Snap SG nabs talent from tech giants Google, Meta, Twitter and TikTok amidst growth spurt

Snap is placing its bets on the APAC region, expanding its local team in Singapore with new appointments to effectively support the growing Snapchatter community in the region. According to a statement to the press, Snap’s new hires build on the company’s growth momentum following Snap’s Singapore office opening in 2020 to boost its regional presence and investments.

Recent new appointments in Singapore include Saurabh Dangwal (top left), head of global brands, APAC, who will be responsible for Snap’s global client partnerships across the region to drive business results using Snap’s industry-leading solutions for augmented reality and commerce. Dangwal has over18 years of deep experience in digital marketing at ad tech startups and MNCs, with over 14 years of senior leadership experience in sales and strategy at adtech startups. He comes with experience working in areas such as video (YouTube), connected TV (CTV), programmatic video (DV360) and brand measurement (Brand lift Studies, Nielsen MMMs, Nielsen MPAs).

Meanwhile, it has also hired Dan Heffernan (top middle), head of global agency, APAC, who will be in charge of developing strategies to grow Snap’s partnership with agencies through scaled education and commercial initiatives. Heffernan has been with Meta for the past eight years, most recently holding the role of global business group of retail and CPG.

The team has also hired Igor Lima (top right), head of global brands, Tech APAC. Lima will partner with top brands in the tech industry to drive meaningful results and digital innovation through Snapchat’s ads and Augmented Reality solutions. He was last with Google for 14 years as regional client lead and supported the Google digital marketing campaigns for APAC. He also has experience hiring and structuring a regional team to support Google brands (Pixel phone, YouTube Premium, Google Search, Google Play, Gpay, etc,) with strategic media recommendation, consumer insights, media planning, content recommendation, beta-testing and optimization best practices for both Performance and Brand initiatives.  

Lima will be working in tandem with Kelly Chiu (below left), product marketing manager, who will be driving product excellence for the region. Chew was last client partner in Twitter for over a year, and she also worked with LinkedIn for over two years.  Aiding Snap’s government relations and public policy work in the region will be  Amanda Ang (below right), as head of public policy, East Asia, who was last with Twitter as head of public policy and philanthropy.

Across APAC regions, Kanishk Khanna (below left), director, Media Partnerships, APAC, will collaborate with top content and media organisations to drive engagement.  Khanna was last head of content partnerships, Hindi, YouTube for over seven years and has worked with the likes of NDTV and Viacom. Meanwhile Monisha Singh (below right) has been brought on board as Recruitment Lead for APAC. Singh has worked with the likes of TikTok and Deliveroo.

Snap’s general manager, APAC Kathryn Carter said, “The opportunities for Snap across the APAC region are tremendous. We continue to grow the team at a phenomenal rate, further increasing our capacity to deliver to brands, advertisers and partners. We’re excited to continue building the momentum in each of our APAC markets with such a talented group of individuals.”

In January this year, Snap also brought on board two senior creative leads to bolster its commitment to creating the best-in-class creative campaigns on the Snapchat platform. Gareth Leeding joined Snap as head of creative strategy, Asia Pacific, making him Snap's first dedicated creative leader in the APAC region.

Leeding brings over 18 years of experience, most recently as ECD at We Are Social’s UK office where he built a creative department and co-founded WAS Sport. He has also worked with brands including adidas, Audi, Google, YouTube, Lego, Lidl, PlayStation to name a few.

At the same time, Snap named Haran Ramachandran its head of creative strategy for Australia and New Zealand. Ramachandran has also relocated from London where he was most recently the creative lead for Three Mobile and PR agency, The Academy.

However, late last month, Snap's shares dipped by more than 30% after an earnings warning. In a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Snap said since it issued guidance on 21 April this year, "the macroeconomic environment has deteriorated further and faster than anticipated". As a result, the company expects to report revenue and adjusted EBITDA "below the low end of [its] Q2 2022 guidance range".

This warning impacted the shares of other tech giants too. According to media reports including the Financial Times, shares for Meta and Alphabet fell 9% and 6% respectively. Meanwhile, Reuters reported a 2.2% dip in Amazon's shares. The adtech industry was also affected by Snap's warning as shares of the Trade Desk dipped 18.51%, CNBC said. Magnite's and PubMatic's shares slid 13.15% and 15.85% respectively.

Nonetheless, Snap said in the filing that it remains excited about the long-term opportunity to grow its business. "Our community continues to grow, and we continue to see strong engagement across Snapchat and continue to see significant opportunities to grow our average revenue per user over the long term," the company added in the filing.

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