Tag: Asia Pacific

APAC – Global creative agency Amplify has expanded their global presence with the introduction of ‘Amplify Activate’ across the Southeast Asian(SEA) region, with an extensive network of over 10,000 creators.

With the company establishing roots in Singapore way back in 2020, they’ve set to expand with Amplify Activate, opening new offices in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, bolstering their regional team to 40 employees.

This expansion includes six key hires for Amplify including Jac Solis, previously employed at VIVA Entertainment, as SEA head of operations; JP Bravo and Mariz Ortega as campaign managers for the Philippines; Hannah Tran as campaign manager for Vietnam; Umar Azis as campaign manager for Indonesia; and Nanthapak Kamolchortpreecha as campaign manager for Thailand.

Tom Maynard, founder of Amplify, said, “We are excited to expand our global presence and establish a strong foothold within Southeast Asia. We’ve previously managed large scale social media campaigns across the region, and we’re ready to cement ourselves as APAC’s go-to for influencer management.”

Meanwhile, Alex Reid, co-founder of Amplify, added, “By expanding internationally, we’re opening up new opportunities for content creators and brands to produce some amazing content and build communities. This is a big step for us, and we can’t wait to bring our products and services to clients throughout the region.”

Speaking on his appointment, Solis commented, “I’m thrilled to be leading Amplify’s expansion into new markets in Southeast Asia. This market is expanding rapidly and I’m looking forward to working with each territory’s best content creators and seeking out new opportunities for creators and brands to connect and reach new audiences.”

The move marks a major milestone in the company’s growth, with goals for Amplify to be the leading influencer marketing agency across APAC. Amplify Activate is set to build on Amplify’s continued business efforts in SEA, as well as to continue their efforts and initiatives for the creator-economy.

Kuala Lumpur – The shift in customer communication preferences has been found to lean noticeably towards conversational interactions, making more companies expand and invest towards conversational commerce. This was according to the latest data from an InfoBrief provided by global cloud communications platform Infobip, and IT market research and advisory firm IDC. 

The InfoBrief by Infobip and IDC suggested that the potential of conversational commerce is now being employed and recognized, with tools such as CPaaS and SaaS enabling businesses to provide a seamless, customer journey that’s visible across multiple touchpoints.

The increasing popularity of customer-centric business strategies among brands in the Asia Pacific region reflects consumers’ present attitudes and expectations. 70% of organisations in the region plan to increase communication platform spending in 2023–2024, despite the fact that only a few countries use CPaaS on average at 50%–59%, in order to offer distinctive customer experiences to the region’s expanding social media users, who are primarily young, active, and conscious of the power of their own influence.

All nations intend to spend money on CPaaS and SaaS solutions in the near future, but their reasons are claimed to be very different. Businesses in Indonesia and Singapore strive to improve customer experiences and develop new revenue streams, while those in China, Thailand, and the Philippines are driven to expand their domestic and global markets as well as improve and mobilise their business operations. This is probably owing to the latter countries’ booming retail and e-commerce sectors and overall greater adoption rate of CPaaS solutions, which is around 60% and above.

Nikhil Batra, research director of telecommunication for IDC Asia/Pacific, said that CPaaS solutions are increasingly recognized as crucial catalysts for enabling conversational commerce experiences.

“In fact, 27% of businesses in Asia Pacific are actively partnering with CPaaS platform providers to deliver contextualised customer interactions that not only boost profitability but also foster emotionally fulfilling engagements. This trend highlights the increasing importance of leveraging these technologies to meet customer demands and achieve business success,” he added.

Meanwhile, Velid Begovic, vice president of revenue at Infobip, commented, “Businesses position themselves to forge ahead, leveraging AI technology to create connections and unlock new growth opportunities, whilst organisations need an actionable, customer-centric strategy and the ability to invest in the right tools to grow the business and keep customers happy. By aligning their strategies with conversational commerce, businesses can proactively meet customer expectations, enhance engagement, and establish long-lasting relationships.”

Hong Kong – In line with World Conservation Day, health and beauty brand Watsons announced its partnership with Kenvue, L’Oréal, and P&G to work towards a more sustainable future.

This collaboration between Watsons, Kenvue, L’Oréal, and P&G does not only consist of providing sustainable products, but also ranges towards teaming up to run a wide range of sustainability efforts and projects to engage with customers by helping the environment.

In Watsons Taiwan, Kenvue’s Green Smiles campaign will plant one tree for every customer who purchases a ‘sustainable choices’ product, while Watsons Indonesia’s customers will help save a sea turtle instead. Meanwhile in Thailand, customers will be able to learn sustainability tips through gamification and join beach clean-up activity with KOLs.

Thibaut Mongon, CEO of Kenvue, said, “At Kenvue, our commitment to everyday care includes our planet. We are excited to launch our jointly created campaign, Green Smiles, and to continue our long-standing collaboration with A.S. Watson.”

In Hong Kong, Watsons and P&G will maintain their Plastic Reborn programme to encourage customers to recycle plastic containers,reprocessing the plastic bottles collected through the programme and transform them into 3D printing materials suitable for STEM education in primary and secondary schools.

James Lin, president of Procter & Gamble Hong Kong & Taiwan, commented, “Stepping into the 3rd year of the programme, we pilot to repurpose the recycled plastic for school STEM education to immerse the young generation to dial up sustainability awareness and inspirations on plastic waste solutions.”

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, Watsons would strengthen its relationship with L’Oréal via its Beauty for Future recycling campaign wherein customers can recycle an array of beauty containers, ranging from foundation bottles, skincare tubs, to lipstick tubes, at Watsons stores.

Jean-Marc Cazenave, global sustainability director of L’Oréal, mentioned, “Thanks to our regional partnership with Watsons, we engage consumers via on-going recycling campaigns to further develop the collection of empty packaging in-store to build a more sustainable beauty”.

Speaking on the collaborations, Malina Ngai, CEO of A.S. Watson, commented, “At Watsons, sustainability is at the heart of our business, and we recognise the importance of prioritising it. As the leading industry player, we take our responsibility to lead by example, encouraging our supplier partners to join us in our journey to build a better world. We believe that only by working together, we can create a bigger positive impact on our planet. Our partnership with Kenvue, L’Oréal, and P&G is a significant step towards achieving our shared sustainability goals.”

Singapore – Microsoft has announced two communications-related appointments for its Asian market. They include Lauren Myers-Cavanagh as new senior director of communications for Microsoft Asia and Simran Singh Sethi as head of communications for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Myers-Cavanagh will lead Microsoft’s communications in Asia and help further position the company as a trusted technology partner with a strong emphasis on innovative storytelling centered around artificial intelligence (AI). 

She reports to Douglas Dawson, Microsoft’s general manager of global communications.

Myers-Cavanagh joins Microsoft from Twitter, where she served as Asia-Pacific director of communications and previously Asia-Pacific head of policy communications. At Twitter, she built and oversaw more than a dozen regional teams that protected Twitter’s corporate and social license to operate while growing audience and revenue.

Commenting on her appointment, Myers-Cavanagh said, “The opportunity to be part of Microsoft’s global communications leadership team is a privilege, as is shaping the next chapter of the Microsoft story in Asia.”

Meanwhile, Simran–a ten-year Microsoft veteran–previously led communications and integrated storytelling for Microsoft’s commercial and cloud business in Asia. He will continue to be based in Singapore and report to Myers-Cavanagh.

Singapore – Foodpanda has recently introduced a pick-up feature in its grocery delivery service pandamart. This allows customers to conveniently collect their groceries themselves, providing them with increased options and flexibility in receiving their orders.

Although the feature is currently available in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, the food delivery platform is expected to roll out in Bangladesh and Pakistan in the coming months.

The launch of the pick-up feature aligns with pandamart’s strategy to create an exceptional shopping experience through online-to-offline (O2O) commerce, in response to evolving customer expectations.

Julien Tessonneau, senior director of quick commerce at foodpanda, emphasized the convenience pandamart brings to grocery shopping. He said, “pandamart has made it easier for people to shop for groceries now, and customers can place an order at any time of the day and have it delivered to their doorstep within the hour.”

Apart from the added convenience, the pick-up feature also significantly reduces the time taken for customers to receive their orders.

By incorporating the pick-up feature, foodpanda is reshaping the grocery shopping landscape, offering customers a seamless and tailored shopping experience that caters to their evolving needs. 

Singapore – A recent survey conducted by IBS Software reveals that a significant number of air passengers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region are members of airline loyalty programs. However, the survey highlights a prevailing sense of uncertainty and underutilization of the programs among travelers.

The survey found that 58% of respondents were unsure where they could redeem their loyalty points, while 56% were unaware of the value of their accumulated points. This lack of awareness was even more prevalent in Singapore and the UAE, with 64% of respondents expressing uncertainty about the value of their points.

Amongst the 37% of respondents who had never been part of a loyalty program or had let their membership lapse, a lack of awareness regarding program benefits was cited as a major reason, closely followed by infrequent flying and difficulty in earning points as the third most prevalent reason.

Marcus Puffer, vice president and head of loyalty solutions at IBS Software, reminded all the airlines to effectively communicate the benefits of loyalty schemes to their program members.

On a positive note, the survey also shows an opportunity for airlines to attract new members, as 58% of non-members expressed their willingness to try a loyalty program in the future.

The survey findings also highlighted the need for airlines to improve communication and education regarding loyalty program benefits, ensuring that members can make the most of their earned points and enjoy the perks that come with their loyalty.

Australia – Attention measurement and optimisation platform Playground xyz has announced a partnership with global adtech PubMatic. Said partnership aims to allow advertisers to create bespoke, high-attention marketplaces within the sell-side platform.

Playground xyz’s attention intelligence platform (AIP) technology fuses eye tracking panel data with an advanced AI to optimise ‘Attention Time’ which displays how long in seconds an ad is actually looked at across both creative and media in real time. 

“Advertisers are starting to harness the power of measuring and optimizing their campaigns on a quality metric like attention, rather than proxy metrics like viewability. Making this revolutionary metric accessible to customers is a key step to adoption and we are excited to partner with PubMatic, one of the world’s leading ad tech companies, to provide this scalable solution to their clients, ” said Rob Hall, CEO of Playground xyz. 

With the new features, PubMatic’s clients will now be able to bolster their campaigns and adjust ad spend towards the inventory that is securing the highest levels of attention.

 Peter Barry, Vice President of Addressability and Commerce Media for PubMatic says that they see the growing demand for attention-based solutions and are excited to offer Playground xyz’s marketplaces within Pubmatic.   

“Integrating AIP’s Attention Time capabilities is an exciting step forward in allowing the world’s biggest brands to take action on attention,” he added. 

Singapore – Consultancy firm Human8 has recently unveiled its employee AI prompt school, accompanied by its own AI research assistant. 

To address concerns regarding data ownership and the impact on confidential research data and PI information, earlier this year OpenAI developed a proprietary AI research assistant utilising the ChatGPT algorithm, enabling them to conduct real research data experiments and evaluate the capabilities of generative AI.

Annelies Verhaeghe, chief platform officer of Human8, said, “Just like with the internet and social media revolution, as an agency we’ve always embraced tech and innovation, investing in discovery to accelerate success. However, to safely and creatively experiment with AI, we first needed to overcome the data privacy obstacle.”

Meanwhile, Maz Amirahmadi, Managing Director, APAC, said, “In Asia Pacific, AI adoption has taken off in 2023 across various verticals and markets. According to an IDC report, a top adoption driver is improving employee productivity. The tool will enable our team of consultants in APAC to keep pace with the acceleration, and we are already seeing strong appetite among colleagues and clients to collaborate with AI.” 

Human8’s trials show that using generative AI as an analytical tool with thick data from primary research produces far more actionable research results. This emphasises the significance of using up-to-date data.

Verhaeghe added, “With our proprietary AI tech at hand, we defined a series of A/B experiments to gain a better understanding of the potential and implications of generative AI systems for our business and the industry at large. Our experiments were designed to explore well-known challenges related to AI data quality, data sampling and even data hallucination.”

Human8 has incorporated its personal AI research assistant across its global operations. By utilising AI automation for more analysis of unstructured data, this has opened up more opportunities for human interpretation and consulting. 

Sydney, Australia – Flashtalking, an independent ad server by global adtech stack Mediaocean, has announced a partnership with digital advertising solutions provider Azerion to bring dynamic creatives to high-impact video and gaming formats in Asia-Pacific.

By leveraging Azerion’s exclusive ad formats and proprietary SSP in conjunction with Flashtalking’s diverse data inputs, advertisers can now deploy dynamic creative across high-impact, standard display, video, and gaming environments through managed services and programmatic buys, at scale. 

Azerion’s portfolio includes a network of over 300,000 premium publishers, gaming partners and developers and it houses a network of over 20,000 owned and operated games with proprietary audience targeting tools and delivery technology to reach audiences at scale.

Meanwhile, Flashtalking’s dynamic creative optimisation capabilities allow for real-time customisation of ad content based on user data, ensuring that creative messaging is tailored to the audience. Through their technology, Flashtalking provides valuable insights into campaign performance, audience behaviour, and attribution, helping advertisers make data-driven optimisation decisions.

Georgia Woodburne, managing director for JAPAC at Azerion, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Flashtalking by Mediaocean across the JAPAC region. By integrating Flashtalking’s technology into our existing offering, we can provide an additional avenue for activating dynamic targeting across our platform, enabling advertisers deliver personalised messaging to their target audience in real time.”

Meanwhile, Jay Smith, vice president for sales in JAPAC at Flashtalking, commented, “We are delighted to collaborate with Azerion and integrate our dynamic targeting capabilities into their platform, enabling adaptive strategies throughout the entire marketing funnel. This partnership allows us to leverage Azerion’s unique offerings, providing additional solutions for our clients.” 

Singapore – Adtech platform Tyroo has announced the expansion of its advertising services to emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Nepal. According to the company, said markets provide an opportunity ground for Tyroo to strengthen their existing presence.

By entering these territories, the company aims to offer its array of technology solutions to local businesses, fuelling their growth and fostering success. In addition, Tyroo is actively seeking seasoned entrepreneurs to join the firm, recognising the value of their expertise in driving innovation and expansion. 

Furthermore, Tyroo is exploring strategic partnership opportunities to enhance its offerings and further solidify its position in these emerging markets. This strategic move aligns with Tyroo’s vision of expanding its Asian footprint and positioning itself as the preferred partner for organisations entering the APAC region.

Nitesh Gupta, chief financial officer of Tyroo, said, “By venturing into these pivotal markets, our goal is to deliver state-of-the-art advertising solutions to businesses in these regions. We are committed to enabling organisations, from small businesses to corporations, to effectively engage with their target audiences and drive business growth.”

He added, “As part of this commitment, we will continue our search for experienced entrepreneurs in these markets, recognising the invaluable contributions they bring to the table. Leveraging our expertise, we will guide brands and agencies in harnessing advanced targeting capabilities, tailored advertising solutions, and optimised media investments to unlock greater success.”

Gupta further emphasised that the decision to fortify their presence in these markets stems from the promising developments in digital advertising within these countries, combined with the need to expand the global reach of businesses and agencies based there.