Singapore’s Largest Design-Based Social Movement by Children Grows Reach
SoCh (Social Change) in Action launches the 3rd Design for Change Singapore School Challenge

3 February 2012, Singapore – SoCh in Action, the social enterprise behind the Singapore Chapter of Design for Change (DFC), has announced the launch of the program in the 3rd consecutive year. The DFC School Challenge Singapore 2012 launch event took place at the National Library Board and was attended by some 75 teachers from over 40 schools.  Over a hundred teams are expected to take part in this year’s DFC program in Singapore.

“We are very pleased with the overwhelming interest of teachers and school heads to join Design for Change. The program gives children the unique opportunity to lead the change and tackle real issues in the society through their own ideas and action. All these efforts will go a long way in making Singapore a gracious society,” says Madhu Verma, Founder of SoCh in Action.

The challenge saw 80 teams taking part in 2011, six times more than the pioneering 14 teams in 2010. With the current launch turnout, SoCh in Action anticipates more than 100 teams to register.

Design for Change is the largest global movement designed to give children an opportunity to express their own ideas for a better world and put them into action. It is the brain child of Kiran Bir Sethi, an Ashoka fellow, who started the program from India in 2009. “It has since grown to have global partners in 33 countries including Singapore and reaches out to more than 300,000 schools, inspiring hundreds and thousands of children to address local issues in their community” Verma shares.

In addition to the Singapore Chapter of the DFC School Challenge, SoCh in Action has designed and managed other programs that complement the challenge and to give a holistic end-to-end approach towards educating 9-14 year olds to become active agents of social change.

These are the CatCh: Catalyst for Change Workshops, which provide children with the stimulation and skills for achieving effective results in their social change projects; and the Be the Change Exposition, a culminating event that showcases the projects and ideas of the participating teams that has managed to attract educators, students & social sector organizations.

The DFC School Challenge Singapore 2012 will see teams awarded prizes in categories such as ‘Boldest Idea’, ‘Easiest to Replicate’, ‘Most People Impacted’.  All of the ideas will be designed and developed entirely by the students with support from their mentor teachers and evaluated by local panel of judges.

Last year, some of the issues that students sought to impact included raising awareness about  endangered sharks and saying ‘No’ to shark’s fin soup,  designing user-friendly exercise equipments for the elderly,  addressing PSLE pressures,  teens providing peer support to tackle teen depression, and primary 4 students helping primary 1 students to settle into a new school environment. Many of these projects are still being continued.

Registrations are now open to all schools in Singapore until 30th April 2012. For more information, contact Aarathi Arumugam at Aarathi@SoChinAction.com

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About SoCh in Action

SoCh in Action designs and implements various programs and events for the community to be involved in the social change process. SoCh believes that anyone can be a change-maker; through new thoughts, simple beliefs and small actions. For partnership opportunities write to Madhu Verma at madhu@SoChinAction.com. For more details visit www.SoChinAction.com

Press Contacts

Donna Garcia / John Tan

Rice Communications for Design for Change Singapore

Tel.: +65-6221 8045
Email: donna.garcia@ricecomms.com / john.tan@ricecomms.com

]]> http://www.ricecomms.com/2012/02/03/singapore%e2%80%99s-largest-design-based-social-movement-by-children-grows-reach-soch-social-change-in-action-launches-the-3rd-design-for-change-singapore-school-challenge/feed/ 0 http://www.ricecomms.com/2012/02/03/rice-communications-kicks-off-2012-with-buddy-media-partnership-strengthens-digital-media-practice/ http://www.ricecomms.com/2012/02/03/rice-communications-kicks-off-2012-with-buddy-media-partnership-strengthens-digital-media-practice/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:56:25 +0000 Qian Hui http://www.ricecomms.com/?p=8111

Singapore, February 3, 2012 – Buddy Media, the social enterprise software of choice for eight of the world’s top ten global advertisers, announced the appointment of Singapore-based Rice Communications as its PR partner for stakeholder outreach in the Asia Pacific region, supporting programmes in Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

“Asia is a dynamic social media market and key to Buddy Media’s growth plans,” said Joe Ciarallo, Vice President for Communications, Buddy Media. “We see a strong demand for strategic initiatives among brands as they engage with their customers through social networks. Rice’s wealth of experience in digital media makes it a strategic partner to support Buddy Media’s outreach in the region.”

Buddy Media recently reported record growth in 2011, fuelled by signing up over 300 customers that include some of the most recognizable global brands such as Citibank, IBM, and Volvo among others. To meet global demand, Buddy Media has opened new offices in London, San Francisco besides Singapore, and has doubled its workforce from over 100 employees in January last year to 225.

“Social engagement is considered a critical cornerstone in customer engagement today. Brands and their agency partners need to manage multiple touch points seamlessly, which is exceptionally hard keeping in mind the cultural mosaic that is Asia,” said Sonya Madeira, Managing Partner at Rice Communications. “Buddy Media is uniquely positioned to deliver results to global brands with its full suite of social marketing solutions and we are delighted to be chosen as its partner in this region.”

“We are excited about contributing to build Buddy Media’s brand equity and presence in the region. As digital marketing continues to pick up pace, this partnership bolsters Rice’s growing digital media practice and client portfolio,” added Madeira.

Rice Communications has carved a niche in strategic communications for companies interested in targeting brands and agencies across Asia Pacific’s diverse markets. With key clients such as the Mobile Marketing Association, InMobi, Out There Media, Interactive Advertising Bureau, e-Dialog, BluGrapes and others, Rice continues to strengthen its status as a strategic communications partner. Rice has also managed media outreach for regional events such as Festival of Media Asia 2011 and the Mobile Marketing Association Forum Asia Pacific since 2009.

About Buddy Media
Buddy Media is the social enterprise software of choice for eight of the world’s top ten global advertisers, empowering them to build and maintain relationships with their consumers in a connections-based world. The Buddy Media social marketing suite helps brands build powerful connections globally with its scalable, secure architecture and data-driven customer insights from initial point of contact through point of purchase. Buddy Media is the most awards winning social enterprise software company, winning the prestigious TechCrunch “Crunchie” Award for Best Enterprise application, named to the Advertising Age 2011 “Digital A-list,” and CEO and Founder Michael Lazerow was selected as 2011 New York Entrepreneur of the Year® by Ernst and Young. For more information, visit http://www.buddymedia.com.

About Rice Communications
Rice Communications was established in January 2009 to provide strategic, insightful and customized professional communications services. Based in Singapore, Rice caters to companies seeking to strengthen their profile across the Asia-Pacific region. With a zealous team of consultants, Rice is committed to raise the bar of the Asian PR and communications practice through value-oriented partnerships with clients, industry associates, suppliers, stakeholders and influencers, and the media. For more information, please visit: www.ricecomms.com

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Media contacts for Buddy Media:

Singapore and Hong Kong – February 01, 2012 – The prestigious annual Asian Financial Services (AFS) Congress 2012, organized by IDC Financial Insights, is set to take place in less than a month. On February 23-24, hundreds of senior level financial services executives from across the region will be gathered in Singapore to learn about the latest industry developments, share best practice ideas and discuss the economic issues affecting their businesses.

Themed “The 2012 Agenda: Solutions for Disruptive Times”, the AFS Congress will seek to identify some of the recurring themes from the previous financial crisis that the Asia/Pacific financial services industry (FSI) is likely to face today. Leading practitioners across the region will share some of the most ingenious and high-impact solutions in present day payments, risk management, governance & compliance, operations & technology, and multi-channel fields that are poised to transform, if not already, the financial services industry as a whole.

The new year has brought a new set of challenges to the world’s economy; from weak growth in key economic sectors, to an unresolved sovereign debt crisis in the western world, to hyper-volatile stock markets, and ultimately to a pervading sense of risk-aversion among FSIs and consumers alike. A familiar question has once again been raised: how will Asia/Pacific financial services rise amid dismal headlines, just as it did in the 2008 global financial crisis.

IDC Financial Insights believes that to succeed, leaders today must be equipped to deal with technological acceleration in the social, mobility and analytics space, and changing consumer attitudes. These leaders and their organizations must also be agile enough to respond to market sentiments. Winning institutions will be those that are led by executives who “get” the new issues, and embrace the twin challenges of disruption and innovation.

Cyrus Daruwala, Managing Director for IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific notes, “Stepping into 2012, we are seeing negative or slower growth in the West, which emphasizes the need for FSIs in this region to transform their technology and business operations to accommodate emerging engagement channels, rising competition and greater customer expectations. This Congress has never been more relevant, convening some of the finest in the industry to dissect and introduce the most successful of strategic initiatives through the Financial Insights Innovation Award program.”

Some of the distinguished speakers and panelists who will preside over this year’s Congress include:
 Ms. PARK Cyn-Young, Assistant Chief Economist, Economic Analysis & Operations Support Division, Economics and Research Department, Asian Development Bank
 Leong Mun Yuen, Chief Technology Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
 Marko Skoric, Assistant Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, NTU
 David Carbon, Managing Director, Economic and Currency Research, Group Research, DBS Bank
 Patrick Desmarès, Secretary General, Efma
 Tony Chew, Director/Specialist Advisor, Monetary Authority of Singapore
 Muhammad Aurangzeb, CEO Asia Pacific, Global Corporate Bank, J.P. Morgan
 Sarv Girn, Former Group GM, Technology, The Westpac Group & Former CTO – Commonwealth Bank of Australia
 Scott Bales, Chief Mobile Officer, Movenbank
 Gatot Mudiantoro Suwondo, President Director, PT. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk
 David Gledhill, Managing Director and Head of Group Technology & Operations, DBS Bank

For full description of the agenda and speakers, please visit www.afscongress.com.

The Asian Financial Services (AFS) Congress will be held at Marina Bay Sands Convention Level 3, Singapore, on 23-24 February 2012. To request for a media pass or more media enquiries, please register contact Lay Fang Tan at Tel: +65-6829-7731 or Email: lftan@idc.com.

About the Asian Financial Services (AFS) Congress 2012
Organized by IDC Financial Insights, the AFS Congress 2012 is Asia/Pacific’s foremost gathering of financial services practitioners. Themed as “The 2012 Agenda: Solutions for Disruptive Times“, the Congress aims to introduce a new perspective on how regional banks should distinguish themselves amid the challenges of disruption and innovation. At this Congress, IDC Financial Insights will share crucial findings from its international team of analysts, highlighting the business and technology trends that will impact and change banking.

About IDC Financial Insights
IDC Financial Insights assists financial service businesses and IT leaders, as well as the suppliers who serve them, in making more effective technology decisions by providing accurate, timely, and insightful fact-based research and consulting services. Staffed by senior analysts with decades of industry experience, our global research analyzes and advises on business and technology issues facing the banking, insurance, and securities and investments industries. International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology market. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology, media, research, and events company. For more information, please visit www.idc-fi.com, email info@idc-fi.com, or call 508-620-5533. Visit the IDC Financial Insights Community at http://idc-insights-community.com/financial.

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For more than 47 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

For press inquiries, please contact:
Cyrus Daruwala
Managing Director
IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific
+65-6829-7718
cdaruwala@idc.com

Lay Fang Tan
Senior Manager, MarCom & Media Relations
IDC Asia/Pacific
+65-6829-7731
lftan@idc.com

Shruti Soni
Senior Consultant
Rice Communications
+65-6221-8047
shruti.soni@ricecomms.com

The Angel’s Gate Opens on February 6
Asia’s top business reality show airs 6^th Feb on Channel NewsAsia

Singapore, 2^nd Feb 2012 – Asia’s premier business reality programme on a 360-degree media platform, Angel’s Gate, debuts on regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia on 6^th February 2012 (Monday) at 8pm SG/HK time. Comprising eight episodes, Angel’s Gate Season 1 features 24 aspiring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas to some of the region’s top investors representing the Angel’s Gate Fund.

The launch of the business reality series is part of Channel NewsAsia’s focus to boost its business content.

Donovan Castillo Mohlman, Vice President of Network Programming & Promotions at Channel NewsAsia, says, “It’s apt that we roll out our business shows with Angel’s Gate, a high quality programme that is a cut above other business reality shows.  From the entrepreneurs, we seek innovative ideas. From the investors, we seek insights. Viewers will witness the banter that goes on behind closed doors between the Angels and be privy to these discussions that reveal the thought processes and strategies of investors.”

Ash Singh, CEO of Interactive.SG and co-producer of Angel’s Gate, adds, “The programme is more than just a reality TV show. It is deal-making, game-changing stage for investment transactions. To succeed in business, an entrepreneur needs money, the right connections, and the right exposure. Angel’s Gate builds that bridge.  Anyone with a great idea can come forward, get instant exposure in mainstream media, and win over financial backers and business mentors.”

Taking the ‘elevator pitch’ concept literally, Angel’s Gate gives each of the entrepreneurs a chance to ride an elevator with one of the Angels and make a 30-second business pitch. If the Angel sees promise in the idea, he lets the entrepreneur through the Angel’s Gate to pitch to all four Angels.

Also available online and on mobile, the first season of Angel’s Gate will showcase business ideas coming from across Asia and straddling diverse sectors including bio-technology, gaming, mobile applications, and travel.  These ideas were the most popular among all the entries submitted on Angel’s Gate online.

The fate of the 24 entrepreneurs seeking support from the Angel’s Gate Fund is in the hands of the four ‘Angels’ – judges Patrick Grove, Co-founder and CEO of Catcha Group, William Klippgen, Founder and Managing Director of Tigris Capital, Ken Mandel, Managing Director of Buddy Media Asia Pacific, and Karan Singh Thakral, Executive Director of the Thakral Group of Companies.

Contestants that are not featured on the TV episodes of Angel’s Gate will be seen pitching their ideas on the Angel’s Gate webisodes that will run on YouTube, the online distribution channel for Angel’s Gate.

Angel’s Gate airs on Channel NewsAsia every Monday, 8pm SG/HK time from 6^th Feb.

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About Angel’s Gate

Angel’s Gate is Asia’s premier reality TV series focusing on business and entrepreneurship. Backed by Asia’s leading venture funds, the Angel’s Gate is a 360-degree platform spanning TV, Web and Mobile that gives entrepreneurs the opportunity of a lifetime to pitch their dream business ideas to some of Asia’s most successful investors.

Angel’s Gate is supported by Singapore’s Media Development Authority. It is backed by Asia’s leading venture funds and global brands such as BlackBerry, SingTel, NUS Business School, Audi, Canon, Google, Microsoft, PayPal, Skype, Sony, Fitness First, Intuit, and partners including the ArtScience Museum, Business Angels Network SEA (BANSEA), Focus Media, Rice Communications, Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA), Singapore Tourism Board, SPRING Singapore and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Singapore.

For more information, visit www.angelsgate.com

Media Contacts:

Rice Communications for Interactive SG
Donna Garcia or John Tan
Tel: (65) 6221 8729
Mob: (65) 9734 8808; (65) 9336 9092
Email: angelsgate@ricecomms.com

Channel NewsAsia
Gillian Wong
Tel: (65) 6350 3025
Email: gillianwong@mediacorp.com.sg

About Interactive SG

A leader in 360-degree media solutions, Interactive SG was founded in Singapore in 2007 and has grown quickly to be an established player in the web interactive services scene in the region. Interactive SG started out developing platforms and online tools for brands. It has worked with many established companies from diverse industries such as entertainment, technology, electronics and media. Interactive SG specialises in web design, flash applications, social media marketing, integrated revenue streams, e-commerce backend and web application development. Interactive SG’s recent projects such as Angel’s Gate incorporate the 360-degree media integration, making them an industry-leader in this field. For more information, visit www.interactive.sg.

About Channel NewsAsia

Channel NewsAsia Singapore was established in March 1999 by MediaCorp, and is an English language Asian TV News channel. It reports on global developments with Asian perspectives. Channel NewsAsia brings viewers not only the latest news but also the stories behind the headlines. Based in Singapore, it has correspondents in major Asian cities and key Western ones, including New York, Washington D.C, London and Brussels. It is fully complemented by a strong online presence at channelnewsasia.com, which provides a premier source of real time news, videos, information and entertainment features.

Channel NewsAsia (International), was launched in September 2000, as the international broadcasting arm of Channel NewsAsia Singapore. It is now viewed in 25 territories across Asia. The satellite footprint of the channel stretches across the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Australia.

Channel NewsAsia’s other key business is the production of news and current affairs content in four languages, English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese. This content is produced for MediaCorp’s television and online platforms, such as mass entertainment Channels 5, 8, U, and niche language channels, Suria and Vasantham. MediaCorp is Singapore’s leading media company with the most complete range of platforms, spanning television, radio, newspapers, magazines, movies, digital and out-of-home media.

For more information, please visit Channel NewsAsia’s website at channelnewsasia.com.

E-Dialog, a proven provider of integrated digital marketing solutions, today revealed the key learnings of their 2011 study, “Deciphering Customer Acquisition,” including 10 strategies for marketers to drive acquisition across the key channels of email, social and mobile.

Read the complete article on ADOI Magazine.