The partnership heralds a new era of digital synergy and collaboration among the organizations.

Leading telecommunications and digital services provider PLDT Inc. - through its Home, Enterprise and International Carrier Business Groups - and Smart Communications, sealed a partnership with TV5’s multi-platform, multi-discipline production outfit, D5 Studio, Voyager Innovations' digital marketing solutions arm, VYGR Digital Agency, and PLDT's Big Data Organization, Partner Analytics and Customer Experience, or PACE (formerly Talas Data Intelligence, Inc.), through a signing of a memorandum of understanding held at Smart Communications’ headquarters in Makati.

The partnership heralds a new era of digital synergy and collaboration among the organizations, as well as creates and formalizes the group's first Digital Marketing Council, an inter-company executive committee and think tank composed of the leading digital marketing talents of the parties.

Carlo Ople, PLDT VP for Digital Marketing Strategy and Chairman of the Digital Marketing Council, emphasized the significance of the partnership as a big leap towards the digital transformation and pivot of the group.

“The biggest barrier to any corporate digital transformation story has always been culture. The borderless mandate of the Digital Marketing Council will foster a culture of synergy, agility, and openness,” Ople said. “This close collaboration will pave the way for us to deliver data-driven and personalized products, services, and campaigns to our customers at scale. The speed that we will innovate and create these services will also accelerate drastically because the walls hindering the companies from working together will be broken down.”

This allows the group to leverage each other’s unique strengths and resources: multimedia content and platforms of TV5/Media 5, analytics and insighting capabilities of Partner Analytics and Customer Experience Group (PACE), and digital and fintech solutions of Voyager Innovations, Inc. These digital capability investments are all being harnessed to further complement the leading ICT products and solutions sets for the various customers of PLDT and Smart.

“The PLDT Group has always been at the forefront of ICT leadership and innovation, and we continue to drive forward our mandate of empowering consumers and enterprises with revolutionary tools by converging and engaging the distinct proficiencies of each group involved in this convergent partnership,” said PLDT-Smart Chief Revenue Officer and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto. “As a united body, we remain dedicated to stay on top of our game and deliver world-class services to our valued customers.”

This milestone MOU signing was witnessed by no less than PLDT Group Chairman & CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan, and was jointly undertaken by PLDT-Smart Chief Revenue Officer and ePLDT President & CEO Eric Alberto, together with other group senior officers - Voyager Innovations Inc. President and CEO Orlando Vea, TV5 & Media5 President & CEO Chot Reyes, and PACE Chief Customer Experience and Data Analytics Advisor Ralph Brunner. FVP and Head of PLDT-Smart Enterprise Groups Jovy Hernandez, and FVP and Head of PLDT-Smart Home Business Oscar Reyes Jr., were also present during this collaborative signing event.