Astro's monopoly as the sole satellite pay-TV operator in Malaysia is reportedly ending soon, with a new cable TV operator called Ansa Broadcast (Ansa) coming on board.
A report by Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) this week, said that Ansa is now midst of entering the satellite pay-TV segment, but the actual implementation is expected to take some time before service is officially launched. Ansa was also previously known as U-television, a cable TV operator that is a subsidiary of tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan’s Berjaya group.
With several failures seen among non-satellite broadcasters such as ABNXcess, MiTV and Mega TV to-date, Ansa is not expected to be an overnight success. However, it can be disruptive by offering aggressive pricing and content variances, said a report on The Star, quoting HLIB.
Gaining ad revenue for traditional broadcast media companies globally in recent times has been an uphill battle. This is no different for Astro, which back in June reported that its total ad spend (Adex) fell 5% year-on-year for its first quarter of its financial year ending January 2018, citing its currently operating in a very challenging environment.
Nonetheless, with Ansa’s entrance as a new direct-to-home (DTH) satellite player, Astro will definitely face some pressure and competition which had been absent for the past two decades. Amit Sutha, managing director of Ensemble Worldwide and Universal McCann, said in this heated ecosystem, content is key in differentiating the ultimate leader.
Sutha said:
It is high time we stop thinking about broadcasting through the lens of satellite, terrestrial, cable, linear or non-linear.
"These are all broadcast formats and they compete against each other for eyeballs. Just because Astro no longer has the exclusivity advantage in satellite does not mean it has not faced competition before," he said, referring to the growing VOD market in Malaysia.
He added that, any broadcaster, whether it is the newly announced Ansa, or the already established Media Prima, and of course the likes of VOD players such as iflix, Netflix and Hypp, "will fail or succeed not because of poor consumer sentiment or low rates, but on the basis of the content they carry and the eyeballs they can attract."
Given that a lot of Malaysians are a huge sports fan, Sutha said Astro's biggest differentiation and advantage is its sports and live coverage.
“To be honest, Astro’s biggest differentiator is it’s sports and live coverage, specifically football and English Premier League. Given the passion with which we Malaysians follow that particular sport, as long as long as Astro manages to hold on those rights, they will be a force to contend with,” he said.
He added that this piece of news may be welcomed by many marketers and advertisers given that, they will have more choices. However, it will cause more complicated procedures especially in terms of media planning.
“In our industry, competition is often a double-edged sword. It is good because it keeps advertising inflation in check. However, too much competition also means fragmentation of viewer attention and that makes communications and media planning a lot more complex,” Sutha said.
On this, Prashant Kumar, partner at Entropia also added, "Choice is always good for marketing investors. But the choices need to be real, and have a critical mass."
He added, it is "very difficult" for a new entrant with a traditional model to make a big dent in Astro's base as the broadcaster dominates both popular content and a fine-tuned pricing strategy. Also, while getting audience share is challenging in its own regard, monetising it with advertising is a whole different ballgame. He added:
It took Astro several years to get that right, even when they had huge share of audience.
“It's not impossible to compete effectively with Astro, but few licensees so far have been able to get their content and acquisition strategy right,” he said.
Keeping up with changing viewership habits in Malaysia
Of course, with the changing viewership habits in Malaysia, Astro is also competing with the video-on-demand. Astro’s Astro On-The-Go will also be under intense competition from other VOD players in the local market such as dimsum, iflix, Netflix, tonton and Viu which as aggressively fighting for consumer attention.
Earlier this year, it said it will continue to invest for future revenue growth by embracing three key imperatives under its digital transformation programme. These are digitalising its dominant legacy businesses, scaling digital start-ups and deepening its strength in verticals and building a robust innovation pipeline.
In June, it also launched its digital marketing arm Blaze Digital to offer integrated digital-first solutions for marketers across Astro’s 21 digital brands. These brands include Malay entertainment portal Astro Gempak, news portal Astro Awani, Chinese lifestyle portal Xuan, Rojak Daily which offers entertainment and lifestyle updates, as well as 11 independent digital publications.
The team from Blaze Digital will enable it to deliver digital first marketing solutions, offering personalised customer engagement and better value for marketers. It will also leverage on its advantage across TV, radio and digital. On social media front, Astro said Blaze Digital has an average of 20 million users and a reach of over 100 million people on Facebook monthly, in which it'll help marketers connect directly with a growing socially-connected and tech-savvy population.
Havas Media Malaysia has unveiled the first edition of its new book series THE LENS, featuring a deep dive into the hearts and minds of the Malaysian Millennials. The local study was part of a larger Asia Pacific effort by Havas Media Group to study and understand each country's Millennials in their own environment.
Published in THE LENS are seven Codes that drive and shape the life of Malaysian Millennials. They provide "unique insights" into the life of Malaysian Millennials, revealing their deepest secrets, needs and wants.
The codes are:
Code 1 - Meta me: identity and the greater self of the Asian Millennial.
Code 2 - Take pride in passions over profession: purpose and fulfillment over life choices.
Code 3 - Negotiate life: engaging authority figures in the Millennial pursuit of happiness .
Code 4 - Into the comfort zone: exploration for motivation.
Code 5 - For squad eyes only: ways of expression across platforms.
Code 6 - Reformat, reboot, delete: the nature of Millennial relationships.
Code 7 - Trust in the cloud: shifts from physical to virtual transactions.
“This research is uniquely and immeasurably useful. It adds a higher value dimension to our existing knowledge on this well researched topic, as we have spent a year with them, day in and out, to study where they live, play, dream, create and shape our future," Andreas Vogiatzakis (pictured centre), CEO of Havas Media Group Malaysia, said.
"Understanding real insights to the Millennials is crucial to Havas Media because we are committed to deliver content that is firmly rooted in robust insights and understanding, and thus enable us to really add value to our clients’ business by connecting consumers and brands in more meaningful ways," he added.
In Malaysia, research was conducted by following the lives of ten selected Malaysian Millennials for a year - four Chinese, four Malays and two Indians - in places they interacted, learnt and communicated.
The regional effort saw Havas Media conducting a two-year in-depth study of Millennials in key cities across Asia Pacific such as Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. It's main focus was to create a Millennial "thick data" set, an approach that takes a detailed and immersive understanding of each Millennial participant and their environment.
A total of 1,430 one-on-one interviews were carried out to enrich the 130 Millennial portraits that formed the basis of the study.
Alibaba Group said revenue in the second quarter surged 56% to RMB50.2 billion driven by growth in online sales, which makes up most of its business.
Core e-commerce related income in the three months ended 30 June jumped 58%, according to a filing yesterday.
Gross merchandising volume at its business-to-consumer site Tmall soared 49%, with fashion and apparel, consumer electronics and fast moving consumer goods among the key categories that expanded robustly.
Alibaba, which generates revenue from merchants on its online platforms, shored up its lead in digital advertising through sharper targeting of its 466 million active consumers.
Revenue at cross-border and international consumer businesses more than doubled to US$389 million, driven by strong growth in its Southeast Asian platform Lazada and China outbound platform AliExpress.
“Our technology is driving significant growth across our business and strengthening our position beyond core commerce,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group.
“We are excited about the future as we continue to innovate and drive synergies among the businesses throughout the Alibaba ecosystem,” Zhang said.
In the cloud business, revenue grew 96% in the quarter to RMB 2.4 billion, with total paying customers breaking the 1 million mark for the first time, up from 577,000 a year earlier.
Mediacorp has appointed Tham Loke Kheng (pictured) as its CEO and board director, effective 1 September 2017. She takes over from Shaun Seow, who will remain as executive director, Mediacorp, until 30 September 2017 before joining Temasek.
Tham is an industry veteran with extensive media experience, especially in content and marketing. She has held senior management and leadership roles in terrestrial free-to-air TV, Pay TV and broadband services in leading Asian operators in Singapore, Taiwan and most recently, Hong Kong.
She started work in 1988 at Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, now known as Mediacorp, where she spent eight years. She has also served as president of Taiwan Broadband Communications and as head of NOW TV, the largest Pay TV operator in Hong Kong at different times.
The move follows news of Seow's departure in April to join Temasek’s telecom, media & technology investment team, which includes Mediacorp in its portfolio. Prior to the appointment, Seow held the CEO role since July 2011 and has held various leadership roles across the company’s TV, radio, print and digital businesses. He was also part of the core team that started Channel NewsAsia in 1999.
Ernest Wong, chairman, Mediacorp said that Tham was appointed after an extensive search. He added that she was a natural choice to lead Mediacorp as the company focuses its efforts on capturing audiences and advertising revenue in a disrupted media industry.
“Mediacorp is national broadcaster and commercial media and entertainment company rolled into one. Tham understands both Mediacorp and the Singapore audience and has gained extensive commercial experience in the region. With a passion for media coupled with well-honed media skills, she is more than ready to lead Mediacorp in meeting the challenges ahead," Wong added.
“Returning to Mediacorp is a truly meaningful homecoming for me. My passion for media was discovered on Caldecott Hill and I am truly excited to be able to lead Mediacorp into its next phase of development, as the company evolves from a free-to-air broadcaster to a diversified, digital-first media organisation," Tham said.
Most recently, the company partnered with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to create a new digital advertising marketplace using programmatic solutions. The two media companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint venture, tentatively named Singapore Media Exchange (SMX). The alliance will be managed by an independent team led by a CEO to be hired.
In March, Mediacorp appointed Parminder Singh as its chief commercial and digital officer. Singh joined Mediacorp from Twitter, where he was managing director, Southeast Asia, Middle East and North Africa and India. Singh’s role combined what were previously two separate positions in the company and follows a series of recent hires reflecting Mediacorp’s move to bolster its digital capabilities.
Mediacorp has appointed Tham Loke Kheng (pictured) as its CEO and board director, effective 1 September 2017. She takes over from Shaun Seow, who will remain as executive director, Mediacorp, until 30 September 2017 before joining Temasek.
Tham is an industry veteran with extensive media experience, especially in content and marketing. She has held senior management and leadership roles in terrestrial free-to-air TV, Pay TV and broadband services in leading Asian operators in Singapore, Taiwan and most recently, Hong Kong.
She started work in 1988 at Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, now known as Mediacorp, where she spent eight years. She has also served as president of Taiwan Broadband Communications and as head of NOW TV, the largest Pay TV operator in Hong Kong at different times.
The move follows news of Seow's departure in April to join Temasek’s telecom, media & technology investment team, which includes Mediacorp in its portfolio. Prior to the appointment, Seow held the CEO role since July 2011 and has held various leadership roles across the company’s TV, radio, print and digital businesses. He was also part of the core team that started Channel NewsAsia in 1999.
Ernest Wong, chairman, Mediacorp said that Tham was appointed after an extensive search. He added that she was a natural choice to lead Mediacorp as the company focuses its efforts on capturing audiences and advertising revenue in a disrupted media industry.
“Mediacorp is national broadcaster and commercial media and entertainment company rolled into one. Tham understands both Mediacorp and the Singapore audience and has gained extensive commercial experience in the region. With a passion for media coupled with well-honed media skills, she is more than ready to lead Mediacorp in meeting the challenges ahead," Wong added.
“Returning to Mediacorp is a truly meaningful homecoming for me. My passion for media was discovered on Caldecott Hill and I am truly excited to be able to lead Mediacorp into its next phase of development, as the company evolves from a free-to-air broadcaster to a diversified, digital-first media organisation," Tham said.
Most recently, the company partnered with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to create a new digital advertising marketplace using programmatic solutions. The two media companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint venture, tentatively named Singapore Media Exchange (SMX). The alliance will be managed by an independent team led by a CEO to be hired.
In March, Mediacorp appointed Parminder Singh as its chief commercial and digital officer. Singh joined Mediacorp from Twitter, where he was managing director, Southeast Asia, Middle East and North Africa and India. Singh’s role combined what were previously two separate positions in the company and follows a series of recent hires reflecting Mediacorp’s move to bolster its digital capabilities.
GroupM has appointed MEC APAC CEO Peter Vogel to lead the combined MEC and Maxus 'NewCo' agency in Australia and New Zealand, effective January 2018. Prior to the appointment, Vogel was the APAC CEO of MEC since mid-2015. Before that, he was the CEO for MEC AUNZ for over six years.
Meanwhile, a new management team for Australia and New Zealand will be finalised over the coming weeks, of which Vogel will lead.
Vogel has over 25 years of marketing experience, having worked as a client and in creative and media agencies across several international markets. He has been with MEC for over 17 years, since the network acquired Nota Bene, a specialist media strategy firm he founded in South Africa.
“Under Vogel’s leadership, I am confident that we have the right team in place to truly blend the best of MEC and Maxus and make NewCo in ANZ a formidable future-facing agency," Tim Castree, CEO of MEC and NewCo, said.
In a press statement on the move, Vogel expressed excitement to return to Australia. He will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience from the fast growing markets of Asia Pacific, all of which are important economic partners for Australian businesses.
Media Prima brought home the highly-coveted Media Owner of the Year award in front of a capacity crowd at 2017's Spark Awards For Media Excellence, held in InterContinental Singapore on the 18th of August.
The win was largely due to the media conglomerate's subsidiary, Media Prima Television Networks, which won the title of Best in Show, taking home an astounding five gold awards for Best Media Solution - TV / Online Video, Best Media Solution - Social Media, Best Media Solution - Integrated Media, Best Collaboration between Media Owner & Agency, and Best Creative Team.
The Spark Awards, now in its fourth edition, is now recognised as a regional premier event celebrating the best media solutions, products and services that media owners, and ad technology companies from Southeast Asia, South Asia and ANZ have to offer.
Helping Media Prima gain momentum were its collaborations with brands such as Samsung and McDonald's. With Samsung, under the Best Media Solution - Integrated Media category, its Powering the Success of Galaxy J7 Prime with Park Bogum campaign led the brand to sell 250% more phones than the market leader and nearly 300% more than the nearest competitor.
Both Samsung and Media Prima Television Networks extended a powerful integration of branded content and live experience surrounding popular Korean drama series, Love in the Moonlight and its lead actor Park Bogum.
With McDonald's, under the Best Media Solution - Social Media Category, Media Prima Television Networks, for the fourth year running, drove pre-event hype for McDonald's National Breakfast Day, held on 24 October 2016. The campaign drove awareness that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and rewarded early risers with a free breakfast, providing customers with a fun experience to start their day right.
Click here to see this year's full list of winners.
Coming in close at second was Mediacorp who took home three gold awards. Mediacorp won gold for Best App by a Media Owner for their MeClub - Feast App, which placed food as a priority for its members, and saw an increase in partnerships, engagement, and sign-ups throughout its campaign period. Mediacorp OOH Media took home the gold awards for Best Commercial Team, and Best Media Solution - Out of Home, in which they partnered with Income OrangeAid, which brilliantly encouraged donation via EZ-Link cards into the campaign.
Notable wins include ad-tech solutions provider AdColony, who took home both gold and bronze under the Best Media Solution - Mobile, with both winning entries in collaboration with Mindshare and Unilever. In Silver place was Oath Brands Singapore, which with GlaxoSmithKline, helped Singaporeans tackle haze related health issues in 2016.
Coming in at third place was first-time entrant GRVTY Media, which took home an impressive two gold trophies for Best Corporate Branding by a Media owner and Best Launch/Re-launch by a Media Owner for its Millennials of Singapore series respectively.
Last year's overall winner, BBC Global News, placed gold for its India Direct campaign, their flagship country direct initiative for India the year.
This year's jury of 18 influential agency and media experts certainly had their work cut out for them, having had to go through a total of over 240 entries across all 29 categories. Other first-time entrants that placed gold were solution-providers Advocado, CIO Network, Kossle, and Media Prima subsidiary MP CJ O Shopping.
The Marketing team extends their heartiest congratulations to all winners, and we look forward to seeing all of you once again at next year's Spark Awards For Media Excellence!
Bates CHI&Partners Jakarta has appointed Ratna Puspita (pictured) as executive creative director, effective August 2017. Prior to the appointment, she was senior creative director at Mullen Lowe Indonesia.
Her creative leadership roles replaces that of creative chairman, Hendra Lesmono, who went to take on the CMO role at GVM Networks in June, according to his LinkedIn. This will see her being based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and report to Indonesia CEO B Ramanathan.
Puspita has been charged with leading the creative mandate for the agency, and is responsible for the 360 creative output, across the entire client roster. She will also lead, guide and mentor, a talented and young creative team.
During her tenure at Mullen Lowe, Jakarta, Puspita led creative leadership on clients such as Unilever, Garuda, Indofood and Danamon. She has also held stints at JWT and Ogilvy, handling a mix of global and local brands such as Fanta, Sprite, Dove, HSBC, Sunsilk, Axe, Orang Tua Group and Konimex to name a few. She also initiated internal learning and development platforms, namely JWT Discovery for JWT and Lowe Space for Mullen Lowe.
“Puspita joins our management Exco. She is a true force and she comes to help take us up, to take us forward and to take us into our next chapter,” David Mayo, regional CEO, Bates CHI&Partners, said.
“Puspita brings in a combination of solid experience across global and local brands and her passion for guiding, mentoring and nurturing talent. She is ideally suited to leading a capable and talented bunch of young creatives that we have,” B Ramanathan, CEO, Bates CHI&Partners, Jakarta, added.
“I always believe advertising is like a super power. It will be positively impactful, if used wisely. And together with my new challenger team here at Bates CHI&Partners Jakarta I can’t wait to produce work that people actually choose to engage with,” Puspita said.
Expedia has made a US$350 million primary minority investment into Southeast Asia travel company Traveloka. This is in a bid to deepen cooperation on global hotel supply.
“Our partnership will benefit from each side's expertise and local knowledge, and accelerate our mutual growth,” Dara Khosrowshahi, president and CEO, Expedia, said.
In a press statement, Khosrowshahi added that Traveloka is a clear online travel leader in Indonesia which is expanding aggressively throughout Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Ferry Unardi, co-founder and CEO, Traveloka, explained that the expanded partnership will also give Traveloka travellers access to a “unique and diverse set of international accommodations”. It will also work with Expedia to expand its services in Asia and more.
"Partnering with the world's leading online travel company will allow us to focus on our continued growth in the online travel space to meet our goal of providing travellers the best travel options and highest quality booking experience," Unardi said.
“We are incredibly excited to continue to expand our presence in Asia, to learn from the talented Traveloka team and to unlock a more diverse offering of travel choices for Traveloka and Expedia travellers around the globe,” Khosrowshahi said.
In April, Expedia unveiled its first Expedia Innovation Lab in Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, the Lab uses proprietary scientific methods. This is to better understand Asia-consumer online and app travel search and booking behaviour, which will determine the roll-out of future technology developments globally.
PT Lautan Natural Krimerindo, also known as Ellenka, has launched a series of ads personifying “unhealthy” foods such as cheese cake and coffee. This was to promote its new product FiberCreme, a multipurpose creamer which boasts to be healthier with higher dietary fibre.
In the spots, the foods attempt to repair their “friendships” with their consumers, going as far to take up exercise, in a bid to get healthier.
The first spot focuses on a woman’s friendship with cheesecake, told from the point of view of a cheesecake. The spot shows the woman repeatedly returning to the fridge for the cheesecake in the early days of their friendship, before the former decides to embark on a healthier lifestyle.
Since its posting on Facebook, the post garnered 205,879 views and over 1,500 reactions at the time of writing. Watch it here.
The second spot zeroes in on a guy’s friendship with coffee, this time from the point of view of a cup of coffee. Reflecting on the friendship, the cup of coffee shows remorse for "pushing too hard" and asks for “a second chance”. The spot garnered 267,057 views and over 2,500 reactions at the time of writing.
The campaign was conceptualised by iris Jakarta, and runs in cinemas, online film, digital, and on-ground activations. According a press statement, the idea of the campaign based on the truth that people nowadays live a healthy lifestyle and avoid unhealthy food. It runs from August to December 2017 and targets all consumers, as well as Millennial mothers looking for quality solutions for them and their families.
Credits:
Agency: iris Jakarta
Client: Ellenka (FiberCreme)
General Manager: Irvan Permana
Creative Director: Albert Chan
Group Head: Adri Zainuddin
Art Director: Feby Elsadlora, Michael Louis, Willson Ariyaduta
Copywiter: Ahmed Pasha, Andika Nugroho
Producer: Purwono
Account Management: Roma Natalia, Ahmed Syakbani
Produced by KOI Films
Film Director: Upie Guava
Executive Producer: Eva Depari
DOP: Ario Wirawan
Jakarta-based creative agency Flock has established three other subsidiaries in a bid to build a seamless branding experience for clients. This comes as the agency celebrates its first year anniversary.
The subsiadiaries includes Maleo, Flock’s digital and social media agency, Kokako, its content and in-house production house, while OU Design is Flock’s branding agency. Meanwhile, Flock is the creative agency and holding company that presides over them.
According to Ivan Hadi Wibowo (pictured), CEO and creative chairman of Flock, growth of all four entities has been fast. In less than a year, the agency grew from a four-person crew into a 42-member, diverse team. He added that Flock is aggressively recruiting to keep up with market expansion. Prior to starting the agency, Wibowo was chief creative officer at JWT Indonesia for over seven years.
The agency currently serves a portfolio of 16 clients, the biggest being Tokopedia and Djarum, which account for almost 40% of its revenue last year. Both Tokopedia and Djarum appointed Flock as its agency in July 2016.
Earlier this year, the agency helped launch Tokopedia’s new brand campaign, titled “Everything Starts from Tokopedia”. Meanwhile, Djarum handed Flock duties for its biggest brand Djarum Super, following the agency’s work with Djarum Black.
The agency also helped Astra Life, a joint-venture between PT Astra International and UK-based insurer Aviva. According to the statement, the agency was chosen for its ability to design an end-to-end solution for Astra Life’s branding needs in the country.
“There has been a big surge in demand for digital content. Brands are looking to create the most engaging content, and many are struggling to manage and navigate this path because most content creation platform work is project-based,” Wibowo said.
Publicis One Vietnam launches Prodigious Brand Logistics
Prodigious will offer its services across Publicis One’s agencies Leo Burnett, Saatchi, Publicis, Zenith, Starcom, Performics and MSLGROUP, as well as to direct clients.
R3 elevates Seema Punwani to partner role
She has led global initiatives for clients like MasterCard, Economic Development Board of Singapore, Fonterra and Suntory amongst others.
Lazada and Samsung sign first regional deal
The expanded partnership marks the first ever regional contract between both parties spanning six countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Havas Group acquires Sorento
This strategic acquisition will allow Havas to further develop its regional presence and add to its depth and breadth in India to deliver for global clients.
ONE Championship partners GoDaddy
GoDaddy branding is set to be featured at ONE: DYNASTY OF HEROES which will take place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 26 May.
OMD makes appointments to strategy team
He has extensive experience across the globe, having worked for OMD in the region as the strategy lead for OMD APAC as well as the global VP of marketing for HTC.
Sizmek appoints general manager for APAC region
He will be responsible for managing the company’s operations across the Asia-Pacific region, including customer engagement, sales development and innovation, strategic planning, and revenue growth.
Singtel partners NYP to help SMEs in the retail and F&B sectors
SMEs can also seek additional support on social media marketing, online merchandising and analysis of online consumers from students and lecturers at the NYP’s customer experience and analytics centre.
The agency would begin work immediately across strategy development, creative, execution, partnerships, influencer relationships and experiential platforms.
Tapad hires Andrew Tu as APAC VP
Tapad’s APAC team is currently headquartered in Singapore with plans to expand into Japan and Australia in the coming months.
Alibaba Cloud partners with NUS and EZ-Link
Alibaba Cloud will contribute US$500,000 in cloud credits towards the use of its cloud platform and data centres by students and researchers from NUS for academic and research purposes.
EZ-Link introduces NFC enabled card readers
In March 2016, EZ-Link launched the EZ-Link NFC SIM, pioneering the use of compatible mobile phones with NFC technology for making public transport payments.
Amobee names global innovations lead Chu will be charged with leading Amobee's new product offerings that are driven by and utilise telecommunications operator assets.
Amnet and RadiumOne partner up
The partnership will see RadiumOne’s proprietary mobile and sharing analytics software deployed across Amnet‘s clients, complementing existing technology to fuel paid media effectiveness.
Freeman launches brand experience agency in China and Singapore
The global provider of brand experiences has integrated several of its creative services across the Asia Pacific region, including China and Singapore, under the company’s agency division, FreemanXP.
Sitecore appoints The Hoffman Agency
The appointment comes as Sitecore plans to further establish its presence in this region and meet the ever increasing digital marketing needs of brands with context marketing.
McCann Worldgroup Japan appoints new CCO
Antony Cundy will be responsible for overseeing excellence in the targeted and efficient delivery of campaigns for clients who work across multiple MWG disciplines.
Ogilvy Public Relations Australia appoints new director
In this new role, he will oversee the consultancy’s social, content and digital practice - Social@Ogilvy, and will lead the Microsoft account as the key client relationship manager.
Adknowledge announces country head for India
He has over 20 years of experience in building and scaling businesses and brands, defining strategy, and running operations for companies.
WWF and Toyota head towards a zero carbon society
The project will take place in WWF priority places such as Borneo and Sumatra. In the future, the project will expand to the Greater Mekong region.
Outbrain renews multi-year deal with SPH
With the extended partnership with SPH, Outbrain continues to demonstrate significant momentum with its publishing partners.
NTUC FairPrice hosts first ever Facebook Live event
Food channel, co-owned by NTUC FairPrice, and operated by content marketing agency Brand New Media, will be hosting its first Facebook Live event entitled Live Healthy, Eat Healthy.
Outbrain partners up with Mediacorp
Outbrain will aggregate Mediacorp’s coveted audiences with those from its previous local publishers and global site wins.
L'Oreal Paris Singapore employs star power
L’Oréal Paris Singapore has launched an interactive out-of-home (OOH) panel featuring brand ambassador and local celebrity Rui En.
SPHMBO shows off latest OOH offering in VivoCity
Since its inception, the digital advertising network has played host to Seiko, Rado and Walt Disney's Finding Dory, which will be screening in local cinemas later this month.
Media Prima Digital (MPD) takes a step forward to further strengthen its collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MoU also marks the re-affirmed partnership between these two digital giants in the upcoming LEVEL UP KL 2017 game development conference, game jam, and awards event that will take place in November 2017.
The partnership will see MPD and MDEC coming together to boost the video games industry from multiple fronts. This collaboration is expected to attract local and international players and developers, spurring all parties to work together with the aim of boosting the digital games development in Malaysia and around the region. Most of the work includes encouraging collaboration for all, expanding the ecosystem, and accelerating the sector’s productivity, with MPD taking on the responsibility of evaluating and publishing digital games that MDEC selected and developed with local publishers.
“We are always on the lookout for close partnerships that will expand the creative industry. In the case of this MoU, it is for digital games development. Publishers that our creators engage with are internationally based with little to no local presence in this space. Bringing MPD on-board will kick-start the push for other media houses to consider publishing videogames that are being made here. This is a huge step up for Malaysia on the road to becoming a regional gaming hub,” shared Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, CEO, MDEC.
Essentially, MDEC is looking to widen the videogame developer community – comprising local and foreign entities – and bring MPD in as a key co-development partner. Providing MPD with immediate access to the main games development hub that will be launched soon is critical to this arrangement as it will do more than just open the way for further collaboration for the new platform which MPD and MDEC will be managing together. This includes promoting Malaysia and its games hub as the best place for game development while also gaining support for content generation efforts.
The MoU is one of first of many steps being initiated to prepare Kuala Lumpur for LEVEL UP KL 2017.
MDEC, with MPD and other industry partners, are all working towards preparing for what many now feel is Southeast Asia’s premium game industry event. Indeed, those driving the industry agenda here are very serious about making Malaysia the regional hub for games development.
Happy Marketer has launched its digital command centre in a bid to enable brands to proactively handle their customer care, manage their online reputation and monitor competition.
The agency has been working with SMRT on its social command centre since March 2016. The platform is said to look at customer activities across social media, search engines, blogs and forums and allow brands to monitor the content consumption patterns of the silent majority, who passively read as opposed to actively comment or participate in online chatter. These data sets and cloud-based AI capabilities would allow clients to better predict certain incidences and be prepared with action plans.
According to Terrence Quah (pictured), director of Digital Command Centre at Happy Marketer said, “Many brands have been experimenting with social listening over the last few years but very few have been looking at multiple digital data sets. Moreover, we are excited to offer brands a multi-channel approach to managing their customer care and reputation online.”
The company added that the key objective of the digital command centre is to empower CMOs and their teams to make informed decisions.
“This way they can improve their customer experience based on real-time actionable insights,” said Quah. Quah will be supported by a team of seven employees to help clients monitor their brand perception online, manage their online customer care and implement a crisis escalation plan.
Prantik Mazumdar, managing partner at Happy Marketer noted that “We envision the digital command centre to unify the marketing, technology, corporate communications and customer service functions of a business. We aim to provide brands with the visibility and intelligence to drive efficiency.”
ONE Championship (ONE) has partnered exclusively with Mediacorp to broadcast its live events throughout Asia on free-to-air channel oktoSports. Full event coverage and catch-up will also be available on Toggle.
In a statement to Marketing, Loren Mack, VP of PR and communications said the partnership will have an "absolutely massive" impact on marketers and advertisers as ONE is broadcast in 128 countries worldwide and has a core demographic of 18 to 34-year-old males, as well as a fast-growing female audience.
“From its early beginnings in broadcast radio and television, to launching its digital-first news, Mediacorp has provided Singaporeans with original local entertainment, and this is just the first step to a great partnership. ONE Championship was born in Singapore, and we are excited to continue to deliver a unique and authentic martial arts experience to fans all across the country," Chatri Sityodtong, chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, said.
“The refreshed oktoSports carries sporting events from Singapore and around the world. Mediacorp is happy to work with ONE Championship to make entertaining and engaging LIVE sports content easily available, through our range of TV, digital, radio and print platforms. This partnership further amplifies oktoSports’s vision to be the number one channel to encourage Singaporeans to lead active lifestyles through sports," Debra Soon, chief customer officer of Mediacorp, said.
Earlier this year, ONE secured an equity investment led by Sequoia India (Sequoia) and Mission Holdings, bringing its total capital raised to US$100 million. The investment round saw the participation of new and existing investors. The company believes this equity investment will further solidify its dominant market leadership position in the sports media industry in Asia and accelerate its global growth.
Recently, Mediacorp appointed Tham Loke Kheng as its CEO and board director, effective 1 September 2017. She takes over from Shaun Seow, who will remain as executive director, Mediacorp, until 30 September 2017 before joining Temasek.
Mongoose Publishing Malaysia has cease publication of Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines in Malaysia. In a statement to A+M, the publisher said it, "would like to thank the fantastic, dedicated and passionate team on both titles and the advertisers and sponsors who have supported the brands."
Mongoose Publishing acquired Men’s Health Malaysia from Blu Inc. in August 2013, and published its first issue in January 2014. Following that, the publisher launched Women’s Health magazine on August 2014, which saw the debut of its first issue nationwide in March 2015. Ashley Loh, the account director at Esquire Malaysia was appointed as sales director for its Women’s Health and Men’s Health back in September last year. Loh was overseeing the digital, print and events sales business for all three titles.
On a brighter note, Mongoose Publishing said its the website of its ELLE Malaysia magazine has achieved more than 500,000 page views in July, cementing ELLE’s position as the number one fashion media brand in Malaysia.
ELLE’s editor-in-chief, Kate Guest, said “When we launched ELLE in 2014 we took a digital-first approach, and in the three years since, we’ve seen that strategy pay off in ever-growing page views and follower numbers on our social media channels, now reaching on average over 120,000 unique visitors monthly.
Mongoose specialises in providing media platforms across print, digital, social, video and events. Its brands include Time Out Kuala Lumpur, Time Out Malaysia Kids, Time Out Singapore, Time Out Malaysia guides, Esquire Malaysia, Esquire Singapore, Expatriate Lifestyle and ELLE Malaysia.
Uber is hiking its fees in Hong Kong for its ride-sharing service, with the company introducing a new booking fee and an increase to its minimum fares due to "an evaluation of the marketplace" in Hong Kong.
Uber will also introduce a booking fee of HK$5 to all rides, which will help cover administrative costs.
For uberX and uberASSIST, the minimum fare is going from HK$25 (Kowloon and New Territories) or HK$30 (Hong Kong Island) to HK$40.
For UberBLACK or 7-seater, the minimum fare will be raised from HK$50 to HK$60.
The changes come into effect from today (21 August).
"We are committed to continue our investment here in Hong Kong, to ensure a seamless Uber experience for both riders and driver-partners, and to provide a safe and reliable choice of transportation for Hong Kongers," Uber said in a statement.
At the same time, the company has appointed Brooks Entwistle as chief business officer, Asia Pacific.
As a key member of Uber’s regional leadership team, Entwistle will be responsible for business development, including autonomous vehicle alliances, in addition to corporate development and experiential marketing across the Asia Pacific region.
He joins Uber from The Everstone Group, an India and Southeast Asia focused private equity and real estate investment firm, where he was CEO for the past three years.
Previously he was Chairman of Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia, in addition to stints at The United Nations, McKinsey, and various board positions with The Asia Foundation, The Aspen Institute, EmancipAction and YoungLife.
“Uber is one of the most exciting, innovative and mission-driven companies in Asia, and I’m thrilled to be getting aboard as it steps up its efforts to unlock the benefits of ridesharing for riders, drivers and cities,” he said
Smartphone company LEAGOO has inked a a five-year official partnership contract with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in London starting from 2017 to 2022. According to a press statement the contract is worth over million pounds.
With the deal, LEAGOO becomes the first and exclusive mobile phone brand that sponsors Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. As the exclusive global mobile phone partner of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., LEAGOO will benefit from having its branding in field advertising boards in the home matches the club engages in. LEAGOO branding is also already visible on the official website and Facebook of Spurs.
In the announcement event, LEAGOO also introduced an exclusive edition of its new flagship mobile phone T5 for Spurs. T5 features the navy blue of Spurs logo color on the full metal body, and dual rear camera to shoot the moment, the software, which it claims also is tailor made to match Spurs.
According to a press statement, it took LEAGOO International three years to build the brand in global mobile phone market, from APAC to EMEA, and from CIS to EU. In the next five years, the brand aims to take the root in consumers' mind with the spirit of football, together with cutting edge technology to bring more magic to the fans.
Dentsu Aegis Network announced a major account win with its appointment for cpjobs.com, the digital recruitment platform under South China Morning Post Publishers Group.
Under the appointment, Dentsu will provide strategic counselling and planning services, as well as oversee the conceptualisation, development and implementation of integrated branding and creative solutions.
Carat will lead the media planning and buying across digital, social, as well as traditional platforms while Amnet will handle the programmatic solutions.
“Dentsu Hong Kong has demonstrated a nuanced understanding of cpjobs.com’s business and its position in the online recruitment marketplace. Their creative and integrated solutions will help advance the appeal of cpjobs.com as No. 1 digital job board in the Hong Kong market and give us a shot in the arm to proactively connects high-quality talents with some of Hong Kong’s most successful businesses,” said Elsie Cheung, chief operating officer of SCMP.
"We are confident that our teams at Dentsu Aegis Network can help cpjobs.com fuel its business growth with an integrated communication approach based on our robust insights, creativity and data-driven strategies,” said Pauline Chu, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Hong Kong.
