40 Under 40 2020: Mandy Goh, TBWA

Mandy Goh

Director of new business and talent development
TBWA
Singapore

Mandy Goh was fortunate to land Singapore Airlines as the first account she worked on at now-defunct advertising agency Batey, kickstarting her love for advertising. Goh would be reunited with Singapore Airlines several years later, as an account manager at TBWA. She managed the airline for three years, overseeing 10 global campaigns. A one-year stint at DDB to work on the Starhub account resulted in some of Goh’s most effective work, including Singapore’s first interactive commercial ‘Hub It!’, which won several accolades.

During an advertising career break in which she focused on being a mother to four little ones, Goh launched an online fashion business in her (very limited!) spare time, selling dresses designed for mothers and daughters. But the loud bells of advertising beckoned, calling Goh back to TBWA in the newly created role of new business manager. One year in, she was instrumental in winning Singapore Tourism Board, followed up with major wins of NTUC, Playstation, Uniqlo, Hilton, Spotify, Ikea.

According to her submission, Goh has never missed any new business targets since she took up the role in 2014. She led the team to win gold at Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Agency of the Year Awards for New Business Team in 2016 and 2019. She has driven positive growth despite the odds in 2020.

Alongside her full-time job leading new business, Goh, who is passionate about nurturing talent, took it upon herself to voluntarily lead TBWA's school outreach and internship programs from 2016. Since then, she has single-handedly built a robust internship programme in collaboration with 21 tertiary institutions. On average, TBWA hires 60 interns per year, representing a 12% conversion rate, due to the programme. Over the years, she has personally mentored 302 interns. The pipeline of talent is managed through TBWA’s School Outreach Programme, also managed by Goh. Even amidst a pandemic, Goh engaged 15 tertiary institutions, held five portfolio sessions and creative workshops and mentored 26 students throughout 2020. Goh is part of the executive committee of four schools, with the main role of shaping curriculum to ensure industry relevance.

If that wasn’t enough, Goh also volunteered to create and execute a training plan for TBWA staffers, with the aim of improving retention. She worked directly with the CEO on training plans for 150 staff members, resulting in talent development becoming a formal part of her responsibility at TBWA in 2017. Once again, her training efforts were not dampened by Covid-19: she achieved more than 400 training hours, 22 focused training sessions and 15 agency-wide training sessions.

As described by Ara Hampartsoumian, the CEO of TBWA Group Singapore, Goh is “always willing to go the extra mile” and is “rigorous in everything she does”. There’s ample proof of that.