Tag: Southeast Asia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Southeast Asian automotive group Cycle & Carriage (C&C) has selected Antsomi CDP 365 to aid its omnichannel customer experience endeavours. Antsomi CDP 365 is built by Antsomi, a regional marketing technology company with regional presence in SEA.

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution aims to help brands to unify customer data and subsequently activate the data across multiple channels with hyper-personalised messages and customer experiences.

Under this partnership, C&C uses Antsomi CDP 365 to drive data-driven marketing activities with its customers. Firstly, Antsomi CDP 365 helps C&C to unify customer data coming in from multiple data sources, which include its websites, e-commerce facility, digital ad campaigns, customer relationship management (CRM) system, roadshows and physical stores. 

In addition, the software then created the 360-degree customer view for C&C and allows the company to understand its customers in a better way, including how customers interact and engage with C&C via various touch-points. By knowing more about its customers, C&C could deliver hyper personalised messages and customer experiences to its customers, such as popup banners and electronic direct mail (EDM), for better customer engagements and higher sales conversion. 

Stephen Tan, C&C’s Head of Marketing, said, “We always aim to provide exceptional customer experience to our customers. Using marketing technology like Antsomi CDP 365 helps us know more about our customers and engage with them with tailor-made messages across multiple channels. Apart from that, we also use CDP 365 to provide an online-to-offline/offline-to-online (O2O) customer journey to our customers in our newly launched Mercedes-Benz concept store at 1 Utama Shopping Centre.”

Meanwhile, Serm Teck Choon, co-founder and CEO at Antsomi, commented, “Cycle & Carriage is an innovative partner that cares a lot about providing an exceptional customer experience for their customers, along the way when its customers make a decision to purchase a car. Antsomi is proud to help C&C in understanding more about its customers in pre- and post-sales activities, and improving customer engagements and sales efficiency.”

Manila, Philippines – Top e-wallet in the Philippines GCash has launched its new digital wallet designed for youth ages seven to 17 years old. Called ‘GCash Jr’, the new e-wallet aims to provide a safe and reliable digital transaction experience that is fit for the ‘next generation’ of Filipinos.

With the new e-wallet, minors can now buy their favourite things online, level up their gaming experiences, and explore a world of finances with their own GCash Jr. accounts.

GCash shared that there is a separate verification process for minors because there is a need to collect parents’ consent. This will be collected in the form of the requirements, and the parent will also be the one who needs to agree to the terms and conditions.

To verify the GCash Jr. account, app users must have a valid ID (passport, student ID, or national ID), and a parent that is fully verified on GCash with details, such as the parent’s full name, a fully verified GCash number, a picture of the parent holding the minor’s ID used in verification, and an original copy of the applicant’s birth certificate.

“This is just the first of many steps as we innovate for the youth,“ said GCash CEO Martha Sazon on her LinkedIn. 

Manila, Philippines – Global streetwear and footwear retailer Foot Locker is opening its first official store in the Philippines, slated to be the largest Foot Locker store in Southeast Asia. The store will be established in Glorietta by Ayala Malls in December 2022.

According to Preview.ph, the Philippine Foot Locker store will be managed by MAP Active Philippines, a local subsidiary of Indonesian lifestyle retail group Mitra Adiperkasa (MAP). 

MAP Active Philippines were actively posting job vacancies for Foot Locker on LinkedIn weeks before the announcement. Some of the work positions they were offering include store manager, assistant merchandise manager, account manager, and sales associate.

Virendra Prakash Sharma, CEO at MAP Group, said that the brand’s expansion to the Philippines will bring the culture of youth active lifestyle and sneaker enthusiasts in the country to the highest standard.

“We look forward to bringing together new standards that have never been achieved in retail in the Philippines,” he said.

Foot Locker is the latest global company to establish its largest SEA store in the Philippines. Recently, Nike opened its largest SEA store in Taguig in June this year. Same goes for brands such as Uniqlo and IKEA establishing their largest stores in the Philippines in the past few months.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Global professional services Accenture has agreed to acquire Romp, a brand and experience agency in Indonesia renowned for its creative talent and innovative services across branding, creative and, performance marketing. This move will strengthen Accenture Song’s (formerly Accenture Interactive) ability to deliver creative and tech-driven brand experiences for clients across SEA. 

According to Accenture, the terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, and the completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.

The acquisition of Romp will enhance Accenture Song’s brand and marketing expertise, reinforcing its ability to help clients embrace new frontiers such as the metaverse and become relevant experience-led organisations. It also strategically aligns with Accenture’s business strategy to help businesses in Indonesia capture opportunities in a post-pandemic economy that’s poised for substantial growth.

Thomas Mouritzen, Accenture Song’s head of Southeast Asia, shared that their deep understanding of consumers and businesses, combined with Romp’s outstanding brand capabilities, will broaden their ability to harness the ongoing technology revolution for consumers and brands. 

“This is a powerful proposition for our clients seeking to win with innovative thinking and connected capabilities in Southeast Asia,” said Mouritzen.

Meanwhile, Divyesh Vithlani, senior managing director and Southeast Asia market unit lead at Accenture, noted that the growth of the digital economy in SEA is pushing brands to create meaningful experiences to meet customers’ needs. 

“Companies are increasingly looking to tap artificial intelligence, data and technology to drive creative content. Romp’s expertise with Accenture’s scale will enable us to deliver this excellence in a way that’s unique to the region,” said Vithlani.

Joseph Tan, Romp’s CEO, commented they have always believed in harnessing the power of creativity and helping clients build strong and long-lasting relationships with their customers. 

“We also constantly elevate ourselves through new thinking methods and approaches. Joining Accenture Song will fully converge the brand storytelling that we love with Accenture’s tech innovation, enabling us to help our clients truly deliver against limitless opportunities with global impact,” said Tan.

Accenture said it continues to invest in capabilities to help its clients drive growth through relevance. In 2021, Accenture Song also acquired Kuala Lumpur-based creative agency, Entropia, to deepen its capabilities in customer experience, design, and creative communications.

Singapore – Public relations firm Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) has appointed Adeline Lee, former head of PR and comms and business director at ADK Connect, to step into the newly created role of general manager for Singapore.

In her new role, Lee will be focusing on driving growth and overseeing all aspects of the business operations and talent development. Her appointment will accelerate H+K Asia’s growth trajectory and complement the agency’s regional expansion plans. Lee will be reporting to Justin Then, CEO of H+K Singapore and Lumos H+K Malaysia.

Lee brings over 20 years of consultancy and in-house experience in communications management. Prior to her previous role at ADK Connect, she was the founder and owner of SG Story, a local boutique agency that specialised in audience engagement, content development and path-to-purchase marketing.

Lee shared that as content and storytelling continue to evolve, there is an increasing need for effective, compelling, and authentic communications that build relationships in today’s complex and ever-changing situations. 

“This is truly an exciting time for marketers, and I am looking forward to partnering with our clients to drive marketing outcomes that are aligned to their business goals,” she added.

Meanwhile, Then commented, “Adeline is a passionate leader with a proven track record of building successful teams and businesses. Her entrepreneurial spirit and deep experience in omnichannel campaigns make her a valuable addition as we continue to expand service solutions and offerings in Singapore.”

HS Chung, president of H+K Asia, said, “I am very pleased with Adeline’s decision to join H+K and her clear vision of how we can continue to build on an already exceptional team. Singapore continues to be an integral hub for our network and clients in the Asia market and this appointment bodes well for H+K Singapore’s growth.”

Philippines – InMobi, a provider of content, marketing, and monetisation technologies, has partnered with iNQUiRO, a technology company under AdSpark and 917Ventures. This partnership aims to provide access to iNQUiRO‘s significant and in-depth insights on consumer’s purchase behaviour and interest, and the end-to-end marketing solutions of InMobi to help brands deliver contextual communications at scale. 

In a recent study conducted by Forrester, 1 in 2 brands are increasingly concerned about the ability to drive efficient and effective marketing in the wake of identity deprecation, while at the same time ensuring consumer privacy compliance. This is where the strategic partnership comes in, as InMobi and iNQUiRO could solve the modern marketer’s need for data-driven decision-making with a privacy-by-design approach.

Rishi Bedi, InMobi’s managing director for APAC, shared that the Philippines stands as amongst the truly mobile-first markets in SEA with more than five hours of daily time on mobile and more than 60% of consumers shopping online.

“Through this partnership, brands will be able to reach iNQUiRO audiences programmatically on InMobi’s mobile Exchange via managed service with InMobi or their preferred DSP platform. Brands will be able to drive better reach, make use of innovative creative formats from our creative gallery, and improve end-to-end attribution using InMobi solutions.”

Meanwhile, Pancho Reyna, chief operating officer at iNQUiRO, commented that they are in a unique position to provide a unique understanding of customers at a deeper level by leveraging on insights from first-party data of millions of Filipino consumers, but more than that, they focus on being champions of data privacy and security for all their solutions and clients

“Enriching your audience’s understanding and sending the right message has never been easier. This is what makes our partnership with InMobi strategic and innovative,” he said.

In June 2022, InMobi also announced a direct integration of its InMobi Exchange supply-side side platform (SSP) into Yahoo’s demand-side platform (DSP), giving advertisers, brands, and media buyers across Yahoo’s extensive global portfolio of clients direct access to premium in-app supply and global user base, at scale.

Singapore – Digital marketing performance and branding solutions platform Entravision MediaDonuts has partnered with in-game ad solution Anzu to bring its in-game advertising platform in Southeast Asia.

Through the partnership, Entravision MediaDonuts will now represent Anzu in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, enabling advertisers in these markets to tap into the power of real-world ads inside gaming platforms. 

The partnership will also provide brands with a sophisticated channel where they could run campaigns in some of the most popular titles by Ubisoft, Saber Interactive, Amanotes, and other leading game developers. These video and banner ads via blended but highly viewable IAB-compliant formats can appear as stadium banners, billboards, buildings, or other 3D renditions.

Pieter-Jan de Kroon, CEO at Entravision MediaDonuts, said, “Gaming in our region has seen incredible growth over the last two years. We’re thrilled to partner with Anzu to bring its groundbreaking, nondisruptive in-game advertising solutions to 8 countries in APAC.”

He added, “Asia will remain a mobile-first gaming region, but we also see growth in console gaming so advertisers can now connect with consumers across all gaming platforms, leveraging Anzu’s full suite of advertising solutions.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Lublinski, head of partnerships of emerging markets at Anzu, commented, “Southeast Asia has seen phenomenal growth in gaming in recent years, home to over half of all the world’s gamers. Our partnership with MediaDonuts means advertisers in SEA can now reach this massive, rapidly growing audience with in-game advertising that preserves the gameplay experience.” 

She added, “Thanks to our patented, adaptive technology, first-to-market in-game ad viewability measurement with Oracle Moat, and full suite of third party integrations with adtech vendors, advertisers will be able to achieve this huge reach in a measurable, cost-effective way.”

Manila, Philippines – Building on their recent partnership agreements in Indonesia and Malaysia, media investment company GroupM and global outdoor advertising technology provider Moving Walls have partnered anew to bring automation and accountability to Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising across the Philippines.

The latest collaboration enables GroupM Philippines’ agencies to leverage Moving Walls’ Moving Audiences, an end-to-end audience data-driven planning, buying, and verification solution for DOOH media. Moving Walls has developed a comprehensive technology stack including a DOOH planning tool that predicts audiences based on the most recent movement trends. The Moving Audiences platform has already been used to execute campaigns for multiple GroupM clients.

According to Moving Walls, a majority of DOOH inventory in the Philippines is already connected to this ecosystem by Location Media Xchange (LMX), the supply-focused subsidiary of the Moving Walls group. 

Yasmin Mallari, chief investment officer at GroupM Philippines, stated, “There is no doubt that DOOH’s role in the omnichannel mix will continue to grow as the potential reach of this medium is now across locations where consumers commute, work, eat, reside, and more. Brand investments will also grow when there is accountability around where the ads are being served and how campaigns perform. This partnership enables us to enrich our suite of offerings in DOOH planning and extend further measurement capabilities to our clients.”

Meanwhile, Norman Davadilla, CEO of Moving Walls Philippines, highlighted how this partnership will continue to transform DOOH media in the Philippines. 

He said, “Philippines is a regional DOOH leader where both the buy and sell side industry associations have launched initiatives to implement common measurement standards. We have partnered GroupM in other markets and are excited to extend these capabilities to brands in the Philippines.”

The partnership with GroupM comes less than a year after Moving Walls partnered with the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of the Philippines (OHAAP) to scale the data-driven OOH industry in the country for further growth.

Singapore – Financial service giant HSBC in Singapore has launched the ‘HSBC Futureverse’, a new experience that allows Singaporeans to view almost six million possible visions of their financial future. This campaign believes the path to a sustainable future is not about predicting the future, but about embracing its uncertainty. 

Created in partnership with Wunderman Thompson, PHD, Meta, and Ad-lib.io, the ‘HSBC Futureverse’ is a film experience and technology engine that can generate almost six million possible futures. The experience takes place on Facebook Messenger, delivering a unique and different film experience to every single person who watches it on the platform.

HSBC Singapore said, “The financial decisions driven by emotions are often where mistakes are made, and by generating acceptance and awareness of the ups and downs the future will hold, Singapore-based customers can adopt a mindset that will help them embrace uncertainty and focus on building sustainable wealth for the future.”

Together with the ‘HSBC Futureverse Experience’, HSBC Singapore is also launching an integrated marketing campaign across cinema, out-of-home, digital, and social channels to create excitement around this mindset of embracing uncertainty.

Singapore – Global food and beverage company PepsiCo has appointed Publicis Media as its media agency in Southeast Asia. As part of the mandate, Publicis Media has created PLUS+, a bespoke business solution.

PLUS+ is a dedicated business unit, creating an ecosystem of media, creativity, and technology for positive impact on business outcomes. In addition, it unlocks growth in the dynamic marketplace with consumer centric solutions and transformational, data-driven capabilities. 

“The purpose-driven operating model is people-first, with positive shared values underpinning a modern way of working,” the agency further describes it.

Lilly Yip, chief marketing officer at PepsiCo APAC, said, “We would like to thank the incumbent team at Mindshare for their years of work as well as our agency partners that participated in the review. Publicis Media was selected after a very thorough and competitive pitch process. Their expertise in the areas of importance to our business, like data, digital, analytics and commerce saw them emerge as our partner of choice.”

Meanwhile, Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Publicis Groupe Singapore and Southeast Asia, commented, “We are excited to be appointed PepsiCo’s media partner in this very dynamic and fast-growing region. We really respect the process that PepsiCo ran for its thoroughness and desire to discover the best from the agencies participating. Our entire team is incredibly motivated by the opportunity to create industry-leading work for these iconic brands in the future.”