Aeon Co plans to open more malls in West Malaysia in the next three years. The Star said this comes after the Malaysian retail market saw an improvement in consumer sentiments compared to last year.
The brand recently opened its sixth mall in Johor Baru at Bandar Dato' Onn, and plans to open one or two more soon. Aeon Co's executive director Poh Ying Loo said the company will be investing over RM300 million to open a mall in Kuching in Q2 2018, and declined to reveal more details about the potential malls in Peninsular Malaysia.
According to Poh, Aeon remains optimistic about the country's retail market amidst the demanding landscape since last year, as consumers have been spending carefully. He added that although there will be more players in the market in future, there should still be enough business opportunities for now.
A+M has reached out to Aeon for comment.
In July, Aeon Co was selected as one of the licensees for four of Mass Rapid Transit Corporation's (MRT Corp) stations on the Sungai Buloh-Kajang, as part of the station naming rights programme. According to the press statement, the programme allows a licensee to be awarded the right for its name, logo or product brand to be associated with a particular station by having it prefixed to the station’s name. As such, Maluri station will be rebranded as Aeon-Maluri.
Bell Pottinger Asia has renamed itself to Klareco Communications. The name change follows a recent controversy surrounding its UK counterpart over controversial client work in South Africa. Markets affected by the name change include Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Myanmar, Marketing confirmed.
According to Ang Shih Huei, CEO of Bell Pottinger Asia, the company is now free to formalise its complete separation from the Bell Pottinger brand. In coming days, the agency will also relaunch under a new ownership structure with a new name and a “renewed vigour and clarity of purpose”.
The move was to emphasis the stand the company took over the past few days that its Asia team operates as a separate legal entity from Bell Pottinger in the UK.
“While the UK business is expected to go into administration as early as next week, the Asia business is entirely ring-fenced and solvent. Our teams are intact, we continue to serve our clients and it is entirely business as usual,” Ang explained.
As such, the new company will trade as Klareco Communications, which looks to showcase the “diversity and inclusive values of this team”, as well as its aspirations for the future. “Klareco” means clarity in Esperanto, which the agency said is the international language of hope and harmony. Meanwhile, logistical issues are currently underway such as new email addresses and websites, which is a priority for the agency.
According to a release last November, Bell Pottinger has advised on transactions completed in 2016 with a combined value of over SG$9 billion (HK$52.5 billion).
Bell Pottinger UK was recently expelled from UK public relations trade body Public Relations and Communication Association (PRCA) for its work on a controversial contract in South Africa for Oakbay Capital, which saw the agency being part of a secret campaign to stir up racial tensions, and founder Lord Bell - who resigned last year - has admitted to the BBC that it is probably "near the end". Numerous clients, including HSBC, have cut ties with Bell Pottinger.
In an official statement addressing the matter, Bell Pottinger UK said that it has called in independent law firm, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, to review the account and the work done on it. The agency also ceased work for Oakbay Capital three months ago.
“That investigation is still continuing and will be completed in the next few weeks. We intend to publish the findings of that report and take appropriate action,” the statement read. The scandal also saw the CEO James Henderson stepping down from his role.
Over the course of the last 20 years, the average attention span has fallen to around eight seconds; a goldfish has an attention span of nine! The challenge for companies – established and new – is to figure out how to get even a small slice of that attention span when so many other companies are competing for it.
Neuroscience shows us that when the whole of the brain is engaged, the message is more likely to be remembered. And the brain is at its most fully engaged when it is listening to stories.
Despite this, all our lives we’ve been indoctrinated to engage with facts. Facts underpin our school essays; facts are the hallmark of a great thesis; facts are at the core of all great marketing, right? Wrong. If you want people to remember what you have to say then stories are the way forward.
So, how do you tell a great story? Here are five top tips for telling better stories:
1. Create a powerful opening
Shakespeare knew it; novelists from Charles Dickens to Tom Clancy knew it; Hollywood knows it. Great stories start with a powerful opening so take your time to get the opening right and your reader, or viewer, is hooked.
2. Get to the point
Too often people and organisations are afraid of having a point of view. I suspect it’s because they don’t want to be wrong. But if you’re trying to reach people with an attention span of eight seconds, you better have a point of view that gets them engaged or they’ll go elsewhere. And when you’re articulating your point of view, don’t use words like ‘might’, ‘could’ or ‘most’; prevarication takes up valuable time you don’t have.
3. Find a hero
Carl Jung’s archetypes theory shows us that we’re born with a need for heroes. Since the 1920s, Disney – among many other artists – has capitalised on this and presented us with some of the world’s most loved and remembered heroes. By contrast stories from commercial organisations rarely have heroes. But they should.
4. Use color in your language
Outside of work, we use a whole range of linguistic devices to communicate better. Yet when we cross the office threshold, metaphors, similes, active verbs and so on seem to be removed in favor of jargon-laden corporate speak. Don’t be afraid to use colorful language; it’s much easier for readers to understand.
5. Speak human
A number of recent hypotheses suggest that some words and phrases have lost all meaning because they are so overused. Phrases like ‘synergy’, ‘value added’ and ‘out of the box’ fall into this category. And yet, we trot out these words hoping we’re going to capture the attention of our viewers or readers.
In short, don’t be afraid to have a point of view and then express it clearly and unambiguously using language your grannie would understand.
Storytelling is not so much of an art as a matter of practice and remembering a few key points. The real challenge is in being bold enough to tell a story rather than follow the crowd and use facts.
DBS Bank (Hong Kong) has launched DBS Home360, a banking mortgage app in Hong Kong to leverage the power of real(i)ty, to change the way people embark on one of the most important decisions of their lives – buying a home.
Partnering with realtor Century 21, the bank developed the app as part of its efforts to leverage mobile technology to make banking more interactive for customers, and to add value to the customer’s banking experience.
Homebuyers typically have to gather property-related information through multiple channels and evaluate suitable options, while obtaining a preliminary sense of the affordability of a property. With DBS Home360, homebuyers can access information within a single app. The bank leveraged its customer insights to address queries through the app’s main features:
Properties for me: helps users shortlist suitable properties based on affordability and preferred locations.
Virtual tour: powered by Century 21, users can virtually tour properties.
Instant valuation: the app leverages professional valuation firm Cushman & Wakefield’s database to provide preliminary indications of property market values as a reference for users.
Budget calculator: after identifying a property, users can access a built-in budget calculator and immediately obtain an estimate of how much they can expect to pay, including stamp duty, commissions and related fees.
Instant mortgage assessment: users can find out if they qualify for a mortgage based on their finances, and have a bank representative follow up and assist with the formal application.
Royce Teo, managing director and had of consumer banking group and wealth management, Hong Kong, of DBS Bank (Hong Kong), said, “Many people in Hong Kong today are looking to buy properties, but may not have much idea how to go about it, or feel overwhelmed by all the information available. We developed DBS Home360 as an innovative, interactive and intuitive way to put the power of realtors and banks at your fingertips. More importantly, prospective homebuyers can gain a clear understanding of the home-buying process, from searching for properties to sending in the mortgage application. With this first-in-market app, buying a home is simple, engaging and fun.”
ZUJI's latest campaign unveiled the brand's new tagline, "from search to discover, the destined encounter with ZUJI", together with a series of social media videos and OOH promotions.
In the videos, two independent travellers share their experiences of meeting a handpan musician in London or a farmer in Taiwan, which are all based on true stories. At the end of the video, its new tagline is introduced to emphasise how ZUJI plays a role in providing a personalised travelling experience.
The new tagline is extended from its previous slogan, "from search to discover", to further emphasise the experience that the travelling search engine could provide.
"While most of its competitors usually focus on pricing, the new tagline may help to differentiate ZUJI with an experience-oriented narrative," explained Alan Kan, creative Partner at The Kitchen Digital, the agency behind the campaign.
The campaign has also launched an instant reward interactive game that runs at specific bus shelter to drive awareness.
More than half of Hong Kong’s PR agencies reported an increase in client spending over the past year, according to the latest annual industry benchmarking survey by the Council of PR Firms of Hong Kong (CPRFHK).
The survey reveals that the Hong Kong PR industry continues to grow, while less convincingly than in the past: the 2016/17 survey found that 53% of respondents experienced an increase in client fees over the past year, compared with 67% in the previous survey.
Looking to the future, the outlook remains reasonably positive with 47% of firms expecting revenue to grow over the next year, compared with 40% in the previous study.
The subdued results and forecasts mirror a global picture which has seen a number of the marketing industry’s international holding groups announcing anaemic growth and issuing sales warnings.
Acquiring and retaining top talent remains the industry’s top challenge. In this year’s survey, one third of respondents reported an annual staff turnover rate of greater than 20%, an improvement over the previous results when almost half the firms (47%) reported turnover greater than 20%. The top reason given for staff departures is “moving to an in-house role”. Interestingly, just over a third of agencies (36%) had lost employees who wanted exposure to different clients.
Council chair, Kiri Sinclair said, “Though we face some challenges, the industry is in good heart with a level of optimism around growth, the continued relevance of PR and an increasing involvement in experiential events, and digital and social communications.”
Amid the rise of digital and the declining influence of traditional media, respondents feel that the practice of PR is still highly relevant. In particular, PR’s role to maintain relationships and communicate effectively with an organisation’s key stakeholders remains important.
The most frequently used channel for client campaigns was media publicity, followed in joint second by social media and experiential/event marketing. Digital communications are also used in around half of agency campaigns.
Just under half of respondents (47%) reported using a mix of communications channels in campaign execution, up from 33% in the 2014/15 study. This demonstrates that clients are increasingly willing to entrust agencies with delivering integrated campaigns, although there is still considerable room for growth – an encouraging opportunity for agencies that can develop a compelling proposition.
A total of 15 member and non-member firms were surveyed by The Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey, City University of Hong Kong between March and May 2017.
AXA Insurance in Singapore has revealed that it suffered a cyber attack which saw the personal data theft of 5,400 customers.
In a statement to Marketing confirming the breach, Jean Drouffe, CEO of AXA Singapore, said that its health portal is now secure and a thorough review of its IT systems is currently underway. He added the organisation takes customer privacy very seriously and apologises to all customers impacted by the incident.
“No financial or health data was compromised. On its own, the compromised data will not result in identity theft, we nonetheless see the importance of alerting our impacted customers to be vigilant against potential phishing and risk of identity theft,” Drouffe said. Information that was compromised include email addresses, mobile numbers, policy numbers and date of the customer’s birth. Meanwhile, other forms of personal data such as the customer’s name, NRIC, address, financial information, health status, claims history, marital status, next-of-kin and name of employer, to name a few, were not exposed.
According to AXA, most of its affected customers have been informed of the breach and no further action is required from customers. AXA could not comment on the timing of the data breach.
The news breaks days after the insurance company decided to cut 250 jobs from its IT department in Hong Kong. The cuts are part of a restructuring programme aimed to reduce cost at the company, Reuters reported. AXA’s Asia IT operations are currently managed entirely out of Hong Kong, but according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, AXA will be setting up two new IT centres in Manila and Kuala Lumpur. By the end of next year, the centres will be staffed with a total of 410 people – 300 in Manila and 110 in Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, locally in August this year, Drouffe was appointed as AXA Singapore’s new CEO. He took over from Doina Palici-Chehab, who was promoted to interim regional CEO of AXA Asia, and will report to her. Following the move, Drouffe will focus on growing the business in Singapore, and his job scope encompasses the life, general insurance and health businesses locally.
Jagan Srinivasan, the Country Manager of the Philippine office of Philips Lighting, discusses the company’s new campaigns to re-introduce the concepts and uses of light, power, and energy consumption to a 21st-century audience who has more complex needs and a greater understanding of how technology can serve them. Mr. Srinivasan’s extensive experience spans across the globe, including the Netherlands where the Philips headquarters is located. He also served as the Audit Director of Philips Headquarters’ Internal Audit team where he conceptualized and led risk-based audits on Strategy Execution Assurance, Business Process Improvements, and Value Assurance.
Q: Prior to accepting this assignment, you were offered opportunities to lead Philips initiatives in the U.S. and the U.K. What made you decide to move to the Philippines?
JS: I had seen the business globally at HQ and had accessed data from every part of the world. The Philippines has a 100-million-strong population, a 6.9 percent GDP growth, and projections in the area of that magnitude every few years. It’s a very attractive market based on demographics and per capita income, and we have not served the market commensurate to what it needs. As a business leader, I see opportunity. There is growth that this country offers. If we do the right things, we can have impact here. Europe, the US, the UK are mature markets; here you get to be more entrepreneurial.
Q: Your recent marketing campaign, EyeComfort, emphasizes a different approach to lighting than just the usual brightening up of a room or the elimination of darkness.
JS: Our responsibility as the global leader in lighting technology doesn’t stop in producing and promoting the use of LEDs. We are also committed to educating consumers about sustainable illumination. We strive to empower the individual by bringing together an in-depth understanding of user needs, lighting applications, and scientific insights to create evidence-based lighting solutions for optimal vision, sense of well-being and performance. We are aware, more than anyone else in the industry, that light influences the human body in greater schemes. Our human-centric lighting efforts are devoted to enhancing human performance, comfort, health and well-being, separately or in some combinations.
Globally, lighting accounts for 15 percent of energy usage. In the Philippines, my estimate would be 19-20 percent.
Q: How has the Philippine market responded to the use of LED’s in their homes and businesses?
JS: The market is increasing adoption of LED’s, and households that have converted into LED’s have noticed a significant drop in their electricity bills. Globally, lighting accounts for 15 percent of energy usage. In the Philippines, my estimate would be 19-20 percent. But as for Filipinos who want to save, the first thing they think of is air conditioning, and lighting is a forgotten fact. They don't realize that a simple switch to LED will bring about 50-80 percent savings.
This is a rather special domain, where we have decades of experience in. You have to understand all aspects of lighting that are not harsh on the eyes. Glare and flicker are factors that you have to manage; otherwise your consumer will have experiences like headaches.
We take pains to say that it’s the right kind of light for your houses. The Filipino family will have the benefit of eye comfort that will be in-built into our products. That is how we will be talking to the B2C market moving forward.
Q: Tell us about your other campaign, Light Beyond Illumination, which goes beyond functionality and energy savings.
JS: Technology has enabled possibilities for the consumer. One example is Philips Hue, which has not yet launched in the Philippine market. You can control the light of the room through your phone app and set the mood calling to your preference. There are a few thousand colors that you can choose from. One consumer who trades stocks programs it and when the share price of a certain stock goes up, his room lights up green – and it goes below, it reflects a different color.
Q: Obviously there is connectedness going on, similar to what we can expect from the Internet of Things. Data, lighting, and the needs of the user are all interrelated to deliver maximum service. You’ve mentioned the B2C market. What would your approach be to the B2B market?
JS: Let’s take an office. This kind of smart lighting can know if someone is sitting in the room or not. Translate those capabilities to a full building. Looking for the data of six months, you find that your building has an occupancy rate of 65 percent; you realize that you have more floor space than you need. In a BPO setting, the biggest expense aside from salaries is real estate. The manager who uses our lighting system can reduce costs in rentals of two floors; he rents them out because he sees he doesn’t need them.
We will be working with the architect and the developer while the building is being built. In that way, we can design the lighting and its systems from the beginning; we are not just there to fill 1,000 holes with bulbs.
Janitors can be advised that they cannot clean certain rooms that have not been used. They can be advised which rooms to clean based on the lighting system, and will be paid accordingly. That incurs significant savings for the owner.
We are placing emphasis on our B2B business. A large part of it will be project business, working with the architect and the developer while the building is being built. In that way, we can design the lighting and its systems from the beginning; we are not just there to fill 1,000 holes with bulbs.
Q: You had significant success in Indonesia with your City Touch campaign. Would you be doing something similar in the Philippines?
JS: I expect to see similar things happen here. We installed more than 9000 street lights in Jakarta; they are connected to the software City Touch which allows the city engineer to have a map of the city on his laptop; every single dot corresponds to a light post, and gets data from every light point like consumption.
Many cities in emerging Asian economies do not have a good view of their lighting aspects; they don’t know how many light points they have. They simply replace the city bulbs when they bust. Customers would complain and then six months later, somebody comes in to take a look. The next administration would build a few lamp posts here and there.
There is opportunity everywhere. When the sun goes down, everybody needs light, regardless of whether you live in an off-grid island or are the wealthiest man in Manila.
We have taken that difficult element out of it. Think of our system as eyes and ears into the city. I can have street lights that detect presence below them like cars and pedestrians. I can program the default setting to below level during midnight because there is not much movement. Then when presence is detected, it will switch back to 100 percent levels. As the engineer, I don’t have to be sitting there manually pressing buttons. It can be automatic and wireless.
You can program your city lighting according to time and ambient lighting. You can detect presence and react to it.
Q: What are the challenges that you encounter in educating your market about this kind of smart tech? And how do you address them?
JV: I talk to city mayors, engineers, and corporate heads. What I say is not completely alien to them. There is opportunity everywhere. When the sun goes down, everybody needs light, regardless of whether you live in an off-grid island or are the wealthiest man in Manila.
After a few months’ break, Time Out Hong Kong magazine will be out on 13 September with a circulation of 150,000 free copies.
The Time Out Hong Kong magazine will be available at high footfall areas and other popular local venues such as restaurants, bars, residential and private clubs, airport lounges, hotels and more spots around the city.
The free quarterly magazine will feature the best things happening in the city over the next three months in the areas of food, drink, music, art, theatre, shopping, hotels, travel and more.
For additional reach, Time Out branded distribution teams will hand out free copies to consumers on 13 September. To celebrate the new magazine, Time Out has produced three videos celebrating Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Time Out Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul will all now be part of Time Out Digital, a business division of Time Out Group.
Tim Webb, MD commercial Asia of Time Out Digital, is heading up the business in the region.
Webb said: “Since we took over Time Out Hong Kong earlier this year, we have focused on optimising and developing more content on our website and social channels to grow our digital traffic. Bringing back the Time Out Hong Kong magazine will further drive our digital metrics and strengthen our brand awareness. We have seen strong demand from advertisers and it is great to see that they are excited about the opportunities we are offering them to connect with our unique millennial audience.”
A recent fairy tale wedding organised by social media influencer Melissa Koh and husband James Chen has sparked a debate on brands getting involved with the personal events such as weddings.
According to the The Straits Times, guests at the wedding recounted shout outs for brands such as Tiffany & Co and Swarovski. Guests were also treated to wedding favours by brands such as TWG Tea, which also had a letterhead plastered on the wedding dinner menus. The wedding took place at the Ritz Carlton Millenia Singapore which got some social media mentions on Koh's Instagram, which reaches around 236,000 followers.
Not only did the move spark a conversation about red packet contributions, a Chinese tradition, it also raised questions if the couple should have made a full disclosure on the sponsorships prior to the wedding. Quoted on ST, one guest said he felt that she created an "ethical problem" by not disclosing the sponsorships to the guests. Yet others at the wedding, felt there was no issue with it.
In a conversation with Marketing, Tan Sze Wee, chairman of ASAS, said that currently, the guidelines of the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice (SCAP) said only apply to marketing communication materials which are produced for and about an event. This is regardless of who organises or sponsors it.
As such, although brand mentions made during the physical event are outside the scope of the SCAP, social media posts mentioning brand involvement in the wedding are subjected to the social media regulations of the SCAP. Separately, under the Income Tax Act, Tan added that all monetary and non-monetary payments and benefits-in-kind are taxable.
Before embarking on collaborations with influencers for events such as weddings, brands should also comply with the guidelines on the full disclosure of the commercial relationship between sponsor and influencer. The same also applies when an influencer promotes an event, Tan explained.
“The brands and influencers should ensure that the marketing communications and content that arise from their working relationship are in accordance with SCAP and are legal, decent, honest and truthful,” Tan said.
Also weighing in on the issue was Edwin Yeo, general manager of SPRG Singapore. Yeo was of the view that a wedding is a private affair and there is no clear line on the matter. He added that this is not a new phenomenon, but at the end of the day, it boils down to how the brands view the sponsorship and what their objectives are.
"Are they looking at it as a marketing opportunity? Or was it a result of existing favourable relationships with said influencer and couple?” Yeo explained.Depending on the objective, the disclosure should be made.
From a brand perspective, association with the influencer or celebrity is part of the equation. Hence, when it comes to sponsorships over events such as weddings, brands should take similar measures like how they do when it comes to selecting the right influencer for the brand.
Be it weddings, commercials or marketing campaigns, you always need to find the right fit when it comes to influencers. Consider if he or she resonate with the brand voice and values.
LuLu Hypermarket has bolstered its presence in Indonesia with the opening of its second store in Serpong, Tangerang, Banten. According to The Jakarta Post, this is part of its plan to further expand its business in the country. The company opened its first outlet in Cakung, East Jakarta, last year.
The report added that the company has committed US500 million in Indonesia over 2016 to 2019. For the new hypermarket, the company had spent US$25 million, this was according to V. Nandakumar, a spokesperson for LuLu Group.
The company added that it is targeting to have 10 stores in Indonesia by 2019, with the next two stores being slated for opening in Sentul and Cikarang, West Java, before mid-2018. Nandakumar explained that despite Indonesia being a new country for the brand, it takes less time to expand its business in the nation compared to other countries.
Currently, LuLu has outlets in Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia India, Indonesia and Malaysia, according to its website. With the new store opening, the company has a total of 127 stores globally.
Marketing has reached out to LuLu Group for comment.
Fast-rising and award-winning communications agency ComCo Southeast Asia marked its first year with the winning of two Quill Awards of Excellence and major new business wins, as well as the launching of an industry-academe linkage and mentorship program designed to discover and develop new trailblazers in the field of communications.
At the recently concluded 15th Quill Awards, ComCo Southeast Asia bagged the Award for Excellence in the Social Media Program Category for “Bringing in the Fun in a Hot Election Season: The Vote M&M’S 2016 Campaign;" this was a social media-focused integrated communications campaign for M&M’S that maximized election-inspired executions for the brand such as the engagement of influential bloggers as campaign managers of the three M&M’S Candy-dates. Activities and platforms included friendly competition, miting de avance, campaign jingles and posters, motorcade, press rounds and other online and on-ground collaterals.
Comco Southeast Asia also took home the Award of Excellence in the Marketing, Advertising and Brand Communication Category for “Igniting Brand Love – The Launch of ComCo Southeast Asia.”
It continues to expand its portfolio of clients by winning new major accounts such as Bridal Gallery, World Vision, Oakley, Called to Rescue, Angkas motorbike hailing application and Eastern Communications. In its first year of operation, its clients already included MARS Chocolates (M&M’s & Snickers), Electrolux, WWF, AirAsia, Goodyear, Lamoiyan Corporation’s Licealiz, TCL, Platinum Karaoke, Pioneer Insurance, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and BPI-Philam Life Assurance. It has also worked on several award-winning projects such as the Snickers Don’t Drive Hungry Campaign, which bagged the Silver Award in Creative Use of Media at the recently held Kidlat Awards; and TCL’s Inspiring Bonding Moments Campaign in the Philippines, which was accorded Highly Commended in the Mumbrella Asia Awards.
ComCo also recently launched the ComCo Mentorship Program or Camp ComCo, designed to discover and transform communication, marketing and multimedia students / fresh graduates into revolutionary professionals of the new disciplines of New PR and Smart Social. The three-month comprehensive industry linkage course and apprenticeship program seeks to awaken creative rebels and arm them with the skills they need to rise above the clutter and create groundbreaking and life-changing communication programs.
Included in the courses are New PR, a strategy based, content driven and channel agnostic way of doing PR; and Smart Social, a holistic and integrated approach in the maximization of digital and social channels, to effectively reach and engage audiences and help influence change. Presented in three phases, Skills Calibration, Strategic Communications Immersio,n and Specialization Elective, Camp ComCo curriculum is facilitated by ComCo Southeast Asia’s pool of marketing and communication experts and its network of industry practitioners in the region. Camp ComCo gives participants the opportunity to interact with experts in the field, work on actual communication projects, and learn about the latest trends in the industry.
“We are honored in what ComCo Southeast Asia has accomplished in its first year. We never imagined that we will grow this fast, service some of the biggest brands in the region, and work alongside the major players in the industry. We are honored with the growing trust and confidence of our clients, partners, and other key stakeholders. We take this as a challenge and inspiration to continue in igniting brand love and social change together with our partner brands and organizations. And with the formal launch of Camp ComCo, igniting talent becomes our solid commitment too.” says Ferdinand Bondoy, Regional Integration and Executive Director of ComCo Southeast Asia.
ComCo Southeast Asia looks forward to helping more businesses and brands ignite brand love and social change among its stakeholders and customers as it launches its new website www.comco-hq.com, which not only includes more details on their services and recent campaigns but includes content and articles to help brands and marketers build their business. ComCo has also moved to its new office on the 32nd floor of BPI-Philam Life Building in Ayala Avenue, Makati.
You Find Limited will be the official silver sponsor for Marketing's iconic Customer Engagement Hong Kong 2017 conference in Hotel ICON.
Scheduled for 13 September 2017, the conference gathers industry experts and top executive speakers to keep marketers on track with the latest trends and insights in customer engagement. Other than officially sponsoring the one-day event, You Find, the one-stop shop digital marketing agency, will also share their experience in social media, search marketing, online reputation management, as well as international and China outreach.
"Customer engagement is at the heart of what we do when we partner with brands and businesses to help them navigate marketing in the digital world. It’s a topic we are passionate about, because we have to strive for positive customer engagement in our everyday work," said Jeffrey Chu, director at You Find.
Admitting that it's challenging for marketers to capture and gain consumer insights based on real-time data analysis, Chu said it's essential for the agency to "do things in creative and innovative ways".
"Digital has influenced our world and our lifestyles, and it's more difficult to gain customer attention due to their shorter attention spans," he explained. "That's why we need an evolved methodology to engage consumers."
Customer Engagement Hong Kong 2017 conference is on its fifth year to uncover insights of engaging, and eventually building loyalty customers.
This year's conference will build on last year's success, delving deeper into the current issues such as the role digital plays in crafting a seamless customer journey, as well as personalising loyalty programmes with marketing automation.
Mindshare, the global media agency network that is part of WPP, has developed ANNA, the global media agency world’s first programmable approach to DSP and DCO control and is launching the offering with partners AppNexus and Jivox.
ANNA is a combination of people, process and technology that creates code that programs DSPs and DCOs as opposed to humans manually configuring them and moves Mindshare clients from the era of ‘programmatic’ media into an era of ‘programmable’ media.
In practical terms a media planner that would have previously set up tens of targeting strategies per campaign through a web based DSP interface – setting variables such as audience types, bids, locations, times and contextual settings - can now use ANNA to create code that configures millions of buying strategies instantly. ANNA is built on top of AppNexus’ programmable platform to achieve this.
At the same time ANNA is also said to automate the loading of creative rules into the DCO system – which ties high definition media targeting to the precise and relevant creative served dynamically, in real time, to individual consumers across all devices and channels at unprecedented scale.
Adam Ray, global chief innovation officer at Mindshare FAST, said: “This one change from human-based DSP/DCO configuration to an integrated code-based DSP/DCO configuration will have profound implications for the industry. What’s beautiful about ANNA is not only the automation of the legwork associated with campaign configuration through the DSP/DCO but also that it enables new levels of complexity to be easily included in the design of both the media and creative elements of the campaign – something previously out of reach of manual configuration."
This in turn, he explained, leads to new and significant opportunities in how clients choose to communicate with their audiences and frees up the human element to spend more time upstream with the data, uncovering insights, turning these into strategic actions and providing the rules that can be re-coded through ANNA directly back into both the DSP and DCO technology at the same time.
"The introduction of the AppNexus Programmable Bidder and the Jivox DCO decision engine allows ANNA to deliver unprecedented scale globally for our clients," he added.
Media Prima Television Networks (MPTN)’s tonton said it will start offering its Malaysian customers the access to Outdoor Channel Asia from early October 2017 onwards. This also opens up to tonton's more than 7 million users in the country who will be able to watch this Asian channel, dedicated to outdoor lifestyles and entertainment.
Outdoor Channel Asia is loaded with a first run and exclusive combination of action, adventure and survival and entertainment programming through the eyes of many great outdoor personalities. Key shows that tonton customers will soon be able to enjoy include like Carter’s W.A.R., Wardens, Trev Gowdy’s Monster Fish, Gold Fever, Dropped, Alaska’s Wild Gourmet, Madfin Shark and The Obsession of Carter Andrews.
The news was shared by director of tonton and licensing and merchandising at Media Prima Television Networks, Airin Zainul (pictured) at the ContentAsia Summit last week.
“Tonton has made great strides since its launch last year and has this year expanded its service by bringing quality Malaysian and international content to Malaysians, Bruneians, and Singaporeans through exclusive partnerships with other service providers,” she said, adding that tonton targets to introduce its brand into one more regional country before 2018 comes.
“In the next quarter, we hope to be available in one more regional country. We hope to expand the brand and its content outside of Malaysia, delivering our local content to the world,” she added, echoing the Asian Stories for the World tagline made famous by sister company Primeworks Studios, the content creation arm of Media Prima.
Gregg Creevey (pictured), managing director of Multi Channels Asia said: “We are ecstatic that our partnership with tonton opens up a brand new channel for Malaysians to have access to our exclusive content, especially those that have a passion and aspiration for the outdoor lifestyle.”
Tonton offers linear channels and over 30,000 hours of catch-up and premium video content, which includes the latest dramas up to six months before TV, talk shows, and movies made in Malaysia. With more than 7 million users to date, 80% of its offerings are local content. tonton said it continues to add over 22,000 new members weekly. Meanwhile, the Outdoor Channel is available in more than 45 million households globally, including almost 10 million households in Asia.
Goodyear Tyre has appointed Performics Singapore as its SEO agency in 11 Asia Pacific markets - Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The agency will cover all aspects of search engine optimisation.
The win follows a review to materialise the benefits of a central regional approach, to search for a business partner to improve and develop Goodyear's SEO approach across the region.
“We are delighted to be working with Performics as our SEO agency across the Asia Pacific region,” Helen Chow, marketing director for Asia Pacific at Goodyear, said.
“We are very pleased to be appointed to lead organic search strategy and drive quality traffic to Goodyear’s websites in the Asia Pacific region,” Vivian Yeo, general manager, Performics, said.
In the second quarter of 2017 ending on 30 June, Goodyear achieved a net income of US$147 million, as compared to US$202 million in the same period last year. Asia Pacific amassed earnings of US$71 million, a 22.8% dip compared to US$92 million in the second quarter last year.
Shopping mall K11 has signed a 10-year deal with video gaming brand Hero Entertainment (英雄互娛) to build VR experience spaces and e-sports themed food, beverage and entertainment zones in nine China cities - Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Wuhan, Ningbo, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The partnership sees K11 becoming the exclusive industry partner of Hero Entertainment, and bringing its Hero Pro League (HPL), one of Asia’s largest mobile e-sports leagues, and other animation, comic, game and novel (ACGN) franchises, to K11 projects in at least nine cities in China.
Some e-sports stadiums will be built as part of K11 projects in at least seven cities across China to promote cultural e-sports events on the international stage and to create a unique and innovative business ecosystem.
With the announcement, K11 said it embarks on a new era of experiential retailing fit for millennials and Gen Z, in which commerce and the latest technological trends are combined.
K11 founder Adrian Cheng said the e-sports sector is fast becoming the next big growth market, and is a cultural event popular among the new generation.
"Moving forward, K11 will create a unique ecosystem that combines art, technology and commerce, while continuing its effort in innovating and promoting cross-cultural exchanges in its physical and online spaces."
K11 Hong Kong will offer pop-up VR experience spaces and e-sports zones for the live broadcast of competitions. It will also host large-scale, international e-sports competitions in the future, while it doubles as a cross-cultural platform for e-sports athletes and coaches, and to support the growth of e-sports in Hong Kong.
Hero Entertainment is the second largest mobile e-sports operator in China with over 400 million registered users.
Mediacorp has launched a new creator’s network, titled Bloomr.SG, in a bid to help local content creators in delivering more content. This comes as the company looks to embark on a new initiative to “nurture and empower” independent creators.
“These creators are digital natives who connect with their communities around interesting ideas, consumer and cultural trends, causes and movements,” the press statement read. The statement added that the move came about as brands are now increasingly turning to these creators to partake in the conversations generated. Brands are also looking to tap on a creator’s influence to connect with their target audiences.
Parminder Singh (pictured), chief commercial and digital officer, Mediacorp, explained that Mediacorp’s advertising partnerships will provide the creators monetisation strength.
"This is to free the creators up to do what they do best – which is being creative. At the same time brands will also be able to benefit from their contemporary and innovative approach to storytelling for compelling brand narratives," Singh said.
The new network aims to offer creators a conducive ideation environment, mentorship and extensive network, which includes Mediacorp’s original IP and digital resources. This is to give creators the platform and resources to create innovative formats in content and brand storytelling, build their own communities and sustain their passion for content creation. 10 creators have signed up with the network so far, specialising in genres such as vlogs, gaming, comedy, animation, DIY, beauty and talk shows.
Meanwhile, VizPro International, Mediacorp’s events arm for live entertainment, has also engaged four creators to produce social media content for the upcoming The Addams Family musical in November. According to Mediacorp, the creators collectively reach over 850,000 subscribers and have generated over 160 million video views on YouTube. It is also currently on the lookout for more creators to join its stable.
Marketing has reached out to Mediacorp for additional comment.
Global real estate services firm JLL has appointed Ross Ballantyne (pictured) as head of corporate solutions marketing, Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, Ballantyne will focus on driving marketing and engagement in JLL's Future of Work framework, a "unique" outlook on the changing world of work and its impact on the next generation of real estate.
He will report to Nicole Worthington, chief marketing officer, JLL Asia Pacific. Ballantyne was most recently the head of marketing, Asia Pacific at DHL Supply Chain for close to three years, and according to his LinkedIn, has been with the company for over seven years. As the head of marketing, he responsible for driving the marketing and external communications agenda across 14 countries in the region, to accelerate business growth and enhance customer retention rates.
Prior to that, Ballantyne was marketing manager, North Asia for 10 months, during which he was responsible for coordinating marketing activities across China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
He also created digital marketing campaigns to drive awareness of DHL Supply Chain's service offering and new growth opportunities, via online advertising, LinkedIn and electronic direct mailers. At DHL Supply Chain, Ballantyne also took on the role of marketing manager for the automotive industry across Europe. He also worked at JP Morgan Chase.
“We’re delighted to welcome Ross Ballantyne to JLL as head of corporate solutions marketing, JLL Asia Pacific. Ross’s extensive experience, gained both in the UK and Singapore, will be a great asset as we continue to develop and implement creative, innovative marketing strategies that deliver business growth and superior client experience," Worthington said.
Chocolate giant Mars will launch a US$1 billion renewable energy global campaign for its M&M's brand, featuring wind turbines alongside its candy character.
Mars is now rolling out a $1 billion investment to help cut greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 67% by 2050, run a poverty reduction and sustainability programme for farmers and suppliers, and ramp up food safety and security efforts, according to The Guardian.
Currently, wind farms in Texas and Scotland generate enough power to cover the electricity for Mars operations in the US and UK. As part of this investment, Mars says it will add wind and solar-powered farms to cover electricity for another nine countries by 2018.
The Snickers, Twix, Milky Way and Skittles maker has also revealed plans to champion renewable energy through its M&M’s brand, featuring the brand’s computer-animated mascots holding up windmills.
Its sustainability investments and M&M’s campaign were announced ahead of the UN general assembly and climate week which will run from 18 to 24 September in New York.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02D3O2EHw2A
Mars CEO Grant F. Reid said in a release announcing Mars' $1 billion sustainability drive: "Through our much-loved M&M’s brand, we can inspire consumers on this important topic and shine the spotlight on renewable energy – one of the solutions that will help us to tackle climate change and meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals."
