Tag: Southeast Asia

Singapore – CUE Group, a Singapore-headquartered digital technology group, has appointed two key executive roles to its Singapore hub, as part of its continued expansion across SEA. The appointees include Zainudin Nordin, the new executive director of CUE Group SEA, and Daniel Posavac, the new managing director of CUE Group SEA.

In his new role, Nordin will be focusing on driving strategic developments across the region and exploring growth opportunities for the company. At the start of his career, Nordin served as an engineer, lecturer, and manager at the IC Design Centre in Nanyang Polytechnic for 15 years. He later moved into various roles in Singapore Parliament and other governmental bodies. His modern business prowess has been made evident over the past two years with the digital transformation of the food and beverage group Iron Chef F&B, where he occupied the post of Chief Strategy Officer. 

Meanwhile, Posavac will be doubling down on his new post while retaining his position as group CEO of Bonsey Jaden, CUE Group’s digital agency. Prior to the acquisition, he had driven the growth of the Singapore-headquartered agency for almost a decade and will continue to be hands-on in leading and expanding their client portfolio globally. 

CUE Group said that these major internal developments come at a time of exciting talent search that is constantly gaining speed in Singapore. The expansion spells not only growth for CUE and Bonsey Jaden, but also exciting potential opportunities for the job market throughout the region.

Posavac commented, “I’m thrilled to be opening another chapter in what has been an amazing journey so far, and I am confident in the vision and strategy we have for CUE in Southeast Asia.“

Meanwhile, Nordin said, “We see a huge talent opportunity in Singapore and across Southeast Asia, and we feel the timing is right for our next stage of growth!”

Shi Kan, group CEO of CUE, said, “We are bullish on the economic potential in Southeast Asia and I believe with the business network we have built; as an international team with a global vision, we are in a strong position to drive growth for our clients and partners.”

Manila, Philippines – Tech giant Google has announced that it will provide 39,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships to equip Filipino students and job seekers from underserved communities with job-ready skills. This aims to help them land career opportunities in high-demand industries such as IT.

The Google Career Certificates provide a suite of flexible online training programs available on Coursera.org. These certificates, built and taught by Google, are designed to provide learners from all backgrounds with digital skills within an estimated time of three to six months. The four certificate options that Google provides are IT Support, UX Design, Data Analytics, and Project Management, which are available for everyone aged 18 and above and require no previous degree or experience. 

“Google is committed to supporting the Philippines’ economic growth through the opportunities created by the country’s growing digital economy. With the unemployment rate at 5.2% and rapidly growing job postings in tech, Google hopes to address the digital skills gap and improve the lives of thousands of Filipinos for themselves and their families by providing free Google Career Certificates,” said Bernadette Nacario, country director of Google Philippines.

Moreover, Google will be working closely with local partners such as the Globe Group and government stakeholders, including the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Information and Communications Technology, to distribute the scholarships. These distribution partners will nominate qualified recipients and track the progress of the scholars.

Yoly Crisanto, Globe’s group chief sustainability and corporate communications officer, noted, “Empowering today’s workforce with digital and job-ready skills is important to lead the country towards economic development. The Globe Group is honoured to play a vital role in the Google Career Certificates program in the Philippines that will help 39,000 young Filipinos with advanced IT courses.”

Meanwhile, Alfredo Pascual, secretary at the Department of Trade and Industry, said, “As we continue to move towards inclusive growth and employment generation, programs like the Google Career Certificate scholarships are invaluable to our mission of creating globally competitive industries. We laud Google for launching this initiative that will bridge 39,000 students and jobseekers to in-demand career opportunities in tech and IT.” 

Atty. Ivan John Enrile Uy, secretary at the Department of Information and Communications Technology, commented, “We thank Google for launching this high-impact program in the country that will not just create career pathways for thousands of Filipinos but will help the Department champion the economic benefits of a digital Philippines.”

Singapore – Global advertising company Publicis Groupe in Singapore has promoted Joanne Theseira, the current managing director of Publicis Communications, to be its new CEO of Publicis Communications in Singapore, where she will take on executive responsibility for Leo Burnett, Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Prodigious, and MSL. 

In this new role, Theseira will also champion the continued development of clear and ownable client, business, and employee positionings for the agencies under her stewardship. She will ensure that they are evolving in line with clients’ needs and reflective of the way consumers are engaging with brands today.

Additionally, Theseira will take on the newly created role of chief growth officer for Publicis Groupe SEA, and will report to Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Publicis Groupe Singapore and Southeast Asia. She will be leading Power of One accounts expansion, powering new business development, and managing the profile of Publicis Groupe in SEA. Theseira will also work closely with the Publicis Groupe SEA market CEOs and Practice leadership across APAC to deliver on the growth agenda.

Speaking about her appointment, Theseira shared that she believes that a strong and positive talent-centred culture is integral to the business of creativity, and this opportunity to hone and harness their different creative agencies is one that only Publicis Groupe can offer.

“Driving growth across Southeast Asia gives me an incredible canvas to scale and shape the future of our agency offerings and make a meaningful impact on our industry and our clients. I’m excited to get started,” she said.

Meanwhile, Randhawa said that Theseira’s passion for the creative business is addictive, and the clarity of her vision for their creative communications agencies and her determination to make the Groupe the fastest growing in the market is energising and impressive. 

“Joanne has demonstrated a strong capability to build high-performing teams and attract both clients and outstanding talent into the Groupe which makes her uniquely qualified to make an impact in this role,” she added.

Singapore – A sharp uptick in the adoption of mobile gaming ads since the pandemic began, and about six in 10 advertisers only started to leverage mobile in-game advertising in the last two years, but 90% of respondents have now advertised for at least a year or longer, according to a report by independent marketing cloud company InMobi.

The report also found that as much as 98% of advertisers reported increasing their spends on mobile gaming in the past year – double last year’s figure year-on-year – underscoring the potential of mobile games as an emerging marketing channel.

Additionally, the same report revealed that the unique ad formats in mobile game advertising enable higher audience attention and engagement, thus drawing strong interest from advertisers. The most explored mobile gaming ad formats are rewarded video, playables, and interstitials. But blended in-game ads are also increasing in popularity as advertisers seek to explore advanced native experiences. 

InMobi said that the report also indicates differences in success parameters between respondents at varying stages of the adoption of gaming advertising. Mature advertisers tend to view brand awareness and attention as the primary success metric for their campaigns. On the other hand, relative newcomers that have adopted gaming advertising for less than a year tend to often evaluate multiple aspects including reach, brand safety, and sales lift. 

Rishi Bedi, managing director at InMobi, shared that with rapid smartphone adoption and increased internet connectivity further contributing to the mobile gaming growth in SEA, there is no surprise that advertisers have increasingly integrated digital advertising with mobile games to tap into the region’s vast market potential.

“We look forward to helping this space grow as it creates more opportunities for brands to capitalise and expand how they engage their audiences,” said Bedi.

The report also shared that over 50% of respondents label programmatic buying as their most preferred mode of media buying on mobile gaming apps, and the top three mobile gaming app formats listed by respondents are ‘rewarded videos’, ‘playable ads’, and ‘interstitials’.

Moreover, almost 90% of respondents deem the suitability of game content to their brands’ values as a major factor when adopting mobile gaming ads, and about 70% of respondents who are mature advertisers label higher audience attention and engagement as the most important drive for their gaming ad investments. And lastly, over 50% of respondents leverage brand awareness levels as a benchmark parameter for campaign success of gaming ads.

Singapore – To continuously enhance creative tech advertising for businesses, Stellar Ace, the media and digital arm of Stellar Lifestyle, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with REVEZ Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary REVEZ Motion for the advancement of next-gen digital interactive media in Singapore.

The opportunities include the adoption of REVEZ’s Metaverse, augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, and a suite of cutting-edge technologies with 5G-ready capabilities as part of Stellar Ace’s expansion into an omnichannel advertising ecosystem. Both parties will also brainstorm ways to create Intellectual Property relating to digital creative initiatives. as well as conduct business feasibility, research, and development in the media industry to create new go-to-market experiential engagements.

PLONK, REVEZ’s MarTech platform, will be the first product in this collaboration to be launched. One of the region’s first web AR Content Management platforms makes AR campaign executions easy, cost-efficient, and consumers can view it easily with no app required. An immediate application would be the enhancement of social messaging communications such as Singtel location-based SMS. Traditional text will now come with an added AR experience for brand awareness and product showcasing through gamification to deliver consumer engagements.

“We look forward to enhancing our omnichannel solutions with REVEZ to include Extended Reality Technology and Metaverse. As we work on R&D for creative digital solutions, we aim to break new ground in the areas of digital innovation, engagements, and holistic insights in campaigns across our HOME, TRAVEL, EAT, SHOP & PLAY daily touchpoints platforms,” said Jeslyn Tan, managing director of Stellar Ace.

Meanwhile, Victor Neo, deputy board chairman and group CEO of REVEZ Corporation, commented, “REVEZ Motion is pleased to work towards more innovative and creative solutions. This will herald a new generation of advertising and digital creativity in campaigns. With Stellar Ace’s advertising ecosystem, we can extend more options to offer new edge creative experiences to customers.”

Singapore – Global automobile brand Audi in Singapore has launched a new video series called ‘Igniting Conversations with Futurists of Singapore’. This six-part series celebrates the inspiring stories and aspirations of six local changemakers through conversations, unpacking what ‘Living Progress’ means to these visionaries, and how they drive this narrative within and beyond their respective industries. 

Hosted by Markus Schuster, managing director of Audi Singapore, the series has already commenced with its first two episodes on Schuster’s LinkedIn profile. The first episode of the video series is titled ‘Tackling global food loss – one beer at a time’, featuring Travin Singh, founder of CRUST Group, who shares what inspired him to turn bread into beer, and what it takes to scale a food-tech startup which aims to reduce global food loss by 1% by 2030.

Meanwhile, the second episode is titled ‘Spotlighting Asian scientists on the global stage’, which featured Wildtype Media Group’s CEO Dr. Juliana Chan’s rationale behind the switch, her views on TikTok, and discusses range anxiety while taking the RS e-tron GT for a ride.

Schuster shared, “At Audi, we have always lived by ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ or ‘progress through technology’. At its core, this is characterised by a forward-looking mindset that exists in our everyday lives. Through these conversations, we hope to spotlight the inspiring stories of these individuals, and how they are creating a better future in their own ways.”

The four remaining episodes will run until 13 October 2022, with new episodes released every Thursday.

Singapore – Bonsey Jaden, a digital marketing and advertising agency backed by digital technology group CUE, has appointed Marvin Duval, former strategy partner at Digital APAC, to be its new head of strategy.

In his new role, Duval will be helping ready the smaller teams at Bonsey Jaden for new competition, while restructuring for smoother, more efficient collaboration internally.

Duval assumes the role with well-rounded experience beginning in the mid-2000s, with the initial goal of leaning towards the more creative aspects of advertising. Having handled communications, media, and consultancy throughout his career, Duval recalls a distinct lack of precision and insight in the industry at large; as the decade closed, he saw greater promise in the world of digital media. His overall interest in history, geopolitics, and current events keeps him flexible in his current role.

Moreover, Duval’s career has taken him back and forth between Europe and Asia, and touched on several points of the overall campaign process. He has worked with brands from a wide spectrum of industries, including projects with Tommy Hilfiger, Nestle, and FrieslandCampina. Over the years, he has learned the value of making brands and his own team as close to future-proof as possible, always keeping an eye out for the changes in tech in relation to the work, and tailoring strategy accordingly.

Commenting on his appointment, Duval said, “I have found that [Bonsey Jaden’s] culture demonstrates the antithesis of that. Here, we seem to understand fully that while skills are assets, we can’t always depend on our strengths—understanding and acknowledging weaknesses in one another can spell the difference between a campaign that works and a campaign that changes minds.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Posavac, co-founder and group CEO at Bonsey Jaden, shared that bringing Duval into the team is a huge step forward for them, and he truly believes that the future of their company and the branding landscape as a whole lies with those who know the rules well enough to be able to bend them and break them.

“Head of Strategy is a pivotal role for us because it sits at the intersection of data, technology, and creativity – and with his life and business experience, Marvin is perfect for the role,” said Posavac.

Most recently, Bonsey Jaden has appointed Sherwin Kukreja, former head of social media at digital telco Yoodo, to be its new head of social media. This new role is Kukreja’s re-entry into the agency end of the digital marketing and branding world.

Singapore – CUE Group, a Singapore-headquartered digital technology group, has doubled down on its expansion into the Southeast Asian region with a new operational focus out of its Singapore hub. 

More than a year on from their acquisition of Singapore-based digital agency, Bonsey Jaden, CUE has begun to expand the executive leadership team, with a range of soon-to-be-announced hires. Currently employing over 2,000 staff across more than 20 offices, CUE has actively partnered with more than 3,000 clients and partners across Asia. 

CUE said that what it is bringing to the table is a new yet experienced enabler, bridging the gap between data & technology solutions, paving the way for more targeted and culturally relevant consumer experiences – helping to accelerate sales and partnership growth across industries, and across cultures.

Kan Shi, group CEO of CUE, shared that it’s a privilege to be able to say that everything they are able to accomplish revolves around valuing people from their diverse teams and their individual expertise and cultural knowledge, to each partner and customer they have developed relationships with. 

“We live in the digital age, it’s true, but in the end, businesses are about meeting the needs of people and we never want to lose sight of the ‘who’ and ‘why’, even in the demanding sea of ‘what, where, when.’ I am personally very bullish on the growth and opportunity in Southeast Asia and I believe we are in the perfect moment to expand our team in Singapore and beyond to further support our existing clients and partners – as well as to build new relationships,” said Shi.

CUE noted that a number of executive hires are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Manila, Philippines – Technology organisation True Digital in the Philippines has announced the launch of its ‘True Creators Studio’, a new studio services, influencer, and multi-channel network (MCN) business, during an event at Yes Please in BGC with Influencer Council of the Philippines (CICP), which aims to bring together industry professionals and talents.

‘True Creators Studio’ offers to become the content creators’ ultimate playground for producing quality and engaging content. It also announced the launch of its website www.truecreators.studio where both brands and creators alike can book services easily. 

Moreover, through the True Creators Studio, brands can also conceptualise and create customised videos for their marketing campaigns, website, or social media content, internal communications, and virtual events, amongst others. 

“The launch of True Creators bolsters True Digital Philippines’ presence in the country, adding to the already existing digital solutions business for enterprise clients,” said True Digital.

Jakarta, Indonesia – In conjunction with Indonesia’s Independence Day celebration, Kopi Kenangan, a local-based retail F&B chain known for its coffee products, has partnered with NFT creator Karafuru and digital service provider ADA Asia to launch a new campaign to honour the Modern Day Heroes.

Through the campaign, Kopi Kenangan Hanya Untukmu introduces eight modern heroes who are highly relevant for Gen Z. The eight characters are chosen to represent the everyday heroes of Indonesia from different walks of life, from courier drivers to corporate workers, and from medical frontliners to content creators. All of which are contributing to the country in their own unique way. 

Moreover, Karafuru NFT used its magic hands to bring to life the eight modern heroes of Gen Z. Each character is given its own character and attributes, making it unique and relatable to each of the modern-day heroes’ daily struggles.

The collaboration can be found in the limited edition of Kopi Kenangan Hanya Untukmu x Karafuru coffee bottles in Indonesia.

Faradi Bachri, country director at ADA Asia, shared that their findings show that Gen Z has a peculiar spirit in celebrating Independence Day, and they want to instil the true meaning of Gen Z spirit by inviting them to appreciate the battles and challenges of modern-day heroes from all walks of life.

“Through the modern heroes concept that ADA prepared, we want to remind Gen Z to not forget the spirit of perseverance, which is the essence of Independence Day,” said Bachri.

Meanwhile, Karafuru said, “It was fun to design the artworks that are highly relatable to the audience in Indonesia. Despite the fact that we merely portray eight modern heroes, I believe that hundreds of heroes were mentioned and celebrated by Indonesians aside from these eight individuals.”