We can’t believe we are now down to the last roundup of top stories for 2021! It has been a great year recognizing the most well-loved brands and stories in marketing and tech for the year.

Our monthly deep dive and conversation with the top brands resulted in the much-awaited regular MARKETECH APAC Reports, and this month of December is no less an exciting list of one-of-a-kind campaigns, inspiring new leadership appointments, and fresh product launches. 

This month, we saw a food delivery platform moving into an entirely new vertical of consumer electronics. This period, a philippine arm of a global communications agency also announced a new business director, while, a content marketing agency with a presence in APAC unveiled an expansive roster of new hires in the region within its client servicing, creative production, and editorial teams. 

For the month, a very interesting campaign from a BNPL service in Singapore has also entered the list for bringing back audiences to the golden age of advertising in the 80s. Meanwhile, our MARKETECH Spotlight episode on a digital agency in Malaysia also came out on top for walking us through behind the scenes of incorporating AR and VR in marketing campaigns. 

Learn more about the top stories that will be closing off our 2021 with a bang:

Top 5: MY digital agency Unicom Interactive Digital on MARKETECH Spotlight

MARKETECH Spotlight_AR_UID

For our Top 5 story, we have the MARKETECH Spotlight episode of Unicom Interactive Digital, a fast-leading digital agency in Malaysia. 

In an interview with its COO Jareth Eng, we learn more about how brands are incorporating the tech of AR and VR in their marketing campaigns, and the best ways to deliver such that would effectively engage audiences at the same time push brands be top-of-mind. 

Having helped numerous brands develop immersive campaigns since the start of the pandemic, Eng shared the agency observed that content remains to be the top determinant of a success of a campaign. 

He says content must above all be personalized and authentic. 

“More and more, let’s be honest, we start to get bored of the same stuff, and we start to look for authenticity in content, because there are so much paid advertisements today [and] so much paid endorsements, and we reach a point where we do not know what is being said is real or not,” said Eng in the interview. 

Eng also shared his thoughts on the role of digital moving forward in the pandemic, “The perks of adding digital elements to campaigns have proven themselves during the past year. Even as we head back to a norm that we were used to, digital elements will still play a part.”

Top 4: Mel Panabi joins Red Havas PH as new business director

Havas Ortega Mel Panabi

Havas Group’s media and communications agency in the Philippines, Havas Ortega, has appointed Mel Panabi, former vice president of marketing communications at energy tech business WeGen Distributed Energy Philippines, as the new business director of its global public relations, social and experiential agency micro-network.

Through his new role, Panabi will be developing new products and services that will further strengthen Red Havas’ position in the country’s public relations and brands landscape.

MARKETECH APAC spoke with Panabi to know more about the area he is looking to prioritize in the role.

“I will be prioritizing promoting the ‘meaningful brands’ concepts of the agency. The global Red Havas Media Group actually made a study called ‘Meaningful Brands’, and it showed that people are now looking at the collective benefits provided by a brand, and its role in society,” said Panabi in the interview.

He adds that he is eager to start Red Havas’ sustainability and thoughtful corporate responsibility conversation. 

“One other thing is that the United Nations’ sustainable development goal is something that the brands need a lot, which is a space we want to occupy. We want to be associated with that kind of ‘meaningful brands’ and sustainability conversation,” he said.

Top 3: BNPL service Pace launches 80’s themed campaign

Pace campaign I Got This

Buy Now Pay Later service Pace in Singapore enters our top stories for bringing a very refreshing and unique creative campaign that brought people back to the vibrant pop culture of the 80’s. 

Armed with a video and an OOH ad, audiences saw VHS effect shorts complete with authentic 80s fashion, while decals on platform doors at train stations were reminiscent of the classic shopping advertisements from the period.

Speaking with MARKETECH APAC, Daren Goh, Pace’s head of growth, said that while BNPL is an inspiring tool for people to be financially responsible, payments could be something boring and pedestrian, hence, the push for the one-of-a-kind creative. 

“We thought 80’s was great because it’s something that any generation can relate to whether you’re [a baby boomer], even to Gen Z folks who are interested [in] how it is like [in the] 90s and 80s,” said Goh. 

He also shared that stimulating the feeling of Nostalgia was the goal.

“[80’s] seem like simple times and just really great times. So I guess we could tap into so many different feelings and people also see that no matter what age they are from,” said Goh.

Top 2: foodpanda to now offer delivery for consumer electronics via tie-up with Xiaomi

foodpanda x xiaomi

The leading food delivery platform in Asia, foodpanda, will now move to offer a wide range of consumer electronics and appliances for on-demand deliveries in Singapore and Thailand.

Partnering with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, foodpanda will be offering Xiaomi’s products ranging from smart devices, audio, and mobile accessories, to household appliances, and will be delivered to homes within 30 minutes.

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Christian Urban, foodpanda’s head of marketplace of new verticals for APAC, shared, “Xiaomi is one of the great new vendors coming on board recently, and of course, a very popular brand and we are super happy about that. They are on board with hundreds of their products from their flagship stores across Singapore and Thailand.”

Regarding the platform’s new partnerships and offerings in 2022, Urban said that they want to enable more and more vendors to join their marketplace, helping them to digitize and get their goods delivered within 30 minutes.

“Our goal is to serve a large portion of essential and non-essential goods, and there is actually a strong demand for it. Hence, strategically, the goal is to go deeper and offer more of those goods to our customers,” he added.

Top 1: Content marketing agency Green Park Content bolsters APAC presence with new hire lineup

Green-Park-Content-APAC-New-Hires

For this month’s #1 story, we take a look at the expansive company hire move by content marketing agency Green Park Content for the Asia-Pacific region. 

The hires, which were made in November, span across three major work categories: the client servicing team, creative production team, and the editorial team. In addition to these new hires, GPC also announced the promotions of some of its senior leaders, including Que Ramli to the role of global social media lead, Martin Niens as head of operations, and Fe Husaint who was recently promoted to the role of creative and global brand head.

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Marcelo Bittencourt, managing director for APAC at GPC, shared that ever since GPC started out in APAC four and a half years ago with only two hires, they have tested the waters of the business in the region and have since grown to provide various services such as search engine optimization and editorial content.

“The goal for GPC in APAC is [trying] to answer to our global FMCG clients on how we can be more localized, how can we have content that is meaningful for the local countries, because we are seeing a shift from budgets being centralized, and we are seeing how important it is, and how empowered are the local marketers are in the countries. So [we] want to be there with them because we are a part of a global [and] regional work lines and as close to their local operations we can be,” Bittencourt stated.

On his insights on content development, he said, “Content is about connection, content is about building a bond with the audience. You cannot do this if you are not ‘there’, if you’re not using slang, if you’re not understanding what is the environment that you have. This is the biggest goal for us: to be able to grow our local expertise in the countries in APAC, to be able to be that partner to our global clients., and be able to answer their strategies to deliver their brand purpose with quality and with trust.”

Rankings‌ ‌are‌ ‌based‌ ‌on‌ ‌Google‌ ‌Analytics‌ ‌from‌ ‌the‌ ‌period‌ ‌of‌ ‌16th‌ ‌November to 15th‌ ‌December.

Watch our exclusive interviews with the brands themselves on the latest episode of MARKETECH APAC Reports, now live on our YouTube channel.

This is in collaboration with Malaysia-based media company The Full Frontal.

Immersive technology used to be a far-fetch concept, provided only by lofty-funded companies and experienced and appreciated only by banked consumers capable of grabbing cutting-edge tech. Today, innovation in tech has seen more than just a sophistication in features but has evolved to provide the most important development of all – AR and VR can now be experienced by everyone. 

When mobile game Pokémon GO was released in 2016, AR had started to become a household name. Now, with the unprecedented digital lifestyle brought on by the pandemic, AR and VR had similarly risen to new heights – becoming brands’ top consumer engagement strategy, infiltrating people’s everyday life.

For the latest episode of MARKETECH Spotlight, we sat down with Malaysia’s fast-growing digital experience agency Unicom Interactive Digital (UID) to deep dive into how these digital experiences are developed. Through a conversation with its Chief Operating Officer Jareth Eng, we were let on the behind-the-scenes of AR development, and most importantly, the best practices and future trends in immersive technology straight from the experience builder.

Watch the full MARKETECH Spotlight episode on Unicom Interactive Digital feat. Chief Operating Officer Jareth Eng

Pivoting from on-ground activations to digital experiences

Pre-pandemic, UID started out as a provider of on-ground activations, but just like every business during the pandemic, the digital agency had to pivot to meet new demands with the firm finding itself at the cusp of a challenge and an opportunity.

“UID is in [the] position [of] bridging traditional marketing norms with digital touch,” said Eng in the MARKETECH Spotlight interview.

With its core specialization in physical to hybrid marketing activations, it didn’t come easy for the agency to shift to crafting purely web and digital experiences.

One of the on-ground activations UID did pre-pandemic for Eu Yan Sang, a Traditional Chinese Medicine brand in Malaysia.

“Suddenly, there was an influx of inquiries [asking] could you do this web-based campaign for us, could you build this digital site for us, and then we thought, why not?” shared Eng. 

Before the demand for digital risen, UID had worked with brands like Clarins, Victoria’s Secret, and TeaLive, and a staple of the on-ground activations UID mounted was installed with touch-screen and sensor devices that amplified consumer engagement. 

Transforming the firm’s value proposition to delivering web-based experiences was not something that UID was a stranger to. As Eng puts it, UID had the skillset and the ‘tools’ to build ‘software’ and that although partially an uncharted territory for them, there had been no reason to “stop us from trying.”

“Since then, we went full-force ahead, trying out [and] testing out what works [and] what doesn’t work, and we just kept finding our process, and that’s how we got to where we are today,” said Eng.

The characteristics of a good digital experience

With consumers locked in the four corners of their abodes at the height of the pandemic, the ways to explore products and services have been drastically reduced. With the presence of e-commerce, consumers are still able to fulfill their transactions, but only a similar live brand engagement can answer to consumers’ indulgence – and this is what has been the greatest role of AR and VR at this period.

After over a year, UID is finding firm its ground and has since launched a virtual concept store for skincare brand Sulwhasoo and AR applications for FMCG Nestle and Ascenda, telco Maxis, and skincare Aiken, among many others.

First off, Eng says that the common denominator among successful campaigns is content, emphasizing on the importance of ‘personalizing’ content. Eng’s advice? Be real, be sincere.

One of the things enjoyed today is the increased accessibility to almost any type of digital content and comes with that is the heightened demand to rummage through and find the one that’s most engaging and trustworthy, therefore, making personalization and authenticity top values, according to Eng.

“More and more, let’s be honest, we start to get bored of the same stuff, and we start to look for authenticity in content, because there are so much paid advertisements today [and] so much paid endorsements, and we reach a point where we do not know what is being said is real or not.”

Technically, Eng cites the element of building a good digital infrastructure, more specifically on the issue of loading speeds, as a vital aspect of a good digital experience. On-demand is now the name of the game and said area, when overlooked, can be a dealbreaker for brands. 

A basic example would be, Eng continues, when a brand is running an AR campaign based on QR codes and upon scanning, a consumer is made to wait, that dead air becomes a potential pitfall where they ought to abandon the experience. 

“It’s a matter of milliseconds that you will lose a potential customer, this is why infrastructure is very important,” said Eng.

Now, Eng says that besides knowing the components of a highly-engaging digital experience, brands must simply decide to be a proactive player in the digital space. With digital the present and future of marketing, this is the way brands are able to stay ‘relevant’.

“The drive towards digital transformation may have been fueled by the pandemic but even as the world recovers and we are no longer restricted by social distancing constraints or pandemic constraints, the perks of adding digital elements to campaigns have proven themselves during the past year. Even as we head back to a norm that we were used to, digital elements will still play a part,” said Eng. 

Lastly, as a digital partner themself, Eng stresses the importance for brands to find a ‘good match’. He says it all boils down to the chemistry between the brand and agency.

“Finding a good digital partner is very important. We could be a good fit, we could not be a good fit,” Eng commented. 

He adds, “A digital partner that understands what your brand is trying to achieve is gonna be key.” 

With UID’s case, Eng believes the firm’s strongest suit is their unique perspective of having been able to execute both on-ground and digital campaigns, and therefore having a good combination of the skills and knowledge of both. 

“As a company that was borne out of delivering on-ground campaigns to the digitalization of campaigns…I’m not saying that we are the best but [we] have learned the lessons,” said Eng.

The process of building a digital experience

According to Forbes’ tech council, remote try-on capabilities will be one of the biggest tech trends that will impact business and consumer marketplaces moving forward, and therefore, VR and AR will carve an even more pivotal role in making this stride possible.

In order to bring this to fruition, players in the digital ecosystem must work hand in hand. A brand with a platform to engage and influence the consumer must forge strategic partnerships with VR and AR experience builders that share the same values and vision. 

A combination of simplification, innovation, and strategic data, Eng says, is what will hit the ground running for both agency and brand, and what would, eventually, set the record for one-of-a-kind and out-of-the-box marketing campaigns.

First, the process from conceptualization to execution must be simplified. Eng shared that in UID’s case, the process is made seamless by simply removing any technical jargon from the communication. 

“As former marketers ourselves, we understand the pain that marketers face especially when dealing with tech. We don’t bombard you with all the technical jargon,” said Eng.

With AR and VR a fixture of the burgeoning new-age tech, innovation will always be at the heart of building these ultra-immersive brand engagements, and Eng couldn’t agree more. 

He says that with UID, innovation is built from dealing with the roots, that is, learning a brand’s story – how they operate pre-pandemic so that the agency is able to bring out a digital experience that is both never-before-seen but also a continuity of a brand’s identity. 

“As brands are restricted by physicality in recent times, such restrictions don’t apply in the digital space,” said Eng. 

He adds, “Tell us what you used to do before the pandemic, what your objectives were, which touchpoints were important to you, and what your measure of success [was] for on-ground campaigns…for your audiences, it is like you [have] always been there.” 

Lastly, strategic data or the right metrics is what will keep the campaign team aligned – the brand and the agency to be on the same page. With the wave of creative innovation today, marketers on the client and agency side must not lose sight of best-serving metrics that will assure precedents to enable the repetition of success, and foolproof action plans from rewriting mistakes.

On UID’s side, Eng says that its strength comes from the team’s marketing background; that as former marketers, they know which metrics will best serve as compass for directing efforts into the most befitting strategies and channels.

“We filter off what is coined ‘white noise’ and keep the data that matters,” said Eng. 

He adds, “Again, as former marketers ourselves, we know the type of metric that you need for improving customer retention, we know the type of metric in driving your sales.”

The future of AR

AR has started to penetrate the general consumer’s lifestyle and campaigns have been evolved to commercialized and friendly formats to make AR inclusive – not just for those that have hi-tech devices to experience and not only for the tech-savvy to appreciate. So if AR is the present, what more can we expect for the development of this area in immersive tech?

Eng says that the amount of research & development had been immense in the past year, and immersive tech definitely hasn’t seen the best it’s yet to offer.

Tech and social media behemoths Apple and Facebook are determined to lead the way in immersive tech by announcing futuristic new features and products with premature news surrounding Apple’s launch of a headset and glasses with AR and VR capabilities and of course Facebook’s investment in the metaverse. 

Not getting too ahead of ourselves, Eng said that a much proximate innovative feature that’s as exciting to both brands and consumers is that AR is no longer restricted by app-based experiences. 

“The beauty of web AR is you don’t need to download an app for ease for accessibility,” said Eng. 

When face-to-face interactions were phased out in the pandemic, brands had to cruise through with the biggest question of all: How can we show our products to consumers? 

“Brands no longer [have] consumers going to them, [in your] brick-and-mortar stores and retail shops,” said Eng. 

“Augmented reality provided a way for consumers to experience a product and to still be educated, and to have a sort of [an] experience with a brand,” Eng adds. 

Now, with just a simple scan of a QR code, and by being connected to holy grail social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, consumers can be transported to different realities, be entertained with games, and even go as far as experiencing AR-activated concerts without lifting a finger. 

“Brands should start incorporating AR technology into their everyday business simply because they are now easily accessible, engaging for consumers, and most importantly, drive sales,” said Eng.

Brands who want to reach out to Unicom Interactive Digital may visit their website at uid.asia and may contact the agency at [email protected].

Listen to the full conversation between MARKETECH APAC’s Regional Editor Shaina Teope and UID’s Chief Operating Officer Jareth Eng on Spotify:

What a great way to start the ‘Ber’ months this year with a list of high-flying stories which gave the industry a peek of the latest developments in the startup, e-commerce, and digital payments scene. 

This September, an Indian-born PR agency leading the way for communications in the startup sector has expanded its presence to Singapore. A Buy Now Pay Later platform is also ramping up its market in Southeast Asia with the announcement of its country manager for Thailand. 

Meanwhile, e-commerce makes another round getting into readers’ radar with a data-driven marketing firm in Asia unveiling its new leader for its e-commerce offering.

Stories from the Philippines are also in this month’s top spots with one career coaching firm in the country sharing its business story, and also, a report that saw the convergence of consumer products and social media snared readership for the period.

Take a look.

Top 5: PR agency Value 360 Communications expands presence with new Singapore office

Value 360 Communications Singapore

Value 360 Communications, the startup-focused PR agency in India, has announced that it will be expanding its market to Singapore to unlock growth opportunities in the country’s burgeoning start-up space.

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Kunal Sinha, the founder and director of Value 360 Communications, shared that the company has been part of the journey of 15 unicorns in the market of India, where they have built communications from the ground up. Learning from the process, the agency eventually grounded its name and reputation in the sector. 

Working with a complex market such as India, Sinha believes, gives the agency a strong value proposition to bring to the start-up space.

“We are going to focus on providing start-up PR in the SEA region, and Singapore will be the core for us in extending our services to start-ups. We are also in a discussion with other global brands who have both India and Singapore presence, and we are looking to hire talents with specific experiences in start-ups,” said Sinha.

We have an internal training module where we will be able to help them learn and understand about the start-up space.

Sinha on hiring new talents

Top 4: MARKETECH Spotlight: PH’s Metamorphosis Group on disrupting career coaching in the country

Metamorphosis Group_Danica Octa

Entering this month’s top stories is one of the latest episodes of MARKETECH Spotlight featuring career coaching firm in the Philippines, Metamorphosis Group (MG). 

In an exclusive conversation with the firm’s Founder, President, and CEO, Danica Octa, she shared MG’s start-up journey which began in the pandemic year in 2020. Gaining more expertise and leadership into the current job and recruitment industry in the country, the coaching firm has now firmed up its mission of becoming an end-to-end employability solution for those seeking guidance on their career development. 

Speaking MARKETECH APAC, Octa shared how the firm sees its role in the Filipino workforce. 

Our role [in the workforce] is to be some kind of a learning partner [and] an accountability buddy.

Octa believes that above all, it’s able to help shape people’s career journey through its future-oriented thinking. 

“We are very forward-thinking, we understand the future of work, we as a company is very, very in touch with what’s going to happen 10 years later,” she said. 

Octa adds, “We have the intuition, we can give our market the information they need to succeed moving forward, of course, so that they can upskill and reskill to the appropriate job that they need to have, moving forward. So I think that’s the role that we take here.”

Top 3: Filipinos take to Twitter conversations around favorite consumer products

Twitter-Philippines

Twitter Philippines has recently released a report on the products Filipinos love to talk about on the platform. The data shows that there are five key trends in how Filipinos converse around food, beverages, and personal, as well as home care.

Chandan Deep, Twitter’s head of emerging business for SEA, shared that people on the app and the conversations that they create are what makes Twitter unique, and that 71% have rated it as a great platform for brand interaction, making it the number one among its peers.

MARKETECH APAC conversed with Deep, and she noted that when you looked at the top mentioned brands, which were listed on their CPG dispatch, you will see some good samples on how brands can engage with their customers on Twitter, to be able to drive more meaningful conversations.

Twitter has a diverse community so they can connect with people who like entertainment, gaming, or health, making the first move as a brand by initiating conversation and making your audience enjoy it.

Top 2: ADA names former Lazada CBO Sherry Tan as regional head of e-commerce

ADA ropes in Lazada MY’s Sherry Tan to become its regional head of e-commerce

ADA, the data- and AI-driven marketing firm in Asia, has appointed former Chief Business Officer of Lazada Malaysia, Sherry Tan to be its regional head of e-commerce. 

ADA has just unveiled its end-to-end e-commerce solution for brands in APAC, and for the new role, Tan will be leading a team of leaders who will support the growing demand for e-commerce in the region. 

In the interview with MARKETECH APAC, Tan shared the challenges that brands in e-commerce are faced with in this pandemic.,

“In the last 18 months right, the pandemic catapulted e-commerce retail significantly, and there are more users in the digital space whether it is the buyers or the sellers. Now, it has become harder for brands to attract customers because there are wider options available,” said Tan. 

According to Tan, besides having more choices, customers are gaining smarter as well and therefore, have higher expectations toward their shopper journey. 

Brands need to stay on top of their game to predict industry trends…and then they need to enhance engagement and attraction to their brand to build loyalty and retention.

On ADA’s e-commerce solution, Tan said, “Leveraging on our data and digital shelf, we are able to craft [an] e-commerce and digital strategy based on sentiment analysis, customer insights as well as [competitive] landscape. This data allows us to understand what consumers are interested in, where they have visited over a period of time, and ADA is able to target these audiences for the brand.”

Top 1: BNPL platform for Asia, Atome, names country manager for Thailand

Atome Poompong Tancharoenphol

For our top story for the month, we have Buy Now Pay later platform in Asia Atome’s appointment of its country manager for Thailand, Poompong Tancharoenphol Tancharoenphol was formerly Zilingo’s country head for the country. 

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Tancharoenphol said, “I think I have been fortunate to look at e-commerce both from AddVentures and Zilingo before. There [are] a few key factors in making an e-commerce company successful, namely the business model itself, whether it is B2C e-commerce, B2B e-commerce, and marketplaces, and there is [a] supply chain, marketing, and payment.”

He adds that with BNPL being quite new to the Thai market, it could mean either two things: it may be potentially good or something which the market may not adapt to. 

I think the direct value we offer to the retailers and e-commerce players is the increase in the market size. We were able to increase the market size to 30% more than any other payment method, and this comes along with increasing sales and conversion [afterward]

Rankings‌ ‌are‌ ‌based‌ ‌on‌ ‌Google‌ ‌Analytics‌ ‌from‌ ‌the‌ ‌period‌ ‌of‌ ‌16th‌ ‌August‌ ‌to 15th‌ ‌September.‌

Watch our exclusive interviews with the brands themselves on the latest episode of MARKETECH APAC Reports, now live on our YouTube channel.

This is in collaboration with Malaysia-based media company The Full Frontal.

The coaching industry, while a booming industry, is still a sector that offers massive room for exploration. Coaching, or which may sometimes look to as therapy – the much stronger household name for many – started out as a service perceived to be a ‘luxury’, where people saw it as a non-essential and a service only requiring additional expense. After all, the success of coaching is dependent on the client’s life ‘struggles’ and it’s easy for prospective clients to dismiss a service which presents itself as a solution to something the client has ‘complete control’ over. 

The global authority on the coaching industry, International Coaching Federation (ICF), defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” ICF said that individuals who engage in a coaching relationship can expect to experience fresh perspectives on personal challenges and opportunities, enhanced thinking and decision-making skills, enhanced interpersonal effectiveness, and increased confidence in carrying out their chosen work and life roles.

With the internet culture paving the way for more inclusive conversations in today’s time, people have grown to be more comfortable with ‘sharing’ their life problems and experiences, growing, at the same time, their openness to personal services such as coaching and therapy. 

One coaching firm in the Philippines, Metamorphosis Group, whose services cater to career coaching, does not just aim to leverage the opportunity of a much more accepting consumer, but also the booming industry that still has yet to penetrate the Philippines. 

Of what would later become the company Metamorphosis Group, Danica Octa, the firm’s founder, CEO, and president started her services as a freelance career coach herself in 2019. Eventually forming her core team, the firm today offers services on career education, personal branding, and talent attraction, aside from its flagship career coaching. 

Officially registered as a business at the beginning of covid, Metamorphosis Group couldn’t come at a rightful time with companies cutting costs and implementing employee retrenchments, increasing the number of people thrust into a career limbo.

Metamorphosis Group is truly a consulting agency in the new generation being a digital, remote, and tech-enabled career development and empowerment firm. 

“Our role is to be some kind of learning partner [and to be] an accountability buddy. We help our clients learn new things, not just the technical skills, but also the life skills, and we help them become more accountable to whatever they learn, and to whatever goals they want to achieve,” said Danica in the MARKETECH Spotlight interview

Watch the full interview with Danica Octa, the founder, CEO, and president of Metamorphosis Group.

Disrupting the career development industry as an end-to-end employability solution 

Having operated officially as a full-service firm in late 2020, Danica bared in the interview that the biggest challenge for the firm is assuring the guarantee of the service – that clients, after a period of consulting and coaching, have an expectation that they would land a job right after.

Danica said that Metamorphosis Group started out just like any other career coaching firm, which simply “just coached people,” but then every after conclusion of a consulting engagement begs the question, “What’s next?” 

“It’s not really our responsibility if they didn’t use the tools and knowledge that we’ve shared with [clients], but we still feel that there is some level of obligation that we have for them to actually land a job.” 

Danica further shared an observation that most of the time, recruiters’ concern is still on their employers, and that employers have the mindset that job seekers must be prepared already, and that it is only in the last priorities of a recruiter to offer advice just so for them to have the job. 

“I find [this situation] very, very limiting. So I said, why don’t I mix both services into one company. We do the career coaching, but we don’t let them go that easily. We’ll also offer them the opportunity to be connected with employers, that’s why we call ourselves an end-end solution for employability,” said Danica. 

Part of the services that Metamorphosis Group offers now is ‘Talent Attraction’. The firm creates a talent pool of young professionals who are excellent and eligible for opportunities with multiple employers in their industry.

From starting out as a sole freelance career coach to now Metamorphosis Group 

Metamorphosis Group’s humble beginnings can be said that of any other firm achieving success from the ground up – the idea springing from a very personal experience of the CEO. 

Metamorphosis Group is already two years running in the business and its growth story is not one particularly filled with glamor – quite simple with a genuine service at its core, and a close-knit personal network standing as its pioneering team. 

Danica revealed that there was a period in her life where she had difficulty understanding the job market, specifically how employers felt about candidates and even employees, and figured that maybe she could offer a service that could help people out in these kinds of struggles.

With a full-time job as a recruiter back in 2019, Danica started what would be Metamorphosis Group with herself, becoming a freelance career coach on the side. Things changed when the economic consequences of the pandemic unfolded before everyone’s eyes, not sparing Danica of a job loss. From this, she made the decision to finally start her own company, hence, the birth of the Metamorphosis Group. 

In building her team, Danica did not look too distant and roped in people with specific specializations, and with whom she’s established a relationship with. 

Danica says that she figured, “If you have a very big dream, you need a big team.”

And so starting with a partnership with her very own sister, Jillian Octa, who took care of the firm’s design and creatives, she started recruiting more professionals from different backgrounds.

She took in experienced management consultant Ren Madrid who is part of the company’s executive board and who heads Metamorphosis Group’s enterprise solutions. As Danica continuously grew the company and its programs, she found that career coaching is a difficult job in the sense that as a very personal interaction, it’s inevitable for such engagement to take a counseling point of view. She then recruited none other than her university guidance counselor Teya Paulino to help with this matter. Last but not the least, she hired the fifth member of the firm’s core team, Ricson Singson Que, which offers specialty in digital transformation and cybersecurity.

From its official launch in September 2020, Metamorphosis Group has since grown to acquire over 1000 career coaching clients, and not just from the Philippines, but from all over the world, such as in Japan, India, Germany, and the US, among others. The firm has also currently gained over 10,000 followers in its social media, where Metamorphosis Group has been able to share an overflowing stream of content in career development and job-seeking – over 25 webinars, 30 articles, as well as over 10 networking opportunities featuring over 20 subject matter experts and coaches.

And for its biggest achievement yet, it ran an expansive Virtual Career Fair and Digital Transformation Summit last March 2021 which was attended by about 600 participants, featuring 17 industry speakers, over 17 companies and employers, and connecting attendees with over a hundred job openings and 20 career coaching opportunities.

The role of Metamorphosis Group in the Filipino workforce

Ultimately, what is the role of Metamorphosis Group in the entirety of the Filipino workforce? Just like other nations, the Philippines suffered the blow of the pandemic demanding a slow to none operations, rendering the employment force decapitated. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, as of May 2021, unemployment rate stands at 7.7% which translates to 3.73 million jobless Filipinos. 

Coinciding with the economic downturn, the pandemic has pushed for both employers and job seekers to turn to digital in order to continue recruitment operations, which on the flip side, happens at a timely opportunity where a multitude of digital platforms catered to job seeking has emerged for the job searcher. 

In the MARKETECH Spotlight interview, Danica said that above all, Metamorphosis Group presents itself as a long-time guidance for the professional, a partner that isn’t bound by time. As the career industry continues to evolve, so does Metamorphosis Group, and this is the ultimate contribution of Metamorphosis Group to the Filipino workforce. 

“Our role [in the workforce] is to be some kind of a learning partner [and] an accountability buddy,” said Danica. 

Despite this immersive collaboration with clients, Danica says that ultimately, they want clients to feel that they have the control back over their career direction. 

“We want our clients to decide for themselves, what their lives should be, [and] we don’t wanna decide for them; we just give them all of these options [and] we guide them on the best option for them. And it’s all up to them.”

Most of all, its biggest contribution would be that Metamorphosis Group has the intuition to guide clients to the future as the firm understands the future of work. 

“We are very forward-thinking, we understand the future of work, we as a company is very, very in touch with what’s going to happen 10 years later,” shared Danica. 

“We have the intuition, we can give our market the information they need to succeed moving forward, of course, so that they can upskill and reskill to the appropriate job that they need to have, moving forward. So I think that’s the role that we take here,” she adds.

With an ambitious forecast to the future, it seems Metamorphosis Group is not only aiming to transform the workforce one successful Filipino at a time but to raise the standard of coaching in the country and eventually put the Philippines on the map. 

On future plans, Danica shares, “We are looking at expanding to different markets abroad so that our clients here in the Philippines can have the option to seek opportunities on an international scale. Internally, we’re also looking to grow our team to strengthen our marketing so that we can help even more people” 

Those that are looking to collaborate or partner with Metamorphosis Group may reach out to them at [email protected]. For those who want to explore the possibility of investing on the firm, please reach them out at [email protected].

The large majority of organizations and businesses nowadays are not only technologically inclined but are also curious as to how to bring their products and services closer to their target market or customers. And coincidentally, with the rise of the internet and other forms of channels, organizations have taken into consideration the value of customer experience.

Customer experience has come a long way since traditional advertising and marketing strategies, and we have ventured deeper into digitizing it, leading to the rise of digital experience platforms (DXPs).

DXPs are best explained as “a piece of technology that allows marketers to create, manage and orchestrate, deliver and optimize personalized digital experiences across all touchpoints of a customer’s digital journey.” DXPs allow organizations to connect them closer to their target markets through these online channels and strategies.

Despite various DXPs being rampant across all the global industry of customer experience, new players tend to break the norms, in search of more efficient, organized, and flexible options that allow greater options for the businesses of today to save time and resources connecting with their customers.

Such is the feat of enterprise content management system Magnolia, based in Basel, Switzerland, on which its DX platform Magnolia DX Core, was recently recognized by consulting firm Gartner as one of the new key niche players in the DXP scene, according to its 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant.

‘Punching above weight’: The background of Magnolia’s win

Since the 1990s, Gartner has released annually its Gartner Magic Quadrant series, a tableau of market research reports that rely on data analysis to report on market trends such as participation, the maturity of the industry, and discovery of solutions under a certain industry.

Under Gartner Magic Quadrant’s new report for DXPs, they have taken into consideration how the platform itself fares well to a wide variety of customers, including partners, employees, citizens, and students, and help ensure continuity across the full customer lifetime journey. Furthermore, it should be applicable to business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and business-to-employee (B2E) use cases.

Magnolia DX Core_Gartner
The 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant, and Magnolia’s position in the quadrant, specifically in the ‘Niche Players’ category

Magnolia’s recognition of their platform by Gartner, according to Magnolia APAC’s general manager Don Lee, can be best explained as having the capability of being ‘punching above weight’ or being more inclusive to clients by adding more features in the platform while maintaining the same speed of deploying digital campaigns and content.

“With Magnolia becoming the choice of many notable brands globally, and also in APAC (which Gartner mentioned specifically), the international standing of our brand is now elevated to a point where we are taken seriously, despite the relatively nimble size of our company,” Lee stated during his interview at MARKETECH Spotlight.

Composable and modular: The key strengths

In the Gartner Magic Quadrant report, they stated that one of the key assets of Magnolia DX Core is that it operates under a modular framework, meaning the system can be partitioned which allows faster development and deployment of the DX scripts.

“For a modular framework, [it’s] the creation of small, independent scripts that represent modules which you can test independently and then recombine them. The advantages to this are you get consistency in development, reduced development time, and of course, flexibility,” Lee explained.

Gartner also noted that Magnolia DX Core also allows business clients to build digital experiences based on the platform’s components, making it composable for brands looking to revamp their digital experiences every time.

Magnolia DX Core_Gartner
The building blocks of the composable framework of Magnolia DX Core

“[This] enables brands to incrementally build out a high-performance DXP that leverages existing proven components and services. Our advanced experience authoring and content management features coupled with a modern tech stack empower all stakeholders. This combination enables the launch of new digital products and differentiated experiences at unprecedented speed,” he further added.

In one particular client case, Magnolia has helped China-based insurance company Ping An Insurance to allow the migration of its old content management system (CMS) to Magnolia DX Core in less than two months, with only two CMS back-end developers, thanks to the platform’s accessible modular framework feature.

Magnolia DX Core_Gartner
Results from the CMS migration done by Magnolia for insurance company Ping An Insurance

“Since its launch, editors have been able to update daily content consistently across any channel or platform with minimal errors and no major issue whatsoever. More than three times growth [are seen] in [the] site traffic, [and] 66% reduction in content update time,” Lee stated.

Responding to platform limitations

Despite its key strengths, Magnolia DX Core has its own limitations, including what is considered to be an “all-in-one DXP package”.

Gartner notes that enabling customers to build a DXP from first and third-party capabilities may be less attractive to prospects looking for a more packaged DXP solution.

In response, Lee noted that their trend in creating a DXP with third-party capabilities is part of the growing market of DXPs that aim to create a system of best-of-breed DX components.

“We have seen in recent years that there has been a clear shift in market demand from single-vendor DXP suites to ecosystems of integrated best-of-breed platforms. Magnolia is at the forefront of this revolution — providing modern enterprises with a far more agile and powerful alternative to cumbersome software suites,” Lee stated.

Magnolia DX Core_Gartner
A depiction of what a modular framework is

He also explained that in contrast to what “all-in-one DXP packages” are all about, this is much viewed to be an “overkill” of the true purpose of a DXP: which only serves best the client and their DX needs.

“It’s a natural evolution for this market in which overly complex suites are replaced by a new approach. It also does not help that the investment for a suite platform is also substantially more, with too many overkill features in the early phase of the brand’s digital adoption,” he added.

Visions: APAC presence and word of advice

As Magnolia is slowly being recognized by global brands and clients, the company is ramping up its market in the Asia Pacific, with two new offices in the region namely in Bangkok, Thailand and in Shenzhen, China.

“We have been fixated on customer success since day one, and we will continue to do so, upholding our promise of project success as the top priority. We also aim to empower more Magnolia practitioners, whether from clients or partners, and widen the Magnolia community,” Lee stated.

Magnolia APAC
The Magnolia CMS team in APAC. Don Lee is seated on the front row, second to the right

He added, “We realized that we are popular among developers, but marketers have very little visibility about us, so we hope to duplicate our success at the operational level to the management level.”

When asked about businesses looking forward to acquiring DXP solutions for their next digital experience strategy, Lee recommends that businesses only “focus on a few key facets of Digital Experience which they want to succeed in”, noting that DXP itself is often met with an impression as being a “buzzword”, hence businesses must only focus what correlates best with their business objectives.

“From there, they should aim to build a modular, organic DXP which has the capability to help them achieve their DX goals faster as they observe results. Investing in a composable DXP is key as it allows them to integrate with new or legacy martech functions seamlessly,” Lee recommends.

He also notes that creating a customized DXP means businesses creating the best of the brand’s tech stack that is optimized for the organization’s inner workings and nuances.

“This will give marketers the control over their budget and strategy on how they can then evolve the platform further to suit their needs and goals,” Lee concludes.

Watch our full live interview with Magnolia’s General Manager for APAC Don Lee on our YouTube channel.

If your organization has recently obtained an outstanding achievement or has launched a one-of-a-kind initiative in marketing and tech, please reach out to us at [email protected].