Former GroupM Malaysia Goat agency lead joins Audience2Media

Audience2Media has appointed Fang Han Lim as its new head of influencer marketing, a newly created role tasked with leading product strategy, innovation, and the growth of the agency’s influencer business.

The audience targeting agency, founded in London with bases in Malaysia and Hong Kong, has served brands including Toyota, 4 Fingers, Batiste, Royal Sporting House, Kewpie, and Dyson.

The agency has placed influencer marketing at the centre of its media mix, but founder and CEO Tony Laskar emphasised integration across channels. “Influencer marketing will always play a major role in a brand’s media mix. It’s here to stay and will always hold its importance. But at the same time, it really comes down to the brand’s objectives," he told A+M.

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"As an agency, we wouldn’t ever just push influencer marketing for the sake of it. At Audience2Media, we look at the full picture, which channels are truly needed to reach the right audience and deliver the strongest ROI," explained Laskar.

"Sometimes, influencer content is the hero, and other times it works best alongside programmatic, video, social campaigns or OOH." For him, the key is integration— making sure each channel complements the others to create an effective, results-driven media strategy for its clients.

In his new role, Lim will oversee Audience2Media’s influencer marketing operations in Malaysia and across the wider region. He brings with him nearly a decade of experience at GroupM Malaysia, including as head of agency for MC2 and Goat, the network’s KOL-specialist arm. Prior to that, he was also the head of social content at GroupM between 2017 to 2019, and business director for Vocanic Malaysia (which later evolved into MC2).

“My previous roles actually mirror the growth and evolution of social media, content and influencer marketing. Especially my past one and a half years in influencer marketing that has helped me evolve to the exact spot where I need to be for this new challenge,” he said. Reflecting on his departure from GroupM, Lim added, “I spent 9 years in total at GroupM, and I'm very grateful for the experience over the years, and the friendships made.”

Looking at the evolution of influencer marketing in Malaysia and the wider region, Lim identified three key trends. “Firstly, influencers are becoming more specialised, carving niches for themselves. This happens because audiences seek authenticity when they choose who to follow," he shared.

"Secondly, over the years we have seen brands increasingly shift digital spends towards influencer marketing, and we don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. Lastly, is the implementation of best practices. This is something we hope to see happen, from data-driven selection, holistic performance measurement to transparency and compliance," added Lim. 

Back in 2023, WPP had acquired data-driven influencer marketing agency, Goat. At the time, the agency was parked under GroupM, and merged with its influencer marketing solution INCA. In the middle of this year, WPP announced that it would retire the GroupM name and launch WPP Media, a fully integrated, AI-powered media company designed for the next wave of marketing.

The move was part of a broader effort to deliver more integrated, AI-enabled solutions to the world’s largest advertisers. Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom continue to exist as agency brands within WPP Media, working closely with clients through dedicated teams. However, those teams will now operate on a shared infrastructure, connected by WPP Open.

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