New agency SPARKers bets on integrated growth over vanity metrics

Former TikTok Southeast Asia insights and operations lead Hooi Yin Yin (pictured left) has launched SPARKers alongside co-founder Kek Zhi Chen (pictured right), a former Google senior account manager, positioning the new consultancy as a challenger to fragmented, “vanity metric-driven” marketing models in the region.

Hooi, who most recently headed SEA programs and market insight at TikTok and previously led operations and marketing for Malaysia, said SPARKers was born from a clear gap observed across both platform and agency ecosystems.

“Our motivation comes down to a massive gap in the market that we saw from the inside,” she said. With more than 25 years of combined experience across big tech, agencies and regional marketing roles, both founders aim to translate frontline expertise into more commercially grounded growth strategies.

Hooi said the agency was not created as a branding exercise, but as a response to what she described as a widening disconnect between marketing activity and business outcomes.

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We realised there is a growing disconnect in the industry. Brands are often caught up in platform hype, chasing whatever app or format is trending this week, while losing sight of actual business returns.

Rather than conventional service lines, SPARKers focuses on integrated frameworks such as audience expansion strategies, AI-powered growth audits, brand growth roadmaps, performance creative systems, and market entry playbooks. Hooi said the consultancy treats strategy, performance media, creators and social as interconnected commercial levers rather than siloed functions.

A key differentiator, she added, is the team’s multi-perspective experience across client, agency and platform environments. “We have sat on all sides of the table. We know how platforms optimise algorithms, how fees are structured, and the internal pressures clients face to justify every dollar spent,” she said.

This, she argued, allows SPARKers to operate with a more pragmatic, outcome-driven approach, especially at a time when brands are tightening budgets and scrutinising returns more closely.

“Because we are independent, we don’t carry the heavy overheads of traditional global networks. We talk to clients in plain language, focus on performance efficiency, and treat budgets with the same respect we would our own,” she added.

Looking ahead, SPARKers will focus on improving conversion efficiency, unlocking new audience segments, and repositioning creator and social investments as measurable revenue drivers rather than awareness tools.

Ultimately, Hooi said the goal is to simplify what has become an overly complex industry.

Marketing shouldn’t feel like a heavy corporate machine. We want to prove it can be both fun and fiercely data driven.

In related news, recently, former AirAsia brands co. CEO Rudy Khaw has launched a new creative outfit called Lobby Hours, following his departure from the group in October 2025. Rather than positioning Lobby Hours as a conventional consultancy or agency, Khaw describes it as a brand-led creative practice, one that reflects his personal interests in culture, creativity and discovery.

Also earlier this year, HYP Global, a boutique brand and advertising consultancy, was launched by former VML business director Hasbidin Hassan and ex-Leo Malaysia creative group head Tuck Loong Chui, anchored on a desire to rethink how agencies operate, both creatively and structurally.

Reflecting on its origins, Hasbidin told A+M the agency was intentionally built with a flat hierarchy, inspired by his time living and working in Berlin. The aim was to move away from rigid internal processes and give every team member a genuine voice in shaping the work.

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