BBDO Singapore Gears Up for Social-First Focus with Top Influencer Partnership

BBDO Singapore partners TikTok specialist Boom Digital Media to drive social media strategies and solutions as part of its integrated suite of creative services for clients. The partnership comes on the heels of strong social media consumption in Asia. 

“In today’s climate, social media is crucial in a brand’s communication mix to engage with its audiences. We will now be able to turbocharge our digital solutions with critical data insights and strategy from a leading practitioner in this space,” says Melvin Kuek, CEO of BBDO Singapore.

BBDO has partnered Ng Ming Wei, the founder of Boom Digital Media and one of Southeast Asia’s most followed  TikTok creators, with 35 million followers on his social media accounts. To date, he has garnered 10 billion views on his personal comedy skits and videos on @mingweirocks. 

“Because Boom is founded and led by Ming… he is the best possible partner for us. He has done the walk already and built a massive personal brand as well. Also, he’s someone whom I have gotten to know well and built a good synergy with. Working with people you like and respect is critical in building a successful partnership,” says Melvin. He adds that BBDO has seen a shift in recent years, with clients asking for campaign builds to start from a digital-first perspective and even more recently, a social-first perspective.

“The Boom partnership really allows us to address this latter ask. In particular, TikTok’s platform is fairly complex to navigate for brands and even agencies. It’s more than just about putting money into a platform; it’s also about creating valuable, relevant content for a brand’s audience. Boom’s expertise in this space will be invaluable for us. This partnership will start from Singapore first as we look to build opportunities from within  our existing clients before venturing into other markets.”

For Ming Wei, it has been a quick and intense journey on TikTok, which began during Covid lockdown in Singapore. He attributes the success of his videos to attention to detail. “Besides producing content that I believe the audience would enjoy and find entertaining, I took into consideration many other important factors – such as the posting time, hashtags used, the music used and many more. Being able to appeal to the audience is extremely important, but to begin with, the content has to reach the audience in the first place. It was quite a lengthy process, and it took me about 3 years to get here.”

 

Importantly, Ming Wei’s success story has given him key hindsights that will be invaluable in his work with BBDO. “Viewers like to see short, yet entertaining content. The struggle with grasping the attention of the audience is that you only have 1-2 seconds to make an impression before they choose to swipe away. Therefore, it is important to be able to come up with show-stopping and eye-catching introductions to pull the viewers in, and that’s what I will be applying to my organisation and brand client work.”

Ming Wei, who met Melvin through one of his global clients – the Global Esports Federation says, “I see huge potential for growth in the roadmap of possibilities Melvin shared for this partnership with BBDO. I definitely see this as a great opportunity to scale up Boom’s offerings beyond social media and influencer marketing.” 

He shares that Boom’s competitive edge lies in its speciality for short-form vertical videos, alongside unique and appealing social media strategies to bring about the best results that will provide brands with the most competitive age. “In the age of short-form and parallel videos, I believe that Boom is equipped with the skills, equipment and brains to bring the best for all the organisations, partners and brands we choose to work with.”

“I’m a big fan of Ming’s work. The rise of his social media reach and gravitas over the last couple of years has been nothing short of phenomenal. I’m excited to inject Boom’s engine to enhance BBDO’s social team, bringing digital first creativity to the next level,” adds Tay Guan Hin, creative chairman of BBDO Singapore.

Adds Melvin, “More and more people are consuming content and information via mobile first. According to Statista, over 90% of the Singapore population will have access to social media platforms by 2023. We have also seen how TikTok disrupted the way people consume content. It’s not just a YouTube game anymore.  It just made sense for us to level up our current digital offerings with a partner who absolutely understands what it takes to build a brand following, engagement and virality.

According to Nielsen research, 80% of social media users in Asia who follow influencers are very likely to purchase recommended products, and global marketers are expected to increase social media spend by 53% in 2023. Additionally, 64% of global brand marketers surveyed in Nielsen’s Annual Marketing Report say that social media is the most effective paid channel.