Tag: Hong Kong

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s online collectables and artwork e-commerce service provider Oriental Culture Holding (Oriental Culture) and tech company Heng Well Information Technology Co. (Heng Well) have signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU), aimed at launching comprehensive cooperation on blockchain-based digital cultural and artwork products service business.

As part of the MOU, both companies will be developing blockchain+ and NFT related services and business for cultural and artwork products to take the advantage of Heng Well’s experience and strength in the areas of blockchain and NFT, and Oriental Culture’s experience and connections in the cultural and artwork market. 

Moreover, Oriental Culture will be drawing on its extensive knowledge and experience in the existing and traditional cultural and artwork products market to build up an ecological service networking for the blockchain-based digital cultural and artwork business by working together with Heng Well to expand the trade in cultural and artworks and engage a wide range of the population in the collection, trade, and communication of cultural and artwork products in different forms.

The parties have also agreed to hold regular meetings between their senior management to provide guidance, support, and supervision of the development of new business, and to coordinate and resolve major issues arising in the business practice.

Mun Wah Wan, Oriental Culture’s chairman, noted that the market size of cultural and artwork products is increasing quickly, and the market demand for cultural and artwork trade platforms and related services presents a diversified trend with the recent development of blockchain technology and NFT. 

“Heng Well is a company that has advanced blockchain+ technology and rich experience in related areas, and the cooperation between our two companies will help us to offer blockchain-based services for the digital cultural and artwork products, marking another milestone of the Company in its efforts to create a full-service and new technology-driven platform for cultural and artwork products,” said Wan.

Hong Kong – Hong Kong-based game software and venture capital company Animoca Brands and South Korean entertainment company Cube Entertainment have announced the official establishment of their latest venture called AniCube Entertainment, which aims to build a music metaverse, and issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and ecosystem tokens based on the intellectual property rights of Cube Ent’s globally popular K-pop music artists and actors.

The partnership was first announced in November 2021, and also entails AniCube bringing Cube Ent’s artists to The Sandbox, a decentralised gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands.

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said, “As a fan of K-pop and Korean culture, I am thrilled to contribute to AniCube, a JV that will guide K-pop music creators and fans in the open music metaverse and help them to enjoy true digital property rights and the other benefits of blockchain and NFTs.”

Meanwhile, Woohyung Ahn, CEO of Cube Entertainment, commented, “With the support of Animoca Brands, the music metaverse created by AniCube will be global and open, and will play a leading role in the global music industry to protect the rights of IP holders and content creators related to music sources. We look forward to the ways in which Cube Ent’s highly talented artists will help to build the open metaverse.”

Hong Kong – On-demand delivery platform Lalamove in Hong Kong has launched a new series of initiatives this February, aimed at helping the community in fighting against the pandemic.

The initiatives include the ‘Support Our SMEs’ campaign, which was launched last 14 February 2022. It seeks to support more than 150 SMEs by providing them with exclusive promotion opportunities. 

With this initiative, Lalamove has been leveraging its own and other promotional platforms to help SMEs promote their exclusive offers. These SME partners span across a wide range of sectors such as F&B, catering, lifestyle products, sporting equipment, and electronic products, as well as apparel. 

Shing Chow, Lalamove’s founder and CEO, shared that they have been inspired by the many unsung heroes working diligently to serve the community amidst a challenging situation. 

“Our team at Lalamove has focused on leveraging our strength and strong network in the instant delivery landscape, to help non-profit organizations and SMEs affected by the pandemic moving things that matter on their behalf. We hope to extend our support to grassroots families so that we can overcome this adversity together,” said Chow.

Meanwhile, another initiative is free logistics support for non-profit organizations, which was launched last 18 February 2022. Through this, Lalamove has received more than 50 requests from NGOs for logistics support, delivering epidemic supplies such as rapid test kits, medical supplies, disinfectants, and masks, as well as food.

And lastly, the initiatives also include the donation of 10,000 rapid test kits to help grassroots families who are dealing with the pandemic. To date, Lalamove has donated 10,000 sets of rapid testing kits to various non-profit organizations that have then distributed them to the homeless, as well as grassroots families and workers, hoping to lessen their burdens in searching for the precaution item.

Hong Kong – Around 57% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Hong Kong have reported that they have accelerated their digitalisation efforts for the past 12 months, new survey from insurance company QBE shows.

According to the survey, 21% of the respondents say that growing sales amid reduced consumer spending became a key priority for SME digitalisation, followed by customer acquisition and retention (18%). In addition, SMEs are concerned about staff acquisition, training and retention, as well as logistical and export-import issues, reflecting that maintaining sales performance and ensuring business continuity are critical.

The survey also noted that 88% of the respondents said they currently use digital technologies or intend to invest in them, continuing the upward trend seen in 2020 (75%) and 2019 (73%). 

At present, the three top investment areas are collaborative software for staff (40%), marketing through social or online media (40%) and e-commerce (38%).

Despite the strong outlook, SMEs cited greater competition, data security threats and rising customer expectations as the main challenges for e-commerce. As a result, there is a surge in cyber risk awareness among SMEs, which jumped to 43% from 24% in 2020. SMEs took protection against cyber risk in several different forms, including software solutions and staff training, but particularly, 39% used insurance as a form of protection.

Lei Yu, CEO for North Asia and regional head of distribution at QBE Asia, said that the survey provided useful insights on the challenges that SMEs in Hong Kong are facing, and showed that SMEs are catching up quickly in utilising digital technologies to help achieve their evolving business goals.

“Our annual survey shows that awareness of and appetite for insurance keeps changing, however the underlying trend of insurance and risk management awareness is upwards. This is important because it is in everyone’s interests for them to be adequately protected. SMEs need flexible insurance products that allow them to choose insurance types and coverage according to their own needs,” Yu said.

Shanghai, China, — Porsche, the German automobile manufacturer specializing in sports cars, has announced the appointment of Michael Kirsch, current CEO of Porsche Japan, as the new president and CEO of Porsche China, Hongkong and Macao effective on June 1, 2022.

Kirsch holds extensive leadership experience in the automotive manufacturing industry. He has held the position of CEO of Porsche Japan since 2019. Prior to that, he previously held the same position at Porsche Korea for three years. Between 2012 and 2016, he gained a detailed insight into Porsche China in his role as chief operating officer. His other notable employments were holding senior management positions at BMW and at an international hotel chain.

Detlev von Platen, member of the executive board responsible for sales and marketing at Porsche AG, commented, “In his various roles, Michael Kirsch has contributed to successfully develop Porsche in Asia and he is the ideal choice as CEO of Porsche China – one of our most important markets worldwide. Michael has been very successful, especially when dealing with customer satisfaction and service quality. I am confident that he will set further strong impulses with plenty of valuable initiatives for the Chinese market and will continue to increase the impact of our brand there.”

Kirsch takes over following the departure of Jens Puttfarcken, who is moving to Audi AG to take on the role of head of sales for Europe. Puttfarcken held the president and CEO positions for Porsche China, Hongkong and Macao since 2018.

“Jens Puttfarcken has excellently positioned our brand in China and successfully expanded both the customer base and the dealer network. He has been leading a dedicated and strong team in China which keeps Porsche always connected and engaged in this dynamic market. We thank him for his great commitment and wish him all the best for his new responsibilities,” Platen said.

During the tenure of Puttfarcken, China continued to be Porsche’s largest single market since 2015. The market is strategically important to the brand with its size, great dynamics and innovation strength. Under the previous leadership of Puttfarcken, Porsche continuously expanded its business footprint and invested in terms of electrification, innovation and digitalization. In addition, Porsche Digital China was founded in 2019 and spun off at the beginning of 2021. Moreover, the foundation stone was laid for the establishment of a research and development satellite location in Shanghai, which is due to open in 2022.

Hong Kong – China-based social commerce solution provider Azoya has announced the launch of its turnkey social commerce suite to assist retail brand K11 to amplify its digital presence in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), including in Hong Kong.

As part of the solution, Azoya assisted K11 to launch the K11 Go HK WeChat mini-program using proprietary technology of Azoya SaaS, and fully integrating with WeChat Work, where customers can interact directly with tenants and smart sales consultants. 

The mini-program leverages K11’s strong portfolio of tenants and capacity of acquiring customer traffic both offline and online to increase overall brand awareness, customer loyalty and revenues for tenants, including Beyorg, Carbali, Champion, Kids 21, L’Occitane, Penhaligon’s, Thann and a dozen more brands who are also available on the physical premises.

“The escalating COVID-19 situation continues to affect Hong Kong retailers. Shopping malls, pharmacies and duty-free businesses cannot get access to foreign customers and tourists, while local customers must continue to comply with social distancing. In response, retailers are turning to digital methods to continue their operations and serve customers whose demand for merchandise remains strong,” the company said in a statement.

In addition, one of the key features of the mini-program launched by Azoya is to integrate deeply with K11 membership system KLUB11. The fully-customised solution allows K11’s private domain customers to earn and burn points in the same mechanism as in offline stores.

Davy Huang, director of business development at Azoya said, “Consumers want to form a closer relationship with brands in WeChat according to our study and practice. Our data shows over 34% of customers that participated in group chats have made at least 1 purchase in the past year, and we think the number will continue to increase.”

He added, “We are working with our retail partners to transform a large amount of idle sales reps into smart digital beauty advisors, who can interact with customers in WeChat groups, and convert interpersonal connections into deeper customer relationships.”

Hong Kong — Capssion, an all-in-one influencer marketing platform based in Singapore and Hong Kong and founded by two ex-Lazada executives Thibault Couperie Eiffel and Koussey Goupil, has announced that their software now integrates TikTok on its platform to allow e-commerce brands in the region to find, manage, and monitor performance with TikTok influencers.

With influencer marketing campaigns becoming increasingly complex to manage, and in the bid to streamline the over-abundance of tools and social media platforms marketers have to cope with, Capssion has been aiming to innovate through choice integrations with best-in-class software to become the all-in-one influencer marketing platform for e-commerce brands in the Asia Pacific region. Historically, Capssion allowed brands to run campaigns on popular platforms namely Instagram and YouTube.

Thibault Couperie Eiffel, CEO and co-founder of Capssion, says, “More than 50 percent of the brands operating on Capssion have dedicated budgets for TikTok in 2022. Four in 10 of our influencers creating content on Instagram are now also creating content on TikTok.”

With the successful integrations of Shopify and Aftership that saw significant results, Capssion plans to grow its integrations and partnerships even further. The platform aims to be a facilitator for brands to find, manage and compensate influencers, as well as monitor their performance at scale, all in one place.

Hong Kong – EventX, the SaaS company providing hybrid event management solutions for businesses, has secured a Series B plus funding of US$8m, which brings the company’s Series B total to US$18m. This funding was led by venture capital investment company GL Ventures, with participation from other investors.

The new funding of EventX will be used for financing potential acquisitions, strengthening its international operations, and expanding its presence in Asia, particularly in Taiwan and SEA, with further investments in product development by scaling their products to transform virtual events with innovative offerings. 

In addition, EventX will continue to expand its footprint in Asia with engineering, business development, and new leadership hire. It will also tap into VR solutions that support a digitalised world and stay ahead of the curve in this ever-changing technological environment. 

Sum Wong, the CEO of EventX, shared that enterprises are already evolving themselves into the digital world and looking for a platform to create an innovative and targeted event for their audience and generate leads. 

“Platform development will always top our first and foremost priority as we strive to stay competitive and make our customers ready for any business opportunities,” said Wong.

Hong Kong – As part of the Chinese New Year festivities, HSBC has launched its festivity-centric campaign for its mobile payment service PayMe, focusing on breaking traditional conventions and gamifying the custom by bringing family and friends together in a more fun and inclusive way.

PayMe partnered with an array of gen X, millennial and gen Z talents. Local idol Keung To, along with multi-talented artist Ivana Wong, newly formed girl group members Marf & Day, and YouTuber Ray were cast to reflect the e-wallet’s widespread popularity amongst all demographics in Hong Kong.

In addition, they also released a series of films that make reference to the classic Chinese New Year TV commercial format. Created in partnership with Ogilvy Hong Kong, the films show their star-studded outfit playing the roles of relatives, friends and colleagues and then are transformed into a fun-filled virtual world with gaming-inspired graphics amplifying the message that anyone and everyone in Hong Kong can use, play and have fun with the new group laisee function.

Jaslin Goh, head of marketing, CX and design at PayMe, said, “We’ve positioned PayMe as ‘Hong Kong’s Wallet’ and won over 2.5M hearts and those hearts are pumping fast for love of PayMe’s new elaisee feature over CNY and we’re super excited to hit a record high of over 5.3 million elaisee sent. Within a short one month period, it went viral very fast and we’ve got over 200 earned media and social shares of their love of the gamification experience. PayMe elaisee even became a new urban dictionary term in social media.”

Hong Kong – LINE Today Hong Kong, the news and content curation hub within social messaging app LINE, has partnered with digital advertising solutions company Innity to launch its new self-serve platform to streamline its ad operations and expand its ad offerings to advertisers. 

LINE Today curates and publishes over 1,000 news and content articles daily and has over two million monthly active users. The new custom platform enables LINE Today’s advertisers to set up orders, manage campaigns, and build their creatives. It also enables advertisers to run Innity’s high-impact mobile ad formats like Mobile Spin and Mobile Cards, amongst others. In addition, advertisers can set their own campaign budget and schedule, and then monitor results and adjust as needed in a real-time dashboard. 

Queenie Hung, LINE’s sales director for Hong Kong, commented, “We’re excited to enable advertisers to easily and quickly create and upload their own campaigns that they can push live to 2 million active users on LINE Today Hong Kong in an effective way.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Lim, Innity Hong Kong’s managing partner, shared that they are excited to be working with LINE Today Hong Kong who is an innovative publisher dedicated to discovering the best advertising technologies. 

“We’re excited to have become their partner and support and streamline their ad campaigns with our programmatic-driven self-serve solution, and we expect that it will create significant monetization opportunities for them,” said Lim.