Singapore – Months after the initial desire from billionaire Elon Musk to acquire social media giant Twitter in April, the acquisition deal has been finally completed. However, as part of the early moments of the acquisition, Musk has been reportedly firing key executives of the Twitter board.
Reports from the BBC note that while there was no official investor relations announcement posted, an early investor for the company confirmed the deal has been done. In response to the acquisition, Musk posted several tweets to commemorate the deal, including a tweet saying ‘the bird is free’, and a video of him entering the Twitter headquarters–while jokingly bringing a kitchen sink and saying ‘let that sink in’.
Musk also tweeted out a statement directed at advertisers, saying that his motivation in acquiring Twitter was to have a ‘common digital town square’, where a wide variety of beliefs can be shared with one another without resorting to violence.
“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide in our society”, he said.
Despite the intentions, Musk’s Twitter takeover is marred with issues. Reuters reports that inside sources say that Musk has fired chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. Agrawal and Segal, who were present at the closing deal, were later escorted out.
It should be recalled that Agrawal previously said that Musk won’t be joining the Twitter board following his desire to acquire the company.
The Musk-Twitter acquisition deal has been a long one in the making, with Musk previously backing out of the deal in July. In response, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk, with the latter finally accepting to acquire Twitter.
Mumbai, India – Public relations consultancy Stories.PR.Digital (SPRD) has bagged the PR mandate of Wubba Lubba Dub Dub (WLDD), a local meme and experiential marketing company, where they will manage the company’s industry alliances and help the client in building thought leadership in addition to public relations.
Founded in 2018, by Arihant Jain, Jaidev Kesti, and Vivekanand Kilari, three college friends from Belgaum, WLDD have envisioned reaching greater heights with new-age meme and experiential marketing. This indicates the tremendous growth opportunity for the meme companies which would benefit from this trend.
WLDD has helped several businesses to break through the clutter via snackable and entertaining communication models. With relatable content, they’ve introduced meme marketing to over 100 brands so far, and have expanded their horizon as a leader in digital assets.
Arihant Jain, CEO at WLDD, said, “Everything your audience sees online leaves an imprint on them, and through an extension of tech products, our aim is to showcase how this industry can continue to be profitable, number-driven, and accessible for all. We’re committed to solidifying our impressions and communications with this partnership.”
Meanwhile, Asif Upadhye, director at SPRD, commented, “In a world full of routines, people seek solace in ‘memes’. It’s a fun as well as challenging way to accomplish customer retention strategies by deepening the connection with your audiences. We are definitely looking forward to unfolding what this collaboration beholds.”
India – India-based hyperlocal experience marketing brand, Things2do, has launched in four cities – Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Delhi. The brand is renowned for providing consumers with distinctive experiences across travel, lifestyle, aviation, food, and culinary.
According to Things2do, it has identified three sets of consumers, namely The Weekenders, who are always looking out for unique experiences to spend their weekends, The Explorers, who are in search of new experiences that they’ve not discovered, and The Aspirers, who want to update their lifestyle in a certain manner.
The brand currently caters to this set of audiences and provides a plethora of experiences to celebrate occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, weekends, topical days, and special events, and brings newness to their lives.
Roch Dsouza, CEO of Things2do, shared that the Things2do tribe is excited to diversify across newer cities after successfully being the discovery platform for experiences across ten cities; they have now successfully launched the experiences in four new cities and are seeing great traction, consumer insights, and needs that are coming through.
“We express gratitude to all our partner brands for trusting us and introducing great curations and experiences, changing the face of the experiences industry. We are excited to be part of our consumer’s lifestyle journey and help them live a fulfilling life,” said Dsouza.
Last year, MARKETECH APAC selected 13 women leaders across the Asia Pacific to discover their leadership journey, experiences, and insights into anything about marketing. The content was produced in the form of videos, podcasts, and articles. Some women marketing leaders that graced the inaugural series were Manisha Seewal, CMO of Gumtree Australia; Vasuta Agarwal, SVP & managing director of InMobi APAC;Angeli Beltran, director of interactive commerce ASEAN & global care centre of excellence at Reckitt; Raushida Vasaiwala, general manager for APAC at Celtra; and Eileen Ooi, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Malaysia.
The conference component
This year, MARKETECH APAC introduces a unique platform to recognize women’s empowerment in the industry in a one-day virtual event on May 31, 2023. The virtual event starts with a half-day conference featuring renowned women industry leaders in the Asia Pacific to talk about the trends and insights in marketing
Approximately, 10 top-notched women speakers will be invited to speak. While the conference features women marketing leaders, the event is open to all audiences.
The awards segment
The second half of the day will be an awards ceremony. There are 5 categories: (1) Empowered Women in Marketing, (2) Empowered Women in Agency, (3) Empowered Women in Tech, (4) Empowered Women in Platforms, and (5) Empowered Women in SME
There would be at least 20 winners for each category. MARKETECH APAC will write a dedicated article for each winner to further celebrate their success.
All nominees will receive a complimentary pass to join the virtual event
Speaking about the launch, Joven Barceñas, founder & CEO of MARKETECH APAC, said, “We have received great feedback and reviews about our last Empowered Women Series. We are greatly encouraged to innovate and to reformat the programme to further highlight the achievements of women in the marketing industry.”
Barceñas added, “The conference component of the event allows us to gather the select women marketing leaders to share their insights and experiences not just to empower women marketers but everyone in the industry.”
“The award winners are selected by an esteemed women panel of judges in the industry. This process offers a genuine result for the winners. Not to mention that we have a head of the jury for each category which further validates the authenticity of the awards.”
Meanwhile, Shaina Teope, regional editor of MARKETECH APAC, also commented, “Diversity in leadership is an ongoing challenge for all industries and this includes the marketing world. Some of the most successful brands and creative outfits are helmed by women and we want to be at the forefront of honouring these amazing leaders. While we introduced a very successful pilot series last year, we wanted to come out with a stronger initiative. We’re proud of ‘Empowered Women 2023’ which now boasts a bigger platform to give female marketing leaders the recognition they deserve.”
Here are the key dates:
Entry Submission – until March 31, 2023
Judging Period – April 1 – 15, 2023
Virtual Awarding Ceremony – May 31, 2023
The nomination fee is US$249 (early-bird rate), applicable until February 28, 2023. After which, the standard fee of US$349 applies.
Head over to the official event site for the complete details. Interested parties can contact MARKETECH APAC’s team about the nomination process and sponsorship opportunities at [email protected].
India – Dentsu Creative India has announced the appointment of Benny Augustine as its new chief operating officer, where he will oversee the agency’s operations in India. He will be reporting to Amit Wadhwa, chief executive officer at Dentsu Creative India.
His objective will be to build various frameworks, platforms, and business processes that promote efficiency and effectiveness for clients using modern creativity.
Furthermore, he will aim to foster the company culture by leading internal initiatives and implementing training programs to help develop talent.
Augustine will be also working closely with the global operations team at Dentsu Creative led by its global chief operating officer Andrea Terrassa.
Prior to his new role, he was with the senior management team at Dentsu Webchutney as chief financial officer (CFO). During that time, he played a key role in establishing the agency as one of the largest digital creative agencies in India.
Speaking on his new role, Augustine said, “I am super thrilled to take up this new assignment. It would be both challenging and exciting to be the COO of one of the most creative networks globally. I am thankful to Amit and the dentsu senior management for considering me for this critical role.”
Meanwhile, Wadhwa commented, “While we move into this new era of a strong brand like Dentsu Creative in India, it is important to have someone to spearhead the operational transformation who understands people as well as the business. To be honest, I don’t think I could have asked for a better person than Benny to do this.”
Augustine’s appointment follows a slew of local appointments, including Bhasker Jaiswal as new COO of media and Arjuna Gaur as new chief creative officer. The appointments follow their recent wins at the Cannes Lions Festival for their campaign with media company VICE.
Singapore – Digital brand agency Bonsey Jaden has welcomed Daniel Loo as its new regional executive creative director for Southeast Asia, and brings with him over twenty years of experience that followed the industry shift from traditional to digital media.
He has previously led creative teams in some of the top international advertising agencies in Malaysia including Ogilvy, McCann and Hakuhodo. A copywriter at his core, Loo has also acted as the regional head of copy at Grab—at a time when the company was changing rapidly—giving him a necessary cross-cultural perspective on what drives the coming waves of new businesses.
Speaking on his appointment, Loo said, “I was really drawn to Bonsey Jaden’s adaptable and very flexible culture because one thing I’ve learned over the past two decades is there are no clear-cut solutions, especially now; the digital space has expanded and changed so much.”
He added, “I’ve always been interested in the way advertising evolves, so it’s been both fascinating and daunting to witness that change, but it’s also taught me that these so-called ‘soft skills’—being resilient, being curious, being able to wrap your head around the experiences of others—are objectively far more valuable than society would have us believe.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Posavac, co-founder and CEO at Bonsey Jaden, commented, “I consider us very fortunate to have connected with Daniel Loo at the right time. It’s not often you come across talent with such depth and breadth of experience, who also knows when and how to bend or break a rule if it’s just going to work. I feel that Daniel’s work speaks for itself, and we are excited about him joining our leadership team and heading up one of our largest teams in the business.”
Loo’s appointment follows the recent appointments at Bonsey Jaden, including Marvin Duval as new head of strategy and Sherwin Kukreja as new head of social media. Bonsey Jaden has primary investment from the CUE Group, and more recently the two companies have collaborated in launching a data-driven solution targeted at the retail industry.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Digital lifestyle insurer Tune Protect has appointed TBWA\Malaysia as its agency of record for its creative business portfolio.
The agency’s objective is to create a cohesive sustainable brand positioning aligned with their brand’s goal of being the preferred lifestyle insurer for millennials, Gen Z and small and medium enterprises (SME).
As part of the appointment, TBWA\Malaysia a campaign featuring T.P. the Thumb, Tune Protect’s mascot, to promote its simple three-step approach requiring three minutes to purchase, three hours to receive a response and three days to receive a claim upon approval.
Rohit Nambiar, group chief executive officer at Tune Protect Group Berhad, said, “To achieve our vision of being the lifestyle insurer that everyone loves and appealing to the digital world and a younger dynamic generation, we felt the timing was right to embark on a larger scale branding exercise and appointed TBWA, our first creative agency, to help us achieve our goal in Malaysia and Thailand.”
Meanwhile, Hui Tsin Yee, chief executive officer at TBWA\Malaysia, commented, “Our task is to build a strong brand presence, with emphasis on Tune Protect’s core offering that not only simplifies the entire customer journey but strengthens the consumers interactions by adding value to their everyday lives.”
Today, many consumers believe that brands have the responsibility to create positive environmental change, encouraging future sustainability. These consumers want brands to produce products and services that respect environmental and social issues because they love to relate to their preferred brands.
One of the companies who have been strong on sustainability marketing efforts is insurance company Allianz PNB Life in the Philippines, who released a sustainability spot ‘No Filter’, alongside creative agency GIGIL in 2021, highlighting the symbolism of ‘filters’ and the illusion of seeing our environment from a ‘filtered’ perspective. Another campaign of Allianz PNB Life for its commitment to sustainability is entitled ‘Seeds of Tomorrow’, which was launched last July 2022. It focused on a more literal approach this time, as the company needed “to go into detail” and show how Allianz is fulfilling that sustainability role in securing the future. The ad, sans the frills, shows different scenarios of how a good insurance plan can help build a better ‘tomorrow’ for oneself, family, and the environment.
Additionally, creative technology agency whiteGREY is also committed to promoting sustainability. In August 2022, the agency launched a new sustainability business practice called ‘whiteGREY Positive’ (wG+), which aims to help brands and NGOs achieve their sustainability goals and reduce environmental impact. Through a range of solutions including brand strategy, creativity, behaviour change and technology, wG+ will be able to help organisations respond to Australian consumer and corporate demand for sustainable progress.
For MARKETECH APAC’s latest The Inner State, we have invited Gino Riola, Allianz PNB Life’s chief marketing officer, and Simon Wassef, whiteGREY’s chief strategy officer, to discuss how creative communications can contribute to promoting sustainable benefits to businesses, consumers, and society.
Businesses’ creative communication strategy on sustainability
As the demand for sustainable marketing continues to grow, we asked about both the unique challenges and opportunities it presented. Riola shared that their client communications, consumer research, and focus group discussions have indicated that sustainability is an important subject for Filipino consumers.
“We have had excellent recognition from our policyholders, distribution partners, and the general public on our sustainability campaigns and advocacies. The good challenge for us is how to continue spreading the message and encouraging like-minded organisations and individuals to join our cause,” he said.
Riola added, “We collaborate with SOS Children’s Village, WWF, our bank partners, local government units, and Life Changers. Globally, the Allianz Group focuses on climate change and decarbonisation, social impact, and integrating sustainability across our operations.”
Meanwhile, for whiteGREY, the biggest challenge they have faced is meeting the cultural demand for sustainable, responsible business from all their partners. Wassef said, “But from this challenge comes opportunity. All of our clients are asking us about it. And the answer, quite simply, lies in extraordinary ideas. Ideas that galvanise organisations. Ideas that change consumer perception of what’s possible, change behaviours, and change the fortunes of businesses.”
He also added, “That’s why we created a dedicated sustainability practice, whiteGREY Positive (wG+). To enable anyone, at any stage of their sustainability journey, to walk in our doors and create the ideas that will help them meet that cultural demand, and to solve the tension of growing in ways that are good for people and the planet with extraordinary ideas.”
In terms of the factors businesses consider when creating sustainability campaigns and messaging, Riola said that the two main factors for them at Allianz PNB Life are the relevance and impact of their sustainability advocacies.
“We also take into consideration our strengths and those of our sustainability partners in terms of our capability to execute,” he added.
Meanwhile, Wassef shared that at whiteGREY, they follow a simple, three-step process: Consult. Collide. Create.
“We Consult widely. We invite as many diverse perspectives and practitioners into the conversation as we can, both from inside our client’s organisation and from outside. Then we Collide. This is where all the diverse thinking is brought together to articulate – and solve – the real tension. The Create phase is exactly what the name suggests. But it’s not just about any idea. The first two phases ensure that what we create is authentic, tangible, enduring and – most importantly – extraordinary ideas. The bar is high – only extraordinary ideas will do,” he said.
When asked about how to prevent dull and ineffective green marketing campaigns, and how to develop more creative sustainability campaigns, Riola said, “We motivate buy-in by communicating the relevance and impact of our advocacies effectively and making it easy. For instance, policyholders of our Allianz Protect financial solution donate automatically to the World Wildlife Fund’s foodshed program that will benefit farming communities in Negros Occidental.”
Meanwhile, Wassef said, “To prevent dull and ineffective campaigns, articulate the real tension. Sweat it. And be honest about it. It’s only in the grit of real tension that we find the extraordinary ideas that truly move the needle.”
Achieving Sustainable Future
As consumers have become more socially conscious of their consumption, we also asked about how they aim to develop their products/services and marketing campaigns to reflect this new resolve.
For Allianz PNB Life, Riola said that they will continue to pursue their current advocacies and work with their partners to reach more beneficiaries and lay the foundations for the Allianz Group’s three areas of focus: climate change and decarbonisation, social impact, and integrating sustainability across their operations.
“Further, we have plans to develop new sustainability-related financial solutions such as Allianz Protect and the Peso-Hedged Global Sustainability Equity Fund,” he added.
While for whiteGREY, Wassef noted, “We’ve talked about wG+ and how it works. We have spent years working in the sustainability space and we wanted to share what we’ve learned. Simply put, this is an insight that we’re happy to share because our future depends on it.”
He further shared, “But moreover, it’s in our DNA. Our belief is that tension creates extraordinary. The real tension of how to grow in ways that are good for the planet is one we have to solve because our belief demands it. And when that’s in your DNA, you bring diverse perspectives to the table and give them their moment to contribute.”
Singapore – Advertising company GREY has announced that Irene Wong, current CEO of GREY Malaysia, and Graham Drew, current chief creative officer at GREY Malaysia, will be taking on full commercial and creative responsibility across the Malaysia and Singapore studios.
GREY Singapore will join GREY Malaysia to become one unit under the new joint leadership structure. After eight years at GREY Singapore and thirty years in the industry, Konstantin Popovic, CEO at GREY Singapore will leave the agency at the end of the year to refocus his career on his deep passion for sustainability.
Wong and Popovic and their respective leadership teams will work closely over the next three months to ensure a seamless transition
As CEO of GREY Malaysia & Singapore and CCO of GREY Malaysia & Singapore, Wong and Drew will have equal responsibility across the two offices, taking full advantage of the greater pool of resources and talent.
A high-profile member of the Malaysian ad scene, Wong previously held posts at Leo Burnett and Naga DDB before coming to Grey. Rising to CEO in 2015, she honed her craft by working on a balance of both local and multinational brands such as Telekom Malaysia, Ministry of Finance, The National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, SEA Games 2017, P&G, Lenovo, Volvo, HSBC, Hong Leong Bank and Coway. Under her stewardship, the business has continued to grow year-on-year, with a healthy and stable mix of local and international clients.
Originally from the UK, Drew arrived at Grey in 2014 and is widely recognised for shaping the creative reputation of the Malaysia studio. As CCO, he has led the team to unparalleled creative success and noteworthy pitch wins, including Carlsberg, Tesco, Telekom Malaysia and WWF. Over the past four years, he has successfully led borderless work across the network for clients such as SK-II, Enfagrow, Hong Kong Tourism Board and multiple projects as global ECD for Carlsberg. Drew is also the chairman of the APAC Creative Council and a member of the Grey Global Creative Board.
Wong said, “This is such an exciting opportunity for us and the teams and a chance for synergy. The truth is every studio has things that they are great and not so great at, being able to fill each other’s gaps and becoming a stronger unit across the board is what this is all about.”
Meanwhile, Drew commented, “One of the better things we learnt over the past few years is that utilising talent shouldn’t be dependent on geography. Exposing the Singapore team to the creative talent of Malaysia and vice versa will be inspirational on all fronts and will be reflected in the work.”
Singapore – Southeast Asian property technology company PropertyGuru has announced its new brand repositioning that is centred around guidance to everyone in the property journey – including property seekers, sellers, agents, developers, banks, valuers, and city planners.
The new brand positioning–‘Where every step of your journey will be guided by Guru’–reflects PropertyGuru’s vision to be a trusted advisor. It echoes the Group’s mission to help property seekers, sellers and owners make confident property decisions, beyond ‘property search’.
PropertyGuru also introduced a new enterprise brand, ‘PropertyGuru For Business’ as it doubles down on innovative solutions that will guide its property enterprise partners to achieve their business goals. ‘PropertyGuru For Business’ unifies PropertyGuru’s business-to-business (B2B) offerings and is designed to guide enterprise clients such as property developers, agencies, banks, valuers, and policy/city planners.
Other proprietary solutions including PropertyGuru Finance, DataSense, ValueNet, FastKey and event solutions, PropertyGuru For Business will deliver synergies by leveraging data and technology, to help all enterprise clients tap into new growth opportunities and optimise efficiency.
Hari V. Krishnan, chief executive officer and managing director at PropertyGuru Group, said, “As Southeast Asia’s market leader, the Group is acting upon the responsibility of helping everyone in their property journey make more confident decisions. We will be the infrastructure through which anyone seeking or selling property can make confident property decisions because every interaction is upheld by principles that create trust between users.”
He added, “That infrastructure is the ‘Property Trust Platform’. We are introducing data solutions that bring transparency, use our innovations in technology to deliver efficiency and digitise property buying and selling, as we guide all our stakeholders on their property journey.”
Meanwhile, Remona Duquesne, director of brand at PropertyGuru Group, added, “Our brand repositioning reflects a strategic pivot into the Group’s new phase of growth outlining our value proposition that the Group offers, beyond search. We want to be right there at every step of the property journey, providing guidance in a market that is filled with complexity, mistrust, and anxiety. We will be that guide.”
She added, “The brand repositioning sees a new narrative that better reflects our evolution. We will also enhance the experiences created across all platforms, from our offline presence to website, apps, and social platforms.”
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