Singapore – Global PR and social media agency W Communications has announced its latest appointment by VP Bank, strengthening its banking and finance portfolio in Asia.

Following a competitive pitch, VP Bank will now consolidate its PR and social media scope across Singapore and Hong Kong with W Communications, ensuring a refined approach to building and reinforcing the brand’s story and positioning.

As part of the brief, W Communications will continue to amplify the bank’s key narratives and thought leadership content to increase the brand’s share of voice and engage the relevant audiences of financial intermediaries and private clients.

The engagement will also further solidify W Communications’ corporate offerings, building on its past and present partnerships with some of the most notable corporate institutions including Tricor, Microsoft’s Xandr, Crossbridge Capital, BASF and more.

Talking about this acquisition, Kenneth Chew, account director, W Communications, said, “In the highly competitive wealth management space, it is critical for pure play banks such as VP Bank to demonstrate their agility and customised approach to clients in order to stand out and be the bank of choice for financial intermediaries and high net worth individuals.”

“Our team’s experience in the financial sector provides us with this nuanced understanding of the markets, enabling us to communicate the bank’s key messages to its stakeholders through a well-rounded approach that encompasses market technicalities and overall branding”, he added.

Philippines Alipay+, Ant International’s cross-border mobile payment digital platform, has announced a year-end program targeted at promoting sustainable cross-border travel. The promotion offers a variety of rewards supplied by global partners to users of five popular e-wallets in Asia.

These wallets are Touch ‘n Go eWallet by TNG Digital (in Malaysia), GCash (in the Philippines), TrueMoney (in Thailand), Alipay (on the Chinese mainland), and AlipayHK (in Hong Kong SAR, China). 

The campaign, which will run until December 31, will initially target Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Travellers in these countries will be treated to a choice of exclusive offers handpicked by global industry such as ComfortDelGro Taxi, Daimaru Matsuzakaya, Galaxy Macau, King Power, and Lotte Duty Free. 

Furthermore, the campaign includes local small and micro-sized firms (SMEs), such as Durian BB in Malaysia and IJOOZ in Singapore, resulting in a wide and inclusive variety for travellers to enjoy.

The campaign promotes sustainable travel behaviour by highlighting special deals from Alipay+ and its partners. These benefits include free international mobile data packages, in-app savings available across Alipay+’s vast merchant network, and the opportunity to receive 100% rebates at participating partner locations.

Reward points are awarded to travellers who choose to utilise digital payments rather than cash, take public transit rather than drive themselves, pack their own toothbrushes rather than use disposable ones, and visit a wider variety of local attractions. These methods aid in maintaining regional cultures.

Alipay+ will collaborate with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to monitor the campaign’s ESG impact. An advisory panel consisting of professionals from Tsinghua University, Hong Kong University, the University of Geneva, and Northwestern University will collaborate to evaluate various topics. These include the impact on local enterprises, culture, and communities, as well as the impact on best practices within the business ecosystem.

Speaking about the campaign, Dr. Cherry Huang, general manager of Alipay+ offline merchant services, Ant International, said, “Our year-end campaign is not just about travel; it’s about making a positive impact. By collaborating with partners who share our commitment to sustainability, we are offering travellers the chance to explore the world responsibly.”

Singapore – After being labelled as Spotify’s Equal Ambassador, rising K-pop group NewJeans released their sophomore EP, ‘Get Up’ in July 21, which has currently garnered more than 211 million streams in Spotify.In celebrating this highly anticipated release, Spotify has teamed up with NewJeans to bring their fans larger-than-life pop-ups, exclusive bonus content, and interactive playlists.

Spotify has dubbed this celebratory campaign as ‘Bunnyland’, offering NewJeans fans the opportunity to interact with the group and the concept surrounding them physically or digitally. 

The collaboration starts with the Bunnyland website, an immersive experience that lets fans around the world find out which NewJeans member is their biggest hero based on their music tastes. After being matched with one of NewJeans’s stars,users can listen to a special playlist curated by the members and share their results on social media.

Physically, Spotify has opened the doors to a pair of Bunnyland pop-ups in Seoul and Jakarta. Running through August 6, this experience was created to immerse fans in NewJeans’ world. Featuring retro themed arcade games, playlist stations, and plenty of photo opportunities, Bunnyland offers fans a NewJeans themed experience the chance to get their hands on a range of special gifts from Spotify and NewJeans.

Elsewhere, Spotify and NewJeans have also placed giant ‘Spotibuninis’ in major cities across Asia, with appearances in Tokyo’s Shibuya, malls in Jakarta and Manila, and Seoul’s Olympic Park. These installations feature NewJeans’ bunny character decked out in special Spotify headphones. 

Speaking on the collaboration, Spotify said in a press statement, “We’ve been supporting NewJeans’ meteoric rise through playlists like K-Pop ON! and programs like EQUAL, and we continue to be committed to spotlighting emerging talent and giving them opportunities to build deep connections with a global audience.”

Singapore – To strengthen its operation in Asia, global brand and customer experience agency VMLY&R has announced the appointment of Raymond Chin as its chief creative officer for the region. He will report to VMLY&R Asia CEO Yi-Chung Tay.

In his new role, Chin will enhance and develop the agency’s creative capabilities and service offerings across Asia whilst leading its teams in delivering world-class solutions for clients.

His appointment is also a part of agency’s strategy to attract the best industry talent and fulfill its mission of building connected brands.

Chin brings with him an experience in delivering high-impact creative, digital innovation and experience solutions for both agencies and tech consultancies. He has worked for brands including Ikea, Unilever, Nike, LVMH, Shiseido, Starbucks, Huawei, VW, and Ferrari, amongst others.

Before joining VMLY&R, Chin also worked as a chief creative officer at Wunderman Thompson based in Shanghai, China.

CEO Yi-Chung Tay said that Chin is one of the creative leaders who truly understands the importance of creativity for all dimensions of the brand experience, which is also needed in every touch point of customer journey. 

“The freedom to think bigger than many agencies are able, excites me greatly, and I look forward to adding my own blend of magic into the mix,” Chin added.

This month, VMLY&R has promoted Paul Nagy as its chief creative officer for Asia-Pacific region. 

Singapore Looking back, the year 2022 was packed with amazing campaigns that had our jaws dropped and our hearts touched. However, one emerged at the top of our list and gained MARKETECH APAC’s Branding Campaign of the Year nod — foodpanda’s brand mascot ‘Pau-Pau’

Unveiled through foodpanda’s 10th anniversary campaign in Asia last January, Pau-Pau was introduced to the public as its first-of-its-kind brand ambassador that represents sustainability and empowerment. The pink panda mascot was rolled out on the food delivery platform’s channels and interfaces, including the foodpanda app, website, social media accounts, and live-environment activations, amongst others. 

In an interview with Monika Mikusova, senior director of marketing for APAC, foodpanda told us how Pau-Pau was conceptualised, the traction and sentiment he gained from the public, and moreover, what more can we look forward from him and the brand’s campaigns.

The story behind fun-loving and free-spirited Pau-Pau

Before we got to know the Pau-Pau that we now love, foodpanda has been signing on real-life influential personalities to represent the brand. However, foodpanda’s desire to establish a stronger connection with its communities and give its customers someone they can relate to in their everyday lives led to the creation of Pau-Pau. His inception then began two years ago amidst the lockdowns, with over 200 people across 22 nationalities who worked to bring Pau-Pau to life.

“The creation of our own brand ambassador, Pau-Pau, allows us to connect and engage with millions of people who use the foodpanda app daily in a fresh, new way,” said Mikusova. 

Not only that, Pau-Pau was made to have a personality that matches foodpanda’s values: a fun-loving and free-spirited panda who advocates environment sustainability and believes in empowering people to live their lives on their own terms. He also had his own universe: the ‘Pandaverse’.

“As a reflection of our brand purpose, we centred Pau-Pau’s unique personality and passion points on three key values – living life on one’s own terms, the environment, and food and fun. This speaks to our commitment of making food, grocery and essential services delivery accessible to everyone, everywhere quickly around the clock,” she further explained.

How Pau-Pau inspired the foodpanda community

When we think of foodpanda, the image of Pau-Pau may now be the first thing that comes to mind. This signifies that the pink panda has indeed received love from millions of people across Asia even just almost a year from its launch. Unsurprisingly, Pau-Pau was able to build his own fanbase with his fans wanting to see more of him, even in merchandise— talk about popular!

Mikusova even shared a touching story of Pau-Pau’s fan from the Philippines, “For instance, we saw a Facebook post of a customer in the Philippines requesting for a Pau-Pau plushie or soft toy because it was the only thing her godson wanted for his birthday. We were so moved seeing how much this child loved Pau-Pau, that we wanted to do something special to make his birthday memorable!” 

As a champion of empowerment and sustainability, foodpanda through Pau-Pau has also inspired people to live life to the fullest, by simply encouraging them to grab their favourite foodie whenever they would like at any time of the day. He has likewise been the face of foodpanda’s recent green initiatives such as the ‘Let’s do our Pau-rt’ initiative in the Philippines and the launch of a locally produced and sustainable beer in Singapore called ‘Loaf Like A Panda’.

Will we be seeing more from Pau-Pau?

From having his own universe to his own fanbase, we think we may have already seen a lot from Pau-Pau. But for foodpanda, Pau-Pau is a distinct asset that will always inspire them to tell creative stories. Hence, for them, this is only just Pau-Pau’s beginning. 

“Next year will be even more exciting, and potentially Pau-Pau’s universe may grow in the future,” Mikusova concluded.

This recognition is based on Google Analytics results on the most-read stories of 2022, along with editorial validation on the significance of a leader’s contribution, campaign results, and overall impact.

Singapore — Grey Group, the global advertising and marketing network, has announced the appointment of Davi Sing Liu, previously the regional CCO of Grey Greater China, as Grey’s chief creative officer (CCO) for P&G Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA).

Liu is an established and respected creative who holds over 20 years of extensive experience across multiple geographies. In his previous role as regional CCO, he led the creative output for high-value clients namely Volvo, HSBC, P&G, and Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Prior to joining Grey Group in 2019, he helped build Enso, the Los Angeles-based agency focused on purpose-led brands and projects with new-economy clients such as Google, Medium, Uber, Khan Academy, among others, while also working with innovative startups.

His other creative projects include; first creative director for MakeMake Entertainment, first integrated creative director for Deutsch La, creative director on transmedia projects at Modernista!, and he worked on the Nike campaigns for Japan, China, and APAC for Wieden+Kennedy. Liu also contributed to Wieden+Kennedy TokyoLab, the multi-media music and film label.

Not only is Liu a veteran in the industry, but he is also a decorated creative mind, winning numerous awards at One Show, Effies, the SXSW Interactive, Communication Arts. He has also participated in various juries such as Cannes Lions and D&AD. He is also a member of Grey’s Global creative board.

Based in Shanghai, Liu will be part of Grey’s P&G Global Leadership Team, reporting to Javier Campopiano, worldwide chief creative officer of Grey Group, and working closely with Nirvik Singh, global COO and president international of Grey Group, and John Patroulis, global creative chairman and president, creative businessof Grey Group.

Grey Group’s worldwide CCO Campopiano said, “Our constant commitment to the creative product and famously effective work requires focusing the best talent into our biggest clients. Grey and P&G have a long history of world-class, award-winning work. Davi´s arrival is key to ensure that we keep honouring that legacy with exciting work for such a highly competitive and innovative region.”

Singh, commented on the Lius appointment, saying, “Davi brings meaningful cultural insights to contemporary, purpose-led creative work. His appointment emphasises the importance we place on game-changing creativity to achieve growth for our clients – I look forward to seeing even more ‘famously effective’ work from our P&G AMEA Borderless Studio.”

Meanwhile, Patroulis shared, “We are always looking for new and better ways to bring the full power of creativity to the work that moves our client’s business forward. Creating the first CCO role to focus solely on P&G AMEA is meant to do just that. And in Davi we have a passionate, deeply creative, entirely empathetic leader the role deserves, so we couldn’t be more excited.”

Commenting on his appointment, Liu shared he is always grateful for a role that leverages creativity and innovation to serve not only clients and brands but the people they reach.

“It’s an exceptional time in our world and industry to work on brands and their products that affect everyday lives. I hope to be useful in making an impact with our partners across the P&G work,” Liu said.

Liu will partner with Sarah Trombetta, chief client officer for WPP/Grey P&G AMEA, to set the creative vision, direction, and ambition for P&G’s portfolio of iconic brands across the region.

Singapore — Advertising and analytics multinational telecommunications company Xandr, and Scibids, a company that specialises in artificial intelligence for digital marketing, has announced they have struck a strategic alliance that will seamlessly and automatically deploy Scibids AI within Xandr’s Invest DSP using Xandr’s Data Science Toolkit.

By utilizing Xandr’s Data Science Toolkit, which offers one of the most comprehensive custom bidding and log-level-data solutions in-market, Scibids AI can power more granular optimization and ad decisioning that does not require user tracking and profiling to generate greater efficiency and scale for Xandr’s advertiser customers and their campaigns.

The combined result is a frictionless experience for buyers who are able to activate Scibids’ customizable, privacy-centric, and highly performant ad decisioning.

Eric Schwartz, managing director of Scibids North America, said, “Xandr has a long history in enabling its customers to deploy powerful, custom buying strategies to help gain an edge. Thanks to advances in technology and our deep integration with Scibids, tailored bidding strategies no longer require a team of data scientists and engineers to bring them to life. We’re thrilled that our partnership with Scibids will help democratise access to this advanced technology.”

Rahul Vasudev, managing director of Scibids Asia-Pacific, commented that artificial Intelligence is raising expectations in marketing and none more so than in programmatic advertising.

“We are delighted to be partnering with the Xandr team to bring our custom algorithm solutions to Xandr’s Invest DSP, enabling advertisers to achieve their multiple business objectives across the open web. As Scibids is additive rather than disruptive our partnership will help trading talent to thrive by operating transparently and easily alongside their usual tech and processes,” Vasudev said.

The relationship can benefit all premium cross-channel supply, including Connected TV and digital video, among others. Scibids and Xandr provide a clear marketing path for consumers who are ramping up their use of first-party data — even if the customer does not have deep engineering, data science, or media optimization resources. Conversely, sophisticated buyers are able to enjoy rich customization options that can put their proprietary insights to work with the unified benefits of the Xandr and Scibids platforms.

Last December, Xandr was bought out by tech giant Microsoft, which have recently gone into a buying spree to consolidate its market position.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) was first introduced over 15 years ago in Europe, as a payment platform that allows shoppers to split their purchases into interest-free monthly deferred payments, usually by scanning an in-store QR code or upon checkout at a partner retailer’s website.

In recent years, BNPL has gained immense popularity amongst merchants and consumers in Asia, with its market share expected to more than double by 2024, according to the Global Payments Report 2021 by FIS-Worldpay. While BNPL is seen as a rising global movement, it is important to note that the use case and macro landscape across the regions vary significantly. 

Unlike established markets such as the United States, Australia and Europe, Asia is highly fragmented (eg. credit profile, religion, language, culture) with a large unbanked and underbanked population, especially in emerging markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam. For example, in Southeast Asia (SEA), only 27% of the overall 670 million population has bank accounts. This sizable gap in traditional banking penetration has resulted in at least 438 million unbanked or underbanked consumers, with limited access to basic financial services and subsequently, a thin credit profile. Consequently, retailers should partner with BNPL brands with robust risk assessment and credit profiling technology to minimise transaction rejects and fraud cases. 

SEA is also leading the charge in digital consumption, having added 60 million new digital consumers to the internet economy since the pandemic started. The massive digitisation that the region witnessed in 2020, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, saw SEA lead as a mobile-first consumer economy. 

Retailers partner BNPL providers to tap on the young and emerging digital consumers – shoppers who are mobile-first and digitally savvy and may be experiencing major life events such as getting their first job or house, getting married, and having their first child. It is estimated that by 2030, 75% of consumers in ASEAN will be under the age of 30.

Physical shopping in SEA remains a social activity for many, and shoppers still prefer to see and touch products before making the commitment to purchase. This is different from other developed markets in Europe or the US where e-commerce is widely adopted because of good public infrastructure (e.g. cheap broadband, good last-mile delivery to every home). 

For the shoppers in SEA, they value omnichannel retail shopper experience, one that allows them to shop and purchase seamlessly across online and offline channels. What this means for retailers and BNPL players in this region is that the physical store experience is critical when it comes to increasing in-store conversion, basket size, and the overall brand and shopping experience.

Merchants who have adopted BNPL in their business have seen benefits including improved sales, traffic, and conversions. With BNPL, merchants can also unlock a new segment of shoppers and understand their shopping behaviours. 

BNPL V2.0

As BNPL matures in Asia, it will evolve from its current basic model of interest-free monthly payments to further enable merchants. We’ve seen examples of new products and services launched, for example, co-branded cards, savings accounts, investment products, and personal finance management.

Traditional banks and even digibanks are also developing and launching their own BNPL offerings. Potential evolution pathways of BNPL and features include:

1. Greater industry adoption

With wider customer adoption and demand for payment choice and flexibility, other retail categories beyond fashion, lifestyle, and beauty categories are experimenting with BNPL. Travel and hospitality, food and beverage, and luxury and premium retail are some examples. 

2. Open-loop payment services 

Open-loop is a payment method that can be used anywhere that brand of cards or e-wallets is accepted. As BNPL gains momentum globally, BNPL players are introducing co-branded credit cards and e-wallets with payment providers to create an open-loop system that is not restricted to signed merchants. This will greatly accelerate BNPL acceptance across retailers who for example, already accept payments for example, via Visa or Mastercard. BNPL brands also partner with payment service providers, web builders, e-commerce enablers to provide integration support for merchants and accelerate the wider acceptance and integration of BNPL solutions. 

3. Social commerce 

SEA is expected to lead the biggest market for social commerce, especially given how a large chunk of its population is entering its prime of technology adoption. Social commerce (78%) has become the second most preferred shopping channel in the region, second only to e-commerce platforms (91%). 

In 2020, clothes, apparel, and accessories continue to lead social shopping (71%), followed by health and beauty (59%), and electronics and appliances (53%). A large majority of Gen Z and millennials are leveraging social platforms not just to connect and explore, but also to shop and inspire. Increasingly, BNPL players are developing social commerce features to create highly targeted and personalised content recommendations to help promote organic engagements with merchants.

4. Customised merchant services 

One of the key strengths for BNPL players is a strong understanding of user demographics and shopping behaviour. Moving forward, BNPL players can invest in co-marketing and merchant-enabler features such as social CRM, loyalty programme, co-marketing, and concierge-like membership services, and this would be crucial in connecting with a community of young, aspirational, and digitally-savvy consumers.

5. Broader financial services 

Finally, BNPL players can also introduce offerings with longer tenures especially for high-value items like electronics and smartphones, and money management services such as savings accounts and investment options. As the BNPL industry continues to thrive in the coming years, the evolution of BNPL will further enable and empower merchants and create a strong and holistic ecosystem that drives engagement and value through every facet of the consumer’s purchase journey.

This article is written by Jeremy Wong, head of strategic partnerships at BNPL platform Atome.

The article is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series What’s NEXT. This features marketing leaders sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year. The series aims to equip marketers with actionable insights to future-ready their marketing strategies.

If you are a marketing leader and have insights that you’d like to share with regards to the upcoming trends and practices in marketing, please reach out to [email protected] for an opportunity to have your thought-leadership published on the platform.

Singapore — Creative agency Ogilvy has announced that Arvind Srivastava has been promoted to become chief strategy officer of Ogilvy for the Asia division. He recently held the same position for Ogilvy China.

Srivastava started as a customer relationship planner at OgilvyOne Delhi and has spent nearly two decades with Ogilvy Asia where he has worked in various strategic planning roles that increased his expertise in the market.

Srivastava moved to Shanghai in 2016 and has since then helped build a modern strategy offering bringing together brand, CRM, commerce, data, media connections, and social strategists. He was responsible for leading Ogilvy China’s strategy for handling their global top-value clients namely Nestlé and The Coca-Cola Company and played a key role on large Chinese brands including AliExpress. Under his leadership, Ogilvy has been ranked one of the most effective networks in the Greater China Effies for 3 of the past 5 years.

Srivastava commented on his promotion, saying that Ogilvy has one of the strongest and the most effective strategy teams in Asia, and he feels truly honoured to be given this responsibility.

“I am excited at the opportunity to partner with our strategy and business leaders to continue evolving and modernizing Ogilvy Asia’s strategic solutions to drive growth and impact for our clients at the intersection of capabilities,” Srivastava said.

Srivastava will continue to be based in China and he replaces Benoit Weisser who will be relocating to Europe to be closer to family.

Chris Reitermann, co-chief executive of Asia and chief executive of Greater China, shared his praises for the new CSO, saying, “Arvind has done an outstanding job for Ogilvy Asia for nearly 20 years in various strategy roles across several Asian markets. He has a deep understanding of the evolving strategy needs of our Clients and brings a great mix of business, brand and digital strategy to our offer. We very much look forward to partnering with him in building on the strong foundation set by Benoit and I’m personally excited to have a strong strategic partner continuing to be based out of China.”

This January, Ogilvy’s Malaysian arm has announced their appointment of Eddy Nazarullah, former creative director at Reprise, to be its new creative director.

Seoul, South Korea – ‘Sneakertopia’, an immersive sneaker pop-up experience, is coming to Asia this 2022, starting off in Seoul, South Korea in April following a successful pop-up participation at the Chongqing Jiebeifang International Consumer Festival in China. The Asia rollout of the immersive experience is made possible by digital talent and media company Gushcloud and entertainment design entity SL Experiences.

‘Sneakertopia’ is an immersive exhibition built to honor sneaker culture, featuring artworks of global and local artists whose street art masterpieces are influenced by sneaker culture in sports, music, film, art, and fashion. After its launch in Seoul, the exhibition aims to travel around North and Southeast Asia for a wide variety of audiences to experience the world of sneakers.

Producer Steve Harris and Silicon Valley Tech entrepreneur Steve Brown founded ‘Sneakertopia’ with their intention to share the celebration of love for sneakers all around the world.

“Sneakertopia Asia is a dream that our team has been developing for years. We’ve had great success bonding over our love for sneakers in Los Angeles, and we wanted to bring this celebration over to Asia where a lot of people share the same passion. Although we’ve had a few bumps in the road with the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still a great demand for offline experiences and we want people to experience and appreciate the transformative culture of sneakers,” Harris said.

Sneakertopia also incorporates a digital-physical hybrid experience with augmented reality integration that allows visitors to discover the story behind the sneaker culture icons and idols beyond what is visually present. 

Ross Leo, co-founder at SL Experiences, said, “Even amidst the COVID-19 closures we have seen the huge pent up demand for offline experiences, be it through retail or attractions. Although the dependency in online and digital usage is undeniable, great offline experiences which incorporate elements of digital components like ‘Sneakertopia’ will further increase visitors’ experience and enjoyment.”

Meanwhile, Althea Lim, CEO at Gushcloud International, commented, “As we’ve seen over the years, it’s not just about the products anymore. The experience economy is booming and now is the perfect time for Gushcloud to be at the forefront of driving this trend further in the East and the West. With Sneakertopia in Asia, we hope to bring in more experiences that people will love and that will shape the future of the experience economy in Asia.”

Jamie Paraso, country director at Gushcloud Philippines, also added, “As an avid fan of sneakers, I was really looking forward to this engagement. Sneakertopia opens Gushcloud to a wider playing field where like-minded individuals would be able to share their passions. It’s a dream that’s being actualized and as Gushcloud, we get to be a part of this powerful cultural journey. Despite these unprecedented times there continues to be a big push here in Asia showcasing how experiences continue to bring people together from across the globe.”