Tag: Partnership

Singapore – Annalect, Omnicom Media Group’s data and analytics department, collaborated with Meta to implement their advanced analytics (AA) technology. This privacy-focused solution will provide Omnicom Media Group clients with next-generation measuring tools, enabling future-proof insights and maximising campaign efficacy. 

Advertisers are empowered by Meta’s Advanced Analytics (AA) to discover significant synergies. With the help of AA, advertisers’ first-party data and Meta’s own ad insights can be integrated, giving analysts a level of flexibility. By combining the data, insights are produced that allow advertising strategies to be adjusted for results. 

Fully integrated attribution models are given through Omni, Omnicom’s end-to-end marketing operating system used by all its agencies. This improves the marketing process by providing connectivity from measurement to planning and action.

Activation teams can optimise campaigns using real-time external data because of the actionable insights obtained from these models. Scalability is made by secure server-to-server connectivity. With the help of Annalect’s clean room technology, which directly benefits their clientele.

Speaking about the partnership, Paul Shepherd, president of Annalect, Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific, said, “By enabling next-level visibility in a privacy-safe manner, this collaboration allows our clients to connect data more effectively. It gives them — and our agencies — a significant edge over their competitors in today’s future facing environment.” 

Meanwhile, Carl McLean, head of marketing Science, Meta ANZ, stated, “It’s great to see measurement capabilities that create value for advertisers, whilst also being built with privacy at the forefront. This offering will unlock new ways for the OMG network to understand the levers that truly drive performance and demonstrate where Meta can help to drive growth that lasts for our clients and partners.” 

Sydney, Australia – HubSpot and TikTok have launched a partnership to improve community-based client acquisition for B2B brands. A newly connected tool allows B2B firms to easily gather leads from TikTok right within the HubSpot platform, utilising the benefits of both platforms to improve client engagement. 

Through this partnership, scaling firms can now take advantage of these connections to produce growth in Australia. 

While SMBs are looking into creative ways to generate leads in the face of customer acquisition issues, the partnership is taking place at a time when customers are increasingly turning to local communities for brand and product discovery. TikTok emerges as a tool for businesses to nurture and maintain an actively engaged audience, especially with 8.5 million Australian users, a demographic 1.5 times more likely to make quick purchases based on platform discoveries.

Speaking about the partnership, Kat Warboys, marketing director, APAC, HubSpot, said, “TikTok’s growing influence in the region is undeniable. As its audience base grows, it’s reshaping how consumers discover and interact with their favourite brands. For savvy businesses, TikTok provides a powerful channel to nurture and engage audiences — if done right. That’s why our partnership is so important. The new integration makes it easier for brands to capture, nurture and acquire leads because they can truly understand their customers.” 

She added, “Today’s consumers expect personalisation and by having a complete picture, brands can better engage with their audiences. And, with better engagement comes more loyal customers, which is vital in the current market.”

Meanwhile, Ng Chew Wee, head of business marketing APAC, TikTok, stated, “Asia Pacific is home to a thriving ecosystem of TikTok users, with 90% of the region’s TikTok users consuming content on a daily basis. This presents an opportunity for Asia Pacific’s brands to reach and turn a highly engaged audience into leads, and accelerate business growth.” 

Manila, Philippines – Luxury fashion brand Prada has been recently reported to have entered a joint venture with Philippine luxury retailer SSI Group’s Stores Specialists, Inc., forming a new company in the process for Prada’s expansion in the Philippines. 

Prada’s new company with SSI Group, labelled as Prada Philippines Inc., will own all Prada stores in the Philippines with expectations to accelerate the brand’s growth in the market. 

The joint venture also seeks to enable operating efficiencies, as SSI and Prada transition from a franchisee-franchisor relationship to joint venture partners. The expansion also follows Prada’s higher sales performance seen in its Asian markets. 

Notably, SSI’s initial investment in the joint venture is PHP16.67m, whilst Prada’s initial investment is PHP25m. At completion, SSI’s total investment in Prada Philippines will be PHP152m, while Prada’s total investment in the joint venture will be PHP228m.

In terms of ownership, Prada S.p.A. owns 60% of Prada Philippines Inc., whilst SSI Group owns 40%. 

Prada Philippines Inc. is expected to commence operations on January 1, 2024, effectively taking over operations throughout all Philippine PRADA outlets.

New Zealand – MarketMedia, The Warehouse Group’s retail media network, is teaming up with The Trade Desk to provide a retail media advertising approach suited to New Zealand brands.

More than 70 new partners and channels for programmatic display, programmatic digital out-of-home, connected TV (CTV), audio channels, and more can be added to MarketMedia’s client and brand campaigns. This allows for improved targeting of audiences with the intention of making a purchase on the open internet.

With the help of The Warehouse Group’s first-party data audiences, which number over 4.5 million, and MarketMedia’s self-service platform Zitcha, the alliance provides local companies with a wide range of advertising inventory alternatives through The Trade Desk.

Speaking about the partnership, Blaine Hudson, head of product, platforms, and data at MarketMedia, said, “MarketMedia will now be the only retail media network in New Zealand that lets advertisers buy across 80+ on and off-site channels easily within a single self-service platform. By integrating The Trade Desk to the MarketMedia platform we can offer never-before seen solutions that aims to expand our client’s capabilities.”

He added, “With access to The Trade Desk’s inventory and our first-party data, plus closed-loop reporting through Zitcha, we’re helping transform advertising possibilities in New Zealand.”

Meanwhile, James Bayes, VP Australia and New Zealand, The Trade Desk, said, “Retail media is making brands rethink the way they activate their media investments. Our partnership with The Warehouse Group and MarketMedia can help advertisers reach The Warehouse Group’s customers across the open internet and close the loop between advertising activity and real-world sales.”

“With leaders like The Warehouse Group, we’re driving the industry forward and helping advertisers across New Zealand work towards tangible performance improvements that translate to real business results,” Bayes added. 

Australia – ESPN and Fetch TV have officially announced a multi-year extension of their channel distribution partnership, which includes ESPN and ESPN2. Since 2012, these channels have been available on Fetch.

The channels will continue to provide live sports coverage in the United States, as well as studio commentary shows like SportsCenter, NBA Today, NFL Primetime, and the acclaimed ESPN ’30 for 30′ documentaries and special features.

Sports fans in Australia can enjoy a wide selection of sports content on Fetch, which includes ESPN’s U.S. sports coverage, extensive local and international sports coverage from free To air networks, and additional subscription sports content from beIN Sports, Optus Sport, Stan Sport, Paramount Plus, and Prime Video.

Speaking about the renewal of their partnership, Kylie Watson Wheeler, senior vice president & managing director of The Walt Disney Company Australia and New Zealand, expressed, “We’re excited to extend our long-standing relationship with Fetch TV, which serves Fetch viewers with access to our comprehensive slate of ESPN programming, flagship studio shows and extensive major sport properties.”

He added, “We have a huge summer of programming ahead on ESPN, including the NFL playoffs and 2024 Super Bowl. Combined with the NBA Finals, NHL, MLB, UFC, and every game of the NBL, ESPN has the world’s biggest sporting moments covered for sports fans to enjoy.” 

Meanwhile, Sam Hall, chief content and commercial officer at Fetch TV, said, We are thrilled to announce the extension of our long-running agreement with ESPN for carriage of the ESPN and ESPN2 channels, which remain top performers on the Fetch platform. ESPN is the go-to media outlet for premium US sports including the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, and the ESPN channels are particularly strong during the Aussie summer months.”

Singapore – As part of its upcoming efforts for the admission briefs, the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) has recently appointed local agency FiftyFull as its new creative and social media partner.

This appointment comes after the agency’s success in a two-round pitch process involving multiple agencies. Said appointment will also run for two years and can also be extended for an additional two years.

Furthermore, the agency’s remit encompasses overseeing and developing creative and social strategies, marketing frameworks, and integrated campaigns to effectively meet the campaign objectives.

Speaking about the appointment, a spokesperson at SIT said, “We are excited to extend our relationship with FiftyFull and appoint them as our creative and social partner for the admissions brief. Throughout the pitch process, they demonstrated a deep understanding of our business through the quality of their thinking.”

“We are looking forward to collaborating with them to create high-impact work to engage our target audience,” added a spokesperson.

Genevieve Seah, managing partner at FiftyFull, also remarked, “As Singapore’s first university of applied learning, SIT contributes to the social and economic fabric of Singapore in many meaningful ways, and we couldn’t be more excited to be embarking on this new journey with them.”

“SIT’s mission truly resonates with what we believe in, which is about never stopping to try, learn, and collaborate. We are hoping to deliver clutter-breaking work for them,” she concluded.

This collaboration marks the expansion of FiftyFull’s role, as they were initially brought on board as SIT’s social agency from 2021 to 2025.

Singapore – IPG Mediabrands is a media and marketing solutions company. Interpublic Group has launched a partnership with The Insight Hive (Pvt) Ltd. for the establishment of two new organisations, UM Sri Lanka and Initiative Sri Lanka.

IPG Mediabrands and Insight Hive for UM Sri Lanka, and Initiative Sri Lanka have established a partnership agreement that will be implemented immediately.

The announcement comes following earlier this year’s revelation of new agency debuts in New Zealand and Pakistan. It expands IPG Mediabrands’ footprint in the Asia-Pacific region to 16 countries.

Speaking about the expansion, Leigh Terry, CEO of IPG Mediabrands, said, “The network’s expansion into three new growth markets this year, is not only testament to the strength and vitality of our media agencies and the demand for their services, but it also signals the health and recovery of our industry within the Asia Pacific region. Proof in point, our recent MAGNA global advertising forecast confirms that the Asia Pacific advertising economy grew by +8.2% this year, significantly higher than the global average of +5.5%.”

Meanwhile, speaking about the partnership, Peter Solomon, managing director of IPG Mediabrands Sri Lanka, commented, “This alliance with IPG Mediabrands is a major landmark for us at Insight Hive. We stand at the forefront of representing the UM and Initiative media agencies in Sri Lanka, which will contribute to the evolution of an ecosystem that is founded in our unique experience and market intelligence, coupled with the international scale and standing of the IPG Mediabrands network.”

He added, “We hope to establish new standards in consumer intelligence and effective campaign development targeted at a fast-paced marketplace.”

New Zealand – MarketMedia, the retail media network of The Warehouse Group, has teamed up with tech giant Meta to launch ‘Meta Managed Partner Ads’ (MPA), allowing MarketMedia clients and brands to run highly targeted Meta campaigns at scale.

The technology works by applying insights captured from on-site, off-site, and in-store data from The Warehouse Group’s online stores, apps, and millions of weekly visits to The Warehouse, Noel Leeming, TheMarket, Warehouse Stationery and Torpedo7.

Moreover, Meta’s MPA delivers unprecedented capabilities for retailers and brand partners to track and measure off-site video and image ad performance down to the SKU level, while safeguarding user data, and helping brands navigate the impending death of the cookie. The offering is also available through MarketMedia’s self-service platform Zitcha.

Blaine Hudson, head of product, platforms and data at MarketMedia, said, “The transformative power of MPA will revolutionise the effectiveness of ad campaigns, and we’re excited to be the first retail media partner in the world who can offer it. We can now help our clients and brands execute world-class marketing across all points of the marketing funnel, both on and off network.”

She added, “We can reach audience groups beyond our own channels, optimise our reach and help brands talk to the right audiences, in the right moment when they’re scrolling their social feeds – it’s cutting-edge retail innovation designed to maximise return on investment, and we’re really proud of the difference it will make for Kiwi businesses.”

Meanwhile, Troy Townsend, CEO at Zitcha, says, “Meta’s MPA is a game changer for retailers and brand partners to leverage Meta’s channels for their off-site retail media networks. We are seeing massive demand from brands to move marketing dollars from traditional channels into retailers with off-site capabilities that show, in real-time, the return on advertising spend.”

He added, “Our strong relationship with Meta has enabled Zitcha to effectively leverage MPA for forward- thinking retail media networks such as MarketMedia that want to extend and capitalise on their off-site media channels quickly and at scale.”

Manila, Philippines – In an effort to bring technology-driven transformation to the scene, Converge ICT Solutions recently announced a strategic collaboration with Salesforce, a global technology company and AI customer relationship management platform, enhancing customer experiences and operational efficiency in the Philippines.

In this collaboration, the two are geared towards the establishment of the first generative AI contact centre, leveraging Salesforce’s generative AI solutions and bringing improvements in efficiency, scalability, and data-driven insights.

Converge will harness the power of predictive and generative AI through Salesforce’s Einstein and Einstein 1 Platform, specifically designed to revolutionise operational efficiency and digital experiences for both residential and enterprise customers.

Salesforce’s Einstein 1 Platform, as the first predictive and generative AI platform on a CRM, will also enable Converge to leverage Einstein Bots for streamlined requests, present relevant service replies for agent-assisted support, and provide real-time analytics, including predicted churn for each customer profile. It is also set to employ Salesforce’s Service Cloud, Field Service, and MuleSoft.

With Field Service, Converge customers are also offered greater transparency, expanding their use of MuleSoft for further integration and connecting data across key business systems.

Talking about the project, Sujith Abraham, senior vice president and general manager at Salesforce ASEAN, said, “This expanded relationship represents the next step in our journey of transforming customer experiences with Converge. Our trusted AI-powered solutions will help Converge deliver more efficient and personalised experiences to customers across all touchpoints.”

“We’re excited to work closely with an industry leader like Converge to harness the power of generative AI in one of the first-of-its kind contact centres in the Philippines,” he added.

Jesus C. Romero, chief operations officer at Converge, also shared, “We have the best-in-class network; now we are leveraging the most modern technology to give the best customer experience to our more than 2 million subscribers.”

“We paved the way for the more meaningful use of AI in our network operations (in our back-end), and now we are embedding this into our customer-facing operations in the customer experience. We are committed to innovating in every aspect of our business to better serve the broadband needs of our customers,” he concluded.

The new contact centre is scheduled to be operational in the second half of 2024, aiming to reduce costs, optimise productivity, and enhance the speed and quality of customer service resolution at every touchpoint. This is consistent with Converge’s commitment to digitise support channels and promote self-service.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Advertising Agency OMD Malaysia has been appointed by telecommunications company CelcomDigi to handle media duties for three years following a pitch called in August.

OMD Malaysia’s appointment follows their futuristic pitch which impressed CelcomDigi and aligned with the telco’s strategic priorities. Additionally, the agency imprinted themselves on the client by highlighting the power of Omnicom Media Group’s agile and bespoke service model and the use of Omni, a proprietary people-based precision marketing and insights platform.

Prior to this win, OMD worked with CelcomDigi to execute a brand launch campaign in October that is running for a quarter. The telco was formed last December following a merger between Celcom and Digi and recently unveiled its new brand spirit “Create a world inspired by you” along with a new logo.

Through this, OMD wanted to show how the union signified more possibilities and opportunities that could reimagine a new era for the country. The team also understood the need to communicate that CelcomDigi’s combined strength helps consumers reimagine their life and gives them power to do more.

Using this insight, CelcomDigi leveraged OMD’s innovative thinking to execute market-first initiatives on TV, radio, and social media. These included brand integrations within Malaysian news programmes and shows, and branded likes and hashtags on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Speaking on the appointment, Mayank Bhatnagar, managing director at OMD Malaysia, said, “We are chuffed to have secured the trust of CelcomDigi with our innovative media planning approach. This was one of the key pitches in Malaysia, and it was satisfying to see our team develop great chemistry with CelcomDigi over the past few months. With our knowledge and expertise in the field, we are confident that we can help CelcomDigi establish themselves as the nation’s trusted partner in innovation and digitalisation.”

Meanwhile, Eileen Ooi, chief executive officer, Omnicom Media Group Malaysia, commented, “It has been an absolute honour and an exciting journey to work with the CelcomDigi team to kick-off the brand launch campaign. We are absolutely thrilled about this new partnership, and look forward to continue creating innovations that inspire Malaysians every day.”