Tag: Partnership

Australia – Hyundai in Australia has partnered with creative agency Orchard to enhance its customer engagement on Facebook. The new tech developed by the agency is an AI smart assistant keyword recognition on the brand’s posts on Facebook.

The new Facebook chatbot is customer experience and smart execution rolled into two key user journeys. Its direct to Messenger feature focuses on helping users discover the Hyundai vehicle they may be interested in and providing a direct line of contact with customer care through phone support or via the enquiry process.

In addition to this, when users comment on a Facebook post with specific questions, the AI capabilities of the chatbot are able to harness the power of keywords and respond in real-time. The keywords trigger the Hyundai Smart Assistant, inviting customers to discover valuable information about the model or post.

Furthermore, Orchard has implemented an auto-comment response on Facebook posts, which allows the public to see when other users’ comments have been acknowledged by Hyundai.

Kevin Goult, Hyundai’s director of marketing for Australia, shared that conversational UI is redefining community management, and they wanted to extend Hyundai’s offering by providing customers with a helpful experience on social channels. 

“We are confident the Facebook chatbot created by Orchard will deliver a higher level of customer satisfaction and engagement with Hyundai,” said Goult.

The new feature is an Australian automotive first for community management, which aims to assist current and prospective Hyundai owners to interactively find information about vehicles while on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Andrew Killey, Orchard’s practice lead, noted, “Customers love the convenience and can become easily frustrated by having to wait online for answers. We wanted to create a seamless UI experience that engages users with Hyundai right from the start of the customer journey until the very end.”

Paul Balbo, the client partner at Facebook Australia, commented, “We are confident that this Messenger project will help Hyundai increase customer satisfaction, lower costs and ultimately drive sales.”

Just recently, Hyundai has unveiled its newest ‘Tomorrow wants its car back’ campaign for its all-new car model, ‘Hyundai Tucson’. It features the car’s futuristic look with the appearance of robots coming from the future to steal back what is rightfully theirs from 2021.

Sydney, Australia – Fintech startup for human resources, Paytime, has appointed Agnes Media, the measurement-first agency, to manage its performance media and digital marketing to help increase the brand’s market share as an earned wage access provider.

Paytime is an Australian-owned company that provides businesses with a free tech platform offering employees the ability to access their earned wages at any time in the month.

The appointment comes after Agnes Media was referred by board member Fran Ereira, the former country director of leading global payment and shopping service at Klarna for Australia, which the agency also works with.

Charlotte Ward, Agnes Media’s CEO, said that Paytime is a highly innovative business that seeks to overcome the financial stresses and mental health issues caused by an inability for employees to access their pay when it’s needed most.

“Similar brands have seen high success in the USA and UK, and we’re excited to be a part of Paytime’s growth in Australia to provide greater access to pay for workers, by their employers,” said Ward.

The founder and CEO of Paytime, Steven Furman, said that financial and mental stress is widespread and impacted employees are less productive, engaged, and loyal to their employer, and with half of the Australian workers impacted, Paytime partners with companies to empower, educate and equip their employees by giving them access to their salary when they need it.

“Coupled with financial and mental health tools, the fintech’s platform offers an all in one, holistic financial, and mental wellbeing solution without any additional work for payroll. As a fairly new entrant into the HR fintech space, we look forward to working with Agnes Media to build our brand and drive engagement across digital channels,” said Furman.

Ereira also commented, “Having witnessed first hand how Charlotte and the team at Agnes Media can deliver real return on media investment, I was delighted to connect them with Paytime. I know they will bring their same passion and expertise as Paytime penetrates the market.”

This year, Agnes Media has also been working with clients including Zolo, Australia’s first profit-for-purpose tech-cycling company, Jace Legal, the commercial law and conveyancing business, and Re-Play UK, the sustainable tableware brand.

Singapore – The global measurement and data analytics company, NielsenIQ, has announced a new partnership with global experience management (XM) provider Qualtrics, to help brands drive sustainable growth.

The partnership aims to create comprehensive brand experience solutions, providing organizations with a real-time, 360-degree view of their brand health based on consumer feedback. Through this, NielsenIQ will be using Qualtrics BrandXM™ to power its measurement solution Winning Brands, turning consumer insights into action to differentiate themselves and expand their customer base. 

Winning Brands is NielsenIQ’s proven model for measuring brand awareness, consideration, and image before, during, and after brand exposure to consumers. Qualtrics BrandXM will be identifying essential brand drivers among potential customers, empowering businesses to accelerate customer acquisition and increase their brand value.

Yuneeb Khan, NielsenIQ’s global president for consumer insights, shared NielsenIQ’s best-in-class methodology, combined with Qualtrics’ experience management technology, which will help brands adapt and be successful in any business environment. 

“We are proud to be partnering with Qualtrics to provide brand leaders deeper insights in real-time, allowing them to gain a leg up on their competition,” said Khan.

Meanwhile, R.J. Filipski, the global head of ecosystem at Qualtrics, said that the experiences every organization delivers have never been more important.

“Bringing together NielsenIQ’s leading Winning Brands model with Qualtrics’ proven ability to help organizations deliver what consumers want will give brands a significant advantage in rapidly changing markets. The insights will empower brand leaders to serve consumers on a global scale faster than ever before,” said Filipski.

NielsenIQ said that the joint solution will allow brands to capture key brand metrics, such as Brand Equity Index, a barometer of consumers’ purchase intent correlated with market share, on a single platform. It will align them with business outcomes including awareness, consideration, and usage.

In addition, the solution will provide pre-built analytics, automated workflows, and interactive dashboards from Qualtrics.

Singapore– Automobile manufacturer Audi in Singapore has recently appointed communications consultancy RICE as its new public relations (PR) agency partner for the next three years.

The partnership will see RICE using communications to drive Audi’s brand presence. RICE will also be handling the brand’s strategy and planning, media relations and activations, and content development.

Moreover, RICE will be focusing on supporting Audi’s brand growth in the premium segment and realizing its vision to bring premium electric mobility to Singapore. Leading the charges are the latest Audi e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT, which deems to be the first high-performance electric sports cars from the brand, which are available for pre-orders in Singapore.

Rudi Venter, Audi’s head of marketing for Singapore, shared that they are experiencing one of the most exciting times in automotive history, and they want to play an instrumental role in shaping the transformation as they head into a new age of mobility.

“During the pitch process, RICE demonstrated a clear alignment with us on this vision, as well as their strategic and creative thought process and ideas. We are excited to embark on a new journey with them as our PR partner,” said Venter.

Meanwhile, James Brasher, the managing partner at RICE, commented they are really looking forward to building brand love for a brand that they already love. 

“Not just through the Audi cars, but also through driving experiences, and participating in conversations in the wider mobility space,” said Brasher.

In June this year, RICE also announced its partnership with IWG in Singapore and Hong Kong, two of IWG’s key hubs in Asia. The agency was selected as IWG’s partner after a comprehensive review of its communication partners worldwide.

Manila, Philippines – Security Bank Corporation’s consumer finance arm, SB Finance Corporation (SBF), has partnered with Grab Philippines to offer personal loans to Grab users, driver-partners, and merchant-partners through Grab’s superapp.

The partnership will enable Grab users to apply for an SB Finance personal loan of up to ₱2M with payment terms of up to 36 months. It aims to support Grab’s diverse ecosystem and provide more value-added products for a targeted market segment while growing its loan portfolio. 

The loan application will be through an online process and applicants can expect funds to be released in five days.

“Our strategic partnership with Grab Philippines aims to assist Filipinos by conveniently extending personal loans for their needs. We’re optimistic that Grab users, driver, delivery, and merchant-partners will be able to experience a holistic digital lending experience as we navigate the new normal,” said Abbie Casanova, SB Finance’s CEO and president.

Meanwhile, Erwin Yamsuan, Grab’s head of financial services for the Philippines, shared that the superapp has strived to provide value to consumers and stakeholders and empower them by leveraging its technology and offering its suite of reliable and convenient products and services. 

“The partnership with SB Finance will give our users more access to much-needed financing which they can use to pursue business plans, do home improvement, or pay for health emergencies, among others. We hope that through these loans, consumers can sustain or improve their quality of life, especially during this pandemic,” said Yamsuan.

Grab said that through its Grab Financial Group, it will be offering several financial products to its driver, delivery, and merchant partners. These include offline and online loans, purchase financing, and postpaid fuel cards for driver-partners. It will also offer working capital loans for merchants. 

On the consumer side, Grab also has its PayLater service that allows consumers to pay for Grab services a month later, in one monthly bill, while GrabPay will also be giving its users a more rewarding experience as consumers earn GrabRewards points for their purchases using the service. These points can then be used to avail of discounts, and deals on Grab-related services and other merchant partners.

Singapore – In response to the evolving health journeys of Singapore, healthcare technology company, Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), has selected global experience management (XM) provider Qualtrics for its customer experience (CX) program, to continually refine and optimize the CX on its digital health portal HealthHub and mobile app.

IHiS’ HealthHub offers a nationwide suite of digital health services and personalized advice and has emerged as an anchor service for Singapore residents to access their COVID-19 vaccination records and test results, alongside a range of evidence-based health information topics and e-services across public healthcare.

With the rapidly growing user base and the surge in the use of its services in recent years, IHiS believes that its health portal needed a listening engine to capture the voice of the customer in a timely manner. By using Qualtrics’ predictive intelligence capabilities, the platform expects to now easily collect and aggregate feedback from its users across mobile and online channels in real-time to analyze user sentiment, identify critical feedback, and pinpoint emerging trends. 

Moreover, the insights collected will enable IHiS to understand how current capabilities and new innovative features in HealthHub are meeting the evolving needs of its users and delivering meaningful customer experiences. 

Mao Gen Foo, Qualtrics’ head of Southeast Asia, shared that experience management is now critical, and believes that with the new tie-up, they will be able to help IHiS enhance its capabilities to more efficiently listen, understand, and act on feedback to ensure HealthHub delivers meaningful and long-lasting value to users across Singapore. 

“The recent opening of the Qualtrics data center in Singapore, alongside our plans to hire 1,200 new employees in the region, is a game-changer for local businesses and governments embarking on experience transformations. Organizations will benefit from local access to the Qualtrics Experience Management Operating System and our industry-leading experts, equipping them with the insights, capabilities, and support to quickly and confidently respond to our changing world,” said Foo.

Qualtrics said that IHiS is one of the first organizations to use the new data center located in Singapore, which opened in mid-2021.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Erigo, the Indonesian fashion retail that has been a staple in Shopee Mall, is set to grace the renowned New York Fashion Week (NYFW) 2022, and it has partnered with e-commerce to launch a campaign that will see both celebrating the said milestone with Indonesian consumers.

According to Shopee, Erigo has been a partner since 2017 and has seen significant growth in sales and brand innovation. The streetwear brand has won the hearts of users, making them one of the top favorite brands at major annual Shopee campaigns. In 2020, Erigo participated in the Shopee Export Program, Kreasi Nusantara: From Local To Global, where the well-loved Indonesian brand entered other markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Called, ‘Erigo x Shopee NYFW’, the campaign will include different engagements and launches. For a start, Erigo’s appearance at the NYFW will be livestreamed on Shopee Live, which is exclusively available in Indonesia on 9 September at 8:00 pm. 

In addition to this, the Erigo NYFW runway collection will be available at the Erigo official store on Shopee Mall. Users will be able to purchase exclusive collections brought straight from the Erigo pop-up store in New York, and also enjoy up to 90% discount for various Erigo products. Lastly, shoppers will be able to purchase a ‘Mystery Box’ of Erigo products for only under Rp100,000. The campaign will run from 9 until 11 September 2021,

Handhika Jahja, Shopee’s director for Indonesia, commented that they are proud to witness the extraordinary progress of Erigo so far and to finally be able to deliver ‘Made in Indonesia’ products to an international stage. Jahja shared that Erigo is one of the 180,000 local MSMEs fostered by Shopee that have successfully penetrated the global market through the Shopee Export Program. 

“We hope that this collaboration can create pride and love for local products among Indonesians. It can also spark enthusiasm and create a good track record for more local MSMEs to follow,” said Jahja.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sadad, the CEO of Erigo, said that the brand’s ability to penetrate into the global market certainly cannot be separated from the support and assistance they got from Shopee and the various programs held by Shopee have greatly helped the development of the business and realized their dream of bringing Erigo products to consumers in other countries. 

“We are very encouraged by the love and enthusiasm from Shopee users in Indonesia and around the region, empowering us to continue innovating the brand until we finally had an opportunity to represent Indonesia at the biggest fashion show in New York. To commemorate 10 years of work, Erigo will be debuting the new Erigo X collection exclusively at New York Fashion Week 2022, where users can watch through Shopee Live,” said Sadad.

Shopee said that it would like to reaffirm its commitment and passion in supporting the development and potential of local businesses that are an important part of the Shopee ecosystem through the Erigo X Shopee NYFW 2022. The recent collaboration is part of Shopee’s effort to strengthen the reach of homegrown brands in their own country and showcase the good quality of locally-made products.

Manila, Philippines – The lockdown restrictions resulted in less opportunity to engage with food lovers, and with this, Kraft Heinz has decided to partner with the local Filipino burger chain Sweet Ecstasy for a unique giveaway last July. 

The partnership aims to continually raise the bar for its food products, including its Heinz Seriously Good Mayonnaise. With the vision ‘Let’s make life delicious’ and its mission to create unique and out-of-this-world food pairings, Kraft Heinz wanted to step in to unite both food enthusiasts and restaurants.

Following this endeavor, Kraft Heinz has created a new campaign to provide a unique opportunity to create further taste connections with its fans. 

Called, ’The Seriously Good Burger’, the campaign was made by the Heinz Mayonnaise team and creative agency VMLY&R. It is a limited-edition burger that generated buzz through a digital-first campaign.

Andita Rasyid, Kraft Heinz’s head of marketing for Asia Trading, shared that they wanted to find a partner to help bring a burger experience that can once again energize the public’s interest in good restaurant food after the difficulties that the pandemic has posed on the industry. 

“This felt like a perfect way to bring our vision of ‘Let’s make life delicious’ to life,” said Rasyid.

Meanwhile, Jorge Thauby, the executive creative director at VMLY&R, commented, “We are excited that together with Heinz, we will be bringing consumers not only anticipation but a tangible and delightful experience from online to offline.”

The limited-edition burger was made available last 9 July 2021, where it attracted 850 participants, making it one of the most successful Southeast Asian campaigns for Heinz Seriously Good Mayonnaise.

Singapore – Carousell, the listing platform in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong for pre-loved consumer goods, has awarded its integrated media agency of record duties to Essence, the global data and measurement-driven media agency.

The Singapore-born classifieds marketplace is present in eight markets across Southeast Asia. Carousell offers a diverse range of products across a variety of categories, including automobiles, property, and home services, as well as electronics, and fashion accessories.

Led out of Essence’s Singapore office, the agency’s scope of work for Carousell includes brand and performance marketing in Singapore, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Essence’s offering covers media services such as media planning, media activation, automation, and media technology, alongside its specialist capabilities such as consulting, analytics, data strategy, ecommerce, experience, strategy, and advertising operations.

As part of the partnership, Essence’s first activities with Carousell include a campaign to build brand awareness among its target consumers in Hong Kong, a campaign to establish the brand’s versatility across products and service categories in Singapore and the Philippines, as well as conducting the agency’s Essence Media Health Check consulting service with Carousell’s team on its performance marketing campaigns.

“As one of the world’s leading classifieds platforms, we are so excited to have found such great partners in Essence, who enable us to establish meaningful ways to connect with our users at scale, no matter which part of the funnel they are at,” commented Cassandra Leong, Carousell’s director for brand. 

Meanwhile, Monica Bhatia, Essence’s senior vice president of client partner for APAC and managing director for Singapore, said that Carousell is an inspiring brand that believes in using technology to solve meaningful problems at scale and always improving in crafting the most seamless user experience for people to sell what they do not need and find what they need. 

“Likewise, through Essence’s data-driven approach to media, consulting, commerce, and content, enhanced by technology and a commitment to constant improvement, we are excited to help Carousell deliver the most valuable experiences for its consumers, as well as accelerate marketing transformation and business growth for the brand in this region,” said Bhatia.

Most recently, Essence has also announced the launch of its newest consulting service called ‘Essence Data Health Check’, with the aim to aid brands in getting value from collected audience data, which in turn can optimize business impact and consumer brand experience.

Hong Kong – Nantou City, the ancient city of Xin’an located at the center of Nanshan District in Shenzhen, has announced its complete brand overhaul, as part of its effort to build a cultural landmark in the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Nantou City is positioned as the capital of Eastern Guangdong and the cultural origin of Hong Kong and Macau. It strives to be the melting pot of design, culture, and creative industries.

According to Nantou City, after Vanke, the town developer and city service provider, took over the renovation of the city, it has evolved into a landmark location embedded with four major parts – cultural and creative retails, trendy art experiences, and high-quality and innovative F&B, as well as cultural residencies.

The rebranding, which will be managed by creative brand agency Superunion, includes strategic brand, experience, and communications planning, alongside a total revamp of visual identity.

Nan Huang, the general manager of Shenzhen Nantou City’s Renovation Project, shared that their aim is to activate Nantou City, bringing out the best in both Chinese traditions and modern creativity, organic and sustainable development vitality to the town. 

“As we see the Greater Bay Area continue to thrive and develop, our goal is for Nantou City to retain its original architecture, which is reminiscent of Lingnan/Cantonese styles from the Ming and Qing dynasties but injects modern elements to build the city toward a young and collaborative melting pot,” said Huang.

Meanwhile, Maggie Chien, Superunion China’s business director, commented that it is both exciting and challenging to curate a brand strategy and positioning that addresses the delicate balance between maintaining the history and making it relevant for contemporary times, and the Vanke team has demonstrated astonishing execution and sensitivities in revamping the old city.

“We want to reveal that hidden charm of Shenzhen Nantou City and build an innovative and consistent visual system that communicates the city’s values. In our view, Nantou city is not just a historical landmark that you visit once, but a place that you want to come back to time and time again, to relax, to stay, and to grow with. Instead of commercializing, we want to build the city into a sustainable cultural center and integrate it with the local lifestyle,” said Chien.

The city’s new brand revamp is set to be revealed at the end of 2021.