Tag: Pau-pau

Singapore – Online food and grocery delivery platform foodpanda has announced the one-year anniversary celebration for its own brand ambassador Pau-Pau, encouraging users to ‘live like a panda’, meaning freeing up their time and energy to pursue what really matters to them.

In conceptualising the philosophy, the foodpanda team spent hours studying pandas and found that pandas eat as they want to, sleep as they want to and live life without unnecessary worries. Taking inspiration from this outlook, foodpanda believes that humans too can benefit from adopting a similar mindset, and focus their energies on things that truly satisfy them. 

Eunha Bhang, chief creative officer at Delivery Hero Asia, said, “We wanted to create a brand philosophy that will resonate with people of all ages across the region. With ‘live like a panda’, we hope to inspire our customers to look beyond their routine or chores that get in the way of doing things that they truly like, such as spending time with people they love. We want to help them free up time for things they enjoy doing so that they can find true satisfaction.”

Since his debut, Pau-Pau has received immense love from millions of people across the region and has created a positive perception in customers’ minds – making foodpanda their preference for on-demand deliveries. Throughout 2022, foodpanda has also received numerous requests for Pau-Pau merchandise, which highlights his growing fanbase. 

Moreover, Pau-Pau, since becoming the face of the brand, has made his way into customers’ everyday lives through social media collaterals such as Telegram and LINE sticker sets as well as Instagram filters, which are used by many. He is constantly featured in prominent out of home advertisements, and has his own line of plushies and exclusive collectables.

Pau-Pau has also made its way to more hyperlocal campaigns. For instance, in Thailand last year, a giant Pau-Pau mascot visited an underprivileged children’s foundation to celebrate Valentine’s Day with them and also deliver delicious meals and other everyday necessities. In Taiwan, foodpanda launched a Pau-Pau promotion campaign featuring three Pau-Pau statues about 2.5m high while in Singapore, Pau-Pau has his own ice cream flavour and pink cookies.

Speaking about the celebration, Monika Mikusova, senior director of marketing for APAC at foodpanda, said, “The creation of our own brand ambassador, Pau-Pau, allows us to better connect and engage with millions of people who use the foodpanda app daily in a fresh, new way. With Pau-Pau, we now have the unique opportunity and creative runway to launch campaigns that bring to life foodpanda’s brand personality. While Pau-Pau had an adventurous 2022, for 2023, we are very excited for him to explore even more meaningful ways to add value to our customers’ lives.”

Pau-Pau’s philosophy is also reflected in what Mikusova said in MARKETECH APAC’s exclusive feature as their campaign is recognised as the site’s “Branding Campaign of the Year”. In it, she explains that Pau-Pau was made to have a personality that matches foodpanda’s values: a fun-loving and free-spirited panda who advocates environmental sustainability and believes in empowering people.

“As a reflection of our brand purpose, we centred Pau-Pau’s unique personality and passion points on three key values – living life on one’s own terms, the environment, and food and fun. This speaks to our commitment of making food, grocery and essential services delivery accessible to everyone, everywhere quickly around the clock,” she further explained.

Singapore – Looking back, the year 2022 was packed with amazing campaigns that had our jaws dropped and our hearts touched. However, one emerged at the top of our list and gained MARKETECH APAC’s Branding Campaign of the Year nod — foodpanda’s brand mascot ‘Pau-Pau’. 

Unveiled through foodpanda’s 10th anniversary campaign in Asia last January, Pau-Pau was introduced to the public as its first-of-its-kind brand ambassador that represents sustainability and empowerment. The pink panda mascot was rolled out on the food delivery platform’s channels and interfaces, including the foodpanda app, website, social media accounts, and live-environment activations, amongst others. 

In an interview with Monika Mikusova, senior director of marketing for APAC, foodpanda told us how Pau-Pau was conceptualised, the traction and sentiment he gained from the public, and moreover, what more can we look forward from him and the brand’s campaigns.

The story behind fun-loving and free-spirited Pau-Pau

Before we got to know the Pau-Pau that we now love, foodpanda has been signing on real-life influential personalities to represent the brand. However, foodpanda’s desire to establish a stronger connection with its communities and give its customers someone they can relate to in their everyday lives led to the creation of Pau-Pau. His inception then began two years ago amidst the lockdowns, with over 200 people across 22 nationalities who worked to bring Pau-Pau to life.

“The creation of our own brand ambassador, Pau-Pau, allows us to connect and engage with millions of people who use the foodpanda app daily in a fresh, new way,” said Mikusova. 

Not only that, Pau-Pau was made to have a personality that matches foodpanda’s values: a fun-loving and free-spirited panda who advocates environment sustainability and believes in empowering people to live their lives on their own terms. He also had his own universe: the ‘Pandaverse’.

“As a reflection of our brand purpose, we centred Pau-Pau’s unique personality and passion points on three key values – living life on one’s own terms, the environment, and food and fun. This speaks to our commitment of making food, grocery and essential services delivery accessible to everyone, everywhere quickly around the clock,” she further explained.

How Pau-Pau inspired the foodpanda community

When we think of foodpanda, the image of Pau-Pau may now be the first thing that comes to mind. This signifies that the pink panda has indeed received love from millions of people across Asia even just almost a year from its launch. Unsurprisingly, Pau-Pau was able to build his own fanbase with his fans wanting to see more of him, even in merchandise— talk about popular!

Mikusova even shared a touching story of Pau-Pau’s fan from the Philippines, “For instance, we saw a Facebook post of a customer in the Philippines requesting for a Pau-Pau plushie or soft toy because it was the only thing her godson wanted for his birthday. We were so moved seeing how much this child loved Pau-Pau, that we wanted to do something special to make his birthday memorable!” 

As a champion of empowerment and sustainability, foodpanda through Pau-Pau has also inspired people to live life to the fullest, by simply encouraging them to grab their favourite foodie whenever they would like at any time of the day. He has likewise been the face of foodpanda’s recent green initiatives such as the ‘Let’s do our Pau-rt’ initiative in the Philippines and the launch of a locally produced and sustainable beer in Singapore called ‘Loaf Like A Panda’.

Will we be seeing more from Pau-Pau?

From having his own universe to his own fanbase, we think we may have already seen a lot from Pau-Pau. But for foodpanda, Pau-Pau is a distinct asset that will always inspire them to tell creative stories. Hence, for them, this is only just Pau-Pau’s beginning. 

“Next year will be even more exciting, and potentially Pau-Pau’s universe may grow in the future,” Mikusova concluded.

This recognition is based on Google Analytics results on the most-read stories of 2022, along with editorial validation on the significance of a leader’s contribution, campaign results, and overall impact.

We are so excited to kick off our Top Stories for the year. We have made a few changes to our monthly review, and this time, you’ll have a more in-depth look at the stories that have made it to the list. 

We have an amazing rundown inaugurating our Top Stories for 2022. First, we have a thought leadership series under MARKETECH APAC’s first-ever What’s NEXT series bagging a spot. 

A content marketing agency, who has recently developed a content hub for a Malaysian brand, also comes out on top. Meanwhile, a food delivery platform that is taking its branding to the next level is also named as one of our top stories. 

Top 3: Magnolia’s Don Lee shares his insights on DXP adoption for What’s NEXT

What’s NEXT: Why marketers need DXP more than ever in 2022

For the first time in MARKETECH, we have launched our content series dedicated to sharing insights for future trends, called What’s NEXT. 

What’s NEXT was launched in order to help the marketing community prepare for 2022 and one of the insights, authored by Don Lee, the managing director of CMS provider Magnolia for APAC, tops our stories for this month. In the article, he shared how a digital experience platform (DXP) can help brands deliver an excellent digital experience. 

In an exclusive interview with Lee, he further shares what he believes are the important factors that make up a good digital brand experience. He says three things: customer-centricity, omnichannel experience, and personalization. 

He said that there’s no such thing as solid brand loyalty anymore and it is continually a challenge – an “uphill challenge” – to retain your customers. 

“Customers learn to expect ever more service and value through unique and personalized experiences that match their preferences and needs; so for brands to keep up with those demands, they have to turn to experience-driven commerce,” shared Lee.

He said then that a DXP is tech that will enable brands to develop effective personalization. 

“You don’t want a one-size-fits-all sort of experience. You want it to be all about the [consumer]. They know [them], they understand [them], they know their preferences, and know exactly what they’re looking for…that’s what consumers want,” said Lee. 

Top 2: Green Park Content launches new health and wellness content hub in Malaysia

Green-Park-Content-health-hub

Content marketing agency Green Park Content (GPC) has launched an English language health and wellness content hub in Malaysia for a company that the agency has yet to disclose. This new content hub development aims to establish a powerful online presence for an integrated healthcare company. 

Called ‘All Things Health’, the new hub enables access to easy-to-understand, trustworthy articles written by health editors, physicians, and wellness experts and covers key health and wellness categories such as nutrition, mental health, and balance, as well as parenthood. It also addresses Malaysians’ growing demand for health and wellness information, with over five million category searches of health and wellness topics in the country per month.

MARKETECH APAC spoke with Ayie Austria, Green Park Content’s head of search experience and innovation, to know how GPC conceptualise a content platform.

Austria shared that they have a lot of data gathering and a great team of data analysts in GPC, and that’s where the market analysis comes in, in order to cement the opportunity to enter a particular market.

“There are a lot of intricacies in building a content hub but I would start by finding out what is the main goal of the website, what are challenges or problems we would like to provide solutions for our users, and why are we building this content hub,” said Austria.

Moreover, Austria also shared her opinions on what makes a good content hub. She noted that the content hub’s users experience needs to stand out, and content needs to be relatable and answers the questions users are searching for.

“More importantly, we need to be clear in communicating to users why they should choose our site over other competitors. Creating purpose-led content goes a long way in communicating to our users for loyalty and retention,” she added.

Top 1: foodpanda unveils new brand mascot Pau-Pau

foodpanda celebrates decade anniversary with new brand mascot

For the first month of this year, foodpanda got the #1 spot for MARKETECH APAC Top Stories. The leading delivery and grocery platforms unveiled their new charming mascot as they culminated 10 years of service within the Asian region.

The new brand ambassador is in line with foodpanda’s earlier brand refresh. The mascot, aptly named Pau-Pau for its likeness to a panda, is a meticulous step into new brand representation and maximization of the digital marketing space.

In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Idan Haim, foodpanda’s vice president for growth and marketing, shared the inspiration behind launching a brand mascot, saying that going back to reasons for existence, foodpanda, like humans was born, given a name, discovered their purpose in life, and finally, the company wanted to soul-search.

Regarding the inspiration for the brand mascot’s design, Haim said, “Throughout this process, we watched many pandas in the zoo and through zoo footage. We were all so charmed by how they lived the life they want. They are so much fun with themselves and their environment that we felt so inspired and we wanted to bring this to our customers.”

“We wanted to bring this [feeling] to our customers, [inspite] of the fact that life is not perfect, we want them to enjoy these moments and create happiness and smiles. We believe we created this meaningful interaction with customers. Sometimes, I walk down the streets and see people at the bus stops and they smile when they stare at our videos and we feel that we have done something good because we created a small moment of happiness,” Haim said.

Rankings‌ ‌are‌ ‌based‌ ‌on‌ ‌Google‌ ‌Analytics‌ ‌from‌ ‌the‌ ‌period‌ ‌of‌ ‌16th‌ ‌December to 15th‌ ‌January.

Watch our exclusive interviews with the brands themselves on the latest episode of MARKETECH APAC Top Stories, now live on our YouTube channel.

Singapore — foodpanda, leading delivery and grocery platform in Asia, celebrates its 10th anniversary with the unveiling of its first-of-its-kind brand ambassador — Pau-pau. The mascot will be given its own unique characteristics and will be featured on foodpanda’s different marketing platforms.

The introduction of Pau-Pau builds on foodpanda’s earlier brand refresh. The pink panda is the platform’s venture towards new brand representation, where, aside from the traditional marketing environments, the new brand ambassador will also be utilized to maximize digital marketing touchpoints.

Idan Haim, foodpanda’s vice president for growth and marketing, commented, “Pau-Pau is a first-of-its-kind among food delivery platforms in Asia! More than anything else, we wanted to create a personality that evokes love among customers. We want Pau-Pau to be an inspiration for people to live life on their own terms and to its fullest. We are excited for our customers to meet Pau-Pau, as we mark the start of a new decade for foodpanda in Asia,” Haim said.

Pau-pau will be featured on the LINE and Instagram apps as an available sticker to bolster use in consumer expression and communication. It will progressively be rolled out into all of foodpanda channels and interfaces, namely the app, website, digital and social media platforms, as well as live-environment activations and more.

The mascot has been developed with a unique set of characteristics that will further help it relate with a wider range of audiences across the Asian market; foodpanda said Pau-pau believes in caring for the environment, empowerment, and living freely.

Eunha Bhang, chief creative officer of delivery hero Asia, gave her thoughts on the uniqueness of the character.

“In creating Pau-Pau, we wanted him to also have a dimension of purpose — that he stands for something more than just being an adorable mascot. Pau-Pau embodies and brings to life the foodpanda spirit by helping our communities reimagine how they use delivery and thereby adding vibrancy and fun in their lives,” she shared.

With the announcement of Pau-pau, one of the character’s key projects will be spearheading the campaign for plastic-free and environmentally-friendly consumerism with foodpanda’s Global Sustainable Packaging Programme to encourage merchant and consumer responsibility.

The one-of-its-kind ambassador was first rolled out in Japan, Taiwan, and Cambodia in December 2021, which was subsequently followed by its appearance in other foodpanda networks namely Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Laos. The next phase will introduce the ambassador in the Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Last November, foodpanda also announced its partnership with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi to venture into q-commerce allowing the option of purchasing consumer electronic products and appliances through its apps.