Sociomantic Labs enters China market
Sociomantic Labs, the provider of programmatic display advertising solutions for the world’s top advertisers, has launched its operations in China, represented locally with a new office in Shanghai. This opening closely follows the launch of operations in Taipei, Taiwan, both with the purpose of delivering more localised services to the markets of Greater China.
China is home not only to the world’s largest population, but also hosts the highest number of Internet users globally. With 642 million Internet users in 2014, China represented 22 per cent of the world’s Internet users and had more users than the next three countries (United States, India, and Japan) combined (Internet Live Stats, 2014).
China’s mobile Internet ad spending has increased from USD 0.9 billion in 2013 to USD 13.9 billion in 2015. Its rapid growth has helped it surpass United Kingdom and Japan to become the second-largest market globally for mobile advertising today, after the United States (eMarketer, 2015). These factors present a huge market opportunity for Sociomantic and advertisers who want to reach customers and prospects with personalized display advertising across web, mobile, in-app and social display.
Existing Sociomantic clients such as international fashion label AllSaints are excited about the opportunities presented by the company’s entry into the Chinese market.
“Our full-funnel campaigns with Sociomantic have delivered impressive ROI for us in the US and UK so far, thanks to their market leading technology that is supported by best-in-class localised service” said Alice Chan, Digital Manager for China at international fashion label AllSaints.
“E-commerce in China is thriving, and we are really excited about the opportunity to partner with Sociomantic in this critical market. It will be a strategic advantage for us to be able to reach this audience with personalised advertising and creatives across devices. We wish Sociomantic a successful market entry into China and look forward to potentially extending our collaboration with them,” Ms Chan added.
Sociomantic first launched in Asia with an office in Mumbai, India, in 2013, followed shortly by the establishment of regional headquarters in Singapore, led by managing director for the APAC region, Rohit Kumar. The Chinese operations will be led by Ivan Zhou, who moves into the role of commercial director for Greater China.
Zhou has been with Sociomantic in Singapore since 2013 and is an experienced manager with prior experience on the client side, most recently at market-leading fashion e-shop, ZALORA. His experience in servicing leading Asian e-commerce brands like Bilna and Berrybenka during his time as Regional Account Director at Sociomantic has prepared him to bring the company’s programmatic display solutions to the Chinese market.
“Over the past year in Sociomantic, I have witnessed the tremendous growth of the company across Asia, and the strong relationships we have been able to forge with clients in this region,” said Mr Zhou, speaking of his move to the new position in Shanghai.
“There is a gap in the Chinese market for customer-centric, cross-device personalised advertising solutions, and we are excited to step in to fill that gap. I look forward to building out Sociomantic’s Shanghai team to support the region’s largest and fastest-growing market,” Mr Zhou added.
“At Sociomantic, we pride ourselves on our market-leading technology combined with best-in-class service, and China is going to be no different with local service teams based in Shanghai and Beijing—we have strong products backed by talented people,” commented Rohit Kumar, Sociomantic’s managing director for Asia Pacific.
“Given his expertise and knowledge of the Chinese market, Ivan is the perfect fit and right talent to fill the shoes of Commercial Director in order to establish Sociomantic as the market leader in programmatic advertising in Greater China,” Mr. Kumar added.
