GrabAds looks to strengthen ties with ad agencies with newly created role

Grab has appointed Marrah Africa (pictured) as its regional agency partner. In this newly created role, Africa is tasked with helping to build GrabAds' brand presence with agencies across SEA, Grab's spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. She will also be working with these agencies to deliver innovative campaigns for clients through Grab's superapp advertising solutions. Africa was formerly with IPG as associate director for about two years, and later director for a year. Prior to that, she was MediaMath's global expansion manager, certification and program lead, APAC for three years, where she developed and marketed programmatic education with brands and agencies. 

Africa also previously worked at MediaCom for over five years. In her latest role there as digital manager category planning team for APAC, she was responsible for driving innovation, capabilities and and operational excellence in digital across markets and categories. Africa has also worked at Summit Media and BCD Pinpoint for over a year each.

GrabAds has in recent times hired notable figures from the industry. The team hired David Baser as head of advertising and personalisation technology; Ashu Mathura as head of product, ads at Grab; Margaret Chang, as the regional head of small and mid-sized business (SMB); and Dave Yang as the regional head of direct sales organisation for GrabAds. The four media and technology industry veterans were added to the team to strengthen the technology, product and distribution capabilities of its advertising offerings. They will also broaden the presence of GrabAds, across Southeast Asia to become a full-funnel advertising solutions provider. 

Earlier this year, it appointed Hardy Cao as its new head of supermarkets. He was formerly VP of Gome Retail Group at Gome Retail Group China. Cao is a retail industry veteran with over two decades of experience and was previously COO at Hema Network technology and was with Carrefour China for over 17 years, his latest role as president of Carrefour China South Territory and VP, Carrefour China. The appointment comes as Grab plans to double down on grocery delivery after Euromonitor forecasted that online penetration for grocery delivery to more than double between 2020 and 2025. Grab also nabbed Sean Tan as head of merchant at Grab Financial Group Singapore. In his new role, Tan reports to Wenbin Wong, head of Grab Financial Group, Singapore. Tan told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that he will be working with his team to expand Grab Financial's new and existing merchant partnerships with Grab’s integrated solutions. He will also work on expanding its innovative payment solutions, GrabPay and PayLater, to cater to more consumers both online and offline.

Last year, GrabAds inked a deal with GroupM to help clients grow their eCommerce footprint and harness retail media effectively across Southeast Asia. The year-long partnership aims to harness the strengths of both parties to deliver greater value for brands, especially for those that are seeking to grow their consumer touchpoints, resulting in action and conversion. As part of the partnership, GrabAds will provide GroupM’s clients with early access to its latest advertising features and solutions.

GrabAds currently works with brands such as Unilever, McDonald's, Lazada, and many others. The unit was formed in 2018 in a bid to provide brands with an online-to-offline (O2O) platform to engage with millions of Southeast Asian consumers. The advertising platform, GrabAds marries an extensive on-ground fleet of vehicles with digital presence across more than 200 cities in Southeast Asia. It allows brands to distribute appealing content and create in-car and digital experiences for consumers. GrabAds also aim to use its big data capabilities, local market insights and O2O presence to create meaningful customer engagement for brands that lets them segment their audience and cut through the noise.

Separately, Grab partnered with Starbucks last month to provide Southeast Asian users with an integrated loyalty programme. Moving forward, customers are able to earn Starbucks Rewards benefits on purchases through Grab, have more ways to order and pay in stores, and enjoy last-mile delivery fulfilment through Grab’s delivery network. The partnership covers Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. At the same time, Starbucks will be integrating Starbucks Rewards with the Grab platform for customers to enjoy more ways to earn rewards. According to Grab then, Starbucks Rewards members will be able to link their accounts with GrabRewards to earn both Stars and GrabRewards points for every order made through GrabFood. In the future, customers will also have the option to sign up for a Starbucks Rewards membership via the Grab app and redeem free beverages, birthday treats, and exclusive offers. This new feature will be introduced to the Philippines in the second of half 2022, with plans to expand to additional Southeast Asia markets by 2024. 

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