Singapore — End-to-end commerce enablement company AnyMind Group has announced the launch of AnyX, a one-stop e-commerce management platform for individuals and businesses that connects various e-commerce channels and AnyMind Group’s various platforms.
Through the convenience of AnyX, an individual or business can manage operations across e-commerce marketplaces and platforms, and consolidate and activate data across available e-commerce stores. With AnyX, businesses can also easily embark on cross-border e-commerce activities by tapping on the platform’s integrations with e-commerce marketplaces across the region.
At launch, AnyX is already connected to regional e-commerce marketplaces and platforms namely Shopee, Lazada, Rakuten, Amazon, and Shopify. Additionally, it is also connected to numerous AnyMind Group platforms such as AnyTag, AnyChat, AnyManager, AnyFactory, AnyDigital, and AnyLogi.
Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group, commented on the launch of AnyX, saying that over the years, they have constantly made it exciting for everyone to do business through their technology, and AnyX is yet another milestone for AnyMind as an end-to-end commerce enablement company.
“We will continue to connect even more functions across our proprietary product suite, enabling easier and more exciting commerce for all. We’re looking to advance next-generation commerce by enabling commerce to be done anywhere, bringing forth a world where every business is borderless,” Sogo said.
AnyX is now available to AnyMind Group customers internationally, with customers having the option to use the company’s various platforms individually, or as part of a suite through AnyX. In the near future, AnyX will also support the automated triggering of actions across platforms, including order management, inventory allocation and management, and revenue/pricing management.
AnyMind Group is also working on connecting further with local or niche Asian e-commerce marketplaces and more third-party applications and will integrate future products that the company develops.
Sydney, Australia — Australian tech innovator Curiious has announced the launch of the ‘plug and play’ version of its award-winning metaverse platform, enabling enterprises to engage audiences in the metaverse within hours of purchase.
Curiious’ ‘off the shelf’ metaverse platform enables brands to host a fully-immersive, 3D online world within hours, rather than the months or years of building when a brand commits to a bespoke platform.
Michelle Schuberg, managing director of Curiious, said that some brands are already announcing they’re entering the metaverse, while others are figuring out if they need it yet and then there’s the enterprises who are somewhere in-between. Schuberg added that enterprises need to know right now that the metaverse is here and any brand can get started with a branded, immersive experience within hours – whether their audience is their global employee base, clients needing to understand a new product, or consumers wanting to engage in the brand’s community.
“Event organisers are one of the obvious sectors that have embraced the metaverse as COVID-19 made live events and travel impossible, but now we are seeing businesses prioritising the metaverse to engage and onboard their people or to build connections with customers via a branded, perpetual 3D world,” Schuber said.
Some of Curiious’ new metaverse platform features include; the ability to go online within 24-hours from purchase, the ability to create a true 3D world for users to navigate similar to sophisticated PC games, customers can licence Curiious’ world-first immersive and interactive WebGL platform for 12-months, enabling them to deliver unlimited events in that time, a fully customisable, branded environment, available virtual environments and delivery can be scaled to any event size – from a Town Hall to an online office or site environment to a global expo with multiple environments that enable a rich and highly-engaged audience experience.
Moreover, other integral components include; users can self-guide their experience and learn for deeper engagement through live sessions, pre-recorded sessions, media galleries, interactive games, among others. The platform’s media gallery also enables it to be a permanent metaverse, while also allowing sponsorship integration that allows organisers to recover costs.
In addition, the platform also seamlessly integrates desktop, mobile and VR. Additionally, the platform can also measure detailed audience data not possible via live experiences, including dwell time, user sessions, return visits after the event, sponsor engagement and more.
On Curiious’ new metaverse feature product, Schuberg commented, “Our ‘plug and play’ metaverse is built with plugin architecture so our clients can be ready to launch with a customisable, branded event or training resource that engages their audiences via world-first immersive experiences within hours of purchase.”
She added, “This product’s rapid deployment will evolve our industry as it seamlessly integrates with an enterprise’s existing systems, giving organisers a true ‘plug and play’ interactive option that leverages existing content and materials while providing the tools to engage and delight their audiences no matter where they are in the physical world.”
Singapore — Emplifi, a unified customer experience platform, is enabling brands to provide the next level of customer care on social media and messaging apps with the launch of its new Unified customer experience (CX) Platform component – Emplifi Social Care.
Emplifi Social Care empowers teams outside of the service center to help support the volume of customer requests that engage from social media channels. Now, marketing, brand and product teams can respond to customer cases using a powerful combination of chatbot technology and intuitive case management tools, elevating social customer care while boosting performance.
When customers need one-to-one assistance that goes beyond the intelligent chatbot experience, Emplifi Social Care automatically connects them to a live advisor to instantly address their needs. Eventually, teams of retail consultants, product specialists, or brand ambassadors have all they need to queue, route, manage and resolve customer requests at scale for social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, among others.
Alex George, chief product officer at Emplifi, said, “Today, people use social media and messaging for nearly everything — discovering new products, researching purchases, sharing their experiences, and receiving service and support. Emplifi Social Care enables enterprises to serve customers with that immediate social experience, helping to drive a much better customer experience across digital channels.”
Varun Sharma, vice president of Emplifi Asia Pacific and Japan, commented that optimizing CX has never been more critical for local brands.
“While providing prompt customer support across multiple platforms may seem overwhelming, it can greatly improve brand loyalty and foster long-term relationships with customers, if done correctly. With our latest launch, we support brands to deliver such seamless, impactful customer experiences across multiple touchpoints that improve overall business performance and make consumers feel heard,” Sharma said.
Emplifi Social Care integrates with Emplifi’s ecosystem of Social Marketing Cloud, Social Service Cloud and comes with standard Emplifi Social Commerce Cloud. Through these integrations, a more sophisticated collaborative response from different service departments can be executed.
Emplifi Social Care can be leveraged by social media marketing teams to help access greater assistance with an instant view of the customer’s history, and one-click access to relevant product information, policies, FAQs, and more and these cases can be escalated to Emplifi Service Cloud anytime. These advancements can allow managers and administrators real-time dashboards to create meaningful resolutions and delegate the right task to the right teams easier.
Commenting on the ingenuity of the new CX resource, George said, “By unifying and empowering marketing, commerce and customer care teams with an intuitive, integrated, customer engagement tool brands can deliver timely and empathetic experiences to their customers at scale. As found in the study by Forrester Consulting, forward-thinking brands are integrating care and service as part of every department’s remit – not just the responsibility of the service center ‘after the sale’ – and Emplifi Social Care is built to help these teams do just that.”
Paris, France — Ipsos has announced the launch of its new online market research platform Ipsos.Digital in key markets across the Asia Pacific. The company said the launch is part of its ongoing vision in delivering fast, high-quality data while simultaneously bringing the best of science, technology, and know-how to its clients.
The intuitive, self-service, end-to-end platform offers clients efficient access to Ipsos’s global research capabilities and insights. It provides access to Ipsos’ fully integrated online panels of consumers.
Ipsos has developed this proprietary platform to seamlessly provide clients with innovative technology and efficient professional expertise, providing as-needed access to its expert teams across the world.
The Ipsos.Digital platform contains a range of solutions such as FastFacts, its DIY research tool allowing users to build their own surveys. Clients can choose from more than 700 pre-defined category targets or create their own bespoke definitions. Other solutions include two Ipsos flagship tools: InnoTest, an innovation testing tool, Creative|Spark, and Creative|Spark Digital – a 24-hour turnaround creative assessment tool.
Commenting on the implications of the launch in a new market, Yang Kil, chief growth officer of Ipsos for Asia Pacific, said that Ipsos.Digital is a revolutionary step for them, with real-time, self-serve consumer research. Kil added that clients need to make faster decisions than ever to cope with rapid changes in consumer behaviour and Ipsos.Digital answers these needs.
“Its fast turnaround time, from set-up to delivery, ensures high data quality. It reflects our commitment to outstanding research quality and turning data into actionable insights. In an ever-growing DIY market, we bring a unique alternative that combines technology with state-of-the-art knowledge and applies our principles of ‘security, simplicity, speed and substance’,” Kil said.
Ipsos. Digital’s main benefits are its speed with the ability to access research responses within 24 hours; simplicity of use with DIY functions and the ability to access a research expert at any stage; security with time efficiencies without compromising quality, and substance of being able to design bespoke surveys or a specialised Ipsos solution.
Andrei Postoaca, CEO of Ipsos.Digital, commented, “The digitalisation of market research, like that of most industries, has risen significantly over the last few years. The global pandemic has accelerated this trend, making the ambitious vision of the democratisation of market research a reality. We are delighted to launch our digital platform in Asia, the power of Ipsos.Digital is its ability to streamline processes and enable clients to access insights in hours rather than days or weeks. Platform users can work on their own or obtain assistance from relevant Ipsos experts around the world.”
Karachi, Pakistan — Automobile company PEUGEOT has officially launched operations in Pakistan through its exclusive partner Lucky Motor Corporation in Karachi. The partnership commenced with the opening of eight 3S dealerships that offer sales, after-sales and other services in six cities namely Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Gujranwala.
The tie-up also aims to facilitate the creation of state-of-the-art assembly facilities in Karachi to boost employment, localization and local automotive industry in Pakistan and enhance the internationalization of PEUGEOT.
PEUGEOT is an inventive brand that has been a pioneer in the automotive industry for over 200 years guided by its brand values; ‘Allure, Emotion and Excellence’, which represent sharp design, intuitive driving pleasure and uncompromising quality. With its entry into Pakistan, these values will be upheld as the brand strives to provide the market with the latest innovations and mobility solutions.
Linda Jackson, CEO of the PEUGEOT brand, said, “We are delighted with this partnership. This will be the first time a European car is assembled in Pakistan and we are excited to work with Lucky Motors to support employment, localization and the local automotive industry in the country. Internationalization is a key focus for PEUGEOT, with the B and C segment SUV growth in Pakistan, representing a great opportunity for us. This is also bolstered by the evolution of the legislation of the country towards electrification which is fully in line with our own strategy.”
Simultaneously, Samir Cherfan, chief operating officer of Stellantis Middle East and Africa, commented, “We are excited to embark on this journey in Pakistan with our new partner, Lucky Motor Corporation. We see tremendous potential and opportunity for PEUGEOT in Pakistan and are looking forward to serving customers in this exciting market.
Lucky Motor Corporation is a subsidiary of the Yunus Brothers Group, which has a legacy spanning over five decades. Yunus Brother Group’s robust and dynamic approach has enabled it to gain considerable market share in the Pakistani automotive industry and to set new benchmarks in terms of product offering and customer service. With the introduction of PEUGEOT, the company now aims to provide the best mobility solutions the European brand can offer its customers.
Asif Rizvi, chief operating officer of Lucky Motors Company, shared that Lucky Motors is set to change the automotive landscape of Pakistan by introducing PEUGEOT, the first locally made European brand in the country. Rizvi added that they are very excited to partner with Peugeot and look forward to being associated with Stellantis, a company that strongly believes in futuristic mobility solutions.
“Pakistan, with its 220 million population, offers a great opportunity for someone to come in and disrupt the automotive market. And we have no doubt that the Stellantis with its 14 brand portfolio, will be the one to do so. Lucky Motors is proud to become the first company in Pakistan to have multi-brand manufacturing and dealers. We are delighted to embark on this adventure, bringing with it the best automotive solutions, while also making meaningful contributions and investments that will support economic and social development in Pakistan,” Rizvi said.
The first step of the partnership will begin with the introduction of the locally built PEUGEOT 2008 model. The full-electric e-2008 local production is also considered. The introduction of the PEUGEOT 2008 is the first step of this ongoing commitment to Pakistani customers.
Singapore — AnyMind Group, an end-to-end commerce enablement company that started in 2016, has announced the public launch of its conversational commerce platform, AnyChat. The tool is optimised to help businesses digitise online CX and CS which was limited traditionally to retail assistants in brick-and-mortar retail stores.
Presently, AnyChat provides e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses with a platform to easily manage and execute real-time chat conversations across chat apps, facilitate purchases, and design chat flows for end customers. This will allow AnyChat users to design and trigger automated end-user notifications and messages for purchase confirmation, product delivery, offers and discounts on products, and more, by tapping on customer and purchase information from e-commerce platforms. When integrated, these components intend to replicate the support that shoppers experience from an actual retail store assistant.
In addition to these features, the platform also supports the storage, analysis and utilisation of conversation data for chat flow and conversion optimization, and will be connected with other AnyMind Group platforms such as the company’s logistics management and marketing platforms. AnyChat is currently integrated with LINE, with plans to subsequently be connected with other chat and e-commerce platforms.
Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group, commented on the launch of AnyChat, saying, “Over the years, we’ve constantly expanded the depth and breadth of our products across the spectrum of commerce, from cloud manufacturing and e-commerce enablement to marketing, logistics management, and publisher and creator monetization. AnyChat further expands our capabilities in driving our purpose to make it exciting for everyone to do business, enabling greater efficiency and effectiveness for online commerce.”
The company has started delivering AnyChat on select brands from its ‘D2C for Influencers’ program in Japan and Thailand, and will subsequently launch the platform across its various markets to both influencer D2C brands and enterprise D2C brands.
AnyMind Group is currently operating out of 13 markets across Southeast Asia, East Asia, India and the Middle East and focuses on two business areas termed ‘Brand Commerce’ and ‘Partner Growth’.
Singapore — Global media and tech company Yahoo has unveiled its latest ad solution, Video Lite, in Asia-Pacific (APAC) that will elevate the video assets of brands for a stronger storytelling experience. Among those who had already utilised the new feature are transport company Grab, and delivery platform foodpanda.
Video Lite is available for private marketplace (PMP) campaigns via Yahoo Exchange, which allows advertisers to raise existing video creatives for digital media placements through the addition of end cards or branded frames, (Call To Action) CTA buttons and messages.
Yahoo cites the inspiration for the new feature as the massive digitisation wave continues across Southeast Asia, which recorded 60 million new internet users in 2021 alone. Notably, in SEA, e-commerce has experienced an unstoppable growth, valued at approximately US$120b in 2021 and forecasted to increase significantly by 2025 to be worth US$234b.
Although Yahoo recognises the strengths of videos as a medium and channel for brands to captivate audiences, the company says it is not known for causing actionable responses compared to other ad formats. But with Video Lite, brands will unlock stronger storytelling by helping brands bridge video’s convenience gap for consumers and close the loop, taking them from experience to action through a clearer path to purchase while also emphasising brand visuals and messaging.
The new video component has two new features: Branded Frames, and End Cards. Brand frames, fit for videos up to 30 seconds, give access to complementary graphics, text ad copies and CTA buttons to be added seamlessly alongside a minimised video to reinforce key brand visuals and messaging and provide a direct path to purchase. Meanwhile End Cards, suitable for shorter videos up to 15 seconds, create a one-click checkout point, when attention is at its peak, by maximising graphics and text ad copies with CTA buttons, emphasising key brand visuals and messaging with a direct path to purchase, at the end of existing video assets.
Shrivardhan Sarda, head of buyer development of Yahoo APAC, commented, “For many APAC advertisers, especially e-commerce brands, conversions remain the primary focus in their advertising campaigns. Our new Video Lite feature seeks to enhance brand storytelling through videos – optimising creatives for digital media placements by giving greater emphasis to important messages and forging a clearer path for consumers to complete their conversion journey with clear, actionable CTAs.”
Hadi Surya Koe, head of marketing Grabfood – Grab Indonesia, said,“We’re delighted to become one of the first users of Video Lite in the region. Makanthon is our marquee campaign of the year and we’re glad we got to explore new ways of reaching new audiences. We look forward to utilising more innovative ways to connect with our customers through collaboration with platforms and solutions, like Yahoo.”
Grab Indonesia utilised Video Lite by adding a branded frame to their existing video asset for their GrabFood and GrabMart prominent campaign, Makanthon 2021. The branded frame emphasised time urgency and highlighted the chance for customers to win prizes, namely gold, smartphones, and a luxury car, with a clear CTA button for users to make a purchase or order immediately. The campaign ran between Nov 16 and Dec 26 December on Yahoo’s owned and operated properties in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, foodpanda in Singapore also utilised Video Lite, with a branded frame over their “We’ve got you Santa!” video to drive awareness for its holiday Christmas campaign. The branded frame sought to up the ante on the Christmas spirit and emphasise foodpanda’s “we’ve got you” commitment to its customers to help with their gifting, feasting and festive needs that is conveniently just a tap away with the “Order Now” CTA button. The campaign ran from Dec 6 to 26 on Yahoo’s owned and operated properties in Singapore, alongside other premium lifestyle publishers in the country.
Laura Kantor, marketing and sustainability director for foodpanda Singapore, shared, “Time is increasingly becoming a scarce resource for all of us. Being in the business of convenience, we know how much our customers appreciate having things delivered to them in a timely manner – and this goes for the content that they consume as well. With Video Lite, we can now enhance the way we engage with our customers by providing them with bite-sized videos that are visually engaging and easily digestible, therefore ensuring maximum recall.”
On the success of the two partnerships, Sardasaidthat better ads are better for everyone. According to him, as a consumer, better ads improve the browsing experience and clearer CTAs deliver convenience, shortening the path to purchase for immediate action.
“For brands, this will mean meaningful engagements at every touchpoint that will help realise their campaign goals and deliver maximum ROI. We’re excited to have piloted Video Lite with Grab and foodpanda in SEA, and we look forward to empowering more brands and helping them forge a path to engage with their target audiences at scale,” Sarda said.
The Video Lite feature can now be availed by agencies and advertisers across APAC, and enhanced video ads can be executed on their preferred DSP with PMP deals using Yahoo Exchange.
With the launch of Hivestack’s programmatic DOOH marketplace in the country, brands, agencies, omnichannel demand-side platforms and media owners alike can benefit from programmatic DOOH transactions via Private Marketplace (PMP) and Open Exchange deals.
Customers, both from Thailand and from across the globe, can now access Hivestack’s Demand Side Platform (DSP) to plan, activate and measure data-driven programmatic DOOH campaigns across Thailand. Alongside the announcement, Hivestack has collaborated with key agencies Xaxis Thailand and Matterkind Thailand. On the supply-side, Thailand-based media owners can now leverage Hivestack’s suite of solutions including the Hivestack Supply-Side Platform (SSP) and Ad Server to unlock the earning potential of their inventory.
Andreas Soupliotis, CEO and co-founder of Hivestack, said that Thailand is a mature DOOH market with an impressive opportunity with premium inventory ready and available and with buyers actively looking to scale through programmatic DOOH. Soupliotis added that it is a key market for the company’s SEA operations and Hivestack looks forward to creating the opportunity for brands to have more targeted and measurable DOOH campaigns as well as securing new revenue growth for key media owners in the market.
John Pradithavanij, managing director of Xaxis Thailand, said, “This is an incredibly exciting time for the DOOH market in Thailand. We look forward to collaborating with partners such as Hivestack among others to leverage their programmatic technology and to offer our clients a way to precisely engage audiences outside of the home across the country. In addition, the opportunity for programmatic DOOH to fall within marketers’ wider ‘omnichannel’ strategies combining online video with DOOH will allow us to drive even more growth.”
Janejira Malanon, associate director, addressable strategy and activation at Matterkind Thailand, commented, “We are thrilled about this new opportunity with Hivestack and look forward to driving new business opportunities for our clients through programmatic DOOH. The advancements brought about by programmatic DOOH technology will invigorate the landscape for OOH advertising in the region and we look forward to working with the leading marketing technology company to enable us to be at the forefront of that development.”
Auckland, New Zealand – The privacy-first location-powered programmatic advertising partner Blis has announced the launch of its new product suite, Audience Explorer, into New Zealand, enabling brands and agencies to target their customers to drive key outcomes in the post-cookie world. Launched in 2021 in response to privacy changes by major tech companies, Audience Explorer is made available in the UK, US, Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, and now New Zealand.
Audience Explorer is a visual, real-world planning tool that combines precise location data with hundreds of rich and anonymised third-party signals, ranging from lifestyle characteristics and affinities to browsing and shopping habits, giving brands and media agencies the most holistic view of their customers. Using Audience Explorer, brands are able to discover richer audience insights, ready for activation at scale.
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Emma-Jayne Owens, managing director APAC of Blis, commented, “With market challenges around reach, relevance and measurement set to continue, there is no better time for brands to look to partners who can still deliver the audiences they would otherwise miss. We are delighted to bring Audience Explorer to New Zealand, enabling privacy-first audience insights and campaign scale without the reliance on personal data.”
As the industry pivots away from targeting based on IDs and personal data, brands need to find new ways to drive key business outcomes through personalised and high-performing digital advertising. To address this, Audience Explorer combines data from Blis’ global panel of 370 million opted-in consumers with precise location data and anonymized rich third-party signals.
Based on a deep consumer understanding, brands can serve up relevant ads to customers by understanding consumers’ needs, lifestyles, spending habits, competitor landscape and interests based on privacy-first, anonymized data – what Blis dubs as ‘Dynamic Audience Targeting’.
This new Dynamic Audience Targeting enables Blis to continue developing highly accurate, targeted campaigns for some of New Zealand’s biggest brands without reliance on personal data. Programmatic traders at agencies and brands can also activate these audiences via our self-serve platform or work with Blis on a managed service basis.
Karachi, Pakistan — Media investment group GroupM announced the Pakistan launch of its AI-powered brand-safe influencer marketing solution, INCA during its latest virtual event. Leveraging GroupM’s remarkable scale, INCA connects brands to a vast network of reliable publishers and influencers to create and promote content in social channels that will drive brand engagement across digital platforms.
With the platform now entering Pakistan, clients in the country can now leverage the additional benefit of global expertise and run campaigns across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Assisting these clients is INCA’s specialist teams in four regions and 30 countries who have created more than 2,500 campaigns with over 100,000 content pieces for more than 300 unique clients around the world.
INCA’s proprietary end-to-end AI-powered platform provides numerous useful offerings namely unique creator and audience insights, fraud detection, workflow tools, content amplification, and detailed campaign reporting dashboards. It leverages a proprietary algorithm that uses real-time data to source, curate, and match influencers and publishers to a brand’s campaign objectives to deliver the most credible partners and content for the greatest impact.
Naveed Asghar, CEO of GroupM Pakistan, commented, “We are thrilled about INCA’s launch in Pakistan. We look forward to helping brands scale up their digital campaigns through our best-in-class AI-enabled influencer marketing technology to guarantee not only effective marketing but also connect brands with relevant, authentic influencers and publishers.”
With INCA’s trusted and scalable solutions, the platform can accommodate publishers, influencers, and their content needs to be manually identified, screened, and managed to ensure quality and brand safety, as the trend of fake followers enabled by bots makes it harder to tell if an influencer is a genuine and valuable creator.
Ghulam Jillani, business director (INCA) of GroupM Pakistan, said, “Using technology to challenge norms is the route to change the landscape. INCA addresses these challenges to provide a trusted network of verified influencer partners and campaign management processes. With this step, we expect for the ecosystem to change in order for us to bring that change in Pakistan we have INCA at GroupM.”
Meanwhile, Ateeq Rehman, CIO of GroupM Pakistan, shared, “At INCA, we build genuine relationships between brands, consumers, and creators to drive business outcomes for clients and maximise returns on their digital spend. Influencer marketing is growing at a phenomenal pace in Pakistan and we look forward to implementing INCA’s influencer marketing solutions for our valued clients in this region.”
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