Tag: Asia Pacific

Manila, Philippines – National media conglomerate ABS-CBN has signed a deal with US-based global media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery to bring ABS-CBN’s lifestyle programs to a much wider audience in Asia.

Three of the highlighted programs include ‘Beached’. a travel show hosted by Marc Nelson and Maggie Wilson–which will air on Discovery Asia, as well as ‘The Crawl’ by Piolo Pascual and ‘Foodprints’ by Sandy Daza, which will air on the Asian Food Network.

Aside from linear broadcast, the three shows will also be available on the streaming platform Discovery+ on iOS and Android devices.

Locally, these programs can be watched on the Metro Channel, Cignal, and GSAT.

The international partnership just comes months after ABS-CBN terminated its previously-agreed partnership with local media network TV5, over concerns of local regulations and scrutiny brought by the suspension of its media franchise on free television.

Despite that, ABS-CBN has been expanding locally and internationally, most recently with its opening of a Los Angeles office, as well as partnering with fellow media giant GMA Network and Hong Kong-based telco SmarTone.

As the advertising industry continues to change in order to address the needs and concerns of consumers, agencies are rethinking how to improve their capabilities for brands. One of the firms’ strategies is expansion through acquiring other companies in the space, and this is exactly what we’ve been seeing in the case of Japanese advertising agency Hakuhodo Inc., which has made a number of buy-outs in the past periods.

In February 2017, Hakuhodo acquired ICG, an activation agency headquartered in Singapore, while in 2018, the agency acquired Vietnamese IMC group Square Communications and three companies in the Philippines, creative engineering company IdeasXMachina, brand agency Beginnings Communications, and events/activation company eNAV.

A year later, Hakuhodo has acquired shares in digital agencies, Winter Egency Co., Ltd. in Thailand in 2019 and AdGlobal360 in India in 2020. Also in 2020, it acquired Taiwan’s Growww Media, an operating holding company with five brands under its umbrella: United Communications Group, a full-service advertising agency, KY-Post (activation and exhibitions), Pilot Group (PR), Interplan Group (large events and exhibitions), and Medialand (digital marketing). Most recently, the Japan-based agency has completed the acquisition of Malaysian digital creative agency Kingdom Digital. We know that these undertakings are meant to supercharge growth, but what does such a targeted business move by one firm imply about the changes in the industry as a whole?

For MARKETECH APAC‘s newest The Inner State, we spoke with Shuntaro Ito, senior corporate officer at Hakuhodo and president and CEO at Hakuhodo International, to share with us their growth strategies and plans for their recent acquisitions.

Elevating Hakuhodo’s competitive positioning

Commenting on Hakuhodo’s continuous acquisitions and competitive positioning, Ito said that they feel there are two approaches; the first is the acquisition of overseas companies, which propels the Hakuhodo Group’s competitive advantage on the global stage, and the second is the application of the competitive advantage they have in Japan over Asia and other overseas markets.

He further shared that bringing in companies that are passionate about growing together as a group is strategically very important, and this is why they are pursuing the acquisitions of companies that shine across the different markets which share the Hakuhodo Sei-katsu-sha thinking (Hakuhodo’s term to describe people not simply as consumers, but as fully rounded individuals), partnership philosophy, and focus on the importance of creativity.

“During the acquisition process, we apply our sustainable management thinking and place importance on maintaining sustainable corporate management in a continuous manner. In going forward, based on this thinking, we would like to further expand our network,” Ito added.

Meanwhile, when asked about what he thinks are the top needs and challenges of brands when it comes to their advertising business, and how a bigger and continuously growing Hakuhodo can be of an answer to them, Ito noted that challenges differ by brand but Marketing ROI and full-funnel capabilities are key needs they see across many clients. 

“Therefore, I believe marketing solutions that make full use of digital and data are necessary and it is important to create real touchpoints that work together with digital. We seek marketing partners that can take on these challenges in a holistic way. Trust is also a very important component and we believe it is also a strength of ours,” said Ito.

The value of the acquisitions

According to Hakuhodo, their belief, ‘people are our main asset’, is shared with the companies that join them before the acquisition and are asked to maintain this stance. 

Ito said that at the same time, they also encourage sustaining and further enhancing the corporate culture and uniqueness of the individual companies, and in order to manage the Hakuhodo Group as one entity, they set up contacts across their group and co-work from the very early stages.

“From working together with our overseas subsidiaries, creating alliances with Japan and other group companies across the world, encouraging a parallel network across companies that fall under the same category, we create opportunities to work as a member of the Hakuhodo group and in going forward, would like to further expand on this,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ito said that on the long-term benefits of the acquisitions to Hakuhodo, clients’ needs can cover a multitude of areas and with change at an alarming rate, the Hakuhodo Group must continuously evolve to cater to these needs. 

“Thus it is important for us to organically take on clients’ needs, as well as use our external resources, with the latter being acquisitions which will greatly contribute to the Hakuhodo Group’s globalisation and growth,” he said. 

Through the latest acquisition of the Malaysian company Kingdom Digital, they are now able to offer clients in Malaysia and across Asia services in digital marketing, digital campaign, social media marketing, content marketing, and digital content creation. 

“Along with this wide array of services, we believe we are now able to work with other companies within our group both online and offline to provide marketing solutions tailored to our clients’ needs,” Ito noted.

Singapore – Influencer marketing has now reached its maturity, but as we all know, the creator economy is very fluid, and even the tiniest disruption can create ripples to give birth to entirely new innovations in this area. For those that have influencer marketing as a key part of their marketing arsenal, this reality can be intimidating. 

As the digital media for the marketing and advertising industry in APAC, MARKETECH APAC has partnered with influencer marketing platform, Vamp, to lead this very important conversation for brands and marketers. To loosely refer to ‘creator economy’, in itself, hasn’t shaken its novelty off among us; when before, influencer marketing is looked to as a vain strategy or an afterthought, it has now swelled its importance and presence to have its very own ecosystem with players and stakeholders that aim to keep the brand-content creator interactivity alive and flourishing.

The webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC, will be focusing on what more can we expect from influencer marketing in the future – in 2023 and beyond. Aaron Brooks, the co-founder and president of Vamp, will be giving a keynote presentation on how brands can best leverage their position in the new creator economy in 2023. Brooks will be sharing valuable insights on what brands can do to successfully navigate current macroeconomic trends and what marketers can learn from other brands that have successfully used creator content to unify their digital and offline presence. 

Meanwhile, a panel discussion will be touching on the developing and newly-emerging trends in influencer marketing today. Together with Brooks, Jonathan Gerard, the head of production of VaynerMedia APAC, Ruben Ahmed, director of Marketing for HP Australia & New Zealand, and Isabel Falco, chief digital & marketing officer of L’Oréal Philippines will be gracing the virtual discussion to talk about how influencer marketing is evolving to change the imperative for content creation and strategy. Furthermore, the marketing leaders will be sharing their expert views on how influencer marketing is now being leveraged to achieve objectives that go beyond branding. 

What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC webinar will be held this 8 November 2022 from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm SGT. It will be conducted as part of MARKETECH APAC’s multi-platform insights-sharing festival, What’s NEXT 2023.

“As influencer marketing continues to mature as a performance channel, what brands want and expect from creators and vice versa will naturally evolve over time,” commented Aaron Brooks, president and co-founder of Vamp. 

He added, “For the relationship to be effective, it needs to work like a partnership, starting with building an understanding of the motivations of each side, and acknowledging the expertise each party brings to the table”

“Our role as a platform provider is to help facilitate this dialogue between creators and brands, to collectively drive the best outcomes. I look forward to sharing some of our learnings during the webinar,” said Brooks.  

Shaina Teope, MARKETECH APAC’s regional editor, commented, “Influencers, and the whole influencer marketing phenomenon for that matter, has been regarded only as secondary, for so long, to the budget-heavy and big-celebrity initiatives by brands. Its significance is changing now, and comes with this is the evolution and growth of how we must realise our strategies in launching and developing influence marketing campaigns today. Let this industry discussion help you step up and sustain your influencer game for 2023 and beyond.”

The said webinar kicks off its parent industry multi-platform series, What’s NEXT 2023. Through its four main content platforms – webinar, conference, interview, and article – we will be gathering the best in the industry to help the marketing community gear up and be ready for the upcoming year’s challenges, opportunities, and trends in marketing.

To join the webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC, register HERE to secure your spot. 

Singapore – Events, following the height of the pandemic, are now putting a premium on the hybrid setup. Brands and marketers alike are utilising both the genuine tangibility of physical events and the widespread accessibility of digital events. For marketers, using a hybrid event model allows them to hit ‘two birds with one stone’ in terms of reaching out to their target audiences. 

There is a greater need for both brands and marketers to be equipped with the latest strategies and methodologies to effectively use their hybrid events for the success of their brand marketing.

With these in mind, MARKETECH APAC, the digital media for the marketing and advertising industry in APAC, and in partnership with Hubilo, is taking the lead to explore what makes events a commercial success: event-led communities and 365 communities. Happening on November 3, 2022, 2 PM (Singapore Time), the webinar ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific’ aims to equip event planners and marketers with the latest trends and insights on how organisations can build engaging and sustainable events.

Through this event, MARKETECH APAC has gathered industry leaders to deep dive into the ecosystem of successful event planning for brands. Joining the discussion are Amit Wadhwa, chief executive officer at Dentsu Creative India; Milca Javier, head of marketing at Generali Philippines; Sophie Ahmed, senior vice president for market strategy at Hubilo; and Razlan Manjaji, director of global events at South China Morning Post.

The panellists will be sharing their views and insights on how brands and marketers create event-led communities, and test membership models, with engaging content. In addition, they will discuss what 365 communities are and how to build them to personalise events.

“Events have been the hardest hit when the pandemic struck, and just because things are now going back to normal, we can’t expect the event marketing landscape to be just the same when it was in its ideal shape. This industry event with Hubilo is so important because we’re not only going to revisit brands’ current event strategies, but we’re now revamping our playbooks to be future-ready as we unravel the impact of the collision of physical and virtual engagements,” commented Shaina Teope, MARKETECH APAC’s regional editor. 

Meanwhile, Sophie Ahmed, SVP for market strategy at Hubilo, commented, “With the digitization of events, marketers now have access to new ways to build their brand, to generate leads, to funnel these leads, to get closer to their prospects and customers and to gain deeper insight into the behaviours of their market. Events now, more than ever, can be used to drive pipelines, achieve greater insight and analytics and ultimately create more value for the customer. I’m really excited for this session where we will be covering all of this and more.”

The webinar, ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific’, will be held on November 3, 2022, 2:00 pm SGT. Secure your spot at the webinar HERE.

Singapore – Digital travel agency Booking.com has announced a long-term strategic partnership with Klook, a travel and leisure e-commerce platform, to enable travellers to access Klook attractions directly on Booking.com.

The new global partnership will connect travellers on the go with seamless access to an even greater range of attractions and things to do, all instantly bookable on Booking.com. 

Booking.com said that Klook is the latest attractions partner to integrate with the platform. Klook experiences are now live in over 175 cities, across over 30 markets on Booking.com, and the majority of these are available in Asia and Oceania.

Matthias Schmid, SVP for the trips division at Booking.com, shared that this year was an important year for travel, as borders are opening up, restrictions are easing, and travellers are once again travelling – and showing more enthusiasm and vigour than ever before.

“What a time to be partnering with Klook, a well-known, highly respected household name for travel and experiences, particularly in the Asia Pacific, where this new partnership will significantly increase our coverage and offering within the region. We’re very excited about this collaboration and all the new attractions and experiences we can now provide,” said Schmid.

Meanwhile, Wilfred Fan, chief commercial officer at Klook, commented that they are delighted to partner with Booking.com, connecting their user base to the amazing and unique experiences that the Asia Pacific region has to offer. 

“Cross-border travel in the Asia Pacific is just taking off, and this partnership will enable our merchants to reach an even larger customer demographic globally and accelerate travel recovery in the region,” said Fan.

Singapore – Publicis Groupe in Asia-Pacific has announced that it has appointed Suzy Goulding as the new head of sustainability for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa for MSL Group. She will lead the strategy development and steer sustainability efforts for clients handled under MSL and support an integrated approach to ESG-related endeavours.

Goulding brings her expertise in strategic communications, sustainability, and social impact from her previous work at MullenLowe salt, where she was the Asia Pacific managing director for both the strategic communications agency and its specialist practice, MullenLowe Sustainability, which she launched three years ago. 

She has focused the past six years of her career at MullenLowe salt on expanding her expertise in sustainability and social impact, working with brands and clients across APAC and MEA. Prior to her work at MullenLowe salt, she established and managed the agency, Umami Collective, providing expertise in corporate communications, technology PR, thought leadership, and more to produce meaningful changes both within and outside of businesses.

Margaret Key, CEO for APAC and MEA at MSL said, “Suzy will be a fantastic addition to our team as our Head of Sustainability. As seen with the launch of Salterbaxter in Australia, we are driving a differentiated, compelling approach to ESG that leverages technical expertise and strategic communications. Suzy is the ideal leader to drive this novel approach to ESG on behalf of clients across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.”

Meanwhile, speaking on her new role, Goulding said, “I am delighted to be joining MSL at a time when the need for brands and organisations to drive sustainable change could not be more critical. I believe that most companies want to become better, but lack the knowledge and confidence to take meaningful and impactful action.” 

She added, “I’m looking forward to working with Margaret and her teams across APAC and MEA to help clients make sustainable changes with conviction and communicate their actions in a way that is honest, transparent, and credible.”

Singapore – Global fintech platform Pomela is expanding its payment platform as a service (PPaaS) through a brand uplift as well as expanding its regional presence in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The move will enable Pomelo to continue to capitalise on growing demand for digital payments which has accelerated rapidly following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Headquartered in London, UK, with a regional headquarter in Singapore, and offices in Vietnam, Thailand and Hong Kong, Pomelo continues to expand its footprint by working with banks, non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), fintech and enterprises across Asia and Europe. The brand uplift, which includes a refreshed logo and new website, helps support this ambition.

Pomelo provides financial institutions and enterprises with a unified B2B payment platform solution to boost revenue and lower costs by increasing payment efficiencies across the financial ecosystem. It offers ready-to-use payment rails, intuitive merchant acquiring infrastructure and access to the latest technology, designed with configurable modular features and microservices.

Vincent Choi, CEO and co-founder of Pomelo said, “This represents an exciting new chapter and look for Pomelo and reflects our mission to help businesses propel forward with smart, accessible financial technology solutions. We want to help financial institutions and enterprises address complex or legacy challenges through a unified platform that’s scalable and constantly updated with the latest payment rails and technology the world has to offer.”

He added, “The expansion of our platform business will enable us to capitalise on rapidly growing demand for digital payments that we’ve seen worldwide, particularly in Asia and Europe. We are proud that our technology has helped businesses navigate uncertainty and build resilience by lowering costs and attracting new customers. With more challenging economic headwinds on the horizon, this type of support is going to become increasingly important.”

Singapore – As part of its official launch in APAC, United Entertainment Group (UEG) Worldwide, a global agency specialising in entertainment, sports, and lifestyle marketing, has now unveiled a raft of senior hires and a new ‘Culture Board’, which features a diverse mix of worldwide and regional profiles.

Led by UEG’s EVP Si Philby, UEG APAC covers 12 markets and has merged the Background Creative Counsel network across the region. The new ‘Culture Board’ includes Dan Flower, the global managing director of style bible The Face Magazine, Ali Hillman, the international art curator and founder of Friday Trampoline, Melvin Tanaya, the co-founder and design director of luxury streetwear brand Song for the Mute, Lauren Yates, Bangkok-based designer, photographer, and founder of Wmenswear, and Benji B, the music director for Louis Vuitton and head of Deviation Music, as well as Samie Oliver, the executive producer of Background Creative Counsel and co-chair of the UEG APAC Culture Board.

Also part of the expansion is the appointment of Piers Hopkins, who will join UEG APAC as director of China. Piers has been working in China for over 12 years within fashion and media from a commercial, business strategy, and operations perspective. Prior to his role at UEG, Piers oversaw operations, events, and brand partnerships as country manager at Business of Fashion in China. Piers brings a wealth of hands-on experience, cultural, and linguistic understanding to UEG APAC, specialising in bringing brands to the Chinese market. 

Philby shared, “Over the years I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with some of the best in business, across a vast array of geographies and cultures. We are now bringing a formula that’s different to other agencies with unrivalled intel, ideas and access.”

Meanwhile, Jarrod Moses, UEG Worldwide’s president and CEO, said, “The UEG APAC team is moving at pace, evident in both the creative intelligence we are forming and the suite of capabilities we offer our brand clients across the entertainment, sports & lifestyle”. 

Additionally, UEG APAC has announced new additions to the full-time team featuring APAC general manager Isobel Howard, who was a former general manager of Background Creative Counsel with corporate experience at Cisco Systems, HSBC and Qantas, and Rosie Ranck, formerly of M&C Saatchi, Leo Burnett, and Ogilvy.

Joining as APAC client services director is Paige Lewis, formerly of Amplify in London and Sydney, where she ran the global Adidas account as well as Porsche, PlayStation, and Afterpay. Tim Brownfoot also joins as APAC creative director, previously working across the Beer portfolio at Lion, prior to which held senior creative roles at Sweet&Chilli and brand experience agency The Projects.

Moreover, looking after a key vertical in UEG’s capabilities, Danai Gapare joins as account director of talent & influence with previous experience at Under Armour, Rebel Sports, and as a professional athlete. Former E! Australia Host Ksenija Lukich also joins as a producer, talent & influence having worked as a TV presenter, content creator, and brand ambassador.

Singapore – Storyteller platform Viddsee is expanding its IP incubator Viddsee Labs in Asia-Pacific following several deals with filmmakers in the region to develop original titles for the platform. Interestingly, South Korean filmmaker Doyeon Noh is one of those who signed the deal.

The regional expansion of Viddsee Labs comes after the success of its first two ‘Shorts to Series’ projects in Singapore with ‘The Lying Theory’ and ‘Home Is Where the Heart Is’.

Viddsee Labs will work with a diverse group of storytellers from South Korea, Hong Kong/Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines with Indonesia, making up most of the slate with six projects. 

Other titles from the ‘Shorts to Series’ project include Indonesian short horror film ‘Stratagem’, Indonesian social commentary film ‘In The Middle of Blackhole’, Indonesian comedy film ‘Opor-Operan’, Filipino post-apocalyptic film ‘LOLA’, Malaysian post-apocalyptic film ‘Hawa’, Singaporean film ‘How To Bury a Dead Cat’, Singaporean original series ‘The Multiverse At 13 Hill Ave’, Indonesian tragic comedy film ‘Antar Ibu Pulan’, Malaysian film ‘Longhouse Chronicles’, and a film adaptation of the book ‘Fallen Butterflies’.

As an IP incubator, Viddsee Labs helps facilitate the growth of Asian storytelling by identifying and developing talent and testbedded IPs. Its long-term goal is to support the region’s democratisation efforts of the creator economy by disrupting how stories and talents are discovered and developed; to bring more authentic Asian stories to bigger audiences.

Derek Tan, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Viddsee, said, “We recognise talent and IPs are key aspects of our storyteller community, which encouraged Viddsee Labs to tap upon its existing regional footprint to develop these diverse range of projects. Moving forward, we hope that this first look deal will help to further support Asian filmmaking talents by enabling entertainment partners to discover the next generation of storytellers with us.”

Singapore – Global toy maker LEGO Group has teamed up with quick commerce company foodpanda to mark LEGO’s entry into the quick commerce space and expand their toy lineup purchases in APAC.

Customers can now shop for their favourite LEGO sets and have them delivered on-demand to their doorsteps in 30 minutes. In this first phase of the partnership, customers in Malaysia and Singapore can access hundreds of different LEGO products, from its popular minifigures to full-sized sets, or even for those who urgently need a missing brick.

In Singapore, the LEGO store will be featured on foodpanda shops with its own branded in-app storefront, which allows the brand full autonomy to run promotions and campaigns. LEGO fans can now get their sets with just a tap, and enjoy special deals from 23 – 30 September 2022. Customers in Malaysia can purchase LEGO sets from selected pandamart cloud stores in Klang Valley and Seremban. 

There are currently 30 pandamarts carrying LEGO products, to be expanded to more pandamarts by the end of Q4 2022. With millions of users across Singapore and Malaysia, making LEGO products available on the platform allows the LEGO Group to reach new, mobile-first customers who seek the convenience of on-demand deliveries every day.

U-Fong Chua, SEA e-commerce head at the LEGO Group, said, “We are excited to partner with foodpanda as we celebrate nine decades of creativity and play. Entering the quick commerce market will make it more convenient for our customers to get LEGO products and bring new opportunities for people to build and play together whenever and wherever they feel like.”

Meanwhile Chris Urban, director of marketplace at foodpanda, commented, “We’re thrilled to have onboard an iconic company like LEGO which is also associated with fun and enjoyment. By expanding the variety of shops on foodpanda, we can cater to our customers’ evolving needs and deliver anything they need, beyond daily essentials.”