Yahoo held the Asia Big Idea Chair Awards 2022 (Asia BIC Awards 2022) earlier at the St. Regis Hotel, Hong Kong. As brands meander their way through the new normal, the awards are dedicated to the boundless creativity and out-of-the-box imagination in the digital media and advertising industry as brands not only survive, but thrive, throughout the tumultuous pandemic landscape.

As an acclaimed regional industry event for 14 consecutive years, the Yahoo Asia BIC Awards 2022 celebrates marketers and advertisers who have shown remarkable efforts in their campaigns.

The judging panel was composed of 26 members from key industry outlets include IAB Hong Kong, HK4As, The Hong Kong Advertisers Association, Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing (AIM), HKMA Digital Marketing Community, Taiwan Digital Media and Marketing Association, Taiwan Advertiser’s Associations, as well as renowned industry practitioners from Taiwan and Singapore.

Matthew Chan, Head of Advertising Business, Yahoo Hong Kong & China, said, “As the world slowly returns to a pre-pandemic normal, brands are pulling all the tricks out of the bag to not only reignite purchasing intent, but also to ensure that their names remain top-of-mind after a three-year lockdown. In 2023, we will see brands operating with tighter budgets in an economically volatile landscape. They will have to unlock opportunities to accelerate business growth by thinking out of the box, in new directions, focusing on performance and RoI, while keeping the consumer front and center. In the upcoming year, we are expecting an uptick in emerging technologies such as the metaverse, artificial intelligence and cloud computing.”

In addition to adtech trends, Matthew also highlighted how the ad industry is embarking on a sustainability journey. He added, “In the past year, Yahoo has honed in on sustainability to provide green media products to align with the brand’s sustainability goals. We can now give brands around the world to shift their buying behaviour in favour of a more eco-friendly tomorrow.”

The Yahoo Asia BIC Awards 2022 was prestigiously attended by 200 esteemed guests from marketing, advertising, media and more to celebrate their own and their peers’ success in the past year.

Aside from being crowned Hong Kong’s Big Idea Chair Champion Outstanding Award, fintech company SoFi Hong Kong’s “SoFi x Yahoo Finance Youth Program — Hunger Investment Game” brought home Best Integrated Solution, as well as Merit awards in Best Acquisition Campaign, Best Partnership Strategy, and Best Innovative Experience (Asia). Niki Leung, Head of International Marketing from SoFi Hong Kong said, “To amplify product proposition and show off our easy and versatile trading app, SoFi Hong Kong collaborated with Yahoo Finance to debut a 3-month investment competition to engage with young investors. The U.S. stock-trading competition successfully recruited 286 teams of young investors, offering participants an opportunity to meet both online and in person to discuss investment strategies whilst experiencing SoFi’s offerings as they access our trading platform. As a result, we saw a substantial increase in membership, along with increased mentions of SoFi on online forums popular amongst this demographic.”

A Merit Winner of the Hong Kong BIC Champion 2022 was Manulife Hong Kong, whose “New Critical Illness Product Launch Campaign” was also crowned Best Programmatic Campaign for both Hong Kong and Asia region. HyounJoo Choe, Chief Customer Officer at Manulife Hong Kong and Macau, said: “As part of our campaign to promote the flexible benefits offered by our two recently launched critical illness plans, we created a series of entertaining cinematic videos featuring well-known Hong Kong actors, Gordon Lam and Louise Wong, as a couple of special agents showcasing the importance of easing medical burden and early protection. The campaign targeted the 25-54 age group with a range of videos and subsequent advertising coupled with call-to-action messages to reach a variety of consumers, including health-conscious youngsters or parents. By leveraging the Yahoo Next-Gen Audience, our campaign reached high-value audiences in a cookieless digital environment. As a result, our campaign KPI rose by 310% with CTR that are 400% higher than the Yahoo industry benchmark!”

Another notable Merit Winner of the Hong Kong BIC Champion 2022 Awards was IKEA, whose acclaimed “IKEA Empower Your Everyday” campaign won Outstanding awards in Best Branded Content Campaign and Best Partnership Strategy, and the Merit award for Best Integrated Solution. Nicole Hsu, External Communication Manager from IKEA Hong Kong said, “In reaction to the increasing number of people working from home or reluctant to leave the safety of their four walls due to the pandemic, IKEA sprinkled a number of enticing and relevant ads, long-form content, native ads alongside call-to-action in premium media buys. Messages were tailored to groups who are studying, working and have problems sleeping at home. The content commerce ecosystem we generated – alongside Yahoo’s support – drove significant results to the campaign, namely -66% in CPA, and ROAs were 5x times better than all awareness placements.”

Originating from Yahoo! Inc., the Asia Big Idea Chair Awards is a leading digital awards event which has travelled around the world, and was launched in Hong Kong in 2009. The Asia Big Idea Chair Awards celebrates all the remarkable advertising campaigns and ideas on Yahoo in Asia throughout the past year.