I am a career media strategy and planning, data analytics and consumer insights professional with extensive experience across multiple sectors and disciplines. The first part of my career was spent as a consumer insights and market research professional; the second part has been in media and advertising, firstly as Regional Head of Consumer Insights, then Regional Chief Innovation Officer and finally Chief Product Officer for Omnicom Media Group in Asia Pacific.
I've spent all my career in APAC, initially in Australia, and then since 1997, in South East Asia. Since then I have spent most of my time in Singapore, China, India, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia as well as Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, New Zealand, Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the GCC countries. As such I believe I have a very strong understanding of consumer needs, wants, motivations, hopes, dreams and ambitions and how they differ between and within markets. I also believe have a granular understanding of the media environment and consumer media behaviour in each market, as well as of the all major publishers, platforms, adtech and martech in each market and regionally
Data strategy has become a key part of the media and advertising business; for the last 5 years, in my roles as Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Product Officer, I have been the Regional head of data for Omnicom Media Group, covering data architecture, data analytics, development of media tools and systems, segmentation and advanced targeting and measurement and accountability. As an example of this, I was a primary architect of Omni, Omnicom's People Based Precision Marketing and Insights Platform, with responsibility for all internal and client implementation and all training.
During my career I have been responsible for both small and large teams, reporting to me either directly or virtually; I have worked both as part of large project teams and virtually on my own - I believe I am able to adapt to start up, growing or well established businesses.
Business development and new business is the life blood of any company, it has always been one of my key interests and responsibilities. For the last 10 years I have been heavily involved in pitching for and winning business worth 100s of millions of dollars.
The verticals I have mainly worked with include :
I am a generalist who has developed a high degree of specialist skill across
At an overall level, I think I am good at problem solving. I take pride in helping clients to find innovative, practical, actionable solutions to the problems and challenges they face ,and helping them to find a better way
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Helping clients move their businesses forward through better strategy, better use of data better measurement and innovative approaches, all underpinned by a holistic understanding of consumers
I am an avid record collector, and I have been a musician, DJ and radio broadcaster - I still DJ occasionally
I love reading - but my desire to read far outweighs the time I have available to do it
I am just starting a second degree in Art History
Languages: French - working, Italian - working, Japanese - learning)
I occasionally write for Storm Magazine (www.storm.sg)
I have been a boxing journalist for www.15rounds.com
In 2020 I created Fullbeam, a consultancy that focuses on e-commerce, media and advanced measurement. Fullbeam's clients include regional publishers, adtech and martech start ups, gaming businesses and digital agencies.
In mid 2019, my designation was changed to Chief Product Officer to reflect my leadership of a major new initiative. This was the Omni, Omnicom's people based, Precision Marketing and Consumer Insights platform. My responsibilities included the implementation of all data partnerships fuelling Omni, in each market in the APAC region. I was also responsible for all training initiatives, and training material creation for the region. I was responsible for all client onboarding and the creation of all client instances for the platform
In addition, I continued to lead the data analytics, strategic planning, media systems and tools and the advanced measurement practices for the group, and to be heavily involved in all significant or strategic new business initiatives.
In late 2013 I was promoted to Chief Innovation Officer for Omnicom Media Group for the APAC region. My responsibilities expanded to include, for the holding group and for the OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science brand
I continued to be heavily involved in all major new business and defensive pitches, either globally or regionally, and in some key markets. I also served on the regional EXCO. I continued platform speaking across many media and technology events across the region, particularly on the intersection of technology, media and consumer experience but also on Gaming, the Internet of Things, and media and marketing applications of Distributed Ledger Technologies (Blockchain).
In early 2009 I moved from research into media, for the opportunity to have a closer relationship with clients and to have the opportunity to create actionable insights leading to the implementation of successful communications planning strategies
As head of insights across Asia Pacific for OMD and PHD I was responsible for the following main areas of activity
1. New business pitches. I was an integral part of the pitch team that either won or defended all global and / or regional business
2. Development of and championing of strategic planning and media planning tools. I was one of the global steering committee developing Vision, OMDs global operating system and communications planning process at that time
3. Client research. Clients include McDonalds, ANZ, GSK, Google, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Health Promotions Board, Estee Lauder, J&J, Hilton, Visa, Pepsi
4. Proprietary Consumer Research. In those 4 years I commissioned and developed Asia wide research looking at, amongst other things, the impact of mobile on retail (The Mobile Love Affair), Millenials (Asia's First Global Youth Generation), Regional Trends (11 for 11) as well as the impact for brands of events such as the London Olympics, the 2011 Cricket World Cup etc.
5. Proprietary Media Research. Looking at, amongst other things, multiscreen reach and impact, advertising impact in different positions and pages in newspaper, banner ads vs rich media etc
5. Econometric Modelling. I ran OMG's econometrics offer an advanced measurement offer. Clients included Standard Chartered Bank, J&J, Pepsi, McDonalds
6. Social Media Measurement and Monitoring I developed OMG's proprietary social media listening framework and measuring system, Antenna. This was used globally across most clients
7. Platform Speaking. in 2012 I was a platform speaker at Spikes Asia, a member of the the jury for the I:COM big data awards to \ held in Rome in October as well as a mentor at Mediaworks
In January 2008 I was promoted to Director Client Service & Insights TNS Singapore & Hong Kong. There are 3 main components to this role
1. Primary responsibility for strategic account development and key pitches in Singapore and Hong Kong
2. Adding value and insights to reports, presentations, workshops and other deliverables
3. Working with key clients to resolve business issues, and implement strategic recommendations
4. Developing technical and consulting skills within the Hong Kong and Singapore offices
5. External PR and marketing
I work across all sectors of the business, but with a particular emphasis on our Consumer, Finance, Business Services and Qualitative offers
AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST: FMCG, Shopper Research, Early Adopters, Web 2.0, Youth Marketing, Bottom of The Pyramid, Motivational Research, Ethnographic and other qualitative research techniques based on cultural anthropology
TNS is a sectorised business, focusing on 4 key sectors; Consumer, Technology, Automotive and Finance. In this role, I was responsible for the Consumer Sector, and for consumer research generated through our Singapore regional hub. This involved managing, growing, and ensuring the profitability of a 10 million dollar business and workig with clients in many countries including Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and Singapore. This not only developed my business management skills but developed a good understanding of consumer dynamics and drivers in Asia and the different cultural contexts that drive behaviour in these markets
Specific responsibilities included:
KEY CLIENTS: P&G (Regional Director), Visa (Regional Director), McDonalds (Regional Director), Diageo, Heineken, Reckitt Benkiser.
AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST: FMCG, Shopper Research, Early Adopters, Web 2.0, Motivational Research
Stancombe Research & Planning is a boutique research agency based in Sydney Australia.In this role, I developed a quantitative research offer from scratch - Stancombe was previously purely a qualitative agency - managed a team of 4 quantitative researchers and also managed a Healthcare/ Pharmaceutical team. Most of my work was in new product development, pricing and bundling and other forward looking, strategic projects.
In my time, the quantitative business at Stancombe developed from zero to be 40% of the total business
Specific responsibilities of this role included
KEY CLIENTS: Optus Communications, GE Money, Lend Lease, Coca Cola, Red Bull, Nokia, Bundaberg Rum, Lend Lease, Foxtel, News Limited, Nickelodeon, MTV, ING, Retire Invest, Suntory, Mt Franklin Water, Boots, Merck Sharp Dohme, Sanofi Aventis, Novartis.
AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST: Technology and Finance, Youth Marketing, Proprietary Panels, Future Focus / Early Adopters, Healthcare, Public Policy and Planning, Internet Research
At Millward Brown I was regional “champion” ultimately responsible for the design and implementation of all customised research. I was also responsible for all stakeholder research in the region, through our Walker CSM licence, and also headed up Millward Brown’s Internet research offer (especially evaluation of the effectiveness of online advertising) for the Asia Pacific.
In addition I ran a team of up to 10 researchers in Sydney and for a time was also acting Managing Director of the Millward Brown Brisbane office.
KEY CLIENTS: Coca Cola, Microsoft, BT, Yahoo!, Unilever, Goodman Fielder, Arnotts Campbells, Integral Energy, Air New Zealand, Australian Tourist Commission, Universal Studios, Standard & Poors, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Westpac, NineMSN
AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST: Stakeholder Research, Business to Business Research, Advertising Research, Corporate Sustainability and The Triple Bottom Line, Tourism Research, Internet Research
In this role, with a small local agency I had overall responsibility for the design, implementation and reporting of all qualitative and quantitative projects, in Singapore and Malaysia. I conducted and reported research throughout Asia for a range of clients and was responsible for all staff training
KEY CLIENTS: Disney, DBS Bank, M1 Communications, Procter & Gamble (Shampoo, Personal Care, Body wash), British Airways, Castrol, Van Houten, Goodyear, Honda (Motorcycles), Phillips, Sony, L’Oreal (Lipsticks)
Donovan Research was a Perth based research agency that had its heart in social and public policy research, but approximately 50% of revenue came from commercial clients. It is now TNS Perth
In this role, with a small agency, I started as a junior executive mainly responsible for questionnaire design, field management, coding etc and progressed to an Account Director with client management as well as project management responsibilities
KEY CLIENTS: Australian Government, West Australian Government, WA Lotteries Commission, ion Nathan Breweries (all Lion Nathan Brands),Harpic, Preen, Mortein, Aerogard, Jiffy, Pine – O – Cleen, BankWest
MY MAIN FOCUS: Social and public policy research, customer satisfaction and stakeholder management research, qualitative research
In this role with a large agency, I was a junior executive, and my main responsibilities where the running, analysis and reporting of large data sets