Malaysians are turning to Search more than ever, and with the sheer amount of information available online, consumers are relying on Search in different ways to make sense of the world and its complexities. As such, brands and media agencies can be of help in influencing and shaping a consumer’s journey by being there when it matters most.
Think Search 2021 provides a look into how the role of Google Search has evolved into one that is vital to the journey of today’s consumers, as well as insights aimed at inspiring marketers to explore novel and innovative ideas to drive results.
Hosted virtually on October 28, the event also recognizes Malaysia’s best Search campaigns from as far back as January 1, 2020. Submissions were put through two rounds of evaluations in order to determine the top campaigns that best showcased the effectiveness of Google Search on business results – firstly, based on a screening of key performance metrics in accordance to each category, and secondly, by a panel of jury comprising:
- Chayenne Tan, Director, Performance & Growth Marketing, CIMB Malaysia
- Derek Tan, Chief Brand Officer, Carsome
- Jenny Chin, Head of Marketing, U Mobile
- Larry Lim, Co-Founder, SearchGuru
- Santosh Sonawale, Digital Performance Director, Omnicom Media Group Malaysia; and
- Shabana Badami, Head of Search & Shopping Solutions, Google SEA
The event saw Omnicom Media Group (OMG), a media agency with a presence in 38 markets around the globe, announced as Google Search Agency of the Year whose group of certified Google Analytics champions – the largest within the media agency network – drove the integration of advanced analytics with Search marketing to drive growth, with a strong focus on measurement and a hybrid human-machine learning approach in delivering strong results.
Here is the rest of the categories and winners:
- Best use of Google Search – Reach your audience: OMD for McDonald’s, which launched an unbranded online video and TV campaign telling viewers NOT to search for “ayam goreng viral”, leading them to predictably do so. This created a buzz around the Ayam Goreng McD and ensured the brand was top of mind for fried chicken lovers everywhere.
- Best use of Google Search – Deliver creative engagement: Starcom and Leo Burnett for Samsung Malaysia, which leveraged deep customer insight and trends to predict the most searched features for a competitor’s smartphone and hijacking search results during its pre-launch event to promote the Samsung Note 20.
- Best use of Google Search – Drive business results: Cakerush for breaking through into a saturated baked goods industry during the pandemic by analyzing Search Query Reports to understand consumer behaviours relating to cakes and cake delivery services, leading to gains in quarter-on-quarter growth rates, conversion growth rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Google Search Ambassador of the Year – Individual: Shirley Chang from Group M, whose achievements include elevating the organisation’s search competency through hands-on training, streamlining and automating the Responsive Search Ads evaluation process, as well as enhancing campaign efficiency via agency-wide adoption of Google tools and scripts.
Jenny Lim, Head of Search at Google Malaysia said, “The role of Google Search has evolved since it was founded in 1998, but our mission to organize the world’s information while making it universally accessible and useful, remains.”
“The brands and agencies we celebrated today at Think Search 2021 also play similar roles through their Search campaigns, which helps consumers make sense of the ‘messy middle’ by being present wherever they are in their journey. By understanding their intent and personalizing their experience, these campaigns are making it easier for them to find what they want,” added Lim.
Hosted by comedian Douglas Lim, Think Search 2021 featured insights presented by Stephanie Davis, Vice President of Google SEA & South Asia Frontier; Gaurav Kapur, Director, Performance & Brand Solution at Google India & SEA; Raja Narula, Head of Ads Marketing at Google Singapore, Malaysia & South Asia Frontier; and Cara Ooi, Retail Lead at Google Malaysia.
The event also hosted guests from various industries: Aileen Soo of Digi, Chryssa Lai of Maxis, Edward Ling of L’Oreal, Jasmine Lee of U Mobile, Jing Wen Foo of Dentsu, Lavend Ng of Friesland Campina, Sagar Paranjpe of Malaysia Airlines, Saurabh Chandrashekhar of Mediacom, Syed Farouq of Celcom and Zaid Hasman of McDonald’s.
For more information on Google Think Search 2021, visit here.
