Influencer agency founder Evangeline Leong on Kobe’s acquisition by We Are Social 

We Are Social has purchased a majority stake in Singapore-based influencer advertising and marketing company Kobe World Applied sciences to beef up its influencer advertising and marketing companies throughout Southeast Asia. Kobe will proceed to function as an unbiased model beneath founder and CEO Evangeline Leong (pictured proper) in addition to co-founder Cha Lin (pictured left). In the meantime, Leong will report back to CEO of We Are Social Singapore, Christina Chong. 

Kobe was based in 2016 and touts itself to have delivered influencer advertising and marketing for over 500 manufacturers, together with purchasers resembling Suntory, Logitech, United Abroad Financial institution, PepsiCo, in addition to Suntec Metropolis and Genki Sushi Singapore. Kobe additionally clinched silver for Finest Social Influencer Company at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE‘s Hashtag Asia Awards 2021 and gold for Influencer Company of the Yr at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE‘s Company of the Yr Awards 2021. The company presently has over 20 staff in Singapore and 5 throughout Southeast Asia and collaborates with celebrities and influencers, touting entry to 100 million eyeballs with 20,000 content material creators throughout the area with the assistance of AI. In the meantime, We Are Social Singapore has roughly 80 staff. 

Whereas Leong declined to disclose the financial worth of the acquisition, she informed MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the transfer was two years within the making and he or she selected to promote to We Are Social for 3 causes, the primary being its experience in information analysis and insights. Based on Leong, its prowess in information analysis and insights has propelled We Are Social to be a social media chief amongst social media businesses. “I believed that was a really sensible and strategic method of positioning themselves as a thought chief in social media. It is very aligned with how we’ve been utilizing an schooling strategy to propel ourselves as thought leaders in influencer advertising and marketing. This alignment was a really large match for us,” Leong defined.

Secondly, Kobe was additionally drawn to the distinguished purchasers in We Are Social’s portfolio, resembling adidas, Netflix, and Samsung, in addition to its giant international community with its workplaces in Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, US and France, amongst others. On the similar time, We Are Social additionally has the backing of Chinese language advertising and marketing companies agency BlueFocus Group, in addition to international non-public fairness and funding corporations CVC Capital Companions and CDPQ.

“I imagine that We Are Social is well-positioned to construct a world community for the longer term with its international workplaces. It has a really robust infrastructure and management in social media. Therefore, it was a robust strategic match,” she added.

As Kobe continues to operate as an unbiased entity beneath We Are Social, Leong plans to evolve the company’s choices by We Are Social’s experience and infrastructure. “Influencers have develop into a really integral part of social media. Therefore, I believe there will certainly be a very good integration between each events,” she mentioned. 

“We’re very excited to be becoming a member of this massive international community. I am wanting ahead to all the information, insights, technique and artistic experience we are able to achieve. We have now predominantly sharpened our area of interest in influencer advertising and marketing however on the subject of the general technique and artistic work throughout advertising and marketing and social, that is the place We Are Social’s power lies,” she mentioned.

Kobe’s major focus is to double down on social media, improve its product choices, and have the ability to serve advanced large-scale influencer campaigns. That mentioned, Leong plans to rent extra skilled expertise within the space of influencer advertising and marketing in addition to expertise to beef up its account servicing group. “We are going to give attention to these two to construct on the corporate and tackle extra refined and bigger abilities. Therefore, we’ll require expertise growth,” she defined.

In the meantime, We Are Social’s co-founder and group CEO, Nathan McDonald (image beneath centre), mentioned the acquisition not solely strengthens its Singapore providing but in addition reveals its intention to harness extra alternatives in Southeast Asia. On the similar time, We Are Social’s Chong (pictured beneath left) mentioned: “Influencer advertising and marketing has all the time been an essential a part of our artistic product throughout our community. We’re excited to share our experience with the Kobe group, and to additional strengthen our personal influencer providing with Kobe’s expertise and expertise.”

What does the longer term maintain for Asia’s influencer advertising and marketing scene?

“It is rising exponentially in two methods” was Leong’s response when requested about Asia’s influencer advertising and marketing scene. Firstly, influencer advertising and marketing not focuses on particular platforms. Previously, for instance, manufacturers would particularly seek for YouTubers to churn out content material on YouTube. As a substitute, influencer advertising and marketing today is cross-platform and Leong defined that the artistic executions for influencer advertising and marketing are actually very modern and contact on new kinds of codecs. “It is a very large evolution from the previous when it was only a single weblog put up,” she mentioned, including that storytelling is not nearly taking a photograph. As a substitute, it is about telling an entire story and giving it relevance and authenticity.

“We additionally have a look at cross-border influencers as a result of Singaporeans do observe influencers who aren’t native. Asia can be evolving within the space of digital so this implies folks now have entry to units and enormous networks. Via this, they will additionally discover their ardour to share what they’re doing on social media,” Leong mentioned.

Based on her, the influencer advertising and marketing scene has advanced such that it’s not dominated by the identical few well-liked people. As a substitute, there are contemporary names coming into the scene which in keeping with Leong “actually ranges the enjoying subject”. “I see much more alternatives for manufacturers to interact these kind of individuals who can put a distinct spin to influencer advertising and marketing campaigns,” she defined.

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