Tag: Philippines

Manila, Philippines – YouTube retains its leadership among Filipino viewers, where in the country, the watch base now stands at 45 million viewers. With this, local brands are in a better position to tap the platform in attaining desired business and brand results. 

In their latest ‘YouTube Brandcast’ press event, the platform noted that there has been more than 25% rise in watchtime from April 2020 to April 2021, while total hours of content uploaded to YouTube by channels in the Philippines grew more than four times between 2020 and 2019.

There has been a huge influx of new creators on the platform as well, with over 3,000 local channels hitting more than 100,000 subscribers, over 250 channels having more than one million subscribers, and 12 channels having more than 10 million subscribers, as of June 2021.

“In the second year of the pandemic, more Filipinos turned to YouTube to use content that can help them with their everyday life. YouTube’s reach, creators, content uploads, and watchtime increased phenomenally and this ecosystem growth unlocked great possibilities for brands to drive results at scale, and deliver a fulfilling experience for viewers,” said Gabby Roxas, marketing head at Google Philippines.

In terms of the genres or categories most watched on the platform locally, recipe videos grew by more than 50% in watchtime during the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same time last year. Skincare video watch time had also jumped by more than 80% in the same period and interestingly, that for shampoo videos more than doubled. 

Furthermore, in continuing to seek entertainment to cope with the prolonged isolation periods, watchtime for role-playing game (RPG) videos grew by more than 80% while that for drama television series grew by more than 70% in the same period.

With these genres rising to popularity, brands locally can tap into these categories through their respective content creators to create meaningful brand-infused content, such as the platform’s sponsorable activities like Super Stream, Music Night, and FanFest among others allow brands like Unilever to engage consumers effectively.

“Marketing in a connected world opens new opportunities for brands to connect deeper with people, and YouTube is an effective platform to do that. Through YouTube, we were able to tell our brand stories in an unmissable way, standing up in the frontline of culture to engage today’s attention-restricted audience,” said Dennis Perez, media director at Unilever Philippines.

The platform’s success on brand integrated campaigns has been evident when they launched their first-ever YouTube Works locally, where they recognized the brands that have created campaigns that take the support from the platform’s diverse audience and capabilities.

“YouTube empowers brands to push the boundaries of creative storytelling that delivers results and I’ve seen this with the finalists of the inaugural YouTube Works awards. They used YouTube and its content creators in a powerful way, resulting in key achievements in awareness, engagement and action. I’m excited to see what brands and agencies will come up with and submit in the next run of YouTube Works,” said Leigh Reyes, jury head at YouTube Works and chair 3meritus and product officer at MullenLowe TREYNA.

Manila, Philippines – Growsari, a first-of-its-kind e-commerce enabler for the Filipino ‘sari-sari store’ or the mom-and-pop neighborhood stores spread all over the region, has just announced its expanded presence across the Luzon region, aimed at serving 100,000 sari-sari store owners to maximize earnings and get access to best prices. 

‘Sari-sari stores’, which are hyper-proximal stores of sundries situated in the country’s neighborhoods, have been an economical staple in the Philippines. As such, they are considered the backbone of the country’s retail. 

The expansion follows Growsari’s concluded Series B funding in June this year, where it has secured more than US$30m in funding. 

The Growsari app enables sari-sari store owners to quickly order goods, while also providing essential services such as microfinancing support and assistance, and other e-services including telco, bills payment, and remittances.

With the expansion widening its presence to 100 municipalities across Luzon, Growsari aims to add more in the months to come. Among the new provinces where Growsari will now be available are Batangas, Bulacan, La Union and Camarines Norte and Sur in the Bicol region. Growsari expects to cater to almost 220 municipalities across Luzon by the end of the year.

ER Rollan, Growsari’s CEO and co-founder, shared that with their fresh funds, they aim to more than double GrowSari’s existing coverage and service more than 100,000 mom-and-pop-up stores by the end of 2021.

“This will also help us broaden our supplier marketplace with new third-party partners and scale our financial service pilots,” said Rollan.

Manila, Philippines – TikTok in the Philippines is moving to support would-be entrepreneurs through the launch of its new campaign, ‘’Negosyo Mo Na Yan’. Negosyo is a Tagalog term for business, and the campaign is aimed at helping Filipinos cope financially in these trying times by empowering them to launch their own businesses.

Through this campaign, TikTok hopes to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools and basic knowledge they need to jumpstart their business ventures. During the pandemic, a lot of beginning and closeted entrepreneurs came out of their shells with online marketplaces seeing an unprecedented surge during the period. With this, content platforms and e-commerce platforms themselves have been launching online initiatives to teach budding business owners to navigate and foray into online selling.

‘Negosyo Mo Na Yan’ will focus solely on food-related businesses, largely because, according to the short video platform, most of the thriving local businesses born during the pandemic are centered around food.

The campaign will kick off with ‘Negosyo Week’ from 27 September to 3 October 2021. During this period, a series of masterclasses will be hosted by different TikTok partners via TikTok Live. Each session will last for 2 hours where viewers will gain insights and information relevant to a food entrepreneur’s journey. Partner speakers include GCash, Puregold, Abenson, Canva, and When In Manila Food as well as Globe.

This will be followed by a #NegosyoRecipe challenge from 4 October to 21 October 2021, where participants can win amazing prizes, including appliances and tools that can help them start their businesses. In order to join, users need to upload their best negosyo recipe videos on TikTok using the hashtag #NegosyoRecipe. TikTok will then select 10 creators from among all the participants who will move on to the next round.

Shortlisted creators will be given the exclusive chance to develop their negosyo ideas, and improve their business models through one-on-one mentoring sessions. The challenge will culminate with a business pitch, where the final 10 creators will present their ideas to a panel of judges composed of respected entrepreneurs and experts from the food industry such as RJ Ledesma of Mercato Group, celebrity chef Marvin Agustin, and Mark del Rosario of Let’s Eat Pare.

After the pitch, the three creators with the most promising business ideas will be awarded as winners. Along with the business-building tools, one grand winner will also be entitled to a six-month mentorship with Marvin Agustin, which includes a spot in his cloud kitchen, The Secret Kitchen.

As the leading short video platform, TikTok has been ramping up its content strategy in order to include conversations relevant to society. Its Singaporean counterpart has recently launched a livestream series dedicated to anchoring the discussion on mental health awareness.

Manila, Philippines – As the platform continues to grow its presence in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, the local arm of e-commerce platform Lazada has launched a new process called ‘Start It Up, Laz It Up’ which encourages new sellers to register via a simplified three-step sign-up process. To add up to the encouragement, the platform has also placed a raffle for the new registrants, amounting to US$10k worth of prizes.

Said raffle will be awarded to one lucky recipient and is composed of cash and advertising credits to kickstart the recipient’s online business on the platform. Interested new sellers must sign up and launch their Lazada marketplace stores in active selling mode during the period of 27 September to 30 October.

The ‘Start It Up, Laz It Up’ process is as follows: submit and enter a registered local mobile number, then enter a one-time six-digit code to verify the mobile number, and finally setting a strong and unique password.

Once finished setting up the account, online sellers can start selling on the platform by adding the address of the location where the seller will ship their products from; then adding a valid government-approved identification so that payments can be processed, and adding a valid bank account information for ease of withdrawing earnings from the platform.

For Carlos Barrera, chief operating officer at Lazada Philippines, the first six months of 2021 saw the number of Filipino sellers joining the platform tripled, which is a striking testament to how e-commerce is a must-have for many local businesses in today’s digital era, adding that the company remains committed to empowering Filipino SMEs with the tools and services that are key for their online growth ambitions.

“This journey starts from something as simple as making the first step and registering as an online seller. With the simple and seamless seller registration process, we hope more aspiring entrepreneurs from all walks of life will dream big and explore e-commerce with zero barriers. Lazada is here with you to build resilience and preparedness in order to tap onto the massive online opportunity,” Barrera stated.

The rise of sellers has been noted in their first-ever ‘Digital Commerce Confidence Index’, where 70% of Southeast Asia’s online sellers are optimistic and confident about their future growth and prospects for the third quarter of 2021.

To further help new sellers in setting up a successful online shop in the platform, Lazada University has an introductory step-by-step guide to welcome new users with a manageable Learning Management System (LMS) with a suite of diverse training materials for easy understanding especially by first-time sellers. Topics available range from advertising to budget management, as well as offline and live-streamed training sessions conducted by Lazada staff and peers from the seller community.

Manila, Philippines – Metamorphosis Group (MG), the digital, remote, and tech-enabled career coaching firm in the Philippines, has been named the winner of a Bronze Stevie® Award in the Startup of the Year category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees, and the companies they run – worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world’s premier business awards.

Winners will be celebrated during a virtual awards ceremony on 13 January 2022, where registration for the ceremony is now on sale.

More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration in more than 100 categories, including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Company of the Year, Startup of the Year, and Women Helping Women, among others.

“Kudos on developing a multiplatform business model to enable the career success of individuals across the globe – from events to social to empowerment through a coaching network, your growth efforts since 2019 are notable. Keep up the good work,” said one of the judges of the awarding body.

“Helping people cultivate their talents, create career opportunities, grow their talents, and much more are great attributes the Metamorphosis Group displays. Very helpful service,” said another judge.

MG was granted a guaranteed win after telling stories about its career coaching service and most especially about its flagship project – the Virtual Career Academy Summit.

Last March 2021, it held its biggest virtual event for the community, the Virtual Career Academy Summit on Digital Transformation which is a virtual career fair with employers showcasing their companies and talents benefiting from free career coaching services. The virtual summit gained over 600 participants and featured about 17 industry speakers.

The event was able to reach over 115,000 people and generated over 15,000 engagements. During the summit, MG gathered more than 17 companies and employers, mounting a platform to present over 100 job openings, and most especially over 20 career coaching opportunities.

The recognition was timely as the company was entering a new phase in the business.

“Metamorphosis Group is about to enter a growth phase that will require some uncomfy adjustments,” said the young female Founder and CEO, Danica Octa, to MG’s team and pool of coaches.

“You will be with us in this growth and we are happy that you are. Thank you for being part of the journey! Metamorphosis Group is what it is because of all of you. I know that the public associates MG to my name, but I am done being the only face of the company. As a startup, I was just simply pouring my reputation to the company at first to improve its credibility. But moving forward, I want you to know that the company’s success will also be yours. Because Metamorphosis Group will really stand for what it really means – a ‘group’. And I am excited to see you help us make that happen. MG is not Danica Octa. MG is all of us!” she added.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in all categories can be found on its official website. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 160 business professionals around the world, working on eight juries.

Maggie Gallagher Miller, president of the Stevie Awards, said, “We thought the remarkable stories of achievement we saw in last year’s awards couldn’t be topped, but we were wrong. Women-owned and -run organizations have contributed significantly to the increase in innovation and entrepreneurial activity we’ve seen globally since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nominations submitted to the 18th Stevie Awards for Women in Business that attest to this are inspiring, humbling, and motivating. We congratulate all of our Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners. We look forward to celebrating them during our January 13 virtual ceremony, and to hearing from some of them during our Women|Future Conference.”

For one of the latest episodes of MARKETECH Spotlight, MARKETECH APAC sat down with Octa to learn how MG sees its role in the Filipino workforce.

Octa shared in the exclusive interview, “Our role is to be some kind of learning partner [and to be] an accountability buddy. We help our clients learn new things, not just the technical skills, but also the life skills, and we help them become more accountable to whatever they learn, and to whatever goals they want to achieve.”

MARKETECH APAC is an official media partner of Metamorphosis Group’s Virtual Career Academy Summit.

Manila, Philippines – Top e-wallet in the Philippines GCash’s new service is a step forward in customer service and in fulfilling its brand promise of safe financial transactions. In partnership with Singapore-headquartered regional insurtech Igloo, GCash launches a first-of-its-kind online shopping insurance protection that will secure consumers from online marketplace fraud.

Igloo’s Online Shopping product is part of its Cyber Protection vertical, which secures financial loss arising directly from any online marketplace fraud. Through the partnership, GCash users will be protected from any transaction they make via online marketplaces such as Lazada, Shopee, including Viber, and Facebook marketplaces as long as their payment was fulfilled through the GCash platform. 

GCash continues to be the leading digital wallet in the Philippines and is continually amplifying its services. The fintech has also recently announced that it is eyeing to launch a Buy Now Pay Later service within this year. 

Martha Sazon, GCash’s president and CEO, said that the shopping insurance offering comes at a time when they have seen robust growth in online transactions and user base.

“With excellent customer experience being the heart of our business alongside value-added services through our platform, we are thrilled to launch this new product with Igloo that secures online transactions for our customers,” said Sazon.

Mario Berta, Igloo’s country manager for the Philippines, commented, “We are excited to partner with the leading e-wallet in the country, GCash, who shares the same vision of protecting digital consumers by pioneering innovative solutions to end-customers at an economical price. With the growing number of digital consumers in the country, now more than ever, is it most important to provide flexible solutions for the changing needs and processes of both businesses and customers.” 

According to GCash, its users currently stand at 46 million. The app has also had over 13 million log-ins per day, peaking at almost 15 million in the second quarter of 2021.

GCash has been integrating insurance as one of its value propositions to users. Within the app, it currently offers a line of insurance products similarly powered by Singapore-grown insurance firm, Singlife. GCash’s offerings are mainly characterized by low-cost premiums and include a range of protection from income loss to health coverage such as Dengue and even COVID-19.

The Online Shopping protection is one of the first products Igloo will be launching with GCash but will soon be rolling out more products with the e-wallet in the next six months that will be geared towards MSMEs.

Philippines – Image filtering is the new stunt of Mountain Dew on its latest meme-fueled campaign. The release of the ‘meme-generating’ augmented reality filters on Instagram comes after Mountain Dew’s initial three launch films, which was created in collaboration with creative agency BBDO Guerrero.

The three prior films highlight a comic parody that claims—literally and figuratively—everything is “mas cool ‘pag my Ice,” which in English translates to “cooler with Ice”.

Meanwhile, the filters use face-swapping technology to let fans own that ‘cooler’ element in their own way by inserting their faces over choice characters in popular online films and literally turning themselves into a meme. These filters were inspired by two out of the three launch films for Mountain Dew Ice which puts some of the most famous local memes and viral content.

Mikey Rosales, the marketing director at PepsiCo, shared that there has been an outpouring of engagement and praise for the “mas Cool ‘Pag may ice” campaign presenting such a bold and unconventional take on modern Filipino meme-culture.

“From polarizing online debates to the full-on explosion of fandoms—the reception of all three videos has been absolutely thrilling, to say the least,” said Rosales.

David Guerrero, BBDO’s creative chairman, said that they wanted to create something that was not just funny and attention-grabbing but resonated very strongly with the market.

“Mountain Dew Philippines is very much tapped into youth culture. And with all of us consuming and generating more memes and viral content than ever, it felt fitting to capture this generation’s spirit through the lens of the Internet,” said Guerrero.

Manila, Philippines – The global pandemic has pushed the majority to tune in to digital channels to be entertained, including music streaming. With the greater majority of these listeners being under the Gen Z and millennial demographic, their diverse perspectives on music streaming content can be tapped by advertisers, as the latest insights from Spotify shows in retrospect of the Philippine market.

Part of the influencing factor many young Filipinos are streaming audio content more than ever is due to reasons around having it as a ‘mental escape’. For instance, the survey noted that the respondents have listened to songs from the ‘70s 59% more and songs from the ‘80s 40% more as a way to lean on to a ‘nostalgic feeling’. Furthermore, about 87% of millennials and 85% of Gen Z’s locally say that they listen to audio to reduce their stress levels. Lastly, around 76% of Filipino millennials see audio as a mental health resource.

In line with this, the survey recommends brands to align any of their sponsored content to a more ‘comforting’ zone, noting that this creates a positive association with the type of audio we are listening to. Furthermore, the survey also emphasizes the significance of the rise of podcasts, which can be used by brands to promote podcast episode snippets to inform listeners and increase curiosity.

“Listeners are more receptive when messaging matches their mood. Consider millennials’ nostalgic listening experience and lean into contextual targeting to match their vibe,” Spotify said in a statement.

And with audio now having a more ‘emotional’ attachment to these younger generations, respondents are now more positive in democratizing live experiences concerning audio content. About 65% of the respondents say that they prefer connecting with other music fans around the world through a live-streamed concert, while 35% prefer connecting with their favorite local artist and fellow fans through a physical concert.

In addition, 51% of the respondents now prefer virtual concerts in contrast to the 42% of respondents preferring physical concerts, stating that virtual concerts are far more cheaper and more convenient.

The survey also noted that as part of democratizing these audio experiences to a wider audience, brands are advised to think more of the consumer base’s interests, not what they are made of. For instance, gamers who are long stereotyped for the male demographic, are now expanding into the female demographic.

“Gamers are focused on scoring when they’re deep in play mode, but they also use time spent gaming to learn and discover new things, from podcasts to playlists. Take your targeting to the next level by reaching gamers of both generations in real-time while they’re soundtracking their gaming,” the company added.

A larger part of the democratization of live experiences in audio content is due to the wave of fanbases rallying support behind these artists and content creators, with 39% of the respondents saying they have known their favorite music artists or podcast creators via social media. Other factors include knowing them from an existing artist (15%), streaming service recommendation (11%), friend recommendation (9%), and as seen from a movie or TV show (8%).

“Gen Zs and millennials are not just consumers, they’re creators. Pull back the curtain and give your audience a backstage pass to your brand’s creative process — and the opportunity to be part of it,” they commented.

Lastly, Filipino Gen Z’s and millennials understand that part of their diverse audio listening experience comes from amplifying unheard perspectives from societal sectors that are not given amplification back then to represent themselves. Around 62% of millennials and 58% of Gen Z’s in the Philippines said they’ve sought more content from more diverse creators and podcasts in the last year.

In addition, 68% of Filipino Gen Z’s believe they have more freedom to be their authentic selves than previous generations.

“As voices behind the mic become increasingly diverse, the audio medium is resonating with a wider audience — the fruits of which are already starting to change the industry,” Spotify stated.

The platform added, “[Gen] Zs are the most racially and culturally diverse generation yet, and they expect brands to reflect, represent, and empower them through their campaigns, talent partnerships, and participation in social justice movements.”

Manila, Philippines – Local-based export startup 1Export has announced that it has raised US$800k in seed funding, which will be used to scale the company’s operations to Indonesia.

Said funding was led by Foxmont Capital Partners, as well as participation from a consortium from the Manila Angel Investors Network and Kerubin Capital, IdeaSpace Foundation, Singapore-based Iterative and other private investors.

Through the funding, 1Export aims to develop and improve its order handling capabilities, marketing services, financing, and other third-party integrations within its platform. Its lifetime revenue of US$1.5m and service availability in 23 countries warranted interest from the investors.

For Mel Nava, founder and CEO of 1Export, the latest funding will help scale their tech platform and services to ultimately support Filipinos MSMEs, contribute to Philippine exports, and create a distinctly Filipino footprint in other markets.

“Businesses all over the world are evolving at a rapid pace, even amidst a global crisis, thanks to technology. It’s time that businesses in the Philippines, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises, keep up with this digital transformation as well,” Nava stated.

First founded in 2016, 1Export had recently generated around US$500k or ₱25m in export sales, accounting for 0.2% of the total Philippine exports. It currently lists 450 supplier partners on its platform and distributes an overall volume of 4,000 tonnes of products, which are a mix of food and non-food products.

Meanwhile, according to Daniel Remo, chief operating officer of 1Export, with the spirit of ‘bayanihan’ or the Filipino equivalent of helping out one another amid this pandemic crisis, 1Export targets to enable Filipino businesses to go global. 

“In the ever-changing landscape of e-commerce, we hope to be able to provide solutions that not only fit the needs of the here and now but to radically transform how Filipino businesses think of exporting,” Remo stated.

Nava added, “Our goal is to help Filipinos all over the world start and run a business, selling products that they’re proud of without having to go through the complexities of exporting. We’re glad we’re able to do so through our tech platforms over the past five years. We’re ready to accelerate our operations and improve our solutions so that we can aid more Filipino entrepreneurs, even during a global pandemic.”

1Export vets Filipino products to be cross-border compliant, allowing local businesses to follow the regulations of the market they want to explore or expand to. The company also offers all-around exporting services such as compliance documentation, product labeling, logistics, export facilitation, and intensive business matching.

Manila, Philippines – Shopee Philippines will be holding its Shopee University Summit for the second time. The summit, which had its inaugural run last May this year, aims to further support sellers as e-commerce takes on a significant role in the global retail landscape. Interested viewers can catch the webinar on 18 September 2021 at 9 am via Shopee Live or Shopee’s official Facebook page. 

With the virtual resource, Shopee aims to equip business owners with the right tools and sufficient knowledge to embrace e-commerce and use it to scale their business. The Shopee University Summit will discuss relevant skills for SMEs such as developing the right business branding, product photography skills, and leveraging Shopee tools and social media platforms to promote their businesses.

The speaker line-up includes Rhea Matute, executive director at Design Center of the Philippines, Mia Mendoza, seller education lead at Shopee Philippines, Agatha Chua, head of community at Shopee Philippines, and Robenson T. Ong Lo, vice president at CameraHaus as well as Carmella Peña, brand manager of PULUZ Philippines, and Jillian Co, branch operator of Human Nature Manila Branch.

Martin Yu, director of Shopee Philippines, said, “Shopee is committed to helping micro, small, and medium enterprises seamlessly transition and maximize the potential of e-commerce. We are excited to launch the second Shopee University Summit to equip entrepreneurs with the necessary knowledge and marketing tools they need to succeed as online retail evolves.” 

He adds, “These entrepreneurs invested time and effort, and we want to ensure they have the right resources and support to build a sustainable business. Shopee will continue to come up with innovative initiatives to further strengthen our support for our partner brands and local sellers.” 

For 2020, Shopee continues to be the top e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, where it came out as the most visited with average web traffic of 281,385,626 for the year.