Tag: Marketing

Melbourne, Australia – CommerceHub has announced its appointment of Gordana Redzovski as managing director for the Asia Pacific region to lead the company’s plans of expansion.

With a specific focus on the Asia Pacific region, Redzovski will be employing her expertise to provide strategic guidance and direction in support of the company’s expansion plans. 

Based in Australia, she brings 15 years of experience in high-growth industries. Most recently, Redzovski was VP retail APAC at Lightspeed Commerce where she successfully developed new revenue streams during the pandemic, launched Lightspeed Payments in Australia and led the integration of Vend and Lightspeed Commerce retail teams in APAC. She has also served in senior leadership roles at Deliveroo, Catch.com and iSentia.

Speaking on her appointment, Redzovski said, “I’m thrilled to join the talented, flagship team at CommerceHub during this exciting period of transition and growth. Retailers and brands in APAC continue to seek out innovative partners to support their focus on enhancing the customer experience, and indeed business outcomes, through utilising a unified omnichannel approach.”

Meanwhile, Pete Elmgren, CRO at CommerceHub, commented, “As someone who is known for her ability to engage stakeholders and deliver outstanding results by making data-driven decisions and galvanising teams, Gordana is an outstanding choice to lead APAC. She’s a seasoned executive who is passionate about driving operational efficiency and helping customers experience profitable growth.”

Singapore – Amidst economic headwinds, Asia’s digital economies continue to post impressive gains, with cross-border initiatives and tools offering businesses new avenues to unlock unprecedented growth, according to the latest report by market intelligence firm IDC and commissioned by global payments platform 2C2P and Ant Group.

Data from IDC’s report mainly suggests that SEA leads in digital economy growth at 15.8% for the next five years, unlocking significant commerce opportunities for SEA and outpacing the United States and Europe.

Coupled with Korea and Japan, SEA’s digital economy is on the verge of explosive growth, projected to skyrocket from $501.7 billion in 2022 to a staggering $914.9 billion in 2027, marking an impressive 82% leap in just five years.

SEA also anticipates a 100% expansion in the e-commerce market, driven by accelerated digital payments growth, led by ‘buy now pay later’ options (38%), mobile wallet (18.9%), domestic payment (16.9%) and credit cards (14.4%).

Furthermore, private and public sector efforts are poised to inject an impressive $232.4 billion in fresh cross-border revenue into the SEA, Korea, and Japan economies from 2022 to 2027, as cross-border e-commerce revenue is primed to grow by 70% in those five years, outpacing the growth of domestic e-commerce revenue.

Talking about the results, Aung Kyaw Moe, founder and CEO of 2C2P, said, “Our mission at 2C2P is to empower businesses to navigate and thrive in the dynamic payment landscape in Asia. We hope the findings of this report encourage businesses to unlock the immense potential of Asia’s digital economies by tapping on existing public-and private-sector initiatives and tools.”

Meanwhile, Douglas Feagin, senior vice-president of Ant Group and head of cross-border mobile payment services at Alipay+, commented, “The rapid rise in the number and diversity of digital payment options presents a challenge  for small to mid-sized merchants. Which is why it is now imperative for businesses to cater positively to these digital habits, and I believe that by working together, we can help more consumers and businesses benefit from digitalisation.”

Australia – whiteGREY has announced the appointment of Iona Macgregor as chief strategy officer. She has also joined the agency’s executive leadership team and will be working with clients across the country and in APAC. 

Macgregor, who recently served as chief strategy officer at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, brings over two decades of creative strategy experience. She worked with Ampol, Arnott’s, AXA, Cartier, Heineken, Nestlé, NRMA, OPSM, Orange, the Westpac Group’s St. George, Ray-Ban, Tiger Beer, and Vodafone. 

Macgregor previously led hybrid strategy and innovation teams that integrated experts in brand, UX, and social at creative agency Marcel Worldwide in Paris before joining Saatchi & Saatchi. She then co-founded Marcel Sydney in 2015.

Speaking about the appointment, Lee Simpson, CEO of whiteGREY, said, “We are really excited to welcome Iona to the agency. This is a critical role for us and one we’ve considered carefully. Iona’s experience will bring fresh strategic leadership to our business and our clients, adding to the depth of talent and capability we have across brand, communications, CX and media strategy.” 

He added, “Iona is an innovative thinker suited to a creative agency with strong technology heritage, and I’m excited about the impact she will make.” 

Meanwhile, speaking about her appointment, Macgregor said, “This industry has been talking about transformational change for as long as I can remember. But it takes a proper merge of creative, strategy, technology expertise and genuine care to deliver ideas that will set brands up for sustainable growth.” 

“The team at whiteGREY are just awesome. I believe they’ve got a unique combination of all the skills and passion required to navigate this challenging market for their clients and I can’t wait to get started,” Macgregor added. 

Australia – In partnership with the Australian Government, advertising agency BMF has created the first national child sexual abuse prevention campaign, ‘One Talk at a Time’. The campaign demonstrates that together we can create a safer world for our kids, free from sexual abuse, with something as simple as talking to the children in our lives.

‘One Talk at a Time’ calls for a collective effort to prevent child sexual abuse by helping adults understand that the risk of the unthinkable can be reduced significantly, one talk at a time.

Christina Aventi, chief strategy officer at BMF, said, “Child sexual abuse is a subject that’s hard to face let alone talk about. We don’t know how to broach the subject with our kids. This can paralyse us into silence. But silence creates space for people who abuse to come between children and those who protect them, and that is where child sexual abuse can hide. Everytime we talk, we break that wall and fill that ‘space’ with support, taking power away from perpetrators and help prevent child sexual abuse for every child.”

Meanwhile, Tom Hoskins, creative director at BMF, commented, “Bringing an end to child sexual abuse feels like a problem so large and insidious that many of us don’t know where to begin or even if it’s achievable. But reaching a solution as a community may be possible if we start with one talk at a time.”

The integrated campaign is live in Australia across TV, cinema, radio, social, and digital.

Singapore – UM, a global media agency network of IPG Mediabrands, announced it has been named global media agency of record to handle all media duties for global food company General Mills.

With the new appointment, UM will handle all strategy, planning, buying, analytics, performance, and commerce efforts across more than 35 markets for General Mills’ suite of brands, including Cheerios, Nature Valley, and Pillsbury.

UM’s appointment as new media AoR for the global consumer foods company follows several high-profile announcements from the agency. Recently, plant-based company Upfield also named UM as its media agency of record. It also launched the industry-first Shoptimizer tool by UM Commerce.

Andrea Suarez, global CEO at UM, said, “General Mills has consistently led the consumer foods category through bold brand building, relentless innovation, and a commitment to values, and we are thrilled to welcome them to the UM family.”

She added, “We look forward to a strong relationship that uncovers new opportunities, underpinned by our industry-leading data and commerce capabilities, to connect with consumers in meaningful ways while maximising business growth well into the future.” 

Speaking on the appointment, Jay Picconatto, vice president of advanced marketing solutions at General Mills, also shared, “We are looking forward to working with IPG’s UM as our global media agency, which includes the support of our customer marketing and retail media efforts. We’re confident that UM is the right partner to continue to build our iconic brands and deliver remarkable experiences for consumers.”

Singapore – Unified customer experience management platform Sprinklr has announced the integration of TikTok Video Shopping Ads directly into the Sprinklr platform. This enables international brands to optimise ad performance and create a variety of TikTok Video Shopping Ads kinds. 

These advertisements can target and captivate both new and returning audiences, allowing brands to boost engagement, increase TikTok sales, and maximise their return on ad investment.

Any activity that a user or customer performs on their website or app can be recorded using data connections. With more knowledge of the shopper’s user journey, which includes holiday planning, gifting, celebrating, indulging, sharing, and more, the system is able to reach users with holiday messaging and Video Shopping Ads that will resonate with them.

To maximise the benefits of data connections, brands should set up both TikTok Pixel and Events API before the start of Q4 to ensure the ad delivery in preparation for the holiday season. This not only allows for integration between the platform and the user’s systems, but it also improves TikTok Ads Manager’s ability to precisely determine the optimal timing and placement for ad delivery, increasing the potential for the conversions. 

Sprinklr signed on as TikTok’s first advertising partner in 2020, and in 2022 it grew by adding a content marketing specialty. Sprinklr has recently added video shopping ads, to be able to help marketers manage, carry out, and optimise campaigns for both organic and paid content on TikTok.

Singapore – How companies respond to global challenges and employee reputation is directly correlated with corporate reputation in today’s business environment, according to the latest ‘Brands in Motion’ global study by global communications firm WE Communications.

Data from the report mainly suggests that a company’s reputation is increasingly determined by its response to immediate and public concerns that have universal reach, such as cost of living and the climate crisis.

This shift has occurred alongside an increase in scepticism, with only 44% of brands seen to be delivering on their commitments, as half of survey respondents said that some brands that do take a stand on societal issues are just doing it for the sake of selling more products and services.

Notably, even as consumers are calling on companies to speak out more about issues such as cost of living (60%), employee pay and benefits (54%), the climate crisis (41%), and the responsible use of technology and artificial intelligence (38%), they expect brands to keep talking about and maintain a focus on social justice, DEI and gender equality.

When it comes to employee reputation on the other hand, social media and crowd-sourced rating sites are now fueling greater openness in the workplace about work conditions, benefits and pay. Beyond business performance, companies now must be transparent about employee experience, with 92% of respondents believing that employer-employee relations are among the essential characteristics of a company to build and maintain a great reputation.

Talking about these findings, Hannah Peters, EVP, corporate reputation & brand purpose at WE Communications, said, “In a world where the need for stability has never felt more personal, companies must go further to demonstrate progress and impact in areas people are feeling most acutely in their daily lives. This being said, long-term commitments remain important, but brands must also meet growing expectations to see and feel urgent action.”

Meanwhile, Rebecca Wilson, executive vice president at WE International, added, “It’s a delicate balance. The old rules of media relations, crisis communications and employee engagement need to evolve to respond to today’s accelerating demands. Brands that successfully pivot to embrace and commit to change will see long-lasting positive effects on their reputation and business success.”

Singapore – Asia based video game distributor and publisher GCL Asia has announced that it, together with its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, has entered into a definitive business combination agreement  with RF Acquisition Corp, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, and RF Dynamic LLC, resulting in GCL Asia becoming a publicly listed company.

Following the merger, GCL Asia aims to provide engaging gaming experiences across EA and SEA regions through partners and content creators, as well as expanding the gaming ecosystem by promoting Asian games worldwide and bringing Western games to Asia.

Additionally, the merged company will continue to be led by Jacky See Wee Choo, group chairman of GCL Asia, Sebastian Toke, group CEO of GCL Asia, and other key executive leadership members.

GCL Asia’s shareholders will also be retaining a majority of the combined company’s outstanding shares, and GCL Asia will designate a majority of director nominees for the combined company’s board.

Talking about the merger, Choo said, “This is an exciting time for the entire GCL Asia team as we execute our growth strategy in game publishing in Asian markets. Over the past 16 years, we have built a powerful distribution platform based on over 16 multi-year partnerships with AAA and independent game developers and publishers, reaching over 2100 retail touchpoints online and offline.”

“With the support of RF Acquisition and enhanced visibility following the NASDAQ listing, we are now ready to enter the higher-margin segments of game publishing and IP management, deepening our partnership with exceptional content providers, including game studios globally, to bring exciting new experiences to gamers,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tse Meng Ng, chairman and CEO of RF Acquisition, commented, “We are thrilled to work with Jacky and his visionary team at GCL Asia in their next chapter of growth and expansion in the dynamic Asian gaming market. We greatly respect the publishing and distribution platform and the trusted industry relationships that Jacky and his team have built over the last decade.”

“With the expansion of the business to publishing and IP management, GCL Asia can help game publishers in the U.S. and Europe navigate increasingly sophisticated Asian content and unlock the full potential of the high-growth Asian market. This is a unique opportunity for us to participate in a fast-growing, profitable company at an inflection point in its development,” he concluded. 

Singapore – Global socially-led creative agency We Are Social has announced its reaffirmation to commit to investing in future focused technologies, through a slew of updates to its innovation arm, .XYZ, complemented with new leadership appointments for the department.

With We Are Social’s appointment, .XYZ will be led by Christina Chong, CEO of We Are Social Southeast Asia, and will expand the agency’s offering across future strategy, creative innovation and virtual production.

Under Chong’s leadership, a number of the agency’s Singapore team, along with specialist colleagues from the US, UK, Europe and the Middle East, will be tasked with further developing the .XYZ offering in three key areas: future strategy, creative innovation and virtual production.

The .XYZ team will be looking for opportunities to embed innovative work across the agency’s entire client portfolio, for brands in all sectors and industries. With experts and practitioners across the spectrum of spatial, phygital, cognitive and distributed technologies, they will also work to keep the entire agency up to speed with the latest advances in technology.

The investment in .XYZ complements the agency’s other investments in future tech and innovation, such as its gaming division We Are Social Gaming, and new augmented reality offering, Make My Day.

Speaking on her own appointment, Chong said, “.XYZ will help our clients feel confident in exploring future focused technologies – the benefits of being an early mover, if managed in a strategic and considered way, can be huge. I’m delighted to be taking the lead on .XYZ – an area I feel passionate about – and helping more brands use technology to get ahead of the pack.”

Meanwhile, Nathan McDonald, co-founder and group chief executive of We Are Social ,commented, “Chris and the team in Singapore have always been up to speed on cutting edge technology and helping clients make the most of the latest advancements so it was clear that .XYZ would thrive under her leadership. I’m confident that we’ll be able to help even more of the world’s most forward-thinking brands navigate the intersection of creativity and technology.”

Singapore – The advertising arm of Samsung Electronics, Samsung Ads, has expanded into Southeast Asia in an effort to facilitate the wider deployment of native advertising solutions across millions of Samsung-powered smart TVs.

The company claims that native ad formats can now, for the first time, be integrated into the Samsung Smart TV experience, allowing marketers to use Samsung Ads’ first-party device data for improved targeting, measurability, and insights.

Samsung Ads will now be operating in the countries ofIndonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia.

Speaking about the expansion in SEA, Alex Spurzem, managing director of Samsung Ads ANZ & SEA, said, “Connected TV penetration is above 50 percent in several key markets across Southeast Asia. By bringing our native advertising solutions to market, brands and advertisers can now reach households as soon as they turn their TV on.”