Tag: APAC

Singapore – With the lockdowns being extended, the demand for video streaming platforms have accelerated. It has also pushed the over-the-top (OTT) industry to be more creative. And with this, the global mobile marketing and advertising platform provider, InMobi, has released its ‘The OTT Premium Video Wave Consumer Study, Asia Pacific 2021’. 

The study aims to examine consumer preferences for OTT video platforms to other video platforms such as cable TV, long-form videos, and short-form videos, over the last year. It also seeks to unravel consumer perceptions of value, ad relevance, and willingness to pay for these platforms across India, Singapore, and the Philippines, as well as Indonesia, and Australia.

Insights from the InMobi report reveal that in 2020, an average of 46% of consumers across Australia, Singapore, India, and the Philippines, have demonstrated a clear preference for watching videos on OTT platforms. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, consumer preference for OTT was second only to long-form videos.

Moreover, respondents were more likely to watch and discuss OTT content with friends and family over any of the other comparable platforms, indicating the prevalence of OTT in everyday life.

Vasuta Agarwal, InMobi’s managing director for APAC, noted that they are seeing OTT becoming the premium video content platform of choice within the Asia Pacific region, where several providers have experienced massive jumps in subscriptions during the past year.

“Users have shown that they are willing to pay for and accept the monetization of OTT premium content through ads, so we expect that advertisers who make OTT a core part of their programmatic marketing strategies will gain a significant advantage,” said Agarwal.

InMobi said that there are additional insights on consumer preferences for OTT premium video platforms across the region, as well as their perceptions on ads on these platforms compared to cable TV, long-form videos, and short-form videos.

The report shows that over 40% of respondents in all markets rated OTT platforms as having the ‘most immersive and engaging content’ and being the most ‘value for money’, while respondents in all markets were least likely to give up OTT platforms and would continue using them even if they were fully ad-based, as well as were most willing to pay for them.

Another insight is that at least 50% of respondents in all markets found ads on OTT platforms somewhat relevant, with the Philippines most receptive towards these ads. It also revealed that OTT platforms also had the most influence on product selection and purchase among four out of the five surveyed markets, ranking in the top two – influential platforms for Australia, Singapore, India, and the Philippines.

And lastly, respondents from all countries ranked OTT platforms among their top two for watching and discussing content with their friends and family, indicating that it has captured the family viewing space.

Singapore – With travel now under strong consideration and vaccination programs slowly gaining momentum in Asia, Booking.com, the online travel arm of Booking Holdings for lodging reservations and other travel products, has announced the inaugural launch of its new campaign that aims to re-ignite travel inspiration.

The new campaign is a celebration of the trailblazers and explorers among people, shedding light on why travel has continued to remain so fundamental to their identities and showcasing what a return to travel could mean to people personally.

Titled, ‘Booking Explorers’, the campaign is a series of stories by leading personalities in the APAC region, such as Amazing Race Australia winners, Tim Sattler and Rod Jones, who have traveled the world proudly representing the freedom to love and who advocate making travel more inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community. It also features Indian multiple Grand Slam Champion, Sania Mirza, who was a global citizen that pursued a successful professional career in tennis before the pandemic, and Korean alternative pop band, Leenalchi, who connected people through the power of their music by traveling the world to find inspiration for new songs and interacting with global fans. 

In addition, rising style icon and global fashion model, Chau Bui, was also featured in the campaign. She calls Vietnam home but has traveled from Seoul to Paris, New York, and Milan to find inspiration for her unique style. And lastly, the campaign includes the famed Japanese illustrator in Paris, Kaori Watanabe, who expanded her mental comfort zones through travel and used this new perspective to create art that transports us to faraway lands.

Laura Houldsworth, Booking.com’s managing director and vice president for APAC, shared that the campaign is a heartfelt reminder of travel’s transformational impact and celebrates the spirit of travel through the voices of the explorers, who were forced to look inwards during this time and found new inspiration in the travel where it was possible while advocating for their greatest passions from home.

“With travel slowly resuming, it is my hope that these stories will bring a message of hope to our Asian travelers; and continue to broaden our horizons on how we can still experience our world responsibly when it’s safe to do so,” said Houldsworth.

The new ‘Booking Explorers’ campaign will be available at www.bookingexplorers.com.

Singapore – Carousell, the listing platform in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong for pre-loved consumer goods, has awarded its integrated media agency of record duties to Essence, the global data and measurement-driven media agency.

The Singapore-born classifieds marketplace is present in eight markets across Southeast Asia. Carousell offers a diverse range of products across a variety of categories, including automobiles, property, and home services, as well as electronics, and fashion accessories.

Led out of Essence’s Singapore office, the agency’s scope of work for Carousell includes brand and performance marketing in Singapore, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Essence’s offering covers media services such as media planning, media activation, automation, and media technology, alongside its specialist capabilities such as consulting, analytics, data strategy, ecommerce, experience, strategy, and advertising operations.

As part of the partnership, Essence’s first activities with Carousell include a campaign to build brand awareness among its target consumers in Hong Kong, a campaign to establish the brand’s versatility across products and service categories in Singapore and the Philippines, as well as conducting the agency’s Essence Media Health Check consulting service with Carousell’s team on its performance marketing campaigns.

“As one of the world’s leading classifieds platforms, we are so excited to have found such great partners in Essence, who enable us to establish meaningful ways to connect with our users at scale, no matter which part of the funnel they are at,” commented Cassandra Leong, Carousell’s director for brand. 

Meanwhile, Monica Bhatia, Essence’s senior vice president of client partner for APAC and managing director for Singapore, said that Carousell is an inspiring brand that believes in using technology to solve meaningful problems at scale and always improving in crafting the most seamless user experience for people to sell what they do not need and find what they need. 

“Likewise, through Essence’s data-driven approach to media, consulting, commerce, and content, enhanced by technology and a commitment to constant improvement, we are excited to help Carousell deliver the most valuable experiences for its consumers, as well as accelerate marketing transformation and business growth for the brand in this region,” said Bhatia.

Most recently, Essence has also announced the launch of its newest consulting service called ‘Essence Data Health Check’, with the aim to aid brands in getting value from collected audience data, which in turn can optimize business impact and consumer brand experience.

Singapore – Global adtech TripleLift announces that it will be expanding its global presence into the Asia-Pacific market, as well as announcing Singapore-based Henry Shelley to be appointed as TripleLift’s new managing director.

Part of the expanded regional market presence is due to the fact the company has seen a growth of APAC publisher partnerships in the last two years by over 250%. 

TripleLift’s multiple ad formats have become an integral part of the programmatic revenue strategies for most of those publishers. Since launching the industry’s first native ad exchange in 2014, TripleLift has expanded its marketplace and offerings to include display and video.

Meanwhile, Shelley brings extensive experience accelerating client business and expanding company operations across regions, including London, Australia, and Singapore. He most recently served as general manager for The Trade Desk, leading its expansion across Southeast Asia. Prior to that, he was global account lead for Amnet Programmatic Experts of the Dentsu Aegis Network and held positions at marketing agencies Columbus Agency and Latitude.

For Shelley, programmatic native advertising is, more than ever, now an essential and permanent fixture on media plans across the APAC region. He added that great-looking ad formats enrich people’s experience with brands, which then gives advertisers, publishers, and broadcasters performance that scales.

“TripleLift quickly established itself as a trusted partner in Australia, and with the company’s acquisition – one of the largest transactions in ad tech history – expansion in key markets across APAC is accelerating. I am beyond thrilled to lead TripleLift’s next phase of growth in APAC, helping shape the future of digital advertising and making advertising work better for everyone in the region,” he stated.

TripleLift first launched its native programmatic product seven years ago to help publishers compete with large media platforms that were grabbing an increasingly disproportionate slice of ad budgets and squeezing publishers across the open web in the process. Since then, the company expanded its product portfolio to support every major programmatically transactable ad format from display to connected TV (CTV).

Meanwhile, Jacqueline Quantrell, chief revenue officer at TripleLift, stated that as the region is home to several of the worlds’ largest and fastest-growing digital ad markets, APAC presents publishers and advertisers with an enormous opportunity to harness the power of programmatic to achieve business objectives.

“With our established suite of ad formats, increased investment in new technologies, and Henry at the helm of our business in APAC, we’re poised to help more publishers grow their share of budget and help advertisers reach their target audiences,” Quantrell concluded.

Singapore – SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu, which has presence in Singapore and Australia, has just recently launched a fully flexible digital solution for SME lenders that aims to cut costs and time to market.

Mambu provides banks and fintechs with loan management technology and access to an ecosystem of partners such as web-based identity authentication, credit checks, and loan origination. These partners are vital to lenders wanting to offer speedy loan approvals which has proven to be a key competitive advantage.

The new SME lending solution by Mambu is designed for fast new product launches and offers flexibility in order to quickly adapt to changes. It offers a variety of options to adjust loan conditions in order to support borrowers that are in financial difficulties. This flexibility helps clients to better serve SME companies and to release financial burdens during pandemic times.

According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), it is estimated that there is an unmet financing need of US$5.2T every year across 65 million firms or 40% of formal MSMEs globally. At the same time, there is more pressure on SME lenders to deliver low-risk decisions quickly via a fully digital customer experience.

Elliott Limb, Mambu’s chief customer officer, shared that whether it is starting a new company or growing an existing one, there’s never been a bigger requirement for SME lenders to offer the services their customers need. 

“With Mambu’s composable approach, we provide an agile way for our clients to build and shape new financial services around the businesses they want to help,” said Limb.

Singapore – The Coca-Cola Company, the global beverage company that owns the world-famous beverage brands Coke and Sprite as well as a portfolio of hydration, nutrition, juice, and dairy, and sports, and coffee and tea brands, has appointed media, digital, and analytics veteran Anupama Biswas as its new senior director for its Analytics & Insights team in the APAC region. 

The appointment comes as the company progresses on a major strategic transformation, including rewiring to become a more networked organization. Biswas will become part of a new team called Platform Services and will be leading the company’s analytics and insights for four operating units in the APAC region. 

Biswas brings with her almost two decades of experience in media, digital, e-commerce, and analytics, and business strategy across leading consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Colgate-Palmolive. Her expertise includes combining data-driven insights, creativity, and pragmatism to develop organizational alignment, focus, and a clear path to growth. 

Biswas most recently comes from Kellogg Company as its regional director for e-commerce, media, and analytics in the AMEA region. In her last assignment, she has implemented digital transformation and drove change management within the organization by building in-house digital & analytics capabilities.

Meanwhile, her experience on the agency side has had her working particularly with GroupM agencies, such as Maxus, which is now Wavemaker, and also Mindshare. For a little over a decade, she was with MediaCom in its Singapore team. 

In an interview with MARKETECH APAC, Biswas shared that her role will be focusing on delivering actionable insights to drive business growth. The specific areas she will be handling will be commercial in nature, such as consumer segmentation and revenue growth management. 

Biswas shared that over the near term, her responsibilities would be more focused on building a team and on building the analytics framework, while over the long run, the goal would be to make the jump from descriptive analytics to more predictive and prescriptive solutions.

“I am super excited to be at The Coca-Cola Company. This is a company that I have always admired and it’s a privilege to be here. I look forward to driving a data culture and unlocking analytical solutions to deliver actionable insights to further fuel business growth,” said Biswas. 

Meanwhile, Alex Clarke, the global head for Analytics & Insights at Coca-Cola, and to whom Biswas will be reporting, commented, “We are thrilled that someone with the talent and experience of Anu has chosen to join the Coca-Cola Analytics & Insights team. This is an exciting time to join our company as we step-change how we leverage analytics and data science to support our growth ambitions. Anu will play a key role in the region in helping us achieve our goal of being a truly data-driven organization.”

Singapore – Word-of-mouth and genuine love for a brand continue to be one of the most powerful sources of brand promotion and marketing, and this is on top of micro-marketers or online influencers, who, even though arguably relatable, still patronize brands under a sponsorship or a deal. We go much deeper into the user-generated brand love phenomenon – and that is through our close network on social media. With less outside influence, and trust that laden with more truthful opinion, word-of-mouth is now digitized online buzz. 

Asia-Pacific is a region with strong collective values and beliefs and when it comes to well-loved brands on social media, consumers bound by this region seem to gravitate the same towards conversations on the same types of brands.

According to a quarterly study by Digimind, a social listening and market intelligence platform, the top most discussed brands for the second quarter of the year have taken up quite a lot of changes since the previous quarter. 

The study notes why consumers, more than experiencing brands, love to ‘talk’ about them on social media – it’s because the simple act of it has become some kind of self-actualization.

“There is a gratifying feeling to express how they feel about a product or service, or simply have an opinion,” notes the study. 

The top 10 in Digimind’s Top 50 most discussed brands in APAC

For starters, the title of the most-discussed brand in APAC has been retained from the first quarter of the year, and it is none other than Singapore-born e-commerce platform Shopee. A lot of brands have fluctuated among consumers’ radar, but not Shopee, which isn’t surprising. 

E-commerce has been the go-to shopping ‘destination’ for most since a brunt of physical establishments has been, for the meantime, closed down. With almost everyone accomplishing their purchases on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, similarly Singaporean platform Lazada, and Indonesia’s Tokopedia, the next impulsive step is to share them on social media and boast of them, as doing so enables consumers to feel an even greater sense of elation and self-worth. 

This has been evident with the latter, with Lazada pushed two places up from Q1, and then Tokopedia an inch closer from the previous period, for both to enter in the top 10 most discussed brands. 

Meanwhile, the holy grail brands and platforms that are at consumers’ immediate disposal, continue to dominate conversations on social media. These are Spotify, Google, Netflix, Apple, and Zoom, with all falling under the top 10 most discussed.

Massive celebrity collaborations have also made way for consumers’ interest to be supercharged towards certain brands, and we’re speaking specifically of the global stardom of K-pop group BTS, which has amplified brand love for McDonald’s and even luxury brand Louis Vuitton. 

The study notes that while much of the commotion is directly from its passionate fan base, a part of the social buzz is also affected by those whose curiosity has been stirred, and therefore, channeling their recent ‘discoveries’ on social media as well. 

A social media post from a BTS fan in the Philippines

With McDonald’s releasing the ‘BTS meal’ across its global markets, the fast-food label jumped to the top 10 of the APAC rankings in Q2 by 34 places. 

Meanwhile, global fashion brand Louis Vuitton which has recently ridden the BTS bandwagon, allowed for it to amass significant social buzz within a relatively short frame of time, putting them within the top 20 rankings by an upturn of 32 spots. 

Another more surprising movement in social buzz based on the study is one with TikTok, which from being part of the top 10, is now nowhere in sight of the top 50. Maybe, the short-video platform, despite its popularity, enjoys much more viewership and usage of the app itself, more than being talked about as it is from afar. 

The top 20 in Digimind’s Top 50 most discussed brands in APAC

Meanwhile, popular super apps and delivery platforms in the region – Grab, foodpanda, and Gojek – which have been looked to with much more dependence from users, have all landed in the top 20. 

“For brands, resonating with the right community is as good as leaving them to handle your marketing with every individual promotion helping to populate your brand’s campaign further,” noted the report.

Data presented were collected by Digimind Historical Search and based on social mentions in APAC between April to June 2021 on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even from Pinterest, Reddit, and Tumblr, and YouTube, among others. 

Singapore – To celebrate its 53rd anniversary and Global Week of Inclusion in July, Special Olympics Asia Pacific (SOAP), the non-profit sports organization that provides year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), has launched a new campaign called ‘#WalkforInclusion’ – a virtual activation to promote inclusion and raise awareness and support for children across APAC. 

Special Olympics provides health screenings to people with ID and supports more than 2.4 million athletes across 35 countries. It also promotes a life of inclusion, dignity, and respect for persons with intellectual disabilities.

The ‘#WalkforInclusion’ campaign, which will run until 31 December 2021, aims to encourage the public to share videos of themselves, family members, or friends walking across social media platforms, where creative expressions of the walking motion are encouraged.

Every video tagged with ‘#WalkforInclusion’ will add 10 steps to a universal digital counter that will be hosted on the campaign microsite. Besides the standard motion of walking, users are also encouraged to share fun videos that capture and interpret the act of walking in creative and innovative ways. 

Furthermore, the microsite will be pulling together stories of resilience and grit from athletes, families, and coaches across the region, alongside a digital counter – where every ‘walk’ video uploaded, page load, and steps taken across physical walks and runs documented in support of #WalkforInclusion will be added to the total step count. The public is also encouraged to also play the ‘#WalkforInclusion’ AR Filter game – available on the SOAP’s official Facebook and Instagram pages – and to donate as well towards the cause.

The campaign also highlights the ‘Special Olympics Young Athletes’ program, which is an early intervention initiative for children with and without ID between the ages of two and seven.

Dipak Natali, Special Olympics’ regional president and managing director for APAC, shared that the movement reaches out to more than 360,000 children with ID across the region, and it helps in ringing home the message that in the global debate of diversity and inclusion, a large population is still marginalized from the mainstream consciousness and discussion. 

“The aim of the ‘Special Olympics Young Athletes’ program is to give these children an early head start in life, to improve their physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. It leverages the power of sports in furthering a child’s intellectual development by working their motor skills and fostering in them a sense of belonging to the community at large through effective teamwork. The program creates an environment of inclusivity and gives families of children with ID hope for a child’s future,” said Natali. 

Besides the digital activation campaign, every dollar donated to SOAP will help an athlete get access to the right support in order to give them a better shot at a brighter future. Monetary contributions will also go towards supporting the work across the region including providing better healthcare through screenings and access for athletes, with the hope of early intervention and thus prevention in times of health needs.

Singapore – Amid the global pandemic, consumers have resorted to e-commerce and digital solutions, and the majority of them tend to visit websites without signing up or making a purchase. With this, shopper behavior teams across industries have been investigating this issue called ‘cart abandonment’.

To help uncover why people abandon carts and login boxes, and what online businesses can do about it, the global modern identity platform Auth0 and market research company YouGov has conducted an international survey among over 1,200 business leaders and 8,000 consumers around the world, including 200 and 1000 respectively in Singapore, about their expectations for login and sign-up experiences.

The survey found that 55% of APAC consumers are frustrated by long login and sign-up forms, compared to 49% globally. However, 34% of APAC businesses surveyed estimate that it takes potential customers between one and five minutes to sign up for their app – and 24% say the login process for returning customers takes more than one minute.

Moreover, the same survey showed that 87% of APAC organizations admit that potential customers abandon their cart or sign-up process, compared to 85% globally, while about 63% attribute these abandonments to sign-up processes and 51% attribute them to the login processes. However, the research shows that 84% of APAC consumers abandon their shopping cart or registration attempt due to a complex login process.

Meanwhile, the survey data previously released by Auth0 revealed that almost 89% of APAC consumers admit to reusing passwords for more than one account and that their main frustrations with the sign-up process for new apps are password-related. Consumers want alternatives to passwords, including biometrics and passwordless authentication, however, most businesses fall short of consumer expectations for these login experiences. 

According to Auth0, around the world, about 86% of Australians, together with 89% of Singaporeans, 86% of French, and 85% of British consumers are more likely than those living in Germany with 78% and Japan with 76% to abandon their cart or sign up to online content if the login process is too arduous.

Organizations from APAC countries are much more likely than their European counterparts to attribute cart abandonment to sign-up processes – about 66% of Australians, 63% of Japanese, and 60% of Singaporeans, compared to 49% of French, 46% of British, and 41% of German.

Singapore – GetIT, the B2B marketing consulting and solutions firm dedicated to brands in technology, IT, and telecom industries, has opened its office in Tokyo, strengthening its name in the international arena and expanding its already flourishing presence in the Japanese market. 

Group CEO & Director Anol Bhattacharya shared that Japan has always been a key market, where for over 20 years, technology industry leaders and telcos hailing from the country have been part of the many clients it served.

“Our experience with delivering solutions for our clients in Japan led to us acquiring local clients in the Japanese market. Growing our presence in Japan was a natural progression for us as we see a growing demand for Asia-Pacific marketers to venture into Japan and vice versa,” said Bhattacharya. 

With the new office, it will be bolstering its go-to-market solutions of content marketing, demand generation, lead nurturing, and account-based marketing to technology and telecom businesses in Japan.

Leading the charge in Tokyo is Kennosuke Saito as country manager. Saito is an industry veteran having been the country manager at Wunderman International and AdPeople Japan building a new marketing service agency business model focusing on digital and data solutions. Saito brings extensive marketing and sales experience. He had also been part of top global ad agencies such as Grey, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather, Wunderman, and MediaCom managing both B2C and B2B clients.

“I am very excited about GetIT’s Japan office, being a proud member of this growing professional organization. With the B2B marketing expertise and experiences GetIT has built in APAC, I am confident that we can expand our services to Japanese clients and help you develop effective and efficient marketing activities outside of Japan for further business growth. We are thrilled to be your best partner for your APAC marketing,” commented Saito.

GetIT is headquartered in Singapore. The firm commenced operations in Bangalore, India in 2015, and expanded its operations to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2019.