Mediacorp has created an integrated marketing organisation that brings together the majority of its marketing and communications personnel under the leadership of media veteran Debra Soon who assumes the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer.
The integrated marketing organisation will oversee Mediacorp’s corporate branding and consumer marketing while supporting trade and affiliate marketing. Karen Yew, Head, Brand and Communications and Christina Chua, Head, Partnerships and Marketing will report to Soon.
Soon, whose career in Mediacorp spans over 20 years, started as a broadcast journalist and last served as Mediacorp’s Chief Customer Officer. Under her leadership, Mediacorp’s Customer Group reorganised its properties to align with consumer preferences and new consumption habits.
She also oversaw a strategic initiative to reengage radio listeners and keep Mediacorp radio stations in pole position through successive Nielsen radio listening surveys.
Mediacorp CEO Tham Loke Kheng said: “The new integrated marketing organisation will unify branding efforts across the company, strengthen our brand identity and communicate consistent messages as part of our efforts to create better, on-brand experiences for those we serve. Ultimately we want to create a more personalised and relatable Mediacorp that is everyone’s favourite source of news and entertainment and the preferred partner for business success. Debra’s wealth of industry experience, deep understanding of our consumers and passion for the business make her the natural choice for this much needed role.”
Commenting on her appointment, Soon said: “I’m looking forward to working with the marketing and communications talent across the company to build better brand experiences and bring Mediacorp closer to our consumers, advertisers, stakeholders and the community. I’ve been privileged to take up a variety of challenges in the company throughout my career and this is another incredible opportunity to do transformative work.”
Succeeding Soon as Chief Customer Officer is Irene Lim. Consumer segments, Broadcast Engineering and Broadcast Operations will now report to Lim. During her 11 years in Mediacorp, she has helmed the group sales and more recently the Chinese Audience segment, consistently delivering business results and fresh ideas to engage consumers and advertisers.
These movements are effective 1 June 2018.