SINGAPORE — Following its efforts towards achieving exponential growth, independent creative platform Mash has appointed Michelle Dyer to its APAC leadership team as its first General Manager in Asia.
Based in Singapore, Michelle will drive new business and oversee all commercial relationships across the region, whilst collaborating with Mash’s community of referral-only creatives and client managers, across the world.
Asia currently accounts for over 50% of Mash’s client work over the last 12 months, which in part is driven by increased demand from regional and international brands for Mash Virtual Studios. Embedded with brands, the always-on creative studio offers greater flexibility and transparency in managing budgets, access to talent from around the world that brings local cultural insights while reducing the need to manage multiple agency relationships, and more efficient delivery with work being produced across time zones.
Mash, which has a global team of over 150 creatives, digital, strategy and marketing specialists – called Mashers – curates project teams to work with clients on marketing and advertising objectives, ensuring access to the best worldwide talent without the costly overheads associated with traditional agencies.
Mash Founder and CEO Tash Menon said: “The Asia Pacific is second only to North America in terms of advertising spend, with a market worth over US$ 200 billion, and countries including Japan and Indonesia among the world’s largest ad markets. We have seen significant demand for our model across Asia from clients that recognize the value of working with carefully curated project teams of highly-skilled creatives, no matter their geographical location.
“Asia is a key strategic growth market for Mash, which is why I’m delighted that Michelle is joining us to drive our ambitious plans. She is a highly experienced strategic marketer who has lived and worked in Singapore for many years, knows the region and what clients want — having been client-side most of her career. In addition, having worked with Mash as a freelancer, she understands our proposition and how we are evolving the future of work and creative services,” Tash underlined.
Mash has been growing its presence in Asia over the past year, with the HQ leadership function including Co-founder and Director of Commercial Operations Sarah Churchlow and Asia Creative Services Director Rich Akers, already based in Thailand.
Michelle has more than 18 years of experience as a creative, commercially-focused brand and marketing communications specialist, spending many years building world-class consumer brands, including Pullman and MGallery hotels and resorts globally, Next & Ink hotels in Asia Pacific, and Choice Hotels in EMEA. She has been working as a strategist with Mash for the past nine months and now joins the business on a permanent basis as the first GM for Asia.
She said: “After years being client-side in strategic in-house roles, I see the value of the Mash model and its appeal to global brands looking for innovative and effective creative solutions. I’ve been a long-time admirer of Mash, so it’s exciting to be officially joining the team, especially with some big strategic plans coming together for the year ahead and some amazing brands already on board in Asia.”
MASH already works with a diverse portfolio of clients across APAC, including Netflix, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Minor Hotel Group, Accor Hotels, Banyan Tree Group, Steelcase, Indeed, Breitling Watches, and Experience Co.
