Tag: Southeast Asia

Bali, Indonesia – Yell Group, a creative digital company, has teamed up with Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence arm of Alibaba Group.

Through the partnership, Yell Group aims to be equipped with cloud-based solutions to revolutionise its AI storyboard platform, AI-Deate. Alibaba Cloud will be granting Yell Group with cloud computing capabilities to provide solutions to creative teams and allowing scalability.

Through the partnership, Alibaba Cloud is also set to introduce its advanced media solutions, Elastic Desktop Service and Object Storage Service.

Yell Group’s AI-Deate can empower creators globally, with the goal of elevating the creative industry. The partnership addresses creative teams’ growing demand for generative AI use.

AI-Deate also aims to promote work-life balance for practitioners in the creative industry.

The partnership was announced during the Alibaba Cloud Global Partner Summit 2024 in Bali, Indonesia.

“This transformative partnership with Alibaba Cloud propels AI-Deate to unprecedented heights, reinforcing our core mission to enhance the lives of creative professionals through cutting-edge AI technology,” Dissara Udomdej, chief executive officer at Yell Group, said during the summit.

Singapore – Vistar Media has partnered with global data and insights provider Pureprofile to transform digital-out-of-home (DOOH) campaign measurement in Southeast Asia, offering advanced audience insights to enhance advertiser performance.

This partnership delivers advanced audience insights and robust measurement solutions to advertisers in key markets such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, enabling brands to enhance engagement and achieve measurable results.

Vistar Media’s partnership with Pureprofile aims to reshape SEA’s DOOH landscape by providing advertisers access to online panel data for pre- and post-campaign insights. Pureprofile ensures the data reflects the region’s diverse demographics, including age, gender, and income.

The integration of Vistar Media’s programmatic DOOH technology with Pureprofile’s advanced data tools offers advertisers a comprehensive view of their campaigns, connecting offline and online behaviors. This data-driven approach helps brands reach diverse audiences effectively and make real-time campaign adjustments with actionable insights.

Through this partnership, Vistar Media and Pureprofile aim to set a new standard for DOOH advertising in Southeast Asia, empowering advertisers to craft more impactful and resonant campaigns.

Commenting on the partnership, Franck Vidal, director of Southeast Asia sales and partnerships at Vistar Media, remarked, “We are thrilled to collaborate with Pureprofile to introduce a new level of measurability to DOOH in Southeast Asia. This partnership combines the strength of Vistar’s programmatic platform with Pureprofile’s unique insights into human behaviour for measurable audience engagement.”

Anna Meiler, managing director for APAC at Pureprofile, also said, “Our collaboration with Vistar Media allows us to bring unparalleled precision and relevance to DOOH in Southeast Asia. With the capability to deliver both the “what” and the “why” behind audience interactions, advertisers gain a deeper understanding of how OOH ads resonate with their target demographics, making the measurement tool uniquely effective for optimising strategies and driving engagement. Together, Pureprofile and Vistar Media are able to provide advertisers with a truly comprehensive view of how consumers engage with campaigns.”

“This partnership is an exciting opportunity to help brands make better-informed decisions and achieve deeper connections with their audiences,” Meiler added. 

Singapore – Entertainment hub KC Global Media Asia has launched its distribution arm as an effort to expand its content sales and partnerships beyond the region.

Through the launch of KC Global Media Distribution, the company reaffirms its dedication to storytelling, showcasing culture, and contributing to global entertainment’s future.

The distribution arm has been unveiled at the Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore, which highlights remarkable content from third-party producers.

As part of ATF, KC Global Media Distribution is showcasing its ‘Breeze By The Sea’ drama in collaboration with Deepwaters Digital Support.

KC Global is also forging partnerships with production companies Mocha Chai Laboratories, Empire of Arkadia, and Monochromatic Pictures. This initiative is part of its effort to create iconic content with prominent brands such as AXN, Animax, ONE, GEM, and FAST Channel. 

With a vertically integrated business model, KC Global Media Distribution is focusing on fostering long-term partnerships and solidifying its footprint in the global media industry.

George Chien, co-founder, chief executive officer, and president of KC Global Media, commented, “By establishing KC Global Media Distribution, the organization is taking an important step in bringing high-quality content to a wider audience. This initiative aligns with our vision of empowering diverse voices and fostering partnerships that break barriers, connecting our content partners with viewers worldwide through universally engaging stories.”

“This new venture is a testament to KC Global Media’s entrepreneurial spirit and our mission to amplify premium content on the world stage. Our expertise in connecting with viewers stems from decades of experience in building engaged audiences and an in-depth understanding of what resonates with today’s diverse and dynamic global entertainment landscape,” Bonnie Wiryani, vice president of revenue and head of content sales at KC Global Media, said.

Singapore – Max made its debut across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong with regional activations across seven markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong. 

The series of creative and immersive outdoor marketing efforts showcased the streaming service’s rich collection of blockbuster movies, groundbreaking series, iconic hits, best-in-class real-life stories, and family favourites, inviting fans to feel, experience, and become part of the stories, connecting with local audiences through dynamic and culturally relevant campaigns. 

On November 19, Max celebrated its arrival with a spectacular regional light-up moment across all seven markets. Scenes from Warner Bros. Discovery’s beloved brands and franchises, including ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘House of the Dragon,’ ‘The Last of Us,’ ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,’ ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,’ and ‘Barbie’ were projected on prominent buildings and landmarks. 

Moreover, audiences were invited to join in local launch celebrations, where fans in the Philippines explored ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘House of the Dragon’ themed Christmas trees and were treated to a magical Harry Potter Christmas tree light-up countdown by James and Oliver Phelps, followed by an amazing fireworks display. In Thailand, audiences were captivated by a life-size “Krathong” installation during the Loi Krathong Festival, as well as on-ground pop-ups inspired by ‘Barbie,’ ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘Friends’ and ‘Harry Potter.’

In Taiwan, pop-ups of iconic Warner Bros. Discovery brands including Game of Thrones and Harry Potter allowed guests to step into the world of their favorite shows. 

Upping the ante, Max also took over prominent train stations, transportation, billboards and building projections across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, transforming daily commutes into Warner Bros. Discovery-inspired journeys.

To connect viewers in Asia with Max, a series of creative social content brought iconic characters from Max’s loved shows into the heart of each market, incorporating characters into Asia’s vibrant culture, where characters ‘react’ to hyperlocal landmarks, dishes and cultural experiences. 

“The extensive launch campaign generated significant excitement, fostered emotional connections, and positioned Max as the region’s newest streaming experience. The campaign has successfully launched Max on an upwards trajectory in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, deeply connecting with local audiences in the region,” the streaming service said in a press statement.

Singapore – Travel company Skyscanner has launched a new advertising platform that leverages first-party data from a travel audience.

The new Skyscanner Ads Platform aims to help its travel partners in the digital advertising landscape, enabling them to reach new audiences while maintaining data privacy. Independent from third-party cookies and other tracking technologies, the ad platform allows brands to engage audiences in a safe environment.

Through the Skyscanner Ads Platform, advertisers can launch, manage, and optimise contextual campaigns in the company’s marketplace. This ensures that ads are delivered to relevant audiences.

With insights into consumer behaviour and preferences, advertisers can also adjust their spending in real-time.

Additionally, the platform has a predictive recommendation tool, analysing trends and campaign performance for advertisers while providing suggestions.

The ad platform was built in collaboration with airlines, travel agents, media agencies, and travel brands.

“With the increasing focus on consent, the future of cookies and general tracking practices within the advertising ecosystem, Skyscanner Ads Platform is a game-changer for advertisers wanting to reach highly engaged global audiences who are in the market to travel,” Kirsten Stirling, senior director of product management at Skyscanner, said. 

“We’re harnessing the power of Skyscanner’s first-party data and combining it with smart, proprietary technology to drive more meaningful, effective, and importantly – privacy-centric results,” Stirling added.

“Partnering with Skyscanner has transformed our ads strategy. Their innovative products, highly collaborative approach and deep audience insights drive exceptional engagement and measurable results. Access to high-quality first-party data is becoming increasingly important and Skyscanner’s ability to harness this data sets them apart in the advertising world.” Kyle Nimmo, head of media investment at easyJet, commented.

Singapore – Digital travel platform Agoda has launched a generative AI (GenAI) film promoting the beauty of global exploration. 

Echoing Agoda’s aim to bridge the world through travel, the campaign also celebrates cultural diversity and human connections gained from travelling.

Titled ‘Leo’s Magical Travel Adventures,’ the short film follows the journey of Leo across countries. From Guangzhou in China, Rotorua in New Zealand, and Ayutthaya in Thailand, Leo finds himself in Udaipur, India. In each stop, he gains knowledge of the different cultures.

The film builds on Agoda’s book titled ‘Maya and the Secret World of Agoda,’ also made using AI.

Among the tools used for the short film production are OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4.0 and Midjourney v6.1, supervised by Agoda’s marketing, legal, and translation teams.

The short film is available for viewing at Agoda’s YouTube channel.

“AI is rewriting the rules of creativity. This AI project wants to inspire both kids and adults to dream big with travel, while celebrating Asia Pacific’s incredible diversity and the joy of exploration,” Matteo Frigerio, chief marketing officer at Agoda, said.

“At Agoda, our purpose is to bridge the world through travel. Travel helps people enjoy, learn, and experience the amazing world we share. Using cutting-edge AI tools to tell this story was as exciting as it was meaningful,” Frigerio added.

Bangkok, Thailand – Hungry Hub, an online restaurant and hotel reservation platform in Thailand, has teamed up with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to extend its dining experience offerings internationally.

Through the partnership with STB, Hungry Hub will leverage Singapore’s diverse cuisine to attract Thai and Malaysian visitors. Its initiatives include partnerships, rewards for customers, and exclusive promos for Hungry Hub users.

To promote the food and beverage industry in Singapore, STB and Hungry Hub are set to launch joint campaigns. This includes inviting influencers to create content on food experiences in the country while adding attractions and other events to their itineraries.

The collaboration builds on STB’s recent campaign highlighting its position as a culinary capital.

Starting this December, Hungry Hub will be offering dining experiences in acclaimed restaurants in Singapore. With a curated selection, app users can purchase meal packages from pre-selected menus.

Meanwhile, Hungry Hub will also launch its ‘Hungry Hub Red Table Awards 2024,’ which honours restaurants and hotels for culinary excellence and service.

Surasit Sachdev, chief executive officer of Hungry Hub, said, “This expansion marks a significant milestone for Hungry Hub as we move toward becoming a global Online Travel Agent (OTA) for restaurants. With 50% of our user base being Thai and 50% international travelers, we are committed to providing the best dining reservation experiences, emphasizing convenience, value, and variety.”

“Our collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board underscores our ambition to boost Singapore’s restaurant scene by offering value for money dining experiences at F&B establishments. Leveraging our success with 1,700+ partner restaurants in Thailand, including Michelin-starred and fine dining venues, we’re well-positioned to attract both Thai and international customers to Singapore’s vibrant culinary scene,” Sachdev added.

Terrence Voon, executive director of Southeast Asia at Singapore Tourism Board, commented, “Dining is an important part of Singapore’s tourism appeal, as it showcases our diverse food culture and heritage. STB has seen a 63% increase in F&B expenditure since the pandemic, indicating an appetite for culinary experiences. Hungry Hub’s expansion into Singapore presents an exciting opportunity to showcase our city as a premier destination for culinary adventurers, be it at award-winning restaurants or iconic hawker eateries. We look forward to welcoming food enthusiasts from Malaysia and Thailand to explore, discover and delight in Singapore’s unique gastronomic offerings.”

Singapore – E-commerce platform Lazada has launched its latest ‘12.12 All Out Sale’ campaign with DO.ASIA, highlighting remarkable shopping deals for customers.

With the upcoming double-digit sale day on December 12, Lazada delves into consumers’ behaviour of comparing prices in its new campaign. 

The campaign aims to position Lazada as the e-commerce platform of choice for online shopping through its all-out sale offerings. It reflects Lazada’s commitment to fun shopping experiences for its customers.

Designed for Lazada’s key markets, the campaign has been rolled out in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. It aims to engage consumers through traditional and digital media along with other activations.

Beer Poonnotok, founding partner and executive creative director at DO.ASIA, commented, “It’s a fun way to nudge people to switch to something better. The ‘12.12 All Out Sale’ highlights Lazada’s unbeatable deals and smarter choices, much like the Evil Queen’s jealousy over Snow White’s newfound beauty—except here, the beauty lies in smarter shopping and better deals.”

“It was a pleasure working with such a lovely, respectful, collaborative team. And most importantly, we’re super proud of the work. It’s loud, brash and VERY Lazada,” Matthew Collier, managing director of DO.ASIA, said.

Marcus Chew, chief marketing officer of Lazada Group, said, “This 12.12, Lazada is excited to bring joy to our consumers with a vibrant, fun, and fresh creative experience developed in partnership with DO. Celebrating those who’ve switched to the better sale, this concept goes beyond the video, seamlessly integrating across digital, social media, and offline activations. Executed across all six countries with local nuances, this campaign’s success is a testament to our strong collaboration in crafting the right creative idea.”

Singapore – Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that regional superapp announced that Grab has selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider. With AWS, Grab is pursuing a technology-led strategy to accelerate growth across its mobility, deliveries and financial services verticals, including its new digibanks, while continuing to improve its operational efficiencies and reduce IT infrastructure costs.

Grab relies on AWS to serve 41.9 million monthly transacting users and over 13  million driver and delivery partners registered on its platform. Every second, Grab does over a hundred transactions, receives over 500k GPS pings and services over 50,000 ETA requests. AWS powers Grab’s critical compute, storage, networking and database functions. 

By leveraging AWS’s resilient, secure, and elastic cloud, Grab accelerates innovation, rapidly launches new services and scales efficiently across its eight-country footprint- Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

As Grab looks to balance growth with cost discipline, it is also using AWS Cloud to power the majority of its operations in Southeast Asia across verticals such as mobility, deliveries and financial services and entities, including its digibanks in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. 

By adopting AWS’s suite of cloud-based solutions, Grab has been able to gain agility and reduce operational costs. Grab uses analytics service AWS Clean Rooms, which enables secure, privacy-preserving data collaboration between different entities and organizations. Grab also leverages AWS’s purpose-built databases and has migrated more than 400 backend application services from traditional virtual servers to AWS Graviton2 processors to drive high performance, as well as cost and energy efficiency. 

Moreover, on-demand transactions made by Grab customers were up 22% in the third quarter of 2024. To cater to this surge in demand for services, Grab uses Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) as its transactional database coupled with Amazon DynamoDB. This ensures high availability, scalability, and adaptability of its platform to drive exceptional customer experience fueled by more accurate searchable data. With AWS, Grab seamlessly adapts to evolving customer needs by easily adjusting resources dynamically based on user demand. For example, during peak times like holiday sales, Grab can easily accommodate increased traffic to make transactions across the superapp seamless. Conversely, during off-peak periods, resources can be scaled down to save costs. 

As it looks to accelerate growth with initiatives focused on affordability, high value offerings, and digital banking, AWS provides Grab with a stable and scalable infrastructure to support this rapid expansion. For instance, Grab continues to scale its revamped Advance Booking feature across the region. It also did a region-wide roll out of its improved Group Order feature and continues to drive adoption for it, making it easier for users to join the group order, track food delivery updates and split the bill. With AWS, Grab was also able to build and launch digital banks in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as GX Bank in Malaysia, which was launched in under 16 months, scaling rapidly to serve close to one million customers within the first year of launch. 

Lastly, Grab is committed to being at the forefront of exploring how the latest AI technologies can better serve and respond to the needs of its users and partners. Catwalk, Grab’s machine learning (ML) model platform, is built on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), and has been used to deploy over 1,000 AI models in production, such as route guidance and pricing. With Catwalk, Grab provides users’ real-time decision-making across its services and delivers personalized experiences like tailored restaurant recommendations, loyalty rewards, and bespoke financial services based on users’ preferences. In addition, Grab uses AWS’s custom-designed AWS Inferentia chips with specialized ML inference capabilities to cost efficiently power its AI-powered services, including map enhancements and fraud detection in its digital banks.

Grab also leverages AWS as the underlying compute infrastructure for its many AI initiatives. The superapp stores hundreds of petabytes of data and processes over 200 TB of data—the equivalent of 200,000 full-length movies—on AWS daily. This data forms the foundation of Grab’s advanced analytics, ML, and AI initiatives, with AWS powering innovations across the company’s services offerings.     

Building on AWS’s compute foundations, Grab continues to develop and implement several AI-powered use cases, particularly to improve driver productivity and support merchant growth. By integrating large language models (LLMs) with point-of-interest data and historical customer notes, Grab has refined its last-mile guidance system for delivery partners. This enhancement provides drivers with more precise drop-off instructions, enabling them to complete more trips every hour, leading to higher earnings, while expediting food delivery to consumers. Additionally, Grab has rolled out a new feature that uses AI to create appetizing descriptions of food dishes in five of its eight markets. This has boosted order completion rates, bringing particular benefits to smaller, unique restaurants on the platform and enhancing the overall dining experience for customers.

Jeff Johnson, managing director for ASEAN at AWS, said, “AWS is proud to support Grab in its mission to drive innovation and enhance customer experiences across Southeast Asia. By leveraging AWS’s unparalleled operational performance, scalability, and cutting-edge technologies, Grab is able to deliver personalized, seamless transactions to millions of users throughout the region.”

He added, “As the leading cloud provider, AWS is uniquely positioned to help Grab optimize its price performance, boost operational efficiency, and continually evolve its broad suite of data-powered services. We’re excited to continue collaborating with Grab as it navigates the dynamic landscape of ecommerce and superapp development, ensuring it stays at the forefront of innovation in the digital economy.”

Meanwhile, Suthen Thomas Paradatheth, chief technology officer at Grab, commented, “At Grab, our strategy for growth is anchored on constant innovation to outserve the needs of our users and partners. This requires rapid experimentation, while ensuring security and stability, along with the ability to fully harness the potential of the latest tech like GenAI. We’re pleased to extend our partnership with AWS as our preferred cloud partner to continue to support us on this journey.”

Malaysia – Financial services platform Atome has announced its partnership with luxury retail and lifestyle group Valiram to offer flexible payment checkout in Malaysia and Singapore.

The partnership entails Atome integrating its technology into Valiram’s checkout process, improving customer experience.

The payment checkout offering is already live in online and offline stores in Malaysia, with plans to expand in Singapore in the upcoming weeks.

Valiram has a wide portfolio of brands, spanning fashion, beauty, lifestyle, food and beverage. The brands in its collection include Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Rituals, Steve Madden, Michael Kors, Bacha Coffee, and Tory Burch among others.

Mukesh Valiram, executive director of Valiram, commented, “We are dedicated to continuously innovating and enhancing the customer shopping experience. The integration of Atome’s embedded financing technology not only elevates the checkout process but also enables us to connect with new customer segments through flexible financing and payment options. In the first month of our partnership going live in Malaysia, we’ve already experienced a remarkable 20% increase in average basket size from newer customer segments, and we’re excited about the growth opportunities this collaboration presents across the region.”

“We are excited to partner with Valiram, a retail leader synonymous with luxury and consumer lifestyle brands and innovation. Combining our disciplined risk management and underwriting technology with Valiram’s portfolio of world-class luxury and lifestyle brands supports their expansion into new consumer segments and business growth. Their customers now have the choice and ability to shop for their favourite brands with flexible payment plans, ultimately expanding their customer base and their purchasing power,” Andy Tan, chief commercial officer of Atome, said.