Singapore – Omnichannel communications platform MessageBird has announced its rebranding to Bird, as well as announcing a drop in its prices for the platform to become more accessible in terms of cost, yet still retain the same quality and even offers more services. 

In a blog post by Bird CEO Robert Vis, he announced the rebrand with more details on the platform’s change in pricing, citing that they will be staying away from offering high markups like their competitors, promising to deliver services to clients at the lowest possible cost.

To make this possible, Bird will be employing new messaging APIs that will allow it to charge SMS at a 90% discount with no markups and no hidden fees.

Additionally, Vis also introduced Bird CRM, Bird’s new customer relationship management platform that will mark a next chapter for Bird in marketing, sales, and payments. They will also be dropping costs for this service, stating that users will also be saving 40% on Email and 90% on SMS for Bird CRM as well. 

Talking about the rebrand and Bird CRM, Vis said, “All communications between businesses happens over channels – whether it be calling, texting, WhatsApp or iMessage – and all these interactions create a customer contact. From there, every business uses endless tooling to manage the customer relationship, whether it be to encourage them to buy more or simply to support them.”

“What if this could be all done from one tool? What if the channel didn’t matter when it came to selling or servicing your customers? What if payment data was fully integrated with your other customer data? And what if you could just log into one tool and it just works? Today marks Day 1, our first iteration of BirdCRM and while we still have lots to do – we hope you will enjoy some of the magic and help us realise our dream of making talking to a business as easy as talking to your friends,” he concluded.

Singapore – Rohan Chandhok, who has served as the head of global integrated field marketing at the omnichannel communications platform MessageBird, has announced his departure from the company. At the time of this writing, he had been with the company for over a year.

Rohan has been an active proponent of building communities, connecting people and facilitating peer learning, rather than executing conventional field marketing programs.

In a recent LinkedIn post, he has expressed his gratitude to those who have supported him and his value-based ideas in his role.

He goes on to express his gratitude to customers, senior executives who joined this community and the APAC team at MessageBird.

He joined MessageBird back in 2022 as its head of marketing for Asia-Pacific and grew to take on a global mandate shortly after. Prior to joining MessageBird, Chandhok was with Oracle, where he held various directorial roles related to marketing, customer experience, and marketing cloud (SaaS) for JAPAC. He had been with the company for over five years.

He also held senior and leadership roles at the IT company Dimension Data and media company IDG Media. Overall, he brings with him 20+ years of experience in the fields of B2B marketing, data-driven digital marketing, and media relations, amongst others.

Singapore – In today’s competitive landscape, programmable emails have emerged as a vital tool for brands in terms of communicating personalised communications with their users. By leveraging automation and customisation capabilities, programmable emails empower brands to engage with their audience in a targeted and efficient manner. By utilising dynamic content, brands can deliver personalised messages to customers based on their interests, purchase history, and interactions, fostering a sense of relevance and strengthening brand-consumer relationships.

In an age where many modern forms of communication channels are swiftly taking over, Geraldine Chen, Business Development Manager, MessageBird, notes that email remains to be one of the most effective channels of communication out there for marketers with an anticipated return of $42 for every $1 invested. Aside from the high sales return it generates, email marketing strategies can be built with personalization and privacy in mind.

But how can marketers utilise click-worthy email marketing? Chen offered these pointers at a recently concluded webinar with MARKETECH APAC and MessageBird: (1) Segment ruthlessly, (2) Make counter-intuition work, and (3) Keep your list active and engaged. She shared examples of over 15 ways in which you can segment your audience lists that are available on-demand here.

Meanwhile, marketing leaders Alrick Oh, vice president of marketing at Coinhako and Nancy Almasco, marketing director at FlowerStore.ph also chimed in with their learnings and experiences. Representing each of their industries, the marketing heads talked about their insights and tips for marketers in executing programmable email marketing campaigns that are effective, improve conversion rates, and build brand-consumer relationships. Moreover, they also discussed how marketers can replicate success in their programmable email strategies and what pitfalls must they steer clear of.

All in all, the webinar covered how to successfully boost email marketing strategies using competitive user data as well as humanising email campaigns with automation strategies.

This industry event on programmable email was the third and last episode of the three-part webinar series, Connecting the CX Dots in 2023, hosted in partnership with MessageBird. 

If you missed going to the event, you may register HERE to obtain your on-demand access.

You can also register for on-demand access for the previous webinars under this webinar series, tackling conversational marketing and omnichannel journey mapping.

Singapore – In a digital world where email remains a cornerstone of communication, programmable email allows marketers to go beyond static, one-size-fits-all messages and create dynamic, interactive experiences that drive customer engagement and boost conversions. But with users sometimes ignoring emails due to being bombarded with it constantly, how can marketers elevate their email marketing campaigns to correspond to individual customer experiences?

This June 21, MARKETECH APAC comes back with another discussion under its webinar series on customer experience ‘Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’ with the aim of helping brands and marketers alike carefully carry out an efficient and future-proof omnichannel journey mapping. The new webinar is the third of the series–following the first theme, conversational marketing, which tackled the challenges and opportunities marketers face in their conversational marketing efforts; and the second theme, omnichannel journey mapping, which tacked understanding of the omnichannel experience, and how marketers can make best use of it in their strategies.

Titled ‘Programmable Email: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’, the webinar will feature a panel discussion with marketing leaders across the Southeast Asian region. In it, Alrick Oh, vice president of marketing at CoinHako and Nancy Almasco, marketing director at FlowerStore.ph–will be present to share their insights and tips for marketers in executing click-worthy programmable email marketing strategies.

The panel, titled ‘Making Your Way to Consumers’ Inbox: How to channelize customer behaviour to programmable email strategies’, will also discuss the following topics:

  • Understand: What do consumers really want to see in brand-led emails, how frequently do they want to receive them, and what timeslots are most optimal? 
  • Strategise: What email creatives and messaging are best for each generational cohort – Millennial, Gen Z, and Gen X? 
  • Personalise: How can brands develop a holistic email campaign that would deliver personalised messaging for each stage of the funnel? 
  • Repeat: How can marketers replicate success in their programmable email strategies and what pitfalls must they steer clear of?

Moreover, in a highly saturated environment, how can marketers create email campaigns that stand out from the rest? And how can a brand capture customers’ attention and differentiate themselves from competitors? To share more insights on how to elevate a brand’s programmable email marketing strategy, the webinar will also feature a keynote presentation by Geraldine Chen, business development manager at MessageBird. The presentation will further discuss the importance of competitive email intelligence which can be used to optimise campaigns and achieve better results.

Katherine Sy, regional head of content at MARKETECH APAC, said, “In the industry, a recurring phrase often heard is ‘email marketing is dead.’ Or are your customers simply ignoring one of the many emails they receive everyday? To truly make an impact, marketers must embrace creativity and forge emotional connections. Through authenticity and personalisation, the various generations of this era are sure to recognise the worth and value of your message. Join us as we uncover how to unleash the full potential of your email marketing campaigns and let these expert marketers prove this myth wrong.”

Programmable Email: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’ is made in partnership with omnichannel communications platform MessageBird. Catch the third theme of MARKETECH APAC’s webinar series on customer experience on June 21, 2:00PM SGT by registering HERE. See you there!

Singapore – In an always-on and digital-first world, marketers are always on the lookout for solutions that will give their customers only the best experience. But with the intense competition in the easily accessible digital sphere as well as the numerous solutions made available for brands to leverage, how will companies be able to identify the correct path that will ensure a seamless experience across all the touchpoints of their omnichannel journey map?

This May 25, MARKETECH APAC comes back with another discussion under its webinar series on customer experience ‘Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’ with the aim of helping brands and marketers alike carefully carry out an efficient and future-proof omnichannel journey mapping. The session follows the previously conducted webinar ‘Conversational Marketing: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’, which tackled the challenges and opportunities marketers face in their conversational marketing efforts.

Titled ‘Omnichannel Journey Mapping: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’, the webinar will feature a panel discussion with marketing leaders across the Southeast Asian region. In it, Iris Lee, regional brand director at CARSOME, Bea Atienza, impactful brand experience lead at Colgate-Palmolive, Nancy Almasco, marketing director at FlowerStore.ph, and Neha Bhasin, director of brand communications at ZALORA Group will share their insights on omnichannel journey mapping.

The panel discussion, called ‘Solving the Omnichannel Conundrum: Creating a Seamless Customer Journey in an Always-On Digital Sphere’, will also tackle the following topics:

  • Linear is dead: Making sense of a customer journey that can start from anywhere — and lead to any channel
  • Alleviating friction: Meeting where the customers are in an always-on and digital-first buying journey
  • Bridging the silos: Integrating consumer data off different channels in the omnichannel structure 
  • Adapting the engagement: Operationalising the omnichannel path for brands’ different use cases

Marketers often look to identify and reduce points of friction in the customer journey, but they might not always know where to start. To give marketers some know-hows, the webinar will also feature a keynote presentation by Merlvin Tan, team lead – APAC sales at MessageBird, who will be discussing how to better understand what omnichannel should mean to brands and marketers, what tools and resources to use, and how to bring it all together for a seamless omnichannel journey.

“We’re now in the 2nd leg of our webinar series, Connecting the CX Dots in 2023, and the conversation is only about to get much better! First theme was all about conversational marketing, and come this May, we’re going a more expansive route to talk about the Omnichannel Journey Mapping,” said Shaina Teope, regional editor at MARKETECH APAC.

Teope added, “We’ve gathered different marketing leaders from top brands to help shed light on mapping our customer journey at a time when customers are active on a multitude of channels. Rest assured that after this discussion, brands will have gained a clearer path on their omnichannel marketing strategies.”

‘Omnichannel Journey Mapping: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’, the second leg of MARKETECH APAC’s webinar series on customer experience, is made in partnership with omnichannel communications platform MessageBird. It will be followed by the webinar on programmable email, the last theme of the series, to be held on June 21 this year.

Catch ‘Omnichannel Journey Mapping: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’ on May 25, 2:00 pm SGT by registering HERE. See you there!

Singapore – We are now navigating a consumer marketplace that is digital-first, and add to this the evolving presence of social media, we now see ourselves traversing a customer journey with an unprecedented level of ease and convenience. On the flip side, such boon has bred unique challenges for those that are putting the products on ‘digital shelves’ – the marketers. 

This April 27, MARKETECH APAC, the digital media and industry connector for marketing and tech in APAC, will be laying out the virtual stage to talk about the increasing importance of activating two-way communication between brands and consumers. The latter has gained greater control of when, how, and where they want to trail their buying journey, and as a result, the imperative for effective conversational marketing strategies has grown stronger. 

The webinar on April 27, Conversational Marketing: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023, has roped in a 4-person panel to ensure that audiences will be getting a deep and diverse perspective on present brand-led directions in conversational marketing, how they are continuously evolving, and ultimately, what immediate steps brands can do to develop and operationalise a strategy that would lead to real-time conversations. 

To be moderated by Merlvin Tan, team lead for APAC sales at MessageBird, the panel discussion will be hearing the insights of Jia Nina, the country marketing head for Malaysia at BigPay; David Harling, the managing director of MoneySmart Group; ‘Preety’ Maneerat Rattiwarakorn, the partner manager for business messaging at Meta for APAC, and Raenald Renz De Jesus, ShopBack’s head of marketing for the Philippines.

The panel discussion, From Conversation To Commerce: Leveraging Conversational Marketing to Generate Real-Time Conversions, will be picking the brains of seasoned industry leaders on three areas, which are the following: 

  • Picking up speed: How conversational marketing can shorten the path-to-purchase 
  • Establishing a two-way street: How to set up a conversation that honours two-way engagement over a one-way delivery
  • Maximising AI: How the sophistication of the new ChatGPT4 can actually help in a brand’s conversational marketing efforts

Meanwhile, within the virtual event, we will also be hearing a dedicated presentation on the topic which will focus on how brands can increase their customer engagement and improve marketing campaign results within conversational commerce. 

Through a keynote presentation by MessageBird’s Merlvin Tan, marketers will be able to learn the key statistics and trends within such marketing arena, discover the practices regarded as industry’s best as well as see which top engagement iterations, so far, have been delivered by brands in the APAC region. Most importantly, as customers show increasing affinity to engage with brands on asynchronous channels such as WhatsApp, Viber, Google Business Chat, WeChat, amongst others, Tan will be going over the trends, best practices, and consumer sentiments on consumer communications mediated by such messaging channels. 

“If there’s a top thing that makes communications off-putting for consumers at this period, it’s that when they sense a brand is only being transactional and all about the conversion. There’s a win-win strategy for both brand and consumers and at the heart of it is a two-way street conversation. Join us in this webinar as we gather the best minds in marketing to show us how we can realise effective and powerful conversational marketing approaches,” said Shaina Teope, Regional Editor of MARKETECH APAC. 

The webinar on conversational marketing is the first leg under the three-part webinar series on customer experience, ‘Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’. The tripartite industry event is made in partnership with omnichannel communications platform MessageBird and will be launching webinars for each of the months of April, May, and June.

Commented Rohan Chandhok, head of marketing at MessageBird, “Modern marketers can benefit from new ideas, practical insights and actionable tips on how to use conversational marketing techniques that work. Through this webinar, we’re excited to showcase real-life examples of how brands in APAC are using and benefiting from better use of conversational engagements.”

The two other events to be launched will be focusing on omnichannel journey mapping and programmable email. The former will take place on May 25, 2023, whilst the latter is slated on June 21, 2023. Head over to this link to know how you can take part in the series.

Do not miss out as we kick off the series with the inaugural webinar, Conversational Marketing: Connecting the CX Dots in 2023, which will happen on April 27, 2023, at 2 PM SGT. Register HERE to secure your spot. We hope to see you there. 

Singapore – The industry had a roller coaster ride in 2022. We have witnessed numerous incidents of layoffs from brands in the region and companies that suffered financial losses. However, amidst these challenges, brands still emerged to lock in successes that serve as an inspiration to the industry in transforming uncertainties into strategic opportunities.

In light with this, MARKETECH APAC invited Singapore-based industry leaders to come together for a CMO roundtable to share how they weathered market shifts and industry changes to remain solidified as a brand and as a business. Ultimately, the event aimed to serve as a platform for industry leaders to share their unique experiences and learn from one another.

Said roundtable hosted around 16 marketing leaders across some of the top brands in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region.

Marketing leaders who attended the event include: [Some attendees are not listed here as requested by them]

  • Rilla Roesell, vice president of marketing at Cialfo
  • Kean Yew Li, global director and head of Asia Pacific social media and consumer engagement at The Coca-Cola Company
  • Dawn Lee, director of corporate marketing division at Health Promotion Board
  • David Harling, managing director at MoneySmart Group
  • Lavina Tauro, vice president for marketing and country manager at Viu
  • Kaushal Pilikuli, vice president of ShopCash and loyalty at Wego
  • Vivek Kumar, chief marketing officer at WWF Singapore
  • Devendra Shivhare, head of martech for APAC at The Coca-Cola Company
  • Katharina Pohl, marketing director for e-commerce at Disney
  • Jason Huan, chief marketing officer at Endowus
  • Roberta Biandolino, head of brand at foodpanda
  • Caitlin Nguyen, head of digital and e-commerce at Philips APAC
  • Emily Ong, head of loyalty at Razer
  • Triveni Rajagopal, senior director, personal care, and global digital marketing experiences at Unilever.

The session started with Danielle Ong, Head of APAC at MessageBird sharing her perspective on how we all as consumers live in the world of now. Everything we need is available at our fingertips. From food, grocery, transportation, travel and tourism, to financial services and many more. This access to “in-the-now” is transforming every industry and impacts businesses of all sizes. She then shared ideas on how brands can keep up tp this constantly changing customer and the expectations that come with this dynamism. Examples from Grab, Uber, Guzman Y Gomez, Booking.com, Glovo were just some of the many that triggered ideas for CMOs to learn from.

Industry leaders were eager to share how they managed to lock in growth even amidst a downward business climate. For instance, MoneySmart’s Managing Director, David Harling explained how they were able to grow their group business last year, and have now kicked off a process to list at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) through a US$161m reverse IPO deal.

Meanwhile, college application platform Cialfo had a focus on growth and brand awareness in the higher education space in the United States in 2022. Rilla Roessel revealed that they were excited by the awareness gained from the target audience.

Meanwhile, for WWF-Singapore’s Vivek Kumar, the challenges that his organisation faced in 2022 included raising awareness around the rapid degradation of nature and biodiversity. For example, he shared that since the last lunar year of the tiger in 2010 three countries in the ASEAN region have lost all their tigers in the wild. As the apex predator, protecting tigers means protecting the whole natural habitat with its biodiversity. With this pressing challenge, the WWF team came-up with a novel initiative to combine art and conservation to raise awareness on the plight of tigers in the wild and to raise critical resources to protect them. Tiger Trail brought together renowned artists from around the world, leveraging both physical and AR arts, and generated the highest PR values ever achieved by the office. 

In terms of his priority for this year, Vivek said that he will be focused on climate change, as one of the most pressing issues facing mankind today. Vivek and his team conceived and launched the first-of-its-kind WWF Earth Hour Summit on 2 March 2023, which brings together the science, policy, and practice of climate change to discuss how society can together move forward to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions. It is an uphill task, but Vivek believes that we must build a shared learning curve towards it since achieving Net Zero is only possible if we act together.

This event was made possible alongside omnichannel communications platform MessageBird and Escomedia.

Singapore – We live in an always-on era and digital tech is at the forefront of this phenomenon. From commerce to payments, healthcare, education, food, logistics and travel, digital tech is at the centre of making this transformation real. 

Buyer journeys have grown to become fluid, where consumers have control of their actions and expect brands to facilitate that control – consumers’ preferred channel, location, and time. 

This makes the path-to-purchase, needless to say, no longer homogenous, but something that’s personal to the consumer — therefore immensely unpredictable. Consumers simply ‘go’ where they feel like going, but as marketers, it is our job to make sense of the pathway.

Enter ‘Connecting the CX Dots in 2023’, a webinar series through a partnership of MARKETECH APAC and omnichannel communications platform MessageBird. In this three-part dialogue, we aim to discuss the inevitable challenges that come with the convenience of digital to orchestrate a customer experience that consistently delivers customer delight.

As an industry connector for the marketing community in APAC, MARKETECH APAC is staying true to its mission of enriching marketers in the region with the tools and resources essential to succeed in the business of marketing. Customer experience has tremendously shape-shifted with the continuously emerging innovations in the landscape, and with this, we aren’t wasting a sec to discuss what is now and happening

Connecting the CX Dots in 2023 Webinar Series will be addressing three of the most important areas in customer experience and focus on the unique challenges and opportunities for marketers in Southeast Asia. We encourage the marketing community to make the most of this opportunity, by actively participating on the community platform,” said Danielle Ong, head of sales for East and Southeast Asia at MessageBird.

In April, we are going to kick off the series with a discussion on conversational marketing. When we think of such, chatbots are the first thing that comes to mind, but with this dedicated webinar, we are going to expound the conversation and bring a holistic view of the marketing strategy that is putting a premium on real-time two-way interaction between brands and consumers. 

Come the month of May, we’ll be shifting the spotlight to the overarching discussion on omnichannel journey mapping. Modern and contemporary CX is multifaceted and such dynamic breeds an equal multitude of operational points that is yearning to be optimised and addressed. Through this, we can check our current roadmaps against what has worked and hasn’t been working for others.

Ultimately, in June, we are going to culminate the series by mounting a discussion on the classic communication channel, that is email. We are going to see for ourselves how programmable emails have changed the game. On the receiving end of such tech, how can we ultimately adapt to and leverage its features to make consumers pay attention to us through their inboxes? In this conversation, we seek to provide answers.

Commented Joven Barceñas, CEO and founder of MARKETECH APAC, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with MessageBird on this one-of-a-kind opportunity to bring together CX leaders from Asia as speakers for our three-part webinar series. By providing a platform for learning from industry experts, we hope to address the need for marketers to deliver a seamless and personalised customer experience. Join us for one of our upcoming webinars and be a part of the conversation that is shaping the future of customer experience.”

Up to date, here are the confirmed speakers from the region that will be gracing the virtual stage to lead the webinar series on CX:

  • Gino Riola, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Allianz PNB Life
  • Jia Nina, Country Marketing Head, Malaysia, BigPay 
  • Ravi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, CARSOME
  • Bea Atienza, Impactful Brand Experience Lead, Colgate-Palmolive
  • Nancy Almasco, Marketing Director, FlowerStore.ph
  • Waikuan Wong, Head of Airlines Global Marketing, Malaysia Airlines
  • Merlvin Tan, Team Lead – APAC Sales, MessageBird
  • ‘Preety’ Maneerat Rattiwarakorn, Partner Manager, Business Messaging, APAC, Meta
  • Neha Bhasin, Director of Brand Communications, ZALORA Group

Do not miss out on Connecting the CX Dots in 2023. Take note of the following dates of each webinar to secure your spot in all three:

Click the links to head over to the official event landing pages and register. Sign up now to bring yourselves up to spread with the trailblazing pivots in CX.

Singapore Omnichannel communications platform MessageBird has recently appointed Rohan Chandhok as its new head of marketing.

Chandhok will be bringing his years of experience in the fields of B2B marketing, data-driven digital marketing, and media relations, amongst others, to his new role.

Before joining MessageBird, Chandhok was previously director of marketing at the multinational computer technology corporation Oracle, serving the JAPAC region. He was responsible for creating actionable marketing plans for revenue generation through integrated digital marketing, content marketing, and field marketing.

He also held senior and leadership roles at the IT company Dimension Data and IDG Media Pvt. Ltd., amongst others.

MessageBird is a communication solutions provider that helps businesses streamline conversations through their customers’ preferred channels such as email, SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, and more.