Digital Marketing Association of Hong Kong

Founding members of Digital Marketing Association of Hong Kong (L-R): Rico Chan, Yahoo VP and GM, Hong Kong, India & Southeast Asia, sales; Kevin Huang, Pixels CEO; Elsie Cheung, SCMP COO; Mai Wah Cheung, Next Digital group chief information officer and chief technology officer; Victor Cheng, ComScore VP, North Asia; Anita Lam, head of FMCG and Retail, Greater China, Facebook; Lars Bratsberg, industry leader, agency, Google.

Source: www.campaignasia.com

Seven of Hong Kong’s largest digital players have come together to form the Digital Marketing Association of Hong Kong. Among the founding members are Pixels, ComScore, Facebook, Google, Next Digital, South China Morning Post, and Yahoo!

It was Pixels along with two other companies who first initiated the idea of having an advertising industry body. They saw the need for setting standards and measurements for digital marketing and growing its talent pool. Moreover, they wanted to establish a Hong Kong chapter of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Along with the seven founders, the association now has a pool of 36 members composed of agencies, and several brands such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Expedia.

DMA Hong Kong aims to advance the market by focusing on measurement standards and training.

The New York Times Company Acquires The Wirecutter and The Sweethome

10/24/16

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The New York Times Company today announced that it has acquired The Wirecutter and The Sweethome, product-recommendation services that serve as a guide to technology gear, home products and other consumer services. The acquisition was an all-cash transaction that closed on October 24, 2016.

Founded in 2011 by technology journalist Brian Lam, who worked as an editor at both Gizmodo, and Wired, The Wirecutter and The Sweethome, its sister site, are lists of the best gadgets, gear and other products for people who quickly want to know what to get. The sites are built on the strong editorial backbone of journalists making research-driven, powerful product recommendations. The sites generate revenue primarily through affiliates—that is, money earned by offering direct links to merchants in exchange for a share of any ultimate sale. These merchants include both major online retailers such as Amazon, as well as niche and vertical-specific shops.

“We’re very excited about this acquisition on two fronts. It’s an impressively run business with a very attractive revenue model and its success is built on the foundation of great, rigorously reported service journalism,” said Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times Company. “The New York Times is the definitive source for news, information and entertainment and now we’re working on becoming an authoritative destination for service journalism, with verticals like Cooking, Watching and Well. The practical approach that The Wirecutter and The Sweethome take to product recommendations embodies the same standards and values that are the pillars of our own newsroom. Their service-focused guides align with our commitment to creating products that are an indispensable part of our readers’s lives,” Thompson added.

Following the acquisition, Mr. Lam will stay on in an advisory role, while Jacqui Cheng, editor-in-chief, and Christopher Mascari, product director, will remain in those roles. Ben French, vice president of NYT Beta, will serve as interim general manager and will work to integrate The Wirecutter and The Sweethome into The Times Company.

Mr. Lam said, “The New York Times is the perfect home for The Wirecutter because of our shared love and commitment to reader service and public good through rigorous reporting. And most important, we're thrilled to have the chance to help Times readers find great gear that can improve their lives.”

Some of the statements included in this press release, including those with respect to the integration of this business and strategic goals, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those predicted by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include risks detailed from time to time in The New York Times Company’s publicly filed documents, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 27, 2015. The New York Times Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About The New York Times Company

The New York Times Company is a global media organization dedicated to enhancing society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news and information. The Company includes The New York Times, NYTimes.com, and related properties. It is known globally for excellence in its journalism, and innovation in its print and digital storytelling and its business model. Follow news about the company at @NYTimesComm.

About The Wirecutter

Founded five years ago by journalists fed up with the time and energy it takes to shop, The Wirecutter and its sister site The Sweethome developed a simpler approach to giving buying advice: just tell people exactly what to get in one single guide. The company’s purpose: to help people find great things, quickly and easily. Through rigorous testing, research, and reporting, they create straightforward recommendations that save readers from unnecessary stress, time, and effort.

This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161024006061/en/

Source: The New York Times Company

Digital Marketing Multiplied

The country's very first digital congress, the "IMMAP DigiCon, The Power of X: Digital Multiplied", hosted by the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the  Philippines (IMMAP), promises to be as enlightening  and exciting as the first event hosted by IMMAP 10 years ago.

"This groundbreaking event will be like no other that IMMAP has hosted in the past - more attendees, more learning tracks and most importantly, an even bigger line-up of speakers who will talk about everything digital in the 21st Century. Collectively, they will share their thoughts on this industry that is taking the world by storm", says Donald Lim, Chief Digital Officer of ABS-CBN and touted as the founding father of digital marketing in the country.

The digital landscape in the Philippines continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace; as such, the congress is the perfect venue for the country's digital marketers to keep in step and to learn from digital marketing experts from all over the world, who will share their  knowledge during the 3-day event.

"More industries today are now going purely digital and we are expecting this kind of transformation among many more companies in the future", Lim adds.

For the first time, through "The Power of X: Digital Multiplied", IMMAP fuses together other regular digital marketing conferences - the Mobile Marketing Summit, Digital Commerce Summit, and the IMMAP Summit - into one event, expecting to draw around 3,000 delegates from various industries across the country.

Lim says this congress will be 10 times bigger than before as IMMAP once again enjoins members of the Philippine digital marketing industry and demonstrates to them how brands can grow exponentially with the power of digital, multiplied.

Why "Power of X"? Lim explains that "X" is one of the most powerful letters in the alphabet. It has many possible usages, but it also stands for the unknown. "When it comes to digital, it's up to you to determine what 'X' stands for. In many ways, digital is still misunderstood , and so it gets the 'X' mark or is crossed out of an advertiser's consideration list. How will you be able to amplify your brand in the digital space? It's for you to define your 'X'', he says.

The IMMAP DigiCon will have 10 subject matter tracks and 10 speakers in each track, for a total of 100 speakers. The topics for the 10 tracks include "Branding and Marketing", "Content and Distribution", "Start-ups", "Creatives", "Social and Search", "eCommerce and Payment", "Marketing Technology", "CRM, Data and Analytics", "Research and Measurement", and "Media and Ad Networks".

The likes of Dan Neary, Vice President for Asia of Facebook, Wendy Hogan, Head of Strategy and Marketing Transformation of Oracle, and chief executivesof local companies like Ernest Cu, CEO of Globe Telecom, Kenneth Yang, President and CEO of Golden Arches Development Corp., Fred Uytengsu, President and CEO of Alaska Milk Corp., will be on hand to speak during the plenary sessions. Meanwhile, Sunita Kaur of Spotify, Anna Liechtenstein, Global Chief Startegy Officer of Havas Media, Paul Azzola, COO of PayMaya Philippines, Guy Hearn, Chief Innovation Officer of Omnicom Media Group, Simon Kahn, Chief Marketing Officer of Google Asia Pacific, Gwendolyn Regin, Head of Strategy and Business Development of Asia Mashable, and Sandhya Devanathan of Facebook SEA,to name a few, will be among the 100 speakers expected to provide the learning and sharing of knowledge on digital marketing in the 21st Century.

"Trust is earned, not given... CNN Philippines will continue to provide information you can trust on TV and digital platforms."
- Armie Jarin Bennett, Executive Vice President / Managing Editor, CNN Philippines

"Creativity offers us the ability to reduce, the ability to get things down to the simplest possible form.
 Creativity demands simplicity. You cannot be creative unless you make things simple."
- David Guerrero of BBDO

"Digital is the only type of medium that allows you to react as fast as you get the message."
- Tonypet Sarmiento of Havas Media Ortega

The first "IMMAP DigiCon, The Power of X: Digital Multiplied", will be held on October 10-12, 2016 at the Philippine International Convention Center, Vicente Sotto Street, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Pasay City. For more information and registration details, go to www.immap.com.ph or www.powerofx.ph. Also, visit Facebook page, www.facebook.com/immapPH/ and Twitter, @immapPH.

Smart's contribution to inclusive growth

Stephanie Orlino, the Senior Manager for Public Affairs and Education Program Head of Smart Communications, Inc., has been in the field of community development with Smart for 14 years now. She has been focusing on crafting and implementing sustainable, community-based education programs.

With her efforts to elevate education in our country with the aid of technology, she brought Smart to Fortune magazine with her SWEEP (Smart Wireless Engineering Program). It was cited magazine as one of the companies that makes a social and environmental impact through business strategy and operations.

As an advocate for education, she firmly believes that education is not the just the responsibility of the teachers and the parents, but everyone. Also, she encourages people to take part in supporting and developing education in the country because it is our best root towards development, in all aspects.  


What are the education programs of Smart?

• Tertiary Level

Smart has a roster of programs from basic education all the way to tertiary. But ironically, back in 2003, they started with tertiary level.  

Stephanie Orlino together with her team wanted to aid schools with new technological advancements to enable communities. Thus, SWEEP (Smart Wireless Engineering Program) was organized and it has been running for 13 years now. The program aims to improve the level of technology and engineering education in the Philippines, particularly in the field of Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE). They partner with different colleges and universities all over the country that offer engineering and information technology programs.

SWEEP supports the partner schools by producing up-to-date content and equipment, as well as hands-on trainings, seminars and internships. Smart is aware that theories are strong and sufficient in schools; however, the application of what students learn are lacking. In most cases, what students study in books to what is happening in the industry is way different. Especially, nowadays, the industry of technology is fast-paced and change happens constantly. A lot of schools can’t keep up with these changes in technology. As a result, SWEEP embeds the same training in information and technology that their employees get to the students and teachers.

Smart’s own engineers and personnel train the students and teachers to give the students not just theories but also first-hand experience. The topics that are included in SWEEP are very unique and practical compared to ones in the academe like 3G and LTE.

Yearly, Smart holds awarding ceremonies to encourage innovation and excellence in wireless application development among the partner schools of SWEEP. This serves as a litmus test to gauge the acquired knowledge of the students and teachers. In like manner, it gives opportunity for the scholars to apply what they have learned to develop a wireless application. School teams and applications that have potential are turned into startup companies.  And as of now, there are already four startups developed by SWEEP’s scholars.

• Basic Education

Technocart

It is a 2ft x 2ft cart digital laboratory that contains tablets, laptop, projector, and pocket Wifi. It also comes with content; child and curriculum development, training, and monitoring. The cart costs 200,00 php.

The project was inspired by the famous local education TV show “Batibot”. Their goal is to develop and enhance kindergarten literacy, ranging from alphabet to basic math, in public schools.


School-in-a-Bag

Talking about technology for all and inclusive growth, urban areas should not only be the one who are prioritized. And because of “electricity barrier” in more than 300 remote areas in the country, Smart has come up with a project similar to Technocart. This project is called “School-in-a-Bag”.

School-in-a-Bag is a learning tool package donated to public schools without electricity. It is literal backpack that has solar panel, battery, LED TV, laptop, tablet, pocket wife and learning modules.


Smart helps bring digital learning to remote communities by giving relevant content and engaging both teachers and students to updated innovations even they are far from civilization.


Technology bridges the digital divide

Smart don’t claim to be experts in the field of academe. But they practice inclusivity and partnership and work with the experts, teachers, scientists and non-government officials.

The programs of Smart don’t just aid schools to upgrade their technology because gadgets are very much accessible to everyone and primarily, technology is not their end goal. They aim to cater technology for all; to be a delivery mechanism that teaches students and teachers to use technology to enable individual growth, resulting to a larger scale development.

The heart of their programs is putting together all the possible resources to deliver the right content, and capacitate the teachers to hand over sufficient and correct knowledge to students.