All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Lytics, Meetrics, Mediafly, Qualtrics, Zeta, Bluedot, Canva and Hi Marley.

As the coronavirus pandemic forces business functions to be reconfigured as virtual events, one CMO has turned to a hackathon as a collaborative, online initiative to problem solve and broaden marketing with the company’s extended ecosystem.

Enhancing brand influence is more important than sales growth and conversion in campaigns for more than half of businesses in the region, according to the inaugural Asia-Pacific Corporate Communications Report.

When Carl Hartmann and Mark Livings set out to build Lyre’s Spirit Co, they were looking to create a product and brand that would provide a palatable and socially acceptable alternative to alcoholic spirit-based beverages. Little did they know, the COVID-19 crisis was about to deliver a hoard of potential customers looking for a healthier lifestyle while in lockdown.

A handful of years ago, Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) commenced a complete review and overhaul of its marketing strategy and operations under incoming CMO Michael Branagh.

Unilever has partnered with Alibaba Cloud, the IaaS outfit behind the Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, to power its digital marketing initiatives. The multinational consumer goods company will be able to optimise its omni-channel, online and offline demand generation activities using Alibaba Cloud’s artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based technologies.

TikTok has launched its marketing offering, encouraging brands not to make ads, but instead TikToks. The Chinese-backed platform, which is owned by ByteDance, specialises in short dance, lip sync and performance videos and has seen an uptick in use, particularly during the COVID-19-enforced lockdown.

A concerted effort to build real-time consumer sentiment tracking has seen Beiersdorf pivot its marketing, media and social approach to meet changing behavioural trends during the COVID-19 crisis.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Relay42 and Tapad, MetaCX, Dun & Bradstreet, HCL Technologies, Freshworks and TCS, Contentful, Yabb and Eyeota

Global ad spend will fall by almost 12 per cent this year (excluding US political advertising), but this will be followed by growth of 8.2 per cent on a comparable basis next year, according to GroupM’s twice yearly This Year, Next Year report.

Providing a free or lower cost trial of a paid version of a service for a short period helps the take-up of the paid version. But freemium models aren't quite so successful, a new paper, Experience Effect in the Impact of Free Trial Promotions, published in Management Science, claims.

A month-long initiative encouraging content streamers across multiple social platforms to fundraise is just one example of Starlight embracing the virtual realm to keep funds coming in during the crisis.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Demandbase, Full Circle Insights, LiveChat, Neustar, Ocient, Zenloop, Ethyca and Emarsys.

As Australian businesses begin to emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown, there’s a growing trend suggesting those best placed to recover quickly are the ones who stayed engaged with their customers throughout.

The AANA, IAB and MFA are calling on the entire digital advertising community to dive into the latest edition of their Australian Digital Advertising Practices in order to lift trust, transparency and knowledge of the supply chain across the industry.

Two new digital solutions to help clients respond to physical distancing restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have become the first big outcomes of Datacom's decision to invest in a fresh customer experience management approach.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Act-On, Cavai, CustomerLabs, SurveyMonkey, Ovato, Hearsay, Leadspace and Microsoft and Revuze.

Identifying the connections between ballet students, performance attendees and donors is in the long-term sights of Queensland Ballet as it embarks on the journey to better unify and comprehend customer data.

An experiential campaign created for Procter & Gamble in ecommerce is about bringing the physical shopping experience for relatable goods to the digital realm and a reflection of how consumers are seeking fresh engagement in new channels, the brand’s regional ecommerce chief says.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Sendoso, Tableau, Microsoft and Workday, Zalora and Trade Desk, Templafy, Criteo, BrandMuscle and Widen, and AdMobilize and Seedooh

The launch of IGA’s online grocery delivery service is a lesson in developing minimum viable product that responds quickly to the needs of customers during a rapidly evolving crisis, its shopper engagement leader says.