Tag: Ant International

With the motto “unlocking what’s next” in marketing, The Next Practice, a global marketing communications company, recently collaborated with Ant International to demonstrate how sustainability marketing can become integral to activating a brand’s purpose.

In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, The Next Practice shared insights into this collaboration. During the Singapore Fintech Festival 2024, Ant International showcased its commitment to sustainability and digital innovation through an immersive augmented reality (AR) activation focused on eco-tourism and MSME support. This initiative not only emphasised sustainability but also highlighted its importance as a driver of long-term economic and social value. 

“Sustainable tourism holds immense potential to serve as a catalyst for environmental conservation, social progress, and economic development. Through this AR interactive travel experience, we aim to showcase how eco-tourism, supported by digital solutions and financing, can create local jobs, preserve cultural heritage, and protect natural ecosystems. By merging digital technology with purpose, we’re inspiring a new wave of travel that contributes to shared prosperity and sustainability,” said Carrie Suen, vice president and global head of international affairs and sustainability strategies at Ant International.

When discussing sustainability in the marketing context, many brands mistakenly confine it to corporate responsibility initiatives, ESG reporting, and short-term campaigns. Traditionally, marketing has been a powerful tool for driving commercial growth by influencing consumer behaviour. With increasing awareness of sustainability, sustainability marketing has emerged as a new driver for fostering conscious consumption that rewards purpose-driven companies. True sustainability involves embedding sustainable practices into a company’s business model, ensuring that the business, stakeholders, and customers thrive together in perpetuity.

Sustainability marketing: Turning awareness into action

Bev Ho, head of sustainability marketing at The Next Practice, explained the transformative power of immersive experiences through gamification in creating impactful sustainability campaigns. “Gamified elements turned passive awareness into active participation, enabling participants to connect their actions—like supporting social development and environmental projects—with tangible impacts on sustainability,” she said.

In this activation, Ant International invited participants to immerse themselves in an AR experience by selecting avatars and exploring Sumbawa, Indonesia. Activities such as whale shark conservation and visiting local bee farms allowed participants to see firsthand how sustainable practices create positive change. These engaging, hands-on experiences underscored the importance of integrating sustainability into daily actions and highlighted the critical role of community-driven efforts in fostering long-term environmental and social progress.

Uplifting smaller communities

Sustainability is not only about environmental conservation; it is also about empowering smaller communities to drive social and economic development. Ant International’s activation highlighted the vital role MSMEs play in fostering sustainable development.

“According to data from the United Nations, MSMEs represent 90% of businesses, 60 to 70% of employment and 50% of GDP worldwide. They are local heroes that can drive social, economic, and sustainable progress. By enabling game participants to support and empower MSMEs with solutions such as digital payments and green financing for renewable energy, everyday consumers can understand how they can contribute to greater sustainable development in small but meaningful ways. The immersive experience is more than just a game—it’s a way for people to realise that their choices can lead to real change,” Carrie explained.

Addressing the gap through technology

One of the most significant challenges brands face is bridging the gap between sustainability awareness and motivating real-world action. Ant’s AR experience tackled this issue by leveraging technology to create immersive, interactive experiences that allowed participants to visualise potential real-life impacts.

Bev added, “The gamification approach makes abstract sustainability concepts tangible, motivating participants to take actionable steps through relatable examples and real-time engagement. The use of ‘phygital’ – a combination of physical and digital – engagement transformed complex sustainability concepts into potential realities. This approach enabled participants to see the immediate impact of their actions, inspiring them to contribute to a sustainable future in their daily lives.

Lessons for other brands

Ant International’s campaign offers invaluable insights for brands aiming to elevate their sustainability initiatives. “Brands can learn from this campaign by leveraging phygital experiences and community-driven narratives to make sustainability engaging and impactful. By utilising digital tools and showcasing local, relatable heroes, they can transform abstract goals into tangible, measurable outcomes,” Bev elaborated.

Chris Foster, CEO of The Next Practice, emphasised, “At the core of sustainability marketing lies the belief that change begins with engagement. This AR experience seamlessly bridges the physical and digital worlds, immersing people in a vision of a better future and their ability to contribute. By fostering connection and motivating action, we empower individuals to be part of the solution. This represents the future of sustainability—where inspiration drives meaningful, collective change.”

Sustainability marketing is not a fad; it is a marketing paradigm for long-term brand success. Today’s consumers demand transparency, environmental stewardship, and meaningful action. By leveraging tools like augmented reality and digital innovations, brands can craft immersive narratives that deeply resonate with audiences.

Engaging with smaller communities and amplifying their sustainable practices not only brings authentic stories to the forefront but also strengthens the social and economic fabric of these regions. Embracing sustainability marketing positions brands as leaders in driving positive change, building trust and loyalty in an increasingly sustainability-conscious marketplace.

Singapore – Ant International, a digital payment and financial technology solutions provider, has named Jiang-Ming Yang as its chief innovation officer (CIO), effective immediately. Yang is set to focus on transforming the company’s digitalisation strategy.

As the new CIO, Yang will lead a team that drives Ant International’s innovation and product strategy, ensuring their alignment with trends and customer needs.

Yang brings his expertise in payments and e-commerce, having recently served as Ant International’s chief product officer. During his tenure, he focused on developing fintech solutions. He led the establishment of various AI-powered solutions like Antom’s A+Rewards, Copilot, and EasySafePay.

Recently, Ant International’s CEO, Peng Yang, announced upgrades to its payment solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises. The move is directed towards inclusive growth for the sector.

“Ant International will continue to invest at the frontier of innovation to help businesses, especially SMEs, to achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly complex global environment. Top on our list of priorities will be to push the cost and efficiency boundary for cross-border payment and settlement; to democratise cutting-edge technology solutions for SMEs on payment, trade and financial services; and to revolutionise user experience with new intelligent technology for cross-border travel,” Jiang-Ming commented.

Singapore – To celebrate the Global International MSME Day for 2024, digital payment and financial services provider Ant International has shared its support towards almost 100 million Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) worldwide through its businesses and programs as well as its global campaign.

Through these efforts, Ant International reinforces its commitments towards MSME digitalisation and inclusion through the expansion of its services as well as new programs for skills development with industry partners.

In its ‘Embrace the power of small” campaign, Ant International features three business owners and their journeys of digitalisation namely, Cholthicha Joyyangsuk (Numwan) from Thailand who sells desserts on her tuktuk, Lem Cheong from The Hainan Story, Singapore who was inspired by his grandma’s rich heritage and flavourful recipes, and Lewis Ames from Wrimes Cosmetics, UK who started with neon face paint and pivoting to pet care during the pandemic.

These stories then will be featured on out-of-home billboards, starting in Europe, in time for the UEFA EURO 2024, of which Ant International is the Official Payment Partner, and rolled out to other global markets, and also on TV and social media.

In terms of Ant International’s other efforts, Alipay+, the cross-border mobile payments and marketing solutions operated by Ant International, announced an expansion of its global acceptance. As of June 2024, Alipay+ is accepted by over 90 million merchants in over 66 markets, enabling many small businesses to efficiently connect with global mobile-first consumers.

This initiative from Alipay+ is then supplemented further by digital payment solutions providers Antom and Worldfirst, empowering more SMEs with international payment solutions.

Additionally, ANEXT Bank, a digital wholesale bank incorporated in Singapore, recently celebrated its second anniversary, with two times year-on-year increase in its customer base, of which 69% are micro businesses. To further support regional MSMEs, the bank has introduced its second batch of ‘SME Friends of ANEXT’ with forward-thinking small and growing businesses to co-create the “digital bank of tomorrow”.

In Indonesia, Ant International and DANA will launch the second edition of ‘SisBerdaya’, an initiative that provides female micro entrepreneurs training, mentoring, and educational programs in business management and digital skills. Started in 2023, the first edition drew more than 2700 applicants, with 180 participants undergoing a one-month training, and grants awarded to 30 entrepreneurs.

Lastly, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation, ‘10×1000 Tech for Inclusion’ is an open learning platform to help future digital leaders develop more skills to drive greater impact within their communities. As of 2023, with the support of 40+ global strategic partners, more than 6,000 individual talents from 100+ countries and regions completed the 10×1000 learning programs, of which 90% are from developing markets and 60% work in MSMEs.

Talking about these initiatives, Douglas Feagin, president of Ant International, said, At Ant International, we firmly believe in the power of small and that small businesses can make a big impact. Fintech innovations today unlock new possibilities for small businesses to dream boldly and compete globally.”

“Together with our partners, we want to ensure that every business and every person will have access to the knowledge, network, and digital tools to help them achieve their goals,” he added.

Singapore –  Ant International, Grab, and StraitsX announced a collaboration to explore the viability of utilising Purpose Bound Money (PBM) in cross-border payments. 

Purpose Bound Money (PBM) is a system that defines the conditions for using an underlying digital currency. PBM, which was first launched by MAS as a component of Project Orchid1, has the potential of lowering payment processing costs and enabling the guided allocation of funds for a specified purpose. 

The goal of this collaborative initiative is to make it easier for GrabPay businesses to integrate with Ant International’s Alipay+ solutions, allowing them to accept payments from a diverse tourist audience. If successful, the expansion of cross-border payment capabilities is expected to increase the use of Purpose Bound Money (PBM), with the goal of launching it in Singapore by 2024.

This cross-border payment project aims to expand local merchants’ customer reach while providing benefits to small and micro-scale businesses. Smaller retailers in Singapore have traditionally experienced restrictions in providing a varied range of payment alternatives to international travellers. This constraint is typically linked to the lengthy process and high expenses associated with incorporating new digital payment methods, which can take months or even years.

By leveraging a distributed ledger infrastructure and Purpose Bound Money (PBM), tiny to micro-scale retailers can more easily serve global consumers. This reduces the complexity involved in integrating cross-border payments by doing away with the need for new system upgrades and manual end-of-day reconciliation between accounting systems.