Lion & Lion Archives - MARKETECH APAC

Singapore – Vietnamese airline Vietjet has appointed Lion & Lion as its key partner for social media management and creative content across five markets in Asia-Pacific; namely Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The partnership, which took effect on July 2023, marks a significant milestone for Lion & Lion as its first airlines account, while demonstrating Vietjet’s commitment to expanding routes in the post-pandemic era by leveraging Lion & Lion’s unique regional setup of the teams across multiple markets.

Vietjet is responding to the growing demand for tourism by expanding its routes across APAC regions. In search of a collaborative agency with a strong presence in the APAC region, Vietjet selected Lion & Lion for their integration capabilities, deep market understanding, and established footprint in the target countries.

The recent launch of new routes from Jakarta to Vietnam exemplifies Vietjet’s dedication to attracting more Asian travellers. To ensure the success of this expansion, Lion & Lion’s ability to provide local insights, innovative ideas and tailored content for each market played a pivotal role in their selection.

Hendero Fin, business director at Lion & Lion Singapore, expresses his enthusiasm for the partnership, further highlighting the agency’s integrated setup as a key advantage.

“With Lion & Lion’s Hub & Spoke Delivery Model, we are able to consolidate multiple markets into one unified way of working that allows us to integrate resources across multiple markets, benefiting Vietjet with both cost and operational efficiency,” Fin added.

Meanwhile, Ms. Phoebe, marketing deputy manager at Vietjet, commented, “With their extensive regional expertise and integrated setup, Lion & Lion emerged as an ideal partner to support us in reaching new markets and connecting with a wider & more specific audience.”

She added, “Their deep understanding of the local landscape and consumer preferences will play a crucial role in tailoring our messaging and creative content to resonate with each market. We are confident that this partnership will fuel our growth and position Vietjet as a leading player in the APAC aviation industry.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Within half a year since its establishment, Lion & Lion’s in-house film & content studio has unveiled its showreel to showcase its growth as an emerging studio and highlight its creative endeavours.

The showreel not only demonstrates the team’s proficiency in film production, motion graphics and content creation, but also offers a peek into the behind-the-scenes creative process driving projects for its growing domestic, regional and global client portfolio.

The showreel takes viewers on a visual exploration of the studio’s portfolio, revealing their process of revitalising brands and crafting engaging narratives. With a dedication to evoking emotions, purpose and engagement, each work underscores the team’s commitment to excellence.

Cheelip Ong, regional chief creative officer at Lion & Lion, said, “We’re thrilled to unveil our showreel, a testament to our team’s expansive capabilities across film, content and production. In less than six months, we’ve been entrusted to work on nine different brands, a positive indication of market demand and client trust.”

“We’re immensely thankful for this enormous proof of market validation. With our in-house team of filmmakers working hand-in-hand with our creative experts, we’re poised to deliver cutting-edge film content designed for the digital age,” he added.

Under Ong’s vision and direction, the team has grown to add more capabilities such as motion graphics, scriptwriting, brand narratives and rebranding initiatives for clients spanning domestic, regional and global across industries such as FMCG, insurance and fintech.

Meanwhile, Chien Chiang, managing director of Kodak Lens, Signet Armorlite AMERA, mentioned, “With a clear understanding of our industry and category challenges, and with our target audience segments in mind, Lion & Lion’s strategic vision and out-of-the-box ideas provide cost efficiency in bringing creative and production cost under one roof.”

Lastly, speaking on the studio’s performance, Carrie Leong, assistant manager, corporate marketing & loyalty program at Tropicana Corporation Berhad, commented, “Lion & Lion’s Film & Content Studio consistently delivers quality content with new and fresh video directions and editing treatment.”

Malaysia – Southeast Asian network Lion & Lion has announced five new major wins on a domestic and regional scale across its hubs in SEA, coinciding with the agency’s celebration of expanding their team and renewing a long-standing global client partnership.

Recently having secured five domestic and regional account wins across its hubs in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, Lion & Lion sets its sight on steadfast growth, renewing a 3 year old partnership with a global eyewear company and expanding their creative and social team in the process.

Lion & Lion will also be expanding their solutions team of creative and social media experts, adding 10 new positions in Malaysia from creative group heads, copywriters, art directors, designers, and social media managers alongside new client servicing hires.

Commenting on these developments, Fredrik Gumpel, CEO of Lion & Lion, said, “Our consistent success in both local and regional markets undeniably demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategies. Our adoption of an agile framework through our ‘One Company, Multiple Markets’ approach.”

“This further highlights our capacity to seamlessly integrate specialized regional expertise from Southeast Asia into our offerings, enabling us to deliver tailored solutions to our clients, which adapt to their ever-changing needs,” he added.

Meanwhile, Cheelip Ong, Regional Chief Creative Officer of Lion & Lion, mentioned, “Our teams’ solid understanding of creativity, social media and digital experiences has helped in creating winning proposals that resonated with clients. With the multiple brands we have won recently, it makes strategic sense for us to invest in new talents so as to better serve our clients.”

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.

Masayu Difa, client director at Lion & Lion Indonesia, has been named as one of the ‘Empowered Women in Agency’ at MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023. The awarding exercise is an inaugural effort by the digital media to recognise the outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry.

Masayu began her journey with Lion & Lion in Indonesia as its client lead in 2019. After 2 years in the position, she was elevated to become the agency’s associate client director, and in 2022, inaugurated in her present role as client director.

The force behind L’Oreal’s highly engaging digital presence

Since acquiring the digital marketing business of global beauty brand L’Oreal in Indonesia, digital agency Lion & Lion has been making waves in establishing and expanding its social media presence in the market. One of the leaders behind its success is Masayu Difa.

Masayu led the team in expanding the L’Oreal brand portfolio in Indonesia where from Maybelline solely operating in the market in 2019, it has been widened to add three more in 2021 – L’Oreal Paris, Garnier, and NYX. Add to this, one of the marketing leader’s major accomplishments was securing La Roche Posay, L’Oréal’s science-forward skincare brand, as a client the year after.

Masayu’s strategic marketing foresight and creative expertise enabled her to drive the team in successfully launching Maybelline New York’s and Garnier’s TikTok accounts, as well as L’Oreal Paris’ new social media presence. Her effective leadership resulted in Maybelline achieving the impressive milestone of 1 million followers six months ahead of schedule, along with an impressive 11.4 million likes. Garnier also made significant progress, garnering 465k followers and 5.5 million likes in just seven months.

A Biology graduate making her way to the creative world

Masayu’s roots are as interesting as it gets. With a successful career in the marketing world, no one would have known, right off the bat, that her area of focus back in college is Biology. But by following her genuine passion for advertising and marketing, she was able to propel herself to milestones within the field that eventually got her to where she is now.

Fresh out of college in 2010, Masayu didn’t wait a sec and immediately sank her teeth in account management in the creative industry. Her original academic background didn’t stop her from braving some of the most high-impact teams, and in turn, made her secure a seat in well-renowned agencies such as Geometry Global, McCann Worldgroup, and Grey Group.

She has been able to excel in the area through hard work and dedication, and her commitment to continuous learning and growth is what enabled her to attain her current success in Lion & Lion as one of its respected and notable leaders.

A leader who isn’t afraid to ‘get dirt’ on her hands

According to Masayu’s team, she is a leader that has a bias for action – both in managing herself and in leading her team. She banks on the practical approach, where she’s truly hands-on and leads her team by example.

In the words of John Campbell-Bruce, the regional managing director of Lion & Lion, “she is the person who gets in there, and gets things done, and she would never ask her team to do something that [she] herself would not do.” Masayu leads with a sense of purpose and direction, inspiring her team to perform at their best and achieve their goals.

One of the key qualities admirable in her is her ability to set clear expectations and empower her members to grow and develop. The team can vouch for Masayu that she fosters a culture of openness and transparency, where the team feels comfortable sharing their ideas and feedback, leading to increased collaboration and innovation.

Masayu reminds, “Be yourself, without worrying about judgement. Your authentic self is one of the most valuable assets you can offer to your work, in addition to your expertise and skill sets.”

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

Amelia Peng, the business director for Malaysia at Lion & Lion, is one of the winners under 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.

Peng has a wide range of leadership experiences revolving around strategic communications and marketing. She started off with roles in agencies such as JWT Malaysia, Naga DDB, and Leo Burnett. She then took the role of head of marketing at online book store BookXcess before shifting to Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution for a senior role in strategic communications. Prior to her current role at Lion & Lion, she was a client service director for GrowthOps.

Blending exceptional leadership and business forward-thinking skills to achieve agency success

As a market leader with a wide experience in strategic leadership, Peng shows a trifecta of an effective leader: exceptional leadership, management and business development skills. With this, Lion & Lion has viewed her as an invaluable asset to the agency and pushed them towards new business heights.

Under her leadership, she has helped her team secure and diversify offerings for current retainer clients as well including AIA, and integration of Lion & Lion’s range of services which included diversification of the service portfolio and increased value delivered to clients.

Moreover, she has been vital in renewing accounts for its clients Tropicana and Kellogg’s, all thanks to her maintaining strong relationships with clients. She has also pursued big clients such as Red Bull, leading to successful pitches and later on, positively impacting company revenue.

As the business director, and market leader for the Malaysian team, Amelia has made an indelible mark on Lion & Lion in 2022. Her contributions are remarkable, as she has led and expanded the client servicing team for the Malaysian market, paving the way for growth.

Strong and intelligent, yet emphatic and compassionate: the true definition of a leader

Peng’s leadership style is deeply rooted in her belief that leading with empathy and compassion, combined with strength and intelligence, is key to driving a team towards success.

As described by her colleagues, she was able to create a work environment that empowered people to do well while setting clear standards. Moreover, she was also instrumental in bridging the gap between departments, something that is often challenging in agencies, especially with creatives.

Other colleagues note that Amelia strikes a balance of hard and soft skills, which influences the team to achieve that balance as well, even in tough situations. She encourages critical thinking and pushes boundaries to think of new possibilities, opportunities, and solutions on the spot, confidently and with no hesitation.

She believes that using your heart to lead with compassion and your head for strength and intelligence is key to effective leadership. She strives to create a work environment where everyone feels empowered and supported, encouraging the team to think outside the box and challenge the status quo.

How to make leadership more far-reaching and inclusive

While many individuals focus on their personal achievements, Amelia’s impact is far-reaching, as she has dedicated her time to producing the next generation of compassionate and capable account servicing professionals. Through her leadership, she has encouraged her team to speak out with confidence, to make mistakes, and to grow. Her emphasis on treating all individuals with respect has helped to create a work environment that promotes equality and encourages team members to support one another.

In terms of advocacy, she supports a wide range of interests including animal welfare, environmental sustainability, as well as mental health.

Meanwhile, in terms of empowerment, she is a firm believer that everyone has a voice. However, she understands that some people may be too scared or intimidated to make their opinions heard – especially females. That is why it is important to her that she takes extra steps to empower her team to be vocal and have their voices heard.

“Never put a limit to what you can achieve. Never allow someone else to determine your worth. Go above & beyond, believe in yourself as a person, unbounded by gender,” she said.

In short, Peng is a true inspiration for many – she has achieved remarkable success in her

career and is a loving mother of two children and one furkid. She is a strong advocate for gender equality and believes that both men and women should be given equal opportunities and respect.

You can check out other winners of the Empowered Women Awards 2023 aside from Peng.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – As a homage to the short film genre, Lion & Lion’s Film & Content Production Studio has released its very own film just three months shy of establishing its dedicated in-house team.

The short film, titled ‘Love on the Line’, tells the story of an elderly man who, dressed in his best, makes a daily trip to his neighbourhood telephone booth to make a phone call at 6 o’clock sharp.

As the story unfolds, audiences are drawn into a touching tale that explores themes of love, memories, commitment and human connection. The film’s powerful storytelling is enhanced against a backdrop of nostalgic settings and small-town charm, shot on location in Seremban.

“Love transcends time and space – even in the absence of our loved ones, their memories continue to inspire us to live and love more deeply,” said Johnson Ling, head of production at Lion & Lion and director of ‘Love in the Line’, summing up the essence of the team’s debut film.

He added “We wanted to convey the message that the little things in life can make a big difference. Our story aims to remind viewers that every moment counts, and that love, no matter how fleeting, can have a profound impact on our lives. Through our film, we hope to inspire others to cherish the small moments in life and to never take them for granted.”

Cheelip Ong, regional chief creative officer at Lion & Lion adds, “With the launch of our Film & Content Production team to create greater impact for our clients, producing and making cinematic films and shorts that can demonstrate the capabilities of our directors and the storytelling abilities of our creatives comes naturally. It allows our talents to broaden their canvas for creativity, telling stories that delight and that touches hearts through the film format.”

The short film was produced entirely in-house by Lion & Lion’s team of creatives, showcasing the agency’s expertise in end-to-end film production. While their services also encompass production for TVCs, branded entertainment and digital-first content, the launch of a short film marks a significant milestone for the team, whose guiding North is to create engaging content that builds intimacy with their audience.

The film is now available for viewing on Lion & Lion’s website and Youtube channel.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – With its commitment to promoting gender equity, digital-first agency Lion & Lion has rebranded itself to be called ‘Lion & Lioness’ for the entire duration of international women’s month. This is to celebrate the said designated period of honouring women, with the brief name change also coming with an empowering tagline, ‘Roaring for Equity’; and a new logo to boot showing a lion and lioness.

With a team that is currently consisting of 60% female, Lion & Lion emphasised that the agency is taking meaningful steps to establish a network that values and recognises the contributions of its female staff whilst creating a more effective team that can better serve the clients.

Some of these efforts include introducing two initiatives for the support of female employees such as creating a ‘priority room’ in the Kuala Lumpur office to give a comfortable space for upcoming mothers who need a private area to breastfeed or rest and an alarm keychain that can be used in times of danger.

This Women’s Month, Lion & Lion also gives a spotlight to its female leaders or ‘lioness’ from the different departments of people & culture (HR), traffic, media planning, and in-house marketing & communication team who play significant roles in operating internal processes and client servicing.

These female executives include regional head of people & culture Mawar Mustaffa; client services manager Julia Michelle Boudville; media lead Rafeah Siron; and senior marketing manager Menuka Vejasegaran.

The special rebranding comes with an on-ground celebration at the Kuala Lumpur office on 8 March where all employees, regardless of gender, can enjoy the team building and engaging activities.

As an agency that aims integrate data and creativity, Lion & Lion continues to drive efforts in providing impactful solutions for clients. Earlier this year, it expanded its offerings by launching a film production studio to connect its integrated creative, social, and digital experience solutions.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Southeast Asian agency network Lion & Lion will be expanding its offerings through the launch of a Film Production Studio, which will connect its integrated creative, social and digital experience solutions. Through the new studio, the agency charges its capacity forward on brand remits that require full creative to digital-film content production solutions, including but not limited to full-service video production, 2D and 3D animation, motion graphics, and music creation capabilities.

The studio will be led by Johnson Ling as head of production. Ling brings with him a decade of experience in production houses and in-house creative teams and most recently served as the Video Team Lead at AirAsia.

“I believe that a holistic approach to production is essential to create truly jaw-dropping visuals. This entails seamlessly blending creativity, technical competence and social relevance to create content that not only satisfies client goals, but also elevates the brand via captivating narrative – when all of this is in sync, magic happens,” said Ling.

Asher Cheelip Ong, the agency’s regional chief creative officer, describes the new studio as a ‘natural next step’ for the business.

“My past three years have been about driving transformative growth for our organisation and clients through innovative digital and creative solutions; building our cast of talents. A natural next step for us to expand our creative service offerings is to launch a Film Production Studio, that can help our clients meet the demand for entertaining film content across diversified platforms in today’s digital-centric world,” he said.

Johnson will report directly to Ong and will be supported by a skilled, expanding team comprising Rachel Lian, Senior Producer, and Mohamad Khairul Shafit, Videographer, alongside a team of motion graphic designers.

“I am thrilled to join Lion & Lion and work with some of the top creative minds in the industry,” says Johnson. “I believe that a holistic approach to production is essential to create truly jaw-dropping visuals. This entails seamlessly blending creativity, technical competence and social relevance to create content that not only satisfies client goals, but also elevates the brand via captivating narrative – when all of this is in sync, magic happens.”

Ong added, “I cast my net far and wide, interviewing multiple film directors and talents before selecting Johnson for the role. He is experienced and dedicated; has a great sense of cinematography and visual storytelling, with a deep understanding of every stage in the film and video production process. I look forward to seeing the department flourish and grow under his direction, and hopefully, pick up a few film awards along the way, too.”

In 2022, Lion & Lion has also launched an in-house content production studio in Kuala Lumpur to expand its integrated creative offerings for brands that also require full creative to digital-film content production services.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Targeted at helping people keep their new year’s resolution, creators from digital marketing agency Lion & Lion launched Resolutions NFT Series, a limited edition art collection that integrates motion graphics, generative art, original digital music creation, and typography design.

The NFT artworks integrate global data on the 10 most popular new year resolutions from 2019 to 2022 that people fail to keep and are most likely to be repeated again in the following year.

The limited edition NFT series will be released in various blockchains, debuting with Objkt.com, one of the largest CleanNFT art marketplaces.

Cheelip Ong, regional chief creative officer of Lion & Lion, said “With the abundance of artists and creators in our network who are Web3 natives, it makes perfect sense for us to enter 2023 with a trend-jacking NFT Drop to showcase our creative and artistic abilities, across different blockchains and NFT Art platforms.”

He also added that the launch demonstrates Lion & Lion’s ability to clients and brands who are planning on transitioning from Web2 to Web3.