#PowerOfMusic

With a massive population of over 250 million, big companies have their eyes set on Indonesia. Statistics show that the total number of mobile phone users for 2017 is expected to rise to a whopping 173 million, making this country an attractive territory for mobile marketing.  

But while Indonesia is a promising market because of the density of its consumers on mobile, geography is a hurdle for all marketers. With over 17,000 islands and more than 726 dialects spoken across the archipelago, how can brands reach this seemingly fragmented audience?

The influx of capital investments in emerging markets creates massive job opportunities, which in return gives millions of consumers new purchasing power. And with the growth surge of smartphone penetration in Southeast Asia, this region has undoubtedly became one of the most attractive markets for mobile and internet marketing. Throughout the years, I’ve seen how big multinational brands launched aggressive campaigns to win the race of capturing these territories first. But while “first strike” is important, it is equally significant to “strike the right note” with these consumers.

In recent times, there has been a major shift in how brands, labels and technology providers are engaging and communicating with consumers due to the digital revolution. What is often seen as three different enterprises leveraging the same universal language, music, must now work out a way to come together and provide the best music streaming services to engage music fans in the most memorable way. The digital landscape brings us now to a much more sustainable environment that allows brands to measure ROI while sending targeted messages to collect user data. In the end, this initiative will drive brand affinity, customer loyalty and ultimately, increase conversion. The key to working together effectively is to move from a client-supplier relationship  to one of a more unified approach and economy, namely the partnership between brands, tech platforms and record labels. Too often, the relationship between industry players is one that is more compartmentalised, instead of an opportunity to grow the market together by achieving a common goal. To collaborate successfully, there needs to be a transparent and open discussion between all parties involved, and a willingness to approach the market challenges with a fresh agenda.

Today, creators of mobile technology are catering to the market’s need for better quality of life. They are seeing the importance of finding ways to connect digital tools with emotional needs in order to increase customer engagement.

An exciting development for brands is that wearable technology lets you in on your consumers’ lives, habits and personalities, to tap into more data, forecasting their desires.

With an estimated worldwide audience of 3.6 billion according to Global Web Index, the 31st Olympiad kicked off with a dazzling opening ceremony in Rio at the weekend. These Olympic Games are expected to be the most watched ever and for this very reason, brands (official sponsors and otherwise) are on the lookout for opportunities to be associated with the biggest sporting event in the world and to capture the attention of Olympic fans as a means to drive business impact.

The Australian Olympic team has gotten off to a great start with two gold medals for men and women in swimming, another gold medal in women’s trap shooting and a the first Olympic media was a surprise bronze in men’s archery. The team’s hashtag #OneTeam has been trending all weekend as the first medals have been won.

In today’s mobile arena, it’s crucial for customers to connect with your brand. Through business intelligence tools, brands can gather important data (such as location, gender, and music preferences) every time a user listens to their favourite music. By utilising this data, brands can create buyer personas that will enable them to reach out and figuratively grab consumers on a personal level.

As marketing becomes even more competitive and sophisticated, it’s crucial for brands to find innovative ways to connect to existing customers while engaging new ones. This entails providing a personalised experience that customers can relate to on an emotional level — and music can provide that experience. The universal language of music can be used to reach customers across the globe; when used in a mobile context, music can convert mobile experience to an effective customer engagement strategy for brands.

Music festivals are huge events in the cultural calendar and they have now extended their reach globally by attracting a much wider audience of non-festival goers, who will tune into social media because of the “halo effect” that influential celebrities bring to these events. It’s the clothes they’re wearing, how they’ve done their hair and who they are with, that people are also interested in. No doubt, fashionable celebrities coupled with exciting performance line-ups have turned festivals into a massive social media phenomenon.

With advancements seen in mobile technology, customers are now more powerful than ever. Mobile allows consumers to be always connected, and with that comes the ability to find information instantaneously. As a result, they want to be in control of their own experience. This power shift to consumers has disrupted traditional marketing models to find ways to connect with consumers by giving them what they want, when and where they want it. One company that is doing that is True Religion.

This new initiative by True Religion aims to improve brand loyalty by outfitting their retail store employees with the Apple Watch, including integration with iBeacons to give their customers a more personalised and pleasurable shopping experience.

In the past year, we’ve started to see many fashion and accessories brands making their first foray into the world of music streaming. They’re taking the lead from the consumer technology, car and luxury brands that have already used music to deeply engage with their customers on an emotional level, in order to build brand advocacy and customer loyalty in order to increase sales.

Marketers have been facing a shift in the way they create their brand engagement models when it comes to Millennials. What once worked for the older generations no longer has the same effect with Millennials. Music festivals for example have quickly taken over as the best way to reach out to Millennials, with companies like Reb Bull, Mercedes-Benz and MasterCard leading the way in music event sponsorship. Millennials prefer to build memories by attending live events. But what are the hard numbers to support this?

Well let’s take a look …