Tag: Philippines

Singapore – Global financial services company Mastercard and superapp Grab have joined hands to launch the ‘Small Business, Big Dreams’ regional programme to digitally upskill gig economy workers and small businesses in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. This collaboration is part of Strive Community, a global philanthropic initiative developed by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Caribou Digital that aims to support the resilience and growth of five million small businesses around the world.

The new regional programme includes the launch of two online business courses for Grab’s driver and delivery-partners aspiring to start new businesses, and small business owners seeking to grow in a competitive digital economy. It aims to enable small businesses to reach their full potential by supporting them to digitise their operations, unlock their access to financial services, and more effectively participate in the digital economy.

The two new online courses, namely the ‘Driver Entrepreneurship Toolkit’ and the ‘Small Business Toolkit’, were created based on survey insights from over 34,000 driver-partners and 600 small businesses in the region. Although almost all small businesses surveyed use smartphones for their businesses, 42% still rely solely on paper and pen to manage their businesses.

“Many Southeast Asians working in the informal sector aspire for more, but the reality is that a lot of them do not have the means or the opportunity to access quality training programs. Through our partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, we hope to give gig workers and small businesses a boost to get started. Our ‘Small Business, Big Dreams’ programme will equip them with business knowledge and practical skills through a structured learning journey tailored to their needs and interest areas,” said Cheryl Goh, group head of marketing and sustainability at Grab.

Meanwhile, Payal Dalal, SVP of social impact, international markets, and centre for inclusive growth at Mastercard, commented that they are delighted to work with Grab on this initiative that will boost digital capacity and inclusion amongst aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses post-pandemic.

“Mastercard has globally committed to bringing a total of 1 billion people and 50 million micro and small businesses into the digital economy by 2025. Today’s announcement follows the success of Mastercard Academy 2.0 in Indonesia, Business Cell in the Philippines, BSR’s HER Project Digital Wage in Cambodia, and Care Ignite in Vietnam, which have empowered millions of small businesses to access technology, training, mentorship, and financial services,” she said.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) has unveiled its new brand communications today – a straightforward ‘Choose PDAX!’.

PDAX was the first virtual currency exchange operator licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) back in 2018. The platform enables Filipino consumers to easily buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies.

PDAX said the new ‘Choose PDAX!’ tagline reflects the new and improved services it offers and the upgrades it has applied to the PDAX app and web exchange.

A recent brand refresh gives its web app a more easy-on-the-eye palette. The change coincides with the upgrade of the mobile app which saw several changes to the app interface such as new screens for its dashboard and in its trade and cash-in and out functions, amongst others.

Trading has now also been made easier with the previous Primary and Exchange wallet, which is now consolidated into just one PDAX wallet. Furthermore, all cryptocurrencies are now accessible on the web exchange, similar to the mobile app.

Presently, PDAX gives one-stop access to 34 cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, it launched its prime service, PDAX Prime, which gives clients access to 21 in-demand digital assets across its platform and through Treasury OTC.

The recent brand ambassador announcement by Shopee Philippines has caused a wide range of reactions amongst Filipinos online, with the majority turning against Shopee for tapping local celebrity Toni Gonzaga who is known for her controversial support of now-president Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. 

As of this writing, Shopee has defended its decision, stating that Gonzaga was chosen for her ‘mass appeal’, and not for her ‘political views’.

Despite this, clamour and discussion regarding Shopee Philippines’ announcement remained. In light of this, MARKETECH APAC has tapped social media monitoring Digimind to learn more about how the negative flak unfolded–as told by social media data.

Are Social Mentions Equal to ‘Boycott’ Sentiment?

Digimind noted in its data that social media mentions of Shopee spiked following the brand ambassador announcement, peaking at 286,495 on September 29. Said day was the time Shopee Philippines uploaded a teaser video of Gonzaga as the new brand ambassador.

However, despite the large volume of tweets mentioning Shopee, social media mentions, specifically those suggesting the boycott, only took 0.4% of all social media mentions. Despite the small percentage, this still amounts to a fairly sizeable volume of4,000 netizens expressing their opinion to boycott Shopee.

According to Olivier Girard, head of Digimind for APAC, influencers will always be on the verge of receiving scrutiny, especially when being associated with a partisan group or cause. 

“While consumers are familiar with the concept of influencers or celebrities endorsing brands, brands now need to have a more stringent process in place when assessing each influencer’s fit for their brand or campaign. Any brand, large or small, runs the risk of facing some level of social scrutiny or backlash when announcing a public figure with uncertainty over the public might receive them,” he said.

Was There a Spillover to Rival Platform Lazada?

 Following the negative flak to Shopee, numerous citizens have shown interest in moving to rival e-commerce platform Lazada, which is also one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the country.

However, Digimind notes that the social media conversations around Shopee still eclipse those about Lazada, showing that resentment towards the former is much stronger than renewed support for the latter. Over the course of September 26 to October 3, Shopee registered around ~2M social media mentions while Lazada only managed to get around ~145k social media mentions. In addition, Shopee’s mentions reached around ~11m users while Lazada reached around ~5.2m.

“Where brand reputation is concerned, it is therefore critical that brands evaluate potential ambassadors closely in the domain of social media,” Girard said, related to how brands should pick their next brand ambassador.

Who and Where the Discussion is Coming From

Digimind noted a great number of discussions related to Shopee come from sellers themselves and users that are greatly concerned about the welfare of the sellers.

A handful of small businesses and online shops have decided to create a business account, with some saying that they would not support a platform that ‘enables [political lies]’, as well as ‘unjust termination of employees’. Netizens have pointed out the irony from Shopee Philippines’ side in retrenching employees in order to ‘optimise’ operations and then contracting a new brand ambassador afterwards. 

Girard said that it’s important for brands to obtain consumer sentiments to help them prepare communication contingencies ahead of time, as in the case of Shopee. 

“[This] can help brands identify influencer profiles that match their target community and sieve any negative sentiment your marketing and social teams might otherwise miss out on in the macro analysis,” Girard explained.

In the end, the brand ambassador announcement for Shopee Philippines went on as usual, albeit social engagement against them has diminished over time. Time will only tell how these media social sentiments truly play out in the longer run.

Manila, Philippines – Earlier this year, GrabFood in the Philippines launched a discoverability feature ‘Indie Eats’ which aims to tag small to medium restaurants in the platform that are proven of quality and good taste.

The platform is moving further with its goal to help merchants and consumers benefit best from each other by launching an engaging 3-episode series on Facebook. Called ‘Totoong Sarap’ (Truly Delicious), the goal is to put the high-rated ‘Indie Eats’ to the test and cast out foodies’ reservations around their hype.

‘Indie Eats’ ambassador and social media personality Sassa Gurl will host the series and will be accompanied by different celebrity guests for each episode. Sassa Gurl and the guest will be trying out ‘Indie Eats’ restos and give their honest and no-holds-barred feedback.

The mini-series has already kicked off with pilot guest, Kiray Celis, a popular Filipino comedian. In the second episode, Sassa Gurl will be with kid guests, while the third and final episode is teased to showcase ‘queens’. The mini-series can be viewed on GrabFood PH’s official Facebook page.

In June, the ‘Indie Eats’ feature has been expanded nationwide to accommodate merchants in provincial cities Pampanga, Cebu, and Davao.

Manila, Philippines – Karen Yang Chiang, formerly of local fintech GCash, has joined local parenting-focused ecommerce platform as its new chief technology officer. In her new role, Chiang will manage the company’s product, engineering and project delivery teams.

She will also focus on developing the technology, architecture and scalability to support the company’s evolution into an online-to-offline (O2O) parenting ecosystem spanning integrated commerce, content and community experiences.

Chiang previously served as the head of enterprise architecture, strategy and innovation for Mynt, GCash’s parent company.

Speaking on her new role, Chiang said, “I am very honoured and excited to embark on this journey with the edamama team. I look forward to building the next evolution of our platform, enabling us to continuously provide trusted and innovative products and services for our customers.”

Meanwhile, Bela Gupta and Nishant D’Souza, founders at edamama, commented, “Underpinning our mission to help parents simplify decision-making is a customer centric platform built on a robust technology stack. We’re thrilled to welcome Karen to our leadership team to bring our product and engineering roadmap to new heights as we build a leading omnichannel brand.” 

They added, “Karen’s track record of scaling start-ups, along with passion for the customer as a mother of three, makes her a true growth partner to us as founders, and an inspiration to all women in technology.”

Since its launch in 2020, edamama has raised a total of US$25M in funding from leading strategic, financial and angel investors, including Alpha JWC Ventures, Gentree Fund, Robinsons Retail Holdings, Kickstart Ventures, Innoven Capital, and Foxmont Capital Partners. 

Manila, Philippines – Philippine-based data analytics platform Packworks has officially launched its business intelligence tool ‘Sari IQ’, which provides data analytics on the behaviour and spending habits of consumers who buy their needs in traditional ‘mom-and-pop stores’, known locally as ‘sari-sari’ stores.

The platform launch was announced by Ibba Bernardo, Packworks’ co-founder and chief marketing officer, at the IMMAP DigiCon Valley 2022 held virtually on October 11, 2022.

The Sari IQ dashboard provides real-time and historic information on consumer spending and can be configured to develop an analysis for product types sold in small retail formats. It gives retailers and multinational brands complete visibility into sari-sari stores’ operations, allowing them to extend their slow-moving products and services to a wider pool of customers. Analysis through the platform also helps them come up with data-driven decisions to increase sales of sari-sari store owners by understanding and predicting consumer demand within their area.

Moreover, the platform tracks information from Packworks’ broad network of almost 200,000 sari-sari stores nationwide that use its super app called ‘Super Sari Store’.

“Sari IQ is the trusted, go-to partner for sari-sari stores that empowers businesses to be on top of their brand’s performance and make data-driven decisions every day,” said Andres Montiel, Packworks’ chief data officer.

In Packworks’ latest study, Sari IQ showed that Filipinos tend to care more about their hygiene than their empty stomach as they prioritise buying self-care products such as hair shampoo and conditioner in sari-sari stores located in areas previously battered by natural calamities.

Manila, Philippines – Tier One Entertainment, the Philippine-based gaming and esports entertainment company, will be launching its latest incubator programme ‘ALLIANCE’. This aims to gather a curated list of Web3 content creators and train them to be top-notch opinion leaders shaping the future of content creation in the global blockchain and crypto industry.

For this programme, Tier One Entertainment has appointed Tyrone Anthony Bretaña as the head of ALLIANCE. He has worked with some of the biggest brands in fintech and e-commerce for eight years. With an early adopter mentality, Bretaña has the vision to lead the ALLIANCE into becoming a global collective that will drive traffic and mainstream adoption of Web 3 while promoting the values of authenticity, relevance, and legitimacy.

The new programme’s initial list includes professional basketball player Jared Dillinger, holistic wellness coach Chris Tan, gaming content creator Crisostomo ‘Chibiby’ Tan Jr., multimedia creative John Sedano, and DJ and producer Patty Tiu, as well as architect and artist Timi Sky, and filmmaker and entrepreneur Janina Manipol. 

Also joining them are business executives like Block Tides founder Myrtle Ramos, Stock Smarts CEO Marvin Germo, and Tetrix CEO Emman Navalan who have etched their names in the Web3 community.

“As a company that has multi-millions in following in the Web2 space, our role is to be able to help bring the attention and the traffic and help contribute to the mainstream adaptation of Web3. We are confident that our future plans for Web3 will help bring a new generation of users to the exciting space,” said Tryke Gutierrez, CEO of Tier One Entertainment. 

Previously, Tier One Entertainment conducted its influencer programs such as AMPLFY, ARDENT, and ASCEND, which elevated the video game streaming careers of SB19’s Josh Cullen, Filipino actress Sharlene San Pedro, and streamer and content creator Khenji Saito. It also launched The Gaming House with ABS-CBN, a reality show featuring gaming personalities, the first of its kind in Asia. This is on top of managing athletes under Blacklist International, a world champion in mobile esports.

Manila, Philippines – Global advertising network Dentsu has announced the new wave of leaders in the Philippines, namely Jerry Hizon as chief creative officer for Dentsu Jayme Syfu and Dentsu One Manila, Elyse Bella as managing director of Dentsu Jayme Syfu, and Edg Samson as managing director of Dentsu One Manila.

Prior to his role expansion, Hizon previously led the transformation of the Dentsu One Manila creative team as its chief creative officer. He has also worked on Nissin Ramen, Dole Philippines and Seaoil and went on to win various awards and citations for their brands.

Ronald Barreiro, CEO of creative service at dentsu Philippines, said, “Jerry’s passion for excellence makes him the perfect choice for this leadership position. I’ve worked with him for 13 years and have seen how he has continued to elevate and evolve the creativity we do on behalf of our clients. Jerry has been heavily involved in the development of our next-gen creative leaders and the culture of excellence that we have imbibed in our leaders at dentsu has aptly prepared him for this career milestone.”

Meanwhile, Bella will oversee business transformation at dentsu. She has been a long-time dentsu account lead, directly overseeing its major Japanese accounts including Ajinomoto, Yamaha, and Glico. She was instrumental in leading the agency’s new business wins for Shell and Mang Inasal.

“Known as the agency’s resident “Tiger Mom”, Elyse is a tenacious and dedicated business leader who continuously provides comprehensive solutions for our clients. Having run the most profitable business unit in Dentsu Jayme Syfu for six consecutive years, Elyse will partner with brands to achieve meaningful progress for growth with innovative ideas and solutions and help businesses move forward,” Barreiro stated.

Lastly, Samsom has played a critical role in a number of dentsu Philippines’ most notable business wins, including a part of the team that won the Coca-Cola account. He has overseen top accounts including Jollibee, Unilever, and Wyeth.

Alex Syfu, chief advisor at dentsu Philippines, commented, “Edg is a true business leader who thrives in challenging work situations because of his calm and collected demeanour. With a solid track record and his strong affinity with our people, Edg is the perfect person to lead Dentsu One Manila to its next phase of growth.”

Barreiro was appointed as the new CEO of dentsu Philippines’ creative service line in October 2021, following the promotion back then of Merlee Jayme to the role of chief creative officer for Asia-Pacific at dentsu. Jayme has since stepped down from dentsu after serving with the company for six years.

Singapore – Intrepid Group Asia, leading e-commerce and digital solutions provider in Southeast Asia, has announced on its LinkedIn the appointment of its new CEO for the Philippines, Pierre Faucher. 

Faucher is an accomplished senior executive with over 20 years of experience. His expertise includes strategy consulting and venture building, with a track record at firms like McKinsey & Company in Hong Kong and BlueFox International across Southeast Asia. For the latter, he held the CEO position in Vietnam for four years.

Faucher brings a wealth of knowledge in consumer behaviour, digital marketing, e-commerce, and commercial management which will help in unlocking the full digital potential of Intrepid’s brand partners. 

Last June, Intrepid announced that it had been acquired by Ascential, an FTSE 250 company and global leader in information, analytics and e-commerce optimization. The acquisition provides Intrepid access to a broader network of resources and knowledge, which will allow it to cement its position as a technology leader in SEA. 

Intrepid Group Asia was founded by ex-Lazada management and started its operations in 2017 in Vietnam. It has since become a regional player with offices across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. 

Manila, Philippines – Popular mobile wallet GCash has teamed up with property developer Ayala Land to now allow users to view select properties, inquire and access cashless payments when investing in real estate. 

According to a report by ABS-CBN, users can log in to the app’s GLife feature to browse Ayala Land’s property listings and submit an inquiry. Property listings can be viewed by tapping GLife and searching for the ‘real estate’ tab.

Martha Sazon, president and CEO of GCash, said, “With this partnership with Ayala Land, GCash enables potential homeowners and property seekers to conduct virtual unit viewing and, after they make the decision to buy a property, access cashless payment of reservation fees using their e-wallet account.”

Meanwhile, Bobby O. Dy, president and CEO at Ayala Land, commented, “As more and more individuals are turning to the convenience of online shopping, we strongly believe that buying home and real estate properties should not be any different. By launching four of our key brands on GLife, Filipinos can now have a more seamless experience in buying Ayala Land properties.”

The announcement comes after GCash recently announced the opening its new in-app stock trading platform service ‘GStocks’ and a digital wallet for minors ‘GCash Jr’.