It’s rare for marketing leaders to have experience in both aviation and hospitality, but for Plaza Premium Group’s new associate director of marketing and communications, Julian Sng, this combination is exactly what made the role appealing.
In this new position, he is tasked with taking the company’s marketing beyond awareness, driving commercial impact by shaping travellers’ choices, and strengthening brand relevance across Southeast Asia.
This exclusive MARKETECH APAC feature also unpacks how Julian plans to take Plaza Premium Group’s marketing to the next level by strengthening their brand narrative, establishing accountability for their growth, and driving a strong marketing engine.
Turning marketing into a growth engine
With 17 years of experience across brand, digital, and omnichannel marketing, Julian underscored that his priorities for the new role are ‘very commercially driven’.
“One of my immediate priorities is to debunk the common misconception that airport lounges are only for credit cardholders or elite travellers. Travellers can walk in and pay, which is actually the smarter option compared to getting a credit card with a few lounge uses. Doing this will have a direct impact on usage, revenue, and overall growth.”
While this priority settles first on the list, Julian also recognises that prioritising commercial opportunities in marketing can never be done with one solid way.
“Singapore, [the] Philippines, and Vietnam are very different markets at different stages of maturity. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. My focus is to drive growth through making our brand locally relevant while maintaining our brand promise,” he explained.
He added that their approach needs to be highly localised to be relatable amongst travellers.
Adding to this, Julian noted the existing challenge that, as a region, Southeast Asia is incredibly diverse.
“Travel behaviour, spending power, and expectations can vary vastly by country and sometimes even by city. At the same time, the diversity also presents an opportunity,” said Julian.
He also shared how he views local relevance as imperative. If the goal is to reach their target audience, Plaza Premium Group needs to ‘speak their language’.
“Our role in the regions is to stay closely aligned with our global teams. We need to connect with them. We need to be relatable,” emphasised Julian.
When asked how he plans to take on the new role, Julian offered three main focuses.
“First, I want to strengthen our brand narrative. We are a global brand with such an incredible portfolio, but we need to be better and more consistent in how we tell our stories.”
This meant for their marketing messages to align not just with lounges, but across all their business units: lounges, airpost hotels, passenger services, airport dining, and much more.
According to Julian, this is how Plaza Premium Group could articulate what they stand for and why they are ‘different from the rest’.
“Secondly, marketing will be more accountable for growth. We should not stop at storytelling. We need to influence choice, generate demand, drive usage, and growth revenue. Our marketing efforts must be aligned with our commercial teams’ efforts and support business outcomes,” continued Julian.
By not growing satisfied with storytelling alone, Julian added that he also aims to build a strong marketing engine. This would include a strong infrastructure of processes and SOPs, while strengthening how they use data, content, PR, and marketing channels.
While Julian recognises the impact that the airport hospitality company has made over the years, what dawns on him more is the realisation of ‘not being there yet’.
“I feel that we are still not where we should be in terms of being a household brand. We really should be top of mind for our target audience, and this is our opportunity to cement ourselves before our competitors can come close,” shared Julian.
He continued, “If we manage to achieve these goals, then I’m sure we will be able to achieve our long-term goal of being a household name and cementing ourselves as the undisputed global leader in airport hospitality.”
Julian brings with him extensive experience in hospitality, having worked with Hilton, as well as in aviation with Tigerair and Scoot. Reporting directly to Plaza Premium Group’s regional general manager, he steps into the role with a clear mission: to move the company’s marketing beyond mere awareness and towards genuinely influencing travellers’ choices.
While navigating the local complexities of Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and pairing brand storytelling with commercial priorities, Julian aims not only to position himself as a marketer but to lead the airport hospitality company into a new intersection.
