McCann to add 2 business units

Chief executive officer Monica White said yesterday that in next couple months, the agency would kick off a unit for business-to-business (B2B) consulting services along with another unit called McCann Social Central.
Though the CEO declined to deliver details of the B2B consulting service, it was understood that McCann Social Central would involve recruiting and nurturing young talent to increase brand engagement with social-networking consumers. This unit, which debuted in New York, is meant to be a hub for a global network of social thinkers, experimenters and doers.
A Facebook service is one of McCann Social Central’s offerings, which involves three key steps. First is storytelling for brand development, timeline design and experience, content strategy and development and content creation.
Second is brand timeline management including community management, content or story amplification, and insight and performance management. The final step is customer engagement.
Meanwhile an already-established unit, McCann Truth Central, will provide consumer insight and intelligence conducted in the Kingdom in conjunction with McCann’s global network. It also helps create recommendations for marketers. For example, it has released its latest insights about urbanites, of whom there are 20 million in the Kingdom. Of that number, 12.8 million are upcountry and the rest in Greater Bangkok.
Varidda Voraakom, chief innovation officer, said urbanites were at the heart of today’s communications. The growing importance of city dwellers in Asia and around the world has a significant impact in reforming brand communications as digital and new media have transform the way cultures think, act and behave. Therefore this is an opportunity for McCann clients, she said.
Meanwhile, White said advertising expenditure in the Kingdom was expected to increase by about 8-10 per cent from Bt105 billion in last year. After last year faced flat growth due to the devastating floods, the agency targets 12-per-cent growth in revenue from existing key clients and 10 new ones, CEO said.