Tag: Southeast Asia

Singapore – In response to the evolving health journeys of Singapore, healthcare technology company, Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), has selected global experience management (XM) provider Qualtrics for its customer experience (CX) program, to continually refine and optimize the CX on its digital health portal HealthHub and mobile app.

IHiS’ HealthHub offers a nationwide suite of digital health services and personalized advice and has emerged as an anchor service for Singapore residents to access their COVID-19 vaccination records and test results, alongside a range of evidence-based health information topics and e-services across public healthcare.

With the rapidly growing user base and the surge in the use of its services in recent years, IHiS believes that its health portal needed a listening engine to capture the voice of the customer in a timely manner. By using Qualtrics’ predictive intelligence capabilities, the platform expects to now easily collect and aggregate feedback from its users across mobile and online channels in real-time to analyze user sentiment, identify critical feedback, and pinpoint emerging trends. 

Moreover, the insights collected will enable IHiS to understand how current capabilities and new innovative features in HealthHub are meeting the evolving needs of its users and delivering meaningful customer experiences. 

Mao Gen Foo, Qualtrics’ head of Southeast Asia, shared that experience management is now critical, and believes that with the new tie-up, they will be able to help IHiS enhance its capabilities to more efficiently listen, understand, and act on feedback to ensure HealthHub delivers meaningful and long-lasting value to users across Singapore. 

“The recent opening of the Qualtrics data center in Singapore, alongside our plans to hire 1,200 new employees in the region, is a game-changer for local businesses and governments embarking on experience transformations. Organizations will benefit from local access to the Qualtrics Experience Management Operating System and our industry-leading experts, equipping them with the insights, capabilities, and support to quickly and confidently respond to our changing world,” said Foo.

Qualtrics said that IHiS is one of the first organizations to use the new data center located in Singapore, which opened in mid-2021.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Erigo, the Indonesian fashion retail that has been a staple in Shopee Mall, is set to grace the renowned New York Fashion Week (NYFW) 2022, and it has partnered with e-commerce to launch a campaign that will see both celebrating the said milestone with Indonesian consumers.

According to Shopee, Erigo has been a partner since 2017 and has seen significant growth in sales and brand innovation. The streetwear brand has won the hearts of users, making them one of the top favorite brands at major annual Shopee campaigns. In 2020, Erigo participated in the Shopee Export Program, Kreasi Nusantara: From Local To Global, where the well-loved Indonesian brand entered other markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Called, ‘Erigo x Shopee NYFW’, the campaign will include different engagements and launches. For a start, Erigo’s appearance at the NYFW will be livestreamed on Shopee Live, which is exclusively available in Indonesia on 9 September at 8:00 pm. 

In addition to this, the Erigo NYFW runway collection will be available at the Erigo official store on Shopee Mall. Users will be able to purchase exclusive collections brought straight from the Erigo pop-up store in New York, and also enjoy up to 90% discount for various Erigo products. Lastly, shoppers will be able to purchase a ‘Mystery Box’ of Erigo products for only under Rp100,000. The campaign will run from 9 until 11 September 2021,

Handhika Jahja, Shopee’s director for Indonesia, commented that they are proud to witness the extraordinary progress of Erigo so far and to finally be able to deliver ‘Made in Indonesia’ products to an international stage. Jahja shared that Erigo is one of the 180,000 local MSMEs fostered by Shopee that have successfully penetrated the global market through the Shopee Export Program. 

“We hope that this collaboration can create pride and love for local products among Indonesians. It can also spark enthusiasm and create a good track record for more local MSMEs to follow,” said Jahja.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sadad, the CEO of Erigo, said that the brand’s ability to penetrate into the global market certainly cannot be separated from the support and assistance they got from Shopee and the various programs held by Shopee have greatly helped the development of the business and realized their dream of bringing Erigo products to consumers in other countries. 

“We are very encouraged by the love and enthusiasm from Shopee users in Indonesia and around the region, empowering us to continue innovating the brand until we finally had an opportunity to represent Indonesia at the biggest fashion show in New York. To commemorate 10 years of work, Erigo will be debuting the new Erigo X collection exclusively at New York Fashion Week 2022, where users can watch through Shopee Live,” said Sadad.

Shopee said that it would like to reaffirm its commitment and passion in supporting the development and potential of local businesses that are an important part of the Shopee ecosystem through the Erigo X Shopee NYFW 2022. The recent collaboration is part of Shopee’s effort to strengthen the reach of homegrown brands in their own country and showcase the good quality of locally-made products.

Manila, Philippines – The lockdown restrictions resulted in less opportunity to engage with food lovers, and with this, Kraft Heinz has decided to partner with the local Filipino burger chain Sweet Ecstasy for a unique giveaway last July. 

The partnership aims to continually raise the bar for its food products, including its Heinz Seriously Good Mayonnaise. With the vision ‘Let’s make life delicious’ and its mission to create unique and out-of-this-world food pairings, Kraft Heinz wanted to step in to unite both food enthusiasts and restaurants.

Following this endeavor, Kraft Heinz has created a new campaign to provide a unique opportunity to create further taste connections with its fans. 

Called, ’The Seriously Good Burger’, the campaign was made by the Heinz Mayonnaise team and creative agency VMLY&R. It is a limited-edition burger that generated buzz through a digital-first campaign.

Andita Rasyid, Kraft Heinz’s head of marketing for Asia Trading, shared that they wanted to find a partner to help bring a burger experience that can once again energize the public’s interest in good restaurant food after the difficulties that the pandemic has posed on the industry. 

“This felt like a perfect way to bring our vision of ‘Let’s make life delicious’ to life,” said Rasyid.

Meanwhile, Jorge Thauby, the executive creative director at VMLY&R, commented, “We are excited that together with Heinz, we will be bringing consumers not only anticipation but a tangible and delightful experience from online to offline.”

The limited-edition burger was made available last 9 July 2021, where it attracted 850 participants, making it one of the most successful Southeast Asian campaigns for Heinz Seriously Good Mayonnaise.

Indonesia – Southeast Asia’s multi-service platform, Gojek, has announced a new partnership with marketing technology firm, TenMax.io, to support its advertisement network, GoGAN, in delivering ad services to consumer brands, merchants, and ad agencies in Indonesia.

TenMax is an innovative ad network focusing on research, innovation, and development of digital advertising technologies. It is committed to becoming the digital advertising and real-time bidding (RTB) ecosystem leader in the SEA region.

By leveraging TenMax’s artificial intelligence and Gojek’s insights-driven platform, the partnership aims to provide an AI-based marketing technology solution to marketers in the country, enabling merchants and brands to access, plan, and monitor their digital marketing efforts across social media and content sites in a real-time manner.

According to Gojek, the platform is founded on the principle of utilizing technology to remove life’s daily frictions by connecting consumers to the best providers of goods and services in the market, from transportation to food, among many other services. 

The platform’s GoGAN proprietary AI or deep learning technology can assist marketers in key aspects of programmatic media buying through a one-stop shopping cross-channel media buy, like buying Facebook or Instagram and local website ad space in a few clicks. Through this, the RTB capability makes sure advertisers get superior costs per click and impressions to reach their target audiences. Another is real time analytics and performance report generating dashboard, which provides brands and agencies insights and allows them to recalibrate marketing strategy.

“We are thrilled to partner with Gojek to support GoGAN in Indonesia, by combining our expertise and Gojek’s valuable insights to introduce solutions to the Indonesian digital economy,” commented Nathan Chu, TenMax’s CEO.

Meanwhile, Antoine de Carbonnel, Gojek’s chief commercial officer, said that through the collaboration with TenMax.io, they are further reducing the friction of digital media buying, allowing the merchant partners and global brand clients to optimize their digital marketing initiatives of all sizes, powered by their user-base and first-party insights, and the proprietary martech platform from TenMax.io, to create value for the Gojek ecosystem.

“We engaged with brands beyond the food sectors, including insurance, banking, lifestyle, fashion, gaming, and we look forward to working with ad agencies as well to provide innovative solutions to more world brands,” said de Carbonnel.

Brian Yang, the managing director of TenMax.io, shared that co-working with the Gojek team has been a pleasure, as the insights allow them to further train and optimize the RTB algorithm, placing the right content to the right audiences at the right cost. 

“With satisfactory initial results, we now work with more partners from the ad agencies world, premium content publishers, and the entire Gojek ecosystem, from global FMCG brands, consumer electronics, to regional SMBs, and MSMEs, to GoGAN platform as a solution for any company in Indonesia and beyond,” said Yang.

Manila, Philippines – The integrated marketing communications agency in the Philippines, MullenLowe TREYNA, has announced its acquisition of a controlling interest at UX and UI company Quiddity Usability Labs. The new joint venture from this new move will be called Qairos, Inc.

Under the binding terms of the agreement, Quiddity will be winding down in September 2021 as Qairos will be scheduled to formally begin operations by October 2021.

The recent development adds UX/UI expertise to complement MullenLowe TREYNA’s hyper bundled business solutions, which has rapidly grown in recent years with similar expansions in PR and digital communications. 

Moreover, the two companies will be combining their roster of clients, which includes brands across several industries like FMCGs, finance, e-commerce, and pharmaceuticals, as well as travel, and telecommunications, among others.

Mike Trillana, MullenLowe TREYNA’s CEO and chairman, commented that the move is their biggest M&A activity to date, and they could not be any more excited with this partnership.

“The UX/UI capabilities of Quiddity are the best-in-its class in the country. Denise Haak, Vanessa Julian, and the team are kindred spirits, and we all buy into The Challenger Mentality as a way of life. This brings us one step closer to our vision of being our client’s preferred Creative Business Solutions partner,” said Trillana. 

Meanwhile, Denise Haak, the president and CEO at Qairos Inc, believes that partnering with MullenLowe TREYNA will surely propel them to a larger world of users, helping make things better, one usable product at a time, and they cannot be more excited for this partnership. 

Leigh Reyes, MullenLowe TREYNA’s chairman emeritus, said, “As technology becomes even more present in our daily lives, creativity and innovation are key to humanizing not only communication but even business vision and strategy and product development. I am thrilled to be part of this new adventure.”

MullenLowe TREYNA said that Qairos Inc’s new board will include Mike Trillana as the chairman, Mehrdad Jamshidi as the chief financial officer, and Leigh Reyes.

In October 2020, MullenLowe was rebranded to MullenLowe TREYNA, which came after Interpublic Group of Company’s (IPG) local shareholders bought shares in Mullenlowe Philippines’ holding company Treyna Holdings Inc.

Singapore – Southeast Asia’s e-commerce platform, Lazada, has announced the rebranding of its logistics arm – Lazada eLogistics (LEL), which manages the fulfillment and logistics with third-party logistics providers, and Lazada Express (LEX), which handles the parcel delivery to customers – to now be consolidated as Lazada Logistics.

The new Lazada Logistics aims to reflect ‘efficiency’ and ‘reliability’ as Lazada offers the region’s brands and sellers a trusted, one-stop logistics solution for all their business needs.

Along with the rebranding, Lazada Logistics has also announced the launch of its multi-channel logistics (MCL) services, which provide a single stock fulfillment solution to help e-commerce enablers and brands fulfill across all e-commerce channels seamlessly, whether the consumer orders on Lazada or other e-commerce channels, Lazada Logistics will fulfill and deliver all of the orders. 

Under this arrangement, Lazada will be storing merchants’ and partners’ e-commerce products, enabling the efficient handling and dispatch of orders via Lazada’s own fleet, 3PL partners, or channel-nominated fleet.

Through MCL, brands and sellers will also have greater agility and flexibility on inventory control and relieve them of logistics concerns that include high capital and operational expense associated with order fulfillment, which is the need to maintain warehouse infrastructure and delivery fleets. They are also spared the challenges of having to build an extensive network of operations without economies of scale. 

Lazada said that the availability of MCL is a showcase of the platform’s advanced supply chain infrastructure and logistics capabilities, which offers smart inventory and routing solutions powered by data and technology. All brands and sellers will be able to leverage Lazada Logistics’ network of over 400 facilities comprising warehouses, sortation centers, and hubs. They can also benefit from access to the region’s largest fleet owned by an e-commerce marketplace, and Lazada’s competitive advantage of having control over its end-to-end logistics operations.

Chun Li, Lazada Group’s chief executive officer, shared that over the past decade, Lazada’s proprietary logistic network has reshaped the e-commerce landscape in one of the world’s most populous and geographically diverse regions. 

“The logistics capabilities have enabled us to provide best-in-class delivery service to our consumers across the region, as well as hassle-free and end-to-end services to our sellers and partners. This re-branding reflects the significant progress we have made over the years, powered by our people and technology,” said Li.

Meanwhile, Andy Huang, the chief logistics officer of Lazada Group, said that the consumers have grown accustomed to the convenience of a new shopping norm, and of having their purchases delivered to their doorstep – intact and on time, and it is more important than ever that they continue to innovate and introduce new solutions that will help their merchants and e-commerce partners meet the growing demands and expectations of their customers. 

“The rebranding and roll-out of this new offering is a testament to what we have built and a commitment to provide a better customer experience. It also reinforces our mission of powering a healthy and sustainable eCommerce ecosystem for the long term by pairing our logistics excellence with state-of-the-art technologies to achieve cost efficiencies,” said Huang.

Lazada has also announced that its logistics will be improving its end-to-end services, and it will look to roll out more new features that can include incentives for sellers to fulfill orders faster and enhanced same-day order pickup from sellers.

Just recently, Lazada has also announced a new stride for its virtual mall, LazMall. It has named top K-drama leading man, Hyun Bin, as LazMall’s very first regional ambassador.

Singapore – HUMAN, the cybersecurity company that protects enterprises from bot attacks to keep digital experiences human, has announced its new partnership with InMobi, the global mobile marketing and advertising platform provider. This is part of their continued efforts to disincentivize cybercrime by building a transparent and fraud-free in-app advertising ecosystem with real-time visibility and active protection against malicious bot activity.

HUMAN deems to be the first solution in the space to be fully accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for end-to-end coverage against sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) for desktop, mobile web, mobile in-app and connected TV (CTV). This includes accreditation for pre- and post-bid detection and mitigation of SIVT, which is challenging to detect as fraudsters attempt to mimic genuine user behavior. 

The new partnership, which includes a direct integration with HUMAN’s MediaGuard solution, ensures that customers and partners will be protected from emerging forms of SIVT–background ad activity, hidden ads, and app misrepresentation/spoofing, measurement manipulation, among many others, while guaranteeing always-on fraud filtering and measurement across the platform, covering 100% of the inventory available on InMobi Exchange.

Moreover, InMobi will be joining ‘Human Collective’, HUMAN’s newly launched initiative that brings together players throughout digital advertising to create a collectively protected ecosystem. InMobi will be responsible for boosting HUMAN’s mobile detection presence.

Kunal Nagpal, InMobi’s senior vice president and general manager for publisher platform and exchange, said that InMobi is committed to transparency, trust-based relationships, and delivering optimal business results to advertisers globally. 

“We are the first in-app marketplace to have the entire inventory verified by an independent MRC accredited vendor, and this partnership reaffirms and enhances that commitment,” said Nagpal.

Meanwhile, Tamer Hassan, the CEO and co-founder of HUMAN, believes that to sustain its growth, digital advertising needs a trusted marketplace built through global collaboration and strong partnerships

“With its global command of the mobile in-app market, this partnership with InMobi strengthens HUMAN’s ability to fight sophisticated cybercrime and creates a more trusted environment for digital advertising,” said Hassan.

Singapore – ​NTUC U SME, the NTUC unit that seeks to support SMEs in their business needs, has recently launched a new initiative called ‘NTUC In Your Workplace’, to help bring additional personalized benefits worth up to S$2,300 per worker into the SMEs’ workplaces.

‘NTUC In Your Workplace’ is NTUC U SME’s first foray into equipping and supporting local SME businesses and workforce by tapping on the products and services of the NTUC Social Enterprises (SEs) and partners. Eligible partner SMEs will be able to provide attractive savings and benefits to ensure that their workers’ daily needs and livelihood are covered. This is in line with NTUC U SME’s key focus to support the SMEs and enhance the lives of their workers.

The new initiative will be made available to eligible NTUC U SME partners to help them innovate the way they manage their workforce’s health and well-being. As the first SME recipient of the initiative, 60 workers will enjoy up to S$140,000 worth of total savings and benefits per year, which is inclusive of total NTUC Membership savings. This ranges from daily grocery savings to personal training, family care support, and support from the NTUC Membership savings, as well as the company’s regular staff benefits.

To participate in the initiative, the partner SME will have to achieve at least 80% NTUC membership coverage of its workforce and attain NTUC U SME’s 3B criteria – Better Workplace, Better Worker, and Better Job (Annex A). Currently, 10% of 400 partners SMEs have been assessed to be eligible for this initiative and NTUC U SME will be working with more SMEs to help them achieve the 3B criteria to ultimately bring better welfare, savings, and benefits to SME workers.

By achieving the 3Bs, eligible SMEs will be enjoying savings such as a sponsored refrigerator with pantry snacks from NTUC FairPrice, a free online learning LHUBGO account with more than 75,000 online courses, and complimentary trials at NTUC Health Senior Care Centers for staff, who require assistance for respite care. This is on top of the benefits that workers will be enjoying when they sign up for the NTUC Membership. 

“As NTUC’s representative to support local SMEs and their workers, NTUC U SME has come a long way in its engagement of SMEs and introducing win-win initiatives that will give partner SMEs an added support to hiring and retaining workers; and help SME workers enjoy better work prospects. I am pleased to share that NTUC U SME has surpassed their 400 SME goal and is on track to reach 500 by the end of 2021,” said Chee Meng Ng, secretary-general of NTUC.

Meanwhile, Wan Ling Yeo, NTUC’s director for U SME, commented that they are delighted to bring ‘NTUC In Your Workplace’ to their partner SMEs as this initiative will serve as a big support for them and help create ‘happy’ and ‘resilient’ SME workers. 

“As one of Singapore’s oldest manufacturers of local breakfast and snack delights, Lim Kee has worked with NTUC U SME to transform their staff welfare and business marketing needs to meet the demands of the market. With their positive feedback on this initiative, we look forward to helping more partner SMEs and their workers,” said Yeo.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Dynamic brewer Carlsberg Malaysia has announced the appointment of digital-first agency Lion & Lion to lead the social media accounts of its beer brand 1664 Blanc in the country.

Carlsberg Malaysia is part of the Carlsberg Group, which deems to be one of the leading global brewers with strong market positions across Western and Eastern Europe, as well as Asia. It is a brewer with businesses in Malaysia and Singapore, as well as an investment in Sri Lanka.

The partnership, which officially kicked off on 1 August 2021, will see Lion & Lion developing a comprehensive content strategy plan for the brand involving creative social experiences that relate to the brand’s global tagline of “Good Taste with a Twist.” The agency will also be focusing on elevating 1664 Blanc’s market penetration among its target audience by emphasizing the brand personality’s premium quality and trendy lifestyle.

Lion & Lion said that the campaigns will be entirely digital, spread out across the brand’s social platforms, namely Instagram and Facebook. It will also be complemented by tactical e-commerce marketing activities, consumer engagements, and collaborations with local influencers, to drive brand awareness and social media content.

Caroline Moreau, Carlsberg Malaysia’s marketing director, shared that they want to bring elegance and great taste to those wonderful social occasions of reveling in good company while enjoying 1664 Blanc beer. 

“With social media becoming a big part of everyone’s life especially since the pandemic started, we want to craft more relevant and sharpened content to reach out to our consumers and drive engagement,” said Moreau.

Meanwhile, Jeppe Carlsen, the managing director at Lion & Lion Malaysia, said that the strategy is to strengthen the brand by promoting its personality.

“The slogan “Good Taste with a Twist” offers ample opportunities to incorporate the beer’s French heritage into the local culture by emphasizing a trendy, upbeat lifestyle and creative visuals that challenge our expectations. It is not so much about selling a beer but allowing the drinkers to experience being part of a socially accessible yet stylishly chic community,” said Carlsen.

Manila, Philippines – Through time, the use of social media is becoming more intertwined into people’s daily lives, and is also becoming a major avenue for conversations that would benefit both consumers and brands.

On Twitter, whatever is happening, be it as grand as opening a new business or simple joys, people share it with their network, making the platform the go-to place to see the latest in culture and trends.

Research shows that there are five key trends on how Filipinos converse around food, beverages, and personal, as well as home care on Twitter. The first trend is around one’s creativity in the kitchen, which is the result of boredom of Filipinos amid the ongoing pandemic. 

Cooking and baking have become creative outlets for new skills, and part of the people’s routine is to tweet their creations, sharing their trusted food brands and their favorite marketplace. The data from Twitter also shows that Filipinos’ most mentioned retailer for packaged food is foodpanda Philippines.

Next on the list is Filipinos’ love for coffee. Conversations about this much-loved drink continue to grow on Twitter Philippines, increasing 3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, as cafes enticed people to look for innovative ways to make a statement with coffee. And with this, Robinsons Supermarket topped the list as the most talked about beverage retailer for Filipinos on Twitter.

Filipinos also tweet about pop culture on Twitter, which helped increase the conversation interestingly around hair care. There’s a 15% increase in the tweet volume on hair care for the first quarter of 2021 compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, as they actively pay attention and discuss the latest hairstyles or colors being sported by their favorite idols. This made Watsons Philippines rank first as the top mentioned hair care retailer among Filipinos in the platform.

Meanwhile, Filipinos gained a new perspective on self-care during the pandemic, building up their skincare routine and Twitter has also become the top-of-mind platform to look for suggestions and tips. More than 12% in April 2021of tweets are related to personal and skincare compared to May 2021. Part of this growth is the equally progressing conversation on tackling unrealistic beauty standards. Twitter revealed that Shopee Philippines is the most talked about among retailers and providers of self-care products.

And lastly, Filipinos were found to grow fondness for tweeting about being at home, making them more attentive to their own space. As the pandemic continues, people have grown interested in home improvement to keep their homes safe and clean. They can be seen sharing their aesthetic home buys, which is mainly from Lazada Philippines, therefore ranking first as the most mentioned retailer of home care products.

Chandan Deep, Twitter’s head of emerging business for SEA, shared that people on the app and the conversations that they create are what makes Twitter unique, and 71% have rated it as a great platform for brand interaction, making it the number one among its peers.

“These people lead the conversation and are passionate to share about diverse topics such as beauty, food, and health. What makes them powerful as consumers is that they try, buy, and share their experience on Twitter,” said Deep.