The Works has launched a messenger-based social media company, On Message, as 10 million Australians move to messaging apps.
The new platform, spun out as a separate agency, produces customer engagement tools including custom keyboards, stickers and GIFS through to bot development, ecommerce and payment integration.
The startup concept was developed by The Works founders Douglas Nicol, Damian Pincus and Kevin Macmillan, with Australia reporting a revolutionary increase in the use of messenger-based apps such as Snapchat, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
Nicol told AdNews messenger apps have undergone a “quiet revolution” in the last three years, previously missed by marketers.
“Messenger apps are now more effective than traditional media, but also other social media platforms,” Nicol says. “Any agencies that aren’t looking in this space are missing a huge opportunity to connect with millions of consumers.”
He says there are not only digital natives using messenger apps, but a wide demographic that On Message will be available to.
On Message will create conversation marketing, connecting brands with consumers and forcing brands to reactive how they communicate.
“The shift in platform popularity has caught many marketers off-guard and they are unaware on how to best engage their customers who are moving from being a wider audience to becoming an individual,” Nicol says.
“If we look to China and the success of WeChat you can see a future where brand engagement, customer service and ecommerce have become one seamless and open ecosystem, a shift that we can already see with consumers and their social media behaviour in Australia.”
The startup was conceptualised in late 2015 and is focused on working with leading social media brands and building a team of Australia’s primary tech developers with the first work to be launched in the next few months.
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