Tag: APAC

Singapore – More consumers in the Asia-Pacific are doing their holiday shopping on their mobile devices, a new survey from mobile advertising AdColony shows.

Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand have the highest share of consumers that prefer to make purchases on their smartphones, as the majority of the country respondents clocked 94%, 93% and 91% respectively. 

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AdColony infographic of mobile shopping in the Philippines

Respondents from Thailand (88%), Malaysia (86%), and the Philippines (84%) stated they prefer to shop in-app rather than use a mobile browser. On average, APAC shoppers showed 73% majority of showing the same consumer behavior. 

Purchases related to seeing an advertisement online are also relevant to the majority of APAC consumers, as Indonesia (92%), Malaysia and the Philippines (89%), and Singapore (85%) showed majority of such behavior.

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AdColony infographic of mobile shopping in Malaysia

In terms of what matters most for consumers’ shopping experience on mobile devices, an average of 52% said that easy payment process matters, as evident by the majority of respondents from Thailand (60%), Indonesia (59%), the Philippines (55%) and Malaysia (54%).

Japan (50%), Australia (53%) and Indonesia (56%) said that gifting this holiday should be done via shipping the gift directly to the receiver, while Malaysia (58%) and Thailand (52%) said that they will do the exchange gifting after the gift shipment has arrived.

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AdColony infographic of mobile shopping in Singapore

Meanwhile, online ordering, accompanied with concurrent home delivery still ranks as the top choice of shopping for today’s APAC consumers, garnering an average of 85% of all the respondents. Also, 55% of the respondents state that better deals are the prime reason why they shop online, evident by consumer behavior from Malaysia (70%), Singapore (62%) and Thailand (56%).

Singapore – The Asia Pacific region is seeing a surge on ad fraud cases this year, as fraudsters are increasingly faking organic metrics, a new report from app marketing platform Adjust shows.

From a general perspective, fraud rates in August this year have increased by 214.86%, compared to statistics recorded last year.

East Asian countries of China and Japan clocked a 65.6% and 60.7% rise respectively, with fake users or online bots emerging as the most prevalent type of fraud in their jurisdictions.

“It is absolutely vital that marketers can trust their data. Without having a clear view, it is simply impossible to make strategic, data-driven decisions. Ultimately, fraud is and will remain to be a challenge we see in the industry, however by implementing the right tools, we will be able to stay one step ahead of the fraudsters and ensure transparency remains a top priority,” says Andreas Naumann, director of fraud prevention at Adjust. 

A closer look into the Southeast Asian region reveals that 39.11% of the fraud was from software development kit (SDK) spoofing, and 18.95% of them were created by fake bots. By context, SDK spoofing is defined as the creation of legitimate installs of a certain software/app to consume the advertiser’s budget.

“It’s crucial that marketers implement solutions such as Adjust’s free-to-use SDK Signature, which combats this fraud scheme. The reality is that fraud prevention solutions are the only sure way to eliminate fraud, which is why in 2016, Adjust launched the first ad fraud prevention filters in the market and spearheaded the industry-wide movement against fraud,” stated April Tayson, regional vice president for Adjust India and Southeast Asia 

In a statement provided to MARKETECH APAC, Tayson notes that with the approach of the holidays, advertisers need to see the balance of spending ‘big’ on their advertising budget, and the actual data they gathered from customer analytics and attribution.

April Tayson, VP for India & SEA Headshot
April Tayson, Regional Vice President for Adjust India and Southeast Asia

“There are plenty of other best practices well worth incorporating into your Christmas marketing strategy, such as increasing your retargeting spend. By targeting users who have shown interest in your products, retargeting campaigns can be extremely effective when combined with attractive limited-time offers. A discount may be the deciding factor for users who have already clicked on a product page or abandoned their cart,” Tayson stated.

She also added, “Marketers should also be optimizing every step in the conversion funnel to ensure customers have a seamless user experience during the sales period. If a portion of customers are getting stuck in the user funnel, this will prevent you from optimizing your revenue. This is an important step throughout the entire year, but increased revenue opportunities during the holiday season make it a critical step at this time of year.”

Furthermore, Tayson stated that for companies strategizing their plans for 2021, brands would need to focus on both sides of their advertising strategy: saving advertising budget from fraud attacks and prevention of future frauds, not just detection.

Organic VS Paid Reject Installs
An infographic showing the comparison of rejected install statistics between organic and paid advertising campaigns (Courtesy of Adjust)

“Using fraud prevention filters is the only way to stop fraud in its tracks, helping you save your UA budget and keeping your data sets clean and reliable. From there, you’ll be able to acquire better and more valuable users while identifying your best-performing channels. It’s also important your fraud prevention filters are based on prevention and not just detection. Proactive fraud detection means this fraudulent traffic is cut off at the source, and you avoid having to trawl through your data to find the fraudulent installs and deal with chargebacks,” Tayson concluded.

Singapore – The Spikes Asia Awards, one of the prestigious award-giving bodies in APAC for excellence in creative communications has unveiled its full list of jurors across its awards categories for 2021 with a total of 86 jurors.

Coming from 18 countries from across APAC, the juries will meet online to discuss and benchmark creative excellence from across the region. Judging will take place in February 2021, assessing work across 23 Spikes Award categories.

Philip Thomas, chairman of Spikes Asia, said, “We are delighted to welcome a cohort of highly talented experts to judge the awards, and we are particularly pleased that this year we have reached gender parity with our juries. It’s a positive reflection of the region’s industry.”

The Spikes Asia 2021 juries are as follows:

Brand Experience & Activation Jury:

Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer, President Creative, Cheil Worldwide – Jury President
Ryohei Manabe, Group Creative Director, Dentsu Inc., Japan
Alvin Lim, Founder & Creative Chairman, GPB Shanghai & Hong Kong
Tista Sen, Regional Creative Director, South Asia, Wunderman Thompson, India
Melina Fiolitakis, Senior Art Director, FCB, New Zealand
Tay Guan Hin, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO, Singapore
Nathasoruban Sivapatham, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Cassandra Kelsall, Director of Experience, Publicis Sapient, Australia

Creative Effectiveness and Creative Strategy Jury:

Kaveri Khullar, Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Mastercard Asia Pacific, Singapore – Jury President
Ikuko Ota, President, Hakuhodo Kettle Inc., Japan
Rahul Mathew Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group, India
Michaela Lyon Global Account Director, Freelance, Hong Kong
Simone Tam, CEO, dentsuMCGARRYBOWEN International, Greater China, CEO, Creative, dentsu Hong Kong, dentsuMCGARRYBOWEN, Greater China
Lee Simpson, CEO, whiteGREY, Australia
Brady Ambler, Executive Strategy Director, R/GA, Singapore

Design and Industry Craft Jury:

Rajdeepak Das, Managing Director India and Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia, Leo Burnett – Jury President
Matt Nisbet, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy, Hong Kong
Chutivat Cherdchoo, Executive Creative Director, Visionary, Thailand
Pann Lim, Co-Founder / Creative Director, Kinetic, Singapore
Maryzyle Galinato, Group Creative Director, Hakuhodo Saigon, Vietnam
Marina Danjo, Creative Director, Dentsu Inc., Japan
Brigid Alkema, Executive Creative Director, Clemenger BBDO, New Zealand
Niccola Phillips, Creative Group Head, M&C Saatchi, Australia

Digital, Mobile and Digital Craft Jury:

Yasuharu Sasaki, Head of Digital Creative and Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Inc., Japan – Jury President
Valerie Madon, Chief Creative Officer Asia, VMLY&R, Singapore
Thanasorn Janekankit, Chief Creative Officer, CJ WORX, Thailand
Shiny Lee, Creative Director, Whatever Inc., Taiwan
Kent Boswell, National Director of Interactive, Traffik Group, Australia
Seonhwa Hwang, Digital Content Creator / Campaign Planner, Innocean Worldwide , South Korea
Kitty Lun, Director, Creative Shop GCR, Facebook, Hong Kong
Chew Shing Sian, Group Creative Director, R/GA, Singapore

Direct and Outdoor Jury:

Tara Ford, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Sydney, Australia – Jury President
Paul Chan, Chief Creative Officer, Cheil Worldwide, Hong Kong
Syed Gousul Alam, Managing Partner & Country Head, Grey, Bangladesh
Lucy Novita, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Indonesia
Edmund Choe, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu, Vietnam
Cho Ye Jung, Creative Director, HSAd, South Korea
Leigh Reyes, Chair Emeritus (C3PO), MullenLowe TREYNA, The Philippines
Awais Dhakan, Executive Creative Director, Adcom Leo Burnett, Pakistan

Entertainment and Music Jury:

Emily Bull, Managing Director, Founder, hellofuture.tv, Australia – Jury President
Tamon Fujimi, Director of Creative Development, MassiveMusic, Japan
Thasorn Boonyanate, Executive Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson, Thailand
VJ Anand, Head of Creative APAC, Vaynermedia, Singapore
Lizi Hamer, Regional Creative Director, Octagon, Singapore
Matt Che, VP Marketing, Budweiser APAC, China
Ashima Avasthi , Vice President Creative & Head, Zee Studios Originals, Zee Studios, India
Angie Tijam-Tohid, Creative Director & Head of Content, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, Manila, The Philippines

Film Craft Jury:

Michael Ritchie, Managing Director, Co – Owner, Revolver, Australia – Jury President
Trong Tantivejakul, Chief Creative Officer, VMLY&R, Thailand
Katherine Lee, Managing Director, Stink Studios, China
Sneha Iype, Executive Producer / Partner, Nirvana Films, India
Rajay Singh, Co-Founder/Film Director, Directors Think Tank, Malaysia
Hiroki Ono, Film Director, Club-A, Japan
Ajay Vikram, Chief Creative Officer Global Clients, Publicis, Singapore
Judy Thompson, Executive Producer, DDB, New Zealand

Film, Print & Publishing and Radio & Audio Jury:

Piyush Pandey, Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide & Executive Chairman, India, Ogilvy – Jury President
Elle Bullen, Creative Founder, SDWM, Australia
Lisa Fedyszyn, Executive Creative Director, Special Group, New Zealand
Sheena Jeng, Chief Creative Officer, McCann Worldgroup, China
Lili Jiang, Group Creative Director, Cheil Worldwide, China/Hong Kong
David Guerrero, Creative Chairman, BBDO Guerrero, The Philippines
Yusuke Kanda, Creative Director, Film Content Planner, Hakuhodo, Japan
Joji Jacob, Co-founder & Creative Partner, BLKJ, Singapore

Healthcare Jury:

John Scott, Creative Director, Ward6, Singapore – Jury President
Flora Rhee, Managing Director, Havas Health & You, South Korea
Wendy Chan, Executive Creative Director, McCann Health, China
Justine Metcalfe, Founder & Creative Director, Head and Heart, Australia
Jason Chang, General Manager, Elite PR Group, Taiwan
Kazuko Tanaka, Community Producer, Founder Hakuhodo Working Mom’s Link, Hakuhodo Inc., Japan
Parixit Bhattacharya, Managing Partner – Creative, TBWA\ Mumbai, India

Innovation Jury:

Joakim (jab) Borgström, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, BBH, Singapore – Jury President
Yasuharu Sasaki, Head of Digital Creative and Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Inc., Japan
Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer, President Creative, Cheil Worldwide
Joji Jacob, Co-founder & Creative Partner, BLKJ, Singapore
Kent Boswell, National Director of Interactive, Traffik Group, Australia
Valerie Madon, Chief Creative Officer Asia, VMLY&R, Singapore
Wendy Chan, Executive Creative Director, McCann Health, China

Media Jury:

Mark Heap, CEO APAC, MediaCom – Jury President
Danni Dimitri, Strategy Director, Havas Media, Australia
Vaishali Verma, CEO, Initiative, India
Ami Qian, Managing Director, CARAT, China
Deric Wong, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, Hong Kong
Jacquline Pavich, Global Client Lead, Publicis Groupe, Singapore
Jacquie Bennett, Partner, Strategy Director, HeyYou, New Zealand

PR Jury:

Vanessa Ho Nikolovski, Managing Director, Weber Shandwick, Singapore – Jury President
Shota Hatanaka, Creative Director, Hakuhodo Kettle, Japan
Marianne Admardatine, CEO, H+K Strategies, Indonesia
Amit Misra, CEO MSL South Asia, MSL, India
Shouvik Prasanna Mukherjee, Executive Creative Director, Golin, Singapore
Simone Gupta, CEO, One Green Bean, Australia
Melinda Po, Chief Operating Officer of Edelman China / Managing Director of Edelman Shanghai, Edelman, China
Sean Brown, General Manager, Mango Communications, New Zealand

Of the judging, Thomas commented, “Things will be a little different next year, with our juries meeting remotely for the first time. We have created  a remote judging experience that’s as close to the physical judging as we can make it . It’s a crucial part of all of our LIONS awards; a human experience but also a rigorous and robust process.”

The winners of the Grands Prix and Special Awards will be announced on 4 March 2021. 

Manila, Philippines – Digital payment company Visa has announced the launch of their newest accelerator program for APAC start-ups in expanding their business reach to a global level.

The new “Visa Accelerator Program” will focus on making selected start-ups be connected with bank and merchant partners of Visa globally through commercial opportunity collaborations. Furthermore, the accelerator program is designed for start-ups that have built a consumer base in their home country, and are ready to enter new geographical and consumer regions.

“In Visa’s ongoing work with the startup community, we often see companies face challenges when taking their business from a local success story to becoming a player in multiple markets. There is a vibrant fintech ecosystem in the Philippines. At Visa, we have global expertise that can help startups take their expansion plans off the white board and into the real world. We encourage Philippine startups who want to partner with us to join this program so we can help them scale,” said Dan Wolbert, Visa country manager for the Philippines & Guam.

Areas of interest that Visa wants the participating start-ups to address are as follows:

  • Expand access to the digital economy to consumers and businesses that are underserved or cash-dependent
  • Support of small businesses as they struggle with changing technology demands and the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Leveraging the growing open data environment in the region to develop more personalized banking and shopping experiences
  • Developing new ways of moving money that aren’t dependent on traditional credit and debit cards

“There is no shortage of fantastic solutions coming out of the Asia Pacific, particularly the Philippine startup community. What’s most important to Visa is how we can support those solutions getting elevated to a stage where in a few months’ time they could be pitched as a commercial deal to a leading bank, retailer or technology company in the region. A big differentiator for the Visa Accelerator Program is our concentration on a small number of startups that are truly ready to unlock that next level,” Wolbert added.

California, USA – Customer experience platform SugarCRM has recently announced the acquisition of Loaded Technologies,  a business consulting, CRM strategy and cloud implementation services provider based in Sydney, Australia.

With this acquisition, SugarCRM is expanding its ability to meet implementation service demand in Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region. SugarCRM’s service portfolio includes cloud-based customer experience solutions, AI-powered sales, and other marketing/service software.

Such services then enable high-definition customer experience through implementations such as migrations from on-premise to cloud environments.

“We are excited to have the team at Loaded Technologies, with their dedication to customer success and  expertise of the Sugar CX solutions. The acquisition of our long-time partner, addresses a growing need for mid-market companies who want a trusted advisor that can help them navigate and succeed in optimizing and differentiating their customer experience,” said Jason du Preez, general manager for SugarCRM Asia Pacific.

Singapore – A new exclusive partnership has been formed between ad platforms AdColony and Anzu.io, which entails AdColony to offer Anzu.io’s in-blend advertising solutions across both video and display to brands and agencies within the Asia Pacific.

The new partnership now allows seamless advertising to games such as custom-paint Formula One race cars or virtual perimeter of an in-game football studio, where brands can now create deeper levels of engagement with the gaming community.

Screenshot from Samsung in-game advertising campaign inside Axis Football  (Credit: Anzu.io)

Alongside the partnership is a suite of industry tools, which includes campaign effectiveness measurement, fraud prevention, and ad verification for the first time to bring to fruition the in-game advertising integration. 

According to their press release, more than 1.5 billion consumers in Asia Pacific are gamers, where70 percent play games daily on their mobiles. Furthermore, 40 percent claim to play more games since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Screenshot of an in-game ad from 7-Eleven mobile campaign in Gravity Rider Zero (Credit: Anzu.io)

“We passionately believe that gaming is the new and improved social media for marketers in terms of connecting with consumers at scale. This opportunity has been accelerated in recent months with the pandemic, and 2020 has seen an enormous uplift in the demand for new solutions for brands to reach gaming audiences,” said Tom Simpson, AdColony’s senior vice president for APAC.

He also added, “This partnership allows AdColony’s expertise in APAC markets to combine with Anzu’s global-leading blended in-game ad technology to offer a unique solution for brands to connect with consumers seamlessly in and around their favorite games. We look forward to pioneering new marketing offerings for our clients and delivering great work across APAC.”


Anzu’s CEO and Co-founder Itamar Benedy commented, “APAC is really the epicenter of worldwide gaming, and Anzu is thrilled to bring the combination of our programmatic in-game advertising experience with AdColony’s offerings to the region. This partnership represents a major opportunity for advertisers who are ready and eager to reach these ultra-engaged audiences.”

Singapore – Global advertising and marketing company Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has announced the expansion of Fuse, its sport and entertainment practice, across Asia Pacific.

Headquartered in Singapore, the Fuse team will be tasked with delivering transformative marketing solutions for clients in the region across sport, e-sports, and music.

Fuse in APAC will build on the established Fuse network in the UK and across EMEA, where award-winning work has been delivered for international brands such as PepsiCo, Nissan, HSBC, Google, and Vodafone. This enables clients in both regions to benefit from the scale and specialist local expertise of a globally integrated practice.

In APAC, Fuse will be built on a new model that leverages the commercial, digital and creative capabilities of OMG’s network to help clients modernize their sponsorship strategies through better strategic guidance, smarter digital activation, cutting-edge analysis, and delivering faster and more attributable return on investment.

The service will be led by Jonathan Drakes, who played a pivotal role in growing Fuse’s international business out of the UK as its strategy director. Drakes will be based in Singapore and responsible for developing the business across the region, with a particular emphasis on maximizing opportunities in Asia. Drakes reports to Tony Harradine, CEO of Omnicom Media Group in APAC, and to Fuse’s CEO Louise Johnson.

Drakes starts the venture with founding client, beer brand Tuborg, in a move that builds on Fuse’s five-year relationship with the brand, during which time Fuse helped create and grow ‘Tuborg Open,’ the global music platform which has seen it collaborate with international artists.

Harradine said Fuse’s launch in APAC underscores OMG’s confidence in the power of sport and entertainment platforms to deliver meaningful results for clients in a dynamic marketing environment and in a uniquely challenging time.

Johnson commented, “We’re delighted to be building on the success of the Fuse brand and expanding into the Asia-Pacific region. The global sport and entertainment rights and media market is evolving at a phenomenal rate, driven by expanding fan bases and new digital media platforms. This presents fantastic opportunity across APAC and EMEA for agencies that can quickly adapt, at scale.”

In October, OMG has similarly introduced a new practice Transact in the region, its service for brands specializing in e-commerce.

Singapore – Dentsu’s B2B creative agency Gyro has announced a new managing director, promoting its regional head of strategy Rhys Taylor to the position.

The new leadership comes as Gyro’s B2B capabilities are merged into the recently announced B2B powerhouse of Dentsu’s data-driven marketing agency Merkle, with four more other B2B companies roped in into the collective.

Taylor was Gyro’s head of strategy for two years since 2018 where he lead the agency’s internal transformation and oversaw its client-facing strategy practice from Singapore. For the new role, he will be reporting to Gyro’s Asia-Pacific CEO Kieran Vye.

Vye said, “Coming into 2020, we were fortunate to have built a stellar team who worked tirelessly to develop new services to ensure our clients were armed with actionable plans, and access to practical resources, keeping them relevant during what turned out to be a year of unprecedented disruptions due to the pandemic.”

In his new role, Taylor will work closely with the existing leadership team which includes Yasmine Mansour, regional head of growth; Rimi Sweis, regional head of media; Francesca Babet, who heads up Singapore operations, and Christine Mills who helms ANZ operations. Together, the team will be at pole position to set the future direction of the business, and further evolve how Gyro value-adds to its client offerings.

Meanwhile, the agency’s strategy practice will be led by Uzma Atcha who joined the business earlier in the year from Singapore-based digital marketing agency Bonsey Jaden.

The new managing director said, “Uzma joined us seven days before our world plunged into lockdown due to the pandemic. Despite the challenges of remote working and isolation, [she] has won the trust of key clients and the camaraderie of her colleagues. I’m excited to see how Uzma brings her experience and ideas to lead the roll-out of Gyro’s Ignition process and Merkle B2B’s LEN5 framework.”

The Ignition Process refers to Gyros’ unique global process which is building strategy around human relevance.

Vye said that amid COVID-19 restrictions, digital adoption, or even the generational changes in the workplace, the agency was able to help clients adjust to such challenges.

“With the leadership team in place, coupled with the launch of Merkle B2B, we are set on redefining what modern marketing looks like in 2021 and beyond,” he said.

The latest to join Gyro’s client roll is global network infrastructure provider CommScope with recent projects for clients Mastercard, Magento Commerce, and Marketo Engage, among others.

New York, USA – To officially mark its presence within the Asian market, commerce company VTEX is officially expanding its growth by establishing its first Asian regional office in Singapore, with a greater reach for the APAC region.

For VTEX, its APAC expansion means looking at the various commerce opportunities, especially with the shift to e-commerce in the region. Furthermore, Singapore is one of the region’s growing e-commerce hubs, which VTEX sees as a potential place to seek local and diverse e-commerce talent.

“With our growing number of global clients, we want to ensure each of our customers feel supported in whichever markets they do business in. Opening an office in Singapore is the next step in building our expansive global presence, and we’re thrilled with what this team of local commerce experts will be able to do for our customers,” said Alex Soncini, co-founder and head of global accounts at VTEX.

France Roy, CTO, D2C at AB InBev added, “VTEX’s unique commerce capabilities allow us to operate more efficiently while having the flexibility to scale and meet demand. We’re excited to deliver a streamlined and efficient buying experience, available to our customers now.”

Singapore – With a goal towards a larger ad market target, Singapore-based ad-tech company Adzymic has joined hands with branding and ad-tech firms in Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan to bring its full suite of dynamic creative solutions to advertisers. This comes after the company’s  expansion to Australia and India in 2019.

One of the company’s flagship advertisement solutions is the ‘Dynamic Creative Management Platform’ which functions as advertising transformation of physical to digital media, such as banners, carousel ads and social display ads, allowing advertisers to create ads without the need for coding experience. The company also offers a ‘Smart Tag’ technology, which enables advertisers to create personal ads through behavior tracking, machine learning algorithms, and updates.

For Hong Kong and Thailand, the company has officially tied up with Maadtech Global, a programming integrator solutions company, while also partnering with another Thai firm Spikebrand, a branding solutions company. Meanwhile for its Japan expansion, a collaboration has been forged with Atlas Associates, a local-based ad-tech startup focused on social networking site (SNS) management tools.

“Asia is expected to surpass North America as the biggest ad spender globally by 2021. 4 Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand are very exciting for us, both from a creative and growth perspective. They are known for their incredibly creative ads, and together with our partners’ local knowledge and network, we will deliver high impact campaigns with brands and agencies,” said Kenniess Wong, co-founder and executive director of Adzymic.

Adzymic, since its founding, has been involved with large brand partnerships, including DBS, Sony Pictures, Toyota and Esplanade Singapore.