Singapore – Singapore Airlines has emerged as the leader in market research firm YouGov’s ‘Recommend Rankings 2024’ in Singapore, achieving a score of 85.0.
On the other hand, YouGov’s data also highlights the ten most improved brands over the past year, with Singtel Broadband ranking first in Singapore.
Despite facing controversy over a turbulent flight this year, Singapore Airlines has upheld its position as the most recommended brand among customers in Singapore.
Alongside Singapore Airlines, Emirates secures second place with a score of 84.5, followed by Japanese fashion retail chain Uniqlo in third with 83.3. Apple and its smartphone brand iPhone are positioned fourth (80.8) and seventh (78.6), respectively. Nike holds the fifth spot (79.7), closely followed by Adidas in sixth (79.1).
The rankings are based on YouGov Brand Index’s positive ‘Recommend’ score, which measures the percentage of a brand’s customers who would recommend it to a friend or colleague.
In terms of brand improvement, Singtel Broadband has shown the most significant improvement, with a score change from 39.5 to 45.3, followed closely by Food Republic with an improvement of +5.8.
Head & Shoulders and Food Junction rank third (change in score of +5.4) and fourth (+5.3) among improvers, with M1 Mobile (5.2), CNN (5.2), Shokubutsu (5.1), Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (5.1), J&T Express (5.0), and Airbnb (4.9) also making significant strides in Singapore.
Tag: Marketing
Vietnam – Huda, a Vietnamese beer brand owned by Carlsberg Vietnam, has collaborated with creative agency MullenLowe Mishra to launch its first-ever youth focused brand extension that invites young people to join an endless ‘Wave of Fun’.
Drawing inspiration from the brand’s logo of a wave, Huda’s Wave of Fun campaign aims to sweep people up towards the next epic party just as one is winding down, leading youths to exciting and memorable experiences.
In a campaign running until the end of this month, the “Wave of Fun” is dramatised via a new video launched across national television, social media channels and LED screens across provinces.
Digital activations have also been launched, leveraging AI to create an immersive experience for consumers, while nationwide on-ground events have reached 114,000 participants. An ‘Under the Cap’ (UTC) promotion aligned to the theme has also successfully triggered trials with 178% volume growth, whilst the campaign video has earned more than 1 million views on YouTube.
Talking about the campaign, Dang Dinh Chinh, brand director, core beer at Carlsberg Vietnam, said, “With our latest offering, Huda Ice Twist, we wanted to uphold and refresh our brand legacy and we believe this will become the choice for young people’s fun times thanks to its youthful vibe, smooth, easy-to-drink taste and highly evocative brand proposition built around keeping the fun going.”
Meanwhile, Saby Mishra, CEO of MullenLowe Mishra, commented, “For us, Huda Ice Twist was more than just a beer campaign. It marks the birth of a new beer brand in Vietnam by carefully leveraging the legacy of an icon, crafting a compelling new proposition based on real insight and building a distinctive brand code that’s caught the attention of younger cohorts in Vietnam.”
“It is great to see ‘Wave of Fun’ roll out after months of meticulous work by our teams in partnership with the Huda brand team at Carlsberg Vietnam. We are proud to be playing a part in expanding this iconic local beer franchise in Vietnam,” he added.
Singapore – Tinder, the dating app, has launched a new phase of its global campaign, “It Starts With a Swipe,” featuring the most beautiful meet-cutes: the first messages of actual couples who met on Tinder and are now in a relationship.
The campaign reimagines the romance and serendipity of vintage romantic films from the perspective of contemporary dating in a number of new video spots. Because meet-cutes on Tinder occur frequently, the campaign features singles meeting in classic rom-com circumstances. The conversation is based on the actual initial messages of couples who met on the app.
In the post-pandemic environment, people are looking for deeper, more genuine ties. Younger individuals who grew up in digital environments now have a soft spot for the real-life “meet-cutes” of vintage comedies and films. Though some people long for the romantic moments of the past, contemporary daters may find the antics and silliness of classic rom-com scenarios to be a bit much.
The campaign highlights the modern meet-cute as a digital-first experience, complete with all the excitement, awkwardness, and sparks of any first interaction, by using real couples’ initial texts.
One of the films, titled “Rescue,” is inspired by genuine Tinder chats between Samantha and John and stars Lana Condor and Evan Mock. It imagines Samantha and John’s first interaction if they had met in person. In a library, Samantha falls from a ladder while reaching for a book, and John saves her just in time in a classic meet-cute scene reminiscent of the rom-com genre. Samantha then blunders through a succession of sentences, with floating message bubbles displaying her actual typos from a Tinder conversation with John.
The next film, named “Rain,” is based on actual Tinder communications between Kate and Lain. In this scenario, Kate and Lain meet in a field of flowers after a thunderstorm. One continues to explain the specifics of her astrological birth chart to the other, who simply responds, “So hot.” They embrace beneath separating clouds, revealing the message bubbles from their initial Tinder conversation.
“Taxi,” based on actual Tinder communications between Danielle and Matthew, depicts Danielle and Matthew colliding while hailing the same yellow cab. After starting a discussion with a ridiculous pickup line, Matthew nervously repeats himself, with floating message bubbles exposing how the encounter began with an unintentional “double send” on Tinder.
Starting on July 8, the new “It Starts With a Swipe” video advertisements will be available everywhere on digital and streaming platforms.
Along with the new campaign, Tinder will relaunch its popular Single Summer Series for the second year in a row, with events in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, and Nashville. Tinder users in these cities will receive in-app alerts asking them to join the Single Summer Series events throughout the summer. Throughout the summer, the campaign will expand into APAC regions such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea.
Speaking about the campaign, Stephanie Danzi, SVP of marketing at Tinder, said, Daters today are nostalgic for the meet-cutes they’ve seen in old rom-coms. But the reality is that the rom-com meet-cute is the exception, not the rule. Tinder is where modern-day meet-cutes happen — just ask the millions of couples who have met on Tinder. A new relationship starts every three seconds, thanks to Tinder. This campaign celebrates those millions of relationships, and we were honoured to build creative inspired by real first messages from real Tinder couples.”
Meanwhile, Melissa Hobley, chief marketing officer at Tinder, said, “Only 8% of offline daters say it’s easy for them to find a date IRL, and so many missed out on opportunities to connect in the midst of the pandemic. At Tinder, we want to empower our users to find meaningful connections that carry into IRL.”
Singapore – AI-powered omnichannel conversation suite provider SleekFlow has announced the appointment of Gao Lei as chief technology officer, effective immediately.
With over 20 years of tech leadership at Silicon Valley and tech entrepreneurial experience in AI and Big Data, Lei brings a wealth of expertise in building and scaling engineering teams, developing and operating highly scalable and available infrastructure, and creating innovative products that drive business growth.
Prior to joining SleekFlow, Gao Lei served as the CTO at LinkedIn China, where he was responsible for building and scaling the engineering team to support the company’s rapid growth.
During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in developing several award-winning products that have transformed how businesses engage with their customers.
Gao also holds a PhD in Data Replication/Distributed Systems from The University of Texas at Austin and has been recognized as a thought leader in the technology industry, having been featured in numerous industry publications and conferences.
Speaking on his appointment, Lei said, “I am excited to join the SleekFlow team and contribute to the company’s continued success. SleekFlow has a strong reputation for delivering innovative customer engagement solutions. I look forward to leveraging my experience to enhance the platform further and drive even greater value for our platform users.”
Meanwhile, Henson Tsai, founder and CEO of SleekFlow, commented, “We are looking forward to welcoming Gao Lei to the SleekFlow team. His record of successes in delivering transformative technology solutions makes him the ideal candidate to lead our future plans. We are confident that his leadership and vision will further strengthen SleekFlow’s position as a leading player in the customer engagement space.”
Hong Kong – Toys“R”Us has launched its first ‘Playful Living’ concept store in Asia at K11 Art Mall at Tsim Sha Tsui, aiming to make consumers regain their pure childhood happiness through their favourite characters’ decorations and treasured toys.
Having classic and trendy toys, Toys“R”Us’ new store shares a sense of kindness and warmth providing a new shopping experience in a relaxed, worry-free, comfortable, and fun environment.
To celebrate the grand opening of the Playful Living concept store, Ryan Lee, a local fitness trainer and artist, was invited by Toys“R”Us to have the 1st wave collaboration in the store to convey positive energy.
In addition of Rumbbell and Jacrbell products, there are also exhibits and photo points, creating a homey vibe full of positiveness and joy of life.
Different from the colourful and rich main colours of other stores, a large number of minimalist wood decorations equipped with furniture and household items such as dining tables and bookcases are used to create the dream room for “Kidults”.
The new store is stocked with classic and trendy toys, from Dragon Ball and Disney characters, to the recent popularity of Chiikawa, mofusand, LuLu The Piggy, as well as items with local characteristic can be exhibited in three main zones, “For Him”, “For Her” and “Together”.
Melbourne, Australia – UM Australia has announced Michael Mellington’s promotion to the newly created position of head of media planning. The promotion will take effect immediately. He will work in Melbourne and report directly to Raj Gupta, UM’s chief strategy and growth officer.
The UM national media planning team will be headed by Mellington. He will manage the national planning team and attend to the media planning requirements of UM’s national clientele, focusing on clients located in Melbourne.
Mellington joined UM in 2016, having previously worked as head of partnerships in Melbourne.
Speaking about the promotion, Anathea Ruys, CEO, UM Australia, said, “We are very excited to have someone of Mello’s experience and capability fill this critical role in UM’s evolution. Exceptional media planning is a cornerstone of client success, and on a daily basis, Mello demonstrates his dedication to the craft of planning and his commitment to client growth. More recently he has worked tirelessly to establish and deliver a plan to uplift the craft for UM. With his leadership skills so apparent, the entire planning team – and our clients – will see his efforts come to life as we move forward.”
She added, “I am truly delighted Michael has taken on this new role and challenge and I am excited about what the future of media planning looks like for UM with him at the helm.”
Meanwhile, Mellington said, “I am a firm believer that the craft of planning in our industry is pivotal to client growth and needs a renewed focus, so I am thrilled to take on this new challenge working with the incredible talent that is across our national team. My aim moving forward is to balance our approach of people and data to unpack the full spectrum of creative media solutions to drive tangible client outcomes. With the fast-paced evolution of our industry, this is the perfect time for UM to take a market leading stance and I’m honoured to lead this charge with our planning community.”
Australia – Advertising agency WiredCo. has launched a major new campaign for Reckitt’s hygiene brand, Dettol, who has partnered with The Wiggles to find a way to turn handwashing into a fun experience for both parents and children alike.
The partnership approaches handwashing from a fun standpoint, using a trusted role model and music to build memory structures that teach children to wash their hands properly.
To raise awareness of the partnership, WiredCo was appointed to develop the ‘Wash Like The Wiggles campaign’, which has launched across cinema, TV, creator partnerships, earned media and multiple digital touchpoints this week in ANZ, centred around a song and a simple dance routine and music video that was co-created with The Wiggles.
Alongside this, a new Dettol Kids Colour Foaming handwash has been created with The Wiggles, which helps making handwashing fun, and is available in multiple stores across the ANZ region.
To complement the campaign, a limited edition Wash Like The Wiggles songbook has also been created for content creators, schools and media, which helps parents learn the lyrics and actions with their children.
Talking about the partnership and the campaign, Holly McCarthy, marketing director for Reckitt ANZ, said, “During the pandemic, hand hygiene naturally grew. Post-pandemic, it’s important that we keep it on the agenda amongst 3–6-year-olds so they can keep building those vital social and play skills without interruption from the spread of germs.”
“After hearing from parents and teachers about the challenges they face when it comes to getting kids to wash their hands, Dettol had to help.” she added.
Meanwhile, David Kennedy, partner at WiredCo., commented, “Being part of this coming together of two giant Australian icons in Dettol and The Wiggles was an absolute privilege for our team. For us, working with such a compelling insight and bringing that truth to life was important to solving the challenge in the freshest possible way.”
Singapore – CXM agency Merkle Singapore, has been reappointed as the exclusive digital marketing agency for Royal Brunei Airlines, following a competitive pitch.
As the incumbent for the past decade, Merkle Singapore will now continue the remit for another three years.
Through the remit, Merkle Singapore will bring its expertise across a full suite of digital marketing services across email and customer relationship management (CRM), media, search engine optimisation (SEO), app store optimisation (ASO), and data and strategy consultation to support Royal Brunei Airlines in using digital to meet the post-pandemic travel demand and boost its digital revenue.
Previously, Merkle Singapore has been responsible for developing Royal Brunei Airlines’ first integrated email platform and integrated analytics platform. Despite global travel halts during the pandemic, Merkle Singapore continued to be a close consultation partner focusing on future-proofing Royal Brunei Airlines’ go-to-market customer strategy for post-pandemic travel surge.
Post-pandemic, Merkle Singapore has been prioritising a refreshed digital strategy to spur bookings on the back of increased regional and global travel demands.
Talking about the remit, Sanchit Mendiratta, managing director, CXM, dentsu Singapore, and chief growth officer, Merkle Southeast Asia, said, “We’re grateful for the trust and partnership of Royal Brunei Airlines as our longest-standing client. Having helped them to build solid data foundations over the past years, this has paved the way for us now to be able to drive data-driven decision-making to optimise their digital marketing effort and move towards hyper-personalisation.”
Meanwhile, Sabirin Hj Abdul Hamid, chief executive officer, Royal Brunei Airlines, commented, “It is always essential for Royal Brunei Airlines to team up with a partner with whom we can jointly shape the future to serve our digital-savvy guests better and maintain a leading position in the highly competitive market environment in which we operate. We trust that Merkle Singapore will take us to new heights by leveraging the power of digital marketing across several aspects with their advanced digital solutions, coupled with their understanding of our business.”
Australia – Australian sports brand retailer rebel has released its latest campaign via The Monkeys, which is a subsidiary of advertising agency Accenture Song.
Building on the ‘Sport Is Calling’ brand platform established in 2020, the campaign features the incredible journeys of Australians whose lives have been radically transformed by sport.
Specifically, the campaign spreads its message through a series of films, directed by Finch’s Christopher Nelius, telling the incredible stories of outback grazier Brendan Cullen, and Olympian Sinead Diver.
Coinciding with a busy time on the sporting calendar, the integrated campaign also aims to inspire Aussies watching on at home to start their own sporting journey.
Talking about the campaign, Rosemary Martin, GM of ecommerce & marketing at rebel, said, “Brendan and Sinead’s stories demonstrate rebel’s belief that sport can be the catalyst for incredible change and growth in our lives. Not just physically, but mentally too.”
Meanwhile, Adam Slater, creative director at The Monkeys, commented, “Sport really is stranger than fiction. Whether it’s a farmer who dealt with a drought by swimming laps of the dam, or a 47-year-old I.T professional turned national record holder, we’ve loved unearthing the best sports stories Australia has never heard of.”
Hong Kong – Global coffee chain has launched its first community store in Hong Kong, which also serves as the chain’s 50th community store in APAC. The new store is located at the East Asia Mansion in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, and is the first community store to focus on providing meaningful opportunities for young people.
Starbucks Hong Kong is also collaborating to enhance youth development with the Vocational Training Council (VTC), a provider of professional and vocational education and training in Hong Kong, and Junior Achievement (JA) Hong Kong, a nonprofit that helps young people learn about the working world through the first-hand experiences of volunteers.
The new Community Store is set to become a nurturing hub for students to learn more about potential future careers, particularly in the food and beverage industry, through interactive workshops and career exploration programs funded by a grant from The Starbucks Foundation and a portion of the Community Store’s sales. Students will get the chance to gain hands-on experience, job shadowing, and mentorship from various Starbucks partners (workers).
To inspire and prepare the next generation of talent for employment in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, these workshops will also be guided by seasoned experts from a variety of business sectors. The project aims to improve the food and beverage (F&B) sector in Hong Kong, where more than 95% of restaurants have trouble filling positions.
The initiative is an extension of Starbucks Hong Kong and JA Hong Kong’s 2014 cooperation. With the help of The Starbucks Foundation, this collaboration has been able to provide over 350 kids from 21 nearby schools with the design thinking, coding, and entrepreneurial attitude they will need in the future starting in 2023.
Speaking about the launch, Alan Chan, general manager, Starbucks Hong Kong and Macau, said, “Apart from offering the unique Starbucks Experience, it is also our aim to dedicate our efforts to making our beloved city a better place for the future generation. The collaboration with JA Hong Kong is a testament to our dedication, we hope to empower more youth through this new Community Store, helping them to build a fulfilling career in the food and beverage industry as well as developing the skills and mindsets needed for long-term success.”