Agency Leadership Decoded: Leverate Group’s Marlina Lim on finding balance for impactful growth

Known for delivering bespoke strategies encompassing media, creativity, and technology, Indonesia-based integrated and independent full-service agency Leverate Group has established itself as an agency that is making waves in an international space. With this in mind, it takes a certain type of leadership to ensure that the needs of their diverse array of clients are delivered, and that their teams work strategically to fulfil this with the utmost efficiency.

For Marlina Lim, CEO of Leverate Group, leading this agency is made possible through her approach that focuses on continuously improving and searching for ways to create and to connect, whilst simultaneously finding the balance to cultivate the growth and wellbeing of its employees.

“To me, moving Leverate Group forward also means finding that balance between the restlessness of not settling and the deliberate pauses to take inventory and listen. It’s what I would call the “Festina Lente” approach, which translated from Latin would mean: Make haste slowly. This is what I would like to pass on to my team: the importance of continuous velocity and improvement with insistent mindfulness and thoroughness,” Marlina said.

To find out more about how this balance is implemented within Leverate Group, MARKETECH APAC reached out for an exclusive interview with Marlina as part of our ‘Agency Leadership Decoded’ series.

Balanced improvements

When it comes to how she creates improvements, Marlina says that she always pushes work and play to be hand in hand with each other by making space for leisure, but she also puts emphasis on one-on-one mentoring sessions for her team to easily have access to the sharing of insights and perspectives.

She also initiated a program called “Social Media for Social Impact”, which allows her team to reach out and share their digital, brand, and creative expertise to social movements, impact-driven organisations, philanthropies, and change makers.

Expounding on this, Marlina stated, “We plan to make this a recurring event and hope to grow a diverse community that can inspire one another with strong pieces of communication. Together with our partner Google, we shared some best practices on social platforms that are relevant for impact organisations to obtain the understanding, buy-in and participation from their audience. My team also learned a lot about how these best practices can be applied to meet community-based goals centred around behaviour change and doing good.”

Applying a humanistic approach

Speaking on the challenges faced by Leverate Group, Marlina mentioned that the big challenge for them really was the pandemic, which saw advertising budgets and spending patterns plummet.

At the time, her main and only strategy was survival, which resulted in agility, adaptability and humanity. Through this approach, their connections became stronger and their creativity and productivity skyrocketed.

However, Marlina shared that this in itself forms another challenge, as there is now pressure on having to maintain their pace and continue to grow and deliver great work in an environment where brands and clients are becoming more and more critical and demanding.

To overcome these challenges, Marlina believes in being their own biggest critic and applying the ‘Festina Lente’ approach that she previously mentioned.

“I want myself and my team to take pride in great work, but we should not linger in that pool of pride for too long. We need to go back out there and create something even greater. That is how I would like to take this agency to greater heights. You have to continuously play the game in order to change it,” she explained.

Changing the game 

As a product of these efforts and strategies, Marlina shared Leverate Group’s achievements such as an industry award for excellence for their COVID-19 campaign and two more industry awards, alongside a significant growth of clients in the post-pandemic years of 2022 and 2023.

Another milestone is the transition from Leverate Asia to Leverate Group, which now stands firm with its headquarters in Indonesia. This complements Leverate Group’s expansion in the APAC region, and their integration as part of Tribe Global, a network of independent communication agencies and smart businesses. Leverate has also just been added in Stagwell’s Global Affiliate Program, where they offer robust omnichannel media buying and activation capabilities to extend the network’s Asia Pacific footprint of creative, media, and digital services.

Talking about how she explores different ways to collaborate and grow, Marlina concluded, “In this industry, all leaders should prioritise the wellbeing of their team members, making sure they are heard, motivated, and given the space for professional and personal growth. My advice is to try to focus on that. Set a strong vision, communicate a clear course of action, prioritise your teams’ wellbeing, and support them in their journey towards elevating and game-changing work.”