Tag: Marketing

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – Bizverse World officially launched a strategic partnership with some of the leading global partners in finance, investment, education, and infrastructures, such as GotBit, Defi Asia Capital (Subsidiary of SoftBank Group), Linkcube Ventures, Depro Labs, Udemy, and Agora. 

This cooperation will focus on accelerating Bizverse’s steadfast growth rate by supporting the expansion of the entire metaverse ecosystem and upgrading the blockchain infrastructure.

In May of 2022, Bizverse had the opportunity to partner with GotBit, one of the leading investment funds, blockchain startup advisors, and a market maker today. GotBit operates as Bizverse’s ‘top backer’ in this relationship. The company acts as a catalyst for Bizverse’s growth by investing in and sharing knowledge about how to run brand-new crypto projects. Furthermore, GotBit has a blockchain startup incubator that has supported over 1500 successful projects. 

The relationship with GotBit ensures that the project has a launchpad, allowing Bizverse’s members to get early access to promising new crypto tokens from diverse projects before they are publicly revealed.

Bizverse has attracted the attention of some of the industry’s most prominent investment funds, including ‘giant’ SoftBank, which showed interest to join the Metaverse. Meanwhile, Defi Asia Capital (Subsidiary of SoftBank Group), Linkcube Ventures, and Depro Labs invested 1.5 million dollars in a strategic round (for augmented reality alone). At the same time, these three companies merged to become Bizverse’s VC (Venture Capital). This investment will help Bizverse improve the innovation of 3D, VR/AR, and Digital Twin technologies expanding into the ecosystem and solving real-world problems.

Without stopping there, to pursue the direction of developing technology for people and establishing a worldwide knowledge community, Bizverse has partnered with Udemy, an online learning platform to create breakthrough learning on Metaverse. Udemy will make approximately 200,000 courses available for free on Metaverse, covering almost every field. Bizverse’s E-Class system has these courses built-in.

To improve the user experiences when interacting in real-time in the digital environment. By integrating natural interactive features, the user’s experiences when using platforms to perform on Bizverse (LiveShow, Karaoke Online, Bizverse Meet, etc.) will become more vivid and authentic. Bizverse also established a relationship with Agora, the world’s top video, voice, and interaction live streaming technology, which has been used at the Grammy Awards (USA).

These collaborations will allow them to work together to establish a complete Metaverse that connects the actual and virtual worlds and fully meets users’ needs in terms of work, study, and entertainment.

South Korea – Set to launch by the end of 2022, South Korean-based First Virtual Lab (FVL) is the exclusive Asian business partner of USA’s Monolith, a virtual production house. 

FVL will ride the nation’s successful wave of international content sensations, such as Parasite, Squid Game, and Minari. FVL, led by CEO Sung Kwon Kim, has assembled a competent team of virtual production experts who cover the full gamut of technologies, from LED walls, Unreal Engine, AI tech, motion camera, and VFX production.

Monolith is one of two leading virtual production studios in the United States. The Monolith team has worked on globally-renowned projects, such as The Mandalorian, Murder on the Orient Express, and First Man.

Sung Kwon Kim (Center) CEO of FVL. poses with Monolith partners Fred Waldman, EVP business development & Marty Wickman, EVP physical production.

Monolith’s EVP, Business Development Fred Waldman and Marty Wickman, EVP in physical production, visited South Korea in February of this year to launch their virtual production partnership with FVL.

A team from Monolith will soon travel to South Korea to supervise the construction of FVL’s virtual production studio. Monolith will also send a full time management team that will reside in South Korea and work closely with FVL operations for approximately two years. FVL and Monolith’s collaboration will help to satisfy a tremendous virtual production demand in Asia.

FVL’s VFX team is largely dedicated to the unrivalled 3D computer graphics Unreal Engine, which will help FVL create some of the finest and natural looking virtual sets on the planet. This type of virtual production deal is a first of its kind—bringing unprecedented virtual production standards and quality to the region. FVL production studios will include the installation of 1,710 LED wall panels, 624 LED ceiling panels, and 144 LED door panels. The entertainment studios of the world cannot wait for FVL to launch.

The many benefits of virtual production include reducing the risk of COVID-19 exposure, as all virtual production can be conducted at one location. There is also a tremendous production budget savings by utilising virtual production. As much as 40% of a production budget can be saved due to shorter production schedules (reduced travelling, weather delays, sound pollution, or permit issues), reduced grip and electric expenses (LED panels), and smaller crews.

FVL’s studio is located in Yongin, South Korea, which is just a forty minute drive from Seoul. Of FVL’s three sound stages, two will be dedicated to virtual production—a total of 60,000 square feet of space. FVL will use state of the art “ROE” Black Pearl V2 LED Panels with Brompton Technology LED processors.

Singapore – Grab announced its new technology GrabMaps, a new enterprise service that Grab can leverage to capture the US$1 billion market opportunity in Southeast Asia per year for its mapping and location-based services. First developed for in-house use, GrabMaps was created to address Grab’s need for more hyperlocal solution to power its services.

Currently, GrabMaps offers location-based services for all Grab verticals in 7 out of 8 countries it operates in, and Grab expects to be fully-sufficient with GrabMaps by Q3 2022.

Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder, Grab, said, “Grab’s focus is how we can always deliver technological innovations that address the needs of every Southeast Asian region appropriately, and GrabMaps is one example.”

According to Ling, the narrow roads and alleys commonly found in Southeast Asian cities, frequented by their driver and delivery partners often do not appear on conventional maps. “We have invested in turning this intelligence into a competitive advantage, enabling us to serve our customers and partners with the best possible experience, while driving efficiency and cost savings for the business. We are very pleased that soon we will be fully using our own mapping technology,” added Ling.

Mapping, pick-up point technology such as points of interest (POI), and route intelligence are vital parts of the core features that platforms like Grab rely on. Currently, GrabMaps supports more than 800 billion API calls per month across various Grab services. 

Internal data also shows that for countries that have made full use of GrabMaps, the ease of finding the right pick-up point for transportation bookings has increased by an average of 3%, while the accuracy of estimated travel time (ETT) has increased by 1% regionally, with some countries experienced an increase of up to 7.8 percentage points.

The growth of street images in GrabMaps in a span of a year in Jakarta.

The main advantage of GrabMaps lies in the principle of community-based mapping that involves consumers, business partners, and Grab’s fleet of driver and delivery partners.

The GrabMaps solution draws on new data from millions of orders and rides served every day, where feedback from partners is obtained directly real-time information, from road closure information, business address changes, and more. Driver-partners and delivery-partners also have the opportunity to contribute to developing our maps, collecting pick-up points and other data such as street images, street names, traffic signs and more to earn additional income. With this, GrabMaps is not only superior in terms of accuracy, coverage and updates but also cost-efficient.

Philipp Kandal, head of Geo, Grab, said, “As superapp The leading company in the region, GrabMaps supports Grab to serve the daily needs of millions of consumers every day. With our track record and deep understanding of Southeast Asia, we believe GrabMaps can be the best mapping platform of choice for Southeast Asia.”

Philippines — Jollibee, the Philippines’ leading fast-food chain, celebrates this year’s Independence Day with a new music video entitled ‘Joy ng Pinoy’. The film aims to inspire a love for the Philippines in a meaningful and personal way.

The music video by Jollibee, made in collaboration with BetterBrandLabs Inc and Ubuntu Premium Studios, highlights how the new generation makes good use of their talent and skills, and willingness to share the joy and contribute to making a difference in society.

Set to the tune of an OPM classic, ‘Awit ng Kabataan,’ the video is headlined by three up-and-coming Gen Z artists – Francine Diaz, Adie, and Alex Bruce – as they represent the voice of today’s youth and encourage every Filipino to proclaim why they are proud to be Pinoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24-YZNutOBg

Arline Adeva, assistant vice president and head of brand PR, engagement and digital marketing of Jollibee Philippines, commented, “As the Philippines celebrates its 124th Independence Day, Jollibee looks to continue promoting Filipino pride and joy especially as the country moves toward recovery from the pandemic. Having experienced the worst part of the pandemic, we wanted this video to inspire and bring hope to people through the voice and actions of our youth. It’s not just about bringing joy to family and friends, but also about making a difference in other people’s lives.”

Simultaneously, Gina Lorenzana, chief energist of BetterBrandLabs Inc, said, “As cliché as it may sound, the youth play a really important role in giving hope and shaping our future. For our country to have a better future, we believe that we need to spread joy as Pinoy from the youngest of us.”

Meanwhile, Treb Monteras, the director of the music video, shared, “[In this video] we showcased some of the creative ways the youth are sparking change in the world. From upcycling trash to clothes, competing in new sports, and helping their communities with their skills.”

Monteras added, “This is my first time directing for Jollibee and I’m glad it’s for this particular project. I’m happy to collaborate with a company that values Pinoy culture. Our country has gone through a lot these past two years, and this video will remind us that there is still hope for our nation’s future through the joyful spirit of our Pinoy youth.”

Digital ad spend on Android devices has soared 23% from 2021 to 2022 reaching USD 2.7 billion in Q1 for APAC alone, according to an AppsFlyer study. This shows both growth and opportunity, which also means more competition for app marketers out there.

To add to the list of challenges, the industry experienced major shifts in privacy policies – such as the iOS14+ update that shook the world in April 2021. Indeed, we are only a few years away from Android’s privacy update coming into play. So, with the growth of the industry coupled with the volatile landscape of privacy, it is extremely important for app marketers and developers to make data-driven strategic decisions that help them stand out from the crowd.

Supporting data metrics to help your mobile app stand out

1. ATT Prompt Opt-in Rate

According to AppsFlyer’s data, in APAC alone, 57% of apps have implemented the ATT prompt and 46% of users have opted-in to the prompt. This shows a generally optimistic response from consumers willing to consent to data tracking.

Despite the region displaying positive sentiment towards data tracking, it is still important for marketers to continuously improve their ATT user consent rate. Using ATT opt-in rate as a KPI for your team would enforce a clear target around how to improve consent. Running A/B tests on both the pop-up and pre-pop up screens could help make a real impact among your user bases. A 1% increase in opt-in rate would unlock at least hundreds to thousands of app users for re-engagement if they churned.

2. Optimising conversion value setting

The SKAdNetwork Conversion Value represents an action performed by users in an app. For example, a purchase within the app, or completing a specific level in a video game. This value is later attributed to the source of install to enable campaign measurement.

There are many ways you can utilize the conversion values. From basic strategies to calculate revenue to advanced combo-split strategies to understand cohort data, deterministic signals, value prediction, and revenue simultaneously; it is important to optimize your conversion value settings to understand your users effectively.

3. LTV & ROAS metrics

In 2022, app marketers are acclimating to the loss of user-specific data. With these shifts, marketers are incentivised to place a larger emphasis on lifecycle marketing to make up for the reduced returns of remarketing campaigns. Acquiring the most valuable users for your app now requires a strong understanding of your highest performing channels, campaigns, ad sets, and creative variations: often measured using LTV and ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) metrics.

Privacy-centric methods in attaining data

Beyond the three data points mentioned above, marketers can explore other metrics to navigate the user-centric digital world we face today. A few suggestions include:

1. Embracing more non-SKAN forms of measurement

2. Using probabilistic measurement methods

3. Modeling conversions

4. Incrementality

Keep an eye out for up-and-coming technologies to help measure marketing effectiveness. A prominent example is Data Clean Rooms (DCRs): a sandbox environment to help marketers collect, analyze, aggregate, and share data of all kinds, across both internal and external stakeholders.

Maintaining your user retention rate above industry benchmarks is a key success indicator for today’s mobile-first businesses. Modern technology delivers a lightning-fast user experience, helping marketers successfully execute the coveted ‘consumer is king’ approach. Another key factor fueling off-the-chart retention numbers is the ability to connect existing data with a holistic view of every user journey across platforms, channels, and devices. Technology is the foundation of every marketing tech stack, cementing its place as the source of truth for marketing data.

This article is written by Naval Handa, marketing analyst of AppsFlyer for APAC.

Beijing, China – Today, VIOOH, a global digital out of home (DOOH) supply-side platform, announced the hire of Calvin Chan as the new chief executive officer in China. 

In his new role, Chan will be responsible for scaling and developing VIOOH’s programmatic digital out of home (pDOOH) offering across mainland China and Hong Kong, China. 

Meanwhile, Jean-Christophe Conti, CEO of VIOOH, commented, “We’re delighted to be welcoming Calvin Chan to the VIOOH team. Calvin is a widely respected leader within the industry and he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this role.” 

“It’s an exciting time for the region, with the recent launch of our programmatic digital OOH offering across the Hong Kong Metro network, and further expansion set for mainland China,” added Conti. 

Moreover, Chan is considered to be an innovative and widely respected digital industry expert in China, with nearly 20 years of experience in the digital and marketing technology industry. Prior to joining VIOOH, Chan served as The Trade Desk’s first general manager for China, where he contributed to the exponential business growth and talent development for its market entry. Previous to this, Chan was the chief executive officer at AdMaster. Chan has also held management positions in China and the US for The Nielsen Company. 

Calvin Chan, CEO for China at VIOOH on his new role, “I’m thrilled to be joining VIOOH at such a transformational time for the industry. Programmatic digital out of home is certainly one of the most promising growth engines for the AdTech industry both in the Mainland China and Hong Kong markets and I look forward to sharing more developments to come from VIOOH.” 

VIOOH launched in Hong Kong back in 2020 at Hong Kong International Airport. This was shortly followed by its expansion into urban Hong Kong with JCDecaux Cityscape’s street furniture and bus shelter inventory. Most recently at the beginning of last month, VIOOH launched its programmatic digital OOH offering across the Hong Kong MTR network in partnership with JCDecaux Transport – bringing VIOOH’s coverage to 70% of Hong Kong’s total number of digital screens.

Japan — Cosmetics company SHISEIDO celebrated its 150th anniversary with the launch of the ‘From life comes beauty’ campaign that started on June 1. The campaign conveyed to the world SHISEIDO’s enduring focus on life as the essence of beauty and its ongoing pursuit of uncovering the mechanisms that connect beauty and life.

No matter how much times change, people continue to seek beauty. Based on this conviction, SHISEIDO has been pursuing the essence of beauty for 150 years, driven by its mission to create products that add a healthy vibrance to your life.

Ryota Yukisada, chief brand officer of SHISEIDO, said, “In today’s era of uncertainty and hesitation, what kind of beauty are we seeking? Our conclusion? Life. If people around the world, regardless of age, gender, and region, continue the conversation about how beauty and life are related, we believe it will inspire changes for a better world.”

The campaign conveyed the enduring spirit of SHISEIDO, which has been handed down in an unbroken line for 150 years, and its hope for the future, embodied in the phrase “From life comes beauty.” Additionally, SHISEIDO launched three limited-edition products to mark its 150th anniversary, the fruits of its unique Life Science research conducted in its ongoing pursuit of the relationship between beauty and life.

The three limited-edition products individually symbolize ‘Heritage,’ ‘Living Innovation,’ and ‘Future’ to signify the company’s past, present, and future. Their designs use an arabesque motif featured on wrapping paper created in the Taisho era of Japan by Sue Yabe, a member of the design department at that time. Using 3D software, that original design was turned into a three-dimensional form, then photographed from a variety of angles and used to decorate the containers and outer cartons. The designs express the dynamism of life that opens up a new future while harnessing the assets of the past bearing 150 years of history.

A special website was also created consisting of three content themes: ‘STORIES’ in which seven people active in various fields talked about beauty; ‘INNOVATION,’ which introduced the spirit of scientific inquiry into life as the essence of beauty; and ‘HISTORY,’ which presented SHISEIDO’s 150-year history. The website conveyed how the brand has continued since its foundation to pursue the link between beauty and life.

In addition, advertisements were rolled out featuring professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe, singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada, and actress Ursula Corbero, and campaign messages were posted on social media from celebrities with connections to SHISEIDO.

Singapore – Johnnie Walker has launched its first NFT collection created in collaboration with Virtue APAC’s Singapore hub, as part of a multi-experience campaign developed by Virtue APAC, the creative agency from VICE media.

All seven bottles from its rare Master of Flavour series valued at US $35,000 each, were sold in Ethereum cryptocurrency within three minutes, appealing to modern luxury consumers and crypto enthusiasts.

Johnnie Walker and creative agency Virtue powered by VICE worked in partnership with BlockBar.com, a direct to consumer NFT marketplace for luxury wines and spirits, to offer buyers the chance to own seven extremely rare, vaulted bottles of Blended Scotch Whisky paired with seven one-of-a-kind works of art.

Virtue managed overall strategic and creative conceptualisation for the Masters of Flavour campaign from its Singapore hub as well as developing a launch film and social assets.

Johnnie Walker Masters of Flavour is the third and final whisky in the Johnnie Walker Masters series of extremely rare Scotch, crafted from fleetingly rare whiskies, which are all aged for at least 48 years from four closed distilleries: Port Dundas, Brora, Glen Albyn and Glenury Royal. 

Each of the seven bottles unlock access to a coinciding and exclusive piece of digital artwork from Australian contemporary artist Kode Abdo, aka BossLogic. Known for his fancasts, he recently teamed up with footballer Lionel Messi to create a new series of artistic NFTs featuring the global sports icon. 

Extending the digital experience into the physical world, buyers can choose to keep the NFTs and redeem their purchase for an exclusive three-day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Immersing themselves in the history of Johnnie Walker, the exclusive money-can’t-buy experience includes a guided tour of the lowlands home of Johnnie Walker, including the Diageo archive and private tastings of rare collectable whiskies from the Diageo collection.

Chris Gurney, group creative director at Virtue APAC, said, “Johnnie Walker Masters Of Flavour is the ultimate expression of mastery, so our approach was to bring the 48-year-old whiskey making and packaging process to life through the craft and materials of the world’s leading artisans.”

According to Gurney, they have worked together with Bosslogic to reflect the creative narrative in his NFT artwork and to enhance the overall film direction. They also brought in acclaimed sound designer Maurizio Argentieri, best known for working on international music film scores including The Island, Zoolander 2 and Bread and Tulips. 
Meanwhile, Lyndon Govender, marketing director, Southeast Asia, Diageo, commented in the collaboration, “At Johnnie Walker we are continuously pushing the boundaries of innovation and creativity. This drop symbolises the future of luxury whisky ownership and consumer experience and we are proud to have worked closely with the team at Virtue to navigate this new world and create a campaign we are truly proud of.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – UEM Sunrise, one of Malaysia’s leading property developers, has inked a partnership with nine local companies to strengthen, promote, and develop a mutually beneficial relationship and cooperation under the company’s Vendors Partnership Programme. The partnership programme is expected to explore long-term synergies and promotes cooperation between UEM Sunrise and the participating companies in the areas of marketing and branding where both parties will leverage their respective marketing platforms to cross-market and increase brand awareness. 

The nine participating companies include Guocera, Bofi (Malaysia), Innocera Marketing, Electrolux Malaysia, Cement Industries of Malaysia, Panasonic Malaysia, Signature Cabinet, Aurum Precas, and Gamuda IBS. 

Aside from marketing and branding, the partnership also aims to provide opportunities for UEM Sunrise and the participating companies to explore products and services that would enhance design development as well as collaboration in the area of cost savings, to identify business opportunities that would lead to cost-saving benefits.

“Our partnership programme allows us to collaborate closely with our partners in the long run, and we look forward to achieving these synergies as part of managing the risk of price fluctuations and supply and demand uncertainties. We hope by building such relationship, we would be able to manage our cost structure better and deliver the right values to our customers,” said UEM Sunrise CEO Sufian Abdullah.

He added that given the volatility of the market, UEM Sunrise will continue to monitor and fine-tune its pricing strategy based on several key cost elements aside from the prices of building materials. Abdullah is also optimistic that the company’s long-term partnership programme with its vendors will help to provide solutions in addressing these rising costs in the market.

Sydney, Australia – Aussie influencers and brands are not jumping on the NFT bandwagon as fast and as eagerly as its counterpart countries, according to a report by AI-analytics platform, HypeAuditor.

The new data has revealed the current state of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Instagram following the platform’s announcement that it will start integrating NFTs from leading blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Flow and Polygon, testing digital collectibles with select creators in the United States. Following this, only 281 Aussie influencers have been posting about NFTs on Instagram in the past 6 months, accounting for a total of 717 posts.

The data revealed that since January of 2022, there have been a total of 717 social media posts on Instagram about NFT or mentioning NFT, reaching a cumulative audience of 1.5 million. Out of the 717 posts, less than 15% were sponsored posts. 

The report found there are only 124 Instagram influencer accounts in Australia containing the word NFT in their bios, with the accounts totalling over 5.2 million followers. The United States for instance has over 1900 NFT influencers. The top 3 categories for NFTs in Australia are Art (12.7%), Music (10.4%) and Photography (8.4%).

Alex Frolov, CEO and co-founder, HypeAuditor, said, “While it’s been reported that Australians have participated in the hyped-up market activity of trading NFTs, with many saying they’re using it as a way to save money for a house, compared to other countries like the United States, the uptake has been rather slow down under.”

According to Frolov, the slow trend might be an indication that Aussies are a bit more cautious when it comes to spending or investing in new sectors, and are more willing to take their time to understand the market before throwing themselves at it. The skyrocketing cost of living in Australia may also be another reason why Australians are more reluctant to gamble their savings on NFTs.

Since January 2022, a total of 281 influencers posted about NFT and only 14% of the posts were sponsored by brands. People aged 18 to 34 are the ones engaging with the social media posts about NFTs the most. Meanwhile, the influencers posting about NFTs the most are aged 25-34 yrs old. 

NFTs are getting traction mostly from micro-influencers with 10k-50k followers (44.1%) and nano influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers (42.7%). 

Australia’s Top 10 NFT Influencers with NFT in their bios are:

“From the Top 10 NFT Aussie influencers, it’s worth noting that their engagement rate (ER) overall is also very low. A good Instagram ER is between 2-3% and anything above 3% is considered high engagement. From the list above, only three influencers have high ER which is another indicator that the interest in NFTs hasn’t peaked yet,” added Frolov.