Tag: Singapore

Singapore – Leading e-commerce platform Shopee began another round of layoffs last Monday which affected some employees in Singapore, according to a report by The Straits Times. 

According to ST, sources shared that the latest layoff was subdued and not many people knew about it, but that there had been rumours of plans to let people go.

Shopee said in a statement to ST, “We continue to carefully review our business projects and priorities to ensure we are optimising operating efficiency, in line with our goal of achieving self-sufficiency.”

“We are also working to support our affected colleagues during this transition,” Shopee added.

Shopee is one of the tech giants that made mass layoffs this month, including Meta and Twitter.

Singapore – Edelman in Singapore has appointed Amanda Koh as its newest head of technology. In her new role, she will be building on the agency’s strong technology sector capability and expertise. She will report to Julia Wei, CEO of Edelman Singapore.

Koh returns to Edelman after seven years in-house, and most recently comes from being the Asia Pacific & Middle East Head of Marketing and Communications at Vodafone. She had previously spent nine years at Edelman – both in Singapore and Sydney. In this time, she was responsible for leading key client relationships across Edelman’s spectrum of offerings, from media relations to content and digital.

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “Edelman was the place where I fostered my love of technology, especially its far-reaching impact on societies, workplaces and business. It is therefore incredibly exciting to get the opportunity to return and lead the growth of Edelman’s technology sector, working technology companies and leaders to deliver on people’s expectations for societal impact and responsible leadership.”

Meanwhile, Wei commented, “I am thrilled to have Amanda return to Edelman to lead our teams in a very pivotal moment in time for the technology sector, amidst increased expectations for technology leaders to communicate the societal impact of innovation and address concerns on issues like data privacy and automation to build trust.”

She added, “Amanda will be instrumental in Edelman Singapore’s next chapter of growth and innovation – both for our culture and our capabilities, as we continue to bolster sector specialism in areas like technology.”

Recent Edelman appointments in the APAC region include those in the integrated creative team in Hong Kong, health leadership appointments in APAC, and the appointment of Warren Fernandez as CEO for APAC.

Singapore – Wootag, Singapore-based visual marketing SaaS company that offers visual interactive and insights to marketers, has recently launched ‘Wootag For Ads’. Simultaneously, Jeffrey Kwan has been appointed by the platform as its new managing director.

Wootag for Ads is an integrated solution that enables marketers to explore audience behavioural insights and target them with interactive video and display using Wootag Signal and OTT+ to deliver in-stream and CTV ads. This marketing solution is said to provide marketers with expanding offerings in interactive and intent-based audience engagement across various forms of advertising.

Meanwhile, Kwan’s appointment is seen to help the company expand its business in the Asia Pacific region. Kwan brings with him an outstanding track record in the field of adtech and marketing. He previously served as MD of Teads and business director of Greater China at Reuters. Prior to joining Reuters, he led the Financial Times’ Greater China & South East Asia sales team.

CEO & Founder of Wootag, Raj Sunder said, “The digital industry is growing exponentially. Leveraging the combined strengths of our expanded solutions and Jeffrey’s appointment, we are further capturing the opportunity and significantly boost Wootag’s growth across the region. With Jeffrey’s extensive experience in this industry across publishers and media agencies, we aspire to enhance our push to empower our clients on driving business outcomes with next-gen visual interactive and set new standards for integrated visual marketing solutions.”

Currently, Wootag has operations in 13 countries. 

Singapore – Proptech PropertyGuru has launched its ‘Property TourTalks’ bus tours, comprising specially curated bus tours hosted by PropertyGuru’s experts.

The initiative aims to bring to life PropertyGuru’s new brand positioning, announced in October 2022. The new brand positioning – ‘Where every step of your journey will be guided by Guru’ – reflects the platform’s vision to be a trusted advisor, promising property seekers and sellers ‘We’ll see you home’.

Across two weekends, from November 26 to December 4, 2022, ‘Property TourTalks’ will see PropertyGuru experts, Dr Lee Nai Jia, head of real estate intelligence, data and software solutions at PropertyGuru Group, Dr Tan Tee Khoon, country manager of PropertyGuru Singapore, and Paul Wee, vice president of fintech at PropertyGuru, amongst others, share the latest local property updates, trends, and insights. Each bus tour will cater to different profiles of property seekers including, first-time home buyers, property upgraders, renters, and real estate investors, covering topics from property types, budgeting, and mortgage refinancing to Singapore’s real estate laws.

Remona Duquesne, director of brand at PropertyGuru Group, noted that buying or investing in a new property is an emotional ride filled with complexity and uncertainty, and they are here to guide people throughout their property journey and help them make confident decisions in this complex real estate market.

“It was this thinking that led us to the idea of guided bus tours – where property seekers can learn from our experts, and at the same time experience first-hand the context behind the insights and why they are important. For example, we explain why one area is of higher value than another through a live neighbourhood tour, which seekers can now see – and experience – for themselves,” said Duquesne.

Interested property seekers in Singapore can register for the ‘Property TourTalks’ and select their preferred timeslots through https://seeyouhome.propertyguru.com/tourtalks/.

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.”

Singapore – Credit card service company American Express has elevated Marlin Brown, its former country manager of Thailand, to be its new country manager for Singapore, where he will be responsible for the company’s corporate, small business, and consumer card businesses.

Brown joined American Express in 2011, and has held several roles across the company’s consumer teams and worked in various locations including New York, Hong Kong, and Thailand. He was also a part of the American Express finance organisation leading the controllership teams across China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Moreover, before joining American Express, Brown was a senior manager with KPMG’s national office in New York City. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds an accounting degree from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Commenting on his new role, Brown said, “We have a great brand in Singapore, known for our exceptional customer service and being a trusted partner to our Card Members. Together with my team, we are excited to continue our focus on growing, especially in the premium space, by continuing to evolve with our Card Members as they expand their lifestyle and experiences beyond travel.”

Meanwhile, Fredrik Sauter, senior vice president and head of growing markets cluster and international card services at American Express, noted, “Singapore is an important part of American Express’ overall strategy, and we want to not only accelerate our growth in the country, but also reinforce our leadership in the premium space. With Marlin’s knowledge, understanding of the business and the region, his solution-focused approach and strategic perspective, I’m sure our Singapore business will grow from strength to strength.”

Singapore – Financial technology giant Ant Group officially launched its Alipay+ D-store solution last November 3 at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2022. The solution intends to support the service industry and brick-and-mortar businesses to boost efficiency by digitalizing their operations.

Alipay+ D-store allows businesses to build digital stores across various digital platforms in a fast, scalable, and cost-efficient way. It will also give businesses a suite of toolkits to digitalize merchants’ payments, operations, services, and marketing efforts. 

The solution also gives its partners the ability to build digital stores on digital platforms in the form of mini programmes. These digital stores could also be developed as H5 pages and can be easily embedded in social media and online platforms to reach consumers.

Partner platforms of Alipay+ D-store include Chope, Alipay, Touch ‘n Go eWallet, and AlipayHK, among others. Food and beverage industry companies such as Burger King, Koufu, and more than 2,000 brands in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR, China, and other markets have already adopted Alipay+ D-store in their operations.

“We welcome more digital platforms to collaborate to accelerate the digitalization of the global service industry together,” said Dr. Cherry Huang, global head of Alipay+ D-store.

She added, “Leveraging digital solutions is critical for the service industries to boost operational efficiency and adapt to the fast-changing market conditions. The Alipay+ D-store solution is developed with the goal to make it easier for brick-and-mortar businesses to go digital at scale, so that businesses can better serve and engage digital-savvy consumers by providing a seamless omni-channel experience.”

Moreover, Ant Group also announced that Alipay+ merchant coverage has more than doubled to over 2.5 million. 

Angel Zhao, president of international business of Ant Group, also revealed that Alipay+ rewards, the digital marketing platform developed by Alipay+, are already adopted by mobile payment apps such as GCash (Philippines), DANA (Indonesia), Kakao Pay (South Korea), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), TrueMoney (Thailand), and AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China) to help global brands better engage with consumers worldwide through digital coupons and exclusive deals.

Ant Group has previously expanded its partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board, which aimed to promote tourism in Singapore through a series of digital and marketing campaigns for the next two years.

Singapore – The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has teamed up with creative agency TBWA\Singapore in conceptualising ‘Here is SG’: a sculpture that symbolises the newest representation of the Singapore’s Destination Brand – ‘Passion Made Possible’.

The sculpture is a joint effort by local talents from contemporary art and design collective PHUNK, urban greening specialists Greenology and design-to fabrication consultancy Superstructure.

It features the SG Mark and Singapore Tourism Board’s Passion Made Possible brand – which articulates the stories on Singapore, its endless possibilities, and the passions of Singaporeans. Coupled with the vision to encourage user-generated content by the public and inspire travellers to visit Singapore for their next holiday destination, the sculpture is also designed to be more than just a brand installation and a new photo taking opportunity.

“Opportunities were thoroughly examined, and strategic considerations were included in the creative proposal to enhance placemaking efforts and encourage exploration of tourism precincts, promote positive interactions, and serve as an anchor of identity and community bonds,” the agency said.

They added, “As a young nation with few natural resources, Singapore has always depended on the tenacity and resourcefulness of its citizens – this was the root of TBWA\Singapore’s innovative creative idea to use the deconstructed Trust Mark as a representative of people coming together from all walks of life, and forging a national identity amid diversity.”

The sculpture, which opened to the public on August 15, seeks to strategically shape the physical and social character of the area around arts and cultural activities, and bring diverse people together to celebrate, inspire and be inspired. 

Singapore – Global digital media agency M&C Saatchi Performance has elevated Melissa Yik to country director for Singapore, and Roshat Adnani to managing partner for APAC.

Yik has been with M&C Saatchi Performance for eight years. During her previous role as an account director, she has been responsible for driving digital performance across brands including Amazon Shopping, Beam Suntory, and beIN SPORTS, as well as Grab, and Zalora. In her new role, Yik will continue to steer accounts while guiding the agency’s Singapore office which acts as an important regional hub.

Meanwhile, Adnani has been with the agency for five years. He enters his new role three years after having been promoted to director of growth for APAC, which saw him responsible for managing the P&L across markets like India, Indonesia, and MENA, working across clients like Tinder, Myntra, Swiggy, Alodokter, and MPL, as well as Traveloka. In his new role, along with his existing responsibility, he will be taking care of maintaining the agency’s relationship with existing and new partners and overseeing financial operations.

Both roles will report directly to Kabeer Chaudhary, managing director for APAC at M&C Saatchi Performance.

Commenting on her new role, Yik said that back then, there were only 3 of them in the Singapore office and she is so proud today to be given a chance to lead the team of over 40 talented marketers to drive results for some of the agency’s biggest regional accounts. 

“I look forward to working even harder with our team of inspiring individuals, leveraging on our extensive ability to convert data insights into impactful media strategies for all our clients,” added Yik.

Meanwhile, Adnani also commented, “The next few years will be critical for not just the agency but for the industry as a whole and I am excited about working alongside Kabeer in navigating the changes.”

Chaudhary shared that the agency would not be where it is today without the digital expertise and the ability of Yik and Adnani to always go the extra mile for their clients and their team. 

“Their guidance and business acumen have driven our success making a real impact on our client portfolio and growth. We’re honoured to be able to promote talent that has grown within the agency and together with it,” said Chaudhary.

Singapore – Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore’s top integrated resort, has named its new Deputy CEO, Lam Yi Young. It said the appointment strengthens RWS’ leadership and management bench to drive sustainable growth. 

As Deputy CEO, Yi Young will assist RWS CEO, Tan Hee Teck, in the execution of the strategies, management, and development of the business, and ensure effective day-to-day operational performance and organisational excellence. Yi Young brings with him a wealth of experience, including 11 years in senior public sector leadership positions. His most recent role is as CEO of the Singapore Business Federation. The role is effective January 2023. 

Alongside Lam, RWS has also appointed its chief casino officer, Andrew MacDonald. Ex- Las Vegas Sands MacDonald will oversee the overall casino business at RWS.

“We welcome [Mr.] Lam and [Mr.] MacDonald as RWS continues its journey of recovery and transformation to deliver best in class tourism destination experience,” said the company.

Resorts World Sentosa is located on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa and is home to attractions Universal Studios Singapore, S.E.A. Aquarium, Dolphin Island, and Adventure Cove Waterpark.