Tag: Marketing

Philippines – Community platform theAsianparent and immunization-champion moms, ‘Team BakuNanay’, with the support of Sanofi and other community partners, continue the movement to fight vaccine misinformation in the country with its nationwide campaign entitled, ‘Building a BakuNation’.

The campaign’s aim is to create a scaled-up version of its predecessor, the Team BakuNanay vaccine confidence campaign. BakuNanay stands for BAKUNA NANAY, representing a group of active moms from theAsianparent community who believe that vaccines are indeed effective and can help to protect their family from diseases.

Team BakuNanay was a result of a 2020 poll conducted by theAsianparent on their app, which found that 45% of Pinoy moms refused to have their children vaccinated by their pediatricians due to their fear of possible vaccine side effects. Within a year after launching, the Team BakuNanay community grew from 85 members to more than 9,000; positive sentiment increased by 15%, and 70% of Filipino mothers have agreed to have their children vaccinated according to a follow-up poll by theAsianparent.

According to Carla Perlas, VP for Communications at theAsianparent, “Health is a love language,” as she takes pride in how the campaign continues to go onward and upward and supports theAsianparent’s mission to help parents have healthy pregnancies and raise healthy families.

This time, through the Building a BakuNation campaign, the goal is to leverage the success of Team BakuNanay and continue its strong desire to keep children and communities safe by fighting vaccine misinformation in the country. In Building a BakuNation, parents can learn more about diseases and their impact, share their experiences on vaccine use for their kids, ask questions, and give and receive advice from others. During the online media launch hosted by Community Manager of Team BakuNanay and Davao-based BakuNanay herself, Ara Casas-Tumuran, parents, media friends, noted guests, and viewers from all over the country were introduced to the Building a BakuNation campaign with lots of engaging videos, trivia, Q&A, and exciting contests.

Head of Content, theAsianparent, Candice Venturanza, also extends her appreciation to the Team BakuNanay community as they strive to help drive the movement for spreading the right and factual information on vaccines, and stressed to viewers that parents should provide vaccines just like how food is important to their kids.

theAsianparent - sanofi
theAsianparent team with community partner Sanofi

With an inspiring video pledge featuring moms from across the nation and speaking their local dialects, to various support from private and public organizations such as Sanofi, Department of Health (DOH) and various parenting communities, Building a BakuNation’s aim is to acquire 750,000 pledges by the end of 2022. This highly inclusive community is not just for moms but all members of the family, where everyone is encouraged to be mindful of their vaccinations and taking the opportunity to avail these for free at their local health centers, and continue to encourage member sign-ups from all over the country to join the advocacy to fight both misinformation and disinformation / increase vaccine confidence.

This exciting campaign is not only exclusive online, but will also feature various collaborations with theAsianparent Philippines’ supporters from mommy and parent communities some of them including: Millennial Moms PH, Lifestyle Moms PH, Love Moms PH, Mars Club PH, and many more.

Singapore – Play to earn board game Monopolon announces strategic partnership with IKONIC, an NFT marketplace for Esports. Monopolon and IKONIC will strive to work together to create a better web 3 world and maximise blockchain technology. 

IKONIC is a dedicated marketplace for Esports. Its aim is to bring forth a revolution for gamers. It is a full-service NFT marketplace where the pro-players, gamers, and teams can create digital items on their own. Players can create their unique NFTs easily here. Thus, they will be listed and ready to trade on IKONIC’S marketplace. IKONIC has its own unique $IKONIC token, which is the key to unlocking rewards for players. Users can get a discount and some special bonuses while using this token.

Monopolon is the virtual manifestation of our childhood board game Monopoly. It combines PVP (Player Vs Player) and PVE (Player vs Environment) game mode. It is a pentagon-shaped battlefield where the players would roll dice and move their characters. There are many ways to earn from the game. Besides, a lot of excitement is waiting for you in every sphere of the game.

The CEO of Monopolon, Manfred NG, said, “It is an honour to be partnering with IKONIC. We are very happy to have them on board. Basically, we can promote our Monopolon’s gaming moments on their website.” 

IKONIC aims to maximise blockchain technology and to increase the financial freedom of gamers by increasing their numbers and making a profit from their gameplay. Monopolon, on the other hand, is futuristic in the gamefi project. Players could create their metaverse with virtual buildings and land. It is a DeFi board game built on the BSC blockchain. Monopolon needs its own NFT to play the game.

The partnership of Monopolon and IKONIC is a cross-pollination of each other’s communities. IKONIC is already partnered with 30 NFT and gamefi projects which makes Monopolon trusted by many other communities and projects. Thus, Monopolon is set to receive more exposure in which investors could be interested in.

Mumbai, India — JSW Paints has come out with another campaign, this time in concert with the launch of Aquaglo, a unique pioneering water-based paint for wood and metal that is free of the harmful toxins commonly found in traditional wood and metal paints. The campaign, entitled ‘Paint ka GK badhao’, was done in partnership with TBWA\India.

After its Any Colour One Price offering, JSW Paints is back to changing the rules of the paint industry with yet another first-time-in-India innovation that’s really new news in an age-old industry. Counting on clutter breaking communication to draw people’s attention in a low involvement category where no one is tempted to research the nuances of the paint that goes on their own walls and in their own homes. ‘Paint ka GK badhao’ is a clear call to action to make India sit up and take notice.

The campaign brings to light the state of India’s general knowledge and perception when it comes to all things paint. With story-telling that is equal parts educational and irreverent. Featuring Bollywood star -Alia Bhatt, the brand’s commercial lands the message that a newly painted door can pollute your home.

Coming from the actress herself, this revelation – that a newly painted door can pollute your home, seems like another major general knowledge goof up. What happens next is a social media tsunami, an ever-growing cascade of jokes and banter, with everyone from news anchors, to stand up comics and the average Indian joining in for a laugh. But this time around, the joke really is on them. Because not too many Indians know that traditional paint for wood and metal contain harmful toxins that spread pollution inside the house. But once you make that discovery, it’s hard to forget it.

Talking about the expected impact of the campaign in changing India’s paint vocabulary and expectations, Govind Pandey, CEO of TBWA\India, said “Paint category has been dominated by the same market leaders for decades without any real challenger. JSW Paints is the disruptor that is questioning the unquestioned answers and norms. It is also encouraging the end consumers to get more involved because only then they will discover the best solutions for themselves.”

Commenting on the genesis of the core campaign idea, Parixit Bhattacharya, managing partner creative of TBWA\India said, “A low involvement category, a great product and the nation’s sweetheart. Stir them well and you get a sensational headline. Paint Ka GK Badhao is asking people to make informed choices and shut the door on polluting chemicals.”

Sydney, Australia – Travel and leisure e-commerce platform Klook, reveals its latest data on the bookings they received since the start of 2022 which makes Victoria the number one destination for inbound tourists representing over 48% of bookings.

Klook data shows that Victoria is the number one destination for inbound tourists, representing over 48% of bookings while New South Wales and Queensland trail at 20% and 16% respectively. New South Wales has been toppled by Victoria as the most popular Australian state for overseas travellers to visit. 

Co-founder and COO, Eric Gnock Fah at Klook heads to Sydney for the Australian Tourism Exchange to share the news. 

According to their data, Melbourne is the top choice for Singaporeans. This renewed interest in Victoria has been driven by Singapore, which has been leading the way for the rebound of international travel to Australia. Tourism Australia research has shown that Singapore flight bookings are up 207% against the same period in 2019.1 79% of activities and experiences booked on Klook from overseas customers since the start of 2022 have been from Singapore, with growing interest from Malaysia and Thailand.

These travellers from Southeast Asia are booking more tours and activities over attractions, revealing that they desire nature and wellness over urban hotspots. Some of the most popular experiences booked are the Great Ocean Road tour, Yarra Valley tour, Phillip Island Nature Parks Penquin Parade and Blue Mountains Scenic World reflecting how they have been craving for a taste of Australian culture and its beautiful nature.

Fah will be touching down in Australia for the first time since 2019 to attend the Australian Tourism Exchange as part of Klook’s ongoing efforts to support Australia’s cross-border travel recovery and bolster the reinvigoration of Australia as a leading travel destination in the Asia Pacific.

Victoria, Australia – Australian integrated communications agency Think HQ launched “Shower Shorter. Save Water” campaign for Yarra Valley Water that aims to remind Victorians that conserving water and saving money in the process, is easier than we think. 

The series of campaign videos features Melburnians being encouraged to take a closer look at their time spent in the shower and consider creative ways to shave down those minutes. The creative taps into the relatively young target audience’s sense of fun, using 3D modelling and animation to bring to life five innocently unaware characters who get distracted in the shower; performing a ballad, daydreaming of unicorns, meditating to unwind, brainstorming how to solve big problems, and dancing it out. 

Think HQ Group Head of Creative, Andy Lima, said,“The shower is the space where we love to relive moments and memories, make to-do lists, win arguments, or practice karaoke. But when we indulge in some extended ‘me time’ under the running water, we waste a precious resource. Our campaign plays on those bathroom time distractions, reminding people to save them for when water isn’t literally going down the drain.” 

The digital and social led Shower Shorter campaign aims to encourage people to shorten their showers from an average of 7 to 4 minutes. The campaign asks people to take their entertaining or relaxing activities elsewhere in a light-hearted jest at our rather ridiculous looking shower antics. This can then help to save an average of $200 a year on water and energy bills, or 24 Litres of water per shower. With the tagline “Shower Shorter. Save Water”, the campaign is supported through above the line channels, including large format outdoor and street furniture, Spotify and podcasts, digital display, social media (including in-language social), and YouTube. 

It targets bill-paying customers aged under 35 who are conscious of their water usage and/or those who have a strong emotional connection to their showering experience. 

Yarra Valley Water Senior Campaign Specialist, Ryan Jamieson, commented, “The campaign aims to educate customers on the impacts showers have on household water consumption, as the months get cooler, our time in the shower tends to get longer. With showers currently making up an average of 31 per cent of a typical household’s water use, it is an important reminder to our customers, that small changes such as shortening your shower can make a big difference individually and collectively.”

The campaign is part of Melbourne’s largest retail water utility’s new brand strategy that puts people first and focuses on creating a brighter future for communities, the natural environment and innovation.

The campaign is part of Melbourne’s largest retail water utility’s new brand strategy that puts people first and focuses on creating a brighter future for communities, the natural environment and innovation. It will run across Melbourne, within Yarra Valley Water’s catchment area.

Singapore – Web 3 creative agency Metacurio announced the launch of a new joint venture with, a digital media and social commerce network based in Hong Kong, built by and for creators across Greater China. The company will be headquartered out of Singapore and called Metacurio VS Singapore.

Metacurio VS Singapore will be the exclusive home for VS Media and its IP across segments like NFT creation, marketing, and distribution. Metacurio will provide to the new company its deep expertise in Web3 creative strategy, artist curation, crypto-native market services, NFT buyer curation, gamification, and collectibility strategies. 

The relationship cements Metacurio’s global reach, especially with creative millennials across Asia. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Hong Kong, VS Media has over 1,000 client relationships and more than 200 million worldwide fans, including over 150 million in Greater China. Investors in the company include Discovery Communications.

Founder of VS Media, Ivy Wong, said, “We want to give our extensive network of creators, influencers, and audiences the best tools possible to connect with each other and leverage value from creative work.” 

According to Wong, by leveraging VS Media’s deep relationship reach, in partnership with Metacurio’s deep expertise in web3, Metacurio VS Singapore is better positioned than any other company in Greater China to build up the creator economy in web3. “Together we are excited for the groundbreaking creation of this first-of-its-kind joint venture,” added Wong.

Metacurio Co-Founder and CEO Jeff Hood, commented, “We are incredibly excited to partner with our friends at VS Media, a world leader in their space. Metacurio VS Singapore cements Metacurio’s truly global reach, especially with creative millennials across Asia, a region which still remains largely untapped by the crypto community.”

Metacurio Co-Founder and Executive Chair Sophie Watts, commented on the expansion, “Having spent a decade of my career working with some of China’s most prominent investors and media entities, I have experienced firsthand how Asia is a cultural hub of art, music, film, and entertainment for the entire world, and we are excited to expand that reach even further in web3.”

Metacurio recently launched the historic NFT collaboration between Wladimir Klitschko and artist WhIsBe to benefit Ukraine, raising over $400,000. Metacurio has also launched the highest-selling athlete NFT campaign of all time, in terms of secondary trading volume, with Mike Tyson’s first official series of NFTs on OpenSea.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam – Vietnam’s international airline Vietjet Air and Happy Digital Bank (HDBank) have collaborated to launch a budget airline co-branded Platinum card that aims to make flying and shopping more convenient, cashless and rewarding. 

According to HDBank, the internationally valid credit card includes the following benefits: 5 per cent cashback on Vietjet tickets, 0.3 per cent cashback on all other retail transactions and global travel insurance up to 11 billion VNĐ including delayed luggage and international medical assistance.

Pham Quoc Thanh, CEO of HDBank, said, “The HDBank Vietjet Platinum Credit Card has been specially created with market-leading benefits to target the rapidly growing segment in the country that travels frequently for business and pleasure with a unique bundle of benefits that provides cashless convenience, rewards and unmatched value.”

Nguyen Thanh Son, Vietjet’s vice president, said, “As air travel regains momentum post-pandemic, the distinct benefits of this co-branded credit card will provide our valued Vietjet flyers with cherished experiences and outstanding value.”

Besides travel benefits, the card also offers discounts on 5-star resorts/hotels, golf, dining, shopping and entertainment. The card also comes with no first-year fee and with two supplementary cards for family members free for life.

The card has been launched with a unique promotion providing 20 per cent cashback on the first Vietjet online ticket purchase. Moreover, this co-branded card provides cardholders priority check-in privilege at Vietjet counters.

Taipei, Taiwan – Cross-chain NFT marketplace Lootex collaborates with NFT shopping platform, OneOffs for the “Fashion in the Metaverse” project. 

Lootex was recently invited to help curate the journey through art and fashion with OneOffs at the Breeze Center in Fuxing Taipei. Simply yet deftly labelled, “Fashion in the Metaverse” collected some of the most prominent NFT collections as well as physical art. A breath of newness is being created as the world moves forward in its understanding of the metaverse and what it means to the various artists’ creations. Lootex, filled with accomplishment as the adoption and integration of NFT artwork and GameFi is gaining more traction throughout Asia.

The collaboration with Lootex and OneOffs is a step in the right direction for the first metaverse NFT fashion show in Taiwan. Talented artists from The Sandbox Foundation, An An, TongYangChicken, Nest, Beryll Chen, Carina Chen, and game art designer Nora C. were invited to design a futuristic sci-fi fashion catwalk with the avatars created in The Sandbox’s VoxEdit. Each avatar is casted into a limited-edition NFT and put on the Lootex website for sale. The exclusivity of each avatar will only enhance the collector’s experience in the ever-growing metaverse.  It is still to be given a date but buyers of these avatars can expect some cool perks that will allow them to show off not just the art in the real world but also flex their stylistic choices in the metaverse.

The latest collaboration extends the existing partnership between Lootex and The Sandbox, which started in2018.  This is part of a broader partnership between Lootex and The Sandbox that also adds The Sandbox Co-Founder Sebastien Borget as an advisor and investor of Lootex. 

CEO and Co-Founder of Lootex, Justine Lu, said, “Lootex is proud to be a long-term partner with The Sandbox, and expects to see more game developers and creators utilising The Sandbox to make the next generation of metaverse assets and games.” Lu is the organiser of the Global Blockchain Game Alliance, also co-hosted the VoxEdit NFT creation event and Game Jam game design competitions for The Sandbox. The support from such a huge contributor to the future of the metaverse and its assets makes it clear that Lootex is on the path to not just being pioneers in their field but a major player in NFT marketplaces.

Beyond The Sandbox, Lootex’s player-centric, cross-chain NFT trading platform is constantly updated to reflect the latest developments in blockchain games. The creativity interwoven with both physical and virtual worlds is the reason Lootex is on its way to being the one-stop shop that can’t be denied. Providing their 80,000 active users with a decentralised multi-chain NFT marketplace, Lootex will surely open the path to more impressive projects.  Coupled with the appreciation for the artists that are showcasing their amazing works, we would not be surprised to see more collaborations of this calibre.

Toronto, Canada –  Independent programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) ad tech company, Hivestack, has today announced the launch of a new research division that will focus on exploring in-store, programmatic media activation in the metaverse. Former Microsoft Research managing director and computer vision pioneer P. Anandan joins Hivestack as a special advisor to spearhead the initiative.

According to a recent eMarketer report advertisers spent $31B USD in 2021 in the US on retail media, with a path to $100B in the coming years. The findings of the report showed that the majority of the ad spend went to advertising on Amazon and Walmart’s digital assets. A growing trend is that large, big box retailers are implementing custom ad tech stacks with identity solutions to monetize their online marketplace as well as their physical stores. 

Metaverse stores will enable advertising opportunities for marketers to connect with consumers – in particular, their avatars, at the point of purchase – on virtual in-store walls, virtual digital endcaps, and even virtual in-store audio advertising. Preliminary research shows that consumer engagement in the metaverse will far exceed current online experiences and thus lead to deeper engagement with ensuing greater outcomes for advertisers.

Andreas Soupliotis, founder & CEO of Hivestack shared, “With the launch of our research division, we are prototyping how ad tech can be used to programmatically activate ad opportunities in virtual retail stores in the metaverse. In this environment, the consumer is technically inside their homes shopping via VR headsets, but their avatar is out-of-home. Much of Hivestack’s full-stack technology for digital out-of-home activation and monetization applies to retail metaverse advertising, but some important computer science gaps remain to be addressed. We launched this initiative to formulate the needed technology to make programmatic DOOH a success in the meta as well as the physical world.“

The use of meta and crypto-related concepts to buy and sell DOOH ads is already happening. As an example, Hivestack’s exclusive partner in Japan, LIVE BOARD (a wholly owned subsidiary of NTTDocomo and Dentsu Japan) have already started to experiment selling outdoor advertising space as NFTs, representing the first initiative in Japan to sell outdoor advertising rights as an NFT.

P. Anandan commented on his new role of special advisor at Hivestack, “I am thrilled to be advising Hivestack on this new direction of avatar-based out-of-home advertising. There are some important technology, product and engineering challenges that need to be addressed in order for marketers to benefit from this new generation of advertising.”

According to Anandan, there are many unanswered questions regarding how media payments will be made to metaverse retailers, with cryptocurrencies possibly being used. In such cases, RTB bid requests and responses between DSPs and SSPS would be based on cryptocurrency CPMs. With this, he is looking forward to helping Hivestack grow a research team that will address these new frontiers in ad tech and provide marketers with the solutions they will need to succeed in the burgeoning field of ‘Meta Marketing’.

Kevin McDonald, CEO of Kinetic Canada, commented, “The retail metaverse is opening up a new reality for consumers that blends the sensations of physical, out-of-home shopping with ease of mobile shopping.”

Kevin adds that Kinetic Canada is laser-focused on driving precise measurable outcomes for our clients. As the lines blur between consumers and their avatars, the combination of real-world, retail DOOH and metaverse retail digital out-of-home advertising is an important area of exploration to them and their clients.

Bangalore, India – Independent creative agency Talented brought on ad leaders to join the team, ex SVP at Dentsu Webchutney, Priyanka Borah and ex managing partner at Dentsu Webchutney, Prashant Gopalakrishnan as Founding Partners to lead its business strategy.

In a statement, Prashant Gopalakrishnan, said, “We bought into Gautam & PG’s vision of building an agency centred around talent the moment we heard about it. My experience and my gut tells me that’s what clients expect from their creative agencies too: access to the best talent in the market.“

According to Gopalakrishnan, over the last few years, conversations in the industry have been circling around the looming irrelevance of agencies in the new marketing landscape. “All things considered, the agency experience itself is long overdue for a serious reimagination like Gautam often says. Talented is in many ways an experiment to bring back the love for the agency business, by trying to go about everything we do in a fresh way,” added Gopalakrishnan. 

Gopalakrishnan joined Webchutney in 2015 after stints at Leo Burnett, Contract & Capital. He was named Dentsu Webchutney’s first ever Managing Partner in 2020 under then Webchutney CEO & now Talented co-founder Gautam Reghunath. “Together at Webchutney, we achieved a lot of things we never even dreamed of accomplishing. Personally, I’ve been wanting a new challenge. That, plus the chance to build something again with people we love makes this opportunity even more exciting,” Gopalakrishnan added. 

About her new role, Priyanka Borah, says “Working with Gautam & PG at Webchutney was a rewarding experience. And joining them now as founding partner is as great a privilege, as it is a challenge. Prashant and I are here to ensure that the business itself becomes as successful as it can be. That means structuring ourselves internally to consistently deliver great work for clients. Simultaneously, we’ve got very clear ideas & share the same dream about the kind of company that we want to build together: one that stands for creativity, transparency and respect for talent. Stay true to those principles and I know the clients will follow.”

Borah joined Dentsu Webchutney in 2017 and was last leading the agency’s business team as Senior Vice President. During her five years there, she helped drive work for clients including Google, Uber, Airtel, ITC, YouTube amongst others. 

“In the agency business today, there are systemic barriers to a sustainable work experience for employees that need to be eradicated, so that’s an additional area of focus. We want to be an ambitious, world-class, creative company with a big heart. We want every member to be able to enjoy stimulating challenges rather than spend their times chasing deadlines and following up – the biggest bane of our younger colleagues joining advertising. There is no doubt this search for efficiency will have a positive rub-off on work and client relationships as well,” added Borah.