OEM picks up awards in Singapore for its ‘ThINK Outside the Printer’ campaign.
Manila Standard Today reported that Epson Southeast Asia won two Marketing Excellence Awards – the Gold Award for Excellence in Marketing Communications and the Silver Award for Excellence in Integrated Marketing B2B, with the awards organised by Singapore-based Marketing Magazine.
The OEM won the awards for its ‘ThINK Outside the Printer’ campaign, which has been running over two phases since February 2014 and is targeted at SOHOs and SMEs in Southeast Asia that may benefit from using ink tank printers. The first award “recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or programme that conveys compelling messages to its target audience while driving core business objectives”; while the second award “recognises the best organisation that effectively engages its B2B partners through an integrated marketing strategy by employing a suite of marketing tools and media channels while driving core business objectives”.
The campaign included a media strategy comprising “print and out-of-home (OOH) advertising, in-store communications, social media, and SME event activations” covering Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. It also included the creation of a marketing video, ‘The Interview’, which was viewed over 600,000 times on the OEM’s YouTube channel.
Endo Koichi, Managing Director for Epson Southeast Asia, said: “We are thrilled to receive this recognition for our efforts from such a prestigious organisation […] Epson is redefining and challenging the printer category with the introduction of the original ink tank printers. The research data shows ink tank printers are gaining market traction and disruption has started. We have a unique value proposition, what was needed in this region was a consistent message coupled with high brand and product visibility delivered through a cohesive media strategy.”
Meanwhile Siew Jin Kiat, General Manager, Inkjet and Laser Printing Division at Epson Southeast Asia, said: “Among the more traditional source[s] of influence like OOH, newspaper, and magazines, small businesses make their printer purchases from researching online, walking up to stores and talk[ing] to promoters, and base[d] on word-of-month […] the opportunity is there for us to introduce ink tank printers into their minds to change their perceptions before the next decision cycle.”
According to the Manila Standard Today, “Epson saw an increase in inkjet market share” during the second quarter of the year compared to the first “as a result of the campaign”.