Tag: Partnerships

Seoul, South Korea – Native ad platform Dable, which is also a content discovery platform, has announced a partnership with Integral Ad Science (IAS) to deliver additional brand safety capabilities for advertisers.

Through the partnership, the Dable Native Ad platform will integrate integrated IAS’ brand safety solutions, which offer advertisers the ability to avoid content that most brands would consider inappropriate. 

This in turn, allows brands using Dable Native Ad to avoid risky content based on their preferences across categories such as adult content, alcohol, illegal downloads, illegal drugs, hate speech, offensive language, and violence. IAS brand safety controls are available on a pre-bid basis, so marketers only bid on brand-safe impressions and reach their clients in trusted environments. Working with IAS, Dable also provides insight on bids that are removed due to brand safety risk.

For Chaehyun Lee, CEO of Dable, he stated that they are committed to providing the best advertising experience for brands with the greatest level of brand safety, stating that brand safety is crucial when a company wants to communicate and continue to engage with clients.

“IAS is the leading company solving brand safety with excellent technologies. With this partnership, I believe our global advertisers can deliver their message confidently in a trusted environment and achieve their marketing goals,” Lee stated.

Beyond just analyzing keywords or URLs, IAS examines multiple elements of web pages that display Dable Native Ad to identify the content’s context in depth. Advertisers can control whether to include or exclude categories in their campaigns, helping them to reach clients alongside content that is safe and meets their brand standards. Advertisers can now benefit from IAS’s brand safety solution at no additional cost and avoid spending their budgets on objectionable content.

“We’re very pleased to work with Dable and provide our brand safety offerings for even more marketers. We are committed to helping our customers make every ad impression count, by providing insights and technology that protects their advertising investments from unsafe environments and drives results. We will continue to help protect advertisers’ brand equity through new partnerships with industry leaders like Dable,” said Laura Quigley, SVP for APAC at IAS.

Dable’s partnership with IAS also reflects the ongoing stride in creating brand safety measures for advertisers, as IAS had also recently signed a partnership with The Global Disinformation Index (GDI) to help brands avoid misinformation, ensuring journalistic integrity and reaffirming support for quality news sites.

Singapore – Advertising and public relations company dentsu has announced a partnership with cross-channel experience platform Insider which combines dentsu’s integrated capabilities in client support and execution with Insider’s AI-powered cross-channel marketing platform in delivering personalized customer experience journeys at scale.

Through the partnership, brands will be able to seamlessly access a holistic understanding of their online audiences, across different channels and platforms. This will allow marketers to anticipate audience behavior and deliver personalized online experiences at scale to fully address the needs of customers, while reducing the cost of customer acquisition, activation and retention.

For Prantik Mazumdar, managing director for CXM Group at dentsu Singapore, their company’s data-led and technology-driven approach to building omni-channel personalizations is etched in their company DNA, and that their end goal is clear: they are laser-focused on helping their clients cut through the data noise to drive meaningful customer journeys that build brand love.

“As such, we appreciate the complementary value that Insider’s AI-backed model for connecting data, predicting behaviors, and individualizing experiences brings to dentsu’s integrated capabilities. By unlocking these offerings, we will be able to even better collaborate with our clients to help them deliver captivating customer experiences faster and with precision,” Mazumdar said.

Meanwhile, Patrick Steinbrenner, managing director for APAC at Insider, commented that they look forward to collaborating with the team at dentsu to bring more enhanced customer service experience for their clients.

“Having the right recommendation algorithms powered by AI will help enterprises deliver precise individualized cross-channel recommendations and uncover their full revenue potential. Dentsu’s strategic client support and data-led execution with Insider’s platform capabilities will take marketing to the next level,” Steinbrenner said.

The partnership offerings will be available in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysia-based social media agency Kingdom Digital has unveiled its subsidiary Rockstar Digital, and for the sister company’s inaugural account, it has won the businesses of a telecommunications firm in the country, TIME dotCom (TIME).

TIME offers a full suite of domestic and international connectivity, and data center solutions to the wholesale, enterprise, and retail markets, and also delivers fiber network solutions and value-added services. 

The new partnership will see Rockstar managing the telco’s social media business which will run for a period of one year, with the option to extend for another. The appointment was won after a competitive pitch.

According to Ryan Ong, the CEO of Kingdom Digital Group, the team is thrilled to work with the prominent broadband provider and that it is a fitting time to introduce Rockstar Digital to the industry.

“Rockstar Digital was established to help challenger brands like TIME innovate and lead with consumer-first approach and ideation. Brands that partner with Rockstar can expect a brave and bold digital strategy and execution. We look forward to taking their social media game to the next level,” said Ong.

Meanwhile, Andrew Yeoh, TIME’s head of marketing, said that they appointed Rockstar amid fierce competition because of their structured and strategic understanding of the telco landscape, as well as their bold and fresh approach to social platforms, supported by robust data and in-depth insights. 

“The Rockstar team went above and beyond with a strategy that thrilled and terrified us in equal measure. It showed us the path forward to differentiate and carve out our own distinctive space in a social sphere dominated by giants. In short, when the entire category zigs, we will zag,” said Yeoh.

Kingdom Digital Group’s Head of Strategy Edmund Lou commented, “Our strategy is to position TIME as a lifestyle enabler, one that puts consumers first by enabling them to live more and gain endless experiences through timeless possibilities offered by the Internet.”

Hong Kong – Realizing the greater need for virtual event management platforms in the Asia-Pacific region, virtual event platform EventX has announced an alliance with virtual reality (VR) company HTC VIVE, following its conclusion of a US$10m funding from its series B funding.

Aside from the funding being led by HTC VIVE, the funding also saw participation from Gaocheng Capital, a top China-based private equity fund focused on enterprise software and technology-enabled services sectors.

EventX’s virtual event management platform has been well-used in the region, especially for events that involve Mainland China attendees where its unique design architecture overcomes internet firewalls to enable the service of any cross-region events. Meanwhile, HTC VIVE has gained great attention and acclaim for its strides in VR research and development. By combining the knowledge pools of the two respected digital trailblazers, a range of unique experiences is set to be developed through this strategic alliance. 

A major player for the rise of these virtual event management platforms can be attributed to the COVID-19 health pandemic, which has drastically curtailed travel and how people spend time in crowded places, decimating the wider event industry, estimated to be worth more than US$1t annually before the pandemic. 

COVID-19 has permanently transformed the professional events category and in turn raised attention to venture capitalists to pour in massive capital to the virtual event software space.

Speaking about the partnership, Sum Wong, co-founder and CEO at EventX, said, “It is certain that virtual workspaces and virtual events will become the new norm. The creation of this alliance will result in a deep level of integration between our own expertise and HTC VIVE’s groundbreaking work in the VR space. This collaboration will result in EventX bringing virtual and hybrid event experiences to a brand new level of immersion and interactivity. To take the responsibility as one of the event industry leaders, EventX will keep exploring new possibilities of event technology, popularizing the application, and creating users’ needs.”

EventX is going to invest heavily in products and engineering for leading the recovery of the events industry during the current pandemic, which will not only stabilize and solidify existing virtual event services but carve out new spaces and opportunities for the marketing and event industry. 

Meanwhile, Joseph Lin, president of VIVEPORT said, “VR has the power to improve the world. At HTC VIVE we strive to create the tools to expedite VR adoption — using not only our VR devices but also computers, tablets, and smartphones — and interact effectively. The strategic alliance with EventX illustrates HTC VIVE’s continuous efforts in providing people and enterprises with the tools to meet, socialize, and learn in VR and beyond. Massive possibilities and enthusiasm can be seen in this partnership to bring people closer together without any geographical boundaries.”

With their unique China accessible ability and together with HTC VIVE, they will be adopting VR and prospecting technology into the core capabilities of the event software-as-a-service (SaaS) product to make it accessible and reinvent the virtual event experience. For the first attempt to add VR and prospecting technology into core capabilities, they would be releasing a virtual event lite platform and open it for segments such as NGOs, SMEs and startups to register and organize virtual events for free.

Mumbai, India – Local-based digital marketing solutions company Social Beat has announced that it has entered a new partnership with global customer relationship management (CRM) platform Salesforce in a bid to drive marketing automation and digital transformation for brands in the country.

Through the mandate, both will help leading brands in India take up marketing automation solutions to align their marketing and sales. In addition, the solution will help not only generate the best leads but also keep the leads engaged and connect with them at the right time to close more leads. 

Accordingly, Social Beat has been chosen as the implementation and setup partner for Salesforce in the country, hence Social Beat will also help Salesforce’s customers accelerate their productivity and make insightful decisions to garner more leads.

“We are really excited to be partnering with Salesforce to drive marketing automation projects with brands in India. We are confident about this partnership leading to accelerated growth in the domain of digital transformation & marketing automation for both of us,” said Suneil Chawla, co-founder of Social Beat.

With Salesforce’s marketing automation tool, a company’s sales and marketing can work hand-in-hand to manage the existing customers and also identify prospective ones. This tool also helps companies track their leads from click to close. Salesforce, with the help of Social Beat, will make sure companies can stay connected to the consumers through email, mobile and social networks. 

In addition, Social Beat. in its partnership with Salesforce, also has the opportunity to join more than 150,000 like-minded companies and find a massive community of experts and evangelists committed to the company’s growth.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – OPPO, a leading global smart device brand, today announced that it has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s leading cloud service provider, to power enhanced cloud-based services for international users of OPPO’s ColorOS operating system. These services have been certified by ePrivacy, CSA STAR, and ISO. 

To support this functionality, OPPO leverages AWS global infrastructures in Singapore, France, and India to accelerate the deployment of cloud-based services including Amazon Aurora, a relational database built for the cloud; and Amazon Simple Storage Service, an online storage service.

Other key security features that will be tapped in as part of OPPO’s security compliance include AWS security features such as AWS CloudTrail, AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS), AWS Network Firewall, AWS Certificate Manager, and AWS Artifact.

Such an endeavor, according to David Gu, managing director of OPPO International Internet Business, is part of the company’s commitment to remain consistently focused on delivering the best possible user experience.

“AWS’s industry-leading cloud capabilities allow us to rapidly deploy our cloud-based services to provide users around the world with a smoother mobile experience. With the concern for a safe and secure customer experience at the forefront, AWS’s cloud security services help us further enhance the data privacy and protection of our proprietary ColorOS operating system on OPPO devices,” Gu said.

Meanwhile, Li Xiaomang, general manager of the commercial sector at AWS Greater China, commented, “As the world’s most comprehensive and widely adopted cloud platform, AWS continually expands its services to support virtually any cloud workload. We are pleased to support companies like OPPO with the deepest and broadest suite of services, and industry-leading security and compliance capabilities to operate their business and serve their global customers. 

He added, “With AWS, OPPO can accelerate its global business deployment in a secure and effective manner, while meeting local compliance requirements in countries all around the world.”

OPPO’s utilization of AWS for their cloud-based services is one of the promises made for their existing OS, ColorOS, the latest of which is ColorOS 11. According to them, the latest OS update helps ensure user security through features including OPPO’s Private System, Private Safe, and Personal Information Protection, all of which provide their own unique way of imposing mobile security for the mobile user.

“Going forward, OPPO will continue to build on AWS to further improve our services, ensuring all users can enjoy the benefits of technology-free from security concerns,” Gu concluded.

Manila, Philippines – Digital and mobile solution provider AdSpark and Philippine-based media and technology company Podcast Network Asia (PNA) have entered into a new partnership in a bid to improve and grow the existing podcast industry in the country, as more and more creators venture into the podcast scene, taking advantage of the growing surge of podcast listenership.

This newly minted partnership gives brands an exclusive access to branded podcast production services, and even advertising, to leverage on chart-topping Podcasts and locally-produced shows under PNA. Advertisers can also optimize this medium through its data analytics and ad marketplace platform Podmetrics, and develop based on data and insights. This is also a way for podcast creators to thrive and find value through in-depth listenership insights. 

Such partnership echoes the large listenership in the country, as the Philippines is ranked 6th in terms of fastest-growing country by podcast listening. This is at around 31M listeners in the Philippines alone, with the majority coming from a 23-34 age range. A key factor is, due to the pandemic, screen fatigue increased and consumers turned to on-demand audio for entertainment. Globally there is a 42% increase in podcast listening, and the Philippines is at a 100% increase.

For Ron Baetiong, CEO at the Podcast Network Asia, they aim to bring podcasting to the mainstream, evident to their status as a podcast network home to more than 130 shows with around 15M listens and 4,000 episodes.

“Our grand vision of turning the Filipino podcasting community into a thriving industry becomes one step closer to reality with this partnership between PNA and AdSpark. We believe that podcasts are a powerful medium that don’t just allow listener understanding and retention, but also great Ad ROI conversions. With AdSpark, we want to enable brands to leverage podcasts since the future of podcasting is very bright,” Baetiong stated.

As an advertising medium, ‘podvertising’ or the nature of advertising in podcast channels, allows brands to tap into various demographics, age ranges, and other factors through the different shows. The interest in and usage of podcasts as an advertising touchpoint is exponentially moving upward and more brands are being enabled to communicate and even create audiences.

“Part of the adtech play is to deliver the demand for audio content, along with the omnichannel experience we create for our clients. We want to be able to connect brands to their listeners through relevant audio content, and we are committed to rebuilding effective audio advertising on digital through Podcast Network Asia,” said Gretchen Largoza, CEO at AdSpark.

Singapore – GrowthOps, an APAC-based growth and technology consultancy, has announced a partnership with growth management platform Insider to boost e-commerce multi-channel personalized offering for clients seeking to improve their return of investment (ROI).

The partnership will enable GrowthOps’ multidisciplinary teams to leverage Insider’s AI-powered growth management platform, giving e-commerce clients a deep and holistic understanding of their online audiences, across different channels and platforms.

This, in turn, allows clients to be able to anticipate audience behavior and deliver personalized online experiences for their customers, addressing their needs more fully, while reducing the cost of customer acquisition, activation and retention.

For David Isaac, Chief Growth Officer at GrowthOps, the needs of top-quartile CMO and CPOs have become increasingly complex, with their roles expanding to include growth and technology. He added that competitive businesses need a sustainable solution that de-risks innovation for product-led growth.

“Together, we will enable our C-suite clients to deliver compelling customer experiences by integrating customer behavior and engagement data from product, marketing, and technology platforms, such as Insider. GrowthOps is built from the ground-up to support APAC businesses to lead in their category with new digital platforms, across more channels,” Isaac said.

Meanwhile, Patrick Steinbrenner, Managing Director for APAC at Insider, commented, “GrowthOps’ expertise as a growth consultancy enables clients to scale with enterprise-grade execution and support. Combined with Insider’s AI-powered platform capabilities, they will take their targeted marketing to the next level, enhanced with precision and personalization.”

The unique combination delivers relevant, memorable, and loyalty-inducing customer experiences, enabling CMOs and C-suite professionals to meet ever-changing customer demands. GrowthOps maintains multidisciplinary teams in-house to deliver the scale, synergy, and agility clients need to perform at the top of their industries.

Taipei, Taiwan – Asia-centric big data company Vpon has announced a new partnership with global adtech company Hivestack to amplify data-driven digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising across the markets of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Said partnership merges Vpon’s extensive mobile location data enables precise audience targeting X Hivestack’s programmatic digital out-of-home technology. Furthermore, said partnership brings together Vpon’s extensive location data with the targeting and measurement capabilities of Hivestack’s demand-side platform (DSP).

This then allows Hivestack’s advertising clients to deliver contextually relevant out-of-home messaging to different segments of consumers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Hivestack’s DSP creates accurate custom segments by geofencing places of interest frequented by a brand’s target audience. The data will be leveraged to build hourly device concentration scores for each DOOH asset and activate screens where a high concentration of devices has been previously observed. Hivestack’s platform uses market-leading technology to activate the right DOOH screens at the right time, using billions of anonymous data points from mobile location ID’s. 

Arthur Chan, COO of Vpon, comments that their company’s effective and customizable data products are the ‘perfect accompaniment’ to Hivestack’s unique programmatic technology, which uses location data to activate digital screens in real-time based on behavioral patterns and movement.

“The partnership presents an exciting opportunity for marketers in Hong Kong and Taiwan to combine our far-reaching data sets and expert analytics with Hivestack’s market leading DSP to identify and reach the most relevant audience for their campaigns with high impact out-of-home advertising,” Chan stated.

Meanwhile, Troy Yang, MD for North Asia at Hivestack, describes that Hong Kong and Taiwan are key markets for Hivestack and they are excited to partner with an innovative big-data company that is prominent in these countries.

“Vpon’s unrivaled mobile location data and capabilities will be a valuable addition to the Hivestack offering, enabling marketers to serve timely and compelling advertising to the right audiences at the right moment and in the right place, as well as to continually measure and optimize their out of home campaigns to maximize conversions,” Yang stated.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Local-based ABA Bank has announced that it has signed in scalable mobile platform provider Forest Interactive as its digital content partner for the bank’s mobile banking app, ABA Mobile.

Through the partnership, ABA Bank will bring ABA Mobile users options to pay for digital vouchers by popular online entertainment and stores, including premium services like Amazon, Google Play Store, iTunes Store, Netflix, Spotify, Mobile Legends Diamonds, Rules of Survival, Roblox, and many more.

Said partnership, according to Soknang To, country manager at Forest Interactive Cambodia, coincides with the current state of Cambodia in regards to digital content consumption, where the country is growing as an emerging market for the digital content audience with over 21 million mobile connections as of January 2021.

“With these vouchers available on the ABA Mobile app, customers can purchase in-game credits and digital gift cards right from their mobile banking app. We are excited to plug in another connection with ABA Bank to make premium content services easily and securely available for Cambodians, thus boosting the Kingdom’s digital financial inclusion effort,” To stated.

Meanwhile, Zokhir Rasulov, chief digital officer at ABA Bank, commented that the partnership with Forest Interactive brings great value to ABA Mobile users, making payments for a variety of the world’s popular services just a few taps away.

“This is the result of how ABA closely monitors and listens to the needs of its clients. We will continue working hard to bring more useful features and services and make the financial life of Cambodians more convenient,” Rasulov said.

Forest Interactive’s Digital Voucher Platform (DVP) comes to the fore as a comprehensive, one-stop portal for vouchers on digital goods to cater to today’s growing smartphone users that prefer online purchases of goods and services. With DVP, users can enjoy a wide array of premium digital content services through simplified and secured payment processes.

Forest Interactive’s endeavor for content subscription strategies has been evident globally, as they announced its expansion to eight countries last year, namely Myanmar, Switzerland, Austria, Kuwait, and Kenya as well as Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia.