No-nonsense marketing

• If you’re on social media, you’re sure to have come across people and content promoting brands or offering discount perks. That’s affiliate marketing in action, which is what 500-backed martech company Involve Asia specializes in helping businesses do more effectively.
• Involve Asia’s platform helps brands form marketing partnerships with global content creators, developers, and affiliates. Some of their partners and advertisers include Lazada, Grab, Marriott, Nike, among others.
• How does it differ from other marketing activities? “In marketing, attribution is a big problem. Understanding what works and what doesn’t is a challenge,” explains Co-founder & President René Menezes. “What Involve Asia offers is for brands to only pay for validated performance, hence optimizing their marketing budgets.”
• The team has approximately 1 million partners on their network, including publishers and influencers. “Being a locally-created platform, there are not many like us in Southeast Asia. Most of the big boys come from the U.S., Europe, or Japan. We were founded here, built here, so we understand the nuances of the Southeast Asian market,” shares René.
• What’s truly unique and important here? Involve Asia’s platform also prevents fraud with data validation mechanics. For example, if a brand offers 3% commission on products sold through a partner, a partner could go out and purchase 100 of those products, return them within 7 days, and still earn the 3% commission that didn’t actually materialize as sales for the brand owner. “We solved that by ensuring that once the product is consumed, and if the return window is over, only then will the commission be paid out,” he said.
• Involve Asia has achieved 150% in annualized growth, and US$130M in revenue this year while being profitable. René revealed that an IPO may be their next step in the next 3 to 3.5 years.
• What’s their immediate goal? To empower even the man on the street to become an affiliate.
• Listen to the full interview on BFM 89.9.

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