Women to Watch 2021: Marianne Admardatine, Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Marianne Admardatine

CEO
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Indonesia

A veteran of over 25 years in the Indonesian communications and marketing industry, including stints at Wunderman Thompson, Ogilvy PR and Pulse Communications, Marianne Admardatine took up the role of CEO of Hill+Knowlton Strategies Indonesia only last year but has already transformed its fortunes.

Amid the pandemic, Admardatine grew the Indonesia business to include over 30 new clients, surpassing revenue targets and attaining double-digit profit margins.

Restructuring the company’s core business pillars, Admardatine has been instrumental in  moulding the agency to be agile, nimble and quick to adapt all clients’ offline activities to various digital platforms as a result of the pandemic. Her approach has been an enormous success, as the agency registered 40% revenue growth in 2020 with a business win conversion rate sitting at 83%. It also took on new high-profile clients including Telkomsel, Samsung, Huawei, ByteDance, Nestle, Bank of Indonesia, Disney+ Hotstar, PLN, and Shell Lubricant B2B.

By the end of 2020, H+K Indonesia grew from a team of 10 to over 50 people, closing the year with 30 clients. While other agencies are managing costs to stay afloat, the agency increased all employees’ salaries and managed to pass out bonuses to talent at the end of the year.

Business aside, for Admardatine, people are her number one priority. Only a year into her role at H+K Indonesia, she introduced a career building plan, a broad range of bespoke training programs, and a mentoring scheme to grow and develop talent and upskill capabilities. A dedicated ‘culture committee’ focuses on employee communications, special events, employee recognition programs and celebrations. She also encourages regular online sharing sessions where all teams assemble to share best practices and key learnings, as well as invests heavily in nurturing young talent through local university internship programmes and on-the-job training.

Admardatine’s strong leadership and people management skills have consistently led the way and driven impressive results. Maintaining business during the pandemic in itself is not easy, but to open a new office and to grow that office at such incredible speed speaks volumes about her capabilities as a leader.