Campaign's client marketer of the year Oliver Chong on radical ideas

Chong will receive his recognition at the Agency of the Year awards presentation, taking place on 13 December at the St. Regis Hotel in Singapore.

According to DDB, Chong's biggest contribution to the marketing process was to break down the silos between mobile, broadband and cable TV offerings at StarHub by putting forward the brand idea of "The Hub". "The Hub simplified the complex and helped unify the far-flung components of the StarHub silos conceptually," the agency said.

"When I first landed the job, life was tough but exciting," Chong told Campaign Asia-Pacific."We had a great team, and our focus was clear and crisp. Because of that, we had a good time exploring and executing new marketing ideas and had good brand traction.

"Things took a 180-degree turn when StarHub and the then Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) merged. We had a mobile business, a broadband business and a pay TV business, all coming together. The challenge we had at that time was how we could differentiate the merged entity from the other telcos."

The concept of 'hubbing', continued Chong, not only solved the problem, it "shook up" the competitive landscape. "It has since evolved into a positioning where 'hubbing' is a socially engaging brand that connects with costumers. Our first interactive 'Hub it' brand campaign has won us some medals."

These breakthrough campaigns were made possible by Starhub's willingness to take "calculated risks" with radical brand ideas, said Chong. "It has always been easy to fall back on the old, tried and tested approach to marketing, but it's critical to develop ideas with our agencies that make people sit up and pay attention," he said.

The key, added Chong, was to balance radical new ideas with common sense. "Radical ideas enable us to cut through today's cluttered environment, and stand out from the rest. But there will also be the rational side of us that will ensure that we do our sanity checks to ensure our ideas will not backfire. Radical ideas also tend to create negative impact to the brand if not executed properly but we take calculated risks."

These radical ideas can come from anywhere, said Chong. The trick was to keep up with trends, stay ahead on the curve and to be constantly on the lookout for new opportunities. "Three things to keep in mind when embarking on any marketing campaign is: be clear before you are clever; be open-minded and willing to take risks; and be connected and grounded."

Finally, said Chong, centre everything on a strong marketing team. "Guiding the team and grooming talents within the team are as important as retaining talent.  Without a strong team, I wouldn't have been able to achieve this," he said.

The 2011 Client Marketer the Year is one of more than 30 awards that will be presented at Campaign Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year Awards on December 13. The gala event has now sold out of tickets, with more than 450 industry leaders from around the region registered to attend.

For more information on the event, or to join the wait list, please contact Xin Yan Kek (+65 6579 0544 or [email protected]).