& SingTel business sustainability additional Overview review and governance performance financials information 31
ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Business Review Group Digital L!fe
a quick read
market trends Strategic Priorities our assets/strengths
Rapid advances in technology, the Group Digital L!fe’s focus is to create Our most valuable asset is the proliferation of smartphones and a new growth opportunities and half a billion mobile customers surge in demand for mobile internet revenue platforms in mobile-led whose lives are touched by services are changing customer internet usage. SingTel every day in the developed behaviour and expectations. With and emerging markets. These the convergence of technology and By doing so, we are deepening relationships are the foundation communications industries, digital SingTel’s relationships with of our future growth as we broaden companies are competing with us in customers through new products our services. the telco space. and services to inspire, delight and engage our customers in the digital In the emerging markets, where SingTel’s response to these trends space. Our solutions are developed credit card adoption is still low, our led to the establishment of Group through an understanding and billing relationships are especially Digital L!fe in 2012, marking our anticipation of our customers’ important in bringing people into evolution from a traditional telco into behaviour and expectations. the digital world. These billing a digital communications provider. relationships give us significant We are making investments opportunities to build long-term The mobile internet is a game directly and through partnerships customer loyalty. changer; it has altered how people to gain access to new technology live, work and play in developed and talent. In our investments, Group Digital L!fe’s strength markets. Similar trends are playing we balance implementation risks also comes from our network of out in the emerging markets, where with opportunity. We are confident partnerships around the world. limited fixed-line infrastructure that we have in place the right These allow us to accelerate service means that many users’ first structures, capabilities and initiatives adoption as we team up with contact with the internet is through to succeed. specialised vendors and research their mobile devices. This opens institutes, and work with start-ups the door to a new world of media through our corporate venture consumption, shopping and capital arm, SingTel Innov8. TV experiences for users in these markets. 32
SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED AND SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES Business Review Group Digital L!fe
Group Digital L!fe is a key driver in the Group Digital L!fe Creates Value in Two Ways ongoing dual transformation across the SingTel Group. To create value for the Group, we are executing on two strategic priorities. Create new Enhance Firstly, we are focused on creating new growth avenues core growth avenues and revenue platforms and revenue communications for the Group. We have already identified platforms services growth areas such as digital advertising our telco and big data, where our telco assets give assets give us us a competitive advantage. We will a competitive continue to explore other opportunities. advantage
Secondly, Group Digital L!fe is responsible for enhancing SingTel’s core communications offerings with products and services that are not only essential to our customers’ daily lives, but also inspire and delight them.
Instead of trying to out-innovate the Over half a Billing Customer location billion mobile relationships knowledge patterns many entrepreneurs in the digital space, customers and extensive our approach is to collaborate with other across Asia customer and Africa touchpoints telcos, specialised vendors and research institutes, and to invest in start-ups that have the potential to disrupt towards failure is also guided by an Amobee recently invested in a data adjacent industries and their traditional important principle – “fail fast and centre in Singapore to support its regional operating models. fail cheap”. growth. This was made possible through the close relationship between SingTel Group Digital L!fe’s activities in Singapore Expanding our Foothold and its partners in the common adoption and Australia are also crucial in helping in Digital Advertising of the Amobee platform. Amobee’s client our regional mobile associates continue list has expanded to include premier to be successful in the digital era. The The exponential growth in smartphone global brands such as Ford, H&M, Lexus, average smartphone penetration rate users and mobile data usage has McDonald’s, the Wall Street Journal and for our associates’ markets is low at changed the dynamics of marketing, with many others. 15% as they transition from a voice- advertising expenditure shifting from centric market to a data-centric one. Our traditional to digital media. Amobee is strengthening its capabilities expertise and knowledge in the digital through acquisitions, notably the space is a real asset to them and their The acquisition of Amobee – our digital purchase of Gradient X, the developer of customers as they drive this transition. advertising arm – in 2012, equips us with a real-time bidding platform for mobile the necessary tools to capture this new advertising. The platform now offers We understand that to innovate in the and growing revenue stream. Just two advanced real-time bidding that includes digital space, we must try many things years on, revenue at Amobee has grown support for multiple advertising channels and that there will be successes and by four times. Amobee has also expanded and formats such as video and HTML5. failures along the way. While we have to Australia, China, India, Indonesia, the been making good progress, our attitude Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. business sustainability additional Overview review and governance performance financials information 33
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
case study: Amobee Bringing the Ford F-150 to Life with an Innovative 3D Mobile Ad Experience
To build on 36 years of success, Ford tapped Amobee Key findings included: to develop a best-of-breed creative execution on • “We Own Work” mobile devices to drive brand awareness and user • Brand Favourability: Message Association: engagement for its latest vehicle, the Ford F-150. % % By using Amobee’s ground-breaking mobile 3D 20 71.1 technology Amobee 3D, Ford was able to bring the (2 times higher than (4 times higher than F-150 brand to life in new ways by pushing the industry average) industry average) creative boundaries with the most realistic virtual showroom experience ever. • Purchase • Aided Brand Consideration: Awareness: Customer engagement achieved by the Amobee 3D F-150 mobile ad campaign far exceeded Ford’s % % expectations, achieving up to two times the industry 40.4 11.4 average of time-spent per ad. Across all measured (2.5 times higher than (higher than industry industry average) categories, the 3D F-150 mobile campaign delivered average) significant increases in brand metrics.
A majority of mobile campaigns are focused " on targeting and big data, which are important. However, the difference between a good mobile campaign and a great one is delivering an amazing interactive and creative experience.
Amobee 3D gives us a brand new creative palette to develop a more engaging ad experience and tell brand stories in ways that are different from what we can do through linear video and traditional expandable mobile-rich media ad units. It’s by far the coolest thing I’ve seen in mobile advertising in the last three years." Mr Brian Bos Ford’s Senior Vice President & Group Director of Emerging Media for Team Detroit 34
SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED AND SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES Business Review Group Digital L!fe
Building Big Data Capabilities Enhancing Core by our extensive Asia experience in Communications Offerings localising products and services that Our rich database of customer cater to our customers’ needs. We gain a information presents us with a valuable To enhance the offerings from Group clear competitive advantage over global opportunity to provide customers Consumer, Group Digital L!fe is competitors by applying this in-depth, with real-time data analytics and data developing a suite of next-generation local knowledge. visualisation solutions. digital products and services to create differentiation factors that inspire, inSing.com is a robust portal that We have set up DataSpark to help delight and engage our customers. connects users in Singapore to businesses and governments make hyperlocal information. A large part better informed decisions that drive Mobile devices have become our of this portal is the HungryGoWhere site strong business outcomes. The key customers’ constant companions. We and app, which were also introduced elements to a great data analytics have, therefore, been aggressively in Malaysia this year. HungryGoWhere service are the ability to understand growing our suite of apps and services remembers customers’ preferences and and predict lifestyle and behavioural to meet customer expectations of access makes relevant recommendations on patterns, and intuitive data visualisation. to products and services that touch where and what to eat. With the food Together with our associates, our various aspects of their lives. obsession in these two countries, the operations give us richness of data that app has gained a tremendous amount cuts across different markets, while our We have identified five major areas of of traction. combined customer reach provides ready focus for our mobile internet businesses: scale for our data analytics solutions. We We are also sharpening NewsLoop to also have unique technology that allows Hyperlocal Content deliver the most relevant news updates real-time, continuous data collection, Hyperlocal content lets people know to our customers. Users in Australia, while ensuring all data provided remains what is going on around them with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, anonymous and the privacy of individuals the most up-to-date information. Singapore and Thailand can already is respected at all times. The content we provide is enhanced access localised content.
Video Creating Value One of the highlights of the year was our with Analytics partnership with Vuclip, a SingTel Innov8 investment. Vuclip is a mobile video always on, service provider, specialising in delivering always connected videos to feature phones, as well as low-cost smartphones on constrained Locating mobile data networks. customers Our mio TV Go app, introduced this year, differentiates our pay TV service in Singapore by offering our customers on-the-go convenience. In addition to live streaming of shows on the move, lifestyle & interactive privacy customers can use the app to discover behaviour visualisation at & security new content and control their patterns over time your fingertips set-top box. Reliably analysing Simplifying processes with Anonymously aggregating data relationships an intuitive dashboard data without violating individuals’ privacy business sustainability additional Overview review and governance performance financials information 35
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Gaming case study: singtel innov8 During the year, we boosted our gaming presence with the introduction of the Generating Value through SingTel Innov8 WePlay app. WePlay is an alternative social gaming platform that recommends SingTel Innov8 (Innov8), our corporate more than 40% of whom were games based on customers’ preferences. venture capital fund, is a key facilitator first-time mobile internet users. It also connects them to a gaming for creating win-win partnerships This service single-handedly enabled community where they have access to between its investees and members more people to experience mobile hundreds of free and paid games. All of the SingTel Group. data than any other campaign by purchases can be billed directly to the a mobile carrier. customers’ SingTel bill. We plan to roll It helps investees access the Group’s out localised versions for India, Indonesia scale and market insights and, through Following its success in India, and the Philippines in FY2015. partnerships, it allows our regional Vuclip worked on a similar campaign mobile associates to tap cutting-edge with Telkomsel in Indonesia and WePlay followed our investment in technology with the opportunity to introduced the Telkomsel Video make it relevant in their respective TheMobileGamer (TMG). TMG provides 500 store in December 2013. In less markets. Vuclip, a US-based mobile than three months, it garnered over a device-neutral gaming experience video provider is, a prime example. 1 million users. as its games can be played on any mobile browser with no downloads In April 2013, Airtel in India leveraged Since Innov8’s investment in or installations required. Vuclip’s technology and introduced August 2012, Vuclip has grown a revolutionary portal that serves from 40 million monthly active Music curated videos at one Rupee each. users (MAUs) to 120 million MAUs. We enhanced our music streaming The initiative was designed to Vuclip has also expanded its product service AMPedTM with a fresh new look encourage mobile data usage in a reach into Indonesia, Malaysia, for the best entertainment experience. market where most users have yet to Thailand and the United Arab AMPed carries the catalogues of all experience the power of the mobile Emirates, making it the world’s major international music labels, as internet. In less than 12 months, largest independent mobile video well as a comprehensive range of music the portal gained 20 million users, and media company. from local and regional artistes. It offers a repository of over 5 million songs in Choosing SingTel Innov8 as an investor has been one of my best addition to money-can’t-buy experiences "decisions since founding Vuclip. Their value-add has provided such as exclusive showcases, autograph us with the best of both worlds: a comprehensive view of the sessions and concerts by top artistes. operator and media worlds because of their close collaboration with the SingTel Group, as well as a top-tier institutional investor’s eCommerce view point when it comes to strategic and operational insights. During the year, we partnered Shopify, " a successful North American eCommerce Mr Nickhil Jakatdar company, to bring its solutions to India, chief executive officer, Vuclip Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. We worked with payment providers in each country to enable transactions in local currencies.