It’s important we have the right team in place to support this need.”

As part of its offical launch, the ACMA has announced an extended board, which now includes 11 organisations: AKA, Black Marketing, Brand New Media, Carat, CATLYST/TV, Click2View, Contented, Editor Group, King Content, Novus Asia, and We Are Social.

“By bringing together some of the region’s leading content planners, strategists and creators, we aim to provide solutions for marketers as they contemplate their brand’s investments today and into the future," Anderson said. "These solutions cross five specific pillars for content marketing – ideation, creation, distribution, amplification and optimisation.”

One of the first big initiatives that the ACMA will undertake this year is the launch of an industry-wide survey to study marketers’ interest in and behaviours around content marketing, with the results due to be published later in the year.

Tom Radford, content director for Click2View and ACMA board member, said the ambition for the study was to create an "industry benchmark against which all brands and marketers in Southeast Asia can measure their content spend and behaviour."

"Digital spend is the biggest growth area for brands, and content marketing is a big part of that," Radford said. "Providing a ‘state of the region’ barometer will hopefully bring clarity and give brands new confidence and insight into their own content strategies, thus strengthening the content marketing industry as a whole.”

Membership to the ACMA is free and as part of its official launch, the association will host a casual gathering at 6:30 pm this coming Thursday at Club Meatballs in Singapore.