How Sumo Eleven wrestled with the pandemic and conquered it

This post is sponsored by Sumo Eleven.

Home-grown event marketing agency Sumo Eleven has once again demonstrated that collaboration is the key to its success, and in doing so, won gold and Local Hero accolades as Event Marketing Agency of the Year for the third consecutive year at advertising+marketing’s Agency of the Year Awards 2021.

In addition, the agency was awarded silver for Experiential Agency of the Year, and bronze for Independent Agency of the Year.

May Ong, founder of the six-year old agency, alongside co-founders. Steven Chan, May Teh, and Denise Tan, shared her thoughts on how Sumo Eleven conquered a pandemic-stricken industry with new services, innovative campaigns, and taking care of people who matter the most.

Developing new services from emerging consumer trends

No industry was spared the unprecedented damage of COVID-19, but the events marketing industry was among the most impacted due to the emphasis on social distancing and restrictions on gatherings and physical events.

So, in 2020, Sumo Eleven expanded its services from physical on-ground events to new services: virtual events, eCommerce, and complementary marketing services such as curated gifting, packaging, and printing.

The innovation of these new services resulted from the agency having identified several emerging consumer trends: the rise of convenience culture; the convergence of digital and physical shopping; and the growing ubiquity of high-speed internet driving more authentic life-like interactive experiences online.

The agency introduced E-Mall (an online marketplace where bars and pubs, as well as entertainers, are connected with customers for a fully fledged bar experience); E-Channel (initially launched as an alternative distribution channel using customised trucks, but which has since evolved into an eCommerce platform), and E-Retailer (managing teams of cocktail barbacks, and delivery riders).

“With these new services, when a nationwide movement control order was imposed in March 2020, Sumo Eleven was primed to lead our agency and our clients to take control of the ‘new normal’ of consumers staying at home and embracing digital in almost all aspects of their lives,” Ong said .

Engaging socially distanced consumers

Humans are inherently social creatures – staying in a virtual socially distanced bubble is something that we cannot and should not do for long. Consumers seek meaningful experiences that can deliver an emotional impact, and connect us to people and places.

After having spent almost two years mostly working from home, and relying on online platforms for news, entertainment and communication, the agency is now observing that consumers are ready to re-emerge from the lockdown bubble and rediscover in-person experiences.

What will enable the agency to successfully navigate this new landscape is crafting content that truly stands out. Greater content that replicates all touch-points of a physical event pre-pandemic will be needed to entice consumers – on-ground and online – albeit with all the safety protocols in place.

This is something the agency has been practising, and believes will carry on through the post-pandemic era.

For example, for Malaysia’s first-ever interactive virtual chillaxing, bar-hopping and delivery platform, the agency is regularly developing different content to engage with the audience, whether it is video content, gamification, masterclasses, or live-streamed entertainment. The content needs to constantly evolve with the times, as well as with  trends, and consumer behaviour.

“We see the recovery and rebound as evolutionary. Despite consumers opting for more digital solutions and mobile devices, virtual engagement alone is not sustainable,” Ong said.

“We see events co-existing both online and offline, offering the flexibility of experiences to consumers. The gradual evolution of such hybrid events will include gamification, especially among the young generations, to build engagement and loyalty.”

Steering a community towards sustainability

Sumo Eleven is anchored in the belief that it is #StrongerTogether. It is this belief, in collaboration, which enabled it to forge ahead stronger together in a year when a global pandemic brought the world – and the events marketing industry – to a standstill. As an independent local agency, it had to be self-reliant and needed to look after its event marketing partners by creating and recasting roles in the agency’s new digital, eCommerce and gift curation services.

To empower its talent in delivering their best work on the agency’s new eCommerce and e-retail services, the team was retrained with new skills in online sales management, customer service, and logistics and delivery.

According to Ong: “We may not be a huge agency, but we are an established one with a passionate, creative team who are always striving to do our best for our clients and walk the journey hand-in-hand.”

For Sumo Eleven, it was not just about being stronger together, but forging ahead to steer the events marketing community towards sustainability to conquer a pandemic.