SINGAPORE — Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, announced the appointment of four media and technology industry veterans to its team to strengthen the technology, product and distribution capabilities of its advertising offerings. They will also broaden the presence of Grab’s advertising unit, GrabAds, across Southeast Asia to become a full-funnel advertising solutions provider that can help brands reach, engage and drive consumers to action at scale.
“I am delighted to welcome David, Ashu, Margaret and Dave to the Grab team. With their wide-ranging expertise across advertising technology, product development and sales, I believe that they will strengthen our advertising capabilities and position GrabAds as an integrated full-funnel advertising solutions provider in Southeast Asia,” said Ken Mandel, Regional Managing Director and Head of GrabAds and Brand Insights.
“Brands are continuously seeking creative ways to reach, engage and move consumers to action, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms like Grab will be key in helping them find the right audiences. As Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, we have the ability to provide a unique entry point for brands to connect with consumers who transact frequently on the platform through GrabAds, and drive them to action using our rich first-party data from across transport, delivery and financial services. We believe there’s tremendous potential for brands to partner with us to unlock new consumer experiences on our platform and drive business impact online and offline,” added Mandel.
David Baser joins Grab as Head of Advertising & Personalisation Technology. He will lead the company’s efforts to build technology capabilities that help people discover, engage, and connect with businesses across Southeast Asia. Formerly from Facebook, he was instrumental in leading the social media company’s advertising offerings, including leading the launch of Instagram’s self-service ads product and growing the Facebook Pages platform to support business transactions. Beyond advertising, David is also an expert on the intersection of privacy and technology, having led Facebook’s implementation of GDPR as well as its privacy team.
Ashu Mathura, formerly from Criteo, comes on board as Head of Product, Ads at Grab. He will be responsible for the product strategy and expansion of Grab’s suite of marketing solutions to better support large and small advertisers to efficiently create, deliver and optimise their campaigns for measurable growth and impact.
GrabAds is adding two media and publishing veterans to its team to further strengthen its offerings for brands looking to enhance their direct-to-consumer connections. Margaret Chang, one of Asia’s leading search marketplace experts, joins the GrabAds team from Yahoo! Ads as the Regional Head of Small and Mid-sized Business (SMB), while Dave Yang joins as the Regional Head of Direct Sales Organisation for GrabAds following successful stints at leading tech companies Facebook and Snap where he was heavily involved in the building and scaling of teams.
Margaret and Dave will be responsible for enhancing GrabAds’ ability to deepen partnerships with brands, agencies and SMBs in helping them reach, engage and move their target audiences to action effectively via ads on the Grab platform. Margaret will also play a key role in helping SMBs enhance visibility for their businesses across the Grab platform, and contribute to the company’s commitment to supporting the growth of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Southeast Asia region.
Established in 2018, GrabAds has evolved to become an integrated advertising solutions provider which provides advertisers with multiple channels, such as in-app advertising, branding and product sampling via the Grab fleet, for building awareness, engaging audiences and triggering action across the Grab platform. Through its advertising and technology capabilities, GrabAds aims to help people discover, engage, and connect with the best businesses in Southeast Asia. For more information, visit GrabAds For Business.
