Driven by lockdowns and remote work, video content consumption has tremendously increased in the last two years, with consumers watching 14.6 billion minutes of video in 2021, a 121 per cent increase from two years before.

Video marketing is expanding and reaching more consumers than ever before across the most popular social media platforms. Every brand is looking for ways to flex their creative muscles via video marketing in engaging with their online customers. 

Since more and more consumers spend a quarter or more of their time watching videos, businesses are using video marketing. I’ve rounded up five video marketing trends I believe we’ll see in video marketing this year.

The explosion of short-form videos

The information age has changed the general attention span. With shorter attention spans, less is more. People can consume the short-form video content quickly and capture the audience’s attention easily.

We also observed that brands have a strong preference in leaning toward short-form video content, ranging from 20 seconds to two minutes.

According to a study by Wootag, the audience overall prefers content between 15-30s with a minimum average view time of 11s which translates to a minimum reach of 50 per cent of the video watched.

Brands are also adopting innovative ways to increase completion for videos that are 30 seconds or more. In videos created by brands that are 30 seconds or more, we have seen brands adopting innovative ways to increase completion such as letting users watch more at the end of their 30s or enabling an interactive means to watch the remaining or building sequences.

Also Read: Diversity and inclusion marketing campaigns: Everyone, everyday, forever

If you want to capture the audience’s attention easily, a short video across 15 to 30 seconds is your choice.

Live video drives far more engagement, the demand is increasing

A recent study projects that the global video streaming market will reach US$184.27 billion by 2027. With 5G technology, it will open up even more new opportunities. Live video is a way to expand your digital presence and potential customer bases by attracting thousands of viewers on social channels.

Moreover, live streaming leads to discussion amongst viewers. In general, it drives six times more interactions over regularly posted videos.  The raw footage with “no-retakes” creates a sense of intensity that isn’t as mimicked in pre-recorded videos and facilitates two-way communication.

It helps customers know brands up close and allows brands to showcase their products or services in an authentic manner. Thanks to the direct interaction with audiences via live comments and Q&A, brands provide audience engagement to viewers which makes them feel like VIPs.

Interactive videos are booming

Interactive videos enable the audience to interact with the video content itself in a variety of ways (including branches, data inputs, quizzes). With interactivity, on average seven seconds are spent interacting with the elements of the video that promotes consideration of the product and/or brand itself.

Through the branches, data inputs, surveys and quizzes, brands can understand the users who they are and what they are interested in. It can be an effective way for marketers to build their target segment.

Customised solutions and services can help business and finance brands to engage with their customers according to the needs of their audience. In the automotive industry, where promotions involve a more lean-forward experience with booking test drives, sign-ups for the latest deals and first come first serve services. 

We have seen a jump in conversions through sign ups, product sales, and a minimum 4X uplift of awareness from the campaigns with the interactivity on our platform last year. 

Men’s health company, Roman, ran a very successful campaign to educate users about their products using instant experience and doubled their CTR and sales with a 45 per cent higher conversion rate.

Shoppable videos will make a big splash

We are entering the era of always-on shopping as we can window shop throughout the day digitally. According to Google research, 63 per cent of YouTube viewers in the UK say that they bought from a brand as a result of seeing it on YouTube.

Bridging the gap between discovery and purchase to deliver a seamless and personalised experience that exceeds customer expectations is critical.

Interactive shoppable videos can simplify the purchase and allow customers directly experience the brand and shop within videos. It reduced customer frustration of constantly redirecting between advertisement pop-ups and websites.

Also Read: 3 stages of marketing for your startup that can drive effective results

Interaction in video improved overall customer experience, conversion and loyalty to the brand. On average, interactive shoppable video drove uplifted four times the traffic to the brand’s e-commerce site.

Data-led video marketing campaign will drive the success

In the digital era, indicators like impressions, completion rates and clickthrough rates will allow marketers to quantify overall campaign performance. Beyond this, there are some ways to gain specific insights and measure them like other digital marketing campaigns to make your future campaign successful.

Through creating multiple segments and running individual tags per segment, you can build audiences based on various engagement parameters and personalise the video content.

Planning a device wise campaign is also a way to understand more the behaviour of your target audience and optimise your strategy based on the data.

Each of the campaigns has its uniqueness, utilising data to analyse and decide the time of interaction in the duration of the video, and real-world signals such as time, weather, sports, etc to create dynamic interactions are both vital to make the campaigns more effective.

In conclusion

Video marketing has never been more important for brands to connect with their audience, capture their behaviour and eventually nurture them to a purchase or conversion.

Under the new normal, marketers have to integrate Video Marketing into their digital marketing and content strategy to reach and engage with audiences.

You will capitalise on this growing segment to increase conversion rate, superior reach and deliver a personalised experience to audiences. 

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It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) games are now a key source of income for many people worldwide. 

Take the Philippines, for instance, where Axie Infinity feeds many a mouth. The P2E metaverse game became very popular in the archipelago, with COVID-19 destroying the jobs and livelihoods of many.

Welcome to the exciting world of P2E games.

But for any of the gaming companies in the market, including Axie Infinity, the journey to the top was not easy. It took great effort, grit and determination. To top it all, Axie built a compelling product with the consumer in mind.

“Getting gamers to embrace your blockchain or metaverse games requires more than hard work,” says Hung Tran. “You cannot win their hearts unless your games are fun and user-friendly.”

P2E vs POE

And this is exactly the cornerstone of the ‘play, own, earn’ (POE) model that Summoners Arena, a startup founded by Tran, has developed. “We remove entry barriers and promote sustainable development where gamers can focus on gameplay while also enjoying financial benefits,” he adds.

Summoners Arena, which Tran, a serial entrepreneur, founded in Vietnam in May 2021, is a role-playing game (RPG) that aims to redefine user experience in the blockchain gaming space. (RPG refers to games in which players take on the roles of imaginary characters who engage in adventures, typically in a particular fantasy setting overseen by a referee).

Also Read: How Sipher won high-profile VCs’ hearts even before its blockchain games hit the market

Summoners Arena integrates traditional and blockchain gaming elements to provide a multi-layered experience for players to participate in immersive gameplay and experience true ownership over gaming assets while earning digital assets.

In this game, players summon heroes to engage in five-vs-five battles with fellow Summoners through various game modes and settings, with heroes represented as NFTs with unique stats and features.

Summoners Arena is set out to be a multi-game universe of various genres made into a franchise based on the antique lore of Summonia and Summonian Heroes.

“Our game requires players to strategically plan their resources, items, characters, and formation to maximise the gaming experience. It is heavily based on the players’ decision-making. This makes it a perfect fit for the current blockchain and crypto uprising,” Tran remarks.

Bridging the gap

In Tran’s opinion, the primary purpose of any game is to satisfy the users in terms of entertainment. However, most P2E gaming players are significantly driven by the earning aspect. The reasons can be ascribed to the lack of sufficient gaming structure or the sophistication of the gameplay.

“We are here to bridge that gap. We aim to help build the blockchain gaming industry to become more balanced between ‘playing’ and ‘earning’ aspects,” adds Tran, who is also the co-founder of OneSoft (the 16th largest game publisher in the world in 2021) and ex-CEO of ABI Game Studio.

“Users can fully enjoy our game and play it in longer terms, just like what they are doing now in the traditional market. At the same time, it gives them the right to control their in-game asset (the NFTs aspect) and can earn some profit while playing. This is what our POE is all about.”

Also Read: Metaverse is around the corner and you should play a role in it

The company claims to have millions of users worldwide playing the traditional version of Summoners Arena.

Summoners Arena is scheduled to launch two official versions of the game, a non-blockchain free-to-play (F2P) version where users cannot earn digital assets and a play-own-earn version. Players of the F2P version are rewarded with free characters and features when they join the POE version.

In the blockchain version (Mainnet), players can play a specific set of game features out of more than ten features already favoured by the players of the traditional version, such as PvP (person vs person), PvE (person vs environment), Dungeon, Weapon Forging, and Black Market.

Even though the Mainnet version has not been launched, it already has many users playing its open beta version. The recent statistics suggest that its strongest user base is from Asia. Tran says the closed beta tests were oversubscribed with over 5,000 users from different countries.

“Besides this, our development team has integrated a mix of NFT and non-NFT structures, allowing traditional players and new blockchain players to experience the game without initial capital investment,” he maintains.

GameFi and opportunities

Global blockchain games account for just a tiny percentage of the overall gaming industry. This presents a massive opportunity.

“One of our goals is to bring the real gaming experience to games on blockchain and convert the traditional gaming users to GameFi (a combination of game and finance) players. Hence, it only gives more benefits for players besides their entertaining purposes,” he explains. 

“Summoners Arena would like to pave the way for traditional gamers towards an easily accessible blockchain game with a well-developed P2E model.”

To date, the gaming startup has raised US$4.25 million across seed funding and strategic financing round. The investors include Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Onechain Technology, GuildFi, Merit Circle, Cosmic Guild, Coin98 Ventures, Istari Ventures, Spartan Group, Impossible Finance, Kyber Ventures, and Kyros Ventures. Prominent angels, including Chang-Han Kim, CEO of Krafton, and Mirza Uddin from Injective Labs, are also among its backers.

Also Read: Infinity Force scores US$5.5M seed funding led by Animoca to provide infra for global P2E communities

Undoubtedly, P2E games are spearheading a new age of blockchain gaming. The opportunity to earn real money by playing a game with blockchain technology and NFTs is attracting even more players and games to the market.

Shortly, more sophisticated products may change the whole GameFi landscape. Summoners Arena intends to bridge the migration of traditional gamers into the crypto world.

But can it emulate the success of the likes of Axie Infinity?

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In an interview with CNBC, Gary Vaynerchuk predicted that 98 per cent of NFT projects would fail. Despite the unfavourable prognosis, he’s still hopeful that the industry will eventually mature and become a permanent fixture in the mainstream. We can expect an extremely volatile market from all the speculation until then.  

Success in the NFT space has generally been characterised by two factors:

• How many of the NFTs were minted out
• What is the floor price?

These KPIs encapsulate the perceived value and potential of these projects through demand and price discovery. Granted that these metrics are valid, there is a trend that I’ve been observing among the projects that have been deemed successful: a secondary mint.

“Where do we go from here? The suspense is a thrill.” – Urbandub

Founders expend a tremendous amount of energy and resources to get the perfect mix of art, tech, community, and utility, culminating in a first NFT mint.

The project will have raised enough capital to implement the plans identified in their roadmap if they get it right.  Which begs the question, why would you need a second mint?

Technical limitations

Once on the blockchain, always on the blockchain. There is no way to easily edit a smart contract or the digital assets tied to it once it has been minted.

If a security flaw was overlooked, or utility offering changes, it will take gargantuan efforts to enforce edits. This leaves little incentive to develop complicated smart contracts at the outset.

As a result, first-generation NFTs tend to be access tokens only which by now have templatised smart contracts at the ready.

Further, a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain can only occupy a maximum of 24KB. This means that complicated dApps need to be split across multiple contracts.

Also Read: Women of Web3: Top women contributors tell us all we need to know about Web3

We can imagine multiple succeeding drops needed to implement a complex contract in its entirety. This is one of the reasons why you’ll find new utility, staking, the introduction of tokens, and play-to-earn mechanisms released in next-generation NFTs.

Keeping things on the down-low

Ideas are cheap, implementation is everything. That’s what you learn as a Web2 startup founder. But there’s still a degree of secrecy that you need to maintain when building your project. This is one thing that boggled me when I entered the Web3 world.

The spirit of collaboration is unparalleled. Especially in the beginning, roadmaps were very comprehensive. You knew exactly where the projects were headed.

These days, builders are more strategic with how they release information to prevent being shafted. The utility released through a 2nd Gen NFT then functions as a hedge on your IP. 

Another benefit of a second-generation NFT is more realistic timelines. One thing I noticed about people invested in NFTs is that they move on a different timescale.

Because it may take time to build a good thing, a slow release of additional benefits may be necessary. Founders can then deliver on their initial promises and add more value to the project as capacity increases.

Storytelling that converts to brand love

It was on April 23, 2021 when Bored Ape Yacht Club first opened minting to the public. In a week, the 10k PFP collection was sold out. On August 28, a token, serums, were arbitrarily airdropped to all holders.

Those who aped in knew it was coming, but v1.0 of the roadmap gave no specifics. As soon as the BAYC holders exposed their beloved Apes to the free serum, Mutant Apes were unleashed.

That experience was storytelling gold that created the hype for 2nd generation mint, among other marketing efforts. The build-up generated over months that peaked with the Ape glow-up drove the demand for the 20k PFP MAYC project so much that mint sold it out in one hour.

That’s the power of a story. Besides, who doesn’t like free things? 

Increasing reach

One crucial decision that founders face when they launch a PFP project is the number of NFTs in a collection. The number that seems to stick is 10k. Or, at times, an auspicious 8,888. In a market where the price is driven by supply and demand, too many tokens may drive the price down.

Also Read: Are NFTs and celebrities a match made in heaven?

Second generation NFTs allow you to increase the number of holders while keeping tabs on the price. This is an approach that  World of Women took.

With their successful genesis collection sold out and a floor price that tracked well even eight months after the initial mint, the team offered 22,222 second-generation NFTs through its WoW Galaxy collection.

More holders increase the visibility of the project and the causes that they support. All while retaining the value for those in the community.

Inflection points

Jungle Freaks is slated to release its third round of NFTs called the Fallout Freaks in May 2022. The team touts “New Artist, New Team, New Era”. They’ve onboarded award-winning Brazilian artist, Andre Muller to lead the way.

Fallout Freaks’ art aims to set a new standard for detail and design, bringing a fresh and modern expression of the Jungle Freaks. Fallout Freaks is the token that completes the JF ecosystem.

Together with JF Gen 1 and JF Motor Club (that serves as a metaverse pass and P2E game), Fallout Freaks brings in the final funding needed to transform Jungle Freaks which started out as a family project into a formidable self-sustaining business model.

Final thoughts

We do need to address the elephant in the room: succeeding NFT drops are a form of fundraising.

One question is why an NFT project would require additional funding months after raising 686Eth (in the case of WoW). Web3 sceptics attribute this to sheer greed, especially with the speculative nature of the space.

However, I think there are sound reasons to create a second-generation drop. Founders can wield this strategy to build long-term value for their shareholders, just like a Series A, B, and C fundraising round for startups.

Simpler projects may not need it, but when it’s time to scale up, it’s time for that next drop.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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Filipino cloud kitchen startup MadEats has secured US$1.7 million in seed funding from JAM Fund, Crystal Towers Capital, and Starling Ventures.

The Manila Angel Investors Network and Rebel Fund, a VC fund powered by a network of Y Combinator alumni, also co-invested in the round.

MadEats previously raised funding from Y Combinator and 335 Fund (run by Paymongo Co-Founder Luis Sia).

MadEats is an online delivery-only restaurant group. It builds its own food concepts, takes orders from its virtual storefront, and fulfills deliveries with its own fleet of riders.

Also Read: How Philippine cloud kitchen industry is piggybacking on the country’s unique food culture, shifting customer behaviour

Since starting in November 2020, MadEats has launched six brands — Yang Gang (Korean fried chicken shop), Chow Time (Chinese takeout), Fried Nice (fried rice), Dot Coffee, MadBakes (desserts), and MadMakes (for bulk orders, corporate packages, and packed meals).

It currently has three ghost kitchens in Makati, Quezon City, and Manila. MadEats plans to expand further in Metro Manila.

The expansion also includes plans to enable its kitchens with advanced technologies, an end-to-end ecosystem of apps, services, custom third-party integrations, and MadKitchenOS. So far, the platform features an automated order routing system and analytics.

Also Read: All female-led MadEats ropes in Tinder co-founder as investor to scale its internet food brands in Philippines

“We want MadEats to be the modern-day virtual restaurant, focusing on creating better products and scaling them faster through ghost kitchens, so customers get a better dining experience, wherever they are,” said CEO Mikee Villareal.

In November 2020, MadEats bagged an undisclosed sum in pre-seed investment, led by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, with the participation of Luis Sia.

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Initially, he wanted to build a solution to streamline the employee rewards process for his BPO employer based in the Philippines. With his minimal knowledge of creating no-code websites and the help of YouTube tutorials, Bo Discarga managed to launch the first version of the solution, MyRewards.

“But as the company started using the solution, internal demands to cater to a bigger audience emerged. We kept adding new functionalities to MyRewards, which paved the way for the birth of Betterteem,” he says.

Discarga (CEO) and Rey Leonard Dumasig (CTO) co-founded Betterteem in Metro Manila in 2021 with a mission to find out and define the specific drivers of employee experience in the BPO sector in Asia Pacific.

An amalgamation of various apps

Betterteem is a predictive workplace app focused on the overall employee journey. It uses machine learning to predict employee churn, provides on-demand mental health support to them, and is a digital community platform to influence their experience positively. Betterteem does this by sifting through volumes of data coming in and out of the app after its daily use by employees.

In simple words, Betterteem amalgamates the features of several HR apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, HRIS, SharePoint, and Intranet. This allows the app to collect usage data and create predictive analytics of a team member’s experience. It alerts people leaders/HR executives about their experience and attrition possibility using its predictive analytics.

Also Read: How machine learning really impacts us in our daily lives

Before founding Betterteem, Discarga spent ten-plus years managing employee engagement and experience in the Philippine BPO sector. In the past, he worked as an employee experience leader for Bank of America, Startek, Accenture, Quantrics, and JPMorgan.

His partner Dumasig is a tech strategist with over 15 years of experience developing and supervising system infrastructure, data security, and implementation of new technologies.

Betterteem targets industries such as telco, hospitality, and healthcare with its app. However, for the next two years, the focus is on the BPO industry in APAC, which accounts for about 38 per cent of the global outsourcing market.

“We realise that for us to be successful in APAC, we will need to start winning in the Philippines, the outsourcing capital of the region. The local BPO sector accounts for about 18 per cent of the global outsourcing market and about 30 per cent of the APAC market. So the focus will be on the local BPO industry for the next two years,” he shares.

If the app is a success in this market, then it will be taken to a market in the APAC region. The region’s total addressable market is estimated to be US$1.18 billion, with over 12.3 million employees as of 2021 and a projected CAGR of 8.5 per cent through 2028.

Betterteem, launched in December last year, currently runs a pilot with several organisations. It bills them per active employee on the platform (US$2.12 a month).

The app mainly competes with similar apps in North America with a presence in the region. “However,” he claims, “the flexibility of our system to integrate into the existing HR solutions of our clients makes us unique. This makes us work with any existing HR systems our clients may already have.”

Betterteem has just announced a US$500,000 fundraise from local angel fund Buko Ventures and IdeaSpace, a non-profit, local startup accelerator. “We have raised this capital to convert our minimum viable product into a billable product, which will allow us to onboard 10,000 users by the end of Q3 and generate an MRR of US$20,000.”

Data privacy regulation is a concern

The AI venture foresees specific challenges as it scales the business. The growing number of new data privacy regulations is one. “Since our business is heavily reliant on collecting data, navigating data compliance will continue to be a challenge for us. Compliance is more challenging because there are no general regulations to comply with, so we would have to tailor-fit our compliance per territory we are serving,” he notes.

Nevertheless, Discarga believes Betterteem’s AI-powered solutions will be the default expectation of the market it serves over the coming years. “This is based on our firm belief that digitalising HR is not just ‘nice to have’ but a necessity for organisations’ future growth and acceleration.”
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Product success is not accidental. It takes a lot of time, tools, and commitment before one can create excellent products with market success.

Creating the product itself is a huge milestone, but it’s just the beginning of the journey. It also takes commitment, dedication, and perseverance to successfully bring a product to life and get the desired ROI.

Here is what you should do to increase your odds of success in bringing your product idea to life.

Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable

You will not always feel comfortable pursuing your dreams. Challenges will emerge, making you doubt the process. Therefore, you need principles to guide you. 

First, you must firmly believe that the product is what you really want to work on. Ask yourself if you’re comfortable with not developing it.

If the thought of not working on it makes you feel sad, try to understand why and write it down. Your journey begins there. However, it is better to pull out from the start if you’re comfortable with leaving it. 

When you start, don’t be too hard on yourself. You will get it right sometimes, but other times, things may go wrong, especially with your first product. Thus, see the process as an experiment.

But then, having a contingency plan is crucial since putting all your eggs in one basket like regular investments is not helpful. Consider other ways to utilise the developed resources.

Have an exit strategy if things go south. Knowing how to repurpose your resources is nonnegotiable.

Having advisors with experience in the product field is a huge plus. Build trust with them because trust is the currency of business. They will always be close even in challenging times. Schedule meetings with them once or twice a month to share the progress and brainstorm.

Finally, you must learn to trust the process. Be open-minded at every stage. Knowing the process and what to expect next lets you stay ahead of the game. 

How to minimise losses if the product development doesn’t go as planned

At every stage of product development, developers must review their set milestones and evaluate the next step, such as an investment or involving a new partner. Ensure you set those milestones with measurable values to help with go/no go decisions.

If the results are deviating from the goals (and they may), you only have to take action in minimising losses. However, decide on a time.

You can reduce losses by selling resources to companies with your target audience. It is a smart way to cover your losses.

Also Read: 9 steps to create a successful product launch strategy

Similarly, you could repurpose your resources for other ventures or sell the idea on sites like Flippa. You could also share knowledge with others as a coach in the form of a course.

In essence, you must be able to think fast and learn to diversify. 

Useful tools to feel more confident

Developers need tools to develop their ideas better. You can get tons of information and resources online. Realizr, Notion, and Demand Metrics are vital tools. 

Every product developer preferably needs to acquire skills in CAD, Photoshop, etc. And if your idea relates to app development, you should learn basic JavaScript. However, we recommend a zero-code approach for testing MVP. Knowing the basics of 3D printing is also fantastic, alongside Calipers. 

The money issue

It’s okay not to have everything figured out at the beginning. You are in a marathon and not a sprint. The most practical step is to manage your income and see if you have monthly spare to invest in your idea. If you can get partners who love your idea, ask them to join you.

If the capital is insufficient, you can get in touch with investors and search for grants since you’re just starting. A conventional loan is the least preferred option, be careful with that.

Again, you should participate in pitch competitions. But ensure you repeatedly practice before attempting to convince sponsors. 

Final thoughts

No entrepreneur becomes successful by doubting themselves. If you are not convinced about your products, how will you sell that idea to prospective investors and customers? Hence, it’s essential to get comfortable with yourself and your capabilities.

Trust will take you far in business. Ensure you deliver on your promises and watch yourself blossom. Good luck bringing your ideas to reality and solving the world’s problems. 

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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More questions than answers as financial probe continues at Zilingo
As per DealStreetAsia, the key issues of contention include the way Zilingo recognised revenue on its books and a previously undisclosed hefty tax liability; Zilingo had not filed financial statements with Singapore’s ACRA.

Sequoia announces steps to tackle ‘willful fraud’
The new measures come in the wake of a few startups under Sequoia’s portfolio facing issues such as financial irregularities; Its portfolio firm Zilingo recently suspended its founder Ankiti Bose over allegations of financial discrepancies.

Ant Group acquires  2C2P
2C2P offers fintech services such as payment acceptance, issuing, and pay-out to merchants across verticals such as ecommerce, financial services, airlines, travel, hospitality, and retail; As part of the deal, 2C2P’s pool of merchants will be plugged into Alipay+.

Indonesian cloud kitchen Hangry raises US$22M to fuel expansion
Investors include Journey Capital, Orzon Ventures, Sassoon Investment, Alpha JWC, Genesis Alternative Ventures and InnoVen; Hangry has 70+ outlets and aims to open between 15-30 more outlets this year.

Filipino BNPL player BillEase secures US$20M debt facility from Lendable
The new funding adds to BillEase’s recent US$11M Series B equity raised from BurdaPrincipal, MDI Ventures, and KB Investment; In addition to BNPL, BillEase also offers personal loans, e-wallet top-ups and popular wallets like GCash, and PayMaya.

‘NFTs offer greater operational efficiencies in administering a membership programme than traditional systems’
Ryde CEO Terence Zou believes its “ride-to-earn” model of breeding new NFTs and gamifying rewards can turn each ride from a perfunctory activity into something rather fun and exciting.

Journey Capital Partners debut new VC fund
It targets Series A startups in SEA with a focus on Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand; From this new fund, Journey Capital has led an investment round into Indonesian foodtech startup Hangry.

Coins.ph names ex-Binance CFO as new chief exec
Wei Zhou brings with him 20 years of experience in the financial sector; A consortium he led recently purchased the Philippine-based digital wallet from Gojek for US$200M.

Society Pass spins off luxury e-tailer arm as Leflair Group
The Leflair Group will acquire e-commerce, lifestyle retail, and online advertising companies in a bid to expand from a single luxury fashion platform to a “lifestyle retail ecosystem” in SEA.

CyberAgent, VIC Partners invest in Vietnam proptech startup Reti
Reti follows an O2O distribution model that aims to bridge the gap between traditional and modern real estate distribution, improve the efficiency and professionalism of sales agents, and enhance the customer’s overall experience.

AirAsia parent Capital A to launch flying taxis in SEA
AirAsia Aviation Group signed an MoU in Feb to lease a minimum of 100 VX4 electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft from Avolon; To launch the business, the air taxis will need type certificates, specialised aviation rules, and infra.

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The pandemic has been the source of much unintentional change for many businesses. It has led to many rolling out unplanned and reactive measures to adapt to their workforce’s challenges.

Organisations are embracing a culture of change like never before and are expected to continue to do so as they build the future workforce.

According to a survey by PwC, organisations with a distinctive culture were 80 per cent more likely to see an increase in employee satisfaction, illustrating how culture has grown and will continue to play a bigger role in organisations’ way forward. 

2022 will be the year of workplace reinvention, where initiatives and culture are intentionally implemented and built. As organisations take the wheel to shape their destiny purposely, how can they create a meaningful impact and positively make a difference in the lives of their employees?

Applying this lens is critical because organisations that can adapt well and accurately predict the needs of their people will also be best placed to adapt to the needs of their customers.

There has been a growing trend of employees switching jobs or leaving the workforce in droves in recent years. For many, the pandemic precipitated a shift in their priorities, bringing employee well-being, personal and employer values and social purpose to the top of their wishlist of ‘wants’ in a job.

A recent EY Global survey also found that more than half (54 per cent) of employees worldwide would consider leaving their jobs if they were not afforded flexibility in where and when they worked after the pandemic.

Organisations are now having to straddle new challenges with their workforce. They have to find ways to fine-tune their work culture to attract and retain talent while ensuring that their business performance boxes are ticked off. To ensure employees feel valued and engaged, employers will need to invest in building a people-first company and purpose-driven culture. 

Building connections to drive employee engagement

Connections take time. New employees may find it even harder to assimilate into their new workplace and connect with their colleagues in an uncertain environment, such as the ongoing pandemic, which has restricted social interactions and contact.

With their primary interactions being largely virtual and likely only with immediate team members, it would be challenging for new employees to fully experience a company’s culture and begin cultivating a sense of belonging. 

Therefore, it is vitally important for organisations to connect new employees to their company purpose, ensuring that, while they are perhaps not physically connected, they feel united behind the company’s vision and mission and their role within it.

This is equally true for organisations with teams based across different countries or regions. To mitigate the lack of business travel, leveraging technology and embracing a digital workplace is key to boosting productivity while enabling effective collaborations that help keep employees invested.

We do this in a number of ways at Gojek, through a range of virtual activities designed to engage employees, including monthly town halls with the company’s leaders, regular virtual workout sessions hosted every week as well as internal talks on different topics such as mental health, sustainable living and more.

Empowering employees through purposeful and meaningful work

The question that employers should ask themselves is, how much of the time their employees spend at work should go towards actually solving customer or product issues to help make lives better, more delightful, convenient or easier?

Also Read: The 5-part agile leadership guide that will make you a better business leader

Providing unique opportunities for employees to truly understand the thinking and conception behind the company’s products, and demonstrating to them how the products improve the lives of millions of people, can go a long way in helping to build empathy amongst the workforce and meaningfully connect them to the work that they do.

Employees who understand the purpose of their contribution may, in turn, be more inspired to create elevated and more impactful solutions down the road. 

As a mission-driven company, at Gojek, we want to ensure employees know and understand the value of their work, holding regular open sharing sessions with our employees to spotlight the real-world impact made.

Gojek’s regular “Impact Spotlight” segment in our monthly town halls showcases impactful case studies and stories of how our products have made a difference in the lives of our driver-partners and merchants.

We also invite driver-partners and merchants to these sessions to share their anecdotes first-hand with employees and help them understand how their work is genuinely making a difference in society. 

One size no longer fits all

It is safe to say that hybrid work is here to stay. Providing employees with flexibility and choice is crucial to workplace happiness.

While the physical workplace and office aren’t going away, employers will need to find a fresh, new approach to manage the post-pandemic expectations of their employees. After all, while some roles require an on-ground presence, not everything requires employees to be onsite.

Organisations will need to find the right balance between allowing their workforce to have the option to work from wherever helps them do their best work and encouraging their presence in the office to foster collaboration and nurture working relationships. 

At the same time, places of work would need to evolve and transform to better cater to a hybrid workforce. Some will look to the office space for social interaction and collaboration, while for others, it will remain an environment for deep, focused work.

Organisations must think about how their office environments can be reworked to maximise employee well-being and enable them to perform at their best when serving customers and deliver results for the business.

A bottom-up approach helps to build an inclusive workplace

Creating a culture where people are respected, valued, and heard is essential and cannot take a back seat in the current climate.

Also Read: Finding strength in adversity: How COVID-19 can shape a resilient workforce

Organisations will need to open up channels of communication for employees to share their views and any concerns they may have and for their voices to be heard, no matter which level they are at. By ensuring employees feel that their voices are heard in the organisation, they can feel more fulfilled and more empowered in how they can help shape the environment they work in.

This also means that after gathering views from employees, companies must ensure that they take action to address the feedback and then close the communication loop with employees by sharing the steps that have been taken.

At Gojek, we introduced an anonymous virtual Q&A platform called “AskGojek”, where employees can ask questions directly to the management team. Similar Q&A sessions are held during every town hall.

We also hold an annual Employee Engagement survey, which helps us better understand our employees’ thoughts on their work experience and how we can improve it. Being more experimentation-oriented and trying out iterations of the existing ways of working can result in an aligned approach that works best for both the organisations and employees.

2022: The year of intentional transformation in the workplace

This year will be the year of organisational change as businesses overcome the enduring challenges of the past two years.

No matter the organisation, employers will need to understand the importance of building an intentional culture that also aligns with its values and beliefs while supporting its business goals. This, in turn, helps to ensure that organisations are attracting the right talent aligned to their purpose while retaining their existing employees.

With employee expectations already intensifying before the pandemic, organisations will also have to be more authentic and transparent with their people while offering greater work flexibility and creating a profound sense of purpose and meaning in work to remain ahead of their competitors.

By shifting from being aspirational to purposeful, from efficient to impactful, and cultivating people-centred cultures that are healthy and inclusive, organisations can build and nurture an engaged workforce, reaping wider benefits for the business and its customers and allowing the organisation to thrive in the long-term. 

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Going by the tremendous amount of activities in — and the capital flowing into — the sector, it is clear that Web3 is no longer a fad. It is, in fact, the present and the future!

From multinationals to young startups, everyone is jumping on the Web3 and metaverse bandwagon. Facebook (Meta) has already announced its arrival. Spotify, Twitter, Alphabet, Amazon, Tesla, and Shopify have either started or are planning to adopt it shortly. 

The popularity of metaverse games has added to this excitement. Vietnamese unicorn Sky Mavis is killing it in Southeast Asia with its popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity. The company grew to a billion-dollar company in the blink of an eye. 

New Web3 companies and games sprout almost every day. Across Greater Southeast Asia, there are over a hundred startups operating in various verticals — asset management, NFT, DAO, infrastructure, DeFi, mining, exchange, gaming, and wallet. The names include YGG, Sipher, and GuildFi, which have earned their respective places in the Web3 world. We have also seen various initiatives by organisations that aim to promote the use of this technology to the wider public, especially those who have never been exposed to it, such as the community of local artists.

Taking a leaf out of the success of these ventures and projects, startups operating in other non-related areas have also started joining the Web3 race.

For instance, Singapore’s ride-hailing company Ryde recently announced its entry into the NFTs space. We have also started seeing more innovative use cases for NFTs as organisations have begun to utilise them to fundraise for various causes –including a war fund.

As traditional investors start giving more attention to the space, we also see the rise of Web3-focussed investors, such as Binance Labs, Cake DeFi and Luno Expeditions.

Also Read: ‘I have seen the future, and it works.’ But is it Web3?

All this points to a growing euphoria around the web3 world.

As Web3 started proliferating sometime last year, we at e27 determined to make the most of it — not by introducing our own NFTs/collectibles/digital merchandise (although we don’t dismiss the possibilities) but by extensively covering the space.

The foundation stone was laid in Q1 2022; we gave coverage to many great startups and entrepreneurs and spoke to some of the brightest minds in the vertical, such as Animoca Brands’s Yat Siu.

It is now time for us to build on this foundation. We will continue to cover new Web3 companies and projects throughout this quarter. We have interviews lined up with security experts in the cryptocurrency space and plan to introduce and profile some of the most active investors in the space. 

We want our readers to be part of this journey; you can suggest what you think are the best companies in the domain. We will consider them for publication.

Watch this space, and stay tuned.

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The year 2021 was a truly transformative one for the mobile app industry. In light of multiple lockdowns, as well as wholesale privacy changes affecting user acquisition on iOS, consumer habits and user behaviour patterns have undergone immense change and impressive growth. But how have these challenges affected the app marketing ecosystem?

Mobile app trends 2022 report from Adjust provides expert industry analysis of the global and regional developments of the mobile marketing economy over the past year. Using data from the top 2,500 apps, the report sheds light on top trends and benchmarks across fintech, e-commerce, and gaming verticals, equipping advertisers with actionable insights to drive app growth in 2022.

Also read: Massive gains for global startups in China’s robust market

The report analyses trends in installs, sessions, ATT opt-in rates, retention, re-attribution, and more to help you better understand your audience and the current state of the app economy. Adjust’s report reveals impressive growth across key metrics, showing that highly engaged users are coming in droves.

Along with massive improvements, the analysis also shines a spotlight on a somewhat lagging retention performance, emphasising the importance of ensuring that the same attention is paid to retention and LTV as it is to UA. 

Key findings from the report

Also read: 6 fintech startups you should keep an eye out for

Some of the important findings revealed based on the report are:

• Installs grew year-on-year in 2021 in all verticals and regions tracked, with fintech up by 35%, e-commerce by 12%, and gaming by 32%. 
• Stock trading and crypto apps grew significantly and have highly engaged user bases. While they make up 7% and 2% of all fintech app installs, respectively, they account for 17% and 6% of sessions. 
• Hyper casual games make up the highest share of installs within the gaming vertical (27%), but it’s an action that accounts for the largest proportion of sessions (30%). 
• Marketplace apps have significantly better retention rates than the averages for the rest of the e-commerce vertical (day 1 27% vs. 19% and day 30 10% vs. 7).
• Fintech, e-commerce, and gaming all had their highest in-app revenue months on record in 2021, according to Adjust data. 

For a complete analysis into the app marketing industry, download Mobile app trends 2022: A global benchmark of app performance.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Adjust

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