Page 17 - AeM_July_2020

RESEARCH
Exceptions include Indonesia, Thailand, and the ANALYSIS
Philippines, where citizens appear to be more positive TRENDS
than the others. Surprisingly, countries like Cambodia,
South Korea, and Bangladesh seem to be the least
positive in the last three months despite the low
number of cases. In Singapore, before the start of their
Circuit Breaker period, there was a slight increase in
positive sentiment, but that took a downward trend in
mid- April when cases saw a sudden spike. However,
ADA has noted an increase in positive sentiment in
Singapore due to the recent General Elections
announcement.

In Malaysia, the change in government affected 4. Video Analytics
positive sentiments the most while in the Philippines,
sentiments appear to remain positive despite political Overall, ADA has observed a decrease in videos
instability. In countries like Thailand and Cambodia, created before and after the region was hit by the
positive sentiment directly correlates with the number of impact of the pandemic. In all countries, production of
cases in each country – as the number of cases light-hearted content, such as comedy, romance, films,
decreases, we are seeing an increase in positive and sports, has reduced. On the other hand, viewership
sentiment. of content around learning and information, such as
conferences, talks, home improvement, and news,
What this means for brands: When tying back content have seen an increase.
to Covid-19, remember to tread carefully. While brands
are playing it safe, there are still opportunities to serve In some countries like Singapore and Cambodia, there
and engage audiences by balancing optimism and is also a spike in gaming content, as well as music
sensitivity in your messaging. Do not be afraid to streaming on platforms like YouTube, likely due to the
experiment and test what works and what does not, but increase in work-from-home measures set in place.
always use data as a sensitivity check to inform your
content. These are ‘unprecedented’ times, so some What this means for brands: Expand and experiment.
level of unprecedented should be expected. If your brand generally produces light-hearted content,
but your consumer base is increasingly looking at
3. Media Type Breakdown upskilling or educational pieces, be creative and steer
towards that direction. You never know what a good fit
ADA data suggests that there is an increase in all types might be.
of social media channels across the region. Twitter
appears to be the most popular social media channel Brands should always look into the data, do not just
during this period in all countries, largely due to the stick to the same old way of creating content. Be
quick news updates available on this channel. YouTube mindful of the current situation, which keeps on
seems to be the channel with the lowest activity during changing and be ready to quickly adapt your content to
this time, as the channel is mainly used to consume fit your consumer. For me personally, these
user-generated videos, which have become harder to unprecedented times can be exciting for a marketer as
produce with social isolation and social distancing we are required to be agile enough to overcome
measures still in place. challenges many have never faced before in their
lifetime. So, don’t be afraid to go out there and try new
What this means for brands: Analyze where people things, but always lean into the data and let the
are at during this stay-home period. While media type consumer’s behavior guide you on what to do, not the
is one aspect, look at their behaviors online. For other way around. ◊
instance, what people are doing on Twitter can give
you a good sense of whether your Did-You-Know 2-
minute video can be better formatted as a simple poll By Anurag Gupta,
post to increase engagement. Chief of Agency
and Chief Operating Office at ADA

17 July 2020: Virtual-, Augmented & Mixed Reality: revolutionizing the customer experience