Tag: Partnerships

India – One of India’s leading e-commerce marketplaces Flipkart has awarded its digital agency of record (AOR) mandate to digital marketing agency 22feet Tribal Worldwide. The remit will include managing Flipkart’s digital campaigns and strategy.

Under the partnership, 22feet Tribal will be helping the brand drive business growth through creativity. The agency will also be focusing on strengthening Flipkart’s fashion, Beauty, General Merchandise and Home (BGMH), and mobile phone categories.

Moreover, the agency will be focusing on strengthening Flipkart’s relationship with its strong customer base of more than 250 million shoppers.

Speaking about the win, Preetham Venkky, president of 22feet Tribal Worldwide and chief digital officer of DDB Mudra Group, said, “With this digital AOR mandate, we are thrilled to be partnering with Flipkart. Our commitment to creatively enabling Flipkart’s next stage of growth with an increased focus on strengthening their commercial spectrum is hugely exciting.”

He also added that the partnership will see 22feet Tribal providing ‘clutter-breaking’ solutions to help Flipkart overcome challenges in the online marketplace.

22feet Tribal Worldwide has also previously acquired the digital mandate of Indian logistics marketplace Porter.

Singapore – On-demand food company Deliveroo has entered a partnership with independent PR and social agency W Communications to manage its corporate and consumer communications.

The partnership is targeted at building a positive brand reputation for the delivery service through hyperlocal stories and emphasising Deliveroo’s passion for connecting Singaporeans to the best restaurants and merchants in various areas.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen Deliveroo become an essential part of consumers’ lives, as well as open up new revenue streams and earning opportunities for restaurants and delivery riders,” said Jolin Ng, general manager at W Singapore.

She also added that W will be bringing its expertise in ‘corpsumer’ communications and instinct for news to elevate the Deliveroo brand and share impactful stories with local audiences.

Warren Johnson, founder of W Communications also added, “Having launched Deliveroo to the world out of London in 2014, we are excited for this reunion and to be expanding our partnership to Asia, a key market for both entities. We aim to continue delivering business-changing results for them as how we’ve done previously.”

Meanwhile, Jason Parke, general manager at Deliveroo Singapore mentioned that W’s bid stood out because of their creativity, excellent media relations, and passion for food.

“We’re confident that their experience will complement our growth ambitions and look forward to a successful partnership,” he added.

W Singapore is a partner of notable brands such as Häagen-Dazs, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Impossible Foods, and Marks & Spencer, amongst others.

Deliveroo has also previously formed the Digital Platforms Industry Association (DPIA) with food delivery platforms Grab and foodpanda to fortify the guidelines and policies to support their partners and merchants in Singapore.

Manila, Philippines – Maya, the newly rebranded and one of the leading financial superapps in the Philippines, has named IPG Mediabrands’ media agency Initiative as its media agency of record. The win followed a multi-agency pitch in October 2022. 

Initiative Philippines will be heading Maya’s integrated media mandate. This includes business analytics, audience understanding, media strategy, planning, offline, and full-funnel digital performance activation for the consumer and business segments of the total Maya portfolio.

“2022 was a tremendous year of brand and business growth as we relaunched from PayMaya to Maya, but the work has only just begun. With even greater ambitions in 2023, we must ensure that all our capabilities across the board are on the cutting edge,” said Pepe Torres, chief marketing officer of Maya.

He also added that Initiative proved to be the right media partner for Maya for being just as invested in its success as they are and being philosophically aligned with their “cultural velocity proposition.”

Paul Atienza, managing partner at Initiative Philippines also said, “Maya is a bold tech maverick that continues to stretch the limits and defy conventions in helping Filipinos make bolder financial choices. We could not be more thrilled to partner with them, driving Cultural Velocity to further protract growth for the Maya brand in years to come.”

Melody Laogan, managing partner at Initiative Philippines added, “This win is a testament to Initiative’s culturally driven and outcome-focused approach to integrated strategic planning. We share the same values with Maya, of being fearless, bold, and progressive. We are excited to raise the bar together.”

Initiative Philippines’ appointment is effective January 2023.

Last May, Paymaya rebranded as Maya with the aim to be known as an all-in-one finance platform for individuals and enterprises. 

Maya Bank’s parent firm Voyager Innovations has also previously boosted its total valuation to unicorn plus status.

Singapore – Global leader in digital media quality Integral Ad Science (IAS) has announced its first-to-market partnership with in-game advertising platform Gadsme.

With the partnership, IAS will help verify Gadsme’s ad inventory globally. It will also provide marketers with third-party viewability and invalid traffic measurement (IVT) through the IAS Signal platform.

IAS’ solution will be enabling marketers to validate that impressions are fraud-free, verify that their campaigns reach real people, and equip them with important campaign insights. These media quality measurements are reported through the IAS Signal platform, including mobile and web browsing campaigns.

Tom Sharma, chief product officer of IAS, shared his excitement over the partnership that will further develop campaign measurability and performance in gaming environments.

“This partnership creates a new level of transparency for marketers and will ensure confidence that they are engaging real users and driving outcomes,” he added. 

Simon Spaull, chief revenue officer and co-founder at Gadsme, also commented, “This announcement further solidifies Gadsme as a transformative tech leader for the gaming ad industry specifically in 3D environments. Gadsme’s non-intrusive video, display, and audio ad formats enable publishers to monetize their games without interrupting a player’s experience.”

He also added that the solution is advantageous to global brands and helps advertisers reach their target audience in a safe and ideal environment. 

IAS has also previously partnered with in-game advertising platform Anzu to provide media measurement for in-game ads.

New Zealand – Insurance company AIA New Zealand has appointed Bastion Shine as its agency for integrated marketing and communications. 

AIA NZ Chief Customer Officer Angela Busby said they have been impressed by the strategic thinking and market understanding that the Bastion Shine team brings to the table. 

“It is clear that they are as committed as we are in achieving AIA’s purpose of helping New Zealanders live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives,” she said.

As part of the remit, Bastion Shine will be helping AIA maintain a market-leading brand to match the latter’s industry position as New Zealand’s leading life insurer. “We look forward to working with them on new brand and marketing campaigns for 2023 and beyond,” Busby added.

On partnering with AIA NZ, Bastion Shine’s Managing Director Toby Sellers commented, “AIA is a purpose-led business and having the opportunity to partner with an organisation that positively impacts the health and wellbeing of New Zealand was a huge motivator for us.”

To bolster its marketing efforts, the AIA Group has been releasing campaigns in different markets, including the Merdeka campaign for AIA Malaysia, AIA HK’s ad series, and AIA Malaysia’s Chinese New Year film.

Singapore – With the aim of empowering businesses and creators with robust Web3 solutions, Singapore-based metaverse agency CGAME, has announced its partnership with Hong Kong metaverse agency INDEX GAME.

The partnership was officialised in the Strategic Partnership Ceremony held at SAFRA@29 Carpenter Street. Key stakeholders and industry players witnessed the signing of the partnership’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

CGAME and INDEX GAME will work on a project to help empower businesses and creators to evolve in the Web 3.0 era by curating a robust suite of commercial solutions. The project is accredited by the internationally acclaimed metaverse platform The Sandbox and will assist its creators and builders’ network for Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia markets.

“The Metaverse is an open platform that fosters a new digital economy which will drive millions of jobs and benefit both Creators and Players. We’re just starting to see the early potential of it and pioneers like INDEX GAME and CGAME show that the Web3 ecosystem is both collaborative and expanding rapidly to new regions of the world,” said Sebastien Borget, co-founder and COO of The Sandbox in his opening speech at the ceremony.

The partnership also aims to spearhead strategic advancements and innovation in Singapore’s Web3 ecosystem in tandem.

Kriskay Choo, co-founder and CSO of CGAME, said “It is vital for Singaporean companies to accelerate their metaverse and Web3 capabilities to meet the needs of the future. With that in mind, our new initiative, The Sandbox Metaverse Experience (S.M.E.), will support 500 small medium enterprises in Singapore on The Sandbox by the end of 2023.”

“We look forward to more companies seizing these opportunities, and planting themselves here to establish roots for the future,” he added. 

Becky Wong, co-founder & COO of INDEX GAME, also said, “The metaverse will open boundless growth opportunities for designers and creators alike to interact and build their own experiences, artworks, and solutions to major issues. For that reason, we are collaborating with institutions in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia to nurture 5,000 creators by the end of 2023.”

CGAME is the first Singapore-based metaverse agency to be officially appointed by The Sandbox and launched the latter’s first artwork in Binance. Similarly, INDEX GAME was also the first Hong Kong-based metaverse agency to receive investment and be appointed by The Sandbox.

Vietnam – Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, also known as Techcombank, has announced its multimillion-dollar and multi-year partnership with Adobe. The partnership will be seeing the launch of the first end-to-end customer experience technology platform in Vietnam.

Techcombank will be using Adobe Experience Cloud to deliver hyper-personalised banking experiences in real-time across offline and digital touchpoints. The launch will also mark a significant milestone in Vietnam and Southeast Asia’s banking industry.

Techcombank’s investment in Adobe Experience Cloud, including Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform (CDP), will form part of the integrated technology platform that will help determine the best personalisation format for its customers. This will be done by analyzing customer browsing behaviours and deploying persona-based discovery paths.

“Today’s consumers are banking across multiple online and offline channels, and it is critical that we meet their expectations wherever they choose to engage or transact,” said Jens Lottner, chief executive officer at Techcombank. 

He added, “With Adobe’s successful track record of working with leading financial services organizations around the world for the past decade, we are excited to partner with Adobe on our ongoing five-year transformation strategy, and accelerate our journey of being the leader in the customer-led digitization of the Financial Services Industry (FSI) in Vietnam.”

Simon Dale, managing director of Southeast Asia and Korea at Adobe, also said, “We are thrilled to be part of Techcombank’s journey to enable the digital transformation of Vietnam’s finance and banking industry.”

He further commented, “Using Adobe Experience Cloud, Techcombank will be able to deliver better and faster experiences for customers, advancing its long-term vision to inspire a more robust digital skills economy and workforce reskilling in Vietnam.”

As Vietnam aims to accelerate national digital transformation efforts in the finance and banking industry, Techcombank and Adobe will also be building the digital skills economy by unveiling an inaugural Center of Excellence (CoE) to upskill teams and develop digital talent.

To this, Dale commented, “Our CoE will develop the digital capabilities of teams within Techcombank to leverage the tools within Adobe Experience Cloud. This will simultaneously accelerate the bank’s digital transformation journey and enable the development of industry-leading digital talent within the bank.”

Adobe has also previously made updates to its Adobe Substance 3D suite to help brands be more metaverse-ready.

Shanghai, China – In collaboration with Hotel Shilla and private equity firm Anchor Equity Partners, L’Oréal Groupe announced the launch of its new luxury beauty brand ‘SHIHYO’, through Loshian, a third-party joint venture.

This marks the first time L’Oréal is launching a new beauty brand through a joint venture.

SHIHYO is a newly created skincare brand inspired by the Asian wisdom of the 24 seasons, embodying the healthy energy of nature powered by herbal sciences. The brand’s first flagship store, the ‘Seoul Garden’, will open in the coming months at The Shilla Seoul Hotel in Korea.

“L’Oréal LUXE is very pleased to announce the launch of SHIHYO through a partnership with Hotel Shilla and Anchor Equity Partners,” said Cyril Chapuy, president of L’Oréal Luxe.

He added, “Rooted in an exceptional traditional wisdom and knowledge of naturality, SHIHYO represents the epitome of Asian luxury beauty. Empowered by science, SHIHYO delivers the highest skincare quality thanks to its signature patented ingredient, offering the most elevated luxury beauty experience.”

In-Gyu Han, COO of Hotel Shilla, also commented, “SHIHYO is a luxury beauty brand that brings out the best of naturality and efficacy with seasonal ingredients directly sourced from local farmers in Korea.”

Han further explained, “With our rich retail expertise married with L’Oréal’s strong brand building capabilities, we believe SHIHYO will elevate the desire for natural, luxury beauty in Asia.”

Sanggyun Ahn, managing partner of Anchor Equity Partners, also said, “We are glad to join this partnership to support the growth of the most unique brand in Asia and globally. We have full confidence that SHIHYO will meet the discerning consumers’ needs with new luxury beauty routines.”

L’Oréal has also previously extended its partnership with digital-first agency Lion & Lion to introduce its science-forward skincare brand La Roche Posay to the Indonesian market.

Singapore – Global media and marketing solutions group IPG Mediabrands and software development company Scope3 announced a first-of-its-kind industry partnership today, with the aim of measuring and reducing the former’s clients’ carbon footprint from digital advertising.

Mediabrands will be offering their clients emissions measurement, compensation, and reduction capabilities using the standards established by Scope3, while helping increase the capacity of players across the digital ecosystem to decarbonize media emissions at scale.

The partnership will introduce complementary and mutually dependent services that provide a road map to net zero. This includes measurement and reporting of emissions generated by the end user consuming the ad by augmenting Mediabrands’ existing media consumption carbon calculator. 

It will also include using Scope3’s Green Media Products to achieve carbon-neutral campaign activations, as well as leveraging Scope3’s emissions measurement, while Mediabrands initiate dialogue and collaboration across the digital supply chain to promote ad delivery paths optimised to reduce emissions.

“Our partnership with Scope3 is one of many commitments Mediabrands is making to take intentional steps in support of climate action as part of our broader Media for Good efforts,” said Eileen Kiernan, global CEO of Mediabrands.

She added, “For action to be taken, access to accurate data and reporting is an essential first step. Scope3 provides critical insights and information that enable us to make smarter, cleaner investment choices.”

Scope3 CEO and co-founder Brian O’Kelley also commented, “From the beginning of Scope3, Mediabrands has been an incredible partner. They were the first agency network to purchase Green Media Products as part of a decarbonization strategy. They have tirelessly advocated for sustainability with their clients, vendors, and publishers.”

IPG Mediabrands has also partnered with Amplified Intelligence last year, in its efforts to optimise its clients’ media selections.

Malaysia – Media services company Trapper has recently announced a strategic partnership with data and business intelligence agency Ikano Insight to launch consultancy and advanced analytics services for environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-centric transformation practices.

Trapper and Ikano Insight will be providing their expertise in machine learning and IoT learning, amongst others, for tracking and optimisation, big data analytics and visualisation, sustainability framework and measurement consultation, as well as internalisation and go-to-market strategies.

The partnership aims to enable and empower businesses to transform their sustainability practices to meet internal ESG targets in a transparent, accountable, and accurate way with the use of data.

This is in connection with independent audits stating that companies performing ESG practices obtain higher financial growth and optimisation, lower volatility, higher employee productivity, reduced regulatory and legal interventions, improved top-line growth, and ultimately, reduced costs.

Whilst ESG is becoming a trend among businesses and investors, Trapper Group CEO Sue-Anne Lim says that many companies do not realise that they are ‘greenwashing’. She further explains, “Many companies are marketing themselves as ESG practitioners because of oncoming financial pressures. However, in their haste to go to market with ESG messaging, brands do not realise that they are greenwashing and we’ve seen public backlash from well-intentioned campaigns.”

On partnering with Ikano Insight, Lim said, “Ikano Insight specialises in advanced retail and sustainability analytics, supporting businesses such as IKEA for over 10 years. They are the perfect partner because data-first sustainability practices are in the DNA of the Ikano Group. Their expertise in operational transformation using data insights is second to none.”

ST Chua, Ikano Insight’s regional director of Southeast Asia, said, “There are two parts to a successful ESG plan — one is having the right goals and measurement, and the other is a strong change management plan.”

“Ikano Insight harnesses data, technology and advanced analytics to define, measure, visualise and deliver actionable insights for businesses to know how every part of the business is doing against its target. We see Trapper as a complementary partner to offer a holistic change management plan for clients,” Chua added.

Trapper has also previously partnered with satellite communication services premium supplier MEASAT for the latter’s prepaid WiFi satellite broadband service CONNECTme NOW.