Bienalto powers up its senior team and makes bold predictions on Australia’s future in digital

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Phillips,Burdon.jpgBienalto, a Wunderman company, has announced the appointment of Richard Phillips (left) and Robert Burden (right) as associate, experience design and, optimization associate respectively.

Previously based in the UK and part of the Wunderman network, both transfer to Australia with rich experience working on digital optimization strategies for key global clients like Microsoft, Nokia and Ford.

Moving to Sydney, Phillips has accumulated diverse experience across a range of sectors and industries with focus on SEO, SEM and Affiliates to deliver ROl. Burden also has a strong background in data and technology and, among other roles, he has refined the process of using data to optimise the performance of digital assets. He will be working at the Bienalto office in Melbourne.

Says Hurol Inan, managing director, Bienalto: “We are incredibly excited about having Richard [Phillips] and Robert [Burden] on board at Bienalto. Our clients stand to reap enormous benefits from their insights in shaping and refining the digital strategies. The transfer of two key talents across the network is a prime example of synergies and benefits of being part of the Wunderman network and accessing world-class solutions for all clients.”

Coming from the heart of digital in UK, both Phillips and Burden share their views on what they think is going to be big in Australia in the upcoming 12 months.

 

Phillips predicts rapid evolution in the Australian digital scene.

He has witnessed a profound shift in the UK industry, whereby major brands have moved beyond the acquisition conundrum and are now focused on retention.

Phillips predicts that Australian websites will evolve rapidly over the next 12 to 24 months, as the learnings from the UK feed into a change in approach here.

Says Phillips: “Online commerce has greater market share in the UK, and there has been significant investment in enhancing the user experience and shopping cart. Everything is connected – call centres, websites, infrastructure – to create a seamless experience.

“UK sites are now focused on retention, which is a smart play from a cost perspective. In Australia, companies are quickly moving in that direction, but are still focused on acquisition and conversion.”

 

Burden points to personalisation and big data:

“Online data is incredibly powerful, and can be used to affirm business decisions and measure performance. You can start using data for strategies like conversation optimisation – where you have real-time data coming in from all channels, to give you a clear understanding of the customer’s needs and wants, so you can deliver an intensified offer to them based on their behaviours.

“This is happening already in the UK, where marketers are using ‘big data’ – which pulls in data from numerous sources – to identify patterns of behaviour, like churn, and do something about it in real time.”

With greater processing power and the ability to overlay real-time behaviours with historical data, Robert Burden predicts that Australia is at a tipping point – and it won’t be long before business start reaping results from personalisation.

 

Bienalto joined the Wunderman network in December 2012.