How to creatively bridge the cultural gap

Sydney, June 14th, 2017

Founded in January 2014, Digital Crew is a diversity digital agency specialized in cross-cultural marketing. Headquartered in Sydney Australia, with offices in Hong Kong and Mainland China, it helps businesses market to new cultural environments. In Australia, the agency works with renowned Australian brands to market to the Chinese and the rest of the world. The company’s mission is to bridge the cultural gaps for its clients.

Digital Crew’s inspirational Co-founder and Director Ophenia Liang, belongs to two cultures herself, which gives her a vantage point to help her team work in this specialise area.

Ophenia recalls, “I completed a Masters in Marketing at the Melbourne University and shortly after decided to use these skills and my cultural knowledge to help Australian businesses in China. To that end, after worked as marketing specialist for noted Australian consultancy, in 2014 I co-founded the specialist, multilingual marketing company, Digital Crew, because I identified a real need in helping Australian businesses break into the challenging Chinese market.”

Digital Crew has an in-house Sydney and China team. All of its consultants speak two or more languages fluently and all translations are done by Professional Translators (English to Chinese) accredited by NAATI, holding various degrees in marketing from universities in China and Australia.

Digital Crew has also been able to bring one of the first Baidu Certified Senior SEM Consultants to its team. It’s Alibaba Cloud Channel Partner and Tencent Agency Partner in Australia; and it is also a Google Partner.

Ophenia points out, “There are no one-size-fit-all solutions when it comes to entering a new market. We work with clients to determine the best approach, from consulting, to strategy, training and on-going support.”

“At Digital Crew, we focus on two things that is digital marketing and people,” she adds, “Our team is our greatest asset, that’s why we name ourselves “Crew”. Digital is the one and only language we speak.”

Can you describe your agency in three words?

– Australia and China-based
– Highly Qualified
– Bespoke Services

What is your process for developing a social media strategy?

At Digital Crew, we have the proven process to work out strategies for our client.
– Step one: Have a thorough understanding about our client. We deep dive client’s real need and work together with them to analyse their long-term goals and short-term objectives with the aim of delivering viable social media strategy.

– Step two: Leverage our Digital Crew expertise, a Digital Crew owned marketing tool/methodology set, to conduct marketing anatomy:
⎫ Consumer analysis – via quantitative and qualitative analysis and consumer social talk, we are capable of helping our client to find the unique social media communication direction and opportunities that can unleash the power of consumer.
⎫ Industry/competitor insight – we analyse the overall industry in which our client is running their business, and their competitors, and then we find special social media angles which are rarely talked about or can lead to discussion as a whole.
⎫ Expert opinion – our social media experts work together with insiders from an eclectic mix of social media platforms to get fist hand information which can be integrate into the social medial strategy

Step three: Digital Crew Brainstorm. We bring all the above together and list all the possible strategies, and then pin down the most suitable strategies via team discussion.

What should a client aim to achieve with social media?

– Personalized social medial channel to embody their brand identity and proposition

– Categorized consumer online data pool

– A matrix covering branding, marketing, advertising and promotion to talk to consumers

What’s the most common mistake made when preparing copy for social?

Without knowing the way in which your target audiences consume information on social media, especially with culture difference/barrier.

Some marketers care too much about the brand they work for, but do not focus enough on how their target audiences react to social media posts psychologically, especially under the fact that social medial environment is constantly evolving, and so does its users.

How do you define the brand voice?

Brand voice is more like a consistent perception/feeling, and it’s forged upon how consumers sense, hear, see, read about your brand/produce via the interactive experience on various channels.

Which social media brand strategy has inspired you lately and why?

For me, Dolce & Gabbana’s recent strategy can be regarded as a social media hit. Its strategy combines the brand’s high-end fashion position with highly localized language in regional market, and creates a social media communication model which can be easily applied in other reginal markets.

Hashtagged ‘DGLovesJapan’, ‘DGLovesChina’ and ‘DGLovesBrazil’, the leading luxury brand successfully integrates its collections with local scenes in Japan, China and Brazil successively to engage social medial users around world.

Under this strategy, campaigns in different regional markets can be carry out like sequels showing one umbrella message, as well as showcasing its unique local attraction.

Can you tell us about a project you worked on, and that was especially successful?

The work we did for the Cancer Council on their Sunscreen campaign was brilliant.
Project Objective:
⎫ Increase brand awareness amongst Chinese consumers
⎫ Increase product exposure
Project Achievement:
⎫ Brand mention in target market increased 5 times within first 3 months
⎫ Product sales in China increase by 250%

What do you see as some up-and-coming social media platforms?

The VR-based social media platforms are rising promisingly. In China, shopping and sharing with VR will become one of the most leading disruptive innovator reshaping the future shopping. Australian companies should take advantage of this trend and adjust their digital strategy in advance.

Can you share three important things or experiences that have brought you to where you are today?

In 2006, I encounter a global student organisation named AIESEC, with a few other like-minded friends, we introduce this organization and set up their first office in Guangzhou. Through AIESEC, I had the opportunity to work with very talented people around the globe on developing youth leadership and multicultural projects. I have seen and experience the power of cultural diversity when we embrace it.

In 2012, I was appointed the Head of Search for a renowned Digital agency in Australia named Reactive Media. With a leadership role, I was exposed to a wider range of decision makers in the digital and marketing industry. Under my lead, the department growth 300% in one year in terms of revenue and profit, and our client recognition went up exponentially.

In 2015, I become a mother. Motherhood made me a better manager and a multi-tasker. I learnt how to budget my time more wisely, to be patient and bring out the potential of my team.

What sound or noise you love? Which one you hate?

Love: sound of sea waves;
Hate: the sound of a fork scratching a plate.

If you could do any other job, what would this be?

I’d love to be a venture capitalist someday!

By Geny Caloisi.
genyc@topinteractiveagencies.com

Learn more about Digital Crew

Follow Ophenia Liang on social media:
Ophenia Liang’s LinkedIn

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Digital Crew’s LinkedIn
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