Tag: Technology

Global – Storyblok, the content management system (CMS) in its category, has formed a partnership with Lokalise, an AI-powered translations and automatic localisation company. Through the partnership, AI-powered translations can be integrated into a site in order to localise content for users.

Companies like CoachHub use the Lokalise integration to quickly translate material in Storyblok into many languages, saving them 25% of the time they would otherwise spend on content management. 

The partnership comes in line with the ongoing issue where companies are able to interact with clients globally, but most fail to make meaningful connections because they don’t prioritise localisation. Around 500 marketers participated in a global survey conducted by Storyblok, which revealed that 79% of businesses only use their CMS to distribute content in one to three languages. Remarkably, the largest percentage (35%) limits the language in which their content is published. 

Concurrently, 43% of participants indicated that translating and localising content is important, while only 7% said it is not important. Around 81%of participants agreed that publishing information in multiple languages would improve their client acquisition efforts. Of those, 44% said it would be very helpful for their efforts.

AI is seen as essential in the endeavour to convert the need for localization into concrete outcomes, as demonstrated by the 90% of participants who said that they would be open to exploring its application for multilingual content translation within their content management system. By integrating AI-powered translations straight into the CMS, the Storyblok and Lokalise integration makes this shift easier.

Petr Antropov, co-Founder of Lokalise, said, “It’s fascinating to see the size of the gap between companies that offer their products and services in only one language (35% of the survey’s participants), and, say, half of Lokalise’s 3500 customers that run their offers in eight or more languages. Thanks to recent technological developments which made localisation no longer a challenge but an opportunity, that gap will not stay for long, and we’re excited to play a part in the change.” 

Meanwhile, Barry D’Arcy, VP of partners at Storyblok, said, “Enterprises understand the value of translating their content, but many fail to prioritise it because the path forward appears to be unclear or overly complicated. Our partnership with Lokalise makes translation and localisation a natural part of content workflows. 2024 should be the year that more businesses finally take multilingual content experiences seriously.” 

Singapore – Annalect, Omnicom Media Group’s data and analytics department, collaborated with Meta to implement their advanced analytics (AA) technology. This privacy-focused solution will provide Omnicom Media Group clients with next-generation measuring tools, enabling future-proof insights and maximising campaign efficacy. 

Advertisers are empowered by Meta’s Advanced Analytics (AA) to discover significant synergies. With the help of AA, advertisers’ first-party data and Meta’s own ad insights can be integrated, giving analysts a level of flexibility. By combining the data, insights are produced that allow advertising strategies to be adjusted for results. 

Fully integrated attribution models are given through Omni, Omnicom’s end-to-end marketing operating system used by all its agencies. This improves the marketing process by providing connectivity from measurement to planning and action.

Activation teams can optimise campaigns using real-time external data because of the actionable insights obtained from these models. Scalability is made by secure server-to-server connectivity. With the help of Annalect’s clean room technology, which directly benefits their clientele.

Speaking about the partnership, Paul Shepherd, president of Annalect, Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific, said, “By enabling next-level visibility in a privacy-safe manner, this collaboration allows our clients to connect data more effectively. It gives them — and our agencies — a significant edge over their competitors in today’s future facing environment.” 

Meanwhile, Carl McLean, head of marketing Science, Meta ANZ, stated, “It’s great to see measurement capabilities that create value for advertisers, whilst also being built with privacy at the forefront. This offering will unlock new ways for the OMG network to understand the levers that truly drive performance and demonstrate where Meta can help to drive growth that lasts for our clients and partners.” 

Singapore – Global media measurement and optimization platform Integral Ad Science has recently announced the general availability of its ‘Quality Attention’ measurement product – a first in unifying media quality and eye tracking with machine learning. 

The new offering provides transparent metrics to help global advertisers increase return on investment, drive brand consideration, and boost conversions.

With Quality Attention, advertisers can capture higher attention to drive campaign performance and unlock proven results. Quality Attention uses advanced machine learning technology, actionable data from Lumen Research’s eye-tracking technology, and a variety of signals obtained as part of IAS’s core technology. 

This includes viewability, ad situation, and user interaction, and weighs them into a single attention score. IAS’s attention model is designed to predict if an impression is more likely to lead to a business result including awareness, consideration, and conversion.

In detail, Quality Attention provides global advertisers with an advanced machine learning model that views campaigns’ attention performance based on a vast data pool, a 130% lift in conversion rates when comparing high attention impressions to low attention impressions, and the combination of large consumer attention biometric data sets with media quality metrics to provide the most accurate picture of attention for global advertisers.

Talking about this initiative, Yannis Dosios, chief commercial officer at Integral Ad Science, said, ”Attention measurement must inform actions that drive superior results for advertisers. Our Quality Attention offering is purpose-built to help brands and agencies navigate through media clutter to seamlessly understand how media visibility, the ad environment, and customer interaction impact campaign performance.”

“According to our research, brands that focus on driving higher IAS attention scores achieve up to a 130% lift in conversion rates leading to a better return on their investment,” he added.

Manila, Philippines – Targeting several countries in the region, MARKETECH APAC has announced the launch of its new sister publication brand UpTech Media, aimed at providing the latest technology news and insights across Asia-Pacific.

This strategic launch follows the company’s commitment to keeping organisations at the forefront of knowledge and innovation in the ever-evolving tech landscape. 

Embracing the philosophy “Always Moving Upwards,” the company also acknowledges the dynamic force of technology and its profound impact on the way we live, work, and connect. 

The publication covers a diverse range of topics, including AI, blockchain, cloud computing, cybersecurity, customer experience (CX), e-commerce, fintech, HR tech, and startups. Its coverage also extends across the Asia-Pacific region, encompassing countries in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and ANZ.

Talking about the launch, Joven Barcenas, CEO of UpTech Media and MARKETECH APAC, shared his vision for the company, stating, “We aim for UpTech Media to actively involve and sway business decision-makers in reshaping their organisations across all operational facets. Serving as a trade media platform, our goal is to convene experts and facilitate discussions on strategies for future-proofing organisations, guaranteeing their continual growth and evolution.”

On the other hand, discussing the integration plans between the two affiliated companies, Barcenas further explained, “We’re thrilled about the debut of UpTech Media and are keen to explore its synergy with Marketech APAC. Initially, we’re focusing on integrating content that caters to the interests of both marketers and tech enthusiasts. However, there are further developments on the horizon.”

“At this stage, our primary objective is to initiate discussions with experts and disseminate their insights to our readership. We’re excited to begin forging partnerships to host roundtable events and other events alongside tech professionals. Rest assured, there are additional initiatives in the pipeline,” he concluded.

Teddy Cambosa, Regional Editor at UpTech Media and MARKETECH APAC, also said, “To illuminate the path to innovation, it is crucial for new media entities to embrace and spotlight the myriad threads of cutting-edge technologies, for in their intricate details lies the blueprint for a future where enterprises thrive, and humanity evolves.

“We are excited for UpTech Media’s launch as we continue on our mission of covering the latest technology updates beneficial for businesses in the Asia-Pacific region,” he concluded.

Headquartered in Manila, Philippines, UpTech Media is set to bring tech discourse to the region across its social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter (now X), and its publication site.

Global – Google has announced that it will begin testing its ‘Tracking Protection,’ a new feature that limits cross-site tracking for Chrome users. This is a step in their ‘Privacy Sandbox’ program, which aims to phase out third-party cookies internationally by the second half of 2024, pending resolution of antitrust concerns from the UK’s antitrust and Markets Authority.

In a blog post by Anthony Chavez, vice president for Privacy Sandbox at Google, he notes that for nearly 30 years, third-party cookies have been necessary for the internet environment. While they can be used to monitor people’s online actions, websites have also made use of them to improve other aspects of the online experience, such making logins easier and showing relevant ads.

The company has also stated that they are taking an orderly approach to gradually removing third-party cookies from Chrome by deploying the Privacy Sandbox. New tools have been developed to aid websites in critical use cases, and developers have been given adequate time to adjust to the transition.

The initial release of Tracking Protection begins with a small fraction of Chrome users, allowing developers to test their readiness for a web environment free of third-party cookies.

Participants in the Tracking Protection program are chosen at random, and upon selection, notifications will be received when accessing Chrome on desktop or Android. As a result, while browsing the web, third-party cookies will be automatically disabled by default, limiting the ability to monitor individuals across several websites. 

“Google is dedicated to providing businesses with the resources they need to succeed online while maintaining the free and open access of high-quality content, such as community sites, videos, educational materials, news articles, and other web content types, for improving online privacy. By means of programs like Privacy Sandbox, Tracking Protection, and other features that Chrome has brought to the table, they continually work to make the internet a more private place that is open to all users,” Chavez stated.

Seoul, South Korea – Google Cloud announced that NCSOFT, a global game developer and publisher, will be using Google Cloud’s AI infrastructure to power its in-house large language model (LLM) set, VARCO LLM.

Through Google Cloud’s LLM, NCSOFT will be developing a variety of AI-powered game services such as dynamically generated game content, enhanced player engagement, and customer service chatbots. 

This latest collaboration builds NCSOFT’s long-standing relationship with Google Cloud, and the company has continued to steadily expand its global services and advance technology using Google Cloud solutions such as Vertex AI and BigQuery.

Previously, NCSOFT leveraged Google Cloud Tensor Processor Units (TPUs) to develop VARCO LLM and has been training its models for the past year. By utilising Google Cloud TPUs, NCSOFT was able to optimise performance and cost of large-scale AI training workloads.

Speaking on this partnership, Lee Yeon-soo, head of NLP Center, NCSOFT, said,  “NCSOFT has been a leader in bringing AI technology to the gaming industry for over a decade. We are committed to using AI to create new and innovative experiences for our players. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Google Cloud to further explore the potential of generative AI in games.”

Meanwhile, Jack Buser, director for games, Google Cloud, commented, “Through this partnership, NCSOFT is able to bring new kinds of immersive experiences to players, underpinned by our powerful AI infrastructure that makes it easy to train and scale VARCO LLM.”

Singapore – Integral Ad Science (IAS), the global media measurement and optimization platform, has announced an expansion of its measurement capabilities on YouTube. 

Through this, the business will introduce its industry brand safety and suitability measurement tool to advertisers for YouTube Shorts inventory, integrating it into the full Total Media Quality for YouTube product suite.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) framework’s video-level transparency standards and adjacency standards will be upheld by IAS, which will provide brands with improved third-party assurance that their YouTube Shorts video ads are in line with appropriate and brand-safe content.

Total Media Quality for YouTube, within the scope of standards, gives advertisers access to brand safety and suitability indicators for impressions served on YouTube Shorts. This includes viewability and invalid traffic measurement on a global scale, as well as support for over 30 languages.

Additionally, an analytics dashboard specifically designed for YouTube advertisers is also introduced by IAS as part of its Brand Safety and Suitability evaluation. With the help of this tool, advertisers may create a customised suitability profile and examine trends in brand safety and compatibility through informative charts.

Speaking about the expansion, Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS, said, “Since IAS launched Total Media Quality for YouTube earlier this year, we’ve been able to provide new levels of insight into video content for advertisers through our advanced AI-driven technology and expanded reporting capabilities.”

“With this expansion of our measurement capabilities on YouTube, we can bring marketers the most actionable data to maximise their safety on YouTube Shorts inventory – one of the fastest growing video formats in digital advertising,” she added. 

Melbourne, Australia – AI-powered enterprise customer data platform Amperity has recently announced its appointment by omnichannel retailer Accent Group, to accelerate its first-party customer data strategy and deliver highly personalised interactions for a better customer experience.

In partnership with Amperity, Accent Group will look to unify, manage and activate its customers from multiple online and offline touchpoints to deliver personalisation at scale.

This collaboration comes into fruition with Accent Group managing over 34 brands under its roster, and needing a comprehensive solution to bring together and manage multiple data sources of its various brands to advance its marketing goals.

With Amperity’s patented, AI-powered technology, Accent Group will utilise enterprise-scale identity resolution to build unified customer profiles to deliver audience segmentation and insights for retargeting and creating lookalike and suppression campaigns.

Talking about the partnership, Deena Colman, group general manager digital & marketing at Accent Group, said, “We strive to provide exceptional customer experiences across all of our brands, which requires a CDP that delivers on the promise of unifying all online and offline customer data and making it actionable. With Amperity, we can unify and activate all of our customer data with the goal of creating a seamless, personalised omnichannel journey for our customers.”

Meanwhile, Billy Loizou, area vice president at Amperity, commented, “Accent Group is solely focused on putting its customers at the centre of the experience—that starts with a clean and accurate data foundation. We’re honoured Accent Group has chosen our AI-driven platform to help them scale their personalisation efforts and optimise marketing spend.”

Mumbai, India – All-in-one engagement platform CleverTap has recently announced the launch of ‘Signed Call’, an industry-first, VoIP-enabled, in-app voice capability for trusted and contextual customer engagement.

Through Signed Call, CleverTap customers will be equipped with an effective way to engage with end-users, leveraging VoIP-enabled in-app calling for real-time, secure, and contextual customer experiences.

Moreover, brands are not required to disclose end-user PII data (Personally Identifiable Information) to unauthorised individuals or agents while using Signed Call, thus mitigating privacy concerns. This no-code solution also comes with pre-built use cases and call screens for easy implementation.

The introduction of Signed Call is poised to revolutionise how brands connect with users through voice as a channel; especially within the ride hailing, BFSI, and food delivery app-categories, as well as in other industries looking to create more personalised customer experiences. It aims to transform customer engagement and elevate trust to a whole new level.

Talking about the new feature, Anand Jain, co-founder and chief product officer of CleverTap, said, “Users often choose not to pick up calls if the caller isn’t a known contact. This can lead to dropped calls and missed opportunities for a business. When extrapolated to the scale of a user-base, it can lead to a significant loss in revenue, and erosion of trust.

“However, with Signed Call, CleverTap customers can offer a personalised and secure experience, maximising the chances of conversions and ultimately increasing revenue,” he added.

Singapore – Yahoo Advertising has just recently launched ‘Yahoo Blueprint’, its latest central AI suite that powers performance-based solutions within the Yahoo DSP.

Fueled by over 335 million logged in Yahoo users globally, Yahoo Blueprint enhances decisioning, makes AI more accessible, and serves as a results-driven guide throughout the campaign lifecycle to deliver better outcomes for advertisers.

With Yahoo Blueprint, Yahoo DSP clients are promised with acquiring stronger results through performance that leverages years of AI to bid on the right impressions, optimisation through AI co-pilot that provides recommendations for campaign improvements and auto-optimises, as well as a simple and enhanced UI that guides advertisers and offers more efficiency.

Since Yahoo Blueprint is said to be an evolving AI ecosystem, it will be adopting more enhancements in the future. As of now, other notable features of Yahoo Blueprint include new data visualisation layouts, bidding and forecasting precision through the Omniscope tool, an AI-powered insights tool, a predictive audience feature, and customer value optimization. 

Commenting on Yahoo Blueprint, Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, chief revenue officer at Yahoo, said, “What sets our AI suite apart is the vast scale of proprietary data we tap into before considering third-party or customer first-party data. In introducing Yahoo Blueprint, we are now allowing advertisers to capitalise on Yahoo’s extensive history of machine learning and data-driven decision-making in a new and accessible way.”

“With Yahoo Blueprint, advertisers always hold the reins. Yahoo Blueprint not only focuses on enhancing performance, but also aims to reduce friction and maintain transparency, ensuring both ease of use and advertiser control,” she added.