Singapore – Circular, a tech subscription service with a presence in Singapore and Australia, has recently named David Harling as its first-ever chief marketing officer. Harling recently comes from MoneySmart, where he previously served as its chief marketing officer and more recently, as its managing director for Asia-Pacific.
In an exclusive conversation with MARKETECH APAC, Harling shares his marketing vision for the brand and his insights on promoting the circular economy to its key markets and the region.
Marketing vision ahead of Circular’s upcoming funding round
Harling notes that he joins Circular at a pivotal moment for the company as it heads out to land its series A funding round and on a broader journey for Circular’s series B funding round over the next 12 to 18 months.
In his new role, Harling shares that his main focus on the role would be to reshape and build out the marketing capabilities of the company, more specifically on performance marketing–which currently drives most of the consumer base of Circular. Moreover, he will also help the company in creating brand activation initiatives, building brand awareness, as well as focusing on optimising both of its organic and digital channels.
“Circular has a fascinating story because not only are we providing the latest in consumer technology and making that accessible to everyone but we’re also supporting the circular economy, and so one of our purposes and mission is to avoid any sort of devices going into landfills and avoid devices getting stored on people’s cupboards,” he explained.
The tech rental awareness of the circular economy has grown, but Harling thinks that there’s still room for growth in this space, adding, “I think there’s a big awareness and education role for me to join as its CMO and building up a market communication strategy that gives sort of an understanding of who we are and what we do, and then establish an ongoing market fit around the product and proposition.”
For him, despite Circular operating less than three years since its inception in 2021, it has already proved its market fit in Singapore based on assessing their customers’ spending power, which in turn essentially becomes their credit score on the Circular platform.
Understanding Circular’s uniqueness amongst the recommerce industry
For Harling, the key feature that sets Circular apart from other e-commerce platforms–and basically those engaging in the recommerce scene is that the customer engagement doesn’t merely stop at the point of sale but rather continues to expand as each device is made sure that it can still be passed to other consumers on the platform, minimising the possibility of devicess ending up on landfills sooner.
“I think Circular is ahead of the game in terms of advocating and influencing the circular economy as a behaviour by putting the latest tech–like phones for example–into consumer’s hands, making it affordable to get access to that device through a clean subscription mode, as well as guaranteeing the promise that we would recirculate the phone when they’re ready to upgrade,” he stated.
Harling also added, “One of the differences between us and the standard e-commerce platform is that the relationship sort of typically ends at a point of purchase. But with Circular the relationship just begins, and so not only do you get the latest device and tech in your hand direct to door within a very fast delivery period but also you have an ongoing experience with your subscription.”
On bringing previous marketing leadership lessons to Circular
As someone who had served with MoneySmart for over six years, one of the key lessons Harling wants to bring to Circular is his proposition of ‘marrying good product and good marketing strategy’, as well as achieving low-cost customer acquisition.
“I want to focus purely on our customer experience, customer data re-engagement, driving customer attention as well driving scale of customer lifetime value as we grow our customer base. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we want to build our customer base very similar to what I did at MoneySmart, and that becomes our primary marketing distribution channel. This means becoming less dependent on Google and Facebook where the cost of acquisition is only going to continue,” he said.
He added, “We want to also focus on how we can get a better balance between the value of ongoing repurchase and subscriptions, which for Circular sits within the customer base, and comes with a lower cost of acquisition and a continued customer engagement strategy accompanies with good product experience.”
When asked if expansion to other markets is also a priority for Circular, Harling noted that it is still part of their goals–albeit not a priority. For him, Circular is much more focused on building good customer experience, as well as maintaining retention and re-engagement of its customers.
“I think most companies and brands in Singapore are very heavily dependent on acquisition and they don’t put as much focus into the customer retention and customer experience strategies to draw out lifetime value. I think we can do a combination of both strategies but for now, we must put real focus on customer experience and re-engagement, as well as implementing active first-party data to draw repurchase and subscriptions from customers,” he explained.
What’s next for Circular in raising awareness for the circular economy
Harling notes that there is a compelling suite of marketing tactics that the circular economy can employ in the region, with some of those tactics going into full force for Circular’s strategy. These include implementing a variety of loyalty and reward programs for its growing number of customers, as well as amplifying their brand awareness through influencer marketing.
“I think there’s also a huge role for us to work with what I consider to be good strong social influencers in Singapore. As we know, tech is an appealing category to be discussed, and throughout the year there are going to be ongoing new device and tech releases. And so, we plan to work with influencers that have a good voice and can represent the Circular brand and more importantly build a network uh and content following around tech as a category,” he said.
Harling also added, “I think there’s so much conversation and topics that we can own to which sort of relates to the lifestyle nature of tech and what gets released. I think that’s going to be a big part of building a community that represents the Circular brand but also believes in the overall circular economy. This isn’t just about you distributing tech and putting it into the hands and making it accessible. This is also about the purpose of Circular and sort of why we exist, with the key benefit to the circular economy making sure that people are aware that we do recirculate the tech and give it a longer life.”
