Asia-Pacific Power List 2021: Jasper Distel, Gojek

Jasper Distel

SVP, group head of international marketing
Gojek
Singapore
New member

Jasper Distel has delivered several "firsts" for Gojek on its journey to become Southeast Asia’s preeminent superapp. As international marketing head, he plays an important role in helping the company successfully expand its services and compete with fierce rivals like Grab.

One major initiative has been unifying the Gojek app across the region, with Distel responsible for launching the Gojek brand and product in Vietnam and Thailand and sunsetting old apps GET and GoViet, respectively. As part of this, Distel spearheaded the company’s first global campaign to reflect its emergence as a united regional presence—an impressive production from Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore involving cars and motorbikes looping a giant motordrome, all shot in the restrictions of Covid-19.

Distel has also initiated several purpose-driven campaigns, including Gojek’s recently launched  Vaccination Ride campaign in Singapore, in which it provides free return trips to vaccination centres, as well as the distribution of mask vending machines for its driver-partners.

While he's steered marketing through a hyper-growth period for Gojek, his job is about to take on a new level. It was announced in May that Gojek would merge with Indonesian ecommerce marketplace Tokopedia to form GoTo Group. It is said to be Indonesia's largest merger ever, and significantly expand's Gojek's offering—bringing new challenges and opportunities to Distel's marketing mix.

The marketer is no stranger to the gig economy. He joined Gojek in 2018 from Uber—prior to its acquisition by Grab in Southeast Asia—where he was a regional media manager, leading campaigns for Uber Rides and Uber Eats. He comes from an agency background with stints leading strategy for Carat out of Singapore and Amsterdam.

Distel was recently on the jury for the Tangrams Strategy & Effectiveness Awards.