Allan Phang departs AirAsia Esports

Allan Phang has left AirAsia Esports after taking on the newly created role in 2018 to spearhead the airline's esports strategy. In a statement to A+M, Phang (pictured) said he had a personal revelation that it was time for him to embark on a new challenge in life.

In total, Phang has been with AirAsia for close to seven years and his roles included group ancillary income, regional marketing, group partnerships and business development, corporate culture, employee engagement and internal branding. He was also part of the working committee that organised AirAsia's first-ever regional hackathon, AirAsia AIRVOLUTION 2017. AirAsia declined to comment on A+M's queries regarding Phang's replacement.

"AirAsia has an amazing culture that enables its employees, also known as Allstars, to dare to dream, innovate, think out of the box and be heard by the senior management," he said. Phang added that he is grateful to group CEO Tony Fernandes and chairman Kamarudin Meranun for giving him the opportunity to serve throughout his tenure. 

According to him, his most memorable contributions include forming the AirAsia Allstars Esports Club together with his colleagues, which Phang said was recognised as a global case study amongst non-endemic brands and market research firms. He also worked with AirAsia's branding team to handle the sponsorship of the Mineski Dota 2 Professional Esports Team and the airline's partnership with World Electronic Sports Games Southeast Asia inked in 2018. Phang also secured sponsorships from Alienware, Razer, and Secretlab for the AirAsia Esports Zone, a dedicated gaming room at its global headquarters, Red Q. 

"All these initiatives were made possible thanks to the strong support from both Fernandes and Kamarudin as well as our Allstars," Phang added. In a previous interview with A+M, Phang said he foresees that esports tourism will take off, just like sports and medical tourism, especially in Southeast Asia since it is "the sweet spot and has the fastest growing fanbase". He added then that AirAsia had a head start in the esports industry because it received backing from Fernandes and Kamarudin. While it usually takes two years for companies to break into the esports scene - one year for education and the other for budget approvals - Phang said AirAsia did it within six months. 

An advice he dished out to marketers previously was to look five to 10 years ahead and engage with the Millennials and Gen Zs, rather than focus on now and try to obtain instant returns. This is because consumers in those groups will have the spending power when they grow up and they will remember the brand.