MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The influences of consumer decisions are constantly evolving with the times, pushing businesses to adapt and break free from dated business models. To stand out among the influx of new online stores, mobile apps, and social media platforms, today’s businesses need to go beyond mere transactions but dive deep into what makes consumers tick and resonate with their values.
Thus, it is very important to have an omnichannel approach to business. The word on creativity, adobo magazine, sat down for an interview with one of the country’s most important omnichannel players: the AMI Group.
A 360-degree, end-to-end agency
The AMI Group of Companies boasts of brands working on the frontline of omnichannel marketing. First is its legacy business, Activation Machine, Inc, focused on brand activations, manpower deployment, and retail solutions – with a plethora of successful executions online and offline.
Dynamic Solutions is an order fulfillment and marketing solutions company that helps retailers make a sale and deliver orders at the lowest cost possible. Customers, big and small, enjoy a seamless flow of operations and a high efficiency rate without sacrificing consumer satisfaction. Best of all, the customers’ brand experience from ordering all the way to delivery is consistent.
Origami is an omnichannel marketplace that features unique and genuine lifestyle products and exclusives. This marketplace allows shoppers to add to cart and check out from whichever platform they prefer.
Doing Good
AMI is a well-oiled machine, ready to create impactful brand experiences that are sure to surprise and delight consumers – and behind this is a world-class Filipina who champions more opportunities for Filipinos.
Tania Marie Morada, the Chief Executive of AMI Group, says that excellence, integrity, partnership, passion, and respect are the core values that keep AMI strong. She says that if you ask anyone at AMI Group, they will tell you it is these values which guide them in making strategic and everyday choices.
This brand of excellence is deeply embedded in AMI’s strategic choices too. Morada recalls how the company had to let go of some clients because they did not align with their values. “There were also instances when our integrity was put on the line. We also gave up some clients because of that,” she said. “It made it more challenging, but it made us happier — that we are true to our values.”
This is also true to how AMI selects suppliers whom they work with. “We make sure that we partner with suppliers who are aligned with our values, because it’s important that our customers experience the happiness that they deserve,” Morada added.
Getting Real
Being constantly curious and in touch with the market have enabled the organization to challenge conventional solutions offered to their customers. This benefited immensely the customers of Dynamic Solutions, where services are designed around addressing real-life pain points, and for Origami, by bringing in products that meet needs – both functional and emotional.
AMI does consumer and customer insights and market research to pinpoint and fill gaps in its portfolio, and own niches where it has the highest right to win. Morada stated that they have discovered—through market research—that there is a demand for specific products that are yet to be developed. They want to be able to offer something that no one else has yet.
“We already have an established business, and there are natural extensions to that business. So, we try to see how it relates to our current business and efficiencies and economies of scale.” AMI developed its own market research and social scan tools so it can keep its services and products in touch with real needs of real people and businesses.
Standing Out
For Uael Canoy, AMI Group’s Head of Growth, their work requires a lot of progressive thinking, creativity, and innovation. The AMI Group hired top talents of their respective fields, and they encouraged everyone to be on top of the latest trends and be at the forefront of upcoming ones.
In order to do that, AMI’s roster of creative, digital, media, brand, and marketing professionals are encouraged to try new platforms, figure out business problems through tests and learn, and collaborate with experts.
“We believe that the most superior logic and most compelling magic is monopolized by no one in the organization. This belief system allowed the company to pursue more growth spaces, build more capabilities, and better services to which our clients enjoy the business benefits,” Canoy said. “We continuously challenge how we do things – and that’s very evident in the industry awards and accolades that the AMI Group has been given.”
Canoy revealed that AMI may not have the same resources as mega-companies, but when it comes to understanding the market, they rely on customer intimacy and tech. “What we do is we talk to shoppers, consumers, customers, and our partners. Conducting these meaningful and insightful conversations allowed us to get real frustrations, wishes, and aspirations. We triangulate these stories with quantitative data from our own initiatives – it’s amazing how one can see the full picture from where we stand, and our customers are benefiting from it”.
Helping SMEs grow
Dynamic Solutions has been successful in hand-holding SMEs through the seismic shifts in the business landscape today. “We’ve had customers coming from pure brick and mortar whom we have transitioned to digital marketplace, cashless transactions, and contactless deliveries. I’m sure that at some point, we have made a dent. In absolute numbers, our economy is alive because of the SMEs.” Morada said.
Morada and Canoy both agree that despite generally bleak prospects brought about by the pandemic, the Filipino’s will to survive and power-through is an inspiring narrative at this time.
Canoy said “We know for a fact that for companies or organizations to survive at this time, they have to be open to the idea of change – in this case, to be digitally adept, right? However, not all businesses, especially SMEs, are equipped to venture into that kind of way of doing things. So, AMI, Dynamic Solutions in particular, offers a way to help SMEs cope by lowering the resource and knowledge gap between huge companies and SMEs. All hands are on deck in upskilling and enabling SMEs to take the first transformative steps”.
It is inspiring to note that while the pandemic remains a crisis, the business community offers valuable services that help others cope. “This is our way of contributing to nation-building, where we upskill and enable SMEs to survive and thrive in this crisis,” Canoy added.
How AMI Does IT? Investing in change
Caught up in a situation where change is crucial, organizations like AMI made strategic choices to help drive this efficiently. “The company is now investing in a lot of training, new tools like social listening, trend watching, sentiment surveys, research and development, and analytics. It also tries to make changes in management roles and rallies everyone in the team so everyone understands”. According to Canoy, while change is normal, it will always encounter some form of resistance, so proper communication enables them to shift more quickly.
Women empowerment
AMI also stands out as an employer by tackling one of the major issues in corporate Philippines – the lack of gender diversity in the workplace. This lack of diversity limits the creativity and innovation potential of organizations.
One of the more important causes that AMI aims to champion is women empowerment. The AMI Group has devised hiring and retention policies that are meant to help women develop their careers and serve as good role models for other aspiring female employees.
AMI brings these values to its business model, by creating more opportunity for women even in the most unlikely of roles. “We are working with this lifestyle brand that offers wellness products to women, so we deployed female riders, as a brave execution to support our client’s brand story. These women became not just brand ambassadors, but a source of inspiration. For them it’s very important, it’s very empowering.” This, according to Canoy, helps them be on top of the clients’ minds—a way to strengthen their brand messaging.
Currently, 83% of AMI’s Senior Leadership Team is composed of women.
Innovation at the core
The future looks bright for the AMI Group. With new technologies and innovations, the business opportunities are endless. They see partnership potential with different companies playing in different industries. “AMI is working on the frontline, to help build stronger brands, and drive behavior change for the better.” Canoy said.
When asked what people can expect from the AMI Group in the foreseeable future, Morada said, “Prior to the pandemic, ‘omnichannel’ has been the buzzword, but when the pandemic came, it had to happen already.”
Further, she mentioned how the AMI group makes sure to remember that not everything has to be digital. It depends on the needs of the client and that they also work with offline channels to augment the performance of a campaign or activation. She believes that the combination of both digital and physical shopping will be the wave of the future.
Canoy added that Origami is really more than just a marketplace, “We really strive to make sure that the portfolio is exciting and unique. In Origami, our objective is really to help spread happiness and improve people’s mental health. In Dynamic Solutions, expect more exciting innovations ahead – both on new services and new platforms that you can use for your businesses to stand out and get an edge, offline and online. Let’s work together!”
