Branded Content

Stylish living in a resort-inspired sanctuary

by FG Media | Apr 17, 2019 | Branded Content, Lifestyle

Incorporating nature-inspired landscapes and bold architectural touches for a striking modern aesthetic, The Clio 2 Residences presents the latest collection of freehold high-rise homes in the serene 788-acre resort-style township of IOI Resort City.

Rapidly emerging as the latest hotspot for those who crave a conducive lifestyle surrounded by attractions and amenities, IOI Resort City boasts luxury hotels like Le Méridien Putrajaya and the Putrajaya Marriott Hotel, the championship-grade Palm Garden Golf Course and the thriving 1.5 million square foot IOI City Mall, which forms the pulse of this self-contained eco-city.

Poised to delight visitors with an even wider selection of outlets and lifestyle offerings, Phase 2 of IOI City Mall is currently underway and progressing smoothly, on track for its scheduled completion by Q4 2021.

A Chic Urban Haven

With multiple options of layout types featuring practical and well-planned interior spaces, homes at Clio 2 are ideal for the needs of first-time home owners and young families. At the same time, units here are perfectly designed for spaciousness and comfortable living, with three bedrooms for each layout type.

Those who own a home at Clio 2 will also enjoy low density living, with only eight units per floor. Furthermore, all units offer a semi-D layout for greater privacy.

To complement an active lifestyle, Clio 2 is equipped with over 10 recreational facilities including a lap pool, gymnasium, BBQ area, multiple Sky Gardens and more. There is also a 4-tier security system in place for added peace of mind.

Speaking to the media during the preview of Clio 2 at IOI Galleria @ IOI Resort City, IOI Properties Group Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Jason Tie said “Clio 2 is an ideal first home for young working adults and first-time home buyers with a highly affordable price tag. A comfortable 3-bedroom unit starts from only RM492,000,” he said, adding “Clio 2 is located a mere 700 metres from the upcoming IOI City Mall Phase 2, and less than 30 kilometres from KL city centre.”

The best time is now to own your dream home! IOI Properties has recently unveiled a host of home ownership incentives under an unprecedented ‘IOI F.R.E.E. Ownership’ campaign. Encapsulating the program’s benefits, the name ‘IOI F.R.E.E.’ is an abbreviation for Flexible financing options, Rebates, Extra rebates and Exemptions on stamp duties. In addition to the government’s waiver of stamp duties for both MOT & loan documents, IOI Properties is covering all SPA & loan legal fees. Collectively, flexible financing with extra cash in hand, rebates and free legal fees add up to a hefty and neat savings for homebuyers. Stamp duty exemptions are applicable to all buyers and not just first-time home buyers.

The Clio 2 Residences is expected to be launched in May 2019. Early birds will enjoy an attractive rebate, low down payment and loan interest subsidy throughout the construction period, making it a nearly zero entry purchase. In conjunction with the official opening of the Clio 2 show unit on 14 April, there will be fun activities to enjoy at IOI Galleria @ IOI Resort City.

For more information, call 03-8947 8899
or visit IOI Galleria @ IOI Resort City.

BMW’s 7th-Gen 3 series set to rock

by FG Media | Apr 15, 2019 | Branded Content, Lifestyle

BMW Malaysia has unveiled the seventh generation of its iconic 3 Series, which has sold more than 15 million units globally.

At its launch in Kuala Lumpur recently, Harald Hoelzl, managing director of BMW Group Malaysia said the new 3 Series took the signature characteristics of a BMW “to another level”.

“The BMW 3 Series is the model that established the premium sports sedan segment. For over 45 years, the 3 Series has continuously raised the benchmark for Sheer Driving Pleasure in the premium automotive industry.

“Today, the All-New BMW 3 Series in its seventh generation, with a new dynamic design, superior driving dynamics, as well as technology and innovation, never seen before in the Malaysian automotive industry,” he said.

The sports sedan is introduced in the “M Sport package” exclusively for Malaysia and features a dynamic sporty design with new dimensions. Its precise lines and contoured surfaces lend to a new chapter in its design language, while classic elements such as its kidney grille, headlights and Hofmeister kink are reinterpreted for what BMW says is “a stronger athletic look”.

Innovative functions such as the “BMW Digital Key” is now also available enabling owners to unlock their vehicles and start its engine all with Android smartphones with Near Field Communications (NFC) technology.

when placed at the door handles. The sports sedan is also equipped with the “Parking Assistant” which also features the new “Reversing Assist” which records the car’s journey every 50 metres enabling it to semi-autonomously reverse at low speeds through narrow corners.

A 2.0-litre TwinPower Turbo petrol engine sits at the heart of the new 3 Series – the most powerful of its kind to ever be fitted in a BMW vehicle – shooting the vehicle from 0 to 100km in just 5.8 seconds helped by a drag coefficient of just 0.23. Even so, the manufacturer says the revamped engine guarantees lower fuel consumption and carbon emission, thanks to the further developed 8-speed Steptronic Sport transmission.

The new model is 76mm longer (4,709mm), 16mm wider (1,827mm) and just 6mm taller (1,435mm) than its predecessor thus improving the comfort of passengers in the rear seat. The wheelbase is also longer by 41mm (2,851mm).

For the exterior, one stylish characteristic is the aerodynamic spoiler lip affixed to the rear along with two distinct 90-millimetre tailpipes that give the 3 Series a sporting edge.

BMW says the interior “offers an instant promise of unadulterated driving pleasure” with the M Sport leather steering wheel with multifunction and shift paddles along with the ambient interior lighting. The BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant enters a new era in which drivers will increasingly be able to operate their car and access its functions and information simply by speaking.

For example, the driver can control various vehicle functions such as navigation and air-conditioning simply by interacting with them. It can also explain vehicle functions, provide status updates on things like the oil level and help detect warnings. The intelligent system will pick up on the driver’s habits and preferences and will then adjust the vehicle to suit the driver. Seamless updates performed via Remote Software Upgrade will continuously add new capabilities to the All-New BMW 3 Series.

When activated, the new BMW 3 Series can easily manoeuvre in and out of tight parking spots. Plus, the new “Reversing Assist” provides support when operating in narrow spaces. The intuitive system remembers the last 50 metres of the drive to the parking space and will use that knowledge to assist the driver in exiting the spot by taking over the wheel.

For the dash, the highlight is the “Live Cockpit Professional”. It combines customisable and situation-linked displays on a fully-digital 12.3-inch instrument cluster and 10.25-inch control display. An intuitive operation can be chosen from the control display’s touch control, the “iDrive Controller”, the steering wheel buttons and voice control.

Livery for the new 3 Series comes on Portimao Blue, Black Sapphire, Alpine White, Mineral Grey and Sunset Orange paired with black or cognac leather Vernasca upholstery and interior trim finished in Aluminium Tetragon.

The BMW 330i M Sport’s on-the-road price without insurance is RM328,800.

APPIES 2019: Are you ready?

by FG Media | Apr 4, 2019 | Branded Content

With less than a month before the doors for APPIES Malaysia Marketing Awards & Festival 2019 opens, it’s now crunch time for those pitching.

The panel of judges are already looking forward to the two-day event. After all, they are keen to see what sort of interesting ideas and innovations will be presented.

Just as excited are those attending this year’s APPIES as they will be discussing with and learning from fellow peers. It’s a known fact among all that this festival for marketers and advertisers encourages active participation from the floor.

While there is the understanding that they cannot reveal trade secrets, most are anticipating engaging feedback during the pitches.

Of course, most are also expecting an equal mix of comments and queries from both the judges and audience.

We talk to APPIES Malaysia Chief Judge For Adam Wee Abdullah, Group Chief Marketing Officer and Group Chief Customer Experience Officer for CIMB Group and Eric Wong, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer for Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad..

Adam Wee Abdullah – Chief Judge, APPIES Malaysia

Fair Comment

As this is Malaysia’s fourth APPIES edition, many attending know what they want to take-away from this event. It’s idealistic to say that they might be quick to share or learn certain insights based on their understanding of certain market trends.

For Adam Wee Abdullah, Group Chief Marketing Officer and Group Chief Customer Experience Officer for CIMB Group, expectations must align. Simply put, the APPIES 2019 Chief Judge opined that campaign goals cannot be just results driven.

“This is [proper] guidance for both marketers and fellow juries. It is often during pitches that many consider the form and end-results as critical focuses. This scenario can lead to some dismissing submissions that drive different marketing objectives. Always keep in mind that in a competition like the APPIES, participants and the audience want to learn; specifically, about the various strategies in use or tactics that can be deployed to solve various marketing challenges,” Adam noted.

APPIES Malaysia 2019 judge Eric Wong, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer of Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad, shares similar views about looking beyond results.

For him, The APPIES is a good platform for marketers as it reminds them to always consider: “How is this initiative a step forward [for brands]? Are they building [or reinforcing] important attributes that increase the value of my brand and business?”

Eric Wong Wai Yuen – Chief Customer & Marketing Officer, Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad

Digitally Forward

Eric summed it nicely on what is expected of marketers: focusing on sustainable brand equity building.

Simply put, it’s all about making sure the brand has a positive longevity. That piece of advice is a checkpoint for him as he wants to see how pitches address this long-standing concern.

“This is what marketers should get onto, as opposed to ideas that provide short-term bursts to the top-line,” he added.

For marketers to focus on what they do best, they must get on the digital transformation train fast. Thanks to current and upcoming innovations, media consumption is changing at a rapid pace. Processes must become more personalised and be ‘instant’; speedy on its approach and delivery and immediately impactful.

“The advertising industry is now experiencing a big shift, one that is forcefully changing media planning and execution. All these new notions and expectations that users are demanding for, they are also powering the marketing processes to evolve accordingly,” Eric shared.

Adam believes this industry-wide evolution is something marketers can leverage on. “With the momentum in digital pervasiveness, processes have become more scientific and data driven. The advertising and marketing fraternity need to get better at data collection, curation, and analysis. More importantly, they also need to learn, understand, and adhere to data governance,” he said.

This, in many ways, goes beyond instant gratification and personalisation as marketers search for newer engagement methods.

For Adam, this includes deep-diving into various information assets that are available. What comes to mind immediately are user behavioural and audience interest, both offering higher veracity than the common personal information. “The latter is not as important and, furthermore, consumers will continue to actively protect their privacy,” he added.

Pitching Expectations

“I am hoping to see even more quality submissions this year. Campaigns are much more measurable today and multiple metrics of success can be tracked, especially for those that run on digital platforms. However, I hope to see some surprises in terms of interesting and innovative engagement programmes. Moreover, I want the audience to take full advantage of the event and ask pointed questions. After all, this is how they can learn as well since the APPIES will feature hard-to-access Lve presentations. They will even get opportunities to engage the presenters, or juries, to seek clarification,” said Adam.

Eric, meanwhile, wants to see some work that will show how marketers employ next-gen innovation creatively to campaigns.

He also noted how “These efforts must also address strategic challenges that brands are now facing. Too often, we get caught up with marketing campaigns that does not build on the brand story.”

To attend 2-Days APPIES Malaysia
Marketing Awards Conference

Passionation App Launch

by FG Media | Apr 1, 2019 | Branded Content, Lifestyle

Kuala Lumpur, 1 April 2019 – Innity, APAC’s leading digital media solutions and marketing technology company has ventured into the influencer marketing space with the launch of Passionation, an influencer marketing platform that aims to connect influencers and micro-influencers with leading brands at scale.

Influencer marketing is a growing industry and more marketers seem ready to invest in it. It is estimated that the industry will reach $10 billion by 2020. About 8% of marketers worldwide said that they planned to grow their influencer marketing spend in 2019. (eMarketer, July 2018).

However, some of the biggest pain points marketing managers have is finding the right social influencers, and ensuring the authenticity and transparency of the influencer to avoid spending on fake followers.

Passionation aims to help marketers find their particular niche from their directory of over 2,000 influencers in more than 11 niches and categories. The platform uses an AI-driven analytics platform to drive influencer relationship management, reporting, fraud detection, and ultimately get the best matches for brands to deliver the maximum degree of affinity between a brand and a content creator. The result is more engaging and authentic content to produce more relatable and impactful campaigns.

Marketers can also repurpose influencer campaigns into Innity’s display and mobile ads and programmatically amplify them across its vast network of publishers to reach an even wider audience.

Phang Chee Leong, CEO and Co-founder of Innity said: “To date, Passionation connects over 2000 influencers with more than 500 businesses, including KFC, AirAsia, INTI, Milo, Laneige, and many more. We are also happy to have established close and direct relationships with our influencers since we started. Content creators are often approached by brands and agencies to participate in marketing campaigns, but they are typically full of logistical challenges. Our plan with Passionation is to make the process effortless and transparent for both marketers and influencers.”

Passionation is currently available to clients and influencers across the APAC region, in countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, VIetnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

ABOUT INNITY
Innity is a leading digital media solutions and marketing technology company in Asia that helps publishers monetize content, while connecting brands to the right audience by offering best in-class data-driven mar tech solutions that combines creative programmatic, ad-serving, data management, audience targeting, and high-quality user engagement. Innity has presence in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea, with more than 300 staff to-date.

Gaining the tech edge in business & finance

by FG Media | Apr 1, 2019 | Branded Content, Fun, Lifestyle

With the help of disruptive technologies such as Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cyber Security, Internet of Things (IoT), Data Science & Business Intelligence, the global business & finance scene is undergoing a wave of transformation like never before. Meetings no longer take place in boardrooms, bank transactions no longer require a day-long dealing with bank tellers, while placing more advertisements on newspapers no longer guarantee a business’s success. According to Accenture’s Finance 2020 report, automation will eliminate up to 40% of financial jobs; the question then arises – how can the future workforce of business and finance capitalize on the latest technologies available, to prevent themselves from being replaced by automation and robotics technology? How do we ensure that our next generation of business and finance professionals remain in the other 60%, who are driving along this paradigm shift?

As one of Malaysia’s Premier Tech Universities, APU plays a significant role to ensure that our business and finance graduates are ready to join the Industry Revolution 4.0 workforce. In line with our edge as a University of Technology and Innovation, we ensure that our students graduate with a solid business mindset, enriched by responsiveness towards technology that allows them to partake in the global transformation wave.

Revolutionary Programmes of the Future

According to the Agile Finance Revealed report from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Oracle, almost 50% of top finance leaders are now implementing cloud-based enterprise performance management and robotic process automation in their businesses, and sophisticated technologies will be driving the directions of financial institutions as well as enterprises. This is where fresh buzzwords come into the picture: FinTech (for Financial Technologies), MarTech (for Marketing Technology), BI (for Business Intelligence) and more. There is a rising need for new talents that can amalgamate business and finance knowledge with profound understanding on the way to operate, manage and use technologies to develop business solutions. Through the constant innovation of academic programmes, we have moved a step ahead from delivering traditional business and finance degrees to develop programmes that are designed for the future, such as Digital Marketing, E-Business, FinTech and Blockchain. These programmes, developed under the collective input from our industry advisory panels, incorporate both traditional financial and business strategies with innovative emerging technologies, through the delivery of subjects that are related to Marketing Intelligence, E-Commerce, Digital Currencies and other relevant areas. As traditional degrees are becoming obsolete, APU’s revamped programmes provide a competitive edge to our business and finance graduates, preparing them for emerging jobs that may drive the direction of business and finance in the future.

Industry-Academia Partnership

Our industry partners play a vital role in supporting us to move forward. Partnerships with innovative accelerators such as GrowthX Academy and Supercharger enhances the platform for our students to realize their world-changing ideas, inspiring them to become innovative technopreneurs of the future. This strong partnership also enables students to be exposed to real-life business cases supplied by our partners, providing our students with hands-on exposure and practical learning experience. They formulate solutions and develop business ideas for actual companies, experiencing the journey of strategic business planning even before they graduate. Together with over 10,000 industrial partners and potential employers, we take the industry-driven approach as our key to deliver high quality programmes that combine practical knowledge and relevant theoretical concepts. As part of the approach, we involve our industry advisory panels, accreditation and certification bodies for regular programme reviews, to ensure that we deliver up-to-date contents from time-to-time. Under this formula, over 40,000 of our alumni are globally employed in reputable multinational companies such as Accenture, Deloitte, Maybank, KPMG, PwC, Standard Chartered, Earnst & Young and many more.

Creating an Innovative Ecosystem On-Campus

APU plays a vital role in cultivating the values of Creativity and Innovation among students, to ensure that they are shaped into visionary, competent and capable business and finance professionals. Teaching and learning facilities in APU’s iconic campus are redesigned to enable ‘intelligent’ teaching, learning and research. Striding our ICT strength, we blend the use of technology within curriculums, where teaching and learning processes utilize advanced digital technology, software and infrastructure that are available on-campus. Discussion spaces, social spaces, think tanks and Innovation Labs are highly available within APU’s campus in Technology Park Malaysia (TPM), Bukit Jalil, to promote cooperative learning and cultivate exchange of ideas among students from different disciplines and academics. Teaching and learning methods has transformed into highly-interactive and stimulating processes, encouraging students to think out-of-the-box and formulate better solutions with the help of technology. Our outcomes-based learning approach has produced graduates who can think critically, act innovatively and communicate ideas effectively; they are capable to deal with complex and exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

Nurturing Global Outlook and Professionalism

The transformation from a high school-leaver to an industry ready graduate is a crucial process in one’s life, where a university plays an important role to facilitate this transformation. Aside from gaining a tech edge, we equip our students with relevant cross-cultural communication skills, within our globalized campus environment that currently houses a community of students from more than 120 countries. Through regular multicultural discourse and events, the continuous cultivation of global outlook builds our students’ confidence and trains them to engage in global conversations, international strategies and multicultural encounters, making them workplace-ready even before they graduate.

Professionalism is one of our key values for success. It is also a significant value to our business and finance students, who aspire to emerge as corporate professionals or entrepreneurs. To nurture professionalism, we instill practical workplace skills within the curriculum, by incorporating lesson activities that build confidence, enhance personal skills and build team spirits. As a unique feature, APU students proudly dress in professional attire, while adhering to a professional code on conduct on-campus. To complement the industry-based approach in teaching and learning, we create an environment that simulates the future workplace, so that our students join the future workforce confidently.

About APU

The Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) is amongst Malaysia’s Premier Private Universities and is where a unique fusion of technology, innovation and creativity works effectively towards preparing graduates for significant roles in business and society globally. APU has earned an enviable reputation as an award-winning University through its achievements in winning a host of prestigious awards at national and international levels.

APU was announced as among the Highest Rated Emerging Universities in Malaysia, being rated at TIER 5 (EXCELLENT) under the SETARA 2011 Ratings by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), and has maintained this Excellent rating in the SETARA 2013 Ratings and the latest SETARA 2017 Rating. Under the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) 2017 Ratings, APU was awarded 5-Stars in 4 categories of the QS Stars Ratings – Teaching, Employability, Facilities and Inclusiveness. The QS Stars rating is an international rating system that measures the achievements and qualities of universities worldwide. In addition, in 2017, APU was also announced as one of Malaysia’s Premier Digital Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), for its commitment in offering top-notch digital technology courses and ensuring highly-skilled graduates continue to flourish and fill future digital job demands locally and globally.

For more information, please visit our Website

Click Here

Contact:
Student services: +603 8996 1000
Hotline: 1 300 888 278
Email: [email protected]

To be connected, join us on APU Facebook

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The Coolest Influencer App in 2019

by FG Media | Mar 21, 2019 | Branded Content, Lifestyle

It’s 2019 and everyone has been upping their social media game. Whether it’s a new Instagram feed theme, a trendier photo editing style, or a cooler Instagram Story video with a filter that isn’t available on Instagram itself. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. We have found some apps that are currently trending and can help you improve your social media game to kick start 2019, and the best part? They’re all free to download.

Note: This list is not in an order of personal preference; it’s a compilation of some trendy social media tools that may help guide you. You’re advised to choose as per your need.

1. Prequel: Story & Photo Editor

Prequel is perfect for those who favour a more eye-catching visual effect. With options ranging from VHS, Glitch, Spectra, Origami, and many more others to choose from, it would definitely make anything Insta-Story worthy! There are in-app purchases in Prequel for a wider range of filters and effects but in our opinion, the free version already have us spoilt for choices.
Download it here on the App store and give it a try!

2. Ulike – Define Trendy Selfie

Ulike is a beautycam app that not only helps enhance your pictures with a wide variety of filters and touch up features, it also comes with posing templates for those who want to find new inspiration in posing for photos. The pose templates are available for everyone and they’ve got you covered for all occasions such as selfies, daily, mirror, males, couples, friends, café, street, travel, and beach! Ulike is available for both Apple and Android devices and it’s services are completely free!

Download from the App Store and Google Play Store and start posing now!

3. VSCO

VSCO may have been around for awhile, but this photo editing app is a community for creators, by creators. Whilst creating your own edits, there is also a whole community of creators on this platform sharing their experiences and preferred settings. This way, we can all be inspired by one another and hopefully inspire others with our passion along the way. If you search on Instagram, there are also several accounts that have shared several custom presets with theme ideas that can be achieved with VSCO. VSCO is free to download, but there are also in-app purchase options available if you are looking for a wider spread of filters.

Download from the App Store and Google Play Store and try it out!

4. Planoly: Planner for Instagram

Those who are trying to maintain a theme to their Instagram feed will understand the pain of having to think very far ahead before posting anything that might risk ‘breaking the feed’. Planoly is a visual planner app that helps users plan and schedule their posts ahead of time, you can move the pictures to check for placements that best matches your aesthetic. Not only that, Planoly also allows you to schedule your Insta-Stories! How amazing is that?.

Download from the App Store and Google Play Store now!

5. Passionation

Passionation is the newest influencer marketing platform in Malaysia and it is a one stop platform that bridges brands and influencers together, providing convenience to both parties. With a variety of projects and campaigns by reliable brands, influencers are able to find campaigns that best suits them. On top of that, Passionation is also able to aid influencers by repurposing the content through programmatic methods. With that being said, this method will magnify the influencer’s content, bringing in more views and exposure to the influencers. The Passionation app is essentially a Progressive Web App (read about the benefits of PWA to your mobile!), therefore all you need to do is log onto Passionation on your mobile device and bookmark the webpage onto your homepage and voila! You’re set.

With that being said, Passionation will be having its grand launch at KL’s newly opened Kingsman inspired restaurant and bar, Brixton23 KL on 29th March 2019! On top of that, Passionation is also giving out some exclusive invites to the grand launch and all you need to do is click here to sign up and stand a chance to win the passes!

Image source: App Store

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