Tag: Marketing

Mumbai, India – Hypothesis, OML’s influencer intelligence platform, officially announced its groundbreaking module, DiscoveryOS, a creator discovery platform set to transform how brands and agencies connect with authentic creators. 

DiscoveryOS is a search engine that aims to redefine the way brands discover and collaborate with influencers by harnessing the power of data through its AI-enhanced search. It is set to become a transformative leap towards influencer collaborations by offering seamless access to the in-depth insights of millions of global creators. 

This cutting-edge platform empowers marketers to choose trustworthy influencers from its growing database of over 210 million, ensuring their campaigns reach real people, not bots. This represents a paradigm shift in influencer marketing workflows by enabling impactful and measurable campaigns at an unprecedented scale. 

Furthermore, DiscoveryOS also offers a data-backed approach to influencer discovery, which ensures brand safety and authenticity. The platform will allow brands to identify trending and upcoming influencers that fit their needs by looking at their growth rate, previous collaborations, or audience affinity. 

Among the key features of DiscoveryOS are its large searchable database, which enables brands to reach a more diverse pool of talent and audience; advanced filters that can fine-tune search and pinpoint creators that align with the target; and a proprietary GAP score metric that can evaluate a creator’s authenticity and engagement. 

The platform also leverages AI and ML capabilities to help brands find lookalike creators based on topics and audience, offers detailed creator insights, and can monitor the month-to-month growth of creators to ensure a successful collaboration. 

Gunjan Arya, chief executive officer and board member at OML Entertainment, said, “At OML, our unwavering commitment to driving innovation in the creator economy fuels our pride in Hypothesis and its groundbreaking achievements. DiscoveryOS stands as a testament to our vision, offering a comprehensive end-to-end solution to the challenges prevailing in the influencer marketing domain. By meticulously addressing pain points and streamlining the entire process, this cutting-edge platform is poised to revolutionize branded content creation and elevate the landscape for creators to new heights.” 

She added, “DiscoveryOS is set to redefine the influencer marketing landscape, paving the way for unparalleled brand partnerships and authentic connections with audiences. As pioneers in the industry, we take immense pride in unleashing the true potential of influencer marketing, shaping a future where brands and creators can thrive together, hand in hand.” 

Meanwhile, Himani Agrawal, senior vice president of product and analytics at Hypothesis, further added, “Creator Discovery is the first and most crucial step to building a robust campaign that can result in effective and efficient ROI for brands, if executed right. Brands are struggling with finding the right creators, with the right target audience, for their brand’s marketing objectives. Hypothesis’ DiscoveryOS with its advanced search capabilities allows brands to do just that.” 

“Hypothesis is a first-of-its-kind platform that tackles the pain points of limited access to verified creator information and the ability to navigate through ‘the many’ to find ‘the one’. It’s positioned as a powerful catalyst set to revolutionize branded content creation through data driven decision making. Hypothesis aims to herald a new era of meaningful collaborations that will spark unparalleled creativity in putting the brands’ messaging in front of the right audience in the most engaging manner,” she continued. 

Singapore – With millennials being referred to as the generation of ‘digital natives’, it comes as no surprise that they are one of the most influential demographics in the current era of marketing. This being said, research on key trends among millennials conducted by market research firm GWI shows what millennials from APAC cater to when it comes to their behavior towards media consumption and brand purchases.

Data from GWI’s study touches on how millennial preference can contribute to the rise of brands, media platforms, and even influencers, as well as what millennials seek in brands that they purchase on a regular basis. 

When it comes to media consumption, the study shows that APAC millennials are actually spearheading the growth of the podcast as a media platform, with 25% of respondents  listening in for at least two hours a day. This also leads to respondents saying that 12% of them discover new brands or products through podcast advertisements.

APAC millennials have also been found to be easily swayed by nostalgia, with the study stating that 65% of respondents prefer if brands or companies bring back old logos and ads. The same can be said with the effect of memes in advertising, as the study says that they are more engaged with finding memes funny when compared to the later Gen Z demographic.        

Moving on to brands, influencer marketing plays a significant role in marketing to APAC millennials, with 85% of respondents saying that they trust influencers. Nearly 4 in 10 APAC respondents say influencer recommendations are more trustworthy than regular ads, which translates into purchase behavior — as there is an 8% more likely than average likelihood for them to purchase a product recommended by influencers.

Lastly, brand trust towards millennials is vital in terms of reliability, as 45% of the respondents are loyal to the brands that they already like in terms of quality control. Respondents also said that they are 11% more likely than average to cite a live-chat feature as a purchase driver, and the number one thing they expect from brands is to be socially responsible.

Bangkok, Thailand – To celebrate Mother’s Day in Thailand on August 12, KFC wanted moms across the country to have the much-needed break they deserve in its ‘Let Mom Rest’ Campaign via Wunderman Thompson Thailand, which recognizes  that a mother’s duty should not be hers to carry alone.

In the campaign, KFC Thailand and Wunderman Thompson invited partners and family members to take over household chores as well as caring for the family, and to appreciate everything that their moms do.

The campaign also kicked off a quirky collaboration with recognized Thai brands with the word ‘Mother’ in it to replace their names, resulting in brands being packaged as ‘Father’s Kitchen Oyster Sauce’, ‘Father’s Rice’ and ‘Father’s Boiled Bamboo’. 

These limited edition mother turned father brand products were bundled into a free, limited-edition KFC ‘Let Mom Rest’ customer gift set, offered at KFC Samyan Mitrtown on August 12 with every KFC All in One Bucket order.

Park Wannasiri, chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson Thailand, said, “No one denies being a mother is one of the toughest, most overwhelming, and most exhausting jobs! People in Thailand really appreciate the long-term commitment of being a mother – and brands do too! Motherhood is even highlighted in many food, household, and children’s products here, for example, canned fish, oyster sauce, or diapers.”

Meanwhile, Sakechai Choomuenwai, general manager of YUM Restaurants International, also commented, “On a special occasion like this, KFC takes extra pride in paying attention to all mothers, as we intend to create a new, ongoing trend that sees house chores and childcare transcend beyond a mother’s duty.”

“We want our Thai families to recognize that a mother’s duty should not be hers alone to bear; and one day in the year should never be enough to show our appreciation. This must become common practice amongst households. Fathers, life partners and extended family members should be mindful of the roles we all play – so that everyone helps each other beneath the strain of life,” he added. 

Singapore – New research from WARC in partnership with ID Comms has highlighted the key trends across three different areas of programmatic advertising: the search for solutions in the post-cookie era, digital wastage in the programmatic supply chain, and the emergence of new addressable channels. 

The report suggests that a majority of marketers and advertisers fall short in programmatic advertising with overlooked privacy regulation changes, digital ad spend wastage, and below average confidence towards data, analytics, and insight systems within emerging channels. 

According to the report, about 58% of marketing leaders seem unaware of the impact of privacy regulation changes on their systems, tools, and business. In response, advertisers are actively seeking alternatives for targeting and measurement such as the use of first-party data, data partnerships, employing cookieless target methods, and exploring persistent identifiers as an alternative to tracking users across multiple platforms and devices.

Despite some improvements, the report states that nearly a quarter of the annual $88 billion spent on programmatic advertising still goes to waste. To reduce this wastage, advertisers include supply path optimization (SPO), wherein they streamline routes to advertising inventory by eliminating unnecessary intermediaries in the supply path. They also adopt in-house capabilities to enhance programmatic trading, and even engage in sustainability measurement, with some advertisers striving to minimize their carbon footprints.

Data also shows that CMOs report allocating a quarter of their entire marketing expense budgets to marketing technologies, yet marketers utilized just 42% of their martech stack capabilities in 2022, down from 58% in 2020.

Furthermore, there are new addressable channels such as gaming, connected television (CTV), programmatic audio, digital out of home (DOOH), and retail, but there is still a challenge as 62% of advertisers express only moderate confidence or less in their data, analytics, and insight systems. This confidence gap poses several obstacles to the expansion of these channels such as the need for holistic and standardized data, the pervasive issue of ad fraud, and the delicate balance between open web and walled garden Demand Side Platforms (DSPs).

However, the report mentions that marketers can still future-proof programmatic activations and improve business capabilities by establishing well defined business objectives, identifying and mapping one’s current capabilities, perform a gap analysis and identifying future business use cases, reviewing current programmatic maturity and future areas of progression, producing the final roadmap for their efforts, and activating their workstreams with the right support. 

Paul Stringer, managing editor for research & advisory at WARC, said, “The efficacy of programmatic – automation, real-time measurement and sophisticated targeting – are being threatened by the growing push for data privacy and the demise of the third party cookie.

“While programmatic advertising may have failed to live up to its early promise, change is afoot and a new wave of growth and development beckons. In this report we explore key shifts across the programmatic landscape and how they are impacting advertisers,” he added. 

Hong Kong – PRHK,  a Hong Kong based public relations and communications services association, has appointed its new board and sub-committees for the year of 2023-2024,with the new board members complementing the continuity provided through the re-appointment of thirteen board and sub-committee members from last year.

The new board and sub-committees of PRHK are namely: 

  • Carol Yeung, managing director at Golin (chairperson) 
  • Penn Leung, account director at CCG (deputy chairperson) 
  • James Hacking, APAC brand and marketing leader at EY and Carbo Yu, regional executive director at Sinclair (digital co-chairs) 
  • Kevin On, general manager at Hoffman and Natalie Siu, HK general manager at Sandpiper (education & mentorship programme co-chairs)
  • Rachel Lau, PR director at MSL Group and Cody Roberts, partner at MCG Talent (events co-chairs)
  • Kiri Sinclair, founder and CEO of Sinclair (honorary secretary & ESG committee)
  • Stephan Engel, director and market lead at APCO Worldwide and Ben Evetts, head of brand at Cigna (membership co-chairs)
  • Jesa Amparo, account manager at CCG and Cheryl Pan, SVP and general manager at BlueCurrent Group (next gen co-chairs)
  • Elizabeth Lui, senior account manager at Sandpiper (young lion chair)
  • Fran Tam, associate director at Edelman and Katie Forster, managing director at Amara Communications (partnerships & sponsorships co-chairs)
  • David Croasdale, managing director at Newell (treasurer)
  • Adam Chow, senior executive at Sinclair and Camille Thoreau, former public relations associate at Sinclair (young professional representatives)

With its new board members, PRHK’s focus remains to enable active and emerging professionals to navigate the dynamic communications landscape of Hong Kong, while also supporting their members and the wider PR community to gain meaningful connections and facilitate knowledge sharing. 

PRHK’s agendas will also continue to be supported with initiatives including the Annual Hong Kong PR Young Lions Competition, as well as extensive engagement programmes with Hong Kong academic institutions and universities to support and nurture the next wave of professionals. 

Yeung, the newly appointed chairperson of PRHK said, “As the market opened up, we look forward to bringing back our signature events and knowledge sharing initiatives in the coming board year. In addition to innovation across the industry, we also set up an ESG Committee to demonstrate the evolving role of strategic PR and communications across various sectors.” 

“This year we see an even wider board representation with talent acquisition expertise joining us. We believe this will further elevate PRHK as the leading association for public relations and communications professionals in Hong Kong,” she added. 

Singapore – GrabAds, the advertising arm of Southeast Asian superapp, Grab, has released its latest travel-centric report, showing that around 72% of respondents plan to travel abroad in the next 12 months, jumping from just 39% when borders reopened in 2022, indicating the travel intent has climbed by 84% in just a year.

According to the data provided by GrabAds, brands should take this as an opportunity to switch gears from short-term “revenge travel” campaigns to planning long-term repeat-customer strategies.

The report reveals main factors that justify why this is the case with Southeast Asians, such as families prioritizing ‘stress-free’ options in accommodation, business travelers seeking booking convenience, and travelers wanting certainty upon reaching their destination. 

Moreover, the survey states that 78% of respondents are not subscribed to any hotel loyalty programme. Considering that 73% of them plan an average of three leisure trips in the next 12 months, there’s undoubtedly room for repeat business, which the report acknowledges as an opportunity to educate would-be travelers on hotel loyalty programs and associated benefits. 

Talking about the report, Jennie Johnson, head of marketing at GrabAds, said, “GrabAds data revealed a massive increase of 84% in international travel intent compared to just one year ago. Last year, brands may have focused on short-term impulse campaigns based on pent-up lockdown FOMO (fear of missing out) – but they now need to shift towards developing long-term relationships with savvy Southeast Asian travelers as they dream, plan, book and experience travel.”

“It could be as simple as maintaining year-round communication with consumers or utilizing online to offline channels to promote the latest offers. For example, the campaign we’ve built with Media Bank Inc. for the Japan Tourism Agency utilizes our Grab fleet and app to creatively target users of our platform. At GrabAds, we look forward to working closely with travel and tourism brands to innovate and provide an exciting, dynamic travel experience for Southeast Asian jetsetters,” she added. 

Singapore – In a slew of recent senior appointments in Asia, global brand and customer experience agency VMLY&R has appointed Saw Gin Toh as its new head of strategy for Singapore.

In her new role, Toh joins VMLY&R Singapore’s management team to lead and plan the development and growth of the strategy team, helping to grow business and building trusted connections with key clients and partners. 

Toh brings a mix of strategy and insights development across multiple categories and consumer segments, garnered from more than 20 years of experience with major networks and clients. She started out in strategic planning and insights for creative agencies before moving into communications, channel planning and insights on the media side. Most recently she was head of strategy consulting at Dentsu Consulting.

Commenting on her own appointment,Toh said, “I am constantly on the lookout for new opportunities to apply my knowledge, skill sets, experiences, and exposure in new areas of application. And VMLY&R, a leader in brand experience, customer experience and commerce, provides the perfect opportunity for me to do just that. As the lines between creative and media blur, there is an opportunity for us to offer integrated solutions to clients’ needs by focusing on commerce as the intersection point between business experience and customer experience.”

Meanwhile, Rhys Taylor, managing director of VMLY&R Singapore, said, “Strategy has always been at the heart of what we do at VMLY&R, so Saw Gin’s extensive experience makes her the ideal fit to head up strategy for Singapore, our regional hub.”

 “She has a strong track record in delivering growth for clients by helping them navigate ever more complex marketplaces, as well as having been recognised at regional and global awards as a game-changer, and for insights and research methodologies. She joins an already strong team of capability leads across our broader services — all with the focus of building connected brands for our growing client portfolio,” he added.

Her appointment is a part of VMLY&R’s ongoing strategy to fortify its regional hub in Singapore, as she joins a growing team of capability leads, built to ensure that services are optimized to best suit client needs through creativity, technology, data and culture.

Beijing, China –  Mastercard announced that its cardholders can link their cards to WeChat Pay, or as it’s known locally, ‘Weixin Pay’, a mobile payment service within the WeChat app, as a new payments option that further improves the digital payment experience of foreign visitors to the country.

Expanding on a partnership established in 2019 that offers enhanced digital payment solutions, the latest development gives Mastercard full access to WeChat Pay’s merchant network in China and provides a safe and convenient way for international travelers to pay when traveling around the Chinese Mainland.

The extended merchant network includes categories such as dining, transportation, shopping, accommodation, and more. International travelers with Mastercard cards can now utilize multiple payment methods through the app, such as QR codes, payment codes, mini programs, and in-app payments.

In their press release, Mastercard stated, “For merchants, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, the Weixin Pay-Mastercard tie up gives them more opportunities to transact with international travelers who now have access to one of the most widely accepted payment methods in China, allowing them to get around easily, without hassle.”

Philippines – Katrina Gonzalez has announced that she has been appointed by digital finance service Coins.ph as its new global marketing director. In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Gonzalez said that for her new role, she would be generating awareness for Coins.ph on its operations and future expansions to provide more people with easy access to digital assets and innovations in the Web3 space.

Specifically, she will be prioritizing on educating users on how they can participate in the web3 ecosystem and the opportunities it creates, in a safe and secure manner. 

“For web3 and crypto natives, we’ve got a lot of product launches in store to serve their rapidly evolving needs and cater to the various segments of the market spanning crypto traders, Web3 gamers, businesses, institutions, NFT collectors and more. So we want to do these justice by spreading awareness and making these accessible through education, promotions and community engagement,” Gonzalez told MARKETECH APAC. 

Prior to her appointment, Gonzalez held key roles in indie Web3 game studios as the chief operating officer of Serriva Labs and the former head of operations of YGG Pilipinas for more than a year.

“With YGG, I was constantly exposed to the community of web3 gamers we served. Web3 gaming made a substantial impact on people’s lives in terms of access to earning opportunities, and their trust in YGG to help navigate this new world and provide education on cryptocurrency and financial management was top of mind. Hearing their experiences, successes, and passion to give back to help others too was an inspiration. I believe I learned more from them than they learned from me and I’m truly grateful for that,” stated Gonzalez when asked about her prior experience in the Web3 industry. 

She also possesses a wide array of marketing leadership experience in banking and fintech firms, being the former chief marketing officer as well as the marketing and communications head of UnionDigital Bank and UnionBank respectively.  

“At UnionBank, heading the marketing and communications team of the fintech group, this is where I saw a traditional bank evolve into one that was not only willing to innovate but also keen to work with what was then considered competitors – the fintechs. By enabling fintechs and collaborating with them to create solutions for customers, we were able to do more, for more people. At UnionDigital, I was part of the founding team that started the digital bank and learned how to build from scratch with the customer in mind – the underbanked and underserved,” she mentioned when asked about her previous roles in the field of banking.   

Speaking on her own appointment, Gonzalez said, “Through all these roles, I’ve been lucky to work in organizations that pushed the boundaries of innovation to provide people with opportunities to uplift their lives –  from web3 gaming to financial services. This is why I decided to join Coins.ph as we want to do the same thing in the digital asset space. I’ve learned through my prior roles, that it’s by keeping this mission in mind, day in and day out, that allows us to go beyond to serve the customer.”

When asked about the challenges and opportunities that the fintech industry will face for this year, she pointed out the emergence of fintech alternatives as something that could both be a challenge and an opportunity.

“For quite some time now, fintechs have been challengers to traditional financial services offered by banks and institutions. What we’re seeing emerge is that there are alternatives to fintechs coming from the web3 and digital asset space – from lending, savings and ways to earn – it will be interesting to see how fintechs either compete or collaborate with builders in web3. This is both a challenge and opportunity for fintechs,” she answered. 

Gonzalez joins Coins.ph following its cryptocurrency partnerships with UnionBank, Globe, and the Philippine BasketBall Association. 

Singapore – Social and media intelligence firm Meltwater has recently appointed two senior hires to spearhead its customer journey and business functions, as well as to bolster their footprint in the APAC region.

The new appointments are Huixian Yang as customer experience director, and Jeff Piniros as sales development director. These appointments are in line with Meltwater’s expansion in the area, which has been centered on Southeast Asia and Japan. 

In their new roles. Yang will be using her data-driven methodology to deliver exceptional customer service and help define Meltwater’s worldwide framework for customer success. Meanwhile, Piniros will be in charge of developing the pipeline in order to support revenue and growth objectives and develop the upcoming sales talent.

Commenting on both appointments, David Hickey, executive director of Meltwater, said, “Huixian and Jeff will be pivotal in steering the company through our next phase of growth. With the recent launch of Meltwater’s powerful new Enterprise Intelligence Suite in the region, we have also welcomed a slew of key enterprise clients. We plan to continue building on our best-in-class artificial intelligence, natural language processing, computer vision and inference models to expand our capabilities and serve the evolving marketing needs of organizations.”

These hires follow Meltwater’s 52% growth in new business for APAC in Q2 2023, with companies such as PGAG, Shang Properties, and Inquirer.net employing their influencer management platforms, and AI-powered ‘Engage’ and ‘Explore’ services.