Singapore – What started out as a series of inspiring exclusive conversations with remarkable women leaders in marketing has now sprung up to present a much larger platform to recognise the far-reaching influence of empowered female forces in the industry. 

‘Empowered Women Awards 2023’ is the inaugural awarding exercise of MARKETECH APAC for women leaders in the marketing industry from the APAC region. After months of rigorous nominations and a meticulous judging process, we’ve finally uncovered who amongst the impressive roster of leader nominees has stood out to be hailed as the winners of the Empowered Women Awards 2023.

On June 27, 2023, winners were finally announced through a virtual awarding ceremony. 

There had been five special categories that segmented winners into who the Empowered Women are in Marketing, Agency, Technology, Platforms, and SME.

Meanwhile, the event also served as an afternoon filled with learnings and engaging insights 

A fireside chat between Michelle Eve Guzman, marketing director of Cebu Pacific Air, and Simone Tam, group and creative chief executive officer of Dentsu Hong Kong, discussed inspiring the next generation of leaders and how women in the industry are levelling up their stewardship. 

An A-list-led panel discussion also saw women marketing leaders of top brands pooled together to talk about how female leaders in the industry are building high-impact brands from the ground up. 

Moderated by Eileen Ooi, CEO of Omnicom Media Group, the panel comprised Danielle Ong, head of East, Southeast Asia & ANZ at MessageBird; Winnie Tan, founder & CEO of TripZilla.com; and Neha Basin, director of brands communications at ZALORA Group. 

The group talked about comprehensive strategies for building a brand identity, fostering a culture of brand innovation, and ultimately, how leaders can drive their teams to achieve business goals. 

For the full list of the winners of the Empowered Women Awards 2023, check out the run-down below:

TOP WINNERS:

[In alphabetical order based on their last name]

  • Neha Bhasin, Director of Brand Communications at ZALORA Group, on using the influence of fashion to amplify voices in diversity and inclusion. Learn more about her achievements here
  • Patricia Freijo, the Vice President of Customer Growth at TrafficGuard, on widening the representation of women in tech, one empowered stride at a time. Learn how she weathered challenges in being a female voice here
  • Ayaan Mohamud, Regional Vice President of Marketing for APAC at impact.com, on leading the company through effective and results-driven strategies, as well as strengthening industry partnerships. Check out her leadership story here.
  • Simone Tam, Group & Creative CEO of Dentsu Hong Kong, on being at the forefront of a massive corporate restructuring in Adland. Read about her journey as an empowered female creative rising through the ranks to be regarded as one of the veterans here
  • Winnie Tan, Founder & CEO of TripZilla.com, on rebuilding the foundations of the business she once started from scratch. Read about how she cushioned the disruption of the pandemic on travel brands here.

ALL WINNERS: 

[In alphabetical order based on their last name]

  • Syahriza Badron, General Manager at FCB SHOUT, on being the agency’s driving force in securing new business wins and implementing creative experiences. Learn more of her business-forward leadership strategy here.
  • Geetha Boyani, Head of Performance at 2Stallions Digital Marketing Agency, on how she made the big career jump to bolster agency efficiency and productivity. Check out how her career transition empowered her leadership here.
  • Vianne Cai, Head of Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn China, on pioneering LinkedIn’s marketing solutions in the Chinese market. Read about her inspiring leadership journey here
  • Allison Chew, Head of PR, Brand and Marketing, AIA Singapore, on scaling the insurance company’s CSR initiatives with meaningful impact on both business growth and society. Learn how she directed its most successful advocacy-led campaigns here
  • May Chin, Head of Product – Growth, Experimentation & Analytics at ZALORA Group, and her quest to blend creative experiences into her product experience leadership. Learn how she employs these strategies to democratise female leadership internally in our story here.
  • Mikaela Crimmins, Head of Strategy & Experience at Orchard, on leading the company as a digital agency powerhouse through grit and inclusivity. Check out her various agency achievements and initiatives here.
  • Masayu Difa, Client Director for Indonesia at Lion & Lion, on building the digital brand voice of a top beauty brand in Indonesia. Find out how she’s able to lead the agency into continuous growth and success here.
  • Danielle Eleazar-Ocampo, Head of Marketing for New Verticals at foodpanda Philippines, on amplifying the brand beyond food delivery. Learn more about her achievements as a woman leader here.
  • How Juliana Reina Encarnado, Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications and PR of Converge ICT Solutions Inc., drove the company into a leading ISP provider via media share and marketing communications. Learn more of it here.
  • Heidi Hamester, Digital Design Lead of TASK, on using human-first creativity to bring forward martech solutions that enhance experience for brands and consumers. Learn how she’s able to leverage the power of visual communications as an empowered woman leader here.
  • Germaine Hendrik, Head of Marketing of APAC at Quantcast, on being a strong female representation in the world of adtech. Learn how she is helping drive business growth in the adtech platform all over APAC here
  • Heily Hindrea, Head of B2B Product at ZALORA Group, and how her B2B expertise empowers the company’s offering in the region. Check out her strategies here.
  • Jennifer Lee, Beverage Marketing Lead of PepsiCo Malaysia, on being the leader behind the beverage brand’s most engaging and successful campaigns. Learn how passion for marketing led her to becoming the empowered woman leader she is today here
  • Joanne Lim, Head of Marketing of Virgin Active Singapore, and her ‘jack-of-all-trades’ leadership strategy to bring back Virgin Active Singapore into recovery: Learn more of these strategies here.
  • Claudia Low, Regional Creative Content Director of Lion & Lion, on shaping the brand voice of the marketing agency. Learn how she’s breaking stereotypes by being the only female leader in her role here
  • Katherine Ng, Managing Director of TZ APAC, on being a strong female force in the industry of tech. Learn how she is actively contributing to the industry discourse on Web3 here
  • Sybil Ng, Account Director for Asia at Quantcast, on braving the wave of media industry hardships and rising to change business challenges: More on her journey here.
  • Katie Nguyen, Senior Regional Marketing Manager for Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines at Insider on implementing critical contributions to help Insider’s status as a B2B unicorn company: Check out the contributions here.
  • Amelia Peng, Business Director of Malaysia at Lion & Lion, and her quest in extending range of services for its agency service portfolio: Learn more how she achieved positive results here.
  • Nattarach Pongpipattnakul, Senior Marketing Manager of Tyson APAC, Tyson Foods International APAC, and how she is using her leadership to accelerate brand awareness for Tyson: Check out what she has achieved here.
  • Jessica Faye Tan, Head of Marketing at Moneymax, on elevating the brand to promote local financial literacy content and advice. You can check out how she did it here.
  • Lisa Tan, Head of Sales at Carousell Media Group, on being a forward-looking sales leader through innovative ideas in order to boost the advertising arm’s sales processes and efforts. Check out here story here.
  • Jirava Virayavardhana, Chief Executive of Ogilvy Thailand, on being a veteran at one of the top advertising agencies and sustaining longevity in leadership. Learn about her four principles in people management here
  • Livia Wang, Chief Brand Officer of Access Brand Co, on how her vision and innovation sets her apart from the crowd and within the company. Check her story here.

Singapore – Brands are now realising the importance of building communities to build greater relationships with their customers outside of the traditional way of customer retention. Communities are a helpful way for brands to get a deeper understanding of their consumer base. The question is: in a commercially-driven event, how do you monetise such a community organically?

This is what Sophie Ahmed, Senior Vice President of Market Strategy at Hubilo, discussed during her fireside chat in the recently-concluded webinar hosted by MARKETECH APAC and Hubilo.

In the conversation, Sophie explains that a 365 community is a meeting place where all of the brand’s community can come together to do business, meet, network, learn and to feel part of something bigger. Using the example of book and school clubs, she says that a community established is to belong to something, and taps into the tribal part of someone.

“Any brand that can use events to build their leads and grow their business can keep their event alive 365 days. By providing a single sign on access to this community of prospects, customers and partners, they will be able to get greater insight into their behaviours and on a deeper, more emotional level,” she explained.

Sophie noted in the chat that there are two ways to consider when monetising an event: either use it to build growth and indirect revenue, or do it under a subscription model. She notes that in executing these revenue models, brands need to ensure their customers are being offered perks and other advocacy-driven updates in order to retain them in the longer run.

“Within the community, you can have smaller meetups, focus groups, customer workshops, tier it, gate it, host on-demand content [amongst other things] and then have a larger annual event,” she added.

Furthermore, when asked about how these 365 communities allow commercially-driven events to be more personalised, Sophie explained that brands need to use insights from their customer base to decide how an event is oriented to be personalised and deemed effective for a content marketing strategy.

“So you can watch their behaviour, also temperature check their feeling towards your brand and what the market is like. You can now spot industry trends earlier and translate this into how you then personalise their experience at your master event and also pre and post-event messaging, so it resonates,” she said.

Want to learn more about what Sophie has to say in regards to kickstarting your 365 community? Explore how an event tech company can become a partner in your journey. Watch the on-demand webinar here.

The webinar, with the theme ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific’, also gathered industry leaders to deep dive into what it takes for brands to successfully plan their events. Joining the discussion were Amit Wadhwa, chief executive officer at Dentsu Creative India; Milca Javier, head of marketing at Generali Philippines; and Razlan Manjaji, director of global events at South China Morning Post.

Singapore – In the recently concluded webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific, marketing leaders from different industries came together in a panel discussion to touch base on event marketing as we move forward from pandemic-induced social restrictions. This was joined by Amit Wadhwa, CEO of Dentsu Creative India; Milca Javier, head of marketing of Generali Philippines; and Razlan Manjaji, director of global events at South China Morning Post. 

Moderated by Sophie Ahmed, the SVP for market strategy at Hubilo, the panel discussion saw the industry leaders agreeing that while the innovation of digital made it possible for brands to continually serve events in the virtual form amidst the pandemic, nothing can replace the engagement brought by in-person events.

“Events were means of physically interacting with the target audience, actually making the brand [be experienced] As senior vice president of marketing, physically. And I think Covid has taught us that nothing can replace that,” said Wadhwa.

“What’s interesting in the times that we’re living in, events…of course it is about physically interacting with the brand, physically interacting with the philosophy of the brand, [and] physically living the brand, but I think, more importantly, the events actually lived much beyond the physical event, the event now can actually [move] to digital,” he added. 

When virtual became the lifeline for events, everyone thought it would now be an either/or situation between virtual and physical. But the sophistication brought by the former just proved that in-person events have just gotten better through it. 

“We all keep talking about how digital is booming, and how that is the new medium to be, but it’s not just creating content for digital,” said Wadhwa. “You can actually do something on-ground and then amplify it digitally.” 

What events are making possible for brands 

Despite the momentum of brand events held back for a period, the ‘show’ must go on for them as it serves many purposes on their engagement, brand message, and consumer retention. 

For Manjaji at SCMP, it is through events that they are able to bring together their most loyal readers and subscribers. 

“[Events are] a platform for us to engage our most loyal readers and most active readers…for you to be participating in an in-person event, those people are really invested in the story and journalism that you tell,” he said.

When consumers, or readers in SCMP’s case, are brought together in one shared space, it follows that the brand is able to engage and get to know its audiences better. 

“If you want to think about First-party data, for example; through events, you’ll get to know readers much, much more. Which event [did] they go [to]…who did they talk to – those data [are] actually gold mine for us, and we start to realise the power of events, virtual and in-person, to collect these data. So for us, we use events for that [purpose],” said Manajaji. 

In terms of events becoming a way to acquire relevant consumer data, Wadhwa agrees. 

“We are getting more and more richer [with] our insights with each event because of the data we’re getting, because of the understanding that we’re getting, which wasn’t the case earlier,” said Wadhwa. 

Meanwhile, for Javier that helms the marketing of insurance brand Generali, what events enable is the communication of the brand’s story and it becoming a platform to help consumers understand the brand purpose beyond the surface level. 

“Insurance, per se, is seen as very serious or very stiff, but events enable us, [provide] us an opportunity to tell our story, or to tell our purpose,” said Javier. 

During the pandemic, that ‘story’ changed for Generali Philippines – moving from the strong focus on the value proposition of ‘prevention’ to now strengthening the communication on ‘protection’, and Javier shared that events are what made it possible for them to transcend their initial branding. 

“Through our events, we are able to transcend that purpose, to transcend that story, and with that, this creates opportunities for us to create the leads,” said Javier. 

How to create events that stand out 

Now that we’re seeing in-person events getting back on its feet, the more important question is, how can brands make their events stand out and resonate well with the audience? 

For Manjaji, the foundation is important and that means continuing to treat content as king.

“[Connecting] the right dots is still fundamental; if you fail to do that, your event will be crap, [doesn’t] matter if you did it in a five-star hotel,” he said. 

Wadhwa, meanwhile, said that most of all, the event must sit right on what the essence of the brand is. 

Citing an example, he shared, “If I think music is entertaining, but music is not something that’s a pillar of my brand or is not connecting to my audience, I don’t just pick up music because it’s just getting popular.” 

“I think it needs to fit the brand philosophy; it might sound fundamental, but [a lot of] times, brands lose track of it. I think we need to bring that back,” he added.

In terms of dealing with specific challenges in event marketing such as a limited budget, Javier also shared her insights. 

For her, it’s all about prioritisation. 

“You know what is far more important [to] you when you create [a certain] event,” she said. 

Using ‘weddings’ as a microcosm for the larger event marketing organisation, she said you would need to think about which comes more important than others, whether that’s having grade A photography or whatnot. She shared that for Generali Philippines for example, they focus on the content they aim to give to the audience, which would mean the lion’s share of the budget goes to acquiring credible speakers.

Lastly, on the importance of curating attention-snaring and impactful events, Wadhwa shares that the event simply has to ‘feel real’ for the intended audience – events becoming a two-way communication. 

“[You] can absolutely make it exciting, [if] it’s through a celebrity, or through [a] performance…but [unless] I see myself in it, and I see myself completely engrossed in it, and I start living the brand, it almost becomes a two-way communication,” he said.

“And the moment it becomes a two-way communication, I think we’ve hit the bull’s eye,” Wahwa added. 

The webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific, also conducted a fireside chat with Ahmed, who discussed about the 365 community strategy in events. The conversation talked about how the strategy can be monetised and used for further personalisation of brands. 

Register HERE to get your on-demand access. 

Singapore – Last November 3, APAC industry leaders gathered in an industry discussion that talked about the future of event marketing as brands and marketers prepare for 2023. Conducted by MARKETECH APAC, in partnership with events platform Hubilo, ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific’ roped in industry leaders from Dentsu Creative India, Generali Philippines, and South China Morning Post. 

The events industry was one of the worst hit during the pandemic, and now that things are gradually getting back to normal, it’s crucial to take a look at how events have evolved and the new trends that have emerged as it rises from a prolonged halt. 

Kicking off the webinar was a panel discussion graced by Amit Wadhwa, CEO of Dentsu Creative India; Milca Javier, head of marketing at Generali Philippines; and Razlan Manjaji, director of global events at South China Morning Post. Moderated by Sophie Ahmed, SVP for market strategy at Hubilo, the group of leaders talked about the importance and strategy of leveraging event-led communities. Furthermore, the panel touched on the best event engagement strategies that brands can employ. 

Meanwhile, Ahmed who’s had 20 years of industry experience in events and marketing, further shared her insights into strategising events through a fireside chat with MARKETECH APAC’s Regional Editor Shaina Teope

In the conversation, Ahmed shed light on the burgeoning strategy called ‘365 Community’, and discussed how said marketing direction can be monetised and give way for greater personalisation by brands. 

The webinar drew marketing professionals hailing from the industries of media, airlines, financial services, retail, and hospitality, amongst others. Attendees come from the markets of Singapore, Australia, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Furthermore, those who took part represented brands such as ByteDance, CIMB, Crimson Hotel, Foodpanda Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines, MetroMart, Netflix, and Tickled media. 

Teope commented, “We can’t just expect the growth of events to be a one-way, straightforward path. Just because it was the in-person format that we left behind, does not mean we’re simply going back to how it was. Events have been forever changed and this is what this industry discussion is for – to get us back on track and open our eyes to newer innovations and strategies.” 

Register HERE to get your on-demand access to the webinar. 

Singapore – Influencer marketing has now reached its maturity, but as we all know, the creator economy is very fluid, and even the tiniest disruption can create ripples to give birth to entirely new innovations in this area. For those that have influencer marketing as a key part of their marketing arsenal, this reality can be intimidating. 

As the digital media for the marketing and advertising industry in APAC, MARKETECH APAC has partnered with influencer marketing platform, Vamp, to lead this very important conversation for brands and marketers. To loosely refer to ‘creator economy’, in itself, hasn’t shaken its novelty off among us; when before, influencer marketing is looked to as a vain strategy or an afterthought, it has now swelled its importance and presence to have its very own ecosystem with players and stakeholders that aim to keep the brand-content creator interactivity alive and flourishing.

The webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC, will be focusing on what more can we expect from influencer marketing in the future – in 2023 and beyond. Aaron Brooks, the co-founder and president of Vamp, will be giving a keynote presentation on how brands can best leverage their position in the new creator economy in 2023. Brooks will be sharing valuable insights on what brands can do to successfully navigate current macroeconomic trends and what marketers can learn from other brands that have successfully used creator content to unify their digital and offline presence. 

Meanwhile, a panel discussion will be touching on the developing and newly-emerging trends in influencer marketing today. Together with Brooks, Jonathan Gerard, the head of production of VaynerMedia APAC, Ruben Ahmed, director of Marketing for HP Australia & New Zealand, and Isabel Falco, chief digital & marketing officer of L’Oréal Philippines will be gracing the virtual discussion to talk about how influencer marketing is evolving to change the imperative for content creation and strategy. Furthermore, the marketing leaders will be sharing their expert views on how influencer marketing is now being leveraged to achieve objectives that go beyond branding. 

What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC webinar will be held this 8 November 2022 from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm SGT. It will be conducted as part of MARKETECH APAC’s multi-platform insights-sharing festival, What’s NEXT 2023.

“As influencer marketing continues to mature as a performance channel, what brands want and expect from creators and vice versa will naturally evolve over time,” commented Aaron Brooks, president and co-founder of Vamp. 

He added, “For the relationship to be effective, it needs to work like a partnership, starting with building an understanding of the motivations of each side, and acknowledging the expertise each party brings to the table”

“Our role as a platform provider is to help facilitate this dialogue between creators and brands, to collectively drive the best outcomes. I look forward to sharing some of our learnings during the webinar,” said Brooks.  

Shaina Teope, MARKETECH APAC’s regional editor, commented, “Influencers, and the whole influencer marketing phenomenon for that matter, has been regarded only as secondary, for so long, to the budget-heavy and big-celebrity initiatives by brands. Its significance is changing now, and comes with this is the evolution and growth of how we must realise our strategies in launching and developing influence marketing campaigns today. Let this industry discussion help you step up and sustain your influencer game for 2023 and beyond.”

The said webinar kicks off its parent industry multi-platform series, What’s NEXT 2023. Through its four main content platforms – webinar, conference, interview, and article – we will be gathering the best in the industry to help the marketing community gear up and be ready for the upcoming year’s challenges, opportunities, and trends in marketing.

To join the webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC, register HERE to secure your spot. 

Singapore – Events, following the height of the pandemic, are now putting a premium on the hybrid setup. Brands and marketers alike are utilising both the genuine tangibility of physical events and the widespread accessibility of digital events. For marketers, using a hybrid event model allows them to hit ‘two birds with one stone’ in terms of reaching out to their target audiences. 

There is a greater need for both brands and marketers to be equipped with the latest strategies and methodologies to effectively use their hybrid events for the success of their brand marketing.

With these in mind, MARKETECH APAC, the digital media for the marketing and advertising industry in APAC, and in partnership with Hubilo, is taking the lead to explore what makes events a commercial success: event-led communities and 365 communities. Happening on November 3, 2022, 2 PM (Singapore Time), the webinar ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific’ aims to equip event planners and marketers with the latest trends and insights on how organisations can build engaging and sustainable events.

Through this event, MARKETECH APAC has gathered industry leaders to deep dive into the ecosystem of successful event planning for brands. Joining the discussion are Amit Wadhwa, chief executive officer at Dentsu Creative India; Milca Javier, head of marketing at Generali Philippines; Sophie Ahmed, senior vice president for market strategy at Hubilo; and Razlan Manjaji, director of global events at South China Morning Post.

The panellists will be sharing their views and insights on how brands and marketers create event-led communities, and test membership models, with engaging content. In addition, they will discuss what 365 communities are and how to build them to personalise events.

“Events have been the hardest hit when the pandemic struck, and just because things are now going back to normal, we can’t expect the event marketing landscape to be just the same when it was in its ideal shape. This industry event with Hubilo is so important because we’re not only going to revisit brands’ current event strategies, but we’re now revamping our playbooks to be future-ready as we unravel the impact of the collision of physical and virtual engagements,” commented Shaina Teope, MARKETECH APAC’s regional editor

Meanwhile, Sophie Ahmed, SVP for market strategy at Hubilo, commented, “With the digitization of events, marketers now have access to new ways to build their brand, to generate leads, to funnel these leads, to get closer to their prospects and customers and to gain deeper insight into the behaviours of their market. Events now, more than ever, can be used to drive pipelines, achieve greater insight and analytics and ultimately create more value for the customer. I’m really excited for this session where we will be covering all of this and more.”

The webinar, ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Events in Asia Pacific’, will be held on November 3, 2022, 2:00 pm SGT. Secure your spot at the webinar HERE.

Singapore – The business of marketing is nothing but a pursuit of innovation that seeks to replace ‘older’ problems with ‘better’ ones. While the internet has blessed us with an ecosystem that generates overflowing data, the ‘better’ problem now is how do we strategically and intelligently translate this marketing data at hand into solutions that are a win-win for both the brand and consumer?

In the recently concluded webinar by MARKETECH APAC and Vase.ai, the latter’s CEO, Julie Ng, gives a presentation to discuss the three things that boggle marketers’ minds the most in the midst of transforming marketing intel into groundbreaking marketing.

These are (1) Ensuring ROI, (2) Getting signals rather than noise, and (3) Conducting consumer research with minimal resources. At the heart of putting in place an effective ‘consumer insights system’ is this simple yet compelling framework which is called the Consumer Insights Loop.

The ‘loop’ is so straightforward that upon learning it, brands can go ahead and apply it right away in their most immediate marketing concerns.

 The Consumer Insights Loop consists of three steps: Feedback – Action – Outcome.

Julie said that the same strategy is being adopted and embraced by top Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Uber. And what these companies have found as most effective is first, treating consumer insights as a feedback mechanism in everything they do (feedback). The second is directing that feedback to tie it to a new business action (action), and then lastly, to close the loop, measuring the outcome of the new action (outcome) and then repeating the process all over again – using the consumer insight extracted from the new action as the baseline feedback to start and develop a new business action.

As an example, Julie uses the case of a telecom whose objective is to look for a promotional campaign idea to increase roaming usage data.

As a starting ‘feedback’, the telecom found that roaming prices are currently a big hurdle to consumers, and that insight revealed that the audience, prone to sharing their experiences online, would use data 71 times more if charged at a lower rate. With this, the telco created a campaign that charged lower roaming tariffs and a messaging that played around the theme of ‘holiday spam’. When measured, the campaign had actually resulted in a 90% increase in the telecom’s social conversation volume and off-the-chart brand metrics.

In the presentation, Julie also shared insights on how to identify and acquire ‘signal’ from ‘noise’ in a trove of overflowing data. She said that in order to successfully distil a ‘signal’, you have to be intentional, targeted, and specific on the type of data you’d like to obtain. 

Furthermore, in order to confidently say that a consumer insight is indeed a signal that leads to an action and is not a noise, we need to meaningfully close at least one round of the loop. However, even if it is indeed a signal, you would need to close the loop at least twice in order to get meaningful business results. 

Learn more about what Julie has to say with regard to refining and optimising your consumer insights strategy through the on-demand webinar. 

The webinar, with the theme Consumer Insights Power-Up 2022, gathered marketing leaders in SEA to discuss how brands are building and implementing their best practices in consumer insights. The industry discussion saw Jia Nina, the Country Marketing Head of BigPay, and Tanushri Rastogi, the marketing lead of Popeyes for APAC gracing the panel, while Neeraj Gulati, partner at Accenture Song, joining the discussion for a fireside conversation. 

Register HERE to get your on-demand access.

Hong Kong – Edelman has strengthened its leadership team in Hong Kong and Taiwan, having elevated leaders across its corporate, brand and technology offerings and expanded its creative team. The appointments come shortly after Delicia Tan’s arrival as CEO of Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area.

From her previous director role in the agency, Sofia Yip is appointed as head of brand across Hong Kong and Taiwan. Edelman said that with brands operating at the intersection of “culture, purpose, and society” to succeed, Sofia’s fluency in brand management, strong track record of leading integrated global and regional accounts and deep local cultural understanding will help its clients’ brands reset and reimagine amidst today’s rapid changes. 

Meanwhile, Oliver Davis has come onboard from Ogilvy as the firm’s new creative director across Hong Kong and Taiwan. Davis brings more than 9 years of experience in creative, having played a critical role in award-winning brand campaigns, activations, product launches and customer communications for brands including Pizza Hut, Huawei, and Coca-Cola. Davis will report to Executive Creative Director, John Koay, who joined the firm earlier this year. 

Alongside the new heads for creative and brand, Edelman has also elevated leaders to lead the team anew in the corporate and technology departments. 

Tasked with diversifying Edelman’s corporate communications offering, Angela Hui has been elevated to head of corporate for Hong Kong and Taiwan. Meanwhile, Simon Chan will serve as head of technology for the Greater Bay Area. Chan joined the team from Edelman London in November 2018. In his new role, he will partner with Edelman’s APAC Tech Sector Lead, John Kerr, overseeing the development of a regional Centre of Excellence based out of Hong Kong, providing regional clients with solutions in the areas of Web 3.0 and the Metaverse.

Delicia Tan, CEO of Edelman Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, commented, “Clients today demand borderless digital-first integrated communications that drives impact. Working together as onE Edelman team across Hong Kong, Taipei and the Great Bay Area will enable us to create compelling new touchpoints for their stakeholders, while building engaged communities through digital storytelling and immersive experiences. This will enable them to stand out, build engagement and ultimately, drive real action.”

Singapore – MARKETECH APAC, in partnership with Vase.ai, recently gathered marketing leaders in the region to shed light on how brands can refine and fortify their brand and consumer insights strategy.

On July 27, brand and agency heads from Accenture Song, BigPay, Popeyes, and Vase.ai shared a space in the webinar ‘Consumer Insights Power-Up 2022’ to discuss how they are best leveraging consumer insights to deliver marketing and advertising that cuts across consumers. 

In the keynote presentation, CEO of Vase.ai, Julie Ng, revealed the ‘magic formula’ that materialises consumer insights into smart business actions. She also shared how to identify ‘signal’ from ‘noise’ in a goldmine of data that is available today, as well as the key ways to effectively gather these ‘signals’. 

Moderated by MARKETECH APAC’s Regional Editor Shaina Teope, the Country Marketing Head of BigPay, Jia Nina, and the Marketing Lead of Popeyes for APAC, Tanushri Rastogi, delved into a panel discussion in which each shared how their brands are uniquely building up and implementing their brand insights structure. In this panel, audience learnt how brands from fintech and F&B breathe life into marketing intel and realising it into campaigns that not only persuade consumers into action but also into products that elevate consumer experience.

To cap off the fruitful discussion, the webinar saw a fireside chat between Vase.ai’s Julie Ng and Neeraj Gulati, partner at Accenture Song. The two talked about how to develop an insight-driven marketing campaign, and how targeted and strategic consumer insights, in the end, help to ensure ROI. 

The webinar drew 153 marketing professionals out of 424 registrations. The attendees came from a variety of industries, including consumer products, telecommunications, tech, retail, banking, transportation, and consulting, and most hailed from the markets of Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore. Those who took part were from companies Astro, Beiersdorf, Boost Holdings, Globe Telecom, Heineken, J&J, L’Oréal, PETRONAS, Porsche Singapore, redONE Network, Rustan Commercial Corporation, Smartfren, Smartone, U Mobile and many more.

Shaina Teope, regional editor of MARKETECH APAC and also moderator of the panel, commented, “Marketers are in a continuous challenge of transforming an intangible but crucial asset as marketing data and shaping that up into something that would be deemed beneficial for consumers and revenue-generating for brands. This industry discussion is important because expert minds from the brand and agency side are given the platform to share tried-and-tested methods in doing just that so that brands need not start from the ground up.” 

Julie Ng, CEO of Vase.ai, remarked, “Many marketers know that consumer insights are important to drive growth, but not many know where to begin and how to elicit tangible and relevant results from consumer research with minimal resources. I hope my presentation not only answered these questions, but also inspired a growth and agile mindset: build a consumer insights system, not a consumer insights project because a system is something we will keep using, iterating, repeating and improving for our competitive advantage.”

Meanwhile, on the partnership with MARKETECH APAC, Ng commented, “Honestly, this is the first stress-free webinar I have partnered up with. I could focus entirely on preparing my presentation without worrying about everything else – project management, advertising and promotion, ensuring quality webinar attendance, and most importantly, transparent communication – because I trusted MARKETECH APAC would deliver. And deliver they did.” 

On-demand access to the webinar is now available. Get your access HERE.