Tag: East Asia

Hong Kong – AIA Hong Kong has launched its brand new advertising series ‘Going Beyond With You’ starring its new ambassador for Hong Kong and Macau, the world swimming champion Siobhan Haughey.

Based on Siobhan’s personal stories, the new commercial, which includes four commercials with different themes, not only showcases her extraordinary talents but also celebrates her fighting spirit in the face of challenges. The successful pursuit of her dreams would inspire people to be brave and stay strong to rise to the challenge. Moreover, the new advertising series also highlights her tenacity and resilience that resonate with the company’s ‘Beyond Insurance’ concept.

Bonnie Tse, chief customer, strategy, and transformation officer of AIA Hong Kong and Macau, said Siobhan is widely recognised as a world-class athlete who keeps pushing her own limits and has broken multiple records in the international sporting arena; her feats are more than impressive. 

“We are exhilarated to invite her to be ‘AIA Hong Kong & Macau Ambassador’ and star in our newest advertising campaign. Not only does she embody our theme of ‘Going Beyond’, but her personal story also exudes positivity and inspires people to face challenges head-on,” added Tse.

The new campaign has been rolled out on AIA and other major social media, as well as digital media platforms, last 14 July.

In addition, Siobhan has also participated in a short video to promote the AIA Healthiest Schools programme as an outstanding athlete, encouraging students to develop healthy and good living habits at an early age. Earlier this year, AIA set an ambition to engage a billion people to live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives by 2030. The AIA Healthiest Schools programme, to be launched in Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand, and Vietnam during the 2022/2023 academic year, will contribute to this goal by putting it into action. 

In Hong Kong, the AIA Healthiest Schools programme will be available in all primary schools and will provide teachers with free, curriculum-linked online resources developed by professional educators. These resources cover four areas, namely healthy eating, active lifestyles, mental well-being, as well as health and sustainability, and are designed to encourage students to actively pursue physical and mental wellness.

Tse noted, “We would like to thank Siobhan for her staunch support of the programme. We are also very grateful for the opportunity to help schools foster students’ health and well-being encompassing body and mind on top of their intellectual development. The programme would nurture healthier human capital of the next generation, bringing lasting positive change to society.”

The AIA Healthiest Schools programme will also include a competition to serve as a platform for participating schools to build communities that share best practices in promoting health and wellness and showcase their success in driving better health outcomes. Prizes worth US$50,000 in total will be given to winning schools to help them accelerate their health initiatives.

Hong Kong – Insurance company Sun Life in Hong Kong has launched its first non-fungible tokens (NFTs) project, marking its 130th anniversary. This move follows the company’s new branding campaign ‘Change Into a Happier You’.

Until 30 September 2022, the top 130 Clients who pay the highest amount of Annualised First Year Premium1 and the top 130 advisors with the best performance will each receive one unique Sun Life Hong Kong limited edition NFT2 for free. 

Moreover, clients who become NFT holders can enjoy a premium rebate1 of up to HK$1,3003 in the next purchase. Sun Life Hong Kong will also be giving away the NFTs to 130 selected staff.

Clement Lam, CEO of Sun Life Hong Kong, shared that digital innovation creates new possibilities and changes people’s lives in often unexpected ways, and they always strive to stay ahead by enhancing the experience journey of their clients and advisors using digital technology. 

“2022 marks the 130th anniversary of Sun Life Hong Kong. We are thrilled to celebrate our special moment and share our joy with our stakeholders through the creation of this NFT collection,” said Lam.

Meanwhile, Chris Fung, chief client and marketing officer at Sun Life Hong Kong, said they will launch an exclusive NFT collection themed around ‘130th anniversary’ and ‘Hong Kong’ that will be co-created with Yobe, a local illustrator. 

“The design of the digital artworks will feature various aspects of living showcasing local culture and traditions. This series of digital collectibles marks our first step in entering the metaverse. In addition, we plan to include a number of different elements in the NFTs so as to create more exciting experience for our clients. We will also continue to integrate more online and offline interactions striving to take our innovation advancement to the next level,” added Fung.

Shanghai, China – China’s FMCG conglomerate, MasterKong Beverage, has reappointed media agency Mindshare China as its agency of record. The win, which will see Mindshare China provide media planning and buying services for the beverages business, further cements the agency’s already eight-year strong relationship with MasterKong.

According to MasterKong Beverage, Mindshare China’s advanced proprietary media tools, integrated strategic offering, and dynamic and diverse talent offerings were impressive. Furthermore, MasterKong Beverage has highlighted Mindshare China’s global leading creativity, which has seen its work in partnership with the agency awarded three Gold, two Silver and two Bronze in the first half of 2022 at globally recognised shows.

Angie Liu, director of MasterKong Beverage, said, “MasterKong Beverage’s products and marketing never cease to continue innovating, futureproofing the brand’s popularity with young consumers. We look forward to continuing our cohesive and collaborative partnership with Mindshare China to create further industry-leading work. We wish Mindshare China congratulations on their success.”

Meanwhile, Benjamin Condit, Mindshare China’s CEO, commented, “Our eight-year relationship with MasterKong Beverage’s business has grown from strength to strength, and we are grateful for the opportunity to take this relationship to new heights as we drive good growth through industry innovation together.” 

Jessica Zhang, Mindshare China’s chief client officer, noted, “As one of China’s most prominent FMCG brands, MasterKong Beverage is an industry leader in both its product and marketing offers. From their Iced Tea helping to break through norms to He Kai Shui’s innovative heritage, MasterKong continues to drive impactful marketing. It is a great honour for the team to continue as MasterKong’s chosen growth partner and we look forward to the many chapters ahead.”

Shanghai, China – China’s kid’s clothing label, Balabala, has partnered with advertising agency Ogilvy Shanghai, to launch its new official brand ambassador, Gu Yu, a one-of-a-kind virtual child influencer. This latest move is part of Balabala’s brand rejuvenation journey, shifting away from the traditional fashion marketing playbook in favour of innovative, tech-infused activations that resonate with the new generation of digital-native parents.

Gu Yu, which translates literally as ‘grain rain’, takes her name from the eponymous Chinese lunar calendar festival on 20 April, signalling a rise in temperatures and the arrival of heavy rainfalls essential for good crop growth – a symbolic nod to Balabala’s belief in promoting children’s free growth and self-expression. 

To bring Gu Yu to life, Ogilvy Shanghai has conducted extensive target consumer research and analyzed data sets of children’s faces that were then aggregated into a 3D rendering software to create an initial prototype. The creative technology team then used a suite of AI and 3D modelling tools to further refine her facial features including eye shape, hair thickness, and skin texture, and animate the virtual influencer in various scenarios as she explores her passions.

First introduced to the world on the social commerce app Xiaohongshu, Gu Yu doubles up as an independent fashion blogger, connecting with fans through regular short-form content that documents her life as an influencer, such as sharing behind the scenes of upcoming promotional videos and introducing some of the most recent clothing item releases from Balabala, alongside real-life child models or in the form of NFT digital collectibles.

In this first phase of a multi-dimensional strategic repositioning campaign for Balabala, Gu Yu acts as a modern companion of real-life children with their unique passions and lifestyles by showcasing a variety of outfit styles, inspiring kids to express themselves freely through fashion.

Thomas Zhu, group executive creative director at Ogilvy Shanghai, shared that bringing Gu Yu to life has been an incredibly exciting creative journey, from the very early research and conceptualization stages where they defined her key traits, facial features and personality all the way to technology implementation and agile social content creation. 

“As one of the first virtual influencers for a childrenswear brand created in China, Gu Yu is a testament to Balabala’s commitment to digital innovation and positions the brand as a true metaverse pioneer in the kids’ fashion category. We look forward to seeing her interact with fans over the next few months in novel, exciting ways,” said Zhu.

Meanwhile, on e-commerce, Balabala took the launch of these new modern silhouettes up a notch to release a limited-edition ‘meta dress’ NFT piece, which 1000 lucky customers could get their hands on by shopping on the brand’s flagship store or by using their loyalty points. Gu Yu’s presence will not be limited to China’s top social media and commerce platforms. Soon she will be at the heart of new phygital experiences, where digital and physical boundaries will blend in to deepen customer interactions – from walking down the runway at Balabala’s offline fashion shows to co-hosting in-store brand events, fans will be able to connect with Gu Yu way beyond their smartphone screens.

Seoul, South Korea – COM2US, a global multi-content and gaming platform company in South Korea, has partnered with programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) adtech Hivestack, to launch its first cross-border programmatic DOOH campaign in the USA via Open Exchange through the Hivestack DSP.

Using the Hivestack Custom Audience and Geotargeting technology, COM2US has advertised its new baseball game ‘MLB 9 innings 22’, to a custom audience of baseball enthusiasts in the Los Angeles area and at specific points of interests (POI) including the Angel Baseball Stadium of Anaheim during the Major League Baseball tournament. 

Through this partnership, COM2US has successfully connected and engaged further with its target audience leveraging trigger targeting capabilities available within the Hivestack DSP, activating the campaign every three hours before the game was set to begin using a proximity geofence of a 10km radius of the stadium.

Hivestack said that its advanced programmatic DOOH technology enables local and global buyers to access premium DOOH screens in over 25 markets across the world. In turn, media owners can benefit from both domestic and international revenue from brands, agencies and omnichannel DSPs – a revolutionary evolution of the OOH channel.

Hoon Lee, Hivestack’s vice president of demand and supply for Korea, commented that through this innovative, cross-border campaign, COM2US are setting a new global digital paradigm in the gaming industry in Korea. 

“Throughout the campaign, we were able to adjust campaign parameters in real-time and select the most suitable DOOH locations for the target audience. We look forward to expanding our partnership with COM2US to launch numerous campaigns internationally in the future,” said Lee.

Meanwhile, Youngjoo Park, COM2US’s director of marketing and content center, shared that the collaboration with the Hivestack team has enabled COM2US to light up new markets and bring our campaigns to a global audience.

“With Hivestack’s Geotargeting technology, we were able to deliver the advertisements at the right time, at the right place, to the right customer,” said Park.

Most recently, Hivestack has extended its partnership with Asiaray, an out-of-home (OOH) media company with a strategic focus on mega transport advertising media management. This partnership will see Asiaray offering both domestic and international buyers the opportunity to activate programmatic DOOH campaigns via Private Marketplace (PMP) deals through the Hivestack SSP and direct deals via the Hivestack Ad Server.

Shanghai, China – Programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) adtech Hivestack has extended its partnership with Asiaray Media Group, an out-of-home (OOH) media company with a strategic focus on mega transport advertising media management. This partnership is already active in Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, and now in Mainland China. 

Through this extended partnership, Asiaray will be offering both domestic and international buyers the opportunity to activate programmatic DOOH campaigns via Private Marketplace (PMP) deals through the Hivestack SSP and direct deals via the Hivestack Ad Server.

Moreover, the partnership will be enabling local and global brands, agencies, and omnichannel DSPs to drive additional scale through programmatically activated DOOH campaigns across Asiaray’s premium transport media inventory in major airports including Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Haikou, Xiamen, Chengdu, Kunming, Zhuhai, and Zhengzhou, as well as in key metro stations across Beijing.

Aileen Ku, Hivestack’s general manager for China, commented, “We are excited to partner with Asiaray in mainland China to drive further business growth for brands, agencies and omnichannel DSPs looking to benefit from the power of programmatic DOOH. Through this partnership with Asiaray, we are thrilled to provide more flexibility for advertisers to target audiences at unprecedented scale through programmatic activation via the Hivestack SSP and Ad Server.”

Meanwhile, Troy Yang, Hivestack’s managing director for North Asia, shared that the addition of Asiaray as one of their important media partners in Mainland China was another huge milestone for Hivestack as they continue to drive their business growth across North Asia. 

“The partnership provides domestic and international marketers with the opportunity to further reach audiences across the region with even broader coverage across premium sites leveraging Hivestack’s leading programmatic technology,” said Yang.

Vincent Lam, chairman, CEO and founder at Asiaray Media Group, noted, “We are excited to extend our partnership with Hivestack, the industry pioneer for programmatic DOOH, and offer our clients a way to drive added reach and impact as a part of their omnichannel plans. Through this partnership, we look forward to leveraging the Hivestack platform to accelerate the adoption of programmatic DOOH in Greater China.”

Just recently, Hivestack has announced its official membership to Prebid.org, an organisation that oversees open source prebid programmatic advertising solutions. Through this, Hivestack will be able to further support its efforts in driving the adoption of an open-source unified auction framework for programmatic DOOH and join its peers to help build and shape the ad tech ecosystem.

Taipei, Taiwan – Automotive brand BMW in Taiwan has partnered with SaaS company Appier and creative agency Bremen Digital Creative to create joint efforts in raising BMW Taiwan’s brand awareness and further foster its customer loyalty.

Through the partnership, BMW Taiwan aims to engage both potential buyers and existing BMW car enthusiasts on social media channels. With this, Bremen Digital Creative has developed a campaign around a cherished Lunar New Year tradition where the first person to burn incense in the temple after midnight is blessed with good luck. 

Meanwhile, Appier’s BotBonnie conversational marketing solution has been implemented, allowing BMW Taiwan better utilise Meta’s Recurring Notifications feature and successfully connect with its community on Facebook to achieve four times more engagements than it did in previous years with a 78% opt-in rate and 99% read rate. Moreover, with BotBonnie’s comment auto-reply feature, the brand will now be able to immediately respond to users and create a longer duration of engagement with each of them.

Brian Chen, Bremen Digital Creative’s account manager, said that with the directions pre-discussed with BMW Taiwan, they designed the social campaign for the Lunar New Year holiday, hoping to increase the number of engagements that BMW Taiwan could have for Facebook campaigns.

“With BotBonnie’s expertise in conversational marketing, we not only hit the target but also greatly exceeded expectations in several key results,” added Chen.

Meanwhile, Li Chiang, digital marketing specialist at BMW Taiwan, shared that during the whole campaign process, Appier’s BotBonnie solution provided the users with 24/7 support, and with the conversational marketing solution, they could respond to users immediately and create longer and more engaging journeys.

“Importantly, in order to broaden the community of BMW fans and potential customers, we implemented Recurring Notifications which helped the company gain 1,500 subscriptions and 2,500+ participants in three days,” said Chiang.

Samuel Chiang, Appier’s assistant manager of customer success, noted, “With the Lunar New Year campaign, BMW Taiwan saw a tenfold improvement in customer participation over previous online campaigns, and we can attribute that success to Recurring Notifications, powered by Appier’s conversational marketing solution BotBonnie, Meta’s authorised partner.”

Hong Kong – Hong Kong-based telecommunications and technology services provider, HKBN Group, has appointed William Ho, former managing director at AI networking company Juniper Networks, to be the new CEO of Enterprise Solutions.

In his new role, Ho will be leading HKBN’s enterprise services arm, expanding and leveraging its system integration capabilities, and further consolidating and developing the blue ocean business growth strategy across Hong Kong and Mainland China.

With nearly 30 years of professional experience in the ICT industry, Ho brings many holistic dimensions having been a customer-side user and a service provider, covering network technology, internet, cloud, and big data, as well as e-commerce, amongst others. He is amongst the few senior executives with a broad range of experiences in technology R&D, sales and marketing, and business development. Aside from his previous role at Juniper Networks, Ho has also held senior executive positions at local and international companies, including Cohesity, ARRIS, Cisco, and Hong Kong Jockey Club, amongst others.

Commenting on his appointment, Ho said, “In a dynamic evolving business landscape, HKBN’s Talent-Obsession culture uniquely empowers our talents to embrace changes and do everything to help our enterprise customers to foster their digital transformation and gain their competitive edge rather than merely save money. I am thrilled to have my skin in the game as a co-owner and to achieve our goals together with our Elite Sports Team.”

Meanwhile, William Yeung and NiQ Lai, HKBN’s co-owners, said that Ho is putting his skin in the game by investing an amount equivalent to 2 years’ salary into their co-ownership scheme. 

“With William leading HKBN Enterprise Solutions, our goal is to bring digital solutions that go beyond connectivity services to our 110K corporate customers, fortifying our customer relationship, driving efficiency and business impact in Hong Kong and across mainland China, especially the Greater Bay Area. We welcome William to our Elite Sports Team,” they added.

Hong Kong – Fruitpie, an avant-garde digital marketing consultancy, has launched its new NFT offering that first-ever combines traditional livelihood consumption and emerging virtual assets called ‘Fruit Pie NFT’. This campaign initiates and advocates the marketing concept of ‘Fruit to Earn’, which is the company’s inaugural attempt to make an exception and generalise the popularisation of NFTs with its in-house innovation team, signifying its first stand to show its edge in the field of ‘NFT Plus’ novelty fusion.

The purpose of the issuance of Fruit Pie NFT is to facilitate the integration of rising fintech tools and traditional livelihood consumption experience to lead a trendy lifestyle while offering fresh fruits to consumers. Its core marketing concept ‘Fruit to Earn’ is imbued with the hidden gambit, unlike the membership identities or pre-paid cards launched by other conventional fruit distribution companies, Fruit Pie NFT brings forward a bold breakthrough based on standardised marketing ideas by incorporating orchard farming games into the system. In addition, through the establishment and construction of Smart Orchard in the Metaverse, people’s traditional livelihood consumption scenarios of buying fruit will be ingeniously extended to the virtual space.

With this new offering, Fruitpie intends to leverage the inherent value attributes of NFT itself as an investment tool with the aid of fintech to endow a secure, novel, and distinctive investment significance to elementary consumption and entertainment behaviours, helping consumers understand and accept this newly-developing financial instrument in the accessible but profound terms.

Fruitpie said that after considering the NFT Plus integrated marketing tactic, the company’s technical and creative team agreed that the NFT about the fresh fruit consumption conception is an exceedingly ingenious and brand-new entry point and thus proposed ‘Fruit to Earn’, enabling consumers to invest at a reasonable cost and earn benefits while feasting fresh fruits. 

After the official release, in addition to two Fruit Pie Gift Boxes, Fruit Pie NFT holders can also enjoy four additional benefits as the project progresses, including member-exclusive discounts and free shipping for all orders on the e-commerce outlet, single-use participation right in the online raffle for once a month, join and share the profits generated in the Fruit Pie Orchard Game that will be launched in the upcoming first phase, and obtain extra right in the Smart Orchard that will be designed and built by Fruitpie in the Metaverse for the second phrase, attached to the unique NFT identity, amongst others. 

Abby, co-founder of Fruitpie, said, “This Fruit Pie NFT is an absolutely fresh attempt and a remarkable collision between fintech and traditional consumption. On the one hand, the concept of NFT can be vividly integrated into our daily life. On the other hand, it can help the industry bring up primary education for investors related to NFT, a type of ‘Edutainment’ that accelerates this emerging subject to take root in the mass market.”

Meanwhile, Charles Leung, founder of Fruitpie, shared that when NFT first appeared, it would only be linked to some world-famous paintings or out-of-print art collections, which means ‘too high-end to be accessible’, but now, ‘NFT plus 3D Games’, ‘NFT plus Beauty’, ‘NFT plus Social Avatars’, and so on, new dinguses are gushing out endlessly and changing with each passing day. 

“More and more technological innovations have come out and significantly improved our understanding and acceptance of NFTs. This time, in terms of innovative settings, we also specially added gimmicks such as game segment and Smart Orchard, which is generally familiar and easy to participate in. The company’s team has mastered quite mature technologies and hopes that NFT can be used extensively in traditional markets, helping various industries implement marketing reforms and pull through bottlenecks in innovation,” said Leung.

South Korea – ONE Holdings’ esports media company ONE Esports has been appointed as the official media partner for League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK). The League of Legends tournament is organised by League of Legends Champions Korea Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Riot Games Korea Limited.

The LCK Summer Split 2022, which will take place from 15 June to August 2022 in South Korea, will see 10 of the best League of Legends teams from Korea compete for a US$370,000 prize pool.

Through this appointment, ONE Esports will manage the production of localised content related to the LCK Summer Split 2022, including short-form videos and written coverage. All video content, including tournament highlights, player interviews, and fan interactions, amongst others, will be distributed across ONE Esports’ digital channels. 

Moreover, ONE Esports will also publish a series of articles covering the LCK in localised languages to be distributed exclusively on the ONE Esports website, oneesports.gg.

Carlos Alimurung, CEO of ONE Esports, said that it is motivating to work with the dedicated team at League of Legends Champions Korea Limited who are committed to delivering high-quality events and telling remarkable stories. 

“The popularity of League of Legends Champions Korea, coupled with ONE Esports’ passionate fanbase and extensive reach, will take the tournament’s phenomenal success to the global stage,” said Alimurung.

Meanwhile, Aiden Lee, secretary-general of League of Legends Champions Korea, commented that they are excited to welcome ONE Esports as their newest partner for League of Legends Champions Korea.

“Storytelling is such an important aspect in esports because it allows our audience to engage with our brand and talents in deep and meaningful ways. We are thrilled that with ONE Esports’ expertise and presence in esports, we will be able to bring LCK closer to fans around the world,” said Lee.

In April 2022, ONE Esports has also been tapped by gaming company Riot Games to be its official media partner for the upcoming League of Legends: Wild Rift Championships SEA tournament, to be held from 23 April to 8 May 2022.