Tag: Content

Singapore – Kasagi Labo, a local-based anime venture studio, has announced a $10 million commitment towards anime productions. This investment aims to strengthen Kasagi Labo’s role in connecting Japanese creativity with global audiences, starting with “Special Kid Factory,” the first of several anime productions under Kasagi Labo’s expanding portfolio.

The studio’s recent $12 million fundraising round, led by Burda Principal Investments and other strategic partners, will support the development, marketing, and global amplification of these projects. This investment indicates growing interest in comprehensive approaches to anime creation, promotion, and IP maximisation. 

Leading Kasagi Labo’s slate of upcoming productions is “Special Kid Factory,” an ambitious sci-fi adventure series that delves into compelling themes of identity and mystery. The anime’s debut trailer, showcased at Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July 2024.

“Special Kid Factory” follows the journey of Genpei, an ordinary boy who discovers he is a clone of Denshiin, a seasoned detective. Together, they embark on a galactic quest, solving mysteries and fighting for survival in a universe populated by “Special Kids”. This flagship project will be joined by several other diverse productions currently in development, each designed to appeal to different segments of the global anime audience. 

“Special Kid Factory” is being co-produced with NAZ Studio, renowned for anime titles such as “ID: INVADED,” “Good Night World,” and “Sabikui Bisco.” This collaboration sets a high standard for Kasagi Labo’s content and underscores the studio’s commitment to blending Japanese creativity with global storytelling. 

Kendrick Wong, founder of Kasagi Labo, said, “Our goal is to contribute to the evolving landscape of anime production and distribution for a global era. Our projects will not only push the boundaries of storytelling but also introduce new ways for fans and business partners around the world to interact with and experience anime.”

Prompt, a creative marketing agency which is part of global full-service digital partner Lizard Global, has recently made its way to Malaysia in a bid to service new clients in the country. Prompt is founded by Gabb Agapito as chief executive officer, Halina Santiago as chief creative officer, and Rocio Abanes as chief client officer.

Agapito brings over 15 years of experience spanning diverse categories from consumer care and pharma to fintech, telco, and sports; working with brands such as  McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Nestle. Meanwhile,  Santiago has more than 20 years of experience in the field of advertising and design. Lastly, Abanes boasts more than a decade of experience in strategic account management along with a profound understanding of the media and marketing landscape.

For Prompt, their objective as an agency is to help businesses implement, strengthen and refresh their digital marketing channels in their pursuit of growth.

In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Agapito shares his insights on what makes Prompt’s offering unique across other budding agencies in Southeast Asia, as well as his outlook on the future of creative marketing in the region.

“To start and initiate” at the core of Prompt’s DNA

To begin with, Prompt–by its very basic definition–means to start or initiate an action. And for those at the Prompt agency, actions for creative marketing solutions is at the core of their DNA. 

Agapito explains that what sets them apart from the typical agency is that they stand to integrate content and commerce strategies in driving the growth of their partner clients.

“We leverage creativity as the currency to ensure that our clients not only stand out but also thrive, and while utilising the power of various commerce strategies to drive business growth,” he stated.

Of course, part of that growth is utilising artificial intelligence (AI), which according to Agapito, has seen increased adoption especially in Southeast Asia due to factors such as having a young and digitally-savvy population, government support, and business engagement. Moreover, AI-related queries have reportedly increased 11 times and about one-third of businesses in the region have already adopted AI principles–higher compared to more developed countries.

“As an agency established recently, Prompt has an ambitious vision to embrace this technology, strengthening our clients’ digital marketing channels and pushing the boundaries of creative marketing,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of Prompt being co-founded by Lizard Global, whose expertise lies in developing custom applications and software, e-commerce infrastructure, and digital experiences for leading brands over the past 12 years.

“With Lizard Global, we have direct access to highly talented developers who could build AI systems and enhance commerce strategies of our clients. There are not many marketing agencies in the region who have in-house to software engineers, and we want to take the lead here–positioning Prompt to leverage this competitive advantage effectively,” he added.

Using AI and content strategies to push creative ideas forward

Going back to the discussion on AI, Agapito notes that while AI is such a buzzword in the industry, adoption amongst creative agencies in Southeast Asia has increased significantly, especially in Singapore where 89% claimed to use generative AI for creating content. He has stressed that although AI will never replace human creativity, he believes it is a powerful tool to enhance innovation and elevate marketing campaigns.

“We have already adopted AI for creative and media purposes, and the results have been positive. With the right prompts, this technology is something we should continue to embrace,” he stated.

Agapito also added that content will remain king in the region, specifically high-quality, relevant, and engaging content–which is crucial for driving success in marketing. He also added that crafting content that resonates with the target audience can aid in effectively communicating the brand’s message. Given how consumers are swamped with information nowadays, standing out with exceptional content is more important than ever.

“Within the space of content, we have seen how the approaches to video have evolved—from thematic, to bumpers, to shorts, to creator reels, to livestream shopping, and many more. Video is here to stay. I have seen how my past clients grew their ROI by 3 to 5 times with video over the years. And now in Southeast Asia, we see the impressive growth of video being an integral part of the consumer shopping journey,” he stated.

Adapt quickly and deliver customised solutions

Agapito is no stranger to marketing, as he was most recently the business director for OMD Malaysia for four years, and had also served as client lead for GroupM Malaysia as well. Looking back, he says that working in large agencies is definitely a privilege, offering opportunities to collaborate with different industries, brands, and teams across the globe.

Moreover, he stated that his recent experiences provided him with the space and tools to test and learn various strategies and innovations.

“It’s a vast playground for exploring different frameworks, marketing principles, and ways of working, which I consider valuable as I move forward in this new venture,” he said.

He also recognised that working with large agencies also comes with its own challenges, including being ready to wear different hats and adapt to different work cultures, as well as efficiency and effectiveness always being expected from your end. Nonetheless, he believes that all of these skills he learned will be able to be implemented to Prompt’s clients.

“My plan is definitely to bring what makes these large companies effective to our clients at Prompt, without the premium cost of a large organisation. As a small agency, we have the advantage of being nimble and less bureaucratic, allowing us to adapt quickly and deliver customised solutions tailored to each client’s unique needs,” he said.

One of Prompt’s recent local work was with Malaysia’s first padel and social club, ASCARO alongside with the co-creation of REDLINE, Malaysia’s newest gamified functional fitness event. Outside the region, Prompt has also rebranded TNS, a leading chain of clinics in Cyprus, and has helped launch a conscious beauty platform in Qatar. 

Balancing use of technology and humanised content

When asked on challenges faced by marketers in SEA in terms of creative and commerce marketing, he stated that it involves between authenticity and quality of work. He stated that while AI offers opportunities to increase efficiency and enhance decision-making, it also blurs the line between what is authentic and what is not in terms of creative output.

“I guess the challenges here would be the readiness of some to adopt the technology, striking a balance with humanised content, and measuring effectiveness of the creative output,” he said.

He also added how AI is transforming the pricing structures of software-related products. For example, instead of a traditional seat-based model, some products now charge based on results delivered, which can be expensive as the volume increases. Moreover, some marketers can be stuck on what matters commercially in the short and long term.

Lastly, he says investing in experience and training, such as design education, is essential and must not be overlooked. For him, while it is tempting to join the trend of using AI due to its appeal and the belief that anyone can produce the output, creative expertise is still necessary. 

“An eye for creativity and a level of maturity are needed to craft the right prompts for desired outcomes. Educating clients about this necessity and justifying creative headcount can be challenging at times,” he added.

Using videos as a tool of showcasing creativity

Agapito emphasises the importance of videos in enhancing the customer journey, highlighting their role in building awareness, interest, loyalty, and advocacy.

“We are seekers and creators of experience, and there is no better way to showcase this than through videos. Seeing how it fuels different stages of customer journey, videos will continue to thrive—from the initial stage of generating awareness and interest, to fostering long-term loyalty and advocacy. We envision ourselves helping brands produce compelling content to contribute to their success,” he explained.

His perspective also suggests that marketing through engineering is set to gain prominence, particularly in the AI era. By leveraging AI, businesses can offer substantial value early in the customer journey, such as through intelligent digital tools that aid in crafting brand briefs or engaging potential clients emotionally via gamification.

“Additionally, as more consumers adopt virtual assistants for purchasing decisions, there is increased importance in developing effective APIs that can communicate with AI to provide relevant information to potential and current customers. Through our partnership with Lizard Global, we have access to highly talented developers in this field who can create robust APIs and build engineering-driven marketing methodologies for our clients,” he concluded.

New York, USA – OpenAI has announced a multi-year partnership with global media company TIME to bring TIME’s journalism to OpenAI’s products, including ChatGPT. The new partnership furthers TIME’s commitment to expanding global access to accurate and trusted information. 

Through this collaboration, OpenAI will gain access to current and historic content from TIME’s extensive archives from the last 101 years to enhance its products and display in response to user inquiries—featuring a citation and link back to the original source on Time.com.

The partnership will also enable TIME to gain access to OpenAI’s technology to develop new products for its audiences, along with the opportunity to provide vital feedback and share practical applications to refine and enhance the delivery of journalism in ChatGPT and other OpenAI products and shape the future of news experiences.

Mark Howard, chief operating officer at TIME, said, “Throughout our 101-year history, TIME has embraced innovation to ensure that the delivery of our trusted journalism evolves alongside technology. This partnership with OpenAI advances our mission to expand access to trusted information globally as we continue to embrace innovative new ways of bringing TIME’s journalism to audiences globally.”

Meanwhile, Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer of OpenAI, commented, “We’re partnering with TIME to make it easier for people to access news content through our AI tools, and to support reputable journalism by providing proper attribution to original sources.”

This partnership follows a slew of partnerships OpenAI had including with the Financial Times, Reddit, News Corp, and more recently with Grab.

Automatic content recognition (ACR) technology has emerged as a pivotal tool for brands aiming to navigate the intricacies of the Asia-Pacific market. Generally speaking, ACR is an advanced technology on most smart devices that instantly identifies the content a consumer is listening to or watching. This type of data is inherently privacy-compliant for opted-in devices, making it especially valuable given the impending deprecation of third-party cookies.

How does ACR work?

ACR technology recognises the content playing on smart devices, allowing automatic collection of content consumption data at the screen level, without requiring user input or search effort, provided users have opted-in beforehand. In essence, smart TV ACR data delivers privacy-safe targeting precision.

This is how it works:

  1. Collection: Smart TV ACR data is collected via a software development kit (SDK), which is deployed into the chipset of Smart TVs.
  2. Opt-in: Upon SDK deployment, users are prompted to opt-in to ACR data collection, making it a privacy-compliant data source.
  3. Capture: The SDK captures “fingerprints” of the content on the screen, using frame-by-frame screenshots of content and/or audio signals. These fingerprints are generated every few seconds.
  4. Match: The fingerprints are then matched to a content and ad catalogue database to identify what was played through the TV.

ACR, with registered devices that have explicitly opted-in users in Smart TVs like Hisense, allows certain information to be collected and used to provide personalised advertising. The information collected is called “Viewership Data” and it can include:

  • Information about the network and programming content playing on the device, such as TV channels, shows, movies and commercials watched
  • Content from any media players, gaming consoles, over-the-air broadcast or other audiovisual sources playing through the smart TV
  • Additional information like timestamps, IP addresses and smart TV identifiers

As an example, Shazam uses ACR to recognise songs while smart TVs leverage ACR to recognise which networks, programs and commercials are being watched – as well as for how long the viewer is watching them. With ACR, advertisers have actionable insights for use in:

  • Converged TV planning and investment allocation recommendation  
  • User exclusion to maximise incremental reach
  • Ad re-targeting & re-messaging
  • Converged TV measurement

ACR technology: Advertisers’ ultimate problem solver

Now that we know what ACR is and how it works, we can move into the fun part: the tricky challenges this data solves for advertisers. 

4 Advertising hurdles overcome with ACR

  1. Content Identification (understand your consumers’ viewing patterns): ACR technology scans and identifies content by comparing the audio or video fingerprints of the content being watched with a vast database of known content fingerprints. This process allows the system to recognise what channels and shows are being viewed, including the specific episode and time stamp.
  2. Brand & Ad Exposure Identification (understand your current ad touchpoints with consumers): ACR enables the collection of viewership patterns by identifying what is being watched and when. This data encompasses details, such as which shows are being watched, when they are watched, how frequently they are watched, and critically, where brands and their TV advertisements are exposed to viewers.
  3. Converged TV Reach and Incremental Reach Measurement: ACR data enables comprehensive measurement of TV viewership activity across both linear and digital TV screens. This facilitates the assessment of viewer overlap across these screen types and the efficiency of TV screens for brands. It also empowers optimisations in audience reach based on viewership behaviours, aiming for maximum efficiency and users reach, such as cross-screen frequency control.
  4. Targeted Advertising: With the data collected, advertisers can tailor their ads to specific audiences based on their viewing habits. For example, if ACR data shows that a household frequently watches cooking shows, then advertisers might target that household with ads for kitchen gadgets or grocery stores.

Why ACR technology is so important now

ACR data empowers advertisers with actionable insights for TV planning, audience activation and enriched measurement capabilities that are essential for navigating the complex and fragmented media landscape. It enables them to drive more effective advertising strategies and maximise campaign performance. At this critical juncture, its relevance can’t be denied:

  • Surge in smart TV and connected device use in APAC: With the proliferation of smart TVs and connected devices in APAC, more and more households are consuming content through these platforms. ACR technology enables the opt-in devices to identify and track what users are watching in real-time.
  • Consumers demand tailored content: ACR data provides granular insights into viewership behaviour, including what programs and advertisements are being watched, when and for how long. This level of detail allows advertisers and content providers to better understand their audience and tailor their content and advertising strategies accordingly.
  • Improved campaign efficiency and reduced media waste: Leveraging ACR data allows advertisers to reach specific audiences more effectively, minimising overlapping audiences and ensuring ads are delivered to the most relevant viewers. This reduces wasted media spend by targeting viewers based on actual viewing behaviour, maximising the impact of advertising dollars.

To sum it up, ACR data provides a viable solution for advertisers to better navigate this fragmented TV landscape. This not only enhances viewers satisfaction by reducing ad clutter, but also boosts ad effectiveness, driving higher engagement and conversion rates. Ultimately, ACR empowers advertisers to better understand consumers’ viewing behaviours, which can then: 

  • Inform more comprehensive TV planning
  • Deliver more relevant ads with robust measurement
  • Foster stronger brand-consumer relationships in the increasingly competitive media landscape. 

This is the future of TV.

This thought leadership piece is written by Janice Chan, VP Platform and Client Services APAC, Nexxen

Singapore – Wunderman Thompson has announced three new key appointments across its technology and content teams across Asia-Pacific. They include Hasan Hasnie as chief technology officer, Geoff Smeaton as head of technology, and Nicholas Yeam as head of content.

Hasnie was recently the managing director at Accenture Song, and has spent 19 years with the company serving roles in digital and technology consulting. In his new role at Wunderman Thompson, he will work closely with clients as a strategic partner helping enable growth in their organisation, as well as focusing on deepening the agency’s current technology capability set.

“I am very happy to be joining Wunderman Thompson at this juncture of our growth journey. I hope to truly immerse myself in the exciting world of advertising, relying upon my experience of commerce and marketing technology delivery in a scaled and distributed fashion. We have amazing clients in diverse industries, and I hope to learn a lot from them as well as my talented and experienced colleagues at Wunderman Thompson,” he said.

Meanwhile, Smeaton still retains his role as chief technology officer for Australia as part of his expanded role. He has extensive experience providing technical and architectural leadership on highly complex projects with varying scales of size and complexity. 

“Being able to help our markets deliver world class technology solutions for clients across APAC is a fantastic challenge and opportunity for me to be taking on, alongside our fantastic team of leaders and practitioners all through the region,” he stated.

Lastly, Yeam previously led the production and operations as executive producer at Huge and spent time at Media.Monks and Hogarth Worldwide. In his new role, he will continue to drive growth for the agency’s studio by delivering content solutions and operations for clients – bridging the gap between inspiration and execution for brands.

He commented, “It’s an exciting time to be joining the team, as we’re observing a period of transformation in the content landscape. There’s an ever-growing demand for scale, efficiency, and quality, and I’m confident that Wunderman Thompson’s borderless approach to production excellence will allow us to continue to meet and exceed the needs of our clients.”

Wunderman Thompson recently announced the appointment of Emily Chang as CEO of West Coast region, as well as the appointment of a new chief growth officer and chief client officer for South Asia

Singapore – Global computer software company Adobe has announced a slew of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models to improve customer experience (CX) delivery for businesses, ranging from content personalisation and editing, to marketing copy generation and conversational experiences.

The new AI models will be part of Adobe Sensei’s collection of enterprise applications which enables customers to work and collaborate in new ways. Adobe Sensei is the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) arm for its Adobe Experience Platform.

A major AI model being announced is ‘Adobe Firefly’, a generative service which is trained on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content and public domain content where copyright has expired, and will focus on images and text effects and is designed to generate content safe for commercial use.

“With Adobe Firefly, producing limitless variations of content and making changes, again and again — all on brand — will be quick and simple. In the future, marketers will be able to also train Adobe Firefly on the brand’s own collateral, generating content that reflects the brand’s style and design language,” the company said in a press statement.

David Wadhwani, president of digital media business at Adobe, said, “Generative AI is the next evolution of AI-driven creativity and productivity, transforming the conversation between creator and computer into something more natural, intuitive and powerful. With Firefly, Adobe will bring generative AI-powered ‘creative ingredients’ directly into customers’ workflows, increasing productivity and creative expression for all creators from high-end creative professionals to the long tail of the creator economy.”

Meanwhile, Adobe’s Sensei GenAI will enable brands to instantly generate and modify text-based experiences across any customer touchpoint and leverage different large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT through the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and FLAN-T5. The selection will align with the unique needs of each business, stemming from brand guidelines, product vocabulary and customer insights.

Some of the business uses for Sensei GenAI include marketing copy generation, dynamic automated chat, creation of rich audience segments which provide precision for personalisation campaigns, and caption generation.

Amit Ahuja, senior vice president for digital experience business at Adobe, commented, “Adobe has a long history of unlocking AI as a co-pilot for marketers, and we have a vision for generative AI that covers the full lifecycle of customer experience management, with the enterprise-grade security and data governance that our customers expect.”

He added, “Business growth is driven by customer experiences, and generative AI is a transformative, foundational technology that will impact every aspect of how brands connect with their customers.”

Singapore – Customer relationship management (CRM) platform HubSpot has announced the launch of new AI-powered tools to aid its customers in saving time whilst creating better connections with their audiences.

The introduction of content assistant and ChatSpot.ai builds on HubSpot’s earlier investments in AI including conversation intelligence, data quality tooling, data enrichment, predictive AI, content optimisation, and more. Powered by OpenAI, content assistant and ChatSpot.ai create efficiencies for marketing, sales, and customer service professionals. 

The content assistant helps marketing and sales teams ideate, create, and share quality content in a matter of minutes. Some features include suggesting and generating a blog post about a product or service, writing other content for the business such as social media posts and web copy, and streamlining content marketing workflows into one place.

Meanwhile, ChatSpot.ai will help HubSpot customers complete a variety of tasks using a natural language chat-based user experience. Features include adding contacts and companies to the HubSpot CRM, creating custom reports related to marketing, sales and customer service, as well as drafting professional and effective sales emails personalised to the recipient.

Andy Pitre, EVP of product at HubSpot, said that the new products’ goal is to help companies connect more deeply with their customers. In addition, their new AI-powered content assistant will help their clients create quality content faster and easier, to better serve their customers.

“Advances in AI also have the potential to change the way people use and interact with software. We’re excited to launch ChatSpot.ai to experiment with how we can make our software even easier to use, and we’re inviting our customers to come along with us as we learn together,” Pitre said.

Philippines – With most of our attention now veered towards digital content, a new global report reveals the average number of hours each audience in a country spends in navigating social media. The said data, which was gathered via a partnership between social media intel Meltwater and creative agency We Are Social, revealed that it’s the Filipino internauts that are the most invested when it comes to vlog content and video game consumption.

The annual report on social media and digital trends uncovered that the Philippines ranked first in terms of the average time allotted for watching vlogs and playing video games. Particularly, 95.8% of internet users in the country play video games on any device, and this cohort is found to spend an average of 1 hour and 29 minutes on gaming each day. This is a few minutes more than the global average of 1 hour and 14 minutes. 

Meanwhile, 55.6% of the country’s digital consumers – those aged 16 to 64 – stated that they watch vlogs each week, and in terms of consumption, the market also bested all markets, ahead of the global benchmark of 25.5%. 

In the same report last year, Philippines also emerged on top with the highest count of users that watch vlogs each week with 60.4%, and likewise topping the global charts with the highest percentage of consumers that play video games on any device (96.4%). 

Overall, from the current year’s data, the country landed in fourth place in general social media consumption, with consumers spending an average of 3 hours and 43 minutes for such activity.

Alexandra Saab Bjertnæs, chief strategy officer at Meltwater said that competitive brands should stay ahead of trends to understand their impact on any industry. She also highlighted that as consumers invest more time on social media, it will affect the decision-making process in their customer journey.

Bjertnæs added, “With more than 5 billion internet users today, it’s becoming more crucial than ever that brands deliver relevant, impactful, and purposeful content to capture attention and create value across digital channels.”

Nathan McDonald, group CEO and co-founder at We Are Social said that social media’s influence affects people’s lifestyles and it continues to grow. McDonald also expressed that users consider the discernment in internet usage, making sure that it’s a time well spent.

However, McDonald also had thoughts for marketers. He added, “Marketers and creators will have to work even harder to attract and retain people’s attention in 2023 – it’s never been more important to understand online culture in order to reach people in a relevant way.”

Manila, Philippines – Disney+, the subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service under The Walt Disney Company, is finally coming to the Philippines on November 17.

Disney+ coming to the Philippines comes after a year of the platform announcing its added expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.

The platform first appeared in APAC through its ANZ launch in November 2019, followed by the Indian launch in April 2020 through Disney Star’s Indian SOV Hotstar. It then launched in Japan via a deal with NTT Docomo in June 2020, in Indonesia in September 2020.

In 2021, Disney+ launched in Singapore (February 2021), Malaysia and Thailand (June 2021), as well as the countries of South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in November 2021. Meanwhile, launch in Vietnam is slated for early 2023.

The Philippine launch also comes months after Disney+ has announced an adtech deal with The Trade Desk in its move to offer ad-supported plans for its subscriptions in the future.

Singapore – Global financial services company Citibank and Yahoo have announced a partnership to create a dedicated personal finance hub geared towards diverse audiences, providing fresh perspectives on money and equipping them for their financial journey across different life stages.

Hosted on Yahoo Finance in Singapore, the hub–called ‘Life and Money; will see Citibank share expert insights and tips on personal finance with readers.

‘Life and Money’ will feature a specially curated selection of original content contributed by and jointly with Citibank, as well as relevant aggregated content from Yahoo Finance. With insightful explainers accessible in various multimedia formats such as articles, videos, and podcasts, the hub will cover a wide range of topics around personal finance and lifestyle. 

Some of the content topics will include saving, investing, advancing careers, achieving work-life balance, sustainable living, parenting, and other personal finance and lifestyle interests.

In addition, the content will address misconceptions, inspire new lifestyle habits, and provide actionable recommendations for readers of different life stages. Among them are first jobbers seeking financial independence, starter families purchasing their dream homes, mid-career professionals progressing through milestones, and seasoned achievers planning their ideal retirement.

Carol Tay, senior director sales for Southeast Asia at Yahoo, said, “As a leading source for finance news, Yahoo is focused on providing news and information that will help give our readers the confidence to make smart financial decisions. We are thrilled to partner with Citibank and build empowering content on personal finance, and help drive meaningful connections with audiences seeking rich insights that will help them achieve financial empowerment and lead their desired lifestyles.”

Meanwhile, Mylene Ong, head of digital sales and marketing at Citibank Singapore, commented, “Our partnership will give readers the opportunity to access Citibank’s latest personal finance insights and tips, as well as better serve our clients with an additional source of trusted finance-related content. We hope to provide a fresh and reliable financial perspective to those navigating life’s milestones, leveraging Yahoo’s strong editorial expertise and sizeable organic database.”