Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Tokyo forms partnership with Digital Jungle in Japan

Digital Jungle already has an existing relationship with Saatchi & Saatchi in China. The aim of the partnership in Japan is for Digital Jungle to provide Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Tokyo’s clients  a distinct advantage with their social media analytics technologies and social marketing services, according to the two companies.

Digital Jungle spun out from SinoTech Group in early 2011 after the parent company recognised the need for a new kind of agency that had Chinese social engagement and social influence marketing at its core.

“Penetration of social media is proliferating within all aspects of people’s lives in Japan,” Philip Rubel, Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Tokyo’s CEO said. “Digital Jungle brings an exceptional array of analytical tools and skills sets to the table, as well as the talent like Dr Matthew McDougall, its founder and CEO, who is considered a social media guru, to work with us to execute ideas.”

Up until March 2011, social media activity was inherently a local Japanese activity. "But since last March, we’ve seen a huge spike in people adopting a more internationalised approach, particularly in their usage of Twitter and Facebook," Rubel said.

More than 80 percent of 120 companies listed on The Wall Street Journal's Asia 200 Index are present on social media, compared with 40 percent last year, according to the 2011 Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study by Burson-Marsteller.

“The challenge for marketers is how to participate in the conversations going on, recognize the opportunities," Rubel said. "And then how to measure the impact of what they do.”

Digital Jungle has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Its client portfolio includes Hawai’I Tourism Authority, CITS, PayPal, Blackberry, Baidu, and Coach.

Last August, Campaign reported that Digital Jungle has developed a mobile application, mGuest, for hotels in Asia.