Aviva ramps up integration

Singapore - Insurance giant Aviva will look towards implementing more integrated marketing strategies in 2009 as it attempts to align its marketing plans with overall business strategies - and avoid slashing marketing budgets next year.

"We have traditionally not been using digital as a huge percentage of our marketing budget so that move is already started to change but it's an ongoing process," Melisa Teoh, head of brand APAC at Aviva Asia, said.

According to Teoh Aviva, which uses Proximity, an agency which is strong in interactive as its creative agency, hasn't scaled back her marketing budget for next year and will go ahead with its sponsorship commitments in 2009 which among other things include the Aviva Ironman 70.3 triathlon.

When asked whether she thought more marketers, in response to the credit crunch, would shift budgets online because of the costs and ROI measurability factors, she disagreed.

"Even before the crisis happened, we were already looking at integration," she said.

"I don't think any marketer is going to suddenly park all their money on digital, which would be totally unrealistic, and as marketer you're always looking for ROI as an ongoing process whether or not there's a recession or not," she said.