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Daraz and Kaymu announce merger in Asia.

Rocket Internet and Ooredoo established the Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG) in 2014 that has since then become one of the major players in the Asian e-Commerce market. Now, Daraz and Kaymu, two of its companies and both leading e-Commerce players in Asian pioneer markets, have agreed to join forces in order to enhance the value proposition to customers and sellers. The new entity Daraz Group will unite the two companies under one roof and manage their operations across all existing markets with the headquarters in Karachi.

As part of the merger, there will also be certain changes to operations and organization that will allow Daraz Group to leverage synergies on the growth and cost side. Both brands, Daraz and Kaymu, will remain active with separate websites in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and in all other markets the group will operate under a single brand name.


Daraz will continue to operate as a B2C (Business-to-Consumer) marketplace for branded, original products, with premium fulfillment and value-added-services to help professional sellers scale their business. Daraz will continue to provide its customers with 7-day return policy for its wide range of original, quality products from local and international brands.

Kaymu will continue to operate as an open marketplace for smaller businesses and individuals to interact directly with customers through a community based trading platform. In markets with only one brand, the group will operate as a hybrid between the two models.

The decision to operate the two entities together will give the group a 360-degree ownership of e-Commerce in pioneer markets where both Daraz and Kaymu have built unique capabilities.

 


 

Fiji Airways has appointed Baldwin Boyle Shand (BBS) as its public relations agency of record for Singapore and Southeast Asia.

The national carrier for Fiji launched the first direct flights between Nadi, Fiji, and Singapore in April – halving the current flight time to just 10 hours and bridging the gap between Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. The new service also enables convenient onward connections for travellers between India and Fiji.

The appointment follows several regional new business wins for BBS this year in the transport, travel & tourism sector, including Tourism New Zealand, and Royal Caribbean International.

The BBS team is led by Kelly Johnston, along with Yining He, and Disha Gurnani.

 


 

ChristianNguyenGlispa Global Group, a high performance mobile marketing pioneer, announced the appointment of Christian Nguyen as General Manager Southeast Asia as well as its expansion in Southeast Asia with a new office in Singapore. Christian, a former Google executive and mobile marketing veteran, will oversee the growth and operations in the region.

Glispa Global Group supports global advertisers, app developers and publishers to achieve user acquisition and monetization goals via programmatic advertising and marketing efforts. The company provides a full suite of technology-based solutions that tap into big data analytics, targeting over 2 billion mobile users worldwide. The Singapore office will serve as the regional headquarters for Glispa to provide mobile marketing solutions for existing and potential clients in the region.

Christian Nguyen previously held positions such as Head of Mobile (Southeast Asia) at Google, Head of Brand Sales at AdMob, as well as Country Sales Manager at Microsoft. As Southeast Asia has become the world's fastest growing internet region with an accelerating internet user base of currently 260 million, Christian will use his in-depth knowledge in mobile marketing to serve mature markets such as Singapore, hypergrowth mCommerce markets like Indonesia, as well as the emerging mobile markets such as in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Prior to setting up an office in Singapore, Glispa’s strong SEA market presence has been based out of its headquarters in Berlin, where market experts and native speakers from Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines provide services to clients from the region. Opportunities throughout all these markets continue to grow, leading to the decision to open an office in Singapore. Glispa’s vision is to be the mobile performance marketing leader in SEA, and already services major mobile players including Bukalapak, Traveloka, Lazada, Shopee, GrabTaxi, Matahari Mall and Gumi. Glispa has been tracking with the region’s market needs where advertisers have progressed from volume app installs to now being more focused on mobile user quality and return on ad spend, which is aligned with Glispa’s approach to user acquisition and proprietary optimization technology.

 


 

Kelvin KooFALCON Agency appointed Kelvin Koo as a Partner and Managing Director for the Singapore operations as part of its expansion plans.

In his new role, Kelvin will lead a growing team and portfolio of clients across multiple industries, with a goal of continuing his streak of developing award-winning digital campaigns.

Kelvin brings with him a vast amount of experience. Most recently, he was the Head of Digital at Publicis Singapore, where he was involved in several new business wins, which included Audi and OCBC's social media management, and the Health Promotion Board's integrated marketing campaign. He has also won more than 20 effectiveness awards during his time at Publicis. Prior to that, Kelvin co-founded INEO, a boutique digital agency headquartered in Singapore that folded into Publicis Singapore in 2014.

 


 

Dhruv ShankerBlueshift , the leader in Segment-of-One Marketing, has added two highly experienced executives to its Asia-Pacific (APAC) team as the company continues its expansion in the region. Dhruv Shanker joins Blueshift as Vice President & Head of APAC based in Singapore and Nipun Bhatia joins as Vice President of Engineering to launch the company's operations in India.

Nipun BhatiaAs VP & Head of APAC, Shanker will lead Blueshift's expansion by establishing and developing relationships with brands and other leading marketers in the region. Prior to Blueshift, Shanker was the Head of Affiliate Marketing, Asia Pacific for Groupon, based in Singapore. At Groupon, he was responsible for driving strategy, implementation and optimization for the company's highest trafficked region. Before joining Groupon, he worked for Yahoo!, Google and Dell in a variety of strategic management positions.

As VP of Engineering, Bhatia will oversee Blueshift's technology organization as the company continues to grow. Bhatia joins Blueshift from @WalmartLabs, where he was the Senior Director of Engineering, Smart Pricing, and led the team responsible for designing and executing the pricing platform that powers Walmart 's Global eCommerce. Prior to @WalmartLabs, Bhatia worked for Kosmix and Oracle in Silicon Valley, after graduating from Stanford University.

San Francisco based Blueshift already serves several prominent customers in the APAC region, including Redmart, Singapore's largest online grocer, as well as India based companies like Snapdeal, Shopclues, Urban Ladder and Oyo Rooms.

 


 

ICTAwardsFrost & Sullivan honored top ICT firms in Asia Pacific at its 13th annual ICT Awards ceremony at Equinox Restaurant, Swissotel the Stamford in Singapore.

Telstra, PCCW Media, Orange Business Services, ChungHwa Telecom, Telkomsel, Penta Security, Arkadin, Amdocs, Symantec, Huawei and Broadsoft were amongst the companies recognized.

Mr. Andrew Milroy, Senior Vice President, Digital Transformation, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan said the ICT awards seek to recognize best practices and outstanding performance by technology firms in Asia Pacific.

“We are excited to host the annual awards for the 13th time and will continue to host them in the years to come as these awards play an important role in recognizing best practices by ICT firms in Asia Pacific. We hope that this recognition will help ICT firms to continue to push the boundaries of excellence,” he added.

The contenders for the Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific ICT Awards were evaluated on a variety of actual market performance indicators which include revenue growth, market share and growth in market share, leadership in product innovation, breadth of products and solutions, major customer acquisitions, and business and market strategy, amongst other category-specific criteria. A team of 30 leading Frost & Sullivan analysts and consultants based in Asia-Pacific were involved in the shortlisting, evaluation and research process, applying the same thorough approach that has been the hallmark of Frost & Sullivan globally. The findings of the detailed examination are then presented to a panel of independent judges comprising influential personalities, decision makers and thought leaders in Asia-Pacific’s ICT industry, who have in themselves pushed the boundaries of innovation and corporate excellence, in deciding the recipients in each award category.

Take a look at the list of the winners.

2016 ICTA Group photo

 


 

IOT Group Limited subsidiary - OTT Premium Pty Ltd - has entered an exclusive agreement to bring Xstream’s over-the-top media streaming platform to Australia and more than 100 countries across the Asia-Pacific region.

Xstream, one of the only independently owned tier-one streaming companies in the world, offers telcos, broadcasters, production and film companies and content owners the full end to end over-the-top platform to deliver content which can be viewed on any device, at anytime, anywhere.

The Xstream technology will allow global content to be delivered instantly and seamlessly to Australian audiences - and Australian content to be delivered to new audiences around the world.

OTT Premium will be headed up by Bob Morrison who joined Xstream as Managing Director, Asia Pacific in 2015 to launch, manage and grow Xstream’s operations across the region, after previously spending 12 months on the board of Xstream. Bob is a known business strategist and respected industry leader bringing with him over 25 years of entertainment, media, television, content and OTT experience.

Over-the-Top (OTT) applications and services are the platform that delivers streaming and video-on-demand services to use on mobiles, tablet, web, smart TV, set-top-box and consoles and mobile devices. OTT providers are poised for scale and growth as they deliver user content over the Internet bypassing traditional distribution channels more generally, at a lower cost. Examples include Netflix and Apple TV (replacing your regular TV provider) or Skype (replacing your long distance provider).

Existing Xstream clients include Telenor (the world’s fourth biggest telco), Spark New Zealand (formerly Telecom New Zealand) and Bollywood’s largest production studio – Balaji Telefilms and is in discussion with some major players in the APAC region. In addition, OTT Premium will be adopting Xstream’s dynamic business model which means no matter the size of the client, OTT Premium will cohesively scale with each client’s individual needs.

 


 

Andrew BoatmanGrey Group Asia Pacific has appointed Andrew Boatman as Vice President for its GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) line of operations.

Based in Singapore, Andrew will be responsible for all nutrition and cold & flu brands globally, and the oral health brands across South East Asia.

Andrew is a seasoned marketing professional and business leader, who brings 15 years of industry expertise to the new job. Based in London, he was working with the likes of BBDO, iris worldwide and marketing superbrand, Royal Mail.

He joins Grey Group Singapore from Octagon – a global sports and entertainment content marketing arm of the Interpublic Group of Companies. Prior to that, he led the Samsung mobile business for Cheil Worldwide, London.

Andrew is known for running truly integrated pieces of business and his ability to create a culture in which innovative ideas can flourish, always drawing on his diverse background and deep understanding of broadcast, digital, shopper and experiential marketing.

 


 

geometry logoGeometry Global announced the appointment of Diana Cawley as Chief Executive Officer for the Asia Pacific region.

Diana has spent her career focused on serving clients and building brand activation agencies. She joins Geometry Global from BBDO Shanghai, China where she was Managing Director and led an integrated multi-agency team for a key client. Prior to that, she was the Global Head of Retail at Cheil Worldwide, based in Seoul, South Korea. From 2009 to 2012, Diana was Managing Director of Arc in London, a position she achieved after working her way up through the ranks at IMP London and Triangle Group.

Diana will be based in Shanghai and report to global CEO Steve Harding starting July 4, 2016.

John Goodman will conclude his current roles as regional president of Geometry Global, a director of Ogilvy & Mather in Asia Pacific and as the global head of Ogilvy Noor, the Ogilvy group’s Muslim branding practice. He will continue to work with the group on a part-time basis and will also be following a personal ambition by commencing a research-based Ph.D. at Exeter University in the UK. This doctorate will allow him to develop his deep personal interest in the minority Muslim communities of South East Asia.

 


 

NovieGrey Group Indonesia has appointed Novie Andrini as its new Head of Strategy & Digital.

Based in Jakarta, Novie will work closely with Ali Shabaz, Chief Creative Officer, Grey Group Southeast Asia and oversee all planning and strategic initiatives (ATL, Digital, and Shopper Activation) and drive future production collaterals along a more digital-centric approach.

A respected veteran of the marketing and advertising industry, with 19 years of experience, Novie joins Grey Group from Indosat Ooredoo, having spent the last 5 years with the major Indonesian telco. As the Group Head of Marketing Communication and later as Group Head Branding, she implemented various digital initiatives within their marketing functions and played an instrumental part in their branding campaign. In addition to her expertise in the digital space, her previous leadership roles with TelkomVision, Leo Burnett (clients: Telkomsel, McDonald’s, P&G), and Lowe & Partners (Unilever Oral Care) also saw her manage a full spectrum of account management, public relations, and business development activities.

Novie recognizes the exciting potential to drive change in a creative landscape defined by perpetually altering boundaries. Highly-passionate about the need for simple yet effective digital strategies that translate into easily-measurable results, she is excited by the convergence of branding and marketing communications in a digital sphere ripe for disruption.

 


 

ShuheiAdAsia Holdings appoints Shuhei Yamamura as Chief Marketing Officer.

Shuhei Yamamura will be relocating from Japan to Singapore to take on the newly created role, which will see him head up all marketing and sales activities for AdAsia Holdings across South East Asia.

The appointment, which will be effective on June 1, signifies AdAsia Holdings' commitment to expand its South East Asian operations beyond Thailand and Singapore into other high-growth potential markets such as Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan. He will be reporting to Kosuke Sogo, Chief Executive Officer of AdAsia Holdings.

Yamamura joins from Scigineer, Softbank's digital marketing company in Tokyo, where he was in charge of product marketing, including dynamic creative and audience targeting, as Chief Product Officer, and responsible for business development activities throughout the Southeast Asian region.

Yamamura boasts a career spanning more than 17 years of experience. He has worked in a variety of multinational corporations such as the likes of Wacoal Corporation and Recruit Corporation, where he was strongly inspired by the huge potential of internet advertisement. Since 2007, he has produced Ad-tech services focusing on display advertisement in several companies.

His immediate priority in his new role would be to lead the company's expansion into new Asian markets and drive products sales, specifically, AdAsia Holdings' newly launched Digital Platform.

 


 

Steve HeckGetty Images announced the formation of a new Innovation Group, a division of experts focused on meeting the media company’s evolving customer needs, as well as exploring further growth and new revenue streams within the consumer market. Steve Heck, who has served as Getty Images’ Chief Technology Officer, has been appointed as the leader of the specialist group, holding the coveted role of Senior Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer.

Reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Dawn Airey, Heck will develop Getty Images’ global innovation practice, leading a dedicated team focused on creating and experimenting to continue to advance the company’s existing product portfolio, as well as develop new consumer propositions. Leveraging the company’s considerable assets, knowledge and experience, the group will be tasked with creating engaging products and services that supports the company’s overarching mission to continually break new ground and bring Getty Images to the widest possible audience.

The Innovation Group will be focused primarily on research and development with a simple mission: to imagine and experiment. Core areas of concentration will initially centre on technology, with the group revolving and rotating to focus on projects and initiatives across the spectrum of the business.

The Getty Images Innovation Group will be recruited and appointed in the coming months.

In connection with this appointment, Getty Images also announced that Nate Gandert has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer and Jon Miller has been promoted to Chief Information Officer.

As Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Getty Images, Nate Gandert is responsible for leading Getty Images' overall technology strategy and vision. He oversees the development of the company’s e-commerce platform and websites, as well as search architecture with the aim of enriching Getty Images’ extensive product offering to better serve customers worldwide. Nate brings more than 20 years of industry experience with a focus on e-commerce from the areas of product development, performance and scale, enterprise architecture, and search. His career at Getty Images spans over 11 years during which time Nate has held vice president positions in application development, technology and engineering. Prior to Getty Images Nate held vice president and leadership roles at numerous companies in the e-commerce and media sectors.

As Chief Information Officer, Jon Miller is responsible for leading Getty Images’ overall Information technology strategy, vision and execution. This includes overseeing all internal systems, user experience and architecture, as well as Getty Images’ Media Manager Software as a service product offering. Miller brings over 20 years of technology leadership experience to the role, with a diverse career which has seen him leading all aspects of technology in varied contexts, from small startups to large enterprises. Miller has been with Getty Images for over eight years, previously holding vice president positions in technology and enterprise technology. Prior to Getty Images, Miller was Head of Technology for a privately held Seattle based Software Company where he led technical and product changes resulting in customer and revenue growth.

 


 

The Asian Marketing Effectiveness & Strategy Conference and Awards, showcasing the most effective brand communications in the region, announced its 2016 winners at the Grand Hyatt Singapore this evening.

A total of 2 Platinum, 16 Gold, 49 Silver and 58 Bronze trophies were awarded to 71 different campaigns across 13 countries. India led in the medal count with 30 trophies, followed by China and Australia.

The three coveted Agency of the Year trophies for Effectiveness, Media Strategy and Digital Strategy were presented to Ogilvy & Mather India for being the best performing individual agency office in each award section.

The Effectiveness jury, led by Aparna Sundaresh, Global Brand Development Director for Paddlepop and Max at Unilever awarded 6 Gold, 15 Silver and 23 Bronze trophies from the 135 shortlisted entries.

From a list of 71 contenders, the Media Strategy jury, chaired by Rachelle Berges, Head of Media and Connections, Integrated Marketing Communications at Johnson & Johnson, selected 3 Gold, 12 Silver and 13 Bronze trophies.

The Digital Strategy jury, chaired by Gerald Ang, former Global Digital Leader at General Electric gave out 2 Gold, 11 Silver and 12 Bronze awards from a shortlist of 73.

Sunita Venkataraman, Director of Market Insights & Strategy, Asia Pacific and Japan, Intel Corporation led the Data & Analytics and e-Commerce jury to award 1 Platinum, 3 Gold, 7 Silver and 8 Bronze trophies for Data & Analytics, and another Platinum, 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze for e-Commerce.

Please visit www.ames.asia for the full list of winners.

 


 

OMD New Zealand has won the Independent Liquor business following a competitive pitch process.

Independent Liquor is part of Asahi Group Holdings Ltd, and has operations in New Zealand, Australia, United States of America and Canada, in addition to an export business servicing over 15 countries around the globe. The account is effective immediately.

 


 

Following a competitive pitch, Geelong based private health insurer GMHBA has appointed Grey, Melbourne – which is part of WPP AUNZ, Australasia’s leading marketing content and communications group - to handle its brand and retail advertising.

The appointment comes at the right time for GMHBA as it transitions its traditional health insurance business model into a broader healthcare offering. The first major campaign from Grey is due in market at the end of the year.

 


 

eutelsatEutelsat Communications announced the appointment of Philippe Lin as CEO of the Group’s China office.

Philippe will leverage his extensive commercial and institutional experience to steer the development of Eutelsat’s activities in China. He joins Eutelsat from Airbus China after 15 years as Vice President and Chief Representative. Prior to Airbus he held executive appointments at Total, both in Beijing and in Paris. He began his career in China working amongst others for China’s Council for Promotion of International Trade.

Philippe is a French national, a graduate of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) and Canada’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration Publique.

 


 

Kristie AsciakOMD announced the appointment of Kristie Asciak as Head of OMD Fuse, Sydney.

Fuse, OMD’s Content division, has recently been responsible for delivering projects such as Qantas’ Channel 9 program, ‘Ready For Take Off’, the ‘#helloworldRELAY’ for helloworld, as well as the McDonald’s ‘Create Your Taste Food Truck’.

Kristie brings with her 18 years’ marketing experience. She is a creative marketer with diverse experience including brand, sponsorship, events, PR, digital, trade and innovation.  Before joining OMD she was Head of Marketing at Bacardi Lion, and most recently has been working on contract as Communications Director, Telstra at OMD Fuse.

This news follows the announcement that Jez Clark, previous Head of OMD Fuse, will be returning to the UK.  The hire also sees promotions for other senior Fuse staff, with Aaron Miller promoted to Group Communications Director and Katy Eng to Content Strategy Director, reflecting OMD’s increased focus on content-led communications.

Kristie will report to Aimee Buchanan, and her appointment is effective from June 17, 2016.

 


 

Brightcove Inc., the leading global provider of cloud services for video, announced that TV5MONDE, a global television network and leading broadcaster of French language programming, has selected Brightcove Video Cloud to power its regional OTT video service, TV5MONDE+ Asie and TV5MONDE+ Pacifique.

With Brightcove Video Cloud, TV5MONDE will leverage an industry-leading, online video platform to manage and scale its premium OTT service delivering live and on-demand content across 42 countries with over 75 million subscribers in Asia-Pacific.

As a global French television network, TV5MONDE’s mission is to bring audiences closer to vibrant French arts and culture through its diverse selection of subtitled French-language programs that include movies, news, sports, documentaries, cartoons and entertainment. The service will provide audiences with live linear channels and premium content with an all-you-can-eat package for a flat fee.

TV5MONDE will stream up to four live channels using Brightcove’s Video Cloud across desktop, iOS, and Android devices. In addition, OTT subscribers can transform their mobile devices into television remote controls whenever they wish to launch TV5MONDE+ Asie or TV5MONDE+ Pacifique on their connected televisions, bringing about greater convenience, ease of use and a more powerful viewing experience.