Tag: Smart Communications

Manila, Philippines – Two of Philippines’ telco giants Globe and Smart have been continuously tapping Korean superstars for the past year, and this time the rival has just been taken up a notch. 

On Monday, Smart Communications shocked Filipino fans by unveiling its new ambassador, K-pop group and global superstars BTS across its social media platforms. This comes shortly after telco Globe revealed K-pop girl group Blackpink as its new endorser. 

BTS will be headlining Smart’s campaign this year, ‘Live Smarter, Live with Purpose’.

Smart has been aggressive in the past months roping in Korean entertainment stars as part of their expanding network of brand ambassadors, including 2020 K-drama “Crash Landing On You” stars Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin in May and August last year respectively and Korean actor Park Seo-Joon in October last year as well.

Considered to be one of the most influential groups in the K-pop scene, BTS has been known for sending a timely message of comfort and hope to fans everywhere through their music.

Formed in 2010, BTS is composed of an all-boys ensemble Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, and are best known for their hit songs ‘Mic Drop’, ‘Fake Love’, ‘Blood, Sweat & Tears’ and their English single ‘Dynamite’.

“Aside from their remarkable talent, BTS emerged as the biggest band in the world because of their meaningful and uplifting music that brings hope and encouragement to fans especially in the bleakest of times. It is, therefore, a big honor to welcome BTS to the Smart family so we may inspire more Filipinos to find purpose in everything they do and ultimately live Smarter for a Better World,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, Smart president and CEO.

“Just like BTS who are able to inspire millions of young people all over the world through their music, Smart Prepaid aims to bring about amazing experiences to the Filipino youth through technology to make life easy, fast, and simple. This way, the young generation is empowered to immerse in their interests and succeed with their pursuits,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and consumer wireless business head at Smart.

BTS’ campaign with smart is set to be released by the first quarter of the year, centered around the theme of ‘passion with purpose’.

Manila, Philippines – Local telco giant Smart is hosting a year-ender concert titled RESET 2021, a welcome to the incoming year through original Filipino music (OPM) from some of the country’s well-known OPM personalities.

RESET 2021 will be graced by performances from artists Bamboo, The Itchyworms, Unique Salonga, as well as R&B artist Kiana Valenciano, alternative rock band She’s Only Sixteen, and disc jockeys Ace Ramos and MC Pao Avila.

The year-ender concert is a prelude to the telco’s ‘GigaFest’, a whole season of celebration featuring world-class entertainment, esports tournaments, digital innovations, promos, and freebies to give back to all loyal and new Smart subscribers all over the country, including their latest raffle promo GIGAMANIA that gives Smart users a chance to win smartphones, free data and P1M cash during the weekly draws.

“After a most challenging year, we are one with our nation in hoping for a brighter and better 2021. This is the time to find our footing once again, rise together, and #OWN2021 with a sense of renewed purpose,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and head of consumer wireless business at Smart. 

Prior to this virtual concert, Smart has hosted several online concerts, including Dua Lipa and her “Studio 2054” last November, and the 2020 Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS (2020 MAMA) earlier in the month.

RESET 2021 will be streamed live on Smart’s YouTube channel on December 31, and will be available for simulcast on local channels TV5 and Cignal on the same date at 10:40 pm.

Manila, Philippines – To celebrate the season of giving, Philippine telco giant Smart Communications has announced a mega raffle promo, GIGAMANIA, which will offer a total of over ₱30M worth of prizes and freebies. 

The promo is season-long, which will run from December to April in 2021. Through the raffle promo, Smart will be giving a weekly winner ₱1M cash prize, for every week within the promo period. 

The mechanics involve earning ‘GigaPoints’, where the more GigaPoints one earns, the greater chances of winning. 

The promo is open to all Smart prepaid, postpaid, and its broadband service Smart Bro users, as well as subscribers of Smart-owned service TNT. Said users simply need to download Smart’s GigaLife app and register to GIGAMANIA. Users accumulate points whenever they subscribe to any GIGA offers or pay their postpaid bill through the app, where one point equals one raffle entry. 

By promo’s end, a total of 21 lucky raffle participants will become a millionaire, where Smart will also be running a grand draw to grant one lucky subscriber a mega prize of ₱10M cash.

GIGAMANIA is our giga gift to all our subscribers during this season of giving. We know this year has been challenging for all of us, and through this promo, we hope to give our customers not just a reason to smile, but a reason to hope for brighter things ahead.

Jane Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business, Smart

Aside from the cash prizes, other prizes such as smartphones and free data will also be given. 10 subscribers weekly will win a Samsung S20 FE (LTE), while the same number of winners will be granted 30GB data per week. 

Smart isn’t lying when it said GIGAMANIA is its gift to all subscribers. Within the duration of the promo, no one gets empty-handed, as Smart will be giving everybody instant weekly freebies in the form of SMS, calls, and data just by having the GigaLife App. 

The app is downloadable on Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Smart said it has announced further details on its website.

Manila, Philippines – User Experience Philippines (UXPH), a local-based non-profit organization that provides connections and resources to the local design community, has recently concluded its annual conference held online on November 14 and 15. 

The event was attended primarily by attendees from various sectors, ranging from UX/UI designers by profession, students, SME founders, and media practitioners.

Opened up formally by Aldrich Tan, UXPH’s managing director and CEO/co-founder of digital banking suite NextPay, Tan stated that the prime focus of the convention is to stress on the importance of collaboration and community in the design community.

“Our mission is to grow and nurture the Filipino creative community through sharing and collaboration, and raise the design standards and practices within our country; to help uplift the lives of our society. We envision an empowered culture where products and services are built mindfully and sustainably,” Tan noted.

The event was also graced with a short message from Design Center of the Philippines’ executive director Maria Rita Matute, in which she stressed the importance of designers as leaders of change.

“We as designers are called to lead the change for the better. It is time we show how we can use design and design thinking to pave the way forward, not simply towards a new normal but a better normal, a better forward, but we cannot do it as individuals [for] we are stronger together,” Matute stated.

Designers towards change and transformation

One of the prime topics being focused on in this conference is the importance of user interface and design towards change, breaking the norm, and moving towards the 21st century.

“Designers have the responsibility to share the skill that we have—this gift that we have to more people because ultimately what we, our skill as designers it’s not just to create change, it is to enable change,” Daisuke Yukita, senior interaction designer at IDEO Tokyo, a global design firm.

Yukita stressed in his talk titled “Designers as Enablers of Change”, that there are four points to note that design creates change:

  • compelling content that creates emotional impact 
  • tangible prototypes that generates momentum
  • authentic voices from users that propels decision making
  • unlock the creative potential of the people that we work with

On the other hand, Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng, SVP for digital transformation and corporate services at JG Summit, stressed the importance of digital transformation amongst businesses, whether a small-medium enterprise (SME) or a traditional conglomerate company.

“[Digital] transformation is not an end state, it’s a journey. We keep iterating our operational model as we learn. In a few months, we probably will learn a few more things, or realize that some of these [are] wrong. The point is to keep pivoting,” Cheng stated in her talk titled “Lessons in Digital Transformation in a Corporate Setting.”

Accessibility and democratization: the future of UX/UI

While UX/UI have strived over the years providing accessible interfaces to many products and services both in the physical and the digital world, there is still room for improvement of such prototypes that describes both practicality and futurism.

Julian Charles Serrano, an accessibility consultant at Catalyst International, discussed keystones of web accessibility which includes usage of accessibility guidelines, accessibility training, and testing or auditing.

“When you make your content accessible, you’re going to show everybody that you took your time to understand the needs of people with disabilities, and provide them with content that they need,” Serrano stated, stressing that blind and deaf people often rely with tools such as magnifying tools and text-to-speech reader to understand online content.

On another realm, Phil Balagtas, experience design director at McKinsey Design notes that the future fares better for the UX/UI world as digital transformation strategies have helped device new services such as AI-oriented vending machines or prototypes of modern-design PPEs and face masks.

“There is no one future: there are multiple futures and multiple possibilities that could arrive. Once we are able to map out those possibilities, we could prepare for different types of scenarios. We could use these to plan out our next agenda for today.”

Other speakers of the convention came from companies like Dropbox, Tokopedia, Eskwelabs, Shopify, IBM, and scores of others.

MARKETECH APAC is an official media partner at the UXPH Conference 2020: Designers as Navigators of Change, which was held from November 14 to 15, 2020.

Manila, Philippines – Philippine telecommunications company Smart Communications has released on Wednesday a new advertisement for its product Giga K-video, revealing its newest endorser, Korean star Park Seo-Jon. 

This is the third Korean actor that the company has recently inked a partnership with, starting with Netflix-produced Crash landing on you stars Hyun Bin in May, then Son Ye-Jin in August. 

Park Seo-Jon gained a wide fanbase for his K-dramas Fight for my way and What’s wrong with secretary Kim, most recently starring in the webtoon-adapted series Itaewon class this year.

The actor’s endorsement is a bundled service that includes open access data, 1 GB daily data for YouTube and streaming service Viu, plus a premium subscription with the latter.

In the ad, Park Seo-Jon is seen comforting a sad woman reeling from a breakup, showing her how subscribing to Giga K-video can uplift her. Smart leverages on the country’s positive reception to K-dramas, branding the service as K-video.

The ad has already been rolled out on TV and YouTube and on the telco’s social media channels.

Manila, Philippines – Philippines’ wireless communication services provider Smart Communications announced its recent partnership with local education startup Edukasyon.ph to provide a wider reach of educational tools for students attending their online classes.

Through the #LearnSmart initiative, students may now engage in other online learning activities and initiatives such as Smart Pal for online counseling for students, Smart Sessions for webinars and other in-depth topic exploration such as Smart Start for online training and courses for graduating students, Smart Move for case competitions, and Super Smart for online quiz competitions.

For Jane J. Basas, SVP and head of consumer wireless business at Smart, the latest initiative is on par with the company’s goal of bridging the digital learning gap brought by the “new normal” through learning tool accessibility.

“Our education initiatives at Smart seek to cushion the impact of the shift to distance and online learning necessitated by the global health crisis,” Basas stated.

On the other hand, Henry Motte-Muñoz, founder of Edukasyon.ph, stated that the platform’s establishment is focused on helping students be guided in their course choice.

“We built our platform because the youth often have limited awareness of opportunities they can pursue, or lack guidance on how to navigate their path from education to career. With the added challenges of the new normal, we’re grateful for this partnership with Smart, which enables us to engage students in a fresh and exciting way, to help them get ahead,” he stated.

Manila, Philippines – Philippine mobile service provider Smart Communications has teamed up with Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Shopee to give Smart postpaid users the option of paying their bill through ShopeePay.

Regulated under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, ShopeePay is a mobile wallet which allows users to cash in and pay for items within the Shopee app.

With this partnership, Smart postpaid users can easily and securely pay for their postpaid bill directly on the Shopee app.

To pay for their postpaid bill, users need to log-in to the Shopee app, activate the ShopeePay wallet, and then top up with their selected payment method. Afterwards, users need to go to “Load, Bills & eServices,” tap “Postpaid Mobile” and then “Select Smart or Sun as the Biller.”

Subscribers of Smart Bro Postpaid and Sun Postpaid can also use the feature. Pay settlement through ShopeePay will also allow users to redeem Shopee coins which can be used for other purchases in the Shopee app.