Earning My Fintech Stripe//s

I am excited to start my new role leading Asia Pacific Communications at Stripe; to help accelerate the region’s online economy and the commercial agility of APAC businesses with one of the world’s most ambitious and fastest growing technology companies. 

Stripe is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. You might have heard how the company helps businesses from all over the world access the global online commerce market with sophisticated software tools. In fact, many exciting Asian and global organizations are powered by Stripe – such as Amazon, Booking.com, Facebook, FashionValet, Grab, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, Klook, Shopify, Slack, Spotify, UNICEF, Zoom Video Communications and many more. Stripe’s products are helping them quickly expand globally and build new kinds of revenue models. 

So, why Stripe? 

Well, throughout my career, I have been privileged to enjoy front-row seats at some of the most revolutionary companies during truly transformative times. It’s where I honed my love for the sense of adventure that comes from working towards an inspiring, yet challenging, future vision. At Stripe, I look forward to building what we’re calling a “global payments and treasury network” – creating the infrastructure that will make it possible for hundreds of millions of businesses to participate in global commerce via the internet, regardless of where they come from. 

You’d think that much of this has been solved but only a tiny fraction of global commerce is happening online (~6-7%) and the financial services space is changing faster than it ever has. There are so many gaps to close to make it really easy for a company to do business wherever they want: accepting payments and understanding how consumer behaviours differ around the world is one of them. Being compliant is another. And keeping up with the fast pace of innovation in technology simply makes it incredibly costly and time-consuming for businesses to be competitive. If you’re a small business, a century old institution or a startup, how are you supposed to keep up? All this has become even more vital in a post-COVID-19 era, now that the whole world has come to rely on the internet to buy and sell goods and services. 

Besides Stripe’s mission, I was also drawn to the company by the people I’ve encountered at the company. Speaking with them, I often walked away from each conversation feeling like I wanted to continue the conversation further with whom I felt were very gracious, bright, engaging people; clearly a great reflection of the company culture as well as the talent Stripe brings on board. 

I also love how Stripe is committed to the APAC region. We are building out local engineering capabilities, with our hub in Singapore and our new engineering office in Japan, to ensure locally relevant solutions that help businesses grow further. Tens of thousands of businesses in Australia and New Zealand rely on Stripe since we launched in 2014 and 2017, respectively. We’re also available in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and are eyeing to expand into many more countries (stay tuned!). 

All this is certainly a lot, but we’re only getting started! Some consider Stripe “the internet’s most undervalued company,” so there is still much more to do. 

Wish me luck as I take on this new challenge! 

(Or join me – we’re still growing the team!)

Communications Is Here To Stay, In Good & Bad Times

My friend Gabey recently wrote a helpful article in PR Week featuring the kind of validation every communications professional seeks after: No matter the economic outlook, there will always be a place for the communications function in an organisation.

This was according to Wendy Heng, associate director for sales & marketing at Robert Walters Singapore, a specialist recruitment firm. She said, “In good times or bad, you’re still going to need a communications practitioner in-house,” adding, “It is a necessary and stable function in most companies and I’ve never seen a huge rise or fall in the number of positions.”

She observed that comms staff tend to escape restructuring or cost-cutting measures because they are viewed as a necessity. She added that if a company does undergo cost-cutting measures, communications roles are typically shielded, as it is one of those functions recognised as a necessity rather than a luxury.

“There is always going to be need for it because how you could not have someone look after external outreach or crisis communications?” she said.

However, while the comms sector is quite stable, it is also a double-edged sword as in-house teams are not big to begin with. “They’re always stretched too thin with a limit to how much external agencies can do. So while its stable, it is also not seen as revenue-generating function so it’s hard to justify additions to the head count – In contrast, the sales function is easier to justify.”

In the same article, Robert Walters’ also shared the findings from their latest annual Global Salary Survey last week. Data published suggested that salaries are expected to remain relatively flat in 2016, though candidates with in-demand skills can anticipate an average salary increment of 10 to 20 percent when switching jobs.

The following are some excerpted salaries from around Asia, from the Robert Walters Global Salary Survey. Salaries are listed in USD per annum, converted from local currencies.

Position	Industry sector	Salary range (USD)
		2015	2016
Sydney, Australia
Communications Manager	Banking & Financial Services	77,000 – 91,000	84,000 – 98,000
Senior Brand Manager	Sales, Marketing & Communications, Consumer goods	87,000 – 98,000	87,000 – 105,000
Brand Manager	Sales, Marketing & Communications, Consumer Goods	66,000 – 84,000	66,000 – 91,000
Shanghai, China
PR manager	Sales & Marketing, Cosmetics	30,000 – 76,000	45,000 – 76,000
PR manager	Sales & Marketing, Professional Services	45,000 – 84,000	45,000 – 90,000
PR manager	Sales & Marketing, Retail & Luxury – National/Regional	45,000 – 90,000	45,000 – 76,000
PR & Events Manager	Sales & Marketing, Retail & Luxury – National/Regional	60,000 – 90,000	53,000 – 68,000
Hong Kong, Greater China
Head of Corporate Communications	Sales & Marketing, Financial Services	193,000 – 257,000	193,000 – 282,000
Head of Internal Communications	Sales & Marketing, Financial Services	167,000 – 205,000	167,000 – 218,000
Corporate Communications Manager	Sales & Marketing, Financial Services	77,000 – 116,000	77,000 – 128,000
PR Manager	Sales & Marketing, Retail	58,000 – 83,000	64,000 – 90,000
Jakarta, Indonesia
Marketing Communications Manager	Sales & Marketing, Marketing	28,000 – 33,000+	28,000 – 42,000+
PR Manager	Sales & Marketing, Marketing	23,000 – 33,000+	23,000 – 36,000+
Tokyo, Japan
Communications Manager / Director	Sales & Marketing, Retail & Hospitality	59,000 – 110,000	59,000 – 110,000
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Communications Director	Sales & Marketing, General Marketing (consumer)	42,000 – 62,000	42,000 – 65,000
Communications Manager	Sales & Marketing, General Marketing (consumer)	25,000 – 37,000	25,000 – 37,000
Communications Director	Sales & Marketing, General Marketing (IT&T / Industrial)	42,000 – 62,000	42,000 – 62,000
Communications Manager	Sales & Marketing, General Marketing (IT&T / Industrial)	20,000 – 28,000	20,000 – 34,000
Singapore
Corporate Affairs Director	Consumer & Technical Healthcare, PR & Communications	98,000 – 125,000+	98,000 – 140,000+
Public Relations Director	Consumer & Technical Healthcare, PR & Communications	84,000 – 125,000+	84,000 – 125,000+
Corporate Communications Manager	Consumer & Technical Healthcare, PR & Communications	56,000 – 84,000+	56,000 – 84,000+
Public Relations Manager	Consumer & Technical Healthcare, PR & Communications	49,000 – 84,000	49,000 – 84,000
Corporate Communications Director	Sales & Marketing, B2B & Industrial	105,000 – 175,000	105,000 – 175,000
Public Relations Director	Sales & Marketing, B2B & Industrial	84,000 – 140,000+	84,000 – 140,000+
Corporate Communications Manager	Sales & Marketing, B2B & Industrial	56,000 – 105,000	56,000 – 105,000
Public Relations Manager	Sales & Marketing, B2B & Industrial	56,000 – 84,000	56,000 – 84,000
Bangkok, Thailand
Public Relations Director	Sales & Marketing, Consumer & B2B	42,000 – 55,000	44,000 – 61,000
PR Manager	Sales & Marketing, Consumer & B2B	24,000 – 42,000	27,000 – 44,000
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Corporate Affairs Director	Sales & Marketing, Marketing	90,000 – 105,000	84,000 – 105,000

Full article here.

10 overused buzzwords Asia-Pacific marketing & communications professionals are using on LinkedIn in 2016

If you’re an Asia Pacific-based marketing or communications professional, LinkedIn has revealed that you’re probably using these words in your profile:

1. Creative
2. Passionate
3. Strategic
4. Successful
5. Motivated
6. Driven
7. Leadership
8. Innovative
9. Track record
10. Dynamic

The list for 2016 was derived from LinkedIn’s analysis of the profile summaries of marketers in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Cue the sound of Shift+F7 being tapped across the region and a surge of incoming traffic to Thesaurus.com all across the region.

LinkedIn’s Regional Head of Communications Roger Pua advised marketers to ditch the buzzwords and focus on more substantial ways to brand and market themselves, such as “substantiating their work and achievements with concrete examples such as awards, presentations, research papers, etc. Remember too, that a picture says a thousand words, so let’s put an end to tired and overused buzzwords.”

Kudos to LinkedIn, by the way, for getting my long-time favorite Marketoonist Tom Fishburne to come up with a few cartoons to drive home this fact.

Now, if you’re looking for me, I’ll be reviewing my LinkedIn profile and hitting up Shift+F7.

H/T: Marketing+Advertising, Mumbrella Asia

Speaking at IACT on The Future Of Marketing & Communications

The great bunch of students I had the pleasure of hanging out with. 2 Dec 2015.

I was invited to give this presentation to a student class at IACT College, which was founded by the advertising industry to become Malaysia’s premier college specialising in creative communication.

I enjoyed my time with the students as well as the insightful questions they asked.

I spoke on “The Future of Marketing & Communications”, exploring the disruptions impacting marketing and communications today as well as what capabilities practitioners need to develop for the future. In a world where the scarcest resources are attention and engagement, marketers and communicators need to:

1. Have a conversation – Marketing and communications today is essentially a dialogue with the marketplace. We need to design organisations and capabilities that set us on a virtuous circle where we sense/listen, integrate, and communicate again and again to remain relevant and engaged with our audiences.
2. Embrace and co-create with your community – From the conversations we have with the marketplace, we are able to take in input and perspectives that result in truly engaging initiatives that already have buy-in from our audiences and customers.
3. Tell authentic stories – In a world saturated with banal noise, authentic storytelling helps cut through the clutter; engaging both the heart and the mind.
4. Integrate across media – Marketing and communication channels can no longer operate in silos. The sum of parts are often stronger than the individual parts.
5. Build your own media platforms – As the media and channel landscape becomes even more fragmented, a brand’s own media platforms often become an authoritative source of information.

My slides are available here:

IACT – The Future of Marketing & Communications from Giok Leigh Wong

I also shared some case study/examples from both Microsoft and Shell. The videos I refer to in my slides are as follows:

Shell – Destination Home

• Link to video on Youku
• More context to this campaign available here and here

Shell #MakeTheFuture – Morro de Mineira Project

Microsoft – Decode Jay-z with Bing

Speaking at Comms Malaysia 2015 on The Future of Communications

Photo credit: Advertising + Marketing

I was very honored to be invited to join a great panel of speakers at the recent Comms Malaysia 2015 event, organized by Advertising + Marketing, a publication of Lighthouse Independent Media.

I spoke on the topic, “Looking to what’s next: The Future Of Communications.” In my presentation, I made the case that the marketing and communications landscape is being completely disrupted by many forces, including: the globalized & hyper-connected world we live in today; Big Data and the Internet of Everything; Social media; an ever-changing and ever-fragmenting media landscape; ubiquitous connectivity, and changing interfaces.

Drawing on case studies and examples from both Microsoft and Shell, I then outlined four capabilies marketers and communicators could build on to prepare themselves for the future of communications:

1. Embracing & co-creating with your community
2. Telling authentic stories
3. Integrating across media
4. Building on our owned media platforms

Here are the slides from my presentation. I hope you enjoy them and look forward to engaging with you on it.

There were two videos embedded in my presentation, which can be viewed via YouTube here:

• #makethefuture Morro da Mineira Project:

• Microsoft Bing – Decode Jay-Z Case Study: