Manila, Philippines – Asahi Beverages has collaborated with marketing consultancy Entropia in the Philippines in its first-ever immersive virtual launch in the Southeast Asia region.

Asahi Beverages’ product, Goodday Cultured Milk, was launched on the platform MootUp for Zoom, where press, dealers, and the brand teams all over from Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines are connected in an immersive virtual event.

Over 200 participants joined the event, and were treated first to virtual worlds such as  Japanese-inspired Airport Terminal, an outdoor-themed conference hall where the main presentations were held, an intimate Zen garden, and a mini Japan town. By utilizing Moot, the event did not only engage participants, but also unified them, mimicking a physical gathering with people moving around and interacting with one another.

According to Hemalatha Ravagan, Asahi Beverages Philippines’ CEO and head of international business development and exports, the Goodday Cultured Milk virtual launch was the brand’s first foray into the Philippine market.

“After more than two years spent on research and development to perfect the formulation for Goodday, we are elated to introduce a cultured milk drink that we believe every Filipino would enjoy every day. Since COVID-19 has placed restrictions on face-to-face launches, we had to adapt and tap into consumers’ changing habits as well as their curiosity to connect in the digital space,” Ravagan stated.

Online participants were also treated to performances brought by Filipino bands Up Dharma Down (UDD) and Autotelic. 

“Goodday is a proud product of Japanese innovation, and we want to launch it here in a big way. The challenge for this launch is to get people from Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines together for a fun and different experience. Thankfully, our partners in Entropia Philippines knew what to do,” said Karl Bustos, Asahi Beverages’ head of operations.

In a statement, Kaye Enriquez, partner and chief analytics officer of Entropia Philippines said the recent virtual event is an experience that responds to ‘people missing traveling and bonding with other people’.

“Through the use of available technology, we wanted to create that experience – one that is immersive where they could actually feel like they are traveling and having a good day, while learning about the new Goodday brand,” Enriquez said.

Meanwhile, Entropia Philippines’ Principal for Creative Services Hans Malang added, “While the platform is readily available via the use of Moot, we had to add new 3D layers to complement the immersive experience of this created new virtual world.”

Entropia Philippines is the first international expansion office of Entropia Global based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Leveraging the Extended Reality (ER) technology, Dumex Dugro, food company Danone’s growing up milk brand, has teamed up with Rouge by Entropia to launch a web-based Augmented Reality (AR) packaging for its new formulation, NextGen NUTRI. 

As opposed to the usual WebAR technology which requires access to a user’s smartphone motion sensors and camera, NextGen NUTRI’s AR packaging can be experienced without the need to install a specific mobile app.

Consumers will be able to access the new reality and immerse themselves on the journey to learn about Dugro’s product information; these include RTB’s and key ingredients among others.  

At the end of the journey, the technology allows moms and kids to interact and have a photo taken with Dugro’s well-loved characters, the Dugro Buddies: Aiden the Leader, Jolly Jane, Big Sis and Brainy Ben which they can save and share on different social media platforms. This also allows moms and kids to try out a sample or to register and get Dugro Rewards for existing customers.

Originally, the schedule for the launch of the campaign was in March of this year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the brand had to look for a contactless alternative to engage customers. 

According to Samuch Ongsulapa, Danone’s senior category and channel development manager, the collaboration “marks a new era in product detailing and engagement with their consumers.”

“Our vision at Danone is to be a truly people-powered brand, and our partners at Rouge by Entropia embrace that in every piece of creative communication. With this vision at the forefront, we set out to reconnect with Millennial mothers – to better understand their insights and behaviors, to innovate our NextGen NUTRI nutrition formulation, and redesign our consumer experiences. In line with this big idea, we launched Dugro®’s innovative AR packaging experience.” Samuch said.

Ramakrishnan CN, Entropia’s head of EXR, stated that “The quantum leap in the processing power of mobile phones and their mass availability, have made the deployment of such experiences more cost-effective than ever before. We are excited about the possibilities of this technology.”

“The biggest challenge for any marketing campaign is to engage consumers to change their desirability of the brand. And XR technology solves this for Dumex Dugro® by offering them the opportunity to create interactions with prospective customers in the most engaging way possible – through a full brand and product story told via Augmented Reality on the packaging. It is one of the most fun and innovative approaches we’ve taken to reach consumers.” Ramakrishnan said.

For the month of August, marketing leaders had it big, with the top stories that took most of your attention are those that have spotlighted marketing experts.

One was a retelling of a Filipino corporate communications head’s success story, another was an Asian eCommerce platform’s appointment of a new chief commercial officer, and also, a point-by-point marketing measurement plan authored, none other than by a tenured player in the field.

The latest on virtual and augmented reality also made heads turn this month. The strike of the pandemic made for hardened and limited times, but with tech, it was an opportunity to ride on the connective powers of VR and AR, unleashing the best of the digital experience to carry on a new normal.

Here, we’ve made a run down of all of them. Based on Google Analytics from July 20th to August 16th, these were the top 5 stories for the month:

Top 5: The PR expert of the holy grail chicken brand in the Philippines: Mark De Joya

In the premiere of our interview webisode, #MARKETECHMondays, we featured Filipino marketing expert Mark de Joya who shared the journey he trailed before finally becoming the head of corporate communications of Max’s Group, the company behind the country’s most sought after restaurants.

Although, like any other head start, his first foray into marketing can be said to be “humble,” it is still a stint with that of consumer product behemoth Unilever, its Philippine leg. Since then, what he had was a meaningful immersion to the industry of advertising having worked thereafter with international creative agency McCann Worldgroup.

Truly a self-made man, Mark was revealed to be overflowing with personal formulas and borrowed wisdom from his mentors. One of them, he got from then McCann chief strategy officer Gino Borromeo, which spotlights a different side of creativity, that is, creativity isn’t just being artsy, but the ability to solve problems.

His advice to young marketers, “A lot of people might not feel that they are built for the marketing [or] advertising industry because they don’t think that they are creative enough. I will say, creativity is important, but the one thing that enables that is curiosity. The best marketers I’ve met are also the most curious.”

Top 4: Digging into the ropes of marketing measurement with Salesforce Datorama CMO Leah Pope

From whom is it better to acquire insight into the importance of marketing data than from a marketing maven straight out of the field of extracting marketing insights?

Chief marketing officer of data insights platform Datorama, Leah Pope in July lent her thought leadership piece on this important feature of marketing management, and not just marketing measurement on any normal day, but crafting a strategy at this time of uncertainty.

She imparts four steps: Harmonizing the often siloed marketing data into a single source; setting up a set of standardized data for data hygiene; rechecking goals and benchmarks to track marketing progress amid a new normal; and finally, aligning a single system of record of marketing data to collaborate the now branched out remote setup of marketing teams.

Top 3: Malaysia’s Entropia and manufacturing firm UMW’s virtual museum

To imagine within our thinkable minds a museum of virtual experience will always, for the meantime, send us all in awe. And that is exactly what judges from the fourth International VR Awards have felt with Malaysian tech innovator Entropia’s virtual museum of company UMW, granting them a nomination for the award-giving body’s social impact award.

The immersive experience offers six degrees of freedom to move through manufacturing firm UMW’s artifacts, enabling teleport from one scenario to the next. Users are able to view the very first products UMW had assembled: the Toyota Corolla KE 10 in 1968, the first Komatsu bulldozer, as well as an education on the Rolls Royce engine casing manufacturing and assembly that was accomplished right in Malaysia.

The museum isn’t just nominated for any category, but a social impact category, one described to shine on companies and individuals that produce products that have made a significant social impact on the world around them.

UMW said, “We used VR as a platform [for the company] to impress [and] attract talents both young and old, and above all, [as] a testament on how a corporate legacy can be kept alive using technology.”

Of course, winners of the award will be announced virtually, slated to take place in November.

Top 2: Another Entropia news, but now, an augmented reality car showroom

In latter July, BMW Malaysia unveiled its all-new BMW X5 xDrive45e M Sports model, but that wasn’t the only exciting part. For the first time, the marque in Malaysia ran a model launch via an augmented reality (AR) experience, courtesy of the ingenuity of Entropia’s experience design unit, Entropia Extended Reality (EXR).

Countries’ lockdowns amid the pandemic made it nearly impossible for consumers to visit showrooms, let alone attend a car launch, and this is where EXR comes to the rescue.

EXR Head Ramakrishnan CN said the usage of extended reality (XR) for marketing and advertising is no longer a niche, and that the COVID-19 has definitely accelerated the pace of demand.

Entropia explains how the AR works: “By just clicking the link [on BMW’s app], the users will be able to get a virtually realistic 3D model of the car, and by just tapping the screen, they can reposition the car, [view it] at different angles, pinch and resize it, and slide in any direction for a 360° view.”

Talk about a fusion of innovation.

Top 1: The month of August puts Keepital’s appointment of CCO to top story

For the top story of the month, people news is at the heart of it. By July, congratulations have been in order as Asia-focused B2B eCommerce platform Keepital announced that they have appointed a new chief commercial officer, sales veteran Arthur Ng.

Arthur’s seasoned experience in B2B digital advertising sector matches the core offering of Keepital: bringing together buyers and suppliers in a central location; boasting a directory of B2B sales executives to put through businesses on a forum where they can network with each other.

Arthur has been a staple player in the function of business development since 2008, having worked with companies such as publisher The Green Book, supply chain Singapore Post, online media Purple Click, and the similar-natured Innity.

His responsibilities were as specific as it gets: ownership of the customer and the customer interface with the product or service offering, where he’s charged with making sure that all functions of the organization are aligned to meet strategic commercial objectives

MARKETECH APAC caught up with Arthur and he shared, “My past weeks with Keepital were pretty amazing and fulfilling. [I’ve been] going in-depth to understand the platform’s enclosed system, speaking to SME bosses to understand their marketing pain points and requirements.”

Watch the MARKETECH APAC REPORTS of these top five stories, with exclusive appearance and commentary from the newsmakers themselves.

If you have interesting stories, thought-leadership pieces, and case studies in the area of marketing, technology, media platforms and SME, please send us an email at [email protected]. Who knows your story could be part of our top 5 next month.