Yesterday, the good folk at Asia CEO Community invited a range of entrepreneurs to speak about the current business opportunities in Thailand. Given that I only moved to Bangkok 18 months ago, I was honoured to be on the panel and have the chance to introduce our hyper-real GenAi offering at Instant Studio.
Rather than ask you to listen to our full interview, I've asked Google to turn the panel talk into a high-energy podcast. Take a listen below. Timings in the notes so that you can skip to your area of interest.
On a recent stormy evening in Bangkok, I had the pleasure of (a) being surrounded by French people in the hospitality business and (b) listening to Damien Pfirsch share how Agoda has built a culture of innovation, from its birthplace here in Thailand. [Thanks to our hosts, La French Tech Bangkok].
Being the "thème du jour", GenAI had to be addressed. Agoda prides itself on taking "petits pas" when it comes to new tech adoption and is using ChatGPT to answer customer enquiries, seeing a 70% reduction in servicing time!
It was more of a "saut de géant" when they used GenAI to create 250 promotional videos, featuring Bollywood star, Ayushmann Khurrana. AI was use to change the voice-over, applying lip-sync and adding contextual images of the different destinations.
But...this wasn't enough. My tech lizard brain needed MORE! I fed my transcription of the interview, thanks to Otter.ai, into Google latest hit AI toy, Notebook LM.
The outcome is fascinating - listen to two energetic American podcast hosts taking 9.23 minutes to summarise a 45 minute interview!
There are a few misinterpretations, like replacing Thailand with China, but overall the output is a captivating and accurate account of the topics discussed.
This is going to send shivers down podcasters' spines and turn many a dull presentation into something worth giving up your time for! I'm already using it to review pitch decks and 50-page market research papers.
We have the honour of hosting the world premiere of "The Rocket Lounge at Tokyo Spaceport" by Memories of the Starman, created and produced with a range of GenAI tools by The Media Village.
Below is just the teaser. Watch the full screening at our 143rd social mixer tonight (register here), doors open at 6:30pm on Weds 24th July, 2024 at The Aftermath Bar, Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong.
Our next social mixer will be at The Aftermath Bar, LG/F Sunny Building, 57-59 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong. Doors open at 6pm with the interview starting at 7pm (ish). Locate on Google Maps. Help us at the door, pre-purchase your tickets below.
We offer two ways to pre-purchase your entrance tickets:
Stripe: click the blue "Buy" button below to pay by credit card or Alipay. You can select more than one ticket from the secure payment page.
PayMe: either scan the QR code below and enter the amount of "HKD100" per ticket or pay via this link.
Join us on July 24th at 6:30pm for our 143rd social mixer at The Aftermath Bar, LG/F Sunny Building, 57-59 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong. (Find your way on Google Maps).
[If you're into live music, stand-up comedy, sign up for their newsletter updates at theaftermath-hk.club. Follow all their socials via LinkTree. If you're looking for an unusual venue in Central HK to book for a daytime getaway or corporate workshop, drop an email to Alicia Beale, Co-owner.
I thought that, given all the hullabaloo about GenAI ("generative artificial intelligence"), rather than get caught up in the all the social media froth, let's invite a respected video artist and musician to tell us what it can really do.
Our guest speaker for this gathering is none other than Charles Edwards, Producer & Director at The Media Village, who has created amazing video and audio productions for the likes of Hong Kong Disneyland, Cathay Pacific, China Light & Power, AXA, Rosewood, Barclays Bank and China Telecom.
In his spare time, Charles is the lead singer for the rock band, The Hard Luck Kings, and decided to put his creative might to the test by using various GenAI tools to make their first music video, "The Sinner Man". Enjoy!
When we hit the stage, Charles and I will tackle what he learnt using the latest GenAI tools - he's tried them all - and where he sees this going for the creative industry. It's gonna be a fun night in a great venue! Don't miss out - buy your tickets here now.
Our next social mixer willl be at The Aftermath Bar, LG/F Sunny Building, 57-59 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong. Doors open at 6pm with the interview starting at 7pm (ish). Locate on Google Maps.
If the page doesn't render, register via this link.
You know the world has been turned upside down when board battles at OpenAI lead news headlines, ahead of the Gaza hostage release and Binance's US$4bn fine.
Once again, I find myself out of breath trying to keep up with the latest developments in AI, looking at creative ways to apply GenAI and GPTs to my daily job.
What better a way to learn than to invite an AI practitioner, a Korean mathematical scientist who went from quant trading for banks to replacing research teams with automated AI bots. Our guest speaker for the "AI round-up of 2023" is Stephen Joon Choi, Co-Founder, CTO and Responsible Officer at Asklora, "a deep-tech startup committed to automating the role of financial advisors and research analysts to put professional-level investing strategies and insights right in the hands of everyday investors".
We won't just speak about his new business but also dig deeper into the current and future evolution of AI, unravelling many of the acronyms, including "GenAI, LLMs (open and closed), RAG, RLHF and tackling where it could all go!
Given the topic of artificial intelligence, we've once again asked Otter.ai to capture the various speakers in the transcript below. You can also listen whilst you read. Apologies for the poor audio quality as it was recorded on my iPhone. Recorded at CLUB DAO in Sheung Wan on 6th December 2023.
I had the pleasure of interviewing / grilling Adam "Naj" Najberg, the Head of Comms and Content for Tencent Games Global, at an impromptu Web Wednesday in Bangkok on July 19th, 2023.
If you missed it or want to review his revelations - some real gems! - then listen to the unedited audio recording below. The transcript is provided by the AI algorithms of Otter.ai. [Warning: like all AIs, it's not 100% correct and may occasionally hallucinate. But the repartee remained witty and human!].
Have you heard of PUBG Mobile, the second most played video game of all time? Owned by Tencent Games, it has grossed over US$9bn from 1.3bn downloads!
Adam "Naj" Najberg, their Global Head of Comms and Content is parachuting into Bangkok this week to speak at a very impromptu Web Wednesday gathering at 4-6pm on Wednesday 19th July, 2023.
In our fireside chat, some of the topics we will cover include:
How Naj built a career in global communications for Chinese tech companies?
Lessons that he's learnt along the way and what he'd do differently?
How Chinese multinationals are adjusting to a slowing economy in an increasingly politically-divided world?
The launch of Tencent's new games-as-a-service ("GaaS") platform, "Level Infinite", and how it will change the mobile gaming landscape?
How innovative partnerships, like "PUBG Mobile and HEARTROCKER" rocked the Thai gaming world?
The role of Thai celebrities, Nicky Nachat and Mai Davika, in their game marketing
Why Tencent Games never got into Web3, NFTs and the Metaverse, outside of China?
As well as delving into the challenges facing multinational Chinese brands, Naj and I will discuss the launch of Tencent's new global brand, "Level Infinite", which primarily offers games-as-a-service ("GaaS") focusing on free or cheap downloads with in-game purchases. The content is more episodic and faster to market. Here's the initial teaser video...
Thailand is a promising market for video gaming, with 30 million players nationwide and overall revenues topping US$1 billion last year. Naj sees Thailand as an intriguing SE Asia market due to disposable income growth, but also the diversity of players. In most countries, they see predominant tendencies toward mobile, PC or console. Thailand urban dwellers polled at 95% for claiming to play mobile games, but nearly 85% play on PC and almost 70% also play on consoles. Few other markets show the same diversity.
Thailand's super-creative streak also places the country high on Tencent's list of innovative partnerships, like this one between leading game streamer 'Aek HEARTROCKER’ and PUGB Mobile, with voicing and special items provided by Nicky Nachat and Mai Davika. Watch the promo video below to discover why their weapons of choice are frying pans - it's a bundle of laughs!
Naj started off his working life at The Wall Street Journal and has led communications for China's leading global technology companies, including Shenzhen DJI, Alibaba Group and now, Tencent. He has also written a book, a guide to "Jumpstarting Your Career", and completed a full-length indie documentary, "Out of Reach: The Struggle for the American Dream".
Venue: Propaganda Bar, Sukhumvit Soi 33 (BTS Phrom Phong) - Find your way on Google Maps.
Apologies for the short notice but we've just got wind of a visit to Bangkok by globally-renowned networking king, Anson Bailey (eMBA), Head of Consumer & Retail for KPMG in APAC (official profile).
Anson is here to impress the need for rapid re-invention of the retail experience upon the crème de la crème of the business class in Thailand. Leveraging an age-old friendship, I have managed to entice him away from a full week of meetings with the C-suite of all the big retail, shopping mall and real estate players to share his insights with the budding Web Wednesday community in Bangkok.
In late 2022, KPMG released a report on the post-Covid consumer, called "Retail Recharged, Engaging Consumers with Technology, Purpose and Trust". Even if you are not addressing the Chinese consumer in Hong Kong or Mainland China (many of us do so overseas), it is worth the read and is available for download.
Some sample findings on the usage of AI and other immersive experiences. (It only covers Chinese consumers but I believe will parlay to a certain extend across Asia).
Knowing that Anson is at the forefront of the retail (r)evolution, I plan to ask for his enlightenment (aka "grill him") on various topics, including:
How can these learnings be applied to the Thai market?
How to engage Gen Z and the post-Covid consumer?
Retail in the Age of AI, how are brands enticing, educating and converting shoppers?
What new use cases are emerging?
What's working where? What's not?
What are the risks?
Who are the leaders?
China vs SEA vs US vs EY?
It's going to be a fun, interactive and educational fireside chat so do join us!
Napoleon Biggs, founder of the renowned digital innovation community, "Web Wednesday", is back in Bangkok and has invited a true tech pioneer to share his experiences.
Join us for a truly intelligently-augmented evening with Bobak Tavangar, CEO of Brilliant Labs, an ex-Apple product lead who has recently launched a hackable #augmentedreality device, the "Monocle".
Not only has he built a wearable smart lens that is on track to generate over US$1M in revenue this year but, by open sourcing the software, hackers all over the world are imagineering all kinds of use cases.
Super smart geeks from Stanford University have just combined the powers of ChatGPT with Monocle to create a "personal AI agent delivered directly through AR smart glasses 👓. it uses computer vision to 👁️recognize👁️ a friend’s face, then brings up relevant topics based on your recent texts messages (memory🤯)". Watch the hack in action here.
Later this year, Bobak will release "Frame", the thinnest, lightest pair of AR glasses in the world!
We will discuss his path to innovation, how he remotely built out the team and product under Covid lockdowns and how he is adeptly using collaboration platforms, like GitHub and Discord, to engage an active community of engineers and early adopters, without spending a penny on marketing!
Our generous hosts for this event are Propaganda Bar who have created a special cocktail for the event; come sip on a glass of "Monocle" or two!
Over the last twelve months, China has not only added 85 million internet users but also cracked down on a wide sway of dominant technology players, erasing US$1 trillion in valuation.
Even with all these worrying headlines, China’s tech entrepreneurs continue to pioneer, launching new business models in AI, blockchain, digital marketing, ecommerce, healthcare, gaming, payment, smart cars and 5G.
You’re invited to join this free webinar at 5-6pm on Wednesday 27th October for a live, zoom-side chat with John Artman, Technology Editor at the South China Morning Post.
Given that the full report is over 138 pages long, John and I will use the 60-minute interview to focus on the overall consumer economy and how technology is helping to shape it, from addressing new audiences, like the Sheconomy and Sinking Markets, to launching new digitally-savvy brands on the metaverse and expanding into South East Asia.
The interview will continue as a typical "fireside chat" for 60 minutes and then I will facilitate 20-30 minutes of questions; one condition, show your face when you ask the question as it's more compelling to see your expression and hear your voice!
See you on Zoom at 5pm on Wednesday 27th October, 2021.
The TMall Hong Kong marketplace will be available through the Taobao mobile app. At the very top right hand corner (see orange square), you can toggle between "cross-border" (跨境) and "local" (本地).
The second orange box outlines the categories which, for the moment, cover fashion clothing and accessories (潮流服飾), cosmetics（美妝護理）, electronics （電子電器）, home supplies （家居家品）and snacks (零食百貨).
As you'd expect from any marketplace worth it socks, there are daily promotions and selected stores are brought to the user's attention. This is sure to become the main banner ad!
Upon selecting "local", you are invited to link your accounts and pull all your data, including delivery addresses, across from Taobao to the TMall HK account. You are reminded of all the main benefits:\
7-day "no questions asked" returns (7天無憂退）
Delivered locally (本地送貨）
Free pick-up or delivery on reaching purchase threshold (滿額免運）
Brand authenticity （品牌正品）
Note that, under the big red "register now" button, there is the option to opt-out from sharing your personal data with TMall HK for targeted "advertising activities", which is sure to grow into a healthy source of additional revenues for Alibaba.
Learning from their mainland experience, flash sales will be a major attraction. Expect the daily commute to be full of people snatching up the daily discounts of 50%+ off!
But, unlike many local players (e.g. Fortress), delivery costs will be charged at HK$40 for self-collection and HK$80 for delivery, unless you reach the payment threshold of HK$199 and HK$399 respectively.
Hope you're faring well and are enjoying vaccine-induced freedom, at least mentally.
The battle for online marketplaces, which has already hit the rest of South East Asia, is coming to Hong Kong!
The Alibaba Group will be launching TMall Hong Kong (天猫香港) in May 2021 and is eagerly recruiting merchants, advertisers and buyers. (See official press release).
For our 133rd Web Wednesday (5-6pm on Weds 28th April), we have the pleasure of interviewing Sharon Gai, Director of Global Key Accounts for the Alibaba Group.
As Chinese internet firms have become the global pioneers in ecommerce, we will cover a wide range of topics, including:
The phenomenal growth of online marketplaces and the role that Alibaba plays, with TMall Global, AliExpress, Lazada and, now, TMall HK.
The evolution of the online shopping experience, from desktop to mobile, static catalogue to live streaming.
The role of a local marketplace and how merchants can benefit from branded stores, recommendations and reviews, sales events, targeted advertising and local delivery support.
Ease of payment, encouraged by spending rewards.
O2O: using e-shops to drive business to offline stores, and vice versa.
Data: who owns it and how to extract value
If you're a merchant looking to set up shop on TMall Hong Kong, either email us or visit the TMall Hong Kong merchant portal, currently only available in Chinese (See screenshot below).
With the accelerated Balkanisation of the internet, no better a time to dive deep into life on the internet in China. We'll take a look at the behaviours and habits born of the latest technological advances in China, from love to learning, finance to food, music to medicine and sharing to shopping.
We are honoured to be interviewing Joey Liu, Lead Author of the "China Internet Report 2020 by SCMP Research" and Senior Manager, Strategy & Special Projects at the South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd.
One of my reasons for launching the Web Wednesday community back in 2006 was to have an untethered testing ground for emerging digital technologies. A space where we could try out the latest "shiny objects" at a live event with real people in unpredictable environments.
We started with audio podcasts on Odeo which the founders then closed and went on to launch Twitter!
We pointed our first generation smart phones at Geoffrey the Giraffe (guy in a rubber suit) hoping to download the latest Java game over Bluetooth. ToysRUs went out of business and, sadly, put Geoff down!
We've blogged on Blogger, tweeted on Twitter, signalled on Sina and grinned on 'Gram.
We've shaken our phones in unison to speed-connect over WeChat. We've scanned each other's profiles on LinkedIn.
Our interviews were now originally posted on Vimeo and YouTube and are now also on LinkedIn and IGTV. We've even live-streamed onto Facebook (with Mevo).
And today, we go live with our very own chatbot on WhatsApp! Come try us out.
You can either click on this link or scan the QR code below to connect with our official WhatsApp Business account. Once hooked up, our chatbot will guide you how to redeem and post offers on the 852 Reboot Hong Kong website. You can also watch all our latest interviews of local entrepreneurs (recorded on my smart phone, at different spots around town).
Henry Oh arrived in Hong Kong in 2005 to write a book about the Hong Kong underworld, he soon found a job via the Web Wednesday networking community and started his career in mobile gaming as Head of Business Development for Hello Kitty!
Fifteen years on, Henry is back in San Francisco, as VP of Operations & Partnerships for Tenjin.io, where he now helps mobile game developers answer the question, "Is my ad campaign ROI positive?" with data insights on downloads and in-game activities.
We managed to cover many topics:
Comparing the speed of reaction to Covid-19 by tech companies in China and the US, looking at the different outcomes between centralised and decentralised models
How San Francisco successfully implemented "Shelter in Place" and why the culture of science and data helped the Silicon Valley and the SF Bay Area to accept the new status quo
The ongoing erosion of civil liberties, with the impact of tracking and surveillance tech on privacy
How the business models of US tech giants, like Facebook and Google, are pushing them to be more proactive about content moderation
The pressure on entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley to reduce their burn, conserve cash and lay people off
How the big players in the mobile gaming world are using their stash of cash for a "land grab" and to increase brand awareness
How hyper-casual games rule the charts, to the ongoing surprise of the game design community (download Tenjin's "2020 Hyper-casual Benchmark Report")
How the economic blow from the virus is further enhancing the digital divide and pushing people to adopt or die
Why the US responds slower but more creatively and, perhaps, with a more significant outcome in the long term
The role of “3D Printer Maker Communities” using Reddit to coordinate the production of emergency supplies
You can also find Henry on Twitter (@sfmoca) and learn more about Tenjin's "native or 3rd party campaign attribution. Ad revenue & IAP ROI and cost aggregation" at www.tenjin.io
Interviewed by Napoleon Biggs, Digital Entrepreneur at Web Wednesday Ventures
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