BY VICTORIA BARKER

ENGAGING consumers in a new and evolving media environment was the highlight of a gathering of marketing professionals yesterday.

One of the speakers said of the topic: "It is absolutely necessary and important, especially since the climate and environment surrounding the media and ideas of the past decade have changed so much and are not as relevant today."

L'Oreal Singapore managing director Christopher Neo added that the most important thing is understanding your brand's DNA and choosing the mix of platforms and creative messages that fit it.

Around 250 brand owners from Singapore as well as Malaysia and Thailand attended the Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) first Media Distillery marketing seminar yesterday at Raffles Hotel.

Definitions of markets and target consumers, the importance of creativity in campaigns and how to get into the news and catch eyeballs were discussed.

Speakers included Mr Felix Soh, SPH's digital media editor; Mr Alan John, deputy editor of The Straits Times; Mr Geoff Tan, senior vice-president and head of strategic marketing at SPH; Mr Bharad Ramesh, deputy leader at Mindshare Singapore and Mr Chris Chiu, executive creative director of Leo Burnett Singapore.

vbarker@sph.com.sg

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