Singapore – Global web advertising company Taboola has announced an expanded partnership with the international internet business department of Xiaomi, which will allow Xiaomi to utilise Taboola News to power recommendations in new ways across their devices in several markets globally.
Taboola News brings recommendations from Taboola’s large publisher network directly into offerings from mobile carriers and device manufacturers, including smartphone screens and web browsers.
As part of a long-term partnership with Taboola, Xiaomi will integrate these recommendations on multiple touchpoints within their mobile devices, connecting consumers with relevant and engaging content from publishers.
Moreover, Taboola News creates new opportunities for engagement and revenue for mobile carriers, device manufacturers, publishers, and brands. Carriers and manufacturers use Taboola News to deliver personalised, relevant content to their users from Taboola’s global network of publishers, while tapping into new revenue streams.
With this, publishers receive increased user traffic at no additional cost and advertisers have more opportunities to tap into Taboola’s massive reader scale to reach the right audiences.
Song Qiang, general manager of international internet business at Xiaomi, said, “Delivering relevant experiences and recommendations to Xiaomi device owners is crucial. Working with Taboola for several years, their company has shown it has a strong foundation in news and recommendations, made up of a large set of outstanding news publishers from all across the world. As we further integrate their recommendations on our devices, we look forward to delivering more value to our users.”
Meanwhile, Adam Singolda, CEO at Taboola, commented, “Xiaomi has proven itself as an iconic mobile brand that consumers trust. With their large user base, Xiaomi devices have become a great medium for millions of consumers to discover news and engage with content, all around the world. We’ve had a long-term partnership with Xiaomi where we’ve mutually grown. And we’ve worked closely with their team to deliver experiences to consumers that keep them engaged, while also providing new ways to monetise.”
Beijing, China – Xiaomi MiAds, Xiaomi’s global advertising platform, has appointed AVOW, the specialist agency focusing on mobile OEM on-device user acquisition, as its official core agency for user growth and customer success solutions in India.
The partnership will enable app developers and brands looking to use mobile OEM advertising to achieve incremental growth by making inroads into Xiaomi’s massive loyal user base through AVOW in the world’s most populous country.
MiAds is one of the core services of Xiaomi’s international internet business. MiAds covers over 100 markets worldwide, supports 70 languages, and offers reach to millions of monthly active users. The platform provides a multi-faceted advertising portal through proprietary apps such as Mi Browser, Mi Music, Themes, Mi Video, and its official proprietary app store GetApps.
In addition, Xiaomi allows marketers to accurately locate target audiences and convert their users into brand customers through multiple targeting options.
According to AVOW, the platform ultimately tapped its services for the exceptional undertaking it has shown of the media business activities and customer service for MiAds in India and other major markets.
AVOW will operate as one of the main points of contact, managing a 360-degree execution of mobile advertising campaigns on Xiaomi’s advertisement platform – from launching apps on the GetApps marketplace and booking dynamic preload campaigns to media buying and campaign optimization.
Sharing his views on this association, Bono Wu, Head of Channel Partnership & Direct Sales of EU and LATAM for the International Internet Business Department at Xiaomi, said, “We are delighted to have AVOW onboard as our core agency in India. AVOW’s exceptional work in the Indian market and beyond has led us to continue our fruitful partnership. The combination of Xiaomi’s system-level empowerment to MiAds on MIUI and AVOW’s deep expertise will be truly beneficial to our mutual clients.”
Meanwhile, AVOW Co-Founder Ashwin Shekhar, commented, “We are thrilled to be named the core agency again for Xiaomi. Building on our success in EMEA, SEA, and LATAM, our key partnership with Xiaomi MiAds extends to India. Strengthening our alliances will allow us to offer more exclusive opportunities for mobile marketers to access Xiaomi’s strong presence in the country. India is a dynamic market, and we are committed to helping marketers with greater access to the user audience and eventually make mobile OEM advertising a default part of every marketer’s marketing mix.”
In December, Xiaomi Indonesia named Stephanie Sicilia as its associate marketing director.
Jakarta, Indonesia – Consumer electronics company Xiaomi in Indonesia has appointed Stephanie Sicilia as its new associate marketing director. She will be leading a cross functional team across PR, influencers, social media and community.
The strategic department function will drive integrated brand marketing, digital and PR campaigns as well as initiatives across the Xiaomi ecosystem to better reach broader consumers.
Sicilia is a seasoned PR professional with over ten years of experience. She began her journey with Xiaomi in 2017, joining Xiaomi Technology to coordinate and manage PR initiatives across Southeast Asia markets, including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore from Xiaomi HQ in Beijing.
She also lead Xiaomi’s sustainability campaign #LebihLestari (‘More Sustainable’) in partnership with circular economy platform Octopus and the Tech Journalist Forum (Forwat), to collect and recycle old electronics, leveraging Xiaomi’s existing store locations for the e-waste drop boxes.
Nearly one year after her tenure in HQ, she was appointed to head Indonesia’s communications team, as Indonesia is one of the key markets for Xiaomi’s global expansion. It is her dedication and strategic thinking that has led to her recent appointment as the associate marketing director in which she will be overseeing the day-to-day operations of the marketing communication team.
Speaking on her new role, she said, “I am excited to be appointed to this new role and to lead a growing team of talented members to continue on translating Xiaomi’s mission in bringing innovation for everyone. I’m grateful to work with a brand that continuously grows and deeply cares about its users. I will continue to give my best effort for the brand, especially in Indonesia.”
Wentao Zhao, country director at Xiaomi Indonesia, commented, “Stephanie has been an instrumental part of the team in building Xiaomi’s brand and reputation in Indonesia. Her dedication to our brand has been proven by our remarkable results and with her leading the Marketing Communication team, we look forward to continuing to be working on new and exciting campaigns, listening to our users needs and of course, to improve brand satisfaction as well as broadening exposure to new target audience.”
Singapore – Top smartphone brand Xiaomi in Asia has partnered with Xapads Media, adtech platform based in India, for the management of all its media sales activities in its ad platform, Mi Ads. The tie-up is targeted at offering premium app inventory in Xiaomi for brands and marketers in the SEA region.
Xiaomi has been seeing incredible success in the global market and at present, aims to increase its penetration in the SEA region. The new partnership will assist brands in tapping the full power of on-device app recommendations within Xiaomi. Aside from offering advertisers exclusive access to Xiaomi’s premium app inventory, the partnership will be helping marketers with real-time insights, quality user acquisition, and premium ad placements while generating leads and giving product recommendations in a hygienic environment.
Nitin Gupta, Xapads CEO, commented, “We at Xapads are glad to be associated with Xiaomi and its inventory integrated with our award-winning proprietary AI / ML driven programmatic engine, [Xerxes.]. Advertisers will get easy and direct access to Xiaomi’s premium inventory along with better pricing and ad placement options.”
Gupta added, “I believe that with the combination of Xapads’s expertise and access to Xiaomi’s [inventory,] we will be able to offer our clients with the best programmatic solutions around OEMs. [Together,] we hope to redefine performance programmatically and help brands to better sustain themselves in the adtech landscape.”
Ramneek Chadha, COO of Xapads Media, also expressed his excitement about the development, “It’s great to work with a credible, trusted and leading OEM partner. The new branding and promotion opportunities would help marketers connect with hard-to-reach niche audiences and optimize their ad campaigns”.
Chan Liu, GM for International Internet Business Dept. at Xiaomi, also commented, “Xiaomi doesn’t only offer amazing hardware products, we’re also committed to creating a rich ecosystem of internet services based on MIUI. Our cooperation with Xapads will build a bridge for better communication between brands and Indonesian consumers and deliver value to everyone.”
We can’t believe we are now down to the last roundup of top stories for 2021! It has been a great year recognizing the most well-loved brands and stories in marketing and tech for the year.
Our monthly deep dive and conversation with the top brands resulted in the much-awaited regular MARKETECH APAC Reports, and this month of December is no less an exciting list of one-of-a-kind campaigns, inspiring new leadership appointments, and fresh product launches.
This month, we saw a food delivery platform moving into an entirely new vertical of consumer electronics. This period, a philippine arm of a global communications agency also announced a new business director, while, a content marketing agency with a presence in APAC unveiled an expansive roster of new hires in the region within its client servicing, creative production, and editorial teams.
For the month, a very interesting campaign from a BNPL service in Singapore has also entered the list for bringing back audiences to the golden age of advertising in the 80s. Meanwhile, our MARKETECH Spotlight episode on a digital agency in Malaysia also came out on top for walking us through behind the scenes of incorporating AR and VR in marketing campaigns.
Learn more about the top stories that will be closing off our 2021 with a bang:
For our Top 5 story, we have the MARKETECH Spotlight episode of Unicom Interactive Digital, a fast-leading digital agency in Malaysia.
In an interview with its COO Jareth Eng, we learn more about how brands are incorporating the tech of AR and VR in their marketing campaigns, and the best ways to deliver such that would effectively engage audiences at the same time push brands be top-of-mind.
Having helped numerous brands develop immersive campaigns since the start of the pandemic, Eng shared the agency observed that content remains to be the top determinant of a success of a campaign.
He says content must above all be personalized and authentic.
“More and more, let’s be honest, we start to get bored of the same stuff, and we start to look for authenticity in content, because there are so much paid advertisements today [and] so much paid endorsements, and we reach a point where we do not know what is being said is real or not,” said Eng in the interview.
Eng also shared his thoughts on the role of digital moving forward in the pandemic, “The perks of adding digital elements to campaigns have proven themselves during the past year. Even as we head back to a norm that we were used to, digital elements will still play a part.”
Havas Group’s media and communications agency in the Philippines, Havas Ortega, has appointedMel Panabi, former vice president of marketing communications at energy tech business WeGen Distributed Energy Philippines, as the new business director of its global public relations, social and experiential agency micro-network.
Through his new role, Panabi will be developing new products and services that will further strengthen Red Havas’ position in the country’s public relations and brands landscape.
MARKETECH APAC spoke with Panabi to know more about the area he is looking to prioritize in the role.
“I will be prioritizing promoting the ‘meaningful brands’ concepts of the agency. The global Red Havas Media Group actually made a study called ‘Meaningful Brands’, and it showed that people are now looking at the collective benefits provided by a brand, and its role in society,” said Panabi in the interview.
He adds that he is eager to start Red Havas’ sustainability and thoughtful corporate responsibility conversation.
“One other thing is that the United Nations’ sustainable development goal is something that the brands need a lot, which is a space we want to occupy. We want to be associated with that kind of ‘meaningful brands’ and sustainability conversation,” he said.
Buy Now Pay Later service Pace in Singapore enters our top stories for bringing a very refreshing and unique creative campaign that brought people back to the vibrant pop culture of the 80’s.
Armed with a video and an OOH ad, audiences saw VHS effect shorts complete with authentic 80s fashion, while decals on platform doors at train stations were reminiscent of the classic shopping advertisements from the period.
Speaking with MARKETECH APAC,Daren Goh, Pace’s head of growth, said that while BNPL is an inspiring tool for people to be financially responsible, payments could be something boring and pedestrian, hence, the push for the one-of-a-kind creative.
“We thought 80’s was great because it’s something that any generation can relate to whether you’re [a baby boomer], even to Gen Z folks who are interested [in] how it is like [in the] 90s and 80s,” said Goh.
He also shared that stimulating the feeling of Nostalgia was the goal.
“[80’s] seem like simple times and just really great times. So I guess we could tap into so many different feelings and people also see that no matter what age they are from,” said Goh.
The leading food delivery platform in Asia, foodpanda, will now move to offer a wide range of consumer electronics and appliances for on-demand deliveries in Singapore and Thailand.
Partnering with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, foodpanda will be offering Xiaomi’s products ranging from smart devices, audio, and mobile accessories, to household appliances, and will be delivered to homes within 30 minutes.
Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Christian Urban, foodpanda’s head of marketplace of new verticals for APAC, shared, “Xiaomi is one of the great new vendors coming on board recently, and of course, a very popular brand and we are super happy about that. They are on board with hundreds of their products from their flagship stores across Singapore and Thailand.”
Regarding the platform’s new partnerships and offerings in 2022, Urban said that they want to enable more and more vendors to join their marketplace, helping them to digitize and get their goods delivered within 30 minutes.
“Our goal is to serve a large portion of essential and non-essential goods, and there is actually a strong demand for it. Hence, strategically, the goal is to go deeper and offer more of those goods to our customers,” he added.
For this month’s #1 story, we take a look at the expansive company hire move by content marketing agency Green Park Content for the Asia-Pacific region.
The hires, which were made in November, span across three major work categories: the client servicing team, creative production team, and the editorial team. In addition to these new hires, GPC also announced the promotions of some of its senior leaders, including Que Ramli to the role of global social media lead, Martin Niens as head of operations, and Fe Husaint who was recently promoted to the role of creative and global brand head.
Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Marcelo Bittencourt, managing director for APAC at GPC, shared that ever since GPC started out in APAC four and a half years ago with only two hires, they have tested the waters of the business in the region and have since grown to provide various services such as search engine optimization and editorial content.
“The goal for GPC in APAC is [trying] to answer to our global FMCG clients on how we can be more localized, how can we have content that is meaningful for the local countries, because we are seeing a shift from budgets being centralized, and we are seeing how important it is, and how empowered are the local marketers are in the countries. So [we] want to be there with them because we are a part of a global [and] regional work lines and as close to their local operations we can be,” Bittencourt stated.
On his insights on content development, he said, “Content is about connection, content is about building a bond with the audience. You cannot do this if you are not ‘there’, if you’re not using slang, if you’re not understanding what is the environment that you have. This is the biggest goal for us: to be able to grow our local expertise in the countries in APAC, to be able to be that partner to our global clients., and be able to answer their strategies to deliver their brand purpose with quality and with trust.”
Watch our exclusive interviews with the brands themselves on the latest episode of MARKETECH APAC Reports, now live on our YouTube channel.
This is in collaboration with Malaysia-based media company The Full Frontal.
Singapore –foodpanda, which has been one of the leading platforms in food delivery in Asia, especially this pandemic, has unveiled a partnership that will see it innovating the core of its value proposition.
Partnering with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, the food delivery platform will now move to offer a wide range of consumer electronics and appliances for on-demand deliveries on foodpanda shops in Singapore and Thailand.
The partnership is Xiaomi’s first q-commerce in Asia outside of China. Foodpanda will be offering Xiaomi’s products ranging from smart devices, audio, and mobile accessories, to household appliances, and will be delivered to homes within 30 minutes.
Abhishek Sahay, foodpanda’s senior director of New Verticals, noted that beyond traditional e-commerce, brands are now already looking for the next phase of growth, and with q-commerce, foodpanda shops provide a new way for retailers to deliver their products to customers almost instantly.
“We’re proud to be Xiaomi’s first quick commerce partner in Asia, helping them connect more instantaneously with their customers in the region,” said Sahay.
In July this year, foodpanda has entered MARKETECH APAC’s Top 5 Stories for its tie-up with Unilever.
During the interview,Sahay shared how the platform has always been eyeing to be more than what it is through foraying to new verticals.
“We are no longer just a food delivery company. We are expanding into new verticals. In terms of future plans, we definitely have a long way to go, specifically on quick commerce. And as we think of expansion, we have three different ways. One is we want more and more stores. Secondly, we think of new country expansion, launching in Japan, Cambodia, and Myanmar. And the third is category expansion.”
In addition to currently listing Xiaomi products on foodpanda shops in Singapore and Thailand, the foodpanda app is also pre-loaded in new Xiaomi mobile phones in 10 markets across Asia, which includes Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan, Philippines, and Bangladesh, Laos, as well as Cambodia, and Myanmar.
Manila, Philippines – A handful of local brands and organizations in the Philippines have shown their quirky side by joining the online trend in regards to the recently-debated online trend #LugawIsEssential.
The context draws its origin from the now infamous ‘lugaw incident’ where Marvin Ignacio, a food delivery rider working for Grab Philippines, was held in a checkpoint at Brgy. Muzon, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan by barangay (local government unit)officials since his delivery of ‘lugaw’, the Filipino equivalent of savory porridge, was not deemed ‘essential’ in terms of service.
As the Greater Manila area, including the province of Bulacan, is still under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), many people resort to food deliveries, to which the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has deemed ‘essential’.
The video appeared in the Facebook Live video of the food delivery rider, who streamed the confrontation with barangay officials. The incident went viral on Maundy Thursday, 1 April, which has drawn flak among netizens due to the ‘paradoxical’ nature the barangay officials gave in terms of the item’s essential nature. Despite initially blowing up on Facebook, the trend became more prominent in other social media channels, including Instagram and Twitter.
As the trend #LugawIsEssential spiked in popularity on Twitter Philippines, several known and local brands have jumped in the trend to poke fun at the ongoing trend, while maintaining campaign presence and relevancy at the same time.
Jumping first on the trend is the rider’s employer Grab Philippines, where in one of their posts, they quote that “If food is essential, and lugaw is essential, therefore LUGAWISESSENTIAL”. The post itself has acted as a new local campaign by Grab PH of using the promo code to gain a free delivery perk from the service itself.
Let’s give thanks to all our Grab riders na tuloy lang sa paghatid ng ating essential needs! Saludo po kami sa inyo, kuyas and ates! 💚
Use LUGAWISESSENTIAL to get free delivery on your GrabFood order! T&Cs apply. pic.twitter.com/IBiwaTnwRr
Furthermore, the Philippine arm of GrabMart also uses the same promo code campaign to entice customers with a free delivery perk when they buy the ingredients of lugaw, which include rice, egg, garlic, salt, and ginger as staples.
Make your own lugaw and say LUGAWISESSENTIAL! Order ingredients from GrabMart today and cook your own even after curfew!
Some Grab PH users have also noted a new advisory message on the app’s dashboard which similarly pokes fun at the lugaw incident, stating that they are “serving you 24/7 this ECQ so that you can stay safe at home while we bring you essentials (food and lugaw included!).”
Meanwhile, the Philippine division of smartphone brand Xiaomi posted a tweet reminiscent of the time of how the founders of Xiaomi in 2010 united on a meal of lugaw in deciding what to call their company as.
Did you know? 11 years ago, eight people came together in Beijing with one purpose: To create something cool! And it took them just a bowl of "lugaw" to know what they wanted to call the company. Thus, Xiaomi was created. 😁
Oil company Phoenix Fuels, on the other hand, pokes fun at the debacle by posting an infographic stating the ‘essential’ ingredients of making lugaw, accompanied with a Twitter thread helping online users how to cook porridge. The online post aims to promote Phoenix Fuels’ liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products.
On a similar note, local weather channel Panahon.TV also posted a photo, enumerating and visualizing the lugaw ingredients at the same time.
THE ANATOMY OF LUGAW
Lugaw is the go-to food for many Filipinos even during lockdown! These are the essential ingredients to make this porridge even tastier. pic.twitter.com/6KgxzTv1gi
As the trend fell into the observance of April Fool’s Day as well, some smaller local brands have also jumped into ‘trolling’ their online audiences with ‘new products’.
On a weird note, local adult pleasure brand frisky ‘announced’ that they have recently launched a new lube product, with lugaw as the new flavor, to which they ‘announced’ is on sale on both Lazada and Shopee.
Meanwhile, local candle scents maker Clementine Scents announced that they have launched a ‘lugaw-scented candle’ to allow customers “enjoy the scent of [the] favorite Filipino porridge, wherever, whenever.”
A screenshot of the Instagram post of Clementine Scents
Other brands and organizations that poked fun on the #LugawIsEssential debacle includes the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, local anime media group portal AniRadio Plus, and Default Cafe Pub, which made a jovial take on the likewise viral photo of President Rodrigo Duterte blowing a ‘birthday cake’ made out of steamed rice.
We join the Nation in celebrating Filipino Food Month (Buwan ng Kalutong Pilipino). Time to appreciate our cultural heritage seen in our cuisine. Even the simple lugaw or the ostentatious lechon have meaning that make them essential in our national life. 🇵🇭
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