If you advertise on Facebook and Instagram, it’s time to update yourself with some of the latest creative tools.

Video creation

In Facebook’s Video Creation Kit, you will now have even more visually-engaging templates to choose from.

What’s more, seasonal stickers and templates are now available in the Effects tab to help “freshen up” your ads. Your ads will never be “the same old thing all year round” anymore!

Meanwhile, 20 new font options have been introduced, making it easier to add text overlays that tie in with your brand guidelines better.

Ever felt “trapped” working on a video because the moment you start, you can’t step away as you don’t want to lose all your work?  The Video Creation Kit has made it possible to save drafts of videos, so you can work on your video whenever you have a moment and pick up exactly where you left off later on.

Video editing

Ads Manager allows selection of an aspect ratio  (4:5, 2:3, 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9) to crop your video according to requirements of different placements (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network).

Similarly, you can trim the duration of a video for different platforms as well.

Dynamic ads

Whether you’re selling products, hotels, flights or vehicles, a dynamic ad might just work for you. Available in single-image, carousel and collection format, dynamic ads can be used across Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger.

Branded content ads

Advertisers can now promote branded content posts as feed ads, reaching a wider audience. “Paid partnership with” along with the brand name will appear to ensure ads transparency.

ThruPlay

Available for Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network, ThruPlay allows advertisers to pay only when ads are played to completion or for at least 15 seconds. Optimize your video ad campaign for ThruPlay, and Facebook will deliver it to users that are likely to watch 15 seconds or the whole video.

Let your creativity run amok and have fun experimenting with these creative tools!

Rigid system, working in silos, going by the book used to be our impression of a typical workplace. Not anymore. In today’s world, you have to be agile, collaborative and operate like a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation in order to scale your business and truly optimize. Increased interconnectivity means that we increasingly have the technological means to create organizations that are truly distributed, which potential is only limited by one’s imagination.

Digital technology has paved the way for the rise of the gig economy and consequently empowered the modern workplace. It is granting the workforce a new set of values. Talents and skilled professionals move around to contribute where they are most needed to drive real change. Flexibility has become one of the top qualities the market expects from businesses, which reinvent themselves to meet demands. Referencing a pop culture phrase meaning “a job for a specified period of time”, a gig economy has opened up opportunities to talents globally so companies can mobilize resources better.

Who says you can’t run a food company during the morning, be a UX designer in the afternoon, drive an Uber at night? The old economy has led us to believe that we should seek a job for life. Now, the new economy offers more flexibility and autonomy. The more diverse your skill set, the more opportunities come your way.

 

A study by Intuit predicted that 40 percent of American workers would be independent contractors of some kind by 2020. This trend is gaining momentum not just among millennials, but also professionals with many years of experience.

As the gig economy flourishes, we need to evaluate what is work and how we work as a business. The workforce is increasingly seeking meaning and communities that resonate with them. We need to think beyond P&L and focus on purpose and impact for healthy and sustainable growth. We need to ensure that time is better used and reduce burn out. Therefore, we are challenging the status quo and innovating from within.

How? We are building a community that embraces flexibility and openness. A community that encourages dialogue, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. To achieve this we need to reinvent the way we work. We are leveraging the power of co-working culture, relocating to Central where we facilitate a community that embodies all these values.

“Innovation has to come from within, you can’t continue to operate on a 20th-century model to achieve that.” said Andy Ann, CEO of NDN Group. When asked if he would have done this 5 years ago. He answered “5 years ago, I will say no. If you ask me 5 years from now, everyone will be doing it. The timing is now,” Andy adds. “Not just our Hong Kong office, we are mobilising our workforce in Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and New York City in line with this strategy so that we can be more agile in serving our clients, honing our entrepreneurial culture across all offices.”

We will miss our Kwun Tong office where many fond memories were created. Meanwhile, we are looking forward to this new change and reaching more milestones. Last but not least, we are opening in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. More details to come. Exciting times we are living in!