Engage:BDR strategy on-track after signing up four South Korean brands

Advertising company engage:BDR (ASX: EN1) has added four new brands to its commercially-focused IconicReach platform and says it has achieved a milestone set out in its strategic plan earlier this year.

The brands WeDu Communications, Happyroom, Gio Clavis and Putti Atti were all added to IconicReach in addition to Coreana, LOVLUV and Never Stop Riding (NSR Riding) which were added last year.

Engage:BDR said these new clients are part of the company’s larger effort to expand its presence in the Korean and Asia Pacific marketplace.

In a statement to the market earlier today, engage:BDR confirmed it has signed six new brands to the IconicReach platform in this current quarter and hopes to continue its expansion by signing at least four more partners to the platform every quarter this year.

The additions announced today are aimed squarely at the South Korean market which continues to lead popular trends in beauty, pop culture and consumer products.

Engage:BDR said that NSR Riding is Korea’s number one cycling brand which hopes to leverage its technology to tap into “unique viral Instagram advertising” opportunities through its influencer marketplace.

As part of its ad marketing expansion, engage:BDR also added ASHLEYlauren to its IconicReach platform earlier this year.

Just last week, the company launched a campaign to promote the “red-carpet ready” fashion brand to a US audience in tandem with US National Dress Day.

South Korean brands

WeDu Communications is a global “edu-culture” communications brand, which creates e-learning products for children. The brand was founded to create learning tools for today’s fast-paced high-tech environment, focusing on children in improving their mindset towards learning.

Happyroom Hueplus is a South Korean healthy lifestyle product company which provides tailored products to help relax and de-stress the body. The brand was established in 2001 and has become a well-known name in the health product market.

The brand’s top products include the Hueplus neck and shoulder massager, the rolling massager, a footbath, and several other massage products.

Meanwhile, Putti Atti designs a variety of baby products with its goods now sold in several US baby-centric stores as well as Amazon.com.

One of its flagship products is the company’s flexible, non-toxic and eco-friendly “Putti Atti bottle”, made entirely from liquid silicon. The brand’s products have been approved by the US FDA and the European Safety Standard and the company hopes to see escalating sales going forward.

Gio Clavis also makes baby products which it sells worldwide but is headquartered in South Korea. Its headline product is the “Gio pillow” which can prevent flat head syndrome in young babies.

Looking forward to marketability

Engage:BDR also said its new clients would bridge the gap with the Korean marketplace and are therefore “vital” for the company. The announced brand collaborations are expected to serve in broadening IconicReach’s scope, thereby drawing in a wider pool of customers and growing revenue.

One of the key vehicles for growing revenue will be what’s known as “digital influencers”.

Influencers are the ideal tool to reach international consumers, who are well connected online, but also, informed and eager to test out new products that they could share with others.

Engage:BDR has laid out a strategy that focuses on influencer marketing because it has proven to deliver excellent results as well as being extremely cost-effective.

The global spend in influencer marketing is set to hit a record high of US$5-10 billion in 2020, despite proliferating only within the last 10 years.

Advertisers are maintaining a large spend on these channels, despite the growing amount of people watching content on their phones and purposefully avoiding traditional ads.

Furthermore, with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), engage:BDR wants to leverage automated and data-rich computing techniques to better engage with each ad campaign the company delivers to its clients. This is typically done by improved prediction of what ad buyers are willing to buy and what they’re willing to pay in real-time.

Unlike other modes of advertising, brands do not have to spend thousands of dollars on an advertisement that a consumer will only see for a few seconds or minutes. Instead, influencers target people that are most likely to be interested in the brand’s product and impact their decision to buy the product.