Malaysia Airlines makes another prominent marketing hire with Juliana Chua

Malaysia Airlines has appointed its new head of brand strategy and creative Juliana Chua (pictured). A+M has reached out to Chua and Malaysia Airlines’ for a statement. Prior to Chua’s appointment at Malaysia Airlines, she was the head of marketing at mattress company Sonno for the latter half of 2022. Malaysia Airlines has been on a hiring spree as of late. Most recently, the airline also hired Hemanth Jayaraman and promoted Waikuan Wong in senior roles of head of marketing for the airline's loyalty and travel solutions arm and head of airlines global marketing respectively. 

All of these hires come as Malaysia Aviation Group looks to implement overall leadership changes as it proceeds forward with a new target operating model. The new operating model will oversee support functions and subsidiaries across its dedicated profit centres, namely airlines, loyalty and travel solutions, and aviation services. Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) current Airlines business portfolio that serves the global, domestic and segmented market comprises Malaysia Airlines – the national carrier of Malaysia, Firefly and MASwings – the regional airlines focused on serving communities across Malaysia, and AMAL by Malaysia Airlines – leading one-stop pilgrimage travel solutions centre.

As for Chua, she holds a range of industry experience. She also led branding and marketing work with Vettons. Chua also earned her stripes in the marketing world as general manager of brand and marketing at Kuala Lampur Pavilion from 2017 to 2021. "In general, I constantly look for the next change in my career to be sustainable for the future, and as the saying goes, timing is everything," said Chua explained in a prior interview with A+M. 

Don't miss: Malaysia Airlines appoints new head of airlines global marketing

Meanwhile, Chua also possesses agency-side experience helming leadership roles such as GM, business director, and senior account manager and working at Ignite KL, TBWA\ Kuala Lumpur, and Zenith. She was with FCB Kuala Lumpur's Ignite as GM, joining from TBWA\ where she was business director and head of activation. During her time there, she managed clients including OXY, Visa, Nippon Paint and Mondelez, according to her LinkedIn.

Meanwhile, at Zenith, she was GM, looking over activation, specialising in consumer marketing, brand positioning, and brand activation. Chua was also planning director of integrated communication at Zenith. Before that, she was a senior account manager at GroupM for about five years, her LinkedIn states.

When asked about the marketing lessons she has learnt over the past year during the pandemic, Chua said: "Multiple and short-term disruptions will ultimately power adaptability. Taking the creative approach to face change and growth that leads to sustainability." 

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