Making Waves_profile p28 MMHK Aug

Bianca Ma is better known among her colleagues as “B Jie” or big sister B. Under her leadership, she performed a second ‘miracle’ for Metro Broadcast from being a loss-making radio group with a 28% share of the market, into a profitable and market innovative broadcast group, which now boasts dominant 62% share of the local market. Additionally, Ma has been helped Metro achieve revenue growth rates of up to 30% each year since she rejoined in 2001 as group sales & marketing director, where she rose up the ranks to her current position of managing director.

Ma first joined Metro in 1994 as director of marketing and in less than a year was promoted to sales & marketing controller where she is credited with having performed her first ‘miracle’ at Metro, achieving its first breakeven results in its history. From 1998 to 2001, Ma had brief stints at MTV Asia and Hutchinson Telecommunication before she was invited back to Metro in hope that she could lead the company back into the black - which she did, in just three years.

When she rejoined Metro, Ma was tasked to reshape the operation and turn radio group into a well known brand in the Hong Kong broadcast industry. She decided to first shake up the listenership by implementing initiatives including a shift away from the traditional method of horizontal radio programming to the current vertical programming, with specialist channels like Metro Finance 104FM. Ma says with pride that Metro is the pioneer in leading the media industry in channel branding.

Apart from Metro Finance, two other channels, Metro Info 99.7FM and Metro Plus - an AM channel for ethnic minorities. Metro revamped its Showbiz radio channel into an infotainment channel called Metro Info aimed at capturing a larger listener base in January this year. Metro Showbiz was an entertainment news channel that targets youngsters and housewives previously, but has now diversified and rebranded as Metro Info to cover a wider range of programming topics from entertainment, music, lifestyle, healthcare, education to commerce.

Ma knows branding is another important area to work on to gain listenership and confidence among advertisers. To bring up the name of Metro Finance for instance, she introduces initiatives such as ad joint partnerships with the Hong Kong Board of Directors and for the fifth consecutive year, with the 4As EFFIE awards as well as participating in charities such as the Community Chest and Hong Kong Cancer fund to promote its brand.

She understands radio will always be a supplementary medium in the market, but that does not deter her from organising luncheons with advertisers to talk about how to bring strong return to their marketing campaigns. These include building a very strong event marketing arm at Metro to provide a one-stop- shop for advertisers. Ma cites the example of HSBC where she says in Cantonese that a small investment has reaped big business for the bank. HSBC has given Metro a lump sum of money and worked with the station to plan a SME campaign from the creative radio script, TV shooting to producing the print advertisements.

Her previous experience when she started her career as media director at Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and FCB have also put her in good stead in improving the market share between agency and direct clients from a mere 10% when she joined to 40% today. Ma says her past experiences at the agency allow her to export different ideas to provide professional information from reach and frequency, analysis and evaluation to get into an agency’s good books to ensure repeat usage of radio for marketing initiatives.

Metro, under Ma’s initiative, also takes bragging rights for being the first and only radio station in Hong Kong to have simulcast programs with the Mainland across Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai. She also diversifies into running a professional financial web which provides a one-stop trading for investors that boasts a membership of 100,000. Metro Finance could also be tuned in anytime, anywhere through the Interactive Voice Recording System when Hutchinson subscribers press *104 on their mobile phones to access the radio channel.

So what is the secret formula to Ma’s success? Namely commitment and team work. While B Jie gives advice to her subordinates, she will thank those who point out her mistakes and wholeheartedly admit her wrongs. She says teamwork is about communication between her and her staff. That’s why every morning Ma practices the MBA or management by walk around. She will speak to her colleagues and even be involved in their personal career development by encouraging them to join courses and continue their career development.

Perhaps the most challenging period was which Ma recalls staff morale was lowest during the September 11 and subsequently SARS period in 2003 when the company had to run on minimal operational cost - meaning neither double pay nor bonus for employees. However, when she was promoted to Deputy Managing Director in 2005, Ma made a commitment to her staff that they will receive a double pay salary increment every year which she says she has since honoured. Her affection to her staff is extended to the Blythe dolls in her office which she names the dolls after a few of them.

Before the interview ended, Ma says that the winning formula is to “always be innovative”. She adds that you can’t see the future but you can be visionary.