Claudia Low, the regional creative content director of digital marketing agency Lion & Lion, is one of the winners of ‘Empowered Women in Agency’. The recognition initiative, Empowered Women Awards 2023, is MARKETECH APAC’s inaugural effort in recognising outstanding female leaders in the industry. 

Claudia has been with Lion & Lion for a little over 6 years. She started with the Southeast Asia-focused company as regional head of creative content, and only recently in 2022, moved up positions to be its regional creative content director. Prior to this, Claudia has molded her creative prowess, sinking her teeth in a wide range of roles that include experience in content, editorial and digital marketing.

Being the sole female regional director of creative content 

As a region-wide agency, Lion & Lion’s leadership structure births a number of counterparts in service of different markets. Within the creative directorial role, Claudia stands as the only female leader. 

The unique set-up of her position alone makes her an empowered woman, representing the female strength of the creative force. In the year 2022, Claudia’s exceptional leadership and guidance have played a pivotal role in securing Lion & Lion’s most significant business wins to date. Her contributions have been instrumental in securing accounts such as Mars Petcare (Pedigree, Cesar, Temptations & Pedigree Pro) for Singapore, and Mars Cool Air and Seek Asia in Indonesia. She has also contributed to several wins in Malaysia, including BigPay, Guardian, SunQuick and AIA. Claudia’s expertise and guidance to the team have also been critical in securing and maintaining major retainer accounts on a regional and global level, such as Emborg, Kellogg’s and KODAK Lens.

In the campaign level, meanwhile, Claudia’s creative direction gave way for the development of award-winning campaigns. These included Raya Ni Saya Rindu campaign and the Chopsticks of Roaring Fortune Chinese New Year film for 2022. More notably, Claudia lends a pivotal contribution in the special film to launch the agency’s film & content studio.

Shaping Lion & Lion’s agency branding and communications strategy

As a digital outfit that polishes entities’ branding, the same is also a challenge to the agency itself which has already undergone a number of business pivots, hence changes in the agency’s communications.

Claudia has been instrumental in structuring Lion & Lion’s agency branding and communications strategy. When it was acquired by Septeni in 2016, she aided the agency’s rebranding effort, and in 2022, she took over the communications department to create the MarComms team, overseeing all regional markets.

As a result of driving the agency’s branding initiatives, Lion & Lion’s branding flourished in 2022, with the main social platform of the agency, LinkedIn, surpassing its target of 30,000, and increasing the number of lead-generating posts to 100+, double the number from 2021, resulting in 55,000 impressions.

Embodying new-era leadership 

Claudia strives to be a new-era leader by being a true visionary, exercising a perfect blend of expertise, creativity, and heart. Despite being the only female creative lead at Lion & Lion, Claudia has proven herself to be an exceptional leader, commanding respect and admiration from her colleagues and clients alike. 

Regional Chief Creative Officer of Lion & Lion, Cheelip Ong, describes Claudia as a person who strikes a delicate balance between sure-footed assertiveness and bringing a fresh breath of air in boardroom conversations, making her a true force to be reckoned with.

Claudia keeps a consistent eye on how content is moving in the new era. She believes that content is evolving beyond just words and is now including moving visuals, gamification and AI. As the digital landscape evolves, the creative leader is constantly exploring how these areas can drive content in brave new ways, and is now mentoring her teams on how to take advantage of these evolving technologies. 

“True empowerment comes when every individual is given the space to fully realise and express themselves, without fear or hesitation. There shouldn’t be a limit to what we can accomplish,” remarked Claudia. 

Aside from Claudia, check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list

Patricia Freijo, the vice president of customer growth at adtech platform TrafficGuard, bags an award as one of the winners of ‘Empowered Women in Tech’. MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023 is an inaugural awarding exercise by the digital media to recognise outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry. 

Prior to joining TrafficGuard, Patricia has worked with tech brands Dataxu and Foursquare. She has a wealth of experience in sales and business development, having expanded revenue, created strategic partnerships, and implemented new marketing technology across multiple regions such as the US, SEA, and AU.

Protecting the ad industry from fraudulent acts

The often rigid and sometimes hard-hitting world of tech is not particularly seen as an area where women can thrive, but Patricia, as an empowered leader in the industry is defying all odds. 

As the vice president of customer growth for the APAC region at ad fraud prevention platform Trafficguard, she drives commercial growth and leads the team in positioning the company as the leading fraud prevention solution provider in the area. 

Becoming synonymous with Patricia’s name is creativity where she carries with her a track record of developing creative solutions that drive results. At the company, she has expanded its customer base and established partnerships to increase revenue. 

One of her notable accomplishments is managing the commercial partnership between TrafficGuard and Google Cloud across APAC. She has co-pitched TrafficGuard’s solutions to regional brands using Google Cloud and conducted an invalid traffic workshop for regional marketers at Google’s HQ in Singapore.

A growth-centric approach to leadership

Patricia as a leader puts a premium on a growth mindset. This is evident even with herself where within her role, elevation had not been far-fetched, immediately expanding to include regional efforts in EMEA and ANZ on top of SEA. 

She takes a growth-centric approach to her work and consistently expands her market knowledge to stay updated with industry trends, making her a mentor and go-to person for her team. Patricia is highly engaged with the team and lives by the principle of leading by example, willing to work alongside her members to achieve shared goals. 

Collaboration is, nonetheless, at the heart of what Patricia values in leadership. She makes sure to build a positive work environment and leads the charge in unifying the team in product, data, and customer success areas to truly sustain a diverse range of team capabilities.

Winning the game in inclusivity 

As a woman in tech, Patricia faced challenges in the male-dominated industry and struggled to be seen as a trusted advisor. Upon moving to Asia, she noticed a lack of women in management positions in adtech, which affected her confidence due to external and internal barriers. 

Needless to say, she has overcome and continues to weather these challenges. She makes the best out of the situation by joining ad tech networking groups, connecting with female leaders who became her mentors, and learning to become a mentor herself while volunteering with organisations such as ‘She Says’. 

Moving forward, her passion and determination won’t be dampened and she refuses to let gender perceptions limit her potential by working towards personal growth and success for the company. 

“As women daring to challenge the status quo and advocating for change and inclusion, we are forging a path towards a thriving future for ourselves and generations to come,” commented Patricia. 

Aside from Patricia, check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Jiravara Virayavardhana, the chief executive of Ogilvy Thailand, bags an award to be one of MARKETECH APAC’s ‘Empowered Women in Agency’. The recognition initiative, Empowered Women Awards 2023, is an inaugural effort to honour empowered women leaders in the industry.

The Ogilvy veteran started her journey with the firm when she joined the team in Thailand in 1995. From there on, she has been elevated to various senior positions such as being the managing director of Ogilvy Public Relations for 8 years and managing director of Ogilvy Thailand since January 2016. It was in November 2022 that when she was inducted into the chief executive position.

Creating campaigns that bring ‘real impact for real life’

In 2022, economic conditions in Thailand brought a mix of challenges to businesses, and advertising firms such as Ogilvy Thailand, were let off the hook. In order to cushion its businesses with brands, the agency went the route of ‘creating real impact for real life’. 

As the company’s chief executive, Jiravara led her team into adopting said practice of delivering meaningful impact through creative force, and these were manifested in three areas – people, planet, and performance. 

The company’s growth strategy for 2022 is to regenerate growth by making real impact on creativity, operations, talent, clients, and new business. As a true empowered woman, several campaigns that brought positive influence to society were crafted under Jiravara’s watch. 

One would be the campaign for the Miss Universe ‘Force for Good’ crown which marked a new era of the Miss Universe brand that continued to support diverse women to realize their ambitions. Amongst other campaigns under her leadership is the Culture to Commerce campaign for Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) which championed a new form of sustainable virtual tourism. 

The four features that Jiravara swears her leadership by 

Not everyone can say that they have grown to be veterans in their fields via an enduring tenure. Jiravara’s loyalty to Ogilvy has shaped a leadership that’s unique and holistic to the renowned advertising network. 

Her approach to leading a team can be described in four aspects – being a cheerleader, a firefighter, a conductor, and a psychiatrist. To be a good leader, Jiravara believes that one must consistently be at the frontline in rallying one’s team to success. Meanwhile, when real challenges arise, a leader must suit up with a firefighter stance. Firefighters don’t fear the blazing fire in front of them and makes sure everyone is safe under one’s command.

Next, Jiravara as a leader is also a good conductor. At work, everyone must work in harmony, and as a conductor, she knows how to bring the best in each player. Finally, Jiravara says it is important for a leader to also act like a helpful psychiatrist – someone who’s sensitive and empathetic enough to perceive when one’s team is being challenged mentally and physically in their wellness.  

“The great power doesn’t come from muscles. The heart gives us all strengths,” she said.

Working hard as an industry ally

Jiravara’s passion for the creative craft goes beyond the Ogilvy bounds. As a true ally, she has been invited to notable industry conventions and even regulatory councils to represent the industry and create meaningful impact. 

She was once invited to represent female leadership in the agency field at Global Summit of Women 2022, the high-profile convention of leading women from around the world. In it, she imparted her valuable experiences in transforming traditional PR to performance PR. 

Jiravara had also been part of the Superbrand Thailand Council. Together with this group, she was tasked with the elusive mission of seizing and creating new opportunities in business in a more sustainable way as Superbrand is committed to creating impact not just for their own performance but for the people and the planet.

The marketing leader comments, “No matter who you are, just let your heart powerfully conquer what you want to achieve.”

Aside from Jiravara, check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Nattarach Pongpipattnakul, a senior marketing manager at Tyson APAC, has been named as one of the winners of ‘Empowered Women in Marketing’ category at MARKETECH APAC’s inaugural recognition initiative for women leaders in the industry, Empowered Women Awards 2023

In her role at Tyson, Pongpipattnakul takes care of the company’s branded portfolio, which was launched in Thailand and Singapore in October 2021. She also held previous marketing roles at BRAND’s Suntory, Associated British Foods, Pepsi Cola, and Unilever.

Putting brand proposition at the heart of leadership

Aside from strengthening Tyson’s branded portfolio in Thailand and Singapore, Pongpipattnakul has been integral in launching the brand in the Malaysian market in August 2022. This was marked through the ‘One Bite’ brand proposition, aimed at offering high-quality chicken products to the local market.

The success of Tyson’s brand launch in the aforementioned markets have been possible through some of her marketing efforts, including rapid awareness establishment through TV spot buy, digital media, impactful out-of-home billboard in prime areas; consideration and engagement through KOLs, PR, and disrupt creative drops in local context; as well as driving conversion through massive sampling with trial promotion.

Following these strategies, the company’s awareness has reached almost 70% of the target audience and has helped Tyson establish its extensive strong footprint in retail business beyond B2B.

Making collaborations work through high commitment

For Pongpipatnakul, her leadership is driven by Tyson’s 5C behaviours, namely Caring, Candor, Creativity, Collaboration, and Commitment.

According to her, she executes her leadership with the end result of a project being the starter of conversation. With this in mind, this helps to inspire every business partner to work collaboratively towards the same goal with high commitment.

Moreover, she adds that in order for collaboration to be successful in her leadership stint, she first sets as an example to the team. This, in turn, helps make the dream work attitude and vibes work out with both internal and external parties.

Demonstrating equality to give greater opportunities to team members

Outside of her leadership in improving Tyson’s brand vision and strategy, Pongpipanatkul also focuses on executing a different type of leadership within making sure that her team is able to build their capabilities.

True to Tyson’s vision of being a people-first company, she said that capabilities should not just be only based on functional marketing skills, but also attitude and behaviours in order to build an ideal and competitive space for both team members and external parties.

Moreover, she notes that with women marketers seen more than male in the industry, this status quo allows them to have a real demonstration of women empowerment outstandingly. This includes thinking differently, challenging opportunities, and taking the appropriate risks.

Check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Insider’s Katie Nguyen, who serves as the company’s senior regional marketing manager for Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines; has been named as one of the winners of ‘Empowered Women in Marketing’ category at MARKETECH APAC’s inaugural recognition initiative for women leaders in the industry, Empowered Women Awards 2023.

Nguyen has been with Insider for over two years, with her roles revolving around strategic marketing endeavours for the company. She was also a marketing leader for software development company fram^ and the co-founder of smart lifestyle app OKGO.

Leadership defined through brand exposure and client satisfaction

To strengthen the company’s offering in certain markets in Southeast Asia, Nguyen has been heavily involved in some of the company’s efforts to help build their brand in the region. These range from brand recognition campaigns to content series that feature senior executives across various industries.

Some of these initiatives Nguyen spearheaded include the ‘Reshape On Tour’ campaign which highlighted Insider’s creative solutions, as well as the ‘CxO Beyond the Title’ content series, which used insights from interviewed executives to angle the company as a respected industry leader and useful resource in the corporate world.

With these initiatives, Nguyen has used these critical contributions to help Insider cement its place as a leading B2B unicorn company in the region. Moreover, it has helped the company to expand its services and continue providing clients with unmatched business value over time.

Setting by example through accountability, empowerment, and innovation

Nguyen describes her leadership style in the three aforementioned pillars. For her, this allows her to give her team members autonomy in their work, therefore promoting a culture of innovation and excellency.

Moreover, she adds that as part of her empowered leadership, she makes sure that there is a responsibility to identify and capitalize on each team member’s individual qualities in order to assist them realise their maximum potential.

She also understands the value of young professionals in the industry, hence she makes sure that she works with her team to continually work to increase their collective knowledge and expertise in their field.

Giving back to fellow female industry leaders

Outside of her leadership role, Nguyen is actively involved in various initiatives to give back to the growing community of female industry leaders. These include close-knit gatherings for female industry leaders to share valuable insights; as well as mentoring young and aspiring women in overcoming the obstacles presented by the field and achieving their objectives by sharing their experiences and views.

A key example of said women-focused leadership events is the ‘Insider Growth Maker Club’ in Vietnam, which has helped in improving the marketing skills of 300 marketers by increasing their sector knowledge and competence. 

For her, if women can have the tools and resources they need to succeed, they can create a more diverse and inclusive sector that benefits everyone.

“Women are the heart and soul of any successful team.” It is critical to provide them with the necessary tools, resources, and opportunity to succeed in the job and beyond,” she said.

Check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.