Tag: APAC

Singapore – Insurance firm Allianz has unveiled its new campaign, aimed at inspiring people to move forward fearlessly. This is in line with the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, which will happen on 4 February.

The new campaign, which was created in collaboration with advertising agency BBDO Shanghai, aims to highlight ‘strength’ for all athletes who are fighting for their dreams, as well as for all audiences who wholeheartedly support the athletes.

Titled ‘The Strength to Move Forward’, the film features a simple short story of a man who walked across mountains and rivers, and a girl who chased figure skating dreams. They finally meet each other in the competition and become the strength to move forward to each other.

According to BBDO Shanghai, they have encountered great challenges during the filming process such as the team almost not being able to attend the shooting as scheduled due to the impact of the pandemic in Shanghai.

“In order to present the story more realistically, both the BBDO team and the whole production team went to the plateau area to shoot. The cold weather and altitude sickness were undoubtedly huge challenges for everyone. But the production team, the actors, the BBDOers and the clients, all moved forward with the strength from each other, and finally presented the film to the world,” said the agency.

Australia – In-game advertising platform Anzu has partnered with global gametech company Livewire to help APAC advertisers reach Roblox players through blended in-game ad placements.

Roblox is a global metaverse where players gather to create, share, and play together in immersive worlds. Currently, the platform has over 40 million games covering every genre imaginable.

The partnership will allow advertisers to run non-disruptive ads within many of Roblox’s most popular titles, namely All Star Tower Defense, Speed Run 4, Wacky Wizards, and Weight Lifting Simulator. Advertisers working with Anzu also benefit from guaranteed viewable impressions, brand safety, detailed campaign reporting, and brand lift measurement. 

According to Top Down Games, the studio behind Roblox hit ‘All Star Tower Defense’ which is one of Roblox’s most-played titles, Anzu’s solution allows brands to become part of the game, with their ads appearing on in-game objects that naturally feel part of the gameplay. At the same time, they can reach millions of players within an environment where they are fully engaged and feel comfortable.

Indy Khabra and Brad Manuel, Livewire’s co-founders, commented that they are thrilled to partner with Anzu and extremely excited to bring the Roblox platform exclusively to marketers and agencies in APAC. 

“Livewire’s vision to be the leading gaming marketing and gametech company takes another leap forward with the immersive virtual world of Roblox. The platform is also fully GDPR and COPPA compliant highlighting their dedication to kidsafe gaming,” said Khabra and Manuel. 

Itamar Benedy, Anzu’s co-founder and CEO, noted that some of the world’s biggest brands are using Roblox’s popularity and global reach to access previously hard-to-reach audiences, who are increasingly spending more time on the platform. 

“Thanks to our exclusive partnership with Livewire, advertisers in APAC can now reach an engaged and diverse audience through our non-disruptive in-game ads that add to the gameplay, making experiences more realistic,” said Benedy.

Singapore – Camera and social media company Snap has announced the appointment of two new senior creative leads, namely Gareth Leeding, the new head of creative strategy for APAC, and Haran Ramachandran, the new head of creative strategy for ANZ, aimed at driving its commitment to creating best-in-class creative campaigns on the platform.

Leeding has previously held the role of executive creative director at socially-led creative agency We Are Social’s UK office where he built a creative department, co-founded WAS Sport, and won over 70 global awards for work across leading brands including Adidas, Audi, Google, and YouTube, as well as Lego, and Lidl, among others. In his new role, Leeding brings over 18 years of experience, and he will be the first dedicated creative leader in Snap’s APAC team.

Meanwhile, Ramachandran has also relocated from London where he was most recently the creative lead for telco Three Mobile and PR agency The Academy. In his new role, Ramachandran will help develop breakthrough creative campaigns for the ANZ region.

Commenting on his appointment, Leeding said, “I am excited to be joining the Snap team at a time when the APAC community is experiencing such growth. As Snap continues to push the boundaries with AR and the camera, there is immense creative opportunity, so I’m pumped to be leading the APAC region as we redefine what’s possible.”

Ramachandran also said, “We know local consumers are typically cynical of brands, which is why we need to look at ways to engage them in new and exciting ways. The chance to do that on a platform like Snapchat with a great audience and great tech is super exciting.”

Kathryn Carter, Snap’s general manager for APAC, said, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome both Gareth and Haran to our APAC and ANZ teams. Their visionary creative strategy will continue to help our partners create campaigns at a scale that millions of Snapchatters across the region love.” 

In 2021, Snap has launched its first-of-its-kind environmental pledge in AR to protect Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which has brought the Hyundai Kona small SUV into millions of Australian living rooms and even partnered with Common Ground to create a series of immersive sleep stories from First Nations storytellers using AR.

Indonesia – Creative and communications network dentsu in APAC has appointed Prakash Kamdar to be its new CEO for dentsu Indonesia. This is in addition to his current role as CEO of dentsu Singapore. Kamdar commences the role in February this year.

The appointment follows the step down of former CEO Maya Watono who will be leaving the business at the end of January to take on a role in a newly established holding company for Indonesia’s State-Owned Enterprises. 

During Kamdar’s stint at dentsu, he first held the position of CEO at Isobar Singapore, where he took the business from strength to strength prior to being promoted to CEO of dentsu Singapore in 2019. In the Singapore role, dentsu said he has successfully led the agency through a significant turnaround, having worked with various clients including Standard Chartered, PayPal, Starhub, Intel, and Mastercard, as well as Salesforce, among others.

Wendy Clark, the global CEO of dentsu international, believes that Kamdar is a highly-regarded digital native leader and his authentic management approach has guided the Singapore teams through the pandemic, resulting in the country’s highest-ever client satisfaction ratings with the business on track to return to pre-pandemic growth levels by the close of 2021. 

Commenting on his appointment, Kamdar said, “I have big shoes to fill and this is a challenge for the new year that I can’t wait to get started on.”

Dentsu APAC has also announced the recent promotion of Wisnu Satya Putra to CEO of Creative at dentsu Indonesia, and Arshad Rahman to CEO of CXM at dentsu Indonesia, which are said to be pivotal to dentsu APAC’s strategy to lead the Indonesia team into its next phase of growth.

“Together with industry veterans Wisnu and Arshad, they [will] bolster the leadership team and bring fresh perspectives and a wealth of experience to the business,” said Clark.

Singapore — foodpanda, leading delivery and grocery platform in Asia, celebrates its 10th anniversary with the unveiling of its first-of-its-kind brand ambassador — Pau-pau. The mascot will be given its own unique characteristics and will be featured on foodpanda’s different marketing platforms.

The introduction of Pau-Pau builds on foodpanda’s earlier brand refresh. The pink panda is the platform’s venture towards new brand representation, where, aside from the traditional marketing environments, the new brand ambassador will also be utilized to maximize digital marketing touchpoints.

Idan Haim, foodpanda’s vice president for growth and marketing, commented, “Pau-Pau is a first-of-its-kind among food delivery platforms in Asia! More than anything else, we wanted to create a personality that evokes love among customers. We want Pau-Pau to be an inspiration for people to live life on their own terms and to its fullest. We are excited for our customers to meet Pau-Pau, as we mark the start of a new decade for foodpanda in Asia,” Haim said.

Pau-pau will be featured on the LINE and Instagram apps as an available sticker to bolster use in consumer expression and communication. It will progressively be rolled out into all of foodpanda channels and interfaces, namely the app, website, digital and social media platforms, as well as live-environment activations and more.

The mascot has been developed with a unique set of characteristics that will further help it relate with a wider range of audiences across the Asian market; foodpanda said Pau-pau believes in caring for the environment, empowerment, and living freely.

Eunha Bhang, chief creative officer of delivery hero Asia, gave her thoughts on the uniqueness of the character.

“In creating Pau-Pau, we wanted him to also have a dimension of purpose — that he stands for something more than just being an adorable mascot. Pau-Pau embodies and brings to life the foodpanda spirit by helping our communities reimagine how they use delivery and thereby adding vibrancy and fun in their lives,” she shared.

With the announcement of Pau-pau, one of the character’s key projects will be spearheading the campaign for plastic-free and environmentally-friendly consumerism with foodpanda’s Global Sustainable Packaging Programme to encourage merchant and consumer responsibility.

The one-of-its-kind ambassador was first rolled out in Japan, Taiwan, and Cambodia in December 2021, which was subsequently followed by its appearance in other foodpanda networks namely Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Laos. The next phase will introduce the ambassador in the Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Last November, foodpanda also announced its partnership with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi to venture into q-commerce allowing the option of purchasing consumer electronic products and appliances through its apps. 

Singapore – Digital experience management software, Sitecore, has appointed Joey Lim, former APAC vice president of ByteDance’s enterprise collaboration platform Lark, to be its new president of APAC operations.

Prior to joining Sitecore, Lim has worked as the sales director of cloud computing provider ServiceNow for ASEAN. She also used to work in the accounts business of cloud-based software firm Salesforce.

As the new president, Lim will help bolster Sitecore’s presence in APAC, which is part of the company’s ambitions in the wake of the US$1.2b funding secured in January. She will be overseeing the teams across the region, enabling organizations to digitize their content, commerce, and digital operations, as well as driving the overall sales strategy and growth.

Commenting on her appointment, Lim said that Sitecore has a brilliant culture and a vast network of dedicated partners across the Asia-Pacific and Japan markets and wanted to be part of that opportunity.

“In 2022, the pressure for enterprises to deliver seamless digital experiences, including best practice content and commerce services, will only intensify, and I am looking forward to helping our customers deliver on that opportunity,” said Lim.

Monte Wilson, Sitecore’s global chief revenue officer, shared that Lim has a tremendous track record in building successful software businesses in APAC and they are delighted to have secured her skills to lead Sitecore’s teams in the region.

“We were looking for an outstanding individual to take Sitecore to the next level and we know that Joey’s experience in building teams and delivering on ambitious goals will benefit our teams and clients,” said Wilson.

Australia – CSM, the global integrated marketing and brand experience firm for sports and entertainment, has acquired its long-time digital marketing and communications agency partner, Greenroom Digital, to bolster its digital offering in the sports marketing landscape.

For three years, CSM and Greenroom Digital have been working together to deliver digital and data strategies for a range of clients globally, including HSBC, AIA, and Alpine F1, among others.

The acquisition includes all Greenroom Digital operating markets, with the exclusion of business operations in Australia and New Zealand. This will continue to be headed up by Greenroom Digital’s co-founder, Nick Biggin. 

Biggin commented that the acquisition is an exciting step between the relationship of Greenroom Digital and CSM, and he looks forward to focusing on the continued growth and expansion of their businesses in APAC.

“It enables us to leverage the scale and strengths of the CSM business internationally while maintaining independence and flexibility in the developing Australia and New Zealand markets,” he said.

Meanwhile, Matt Vandrau, CSM’s group CEO, shared that CSM’s digital offering is a key differentiator for them in the marketplace and they are proud to deliver exponential commercial growth for their clients through their performance marketing platform. 

“We are committed to continued investment in our digital offering to provide the very best results for our clients,” said Vandrau.

Greenroom Digital’s Co-Founder, Tom Huggins, who will also become the group digital and data director, commented that he sees this enhanced relationship accelerating Greenroom Digital’s growth in the coming months and beyond. 

“This acquisition is the culmination of years of hard work and delivering results for clients in partnership with CSM and we are delighted to formalize our relationship,” said Huggins.

Sydney, Australia – Independent customer data platform, mParticle, has announced its expansion to APAC with the official headquarters in Sydney, Australia.

mParticle enhances data quality of companies, as well as manages regulatory compliance, and delivers high-quality customer experiences. It also integrates with other technology firms such as Braze, Amplitude, Snowflake, and Amazon Redshift, as well as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Adobe Marketing Cloud, among others.

Through the expansion, the platform will be serving customers across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as Japan, and South Korea.

The APAC office will be led by Kris Fagan, mParticle’s vice president for APAC. Fagan believes that the APAC market is home to some of the world’s most well recognized and innovative brands at the forefront of their industries.

“We’re eager to help brands in this region deliver the personalized experiences consumers expect across all channels with a proven approach to customer data infrastructure,” said Fagan.

Singapore – AT&T’s advertising and analytics division, Xandr, has released a new feature on its platform, described as content metadata for video. The new feature aims to help publishers improve the monetization of their premium video supply through standardized content descriptors.

Each publisher has different ways of labeling content, and buyers find it challenging to forecast, target, transact and report at scale across premium video inventory, and this is what Xandr aims to solve. Through the new feature, Xandr will be able to standardize content metadata to make it simple for both publishers and buyers to better represent and identify video content.

Xandr will take the thousands of unique genre values and simplify these into standardized categories using its fields including duration, delivery type, genre, program type, rating, network, and language. Xandr also offers multiple integration options to make it easy for publishers to send their metadata, including automated live content mapping to ensure there is comprehensive coverage. According to Xandr, over 50% of transacted CTV impressions on Xandr Monetize, its premium inventory, include content metadata.

The new feature will ensure the publisher’s metadata is standardized into Xandr’s taxonomy. This means that Xandr will take the thousands of unique genre values and simplify these into standardized categories using its fields including duration, delivery type, genre, program type, rating, network, and language.

Lynn Chealander, Xandr’s director of product management, commented, “As video continues to grow, Xandr is leading the way in standardizing content metadata to help our customers across both the buy and sell-side better understand premium video. Content metadata for video will allow publishers to capture unique spend as it unlocks demand for contextual audiences and will give buyers insight into the content so they can make informed decisions. All while matching ads to relevant content to create a better experience for viewers.”