Asia-Pacific Power List 2024: Uma Ramanan, Lego

Uma Ramanan 

Head of APAC marketing
Lego Group
Singapore
New member

With over two decades of experience in the marketing industry, Uma Ramanan has worked for some of the leading brands in the world including Reckitt Benckiser, Danone, and now, Lego. Officially taking on the APAC head of marketing position in January 2024, Ramanan has been instrumental in accelerating the company’s strategic marketing initiatives across the region well before that.  Her journey with Lego began in the UK and Ireland, where she started as a senior brand manager in 2014, progressing through roles of increasing responsibility, including brand director and global brand director for Asia.

In her new capacity, Ramanan has been tasked with driving growth targets for Lego in the Asia-Pacific through integrated marketing strategies. Known for her strategic and innovative approach, Ramanan has successfully led significant campaigns that combine creative storytelling with educational objectives. These have included key campaigns across APAC such as Lego’s ‘Unstoppable Play’, which focuses on empowering girls to experiment and express themselves with Lego, with the insight that young girls find their confidence dampened due to social pressures to achieve perfection. 

Another significant campaign was the ‘Build to Give’ initiative, which encouraged Lego enthusiasts to build heart models and share photos of their creations on social media using the hashtag #BuildtoGive. For each heart shared, the brand promised to donate a Lego set to a child in need, aiming to distribute 1.5 million sets globally. The effort was run alongside the ‘Play Is Your Superpower’ campaign, aimed at encouraging children to engage more with physical play and less with screens.

Outside of her day-to-day responsibilities as a marketer, Ramanan is also a champion for the benefits of integrating ‘play’ with technology, actively contributing to the marketing industry through speaking engagements and panel discussions where she shares insights on consumer trends and digital transformation. She’s also spoken publicly on the topics of gender diversity and supporting working mothers, as well as the role that play has in learning, familial bonding, and bettering lives.