Tag: Southeast Asia

Thailand – KFC commemorated the ‘KFC celebrated Colonel’s 9.9 Birthday’ by launching a ‘Billion Heirs’ inheritance giveaway. The event included a tribute to Colonel Sanders’ prospective heir of 2.4 billion Baht. People from all over Thailand flocked to KFC restaurants to claim a piece.

The campaign sparked interest in every community in the pursuit of wealth. The “Billion Heirs” initiative, which promised an opulent 2.4 Billion Baht giveaway, including a Toyota Yaris Car 1.2 Sport and 8 million discount vouchers, ruled billboards, newspapers, television, and online platforms.

Speaking about the campaign, Suhayl Limbada, chief marketing officer of KFC Thailand, said, “The results were astounding. The campaign’s triumph was attributed to its simplicity, increased winning opportunities, and distinctive communication approach. Our KFC customers and fans brought the energy and excitement, making it the biggest lotto marketing campaign in Thailand.”

“KFC Thailand would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to every participant and congratulate all our heirs for helping us make this campaign a resounding success; this is a testament to KFC’s commitment to delivering unmatched exhilaration and joy to customers – and we certainly won’t stop at a Billion,” Limbada added. 

Meanwhile, Park Wannasiri, chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson Thailand, commented, “We tailored the narrative to suit the Thai tradition of fortune-telling and we thought, why not make Colonel Sanders’ 2.4-billion-baht fortune the star of the show. This was an impactful strategy, ultimately allowing all Thais to become ‘Colonel’s heirs’. We created an enjoyable, thrilling experience, granting everyone the right to become ‘Colonel’s heirs’, with a simple and affordable purchase of the KFC menu starting from 99 baht.”

Singapore – With Singles Day emerging as the top shopping season in Southeast Asia, over 50% of Singles Day first-time shoppers return for more, highlighting untapped potential for retailers according to a report by commerce media company Criteo.

Regionally, the report said that Singles Day emerged as the top shopping season with a 139% increase in sales while Black Friday saw a substantial 42% growth. New buyers surged by 335% on Singles’ Day, emphasising the value of acquiring them.

Specifically, Singles Day (11.11) experienced the largest increase in sales in SEA with Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand witnessing the largest spike amongst SEA countries, with an increase of 192%, 214%, and 210% respectively. Regionally, other shopping events such as 12.12 saw sales spike by 112%.

Black Friday also rose in popularity as retailers in SEA saw a 42% increase in sales in 2022, compared to 17% in 2021. In Vietnam, retailers experienced the highest sales growth on Black Friday (+141%), which is likely due to Black Friday coinciding with the Vietnam Grand Sale 2022, a national effort to boost domestic consumption and support economic recovery in the post-pandemic period.

The report also stated that new buyer opportunities arise not only before, but also during and after key shopping events as significant spikes in purchases by new buyers rose by 335% on Singles’ Day, and 9% on Black Friday compared to September 2022. 

In addition, 51% of 2022 Singles’ Day new buyers made additional purchases from the same retailer between December 2022 and May 2023, highlighting the lasting benefits of acquiring new customers during peak events.

With this in mind, Criteo also provided some actions that brands and retailers can take such as capturing new buyer opportunities through investing in acquiring customers during the peak season, planning early for early shoppers, and launching campaigns earlier for better customer engagement. 

Talking about the results, Taranjeet Singh, managing director, enterprise, at Criteo APAC, said, “In the dynamic world of commerce, our insights from 2022’s Double Days reveal a clear trend – seasonal sales are a marathon not a sprint. At Criteo, we eagerly anticipate each year’s insights as an opportunity to empower our brand and retail partners in aligning consumers with the essentials they seek, fostering meaningful connections.” 

“By integrating data and technology, supply and demand, and online and offline realms, we empower brands to construct a comprehensive peak shopping season strategy that ensures an unparalleled multi-touchpoints customer journey,” he added. 

Singapore – Unilever’s skin care brand POND’S Skin Institute has partnered with advertising and PR agency Ogilvy Singapore for its new product launch campaign to unveil its elevated brand world.

Pond’s new campaign with Ogilvy aims to revive the brand and breathe new life into it while finding ways to connect science with women around the world.

The skincare brand will undergo a complete redesign of its visual identity and brand essence. It will also onboard K-pop star Tzuyu from Twice as its new global ambassador. She will be instrumental in the brand’s reinvention as it invites women to discover how the science of Pond’s Skin Institute can make miracles happen for their skin.

With the tagline ‘Miracles Happen’, the campaign is set to unveil the transformative power of groundbreaking science and what it would mean for millions of Southeast Asian women.

The new campaign comes as POND’S announces the launch of its newest bright miracle product range, which features new formulations and the Nobel Prize-winning science of autophagy to boost skin’s ability to self-repair and achieve ultimate clarity and radiance.

This brand revamp and new campaign will commence in Indonesia and will cascade throughout Southeast Asia and the rest of the world into 2024 through a series of captivating videos, inspiring social media content, and arresting in-store designs.

Aanchal Sethi, global managing partner at Ogilvy Singapore and Unilever, said, “We tapped into the insight that despite their relentless pursuit, 9 out of 10 women struggle to bridge the gap to their desired skin. They believe it would take a miracle to achieve this skin. Today, we have the science to bridge this gap; the science to make miracles happen.”

Speaking on the campaign, Vandana Suri, global brand lead at POND’S Skin Institute, also shared, “At this pivotal moment for Pond’s Skin Institute, we are excited to showcase our longstanding heritage of skincare innovation while introducing the world to our unparalleled new Bright Miracle product range.”

“As we integrate the best of science and beauty, we couldn’t be more thrilled for our partnership with Tzuyu to invite people everywhere to experience the brand. From her unrelenting ambition, diverse talent, and unique craft to her warm personality and inspiring outlook on beauty, she is truly an icon who makes miracles happen,” she added.

Singapore – Online used car platform Carro celebrates its 8th anniversary with drama, launching 3 digital shorts that portray typical drama and film cliches, with some not so typical endings.  

Audiences can look forward to a K-drama style about a son’s true love and his unaccepting mother, then switch it up with a classic Thai horror tale that will unravel the horror of what’s truly hiding in plain sight in the garage, and lastly, finish it off with a Hong Kong love triangle that has you wondering if the female lead will end up choosing what’s really best for her.

Carro’s 3 digital shorts are the result of a multinational effort, fully shot on location in Malaysia, with teams from Singapore and Malaysia working on it, made authentic with a native cast and crew who flew in from Thailand and South Korea.

Katherine Teo, regional manager at Carro, said, “By tapping into our audience’s love for drama, we disguised our ads as genre films to let them know that any drama you get from our brand is strictly advertorial. For quality used cars that are fuss-free (and drama-free!) and As Good As New, Carro is the number one choice.”

Reflecting on 8 years of progress, Aaron Tan, group co-founder and CEO at Carro, commented, “I take great pride in what Carro has achieved and I am thankful for our dedicated employees, loyal customers, as well as our investors and collaborative partners who have taken us to these milestones. I look forward to many more good years as we contribute to even more sustainable, safe and accessible mobility solutions for all.”

Additionally, Carro will also be celebrating by throwing big promotions for customers around the region, specifically in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Singapore – Singapore’s multi currency digital payments platform YouTrip has recently announced that it has raised US$50 million in its latest Series B fundraising round, led by new investor and global venture capital firm Lightspeed. 

The sizable investment by Lightspeed is a vote of confidence in YouTrip’s ability to deliver innovative and hyperlocal solutions, and its leadership in building a scalable business strategy to tap into the vast market opportunity in Southeast Asia.

The new capital will be used to further propel the company’s growth trajectory by investing in more technologies to deepen product and innovation capabilities, and expanding its regional team by hiring over a hundred new talents as it launches in new markets across Southeast Asia. 

Committed to its mission of providing accessible, convenient, and seamless digital payment services, YouTrip specifically aims to expand its regional presence across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Furthermore, YouTrip also plans to grow its portfolio of services to help SMEs accelerate their cross-border growth plans in the digital economy. This includes enhancing its current expense management capabilities as well as introducing new features such as credit lines to cater to the diverse needs of businesses as they expand and grow.

Caecilia Chu, CEO and co-founder of YouTrip, said, “The latest funding round is YouTrip’s largest to date and is a testament to our strong potential in the B2B and B2C payment spaces. We are confident in our ability to catalyse the growth of cross-border commerce, bringing accessible, integrated and seamless digital payment services to millions of users across Southeast Asia and beyond.”

Arthur Mak, co-founder and chief product officer of YouTrip, also added, “We remain committed to developing hyper-personalised offerings that meet the unique needs of our users, and are excited to bring our innovative payment solutions to diverse markets in Southeast Asia so that more can enjoy the intuitive convenience and cost-saving benefits effectuated by our B2B and B2C products.” 

Meanwhile, Pinn Lawjindakul, partner at Lightspeed, commented, “My personal experience of the pain point reinforces my conviction in what the YouTrip team has built. Their multi-currency digital payments platform enables everyone to have a safer, smarter and superior experience with foreign currencies and digital payments. We are excited by their depth and vision, and look forward to partnering them in this next phase of growth and expansion.”

Malaysia – Nadia Omer has been named as the new chief executive officer of Airasia MOVE, effective October 26, 2023. She succeeds Mohamad Hafidz Mohd Fadzil, who has been acting CEO of airasia MOVE since April of the same year. 

Omer has a track record in category conversion, consumer habit change, and ecosystem value creation, with her early career at P&G as well as roles at Nestle and PepsiCo. Prior to joining airasia MOVE, she was the chief business officer for Cars24 Southeast Asia. Her experience qualifies her to guide airasia MOVE toward its goal of becoming the region’s preferred travel platform that provides the best value. 

Speaking about the appointment, Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and executive chairman of MOVE Digital, said, “We are excited for the future of airasia MOVE, as we welcome Nadia into what we will say is a pivotal moment for the organisation. I have been actively interacting with Nadia since the initial announcement of her appointment back in September and have no doubt that she will hit the ground running the moment she officially steps in.” 

He added, “As announced last month, we are entering into a new era of travel innovation, and I believe that Nadia’s multifaceted background has uniquely positioned her to lead airasia MOVE forward as Asean’s preferred one-stop travel platform. She will also be working closely with BigPay, led by Zubin Rada Krishnan to offer seamless access to travel and financial services on one single platform, with integrated financial features.” 

“I would also like to thank Mohamad Hafidz for his contributions as the acting CEO of airasia MOVE for the past six months, as he moves on to another role within the Capital A Group,” Fernandes remarked. 

Meanwhile, speaking about her appointment, Omer said, “It’s a privilege to take the helm of airasia MOVE, and I look forward to working with Allstars across the region to create the next growth curve in our journey. I’d like to thank Tony Fernandes for putting his trust in me and count on his continued mentorship to MOVE the business forward. 

She added, “My first priority and commitment is our airasia MOVE customers, always offering best-in-class value and industry-leading products to make travel that much easier, safer and fun. I count on our teams to make every trip a delightful one so that we can win our customers’ hearts to make airasia MOVE the travel app of choice in Asean.” 

Singapore – Parenting community network Supermom has appointed Luke Lim as its group chief executive officer for Southeast Asia. In his new role, Lim will report to Supermom’s board of directors and will work closely with Joan Ong, the founder of Supermom.

He will also work with representatives of the platforms’ two VC firms – Weisheng Neo from Qualgro and Adrian Tan from AC Ventures– to provide leadership and direction to the company.

Lim joined Supermom as an investor in 2015 and became a co-founder of the digital platform with Joan in 2019, transforming its original events business into a tech platform with a strong first party data, insights and crowd influencing offering.

His efforts have contributed to Supermom receiving a series-A funding of SGD $8 million from Qualgro and AC Ventures earlier during the year. He is also the founder of Louken Group, one of Singapore’s largest local brand and digital agencies with clientele across 8 markets in APAC. His achievements stem from his passion to see the local start up scene grow and he has been an avid tech start up investor, in-house incubator and co-owner of a venture investing arm.

Speaking on his new role, he said, “Combining our twin engines of community growth and AI-technology advancements, Supermom is on course to help brands connect to millions of parents in SEA and I am truly honoured to take on the reins as the Group CEO.”

He added, “My key area of focus as I take on this role will be on scaling the impact of Supermom’s tech-ecosystem to deliver authentic first-party data, sustainable user-generated content, bringing insights of families to brands operating in Southeast Asia.” 

Singapore – This upcoming holiday season, spending amongst Southeast Asian shoppers will be skyrocketing, according to a study conducted by marketing and monetisation technologies provider InMobi, which surveyed 1,000 smartphone users in Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Data from the study suggests that 60% of respondents said that they will be increasing their budgets for online shopping for the season, which also means that 90% will increase or maintain online shopping budgets when compared to 2022.

On the other hand, the majority (73%) of respondents plan to hybrid shop this holiday season, with mobile being the preferred medium at every phase of the shopper’s journey whether they are online or offline.

Shoppers cite app-only discounts and convenience as the top-two reasons they turn to mobile, with 86% of shoppers in Southeast Asia using mobile for exploring; 81% choosing mobile to make the final purchase; and 63% use mobile to search for products.

The study also identifies three buyer personas, the category explorers (58%) who have decided on products to shop but not brands, the bargain hunters (29%) who seek incentives before they make their purchases, and the brand lovers (13%) who know both the products and the brands they want. 

Interestingly, there is a sharp rise in the number of category explorers compared to the previous year, when only four in ten shoppers used to fall in this category. This means more Southeast Asian shoppers are keeping their eyes open than before as they shortlist which products and brands to choose.

Furthermore, other notable insights from the report show that over half of Southeast Asian consumers showed a tendency to shop on their phones after 4pm, and that single-digit and double-digit shopping festivals are record breakers, showing that they continue to be the most anticipated and popular sale events of the year for Southeast Asia’s shoppers.

Lastly, fashion and accessories, gadgets, and personal care products including cosmetics are items that are most likely to be bought online, whilst items such as jewellery, home appliances, gift packs, and holiday-focused groceries, will likely be browsed or purchased offline.

Talking about the results, Rishi Bedi, managing director, Asia Pacific, at InMobi, said, “Traditionally, Southeast Asia is a region where physical stores have played a prominent role. While our study found that stores are still important for shoppers here, it is exciting for us to note that more consumers are planning to use mobile as well during their shopping journey, and in fact, it is playing a dominant role.”

“With the excitement for the end-of-year shopping festivals and an appetite for exploring brands and products being at an all-time high, it is essential for marketers and retailers to be present effectively throughout Southeast Asia’s shopping journey,” he added.

Singapore – Amidst economic headwinds, Asia’s digital economies continue to post impressive gains, with cross-border initiatives and tools offering businesses new avenues to unlock unprecedented growth, according to the latest report by market intelligence firm IDC and commissioned by global payments platform 2C2P and Ant Group.

Data from IDC’s report mainly suggests that SEA leads in digital economy growth at 15.8% for the next five years, unlocking significant commerce opportunities for SEA and outpacing the United States and Europe.

Coupled with Korea and Japan, SEA’s digital economy is on the verge of explosive growth, projected to skyrocket from $501.7 billion in 2022 to a staggering $914.9 billion in 2027, marking an impressive 82% leap in just five years.

SEA also anticipates a 100% expansion in the e-commerce market, driven by accelerated digital payments growth, led by ‘buy now pay later’ options (38%), mobile wallet (18.9%), domestic payment (16.9%) and credit cards (14.4%).

Furthermore, private and public sector efforts are poised to inject an impressive $232.4 billion in fresh cross-border revenue into the SEA, Korea, and Japan economies from 2022 to 2027, as cross-border e-commerce revenue is primed to grow by 70% in those five years, outpacing the growth of domestic e-commerce revenue.

Talking about the results, Aung Kyaw Moe, founder and CEO of 2C2P, said, “Our mission at 2C2P is to empower businesses to navigate and thrive in the dynamic payment landscape in Asia. We hope the findings of this report encourage businesses to unlock the immense potential of Asia’s digital economies by tapping on existing public-and private-sector initiatives and tools.”

Meanwhile, Douglas Feagin, senior vice-president of Ant Group and head of cross-border mobile payment services at Alipay+, commented, “The rapid rise in the number and diversity of digital payment options presents a challenge  for small to mid-sized merchants. Which is why it is now imperative for businesses to cater positively to these digital habits, and I believe that by working together, we can help more consumers and businesses benefit from digitalisation.”

Singapore – PC and mobile gaming will continue to have notable growth for the next 5 years in the SEA market amidst post-pandemic normalcy and overall economy, according to the latest SEA-6 games market report by market research company Niko Partners.

Data from the report suggests that this increase in revenue is projected in line with the consistent rise of mobile games along with the growth of mobile gamers in SEA, as well as other factors such as the prevalence of esports and government support in the region.  

The rise of mobile gaming is made clear as the report states that mobile games are making up 66.4% of the region’s games revenue in 2023, which is expected to increase by almost 70% in 2027. 

Notably, Indonesia leads the region’s gamer growth with more than 4% PC and mobile gamers expected over the next 5 years. Meanwhile, Thailand and Vietnam lead the mobile games revenue growth, with more than 7% growth over the next 5 years. On the other hand, Singapore shows a particular growth for its mobile games’ revenue, surpassing more populous countries including Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam.

Another main factor is esports remaining as a major driver for gaming in the region. Esports’ inclusion as a medal sport in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, saw teams from SEA countries’ all vying for the esports medals, with Thailand and Malaysia among the highest earners of esports medals in the event. With this, the SEA esports market is estimated to generate $78.6 million in 2023.

Lastly, there is now an increased government support in SEA to strengthen the local game industry and ecosystem through various initiatives, funding, and regulatory updates. SEA also sees continuous investments from global game companies, with new offices, collaborations, and growing communities that mark the importance of the region to the video game industry.

Talking about the results, Lisa Hanson, CEO and president of Niko Partners, said, “As a mobile-first market with a huge esports fanbase, Southeast Asia offers tremendous opportunities for global game companies. Their increased presence in the region showcases how promising the Southeast Asia market is.”

“As Southeast Asian countries are culturally diverse, it is crucial for companies to understand there is no uniformed approach and consider the uniqueness of each market”, she added.