VGI and iClick Interactive Announce Marketing Technology Joint Venture to Address Thailand’s Booming Digital Marketing Space and Connect Brands in Southeast Asia with China Opportunities

VGI Global Media Plc (VGI) (VGI.BKK), Thailand’snumber one online to offline (O2O) solutions provider across advertising,payment and logistics platforms, and iClick Interactive Asia Group Limited(“iClick”) (Nasdaq: ICLK), an independent online marketing and data technologyplatform in China, have entered into an agreement to form a joint venture (“JointVenture”) that will enable brands in Southeast Asia to capture the multi-billiondollar Chinese consumer market through a range of technology-driven marketingsolutions. 

The new partnership will leverage the respective strengthsof VGI and iClick to provide brands across Southeast Asia tremendous business opportunities and deepen theirengagement with the large and growing customer base in China. Together thefirms will generate significant cross border marketing opportunities, which canbe addressed through a suite of mobile and new media products, including: 

 • Mobile Application – An AI-powered mobile application that generates personalized digital content based on users’ interests and preferences, allowing brands to target consumers more effectively with highly granular segmentation. 

• China Solutions – China solutions comprise a wide range of digital marketing offerings ranging from marketing intelligence tools, social, and mobile solutions. These offerings not only help clients gain in-depth insights of the Chinese market based on iClick’s 780 million consumer profiles, but also provide an efficient way for clients to acquire the right consumers across multi channels in China, especially the significant number of Chinese outbound travellers.  

• O2O Solutions – 10,000 new mobile charging stations with the ability to display marketing messages that will be introduced and placed throughout VGI’s network across Thailand, in prominent locations such as BTS SkyTrain stations throughout Thailand’s leading mass transit system, and the distribution centers of Kerry Express, the leading parcel delivery company in Thailand.

Nelson Leung, CEO of VGI, said, “This collaboration represents an excitingnew digital development in Thailand, as well as the entire Southeast Asiaregion. We are delighted to join forces with iClick, strategically combining ourstrengths and unlocking the potential of our companies to improve our influenceand market share within the region. Through iClick’s expertise in digitalmarket analysis and knowledge of the markets in China and more widely in Asia,we will be better positioned to offer targeted, customized and measurable marketingsolutions to our customers. We will also continue to expand our O2O solutionsto meet the demands of the ever-growing Chinese market.”

Sammy Hsieh, Co-founder and CEO of iClick, added, “By offering a variety of innovative solutions,this Joint Venture will strengthen both VGI’s and iClick’s footprint within theregion’s digital market. With the fast-changing demands of consumers, thecapability to offer effective, flexible and targeted products and services isvital to the success of the future of advertising. We are confident that thisstrategic alliance with VGI will create even greater and more innovative marketingplatforms for brands in the region, and open doors to many new business andinvestment opportunities between our companies going forward.”

The Joint Venture will address the significant potential of the SoutheastAsia market. China is the highest ranked country in the world in terms ofnumber of outbound travellers. According to the data from the Ministry ofCulture and Tourism of China, with nearly 150 million outbound trips were made by Chinesetravellers. The most popular destination for these travellers was Thailand,followed by Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Chinese outboundtravellers also exhibit a strong propensity to spend while abroad. This groupspent USD 258 billion in 2017, contributing 21% of global total spending whileabroad, making China the top country in this metric. The Joint Venture has alsoidentified opportunities not limited to the travel sector, and plans to capturepotential benefits in retail, consumer goods, healthcare and entertainment,amongst others.The establishment of theJoint Venture will be subject to certain regulatory approvals.