Tag: Southeast Asia

Singapore – Pace, the fintech solutions company based in Singapore that allows customers to use BNPL service, has launched its latest campaign, transporting Singaporeans back to Technicolor 1980s.

Titled ‘I Got This’, which was created in collaboration with sole proprietor STUDIO AUTOMATIKA on the creatives, the campaign aims to bring shoppers back to an era that heralded the start of a fashion-conscious generation when pop culture and technology intertwined with everyday life.

Through this, Pace will be releasing a series of video shorts, shot with the era’s distinctive VHS effect which can be viewed on social media and Pace’s YouTube page. It will also be running across OOH in order for commuters to spot the campaign’s distinctive retro-futuristic decals on platform doors at Harbourfront station, and a fleet of double-decker buses wrapped with imagery reminiscent of classic shopping advertisements from the period.

Moreover, the campaign has started roaming island-wide to showcase Pace’s value proposition.

Daren Goh, Pace’s head of growth, shared that they took inspiration from the golden age of 1980’s advertising to show everyone their inner ‘I Got This’ element.

“This series of OOH, online and social media activations are aimed at letting people know how it feels to finally be able to grab what they want now and pay for it later with Pace,” said Goh.

Kristal Melson, STUDIO AUTOMATIKA’s creative director, believes that living in an increasingly homogenous world where people are more inclined to ‘keep up with the Joneses’, purchases that speak to their individual expressions and sense of self become less of a priority.

“When thinking of the creative concept for Pace on this campaign, we wanted to borrow the energy and nostalgia of the 1980s and find a spirited, exciting way to say ‘stuff it!’ to keep our desires at bay, to be daring and go forth and buy things that speak more to us as individuals,” said Melson.

Singapore – CREA, the one-stop omnichannel solution for brands established by Lazada co-founders, has recently secured a US$25m investment from SuperOrdinary, the global distributor of leading beauty brands. SuperOrdinary will be taking a minority stake in the SEA-based commerce enabler, and within this, the two announced that it will be developing a new cross-border global platform network.

SuperOrdinary’s portfolio includes beauty brands Drunk Elephant, Malin + Goetz, The Ordinary, and Supergoop!, among others. The new global platform network will allow each company’s respective portfolio to expand into new markets. 

The partnership means consumers in Thailand and Southeast Asia will have an increased choice of global beauty brands to choose from when shopping. CREA said that brands will also benefit from easier regional market entry via a single solution. 

Aimone Ripa di Meana, CREA’s co-founder, said that Southeast Asia presents a unique opportunity for global brands with young digital-savvy consumers increasing their consumption power and avidly engaging with global trends through digital media. 

“Entering these markets with a digital-first approach is key and CREA is uniquely positioned to enable this opportunity with an omnichannel strategy,” di Meana said. 

CREA Co-Founder Alessandro Piscini added, “CREA has built a unique value proposition through our proprietary technology, CUSP, logistics infrastructure, and a world-class team that makes entering Southeast Asia simple for global brands.”

CUSP is CREA’s omnichannel technology platform which carries business insight, order management, purchase management, and catalogue management capabilities. 

Julian Reis, CEO and founder of SuperOrdinary, commented, “Digital commerce in Southeast Asia is experiencing an unprecedented boom and CREA’s team has played an integral role in allowing its portfolio of more than 70 prominent lifestyle brands to capitalize on this trend.”

CREA started in Thailand in 2019 with current presence expanding to Malaysia and Singapore. The company said it’s eyeing to open in Vietnam, Indonesia, and The Philippines in the near future. 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – As Tiger is dedicated to hyping up fans’ street food experience by continually introducing new and innovative features, the global beer brand from Asia has launched this year’s Street Food Virtual Festival, which presents fans an ‘epic collision’ between street food and an integral part of street culture – streetwear.

In November 2020, Tiger hosted its first virtual food festival in the Malaysian market. It included a virtual experience ‘exploring’ the virtual streets of Penang and Klang Valley, where users customized their avatar, likened to RPG, and won rewards through joining online activities and games.

The current mash-up aims to bring the two cultures together to create an experience for fans while breaking the boundaries of street food. The beer brand has partnered with renowned local streetwear brands to curate two limited-edition streetwear apparel each from EK Collective, TNT Co, The Swagger Salon, and Eversince, as well as Pestle & Mortar, and Dissyco.

One of the two streetwear merchandise will be included in the streetwear brand Hypefeast Drop, which comes with the street food dish that inspired the exclusive apparel, as well as a Tiger Beer and a Tiger Crystal, which has a limited quantity and is available on a first-come-first-served basis for fans residing in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang, Johor Bahru, and Ipoh. Moreover, the Hype Store within the virtual world will showcase one brand each week for fans to make their purchases, while the other limited-edition merchandise will be available for anyone at the virtual festival to purchase at the Hype Store.

Meanwhile, as part of Tiger’s efforts to support the local street food scene, over 100 street food vendors that serve both classic and innovative dishes will be part of the festival. Fans are in for a heightened street food experience when they accompany their favorite street food dishes with ice-cold Tiger Beer and Tiger Crystal, all delivered to their doorsteps. 

According to the brand’s manager, Joyce Lim, the previous Tiger Street Food Virtual Festival garnered over 101,000 total unique visitors and together, they helped 88 various local street food vendors.

“This year, we have made the festival bigger by expanding into more cities so fans can immerse themselves in the virtual world where street food and streetwear cultures collide,” said Lim.

Another unique highlight at the virtual festival is the Tiger Coins, where fans can easily earn these coins when they take part in fun games and activities, and even from their food and beer purchases. The Tiger Coins can then be used to redeem vouchers to purchase even more dishes, beers, and exclusive merchandise. 

In addition, festival goers who want to uncover their playful side can express themselves through the exclusive streetwear apparel on their avatars from the Xclusive Store and earn even more Tiger Coins when they take an OOTD within the virtual world and share it on their social media platforms. Other ways to earn them are by playing the exciting Street Food Dash and Streetwear Hunt games at the festival. The avatars of Lizz Chloe and Joshua Michael will be present to host festival goers and bring them through the mechanics of the games. 

While fans explore the virtual streets and interact with one another, they will also get to enjoy RM30 off with a minimum spend of RM160 on Tiger Beer or Tiger Crystal, excluding bundle deals, with the use of the promo code STREETFOOD30. More information and even more exclusive promotions can be found at www.drinkies.my.

Tiger said that there are many other attractive promotions available for fans outside of the virtual festival too. They can purchase two 6-can packs or a carton of Tiger Beer or Tiger Crystal at hypermarkets and supermarkets to get RM5 and RM10 foodpanda vouchers respectively. Meanwhile, at convenience stores, fans can get foodpanda vouchers worth RM2 each when they purchase three cans of Tiger products. Consumers who order from selected participating local street food vendors on foodpanda will enjoy RM2 off their purchases of big bottles of Tiger products as well.

Fans can be part of the Tiger Street Food Virtual Festival by signing up at its website, and earn one free can of Tiger Crystal, while stocks last.

Singapore – American-based music distribution company The Orchard has promoted former vice president for Southeast Asia and South Korea Priya Dewan to the role of vice president for international marketing for APAC. In addition, she has also taken the role of managing director of Southeast Asia and Korea at The Orchard.

Her newest vice president position is the company’s first Pan-Asian management role. In addition, her promotion follows the company’s substantial growth in the market, and the need for expansion to provide additional on the ground support to artists and labels in the region. 

During her past role as VP for SEA and South Korea, she was responsible for leading The Orchard’s teams in the region, providing expertise, releasing strategy and regional support as well as creating a pipeline for artists locally to new international audiences.

In addition, Dewan is responsible for signing The Orchard’s priority labels in the region, including BTS’ label BIGHIT Music and JYP Entertainment – whose roster includes K-pop groups ITZY, Stray Kids and more.

She brings in 18 years of music industry experience, and previously held a position at UK-based label Warp Records as the label manager for North America.

“In this new role I look forward to helping more clients from across the region achieve greater success by providing more access to our global tools and teams. This also includes exploring bigger opportunities for our entire catalogue with our international digital service providers across the Asia-Pacific region,” Dewan said regarding her appointment.

She will report to Colleen Theis, chief operating officer at The Orchard.

“The Orchard’s Pan-Asian expansion further amplifies the amazing success we’ve had connecting artists and labels from the region with fans around the world. Priya’s leadership and proven expertise at identifying and developing talent will continue to create new opportunities for our clients,” Theis said.

Recently, The Orchard launched its office in Indonesia, with Arie Legowo appointed as the company’s head for the market and Gyscha Rendy appointed as client services manager, Southeast Asia. Both Legowo and Rendy will report to Dewan in their new roles. 

In addition to South Korea, The Orchard’s newly expanded reach across Asia now includes an on-the-ground presence in Greater China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines.

Manila, Philippines – Globe’s corporate venture builder, 917Ventures, has launched a new portfolio company, iNQUiRO, to help SMEs make data-driven decisions in their operations.

The start-up aims to address the challenges encountered by businesses in their journey towards data-driven insights, which include access to the right data, tools, and technology. Its products are designed to provide organizations with the knowledge that creates impact from customer analytics to risk assessment and even fraud detection.

For instance, iNQUiRO’s 360° Customer Dashboard and Audience Builder, an intuitive platform, gives clients access to valuable consumer information particularly, behaviors and trends. The service is complete with optimized tools and resources that help businesses transform data into valuable and actionable insights and explore various opportunities.

Furthermore, iNQUiRO’s Credibility Score intends to use behavioral data in creating a credibility profile for consumers to help businesses assess the credibility of consumers with limited or no available financial data and to provide these consumers with access to a wider range of financial products.

Pancho Reyna, iNQUiRO’s chief operating officer, said, “By providing organizations of all sizes with access to otherwise unobtainable insights, we enable them to make exceptional and impactful data-driven decisions. This is what makes iNQUiRO truly a game-changer.”

Meanwhile, Vince Yamat, 917Ventures’s managing director, shared, “As we expand our services and continue to grow our portfolio companies, we are committed to taking Globe’s vision of creating a digital nation forward, as we empower more Filipinos through our tech and digital solutions.”

Aside from iNQUiRO, 917Ventures’ lineup of portfolio companies also includes mobile wallet giant GCash, digital health companies KonsultaMD and HealthNow, and digital marketing solutions firm AdSpark, as well as online grocery platform PureGo, and loyalty and e-commerce solutions provider RUSH.

Manila, Philippines – With pets being a new way for people to cope up during long lockdowns, the love for furry friends by Filipinos accounts for 53% of the total online searches related to pets in the Southeast Asian region, accounting to 7m Google searches and the highest in the region, new data from e-commerce aggregator iPrice shows.

In 2021, Google searches for pets will total roughly 12.9 million, up 88 percent from the same period in 2019.

Filipinos’ searches for pets from January to September 2021 have increased by 118% compared to the same time period in 2019. This makes it the highest increase in the region, along with Malaysians.

On other markets, Vietnam has the lowest increase (34%) despite their abundant Google searches for pets, rising only by over a third of 2019 numbers this year. Meanwhile, Singapore’s interest for pets was highest in 2020, and slightly decreased by 7% in 2021.

Data regarding demand for pet supplies showed that the Google impressions on their category for pet supplies have increased by 158% across all their six platforms in Southeast Asia. The period of January to October 2021 was compared with the same period of the previous year. 

Impressions based from iPrice Philippines’ pet supplies database have more than doubled, from over 400k the previous year to over a million this year. The rise in pet adoptions and purchases is evidently good for pet stores.

Meanwhile, iPrice’s platform in Thailand leads with the highest increase of impressions on pet supplies, around 4.5x more than the previous year; followed by their Malaysia platform, increasing by nearly 3.5x more. Meanwhile, iPrice’s Vietnam platform comes in third, with a 220% increase in impressions on pet supplies. It more than tripled from last year’s numbers.

And in regards to whether cats or dogs are the most-beloved pets, data showed that Southeast Asians’ interest in dogs is over 5x more than their interest in cats. The same comparison is consistently seen in the Philippines; Filipinos searches for dogs, whether for sale or adoption, are 460% more than their searches for cats.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Digital Telco Indosat Ooredoo in Indonesia has partnered with Out There Media (OTM), the mobile advertising and data monetization firm, to adopt its proprietary mobile engagement technology platform, Mobucks. The telco will be leveraging OTM’s network of brands and brand agencies to strengthen its digital advertising strategy.

With OTM’s Mobucks technology, Indosat Ooredoo aims to bring subscribers targeted and interactive messaging campaigns from its chosen brand and agency partners. Mobucks will be leveraging Indosat Ooredoo’s analytics and understanding of the market, allowing its platform to combine precise targeting and personalization with reach, enabling ‘micro-targeting at scale’ for its future brand clients for better engagement, response, and conversion, as well as ROI. 

Ritesh Kumar Singh, Indosat Ooredoo’s chief commercial officer, said that they are looking forward to delivering interactive mobile advertising campaigns that go beyond the reach of traditional advertising channels available today. 

“This is an exciting time for Indosat Ooredoo, and we look forward to announcing our initial campaigns in due course,” said Singh.

Michael Jahotsen, Out There Media’s sales director for Indonesia, commented that brands today are always looking at new ways to engage with their customers, while at the same time, operators want to keep offering relevant products and offer to their subscribers from brands they love.

“We’re looking forward to launching some exciting campaigns with Indosat Ooredoo’s brand partners to demonstrate just how transformative and powerful Mobucks can be for the operator and brand world,” said Jahotsen.

Indosat Ooredoo has also joined the humanitarian initiative led by Out There Impact, OTM’s impact division committed to using the power of mobile technology for the greater good.

Together with several other global mobile operators, Indosat Ooredoo will take part in an educational mobile campaign launched by Out There Impact on behalf of the World Health Organization, to help contain the ongoing spread of COVID-19. The campaign is being distributed to more than 300 million global citizens via OTM’s global network of mobile operators.

Singapore – The Singapore team of creative agency 72andSunny has announced three new senior appointments, namely Judy Ang, the new group brand director, Jaclyn Lee, the new senior strategy director, and Jonathan Tan, the new brand director, to further strengthen its 2021 growth momentum.

Ang has over 16 years of experience across major creative networks in Singapore and Shanghai. She has previously led and grew the Scoot business at Publicis and helmed the HSBC and Changi Airport Group accounts at J. Walter Thompson, which is now Wunderman Thompson. She has also worked on Unilever and Castro at Ogilvy and Mather Shanghai, and has client-side experience as regional marketing director at the Furama Hotel group.

Commenting on her appointment, Ang said, “I am super stoked to join the 72andSunny team. I’ve always loved how they put creativity and collaboration at the core of everything – the work, the people, and the business.”

Meanwhile, Lee has over 15 years of planning expertise, while Tan brings with him almost 10 years of account management experience. Both have been with the agency for over two years and have been leading the GIC, Carousell, and Singapore University of Technology and Design accounts, among others.

Ida Siow, 72andSunny’s president for Singapore, describes Ang as a powerhouse who knows how to “wrestle big, complex accounts and deliver results for her clients.”

“Jaclyn and Jonathan are both superstars with the smarts and the heart to lead their teams, build strong client partnerships and make the work work. They make me and everyone else look good,” said Siow.

Singapore – Consumer data and analytics startup Milieu has recently raised US$5m in funding, which will be used in bolstering product innovation and accelerate the development of new SaaS-oriented consumer insight offerings.

The funding was led by MassMutual Ventures (MMV) Southeast Asia, with participation from OSK Ventures International Berhad, Genesis Alternative Ventures, as well as several private investors.

The company had previously raised funding in 2019, and has since then expanded their commercial operations to cover six markets, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Funds raised from this current round will be allocated to expand Milieu’s reach beyond Southeast Asia.

Milieu has recently launched several new products, including an automated brand tracking solution, as well as a programmatic activation offering known as ‘Milieu Activate’, which enables advertisers to target mobile ads more effectively.

Gerald Ang, founder and CEO at Milieu, said, “As consumer preferences and behaviours evolve rapidly, we see a tremendous opportunity to revolutionize market research to better meet the needs of business leaders today. These funds will help us develop more exciting, innovative products and fuel our expansion. We have demonstrated sustained growth and this is a testament to the resilience in our business model.”

Statistics-wise, Milieu has been growing their mobile app user base from 500,000 users to more than two million in 2020, as well as increasing their customer base by 300% from 45 enterprise customers at the start of 2020 to 180 in October 2021.

“COVID-19 has accelerated the rise of the digital economy and we will continue on with our mission to use technology to empower organizations to connect with consumers at a deeper level. In time, we hope to inspire change globally by sparking meaningful conversations between brands and their customers around the world everyday,” Ang concluded.

Manila, Philippines – Lista, Philippine-grown bookkeeping app for MSMEs has announced that they have raised an oversubscribed round from various venture capital firms, including 1982 Ventures, East Ventures, Saison Capital, and Alternate Ventures, as well as Monde Nissin Family Ventures’ Willy Arifin, and prominent angel investors. 

Through the new funding, Lista said that it will be growing its team and expanding its product offering to reach more MSMEs in the country, including freelancers, logistics operators, and riders, among others.

Lista, which was launched in September 2021, offers a free and secure way of managing finances such as tracking debts, recording transactions, and issuing invoices.

Aaron Villegas, Lista’s co-founder, shared that helping MSMEs has always been an advocacy close to his heart, seeing how his own family dealt with running a community store in the past.

“I spent almost a year just talking to various MSMEs in the province and trying different ideas to help them grow. And that’s when I realized that the first thing to do to really help them grow is through digitization and replacing pen and paper with easy-to-use tech,” said Villegas.

Meanwhile, Khriz Lim, the co-founder of Lista, stated, “Through this app, we want to revolutionize the way MSMEs operate and provide them with a reliable digital partner for small businesses in the country.”