“Data & AI Technology” is a strategy supported by technology for planning and buying digital media. It helps make digital media buying cost-effective, allows systematic data collection, and enables businesses to build on that data to grow and generate sustainable sales. Working with world-leading companies such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc., YDM has received recognition both nationally and globally and aims to increase revenue by THB 200 million this year.

Mr. Tanapon Subsomboon, CEO of YDM Thailand, said that with more than 10 years of expertise and experience in the digital marketing industry, the company has advised clients and helped plan media buying across almost every business line, from real estate, automotive, finance and banking, and gaming to consumer goods sold around the world, covering hundreds of brands.

We believe that digital media is not merely a tool to create awareness and visibility. Rather, digital media is a tool that can generate tangible business results. For this reason, YDM Thailand has developed its latest strategy, “Data & AI Technology,” to help clients plan media buying more cost-effectively while also collecting data systematically—especially customer data, which is a very important cog in developing a brand for sustainable growth.

“We are not just digital media buyers. We are a digital team with expertise in every area, from digital communication planners, creative, social media, data analytics, data scientists, and data technology, and more. We have world-class technology for planning and buying digital media, both developed in-house and from partners around the world. We intensively optimize your media using AI technology. Most recently, we have applied data technology, which is AI technology, to collect various forms of social media data and capture consumer behavior in order to define segmentation systematically, so that marketers or creatives can use it to analyze and develop planning more effectively,” the CEO of YDM Thailand explained.

Mr. Nattapol Kiatsarnpipop, Media Director of YDM Thailand, added that one of the key strengths of using “Data & AI Technology” is that it not only helps generate real sales for clients but also helps build branding at the same time. This is because data technology enables marketers to understand consumers better than before. We can immediately know which micro-segment a customer belongs to, and more than that, marketers can also understand what stage of the buying decision each segment is in. This means marketers or creatives can plan communications more precisely to match consumer needs, greatly increasing opportunities to close sales.

“The power of data technology lies in its ability to track and analyze consumer behavior at every touchpoint, such as Google, websites, social media, and mobile apps, and centralize it in one place for re-marketing in media strategy.”

We can collect consumers’ engagement behavior on each social media post and combine it with website visits and mobile app usage to analyze which customers are truly likely to become our customers.

For convenience and speed, YDM Thailand has built ready-to-use databases of its own so clients do not need to spend time creating them from scratch—for example, databases of people who intend to buy cars this year, users of cosmetics, or gaming audiences. All data collected by YDM Thailand has also been collected properly in accordance with the PDPA, which was soon to come into force.

As for which platforms suit which clients, we are not fixed on any one platform. We look more at whether the content is suitable for the platform or the target assumptions, and we optimize media based on actual performance while the media is running.

YDM Thailand recognizes the importance of this and has therefore introduced AI technology to assist with optimization through 360-degree dynamic media optimization, covering platform optimization, content optimization, and target optimization to deliver the highest efficiency for clients,” Mr. Nattapol said.

Regarding the overall digital media advertising landscape and spending in 2020, the CEO of YDM Thailand noted that, according to estimates by the Digital Advertising Association (Thailand), spending on digital media this year would reach THB 22 billion. Personally, he believes advertising budgets across all media are likely to decline because of COVID-19, but if we look specifically at digital media, the decrease may not be significant. COVID-19 has changed consumer behavior and attitudes, especially purchasing behavior, with more consumers turning to online shopping. Meanwhile, businesses must adapt to these behavioral changes, focusing more on online marketing or bringing more products onto e-commerce. Most importantly, marketing budgets must be used more carefully, with greater emphasis on ROI. In this regard, using data technology in media buying will help businesses move forward more steadily and avoid wasting money as in the past.