Tag: APAC

Singapore – Virtue, the creative agency by media company VICE, has appointed Zoe Chen, former senior strategist at advertising agency BBH Singapore, to be its new strategy director, aimed at bolstering its APAC strategy team.

In her new role, Chen will be drawing on the rich cultural insights of the Vice Media Group to work with its clients across the region, pushing the limits of creativity and driving agency growth. She will be based at Virtue’s Singapore regional hub, and will be the strategic lead for Japanese skincare brand Clé de Peau Beauté, for which Virtue is the global social media agency of record, as well as working on innovation projects for Diageo and Coca-Cola. Moreover, Chen will help lead Virtue’s soon to be launched internship programme.

During her previous stint at BBH in Singapore and London, she has worked with brands including Chupa Chups, Audi, Nike, Uber, and Jollibee, as well as United Overseas Bank, and Sentosa.

Commenting on her appointment, Chen said, “Joining Virtue and the VMG network feels like I’m coming full circle and getting first dibs on the most intriguing parts of culture. I’m excited to be at the intersection of strategy and culture to create work that contributes back to culture.” 

Meanwhile, Huiwen Tow, Virtue’s head of strategy for APAC, shared that Chen is a creative strategist at heart who has an innate interest in art, design and culture, and an insatiable curiosity about the world around her. 

“As we continue to grow in the region by building forward-thinking brands from the inside of a culture, her strategy experience and collaborative approach make her an ideal addition to our team,” said Tow.

In March, Virtue APAC has made a number of key appointments, namely Nuno Dores, the new associate creative director for Singapore, Hayden Scott, the new senior creative director, and Kartick Krishnamurthy, the new business director for India.

Singapore – Revolut, a global financial superapp, has appointed Charles Debonneuil as APAC general manager as it continues to focus on growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Debonneuil will focus on building out Revolut’s local Growth teams and developing the business’ growth strategy, driving rapid new user acquisition in the APAC region.

Debonneuil holds a Masters’ in Management from HEC Paris, during which he also studied at the Wharton School of Business in USA and Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in China.Prior to joining Revolut‘s APAC team, Debonneuil was thepresident of Intrepid Group, a prominent e-commerce solutions provider for global clients, where he oversaw the growth of the company to over 300 workers across Asia.

Debonneuil is also a co-founder and former chief marketing officer of Lazada,thee-commerce platform in Southeast Asia that was acquired by Alibaba in 2016. He oversaw the growth of the business which today boasts approximately 160 million Monthly Active Users across 6 countries.

On his appointment, Debonneuil said, “I’m delighted to join the Revolut team. Revolut’s mission to build a global financial superapp is very exciting, and I’m looking forward to enabling more users in APAC to benefit from Revolut’s product, which is at the forefront of global fintech.”

Meanwhile, Ankit Khemka global general manager and head of marketing at Revolut, said, “We’re thrilled to welcome Charles to Revolut as we double down on our commitment in the APAC region. As we continue to deliver more of our core products to the region, Charles’ extensive expertise is a valuable addition in helping us scale our presence in the Asia-Pacific market and getting our global superapp into the hands of more customers.”

Singapore – Automotive manufacturer Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has elevated Yoichi Miyazaki, former CEO for Asia at Toyota Motor APAC, to be its new operating officer and global chief competitive officer at TMC. 

Miyazaki, who has been leading the Asia region for Toyota since 2020, will now become responsible for improving the competitiveness of Toyota across all regions, delivering ‘Ever Better Mobility’ solutions for the customers, as well as contributing to society and global sustainability.

Succeeding Miyazaki is Hao Quoc Tien, the chief operating officer and regional operating officer of Toyota Motors APAC, who will be promoted to the role of CEO for Asia region at TMC and president at TMAP. In addition, Tien will be also taking over the role of vice chairman of Toyota Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing Co., while concurrently maintaining his responsibilities as CEO of Asia region for Toyota Financial Services and deputy chief officer of Sales Financial Business Group for TMC.

In his new roles, Tien will now be leading the on-going transformation of Toyota in Asia from an automotive to a mobility company, focusing on achieving Asia’s ambitious business plans. This includes the launch of various electrified vehicles, the drive towards carbon neutrality across the entire value chain, and the start of multiple new mobility initiatives through close collaboration with Asia Sales and Manufacturing Companies (ASMCs) and Sales Finance Companies (SFCs) in the region.

Commenting on his appointment, Tien said that Toyota’s long and storied history has allowed them to be market leaders across multiple countries, thereby serving a huge number of customers with technologically advanced vehicles that deliver the highest quality, durability, and reliability, and he is very excited to build upon this foundation, while transforming themselves to a mobility company, bringing thrill and joy to meet changing expectations of customers. 

“We aim to tackle climate change through multiple technological pathways, including the widest and most accessible electrified vehicle lineup and various new mobility solutions. In line with the vision of Akio Toyoda, our Global CEO, this will allow us to create ‘Mobility for All’, and ensure that we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) transformative promise to ‘Leave No One Behind’,” added Tien.

Singapore – Meta has launched a new campaign in APAC that aims to showcase the ingenuity of small businesses across the region. The campaign, ‘Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found’, was done together with Sydney-based independent creative agency Now We Collide.  

The campaign consists of a series of 15-second advertisements and highlights the stories of nine different SMBs from countries in the region including Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea as well as the Philippines, and Thailand.

Each of the creative executions centres on revealing the ‘invisible’ product of a small business. One shows a boy wearing a bike helmet and pads apparently floating along before an Instagram ad unit reveals the bike he is riding. Another features a woman who looks like she is practising Jiu-Jitsu only by herself,  before revealing that she is, in fact, sparring with her instructor.

The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness about the tools and resources available to help small businesses connect with new audiences and expand their businesses online. It’s based on the premise that there are millions of fantastic ideas ‘floating around’, and that it can be challenging to make it stand out from the rest. 

Alex Sloane, director of marketing, Meta Australia & New Zealand, said that the last two years have been uniquely testing times for SMBs, providing some serious challenges with store closures and new opportunities with the explosion in digital retail.

“With this campaign, we wanted to draw attention to the wealth of resources available to help them use digital tools to even better effect, with the potential to create truly global businesses. We genuinely believe that ‘Good ideas deserve to be found.’ and can come from anywhere,” Sloane added.

Ryan Bodger, chief creative officer for Now We Collide, shared, how excited they are to be involved in a campaign that would help out many SMBs across APAC, especially as it was filmed during one of the more challenging periods of the pandemic.

Bodger emphasised, “We had to grapple with these challenges as well, and our team was able to bring to life these stories from all across Asia either filming remotely or in-studio and on location in Sydney.”

“By bringing the client into the studio ‘virtually’, we were able to closely collaborate throughout the production process, making approvals frictionless. We streamlined the process through live video offline edit sessions, bringing together various stakeholders from different locations across the globe,” Bodger adds.

Meanwhile, Keir Maher, chief executive officer of Now We Collide, commented, that one of the more positive things the pandemic has given them is the ability to work in ways we never thought possible. 

Maher added, “Quick adaptation to change has always been part of the Now We Collide DNA, but now it is built into our production processes and methodologies. This campaign is testament to our abilities as a nimble and effective team.”

The campaign will be distributed via digital channels and Meta-owned platforms through Dentsu Media.

Singapore – Global web recommendation platform Outbrain has expanded its global partnership with tech giant Microsoft, to utilise cloud computing service Microsoft Azure and encompass business, technology, and services.

Outbrain has been a long-standing Microsoft partner, through technology and advertising integrations that span MSN, Microsoft 365, Xbox, gaming, and Microsoft Bing. The expansion of the partnership will entail a multi-year Azure engagement to further enable the fast-paced innovation of Outbrain’s media platform. 

Through this, Outbrain aims to leverage Azure to further its global expansion, accelerate development cycles, and improve connectivity between advertisers and publishers, particularly with Outbrain’s programmatic bidders. This will also continue to drive forward the partnership through continuous innovation, enhancing Outbrain’s extensive data estate with a rich set of tools and services, ultimately helping Outbrain’s customers improve their business outcomes.

David Kostman, Outbrain’s co-CEO, commented that they are excited to further expand their strategic partnership with Microsoft, as they both share the mission of supporting independent journalism and the open web.

“Over the course of the last decade, we have worked together to serve publishers and advertisers with high-quality solutions across the globe. Extending our partnership with Microsoft to include Microsoft Azure technology as part of our hybrid cloud platform will drive innovation and deepen the relationship between our companies,” said Kostman.

Meanwhile, Andrew Burke, Outbrain’s managing director for APAC and growth markets, namely India, China, and Brazil, said, “This partnership represents another significant milestone in our efforts to provide innovative solutions to publishers and advertisers in our local markets”

Tara Brady, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of strategic partnerships, said, “We are pleased to expand our established partnership and look forward to partnering with Outbrain’s technology teams as they leverage Microsoft Azure’s most advanced technologies to service their customers.”

Rob Wilk, Microsoft’s vice president of advertising, commented, “We’ve been impressed by Outbrain’s platform, scale, and technology and are pleased to see Outbrain embrace Microsoft Azure and look forward to how it will improve performance for advertisers in Microsoft’s growing advertising ecosystem and on the open web.”

New Zealand – Auckland-based DOOH provider LUMO Digital Outdoor has partnered with DOOH adtech startup Doohly to launch a new, independent solution that will help streamline the entire direct and programmatic DOOH buying experience, as innovation continues across the channel.

The partnership will be deploying a purpose-built content management system (CMS) that will manage the roadside DOOH network. It is a live, independent solution accessible to all CRM, ad servers, supply-side platforms, audience measurement, and DOOH verification technologies open to integration.

Moreover, LUMO will have greater control over how it manages its networks for the benefit of buyers, from ad scheduling and reporting through to programmatic delivery. Doohly’s CMS solution will also be built in tandem with LUMO’s custom CRM system to reduce the requirement for manual involvement once campaigns are approved.

Jack Plowright, LUMO’s general manager of programmatic, shared that this new system and partnership with Dooh.ly is allowing them to embrace innovations in the programmatic without the integration siloes that exist amongst players. 

“We’re taking more control and some of the key projects we are aiming to push forward will provide equal access to our inventory. Doohly is a key part of that with its ability to drill down to the integrations across the different platforms that we use,” said Plowright.

Lumo, having seen the potential in programmatic buying for the channel, has sorted a platform that could integrate directly with supply-side platforms without the need to reserve a spot in the loop for programmatic access. Ensuring that inventory remains fluid between direct and programmatic buy types, the integration will push all available inventory to SSPs but allow direct campaigns to be allocated to the ad play opportunity if not fulfilled by programmatic buyers.

The integration with SSP partners such as Hivestack and Vistar will allow clients to have open access to the LUMO network programmatically, regardless of what demand-side platform they wish to buy through. Soon, live programmatic inventory on the network will be available to help manage impression capacity and campaign delivery.

Meanwhile, the Doohly CMS solution is set up to ingest real-time audience measurement data via the LENS platform, as well third-party display verification platform, Seedooh, providing a fully integrated campaign delivery system built for the demands of advertisers using DOOH.

Sean Law, Doohly’s co-founder, commented, “We’re committed to helping build and support the DOOH industry globally, and this partnership with LUMO was a natural step forward for that goal. We’re incredibly excited to be working alongside LUMO for this new industry initiative.”

Phil Clemas, LUMO’s CEO and co-founder, noted that they are seeing a changing shift in attitudes towards programmatic buying, and the growing demand has created an opportunity for them to provide a better pDOOH solution, and the new software platform is innovative, purpose-built and unique to their market, giving them another way to meet growing expectations around the demand for flexibility of DOOH campaigns. 

“Ultimately we’re helping the market see the adaptability needed for the digital channel as we anticipate the future needs of our clients,” said Clemas.

Just recently, LUMO has also partnered with visual communications platform Canva to launch ‘Billboards For Good’, an initiative that supplies New Zealand-based charities with free outdoor campaign activation.

Singapore – Asia’s sports media property ONE Championship has announced a multi-year partnership with luxury travel and lifestyle brand TUMI. This move will see TUMI as the official premium luggage partner of ONE Championship. 

The partnership includes live broadcast integrations and the development of a bespoke travel case and sling exclusively designed for the prestigious ONE World Championship belt. They will also work together on various exclusive marketing and branding activations throughout the duration of the partnership.

The ONE World Championship belt case combines a tough exterior with contoured angles as a nod to the martial arts legacy contained within. Utilising TUMI’s signature FXT Ballistic Nylon, a custom form-fitted EVA interior with suede lining, and an integrated stand, this innovative travel solution provides full 360-degree protection while in transit. An illuminated TUMI logo is the final touch to this modern design.

Meanwhile, the ONE World Championship sling will allow them to carry and store the coveted ONE World Championship belt wherever they go. Featuring TUMI’s FXT Ballistic Nylon, elevated leather detailing and a quilted interior for total protection, the sling reflects the signature design language of the TUMI Alpha 3 collection.

Chatri Sityodtong, ONE Championship’s chairman and CEO, stated that the ONE World Championship belt represents the journey of the greatest martial artists who reach the pinnacle of their sports through an unparalleled passion and dedication to excellence. 

“Our partnership with TUMI celebrates this achievement by honouring and protecting their most prized possession. I am thrilled to team up with a brand of TUMI’s calibre to elevate this experience for our athletes and fans watching around the globe,” said Sityodtong.

Victor Sanz, TUMI’s creative director, said that the ONE World Championship belt is a symbol of the relentless drive and dedication that ONE Championship athletes display in the pursuit of their craft. 

“As a world leader in luxury travel accessories with a particular focus on performance, TUMI is honoured to support and elevate the journeys of these amazing athletes and partner with a like-minded organisation that defines excellence in martial arts,” added Sanz.

Singapore – The Miroma Group, a global independent marketing services group, has completed the acquisition of Maker Lab, a marketing agency in APAC that builds and embeds dedicated digital teams for brands.

Maker Lab’s cross-functional team of 150 in APAC markets, which include India, Malaysia, and Thailand, supports projects for clients including Google, Netflix, and Taco Bell with strategy, ideation, and execution.

This acquisition will strengthen The Miroma Group presence in APAC, and is another crucial step in its plan to broaden the profile of its core offering to clients. It will also provide a springboard for Maker Lab to launch globally.

Marc Boyan, The Miroma Group’s founder and CEO, shared that their acquisition strategy is focused on satisfying the complex and changing needs of marketers, which increasingly includes a hybrid model of in-house capabilities and agency support.

“Maker Lab’s unique ability to build, nurture and embed fit-for-purpose agency teams into clients supports our goal to always deliver value and growth for clients, and adds an exciting new dimension to our existing stable of exceptional companies and services,” said Boyan.

Meanwhile, Matt Shoult, Maker Lab’s founder and CEO, believes that joining The Miroma Group will provide them with the infrastructure and client base to build on their success in APAC and accelerate their growth in the US and Europe.

“Having operated with a talent-centric approach from the get-go has given us a head start in this climate and we expect to become a global team of 300 by year end,” said Shoult.

Earlier this month, The Miroma Group has announched that it had completed the acquisition of Miroma SET, the sports, entertainment, and technology marketing company, which saw an impressive group of shareholders join the company, including Scott Belsky, Adobe’s CPO and Behance’s founder, Tom Hulme, Google Venture’s head of Europe, and Justin Stefano, Refinery 29’s founder, amongst many others.

Singapore – Creative and communications network dentsu in Asia Pacific has appointed Christina Lee, former vice president at Kering Technologies APAC, to be its new chief technology officer (CTO). Lee commences the role in April this year.

In her new role, Lee will be responsible for providing technology strategy, industry-leading capabilities, and solutions to enable business growth and drive day to day operations through transformational business and technology initiatives. She will be based in Hong Kong, and will be part of both global and APAC senior management teams.

Lee brings with her over two decades of senior leadership experience in information and digital technology. She also has a strong track record of consulting and industry experience in strategy, business transformation, business partnership, vendor management and solution delivery, as well as aligning and advancing IT as a tool and driver for the business of Fortune 500 multi-national brand companies.

Aside from her recent stint at Kering Group, Lee has also held a senior leadership role at L’Oréal, where she led IT for the most strategic and complex region and successfully established the tech organization strategy for APAC. Moreover, Lee sat on the judging panel for the Case competition, Enactus Singapore, a community of student, academic, and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action, and served as a mentor during her leadership at Kering.

Lee said that she has ambition for technology to be a champion of change for brands and businesses to optimise their business practice, and also be a strategic partner to help businesses to get maximum benefits from the data and technologies.

“Dentsu values technology and innovation at the heart of its culture and I could not be more excited to be working together with this incredible, high performing team of technology professionals,” she added.

Meanwhile, Dominic Shine, dentsu’s global chief technology officer, shared that Lee is a committed leader who is passionate about organisational design, understands the problems that will be faced during hyper-growth, and is energized by solving these problems. 

“She brings with her strong experience and a successful track record in driving significant transformational change through technology across organisations, as well as in the delivery of data and digital products. I look forward to having her on the team,” said Shine.