Tag: Lion & Lion

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.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Digital-first agency Lion & Lion has elevated current managing director for Indonesia John Campbell-Bruce to the role of regional managing director of Southeast Asia. He brings with him a wealth of expertise in strategy, account management and delivery.

In his new role, Campbell-Bruce will be leading the client service teams across the region in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore to further strengthen the agency’s one-company regional approach, offering the best integrated solutions to client partners.

He will be reporting to Fredrik Gumpel, chief executive officer at Lion & Lion.

After spending 15 years working in Australia across digital, traditional and media publishing, he moved to Indonesia three and a half years ago and assumed the position of managing director for Lion & Lion Indonesia. 

He has worked at some of the biggest companies in the world across a variety of industries, including but not limited to: Microsoft, Hyundai, Kia, PepsiCo, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, American Express, Tourism Tasmania, Unilever, Blackmores, Nokia and Diageo.

Speaking on his new role, he said, “The last 3.5 years have been transformative for me personally and professionally. I am very excited about my new responsibilities where I can drive growth for the Lion & Lion network and effect new ways of working across the current three markets. I feel very at home at Lion & Lion, and I am determined to assist the agency network in achieving our aggressive expansion goals across ASEAN.”

Meanwhile, Gumpel commented, “I’m very happy to see John take this next step in his career. It’s well deserved as John has grown tremendously as a leader over the last 3.5 years where he’s really taking the step from being a marketing leader to becoming a strong business leader.” 

He added, “With John’s positive attitude, his dedication and wealth of knowledge on how to drive client service organisations, I’m excited to see him take this next step into a regional role where we as an organisation can leverage his capabilities and leadership on a broader scale.”

Reporting to Campbell-Bruce will be the newly appointed business directors of Malaysia and Singapore, Amelia Peng and Hendero Fin, who will focus on developing and strengthening client connections as well as unlocking new local and regional brands in their respective regions. 

The new appointment comes after Lion & Lion announced its strategic expansion plans in Southeast Asia centred on strengthening core capabilities, and delivering impact through the integration of data and creativity.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – SEA-focused digital marketing agency Lion & Lion has announced two new leadership appointments for its Malaysia and Singapore units. They are Amelia Peng, the new business director for Malaysia, and Hendero Fin, the new business director for Singapore.

Both will report to John Campbell-Bruce, Lion & Lion’s regional managing director, and will focus on creating and strengthening client relationships in their respective markets while ensuring that the finest of data-integrated creative solutions remain at the core of all client services. 

Peng joins Lion & Lion as the newest member of the senior management team. She has been involved in branding and advertising for more than 15 years, working for both the client and agency sides. For several businesses, including Petronas, Grab, Nestle, Proton, AIG, Shell, Astro, and Maybank, she served as team leader for the client servicing division. After building her experience in branding and advertising, she spent a few years leading the marketing and strategy teams for companies like Disney and BookXcess before putting her attention back to what she truly loves – advertising. 

Meanwhile, Fin, who after managing Lion & Lion’s Indonesian market for almost two years, has relocated to Singapore to oversee the agency’s client servicing there. During his tenure as the business director of Indonesia, Fin oversaw the growth of the market with new wins such as biotechnology company Novozymes, and consumer brands Cool Air and Doublemint under Mars Wrigley. 

Fin is an advertising veteran, with 12 years of experience split evenly between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. He has managed clients from a range of industries, from telecommunications to consumer products. His portfolio includes well-known Indonesian and international brands such as Diageo, Indosat Ooredoo, Marlboro, Lazada, and Redoxon, as well as Mars Wrigley. 

Commenting on her appointment, Peng said, “It’s been such a warm welcome to the den. I thoroughly believe that a happy and engaged team will be inspired to do great work. Such a team requires a good leader who isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty while leading the team through challenging times. Armed with my experience, I can’t wait to learn more from my team members. I am also confident that we will be able to enhance Lion & Lion’s status as a place where impactful and meaningful solutions are created for our clients.”

Fin also commented, “I am embracing this new role for two great reasons ‒ personal growth and to bring Lion & Lion even further ahead in Southeast Asia. I aim to grow Lion & Lion’s business here in Singapore, and in the near future, introduce a hub and spoke model to our potential clients in the region. Because of the multiplicity of nationalities and cultures we represent, our people are our most valuable asset, giving Lion & Lion an advantage in offering seamless and comprehensive solutions to our clients.”

Meanwhile, Campbell-Bruce said, “Amelia has integrated well with the Lion Malaysian team. She has quickly established herself and is already driving the business forward. We are very happy to have her on board and I am excited to see how she will help continue the agency’s rise in 2023 and beyond, in line with our expansion strategy.” 

He added, “Fin has been a strong leader for the Indonesian business over the past two years. He came in as a client director, and quickly established himself as an effective marketer and leader. He has shown great determination, talent and smart business acumen, which saw him promoted to business director. I am extremely excited to see him continue his development and take over the helm of the Singapore market, which is a core market for regional networks like Lion & Lion.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Digital-first agency Lion & Lion has announced the next stage of its transformation after a successful turnaround delivering outstanding financial results for the last three years. This new growth strategy will be pursued by strengthening core capabilities, and delivering impact through the integration of data and creativity.

There are two specific areas of strategic significance in relation to Lion & Lion’s growth plan – ‘Better’ by adding on even more specialised data capabilities, an in-house content production studio and by investing in growing our regional hub in Singapore; and ‘Bigger’, relates to the reach of Lion & Lion’s product as the agency over time, develops more specific ways to apply what they do today within e-commerce and B2B. This refers to both product innovation and dedicated teams.

In addition to its new data and analytics team, Lion & Lion will also launch an in-house content production studio in Kuala Lumpur to expand its integrated creative offerings, optimising growth opportunities with brands who require full creative to digital-film content production services.

Fredrik Gumpel, CEO of Lion & Lion, shared that over the last three years, they have been consistently growing their business and capabilities, and seeing how their current product and regional delivery model are resonating with clients has given them great confidence to invest even more in the same direction. 

“With our dedicated focus on the Southeast Asia region and increasing demand for our integrated solutions, we believe we can generate strong returns from these investments – both in terms of building a competitive product for the future and creating solid financial results. With offset in our successful transformation and the underlying economic growth in Southeast Asia, our investment plan is centred around doing more of what we do today – just better and bigger,” said Gumpel.

Meanwhile, Krishna Kumar, group director of strategy and media, noted, “Our value proposition of making [an] impact will be underpinned by data-driven approaches, be it inputs that make all our functional deliveries better or outcomes that are clear and measurable. With impending changes in the data world that will impact a lot of our audience and media data, our approach will be geared to meet these challenges and help our clients.” 

Cheelip Ong, regional chief creative officer at Lion & Lion, said, “With a new dedicated film and content production team with directing, motion graphics, editing and music creation capabilities; to complement our strengths in creative, social and digital experience solutions, we can facilitate brands’ demands for digital film content that engages. Our new T-shaped talent hires across all operating markets will also help us to blitz scale growth to win in our region, while creating exponential impact for our clients’ businesses.”

As Singapore has become a hub for multinational businesses, with many of Lion & Lion’s clients having a regional scope there, the agency will also be leveraging that momentum in 2023. A dedicated investment will go towards growing the agency’s team in Singapore to drive more local business and unlock long-term regional growth.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Digital-first agency Lion & Lion has announced the appointment of Desmond Ho as its new group director of creative and digital experience. In the new role, Ho will lead the agency’s Malaysian creative team while driving innovative digital experiences across the region.

He brings with him 19 years of helming creative projects both in-house, and in agencies. His appointment is part of Lion & Lion’s growth plan to further expand their offerings in the digital space, especially with regards to new technologies and developments in the digital, Web3, and social media landscape.

Prior to joining Lion & Lion, he worked internationally in China as head of digital creative solutions for the smart electric vehicle company AVATR. He also previously served as creative director for 180 China, as the e-commerce creative lead for Apple, Nike, and Estée Lauder at Publicis Commerce, and was creative partner at TianYuKong

Ho will report directly to Cheelip Ong, regional chief creative officer at Lion & Lion.

Speaking on his appointment, Ho said, “My passion is creating unique brand experiences through the combination of insights, technology, and creativity that come together to tell a brand narrative. I am very excited by the strategic, digital, and creative focus of Lion and Lion and having worked under Cheelip’s leadership before, seeing him transform agencies successfully both in China and now with Lion and Lion, I am confident in his vision for growth and am glad to lead new possibilities for clients in Malaysia and the region.”

Meanwhile, Ong commented, “As a creatively-driven, digital-first agency, it is hyper important for us to constantly move the needle forward and meet change where it happens. With the opportunities that are unfolding in the spaces of the Metaverse, Web3, social commerce, and e-Gaming, brands and consumers require new experiences that will engage them. Desmond will help accelerate our creative offerings across all digital frontiers to drive progress for our creatives and our clients.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Lion & Lion launched the #RayaNiSayaRindu initiative on Tiktok to extend the Eid al-Fitr festivities with foreign workers in Malaysia, and their loved ones in their respective home countries. In line with Lion & Lion’s tagline of being ‘Made To Impact’, the creatively-driven, digital-first agency had tall ambitions to act on their belief that everyone should be able to celebrate Eid – regardless of their nationality, culture and status.

The #RayaNiSayaRindu campaign was launched on TikTok on May 1 2022 with a series of nine emotional stories told in Bahasa Indonesia, Urdu and Bengali – the most common languages spoken by foreign workers in Malaysia.

Based on local insights, the emotional stories hinged on the people, rituals and practices foreign workers missed the most as they celebrated Eid in Malaysia. Each emotional story drove users to the @RayaNiSayaRindu account on TikTok.

Claudia Low, regional head of creative content of Lion & Lion, said, “Foreign workers make up a large part of our labour force in Malaysia, many of whom come from Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.”

“As we were working on client campaigns that centered upon 2022 being the first year Malaysians could balik kampung (return to one’s hometown) to celebrate with their loved ones in person since the pandemic, we couldn’t help but notice that not everyone shared the same luxury. Especially with Labour Day falling the day before Hari Raya this year,” Low said.

According to her, they assembled a small, creative task force of culturally diverse Lions with personal connections to these communities to craft their stories as well as to share their truth and make an impact within these foreign worker communities.

Ham Maghazeh, regional director of social media for Lion & Lion, shared, “We chose to run our campaign on TikTok based on our deep understanding of our target audience. From our insights, we learned that entertainment through social media is an integral part of their everyday life, indicating that many of the foreign workers we wanted to reach out to are active on TikTok.

On the results, Maghazeh said, “Although TikTok is normally used to share humorous or fun content, we decided to disrupt the channel with emotional stories in order to capture attention and encourage participation. Our thinking paid off, because, in only four days, we grew our community from 0 to 1,300 followers, with every one of our stories gaining more than 1,000 views.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Retail chain company in Malaysia, Guardian Malaysia, has launched a one-of-a-kind campaign through releasing its first-ever music video. The music video aims to evoke the ‘much-missed feeling’ of returning to one’s hometown for Hari Raya with a modern twist. 

The music video was designed and produced by digital-first agency Lion & Lion Malaysia to celebrate the return of family reunions after two years of restricted travel due to COVID-19. The heart-warming video was shot on location in paddy fields and a rustic village, and features local celebrities Noorkumalasari, Wani Kayrie, and Sofea Shaheera in the lead roles. 

Titled ‘Kembalikan Kemeriahan bersama Guardian’ (Bring back the excitement with Guardian), the music video tells the story of four sisters as they make their long-awaited journey back to their hometown together, riding colourful Vespas to surprise their mother for Hari Raya. The sisters travel to their childhood home, stopping along the way to help fellow Malaysians on the road. 

The video is anchored on the song itself, ‘Pulang Di Hari Raya’ (Home on Hari Raya). Widely regarded by Malaysians as a classic staple of the festive season, the song was originally performed by Noorkumalasari, who makes a cameo as the mother. Actress and singer Wani Kayrie performs the updated version of the song in addition to playing the lead role as the sister dressed in orange, while social influencer Sofea plays the second sister in pink.

Combining tradition with modernity to engage a new generation, Wai Sim Liew, business director at Lion & Lion Malaysia said, “Guardian Malaysia has established itself as the trusted leading pharmacy and health and beauty retailer of choice for the community. Many of today’s young shoppers grew up shopping with Guardian. We wanted Guardian’s debut film to truly resonate with those who have been anticipating celebrating Hari Raya with their families in person, and we know that Hari Raya music videos are something Malaysian millennials look forward to every year.” 

According to Hans Lee, creative director of the agency, , every element of the music video was designed to bring out the nostalgic experience of balik kampung, while also making it relevant to Guardian’s younger audience. “We came across ‘Pulang Di Hari Raya’ by Noorkumalasari and knew that this was the perfect song, with a catchy feel to it, to capture our storyline. To further resonate with our audience, in particular the younger ones, we updated the lyrics and had Wani Kayrie cover it,” said Lee. “We also came up with the idea of using Vespas instead of cars. This allowed us to incorporate beautiful outdoor shots as the sisters journey across the city to their hometown,” he said.

Meanwhile, Angela Teo, head of marketing for Guardian Malaysia and Brunei also commented, “’We felt that the heart-warming tale of the four sisters’ neatly-hatched plan to surprise their mother, only to find it back-firing on them in a joyful way, captures the essence of what most Malaysians are feeling this Hari Raya. It does not matter how long and winding the journey home is, as long as one gets to celebrate Raya safely with loved ones.”