BLINK Design Group is going places

BLINK Design Group is broadening the horizons of its team through a new programme of travel grant ‘rewards’ and talent swaps with likeminded industry innovators. 

The inaugural S.W.A.P. programme, a six-week cultural and design exchange with Keiji Architects in Tokyo, allows participants from both firms to immerse themselves in new projects while gleaning invaluable insights into different markets and practices. 

BLINK founder and creative visionary Clint Nagata called the programme an exciting way to reward and inspire talented team members, while helping strengthen BLINK’s foothold in Japan.

“Talent inspires talent and needs constant nourishing,” said Nagata. “One handpicked designer from each firm will participate in the exchange, with potential to expand globally with other likeminded firms in key destinations.”

BLINK has already established its own following in Japan with its award-winning work on the Six Senses Kyoto. Other recent notable projects for the firm include Banyan Tree Dongguan Songshan Lake, Capella Shanghai Jian Ye Li, Raffles Maldives Meradhoo Resort, Six Senses Uluwatu, Roku Kyoto LXR Resort, Regent Phu Quoc and Amanoi Spa Houses.

Meanwhile, BLINK’s Kayte McMillan A Wish to Remember Travel Award series, now in its 6th year, has five travel grants set to be awarded for high-performing team members in 2025 to visit the destination of their dreams.

The first of 2025’s winners is Ploypak Ayasanond, a designer from BLINK’s Bangkok studio. She has visited Japan and was thrilled to view the two completed BLINK projects in person. 

"This trip could be said as an opportunity for my personal growth to explore the culture of the places where I can learn and of course recharging myself,” Ayasanond said.

Source: BLINK website. The central lobby space at Six Senses Kyoto overlooks the inner courtyard of the resort. Ikebana (the Japanese art of flower arrangement) displays, natural materials and earthen textures encourage a connection to nature in the interiors.

“Experiencing Six Senses Kyoto allowed me to truly appreciate how thoughtful design can transform a space into a sanctuary—where every detail, from the materials to the ambiance, fosters a profound sense of peace and connection. To create spaces that resonate with cultural authenticity and sensory engagement.

“I am grateful in receiving this award, this has been an inspiring milestone and profoundly enriching. The experiences and insights gained have significantly contributed to my development as a designer. I am thankful to BLINK for fostering an environment that encourages us to be explorers, not just designers. And thank you to Kayte for being a continual source of inspiration to all of us.”

Kayte McMillan, a BLINK design director who died from cancer in 2018, was known for her lust for life and love of travel and new experiences. To celebrate her memory, selected team members get a trip to remember as well as an experience that will help fuel their passion for travel, hospitality and embracing new places while truly living BLINK’s brand values. 

Nagata said the award has become a story of motivation, inspiration and reward for team members. “The spirit of travel and exploration is perfectly aligned with BLINK’s philosophy,” Nagata said. 

“I was incredibly fortunate to work closely with Kayte McMillan. She was an amazing individual who really had a strong passion for travel and for life, and she was taken from us tragically far too soon. In her honour we created a travel grant for to reward team members who are excelling, so they can recharge, get inspired and experience the different aspects of travel and living abroad, seeing and experiencing amazing things.

There is no greater inspiration than the world around us and we encourage everyone at BLINK to be an explorer, and to strive for excellence so that they might win the award.”

BLINK has studios in Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and London.

Zain customers receive extra rewards when reserving through Booking.com

- Service now available in Zain operations in Kuwait and Iraq, other countries to follow soon

- Reservations made through a dedicated Zain link are converted to additional complimentary mobile services

Source: Zain Group. Zain to offer rewards for Booking.com orders.

The Zain Group, a mobile telecom innovator with operations in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, has partnered with hotel reservation booking services site Booking.com to offer Zain customers additional complimentary mobile services for using the hotel service through a dedicated link. Zain has previously partnered global technology and content companies such as Uber and global computer game developer ZeptoLab to customers.

Zain customers who book a hotel stay through booking.zain.com will gain exclusive benefits based on the value of their booking. By inserting their phone number, each time they complete a booking on the site and fulfil the reservation, they will be rewarded with the allocation of additional mobile data or voice benefits that are credited to either their prepaid or post-paid line.

In Kuwait, customers will receive additional free Internet capacity of up to 1TB, while in Iraq, customers will benefit from additional voice and SMS credits. Other Zain country operations will offer similar benefits according to the local market preferences.

Zain Group CEO Scott Gegenheimer said, “As we evolve to become a digital lifestyle operator, this agreement with another world class digital marketplace provider represents Zain’s ongoing commitment to delivering exciting and compelling user experiences to our customers. We admire Booking.com’s customer orientation in its own right, and feel that the collaboration between our two organizations will be of enormous mutual benefit offering our customers the best choice of rewards and convenience.”

The partnership with Booking.com further builds on the establishment of the Zain Digital Frontier and Innovation (ZDFI) business unit, which is charged with launching Zain into the digital space by identifying new business areas, strategic partnerships, acquisition opportunities and other investments. Collectively, these activities look to create new revenue streams to maximise the group’s high-speed 4G-LTE broadband networks, customer assets, network intelligence and payment and billing frameworks.

Booking.com is available in more than 40 languages, and offers over 900,000 active properties in 223 countries and territories. The site offers competitive hotel rates and an easy way for travellers to choose and book accommodation.

Interested?

The service is now available to Zain customers in Kuwait and Iraq. It will be rolled out to other Zain country operations in due course.

Shop and donate at the same time with Happi

Source: Happi. Screenshots above from the Happi iOS app: (left) shopping categories, (centre) a sample merchant offering, (right) partner categories.

Happi, a social enterprise startup, has launched its web and mobile applications (iOS and Android) in Singapore. The company has built a community that matches sponsors, merchants and members in targeted consumer segments. Sponsors receive market intelligence, merchants enjoy direct access to members for marketing, whereas members receive tailored promotions as well as discounts on products and services.

Transactions at Happi earn 'smiles' which drive donations to a cause chosen by the member. Specifically, Happi encourages member activity with prizes and tailored promotions. Members can log in, select deals they want to win or buy, and then take a five-question survey. The completed survey enables smiles to be earned, driving a donation to the member's charity of choice, and also downloads the coupon for the deal to the member's phone, and enters them in a lucky draw to win that item. As an added incentive, members who select 10 offerings from Happi's e-shop per month get another chance to win an item on their wishlist in what Happi calls a Random Act of Happiness. Members may also purchase smiles.

Brands fund Happi as sponsors. Happi generates income from generating consumer data: completed survey responses, focus group recruitment, targeted promotions as well as data from members with specific profiles. The 90 merchants which Happi currently works with, on the other hand, pay Happi a marketing fee for sales generated. Happi in turn donates to the Happi member's chosen cause from this fee.

Happi currently features 45 teams, clubs, charities, student groups and community groups which a member can choose to fund, which the company terms 'partners'. Each member designates a partner to contribute to. Happi pays the designated partner every time there is activity from that member: S$1 for the initial signup, then S$0.10 per smile, S$10,000 for each 50,000 smiles, and S$5 for every purchase made. The company estimates that if every 1,000 active members complete just one five-question survey per day, it can drive S$144,000 annually to each partner organisation. 

Greg Lipper, Happi's Founder and Chief Happiness Officer, said, “Happi is a platform for people helping people where each participant’s small acts lead to big impacts for any cause they’re passionate about. We are especially excited to launch in Singapore, where people are so busy that they find it challenging to support the causes and groups they care about. Happi now gives people a fast, easy, free, and rewarding way to give support to the group they care about. This is a great example of how social enterprises can create huge social benefit while also being sustainable without individual financial support, and at a very grassroots level.”

Rob Pierce, co-founder of Edible Garden City (EGC), which champions the practice of growing food in underutilised urban spaces like rooftops and sidewalks, is a Happi supporter. He said, "Our partnership has made it quick and easy for both new and existing EGC followers to drive funds towards our organisation, get special offers on great products, and potentially win those products in Happi's lucky draws and Random Acts of Happiness. We will use the money Happi gives us to improve our infrastructure at the Autism Resource Centre. In addition to financial support, Happi also provides EGC free publicity, facilitates corporate sponsorships, and supports our events. All of this helps us deliver on our vision to make Singapore an Edible Garden City." 

Yong Teck Meng, National Director of Habitat for Humanity Singapore, said,”Our partnership has enabled us to reach both new and existing Habitat supporters to raise awareness and funds in our endeavour to improve the quality of life for those from disadvantaged and marginalised backgrounds. Happi gives us a vehicle to teach people about the importance of action and to support our vision to have a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” 

CaptionCube, a social enterprise that provides captioning services to convert speech into text, is also an early adopter Happi partner. Lim Jingjie, co-founder of CaptionCube said, ”Happi is a great idea because it allows people to shop and browse through interesting new products and do good at the same time! We will use the money Happi gives us to subsidise the costs of captioning services for deaf/hard of hearing students in Institutes of Higher Learning. This helps us deliver on our vision to build a more inclusive and accessible learning environment." 

Interested?

Download the app

Browse the list of over 45 Happi partners. Send email about becoming a partner to partners at happi.sg

View the list of over 90 Happi merchants. Send email about becoming a merchant to suppliers at happi.sg

That's why at Happi, we offer not only products, but services, events and more! Sign up with the promo code "IG-1" and find out about us on www.happi.sg

A photo posted by @happi.sg on Jan 3, 2016 at 10:05pm PST

RAKBANK launches the RAKBANK RED MasterCard

Source: RAKBANK website. The RAKBANK RED MasterCard Credit Card.

RAKBANK has launched the RAKBANK RED MasterCard Credit Card, its first contactless payment card. Through the Tap & Go contactless payment solution, holders of the RED MasterCard Credit Card can pay by tapping the card at enabled point of sale (POS) terminals to process the transaction in seconds.

“RAKBANK is committed to empowering customers with technology-based solutions that save their valuable time and money,” said Ian Hodges, Managing Director of Retail Banking at RAKBANK. “We always strive to offer our customers a convenient and hassle-free banking experience whether through our award-winning mobile banking, MobileCash, and web chat solutions, or with our recently launched MasterCard contactless Tap & Go facility via the RAKBANK RED MasterCard Credit Card.”

The RAKBANK RED MasterCard Credit Card, which is accepted globally, has no annual fee, offers discount rates of up to 2% on both local and international transactions, and extends one free remittance to India through RAKMoneyTransfer. In addition, cardholders benefit from dining offers at over 220 restaurants and outlets across UAE, various insurance covers such as credit shield, purchase protection and travel accident, and are part of the bank's Dream It. Live It. rewards programme.

In early December 2015 RAKBANK revamped the Dream It. Live It. programme for its conventional and AMAL MasterCard credit cards. The new rewards give cardholders the chance to live a year either rent-free, without paying any utility bills, or are spared their children’s annual school fees. Other lucky winners will drive off with a brand new car or win free fuel or grocery supplies for an entire year. The programme prizes also include free weekend getaways, free airline tickets to the customer's hometown, dining vouchers, the latest gadgets, 100 grams of gold, and a free shopping spree. 

Cardholders automatically enter the draw for the Dream It. Live It. rewards when they use their RAKBANK and AMAL MasterCard credit cards. With every AED200 spent on the credit cards, cardholders earn two chances to enter the draw, and every AED200 spent overseas gives cardholders four chances. The draw is held every two months, with 21 prizes at stake for each draw.

“We always listen to our customers to ensure that we regularly meet their needs,” said Mufaddal Idris Khumri, Head of Cards at RAKBANK. “The enhanced Dream It. Live It. programme reflects the bank’s endeavour to provide customers with unique rewards that add the most value to their lives.”  

The RAKBANK RED MasterCard Credit Card is the third credit card launched by the Bank in less than 12 months. The bank previously launched the RAKBANK World MasterCard Credit Card, which offers up to 10% cashback on travel, hotel dining, and supermarket spends, and a co-branded KALYAN JEWELLERS MasterCard Credit Card, which offers loyalty points that can be redeemed against jewellery purchases at any Kalyan Jewellers showrooms in the UAE.

Dream It. Live It. is available with seven of the Bank’s conventional and AMAL MasterCard credit cards, including the RAKBANK Titanium MasterCard Credit Card and the  RAKBANK KALYAN JEWELLERS MasterCard Credit Card. 

Visa and Kaligo.com partner to help business travellers

Visa and Kaligo.com, a global hotel booking platform that rewards frequent travellers with thousands of airline miles or credit card points on every booking, has announced an alliance to help businesses with their hotel bookings. 

Kaligo Business Plus provides small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a travel tool that enables them to earn rewards, reduce costs and manage travel expenses. The rewards-centric hotel booking solution provides Visa and card issuers with product differentiation, deeper SME engagement and greater travel policy compliance.

The benefits for SMEs are compelling:

Delight employees - Reward business travellers with thousands of attractive miles and points on their hotel bookings, so they can fly for free on their next holiday
Reduce travel spend - Easily set daily rate limits by city and by employee category, reflecting the desired travel policy
Get insights - Quickly view reports to see the entire company's booking activity in one place, and export data to feed into other SME tools for accounting or analysis
Boost policy compliance - Leverage Kaligo's rich rewards to drive more spend compliance on the Visa commercial card

More SMEs are now moving away from relying on traditional travel agents and allowing their staff to book their own travel. These frequent travellers - business executives, sales representatives, those who travel regularly for work - whom Kaligo is targeting. In a study commissioned by Visa and conducted by RFi Group, it is estimated that between 3% and 5% of all business expenses are on travel*.

Kaligo Business Plus makes it convenient to find the ideal business hotel with tailored review scores and special filters for business travellers. Companies can easily configure travel policies and realise cost savings. In just a few clicks, an administrator can create employee profiles within the company's Kaligo Business Plus account. Tracking company spend by employee category or team is easy with real-time dashboards and reports.

Vikram Kshettry, Head of Small Business Products, Asia Pacific of Visa said, "We are very pleased to partner with Kaligo. The tailored Kaligo Business Plus proposition drives key benefits for issuers, Visa and SMEs. This exclusive offer to Visa cardholders provides cost savings for companies and convenience for business travellers. We will be working with over 60 Visa issuers in Asia Pacific to communicate and promote Kaligo Business Plus to their eligible Visa cardholders."

Kyle Armstrong, CEO of Kaligo.com said, "We are delighted to work with Visa on this initiative. The combination of Kaligo's broad inventory of 365,000 hotels, our wide range of rewards programme options and Visa's extensive reach that connects consumers, businesses and financial institutions in more than 200 markets to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments, yields compelling benefits for SMEs. Our offering allows SMEs to reduce their travel spend, gain powerful insights and boost policy compliance."

"We are delighted to be the first bank to partner with VISA and support their collaboration with Kaligo to launch Kaligo Business Plus. Citibank's VISA Commercial Cards clients in Singapore will benefit from Kaligo's hotel booking solution that allows them to better manage their corporate travel needs and at the same time, earn reward points of up to 25 times faster which can be used to redeem hotel stays and flights among other attractive offers," said John Denhof, Head of Cards and Personal Loans at Citibank Singapore.

*The Visa SME Payments Survey 2015 was conducted by RFi Group with close to 1,000 companies interviewed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Mashreq Bank introduces reward-heavy SmartSaver Visa Platinum credit card

Source: Mashreq Bank website.

UAE’s Mashreq Bank has announced the SmartSaver Visa Platinum credit card, a cashback card that offers savings of up to 10%, with no caps or limits, at over 450 partner outlets across 50 leading brands. There are no spend tiers, no thresholds to be met, no complicated calculations and no annual fees.

According to Mashreq, there is a guaranteed return of 1.25% on all domestic and 2.5% on all international spends.

Nimish Dwivedi, Head of Cards at Mashreq said, "SmartSaver is the next generation cashback card with a market-defining proposition that keeps the consumers interests front and centre. Our exclusive and ever-growing ‘smart savings’ partnerships with over 450 partner outlets including leading brands such as Al Adil, Al Maya, Homes r Us, Kalyan Jewellers, Prime Medical Centre, Kinokuniya, BHS, VLCC and Oman Insurance, give us a unique advantage over competitor offerings.

Source: Mashreq Bank. Dwivedi.

"Add the ‘no-strings attached’ give-back on every domestic and international spend, the bonus savings on high-expense categories like school-fees, telecom and utility payments, dining discounts of up to 40% at over 3,000 restaurants in the UAE and abroad, free travel insurance, discounts on cinema tickets, complimentary purchase protection and extended warranty benefits and you have a card for all seasons that fundamentally transforms the savings universe."

Marcello Baricordi, Visa's General Manager for the UAE & Global Accounts Lead MENA, said: "Visa is pleased to partner with Mashreq to launch an all-encompassing product that gives cardholders incredible savings and rewards. A notable feature of the new Mashreq SmartSaver Visa Platinum Credit Card is the cashback on international spends.

"Besides benefiting from savings on essential purchases, cardholders can also make smart purchases on the go using Visa Checkout – the new simple and speedy solution for online shopping. Overall, the SmartSaver card offers benefits every step of the way and at the same time enjoy the peace of mind of safe and secure transactions with Visa."

Interested?

Apply for the card

Someline Apple Tree app grows apples for charity if you stay away from your phone

Source: Google Play.

Libern Lin, a student entrepreneur from Singapore's Republic Polytechnic, has taken his Someline Apple Tree app to the next level with the help of funding from the Singapore Computer Society (SCS).

The app encourages face to face interaction, with users growing digital apples for rewards if they leave their phones alone. Said Lin, creator of Someline Apple Tree: “After some thought, we felt that we could use this concept for the greater good. Hence, we decided to use the S$30,000 development fund provided by SCS to further enhance the app (by creating) a charity component for IDA’s Code for Charity*. 

"Moving forward, we are also looking to partner with retailers to provide users with additional incentives to put their phones down, as any apples grown will earn the user discounts and freebies in the store.”

Lin hopes to unlock S$10,000 worth of digital apples, sponsored by Singapore Pools, for the SG Enable charity. SG Enable runs a day activity centre aimed at providing care and skills training to adults with disabilities.

Interested?

Download the app from the iTunes store or from the Google Play store  

*IDA's Code for Charity initiative enables participants to learn about coding while contributing to a good cause.

Australian businesses can use uChoose for corporate rewards

Source: uChoose website.

i2c, a provider of card processing and emerging financial services solutions, and Corporate Prepaid Solutions (CPS), a prepaid programme manager, have launched the first of several corporate prepaid programmes with the uChoose corporate rewards gift card in Australia. 

The uChoose card, powered by i2c’s global processing platform, is a turnkey solution for companies that wish to offer a Visa-branded gift card. Companies can customise the card to align with their brands. The card can be used anywhere Visa is accepted, offering recipients the freedom to spend their gifts at millions of merchant locations worldwide.

“UChoose offers companies across Australia the ability to choose prepaid gift cards that fit their brands and budgets. As our processor, i2c played an important role in enabling us to build a solution that offers simplified program setups and card ordering, quick turnaround times and reliable global acceptance,” says Kristy Allen, GM, Operations at CPS.