Tag: Top Story

Personal finance is such an essential and crucial part of our success, and yet not everyone has access to content to help build one’s financial literacy. This is the goal of Home Credit, the consumer finance company, in the Philippines when they recently launched the ‘Payo Para sa Life’ (Advice for life) radio program. 

Together with Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) and independent media agency PraXis, Home Credit launched an on-air radio program on local radio station DZRH that aims to share useful learnings and insights for financial literacy. 

Watch our full interview with Home Credit PH’s CMO Sheila Paul

Sheila Paul, Home Credit’s CMO in the Philippines, sat down with MARKETECH APAC to share more about its rationale and concept. 

The program airs at the very early morning timeslot of 4:00 to 5:00 am and this is because they are specifically targeting market vendors, farmers, fisherfolks, public transportation drivers, and security guards, who are already up and running at this particular hour. 

Why this group, Paul said, “At Home Credit, we really believe that we should focus on the grassroots level when it comes to financial literacy, [and] the same with financial inclusion, mostly these are [the] sectors that get neglected or [are] underserved.”

“Definitely, we want to focus on the class that is very hardworking. In fact, they [have] to get up super early in the morning to be able to do their jobs and travel somewhere, and that’s definitely when they have the time to listen to the radio,” she adds. 

At a time when newer media formats have sprung up–such as podcasts– some would say that radio is a slowly dying medium, but Paul said that it is about finding the right channel for their target audience. 

“Through our media studies, we still see that radio listenership is quite high, especially in the remote areas. And although digital platforms, as well as internet penetration, have expanded over the last few years, still, only 50% of Filipinos are able to access the internet daily, so their main source of news and information, as well as entertainment, is still the radio, especially in the said sector,” said Paul. 

Watch and listen to the full interview with Paul, which is now streaming on Spotify and YouTube.  

In the conversation, Paul further imparts her insights on the current financial industry, specifically the growth of BNPL services, and shares the broader state of the financial literacy of Filipinos and the role that consumer financial services like Home Credit play in their financial success. 

India – The Indian Express together with Isobar, the creative experience agency from dentsu India has launched ‘News Beyond Views’ campaign, a modern-day solution for stories that get covered but remain undiscovered. 

According to the Indian Express, readers are unaware that they consume propaganda, gossip, and spicy scoops despite the fact that one-sixth of their day is spent browsing news. While 86% of readers clicked on a top stories, the same audience completely skipped other comparable stories in the same category. In keeping with their commitment to unbiased reporting, this national newspaper is now ensuring that no relevant story is left unread.

Through the partnership, The Indian Express and Isobar India, have developed a unique experience of discovering news that may have previously slipped through the cracks and past your view. Using a simple HTML innovation at the backend, the media house has embarked on restoring fairness in the journalism they believe in. So, on highlighting any top story, the user gets to read another story that would have otherwise lurked in the shadows.

Heeru Dingra, CEO, Isobar India group, said the fundamental objective of journalism is to serve the people with news, opinions, comments, and information on subjects that matter in a fair, accurate and unbiased manner. Any media house cannot afford to lose sight of this obligation. 

“This initiative by The Indian Express and Isobar India not only showcases their integrity towards the reader but will also inspire other news publications to follow suit,” Dingra said.

Aalap Desai, CCO, Isobar India and Taproot Dentsu, commented, “We believe that journalism is meant to be fair and honest, however, we don’t see this happening quite often. The responsibility then lies on our shoulders to make sure that every story covered reaches every reader. 

“Our commitment to that kind of responsibility drove us to develop News Beyond Views. The germ and the beauty of the idea is that it is simple and a modern way of doing our job as a news corporation. When journalism of courage meets the simplicity of innovation, no news will miss the spotlight,” Desai added.

As airasia ride, AirAsia’s e-hailing service, approaches its first anniversary, it recently revealed news everyone’s been waiting for – its expansion outside its headquarters in Malaysia.

Finally, airasia ride is soon to be available in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, and the launch is nothing short of pivotal as it meant shaking the competition that continues to be led by pioneers Grab and Gojek in the said markets.

As our Top Story for May, we sat down with Chiew Shan Lim, the regional CEO of airasia ride, who shared with us their vision and plans as the company expands the e-hailing to the region. 

Lim shared they’re not belligerent with the competition, but are eyeing to disrupt the market by filling in the gaps that current players are missing. 

In the conversation, Lim spoke of a common occurrence in ride-hailing today that he believes only puts us back to square one when we used to deal with traditional taxis. 

Usually, during peak hours, prices surge due to the scarcity of drivers, and Lim said this is a disservice to consumers. 

Why does the customer have to be penalised and have to pay more when you don’t have enough drivers. So we do not believe in that

Chiew Shan Lim, Regional CEO, airasia ride

“A driver should be compensated for the extra hour in a jam or the extra distance they need to travel for extra patrol and their time. But you can not [also] simply multiply the price just [because] there aren’t enough drivers [for customers],” Lim added. 

airasia ride is also turning the ecosystem on its head by decentralising the focus on consumers, and equally strengthening the commitment of the platform to drivers as well.

It recently launched the LadiesONLY ride which gives female passengers the option to ride with lady drivers–and vice versa. Lim said that, for drivers, the aim is to reduce the entry barrier for ladies to become a driver on the platform, where female would-be drivers continue to have reservations due to safety reasons. 

Watch the full interview with Chiew Shan Lim who shared with us the e-hailing’s disruptive goals through trailblazing plans for drivers as well as their foresight into each of the markets. Hear him also share his insight as airasia ride finally ends the monopoly of Grab in the Philippines.