The launch marks the first milestone of a digital transformation programme that aims to reshape how audiences discover performances, explore arts content, and engage with Esplanade online. 

Vertis was appointed to lead the project in September 2025 following a competitive public tender involving eight regional and international agencies.

Previously operating as separate websites, Esplanade.com and Offstage have now been consolidated into a single platform with a shared navigation system while maintaining distinct experiences. 

The live performance-focused Onstage experience adopts a light interface, while Offstage, which features editorial stories and archival content, uses a dark interface connected through a simple toggle.

The redesign also introduces curated landing pages, an enhanced events calendar, clearer content categories, a dedicated visitor information hub, and a scalable design system built to support Esplanade’s more than 4,000 annual programmes.

Beyond the front-end redesign, the platform was built on Sitecore XM Cloud with a headless architecture powered by Vercel, enabling isolated development, staging, and production environments. Vertis also implemented a defence-in-depth security model and completed extensive user acceptance testing with Esplanade’s teams before launch.

Birendra Balakrishnan, Co-Founder of Vertis, said the project extends beyond refreshing the website’s appearance.

“This is more than just a digital facelift — it’s about crafting a future-ready platform that reflects the soul of Esplanade while making the arts more accessible to all.”

Mathew Searcy, Executive Creative Director at Vertis, added that the agency focused on improving content discovery across Esplanade’s extensive programming and editorial archive.

“By connecting related Onstage events and Offstage articles, we’ve built a structure that makes it easier to browse, easier to discover, and easier to appreciate just how much Esplanade brings to Singapore.”

Meanwhile, Lee Kit Pui, Director of Marketing at The Esplanade Co Ltd, said the new platform supports the organisation’s ambition to build stronger relationships with audiences through more connected digital experiences.

“This launch is an important step towards creating a connected digital ecosystem that enables us to serve audiences better and strengthen Esplanade’s role as Singapore’s national performing arts centre.”

Looking ahead, Esplanade said future phases of its digital transformation will focus on enhancing customer relationship capabilities, developing a unified audience data platform, and delivering more personalised communications and content experiences through subsequent public tenders.

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The collaboration introduces a dedicated ChatGPT contact within Viber, enabling users to ask questions, brainstorm ideas, draft messages, and complete everyday tasks without requiring a ChatGPT account, although signing in provides higher usage limits.

Users can also mention @ChatGPT in private or group chats to receive AI-generated responses that remain clearly identified within the conversation. 

According to Viber, only the specific messages sent to ChatGPT or those mentioning it are shared with OpenAI, rather than the entire chat history.

The update also adds several AI-powered features, including Image Remix for editing photos, Link Summary for generating summaries of shared articles and documents, Chat Summary to help users catch up on conversations, Polish Messages for refining drafts before sending, and Translate Message for in-chat translation.

“Partnering with OpenAI means we can bring ChatGPT to our users to add real, day-to-day value – even if they would never have sought it out on their own,” said Ofir Eyal, CEO of Rakuten Viber. 

“Whether you’re drafting the perfect message, remixing an image, or just exploring a new idea, this is now built into the app people already use every day.”

Torben Severson, VP and Head of Global Business Development at OpenAI, said the partnership reflects how AI can support users within the messaging apps they already rely on.

“Messaging is where so much of everyday life happens. With ChatGPT in Viber, people can get helpful, creative support right in the moment, from finding the right words to catching up on busy chats or remixing a photo,” Severson said.

The rollout is available to Viber users on iOS and Android in most markets where ChatGPT is supported, with desktop availability planned for a later date. 

Viber said users must provide explicit consent to OpenAI’s terms before using AI features, while core messaging services remain protected by end-to-end encryption.

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Designed to support guests before arrival and throughout their visit, the updated app brings together key resort services, allowing users to customise their experience while improving access to facilities and support.

The launch forms part of the hospitality group’s wider strategy to enhance the guest journey through technology, while maintaining the personalised service that defines the Mulia experience.

Before checking in, guests can use the app to complete registration, book spa treatments and reserve resort activities in advance. During their stay, the platform enables guests to order in-room dining, review their bills, submit service requests, and communicate directly with the resort team through an integrated live chat feature.

According to Mulia Hotels & Resorts, the app is designed to complement, rather than replace, its personalised hospitality by making resort services easier to access from one central platform.

By combining guest services into a single mobile experience, the updated app aims to provide greater flexibility, faster assistance, and a more seamless stay for travellers seeking convenience alongside personalised service.

The Mulia Hotels App is available on both iOS and Android devices, with guests able to access the platform using the email address linked to their reservation.

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Under a two-year collaboration, 8traordinary will lead the end-to-end development of CO3, covering brand strategy, web development, social media and digital marketing. The project will be delivered under the strategic direction of Collective Perspectives, with both organisations aiming to improve access to freelance opportunities for persons with disabilities in Singapore’s creative sector.

CO3 is designed to address barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing freelance creative work. Unlike a traditional job portal, the platform includes accessibility features that support assistive technologies and works with employers that provide workplace accommodations. It also seeks to promote fair hiring practices, equitable pay, and stronger connections between creative talent and inclusive employers.

The initiative is supported by the Enabling Lives Initiative (ELI) Grant, funded by the Tote Board and managed by SG Enable. Through the platform, Collective Perspectives joins wider efforts to expand pathways for persons with disabilities into Singapore’s arts and creative industries and encourage greater participation in the workforce.

“The Enabling Lives Initiative (ELI) Grant aims to drive disability innovation by funding cross-sector projects that empower persons with disabilities and their caregivers,” said Eng Soon Khai, Deputy Chief Executive of SG Enable. 

“We are pleased to support Collective Perspectives in developing the CO3 platform. By connecting creative talent with inclusive opportunities, CO3 can help create a more accessible and inclusive creative economy where persons with disabilities can contribute their skills and realise their aspirations.”

As part of the 24-month rollout, 8traordinary will oversee the platform’s development and conduct iterative accessibility testing to ensure compliance with inclusive design standards before its launch.

CO3 is intended to serve as a collaborative ecosystem where persons with disabilities and organisations can connect on creative projects, with the broader goal of supporting a more inclusive creative economy through accessible employment opportunities.

“We are building real pathways for talented persons with disabilities, creatives who are too often excluded,” said Vincent Lim, Co-Founder of Collective Perspectives. “CO3 will make it easier for them to find meaningful, fairly paid creative work and for employers to hire with accessibility and dignity in mind. This is about ensuring everyone has the chance to contribute and to thrive.”

Jeffrey Lim, Managing Director of 8traordinary, added, “I believe every individual has the unique ability to change the world. And it begins with changing the way we perceive it. We’re honoured and privileged to be invited to play a pivotal role in helping to shape and open up more possibilities in the creative space for persons with disabilities.” 

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The launch marks Meta’s latest effort to make content creation on Facebook more streamlined by giving creators a dedicated workspace outside the main Facebook app.

The new Creator Studio uses AI to recommend what creators should focus on next based on their goals, audience and content performance, while also including an integrated AI creator assistant that can answer questions, generate content ideas and offer tailored suggestions to improve reach, engagement and earnings. 

Meta said the objective is to remove distractions from the main Facebook experience while helping creators spend more time producing content and building their communities.

Upon opening the app, creators will see their daily priorities, including post performance, goal tracking and comments requiring responses. The platform also highlights trends relevant to a creator’s niche and recommends actions that could improve future performance.

To further reduce manual work, the app introduces AI-powered comment management that identifies important conversations and drafts replies in the creator’s writing style. Creators retain full control by reviewing and editing responses before publishing.

The company is initially testing the app with a small group of creators before expanding access more widely through a waitlist programme.

Alongside the launch, Meta is also redesigning its creator tools within Facebook by separating the existing Professional Dashboard into two dedicated experiences—Creator Dashboard for creators and Business Dashboard for businesses — giving each audience tools tailored to their specific needs.

Meta is also bringing more creator features from Meta Business Suite into the desktop Creator Dashboard, including a content calendar for scheduling posts, bulk video uploads, and more advanced performance insights.

The rollout reflects Meta’s broader strategy to simplify the creator experience across Facebook while using AI to reduce administrative tasks, improve audience engagement, and help creators monetise their content more effectively.

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Created as both a digital portfolio and a playful parody, the platform recreates the familiar experience of browsing the Cannes Lions website by allowing visitors to explore campaign categories, shortlisted entries, winners, and case studies before discovering that every featured campaign belongs to GIGIL.

Beyond presenting a conventional agency portfolio, Cannes Bodia turns the showcase into an interactive experience that celebrates creative excellence in a format recognised by marketers and creatives worldwide.

This launch comes as agencies continue to seek more engaging ways to present their work and demonstrate creative capabilities beyond traditional case study websites. 

By combining humour with storytelling, GIGIL hopes to create a memorable website that reflects its creative philosophy while encouraging conversations around award-winning ideas.

Joef Pena, Country Head of GIGIL Phnom Penh, explained that the website was inspired by the significance of Cannes Lions as one of the advertising industry’s highest honours.

“We wanted to create a more engaging way for people to find our work,” said Pena. 

More than showcasing the agency’s portfolio, GIGIL hopes Cannes Bodia will inspire Cambodia’s growing creative community by demonstrating that globally recognised ideas can come from anywhere.

The platform also reinforces GIGIL Phnom Penh’s ambition to help brands develop creative campaigns that deliver both cultural impact and business results, while positioning Cambodia as an emerging creative market within the region.

With Cannes Bodia, GIGIL transforms a traditional agency showcase into an entertaining destination that celebrates creativity, invites exploration, and highlights the potential of Cambodia’s advertising industry on the global stage.

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The updates span Agoda’s flights and accommodation offerings, introducing real-time travel information, new hotel browsing features, and AI-driven tools aimed at improving the booking experience.

For flight bookings made through Agoda’s iOS and Android apps, users can now receive real-time updates throughout their journey. Following booking confirmation, travellers are provided with notifications covering flight status, gate and terminal details, check-in counters, and baggage carousel information.

On the accommodation side, Agoda has launched Gallery View on its iOS app, a new hotel browsing format that places greater emphasis on property imagery. The company has also introduced an AI-powered feature that matches hotel photos with relevant guest reviews, allowing users to view feedback related to specific property features such as rooms, pools, and dining facilities.

In addition, Agoda has expanded language support for flight-related chat queries. The update adds support for Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Thai, and Indonesian, while also introducing five additional language options for users in Hong Kong.

The company has also enhanced its multi-product booking engine, enabling travellers to book hotels, flights, and activities within a single transaction. Booked trip components are consolidated under the ‘My Trips’ section on Agoda’s app and website, allowing users to manage their itineraries from one location.

The latest product updates form part of Agoda’s broader efforts to streamline trip planning and management across its platform, which currently offers access to more than six million holiday properties, over 130,000 flight routes, and more than 300,000 activities worldwide.

Ittai Chorev, Chief Product Officer at Agoda, said, “Travel is always a little stressful, so having the right information at the right time is both useful and reduces stress. Whether that means seeing the reviews that matter to you alongside relevant images when booking a hotel or knowing your gate number before even reaching the airport when booking a flight, these updates help travellers make better decisions at every step of their journey.”

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The collaboration marks a significant step in Sea’s ambition to embed artificial intelligence across its ecosystem spanning e-commerce, digital financial services, and gaming. It also signals OpenAI’s growing push to integrate its technology into everyday consumer experiences beyond standalone chat interfaces.

Under the new agreement, the Shopee app is now available in ChatGPT for users in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Brazil. 

According to Sea, this makes Shopee the first e-commerce platform of its kind to be accessible across Southeast Asia and Latin America through ChatGPT.

The integration allows users to discover products using natural language prompts. Consumers can ask ChatGPT for gift ideas, travel essentials, fashion inspiration, or help finding niche products, before seamlessly continuing their purchase journey on Shopee.

“Sea has always focused on using technology to improve the lives of consumers and small businesses across our markets,” said Forrest Li, Chairman and CEO of Sea.

“Our strategic partnership with OpenAI reflects a shared commitment to making AI more accessible and meaningful for the communities we serve. By combining OpenAI’s advanced AI capabilities with Sea’s vibrant ecosystem, we hope to deliver more intuitive AI-native experiences for consumers while enabling businesses of all sizes to use AI to grow and stay competitive in the digital economy,” he added.

Beyond consumer discovery, the partnership also targets small businesses operating on Shopee.

Sea plans to introduce ChatGPT for Business to its seller ecosystem, enabling merchants to use AI for tasks such as creating product listings and marketing content, improving customer service workflows, and automating day-to-day operations. 

Eligible sellers will receive trial access, alongside onboarding support, training programmes, and best-practice guides designed to accelerate adoption.

The announcement builds on an existing relationship between the two companies. Since 2025, Sea and OpenAI have worked together to broaden access to ChatGPT through marketing promotions and ShopeeVIP membership benefits.

OpenAI’s Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser said embedding AI into familiar platforms can help users unlock more practical value from the technology.

“Sea has built an extraordinary ecosystem across some of the world’s most dynamic digital markets,” she said.

“By bringing OpenAI’s technology into the products and services people already use, we can make AI more useful and accessible in their everyday lives. This partnership will help more consumers discover new AI-powered experiences, give small businesses practical tools to grow, and enable more people to put AI to work as an operating layer across the company and the broader builder ecosystem.”

The partnership also extends to developer communities. Earlier this year, Sea and OpenAI launched the first regional Codex Hackathon series in Asia Pacific. The initiative kicked off in Singapore in June, attracting more than 1,200 applications and 40 shortlisted teams. Additional hackathons are planned across Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

The latest move underscores a broader shift in how AI is reshaping commerce. As consumers increasingly rely on conversational interfaces to discover products and businesses seek productivity gains through automation, companies are racing to integrate AI directly into the customer journey.

For Sea, the partnership represents another milestone in its evolution into an AI-native business. For OpenAI, it offers a pathway to bring its technology to millions of users across some of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies.

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The platform is designed to address one of mobile commerce’s biggest challenges: consumer drop-off caused by lengthy purchasing journeys. 

By combining AI-driven targeting with commerce integrations, Call-to-Cart allows brands to engage consumers during high-attention moments when they receive or finish a phone call, reducing the number of steps needed to complete a purchase.

The launch marks the first Truecaller Ads solution built specifically for direct advertisers on a global scale, and by being available across Truecaller’s user base of more than 500 million active users in over 150 countries, the platform offers marketers access to billions of daily advertising opportunities within one of the world’s most widely used communication platforms.

Call-to-Cart is also designed to help brands connect advertising with commerce more effectively by turning communication touchpoints into shopping opportunities, creating a more direct route from ad engagement to transaction instead of directing users through multiple apps and pages to help improve conversion rates while simplifying the customer journey.

“Millions of purchase decisions begin outside shopping environments. Communication moments represent an effective commerce surface, and through Call-to-Cart we enable that opportunity,” shared Hemant Arora, VP and Global Head of Truecaller Ads.

“It is a product purpose-built for our largest advertiser category base of FMCG, D2C beauty, pharma, fintech, and mobility, where relevance and timing play a significant role in consumer journey across the full funnel,” added Arora. 

The solution also offers a high level of customisation. During its initial rollout, Truecaller Ads is providing selected always-on direct advertisers with dedicated onboarding, bespoke integrations and priority access to its adVantage programme—an intelligence platform developed in-house by Truecaller—enabling brands to tailor campaigns to specific business objectives.

“Behind every Call-to-Cart experience is adVantage, an intelligence platform developed in-house by Truecaller to power relevance across the entire journey. Combining an advanced recommendation engine, AI driven personalization and relevant first party signals, adVantage helps connect users with the right offers at the right moment,” said Liniker Seixas, Engineering Director at adVantage and Truecaller Ads. 

“The result is a commerce experience that feels seamless for consumers and delivers stronger outcomes for advertisers, turning communication moments into measurable commerce opportunities,” added Seixas.

The launch reflects the growing demand for advertising solutions that combine AI, personalisation, and commerce into a single experience, which is becoming increasingly important as marketers continue to focus on improving return on ad spend and reducing friction in the customer journey by connecting media exposure directly with purchasing.

Through Call-to-Cart, Truecaller Ads aims to expand its role beyond communications by creating new opportunities for brands to drive measurable business outcomes through mobile-first commerce.

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According to the Bangkok Post, concerns were raised on social media over Feixiang, Gokoo and E-Gets, which reportedly receive orders primarily from Chinese communities in Thailand. Allegations include possible links to unauthorised restaurants, the use of foreign riders, and other regulatory breaches.

DBD Director-General Poonpong Naiyanapakorn said initial checks show all three operators are registered in Thailand, with one classified as foreign-owned. The department is reviewing whether it has the required permits to operate. For the remaining two Thai-majority firms, authorities will examine whether local shareholdings reflect genuine investment, he said, as reported by the Bangkok Post. No timeline for the probe has been disclosed.

In a separate report, The Nation Thailand said one of the companies is considered foreign-owned under Thai law due to majority foreign shareholding and has not obtained the required operating permission, citing Poonpong.

He added that the two other firms, while structured as Thai entities, will be assessed for possible nominee arrangements if Thai shareholders are found to be acting on behalf of foreign investors.

Under Thailand’s Foreign Business Act, companies with at least 50% foreign ownership are treated as foreign entities and require approval for restricted activities. Poonpong said language use alone is not evidence of wrongdoing, and the investigation will focus on ownership structures and capital sources.

The DBD is also reviewing related hotels, restaurants and businesses in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang area that may be linked to the platforms, with more than 25 firms reportedly flagged for checks, according to The Nation Thailand.

If violations are confirmed, cases may be referred for legal action. Nominee-related offences under the Act carry penalties of up to three years’ imprisonment, fines of 100,000 to 1 million baht, or both, along with possible court-ordered dissolution of related arrangements.

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