Cibo Named Brand Experience AOR for Subaru Asia

Cibo, an integrated brand experience agency, today announced that they have been awarded Brand Experience Agency of Record for Motor Image Group of Singapore, the exclusive Subaru distributor in SE Asia, to develop a new brand strategy and creative platform that will engage and win the hearts of their customers.

Beginning with research and strategy, Cibo and Motor Image will be developing a brand experience platform that’s locally very relevant yet taps into the powerful core brand promise, “Confidence in Motion.”

“Subaru, as Americans know, is a world-class brand delivering innovative features and exciting new models to drivers everywhere. Motor Image as a company takes advantage of global best practices and Western approaches to create additional competitive advantage. In hiring Cibo to drive creative and brand experience excellence for Subaru in Asia, we are continuing this very successful approach to business and are thrilled to have them as our partner,” says Motor Image CEO, Mr. Glenn Tan.

This is the second BAOR (Brand Experience Agency of Record) that Cibo has won recently as they focus on defining a new relationship model with clients focused on connected strategies and experiences across all core brand moments.

“In a world where competing on product features and functions is becoming less and less effective, the companies who understand and invest in their customer’s experience across key brand moments are winning,” says Lu Lacourte, Cibo CEO. “Innovative business leaders in the US and abroad know this well and are looking for new kinds of agency relationships and skills that give them the ability to plan, design, and steward brand experiences across connected mediums.”

Motor Image spent time understanding the recent success of the Subaru brand in the United States and wanted a creative partner who could build on that success while creating campaigns that would resonate with the diverse nature of the nine markets they handle in Asia.

“We were attracted to Cibo with their strong brand client list including Tesla and their experienced senior team’s hands on approach and ideas for our business,” shared Mr. Tan. “We needed a team that would think about our marketing and advertising needs holistically across advertising, dealer, online and social channels and bring a level of sophistication to the creative that the brand deserved.”

Cibo’s new engagement model is most attractive to clients who have a growing desire to engage with a marketing partner that can work with them across the entire customer journey from awareness through advocacy.

“Brand moments are critical to the automobile awareness and buying process and Cibo stood out as an agency that understood our problems and opportunities and had the ability to create everything from television advertising to engaging web and retail experiences.”

Cibo will be working with Motor Image’s media partner Maxus (WPP) out of Singapore and additional established local market marketing partner relationships. Primary research is underway in local markets and brand campaigns and new model launches across TV, Print, OOH, Digital, Social and Web are expected to be in market in March of 2016.

Motor Image Subaru markets include: Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.

As Brand Experience Agency of Record, Cibo has been hired to ensure that across all touch points, across all offline and online customer moments with the brand, the Subaru experience will deliver on the promises the brand makes.

This article was originally published in Reuters.