Wrap-up: 9 things you need to know this week

1. Taxi apps in Singapore battle for brand loyalty

In an interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong, Steve Ridgway, former Virgin Atlantic CEO stressed the value of marketing at global companies. “With the global economy picking up, people are realising that their companies are only going to benefit if they have good marketing propositions and if they develop brands,” he said.

3. IKEA evokes the joy of storage with a flock of flying T-shirts

Our sister title Campaign UK chose it as their ‘ad of the day’, and our staff (including Ad Nut) rather enjoyed it too.

4. Starcom MediaVest Group rejigs its management structure

As part of the new changes, SMG has hired industry veteran Mike Amour to head Asia-Pacific as president. THe reshuffles the company’s regional structure revert to the more traditional APAC, EMEA, LATAM, North America and North Asia groupings. “While it’s very easy to call Asia-Pacific one region, the truth is, it’s a mix of geographies, economies and abilities,” commented Amour.

5. "People have gut feelings when something is wrong or inconsistent and they can tell you if something feels off brand more easily than if something is on brand"

We spoke exclusively to the Chris Fjelddahl, co-founder of Eight Partnership, the agency tasked with refining Cathay Pacific's branding. From the lounge to in-flight service, the company recently worked to breathe fresh life into all the airline's customer-facing elements. 

7. How do you sell instant coffee in Vietnam?

Like this, apparently! Nescafe, through Publicis Vietnam, has deployed YouTube's interactive technology to promote a variety of iced coffee. But the effort leaves us cold. What do you think?

8. Is there such a thing as Chinese UX? 

9. Finally, for everyone that couldn't swing a trip to CES in Las Vegas

We couldn't either, FYI! But some of our US and UK colleagues are attending the annual consumer-electronics extravaganza, where they serve up platters of food for thought for marketers. We've gathered some of their CES insights from the future of wearable tech to content creation and commerce.