Tag: Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Travel platform airasia MOVE teams up with pan-regional OTT video streaming service Viu to enhance its brand visibility and engagement through the latest Viu Original series, ‘From Saga with Love’. 

With the title being ranked first in Viu Malaysia, airasia MOVE and AirAsia X will be featured prominently in the new rom-com series, which will be made available to over 65.5 million local and international monthly active users in 16 different markets.

‘From Saga With Love’ follows Karma, a budding social media influencer who bluffs her way into becoming an interpreter for A-list actress Bianca Rozario during her trip to Saga, Japan. Juggling her deception and a secret task from Bianca’s mother, Karma, along with videographer Bob and mysterious Sham, navigates a humorous whirlwind of problems, solutions, and romantic complications.

The partnership is part of airasia MOVE’s latest efforts to enhance its brand visibility and engagement as a travel superapp. Other initiatives include its community platform airasia Chat, digital radio station RedRadio, gaming hub RedGames, and Vtuber platform Project Kavvaii.

This initiative also follows the rebranding of airasia Digital to MOVE Digital, which the featured superapp also adopts, being seen and depicted as airasia MOVE within its appearances in the show.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – In an effort to create a revolutionary platform for outdoor advertising, pioneering car cleaning products company Armor All has recently partnered with global communications network Havas Malaysia.

This combined effort is set to leverage the use of abandoned cars as a medium to showcase the effectiveness of Armor All’s cleaning products. With Malaysia’s cars being neglected on several roadsides in the country, this particular campaign allows the restoration and renovation of the appearance of the abandoned vehicles.

Results of the project then observed that revival of the products was effective, with each of the vehicles displaying a vibrant orange sticker that says, ‘Ride Revived by Armour All.’ These stickers were positioned deliberately in the window showing the view of the car’s original condition. This created a compelling visual and drew attention to the transformation.

Following this campaign, Aaron Abner Ang, head of marketing for Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia at Energizer Holdings Inc., said, “Armor All has always been committed to delivering innovative and effective cleaning solutions to car owners. While our products enjoy broad visibility through our retail partners, we sought a medium that would unequivocally prove the efficacy of our products. The use of tangible evidence proved to be an effective way to achieve this goal. Additionally, these revived cars offer us a unique opportunity to raise awareness and bolster our brand’s credibility.”

“We are grateful for Havas’s dedication to the campaign. The creativity and proactive approach from the Havas team have made this collaboration a truly inspiring journey,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Donevan Chew, chief creative officer at Havas Malaysia shared, “Armor All equips car owners with all the tools needed to achieve a professionally cleaned look. We believe that there’s no better way to convince car owners of the efficacy of their products than by showcasing the results right before their eyes. The use of old, abandoned cars helps to amplify and dramatise the efficacy of Armor All’s products.”

Johor Bahru, Malaysia – Online delivery platform foodpanda has launched its newest Smart Rider bags solution that features cutting-edge digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising technology to expand audience reach and visibility in Malaysia.

The Smart Rider bags transcend the limitations of traditional billboards and redefine how advertisers engage with their audiences, offering scalable and programmatic DOOH advertising solutions for foodpanda’s partners.

This first-of-its-kind product aims to enhance panda ads’, foodpanda’s integrated advertising solution, offering a full-funnel and omnichannel experience to its brands and partners. 

With the Smart Rider bags, the online delivery platform ensures that their partners reach customers more effectively and bridge the offline-online gap via multiple touchpoints.

foodpanda has also integrated the innovative measurement tool, LUMOS Intelligence, into the new bags to track the impact of DOOH advertisements in real-time. The integration of LUMOS’ proprietary audience intelligence engine will help advertisers track accurate and measurable campaign insights.

Advertisers planning to partner with foodpanda in this new technology will have access to a live dashboard displaying the routes taken by delivery partners at each point in time and a heat map showing the demographics of the ad viewers. With LUMOS’ programmatic advertising capabilities and agile optimisation strategies, advertisers will be able to identify customer profiles and retarget ads on their smartphones through online channels within the delivery partners’ vicinity.

The new Smart Rider bags will roll out this November on the backs of the foodpanda delivery partners in Johor Bahru. foodpanda is also planning to add capabilities for precise geo-targeting to the Smart bags by the first quarter of 2024. 

This new advertising solution from foodpanda’s panda ads is expected to open a new realm of cost-effective, data-driven advertising for advertisers. 

Santiago de la Torre, head of advertising and partnerships at foodpanda Malaysia, said, “With the implementation of this technology, we are able to solve some of the main pain points that advertisers have when investing in DOOH, which mainly are limited reach and visibility, lack of real-time accurate performance data, and the inability to close the funnel and bridge the efforts between OOH and online digital campaigns.”

Commenting on the launch, Eric Fan, founder and CEO of LUMOS, also shared, “The growing demand for convenience has led to a surge in online food orders, subsequently prompting p-hailing riders to go around the city for timely deliveries. Recognising this trend, we seized the opportunity to collaborate with foodpanda to introduce programmatic IoT-enabled LED screens on the bags of their delivery partners while providing scalable AdTech solutions to an area where out-of-home advertising remains fragmented to increase advertisers’ exposure rates.”

“Our capability to offer real-time targeting and audience measurement is poised to be a game-changer, not only for foodpanda but also for advertisers seeking to reach increasingly diverse and segmented audiences,” Fan added.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – With the holiday season around the corner, TikTok Shop gives Malaysian SMEs a boost during this 11.11 sales period by providing greater support for local small businesses with a brand spotlight segment. 

Focusing on Malaysian local brands, Tiktok Shop’s spotlight segment promoted several brands including dessini, casevalker, farm fresh and barang dapur basah as well as its very own Pertarungan Livestream Mega 11.11 (Mega Livestream Showdown 11.11).

This event, which was streamed on TikTok Shop, featured 10 well-loved local creators @tulippetals, @khairulaming, @dearcarynn, @bossa_sce_oe, @bossjerry88, @crackbrader, @aidunoo, @peemondayz, @almiyaz.my, and @akak_e, which took to their livestream sessions and highlighted their 11.11 product promotions as part of one of the biggest e-commerce events of the year.

Shoppers also acquired no minimum spend vouchers available through these livestreams between 8pm to 12 midnight on 11.11 itself to enjoy further savings on their purchases.

Alongside the livestream sessions, as part of the event, TikTok shop also provided entertainment with live performances by talented artists such as @daliafarhana, @gastonpong, @shilaamzahofficial, @itzputridahliaa, and @danialkifli__ .

These efforts by TikTok Shop to assist SMEs follow through from their efforts in 2022, partnering with 50 local ministries, GLCs, Educational institutions, and state governments to provide and build support for its sellers. 

This also includes a joint investment with MDEC worth RM31 million for the DE Dagang initiative, which benefitted 22,000 sellers in the form of product discounts, shipping vouchers, and transaction fee subsidies.

This was further amplified through the TikTok Shop Summit, held in 2023 to celebrate the platform’s 1-year anniversary in the Malaysian market, with TikTok Shop celebrating, educating, and awarding sellers for their contribution to the nation’s economy.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – As retailers now prioritise a safe shopping experience for customers, a recent survey revealed that 90% amongst 500 Malaysian online sellers indicated Shopee as a platform of choice.

According to the survey, Malaysian sellers also conceded how the platform was instrumental in protecting their businesses from any forms of online scams or fraud last year.

These insights have resulted in beneficial outcomes, one of which includes how sellers managed exceptional ratings while safeguarding their brand reputation, as well as the loss of followers and customer complaints. Another advantage is that businesses were able to avert any liabilities from scams coming from order cancellations and processing fees. 

Businesses have also maintained their long-term operations due to fewer business disruptions and client loyalty.

Committed to providing a risk-free shopping experience, Kenneth Soh, head of marketing at Shopee, said, “These findings demonstrate the high level of trust that Malaysian sellers have in Shopee’s ability to provide a safe and secure platform for their businesses.”

Furthermore, the survey yielded insights from Malaysian sellers’ preferences for securing their customers’ online safety. Among these factors, 47% stated that they have already established strong operational safety standards by complying with Shopee’s safe policies and guidelines.

35% of them were verified as Shopee Mall, Preferred+, Preferred seller, with a hundred percent authenticity policy, strict adherence to the 15-day return/refund policy, and no less than 95% of products listed as ready stock.

On the other hand, at least 17% of sellers have guaranteed their customers the safe payment options and return or refund policies offered by Shopee. 

“Our platform offers a variety of innovative features and protections that help to keep customers safe, such as Shopee Guarantee, secure payment options, and Preferred+ and Shopee Mall verification programs. Shopee also works closely with law enforcement agencies to combat fraud and protect its users,” Soh added.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The 8th edition of the e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company has noted that domestic demand will drive economic growth in Malaysia with household spending, employment and wages on the rise. It also noted that online travel is growing 49% YoY – fastest of all the digital economy sectors – reaching $4b in gross merchandise value (GMV).

According to the report, Malaysia has the fastest-growing transport and food delivery sector in SEA. The sector grew 16%, boosted by Malaysian commuters’ return to offline activities and the continued preference for food delivery. 

It also added that even though foot traffic in malls has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and the food and beverage industry is experiencing an uptick, Malaysian consumers have held onto the digital habits that make their lives easier, such as food delivery and e-commerce. 

Meanwhile, e-commerce growth is flattening after growing 4% between 2021 and 2022 from pandemic-driven growth, but it remains Malaysia’s biggest digital economy sector at $13b, accounting for 57% of the total GMV. E-commerce is seeing high adoption in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. 

However, there is a persistent gap between demand and supply in other areas of Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, which presents an opportunity for e-commerce players to expand in those areas.

In terms of digital financial services (DFS) adoption, the irreversible offline-to-online behavior shift continues to drive growth in DFS adoption, and cash is no longer king with QR codes and other forms of digital payments becoming ubiquitous. Digital payments are the biggest value driver within the DFS categories in Malaysia – $165b GTV in 2023 – boosted by the government’s support for digital payments adoption and distributing benefits to lower-income communities through e-wallets. This has placed Malaysia as the 2nd biggest digital payment market in SEA in 2023.

It also noted that digital wealth grew 61% YoY – fastest of all the DFS categories – and is expected to be the second largest DFS sector in Malaysia by 2030. The increasing interest towards digital wealth presents a lucrative opportunity for established financial services institutions to retain high-net-worth customers. 

As the competition between DFS players intensifies, pure-play fintechs have extended their lending services to the underbanked segment, while established financial services institutions have been quick to shift their large existing customer bases to digitalised services. 

Lastly, Malaysia has seen good progress on digital inclusion, making inroads into rural areas to bridge connectivity gaps. The percentage of households with internet access saw an increase from 76% to 97% for urban and 49% to 89% for rural, within the time frame of 2015 – 2022. However, consumers outside of metro areas are at risk of facing a widening digital economic divide when it comes to digital participation – active involvement in the digital economy through consumption of products or services across sectors. 

Samuele Saini, country director at Google Malaysia, said, “Malaysia’s GMV is projected to reach between $45b and $70b by 2030 and we’ve seen how the resurgence of tourism along with Malaysian consumers’ sticky digital behaviours in e-commerce and food delivery can contribute to this economic growth. With Malaysia making good progress in bridging connectivity gaps, addressing the digital participation beyond metro areas can prove to be a key in unlocking the next wave of growth.”

Meanwhile, Willy Chang, partner at Bain & Company, commented, “t is remarkable that both Southeast Asia’s digital economy GMV and revenue continued their double-digit growth momentum, with revenue breaking the $100B mark in 2023. This shows the resilience of the Southeast Asian digital economy and that the key players are making progress towards more healthy unit economics and sustainable business models. Despite external headwinds and some return to in-person dining and shopping, we are optimistic that the overall digital economy will continue to grow in the longer run.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Insurance company FWD Insurance has recently unveiled its new brand campaign, ‘Celebrate Easy, Celebrate Living.’ Inspired by the company’s vision of changing the way people feel about insurance, the campaign highlights that insurance can be simple and can encourage and help empower Malaysians to celebrate living with it.

With its latest brand campaign, FWD Insurance aims to put a new spin on a traditional industry by offering innovative propositions and products that are easy-to-understand and supported by digital technology.

The campaign is now live in Malaysia across multiple media including digital billboards, social media and radio until 31 December 2023.

In tune with this campaign, FWD Insurance launched two new regular premium investment-linked products, namely FWD WealthLink and FWD Wealthlink Pro. FWD WealthLink comes with a 10% increase in coverage every five years, enhancing protection for customers and their loved ones by up to 50% of their original coverage.

On the other hand, FWD Wealthlink Pro offers a wealth bonus to customers where they will receive 8% of their coverage at the end of their 20th policy year and 4% of their coverage every 10 years subsequently, credited into their Investment Account. Customers will also receive an additional 400% coverage that will be payable in the event of accidental death due to natural disaster.

Additionally, a new rider FWD Medi First can be attached to FWD WealthLink to provide comprehensive medical coverage for hospitalisation, surgical and medical expenses, as well as an inflation shield against rising hospital room and board costs with a RM10 increase in hospital room & board and 10% increase in annual limit for every 3 years until the end of the coverage term.

Aman Chowla, chief executive officer of FWD Insurance, said, “We are committed to making the insurance journey simpler, faster, and smoother for our customers. With our Celebrate Easy, Celebrate Living brand campaign, we want to communicate that insurance can be easy and provide our customers with the protection they need to live their lives the way they want and celebrate living.” 

“Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. Moving forward, we will continue to uphold our commitment to provide products that meet our customer’s needs at every stage of their lives,” he added. 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Multinational e-commerce platform Shopee has launched its unique three-day 3D billboard runway fashion show as part of its big sale shopping festival in Malaysia. 

The 3D billboard, placed in front of KLCC Twin Towers on Jalan Ampang, was meant to tease the audiences for Shopee’s event partnership with Malaysian girl group ‘Dolla’. 

With the big words, ‘Siapa Mereka?’ that translates to ‘Who are they?’, the billboard invites the audiences and passersby to guess the identities of four doll-like women striking poses like still statues. The women are inside four gigantic orange boxes in the shape of number one, spelling out 11.11, with their identities hidden in the shadows.

The spot for the billboard was also intended for the audience profile who frequents the area to shop for fashion and beauty, key segments that Shopee is targeting with their promotion via Dolla as their chosen brand ambassadors and Shopee live streams.

After the three-day teaser, the campaign reaches its highlight with the grand reveal as the girl group steps out of the boxes and onto a fashion runway, dressed in stylish orange-coordinated outfits. While the group performs, fashion accessories and live discount vouchers also fly by and stack up on the runway to promote the big sale.

As part of the campaign, a huge QR code was also emblazoned on the side, so audiences and passersby will be directed to Shopee Live on their mobile apps to claim the vouchers when they scan it.

Speaking on the campaign, Kenneth Soh, head of marketing at Shopee Malaysia, said, “My team’s brief was to do something deliberately out-of-the-box that has never been seen before by either Dolla’s fans or Shopee’s audience. With every campaign, we face a tremendous challenge to create something memorable, unique, and refreshing at the same time, over and over again. The stunning piece of work that was directed by our very own video team is a result of great team effort and the coordination of almost a hundred people pulled across various departments in under two months, including our Creative, Production, Post, and Video Teams.”

He continued, “We are thrilled with the level of engagement and conversions we’re seeing, even though 11.11 has just launched, in Shopee Live’s fashion and beauty categories. This campaign is a testament to the power of seeing Dolla larger-than-life in 3D and to the effectiveness of Shopee Live as a platform for reaching and engaging with younger Malaysians.”

“Thanks to Dolla’s talkability, we’re already seeing a significant increase in traffic to Shopee Live and meaningful, brand-building connections across our platform. We are so honoured that Dolla is bringing our 11.11 song and dance to life with a sense of heart-warming empowerment. The fans would never have seen Dolla this way before, and we hope the experiences created in this campaign will leave a lasting impression,” he added.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – DRB-HICOM, through its subsidiary Edaran Otomobil Nasional Berhad (EON), has made a strategic investment in Genie Malaysia, a subsidiary of Singapore-based online used car platform Carro.

The partnership combines DRB-HICOM’s decades of automotive experience with Carro’s proprietary tech-enabled platform to redefine auto financing in Malaysia. Moreover, said investment is aligned with DRB-HICOM’s move to enhance its automotive distribution eco-system.

In a joint statement, both companies said that this collaboration unlocks valuable cross-selling opportunities for DRB-HICOM within Carro’s used car platform myTukar’s dealer network, comprising over 2,600 dealers nationwide.

Akkbar Danial, chief executive officer at EON and head of automotive distribution at DRB-Hicom, said, “Following our investment in Carro, parent company of used car platform myTukar in 2021, we are excited to deepen this strategic partnership, and are confident that the synergy between our two parties will unlock unprecedented opportunities that will benefit our customers and drive mutual success.”

He added, “As we venture into game-changing technology, our accumulated experience brings valuable insights and expertise to the table. We believe this experience will greatly benefit both parties as we navigate and innovate in this new technological landscape.”

Meanwhile, Simon Chan, chief executive officer at Genie Malaysia, commented, “Genie Malaysia started because there is a ‘blue ocean’ market of underserved and unbanked car buyers who are unable to secure traditional bank financing. We have been able to combine data as well as the unique strengths of Carro and myTukar to democratise used car financing. Now everyone can own a car.”

Lastly, Aaron Tan, co-founder and Group CEO of Carro, stated, “Fintech is an integral part of our digital used car ecosystem. DRB-HICOM’s strategic investment is a huge validation of Genie Malaysia’s differentiating business model. We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with DRB-HICOM, which has invested in Carro since 2021.”

Malaysia – Nadia Omer has been named as the new chief executive officer of Airasia MOVE, effective October 26, 2023. She succeeds Mohamad Hafidz Mohd Fadzil, who has been acting CEO of airasia MOVE since April of the same year. 

Omer has a track record in category conversion, consumer habit change, and ecosystem value creation, with her early career at P&G as well as roles at Nestle and PepsiCo. Prior to joining airasia MOVE, she was the chief business officer for Cars24 Southeast Asia. Her experience qualifies her to guide airasia MOVE toward its goal of becoming the region’s preferred travel platform that provides the best value. 

Speaking about the appointment, Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and executive chairman of MOVE Digital, said, “We are excited for the future of airasia MOVE, as we welcome Nadia into what we will say is a pivotal moment for the organisation. I have been actively interacting with Nadia since the initial announcement of her appointment back in September and have no doubt that she will hit the ground running the moment she officially steps in.” 

He added, “As announced last month, we are entering into a new era of travel innovation, and I believe that Nadia’s multifaceted background has uniquely positioned her to lead airasia MOVE forward as Asean’s preferred one-stop travel platform. She will also be working closely with BigPay, led by Zubin Rada Krishnan to offer seamless access to travel and financial services on one single platform, with integrated financial features.” 

“I would also like to thank Mohamad Hafidz for his contributions as the acting CEO of airasia MOVE for the past six months, as he moves on to another role within the Capital A Group,” Fernandes remarked. 

Meanwhile, speaking about her appointment, Omer said, “It’s a privilege to take the helm of airasia MOVE, and I look forward to working with Allstars across the region to create the next growth curve in our journey. I’d like to thank Tony Fernandes for putting his trust in me and count on his continued mentorship to MOVE the business forward. 

She added, “My first priority and commitment is our airasia MOVE customers, always offering best-in-class value and industry-leading products to make travel that much easier, safer and fun. I count on our teams to make every trip a delightful one so that we can win our customers’ hearts to make airasia MOVE the travel app of choice in Asean.”