Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – Carsome has announced that Eric Chan, most recently the regional managing director at Jardine Cycle & Carriage, will assume the roles of group president and group chief operating officer for the company. In his new roles, Chan will oversee all operations across the Group’s footprint in Southeast Asia.

He brings with with nearly three decades of extensive operational experience in the automotive sector, and his appointment underlines Carsome’s strategic direction toward bolstering operational efficiencies and sustainable growth.

Chan began his career from the ground up as a car sales professional and advanced to managing director at Cycle & Carriage Singapore, in addition to other notable roles. His corporate and board experience includes Chairmanship of the Cycle & Carriage Bintang board and Commissioner on the Board of PT Tunas Ridean TBK (Tunas Group). 

He also currently serves as an independent director at AcroMeta Group, an investment holding company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Speaking on his new role, Chan said, “Together with the passionate team, I am committed to building on the Company’s legacy and pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve in the industry. It is about strategic innovation, collaboration, and delivering tangible value to our customers and stakeholders.”

As part of his appointment, Carsome has also announced that Aaron Kee, who previously held the position of COO, will assume the role of group chief business officer (CBO). As CBO, Aaron will drive the integration of strategies within the Carsome ecosystem, lead business development, and focus on identifying and nurturing new prospects beyond Carsome’s core business segments.

Meanwhile, Juliet Zhu, who has significantly contributed to Carsome’s success journey, will transition from her role as president and assume the position of advisor to the management team, allowing Carsome to continue drawing upon her insights and experience.

Eric Cheng, co-founder and CEO of Carsome, said, “Our leadership transition is a conscious move to capitalise on our team’s deep strengths against our ambitious objectives. The leadership changes are timely and align with the company’s trajectory toward sustained growth and market leadership.”

He added, “Chan’s notable career in automotive leadership, particularly his work at Jardine Cycle & Carriage, makes the industry veteran a valued addition to our Carsome family. His innovative approach and commitment to excellence are perfectly aligned with our mission to revolutionise the automotive sector, and we look forward to his leadership in steering Carsome’s regional operational strategies.”

Singapore – One of the challenges of marketing teams is defending a budget’s suitability to proposed marketing plans. A recent study by professional networking platform LinkedIn revealed that in order to weather this perennial predicament, B2B CMOs, particularly those from the Singapore market, are aiming to become more ‘financially fluent’ in order to prove the value of brand marketing to their CEO and CFO. Such is true for almost all of the chief marketing leaders, 83%, that were surveyed in the market. 

The study showed that around two-thirds (64%) of senior B2B marketing leaders in Singapore expect marketing budgets to grow over the next year. Things have been looking up thus far for said leaders, where research shows they have the support of the business, with 7 in 10 CFOs from B2B organisations in the market feeling optimistic about marketing’s ability to drive revenue in the year ahead. 

More notably, local B2B marketing leaders shared that one of the top priorities for this year is to champion bolder creativity in their campaigns with the aim to improve mental availability amongst consumers (48%). 

“B2B marketers in Singapore have been navigating the current climate with agility. They have demonstrated the importance of winning mindshare through brand building to business leaders, and they are also now making strides to explore leveraging Generative AI to increase efficiency and boost creativity,” said Matt Tindale, head of enterprise of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions for Asia Pacific

“As the business landscape continues to evolve, B2B marketers will lead the way in creating memorable, best-in-class brands, and contribute to their company’s growth in the months and years ahead,” added Tindale. 

LinkedIn’s ‘The B2B Marketing Benchmark’ is a study of nearly 2,000 senior B2B marketing and finance leaders from organisations across the globe, which was conducted ahead of the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

Simultaneously with the release of the report, LinkedIn has also recently launched new B2B marketing solutions, which amongst others, will be leveraging the adoption of generative AI. The fresh roster of tools includes ‘AI-generated Copy Suggestions’ and advertising solutions such as In-stream video ads, thought leader ads, and conversation ads. 

Said launch also introduced the ‘CMO Scorecard’, which is a new measurement program through its consultancy, B2B Edge. This aims to help B2B marketers on the platform benchmark their creative impact and media performance against competitors. 

Singapore – Around 74% of C-suite executives in the Asia-Pacific region are under pressure to prove greater short-term return of investment (ROI) on their marketing campaigns amidst times of uncertainty, according to data from social media platform LinkedIn.

According to the data, almost 98% of B2B marketing leaders in APAC said that improving the chief financial officer’s awareness and understanding of B2B marketing ROI will be vital for strengthening future marketing budgets.

The data also finds that 40% of businesses in APAC are financially preparing for tough times ahead, which is putting heightened pressure on marketers to prove business impact. 

At a global level, a third of CMOs globally are concerned that uncertainty will force them to operate more reactively (30%) and curb creative campaigns (31%).

In terms of marketing spending, around 58% of B2B marketing leaders in APAC are planning to maintain or increase spend in this area over the next six months. Furthermore, 82% of marketers in APAC believe companies that increase or maintain their marketing spend throughout economic uncertainty recover faster.

“With CFOs facing incredibly hard choices in the coming months, they will naturally be a critical stakeholder for CMOs and their marketing teams. Maintaining existing budgets and strengthening future ones is dependent on marketers’ ability to speak the language of the CFO and now, more than ever, marketers need to master the language of effectiveness.” the research stated.

Prue Cox, director of enterprise for SEA & ANZ marketing solutions at LinkedIn said, “While we know the economy is in a state of flux, it’s important that marketers continue to invest in marketing as by pulling back investment, they risk long term damage to their brand. As marketing budgets are often the first to be scrutinised and tightened in times of uncertainty, it’s important that senior leaders can show ROI to their stakeholders.”

She added, “Speaking the language of the CFO, to demonstrate an alignment of marketing metrics to business metrics, and pulling the right strategic levers, will help maintain existing budgets and strengthen future ones. By nurturing key relationships with important leaders, like the CFO, and using data as information, can demonstrate business impact and will put brands in a much stronger position now and in the future.”

Singapore – GroupM’s outcome-driven media company Xaxis has recently appointed Silvia Sparry as the company’s newest chief operating officer, following the company’s celebration of 10 years in operation.

Prior to her new position, she has served as Xaxis’ vice president of global operations and platforms.

In her new role, Sparry will help translate how differentiating capabilities such as Xaxis’ proprietary AI platform Copilot or GroupM Choreograph can be consistently leveraged by clients to deliver better outcomes from their digital media investments.

In addition, Sparry will lead Xaxis’ global operations and will focus on accelerating Xaxis’ journey to become an artificial intelligence (AI) and data science first company. Responsible for technology platforms, partnerships, operations and process excellence, Sparry will work to maximise synergies across Xaxis’ 47 markets, as well as across the wider group, including GroupM and WPP.

“I’m excited to take on my new responsibilities at Xaxis at such a momentous time of change. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Nicolas and the talented Xaxis teams around the world to further transform the business into an AI and data first company, that equips its people with the capabilities and know-how to deliver the very best outcomes for our clients over the next decade and long into the future,” she said, regarding her appointment.

She will report to Nicolas Bidon, global CEO at Xaxis, who commented that Sparry has a proven track record of driving transformative initiatives, adding that they could not think of anyone better to help the company continue their 10-year journey of innovation and growth.

“As programmatic advertising continues to conquer new channels like audio, TV or out of home, marketers are looking for globally scaled specialists that can help them accelerate their own digital transformation and growth. To help our clients seize the opportunities presented by this ever changing and complex ecosystem, it is more important than ever for Xaxis to have a strong global operational leader who can drive operational excellence and innovation across the globe,” Bidon stated.

Xaxis’s presence in Asia has been evident, with the recent appointment of Aravind Menon as managing director of Xaxis in Malaysia, as well as working with Singapore-based proptech Really for programmatic advertising.

Manila, Philippines – Filipino conglomerate Ayala Corporation has announced key changes in its C-suite leadership , namely Fernando Zobel de Ayala as the new president and CEO, taking over Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, who is now serving as chairman of the board.

Fernando takes over Jaime’s former position as CEO after 26 years of tenure as the head figure of the conglomerate’s operations.

Established in 1834, Ayala Corporation is one of the largest corporations in the Philippines and with a massive portfolio of diverse business interests, including investments in retail, education, real estate, and banking, as well as telecommunications, water infrastructure, renewable energy, and electronics. The conglomerate also has businesses in information technology, automotive, and healthcare, and management and business process outsourcing.

“Since 1995, our market capitalization has expanded more than sixfold; our net income similarly grew more than six times. Since 1995, we rewarded our shareholders with dependable returns that averaged at 15 percent per annum. Over that period, we cumulatively paid ₱118b in dividends to our common shareholders,” Fernando stated.

He added, “As incoming president and CEO, I aim to build on the firm foundation that Jaime established, guided by our core strategy of maintaining leadership and relevance in the markets we serve. To support this, we will place greater emphasis on our portfolio strategy with a sharper focus on optimizing returns from existing businesses, a highly disciplined approach on capital deployment; and explore opportunities for value realization initiatives to fund future investments.”

During Jaime’s tenure as CEO, Ayala Corporation has managed to make massive investments in real estate, banking, telecommunications, energy, water, health, education, and logistics where large societal gaps exposed opportunities to serve a broader, more inclusive set of customers, generate meaningful returns and improve risk-resilience.

Other key leadership changes include Ayala Corporation’s CFO, TG Limcaoco, taking the helm at BPI as president and CEO; upon the retirement of his predecessor, Bong Consing. Bong will continue to be engaged with the Ayala Group as a member of the board of directors of BPI, Ayala Corporation, Globe Telecom and AC Energy Corporation. 

In addition, Albert De Larrazabal, most recently Globe’s chief commercial officer, succeeds Limcaoco as AC’s CFO. Eric Francia, current president and CEO of AC Energy, was appointed to concurrently chair AC’s Investment Committee

“We are cautiously optimistic about the business environment and will continue to prepare for a post-pandemic economic recovery. We are hoping for a successful implementation of the country’s vaccination program that would pave the way for a revival of the economy. With a healthy balance sheet and a set of diversified and strong franchises in our portfolio, we are confident that we will come out of this difficult period stronger,” Fernando concluded.