Singapore – Media Publishares, the publisher of Esquire, Robb Report, and Vogue Singapore, has elevated Natasha Damodaran, former marketing director at Media Publishares, to be its new managing director (MD), and Alexander Trefilov, former general manager at Media Publishares’ Philippines office, which was previously Indochine Media, to be its new chief operating officer (COO). 

In her previous role as marketing director, Damodaran has played an instrumental role in the launch of Esquire and Vogue Singapore, while simultaneously leading partnerships, marketing, communications, and events. Since August 2021, with the launch of Vogue’s September NFT collection, she has been spearheading the implementation of NFT strategies and metaverse related activities for Esquire, Robb Report, and Vogue Singapore. 

As the new MD, Damodaran will be working across all divisions in the Singapore office, managing the day-to-day business, as well as new business opportunities alongside the publishers and editors-in-chief, while continuing to lead the marketing teams. 

Commenting on her elevation, Damodaran said that she looks forward to the next phase of growth at Media Publishares, and in her capacity as the new managing director, he aim is to grow the print, digital, social, and Web3 offerings within their current portfolio, while working alongside their creative and editorial teams to bring world-class content to their readers.

“With the strength of the brands and the breadth of talent that we have, there are tremendous opportunities ahead,” added Damodaran

Meanwhile, Trefilov has previous experience in international publishing, having worked at Partners Media Group for Kazakhstan, publisher of titles that include Harper’s BAZAAR, Esquire, and Men’s Health.

In his new role as COO, Trefilov will be overlooking corporate finance, legal, internal procedures, and communication with licensing partners and stakeholders. He will also oversee the financial reporting of the regional offices in Vietnam and Malaysia. 

Trefilov commented, “Keeping the high pace of the company’s growth both in media and new crypto business, I am excited to fine-tune and amplify the business processes to strengthen the company’s position in the Southeast Asian market.”

Both will be based in Singapore and will report to Michael von Schlippe, Media Publishares’ president.

Von Schlippe shared that Damodaran has been involved in all parts of scaling the business in Singapore, showing skills and accomplishments on the management and commercial sides of the business, and she also has a sharp eye for editorial quality in both print and digital.

“In addition, Alexander brings with him 17 years of international media experience with a focus on Asia. He has been effective not only in setting up and running media organisations, but also in shaping and implementing strategies whilst managing diverse business operations,” he added.

Singapore – Media Publishares, a media company encompassing brands such as Vogue Singapore, Buro and Esquire, has announced a new partnership with VIDY, a blockchain-powered digital advertising start-up, in creating a non-fungible token (NFT) platform dedicated to catering to the fashion, music and arts industry.

A non-fungible token (NFT) is generally defined as a digital ledger in a blockchain, where it can represent a unique digital item, be it in the form of digital files of art, audio, or videos, and is not interchangeable. For instance, while the NFT can be reproduced in copies digitally, access to the original file will still show the ownership of said ‘token’ to whoever bought the NFT.

Through the partnership, the upcoming platform aims to celebrate arts and culture within a 360-degree navigable virtual environment showcasing digital fashion, art, music, and design. Key features of the platform include minting, trading, and auctioning of NFTs through a tokenized system along with the ability to host social interaction.

Furthermore, the NFT platform will donate a percentage of NFT sales towards organizations tackling real-world problems to ensure a positive connection between the virtual and physical worlds.

According to Matthew Lim, co-founder at VIDY, the platform envisions a metaverse where people will be able to live in a parallel virtual world where they can own a digital identity and purchase items not just in a digital file, but as any unique asset in their virtual land, similar to their physical world.

He also stated that although the NFT market has grown over 229% since 2020 to reach over US$500M, it is still in its early stages and has a long way to go with regards to infrastructure development.

“For this new NFT platform, VIDY will lead the technology and blockchain development given our unique experience in dealing with traditional businesses and crypto. We are confident we will create the finest platform that will boost the NFT world by allowing seamless participation from the traditional fashion, art and music communities,” Lim stated.

Slated for release by the third quarter of 2021, the NFT platform will target a digitally savvy audience looking for luxury items with low environmental impact while also engaging creators exploring a virtual identity for their designs and new revenue streams for their craft.

“Media Publishares has always been ahead of the curve with its innovative approach to storytelling as led by our anchor titles Vogue, Esquire, Robb Report and Buro Singapore”, said Michael von Schlippe, president of Media Publishares.

He added, “What we see is a new creative renaissance where creativity and technology are driving change together. By creating an NFT platform, which essentially acts as a virtual marketplace between creatives and users, it allows us to provide a unique shoppable platform coupled with content for the community in the form of education, interaction and entertainment.”

NFTs have seen popularity in 2017 when they were first traded using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to buy certain NFTs, mostly by digital artists

This year alone has seen a rise in NFT auctions and purchases, with the most notable one the recent auction last 11 March of the digital NFT art ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, known by his artist name as Beeple. The auction was held at auction house Christie’s and was sold for US$69.3M to Vignesh Sundaresan, a programmer based in Singapore and founder of Metapurse, a cryptocurrency-exclusive fund.

The same month, founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey also sold his first-ever post on Twitter for US$2.5M as an NFT.