Tech Bites: Week of May 23, 2022

NEWS

Alibaba has reached the milestone in the quarter of serving over one billion annual active consumers in China, reaching its target for 2024 ahead of schedule. It achieved a RMB8,317 billion (US$1.3 billion) in global GMV for the fiscal year. It delivered healthy revenue growth of 9% year-over-year for the quarter and 19% year-over-year growth for the fiscal year. See our full report of Alibaba's earnings. 

Yahoo and Hivestack have formed a global partnership to connect their technologies, and enable programmatic DOOH cross-channel media campaigns. Yahoo’s omnichannel demand side platform (DSP), will be integrated into the Hivestack supply side platform (SSP), which will allow Yahoo and its clients to access Hivestack’s DOOH inventory through real-time bidding (RTB) transactions via open exchange and private marketplace (PMP) deals. 

ADA, a data and artificial intelligence company, has acquired SingPost’s ecommerce arm. This deal, which includes the unit’s assets and staff, will strengthen ADA's ecommerce capabilities in technology and enablement, offering clients fully integrated services in Asia Pacific.

Teads has partnered with Singapore Media Exchange, a Singapore-based advertising exchange powered by Mediacorp and Singapore Press Holdings.This enable SMX to leverage Teads’ monetization solutions across devices and formats. 

Consumer insights platform Veylinx and data collection provider Webcall Research have partnered to use Veylinx’s behavioral methodology with Webcall’s qualitative and quantitative data collection experience. The partnership will enable Webcall’s clients across Asia Pacific to use Veylinx solutions like idea screening, concept testing, price optimization, and product tracking to capture more reliable consumer insights throughout the entire innovation funnel.

Tencent has partnered with Singapore-based social enterprise SOOS OIO to organise a series of parenting webinars, workshops and community gaming tournaments at this year's Digital For Life Festival, organised by Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). The events seek to advocate digital wellness among the public and support the growth of a healthy, inclusive and balanced gameplay environment for everyone in Singapore.

JCDecaux has launched an e-learning course called JCDecaux Academy, to foster understanding and awareness of the power of Digital Out-of-Home advertising. The free course covers subjects including media planning in today’s world, public and private media, how to make a creative impact with Digital Out-of-Home, identify and enhance the Digital Out-of-Home journey, create digital audiences outdoors, programmatic trading; and reporting, verification, measurement, and optimisation. 

SoCheers, an India-based digital agency has partnered with the mental strength platform MindPeers for Mental Health Awareness Month in India, to create a thriving and conducive work environment for its employees. 

Nielsen has been selected to participate in TikTok’s Media Mix Modelling Program, which brings together leaders in media mix model marketing measurement to drive reporting consistency and quality for advertisers globally, allowing advertisers to gain more insights into the impact of marketing on the short-form video platform.

The FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK) has released the results of a new survey of the local Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data ecosystem. The findings show that 75% of respondents have chosen Hong Kong as their headquarters while around 70% regard Hong Kong as their top market. Other key findings from the survey include Hong Kong is viewed as an attractive location to build a business based on AI & Big Data thanks to its well-developed and thriving ecosystem of AI companies, AI & Big Data companies in Hong Kong are looking to expand and are focused on hiring engineers, product managers and analytics staff. There is a continued desire for government support around customer education and nurturing talent, as well as in addressing regulatory challenges.

CREA, an ecommerce enabler in Southeast Asia, is strengthening its regional presence by bolstering its logistics network with the opening of a new warehouse in Singapore. It hopes this will boost its regional infrastructure and ensure that the enabler is able to offer a localised service in Singapore.  

EventX, an Asian-focused event technology company providing hybrid event management solutions for businesses and marketers, has acquired an undisclosed amount of virtual land on the decentralized digital real estate platform The Sandbox. The purchased virtual land will be used for building an event-focused digital world and allow organizers and marketers to hold conferences and events, create virtual experiences to shift from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.

PubMatic has launched Connect, a platform to enable media buyers to connect with their target audiences across the open Internet. It combines many of the preferred signal approaches into one platform, including known identity, first- and second-party data, contextual signals, seller-defined audiences, and modeled audiences. The solution enables brands and media buyers to activate a portfolio approach to addressability to improve ad relevance while respecting consumer privacy, ahead of the transition away from the third-party cookie.

MarketHac, an ecommerce intelligent platform, has found that local beauty brands dominate the Indonesian e-commerce market. As of the end of March 2022, MS Glow led the market with a share of 8.2%, followed by Scarlett and Somethinc, which remained strong in second and third places respectively since December 2021. 

Adyen has found that consumers in Asia Pacific are highly discerning in its 2022 Adyen Retail Report, with 61% expecting from retailers the same cross-channel flexibility they grew accustomed to during the pandemic. Their standards have increased and 73% will not revisit a retailer after a bad shopping experience.

Key findings for APAC:

1. One in four APAC businesses connected payments systems to other parts of their organization to drive efficiencies and, as a result, 47% feel their business is now in a better position than prior to the pandemic. 
2. 59% of APAC consumers believe that retailers utilised technology well to make their products available during the pandemic, proving that prioritising digitalisation pays off. 
3. 62% of APAC consumers prefer to shop in a physical store though 65% of them believe these stores should be exciting places to visit.

HypeAuditor, a AI-powered analytics platform for transparent and fraud-free influencer marketing, has found that Generation Z social media influencers are an increasingly formidable presence in the influencer marketing sphere in Australia, earning well above average engagement rates. It found that Australian Gen Z influencers are overwhelmingly popular with followers of their own age. Amongst social media users aged 13-17, the 10 most popular accounts they follow are mostly fellow teenagers, with only two influencers over the age of 20 making the cut.

Xaxis has launched a programmatic Digital Out of Home (pDOOH) campaign at Hong Kong’s MTR advertising for United Asia Finance Limited. The campaign featured three creative advertisements that utilised time targeting based on the operational hours of surrounding businesses while factoring in weekends and public holidays to ensure the best content with the right context is shown to the right audience. United Asia Finance Limited was able to take flexible campaign planning to the next level and elevate its OOH advertisements, allowing it to dynamically define its station mix, panel mix, and audience type, and set messages to be delivered at the best time possible.

Forrester has found Chinese users are much more likely to be receptive to social media, actively engage brands and influencers, trust social media and use it to find deals to buy products and services. It has also found Douyin is catching up with WeChat, especially among younger cohorts, the mobile video industry growth has never been stronger and younger cohorts are still the primary social audience. 

Key findings:

4. Over 40% of online adults in metro China read posts by brands or influencers, far more than in the US. A whopping 70% of marketers in China indicated that they would increase their KOL advertising budget in 2022.
5. Over half of metro online adults in China trust the content posted by brands or companies on social media or believe that social media groups provide a sense of a community, far higher than in the US. And more than one-third of metro Chinese online adults trust the ads posted on social media, compared with just 14% in the US.
6. Only 15% of US online adults agree that they like to purchase products via social media platforms, compared with 60% in metro China.
7. Mobile video apps have gained popularity in China. Douyin is catching up with WeChat in terms of adoption and daily active users, especially among younger people. 
8. The number of heavy users of Kuaishou increased by 10.4% in 2021; Douyin grew by 36.5%. The adoption of social media apps — Weibo, WeChat, and Little Red Book — is also growing thanks to video, such as livestreaming. 
9. As of 2021, monthly active users from Generation Z on social platforms exceeded 300 million, and only 0.6% of Gen Z users say they never use social media apps. The younger cohort keeps up with trends, is willing to try new things, and has increased spending power.

APPOINTMENTS & WINS

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has promoted Chloe Neo to CEO in Singapore, a step up from her role as COO. Neo has been at the group for 14 years and is said to be instrumental in the growth of the Singapore business and regional hub. She will continue to report to Tony Harradine.

Mediabrands has appointed Raymond Dizon to the newly created position of chief integration officer, Mediabrands Philippines.  

Essence has been awarded digital media duties by automotive manufacturing company Chang’an Ford in China. Led from Essence’s Shanghai office, the agency’s remit includes media planning, media activation and content innovation for digital brand and performance marketing activities across Chang’an Ford’s automobile business, covering all its vehicles and dealers in the market. Chang’an Ford was jointly established by Ford Motor Company and Chang’an Automobile in China in 2001. 

Yellow.ai has appointed Surbhi Agarwal as its senior vice president (SVP) of global marketing. Agarwal joins Yellow.ai from Google Cloud, where she led product and solution marketing for data analytics and Cloud AI portfolio.

Havas Media Group Singapore has elevated Russell Lai to chief commercial officer, reporting to Jacqui Lim, who recently expanded her role as CEO of Havas Media Group SG to take on an additional title as chief growth officer of SEA & North Asia of Havas Group. In his new role, Lai will be overseeing the media offerings and commercial priorities of the group, covering two agency brands: Havas Media and Arena Media.  

Outbrain has appointed Benjamin Steel as general manager for Southeast Asia. Steel will be based in Singapore and is responsible for developing the regional business strategy and digital growth, leading the business team and delivering revenue growth from both publisher and advertiser sales. This role reports to Andrew Burke, managing director for APAC & growth markets (India, China and Brazil). Stiller joins from Bench, where he was head of business development for APAC and prior to that, he held senior sales manager roles at eGentic and AB Tasty. 

Vertiv, a digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, has named Rainer Stiller the company’s new chief marketing officer. Stiller will lead Vertiv’s global marketing organisation. He joined Vertiv in 2017 as VP of marketing for EMEA, and was later promoted to VP, global channel marketing.  

Snack Drawer, a creative agency, has been appointed by Netflix ANZ to manage its editorial content and social media. Snack Drawer will be responsible for Netflix ANZ’s social account to drive conversation across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and podcast channels.

Ampverse, a gaming company, has made a series of top management hires: Tine Hansen, head of commercial partnerships, who has worked across Europe, the US, Latin America, and APAC, holding director-level positions at the likes of Sony Pictures and NBC Universal. 

Thomas Jouanno, head of marketing & D2C, who was previously served as president & CMO for Atmosol. Robert Gaxiola, head of creative, who joins from Something Else, the digital content and NFT studio for the publishers of Vogue, Esquire and Robb Report. Jenny Hall was promoted to head of strategic partnerships. 

LingoAce, a Singapore-headquartered education technology company, has appointed Jeremy Lin, Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player, and founder of the Jeremy Lin Foundation, as the company’s first-ever global brandambassador. As part of this ambassadorship, Lin will collaborate with LingoAce to promote language-learning and cross-cultural understanding through education technology.  

Gudangada, a B2B e-commerce platform from Indonesia, has appointed Yuanita Agata as its SVP of brand and commerce solution and Neni Veronica Sukirman as SVP of financial services and revenue management. Agata brings in more than 13 years of experience in the startups and consumer tech industry including time at Gojek, Tencent, and Samsung. Meanwhile, Sukirman brings over 15 years of experience in the financial and startups industry and has worked for Gojek, UOB Bank, and HSBC.