Auckland, New Zealand – The New Zealand arm of media investment company GroupM has announced that it is now launching INCA, GroupM’s influencer marketing platform, in the country as part of INCA’s ongoing expansion in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

INCA works as a brand-safe influencer marketing network that gives advertisers access to a data-driven brand engagement tool that connects them with trustworthy and relevant influencers at scale.

Through the expansion, New Zealand advertisers can now leverage INCA’s artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technology to partner with a vast network of relevant and authentic creators to plan, execute, and measure content-driven campaigns that bring their brand stories to life and deliver results. 

Furthermore, the launch solidifies the company’s efforts to uphold brand safety in the industry as more brands are allocating budgets to influencer marketing to drive brand engagement across social platforms. 

“New Zealand is such an exceptional market for creators. We feel very privileged to be able to connect our brands with the best creators through this new platform. Our people, technology, and partnerships put us in a unique position to sit across the intersection of creativity, media, data, and commerce and we’re excited to bring this value to our brands and strengthen the influencer eco-system in New Zealand,” said Nick Henderson, head of product and solutions at GroupM New Zealand.

INCA also deploys other features in the platform, including INCAtech, which provides unique creator and audience insights, workflow tools, content amplification, and detailed campaign reporting dashboards; and Genuity Score, which enables brands to check the proportion of real versus fake audience on a creators profile, which drives authenticity and effectiveness.

“Advertisers are faced with the challenge of connecting more deeply with consumers in social media platforms. INCA allows us to access thousands of authentic and relevant content creators in a highly cost effective way. This technology has simply changed the game in terms of how we can now plan, implement and measure our influencer content campaigns for clients,” said Chris Riley, chief executive officer at GroupM New Zealand.

INCA in New Zealand will be available to clients from all GroupM agencies which include media agency Mindshare, marketing and advertising company MediaCom, media company Wavemaker, and others.

Singapore – Media franchise MARVEL is hosting a virtual run for its MARVEL fans across the Southeast Asia region, in collaboration with social fitness and marketplace company LIV3LY.

The run is centered for fans to be inspired by MARVEL’s heroes such as Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Hulk, and embody inner potential through collaborative racing and teamwork.

Those who are interested to participate can choose to run solo or go in groups of 2-3, as long as participants will abide by their local government protocols on joining in group activities.

The race is available at distances of 5KM, 15KM and 25KM, and are categorized by individual, parent-child tandem, or team of 2-3 races.

All registrants are entitled to an exclusive MARVEL Virtual Run drawstring bag and a themed finisher tee, while those who will be able to successfully finish the 15KM and 25KM categories will receive a MARVEL Virtual Run trophy. Participants can also take part in MARVEL Virtual Run challenges to win other prizes.

The race is open for participants in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Brunei.