VMLY&R COMMERCE MY bolsters strategy and client teams with senior hires

VMLY&R COMMERCE Malaysia has appointed Voon Tai and Victoria Chu as head of commerce strategy and head of client engagement respectively. Both report directly to CEO Kenni Loh.

Tai (pictured left) will be leading the region's shopper and experiential hub and is tasked to drive connected commerce, closing the loop of brand experience (BX) and CX to deliver effective growth results. She was previously strategy director - channel planning and shopper marketing for VMLY&R Indonesia and has been with the agency since 2015.

According to VMLY&R COMMERCE, Tai is "an expert partner in commerce strategy" and is "truly a specialist in identifying insights across a wider set of disciplines", weaving O2O planning and matching with data to elevate the agency's new offerings. She has lived and worked in multiple countries across Asia during her 17-year career and has played a key role in growing the agency’s portfolio in shopper marketing and connected commerce. Her client experience extends from FMCG and consumer technology to F&B and pharmaceutical.

Tai said that the Malaysia office has always done great work for VMLY&R COMMERCE in the region. "The people, energy and agency are in a constant state of innovation. I am very much looking forward to working with our clients and our extraordinary team to deliver meaningful experiences to both consumers and brands," she added.

Chu (pictured right) will co-manage, build, strengthen and grow existing and new businesses. She is tasked with strengthening end-to-end creative commerce strategy by applying her deep knowledge of the media channel connection strategy. This in turn provides an enriched integrated perspective to our work.

In her role, she will leverage her experience in media and digital marketing within the connection strategy and applying it to the agency's proprietary planning tool, the infinity loop. She was most recently GM of Alchemy79, the content/creative subsidiary of Invictus Blue Group. She brings with her over 16 years of through-the-line experience in advertising with hands-on knowledge in the automotive, finance, and FMCG industries.

Chu has accumulated over 10 years of digital marketing experience as head of account management at Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid and Alchemy79. Chu said she is excited about this opportunity as it allows her to contribute her knowledge and experience to a dynamic agency such as VMLY&R COMMERCE. "Being part of this diverse team of specialists will help me grow my capabilities and together I look forward to enhancing the products and services we can offer to our clients," she added.

Meanwhile, Loh said the agency is excited to be welcoming these two talents to its ever-growing commerce operation. "Tai's eager nature to explore marketing innovations and creativity will elevate our unique creative commerce positioning, while Chu is a well-rounded breed with strong capabilities in both media and digital marketing," he explained.

"Specifically, we need like-minded talents to constantly push for innovation and technology to level up ideas that drive commercial growth. Everything we do now is to feed, build and strengthen end-to-end offering of our ‘infinity loop’ of BX and, CX with Commerce in the heart," Loh said.

These new roles at VMLY&R COMMERCE Malaysia are strategically aligned with the appointment earlier this year of Nick Pan as chief commerce and strategy officer, VMLY&R Asia. Pan now leads VMLY&R Asia’s strategic thrust in combining commerce and strategy, leveraging BX and CX to drive business growth and commercial outcomes for brands, in a customer-centric world that is challenged by fragmented channels and touchpoints.

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