President & Innovation Director,
TBWA’s Digital Arts Network, Asia
Originally from Finland and now at home in Singapore, Tuomas Peltoniemi has worked at the intersection of digital marketing strategy, creativity and technology throughout his career. He started as a developer and a technical designer, and through 17 years in digital marketing, he has a thorough understanding of the role of technology and innovation in marketing, and its various strategies from ad tech to user experience, and from content management systems to data and publishing tools.
Despite his background, Tuomas never recommends that clients invest in technology until there is a clear strategy and role for that technology in driving business or marketing outcomes for the client. He believes that innovation is essentially a mindset change. It’s the ability to think differently about a client’s marketing or business problem, and then design a solution of not only technology, but also the people and processes that create successful change in the way clients market to their customers – whether in B2B or B2C.
Interestingly, another key part of driving innovation for Tuomas is managing change. In innovation and technology projects, he has come to understand the importance of ensuring that innovation works on two streams: enabling the current way of doing business, while driving a more innovative solution. Often these two streams work at different speeds.
He has the unique ability to see the role of technology and innovation as a business driver, and his most ambitious project to date has been the work he’s spearheaded for MasterCard. Tuomas led a team that designed and executed a new innovative digital marketing model across 10 markets in Asia – MasterCard’s Digital and eCommerce Engine.
The innovative data and analytics-driven business model enables MasterCard and its agency teams to track trends and insights as they happen, and then collaborate with MasterCard's merchants and issuing banks to reach the right customers with the right content, at the right time. Consisting of a robust four-part process, it allows MasterCard to identify and address barriers, or make adjustments in real-time:
1. Understand consumer sentiment and market trends
2. Translate data into meaningful insights
3. Create and publish content to drive transactions
4. Build an emotional connection with consumers through targeted content
His team proposed an innovative technology stack, which saw MasterCard invest in newsroom technology, and some of the most impressive real-time data and publishing tools. The team consists of strategists, data scientists, media, content producers and account servicing staff.
The results of this marketing model have been nothing short of impressive, while the model itself has also changed the way MasterCard’s marketing operates.
The Engine has helped achieve 47 million video views at a third of the cost benchmark for the financial industry. It has also lowered MasterCard’s cost per click on merchant offers by 73%. Key merchants have reported over 200% higher sales results, and key markets have seen over 400% increase in transaction volumes.
In less than 2 years, The Digital and eCommerce Engine has helped MasterCard Asia-Pacific drive over 13 million qualified leads to merchants to purchase. It went, from being a region with no social activity, to being the most engaged MasterCard region in the world.