Tag: Hong Kong

This month, MARKETECH APAC truly lived up to its name. For the top 5 stories this September, we saw a diverse set of newsmakers hailing from around the APAC region.

The top stories were identified based on Google Analytics from August 17 to September 15. In the list, two great brands from Southeast Asia and East Asia flexed their creative prowess to showcase novel brand marketing moves. Marketing leaders also continue to dominate the list; a marketing executive from South Asia recounted her almost two-decade marketing journey, another one, an APAC business director filled us in on a growing buying trend that no one saw coming amid the pandemic, while a significant appointment from ANZ also grabbed people’s attention this month. 

Top 5: Shopee gets fictional character Phua Chu Kang as new face of the brand

Ever since eCommerce platform Shopee was launched, it has only been putting its trust to big, international names to represent its brand – that would be Kpop girl band Blackpink and professional footballer Cristian Ronaldo. During its 9.9 super sale, the brand decided to show what hyper localization really means by getting not just any local personality, but a deeply rooted cultural icon – sitcom character Phua Chu Kang.

Phua Chu Kang, played by actor Gurmit Singh, is the title character of the longest-running sitcom by network Mediacorp, which revolves around the misadventures of the Phu family.

The show ran from 1996-2007, and within that time, Singaporeans grew to love the eccentric, overly confident, and yellow-boots wearing contractor. So what has truly made the Shopee team go for this rather unconventional stint?

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Head of Marketing Tiger Wang said, “The [appointment] marks another milestone for us as we continue to build on the hyper-localized approach and deepen our engagement with the local audiences. Phua Chu Kang is a household name and a celebrity, [and] local icon. His ability to resonate with and unite local communities aligns with Shopee’s vision, making him the best choice for us.”

Top 4: Hong Kong-based Towngas cooking academy extends its expertise to YouTube 

Amid in-person limitations during the ongoing pandemic, many brands and businesses alike have turned to the virtual side of things. Take Hong Kong-based cooking school Towngas Cooking Centre as an example. The culinary academy which has flame cooking at the core of its program, has gotten things rolling this September as it forayed to YouTube this month, and it doesn’t stop at that. It has a bunch of high-caliber celebrity chefs to boot, tapped to showcase the school’s virtual sessions.

Healthy Monday, French Wednesday, Culinary Tips4U, and Star Chef Weekend and Sunday Mom & Dad are just some of the quirky-titled lessons that are slated for its YouTube viewers.

General Manager for Retail Marketing & Sales Catherine Wong said that the occurrence of COVID has definitely pushed Hong Kongers to prefer home-cooked meals to dining out, and this is what ultimately brought the brand to make the most out of the situation. 

Top 3: Healthcare marketing maven Jasrita Dhir

Last month, the #MARKETECHMondays episode of Philippines’ Mark De Joya entered the top five list, and this time, another one of the webisode’s guests – India-based marketing leader Jasrita Dhir has been one of the stories that garnered the most views.

Jasrita’s marketing expertise expands almost two decades, where she’s worked with a list of well-known brands such as consumer product giant Procter & Gamble, hospitality brand Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, and television media company NDTV before having focused entirely on brand and marketing for healthcare services. 

Currently, she is the assistant vice president for healthcare provider Fortis Healthcare in India. When we sat down with Jasrita during her #MARKETECHMondays episode, she shared some very helpful advice that could be very well treated as a guiding light to budding marketers. 

“I just have two things to say to [marketers]; the first is, please never forget why you decided to become a marketer. There would be times in your journey when you’re feeling low, but constantly remind yourself [your why], [which is] because you want to be your consumer’s voice inside your organization,” said Jasrita. 

‘The second is keep upgrading; it’s nobody else’s responsibility to upgrade your skills. Because your consumer is going to keep changing; there are new avenues, [mediums], [and] new platforms. You have to have their pulse,” added Jasrita.  

Top 2: Stella Berry’s take on a new phenomenon in shopping amid the pandemic

Have you heard of revenge shopping? We bet not, but we too are sure that it would be a term soon to ring bells. In a nutshell, revenge shopping goes hand in hand with luxury shopping. It is a phenomenon that sees luxury stores opening their doors to shopping-starved consumers looking to avenge their months spent holed up at home during the lockdown.

This month, Regional Business Director of mobile advertising solutions Adludio, Stella Berry dedicated a full thought leadership article on the buying trend.

Stella said that it is a testament to the unique relationship consumers have with luxury. 

“No one could have predicted that after months of lockdown, the need for luxury goods has resulted in long queues outside of boutiques. This phenomenon is the result of brands, really making the effort in continuing to engage with people even during the lockdown,’ shared Stella.

All looking positive for brands and consumers, but Stella also puts out a caution.

“Returning to business as usual at this [rapidly] accelerated pace could bring about a negative impact [on] the environment, and consequences on sustainability. So luxury marketers need to find their balance to ensure the brand continues to remain sustainable, but also well-loved,” said Stella.

Top 1: Cognizant ANZ ropes in former PwC executive Jane Livesey

Our top story for the month comes from Australia and New Zealand, and from global IT firm Cognizant at that. In August, former PwC managing partner Jane Livesey was roped in by the firm to become CEO. 

Livesey breathes and lives IT. At PwC, she led over 800 IT professionals for the company’s technology consulting practice team in Australia; while for 12 years, she served as tech managing director for Accenture. With a seasoned IT experience under her belt, Livesey has also become an active advocate for women in the field of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, or STEAM. 

It hasn’t been very long since Jane settled into the role, and as we checked up on her, she shared with us, “It’s been great to join Cognizant and hit the ground running in Australia and New Zealand. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had conversations with both our clients and our teams. At Cognizant, we are focused on how to enable organizations in ANZ to keep on top of era-defining innovations and drive growth in the face of continuous technological and market changes. As CEO of ANZ, my priority is to provide local enterprises and governments with high-quality, market-leading digital transformation capabilities that enhance the lives of people and support digital-first.”

Watch the MARKETECH APAC REPORTS of these top five stories, with exclusive appearance and commentary from the newsmakers themselves.

If you have interesting stories, thought-leadership pieces, and case studies in the area of marketing, technology, media platforms, and SME, please send us an email at [email protected]. Who knows your story could be part of our top 5 next month.

Hong Kong – iClick Interactive Asia Group (iClick), an independent online marketing and enterprise data solutions provider in China, has launched its flagship marketing analysis tool iNsights, which gives brands in-depth and actionable consumer behavior insights to drive more effective marketing campaigns.

In the past months, iClick announced upgrades to iAudience and iActivate, its market intelligence and ad campaign management platforms. With the new tool launch, the iSuite solution of the company now completes the full campaign cycle including its audience targeting solution iAccess.

iNsights is a one-stop tracking solution that tracks and analyzes cross-channel campaigns covering China and overseas markets, eliminating the use of multiple marketing tracking systems.

Utilizing full-data analytics to produce reliable and accurate insights, iNsights provides for brands a better understanding of marketing-driven traffic as well as on-site audiences’ behaviors to facilitate more effective re-targeting. The tool is also said to carry a user-friendly dashboard that renders complicated data into visualized interactive graphics.

“iNsights effectively addresses the difficulties presented to marketers by the shallow insights provided by raw data and selective sampling data analysis, as well as the inconvenience and incomparability of multiple tracking systems for different regions,” said Frankie Ho, president of international business at iClick.

“Our recent update of iAudience and the launch of iActivate and iNsights are part of iClick’s commitment to continually build up and develop the best full-stack solutions for global marketers. iClick has always devoted itself to helping brands gain a better and deeper understanding of markets in real-time and to creating the best marketing strategies driven by data and advanced algorithms,” added Ho.

Hong Kong – 7-Eleven has always been known for running attractive redemption programs that offer appealing collectibles, however, the convenience store chain in Hong Kong has decided to switch things up from its usual loyalty programs with the launch of four snoopy concept stores in Hong Kong and Macau. 

The concept stores are a follow-through of the brand’s current campaign in celebration of Snoopy’s 70th birthday, called “Happiness is…”, which is a catchphrase from the famous Peanuts cartoon strip featuring Snoopy and his friends. Initially, the brand has partnered with Japanese lifestyle fashion brand Niko to roll out a series of Snoopy eco bags.

7-Eleven said that with the opening of the concept stores, they wanted to do something that does not simply reward customers for their loyalty, but a platform that aims to increase brand equity and authentically engage customers in a fun and exciting way. 

A hub of three stores in the high traffic district of Mongkok and one store in Macau has been chosen for the transformation. The brand dubs the project as creating a “Snoopy town.”

Stores were painted with Peanuts characters from top to bottom. Special Snoopy touches have been added inside and outside the store such as in the shopfront, category signage, chiller and freezer doors, and in the ceiling. Item shelving has also been transformed to look like Snoopy’s iconic red doghouse and a gondola end display of a jumbo Snoopy figure driving a bright yellow school bus has been installed as well.

Each store decoration will bear a special theme to represent a particular concept under the umbrella of the “Happiness is…” platform. One store would show the theme “friendship and togetherness,” another “sharing,” with the other two to carry the theme “more hellos” and ” a day out.”

The company said in a press statement, “One of the team’s primary objectives was to strengthen the brand association between 7-Eleven and the Peanuts franchise in a fun and engaging way.”

“The Snoopy concept stores are a successful example of building on an already popular market promotion to give customers a fun and exciting store experience. The introduction of the concept stores elevates the redemption program to another level, turning it into a platform to authentically connect with customers and reshape how they think and feel about 7-Eleven as a brand,” added the company.

In addition to the store visuals, team members inside the concept store will be wearing an exclusive Snoopy x 7-Eleven t-shirt featuring the iconic Charlie Brown chevron stripe.

7-Eleven will also be offering exclusive Peanuts merchandise on one of its stores such as pet products and lunchboxes, while the Peanuts theme will also be seen gracing the stores’ signature products such as Slurpees, Sundae, 7Café coffee and Hot Shot.

Hong Kong – Travel and leisure booking platform Klook officially unveils the newest feature on its app, an interactive livestream called Klook Live!.

While users on Klook have only been enticed of new food and travel offerings via images and text on the app, users will now be able to view up-close the offerings through interactive and instant video content on Klook Live!. 

The feature has been formally launched in August in five APAC markets Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.

During this period, Klook released a series of hyper-localized content on Klook Live!, featuring offerings from food and dining to hotel staycation packages, where the five markets have reported a 4 times average uplift in conversion rates. This is compared to in-app conversion rates on an average day.

According to the brand’s data, in Thailand, a staycation surprise deal has been sold out in just eight minutes, while in Singapore, two out of three staycation bookings made within 24 hours were direct conversions as a result of the livestream. Both countries also experienced about a two times uplift in revenue compared to an average day. 

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, a number of food and dining exclusive deals were snapped up in less than five minutes. 

With the new feature, the brand aims to introduce traveltainment, to which it refers to as a new form of immersive content that elevates users’ ways of discovering and booking both local and overseas hospitality offerings.

“The pandemic has made users even more critical and discerning when making a purchase. With Klook Live!, we enable users to gain a more authentic look at our offerings, as well as directly ask questions in real-time before buying,” said Marcus Yong, vice president of APAC marketing. 

“Our early success demonstrates that users are increasingly demanding a new way to discover things-to-do, starting from their backyard. It also signals that users prefer a more entertaining, social, and personalized customer experience,” added Yong. 

During the livestream on Klook Live!, customers can interact directly with merchants, express their feelings through emoji and polls, redeem exclusive promo codes and check-out; all while watching a live episode.

According to the company, Klook Live! is designed to cater to the region’s growing demand for online video content on mobile devices. It refers to a study by digital research brand eMarketer, that over 1.2 billion Asia-Pacific users consume video content on their mobile devices in 2019, and that this is expected to increase by over 75% to 1.6 billion by 2023. 

The company also looks to leverage the forecast that video content is expected to be a norm post-pandemic as people consume more video content. According to a study by market research firm Globalwebindex, Gen Z respondents said that they expect their increased levels of consumption of social media, videos, and streaming services to continue even after the outbreak. 

On the merchant side, Klook is confident that the new feature will aid vendors in targeting their audience reach which has proven trickier amid the pandemic. 

“With international travel restrictions in place, merchants require creative platforms to showcase their offerings to local audiences and encourage them to support local businesses that depend on tourism. With Klook Live!, merchants of all sizes can bridge that gap and build stronger connections with local users, boosting brand awareness and sales,” the company said in a press statement.

In the coming weeks, Klook Live! will be rolling out more content and products, including episodic programs to unveil a new local carnival in Taiwan and indoor recreational parks in Malaysia among others

Klook Live! can be accessed by downloading the Klook app on Google Play or the App Store. 

Hong Kong, China – A Hong Kong-based culinary arts school Towngas Cooking Centre which promotes flame cooking, has launched its official YouTube channel, where it will be featuring cooking lessons and recipe ideas demonstrated by an ensemble of celebrity chefs.

Towngas Cooking Centre is an extension of utility company and gas supplier The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited which was put up in 1977. Its courses stretches a wide age group offering programs like Excellent Wife Certificate program for beginners, and a crash course for students abroad, where at the center of its curriculum is the training for flame cooking.   

Episodes of the new YouTube channel will feature both local and international celebrity chefs such as Master Chow Chung, Swiss chef Jacques Kagi, YouTuber Portugal Story-Telling Chef John Rocha, and celebrity mom Skye Chan who will take turns to present professional cookery advice and demos on a daily basis.

Lessons will range from casual cooking to gourmet preparations with recipes from Asian cuisine as well as ideas on French baking. Essential facts about foods and pointers on handling ingredients and condiments will also be featured in addition.

From September to October, special segments are slated to go live for each day of the week: Healthy Monday, French Wednesday, Culinary Tips4U on Thursdays, KOL Friday, Star Chef Weekend, and Sunday Mom & Dad.

The channel will also release a one-of-a-kind segment called Intensive Course for Domestic Helpers, a Chinese cooking boot camp tailored for domestic helpers to be shown every Tuesday.

Retail Marketing and Sales Catherine Wong remarks, “Since the number of COVID-19 cases has fluctuated lately, many people prefer cooking at home over dining out.”

Wong added, “According to market research, there’s an exponential growth in searches for recipes. In response to the demand, Towngas launches our very own flame cooking platform Towngas Cooking YouTube Channel, where star chefs specializing in different cuisines convene.”

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s data centers have been highly sought by investors and owner-operators in 2020 with majority, 54%, of the total investment volume into data centers in the Asia Pacific coming from the city, according to data by Cushman & Wakefield.

Data center investment in the region has been on the rise with total transaction volume between 2018 and 2020 totaling USD 5.7 billion, over seven times that between 2015 and 2017.

Despite the pandemic outbreak, investment activity in the sector remains relatively robust with the total transaction volume in the region over the first eight months of 2020 reaching USD 1.43 billion, about 56% of the 2019 level.

Among the most notable transactions in Hong Kong is China Mobile’s securement of an industrial government site for HKD 5.60 billion in July. The record-high asset value of HKD 5,967 per sq. ft was 56% higher than the closest bid; demonstrating the eagerness of the buyer to secure a data center site amidst limited supply.

Hong Kong has long been eyed as an ideal data center location. The latest research by Cushman & Wakefield identifies the city as the fourth most attractive data center location in APAC, trailing Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. The city ranked highest in terms of low tax rate and low climate risks and ranked in the middle in categories of fiber connectivity, market maturity, and electricity costs. Meanwhile, it scored poorly on its high real estate costs.

At the end of the second quarter of the year, total data center stock in Hong Kong amounted to 7.9 million sq. ft, of which 80% was dominated by 10 operators including the two largest local operators – SUNeVision and PCCW Solutions, with the latter making up 31% of the market area.

Cushman & Wakefield forecasts that over the next four years, a combined 4.2 million sq. ft of supply will enter the data center market.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Associate Director for Research in Hong Kong, Eric Chong said that existing data center demand is supported by banking & finance, insurance, and telecom operators, and that in the future, such demand is expected to be largely driven by leading global cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud as well as Tencent Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. 

Chong said, “The growing importance of Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the impending 5G network, and fast adoption rates of cloud computing as well as the post-COVID-19 ‘new’ normal are the four major factors driving the surge in demand for cloud storage”.