Singapore – Global next-gen creative, tech and media group, MSQ, along with its branding and design consultancy, Elmwood, have announced the appointment of seasoned brand strategist Ambrish Chaudhry as head of strategy for Asia

In this role, Chaudhry will lead efforts to deepen the strategic offering across brand design, content, and communications, driving growth for the group’s rapidly expanding client base in Asia.

Chaudhry will work closely with the regional leadership team, including Celeste Cheong, managing director at Elmwood Singapore; Andy Edmonds, general manager at MSQ Asia; Angeline Kong, managing director at Elmwood Shanghai; and Susie Hunt, Asia chair at MSQ and Elmwood.

With over 20 years of experience, Chaudhry previously served as head of strategy at Design Bridge and Partners and has held senior roles within WPP across consulting, advertising, and market research. During this time, he has spearheaded high-profile branding initiatives across 20 markets and 4 continents. 

His work has primarily engaged C-suite stakeholders, delivering projects for globally renowned companies such as Coca-Cola, Meta, CapitaLand, Reckitt, Infosys, Lazada, Hero FinCorp, Mars, Mondelez, and HSBC, among others.

Speaking on his new role, he said, “Elmwood and MSQ are among the most exciting places to be in our industry today. It is a fast-growing group, structurally built for collaboration with an exciting array of specialisms such as branding, generative design, content creation, analytics and insights coming together seamlessly. Strategy has a key role to play in harmonising these capabilities to create tangible impact on businesses. I look forward to pushing the boundaries of this joined-up thinking and be a part of the work that elevates our clients’ brands.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Binns, CEO of Elmwood, commented, “Ambrish is the perfect fit to help us strategically strengthen our position in Asia as a full-service brand and experience design consultancy. His appointment, following Susie Hunt’s as Chair for Asia, demonstrates our commitment to the region’s growth and our investment in top talent. Together, they will drive impactful solutions and create new growth avenues for our clients.”

This appointment underscores Elmwood’s ongoing commitment to growth and its evolution as a full-service brand and design experience consultancy, equipped to address the complex challenges brands face as they build their growth platforms. 

Chaudhry’s extensive strategic expertise in brand building and his entrepreneurial mindset to leverage Elmwood and MSQ’s next generation technology, data and media capabilities will unlock new growth opportunities for clients across the region. 

Singapore – Heckler Singapore has embarked on its first venture into long-form storytelling with the release of ‘Momentum,’ a six-part documentary series commissioned by Bloomberg as part of its Bloomberg Originals lineup.

‘Momentum’ takes viewers on a captivating journey through Asia’s rapidly evolving economic landscape, where technology, sports, entertainment, and culture converge. The series dives deep into the core of markets and narratives that are driving the region’s transformation.

For this documentary, Heckler collaborated closely with the Bloomberg Originals team from research and scripting through production and post-production, bringing the series to life at every stage.

Produced by Jasmine Tay and hosted by Haslinda Amin, Bloomberg’s chief correspondent for Southeast Asia, the documentary explores a diverse range of topics, from India’s emerging role in the international space race and Korea’s architectural renaissance to Japan’s AI-powered robotics revolution and Singapore’s vision as a future-ready city, as well as the forward momentum of Japan’s semiconductor technology.

Tay and Singaporean director June Cheong led an all-female powerhouse team that brought Momentum to life, filming across nine cities over seven months. Together, the duo overcame typhoons, earthquakes, cancelled flights, and crew health challenges to complete the whirlwind series.

With Tay’s background in narrative production and Heckler Singapore’s expertise in CG and VFX, the team elevated the series by crafting a fresh visual language that perfectly aligned with the director’s vision.

Commenting on her experience, Cheong shared, “Jasmine is the Dana Scully to my Fox Mulder, the Abed to my Troy, the Samwise Gamgee to my Frodo Baggins. Like all great producers, she tempered my flights of imagination with her voice of reason. She also believed in my directorial vision and came armed with an open mind, a keen eye for logistics, and a genuine dedication to making this project the best it could be.”

“We encountered many surprises, hiccups, and last-minute changes on the shoot, but Jasmine handled all these production setbacks with equanimity,” she added. 

Meanwhile, Tay expressed, “This is my first time working with June, and it was quite the ride! Her passion for the project was like a caffeine boost for the whole team—impossible to ignore. She’s an extremely hard-working writer/director; always diving into the details and pushing for that extra bit of magic in every episode.”

“While she occasionally drove us to the brink with her relentless pursuit of perfection, it was all in the name of making the show shine,” Tay continued. 

Tay further emphasised the unique challenges and skillset transfer involved in producing both short- and long-form content, noting that ‘Momentum’ offered an ideal opportunity to apply her expertise across both formats.

“Producing for short form/TVC projects is a sprint, and long form storytelling is a marathon, and whilst both have their challenges and opportunities, each leans into skills that complement the other. Ultimately, it really comes down to managing people, being economical with your shots, and adhering to tight schedules,” she explained. 

The first episodes of Momentum are now available for viewing, with additional episodes scheduled to be released over the coming month.

Hong Kong – AIA Group Limited has announced the launch of its new brand campaign platform, ‘Rethink Healthy.’ The campaign intends to challenge misconceptions and narrow images of health in Asia, arguing for new definitions of health that would inspire more people to live healthier lives. 

‘Rethink Healthy’ advocates for a more inclusive, pertinent, and doable approach to wellbeing that is more sustainable and inclusive for people in Asia. This campaign is part of the AIA One Billion initiative of AIA Group Limited, which aims to empower one billion people to live better, longer lives by 2030. 

The anthemic video ‘Rethink Healthy’ challenges how social media influences how we portray health in its introduction. It will be bolstered by staff involvement initiatives, community activities, and marketing campaigns spanning multiple Asian regions.

The anthemic video tries to extend viewpoints by showing health as a mix of physical, mental, financial, and environmental well-being, rather than relying primarily on physical appearance as a health indicator. It aims to revolutionise the way healthy lifestyles are spoken and portrayed, emphasising that each person can embark on their own unique road to health and wellness. 

The video broadens the concept of activities, opportunities, and choices that promote overall health and wellness. It also redefines how exercise and healthy eating can benefit health, proving that every small step matters and that increasing confidence leads to progressively significant actions and benefits. 

The formation of the campaign was prompted by a regional wellness report ordered by AIA, which revealed that a large number of Asian consumers felt that maintaining good health was too hard and unachievable. Important research findings showed that even though most respondents wish to get healthier, 80% don’t think they are healthy right now. Consequently, 57% of individuals polled said they were unable to modify anything to make their health better. 

People throughout Asia are overwhelmed by the frequent, restricted portrayals of ideal health and fitness habits. Furthermore, 63% of respondents feel that exercise must be intense and prolonged to be healthy, discouraging many people from becoming more physically active. The majority of people polled feel that little activities cannot promote physical health, despite research showing the importance of tiny steps taken repeatedly to develop habits.

Speaking about the campaign, Stuart A. Spencer, AIA group chief marketing officer, said, “Our reality today is that Asia is getting wealthier but not healthier. The prevalence of lifestyle diseases is rapidly accelerating despite people wanting to improve their health. The research is very clear, consumers need and want help. AIA’s ‘Rethink Healthy’ campaign is a direct response to this urgent need by reframing the journey to health and wellness to be more inclusive. We need to change how we portray healthy lifestyles and make clear that this is specific to every individual, and help people take their own unique journey towards health and wellness. Every market in Asia is immensely diverse, however the discussion around health is often one-dimensional.” 

He added, “We are on a mission to change attitudes, mindsets, behaviours and debunk preconceived notions of what healthy means for every individual. Through this campaign we will engage many more people in Asia to live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives and accelerate progress towards our AIA One Billion goal.”

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.