Tag: Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Global consulting firm Deloitte in Southeast Asia has announced that it is expanding its Deloitte Digital practice in Malaysia and Singapore with boutique creative Pixel People and The Union joining the firm’s ranks. Said endeavour comes in response to increased digital marketing demand from clients, fuelled by the rise in digital usage among consumers.

The added personnel from these two agencies augment Deloitte Digital’s capabilities to offer a deeper and broader range of services to help organisations grow and scale their digital marketing strategies, driving sustainable growth through human-centred experiences.

Fern Yit Lim and Nev Simms, former co-founders of Pixel People, said, “Having worked with Deloitte Digital on past projects, we appreciate the common values and commitment that we share in helping our people and clients succeed. Hence, it was a natural progression for us to become part of Deloitte. We are confident that the combination of our people and our focus on using data to transform our clients’ businesses, and drive their performance marketing will deliver a winning value proposition.”

Meanwhile, Hui Jun Chua, former co-founder of The Union, commented “Deloitte Digital is undoubtedly an integrated experience consultancy that integrates creativity with technology to reimagine brands and customer experiences. I look forward to being part of a team that produces award-winning creative work and contributing to Deloitte’s growth across Southeast Asia in the marketing and commerce space – transforming digital journeys and making an impact for our clients.”

With the two agencies joining Deloitte Digital, they will bring along capabilities in growth marketing and Adobe suite of services.

Eugene Ho, regional managing director for Deloitte Southeast Asia Consulting, said, “I am excited to welcome our new colleagues to Deloitte. With them as part of the team, we will be able to further enhance Deloitte Digital’s offerings and strengthen our position as a leading Adobe consultancy in the region. Their deep expertise and credentials are synergistic with our service offerings, allowing us to drive growth and elevate the customer experience for our clients with data-driven creativity and technology-driven marketing.”

Dubai, UAE — In an effort to assist Malaysian SMEs in their post-pandemic business recovery, three organizations have collaborated, namely the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC) and the SME Bank. In addition, 11 companies from multi-sectors in the Export Acceleration Mission to Dubai, United Arab of Emirates (UAE) have participated in the endeavour to assist Malaysian SMEs.

The mission, spanning a week and is held in conjunction with the World Expo 2020 Dubai, aims to provide opportunities for the SMEs to expand their brands’ presence in the market and establish business partnerships with the UAE and its neighbouring countries; the Middle East and North Africa.

Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz, chief executive officer for MATRADE, said that the strategic collaboration between MATRADE, MEDAC and SME Bank signifies the importance of synergy within the trade ecosystem in strengthening Malaysia’s trade competitiveness as recommended by the National Trade Blueprint (NTBp).

The NTBp outlines a 5-year development strategy from 2021 to 2025 to enhance Malaysia’s trade competitiveness, specifically in the exports of merchandise. Launched in October 2021 by YAB Prime Minister, the blueprint aims to position Malaysia as a dynamic and pre-eminent trading nation through sustainable export development and promotion.

“MATRADE outlines a total of 286 export promotion and exporters development programmes this year for Malaysian companies to brace themselves in weathering the market demands as well as to expand their global footprints. Therefore, it is crucial that all parties work together to ensure that the programmes produce high-impact outcomes and, ultimately lift export onto a growth trajectory,” Mustafa said.

MATRADE has continuously sought strategic collaborations with various organizations to help implement export-related programmes to create opportunities for the business communities. The corporation encourages Malaysian companies to get in touch via their office, social media channels, or visit the MATRADE website (matrade.gov.my) to better understand the export promotions, assistance, and development programmes.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Buy now pay later (BNPL) platform Atome has appointed Daphne Lourdes, former country marketing manager at Meta, to be its newest head of marketing in Malaysia. In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Lourdes noted that through her new role, she will be focused on developing a comprehensive 360° brand and marketing plan to drive brand awareness and advocacy, as well as support merchant and user acquisition for Atome in Malaysia.

In addition, she will be leading a team covering partnerships, campaigns and social media marketers to implement the brand and marketing plans and ultimately support merchants to grow their business.

“At the same time, as a consumer brand, we also want to support tech savvy Malaysian shoppers with access and affordability to quality products and services and help them achieve their aspirational life goals, while promoting responsible shopping,” Lourdes told MARKETECH APAC.

During her previous stint at Meta, she was focused on building the company’s B2B marketing in Malaysia, as well as developing and executing digital marketing campaigns for the brand. Prior to joining Meta, she also had worked with consumer TV company Astro for three years, where she served several positions, including general manager for digital and marketing.

“I’ve learnt that Malaysia is not a homogenous society but a melting pot of diverse peoples and cultures, which means they come with different shopping and retail needs and wants. Therefore our approach with merchants as well as consumers, should be marketed as such. This is an important fact to recognise and any branding or consumer outreach campaigns should take this into consideration,” she noted when asked about what she has learned throughout these previous stints.

Speaking about her appointment, Lourdes told MARKETECH APAC, “I am thrilled to join the team and grow the Atome brand in Malaysia by building on the incredible momentum of Atome’s first year of operations in Malaysia.A lot more merchants now understand the value we bring to their businesses. We are keen to develop those relationships, broaden the coverage of industry verticals and support their retail growth across channels.”

She also added, “As people adjust to the new normal post COVID-19, I am also incredibly excited to drive greater consumer adoption of Atome across Malaysia. At the same time, I will continue to focus on growing awareness and education of Atome’s core values of ‘Access, Aspiration and Advice’.”

In her new role, she will be reporting to Trasy Lou, regional general manager at Atome.

“We warmly welcome Daphne to the Atome Malaysia family as we expand and grow the Atome brand across Malaysia. We continue to see strong demand from our retail and merchant partners as well as users, as well as the unique opportunity for BNPL to drive post COVID-19 retail recovery. Daphne’s deep background in tech, marketing and her knowledge of industry networks will allow us to further build and accelerate the growth of the Atome brand in Malaysia,” Lou said.

When asked about her thought leadership on the opportunities in BNPL, she noted two groups of people that will have greater opportunities in the continuing rise of BNPL use in the market.

According to Lourdes, they need to demonstrate the value of BNPL platforms such as Atome to merchants, as well as growing their retail network and partnerships.

“We will also need to continuously upgrade and improve retail and merchant support. We also want to be able to work with merchants to support the recovery of retail post-pandemic, and to also work with our merchant partners to prepare for the day when COVID restrictions are lifted and shoppers can freely and safely return to shops and malls,” she said.

Meanwhile, she noted that on the consumer’s front, they need to continue improving the shopping and payment experience by adding new features and services such as early repayment, capping admin fees in half, and Atome+ rewards.

“We will also partner more merchants to offer a greater range of products and services. Lastly, we will focus on consumer education and features to promote healthy and sustainable shopping,” Lourdes concluded.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Local telco provider U Mobile has tapped marketing and technology solutions provider GrowthOps for its refreshed website and customer experience delivery platform, U.COM.MY. The partnership between the two companies started development for this project eight months ago.

The new and enhanced platform is powered by Adobe Experience Cloud and hosted on Amazon Web Services, enabling the telco to have greater autonomy and agility in managing content, as well as access to deeper and more comprehensive user analytics.

Through the improvements, U.COM.MY now offers an enhanced, trilingual customer experience through personalised content delivery, which enables the telco to achieve their overarching goal to better service their customers on digital channels.

Boon Keong, head of consulting at GrowthOps, said, “Today, marketers are being tasked with how to create an engaging experience with their customers through seamless design and analytics-driven content personalisation. In this instance, we have been able to help U Mobile to take their digital transformation journey [directly] to their customers.”

Meanwhile, Jasmine Lee, chief digital officer at U Mobile, commented that they believe that the refreshed U.COM.MY will equip them with more insights that will enable them to make more data-led decisions resulting in new digital experiences that benefit their customers.

“U Mobile is always looking at new ways to realise unlimited potential, hence, we are delighted to have partnered with GrowthOps to create and launch an enhanced U.COM.MY. Through this initiative, GrowthOps have shown to have the right capabilities to take our platform to the next level,” Lee said.

Malaysia – Digital commerce enabler with SEA presence, CREA, has announced its expansion in Malaysia to strengthen its regional presence. The move follows the appointment of Katrina Neo, former sales director at dairy products manufacturer Dutch Lady, to be CREA’s new chief executive officer (CEO) in Malaysia.

Neo brings with her extensive in-market landscape knowledge. Aside from Dutch Lady, Neo held leadership roles in a range of companies such as Kraft, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Kimberly-Clark, where she was instrumental in driving commercial transformation. She was also responsible for implementing various go-to-market strategies that led to market share and revenue growth for the brands.

In her new role, Neo will help drive CREA’s growth and scalability. Her industry expertise coupled with CREA’s innovative technology will help brands under CREA grow by maximising their scale and reach with a single multi-channel solution. As CREA onboards new brands and expands its presence into Malaysia, she will be instrumental in spearheading localisation efforts for those brands.

Commenting on her appointment, Neo said, “The Malaysian market presents a great opportunity for growth, and CREA’s innovative solutions will help brands in Malaysia tackle the complex world of digital commerce and scale across different platforms. With CREA’s capabilities and technology firmly in place, I look forward to hitting the ground running with the team.”

Meanwhile, Aimone di Ripa Meana, CREA’s founder and Co-CEO, commented that they are excited to have Katrina on board to help drive the company’s next phase of growth in Malaysia, following their significant investment to build capabilities in the market. 

“We believe that with her experience as a business leader, and her extensive industry knowledge, Katrina can help brands in Malaysia navigate the complexity of the fragmented digital space and achieve e-commerce success across multiple channels. We are confident that our continued success in Southeast Asia, led by our power-based market of Thailand, can be replicated in Malaysia, under Katrina’s leadership,” he said.

Malaysia – Used car e-commerce platform Carsome in Malaysia has launched its new Chinese New Year campaign titled ‘Carsome New Year: Love Is The Greatest Prosperity’, a bold two-page print wrap that seeks to dominate Malaysia’s top five biggest English and Chinese-language daily newspapers.

The campaign, which was created with creative commerce agency VMLY&R COMMERCE Malaysia, features irreverent headlines like ‘This Chinese New Year, give your mother the boot’ and ‘Stop buying your brother new things! He doesn’t deserve it’, followed by heart-warming handwritten notes. These go on to express the love that family members have for each other and wish readers a ‘Happy Carsome New Year.’

VMLY&R COMMERCE said that the campaign elevates awareness of Carsome, illustrating that everyone is loved by their families and that a pre-loved car is a perfect present. It also moves away from seeing prosperity purely as financial wealth, redefining it as love given and received.

Moreover, the choice of medium moves away from the conventional ‘family-love’ short films usually produced for Chinese New Year, as print newspapers are still a popular and pre-loved medium in Malaysia, especially amongst the primary target audience of older readers. The declarations of familial love were crowd-sourced, then literally handwritten and illustrated by local artist, SshownC in her unique style.

Derek Tan, Carsome’s chief brand officer, commented that they are fortunate to have partners who understand Carsome’s take and voice of what is meaningful for their loved ones, the people they cherish and how they can move forward with them this Chinese New Year. 

“We are happy that the VMLY&R team rose with us to the occasion with this heart-felt campaign which sends a message that used cars need not be a compromise,” said Tan.

Meanwhile, Woei Hern Chan, VMLY&R’s executive creative director for Malaysia and SEA, shared that the brief and strategy from the clients were very clear, as a pre-loved car brings just as much value and sometimes even more than a brand new one, and that inspired them to think of individuals. 

“And as we celebrate the idea of prosperity, maybe it’s an opportunity to look at where we are, and how prosperity is all around us in the form of our loved ones. What if we were ‘pre-loved’ year after year by our families to get to where we are? This is, literally a love letter to each and every one of our family. And how Carsome can help you be part of their narrative for a change,” said Chan.

Malaysia – Global advertising company Publicis Groupe in Malaysia has been appointed by automotive manufacturer BMW in Malaysia to handle its strategic planning, creative advertising, and digital for BMW passenger cars, Motorrad and MINI business units, which will take effect in April 2022.

During the pitch, Publicis Groupe has developed a compelling strategy and holistic ideas on how to lead, promote, and educate electric vehicle adopters for the BMW and MINI brands, as the automotive industry transitions to electric mobility.

The remit will see Publicis Groupe enhancing BMW Malaysia’s consumer journey, elevating their brand experiences, and crafting a sustainability narrative, as well as building brand relevance for each brand and their audiences. 

Through the remit, Publicis Groupe Malaysia is now setting up bespoke hybrid teams to manage the brands separately with domain experts and related automotive experience.

Neil Hudspeth, Publicis Groupe’s CEO for Malaysia, commented that they could not be happier and prouder to warmly welcome BMW and Motorrad, and of course continue their relationship with MINI, one of the world’s most recognisable car brands. 

“It is incredibly rewarding to see world-class work being recognised by world-class and storied brands, and we look forward to achieving great things together over the next five years, especially as together we can help shape the automotive narrative in Malaysia,” said Hudspeth.

Publicis Groupe Malaysia is also the incumbent agency for MINI Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – In retrospect to the company’s festive campaign following the Chinese New Year, Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas has officially kicked off the new original series called ‘366’, which will tackle stories of fortitude, resilience and togetherness among Malaysians during these difficult times.

In the first episode titled ‘Day 32’, we follow the story of Zhi Yi as she is being accompanied by her mother to celebrate the Chinese New Year with her father. During the trip, Yi gets acquainted with a male passenger, with whom she feels comfortable. Their trip was then cut short when the bus they were in got involved in a road accident. The scene then jumps into Yi now at his father’s place, about to celebrate the festivities. In this new scene, Yi meets another male stranger who helps her get home from the police station. As a sign of gratitude, Yi invites the stranger, a programmer named Adam, to spend the festivities with her and her Dad.

The series, directed by seasoned and award-winning director and producer Kabir Bhatia, is conceptualised by creative agency Ensemble Worldwide under IPG Mediabrands.

For Didi Pirinyuang, executive creative director at Ensemble Worldwide, the original series was all about creating a story centred on the themes of thriving cautiously into the new year to live with new energy and resolve. She added that their intent with this campaign is to inspire people to dream a new dream, outrace themselves and thrive together, with courage.

“As we set out to fine tune the theme for the year, we gave great thought to how the pandemic has shaped us all. The pandemic gave us time to rethink life, our priorities, and what really matters. Whether it is self-revelation or with family, friends and community, we have all been forced to confront our true strengths, fears and weaknesses. 366 is the story of Malaysians discovering, embarking, embracing, sometimes throwing away the past or what doesn’t work,” Pirinyuang said.

Meanwhile, Datin Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz, senior general manager of group strategic communications at PETRONAS, noted that the original series is a story about giving second chances and the need to accept the past in order to move forward. She also added that the series showcases the true Malaysian culture of reaching out to each other when the going gets tough, and that they want Malaysians to take home the message – ‘know that you are not alone’.

“Regardless of our challenges, we have the strength of the roaring tiger within us. Through the bonds we forge, we will become stronger together as Malaysians, Aziz said.

She added, “This is the year where we Malaysians would need to summon our courage to get back on our feet and learn to live in the evolving new normal. Our intention is to inspire people to dream a new dream and overcome the past and perceived limitations in rising and thriving together.”

Didi also added that this new campaign marks a new journey with working with Petronas, stating that they have aimed of changing the mould of conventional festive storytelling through working closely with the Malaysian film industry to approach this campaign as a drama series, an approach that PETRONAS as a brand has never done before.

“The year ahead holds some unique features, all telling stories of Malaysia’s realities and second chances with the intention for them to see a glimmer of themselves. Because really, 366 is OUR story. It is an ode to all Malaysians. It is the story of Malaysia,” Didi concluded.

The first episode of ‘366’ is available for viewing on PETRONAS’ official YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Malaysia – Rich in culture with an open and diverse community, Malaysian consumers exhibit a unique set of values and behaviour. To conquer today’s Malaysian consumer in an increasingly competitive market, brands and companies must step up to learn every nook and cranny of what makes this market tick. 

The pandemic had been the most significant shift in the market in the past two years. In finding new ways of engagement and gratification, consumers had to adapt, form new behaviours, and consequently, give birth to new trends and patterns.

According to the latest e-conomy report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, there have been three million new digital consumers in Malaysia since the start of Covid. This signals that Malaysians are now recognizing a whole new need and, therefore, will expend their attention and energy on an entirely new space – digital – and more specifically, e-commerce. 

Recognizing this, affiliate marketing Commission Factory and MARKETECH APAC have teamed up to present the Malaysia Market Insight 2022, which delivers to be the extensive one-stop report that brands and industry players can refer to in order to get ahead of the game and win today’s Malaysian consumer – to do the right thing, be at the right place, and at the right time.

“The e-commerce market in Malaysia is large and one of the fastest growing digital economies in SEA. Businesses aiming for successful expansion into the Malaysian market should prepare themselves with cultural and economic insights to help learn about the market and localise themselves. Our report is a great tool for businesses to better understand how to unlock the market’s potential, from both retailer and affiliate partner point of view,” said Amanda Calkins, publisher development team lead at Commission Factory.

The Malaysia Market Insight 2022 combines and makes sense of leading local and regional statistics and insights to deliver a deep dive into Malaysian consumer behaviour and helps companies reach this diverse market in the most authentic and effective way possible.

This report is specially designed for e-commerce retailers that want a snapshot of the Malaysian market. It is also suitable for brands wanting to venture inside the Malaysian market and those currently operating in the market itself; moreover, the report looks at the Malaysia affiliate and partnership landscape.

The report is divided into two main parts: ‘Malaysian Values’ and ‘Shopping Habits’. ‘Malaysian Values’ guides not just local but also international brands to be culturally aligned with the market, while ‘Shopping Habits’ looks at the main themes of Malaysians’ consumption preferences.

Some of the top values that Malaysians hold dear are ‘Face’, the value of appropriateness; the importance of group considerations – collectivism over individualism; and also the strength of ‘social hierarchy’ where age, education, as well as the assets one possesses determine how one treats another.

On ‘Shopping habits’, the report tackles how Malaysians are weighing their options online vs offline and how cross-border e-commerce is growing massively in importance to the market. The report also discusses seasonality as a constant vital feature of Malaysian shoppers’ journey, with the country inherently having a multitude of holidays in a year. 

MARKETECH APAC’s Editor Shaina Teope comments, “With the fast changes this pandemic, consumers’ needs and demands have become more nuanced, begging for a more granular approach from brands. This is where the importance of targeted and overarching reports like the Malaysian Market Insight comes into play. The report takes a 360-degree view of the Malaysian consumer, looking at the values and culture shaping him, and how this affects the way he lives out his consumption patterns.”

Download the report here. 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — The Malaysian arm of insurance company AIA has launched a festive Chinese New Year (CNY) short film that centres on adventure and family and echoes AIA’s slogan of ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Lives’. The campaign was done in collaboration with Reprise Digital, a full-service integrated communications agency, and IPG Mediabrands network.

The film titled ‘Journey to the WoW’ sees a father narrating a bedtime story to his son on the eve of CNY. The tale centres around 3 travellers, each character representing a specific value that is integral to the World of Wealth – Ah Fook represents Plan Well; Ah Lok represents Protect Well, and Ah Sau signifies Live Well. The activity becomes a way for the father and son to bond and share valuable life lessons.

Amir Faiz, group creative director of Reprise, said that the film was inspired through the imagination of what living a ‘Healthier, Longer and Better Life’ means. He added that health in its simplest form is an abundance of anything we find valuable.

“Yes, this could mean money, but we wanted to show that more than anything else, wealth is a way of life. The modern way of life is sometimes misinterpreted as being hedonistic. By showing these ideas of wealth through classic folklore, it links to values most people hold dear to them that allow them to live their best life. We hope these insights from the World of Wealth bring about a ‘wow’ CNY for all Malaysians in the lunar new year ahead,” Faiz said.

World of Wealth, abbreviated WoW, is AIA Malaysia’s latest take on its ongoing communications to inspire and encourage people to live not just healthier and longer but to have a better life as well. The campaign also forms part of the insurer’s new Total Wealth Solution proposition which supports people to plan well, live well and protect well.

Heng Zee Wang, chief marketing officer of AIA Malaysia, commented, “One important message we wanted to bring forth to Malaysians this CNY is that being healthy physically, mentally and financially are all key to attaining true wealth. As the moral of the story goes, when you plan, live and protect well, you will be able to get the most out of life for yourself and your loved ones. The Reprise team have again been able to conceptualise these values of living a ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Life’, in an engaging and culturally relevant way, through the World of Wealth. Wealth at the end of the day is a journey, and we want you to live your WoW life with AIA by your side.”