Digital and Music Matters: Focus should be on branded content, the second screen

The conference kicked off in Singapore Tuesday, and a panel discussion early on, hosted by Campaign Asia-Pacific, covered future trends in the digital entertainment space.

Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director of Social@Ogilvy, said the internet and social media are pushing all companies into publisher and media-company territory, as brands are forced to create new content for the proliferation of channels.

The future of digital entertainment in this space must rest around social, mobile and branded content, he said.

"If you have a compelling app or video that has a strong association with the brand, then there is a real value there," he said. "Brands are desperately seeking that because they are trying to reach consumers across all channels that were never there before."

Chris Maxcy, global head of music, games and platforms for YouTube, added that the skipable ads that run before online videos are incentivising advertisers to create "really compelling creative and lean-forward" ads.

Meanwhile, Sanchit Sanga, partner for digital performance marketing at Mindshare Asia-Pacific, said brands must use data trails left across social media and search to help make informed marketing decisions—and inform product development.

"If marketers can gauge a trend before if happens by listening and capturing data, then you have a killer app right there because you are looking way ahead and talking to your consumers in real time," he said.

The panel was in agreement that despite the growth of connected TV, brands should focus more energy on the "second screen".

Arisen van Mierlo, chief executive officer of Endemol Asia, indicated that the second screen may in reality be the first screen. "The second screen will always be ahead of connected TV because consumption everywhere and anywhere is only possible through the second screen," he said. "You can't drag your TV outside."

Delegates also heard from Erik Johnson, Asia-Pacific vice president for Facebook, who said the concept of a campaign is moving away as brands increasingly have to respond to consumer feedback and continually update a strategy as a result.

"Having a conversation is the world in which marketing will move," he said.

Nic Hodges, head of innovation and technology at MediaCom Australia, later added that the current buzzword of "gamification" is simply a new name for driving momentum.

"We all understand the ease at which games can generate revenue," he said. "But one word I really dislike is 'gamification'. I have everybody coming to me... saying 'if we can gamify ads around razors then everyone will go and buy razors."

This Day 1 recap video from the show organisers features brief scenes from the panel discussion starting at the 0:35 mark, followed by a short interview with Crampton: