Category Archives: Blog

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 11 FEBRUARY 2020

February 11, 2020Blogknowledge, MML, research, social mediakrdsadmin

Facebook Will Shutter Audience Network for Mobile Sites

The decision may be in response to recent changes by companies like Google and Apple to limit audience tracking with third-party cookies amid growing concerns about privacy and brand safety.

Source: https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/facebook-will-shutter-audience-network-for-mobile-sites/571807/

Next on Google Chrome’s Hitlist: Intrusive Ads

Google Chrome is blocking intrusive ad formats within short-form videos from 5 August 2020. More specifically, the ad formats affected will be:

Long, non-skippable pre-roll ads or groups of ads longer than 31 seconds that appear before a video and that cannot be made to skip within the first five seconds
Mid-roll ads of any duration that appear in the middle of a video, interrupting the user’s experience
Image or text ads that appear on top of a playing video and are in the middle (⅓ of the video player window) or cover more than 20% of the video content

Instagram is Testing a New Trimming Tool for Instagram Stories Clips

Instagram is working on a new video trimming feature for Instagram Stories, which would make it easier to edit and upload your Stories clips within the app.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-is-testing-a-new-trimming-tool-for-instagram-stories-clips/571963/

Instagram Rolls Out Option to Reply to Stories With GIFs

It’s a minor update, in relative terms, but now you can reply to a friend’s story with your favorite GIPHY GIFs.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-rolls-out-option-to-reply-to-stories-with-gifs/571730/

IGTV to get monetized

Instagram is looking for opportunities to monetize IGTV to improve the uptake of the platform.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/igtv-monetization-is-coming-which-could-make-it-a-much-more-significant-co/571897/

How Marketers Can Stay One Step Ahead of the Voice Search Trend

Voice search is clearly no longer just another search option to keep in mind
30% of these searches are done without a screen
Voice search queries include three to five keywords and are longer than text-based searches
20% of UK consumers use voice search devices multiple times a day

Source: https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2020/jan/22/how-marketers-can-stay-one-step-ahead-voice-search-trend-guide/

Instagram Adds New Listings of ‘Least Interacted With’ and ‘Most Shown in Feed’ in Following Tab

Instagram has rolled out two new category listings within your ‘Following’ tab which will enable you to see which accounts get the most visibility in your feed, and which ones you rarely engage with.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-adds-new-listings-of-least-interacted-with-and-most-shown-in-f/571870/

TIK TOK UPDATES

TikTok Provides Option to Upload Content via Desktop

This could be handy for digital marketers looking to make use of the rising video app TikTok. Users can now upload TikTok videos via the desktop version of the app.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-provides-option-to-upload-content-via-desktop/571867/

TikTok Is Testing a New Instagram-Like Profile Format

TikTok is reportedly looking to update its profile design, switching to a more Instagram-style format.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktoks-testing-a-new-instagram-like-profile-format-while-questions-remai/571727/

KRDS Singapore Expands Its Senior Team In Mainland China & Singapore

June 3, 2019BlogDigital, digital agency, KRDS Asia, KRDS Singapore, Senior Management, social media marketingkrdsadmin

KRDS Singapore recently welcomed 5 senior hires to the China and Singapore offices to lead and grow different departments in their respective markets.

Joining the Senior Account Management team, we have Ken Tham (pictured first from right) who has over 6 years of experience working with both B2C and B2B brands such as P&G, Porsche, Spotify, Airbnb, Boeing, Montblanc, and HPE. Before this, Ken was an Account Manager at Ketchum where he managed up to 7 to 9 team members for both social, digital and PR work.

Shu Qi Lee (pictured second from right) from Hashmeta has joined as a Senior Account Manager in the Singapore office. She served as Account Manager and subsequently, Senior Account Manager, in Hashmeta. She has managed a few regional brands and has helped grow their digital presence. Some of them were Bosch Home Appliances Asia Pacific, TÜV Rheinland Asia & Africa, DaVinci Gourmet Asia, Tramontina South Asia and NTUC LearningHub. Shu led and won the pitch for the DaVinci Gourmet Asia social media account and spearheaded lead generation campaigns for her ex- clients, DaVinci Gourmet and NTUC LearningHub, through an effective mix of content and visual strategy, media planning & buying and gamification solutions, and results achieved exceeded the clients’ expectations. She also successfully streamlined and improved workflow and processes within the agency for better team performance and client satisfaction.

Yoganand Raju (pictured third from right) will lead the KRDS Design Team to grow their creative capabilities.

As a Creative Director at Rubecon Communications more than 6 years, he led creatives for the key accounts of the agency and worked closely with the client and the internal teams to deliver the best creative solutions for the brand. Yoga was managing teams across the department from copywriters to brand managers and other stakeholders to ensure a seamless flow of creative deliverables that are maintained at industry standards. He ensured the studio personnel are brought up to speed with the latest updates of Adobe CC and worked on design and strategy for new client pitches. He also collaborated with an array of talents such as photographers, illustrators, retouching artist etc from the country and overseas to produce the best creative solutions for the brand.

Some of the key brands that he handled were Amazon.in, Nippon Paint India, Hatsun dairy products, Arun Icecreams, Ibaco, Oyalo Pizza, The Times of India, Beverly Hills Polo Club, SPI Cinemas, Dalmia Bharath Cements, Schwarzkopf Professional, Star Health Insurance, TVS, Sundram Fasteners.

Mia Kuang (pictured fourth from right) will head the Community Management Team in Shanghai. Previously from MSLGROUP China, she worked with global brands like IKEA, P&G Pampers, Melco Resorts & Entertainment. Her expertise includes social media (WeChat) management and digital strategy planning. Mia led a team to maintain WeChat accounts for IKEA (3 million+ followers) and successfully attracted about 1 million+ followers in a year. She supported ‘Make Room for Life’ Campaign for IKEA, which won the Work of Excellence of MSL Global Awards; and also successfully helped her team to win new businesses including Philips, Lexington Home Brands and Rothy’s.

Miriam Dabrowa (pictured fifth from right) joined as a Senior Digital Strategist for Shanghai. Miriam was employed at We Are Social as a Global Team Project Manager and has helped Chinese brands create a global impact in the digital world. In particular, she worked on a successful campaign for Vivo Mobile during the FIFA World Cup, she helped win for her agency the award for Mumbrella Best Localisation of Global Strategy for the campaign “Inspiring Bonding Moments” for TCL. She also was largely responsible for the growth of the JAC Motors global accounts for more than 2 years.

Commenting on the rapid expansion Preetham Venkky, Director at KRDS Asia said:

“We are excited about growing the KRDS family across the various countries we are in. With these new strategic senior hires, we’re confident of delivering more exciting and innovative campaigns to existing clients and partnering with new brands. We’re confident that 2019 will prove to be another fruitful year for KRDS

Omron Places its Social Media Duties With KRDS Singapore Fourth Year In a Row

April 9, 2019Blogadvertising, client, healthcare, social media marketingkrdsadmin

Omron is a trusted name in Healthcare. It has been providing technologically advanced medical monitoring equipment over the past 40 years. Over the past years, they have been recognized for their smart healthcare devices. The trusted brand has renewed its contract with KRDS Singapore for the fourth year in a row since its initial signing in 2015. The renewal arose after KRDS has enabled the brand to amplify their overall reach and engagement in 2018.

The goal for 2019 is to position Omron as the go-to-brand for Healthcare at home. The brand has exciting products in the pipeline which will be a great addition to their current roster of smart devices. The agency will be customizing content to suit the brand’s new positioning. The focus for this year is on video content as they’ve proven to perform better on Facebook. KRDS will be creating more innovative and immersive content for Singapore and Malaysia on Facebook by making use of all the features the platform has to offer.

Commenting on the renewal Preetham Venkky, Director at KRDS Asia said:
“We are humbled and stoked to be working with Omron for another exciting year. 2018 has been a wonderful year where we’ve learnt and grown from each other’s expertise. We’re excited to explore new content formats and visual styles to tell the brand’s story on Facebook. We’re hopeful that we’ll continue to build our relationship with Omron and reach new heights together.

Tang Pei Yi, Assistant Marketing Manager at OMRON HEALTHCARE SINGAPORE PTE LTD, said:
“We value the long-term relationship with KRDS as our Facebook agency for the past four years. KRDS has demonstrated strong capabilities in producing quality and relevant content to engage our target audience. What is more important is that KRDS provided much professionalism to ensure the work is produced in a timely manner and input for effective audience targeting and reach out. We look forward to another great year of collaboration with KRDS!”

KRDS Middle East Revamps UI/UX Website For Nayomi

March 6, 2019Blogkrdsadmin

Founded in 1992 in Saudi Arabia, Nayomi is one of the leading lingerie brands in the Middle East, acknowledged as Most admired Nightwear and Lingerie Brand in the Middle East for 3 years in a row. The brand is known for its soft and delicate pieces of lingerie and nightwear. Over the span of 26 years, the brand has made its mark in Saudi Arabia,UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Morocco and has expanded to 210 stores

The brand approached KRDS Middle East with a brief of revamping their website and to create a smooth UI for their customers for both Mobile and Desktop. The agency created an elegant and immersive website design that aligned with the brand’s personality. The main objective was to provide a seamless shopping experience for the users. The agency has also customized a Style guide and designed more pages for Categories and Offers that’ll boost the SEO ranking of the website.

Desktop-Offerspage

Homepage

The website can be viewed here.

Barbara Colarusso, Marketing and E-commerce director at Nayomi said:
“ When we contacted KRDS, one of the main challenge we had, was to come up with a new look and feel for the website and an improved UI in basically 3 weeks time. KRDS revealed to be a great partner for the project: they understood the urgency of the request and they aligned the necessary resources to deliver the project on time. KRDS customer-centric approach ensured a smooth and successful project implementation. We are now thrilled to see the results of the new website launch. ‘’
Leonard Guillermin, General Manager of KRDS Middle East said:
“We’re pleased to have the opportunity to work with a renowned brand like Nayomi and to help create a brand new look and feel for their website. We believe our expertise in mobile first design will greatly benefit the brand in providing a smooth shopping experience for the customers.”

GramLab Creates a Chinese New Year Themed AR Filter for Prudential

March 1, 2019Blogkrdsadmin

Prudential has partnered with KRDS Singapore from 2018 to help bolster their social media presence. GramLab is the brainchild of KRDS started with a focus on mobile-first marketing & customized Instagram strategies.

Every year, the global insurance company hosts a grand Carnival with plenty of fun games, rides and activities. And this year, they wanted to effectively leverage the social platforms to create an interactive campaign to build buzz around the Carnival.

Keeping this brief in mind, GramLab proposed an idea of a fun AR Filter on Facebook. The filter, on load, detects the user’s face and prompts them to ‘Open their mouth’, and when they do a roller coaster rolls out of their mouth with screams in the background. The filter also features a design inspired by the popular festival, Chinese New Year.

The agency believes that this filter is an ideal way to create brand awareness, drive engagement and motivate the users to visit the PMBC Carnival.

Check out the AR Filter here.

Besides the filter, the agency also helped develop an engaging microsite where the users can learn more about the carnival, play games and even win bonus credits!

Preetham Venkky, Director at GramLab, said:

“We’re happy to be exploring new things on Digital for Prudential every day. We wanted to create an immersive Carnival like experience on Digital and Social for the users. The combined attributes of the microsite and the AR filter will help build the buzz the PMBC Carnival and encourage more visitors. We’re excited to work on more innovative campaigns and achieve success together”

NEX Renews Social Media Contract With KRDS Singapore

February 28, 2019Blogkrdsadmin

NEX is one of the largest malls in the North-East region of Singapore. This 7-storey mall is positioned to be the vibrant, social and recreational hub for the North-East community. NEX has placed the responsibility of handling its social media presence to KRDS Singapore for the second year in a row.

The goals for 2018 was to generate brand awareness and create a unique identity for the mall on Facebook and Instagram. KRDS Singapore was able to achieve that by leveraging trending and topical content and collaborating with influencers like Dee Kosh and Preetipls. Posts created around the Trump-Kim Summit and Ariana Grande’s famous song Thank You, Next became instantly popular amongst the users on social. The Trump-Kim post garnered a reach of 318k. As a result, the mall was able to successfully grow its page fan base by 18% with minimal Ads.

NEX_Image

In 2019, the agency will focus more on customizing content for Instagram and creating more innovative Instagram Stories. The agency will also be exploring fun ways to engage the NEX users and non-users alike with more creative collaborations

Commenting on the renewal Doreen Yeo, Senior Marcom Manager at NEX said:
“NEX is excited to renew our partnership with KRDS, and we look forward to amazing brand and event initiatives to build engagement on our social platforms”
Commenting on the renewal Preetham Venkky, Director at KRDS Asia said:
“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to work with NEX for another fruitful year. We’re looking forward to developing an Instagram-led strategy for the mall. We’re hopeful that our creative efforts will continue to bolster the mall’s presence in the social world.”

Singapore International Foundation Picks KRDS Singapore for Social Duties

November 30, 2018Blogkrdsadmin

Singapore International Foundation is a non-profit organisation that seeks to connect Singaporeans and world communities to build a better world. Through shared ideas, skills and experiences, the organisation has been uplifting lives of people in different sectors like Arts and Culture, Business and Livelihood, Education, Environment & Healthcare. SIF has partnered with KRDS Singapore to strengthen brand awareness in the region and grow its online community.

KRDS-SIF Press Release Image

The agency will take on the role of a strategic counsel and will help raise awareness and participation in SIF’s programmes. KRDS will also be developing a content strategy on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter to engage effectively with SIF’s online community and to bolster links with stakeholders.

The agency will kick-off its social duties with a series of posts for SIF’s International Volunteers Day 2018 campaign to thank their volunteers during the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre’s Giving Week.

Kavita Ratty, Head of Communications from SIF said:
“We are looking forward to this partnership with KRDS Singapore to further amplify the amazing work our Singaporean volunteers are doing to bring world communities together to do good.”

Commenting on the appointment, Preetham Venkky, Director of KRDS Asia said:
“We’re delighted to partner with Singapore International Foundation that aims to facilitate connections between Singaporeans and global communities to create positive social change. We believe we can help SIF make an impact on digital and grow their network of changemakers.”

Michelin Tyres Appoints KRDS Middle East For Digital Duties

September 10, 2018Blogkrdsadmin

KRDS has won the mandate of creating and maintaining Michelin Middle East and Africa website. Michelin holds forefront positions in every tyre market in the world. The brand is known for leveraging its technological leadership, capacity for innovation to produce high-quality products and services, across the world.

KRDS is building a brand new website for establishing Michelin’s digital footprint in the Middle East and Africa region. The site is being built on a WordPress platform.

This website will harbour expert informations and guidance about tyres, from what type of tyre to use for their vehicles and how to choose the perfect tyre as well. All of the information comes with detailed specifications about each and every type of tyre. There will be a separate section on the site which will provide dealer information and help locate the closest dealer to purchase car tyres.

Apart from this, KRDS is also tasked with building a chatbot which will appear on all the pages of the website. The bot will help the users in picking out the best tyre for their cars. It will play the role of a guide and will also handle requests from the users.

David Suaza, who is responsible for Digital Marketing Operations for Michelin, India, Africa & Middle-East commented on the association with KRDS

“We are truly thrilled to work with KRDS on this project. Since the briefing process, the teams showed proactivity and accelerating ideas to offer the best-in-class solutions. At Michelin, passion, innovation and customer centricity are at the core of our success. In this process, we are always willing to embark on new adventures with a key partner like KRDS who embodies our DNA”

ABOUT KRDS:

KRDS is a full service Digital Agency, with over 160 employees in Asia, KRDS’ focus has been on Social Media and Mobile Marketing.

Since launch, KRDS has registered double digit growth, year on year, and has worked with more than 50 brands to date. Some of the clients include DBS, Changi Airport Group, Singapore Tourism Board, Meiji, BreadTalk, Toast Box, Volkswagen, AIA, Unilever, NETS, ION Orchard, Sentosa, Sony, WWF and MoM.

KRDS has been adjudged Mobile and Specialist Agency of The Year 2017.

KRDS has excelled in developing social media strategies integrating application and microsite development, community building and management, along with social ads management. IN 2018, KRDS has also launched GramLab, a sub-agency dedicated to creating content for Instagram.

PRESS CONTACT:

Leonard Guillermin
Director, KRDS EMEA

BNP Paribas Refers KRDS to its Independent Asset Management Group

August 20, 2018Blog, Wechatkrdsadmin

BNP Paribas, a French international banking group and the world’s 8th largest bank by total assets have been working with KRDS since 2016. Following successful multiple campaigns, like the BNP Paribas Brand Ambassador in 2016, KRDS was referred to its dedicated and autonomous asset management business.

The campaign features the implementation of a WeChat account and the ideation and execution of dedicated and specialized content. BNPP AM top articles themes include investment strategies and asset markets trends.

The objective for BNP Paribas Asset Management is to increase its brand awareness in China and reassert its position as one of the world’s leading asset managers.

Aurelien Ferrie, General Manager at KRDS Shanghai commented:

“It is a pleasure partnering with BNP Paribas Asset Management and strengthening our relationship with BNP Paribas Group . Again, this launch demonstrate how WeChat is an incredible tool for B2B company to grow their online presence”.

It is no secret that mobile messaging services such as WeChat have become a vital tool for companies to gain a foothold in China; the banking sector is no exception. Today, as the lines between mobile banking and ”super integrated apps” like WeChat are becoming blur, a great number of financial establishments are adapting their strategies to embrace the evolution of a new mobile ecosystem.