Tag: APAC

Singapore – Dentsu Aegis Network today announced the appointment of Dominic Powers, former CEO of Singapore-based advertising technology company CtrlShift, to the role of head of business growth and solutions for APAC. 

Prior to joining Dentsu, Powers served as executive vice president and managing director for international affairs of advertising cloud solutions provider, Epsilon, for 14 years until 2016.

Currently, he independently offers advisory services in the area of technology and marketing, and acts as a connector among brands, agencies, and tech companies for consumer engagement projects, with which he operates a self-domain website, dominicpowers.com, to promote his services.

Based in Singapore, Powers will be reporting to Dentsu Aegis Network’s CEO for APAC Ashish Bhasin, as well as to the company’s CEO for solutions in the region, Yusuke Kasahara. 

Within the new role, Powers will be tasked with driving organic revenue growth for clients by identifying innovative solutions to maximize growth opportunities across media, creatives and CRM. 

He will also be overseeing the APAC region’s new business strategy and opportunities within the company’s existing client base, working with regional teams to grow C-suite relationships as well as the solutions unit to deliver business value to clients through integrated solutions, strategies and products.

Commenting on his appointment, Powers said, “Industries across the world have seen more disruption and transformation in the past six months than they have in years.” 

He adds, “Brands need an agency that can guide them through the changing consumer landscape, maintaining their relevance while identifying the next growth opportunity. I am looking forward to working with our teams across the APAC network to identify these challenges and deliver growth for our business and importantly, that of our clients too.”

Meanwhile, Kasahara said, “Marketing transformation is central to Dentsu Aegis Network’s proposition. While we are built in a way that enables integration across multiple capabilities, Dominic’s role will be paramount in making sure [that] the way we organize ourselves benefits our clients while bringing new brands through the door.”

If you’re in the business of social media marketing, whether independently or as a profession where you are one of the people responsible for a company’s online marketing, it is imperative that you dig deep into what your customers are thinking, where they gather to converse online and what they are talking about because knowing such insights will help build up your social media game and in turn, create a competitive following that could drives sales for your brand.

The thing with extracting audience insights online is that they are only made possible and efficient with the presence of sophisticated martech or social tools. The good news is, a lot of free and affordable analytic tools have continuously been on the rise, making it a sin not to utilize and maximize such tools that are just waiting to be used for the best of your brand. Here are a few reasons why you should start finding the tool of your choice and start leveraging:

1. No technical skills required
This is by far the biggest advantage offered by analytical tools available. You do not need to be a data wizard to use social analytics tools. Commercially-marketed social tools are created to garner buy-ins, thus they are made to become user-friendly.

2. Budget friendly – won’t break the bank
Whether you are a brand marketer just launching a campaign or an agency about to go into a pitch, you don’t need to spend a hefty amount to get the best of analytics tech. Most of the introductory packages of marketing tech provide you with the base level of data for a fraction of the cost. The good thing about the variety of subscriber packages, one can opt to upgrade to more sophisticated versions of tools as one further becomes seasoned on the basics of social data.

Social marketing tools

3. Relevant sentiment trendline
The best social tools are built on hyperlocal infrastructures with enhanced machine learning to more precisely capture sentiments. Mass market tools that are not optimized for local sources and context will provide you a higher rate of inaccuracy which compromises the quality of your data, so it is important to find a localized source if accuracy is important to you.

4. Trend tracking made easy
Brands can observe trends, track hashtag movement, and measure performance based on interest of the social chatter, engagements and sentiments. Apart from hashtags, keywords are also trackable to measure the popularity of brands and products. Using social tools, you are able to identify the most active channels related to specific brands, products or topics of interest and craft marketing strategies that resonate.

5. Identify your brand’s advocates, influencers and micro-KOL
Correctly identifying top users based on the channels is a nifty feature in some social listening tools. It is an undeniable fact that influencers will make use of their platforms to share thoughts and opinions. When an influencer mentions your brand, don’t gloss over the fact that they’ve mentioned your brand, instead, take some notes and study them. Collaborating with the right influencers or micro KOLs can greatly boost your brand image and reputation.

6. Heat map
Some tools also have heat maps which helps you to visualize which geographical area gets the most attention from users using channels with location tracking enabled such as Twitter. It highlights the areas and locations to display contents relevant to your searched keywords or hashtags. Heat maps enable brands to expand the market by inferring analysis on audience based on geographic segmentation which helps to identify potential locations for new outlets

7. Knowing which third party pages you can leverage amplifies your marketing
Most social tools can assist in identifying top websites that have been promoted and advertised in relation to the topic of your query. Since audiences already engage with these third party channels, you may collaborate for beneficial growth and advertise to leverage them for more exposure. For this purpose, having the local sources where natives are active will improve your results even more.

This article is brought to you by Wisesight. 

United States – Movie streaming app Netflix has launched on September 10 its global campaign “One Story Away” and with it, adds a categorization feature on the app which classifies movies and documentaries according to the experiences and memories they inspire into viewers.

For example, Bill Gates’ three-episode documentary, Michelle Obama’s memoir-based program, and Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance are all grouped into the collection “One Story Away From Meeting Your Heroes.” And there are a whole other “One Story Away” collections on the app. 

The collections, since yesterday, have been available for browsing, in tandem with the release of the campaign at large, according to a blog post by Vice President for Brand Eric Pallotta. 

Under one “One Story Away” collection, users can now easily find content that makes them feel like a teen again. Another grouping has gathered movies and shows that stimulate in viewers the value of standing up for something, while comic type and mellow genre movies have also been rounded up for each of its special “One Story Away” collection. 

The inception of the campaign is mainly attributed to the platform’s celebration of the power of storytelling.

“The TV shows and films we watch bring out all sorts of different emotions, give us perspectives we’ve never seen before and even make us feel closer to each other,” wrote Pallota.

He shared that it was a couple of years ago when he heard the phrase “we’re only one story away” from a colleague in a hallway, where the thought has stuck with him ever since, knowing that it would resurface one day into something valuable.

“These words perfectly encapsulate the passion for storytelling that lies at the heart of what Netflix – and the creators we work with all over the world – are trying to bring to our members,” Pallota said. 

Netflix has released a short video ad on its YouTube channel, the first in the campaign, where throughout the video shows the proverbial moving line or streaming indicator that appears at the bottom of every movie watched, simultaneously progressing from start to finish as the ad plays along.

A consistent voice-over of the phrase “Maybe you don’t know what it’s like…” is played, enumerating different examples of unlived experiences, where at the end, is capped off with the campaign’s message, “but that’s exactly what makes a story worth watching.”

Pallota said, “People have very different tastes and moods. But no matter who you are or where you are, we’re all only one story away from seeing, feeling, and connecting more.”

Singapore – Leading tech company Microsoft fortifies its diversity & inclusion advocacy through its latest initiative across APAC, the Microsoft Enabler Program.

Said to be the first of its kind, the program partners non-profit organizations (NPOs) who will provide training to organizations to become inclusive employers, who in turn will provide job shadowing, internships, mentoring, and opportunities in tech jobs for PWDs identified by the NPOs.

The program will be piloted in five markets: Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, before expanding to the rest of the region by the end of 2020.

Within the program, Microsoft will also see the direct training to PWDs themselves, where sessions will circle engineering and programming and cloud computing on Microsoft Azure as well as application development in GitHub. 

For the employer partners, alongside offering inputs on workplace modifications, workshops by NPOs will teach inclusive design and assistive technologies enabled through artificial intelligence on Microsoft Azure.

Chief partner officer of Microsoft for APAC Vivek Puthucode said that as 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone, tech roles and digital skills will be the backbone of the economic recovery in every country.

“In today’s workplace, it is imperative that we include everyone, and accessibility is the vehicle to inclusion. It is a responsibility and an opportunity. There are no limits to what people can achieve when technology reflects the diversity of everyone who uses it,” said Puthucode.

He says of the program, “At the heart of the Microsoft Enabler Program is a comprehensive accessibility model that will not only improve inclusion of people with disabilities across Asia Pacific for years to come but [also] connects local talent from underrepresented communities and improves our society.”

Microsoft said that in addition, it will be providing a platform for all three parties to better collaborate on the program.

There are a total of Six NPOs, all dedicated to promoting inclusion in the workplace, and 14 tech organizations that are part of the program.

To expand the talent pipeline for employer partners and connect job-seeking PWDs to tech roles, the program will also feature a virtual job fair, which will be held at the end of the second quarter of 2021.

Singapore – Global communications planning and media buying agency PHD has announced the expansion of branded content and creative agency DRUM to Asia Pacific. Both are owned by Omnicom Media Group. 

Headquarters of DRUM will be in Singapore. DRUM specializes in combining audience and data insights, producing content with cultural impact, and with the expansion, it intends to operate at the intersection of advertising and media. 

Aside from its HQ, DRUM will be available in Australia, China, and Malaysia as well as in Hong Kong, Philippines, and India, and also New Zealand. 

Over the last 12 months, DRUM has been instrumental in helping PHD accelerate its growth mandate, successfully snagging business pitches, including recently added global client, Diageo.

“With DRUM present across more parts of Asia, we are able to better service our clients and collaborate at scale with brands on specialist partnerships, media content, and creative services, where clients can tap into the skills and knowledge from expert ‘DRUMMERS’ at the forefront of international trends and best practice,” said James Hawkins, CEO of  PHD in APAC.

Global Managing Director of DRUM Luke Southern added, “DRUM, as part of the PHD network, [specializes] in making content and communications that make brands a valued part of culture. Expanding the brand and our own creative culture into the APAC region represents a hugely exciting development in the on-going success and growth of the network.”

Singapore – Amazon Music and live streaming service Twitch have partnered to announce that Twitch’s live streaming functionality will now be integrated into the Amazon Music app, enabling users to move seamlessly between live streams and recorded music. 

Available since Wednesday on iOS and Android, artists worldwide will now be able to connect live with Amazon Music’s customers across all streaming tiers. 

With this incorporation come new features to navigate the live stream function, such as push notifications from artists users follow when they go live on Twitch. On the artists’ side, they will be able to easily link their Twitch channel to Amazon Music via the newly-launched Amazon Music for Artists app.

The companies revealed in the press statement that the COVID situation has been a big determinant in the platforms’ collaboration when during this time, in-person events have been largely limited. 

Amazon Music Director Ryan Redington said, “We’re providing artists with more tools to instantly engage with fans, and this new feature couldn’t arrive at a more crucial time in the industry.” 

Tracy Chan, VP, Head of Music at Twitch added, “Especially now in a time when traditional venues are closed and tours have been canceled, musicians are looking for new ways to continue creating, [connecting] with fans, and [building] community.”

A number of artists have already jumped in on the new feature, and starting this week, fans can now view artists’ shows live on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel.

Among others, The Killers’ Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. will join Amazon Music on 4 September at 1 pm Eastern Time to answer fan questions about their latest album, Imploding the Mirage.

Soul singer and storyteller Nicole Atkins will also be hosting on the platform a variety series slated every Wednesday at 7 pm ET, with performances and interviews with friends and artists including Elle King, Cut Worms, and Whitney.

 

Singapore – Promo and discounts platform ShopBack has started its annual end-year shopping festival, ShopFest, for 2020 for its nine Asia Pacific markets.

ShopFest will be running from 1 September to 31 December, covering the key end-of-year shopping dates around APAC including 9.9, 11.11, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. 

During ShopFest, alongside being able to use exclusive deals and earn cashback from both online and offline retailers, users will be able to run some of the platform’s new features: vouchers, product comparison, and ShopBack challenges.

Vouchers can be redeemed using the cashback balance in the user’s bank account, or purchased via credit card.

Meanwhile, the product comparison feature is a product aggregation service for users to search and compare products from ShopBack’s merchant partners. The feature is also said to enable viewing of price history and the option to set price alerts to assist in more informed purchasing decisions.

With challenges on the other hand, it is an added feature for users to receive bonus cashback and other attractive rewards via completion of specific tasks and challenges.

Henry Chan, co-founder and CEO of ShopBack said, “Many consumers look forward to the year-end shopping season, however, it can be overwhelming for the consumer as more and more online retailers participate each year. At ShopBack, we wanted to create a unified platform to seamlessly connect these brands and consumers, and at the same time help consumers cut through the noise and better navigate through the various sale events and deals.”

The newly integrated features are said to roll out across ShopBack’s nine markets at different times over the next year.

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s data centers have been highly sought by investors and owner-operators in 2020 with majority, 54%, of the total investment volume into data centers in the Asia Pacific coming from the city, according to data by Cushman & Wakefield.

Data center investment in the region has been on the rise with total transaction volume between 2018 and 2020 totaling USD 5.7 billion, over seven times that between 2015 and 2017.

Despite the pandemic outbreak, investment activity in the sector remains relatively robust with the total transaction volume in the region over the first eight months of 2020 reaching USD 1.43 billion, about 56% of the 2019 level.

Among the most notable transactions in Hong Kong is China Mobile’s securement of an industrial government site for HKD 5.60 billion in July. The record-high asset value of HKD 5,967 per sq. ft was 56% higher than the closest bid; demonstrating the eagerness of the buyer to secure a data center site amidst limited supply.

Hong Kong has long been eyed as an ideal data center location. The latest research by Cushman & Wakefield identifies the city as the fourth most attractive data center location in APAC, trailing Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. The city ranked highest in terms of low tax rate and low climate risks and ranked in the middle in categories of fiber connectivity, market maturity, and electricity costs. Meanwhile, it scored poorly on its high real estate costs.

At the end of the second quarter of the year, total data center stock in Hong Kong amounted to 7.9 million sq. ft, of which 80% was dominated by 10 operators including the two largest local operators – SUNeVision and PCCW Solutions, with the latter making up 31% of the market area.

Cushman & Wakefield forecasts that over the next four years, a combined 4.2 million sq. ft of supply will enter the data center market.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Associate Director for Research in Hong Kong, Eric Chong said that existing data center demand is supported by banking & finance, insurance, and telecom operators, and that in the future, such demand is expected to be largely driven by leading global cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud as well as Tencent Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. 

Chong said, “The growing importance of Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the impending 5G network, and fast adoption rates of cloud computing as well as the post-COVID-19 ‘new’ normal are the four major factors driving the surge in demand for cloud storage”.

Singapore – SEEK Asia, the company which runs job portals JobStreet and jobsDB, has announced that it has appointed Peter Bithos as its newest CEO.

Bithos was formerly chief executive for companies Virgin Mobile Australia, Philippine’s Globe Telecom, and most recently for the now shut-down streaming service Hooq.

In his new role, he will be responsible for leading and driving the business growth and operations of the company, while building on its 23-year presence in Southeast Asia.

SEEK Group COO Ian Narev said, “Peter has a proven track record growing Tech, Media and Telco (TMT) businesses, leading digital business transformation programs and building strong company cultures in diverse markets across Asia Pacific and the United States.”

Commenting on his appointment, Bithos said: “I am deeply privileged to join one of the largest and best tech companies in the region. It’s truly exciting to be a part of fulfilling SEEK’s purpose in these times. The opportunity to work with SEEK’s teams and people across Asia to create step-change growth and an even better experience for our customers is unique and special.”

He added, “I feel fortunate to be joining at this very moment because SEEK Asia’s purpose to improve lives through better careers has never been more urgent amidst the current social and economic environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Peter replaces Suresh Thiru, who served CEO of the company for four years.

Singapore – GroupM’s influencer marketing solutions INCA has struck a partnership with Hanson Robotics, creator of Sophia, an advanced human-like robot, to make her available as an influencer partner to brands in the APAC region.

Sophia’s collaboration with INCA was officially announced in a virtual presser Aug. 26, where CEO David Hanson introduced Sophia, alongside granting a peek to Hanson Robotic’s Hong Kong-based laboratory.

This will be Sophia’s first ambassadorship work with an agency. Having launched in 2016, the robot has already worked with international brands such as Etihad Airlines and Audi among others.

INCA APAC lead Atique Kazi believes that as an advocate for scientific education and sustainable development, Sophia’s persona will be a natural fit for many brands looking to create compelling engagement around such topics.

“She has the capability to generate facial expression, mirror people’s posture, and discern emotions from the tone of voice, all of which help people to identify and form a connection with her,” said Kazi.

Meanwhile, Hanson Robotics CEO David Hanson commented, “Sophia is our pride, and we trust that her wealth of experience as a global influencer will pave the way for INCA to reach many more milestones in the future.