Dentsu Digital is one of the largest integrated digital firms in Japan, providing services such as the planning and execution of next-generation marketing strategies using data and technology, designing and building platforms that serve as the foundation for these strategies, and digital transformation consulting to support business innovation for their clients.
In the influencer marketing space, Dentsu Digital taps on AnyMind Group’s influencer marketing platform, AnyTag, to propose comprehensive marketing strategies to their brand customers, activate and manage campaigns, and track and attribute results.
In this interview, we speak to Miss Watanabe and Miss Au, who are Account Planners for Media & Communications, about Dentsu Digital’s influencer marketing challenges, how they utilize AnyTag, and their future goals.
Risa Watanabe
She has worked in IT company as a marketer since 2014, and has led integrated initiatives at an advertising agency since 2017. In 2021, she moved to her current role, and is responsible for clients in the cosmetics and hair care industries.
Jeongeun Au
In 2017, she joined a public relations firm and was in charge of promotions for foreign skincare brands, brands for the younger generation, and grocery brands. Whilst working in PR, she wanted to broaden her experience in the digital space, and joined Dentsu Digital in 2020. She is currently responsible for clients in the skincare brands and lifestyle industries.
Capturing of quantitative data for influencer marketing is crucial
Please tell us about the challenges faced in traditional influencer marketing
Au
Influencer marketing is an area where it is difficult to implement a PDCA cycle (a continAuus loop of planning, doing, checking, and acting). Unlike advertising, the acceptance of a product varies greatly depending on the season, setting and even the target audience. In such an area, it is necessary to have the planning ability to understand consumer needs correctly and the execution ability to utilize the knowledge and data obtained from actual results and apply them to the next step.
Watanabe
I also think there is a similar PDCA issue. On the other hand, quantification is extremely important when judging whether an influencer’s evaluation is good or bad. However, I feel that visualizing numerical values is difficult and poses a challenge.
If it is difficult to visualize numerical values, it becomes difficult to predict the optimal social media platforms to invest in and the best budget to use, and also what will be the results.
In order to make integrated proposals that include various social media platforms, it is necessary to clearly capture quantitative data on influencer marketing.
Track specific indicators over the medium- to long-term, rather than one-off campaigns
What are the benefits of using AnyTag?
Au
The advantage of using AnyTag is that the results of quantified measures can be horizontally deployed. For our clients with multiple brands, this makes it possible to compare each brand’s past campaign data across the board, so they can take advantage of the learnings from successful and failed campaigns. By analyzing quantified results, it is possible to formulate a well-rounded strategy for the next campaign as well, and as such a PDCA cycle can be quickly implemented.
Watanabe
With AnyTag, we are able to present specific evaluation indicators for a single campaign according to the objective of the campaign. Based on the analysis of various campaigns, it has become easier for us to make proposals that track specific indicators over the medium- to long-term, rather than one-off campaigns.
AnyTag provides marketers with a single dashboard for influencer marketing, social media analytics, competitor and hashtag analysis, and more.
Input for generating ideas
How do you use AnyTag in your daily work?
Watnaabe
I use AnyTag for analysis and information gathering. For example, when I want to know detailed information about a particular influencer or check data such as age ratios of followers, I can easily refer to the data at my fingertips.
We can also see an influencer’s past posts, and can check their past performance on campaigns.
Au
I use AnyTag to understand what is happening in the world and what is trending at the moment for influencer-generated content. I think of it as an input for ideas. If we try to find these trends by ourselves, it would take a lot of effort to check social media sites, but I think it is a very good point that we can do all this on AnyTag on our own. We also use it often because it allows us to easily and comprehensively understand past data and effectiveness of our posts.
Create a winning pattern that fits the brand
What do you expect from AnyTag and AnyMind in the future?
Watanabe
We will continue to work with AnyMind to build a more robust logic and create more effective measures through detailed data-based analysis. We will also work together to create winning patterns by understanding, in greater detail, the correlation between influencer marketing campaigns and consumer movements and purchase behaviors, which is something that other influencer marketing platforms are unable to do. We will continue to provide solutions that are of unique value to our own clients.
Au
I believe that even within the same client, winning patterns may differ from brand to brand, or even from timing to timing. By proactively accumulating tdata on various campaigns, we hope to create a winning pattern that fits the brand.
Also, AnyMind has built a great influencer community on AnYtag. Influencers, as the name implies, hold powerful sway. We would like to co-create with our clients and AnyMind on influencing society together by considering influencers as individuals rather than just a framework for advertising.
