profile Toying with digital He may be a committed blogger, but Argha Sen at Toys ‘R’ Us won’t rush headlong into online marketing. Instead he is focusing on digital techniques that deliver real value for both the customer and the business. By David Tiltman Argha Sen likes playing devil’s advocate. Invited to be a speaker at a recent Web Wednesday networking event in Hong Kong, the head of marketing and CRM for Toys ‘R’ Us took great delight in putting the assembled digital types in their place. Time and again, when asked why he wasn’t using Bluetooth, RFID and all manner of other digital delights, he would retort with a withering glance: “Does the customer really want it?” It would be easy to dismiss Sen, 38, as an old-media reactionary (and several that night did exactly that). So it might come as a surprise to learn that he is a keen blogger. When he first came to Hong Kong in 2001 he set up a blog about food, drink and travel (it remains a source of pride that he topped the search rankings for beer in the territory). He will shortly relaunch the site. What makes Sen interesting is that he is exactly the sort of marketer Asia’s digital industry needs to win over: genuinely interested in and excited by digital media, but looking for evidence it will actually work. As in many companies, he has to sell digital strategies internally – “in my company I’m regarded as too digitally inclined,” he points out. Toys ‘R’ Us in Asia is part of the Li & Fung group and operates under licence in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, mainland China, Thailand and Macau. It also holds the rights for, and plans to expand into, Vietnam and Indonesia. So far the company is at what Sen digitalmedia-asia.com Argha Sen... has watched products sell out rapidly on the back of email campaigns describes as “phase one” of its online activity. The website is used mainly for listing prices, but what Sen is most excited about is email. He has used email to promote product launches to members of the company’s Star Club loyalty scheme, and seen the products fly from the shelves. “Anyone doing serious online marketing will be spending on email and search. That is using digital not to do something cool, but to do something that drives the business,” he says. “So don’t tell me we’re not developed because we’re not using Facebook.” Originally from Kolkata in India, Sen spent the early part of his career in the emerging database marketing industry in India – “that period of my life,” he recalls, “gave me a lot of grey hairs.” In person he is affable but always businesslike, friendly but direct. He comes Career moves b 2002-present,head of marketing and CRM,Toys ‘R’ Us Asia b 2000-2001,vice-president,Interra Direct Marketing Group,(India) b 1998-2000,general manager, Enterprise Nexus Direct,(India) b 1995-1998,general manager,Direct Response (India) alive when he talks about beer, the subject closest to his heart. His current project is working through all 40 Belgian beers at a bar in central Hong Kong. A sign of things to come is the work Toys ‘R’ Us has done with Lego, using microsites that build worlds around the characters. Lego recently committed to another year of funding after positive results. For Sen, this points the way to “phase two”. This will see Toys ‘R’ Us interact with children online as well as communicating with parents. He admits it will have to be “very careful” over issues of safety and privacy, insisting it would never send email or mail to kids direct. To make this work, Sen envisages tie-ups with existing content providers such as Disney’s Club Penguin. “There are people who do content very well. I am under no illusions that we would be one of them.” An obvious gap in the Toys ‘R’ Us digital strategy is ecommerce. There is a simple reason for that: it does not hold the licence to sell online. It is in talks to acquire the rights, but again Sen is cautious about overreaching. In Asia, he points out, going out to shop remains a way of life. Ultimately, the focus for Toys ‘R’ Us will remain the instore experience. Where digital fits in is driving people to the store and improving their experience when they get there. “Any communications we do have to achieve those objectives,” he says. “Will Facebook help me do it? I doubt it.” I april 2008 digital media 23 previous page next page